#because if there is another trump time (PLEASE NO) more regulations will be gutted

[rincewindsapprentice]

This is 100% idle speculation, but it feels like if there is another trump administration that he'll gut food regulations to the point where they won't even be recalls anymore.

At least we still have recalls right now

[siryouarebeingmocked]

Five bucks says I could easily find this guy calling Trump an authoritarian tyrant.

The original post was promoting his substack article, BTW. (archive)

Which is a strawman from the jump.

Just turn everything over to the morbidly rich and let them and their companies run the entire country along the profit motive lines? What could possibly go wrong?

Time to first lie: before I even reach the article, for goodness' sake.

What is 'morbidly rich'? Are you trying to evoke the image of 'morbid obesity'? Because that's not how money works.

I also like how he's showing his red hand with "profit motive" here.

Their principal argument was that if everybody acted separately and independently, in all cases with maximum selfishness, such behavior would actually benefit society. There would be no government needed beyond an army and a police force, and a court system to defend the rights of property owners. It was a freakish twisting of Adam Smith’s reference to the “invisible hand” that regulated trade among nations. They pretend that things will simply run themselves, but they’re wrong: gutting government leaves a huge power vacuum that will inevitably be filled by the nation’s oligarchs. That’s how it’s worked all over the world for 7,000 or more years.

See what he did here? He acted like the "inevitable" result of libertarian policies is the same as libertarians themselves actively wanting that end. Note the use of "pretend", which implies that libertarians are lying.

With no evidence, of course.

Also, last time I checked, libertarians and many conservatives were really big on voluntary charity. If someone is a selfish dick? Other people could decide not to deal with the jerk. Voluntary association, remember?

EDIT: Also, a great deal of government services are contracted out to private enterprise anyway. Do you think large corporations with gazillions of employees and stockholders are oligarchies?

Why doesn't the government itself count as 'oligarchs', then?

>“Please name one country, anywhere in the world, any time in the last 7000 years, where libertarianism has succeeded and produced general peace and prosperity?” There literally is none. Nowhere. Not a single one. It has never happened. Ever.

This from the man who completely failed to provide even a single example of libertarianism leading to "oligarchy", which is another word which should be put on the high shelf.

George W. Bush and Don Rumsfeld tried to use Iraq as an experiment to prove libertarianism could work. They sent over an ideologue named L. Paul Bremmer, who shut down virtually all the nation’s government-owned businesses (about half of the nation’s GDP) and disbanded virtually all of Iraq’s regulatory agencies. He cut corporate taxes to almost zero and let foreign corporations take all the profits out of the country they wanted. He ended all government import and export controls.

A foreign government imposing rule on a conquered nation's people after an unjustified war and decades of a tyrant's rule is your big mic-drop example of libertarianism?

Are you high?

Back in 1981, I went to Uganda and set up a famine relief program that still runs there. This excerpt from my diary, later published in my autobiography The Prophet’s Way, gives a glimpse of what we found in a country with a government whose only function at the time was police and the army, per the libertarian ideal: it was an absolute hell, filled with people literally starving to death in front of us. Countries like Uganda at that time were places where the government’s only real function is to run the army, police and the courts, just like libertarians say America should be run. No social safety net, no Social Security, no national healthcare, no or few state-funded public schools, no publicly funded infrastructure of any consequence.

You just kind of leave out the fact that there was a major civil war going on at the time.

Also, where were the oligarchs? You said there would inevitably be oligarchs.

This is where I gave up on even skimming this nonsense. Especially since he hasn't acknowledged, even once, how libertarians constantly point to the many times governments screwed up.

[rainystudios]

On Voting

While things are still too early to 100% call for who the nominee will be, remember, There are way too many people, often at the bottom of the social food chain that don't have the luxury to not vote and throw pity parties.

No matter how upset I am, this (and all elections) is about saving lives and reversing major damage we can't afford 4 more years of. The most vulnerable minorities are always the most affected (The disabled, POC, Queer & Trans ppl, Immigrants). As one of my friends said, if you feel too mad to vote for yourself in the Nov election vote for someone else who can't. Like POC charged with absurd felonies and trapped in the prison system, and the human beings in border concentration camps who are dying while cameras are off. Someone said voting is like getting on a bus. Even if I can't get directly to my destination I take the one that will take me closest, I don't go in the opposite fucking direction.

I remember last election so many of us told people who said they wouldn't vote, "people will die" but they wouldn't listen because it didn't affect them. 4 years later, hundreds of environmental & animal regulations & protections previously in place are gone, workers' rights & assistance programs are being dismantled, families were ripped apart and deported, the affordable care act keeps getting gutted, the lack of aid for Puerto Rico killed hundreds of people, the lack of assistance with the California fire recovery left people hurting, nazis felt emboldened to march unhindered in Charlottesville and chant 'Jews will not replace us' whilst holding flaming torches, and we have concentration camps and cages children have died in, and he already tried to start a war. Now we're saying it again. 

[here’s a comprehensive list of most rollbacks that have occurred: https://civilrights.org/trump-rollbacks/ ]

Help lift up the most vulnerable, more people will die, don't be complicit, we're fucking begging you because we don't have a choice to ignore it.

I think another reason why it's so hard for Democrats to unite historically is because we're the diverse party. We have Women, POC, women who are POC, everyone under the queer spectrum LGBTQIA+, different religions and cultural backgrounds, disabilities, etc. etc. There's so much to do and so much that we're rallying for that it's going to be virtually impossible to find a "perfect" candidate that everyone loves. Which is all the more reason why we do need to unite. We can't afford to let whatever minor differences and hang ups we have clear the way for rhetoric that's sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, and enforcing of church on the state, etc. to waltz through. It's much easier to draw together over what you hate when rhetoric is similar (i.e. people rallying for muslim travel bans, pro gun, anti-choice, and legislation against LGBTQ+ ppl) that what we all have in common. So please do the right thing and vote for whoever is nominated for the Democratic party.

Also don't forget y'all, 2 years ago we got the most women and LGBT people elected at once on record and took back the house! This year we can take back the senate, and more and more each year ppl are supporting progressive ideas and WOC in leadership positions. Don't act like democracy is dead, things are coming up Milhouse if you fucking participate!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏

I remember how Bush got elected when I was a kid. The votes were too close and it came down to florida (with their rigged voting machines) People weren't excited for Gore or Kerry and didn’t vote, so instead of getting a guy (both who believed in Climate change 20 years back and human rights) who was remotely decent, we got a huge war, big oil, genocide in the middle east, massive hate crime spikes and widespread propaganda of Islamophobia (the aftermath we STILL see to this day), prison systems grew, the housing market crashed & people died from lack of action in Katrina, and lots more. IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME. 

WE COULD BE HAVING AN OK OR EVEN GREAT TIME BUT Y'ALL PLAYIN'.

A thought: Maybe we'd be where we want to be right now if people hadn't fucked around in the Bush elections and been so luke warm and ‘ho-hum’. That's why we're asking people not to fuck around this time just like we asked last time 4 years ago. We could’ve always been in a better place. We owe it to ourselves, the kids who can’t yet vote, and the people who’ve died in this past administration to pull fucking the brakes so we can start rebuilding.

[patriotsnet]

Did Republicans Pass Health Care Bill

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/did-republicans-pass-health-care-bill/

Did Republicans Pass Health Care Bill

If The Us Adopts The Gops Health

Despite campaign promises, Senate Republicans fail to pass new health care bill

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The fundamental thing to understand about Senate Republicans latestattempt to repeal Obamacare is that the bill under consideration wouldnot just undo the Affordable Care Actit would also end Medicaid as weknow it and our federal governments half-century commitment to closingthe countrys yawning gaps in health coverage. And it would do sowithout putting in place any credible resources or policies to replacethe system it is overturning. If our country enacts this bill, it would be an act of mass suicide.

The Republican bill currently being rushed to a vote was put forward bya group of senators led by Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, and BillCassidy, of Louisiana. As has become the apparent rule for Republicanhealth-care bills, there have been no hearings or committee reviews ofthe Graham-Cassidy bill. And, this time, lawmakers and the public do noteven have a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the effects the billwould have on the budget, insurance costs, or the uninsured rate.

The Senate Rejected Five Different Obamacare Replacement Bills Not Just One

Its important to remember that the Senate did not just reject one health care bill during this process. It rejected, depending on how you count, three, four, or maybe even five.

There was the American Health Care Act, which passed the House but was considered dead on arrival in the Senate.

There was the original version of Majority Leader Mitch McConnells Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would have failed on the floor and so was yanked back for revisions.

There was the Ted Cruz-ified version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which gutted insurance regulations and was defeated in a 43-57 vote.

There was the Obamacare Repeal and Reconciliation Act, which would have repealed Obamacare without specifying a replacement, and which failed 45-55 on the floor.

And then there was skinny repeal the Health Care Freedom Act, which would have repealed the individual mandate but left the Medicaid expansion. Last night, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John McCain, and every Senate Democrat sent the bill to a 49-51 defeat. But that likely overstates the bills support, given that many of the Republicans who voted for it only did so under the assumption that they would move to negotiations with the House and nothing like the HCFA would ever become law.

Why Did The Republicans Block The Bill

They blocked the bill for the same reasons they always do. They have had the House and Senate for some time and are yet to support our veterans with the spending really required.

Most Republicans said it was too large, too costly and would burden a Department of Veterans Affairs already struggling to keep up with promised benefits.

Sen Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee who authored the bill, argued that many provisions in the bill have won bipartisan support in other pieces of pending legislation before Congress.

