The "300,000 have died" is fortunately not a fact, but a projection of what could result. It sounds horrific, and even a tenth eventually would be a sad indictment of heartless conservatism, but presenting blatantly inaccurate facts simply gives Muskrat the opportunity to Tweet "Zero people have died!" and increase his standing with the Great Unwashed.
Remember at the beginning of Covid in 2020, when it was projected that NYC would need 30,000 ventilators and the feds had exactly none to spare? Andy Cuomo ranted that tRump would be responsible for those deaths! The Javits Convention Center was turned into a huge emergency hospital; about 6 patients were eventually admitted. The feds sent a hospital ship to NYC harbor; exactly zero patients were treated.
Exaggerated and unfounded claims may resound well with the faithful, but do nothing but provide ammunition for the tRumpanzees.
Ms. Roginsky, you are right and thanks for calling them a death cult. magas are all Death Eaters.
How do you defeat a death cult? By winning or stalling their military (Ukraine stalling Russia and attacking Moscow, gaining EU and Canada support). By cutting off support and condemning their actions (against the Israeli government committing genocide against Gazans). By humiliating them (TACO) and making them lose in court cases (all the lost cases by the US Government).
You starve a death cult by extending life, humor, science, art, poetry, compassion, empathy and hope. We can do that again by contesting every election, electing people outside the death cult and building up institutions to counter the death cult. Like an anti-Heritage Foundation. Our own Leonard Leo fighting corruption.
There is a reason why TACO / Netanyahu / Putin are engaged in similar death cult tactics. They are waging a war on the living and need combined allies.
Republicans have always hated the poor. They consider them lazy beggars who are a drain on society. Now that Trump and his MAGA cult have taken over the Republican Party their hatred of everything that is good, decent, or compassionate is on steroids. Who cares if a 4 year old child dies because her family was deported and she has no access to life saving medicine? Her skin is brown. So what if she dies? Why save Afghans who helped us during the war? They are Muslim and aren’t white either so to hell with them. Forget the Haitians too. The cult of Trump only cares about white people and only if they are rich, which leaves a whole lot of Americans hanging out to dry. My attitude is our survival as a nation and a democracy depends on MAGA being destroyed and the Republican Party as it is today imploding or burning to the ground. Maybe something can come from the ashes. I don’t know. I just know that most Americans are not heartless, indecent people. If we could we’d be chartering a jet to take the doctors and medicine the little 4 year old girl needs to her so she can survive. If it were possible we’d all be linking arms and preventing those who came to the US for sanctuary from being forced out. We can’t but we can raise righteous and holy hell about it and we must.
This is an unpopular stance, but evangelical Christianity is a death cult IMHO. It follows the same script of the death cults in Greece and the Roman Empire, among others. The evidence is there to see, and it's becoming more obvious every day.
Yes, and there are numerous, shall we say ironies, about this cult. Remember when the Tea Party Republicans were up in arms against the Affordable Care Act because (they said) it would result in rationing care and the creation of “death panels”? Sarah Palin wrote:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society.'”
Oh?
And another one:
The Qanon cult’s delusion about Democrats killing babies?
How about 300,000 children dead because of cuts in USAID?
Where’s the outrage?
But all of this was anticipated in Trump 1.0 when not riling the stock market with bad news about COVID was deemed more important than saving lives. How many died then that could have been saved? Hundreds of thousands?
The “pro-life” party, as Senator Ernst made clear, is really pro-death—especially when it’s someone else’s death, thank you.
The silence surrounding (my own) Senator Joni Ernst's morally equivalent of "let them eat cake" comment regarding Medicaid cuts is deafening. When confronted at a town hall about people potentially dying from these cuts, her response, "Well, we all are going to die," was met with jeers and rightfully drew national condemnation for its stunning callousness (The Hill).
This isn't merely a gaffe; it's a statement that disregards the very real, often fatal, consequences of healthcare policy. Research consistently shows that Medicaid cuts can lead to thousands of additional deaths, particularly among working-age adults and in rural communities, due to loss of coverage, delayed care, and hospital closures. [For example, a study published in The Lancet projected that eliminating Medicaid coverage for 15.5 million people could result in nearly 15,000 excess deaths annually.]
Given that Senator Ernst is up for re-election in 2026, why aren't her announced primary and Democratic challengers, and their political advisors, relentlessly echoing this egregious statement?
Where are the national ads and calls for an apology from political leaders?
This moment of "generalized meanness," cannot be normalized. Iowa politicos' current silence is a missed opportunity to hold power accountable and highlight the stark human cost of certain policy choices. This quote is a powerful reminder of what's at stake, and it deserves to be a central talking point in the upcoming election cycle.
