Promises, promises, Yay Nancy and pro soccer in EL Paso!

So the Orange King’s budget proposal for the 2020 fiscal year has a name: “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First.”

Ok – so John Cassidy in the New Yorker magazine reminds us that on June 16, 2015,  when the Orange King was running for POTUS and  emoting as he descended an escalator at Trump Tower, these gems fell out of his mouth:  “Save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts,” …. “Have to do it.”  And he kept repeating this as he ran for office, appealing to his adoring deplorables. (Oh yes – he made a point of citing his terrible Republican opponents running against him in the primaries out to cut Medicare and Social Security!) And just before the election he threw in a few more whoppers which included that he alone would “protect” Medicare and Hillary would destroy it.

Really? Oh yeah – gotta deliver my promises, says the Orange King. Promised my guys a WALL to keep out the "invaders".  Medicare? What’s that?

Yay Nancy! Asked if Trump was fit to be President, Speaker Pelosi said, “No. I don’t think he is….(he’s)  ethically unfit. Intellectually unfit. Curiosity-wise unfit. No, I don’t think he’s fit to be president of the United States. My kind of politician - go Nancy, go!

The newest fun word for pols:  “socialism” . Most people don’t have a clue to its meaning – other than it’s supposed to be pejorative. Like a public school education?

Time to start promoting Ethical Capitalism!

Peeve of the week: Nothing more important than a free press – but it seems some are more free than others. There are still journalists – print/social/whatever  -  who can’t bring themselves to say the Orange King is “LYING”; they write “falsehood”, “misrepresentation” or some other synonym.

A lie is a lie is a lie!!!

A neat story for sports lovers in El Paso: 

El Paso has a new soccer team – the El Paso Locomotives. The team will be sharing the Southwest University Park with El Paso’s AAA minor league team  the El Paso Chihuahuas (affiliate of San Diego Padres). So what happens to the pitcher’s mound when the soccer team arrives? Presto magic! The Esto Retractable Mound lowers the pitcher’s mound twelve inches in ten minutes – ready for soccer – and then can raise it back up for baseball in another ten minutes. Pretty neat!!

More Lies, High Drug Prices and - Wine in flat bottles?

Addressing CPAC on Saturday, March 2, 2019, the Orange King was in top form displaying a bizarre, lying, unhinged personality; he was cheered by his kool-aid sycophants and the press just wrote it up as another day in the life of a crazy president - who included wrapping himself around the U.S. flag at one point.

And the followers ate it up – listening to the King perform;  a bizarre performance based on fantasy, deceit and lies. (The Saturday performance served up 104 lies according to press counters.)

It’s what Goebbels said in the 1930’s – if you lie over and over – you will be believed

After watching Michael Cohen’s session with the House last week (Feb.27, 2019) it’s obvious that  Republicans (read: frightened, weak legislators)  can be counted on to run interference and defense for their Orange King no matter how much he lies, deceives, cheats or attacks innocents.

As an eternal optimist I had hoped that some of these Royal serfs would jump ship and decide that our country was more important than the Orange King’s “pockets”. My optimism, alas, is waning.

Nothing new under the sun:

 Sixty years ago, a panel of senators, headed by Senator Estes Kefauver,  grilled pharma about rising drug costs and drug-company profits. Those hearings led to new legal standards for drug safety and drug effectiveness; alas controlling prices were forgotten.

So last week the Senate decided to hold hearings once again about rising prices. My guess: nothing will change. Prices will only continue to rise!

Pharmaceutical companies know how to limit regulations and protect their profits! 

I read that Florida's governor wants to allow his state to import drugs from Canada – because they’re cheaper. Pharma infers imports may be unsafe.
Oh sure! Canadians are all taking unsafe drugs? 

(Talking about safety  - one thing is sure:  they’re 100 times safer than all the unnecessary supplements U.S. residents buy that have never been inspected by the FDA or other government entity!)

My personal complaint: I use eye drops made by a U.S. company who moved their headquarters to Ireland to avoid U.S. taxes; their medication is made in various locations around the world – same box, same drops, same everything except price: about $35 in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, South/Central America and close to $200 in the U.S.! Interestingly, the U.S. price was about $75 two years ago – the raised prices indicate nothing new - except greed. There is no generic version; a few years ago the company made the medication less potent (yielding same results) but were able to claim  (in court) this was a “new” drug – therefore the patent was extended!

I’m sure one of the reasons for drug price hikes (in addition to greed) are the hefty payments for  their daily tv commercials we endure every day. If you feel fine when you sit down to watch tv, you may very well end your viewing with assorted illnesses/symptoms thanks to  pharmaceutical company suggestions.

Once upon a time, these companies couldn't advertise to the public........

Moving on to pleasanter topics: 

How about wine in a flat plastic bottle?

A story in the UK newspaper The Guardian about the Garcon Wines company invention: flat, plastic wine bottles. Their claim:  full size flat wine bottles will  reduce carbon emissions and costs in the entire wine industry supply chain. Santiago Navarro is the chief executive, co-founder of Garçon Wines; he said normal wine cases offer "costly logistics, excessive packaging, wasted resources and a grotesque carbon footprint".

Just imagine: gift a friend by dropping your favorite bottle of wine in a mail slot!