SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
RECOMMENDED...
Fellow scumbag so-called Senators Ted Cruz and Steve Daines celebrate spite-blocking health care for sick and dying veterans. Screenshot
Way To Go, Guys: Republicans Kill Veterans and Then Fist-Bump To Celebrate, Because Republicans
Damn. You think they just can't go any lower and then...Last week, not only did GOP scumbags, peeved that Dems out-McConnelled them, spite-block health care for military veterans deathly ill from exposure to toxic burn pits while fighting our mad imperial wars; new video shows that, after their petty, potentially lethal hissy-fit, Sens. (sic) Cruz and Daines bumped fists on the Senate floor to applaud their smarmy own-the-libs props. Well-played, soulless cretins. One helluva heartfelt, "Deny, Delay, Hope You Die" thank you for your service. The fiery Jon Stewart: "Motherfuckers."
Jul 30, 2022
Damn. You think they just can't go any lower and then...a gruesome coda to last week's hissy fit thrown by vindictive Republicans peeved that Democrats managed, this once, to out-McConnell McConnell and get what they want. If you were (understandably) under a rock: After Dems wrangled Manchin into doing his job and helping pass a sweeping $740 billion package to raise taxes on the rich and invest in saving the planet from fiery destruction, petty Repubs whose feelings were hurt looked around for someone else to hurt, decided veterans dying of cancer from exposure to toxic chemicals in burn pits while fighting our - well, really their - mad imperial wars were the perfect target, and spite-blocked a vital health care bill for them that had already passed the Senate 84-14 but got sent back for a one-sentence correction. "Ha!," evidently said 41 eager "stab-vets-in-the-back" Repubs who couldn't abide Democrats actually getting something useful done despite their best, perfidious obstructionist efforts. "This is our chance to own the libs by letting more of those loser, sucker, desperately ill veterans who can't afford cancer treatments die." So they voted to.
The PACT Act they refused to pass was the "Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act." It was named for Heath Robinson, a former Iron Man athlete and medic with the Ohio Army National Guard who served 13 months in Iraq; in 2016, ten years after coming home, he began feeling ill and was diagnosed with a rare cancer and autoimmune disorder from exposure to the enormous, smoldering pits in combat zones where the military burned their waste - chemical weapons, human remains, pesticides, paint cans, computer hardware, fuel. Robinson died in 2020 at age 39, leaving behind a wife and six-year-old daughter; he was one of an unknown number of sick veterans, dating back to victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam, who've spent years and sometimes decades fighting the VA for recognition and health care. The story of their arduous journey is told in the documentary "Delay, Deny, Hope You Die:" - a bitter slogan among vets - "How America Poisoned Its Soldiers." The PACT Act, insisted Sen. John Tester, was about "righting a wrong that has been ignored too damn long."
In the Senate after the bill failed, Tester slammed the "eleventh-hour act of cowardice" by vengeful GOPers: "People have lost their minds." Outside, an incendiary Jon Stewart memorably went off, calling out "these motherfuckers (who) haven't met a war they won't sign up for (and) haven't met a veteran they won't screw over." And then the coda: The next day, newly released video from shortly after the vote captured the "truly shameless stuff" that was Sen. (sic) Ted Cruz and Sen. (ditto) Steve Daines bumping fists amidst ill-begotten GOP handshakes to celebrate their own, smarmy, well-played props for outsmarting dying vets they'll still sanctimoniously thank for their service next Veterans' Day, soulless cretins that they are. But more and more fed-up Americans have their number: Trending were the furious hashtags #RepublicansKillVeterans, #RepublicansAreAHoles and #VeteransDeserveBetter. After the "despicable" fist-bump, Stewart was back on it too, sometimes apoplectically - on his own feed - and sometimes patiently - on Sunday talk shows - calling bullshit on GOP "mumbo-jumbo" in the wake of their calumny and cruelty.
