Details, Details

Donald Trump and the Republicans have rolled out their initial plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, but for many Trump voters the plan (the first of three steps intended to address all aspects of reforming the ACA) isn't finding acceptance.

Why? Because they know (correctly) that Obamacare is riddled with serious problems and is harming our healthcare system and they voted to get rid of Obamacare in its entirety. And that's by God what they want!

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is very much akin to the scenario depicted above: if you simply cut out the problems all at once with no replacement ready, the patient will die. And in this case, the bloodsoaked, flailing patient happens to be your health insurance.

We can't simply return to "the way things used to be" because Obamacare destroyed that system. It's gone. Kaput. It is not simply pining for the fjords, but has joined the choir eternal. Which is why doing an immediate and total fix is practically and politically impossible.

Rather, we need to accept (unhappily, and perhaps with an adult beverage in hand) that the Republicans only have two choices right now: a series of slow and messy patches to Obamacare that will gradually push the insurance industry back toward free market solutions, or a quick amputation of Obamacare in its entirety which will accelerate the industry's crash and make single-payer care inevitable.

We don't have to like those choices, but to deny that those are the choices can only lead to disaster.

Menstrual Show

Well, here we go again. Progressives have announced that March 8th is "A Day Without A Woman," a massive protest about women's sacred right to be really angry about something or other, approximately one month after their last massive protest about the same thing. Which suggests that hormones may be involved in the timing, although no man without a death wish is going to say so out loud.

The idea, and we use the term loosely, is to make men (those brutish, testosterone-filled bastards) appreciate women more by making them utterly useless for an entire day. Women are being encouraged to not work (either professionally or in the home), to participate in "pussy hat" marches (with labial flap earmuffs in colder climates), and to "avoid shopping" - which strikes us as ugly and unacceptably sexist behavioral stereotyping.

In fairness, because the "no shopping" rule would be impossible to stick to for 24 consecutive hours, exceptions are being made for the fightin' fems to shop at businesses owned by women or (ahem) persons of color. So social justice warriors can still buy anything on the shopping list from Uncle Ben or Aunt Jemima.

Of course, progressive men (not that we mean to be gender normative, especially when it comes to progressives) are encouraged to participate by "helping with caregiving and domestic chores" for the day. Really?! Frankly, any guys who aren't already helping with caregiving and domestic chores every day aren't men at all - they're just assholes.

So, will the fabric of America be torn asunder by today's protests and, if so, who will do the sewing afterwards? A tough question which we definitely won't voice during the big "I Shouldn't Have To Tell You What You Did Wrong" women's march approximately 28 days from now.

BONUS: EMBED BUGS

The whole question of whether Donald Trump and his team were wiretapped (and the Obama team's denial of same) has just been upended by the latest release of secret documents from Wikileaks.

The whole "Russian hacking" story has been rendered moot by the revelation that the CIA has a program called UMBRAGE which not only allows them to hack computers, but to make it look like the hacking was done by someone else. Like, oh, Russia. Meaning there's no definitive evidence that the real Russia hacked DNC emails at all.

It also turns out that "wiretapping" is soooooooooo last century (which is perhaps why Obama's spokespersons are happy to specifically deny wiretapping) and that the CIA (among others) has the cyber tools to spy on anyone without any need for tapping wires, bugging phones, or planting microphones.

Basically, the intelligence spooks have the technological capability of remotely activating pretty much every phone, smartphone, computer, or smart TV in your home, car, or workplace without you knowing it (and without showing that the device is on) - allowing them to spy using the cameras and microphones you've already surrounded yourself with.

At this very moment, without leaving our office chair, we easily located five video cameras and six microphones (actually fourteen if you count all eight in our Amazon Echo) just waiting to transmit our every utterance to the intelligence overlords in Washington.

Of course, you might say "I have nothing to hide - what do I have to worry about?" We'll be happy to tell you (and thanks for asking). It seems that due to some little "oopsy," the CIA's entire arsenal of cyber-spying tools has gotten into the hands of our nation's enemies and criminal hackers.

Thanks to the "embed bugs" surrounding us, no one is safe from stealth surveillance except the Amish. Which is why if you don't make a regular practice of raising barns, you should be raising hell.

Release The Kracken

A mighty wind's a-blowin'...

There is a sweetly horrifying and breathless moment when your roller coaster car has just finished clackety-clacking skyward up steeply inclined rails, then pauses at the top just long enough for you to mutter "oh, shit" before all Hell breaks loose.

And politically speaking, that's the moment we're experiencing right now.

We won't go into all the (ever-developing) details here, but Donald Trump has accused the Obama administration of extensively wiretapping his campaign with ill intent - and so far, at least some of the evidence suggests that Trump may actually be on to something. Have our nation's intelligence agencies been involved in orchestrated attempts to subvert an election and destabilize the new administration?

As much as we usually roll our eyes at Trump's assertions that something is "yuuuuuge," in this case it's perhaps an understatement - because this is either the biggest political scandal in recent history, or evidence (some might argue further evidence) that our shiny new President is somewhat off his rocker.

Make no mistake, we find it entirely plausible that there could be an effort by the flagrantly corrupt Obama administration to abuse power in order to undermine our election process and potentially take down a sitting President of the United States. And if true, it's the sort of thing which not only demands criminal investigation and prosecution, but suggests that there might be an important secondary use for Trump's wall involving blindfolds.

We encourage Trump to use every legal weapon in his Presidential arsenal to bring the truth to the American people and bring the guilty - no matter how highly placed - to justice.  On the other hand, if that process reveals that Trump's accusations are baseless, we recommend that he seek treatment for "Twitter Tourette's" as soon as possible.

For now, not knowing which way things are going to go, all we can do is hold our hands up in the air, scream, and enjoy the wild ride.