 Greetings everyone and welcome to Progressive Discussion Special Thanksgiving Day Week 2017. I am your host James P. Medana of Megalife21 and unfortunately my long time co-host and mentor the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman has fallen and gotten injured. That's why you do not see me in his office at the Newsletter Censored Research Center in northeast of New Jersey. Instead you see me from the Megalife21 studios, my studios where I do Megalife21 live with guests on location. Like P.T. Barnum once said, the show must go on, okay, so welcome everyone. I will do my best to make the best out of this show. As you can see, this is not a state of the art grassroots, well it is a grassroots revolution type of show. It is not a state of the art studio, like some individuals on the internet that may have sponsors and make money from doing their shows. Okay, we don't owe anyone anything, so this is a completely unscripted uncensored format. Okay, first I want to start off by bashing this particular teabagger right-wing United States Postal Service employee working at a Lodi, New Jersey, Burton County. I had a huge argument with him and a debate. The man was obese, like Chris Christie, except he had a small bald head like from the Beetlejuice movie, remember when the head shrank, but he was obnoxious, reprimanding me, a loud, typical right-wing individual, most likely most likely living paycheck to paycheck without a pot to piss in. Okay, the reason why I had a big fight with him is because all of a sudden the Post Office is making you pay separate for everything. For years, since I was a kid, they always had a roll of scotch tape laying out on the counter. Oh no, you have to buy your own scotch tape. I shipped the package out. I had to buy labels. They don't supply anything. They sell everything, so it's part of our new right-wing Republican-run United States government where they want to privatize everything and they want you to pay out of pocket for every damn fucking thing, which to me sucks. It's the opposite of Northern Europe's democratic socialism where the rich are not on a tax vacation, where the rich pay their fair share in taxes, and you get free good health care and free public university education. And guess what? The rich pay for it as well as they should because the rich, even if the rich pay a high tax rate, the rich will always live high on the hog, like Boss Hog. Okay, they will always live high on the hog. So when they cry about paying taxes, they're shedding crocodile tears in reality. Okay, so this guy is yelling at me saying, no, there's nothing wrong with us making you pay separate for everything. I said, well, ever since I was a kid, you're charging a premium price for shipping parcels. You're not really losing much money at all. You should see how thin the labels are. And of course, Scotch Tape is cheap as hell. I get excellent Scotch Tape at the local dollar stores. So his last comment was, well, you can always go to the dollar store and buy everything. All right. Then I told him, well, by the way, I shipped the package to a friend of mine in California where I had to pay a two day priority shipping. I had to pay extra because I wanted her to receive it as soon as possible. Well, guess what? That package arrived completely shattered. The contents arrived completely shattered. He says, well, that's why we sell insurance here. You know, it is the Nambi Pambi nasal voice. That's why we sell insurance here. Oh, you're selling something else. You want to sell me insurance now? I says, what about hiring competent employees at the United States Postal Service? How about that? So now I'm probably going to go to FedEx. Since I'm fed up, since I'm fed up with the United States Postal Service, the levity bills. Okay. Fed up. Get it? Everything we discuss here on progressive discussions. And this is the Thanksgiving Day week 2017 show. Unfortunately, get well soon, Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman, I dedicate this show to you. Everything we discuss politically on this show is part of our series, Crappitalism in a conch shell. Soak in that conch energy. Yes, King Neptune. If it wasn't for those, those two assholes that live near the Reverend Bill, Dr. Bill, Jerry, and the crazy cat lady Sally, if it wasn't for them yacking away about nonsense, along with his, his stupid ninkum poop friend, Jilda, if it wasn't for the three of them, the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman would not have fallen and sustained the injury. Yes, I know all about it. Yeah. Wait till I see them. I feel like a ram in all three of their skulls together, like Mo Howard on the Three Stooges. From the Three Stooges. Yes. Yes. Well, I'm going to suck it up and make the best out of this. Okay. Thank you. And happy Thanksgiving Day to you, even though Thanksgiving Day is really not for Native Americans because they have no reason to give thanks. Really? Because they got screwed. I was one of the major screw jobs that Indigenous peoples receive. Okay. But I sure love the food on Thanksgiving, so I'm not going to refuse good food in Grog, if you know what I mean. All right. Thank you. That was King Neptune. All right. Next. I just want to show something. I was shopping at the local Aldi market, pretty decent store. They have great values, high quality food. They made, you know, there