You can't make it up
MAGA Congressman Derrick Van Orden-a huge supporter of the Big Ugly Bill
Who published this repugnant post cheering the fact that the law would gut Medicaid and SNAP
Is now BEGGING the Democratic governor of his state
To save the very hospitals that he just voted to close— Adam Cohen (My Personal Views Only) (@axidentaliberal.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 10:23 AM
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Not the Onion, as the youngs say…
If Republicans were completely confident in their #BigUglyBill, they wouldn't already be begging Democrats to save Republicans' asses/bail them out.
Republicans' strategy is/always has been to blame Democrats for negative impacts of Republicans' actions.
www.msnbc.com/top-stories/… #Medicaid #WI03— donnayoungdc (@donnayoungdc.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
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Also, he's doing this so when things close anyway, he can blame democrats on general and this dem governor in particular, "see, I tried, but those evil evil DEMONCRATS" he still doesn't actually give a shit about whether it closes or not
— Allegedly Joel (@allegedlyjoel.bsky.social) July 4, 2025 at 3:08 PM
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Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) is indeed a little bitch
— Marisa Kabas (@marisakabas.bsky.social) July 2, 2025 at 2:37 PM
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What do people think of Ms. Cooke’s chances?
Help me defeat him >>
— Rebecca Cooke (@rebeccaforwi.bsky.social) July 3, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Baud
Coincidentally, it’s also the Democrats strategy.
JPL
Let’s see how the democrats react. Mostly likely since they are democrats, they will take the beating.
Jay
@Baud:
It’s also the F/N MSM’s strategy.
Jay
@JPL:
Unfortunately, even in the wealthy Blue States, there is not much they can do to mitigate the whole One Big Blowjob for Billionaires.
prostratedragon
I’d say, whatever Ms. Cooke’s chances used to be, they got better this week.
Kirk
Colorado 4th district has 12 hospitals for a bit over 770,000 people. Right now, most people in the district are within 30 minutes of a hospital. There are 22 emergency clinics.
With this bill between 6 and 10 of the hospitals and between 14 and 20 of the emergency clinics will have to close unless they get alternative (state) funding. Due to the amusement of population densities about half the people will be within an hour of a hospital or emergency clinic.
Limon, Colorado sits where US-24 splits from I-70. It’s the fork in the road where west-bound traffic splits between Colorado Springs and Denver. The closest hospital will be in Colorado Springs, 70 miles down US-24. The fastest to reach because interstate is faster than 2-lane highway is in Denver, well, Aurora, 80 miles away. All because the hospital in Hugo (20 minutes, population around 400, hilarious history about county seat wars) will be closing.
Lauren Boebert said yes.
Jay
Screen shot in link,
https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3lt3k5qqi4k2q
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
This whole thing is reminding me of the arguments over keeping the government open. One of the pros for not doing so was that the Republicans would own the problem.
While there’s a lot of pain that will be happening immediately (as several commenters have pointed out, there are a lot of rural hospitals that will be closing now because they know they won’t have funding down the road) the can that’s been kicked down the road (possibly to try to pin the pain on Democrats should they get back in power) ironically gives them space in the short term to stand back and say “Please proceed, governor.”
We’ll see if that’s actually what they’re going to do though. Or how effectual said theoretical strategy would be.
JPL
@Jay: Nope but they can point fingers. Evers can let him know that he will ask for funds when the Rep apologizes for funding billionaires before the hospital.
eclare
Today’s photo is adorable. Much needed.
Baud
Van Orden lies because thousands of voters in his district want to believe the lie.
Splitting Image
@Jay:
Bipartisanship!
Anne Laurie
@Jay: Yes, that Van Orden tweet is included at the top of my post.
eclare
Makes sense this is a huge hit
https://youtu.be/acX184y418E?si=4KmyatSiypcpT7jD
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Kirk:
Fat chance on them getting “alternative (state) funding” given that they had to shave $1.2b earlier this year in order to balance the budget and that was damn near impossible to pull off:
https://archive.ph/im4hc
Splitting Image
@Kirk:
This is exactly what needs to be said over and over, every time a hospital closes down. Good health care in rural areas is as much about driving distance as it is about capacity. Doubling the drive time to an emergency ward is going to kill people, and it’s something that even the common clay of the new west can understand.
JCJ
What do I think of Ms. Cooke’s chances? I do not know that part of Wisconsin, but when I drive through the western part of Waukesha County I see Trump signs and flags still. If that part of the state is the same I wish her the best but I am not optimistic
Harrison Wesley
A friend texted me a link to a Rolling Stone piece about Trump celebrating the 4th by deporting veterans. Guess they didn’t measure up to Ol’ Bone Spur’s demanding standards for our military.
Kirk
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Kind of my point.
Depending how this breaks it might /almost/ be enough for the district to elect a Democrat next year.