Republicans complained about how to pay for it. Sanders’ legislation had more than 140 provisions costing $21 billion over 10 years.

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What The Aca Means For You

The Affordable Care Act is perhaps the greatest overhaul ofthe US health-care system, and it will provide coverage for over 94% ofAmericans. In addition, one of its key reforms includes health coverage for adultswith pre-existing conditions, which generally had not been available up untilnow.

These great changes in health-care insurance can benefit you and your loved ones. However, it is still essential to find the best plans at the best price to ensure your family is properly covered.

To learn about the specific Obamacare-compliant health insurance plan options available to youplus see if you are eligible for a government subsidy to help pay for a plancompare ACA-compliant health insurance plans with eHealth today.

But Wouldnt People Still Get Help To Buy Insurance

Yes and that was one of the reasons the health plan was always going to be difficult for a broad base of Republicans to support. Giving Americans tax credits to buy health insurance looked to conservatives too much like Obamacare, while huge overhauls to Medicaid public health insurance for the poor left moderate Republicans worried about constituents who depend on those services.

Further, Republicans last-minute amendments actually increased the price tag of their bill, without insuring more Americans. A Congressional Budget Office analysis found that the changes still left 24 million Americans without insurance and reduced savings over the next decade, from $337bn in the first draft, to just $150bn.

Recommended Reading: What Is The Lapel Pin Democrats Are Wearing

Moving Down The Agenda

After the original bills failure, both Trump and McConnell wanted the Senate to vote on a bill to completely repeal the Affordable Care Act after a two-year delay. This gambit was essentially Republican leadership playing chicken in two ways.

First, leadership dared rank-and-file Republicans to vote against a repeal bill because most Republicans campaigned on the premise that the ACA should be repealed. However, doing so could potentially create chaos in the health care market.

Second, if Congress failed to pass a replacement health care bill within the next two years, chaos would ensue. Congress often gives itself such incentives in order to promote compromise. The major problem with this tactic is that Republican leadership would still have to find a way to placate both moderates and extreme conservatives, and potentially Democrats as well. While legislative compromise used to be a regular occurrence, it is becoming rarer in recent times due to increased polarization. Legislative productivity is near an all-time low.

In order to repeal and replace Obamacare, Republicans needed to strike a deal that pleased both moderates and conservatives. It seems unlikely that such a deal exists.

So Will There Definitely Be A Vote This Week On The Graham

Its looking less and less likely.

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said a vote would be held this week, and over the weekend White House officials said they expected one on Wednesday.

But Monday, amid dimming prospects, McConnell would not commit to a vote. He is not likely to want to endure another embarrassing failure on the Senate floor, so he may not call a vote unless hes sure he has the support. Thats unlikely with three Republicans now opposed to the bill.

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Gop Health Care Bill Passes In House Moves To Senate

“They’re not even doing it for the party,” he said as he stood flanked by Republican leadership and rank and file in the Rose Garden. “They’re doing it for this country because we suffered with Obamacare.”

Ryan took to the floor ahead of the vote to argue that Obamacare was failing. “We can continue with the status quo or we can put this collapsing law behind us and end this failed experiment,” he said.

Related: Trump, GOP Leaders Take Victory Lap

Still, the bill’s passage was arduous. Republicans had been working to piece together a GOP-only coalition of votes ever since their attempt to repeal and replace much of the Affordable Care Act failed nearly two months ago

The measure barely made it through, with 20 Republicans splitting with their own party to vote against the bill.

Of the dissenting Republicans, nine represent districts that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016. An additional four lawmakers reside in districts that only narrowly voted for Trump, making them top targets for Democrats seeking to unseat them in next years midterms.

Republicans erupted in cheers when the measure passed, and Democrats erupted in song, singing “na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye,” alluding to their political futures after the vote.

Four Senators And A Bill One Year In The Making

House Passes GOP Health Care Bill

While Republicans had worked on various proposals to overhaul the tax code for decades, Republican senators began strategizing their latest attempt to reform the tax code not long after Trump stunned the country and won the White House. Republicans had a President ready and willing to sign a bill if they could manage to send him one.

According to a source familiar with the tax negotiations, as far back as December 2016, a small group of Republican senators all on the Senate Finance Committee and guided by Chairman Orrin Hatch and his staff began hashing out the Senates course.

The group included Sens. Rob Portman, formally the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Sen. John Thune, a member of the GOP leadership, Pat Toomey, a fiscal conservative and a member of the Senates Budget Committee and Sen. Tim Scott, a rising conservative star in the party. Over the next several months, the senators held what the source said must have been hundreds of meetings as they sought to find a way forward not only among fellow senators but in cooperation with the House of Representatives and Trump who lawmakers widely acknowledge was more engaged and interested in tax reform than he had been on health care.

Theres been an enormous amount of work done. The reason you see everybody looking so tired is because we are, said Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican. They did a great job of keeping us apprised so we wouldnt be surprised.

Also Check: How Many Republicans Need To Vote For Impeachment

If Dynamic Scoring Is Good For Tax Cuts Why Not For Our Veterans

Republicans do not generally mind using clever accounting methods like dynamic scoring to justify ‘budget friendly’ tax cuts. However, to support the veteran, they refuse to accept plausible funding.

Most of that money was to come from billions of dollars the government projected it would be allowed to spend on wars overseas in the fight against al-Qaeda.But Republicans argued that this is “phony” budgeting because U.S. participation in the Iraq War is over and operations in Afghanistan are winding down.

Attempts To Change Or Repeal

Read Ballotpedia’s fact check »

The Affordable Care Act was subject to a number of lawsuits challenging some of its provisions, such as the individual mandate and the requirement to cover contraception. Four of these lawsuits were heard by the United States Supreme Court, resulting in changes to the law and how it was enforced. In addition, since the law’s enactment, lawmakers in Congress have introduced and considered legislation to modify or repeal parts or all of the Affordable Care Act. Finally, between 2010 and 2012, voters in eight states considered ballot measures related to the law. This section summarizes the lawsuits, legislation, and state ballot measures that attempted to change, repeal, or impact enforcement of parts of the law.

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Gop Health Care Bill Collapses

Senate Republicans will shelve their bill to replace Obamacare, dealing a major blow to Trump’s agenda.

By BURGESS EVERETT and JENNIFER HABERKORN

07/17/2017 07:53 PM EDT

07/18/2017 12:12 AM EDT

President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority was dealt a potentially fatal blow Monday night as two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the party’s health care overhaul.

Trump quickly called on Republicans to simply repeal Obamacare and begin work on a new health care plan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would try to do so.

Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said.

The Kentucky Republican said he planned to hold a vote in the coming days to take up the House-passed bill to replace the 2010 health care law and then call up an amendment to eliminate major parts of Obamacare, such as the Medicaid expansion, insurance subsidies and fines for the employer and individual mandates.

Republicans passed a similar bill to effectively repeal Obamacare in 2015 under reconciliation the fast-track budget procedure the GOP is using to thwart a Democratic filibuster but it was vetoed by President Barack Obama.

“Republicans should just ‘REPEAL’ failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!” Trump tweeted shortly before McConnell’s statement came out.

House Republicans Pass Healthcare Bill In First Step Toward Replacing Obamacare

Partisan approval with one vote to spare sends American Health Care Act to uncertain fate in Senate, after negotiations reveal cracks in Republican party

First published on Thu 4 May 2017 19.20 BST

House Republicans narrowly approved a controversial plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, taking a significant first step toward fulfilling a seven-year promise to repeal and replace the 2010 law that served as a landmark overhaul of the US healthcare system.

Republicans passed the American Health Care Act with one vote to spare, following a dramatic series of negotiations that exposed deep fissures between the partys moderate and conservative wings over how to replace Barack Obamas signature legislative accomplishment.

The bill passed 217 to 213, with 20 Republicans voting against and no Democrats voting in favor. Republicans burst into applause when the bill passed the 216-vote threshold, a feat that had seemed insurmountable just days before.

Democrats too saw a reason for celebrating. After it passed, they sang the 60s hit Na Na Hey Hey appearing to suggest Republicans would lose their seats if the repeal proved unpopular.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to face serious difficulties.

What a great group of people, Trump said, referring to the Republican congressmen, and theyre not even doing it for the party, theyre doing it for this country because we suffered with Obamacare.

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They Underestimated How Ideologically Varied Their Party Has Become

Republican leaders have been grappling for years with a growing bloc of principled conservatives who are politically rewarded in their conservative districts for not compromising.

But it feels as if they;were caught off guard by an equally influential, somewhat larger and just as intransigent faction of moderates.

Those moderates campaigned on repealing Obamacare, but when it came;time to pull the lever that would take away health care for hundreds of thousands of their constituents, they just couldn’t;politically do it.

As for Thursday’s late-night vote in the Senate, conservatives had made peace with just getting rid of Obamacare’s individual mandate, but two moderates, Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski , along with Sen. John McCain , sunk that proposal early Friday morning.)

Now, this group seems to be suggesting it would be better to work within the existing structures of Obamacare than take its benefits away.

In a no-holds-barred speech on the Senate floor earlier this week, McCain ripped apart Republicans’ repeal strategy: “Weve tried to do this by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them its better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition. I dont think that is going to work in the end. And it probably shouldnt.”

Why The Health Care Bill Passed The House This Time

The House passed a new version of a health care bill to replace the Affordable Care Act after the first one failed to get enough Republican support in March. The bill still needs to pass the Senate before becoming law.

By Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear

May 4, 2017

WASHINGTON The House on Thursday narrowly approved legislation to repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act, as Republicans recovered from their earlier failures and moved a step closer to delivering on their promise to reshape American health care without mandated insurance coverage.

The vote, 217 to 213, held on President Trumps 105th day in office, is a significant step on what could be a long legislative road. Twenty Republicans bolted from their leadership to vote no. But the win keeps alive the partys dream of unwinding President Barack Obamas signature domestic achievement.

The House measure faces profound uncertainty in the Senate, where a handful of Republican senators immediately rejected it, signaling that they would start work on a new version of the bill virtually from scratch.

To the extent that the House solves problems, we might borrow ideas, said Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate health committee. We can go to conference with the House, or they can pass our bill.

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House Republicans Narrowly Pass Gop Health Care Bill

The Republican-sponsored American Health Care Act passed the House 217-213 Thursday, with one vote to spare, although it will face an uncertain path in the Senate.;

No Democrats voted for the bill, and 20 Republicans voted against it. The bill largely repeals and replaces Obamacare.;

Speaking to reporters after the vote, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, said he knew they had the votes on Wednesday and he said if they hadn’t passed it, it would have impeded “the rest of our agenda.”;

“We proved that we could accomplish something this big,” he said. “I can’t thank the president enough. President Trump and Vice President Pence have been directly engaged,” adding that Pence called him twice on Thursday to check in about individual members.;

House Republicans left the Capitol after the vote, headed to the White House on buses. Scalise said they were invited to the Oval Office or the Rose Garden.;

As soon as Republicans cleared the threshold to pass the bill, House Democrats began singing in unison, “Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, goodbye” toward the Republicans.;

Rep. Chris Collins, R-New York, said he’s not worried about Republicans’ prospects for the 2018 midterm elections.;

“If we weren’t able to repeal and replace Obamacare, it would have been a bad midterm for us. I think we will hold our own, if not pick up seats,” he told reporters.;

[entireconfection]

Can We Turn It Around?

Hard to believe it’s been four years, isn’t it?

           As I sit down to write this, 5 weeks out from the 2020 election, it’s hard to know where to start. For almost four years now, we’ve been living in an altered (and very shitty) state of reality. Donald Trump’s America. A never-ending dumpster fire. And, to be frank, one of the worst chapters in our country’s history. On top of that, we’ve just crossed the half-year mark of a global pandemic, an ongoing crisis by turns devastating and surreal, one that seems sadly befitting of our dystopian, is-this-really-happening times.

           After 4 agonizing years of hate and stupidity ruling the roost, of nonstop assaults on science and decency and civility, of the obliteration of democratic norms, destruction of the checks and balances that we naively assumed would always be there for us, we’ve almost arrived at another election. And with it, the possibility that we can start to turn this around. That we can rise up and say “NO. We DON’T want a dictatorship. We WON’T go along with this. We will FIGHT for love and decency and our democracy.”

           Personally, I am proceeding under the assumption that Trump will be reelected. I have to do so for my own wellbeing. I don’t want to get my hopes up. The bitter, blindsiding defeat of 2016 is still fresh in my mind. There are many ways that this election could turn into a shitshow. Not the least of which is we have a ruthless dictator as President who is doing everything he can to sabotage the vote. And he has a powerful ally in the Republican party, which has expertly suppressed the vote for decades and is doing so now with as much gusto as ever, determined to hold onto power at all costs. Throw in all of the logistical challenges and obstacles caused by COVID, along with all of the flaws of our antiquated, broken-by-design voting system (courtesy of the democracy-hating GOP), and no one really knows what the hell is going to happen on November 3.

           So I have to assume that Trump will win. Because, awful as that will be, life will go on if he wins. And I need to be able to carry on as well.

           Still, as accustomed as I’ve become to the insanity of the Trump era, it’s sometimes hard to grasp that it’s come to this. That we are perilously close to becoming an authoritarian country with a permanent conservative majority. That it pretty much all hangs on this election.

           It’s not just our country either. It’s our planet that’s on the line. Perhaps you’ve heard of climate change? You know, that little issue that Americans don’t give a shit about, but is an existential threat to human civilization? Well, it’s only getting worse. The Northern Hemisphere just had its hottest summer ever, 2 degrees above normal. You can expect a new record every year for your lifetime.

           Trump, as expected, has been a disaster for the climate – withdrawing from the Paris Accord, gutting environmental regulations left and right, and basically doing as much damage to the earth as possible. Given that experts say we have 10 years to make major cuts in emissions if we have any hope of avoiding irreversible and catastrophic climate disruption, it’s safe to say that a second Trump term would pretty much be game over for the climate, and for life as we know it. It’s the predictable outcome when you elect an idiot climate denier president of the most powerful country in the world.

           Then there’s the fate of democracy itself, which is in a perilous position around the world. Fascism masquerading as “right-wing parties” has been on the march across Europe for years. Trump has gleefully helped that effort, cozying up to ruthless dictators like Kim-Jong Il and giving his buddy Putin the green light to continue to ratfuck elections, sow chaos, and wage cyber warfare on any country he chooses.

Meanwhile, Trump has given the middle finger to our allies constantly since taking office. Again, completely to be expected from a jingoistic simpleton whose entire understanding of foreign policy boils down to “America First.” Remember his shit-eating smirk while refusing to shake Angela Merkel’s hand in the Oval Office? Trump exemplifies the right’s foaming-mouth hatred of Europe, foreigners, and diplomacy. Just one of their many flavors of bigotry, he and his base believe that the rest of the world basically consists of international elitists determined to destroy America. Not exactly a philosophy conducive to preventing trifling matters like, say, global pandemics or world wars.

The more I write, the more I remember when an absolute sleazebag our president is, and the more astonished I am that this man is our president. This is the guy who 60 million people voted for in 2016. This is the guy who is nothing less than a savior to millions and millions of white Americans. Donald fucking Trump? You would be hard-pressed to find a more loathsome person in all of America. And despite knowing full well how polarized and tribalized we have become, it’s still hard to fathom that so many Americans can look at this vile, morally bankrupt con man and see a great leader, a champion of their values, the greatest president of all time. It just doesn’t compute.

           And yes, many of his voters are well aware of his vices, and yes, white working-class voters have legitimate problems, and on and on. For four years, we’ve discussed and dissected these reasons for Trump’s victory. They are admitted and entered into the record. Now can we please get rid of this menace because he destroys our democracy, wiping out the great experiment that has endured for 244 years?

           Because that’s what’s really on the line on November 3. We’re all deciding if we want to go back to being a democracy – a flawed, messy, imperfect democracy to be sure, but still a democracy at heart – or a dictatorship.  That’s not hyperbole. That’s just the situation.

Trump, aided and abetted by the entire Republican apparatus and 40% of the population, has turned us into a dictatorship. He has put his cronies in positions of power. He has fired anyone who refuses to become his unquestioning flunky, smearing public servants who have spent decades working to help people – a concept completely alien to Trump. He has demonized the media (except for the propaganda outlets who run only pro-Trump news), relentlessly undermining one of the pillars of a liberal democracy, turning people against the very journalists who are trying to expose how Trump is screwing them over. He has conspired with our enemies to compromise our own elections. He came to power by colluding with Russia to his political opponent. He tear-gassed peaceful protestors in front of the White House and painted Black Lives Matter as radical terrorists and applauded right-wing vigilantes who pointed guns at BLM protestors. Hell, he gave them a plum speaking slot at the RNC. Because that’s who calls the shots in Donald Trump’s America – racists and white supremacists.

So, yeah…it’s a rubbish time. And as anyone who remembers the train wreck of Election Night 2016 can understand, I don’t want to get my hopes up. We’ve all been burned one too many times.

Still, it is nice – if only for a moment – to think about a President Biden.

A president who acts like a fucking adult, not a tantrum-throwing toddler or a schoolyard bully.

A president who condemns violence, not one who exploits and encourages it for political gain.

A president who speaks carefully and thoughtfully, knowing his words have real-life consequences. Not one who constantly spews venom and lies, not caring if people die as a result because they’re not his base so screw them.

A president who refuses to legitimize dangerous conspiracy theories. Not one who gleefully seizes on every twisted fairy-tale to emerge from alt-right trolls lurking on 4chan.

A president who accepts the simple fact that our world is interconnected and that diplomacy, respect, and civil discourse are our best tools for making life better for everyone. Not one who embraces the right’s phony-ass “patriotism” and thinks Americans – more specifically, his supporters – are the only people on Earth who matter.

A president who does his fucking job, not one who sits on his ass tweeting and watching Fox News to get his daily ass-kissing. When he’s not golfing or holding white supremacist rallies, that is.

Trump’s awfulness is simply unparalleled, probably in human history. It is an expansive mass so vast and blatant and unashamed that it’s almost a work of art, in a sick way. You could go on forever about the cringe, the iconic moments of incompetence, the garish displays of smirking idiocy and unabashed bigotry that have come to define our time. Sharpie-doctored hurricane maps, Kanye in the Oval Office, calling African countries “shitholes,” telling black and Latina Congresswomen to “go back where they came from,” toilet paper on the shoe, shoving a world leader on stage, soundproof phone booths at the EPA, white supremacists as “very fine people,” caravans, paper towels, upside-down Bibles, covfefe…it has just been a constant, dizzying tornado of hate and evil and stupid. It’s why I stopped watching the news. It’s too much. We weren’t wired to ingest this level of crazy and awful every day. Being a human being is hard enough as it is.

