More Shapiro Nonsense (The Ephrom Josine Show Ep. 151)

2018 Roundup

Well, 2018 has come to an end. And with the government shutdown, Democrats taking the House, and much more, I say this year has been . . . something.

The government shutdown has been going on for 10 days. Luckily, Donald's government shutdown is so unpopular, he has to blame everyone but himself. A recent poll found that only half of all Americans surveyed blamed the man who was given a spending bill that could have stopped the shutdown and didn't sign it. Or, only half of all Americans blamed the person who caused the shutdown.

Of course, the shutdown was over Donald Trump wanting taxpayers to fund his wall. I would give Trump credit for following through on his campaign promises if he didn't also promise us that Mexico would pay for the wall. What happened to that? Oh, and if the promise wasn't really stupid. 

Going into 2020, things are only getting worse for Democrats. Elizebeth Warren announced her run unofficially today. I think she would be a positive influence on the race, even if she's only one-half correct that's still better than who else I'm seeing.

CNN did a segment today on how Bernie can't win because he's an old white man. Despite the fact that our current president is an old white man (the spray tan makes it hard to tell, I know). They also tried to call him a pervert, although when he's running against the grouper in chief, I don't really think that matters all that much. 

Seriously though, let's just all take a minute and be happy Beto O'Rourke won't be president. All the polls seem to say it will either be Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders. I like Biden, I think he was a very good Vice President under Obama and a pretty decent Senator, even if he came in just at the time when Democrats couldn't figure out how they should feel about race. Rather either of them will run is still up in the air, but important news is where the polls line up.

Of course, CNN is trying to make Kamla Harris 2020 a thing. It's not going to be a thing, but CNN really doesn't seem to care. They've put her as there most likely to be the nomination for two months in a row, despite no poll done by anyone that isn't CNN saying this. 

Of course, the only candidate who has has a snowball's chance in hell is Richard Ojeda. He's a good center-left candidate, but he's not bad. He believes in healthcare for all, universal education, and increased taxes on the rich.

So what will happen in 2019? Let's find out together.

2020 Guesses (The Ephrom Josine Show Ep. 148)

Make Sure Your Representative Represents You (The Midterm Special Part 2 Of 4)

Note: This is the second of four columns that will be released every Monday leading up to the 2018 midterm elections.

A recent gallop pole found that independent senator Bernie Sanders is the only politician in the US to have an approval rating over 50%. Morning Consultant also found Bernie Sanders to be the most popular Senator in the country as of July 2018 with a 63% approval rating. 

Meanwhile, the least approved senator is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell with a disapproval rating of 56%. Others on that list include the moderate Republican Jeff Flake, the party line pusher Marco Rubio, and the infamous blue dog Joe Manchin.

What I find most interesting is that the most disliked Senator, isn't just the leader of one of the two political parties, but also the leader of the party with the most senate seats. Why is this? Because Americans don't elect representatives that actually represent them.  


McConnell won his 2014 election with 56.2% of the vote from the state of Kentucky. This is despite only 30% of Americans approving of his performance as a Senator. Of course the senate elections aren't federal so it shouldn't be 1 to 1 approval and votes, but the gap is clear.

Meanwhile, a liked senator like Sanders won in 2012 by a vote of 71%, and has an approval rating of 63%. It also seems that when a senator is more progressive the approval rating seems to be much more similar to the percent of people they were elected by. 

So make sure whoever your representative is actually represents you, stop having these really weird disparities like the ones that currently exist in the senate.  

So . . . Let's Talk About Elizabeth Warren

Ever since the end of the 2016 election, many have thought that Senator Elizabeth Warren would be a potential front-runner for 2020. After all, after Bernie nearly won it only makes sense that the second most progressive Senator should give it a shot. Heck, after Hillary Clinton it seems like more women should give it a shot. 

This theory is also helped by her introducing a bill that would help regulate money in politics. If you remember, that was Bernie Sander's main campaign promise. Along with universal healthcare and college, both of which Warren also supports.