And Sen. Ernst has just earned her first meanness stripe, if not promotion.
Senator Ernst is one of my Senators. It seems, has been infected by a particularly virulent strain of generalized meanness, a contagion against which she clearly hasn't taken the necessary public servant's vaccine. Her "we all are going to die" comment, a bitter fruit from this infection, serves as a stark reminder that some elected officials are overdue for their booster shots of basic human empathy and accountability. All who serve the public should be regularly immunized against such callousness, a process that genuine interaction with constituents, rather than the isolating influence of big donor contributions, can often facilitate. For those already showing symptoms of this contagion, perhaps the most honorable path is to resign, admit their error, and prevent further spread.
Meanwhile, every elected official and candidate, regardless of party, should be pressed to answer a simple, mortal question: Do they believe that policy choices leading to reduced access to healthcare and vital services are acceptable, even if they result in preventable deaths? Their responses, much like Senator Ernst's, may expose their own political mortality and the true human cost of their platforms.
The uproar against Ernst's comment, while valid, must not overshadow the underlying issue: the very real, life-and-death consequences of the legislation she champions. Opponents should not merely decry the callousness, but relentlessly highlight that such bills, in effect, kill people.
This indecent serves as a stark reminder that some elected officials are overdue for their booster shots of basic human empathy and accountability.
In the same vein, SCOTUS just ruled that tRump can end Biden's humanitarian temporary visas, potentially sending 500k back to the paradises they fled. One supporter's comment on "social media": "PRAISE JESUS!"
Because we all know how JC felt about compassion towards the downtrodden!
The "300,000 have died" is fortunately not a fact, but a projection of what could result. It sounds horrific, and even a tenth eventually would be a sad indictment of heartless conservatism, but presenting blatantly inaccurate facts simply gives Muskrat the opportunity to Tweet "Zero people have died!" and increase his standing with the Great Unwashed.
Remember at the beginning of Covid in 2020, when it was projected that NYC would need 30,000 ventilators and the feds had exactly none to spare? Andy Cuomo ranted that tRump would be responsible for those deaths! The Javits Convention Center was turned into a huge emergency hospital; about 6 patients were eventually admitted. The feds sent a hospital ship to NYC harbor; exactly zero patients were treated.
Exaggerated and unfounded claims may resound well with the faithful, but do nothing but provide ammunition for the tRumpanzees.
Ms. Roginsky, you are right and thanks for calling them a death cult. magas are all Death Eaters.
How do you defeat a death cult? By winning or stalling their military (Ukraine stalling Russia and attacking Moscow, gaining EU and Canada support). By cutting off support and condemning their actions (against the Israeli government committing genocide against Gazans). By humiliating them (TACO) and making them lose in court cases (all the lost cases by the US Government).
You starve a death cult by extending life, humor, science, art, poetry, compassion, empathy and hope. We can do that again by contesting every election, electing people outside the death cult and building up institutions to counter the death cult. Like an anti-Heritage Foundation. Our own Leonard Leo fighting corruption.
There is a reason why TACO / Netanyahu / Putin are engaged in similar death cult tactics. They are waging a war on the living and need combined allies.
Unlike student loans, you can entirely eliminate medical debt in bankruptcy, and even shield some of your assets.
If you ask me, this is the state’s and the hospital’s baby - literally - and they can damn well pick up the tab for it.
Republicans have always hated the poor. They consider them lazy beggars who are a drain on society. Now that Trump and his MAGA cult have taken over the Republican Party their hatred of everything that is good, decent, or compassionate is on steroids. Who cares if a 4 year old child dies because her family was deported and she has no access to life saving medicine? Her skin is brown. So what if she dies? Why save Afghans who helped us during the war? They are Muslim and aren’t white either so to hell with them. Forget the Haitians too. The cult of Trump only cares about white people and only if they are rich, which leaves a whole lot of Americans hanging out to dry. My attitude is our survival as a nation and a democracy depends on MAGA being destroyed and the Republican Party as it is today imploding or burning to the ground. Maybe something can come from the ashes. I don’t know. I just know that most Americans are not heartless, indecent people. If we could we’d be chartering a jet to take the doctors and medicine the little 4 year old girl needs to her so she can survive. If it were possible we’d all be linking arms and preventing those who came to the US for sanctuary from being forced out. We can’t but we can raise righteous and holy hell about it and we must.
This is an unpopular stance, but evangelical Christianity is a death cult IMHO. It follows the same script of the death cults in Greece and the Roman Empire, among others. The evidence is there to see, and it's becoming more obvious every day.