It’s hard to stomach the thought of one more day of this shit, let alone 4 years. Should Trump get reelected, it’s hard to see how anything good will survive. And should his victory come once again come via dirty tricks, be it foreign interference or voter suppression or both, it would appear to confirm that our system has been so hopelessly corrupted by the right that it’s impossible for a Democrat to win. It would suggest that it is now impossible to have a fair presidential election and we’re doomed to have permanent tyrannical rule by a racist, reactionary, science-hating, authoritarian minority. Where we go from there is anyone’s guess.

I hope we can turn it around. I hope there are enough decent people out there who are fed up with this asshole. I hope the myriad GOTV efforts we’ve seen in recent months will motivate people who sat out last time, and maybe some people who have never voted. I hope the collective determination of people who are against Trump is enough to overcome the GOP’s perennial cheating and voter-suppression campaigns. I hope, no matter the outcome, that the whole thing doesn’t devolve into an epic shitshow that makes Florida 2000 look like a calm and orderly affair.

So I have hope. Is it well-founded? Is it anything more than wishful thinking? Hard to say. But when all appears lost, that’s what we have. Hope.  

In closing, if you are dismayed by what America has become these past 4 years, if you want to save the democracy that so many people fought and died for throughout our history, please vote for Biden. Your kids, your grandkids, and the entire world will thank you.

[cassandra3333]

Grand Old Party

Anti gay

Anti black

Anti Mexican

Anti Muslim

Anti women

Anti immigrant

Anti government

Auntie Betty

Just checkin'

to see if

you're payin'

attention.

But what are ya for?

Besides war

and more

money and power.

Oh, that's right.

Assault rifles,

prayers in school,

pretendin'

climate change

don't exist,

and teachin'

children

the myth

of creation

and, of course,

the Constitution,

written

when women

weren't worthy enough

to be “created equal.”

 As long as you get them tax cuts

and write-offs,

you're as happy as a clam.

Why else would you help people?

Your generosity is a sham.

No empathy

or sympathy,

but plenty

of apathy.

Do you feel anything?

Anything at all?

Or have your hearts

completely atrophied?

 Dirty water

in the Wolverine state.

Sick kids,

but

you don't care

'bout their fate.

Do ya?

Anything to save money.

Ain't that right honey?

 Don't jabber on 'bout Christian family values.

You're like all them

hypocritical white men.

Pillars of 1800's

Southern society.

Goin' to church

every Sunday mornin',

then home to beat

your slave workin'

in the field.

And somehow managin'

to squeeze in rapin'

your “darkey” in the kitchen,

where your wifey is turnin'

a blind eye,

before you've

even started

kneelin'

for your evenin'

prayers.

 Gotta be 18 to smoke,

but only 12 to shoot a gun,

as long as daddy is around.

Used to be younger,

but I guess

there were just too many

accidental deaths.

Imagine that.

But remember,

guns don't kill people,

people kill people.

Who cares how many people

die each day.

You're all bought and paid for

by the NRA.

 The planet will be destroyed,

but so what?

You'll be dead by then.

Just to keep all your loot,

you will continue to pollute

the water, the air, and the earth.

Refusin' to follow

them EPA regulations,

because a clean Earth

is just not worth

one less jet or yacht.

 “Government is useless,

should stay out of everything.”

But when a hurricane

hits your state

Mr. Congressman,

then by all means,

allocate another billion.

That's the Federal Emergency

Management Agency,

in case you've forgotten.

 Fox News = Lies,

Propaganda,

Fear-mongerin'.

Why so much vitriol?

Here's a clue -

Jesus was betrayed

for a few

pieces of silver.

If I didn't know better

I'd swear Judas

was a Republican.

Then they tortured

and crucified

the Lord.

The Left has always

been hated

by the Right.

As we all know,

Darkness

abhors the Light.

 No experience

or knowledge

of foreign affairs,

American history,

world history,

geography,

and has

the vocabulary

of a child.

Loves those

adjectives,

the bigger,

the better.

He's intellectually,

emotionally,

and morally

bankrupt.

But despite all of that,

you just don't see why

he gets so much flak.

 You can say

he's stupid and lazy,

but please, stop

callin' him crazy.

For you're implyin'

he ain't accountable

for his actions.

Stop the speculatin'

'bout his mental state.

It's not up for debate.

He's just your

run-of-the-mill

soulless asshole,

a bully with

no decency

at all.

 His nomination

means the blood shed

by our nation

is on your hands

Ladies Macbeth.

Our enemies

hacked our email,

our election.

Used fake identities

to incite hatred

and confusion,

and you're not

even pretendin'

you're makin' sure

it don't happen

again.

 Oh women,

how you must

loathe yourselves,

to support a man

who obviously holds you

in such contempt.

 Don't underestimate us.

Our memories are long.

Wouldja like to hear a story?

One with no guts or glory.

Once upon a time,

a poor man from Arkansas

became President.

But one party

was so obsessed,

they began a witch hunt

that had no precedent.

Some of the more crazy ones

actually said

the man needed killin',

but most of them

just wanted to know

whose orifices

he was fillin'.

 Our Dictator-in-Chief

committed treason,

colluded with Russians

to rig our elections.

Obstructin' justice,

turnin' Allies into enemies,

bringin' us

to the brink of

war.

“That's nothing,”

you say.

“Who cares?”

“Fake news.”

“But...but...HE lied under oath!”

you stutter

with proper

indignation.

Ignorin'

the fact

that

the man was

just protectin'

his family.

 “Hillary used a private email server!!”

Well, I'm glad to see

everyone's priorities are in order.

Was that really the problem?

Or maybe, just maybe,

you don't like the fact, Jack,

that there's a lil ole “of State,”

tacked

on the end

of Secretary.

So sorry to break it to ya,

but women can do

much more

than type.

More than cookin',

cleanin',

and bringin'

babies into a world

they never wanted.

Wait! Hold up now!

What's this I hear?

Five minions

from Herr

Trump's regime

did the same thing?

Lock 'em up!

Crooked Ivanka!

Crooked Jared!

 Old?  Maybe.

But not grand,

not grand at all.

 Karen B-R

[jokerepair74-blog]

Sears Bankruptcy Engineered to Benefit Executives and Stiff Workers

Yves here. In this Real News Network segment, Bill Black describes the executive “heads I win, tails you lose” formula in the Sears bankruptcy.

GREG WILPERT: It’s The Real News Network and I’m Greg Wilpert, coming to you from Baltimore.

The department store, Sears, is in the process of seeking approval for bankruptcy restructuring that would allow it to pay its top three executives one million dollars in bonuses each if the company goes out of business. Also, the agreement would give other executives as much as 25 million dollars in bonuses. Meanwhile, Sears is closing hundreds of stores and laying off tens of thousands of employees who are receiving no severance pay.

Joining me now to discuss the Sears bankruptcy process is Bill Black. Bill is a white collar criminologist, former financial regulator and Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City. He’s also the author of the book, The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One. Thanks for joining us again, Bill.

BILL BLACK: Thank you.

GREG WILPERT: So according to the bankruptcy court filing, apparently top Sears executives would receive only 50,000 dollars if Sears remains in business, but if it goes out of business, they would receive one million dollars each. Doesn’t this amount to a reward for going out of business? What is the logic behind such compensation decisions, and why would a bankruptcy court even approve of such a thing?

BILL BLACK: So this is called a strategic bankruptcy. And an Ayn Rand devotee, Edward Lampert, through a hedge fund, bought Sears over a decade ago and has absolutely destroyed its value in pursuit of short run gains for himself. And this is, one hopes, the final stage of the looting, but God only knows, it may only be the penultimate stage of it. The whole idea of this kind of strategic bankruptcy is to avoid your debts to workers in particular. You want to reduce your pension fund and, as you say, get out of contracts that would normally require you to pay severance and such. But you have to keep the senior executives loyal to you, in particular, because Lampert was forced out as CEO. So he now is dependent on his former lieutenants to keep him in the game. And it’s a complicated thing that I won’t describe, but Lampert’s entities are involved in this supposed bankruptcy reorganization as what’s called a stalking horse. So he’s playing yet another role and the creditors believe he’s probably trying to loot the place one more time.

Now, Congress, in 2005, changed the bankruptcy laws to try to reduce these abuses. So these are the end stage looting where the senior managers yank a big chunk of the remaining cash out, and as you say, they are taking it straight out of the mouths of the workers’ kids. And Congress said you can’t pay people just for staying with a company in circumstances where there is a bankruptcy filing, you have to pay them for extraordinary performance that is way off the charts difficult to do. Except that this bonus pool that you talked about, the first tranche, the first group of this, pays off basically in two months. So there’s no conceivable way that these executives are doing anything extraordinary, and if they did, that would probably be worse news because what they would be doing is another short-term scam. Because these are the same managers that have been absolutely destroying Sears for a decade.

GREG WILPERT: Now, presumably, bankrupt companies are not required to pay severance, but clearly the executives are receiving a form of severance pay in the form of bonuses that they’re about to receive. So what does this say about the labor and bankruptcy laws of the United States? I mean, how does this even make any sense?

BILL BLACK: Well, it’s been a rigged system for decades. And Congress keeps coming back and making it more rigged. So anyone’s who’s got a college degree and has had these terrible debts pile up knows that they pretty much can’t discharge in bankruptcy anymore any of their student loans, and the only exception was Obama was finally forced into dealing with some of these fraudulent colleges, these for-profit colleges, and Betsy DeVos has gutted that as well. So it’s rigged against students, it’s rigged against workers and it’s rigged in favor of the executives. As I said, in fairness, Congress tried in 2005 to restrict this ability to pay something, as you say, akin to severance to the top executives. So they shouldn’t, in fact, be eligible at Sears. Indeed, all of them should have been fired and a trustee in bankruptcy should have been appointed.