However, could Warren beat, not only Donnie but also the other Democrats? The answer is a giant maybe.

First off, in order for this to work, Bernie cannot run. Progressives prefer Bernie to Warren over 4 times over. This is mainly because, to her own fault, Warren backed Hillary over Bernie. This is something that just can't be ignored.

Here's another fact: In order for Warren to win, no conservative Democrats must run. Why is that? Because of the fact that conservative Democrats are still angry at Warren because she's part of the "Bernie wing" despite never backing Bernie. 

That's what makes Warren's run for president a particularly low shot. She's in that award place where, while she is far from a centrist, she cannot survive anyone other than her running for president.

Between the 4 most likely 2020 Democrats [Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Eric Holder, and Elizbeth Warren] Warren is clearly the longest shot. Mind you, that doesn't make her the worst candidate. In fact, her being president wouldn't be something I'm against. However, I'm just calling it as I see it.      

If Democrats Want To Win They Should Listen To People Who Actually Want To Help Them

I should start this column by making one thing very clear: I am a Democrat. I have been a Democrat my entire political life. I want Democrats to win elections, take back the government, and implement good ideas. Therefore listening to someone like me makes sense. I want to fix the party and have them win more than anything because if Democrats win I win.

However, as a loyal Democrat, I must say that I don't trust Republicans. That should be obvious, but Democrats don't seem to agree with me. Considering they seem to be scared of people like "socialist" Alexandra Ocasio Cortez or "comrade" Bernie Sanders. Despite the fact basically, no communists actually support Sanders or Cortez. 

Now allow me to give you a hypothetical. Imagine if I wrote in 2010 a column called "I Ain't Entirely Sure About This Tea Party Thing". After the 2010 midterms, when due to the Tea Party Republicans won 63 House seats and 6 Senate seats, I would have looked ridiculous. OR I would have done this on purpose because I don't want Republicans to win. 

This is why I think CBS published a column comparing Cortez to Sarah Palin. This was written by Micheal Graham. A radio host who is a self-described conservative. Who wants to bet he voted for Palin?

Look, maybe we shouldn't go towards the populist left wing. However, the person who tells us that shouldn't be a conservative. It should be us, fellow Democrats. I don't think that's too much to ask for.         

If The Dems Want Us To Vote . . .

Going into 2020, one thing is very clear. The Democrats don't seem to want to win in 2020. I know it's only 2018 and the midterms haven't happened yet, but you should still be concerned.

Donald is already campaigning. Mind you, President protectionist makes his flags in China, but still.

This should be the easiest election to win in United States history. Yet, as the first round of presidential candidates shows up, it looks more and more like they're going to give the President a second term.

To be clear: I will endorse whoever the Democrats put up in 2020. Even Zeus The Guitar Lord, a one-off Spongebob charter, would be a better president than Donald Trump. However, that doesn't mean everyone will. Tons of people will be willing to reelect a failed president because the other person is bland. 

Let's see who they have:

Sanders is still more than likely going to run. Him being a Senator and releasing a new Anti-Trump book is already proof of that. This is also helped by the fact that he's the most popular politician in America.

However, he will still be 80 during his presidential inauguration. Over a full year of the average US lifespan. Even with a 70-something-year-old president, people will still be worried rather or not it's too old. Of course, many Bernie supporters would love to take years off their own lives to give Bernie more of his own, but we aren't even close to their yet. 

Biden is someone that this blog has already talked about. So I'll make it short. He's the old ranting man of the Democratic Party. He's also one of the blandest white men in all of US politics, and that's saying something.    

However, a new man has entered the race. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you former Attorney General Eric Holder. The man who is "interested" in a presidential run.

Eric Holder is the man I named the term "Pulling a holder" after. Basically, it means that once a government official is out of office they will advocate for better ideas than the ones they pushed for in office. Specifically, due to how now advocating for the legalization of marijuana. Meanwhile, he allowed President Obama to keep it illegal on the federal level and pave the way for Jeff Sessions. 