More likely it’s just she gets hammered in the primaries, but the D chance is a little better anyway.
Steve LaBonne
Golly, I wonder why I just wasn’t feeling very patriotic today. What an idiotic country.
Baud
Cooke is a hero.
Gloria DryGarden
@Splitting Image: A friend from Hugo recently died. She worked as an ent there. Her husband, also a friend, inherited her house there.
losing hospitals is going to lower house values, as less people are willing to live so far from help.
my close friend has cousins in Cheyenne Wells Colorado, south of a main highway, on the Kansas border. We’ve visited. These are people we know, being affected. One of my mom’s best friends is in Yuma, somewhere East closer to Nebraska than to Denver. She must be 80, and is one of my favorite people. It matters, this stuff.
Be a shame if boebert got pregnant, or her daughters in law…
Gloria DryGarden
@JPL: gonna need more than an apology. Van orden can ask trump for money. A bottomless pit of grifted fundraising. Let trump fund the relief.
Help me understand. Is van orden asking his governor for help simply because oh no, uh oh? Or is it part of an elaborate set up to blame democrats, make it look like we didn’t do things to help. Van orden needs to visit the outlying areas of his state. Oh no, what if he has a medical crisis while out talking to constituents? What if he got to share in the consequences? Oh, thoughts, but I’m saving my prayers, there are people I know that get first dibs on those.
brendancalling
@JPL: yup. Or they’ll attack a young democrat who dares speak up. Sorry to be cynical but I’m on my last nerve.
Soprano2
I’ve got a friend who is an LPN who has worked with people on Medicaid. Sir posted about the effect this bill is going to have on them. One of her friends replied that it isn’t supposed to hurt children or the elderly, only the people who shouldn’t be on it. Things will be like they were in the ’90’s, she said. I replied that there is no way cutting almost a trillion dollars from the program won’t hurt everyone on it. I asked her if the cuts are so great, why don’t they start in October 2025? It’ll be interesting to see if I get a reply back.
Gloria DryGarden
I have met some stupid people. Some of whom have an astonishing capacity for cruelty..
Failure of empathy? Lack of imagination?
brantl
I find it comforting that this guy looks like the douchenozzle he obviuosly is.
BlueGuitarist
Cooke ran in 2024, was one of the closest seats lost, within 3%, did better than top of ticket. District is southwestern WI
Harrison Wesley
@Gloria DryGarden: Sadism. They enjoy it.
Geminid
@JCJ: It looks to me like Rebecca Cooke’s chances are good. Last November, she lost to Van Orden by less than 12,000 votes out of 413,000 votes cast, or 51.3 to 48.6 percent.
That was with Trump on the ballot. This suggests a problem Republicans have got to solve next year: can they get Trump voters to the polls when their guy is not on the ballot? Some of these folks have little loyalty to the Republican Party.
Van Orden will also have to hold the Independents who voted for him, and they are a fickle bunch.
Ksmiami
@Gloria DryGarden: Camus always said stupidity is worse than evil
Steve LaBonne
@Gloria DryGarden: Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.
Jay
@Soprano2:
35 million people didn’t have health care coverage before the ACA.
The One Big Blowjob for Billionaires strips 55 million of health care coverage, many who had coverage before the ACA.
And that is just the direct effect. It does not include downstream effects.
JoeyJoeJoe
Van Orden was first elected in 2022, and has won twice narrowly. He succeeded a Democrat, Ron Kind. Kinds predecessor, Steve Gunderson, was a moderate Republican, and one of the first two openly gay republicans in Congress.
The lines have slightly changed over the years, but Obama, Kerry, Gore, Clinton, and Dukakis all won the 3rd district. Mondale may even have come close to winning the district.
Van Orden is near the top of the list of vulnerable Republicans.
Scout211
Does he know that local economies near the national parks depend on tourists from other countries? I am guessing that he doesn’t care.
As if international tourists needed another reason not to visit the US.
Donald Trump orders entry fee, DEI changes at national parks
. . .
. . .
America First!
And our history does not nor has it ever included diverse populations, especially those who lived here before 1776.
Ugh.
ArchTeryx
@Gloria DryGarden: Occasionally this does happen. Look up the Verrückt accident.
( Spoiler: During a day specifically set aside for Kansas legislators and their families – almost all Republican – one of their kids got decapitated when his raft on Verrückt left the track, and slammed his head into a metal-hooped safety net. These same legislators had given the owner of Schlitterbahn. the water park that owned Verrückt, a sweetheart deal to build there. That included self-regulation – the rides were never inspected by the state. And what do you know, they designed a slide with no engineering input whatsoever. It was a catastrophe waiting to happen, and happen it did… to the child of a legislator. )
Jay
@Scout211:
Towns around USFS sites and National Parks are complaining that they are not picking up garbage and the outhouses are overflowing.