Yes, and there are numerous, shall we say ironies, about this cult. Remember when the Tea Party Republicans were up in arms against the Affordable Care Act because (they said) it would result in rationing care and the creation of “death panels”? Sarah Palin wrote:
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society.'”
Oh?
And another one:
The Qanon cult’s delusion about Democrats killing babies?
How about 300,000 children dead because of cuts in USAID?
Where’s the outrage?
But all of this was anticipated in Trump 1.0 when not riling the stock market with bad news about COVID was deemed more important than saving lives. How many died then that could have been saved? Hundreds of thousands?
The “pro-life” party, as Senator Ernst made clear, is really pro-death—especially when it’s someone else’s death, thank you.
From shadowed halls, where fear holds sway,
A tyrant's voice, it rules the day.
With iron fist and venomous tongue,
Democracy's sweet song, unsung.
His sycophants, a groveling crew,
Their loyalty to him, so true.
They dance to his malevolent tune,
Beneath a blood-red, fascist moon.
With torches lit, they storm the gate,
To set ablaze a nation's fate.
The pillars fall, the flames aspire,
As freedom's light consumes the fire.
No truth they seek, no justice crave,
But power's grip, a shallow grave.
For liberty, they hold disdain,
And revel in a people's pain.
The rule of law, a whispered plea,
Drowned out by shouts of tyranny.
The ballot box, a smoldering pyre,
Consumed by their destructive fire.
Oh, land betrayed, your spirit weeps,
As darkness o'er your future creeps.
But even ashes, cold and gray,
Can hold the hope of brighter day.
For though the flames may rage and roar,
The human spirit will restore.
And from the embers, still aglow,
A seed of freedom yet will grow.
This is beautiful.
The silence surrounding (my own) Senator Joni Ernst's morally equivalent of "let them eat cake" comment regarding Medicaid cuts is deafening. When confronted at a town hall about people potentially dying from these cuts, her response, "Well, we all are going to die," was met with jeers and rightfully drew national condemnation for its stunning callousness (The Hill).
This isn't merely a gaffe; it's a statement that disregards the very real, often fatal, consequences of healthcare policy. Research consistently shows that Medicaid cuts can lead to thousands of additional deaths, particularly among working-age adults and in rural communities, due to loss of coverage, delayed care, and hospital closures. [For example, a study published in The Lancet projected that eliminating Medicaid coverage for 15.5 million people could result in nearly 15,000 excess deaths annually.]
Given that Senator Ernst is up for re-election in 2026, why aren't her announced primary and Democratic challengers, and their political advisors, relentlessly echoing this egregious statement?
Where are the national ads and calls for an apology from political leaders?
This moment of "generalized meanness," cannot be normalized. Iowa politicos' current silence is a missed opportunity to hold power accountable and highlight the stark human cost of certain policy choices. This quote is a powerful reminder of what's at stake, and it deserves to be a central talking point in the upcoming election cycle.
And Sen. Ernst has just earned her first meanness stripe, if not promotion.
Senator Ernst is one of my Senators. It seems, has been infected by a particularly virulent strain of generalized meanness, a contagion against which she clearly hasn't taken the necessary public servant's vaccine. Her "we all are going to die" comment, a bitter fruit from this infection, serves as a stark reminder that some elected officials are overdue for their booster shots of basic human empathy and accountability. All who serve the public should be regularly immunized against such callousness, a process that genuine interaction with constituents, rather than the isolating influence of big donor contributions, can often facilitate. For those already showing symptoms of this contagion, perhaps the most honorable path is to resign, admit their error, and prevent further spread.
Meanwhile, every elected official and candidate, regardless of party, should be pressed to answer a simple, mortal question: Do they believe that policy choices leading to reduced access to healthcare and vital services are acceptable, even if they result in preventable deaths? Their responses, much like Senator Ernst's, may expose their own political mortality and the true human cost of their platforms.
The uproar against Ernst's comment, while valid, must not overshadow the underlying issue: the very real, life-and-death consequences of the legislation she champions. Opponents should not merely decry the callousness, but relentlessly highlight that such bills, in effect, kill people.
This indecent serves as a stark reminder that some elected officials are overdue for their booster shots of basic human empathy and accountability.
In the same vein, SCOTUS just ruled that tRump can end Biden's humanitarian temporary visas, potentially sending 500k back to the paradises they fled. One supporter's comment on "social media": "PRAISE JESUS!"
Because we all know how JC felt about compassion towards the downtrodden!