was an article that said they wanted to compete with Whole Foods. They're far from it. They have a lot of work to do before they catch up with Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon. Okay. But I had to buy this because it was so comical. All right. The Screaming Sicilian. You got that right. The Screaming Sicilian Strombolis. Isn't that cute? Isn't that funny as hell, man? The Screaming Sicilian Stromboli. And let me tell you something. For frozen Italian food, it was outstanding Stromboli. It was a great value. It was worth every penny. So my, I salute with my lucky Blackthorn Irish Shalely imported to the company, as well as to the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman. Okay. And then the back, it says, you know, it says, holy pepperoni. I bet he got that from the old Batman series with Robin. So the Screaming Sicilian. I really did enjoy it. Okay. Hopefully I will receive some real progressive warriors that will be guests on the show because there is an open Google Hangouts link that is posted on our Facebook progressive discussions page for true progressive warriors, not right wing trolls, because I will kick them right off the show immediately. But true progressive warriors that have a Google account, of course, which is Gmail. They want to join. So there's an open link on the Facebook progressive discussions page, which I urge you to go to and click like after you log in. We're also on Twitter under mega life 21. Okay. And of course, YouTube, but you already know that because of the show. We are coming to you a live streamed from YouTube right now. When I do the show with the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman in his office, we are prerecorded. We are not live. So that that's an extra plus by me doing the show from the mega life 21 studio is that we are live streamed in high definition. Okay. I want to bash Medicare. Okay. First, I bash the United States Postal Service. You are here by a member of the chisel is Hall of Shame. Now I would like to send the Medicare, the Republican controlled Medicare, not not if the Democrats weren't controlled or a progressive democratic socialist from our revolution, but one of Bernie Sanders people were controlled. But since the Republicans are controlled, right wing controlled Medicare. The big Medicare, Medigap health insurance policy story. Okay. Here you go. You're in a chisel is Hall of Shame. As you can see, there is the shamrock of authenticity. All right. Get a good shot at this is a an imported lucky black thorn. Shalely. That is also weapons grade two. It's authentic believe me. Excuse me while I read this. No guess yet, huh? You know what I call so called progressives that do not want to appear on video. I call them raisin balls progressives with raisin balls that want to post how brilliant they are on social media day and night, but they won't appear on video. Okay. A gentleman by the name of Jack. No pun intended gentleman Jack from Morris County, New Jersey contacted me and this person is an older gentleman who collects social security disability, which means he has a Medicare card. Well, he called Medicare and this young lady got on the phone and he was looking for a health insurance, a supplemental health insurance that would pay for the 20% that Medicare doesn't cover because Medicare only pays for 80% of procedures, you know, major procedures, which is why we need universal healthcare single payer Medicare for all. Okay. Okay. The woman said that because you are under 65 years of age, because you are 59 years old, your premiums will be very high between like four and $5,000 a year. Okay. And of course, you have the all the major companies that have these Medicare, Medigap, uh, Medigap crap, as I call them policies, you know, United Health Care and Horizon Blue Cross, Blue Shield. Okay. Because he's 59 and he's not 65 years of age, his premiums will be several thousand dollars per year. Uh, but this is the thing that upset me because he is under 65 years old. He is only entitled to one open enrollment for all those years until Jack turns 65 years old. Talk about unfair. Talk about a screw job. Americans have always had open enrollment once per year. But since the Republicans most likely deregulated health insurance companies and all corporations, um, Jack is, uh, is, is only getting one open enrollment, which he missed by the way, because when, when Jack first got social security disability prior to that, the beginning of 2017, prior to getting his Medicare card, Jack had Medicaid with Obamacare, he had a horizon of New Jersey with Medicaid. Okay. As soon as he got the Medicare card, he was booted off of Medicaid. Oh, they, they weren't too shy about booting Jack off and, and, and removing him from his affordable care act. Hold on. When you do live streaming, sometimes the video blurs, I apologize for that. You could blame the Google corporation for that. You know, okay. So Jack is screwed. Jack has no more open enrollment until he reaches 65. So Medicare Medigap is crap under Republicans. Okay. Now I want to just mention because I will be reading something concerning this. Donald Trump picks, uh, former, uh, big pharma drug company executive, Alex Azar of Eli Lilly as the head of a health and human services. Gee, that's like the Fox guarding the henhouse. This is a man who has, um, should I say, uh, price