Reiterating PACT already breezed through a Senate ordinarily so divided "you couldn't pass an 'Ice Cream Is Delicious Act,' Stewart ripped the hypocrisy of Pennsylvania Patrick Toomey, who ranted about a Dem spending "trick" that doesn't exist: 100% of the bill goes to veterans' health care so WTF. "Congratulations Senator Toomey. You successfully used the Byzantine Senate rules to keep sick veterans suffering!! Kudos!" Stewart wrote, then riffed on the infamous fist bump and smug handshakes. "I'm sure you'll celebrate by kicking a dog or punching a baby...or whatever terrible people do for fun!!" He kept at it when "Theodore" Cruz also babbled about "budgetary tricks," "discretionary," "mandatory," yada yada. Stewart hammered at the facts with slowly rising wrath. "Hold on now, what Ted Cruz is describing is...inaccurate....not true....bullshit." He goes on to explain what isn't in the bill - slush fund, golden toilets - and what is: veterans' health care, period. Neither Dems nor "spending fairies" added a word to what already passed - and what Cruz voted for. "It's the same fucking bill," said Stewart. "This is bullshit." Pan to slimy Cruz thanking veterans, then bumping fists. Stewart, again, with the ugly bottom line: "Motherfucker."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Abby Zimet
Abby Zimet has written CD's Further column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, she moved to the Maine woods in the early 70s, where she spent a dozen years building a house, hauling water and writing before moving to Portland. Having come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has long been involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues. Email: azimet18@gmail.com
Damn. You think they just can't go any lower and then...a gruesome coda to last week's hissy fit thrown by vindictive Republicans peeved that Democrats managed, this once, to out-McConnell McConnell and get what they want. If you were (understandably) under a rock: After Dems wrangled Manchin into doing his job and helping pass a sweeping $740 billion package to raise taxes on the rich and invest in saving the planet from fiery destruction, petty Repubs whose feelings were hurt looked around for someone else to hurt, decided veterans dying of cancer from exposure to toxic chemicals in burn pits while fighting our - well, really their - mad imperial wars were the perfect target, and spite-blocked a vital health care bill for them that had already passed the Senate 84-14 but got sent back for a one-sentence correction. "Ha!," evidently said 41 eager "stab-vets-in-the-back" Repubs who couldn't abide Democrats actually getting something useful done despite their best, perfidious obstructionist efforts. "This is our chance to own the libs by letting more of those loser, sucker, desperately ill veterans who can't afford cancer treatments die." So they voted to.
The PACT Act they refused to pass was the "Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act." It was named for Heath Robinson, a former Iron Man athlete and medic with the Ohio Army National Guard who served 13 months in Iraq; in 2016, ten years after coming home, he began feeling ill and was diagnosed with a rare cancer and autoimmune disorder from exposure to the enormous, smoldering pits in combat zones where the military burned their waste - chemical weapons, human remains, pesticides, paint cans, computer hardware, fuel. Robinson died in 2020 at age 39, leaving behind a wife and six-year-old daughter; he was one of an unknown number of sick veterans, dating back to victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam, who've spent years and sometimes decades fighting the VA for recognition and health care. The story of their arduous journey is told in the documentary "Delay, Deny, Hope You Die:" - a bitter slogan among vets - "How America Poisoned Its Soldiers." The PACT Act, insisted Sen. John Tester, was about "righting a wrong that has been ignored too damn long."
In the Senate after the bill failed, Tester slammed the "eleventh-hour act of cowardice" by vengeful GOPers: "People have lost their minds." Outside, an incendiary Jon Stewart memorably went off, calling out "these motherfuckers (who) haven't met a war they won't sign up for (and) haven't met a veteran they won't screw over." And then the coda: The next day, newly released video from shortly after the vote captured the "truly shameless stuff" that was Sen. (sic) Ted Cruz and Sen. (ditto) Steve Daines bumping fists amidst ill-begotten GOP handshakes to celebrate their own, smarmy, well-played props for outsmarting dying vets they'll still sanctimoniously thank for their service next Veterans' Day, soulless cretins that they are. But more and more fed-up Americans have their number: Trending were the furious hashtags #RepublicansKillVeterans, #RepublicansAreAHoles and #VeteransDeserveBetter. After the "despicable" fist-bump, Stewart was back on it too, sometimes apoplectically - on his own feed - and sometimes patiently - on Sunday talk shows - calling bullshit on GOP "mumbo-jumbo" in the wake of their calumny and cruelty.
Reiterating PACT already breezed through a Senate ordinarily so divided "you couldn't pass an 'Ice Cream Is Delicious Act,' Stewart ripped the hypocrisy of Pennsylvania Patrick Toomey, who ranted about a Dem spending "trick" that doesn't exist: 100% of the bill goes to veterans' health care so WTF. "Congratulations Senator Toomey. You successfully used the Byzantine Senate rules to keep sick veterans suffering!! Kudos!" Stewart wrote, then riffed on the infamous fist bump and smug handshakes. "I'm sure you'll celebrate by kicking a dog or punching a baby...or whatever terrible people do for fun!!" He kept at it when "Theodore" Cruz also babbled about "budgetary tricks," "discretionary," "mandatory," yada yada. Stewart hammered at the facts with slowly rising wrath. "Hold on now, what Ted Cruz is describing is...inaccurate....not true....bullshit." He goes on to explain what isn't in the bill - slush fund, golden toilets - and what is: veterans' health care, period. Neither Dems nor "spending fairies" added a word to what already passed - and what Cruz voted for. "It's the same fucking bill," said Stewart. "This is bullshit." Pan to slimy Cruz thanking veterans, then bumping fists. Stewart, again, with the ugly bottom line: "Motherfucker."