Now, a trustee in bankruptcy can be appointed by the bankruptcy court where they don’t trust the management. This was done, for example, at Enron. And then you can have real investigations, as they did at Enron, that discovered and documented all the massive frauds, including the frauds by the top executives and the bankers. The unwillingness to do that, even in a place like Sears that has a terrible track record for over a decade by this management team of destroying value, shows you the complete outrage, that they’re willing to leave in control precisely the people who have looted and destroyed what once was one America’s great corporations, and even though they have a track record, as I say, of over a decade of just absolute dissolution, destruction of value.

GREG WILPERT: Now, why is a trusteeship in bankruptcy not being considered in this case? I mean, what is going on with it in terms of the bankruptcy courts?

BILL BLACK: So the strong presumption is against the appointment of the trustees. In bankruptcy jargon, the typical thing in a corporation when it’s called a reorganization, that’s Chapter 11 as opposed to Chapter 7, which is liquidation under the Bankruptcy Code, the strong presumption is that the debtor in possession, the DIP, as they’re appropriately called – in other words, the CEO ran the place into the ground gets to continue running it under the theory that they know the place best. In a place that’s simply mildly incompetent and had tough economic times, you can see the logic. But in a situation where much of this time has been in the strongest economic expansion, the Obama-Trump expansion is one of the largest and longest in U.S. history, and Sears has completely collapsed in it, the presumption should be the opposite in that kind of institution, especially when there are many serious allegations of insider abuse, as they’re most assuredly are at Sears, the strong presumption should be, A, that we appoint a trustee, and B, that that trustee investigates prior senior management.

GREG WILPERT: So now, the labor campaign group, Rise Up Retail, has pointed out that this is actually something also that happened with Toys R Us when they went out of business, that the top executive received millions and millions of dollars on this pay-in, the workers, the employees, didn’t even get severance. How common is this practice of providing these kinds of severance bonuses while paying not severance to laid off workers?

BILL BLACK: Oh, this is absolutely the norm. And again, strategic bankruptcies where you don’t necessarily have to go into bankruptcy, but you do so to screw the workers and benefit the executives, are extremely common among the wealthy. And that’s being done in this case, and Toys R Us is a good example. What kind of bonuses – remember, in 2005, Congress changes the law to say you’re only supposed to be able to get a bonus for really extraordinary efforts. Well, Toys R Us just died. It wasn’t brought back to life as some wonderful, efficient entity through brilliance of the management team under bankruptcy. So under the very logic of the 2005 Reform Act, they should have gotten zero in the way of bonuses. So you can see that’s yet another area where, in practice, the bankruptcy judges tend to be extremely generous to the senior management that have looted and destroyed the place, and extremely hostile to the workers. It’s an outrageous, utterly stacked system, and it’s getting worse, and it should be a major area where the House of Representatives, under the new majority, should be acting to reform the law.

GREG WILPERT: Okay. Well we’re going to have to leave it there for now. I was speaking to Bill Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Thanks again, Bill, for having joined us today.

BILL BLACK: Thank you.

GREG WILPERT: So if you like Real News Network stories like this one, please keep in mind that we have started our winter fundraiser and need your help to reach our goal of raising 400,000 dollars. Every dollar that you donate will be matched. And unlike practically all other news outlets, we do not accept support from governments or corporations. Please do what you can today.

This entry was posted in Free markets and their discontents, Hedge funds, Income disparity, Legal, Private equity, The destruction of the middle class on November 22, 2018 by Yves Smith.

Post navigation

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Source: https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2018/11/sears-bankruptcy-engineered-benefit-executives-stiff-workers.html

[go-redgirl]

NY Post Piece Pretty Much Shreds Founders of Anti-Trump Group as Total Losers with Tax Issues (Lincoln Project) Town Hall ^ | 8/7/2020 | Matt Vespa

It's no shock that some in the GOP were never going to like Donald Trump, no matter what. These folks claim their opposition is out of principle, so then why are they helping Joe Biden win the presidency and helping Democrats take back the Senate? It's about the money. I know I'm preaching to the choir. You've seen what these people have done. It's been going on for years, and the Lincoln Project isn't the only group that does this sort of stuff. The Democrats are willing to pay it would seem. I mean, the opposition still defies reality.

I wasn't a Donald Trump fan. I rapidly become one, though because, at the end of the day, he wasn't worse than Hillary Clinton. There was no way I was voting Democrat in 2016—and I wanted Lady Macbeth to lose badly. Trump was our best bet. Not only that, but he earned it. He blew away a field of what was considered to be loaded with some heavyweight GOP candidates. He exposed the divide between the base and the party leadership, especially on trade and immigration. We're a right-wing populist party now. There's nothing wrong with that—nothing. Eighty-five percent of what Trump has done is what conservative Republicans have advocated for since Reagan. The Lincoln Project's founders claim to be these folks, by the way.

Trump has transformed the judiciary, cut taxes, gutted job-killing regulations, started to rebuild our military, created millions of jobs, and reduced unemployment numbers—before COVID hit—to record lows across the board. Consumer and small business confidence have hit their highest marks in years under his administration. Markets like Trump. The base likes Trump. The party is Trump. And we have this annoying band of total losers hogging the media light—because they're Trump-deranged as well—to make it seem like this small, small sliver is somehow half of the GOP. It's not. The old ways are gone. The Republicans who hailed from the old order are gone. They've been defeated or retired, mostly the latter since none of these folks have the stomach for the nasty fight that is ahead. Let's call it Mitt Romney syndrome, the pure inability to go for the political kill due to weakness. Mitt has proven to be one of the most useless Republicans in the Senate, by the way. A man who betrayed us by voting with Democrats for one of the articles of impeachment against Trump in their politically motivated theater that engulfed the nation for months. Mitt should have been expelled from the GOP over this, but that's a rant for another time.

The New York Post recently published a piece about the Lincoln Project's founders, which ripped into these guys, quoting a National Review description of them as being three unemployed political operatives and one lawyer executing a shameless grift project. We touched upon John Weaver's Russian antics, which boomeranged on the group. The Lincoln Project has attacked Trump for being Putin's puppet—yeah, I know these guys claim to be Republicans—while ignoring that one of them had to register as a foreign agent of Russia for his past lobbying activities. Granted, the gig didn't last long as he backed out of it, but please—the self-righteousness of it all. It's appalling. The tax issues plaguing other co-founders might also be a reason for the 180-degree turn here regarding who they support, right? Ebony Bowden has more:

Co-founder Weaver, a political consultant known for his work on John McCain’s and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns, registered as a Russian foreign agent for uranium conglomerate TENEX in a six-figure deal last year, filings with the Department of Justice show.

[…]

Weaver backed out of the lobbying gig in May 2019 and called it “a mistake” in a tweet in which he denied having taken any money from TENEX.

Still, that hasn’t stopped him from ironically railing against Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and his “rogue ties to Putin backed thugs in Ukraine & elsewhere.”

According to IRS filings exclusively obtained by The Post, the Republican operative — who has also repeatedly called Trump a “tax fraud” and a “tax crook” on Twitter — also has an outstanding $313,655 federal tax lien against his Austin, Texas, home.

This March, an Austin shopping mall also filed a lawsuit against the children’s clothing store that Weaver and his wife own, according to court documents obtained by The Post, just months after Weaver mocked the president’s own string of failed businesses.

Weaver’s fellow Lincoln Project founder Wilson also has an interesting financial past. According to IRS documents, the GOP strategist has an outstanding $389,420 federal tax lien against his Tallahassee, Florida, home, and his bank moved to foreclose on the property in 2016.

Wilson, a best-selling author with 1 million Twitter followers, has never disclosed the money woes publicly, allowing him to sneer online about Trump’s decision never to release his own taxes — at one point calling him “Brokeahontas,” despite the fact that American Express had taken Wilson to court for his own unpaid $25,729 credit card bill the year before, documents show.

[…]

The devastating National Review piece dismissed the outfit as “little more than the most brazen election-season grift in recent memory” and a “ragtag band of three otherwise unemployed strategists plus one lawyer.”

Oh, and of course, these guys didn't offer comment. But hey, if you're broke, you have to find a way to make bread somehow. This is America, but please—don't sell us this nonsensical tale about "country over party." It's insulting. We all know this is because you guys need money. Maybe you should have switched parties beforehan

[dinafbrownil]

Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

The Friday Breeze

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Happy Friday, at last! A quick programming note: This is the last Breeze of the month (year/decade!). I’ll see you guys back here in 2020!

Since everyone seemed determined to fit at least two weeks’ of news into this past five days, though, I’m thinking today’s edition will hold you over. Let’s get to it!

In some kind of poetic timing, the long-awaited court decision about the constitutionality of the health law dropped on Wednesday — the day open enrollment ended (since it was extended because of technical glitches). I would guess one or two health wonks who are also betting aficionados won their pools with that prediction.

The big decision itself was a bit anticlimatic: The appeals court did rule that the individual mandate that requires people to have coverage was unconstitutional since Congress zeroed out the penalty so it could no longer be thought of as a tax. But the judges kicked it back to the lower court for a closer review of the whether that invalidated other portions of the law.

Out of all the things this does, the most notable is that it buys Republicans some political breathing room. GOP lawmakers were facing a repeat of the midterms where Dems capitalized on their attacks of popular provisions in the health law to sweep into the House on a blue wave. Had the ruling instead immediately struck down the law — and its guarantees of coverage for people with preexisting medical conditions — it could have been used as a potent political weapon in 2020.