gouge, uh, America's sick people that depended on certain pharmaceutical drugs and jacked up the price because they never allowed the price jacked up the price of pharmaceuticals. This is the, this is the man that will head the department of health and human services. Does it surprise me that corporatist, uh, multi-billionaire, elitist Donald Trump would appoint someone from corporate? Now it doesn't shock me. It doesn't shock me if any Republican appoints a former corporate American executive because they're all about their donors, which happen to come from the top two percent, the elitist, the fat cats. Uh, the United States is a, uh, corporate, a fascist corporate oligarch. Okay. Yes. The elections were rigged to, to, to certain extent, uh, in 2016. Yes, there, there was voter suppression for the lower 98% of the population, especially the poor people of color. Yes. There was voter suppression between gerrymandering and voter IDs. And, and, and technically all you really need is your digital, uh, photo driver's license and, and, and, and, or birth certificate to, to, to give you the right to vote. You don't need to spend extra money, but that's a way to shut the low income people out of the voting process because, for, because the lower 98%, especially low income people, minorities, young people, college, uh, uh, students, uh, women, these individuals are usually, usually registered Democrats. Most Joe Six packs, most Americans are registered Democrats. So when you, when you hinder them from voting, that is an extra vote for a Republican because they will never win any elections. If everyone made it their business to vote for whatever reason, whether you're, you're a party animal and you feel politics is boring to you. If you don't vote, you might as well say you're voting for a Republican. If you do vote, then Republicans will never get elected and the little guy will be taken care of. All right. So the Medicare, Medicare, Medigap health insurance policy is crap. Uh, uh, and to me, uh, keeping good health care away from the lower 98% is part of the, uh, the hidden secret elitist right wing depopulation plan. You saw the episode. Hold on. Blurring out again. It could be sabotage. You saw the episode in the past on Jesse of Ventura's conspiracy theory about the FEMA camps. Well, there are many little sneaky ways that the, uh, the elitist depopulation plan is, uh, in effect is actually happening. So, um, let me, let me entertain you. Let me take a sip of some delicious a mango with passion fruit, no sugar added from all these mixed with filtered water bursting with vitamins. I have a craft beer, but I decided to go with the mango passion fruit. You know, for that, for that RNG autumn Thanksgiving week look, you know, color coordinate the holidays. But don't worry. I'll be back. I'll be back with my craft beer. Most likely a Yenling, either Yenling, uh, Lager or Porter. Okay. Let me, um, read an article here. This is, uh, an article from, uh, Robert Reich, uh, that he brought to the attention, uh, well, it was originally written by, uh, a Rice Thiebold, okay, on November 14th, 2017. Well, 1,500 of them swarmed Capitol Hill to pass the 21st Century Cures Act. Well, Cures Act. Um, okay. The pharmaceutical industry doesn't just contribute to, uh, patient groups or the law makers themselves through campaign contributions to assert influence. It floods the US Capitol with lobbyists. The Tarbell, uh, analysis of a lobbying disclosure has found that the leading, uh, drug makers that make up pharmaceutical research and manufacturers association, uh, and, and the association itself have spent 1.8 billion dollars lobbying the federal government since 1999. The pharmaceutical and health products industry as a whole spent 3.7 billion dollars during the same timeframe. According to the open secrets database maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, this money pays for a fleet of lobbyists who regularly drop in on lawmakers. Oh, and by the way, Jesse Ventura says a politician is not ob, obligated to meet with lobbyists. That's when he, uh, was governor of Minnesota. Uh, the law lawmakers, their staffers and regulators to push legislation, uh, favorable to their clients and to, uh, quash bills their clients consider problematic. Yeah, right. Uh, this list of, um, pharma members includes household names like Pfizer, Merck, Astra, Zeneca and Johnson and Johnson. Pharma itself spent an average of a $17 million on lobbying per year during that period, totally more than 320 million since, uh, 1999. The Tarbell analysis revealed, uh, this is more than all, but a handful of companies and groups according to the open secrets database. And then I'm looking at this graph of money spent on lobbying by pharmaceutical, uh, health products companies. Okay. And it is not just the money the industry spends that gives it, uh, an outsized influence in the legislative and regulatory process. It also helps the people doing the lobby. Dr. Sammy, uh, Al Mishat, a physician and research associate for the watch store group, public citizen described the quote, revolving door unquote, uh, from Capitol Hill to K Street. It is well recognized within the lobbying industry that one of the most effective methods of swaying a government official is by sending in former colleagues to make the client's case, Alan, uh, Al Mishat wrote the pharmaceutical