Abby Zimet
Abby Zimet has written CD's Further column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, she moved to the Maine woods in the early 70s, where she spent a dozen years building a house, hauling water and writing before moving to Portland. Having come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has long been involved in women's, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues. Email: azimet18@gmail.com
Damn. You think they just can't go any lower and then...a gruesome coda to last week's hissy fit thrown by vindictive Republicans peeved that Democrats managed, this once, to out-McConnell McConnell and get what they want. If you were (understandably) under a rock: After Dems wrangled Manchin into doing his job and helping pass a sweeping $740 billion package to raise taxes on the rich and invest in saving the planet from fiery destruction, petty Repubs whose feelings were hurt looked around for someone else to hurt, decided veterans dying of cancer from exposure to toxic chemicals in burn pits while fighting our - well, really their - mad imperial wars were the perfect target, and spite-blocked a vital health care bill for them that had already passed the Senate 84-14 but got sent back for a one-sentence correction. "Ha!," evidently said 41 eager "stab-vets-in-the-back" Repubs who couldn't abide Democrats actually getting something useful done despite their best, perfidious obstructionist efforts. "This is our chance to own the libs by letting more of those loser, sucker, desperately ill veterans who can't afford cancer treatments die." So they voted to.
The PACT Act they refused to pass was the "Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act." It was named for Heath Robinson, a former Iron Man athlete and medic with the Ohio Army National Guard who served 13 months in Iraq; in 2016, ten years after coming home, he began feeling ill and was diagnosed with a rare cancer and autoimmune disorder from exposure to the enormous, smoldering pits in combat zones where the military burned their waste - chemical weapons, human remains, pesticides, paint cans, computer hardware, fuel. Robinson died in 2020 at age 39, leaving behind a wife and six-year-old daughter; he was one of an unknown number of sick veterans, dating back to victims of Agent Orange in Vietnam, who've spent years and sometimes decades fighting the VA for recognition and health care. The story of their arduous journey is told in the documentary "Delay, Deny, Hope You Die:" - a bitter slogan among vets - "How America Poisoned Its Soldiers." The PACT Act, insisted Sen. John Tester, was about "righting a wrong that has been ignored too damn long."
In the Senate after the bill failed, Tester slammed the "eleventh-hour act of cowardice" by vengeful GOPers: "People have lost their minds." Outside, an incendiary Jon Stewart memorably went off, calling out "these motherfuckers (who) haven't met a war they won't sign up for (and) haven't met a veteran they won't screw over." And then the coda: The next day, newly released video from shortly after the vote captured the "truly shameless stuff" that was Sen. (sic) Ted Cruz and Sen. (ditto) Steve Daines bumping fists amidst ill-begotten GOP handshakes to celebrate their own, smarmy, well-played props for outsmarting dying vets they'll still sanctimoniously thank for their service next Veterans' Day, soulless cretins that they are. But more and more fed-up Americans have their number: Trending were the furious hashtags #RepublicansKillVeterans, #RepublicansAreAHoles and #VeteransDeserveBetter. After the "despicable" fist-bump, Stewart was back on it too, sometimes apoplectically - on his own feed - and sometimes patiently - on Sunday talk shows - calling bullshit on GOP "mumbo-jumbo" in the wake of their calumny and cruelty.
Reiterating PACT already breezed through a Senate ordinarily so divided "you couldn't pass an 'Ice Cream Is Delicious Act,' Stewart ripped the hypocrisy of Pennsylvania Patrick Toomey, who ranted about a Dem spending "trick" that doesn't exist: 100% of the bill goes to veterans' health care so WTF. "Congratulations Senator Toomey. You successfully used the Byzantine Senate rules to keep sick veterans suffering!! Kudos!" Stewart wrote, then riffed on the infamous fist bump and smug handshakes. "I'm sure you'll celebrate by kicking a dog or punching a baby...or whatever terrible people do for fun!!" He kept at it when "Theodore" Cruz also babbled about "budgetary tricks," "discretionary," "mandatory," yada yada. Stewart hammered at the facts with slowly rising wrath. "Hold on now, what Ted Cruz is describing is...inaccurate....not true....bullshit." He goes on to explain what isn't in the bill - slush fund, golden toilets - and what is: veterans' health care, period. Neither Dems nor "spending fairies" added a word to what already passed - and what Cruz voted for. "It's the same fucking bill," said Stewart. "This is bullshit." Pan to slimy Cruz thanking veterans, then bumping fists. Stewart, again, with the ugly bottom line: "Motherfucker."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.