For now, the health law’s fate remains in limbo — which seems to be its natural state even as it nears its 10-year anniversary.

The New York Times: 3 Legal Experts On What The Obamacare Ruling Really Means

The New York Times: Obamacare Ruling May Spare Republicans Some Political Pain

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

Sign Up

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For once, lawmakers didn’t act like college students with a term paper due at midnight— they announced their spending deal on Monday, the House passed it on Tuesday and the Senate even voted at a reasonable hour Thursday to send it to President Donald Trump.

Here are some of the health highlights:

— The smoking age will be raised to 21.

— Gun violence research is being funded for the first time in more than two decades.

— Three health law taxes, including the highly unpopular “Cadillac Tax,” are being repealed. (An early Christmas gift to insurers if ever there was one.)

— Puerto Rico’s Medicaid funding is being slashed (apparently because of personal intervention from President Donald Trump).

What was missing? Any proposals to curb surprise medical bills, which left many to think that out of the winners and losers in this deal (and there were plenty of both), patients were firmly slotted into that second category.

The New York Times: Spending Deal To Avert Shutdown Carries Key Priorities For Both Parties

The Washington Post: House Passes $1.4 Trillion Spending Bill With Trump Support That Would Gut Key Parts Of Affordable Care Act

The Associated Press: Spending Deal Would End Two-Decade Freeze On Gun Research

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Consumers Are The Big Losers In Year-End Funding Deal

Health care was no longer the belle of the ball at the last presidential candidate debate of the decade (yes, I am that annoying person who keeps making note of that). There was a brief clash between Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) where teasing escalated to shouting — both covering well-worn ground with their points (“Medicare for All costs a lot! Not doing anything isn’t good either!). For the most part though, health care — and coverage especially — took a back seat.

Politico: The 5 Most Brutal Onstage Brawls From The Sixth Democratic Debate

Trump unveiled his plan to allow states to import drugs from Canada — which critics say looks good on paper politically but does little in reality to cut costs for patients. Mainly because Canada is over there being like, “Excusez-moi, you want to do what now?” Officials there aren’t supper jazzed about the idea of becoming America’s pharmacy, and even if they were, the supply likely could not meet our demand. Apart from that, regulation costs would certainly cut into savings and drugmakers would have to cooperate (which is even more absurd than thinking Canada wants to get on board this train).

Politico: 4 Reasons Why Trump’s Drug Importation Bill Won’t Work

Meanwhile, with their sweeping drug prices bill that passed the House, the Democrats have put Republicans  between a rock and a hard place (aka angering the powerful pharma lobby or angering voters). Things are getting tense as the GOP tries not to wind up holding the bag when drug prices are brought up on the campaign trail.

Politico: Democrats Box In Republicans On Drug Pricing

An intensive investigation by USA Today reveals widespread and startling incidents of sexual violence, routine use of physical force, poor medical care and deaths at facilities overseen by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Under the Trump administration there have been at least 29 fatalities at these facilities, including seven  suicides. With most of the country focused on the separation crisis at the border, this detention system can fly under the radar.

USA Today: Deaths in custody. Sexual violence. Hunger strikes. What we uncovered inside ICE facilities across the US

How much money does the Sackler family — which owns the firm that made Oxycontin — really have? It’s a question that’s been plaguing anyone paying attention to the opioid crisis lawsuits. The problem is, no one really knows that answer (except, I presume, the family themselves). That message was driven home once more when it was revealed that the Sacklers transferred $1.36 billion to overseas accounts and affiliated companies after 2008, part of $10.3 billion in total profits distributed out of the company.

Currently, the Sacklers have agreed to pay $3 billion as a way to settle lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis. But when tidbits like this come out, critics of the deal are left wondering how much that would even hurt the family’s coffers.

The Washington Post: The Sackler Family Transferred $1.36 Billion In Purdue Pharma Profits Overseas, Company Says

Meanwhile, it seems undeniable at this point that another meth crisis is brewing and ready to bubble over — this time with an even more potent form of the drug. (One expert explains the difference between today’s meth and the kind from the ’90s: “It’s like they were drinking Mountain Dew and now they are injecting Red Bull.) But advocates, cities and states are struggling to hold the epidemic at bay. Why? Because public health funding these days is locked up fighting the opioid crisis.

The New York Times: A New Drug Scourge: Deaths Involving Meth Are Rising Fast

In the miscellaneous file for the week:

— What would happen if there were no restrictions on the specialists that insurance plans would cover? It sounds great for patients in theory, but a closer look at a plan for New Jersey teachers paints a grim picture of just how out-of-control that kind of strategy can get.

ProPublica: What Happens When A Health Plan Has No Limits? An Acupuncturist Earns $677 A Session.

— Even in the midst of the lung disease outbreak linked to e-cigarettes, the rates of teens who vape marijuana are skyrocketing. There is some good news, though: their use of hard drugs and alcohol is dropping off.

The New York Times: Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits

— There’s only one federal law that protects children who are not in state custody who are neglected and abused. Not a single state fully complies with that law — and the consequences can be deadly.

ProPublica/Boston Globe: The Law Says She Should Have Been Protected From Birth. Instead, She Was Left In The Care Of Her Drug-Addicted Mother, Who Killed Her.

— For a good, long holiday-travel read, check out this piece on the movement to have family and friends care for the body of loved ones after they die instead of having them whisked off to the funeral parlor to deal with.

The New York Times: The Movement To Bring Death Closer

And with that, I wish you a restful, joyous, wonderful last two weeks of the decade! (See, I told you I’m that person.)

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/must-reads-of-the-week-from-brianna-labuskes-32/

[wetrumpfeed]

Afternoon MAGAthread: YOUR WEEKLY PRESIDENTIAL RECAP!

HAPPY SATURDAY PATRIOTS!

This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here and I'm back with all things spicy and dank from the past week! For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!

Sunday, January 27th:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas, with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID! @foxandfriends

We are not even into February and the cost of illegal immigration so far this year is $18,959,495,168. Cost Friday was $603,331,392. There are at least 25,772,342 illegal aliens, not the 11,000,000 that have been reported for years, in our Country. So ridiculous! DHS

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, just stated that because of me NATO has been able to raise far more money than ever before from its members after many years of decline. It’s called burden sharing. Also, more united. Dems & Fake News like to portray the opposite!

(Retweeting ChatByCC) Strong people stand up for themselves—but stronger people stand up for others. Thank you President @realDonaldTrump for standing up for America.

Thank you to Brit. This is a very big deal in Europe. Fake News is the Enemy of the People!

(Retweeting Ken Paxton) VOTER FRAUD ALERT: The @TXsecofstate discovered approx 95,000 individuals identified by DPS as non-U.S. citizens have a matching voter registration record in TX, approx 58,000 of whom have voted in TX elections. Any illegal vote deprives Americans of their voice.

(Retweeting The GOP) “300 people are dying from heroin overdoses a week in this country, 90% of it is coming over the southern border… We’ve got to stop it.”—@KellyannePolls

#HolocaustMemorialDay

BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!

Never thought I’d say this but I think @johnrobertsFox and @GillianHTurner @FoxNews have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC! Look to final results! Don’t know how my poll numbers are so good, especially up 19% with Hispanics?

After all that I have done for the Military, our great Veterans, Judges (99), Justices (2), Tax & Regulation Cuts, the Economy, Energy, Trade & MUCH MORE, does anybody really think I won’t build the WALL? Done more in first two years than any President! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Aaaaahaha, Wikileaks putting NYT in their place.

r/politics is propaganda. Their target is us.

Kamala Harris literally prostituted her body to obtain positions of power within the United States government. Then she joined the #MeToo movement and accused Kavanaugh of being a rapist. Now she’s running for President

This is an actual tweet by an actual congressman.... Mark Dice throwing a little shade

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

In Their Heads. 24/7. Rent Free.

Leftist Are Trash.

Interesting

saw this on the pole of a stoplight down the street from my house, right in front of the elementary school

Monday, January 28th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Executive Order on Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency with Respect to Venezuela

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Tariffs on the “dumping” of Steel in the United States have totally revived our Steel Industry. New and expanded plants are happening all over the U.S. We have not only saved this important industry, but created many jobs. Also, billions paid to our treasury. A BIG WIN FOR U.S.

Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!

Howard Schultz doesn’t have the “guts” to run for President! Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the “smartest person.” Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!

“In the Media’s effort to destroy the President, they are actually destroying themselves. Given all of the tremendous headwinds this President has faced, it’s amazing he has accomplished so much.” DEROY MURDOCK @foxandfriends I agree!

In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!

How does Da Nang Dick (Blumenthal) serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee when he defrauded the American people about his so called War Hero status in Vietnam, only to later admit, with tears pouring down his face, that he was never in Vietnam. An embarrassment to our Country!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

'We don't want open borders': Hispanic pastors back President Trump on immigration

NATO increases spending by $100B due to Trump calling them delinquents

'They Treated Me Like El Chapo': Roger Stone Recounts 'Over-the-Top' Arrest | This arrest is such an outrage... Mueller must go!!!

BOOM!!!!! Federal Panel Of Judges Dismisses All 83 Ethics Complaints Against Brett Kavanaugh!

State of the Union address rescheduled for February 5

Border Patrol Wife Invites Speaker Pelosi to See Why Walls Are Needed

PRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:

Press Beating

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Just a reminder that Reddit intentionally silences the political speech of 700,000 supporters of the President of the United States

Has anyone seen Ruth?

