CSotD: Fattening Up The Geese
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I’ll confess to having paid more attention to the wretched excess in Venice than it deserved, which is any. But, unlike the couple in Milbrath’s cartoon, I did have my chair swung around the other direction, and I have also been paying attention to the wretched excess being foisted upon us all in Washington.
According to a CNN poll, about a third of Americans pay close attention to the news, while roughly another third check things out somewhat often. But another quarter only tune in when they have to, while 12 percent totally avoid the news.
That 12 percent obviously includes some slack-jawed knuckle-draggers, but don’t be fooled. I was talking to a nice, bright guy about a month ago and I mentioned Trump’s tariffs. He had no idea what I was talking about. To me, that’s like not knowing it’s raining despite the water dripping off you.
He said, “I don’t follow the news.” Not defensively, not apologetically. Just as you might say, “I don’t play golf.”
Then, when I said, “Well, okay, but I hope you don’t vote,” he was mystified. Why wouldn’t he vote?
That, as Milbrath suggests, is what we’re up against: People who know who the Masked Singer turned out to be but can’t name their Senators.
People who wave the American flag just as they wear Red Sox or Yankees gear, out of loyalty to a team and a desire to belong.
Goslings, too, loyally follow whoever they’ve imprinted on, with the result that they can readily be force-fed and fattened to produce foie gras for other people’s weddings in Venice, or, metaphorically, other people’s tax breaks in Washington.
They may hear the sound of celebration, but they never look beyond the cheering to find out why somebody is so excited.
It never occurred to them that Jeff and Lauren would invite them to Venice, yet somehow they feel they’re being invited to join in this other wonderful event.
And they are, but only in the role of the fattened geese.
Duquette is joking. People aren’t genuinely being conned on their deathbeds like this.
And yet they genuinely are being conned in a less candid, less straightforward way.
First of all, their anger and alienation are being redirected, away from those who exploit their labor and shortchange their social benefits, to the people who look different, and who speak with accents.
Those who pay attention to the news realize that the secret police are spiriting away not only the so-called “illegal aliens” held up to the mob as villains, but anyone guilty of excessive milanin.
It seems the majority of people kidnapped by ICE are guilty of nothing, many are non-citizens legally in the country, chosen because they just don’t look like gen-u-wine Aryan Americans.
Hang on, because the latest proposal is to strip people of their citizenship for not seeming enough like real Aryans, real Americans.
So you’d better shut up and accept what you’re told, because we have ways of dealing with troublemakers, and you’d better not forget that Dear Leader has said he doesn’t intend to restrict himself to immigrants in sentencing people to foreign gulags.
“The homegrowns are next,” he promised El Salvador’s dictator.
It’s just good business. We’re investing in private prisons in a variety of nations, most of them repressive even outside their own prison walls. It’s even been rumored/reported that those sent to Libya are subject to being sold as slaves.
But in any case, it’s good business for everyone!
Well, except, I suppose, the prisoners. You should probably try not to become one of them.
Meanwhile, back in this country, the geese are being lied to about the impact of the BBB on Medicaid, which in turn means they’re being lied to about what the BBB will mean for rural hospitals, which already struggle with the cost of care under current federal reimbursements. When that support is cut further, many will close.
Our little town has a small hospital, and my mother was on its board. It was constantly slated for closure, but I gave Mom this advice: Ask them to come discuss it the third week in February, and if they can’t get there through the snow and ice of an Adirondack winter, ask them how the hell we’re supposed to get out with a medical emergency?
People are going to die for lack of coverage, and not just in emergencies. A decade ago, I had ACA coverage which let me visit my doctor over minor things for a very reasonable $20 co-pay, so I went in with a minor problem that he thought wasn’t so minor.
In fact, the oncologist said I’d have been dead in six months.
How many will die because they can’t afford to ask their doctors about minor problems?
Well, either we’re going to find out or we’re not.
The geese will do nothing. What will you do?
According to a new Quinnipiac poll, voters are split on the Medicaid provisions in the BBB, but I always wish pollsters would break results down more than just by Democrats/Republicans.
What percent of people who think ivermectin is a safe and effective treatment for covid support the bill’s health provisions?
What percent who can find El Salvador on a map support sending migrants there?
What percent of people who can identify Thom Tillis support the bill overall, compared to the percent who can identify Gerry Turner? What’s the percentage of support among those who can identify both? Neither?
What percent of people who remember Republicans railing against “tax and spend Democrats,” complaining about “kicking the can down the road,” and insisting on balancing spending and saving under Democratic administrations, think that adding $3.3 trillion to the deficit is suddenly a good idea?
What percent of people who think the President should have special powers in an emergency believe we’re currently in several genuine emergencies?
How many think we’re being force-fed a load of corn?
And when it’s time to eat that foie gras, what percent expect to be at the table, and what percent expect to be on the menu?
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