26 July 2017

Horror-movie legislation

ACA repeal has been declared dead and then revived so many times, it's starting to resemble the stereotypical slasher-movie fiend who keeps coming back every time you think the good guys have finally killed him off.  In fact, it's worse than that.  Congressional Republicans look like Herbert West, endlessly dragging some pathetic mangled corpse back from oblivion to a stumbling, agonized, pointless parody of life, long after everyone else can see that he's gone crazy and should just leave the poor thing to rot in peace.

The latest revenant version went down 43-to-57 -- not even close -- while it increasingly looks like future efforts may be filibuster-prone.  Trump, desperate for a win on something even if he doesn't really know what it is, is taking time out from his busy schedule of trashing his loyal Attorney General to insult one of his party's own Senators for showing independence.  It's like watching Jason Voorhees floundering in a tar pit, unable to escape but unable to die.

In fact, just as slasher films tend to do, this whole spectacle has become rather monotonous, even while the monster remains scary -- which is part of the reason I haven't posted much about it. "Return of the Revenge of Son of ACA Repeal Part 2: Trump Strikes Back" is obviously going to keep appearing in some form for as long as the Republicans control Congress (if "control" is even the right word for whatever the hell they're doing).  Plenty of blogs and news sites are covering the fight on a blow-by-blow basis, and I'll be damned if I can think of anything original or different to add.

But don't count on the Trumpanzees to stop buying tickets.  Many of them are too dim to realize the monster has turned on them.  This person actually seems to think that the ACA increased the number of uninsured and that repeal will reverse that.  How do you reason with someone like this?  And he's not unique.  These are the people who would survive a zombie apocalypse -- they wouldn't even qualify as snacks.

I do want to call attention to some other, more encouraging news.  New sanctions on Russia, including a provision that prevents Trump from unilaterally lifting them, have now passed the House 419-to-3 and the Senate 98-to-2.  This shows that even most Republicans can stand up to Trump where Russia is concerned -- which implies he'll face real consequences if he makes a serious effort to destroy Mueller's investigation, our best hope of ultimately bringing him down.

But ACA repeal will probably stagger on and on, more battered and shrunken every time it shows itself, until Democrats finally take back Congress, release the asphyx, and let it rest in peace at last.

6 Comments:

Blogger Pinku-Sensei said...

"These are the people who would survive a zombie apocalypse -- they wouldn't even qualify as snacks." Only if it's full of George Romero zombies who want brains. If those zombies ran into them, they'd walk in the other direction. If they're Walking Dead zombies, they don't care. They just want the flesh and these people would be among the first to die.

26 July, 2017 09:36  
Blogger Donna said...

Thank you! Def needed to read this today.

26 July, 2017 10:32  
Anonymous NickM said...

I shall survive the zombie apocalypse. This gaff is nigh on 400 years old and built of stone. It is at the top of a hill. Lock and load. I'm British so I don't exactly know what that means but if the undead attempt anything Trumpish with the cat there will be Hell to pay. I know where I could get a KS-23 (look it up) if it comes to serious fisticuffs. I know pubs in Manchester where such things can be obtained. I also have a hammer.

27 July, 2017 03:38  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Pinku: A lot of that flab is Cheeto-based and I get the impression a lot of them smoke. I wonder if zombies can be poisoned?

Donna: Glad it hit home.

Nick: I'm not sure if zombies eat cats (maybe zombie cats do?), but I'm sure the Republicans would try to take its veterinarian coverage away.

27 July, 2017 13:39  
Blogger Pinku-Sensei said...

"I wonder if zombies can be poisoned?" The original Haitian zombies probably got that way by being poisoned. There is evidence that blowfish/pufferfish toxin can put people into comas that look like death, but that people can revive from with nerve damage. Add a belief about zombies, and someone so poisoned might believe they died and came back as a zombie. That's not really an answer to your question, as we're dealing with American science-fiction/horror zombies, not the original Haitian variety.

The answer is most likely not. It would only work with the zombies that never died before changing, like the ones in "World War Z," "28 Days Later," and "I am Legend." Those are alive but transformed by the disease agent, not undead. Poison would likely work on them, just not fast enough (those are all fast zombies, too). The ones that died first, like in "The Walking Dead," are almost certainly immune. That's one advantage that slow zombies have over fast ones.

Yes, I know too much about zombies.

28 July, 2017 11:19  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Pinku: Well, it's nice to have the testimony of an expert.:-)

29 July, 2017 08:47  

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