industry, uh, is a bastion for a well connected former policymakers who have gone through the revolving door after a stint in government. This year, Pharma has a team of 164 lobbyists, nearly 72% of whom were once government employees, according to open secrets data. Uh, three lobbyists on Pharma's payroll once served in the highest, uh, rungs of the federal government, uh, Bill Paxson and Ron Klink. Yeah, Colonel Klink, right from Hogan's heroes were members of the US house and John Kyle was a member of the Senate. Okay. Corrupt paid off scumbags is what I call, uh, of all three, Kyle, a once powerful senator from Arizona, a red state, right, is the most recent lawmaker to go through the revolving door. As Senate minority whip, Kyle was one of Washington's most influential lawmakers considering a staunch conservative. That means that means a natural born, uh, bona fide scumbag, of course, Kyle, uh, staunch. Yeah. Uh, Kyle, whose career in Congress span three decades also sat on the Senate's finance subcommittee on healthcare, which makes tax and financing, uh, decisions that affect healthcare stakeholders. After leaving the Senate in 2013, Kyle quickly found a new job at a Covington and a Burling, uh, really a prominent DC firm, uh, where he lists healthcare as one of his specialties. Okay. And excited Kyle said in a 2013 statement, I look forward to working with corporate clients to find solutions that will help their business grow. Of course that's the priority of the right wing, right? Helping businesses grow because these businesses give money to these right wing politicians. When he joined Covington and Burling, the firm was already a favorite among the pharmaceutical industry and one of farmers go to shops since 1970, I'm, I'm sorry, since 1998, pharmaceutical companies have paid Covington and Burling roughly $19 million to lobby on their behalf, making the industry Covington and Burling, Burling's second largest customer. According to a Tarbell analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics, pharmaceutical companies have paid the firm more than oil and gas, finance and insurance companies combined. And since Kyle arrived, the pharmaceutical industry has accounted for a greater share of, uh, Covington and Burling's lobby Tarbell's analysis shows in the past three years, Pharma itself has paid Covington and Burling nearly $3 million more than it has paid any other lobby shop. Similarly, Paxton, a Republican from Buffalo, I'm assuming Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, who helped orchestrate the GOP's takeover of the house in the early 1990s, left Congress and joined a powerful lobbying firm once considered a rising star in his party. Paxton later took, uh, his apparent knack for campaigning and dealmaking to one of DC's top firms at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauser and Fields. For at least the past 15 years, Akin, Gump has been one of the highest earning lobbying firms in the country, according to the Center for Responsive of Politics. Historically only, uh, one other industry has paid Akin, Gump, yeah, Forest Gump, right? More than the pharmaceutical industry, a Tarbell analysis shows. Since 1998, the firm has pulled in more than $37 million lobbying for pharmaceutical companies, nearly $6 million of which came from Pharma. This year, Pharma has paid Akin, Gump $240,000 more than all but two firms on its payroll. Speaking to the Houston Chronicle in 2013, Clink, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, spoke about the close ties he developed over his eight years in Congress. Lobbyists and lawmakers, he said, aren't that different. Maybe, maybe Colonel Clink is a corporate Democrat, you know, a blue dog. Uh, we're all kind of doing the same thing, Clink said then. Think about that. Birds of a feather flocking together, or a flock of parrots of different colors. The fact that I don't have to show up for votes and get to keep the money now is a benefit. Okay, Colonel Clink? In Congress, Clink sat on the influential energy and commerce committee, experienced that, Clink, uh, in his, uh, link, LinkedIn page says has made him a better lobbyist. Okay, probably not working for, for the people, you know, the common man, with the people. As a lobbyist, Clink has used my expertise from my years on the energy and commerce committee to provide opportunities and solve problems for our clients. Clink's firm, Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough is a smaller operation that Covington and Burling or, or Aking Gump, uh, but still, uh, has pulled in more than two million dollars from pharmaceutical companies since 2004. This is a good article that's tied into what I mentioned before. About a third of this has come from Farm. This year, Farmer has paid Clink's firm, Nelson, Mullins, Riley, and Scarborough $90,000. Yet, it's not just high-profile lawmakers affecting, uh, to the influence industry. The vast majority of former government employees, uh, now working at, uh, lobby shops were never senators or representatives, but, uh, congressional and agency staffers. Of Farmers, 108 ex-government employees, for example, 115 were not former congressmen and many were legislative assistants, quote, unquote, or, uh, legislative directors, quote, unquote. Jobs that rarely pay more than $100,000, these staffers are worth far more than that to