Chicken Stretching

Good job by Rep. Stefanik of emulating President Trump. She recently mocked Tedra Cobb on Twitter over a story Cobb relates of her mother "stretching" the chicken to feed nine children. But, maybe empathy, along with honesty, has died in Trump's GOP. It's not much of a transition, though. Stefanik ran on "repeal and replace Obamacare" twice when Republicans had no idea what to replace it with. We're fast approaching the third anniversary of the debacle where they proved it. Any day now Trump should be unveiling his "terrific" plan.

I'd like to also respond to Ms. Graves' remarks on socialism. The socialism is in the house! Trump is paying billions of dollars to farmers who've lost markets due to his trade wars. There's robbing the Pentagon budget to build his wall that Mexico has yet to pay for. If that's not enough government control, there's the president's shifting a Pentagon contract from Amazon to Microsoft. Jeff Bezos is a real billionaire, a self-made one and owns the Washington Post so he must be punished. Central planning much?

Democrats don't want us to become Venezuela either. In countries like that the leader interferes with justice so his supporters receive light sentences and his foes are investigated. Sound familiar? Republican politicians have forever railed at Social Security and Medicare as socialism, too. When it comes time to pay off Trump's trillion dollar deficits incurred by tax cuts on the wealthy that's where they'll look for the money. Better get the recipe from Tedra's mom because we're all going to be "stretching" the chicken.

  

I Hope You Know That This Too Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record

Link

Our Elise really has become one of the brighter stars in the Trump universe. I really can’t wait to see how it all shakes out.

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, has been named to President Donald Trump’s Impeachment Defense Team, according to a news release issued on the eve of the start of the Senate trial.

I Hope You Know That This Will Go Down On Your Permanent Record

Link

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik is one of six New Yorkers, including four members of Congress, who have been selected honorary state chairs for President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.

We'll see how well that ages.

Defending Tedra

Link to McGrath Letter

I'm responding to Corey McGrath's criticism of Tedra Cobb. Ms. Cobb's statement was, "Our actions have long-term ramifications that have escalated tensions in the region ... Congress, and Elise Stefanik in particular, must ensure this Administration puts together a coalition of allies and exhausts all diplomatic efforts before moving forward. The lives of American troops, diplomats and innocent civilians are on the line." Sounds reasonable to me.

Mr. McGrath writes in North Country Now, "She only urged Trump to 'exhaust all diplomatic options' before 'moving forward' with the war." First, does exhausting all diplomatic options really rate an "only?" That sounds like the kind of thorough and comprehensive step that, done properly, prevents war. Second, he overlooks the call for a coalition of allies. Perhaps, it would be a group similar to the one that put together the Iran nuclear agreement that was keeping them from working toward those weapons before being abandoned. The final touch is his dishonest extraction of "moving forward" from the statement and attaching "with the war" to the end of it. There's a term I use for that: Hannitization. It's the sort of thing Sean, and his ilk, frequently does.

Mr. McGrath constructs a strawman by altering Ms. Cobb's release. He then spends the rest of his letter painting her as a warmonger. That's as dishonest as anyone who has lied us into the wars he's against. I hope he finds someone sufficiently virtuous to vote for. Meanwhile, the rest of us who are against unnecessarily going to war, and are aware that the perfect is the enemy of the good, will work to elect Tedra Cobb.

Love Nancy

Finally Submitting This Letter

This is kind of an amalgam of two letters. Maybe two are better than one?

I'm writing about Rep. Stefanik and other conspiracy theory friendly folks in the GOP. I realize she's been all up in Rep. Schiff's grill over having to follow House rules. As far as I know she hasn't said a word about Rep. Nunes pushing Russian disinformation at the hearings. That's what the "DNC server in Ukraine" fairy tale is. She herself said, "Whether Ukraine had any part in 2016, I think we still haven't gotten to the bottom fully of the complexity of the meddling in our election in 2016." As far as that country goes, we have. Tom Bossert, President Trump's former national security adviser, says the idea Ukraine was involved in the hack, "Has no validity" and "It's not only a conspiracy theory, its' completely debunked." Senate Intelligence says the same.

Is it worth remaining silent to Russian backed propaganda in order to be a star in Trump's Republican Party? Fiona Hill testified, "I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests." That didn't slow Rep. Nunes or cause Rep. Stefanik to push back on it. The people driving the "Ukraine interfered" story are Vladimir Putin, corrupt former Ukrainian government officials, President Trump and Rudy Guiliani, a portion of the Republican Party including Nunes and Senator Kennedy, and most of Fox News. Rep. Stefanik has appeared on Sean Hannity. Hannity has met few rightwing conspiracy theories he didn't push. He tormented Seth Rich's family with nonsense about their son until forced to desist.

Trump publicly asked for Russia's help in 2016. They were listening. He's asking for foreign help for another fraudulent win in 2020. Sadly, the writers of the Constitution didn't realize that if you're a star they let you get away with it.

President Clownshoes

I'm not necessarily a Biden supporter, but this is a great ad. I'm sure Dear Leader is loving it.