Retiring Guy's Digest: This is why we need to elect more Republicans in 2022 ("The Dithering Susan Collins" episode)

4/1/2022 update, "Insulin episode", starts here.

We need to ensure that Big Pharma always gets its way and has carte blanche to charge whatever they want for their products. VOTE GOP!!!

Headline from The Independent, 4/1/2022

When it went before the House Thursday, the vote largely fell along party lines with a 232-193 majority and only a dozen Republicans joining Democrats in support.
Rep. Daniel Meuser of Pennsylvania, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Rep. Bill Posey of Florida, Rep. Christopher Smith of New Jersey, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, Rep. John Katko of New York, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania were the only Republicans to join the vote in favour.

3/24/2022 update starts here.

We need to ensure that transphobia spreads like wildfire not just in Texas but throuhgout the entire nation.

NPR, 3/24/2022

On March 11th, in response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Lambda Legal, State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum temporarily stopped Texas from using Child Protective Services to investigate families with trans children, including the Briggles. The judge ruled Gov. Greg Abbott's actions were "beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional." Later that same day, Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton tweeted, "I'm appealing. I'll win this fight to protect our Texas children."

3/2/2022 update starts here

We need to ensure that potable tap water will become a thing of the past.

Headline from Madison.com, 3/1/2022

When Wisconsin’s natural resources policy board voted down limits for “forever chemicals” in groundwater, they also effectively killed groundwater standards for more than a dozen other toxic substances.
Conservatives on the Natural Resources Board last week rejected proposed groundwater standards for two fluorinated compounds known as PFAS based on their disbelief in the science and the Department of Natural Resources’ economic impact analysis of standards for groundwater, the source of drinking water for roughly two-thirds of Wisconsin residents.
But there was no discussion of new or modified limits for about two dozen other substances, including trichloroethylene, a common dry cleaning chemical known as TCE, and chromium-6, a carcinogen made famous by Erin Brockovich.
Scott Walker appointees Kazmierski and Prehn take their orders from here, not from the people of Wisconsin.

Photo by Retiring Guy

2/24/2022 update starts here

Headline from Madison.com, 2/24/2022

After heated debate, members appointed by former Gov. Scott Walker sided with industry lobbyists who questioned the science put forward by state health officials and the DNR’s economic impact estimates. William Bruins Bruins Wisconsin Natural Resources Board “

There’s been a lot of negativity toward chemicals -- they’re bad -- spoken here today,” said Bill Bruins (pictured above, masked up). “If we pass this rule it’s like biting the hand that feeds us.”

Board member Fred Prehn said he didn’t believe the proposed groundwater rule met statutory requirements.

“I’m a rules follower,” said Prehn, who has refused to step down since his term ended in May as Republicans in the Senate have denied a confirmation hearing for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ nominee to replace him.

2/23/2022 update starts here

No time to snooze.

We need to ensure that civil rights protections continue to be taken away.

CNN, 2/20/2020

Dear blinkered media,
It's a more dangerous and insidious crisis than Ukraine. It requires your FULL attention.
Best,
Retiring Guy
From Florida, Georgia and Tennessee through Texas, South Dakota and Montana, Republican-controlled states are approving a torrent of culturally conservative hot-button legislation at a pace unmatched in recent times, and probably ever.
States where the GOP controls both the governorship and state legislature are moving in unprecedented numbers to restrict abortion, limit access to voting, ban books, retrench transgender rights and constrain teachers' ability to discuss race, gender and sexual orientation at public K-12 schools and increasingly at public colleges and universities.

0/2022 update starts here

Top headline: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2/9/2022

Bottom headline: Madison.com, 2/9/2022

Danger: Poison.

Felzkowski, R-Irma, said the bill is about “transparency” and holding state agencies accountable for “scientific irregularities.”

“We owe it to the people of Wisconsin to ensure that the science behind state regulation is based on data that is supported by the scientific community,” she said. “Science has no room for partisan agenda, and this is a great first step in achieving sound, scientifically accurate policy.”