a, uh, to the biggest lobbying firms and their clients. It's this money and influence that allows the pharmaceutical industry to have an outsized influence on policy decisions, said, uh, uh, Daniel Orwell, uh, who tracks lobbying, uh, activity at the Center for Responsive Politics. Okay, uh, Congress does not hear as often from the little guy, he said, but they do hear from lobbyists on a daily basis, a daily basis. Wow. Okay, um, well, this lobbying power, and I'm looking at a graph showing different corporations, uh, for their political contributions by the top 10 drug industry companies. Okay, uh, Exo- Exo- Exo- Eximus, number one, at, uh, three, three million, five hundred thousand, then this Pfizer had two million dollars and so on and so forth. This lobbying power was brought to bear in 2016 for one of the final major pieces of legislation that Barack Obama signed into law, the 21st Century Cares Act. When Obama signed it into law in December, 2016, it was one of the year's most expensive and most lobbied pieces of legislation. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, more than 1,500 lobbyists worked on the bill. The Cures Act, one, brought support by promising increasing funding to the National Institutes of Health, but buried in the bill's 900-some pages are provisions that critics say will gut, quote unquote, the Food and Drug Administration loosening the agency's regulatory authority and lowering the standards that drugs and medical devices must meet before they can enter the market. Uh, can I say a deregulation? The opposite of what FDR intended. The Act barreled through the 104th Congress and passed with a few dissenting votes cast. In the Senate, Bernie Sanders, independent from Vermont, and Elizabeth Warren accounted for two of the five nays. The others were Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, and Don Whiden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah. Okay, I'm very proud that Oregon and Washington has become a very progressive state, including Minnesota, very proud of that, and Colorado. Let's not forget, okay. Some doctors denounced the Cures Act, including one oncologist who told the health news review that, 10 years from now, someone with a cancer diagnosis will be worse off with this bill. Yeah, sure. People will be exposed to more things that don't work, don't work, or that are ignored by the establishment. He said, because the studies will be inadequate before products go to market. Oh, really? The studies will be inadequate. I suppose all those pharmaceuticals that are recalled receive lots of research and studies, but the millions spent on lobbying spoke far louder than the bill's ban of distractors, and the roughly 1,600 lobbyists working on behalf of nearly 460 groups far outnumbered them. The 21st Century Cures Act is emblematic of the way laws get passed in Washington today. Money is power, and no sector has more of both than the pharmaceutical industry. Yeah, you can throw a big oil in here, too. Put simply, all both said, pharmaceuticals is by far the industry spending the most on influencing policy in Washington, and then there are the high costs of drugs, of course. Let me check and see what activity we have here. Ah, look at that. Nobody wants to, no progressive warrior wants to be a guest on this week's progressive discussions. Raisin balls. Raisin balls. Shame on every one of yous. Seriously. Okay, I want to bring up something on the tax bill. Of course, the tax bill that arranges it, so the top 2%, continue their taxification, and actually their taxification is enhanced by the Republicans. Okay, let me check this one out. Oh, this one is by Robert Reich. Okay. November 16, 2017. The GOP tax bill is everything that's wrong with our democracy. The Republican plan will hurt the poor, enrich the wealthy, and make GOP campaign donors very happy. Well, I should not surprise you. Okay, before I start reading this, I'm going to need another drink. Mango and passion fruit. Unsweetened. This is Thanksgiving day week 2017. On progressive discussions. I'm James P. Madonna of Megalife21, coming to you from the Megalife21 Studios. I don't know, I don't think I did this, but Seven Lucky Bells, for this week's progressive discussions, and those Seven Lucky Bells are Get Well Bells to my co-host and mentor, the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman, who is currently injured, and hopefully he will be back next Saturday, where we can resume our show from his office. Okay. Let me see if any progressive warriors decided to jump on. None. Raisin balls. You people are despicable and you make me sick. You nauseate me with your inactivity and not being proactive. You really are pussies, without a shower of a death. I don't need the chaleli to wake you up and smack some sense into you. All I need is the old pot of beans, the back of my hand. You should be ashamed of yourselves. You're not progressive warriors. You really should be smacked around by yours truly, James P. Madonna. I'm really serious. You could take that to the bank. Okay. Back to the article by Robert Reich, where happens to be a progressive warrior. Selling the Trump Republican tax plan should be awkward for an administration that has made patriotism its central theme, the era of right patriotism, and draining out the swamp. Meanwhile, the administration is the swamp. That's because