Or how about how he let President Obama sit by and throw the book at Edward Snowden. Now he says Snowden "did a public service". But he refused to do anything when the entire Justice Department, that he ran, said otherwise. 

So, we're 3 candidates in and so far only 1 of them is any good. Although at least I can see Biden winning, Holder just seems too much like a standard establishment type to be like in a post-Trump world where you're supposed to at least pretend you're bucking the establishment. Biden at least has been around the block long enough to call his ties "experience". Holder has never held elected office and has only been appointed to positions. 

Basically, the number of times a would-be president would have already won looks like this so far:

Sanders: 20 (many of which he was a write-in for) even if he doesn't win reelection for his Senate seat in November.

Biden: 10

Holder: 0

This can only end so well. 

Old Man Biden Screams At Clouds

Well, it's official. Joe Biden is running for president in 2020. Okay, he may not have said it yet, but he has said he will announce rather he will or not in January. But in politics, that basically means he will. "Maybe" doesn't mean "maybe" in politics. 
So he's running, and he does have a lot going for him. He was a senator for over 30 years and became vice-president under Obama. He's also really good with fundraising meaning it's clear he does have a chance. 
Not only that, but he's also been unofficially campaigning for about a year now. Yet, despite being a Democratic Senator for so long, he seems to be running as something other than a Democrat. I don't know what he's running as, but it certainly isn't a Democrat. Let's use a three strike system to show you why this is clear.
Strike One: In January Biden was giving a speech where he addressed the issues at young voters heart. Being in his 70's, and entering politics in the 1970's, many would call him out of touch. He showed this was correct. Telling young people "give me a break" after making it clear he has "no empathy" is the most out of touch things a human could say. I ask Joe to go back to the 70's and remember what people thought they heard when another Democrat told them what to wear when they were cold. Then realized, that's basically what he actually said. He lost young voters with that statement, one of the Democrats biggest voting blocks throughout all of history. 
Strike Two: What Biden thinks of the time when "the political system worked". Back during the Roy Moore vs. Doug Jones election Biden talked about how old he was. Saying he worked with "old-fashion Democratic Segregationists" that he would go have dinner with. He was second in charge for the first black president by the way. I'm sure the black people who were treated unequally under the law would disagree with how big of a tent the Democrats want to have. So he also made black people and by extension most minorities, very unlikely to support him. 
Strike Three: Also in January, Biden was meeting with the Council of Foreign Relations. During this meeting, he bragged about trying to interfere with the political system in Ukraine. Meeting anti-war voters aren't going to like him, who have been loyal Democrats since the Nixon years. 
So no one is going to vote for him, yet he has the connects to be the nominee. He will need to be smart, but every 3rd thing he says is beyond idiotic.
In other news, Bernie Sanders has announced he's publishing a book after the midterms. This is something many politicians do just before they run for president, meaning it's likely he will also run in 2020.
Both him and Biden have the connections to be the person who can stop Donnie from having a second term. Choose wisely Democrats, we don't need almost a decade of the Donald.       

The Weird World Of Libertarian Memes

Just a little warning, the next column is going to be kind of, well, big. So, in order to balance it out, here's a column making fun of libertarian/ancap memes. In order for this to work, I went to a bunch of right-wing libertarian twitter pages and found some "high quality" memes. Enjoy them, with my commentary. 

Because, as we all know, poverty only exists in statist countries. Hong Kong, for instance, the place with the freest market, has 1/5 of the population in poverty. 

So people who support European socialism, stay with me here, aren't socialists. Most of them are social democrats who want a hybrid system. Yet, if you support universal healthcare, people like them will still call you a socialist. 

Reminder: Bernie Sanders is still the poorest member of the Senate. If he can get 3 houses while having basically nothing by Senator standards, that's a very different problem. 




























Um . . . why would someone write the declaration of independence if they didn't want the United States to become an independent
nation? It's in the name after all. 

Notice how none of those books are about history. Mainly because no society has survived without government. After all, if they did you would think they would still exist today. 