1/19/2022 update starts here

We need to ensure the continued mass manipulation of basic science.

New York Times, 1/14/2022

What’s the situation like now?

The crisis is really at its worst point since the beginning of the pandemic. And at this point, the vast majority of people being hospitalized with Covid have made a choice not to be vaccinated, because of what many medical personnel say is misinformation rooted in partisan politics. So nurses I’ve spoken to are disappointed and angry that they’re having to deal with the repercussions of this mass manipulation that ignores basic science. [emphasis added]

And during all of this, they’ve been experiencing repeated bouts of moral injury that have a pernicious impact on their psyche.

1/11/2022 update, "All-White, All-Male, One-Party Rule" episode, starts here.

We need to insure we have white-male GOP one-party rule, just like we have in the Wisconsin legislature.

This Week, 1/11/2022

The foundation of Republican control of Wisconsin is one of the most extreme gerrymanders in American history. Back in 2018, Republicans lost the popular vote in the state Senate races by 52.3 percent to 46.9 percent, yet gained two seats for a 19-14 majority. In the state Assembly, they lost the popular vote 53.0 to 44.8, yet lost only one seat to retain a 63-36 supermajority — and that was a wave election year for Democrats. It is de facto impossible for Democrats to win given any remotely realistic distribution of votes.

1/8/2022 update starts here

We need to live in the past, allow the GOP to keep spreading the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

Meet Bernie Moreno

Washington Post, 1/5/2022

On the Saturday in November 2020 when Joe Biden was declared president-elect, Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno took to Twitter to congratulate Biden and his running mate and to urge his “conservative friends” to accept the results of the presidential election.
He wrote that there was probably some fraud and illegal votes cast, but concluded, “Was it anywhere near enough to change the result, no.”
But just over a year later, Moreno — now a candidate in Ohio’s Republican Senate primary — has deleted the tweets calling for unity and, in a new campaign ad, looks directly into the camera and declares, “President Trump says the election was stolen, and he’s right.”
“Just generally, the election was stolen,” Moreno said in an interview with The Washington Post. “There’s no question about that.”

12/25/2021 update starts here

We need to insure that Republicans can rig elections.

Grand Theft Election

Newsweek, 12/24/2021

"As one of the most challenging years in modern American history draws to a close, the emerging threat posed by efforts to subvert free and fair election administration has come into sharper focus," the opening paragraph of the States United Democracy Center end-year report explains. "To put it simply, the future of fair, professional, and nonpartisan elections is on the line and the erosion of public trust in our democracy is deeply concerning."

12/14/2021 update, "Natural Disasters" episode, starts here.

We need to ensure that when natural disasters strike, more people die!

Top headline: In These Times

Botton headline: NBC News

12/10/2021 update starts here

We need to ensure that black votes don't matter.

Graphic by Woody Harrington at Mother Jones

Reuters, 12/9/2021

But this was an entirely different five-member board than had overseen the last election. The Democratic majority of three Black women was gone. So was the Black elections supervisor.

Now a faction of three white Republicans controlled the board – thanks to a bill passed by the Republican-led Georgia legislature earlier this year. The Spalding board’s new chairman has endorsed former president Donald Trump’s false stolen-election claims on social media.

12/5/2021 update starts hered

We need a rudderless party like the Republicans to govern.

Meet Moscow Mitch

Axios, 12/3/2021

Mitch McConnell has told colleagues and donors Senate Republicans won't release a legislative agenda before next year's midterms, according to people who've attended private meetings with the minority leader.
Why it matters: Every midterm cycle, there are Republican donors and operatives who argue the party should release a positive, pro-active governing outline around which candidates can rally. McConnell adamantly rejects this idea, preferring to skewer Democrats for their perceived failures.
Behind the scenes: On the night of Nov. 16, McConnell met with donors, lobbyists and a group of Republican senators in a private function room upstairs at the Capitol Hill Club.

12/4/2021 update starts here

This is why few Republicans make it big in comedy. Clueless. Tasteless. Huge misfires.