patriotism isn't mostly about saluting the flag and standing during the national anthem. It's about taking a fair share of the burden of keeping America going. But the tax plan gives American corporations a $2 trillion tax break at a time when they're enjoying record profits and stashing unprecedented amounts of cash in offshore tax shelters. And it gives America's wealthiest citizens trillions more when the richest 1% now hold a record of 38.6% of the nation's total wealth up from 37.7% a decade ago. The reason Republicans give for enacting this plan is supply side a trickle down nonsense. Yeah, more like pissle down from the dickle down. Because in reality, the prosperity of a corporation really pools at the top. And it's like a giant wine glass. As soon as the wine, the red wine gets to the top before it overflows, the CEOs just replace it with a larger wine glass. The real reason is payback to the GOP's mega donors. Gee, how come that's not a surprise? A few Republicans are starting to admit this. Oh, yeah, they arrogantly rub it in your face and laugh at you because the suckers keep on reelecting them. All those evangelical, zealot religious freaks keep on reelecting them in all them doll red states. Last week, Gary Cohn, Trump's lead economic advisor conceded in an interview that the most excited group out there are big CEOs about our tax plan. Oh, yeah, Satan's number one soldiers, the corporate American CEO, in my opinion. A Republican representative, Chris Collins admitted that my donors are basically saying, get it done or don't ever call me again. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned that if Republicans fail to pass tax reform, is it really tax reform, Lindsey Graham? Oh, the financial contributions will stop. Tax reform. You see how Republicans use positive phrases for very negative programs and schemes. Republican mega donors view the tax payback as they do any other investment. When they bankroll Trump and the GOP, they expected a good return. The biggest likely beneficiaries are visually investing in an additional $43 million to pressure specific members of Congress to pass it, according to the Wall Street Journal. They include the 45th committee founded by billionaire casino oligarch Sheldon Allison and Todd Ricketts, whose family owns the Chicago Cubs and the Koch Brothers groups, Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners. Yeah, Americans probably the top 2% of Americans, not the lower 98% of them. They're not doing this out of love of America, they're doing it out of love of money. Well, of course, money's their God and the bank is their church. It's idolatry is what it is to these counterfeit Christians, the love of money. It is idolatry. How do you think they got so wealthy in the first place? As more of the nation's wealth has shifted to the top over the past three decades, major recipients have poured some of it into politics, buying themselves tax cuts, special subsidies, bailouts, lenient antitrust enforcement, favorable bankruptcy rules, extended intellectual property protection and other laws that add to their wealth, all of which have given them more clout to get additional legal changes that enlarge their wealth even more. 40 years ago, the estate tax was paid by 139,000 states according to the nonpartisan tax policy center. By the year 2000, it was paid by 52,000. This year it will be paid by just 5,500 states. Under the house tax plan, it will be eliminated altogether. Why do Americans pay more for pharmaceuticals than the citizens of every other advanced economy? Because big pharma has altered the laws in its favor. Why do we pay more for internet service than most other nations? Because big cables, political clout, big cable, like big agra, big oil, right? Why can payday lenders get away with a payday robbery? The political hefts of big banks multiply these examples across the economy, and you get a huge hidden upward redistribution from the paychecks of average working people and the poor to top executives and investors. All this is terrible for the American economy. More and better jobs depend on increasing demand for goods and services. This must come from the middle class and poor because the rich spend a far smaller share of their after tax income. I've been talking about this for years. Yet the middle class and poor have steadily lost purchasing power. Partly as a result, a relatively low share of the nation's working age population is employed today, and the wages of the typical worker have been stuck in the mud. In this case, it'll be the mud of the drain swamp. What happens when you drain a swamp? All the bottom feeders are left at the bottom. The Republican tax plan will make all this worse by burdening the middle class and the poor even more. A slew of analysis, including Congress's own joint committee, on taxation show that the GOP plan will raise taxes on many middle class families. It will also require cuts in government programs that middle and lower income Americans depend on, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the plan will almost certainly explode the national debt, eventually causing many middle class and poor families to pay higher interests on their auto loans, mortgages, and credit cards. I don't care whether the top executives of big corporations, Wall Street moguls, and heirs to vast fortunes salute the flag and