NotMax
@Jay
The latter situation explains the bears seen hitchhiking on nearby roads.
:)
WTFGhost
Yeah, lots of people are saying they hear a Trump voice saying “bark like a dog! Higher pitch, you’re not an alpha, you’re a BITCH!” and heard Drunken Van Orden – that *is* his name, right, I’m just checking! – barking normally, and then in falsetto.
I’m not saying that, but lots of people are
ETA: I didn’t say *which* Trump, you perverts! Okay, never mind, thinking of *other* trumps… ew. NM.
NotMax
@WTFGhost
Did someone say falsetto?
:)
lowtechcyclist
@prostratedragon:
WI-03 currently has a Cook PVI of R+3, which is totally reachable even in a mild Dem wave.
mrmoshpotato
How few of these Rethuglican piles of shit actually read this pile of shit legislation?!
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Any way to find how the voting shook out in that district for the Supreme Court election?
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
“My uncle, he’s got a falsetto teeth.” – Chico Marx
@NotMax:
There probably is, but I’m too lazy to look for it.
Gloria DryGarden
ACA AND Medicaid were such a grace.
medicaid is not that easy to apply for and get on it. People who shouldn’t be on it, don’t get on it.
i lost a more thorough comment, bumped something on the page; it opens my typing into an unmarked box, with no submit buttons, no x out of text only. Has this happened to others?
I don’t know how to get back when this happens. Highlight and copy didn’t carry over to paste when I used the web back arrow to get out of it. Please advise.
I hate when that happens. Y’all missed a good comment.
Gloria DryGarden
@ArchTeryx: really happy to know the karma department is sometimes on top of things. What a gruesome accident.
Cut corners, skip over safety, and oh gosh, sorry, oopsie.
Michael Bersin
Today, in Sedalia, Missouri:
Patriot demonstration in Sedalia, Missouri – July 4, 2025
opiejeanne
Slightly OT, but Cooke looks remarkably like Honeysuckle Weeks from Foyle’s War.
opiejeanne
@Gloria DryGarden: The child’s father is running for Governor next year.
Gloria DryGarden
@opiejeanne: lots of safe times ahead, then. Or perhaps accurate reporting will color in those memories, for any voters who prefer safe equipment in their state.
Soprano2
@ArchTeryx: I remember when that happened, it was horrible. R’s don’t realize there’s a reason for safety inspections, or they don’t care.
Trivia Man
Kelly Brown is running in WI-06 against Americas dumbest congressman Glen Grothman. Very long shot but intriguing. Her logo is a sheaf of wheat in rainbow pride colors. Facial piercings, blue hair, young, FFA background… a true local.
NotMax
@Soprano2
See also too: the treacherous history of Action Park.
Central Planning
@NotMax: I went there multiple times when I was a kid. It was much better than Six Flags.
Lyrebird
@Michael Bersin: You rock!
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Unified federal oversight for amusement rides is one of Ed Markey’s longtime hobbyhorses, but the way things are going, maybe I’d prefer it in state hands to avoid having oversight dismantled entirely by vandals in the federal government
Currently, there’s a patchwork of state regulations but to a large extent the industry follows voluntarily adopted standards. And then you have players like Schlitterbahn Kansas City who have none.
Ruckus
@Splitting Image:
it’s something that even the common clay of the new west can understand.
No, it’s not. They should be able to understand it but then they have to want to understand it to be able to.
There are so many people in this world that have their heads located in their large exit port that it should be a medical emergency. But then it may also be a human trait of not wanting to understand/believe/see reality. Because for them that reality is not profitable – or at least they think it is.
We have grown as a country over the decades/centuries. But we also have a grown financially and for some that growth is far, far more important than any other growth. Now because this desire for wealth is rather common among humans, some of whom never seem to have enough money, even though their bank accounts are full. Wealth is considered by some as the only guiding light of humanity, not as a tool but as the ultimate goal. And this is supported by much of humanity, because money does make things go round, and therefore is important – to a degree, is a part of any large, working society. Almost none of us can exist in a large country as an independent entity. We require others doing their part while we do ours. Doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs and ALL the other parts of any large society that make it work for all of us. That’s the premise of this country, and not just the wealthy, for all of us.
But MONEY speaks and most listen when it does. Because Money is the lubricant that makes the entire economy work. And Greed is the gravel thrown into the gears of modern life. Or really life of any timeframe.
Chris S. Sherbak
@JCJ: Ballotpedia shows she only lost by 12k votes last time – 200k to 212k so I like to think her chances are pretty good. With ~750k voters seems like there are lot who decided to sit it out but might be convinced to take fill out the ballot. (I think WI has mailin.) Let’s hope he’s one of many that will need to find alternative employment (wonder if Heritage is hiring?)