Accurate as hell

This is why I like a small federal government.

Tuesday, January 29th:

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!

“Our economy, right now, is the Gold Standard throughout the World.” @IngrahamAngle So true, and not even close!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

GOOSEBUMPS

Soon to be Fired Johns Hopkins Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry: Transgenderism is a “mental disorder”, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.

Tucker Carlson: Roger Stone raid shows that CNN is no longer covering Robert Mueller. They're working with him

Twitter Says Advising Fired Journalists to 'Learn to Code' Is Hate Speech. But when reporters were mocking out of work coal miners and manufacturing workers the same way it was okay

LMAO - Nancy and Cryin' Chuck's choice for the Dems' SOTU response is a tax delinquent with nearly $200k in unpaid college debt.

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Al Gore's 10 year Climate Change Challenge

WHERE'S RUTH?

Total disaster

Yikes

Where in the World, is Ruth Bader Ginsberg?

Wednesday, January 30th:

TODAY'S ACTION:

Two Nominations Sent to the Senate

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

Maduro willing to negotiate with opposition in Venezuela following U.S. sanctions and the cutting off of oil revenues. Guaido is being targeted by Venezuelan Supreme Court. Massive protest expected today. Americans should not travel to Venezuela until further notice.

When I became President, ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous progress made, especially over last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago. Negotiating are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting.. ... ....Fighting continues but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. We will soon see if talks will be successful? North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S. No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization... ... ...Time will tell what will happen with North Korea, but at the end of the previous administration, relationship was horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. Now a whole different story. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un shortly. Progress being made-big difference!

If the committee of Republicans and Democrats now meeting on Border Security is not discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier, they are Wasting their time!

“Three separate caravans marching to our Border. The numbers are tremendous.” @foxandfriends

The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but.... ... ....a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!

Dow just broke 25,000. Tremendous news!

Spoke today with Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido to congratulate him on his historic assumption of the presidency and reinforced strong United States support for Venezuela’s fight to regain its democracy.... ... ....Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro. The fight for freedom has begun!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

JUST IN: Woman who sexually assaulted Infowars reporter has been arrested.

Brad Parscale on Twitter: "Where it counts @realDonaldTrump is stronger than 2016. The fake news establishment media is not fooling these voters."

NO SHIT SHERLOCK ...

This is insanity. Seems like advocating for Post Term Abortion AKA MURDER by any standard I’m aware of. The only thing worse than what the Democrat Governor of VA said was the fact that there’s zero pushback from the host.

Trump slams Virginia Democrats over 'terrible' abortion stance

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Book burnings don't always look like this...

Lion King (NY Progressive Remaster, 2019)

I'm afraid that 2019 is the year that the Supreme Court is going to be RUTHLESS

Judge Orders Release Of Sealed Records From BuzzFeed’s Dossier Lawsuit

Anytime some media company tries to run some sensational headline about MAGA being violent..new rule..always wait 3 days to get the real story.

Thursday, January 31st:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Appointments for the Executive Office of the President

Executive Order on Strengthening Buy-American Preferences for Infrastructure Projects

President Trump's Message on Securing our Border

President Trump Meets with American Manufacturers and Signs an Executive Order

President Trump Meets with the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

So great to watch & listen to all these people who write books & talk about my presidential campaign and so many others things related to winning, and how I should be doing “IT.” As I take it all in, I then sit back, look around, & say “gee, I’m in the White House, & they’re not!

Large sections of WALL have already been built with much more either under construction or ready to go. Renovation of existing WALLS is also a very big part of the plan to finally, after many decades, properly Secure Our Border. The Wall is getting done one way or the other!

Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!

With Murders up 33% in Mexico, a record, why wouldn’t any sane person want to build a Wall! Construction has started and will not stop until it is finished. @LouDobbs @foxandfriends

China’s top trade negotiators are in the U.S. meeting with our representatives. Meetings are going well with good intent and spirit on both sides. China does not want an increase in Tariffs and feels they will do much better if they make a deal. They are correct. I will be...... ... ....meeting with their top leaders and representatives today in the Oval Office. No final deal will be made until my friend President Xi, and I, meet in the near future to discuss and agree on some of the long standing and more difficult points. Very comprehensive transaction.... ... ....China’s representatives and I are trying to do a complete deal, leaving NOTHING unresolved on the table. All of the many problems are being discussed and will be hopefully resolved. Tariffs on China increase to 25% on March 1st, so all working hard to complete by that date!

Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee are wasting their time. Democrats, despite all of the evidence, proof and Caravans coming, are not going to give money to build the DESPERATELY needed WALL. I’ve got you covered. Wall is already being built, I don’t expect much help!

Democrats are becoming the Party of late term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!

More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans, into our Country. We have stopped the previous Caravans, and we will stop these also. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!

Looking for China to open their Markets not only to Financial Services, which they are now doing, but also to our Manufacturing, Farmers and other U.S. businesses and industries. Without this a deal would be unacceptable!

Schumer and the Democrats are big fans of being weak and passive with Iran. They have no clue as to the danger they would be inflicting on our Country. Iran is in financial chaos now because of the sanctions and Iran Deal termination. Dems put us in a bad place - but now good!

Very sadly, Murder cases in Mexico in 2018 rose 33% from 2017, to 33,341. This is a big contributor to the Humanitarian Crisis taking place on our Southern Border and then spreading throughout our Country. Worse even than Afghanistan. Much caused by DRUGS. Wall is being built!

(Video)

Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterized by the media - and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc. Their testimony was distorted press.... ... ....I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday. A false narrative is so bad for our Country. I value our intelligence community. Happily, we had a very good meeting, and we are all on the same page!

Our great U.S. Border Patrol Agents made the biggest Fentanyl bust in our Country’s history. Thanks, as always, for a job well done!

Just out: The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me. They were made to friends & business associates of Don. Really sad!

Nellie Ohr, the wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr, was long ago investigating for pay (GPS Fusion) members of my family, feeding it to her husband who was then giving it to the FBI, even though it was created by ousted & discredited Christopher Steele. Illegal! WITCH HUNT

This Witch Hunt must end!

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

President Trump warned us 2 years ago that the Democrat party would push for late term abortion.. watch Clinton accuse him of using "scare tactics"

"nO vOters, wE wOuLD NEVER dO tHAT" - 2 YEARS LATER ...

And they wonder why we call them NPC. Behold, the womanoid robot.

House Dems Reject GOP Proposal to Block Raises for Federal Employees Guilty of Sexual Misconduct. Vote was chaired by Democrat Tony Cardenas, who is accused of drugging teenage girl

Graham: We’re Getting Trump’s Ninth Circuit Nominees Confirmed

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

Press that button!! You know you want to!

Roger Stone Explains How to Dress for Court

Ohio Passes Heartbeat Bill Which Bans Abortions After 6 Weeks

White people in Chicago at 2AM...

Friday, February 1st:

TODAY'S ACTION:

President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration Posts

President Trump Meets to Discuss Fighting Human Trafficking on the Southern Border

🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:

I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the “Endless Wars” of unlimited spending and death. During my campaign I said, very strongly, that these wars must finally end. We spend $50 Billion a year in Afghanistan and have hit them so hard that we are now talking peace... ... ....after 18 long years. Syria was loaded with ISIS until I came along. We will soon have destroyed 100% of the Caliphate, but will be watching them closely. It is now time to start coming home and, after many years, spending our money wisely. Certain people must get smart!

Best January for the DOW in over 30 years. We have, by far, the strongest economy in the world!

JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!

Great news on Foxconn in Wisconsin after my conversation with Terry Gou!

(Retweeting The White House) "We added 304,000 jobs, which was a shocker to a lot of people. It wasn't a shocker to me."

Thank you to Senator Rob Portman and Senator Cory Gardner for the early and warm endorsement. We will ALL WIN in 2020 together!

National African American History Month is an occasion to rediscover the enduring stories of African Americans and the gifts of freedom, purpose, and opportunity they have bestowed on future generations..

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

Governor Who Endorsed Infanticide Received $2 Million From Planned Parenthood

EMBARRASSING - Elizabeth Warren apologizes to Cherokee Nation over taking DNA test to prove Native American roots

Virginia Governor on Blast!!! @GovernorVA Are you the one in blackface or the one in the KKK hood?

Very Fake News CNN falsely labels Northam a Republican.

REMINDER: Cory Booker Groped Someone In High School and Wrote an Op-Ed About It. Then Tried to Destroy Kavanaugh's Life. Fuck Him.

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

If Fake News Journalists need help coding, I know a guy.

YUGE difference between President Trump and Ralph Northam!

u/Daniel_Wat posted this in r/dankmemes

Northamsgone

New Planned Parenthood Ad Campaign is looking lit 🔥👽

Saturday, February 2nd:

SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:

(D)Ralph Northam now claims he is neither the blackface or KKK person in his yearbook photo...ok...so why was his nickname “Coonman”?

Planned Parenthood receives about $500,000,000 a year in taxpayer funds. In the most recent election, Planned Parenthood helped contribute $30,000,000 to Democrat’s campaigns. Democrat politicians are buying campaign contributions with your hard-earned money. It’s a corrupt money laundering cycle.

The greatest jobs President America has ever seen! MAGAnomics – January Jobs Report, Massive Wage Growth, Manufacturing Report and Overall Economic Numbers Stun Financial Media…

Don Jr. is a certified spice dealer

🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:

The two parties in a nutshell.

Quick Shills are up early. Post pics that make them realize they have no charisma or class

“And I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling Republicans!”