stand for the national anthem, but they enjoy all the advantages of being American, as they do. That's how they're able to amass their fortune and prosperity. Most couldn't have got to where they are in any other country. They have a patriotic duty to take on a fair share of the burden of keeping America going, and Trump and his enablers in Congress have a patriotic responsibility to make them outstanding to readings, especially this one, right on the money, Robert, right on the money. Well, still no progressive warriors that want to go on video, but they sure love to type. They sure love to type and post comments on Facebook and Twitter and show how brilliant they are. Okay, but the magic question is, progressive warriors, do you vote at every major election, major meaning on a county, state, and federal? I mean, I was never a big fan of local politics, but local politics with its nepotism and cronyism and corruption, well, now it's in the big time now. It's not just your borough, your town that you live in. It's across the board now that your phony, fake, counterfeit Christian Republicans constantly get elected and reelected that all you brain cell deficient people that are living out of yonder in demdaw red states keep on re-electing like Wolf County, Kentucky, people living in shacks without a pot to piss in that re-elected turtle face, the ugly old turtle face Mitch McConnell. And then those despicable right-wing assholes living up north in Wisconsin that re-elected Paul Ryan, some up at face Paul Ryan, and re-elected Scott Walker as their governor. You should take a lesson, Wisconsin, from your neighbor, Minnesota, which is doing really well, with a great progressive democratic governor. And I also would like to salute California's Governor Jerry Brown. I would like to salute progressive states Colorado, Oregon, and Washington for making marijuana legalized across the board, both recreational and medical marijuana. I would like to also salute New Jerseyans who finally had their brain cells stimulated and voted in what seems to be a progressive Democrat, new governor, Phil Murphy. Good job, because Phil Murphy wants to legalize recreational marijuana as one of his first agendas. That's a sign of being progressive to me. I'm surprised Vermont. Honestly, I thought Vermont was going to be the very first grassroots revolution progressive state ever to legalize medical, recreational marijuana, and prostitution. Well, it didn't shock me that it was Nevada. But then again, Nevada, I believe, doesn't have legalized recreational marijuana, but they have legalized prostitution. I don't understand. All these things don't make sense. It's all bizarro world, folks. You would think that a state like Nevada who has legalized prostitution would have legalized marijuana across the board, but not really. And you would think Vermont would be the first. I don't know what's going on. It's weird. It's strange. I think it would be great if we had more states gradually entering the grassroots revolution progressive society or progressive world. I want to salute the great work being done by our revolution. Jeff Weaver and Senator Bernie Sanders, great job. Keep up the good work with your live stream videos and your articles online. We need you desperately as a form of underground media. Oh, we're approaching the bewitching hour. Almost one hour already since I've been on the air streaming live at progressive discussions from the MegaLife 21 studio here in my neck of the woods. As you can see, I am color coordinated. I have my my autumn lumberjack shirt on red, matching my my lovely democratic socialist red background with the red over here in the old Yankee Doodle Dandy. The real America, okay, which represents the original real United States Constitution that is in serious trouble because the fascists want to get rid of it all. But I just want to banter a little bit before I go off the air. You know, I want to smack around, do a little bitch lapping of progressives that are on social media. You make me sick. You really do. First of all, I hope the guy you vote at every single major election because that is one of the most, if not the most important right that you have as an American is your ability to vote and elect people. I know, I know the democratic primaries in 2016 were rigged. But guess what? Bernie Sanders did win a whole bunch of states that he did not originally expect to win. He also did not originally expect to have the asses of the masses and the legions of people showing up at his rallies compared to the mere pittance that showed up at everyone else's rallies. That was a surprise to him. He also was shocked at to receive so much money and donations for his campaign. The only problem is at the end when he did not win the nomination, which I'm not surprised, he was so afraid that Donald Trump would get elected if he ran as an independent that he did what he did. I mean, not thinking that the legions would vote for him anyway, if he ran as an independent, that's what would happen in reality. But he was so afraid that Donald Trump would win the election. Meanwhile, Donald Trump did win the election. So you're living the nightmare. We're all living the nightmare. But before 4pm Eastern Standard Time rolls around, I just want to remind everyone that even though Democrats and Progressives won nationwide this past November 