Only anarchists don't understand the difference between economic and social issues. 

Speaking of things ancaps don't understand, no one is forcing you to vote. Maybe it would make sense if other anarchyballs were choosing, but otherwise, this is just idiotic.

It's always fun when people who don't know how loopholes work talk about how long the federal register is. Take the Volcker Rule for instance, which made it so commercial banks had to get permission to engage in investment banking. At first, it was 4 pages, when it was passed it was 892 pages. I'll give you 3 choices as to what those next 888 pages are.
A-Funny drawings of Calvin and Hobbes  
B-More Regulations
C-Loopholes
C is the correct answer. 
So in conclusion, libertarians are wrong. 

3 Simple Ways To Pay For Universal Healthcare

This is something that we've heard over and over again. Whenever anyone announces they support Medicare for all, no matter who they are, the question that is imminently asked for is "how are you going to pay for it?". Mind you, these people often ignore how single payer would save most people money, but that's beside the point. 
Mind you, I'm not saying it shouldn't be asked. Of course it should. Have you seen our debt? However, the vast majority of the time it's not by someone who is curious or unfamiliar with the concept, it's by someone who already knows the answer and is asking so they can look like they came out on top. 
So, if they can have a copy paste response I think it's fair that we have one back. So here are 3 ways to pay for a universal healthcare system. 
#1-The Good Old Fashion Way
Yeah, it's the most obvious one, that's why it's the first. Figured we should get "raise taxes" out of the way early. 
Of course, this scares people who own Don't Tread On Me bumper stickers, but here are the facts. First off, these people typically don't understand how taxes work. Taxes are a fee that you pay for to the government. It's only fair that you, the person who pays the taxes, get something in return.
However, how high are the taxes? After all, taxes being too high can cause negative economic effects (which these people seem to think never happens the other way around, but that's beside the point). I mean Bernie Sanders, the man who made the idea popular, said he wanted a top tax rate of over 90%. Wait, no that Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower and Bernie just pointed it out. 
Here's the tax plan he actually proposed while running for president: 
 
Now, here's how many percentage points your taxes would increase:
$1-250,000: 0% (Your taxes stay the same)
$250,001- 411,500: 4%
$411,501-464,850: 2%
$464,851-499,999: -2.6%
$500,000-2,000,000: 3.4%
$2,000,001-10,000,000: 8.4%
More than $10,000,0001: 12.4%
So you would need to make over $10,000,000 to have your taxes raised over 10%, over $2,000,000 to have them raised more than 5%, and more than $250,000 to have them raised at all. 
#2-Enforce The Tax Laws We Already Have/Make Taxes The Same For Everyone 
We have lost AT LEAST $70 billion to tax havens in one year. How is that not illegal? We all know they do it, and if you did it you'd be convicted of tax avoidance. How is this not a crime?
How about for the fact that (except for a brief point in the '80's) the capital gains rate is smaller than the individual rate. So someone making $80,000 a year through work could be paying more in taxes than someone making $500,000 a year through investments.
How about ban those non-sense "economic development" programs that actively don't work. Remember Amazon, the company that paid no taxes last year. Meanwhile, Jeff is still one of the richest men in the world.
And don't think I'm not going to mention the inequality in payroll taxes. Social Security taxes, for instance, only taxes up to $128,400. And people wonder why it's going bankrupt. 
#3-Cut The Military
It previously seemed to be impossible make it more clear how cartoonish our military spending can be. Then Trump tried to create a space force.
As pointed out before, by the end of the Obama administration the United States had a military budget larger than the next 7 nations combined. We have over 800 military bases, including around Iran which the White House calls a giant threat. Bet John Bolton will never tell you that. 
Then, without any debate, we increased the military budget by enough to pay for public college. Because if we don't the communists will take over or something, seriously this is ridiculous. Yet, no one ever asks how we're going to pay for the billions we spend with the Pentagon.
And these are just 3 of the millions of way progressives have given over the years to pay for a program that every other country in the modern world has.