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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."

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."

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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."

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."

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