2017, which I am very happy about, it's still one down and two to go. Next November, November of 2018, is an extremely important election time because many of the Senate and congressional seats are up for election and reelection. So make sure you don't let any right wingers in your state prevent you from getting to the polls and make sure that you making your business to vote, even if you're somebody who likes to drink and get high and party and is not interested in politics, sacrifice your hedonism for that one day next November. Don't be selfish. Sacrifice your hedonism for that one day. It only takes like me, for instance. I'm like not even five minutes from the polls, the grammar school where I vote. I'm just a few minutes away. I go in there. I bullshit with people I know that are volunteering in there. So it takes me a little longer. But all in all, my voting usually occurs within 15 minutes. Counting me bullshitting with people I know. Now, if I didn't know anybody in there and I just went in, I'd be in and out like five minutes. So it really doesn't take much time out of your precious life. You selfish Americans that are not interested in politics because it's worth the investment for everyone to vote because when the bottom 98% votes, you are assured to have a moderate to progressive United States of America which work for we the people, the little guy, the bottom 98% and not the fat cats. It's very important. Now, am I surprised that I had nobody clicking on the special Google Hangouts guest link and becoming and going video with me? I'm not surprised. I'm very disappointed. But I'm not surprised because you're really fucking pussies. You really do have racing balls. The people that like to text and don't want to show your face. Now, how ugly could you progressives be? I'm not going to call you progressive warriors because otherwise, you would have hopped aboard the show. I'm not talking about those that are busy at work. Some of you have jobs on a Saturday, so your excuse. I don't want you to get in trouble with the boss. I'm not in that position because I'm retired and I really never had a boss or supervisor that I like the 100%. They all piss me off because they're part of the capitalist system. They want more out of you for less. It's like going to an old-fashioned outdoor flea market and you got people that want to banter with a haggle on the price and all that. Same thing with working for some company. They would love to replace you with a cyborg or an android robot or a free slave labor in a privatized prison, which is a right-wing republican thing or a corporative democrat thing. But if you keep the United States and your state left-wing controls, either democratic, socialist, progressive, or even a moderate or slightly left-wing democrat, you will live a better life if you're part of the 98%, the bottom 98%. Because the middle class has been unfairly carrying the income tax burden for over 30 years since Ronald Reagan changed it and put the top 2% on the taxification. The middle class is mainstream. The middle class are the mom-and-pop stores. The middle class are the professionals. The middle class is mainstream, not Wall Street. The middle class makes up the backbone of the U.S. economy and the backbone of American consumers are also the middle class. The backbone of the United States in total is the middle class. So why should the middle class continue to carry or why should they ever carry the tax burden? It's unfair and it's detrimental to the United States. And remember, when the billionaire class, when the top 2%, fairly pay their fair share in taxes like they did in the old days, remember, they still live high on the hog. They still live the good life. So do not feel sorry for them. Do not believe their lies. Do not be affected by their constant whining like babies or their crocodile tears, which are phony tears. Tears of a clown and no one's around or when everyone's around. And when you listen to a Republican conservative politician, it's like listening to a carnival snake oil charlatan or huckster. When you listen to an evangelical zealot evangelists, especially a one that controls a mega church on TV that has their own television show, like a Joel Olstein or Pat Robertson or any of them. You're also listening to a carnival snake oil huckster like Mr. Haney on that old show Green Acres. Remember, Eddie Arnold and Ava Gabor, okay. So that's where we're at. So I want to say to everyone have a pleasant Thanksgiving day this week, 2017. For you nice people out there that are not Native American, that are not Indigenous people. I'm sure you have good intentions, have a good holiday. For you, for you other Caucasians that don't feel compassion and empathy for Indigenous people, I hope you have a very bad Thanksgiving Day 2017 week. But other than that, get well soon Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman and a shout out to my dear friend Natalia Rodriguez and my dear friend in San Diego, California. A shout out to McVon Raven, my administrator. A shout out to Anthony Laura Mario Petrus Kantheson and Mr. Nathan Bates of Tennessee and Glenn Bean. Glenn Bean of Bean, I know any spells that he pronounces it in a different way of Wisconsin. So we'll see it. God willing, I'll be with the Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman next Saturday. Bye-bye. Happy Holidays today.