Definitely not the most convincing apology I have ever seen.

WHAT A SPICY WEEK!

Of course no recap is complete without some tunes for your jamming pleasures:

I'll Keep You Safe

World On Fire

One Dance

It's Strange

Right To It

Imagine

MAGA ON PATRIOTS!

submitted by /u/Ivaginaryfriend [link] [comments]

[robgrayofficial]

HAPPY SATURDAY PATRIOTS!This is u/Ivaginaryfriend here and I'm back with all things spicy and dank from the past week! For those that missed any past recaps you can check those out here!Sunday, January 27th:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:58,000 non-citizens voted in Texas, with 95,000 non-citizens registered to vote. These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg. All over the country, especially in California, voter fraud is rampant. Must be stopped. Strong voter ID! @foxandfriendsWe are not even into February and the cost of illegal immigration so far this year is $18,959,495,168. Cost Friday was $603,331,392. There are at least 25,772,342 illegal aliens, not the 11,000,000 that have been reported for years, in our Country. So ridiculous! DHSJens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, just stated that because of me NATO has been able to raise far more money than ever before from its members after many years of decline. It’s called burden sharing. Also, more united. Dems & Fake News like to portray the opposite!(Retweeting ChatByCC) Strong people stand up for themselves—but stronger people stand up for others. Thank you President @realDonaldTrump for standing up for America.Thank you to Brit. This is a very big deal in Europe. Fake News is the Enemy of the People!(Retweeting Ken Paxton) VOTER FRAUD ALERT: The @TXsecofstate discovered approx 95,000 individuals identified by DPS as non-U.S. citizens have a matching voter registration record in TX, approx 58,000 of whom have voted in TX elections. Any illegal vote deprives Americans of their voice.(Retweeting The GOP) “300 people are dying from heroin overdoses a week in this country, 90% of it is coming over the southern border… We’ve got to stop it.”—@KellyannePolls#HolocaustMemorialDayBUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL!Never thought I’d say this but I think @johnrobertsFox and @GillianHTurner @FoxNews have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC! Look to final results! Don’t know how my poll numbers are so good, especially up 19% with Hispanics?After all that I have done for the Military, our great Veterans, Judges (99), Justices (2), Tax & Regulation Cuts, the Economy, Energy, Trade & MUCH MORE, does anybody really think I won’t build the WALL? Done more in first two years than any President! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Aaaaahaha, Wikileaks putting NYT in their place.r/politics is propaganda. Their target is us.Kamala Harris literally prostituted her body to obtain positions of power within the United States government. Then she joined the #MeToo movement and accused Kavanaugh of being a rapist. Now she’s running for PresidentThis is an actual tweet by an actual congressman.... Mark Dice throwing a little shade🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:In Their Heads. 24/7. Rent Free.Leftist Are Trash.Interestingsaw this on the pole of a stoplight down the street from my house, right in front of the elementary schoolMonday, January 28th:TODAY'S ACTION:Executive Order on Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency with Respect to Venezuela🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Tariffs on the “dumping” of Steel in the United States have totally revived our Steel Industry. New and expanded plants are happening all over the U.S. We have not only saved this important industry, but created many jobs. Also, billions paid to our treasury. A BIG WIN FOR U.S.Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!Howard Schultz doesn’t have the “guts” to run for President! Watched him on @60Minutes last night and I agree with him that he is not the “smartest person.” Besides, America already has that! I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!“In the Media’s effort to destroy the President, they are actually destroying themselves. Given all of the tremendous headwinds this President has faced, it’s amazing he has accomplished so much.” DEROY MURDOCK @foxandfriends I agree!In the beautiful Midwest, windchill temperatures are reaching minus 60 degrees, the coldest ever recorded. In coming days, expected to get even colder. People can’t last outside even for minutes. What the hell is going on with Global Waming? Please come back fast, we need you!How does Da Nang Dick (Blumenthal) serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee when he defrauded the American people about his so called War Hero status in Vietnam, only to later admit, with tears pouring down his face, that he was never in Vietnam. An embarrassment to our Country!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:'We don't want open borders': Hispanic pastors back President Trump on immigrationNATO increases spending by $100B due to Trump calling them delinquents'They Treated Me Like El Chapo': Roger Stone Recounts 'Over-the-Top' Arrest | This arrest is such an outrage... Mueller must go!!!BOOM!!!!! Federal Panel Of Judges Dismisses All 83 Ethics Complaints Against Brett Kavanaugh!State of the Union address rescheduled for February 5Border Patrol Wife Invites Speaker Pelosi to See Why Walls Are NeededPRESS BRIEFINGS, INTERVIEWS, RALLIES:Press Beating🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Just a reminder that Reddit intentionally silences the political speech of 700,000 supporters of the President of the United StatesHas anyone seen Ruth?Accurate as hellThis is why I like a small federal government.Tuesday, January 29th:🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:A low level staffer that I hardly knew named Cliff Sims wrote yet another boring book based on made up stories and fiction. He pretended to be an insider when in fact he was nothing more than a gofer. He signed a non-disclosure agreement. He is a mess!“Our economy, right now, is the Gold Standard throughout the World.” @IngrahamAngle So true, and not even close!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:GOOSEBUMPSSoon to be Fired Johns Hopkins Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry: Transgenderism is a “mental disorder”, that sex change is “biologically impossible,” and that people who promote sexual reassignment surgery are collaborating with and promoting a mental disorder.Tucker Carlson: Roger Stone raid shows that CNN is no longer covering Robert Mueller. They're working with himTwitter Says Advising Fired Journalists to 'Learn to Code' Is Hate Speech. But when reporters were mocking out of work coal miners and manufacturing workers the same way it was okayLMAO - Nancy and Cryin' Chuck's choice for the Dems' SOTU response is a tax delinquent with nearly $200k in unpaid college debt.🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Al Gore's 10 year Climate Change ChallengeWHERE'S RUTH?Total disasterYikesWhere in the World, is Ruth Bader Ginsberg?Wednesday, January 30th:TODAY'S ACTION:Two Nominations Sent to the SenatePresident Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Judicial Nominees🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:Maduro willing to negotiate with opposition in Venezuela following U.S. sanctions and the cutting off of oil revenues. Guaido is being targeted by Venezuelan Supreme Court. Massive protest expected today. Americans should not travel to Venezuela until further notice.When I became President, ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous progress made, especially over last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed, unthinkable two years ago. Negotiating are proceeding well in Afghanistan after 18 years of fighting.. ... ....Fighting continues but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. We will soon see if talks will be successful? North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S. No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization... ... ...Time will tell what will happen with North Korea, but at the end of the previous administration, relationship was horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. Now a whole different story. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un shortly. Progress being made-big difference!If the committee of Republicans and Democrats now meeting on Border Security is not discussing or contemplating a Wall or Physical Barrier, they are Wasting their time!“Three separate caravans marching to our Border. The numbers are tremendous.” @foxandfriendsThe Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear Deal, they are MUCH different, but.... ... ....a source of potential danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!Dow just broke 25,000. Tremendous news!Spoke today with Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido to congratulate him on his historic assumption of the presidency and reinforced strong United States support for Venezuela’s fight to regain its democracy.... ... ....Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro. The fight for freedom has begun!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:JUST IN: Woman who sexually assaulted Infowars reporter has been arrested.Brad Parscale on Twitter: "Where it counts @realDonaldTrump is stronger than 2016. The fake news establishment media is not fooling these voters."NO SHIT SHERLOCK ...This is insanity. Seems like advocating for Post Term Abortion AKA MURDER by any standard I’m aware of. The only thing worse than what the Democrat Governor of VA said was the fact that there’s zero pushback from the host.Trump slams Virginia Democrats over 'terrible' abortion stance🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Book burnings don't always look like this...Lion King (NY Progressive Remaster, 2019)I'm afraid that 2019 is the year that the Supreme Court is going to be RUTHLESSJudge Orders Release Of Sealed Records From BuzzFeed’s Dossier LawsuitAnytime some media company tries to run some sensational headline about MAGA being violent..new rule..always wait 3 days to get the real story.Thursday, January 31st:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Appointments for the Executive Office of the PresidentExecutive Order on Strengthening Buy-American Preferences for Infrastructure ProjectsPresident Trump's Message on Securing our BorderPresident Trump Meets with American Manufacturers and Signs an Executive OrderPresident Trump Meets with the Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:So great to watch & listen to all these people who write books & talk about my presidential campaign and so many others things related to winning, and how I should be doing “IT.” As I take it all in, I then sit back, look around, & say “gee, I’m in the White House, & they’re not!Large sections of WALL have already been built with much more either under construction or ready to go. Renovation of existing WALLS is also a very big part of the plan to finally, after many decades, properly Secure Our Border. The Wall is getting done one way or the other!Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!With Murders up 33% in Mexico, a record, why wouldn’t any sane person want to build a Wall! Construction has started and will not stop until it is finished. @LouDobbs @foxandfriendsChina’s top trade negotiators are in the U.S. meeting with our representatives. Meetings are going well with good intent and spirit on both sides. China does not want an increase in Tariffs and feels they will do much better if they make a deal. They are correct. I will be...... ... ....meeting with their top leaders and representatives today in the Oval Office. No final deal will be made until my friend President Xi, and I, meet in the near future to discuss and agree on some of the long standing and more difficult points. Very comprehensive transaction.... ... ....China’s representatives and I are trying to do a complete deal, leaving NOTHING unresolved on the table. All of the many problems are being discussed and will be hopefully resolved. Tariffs on China increase to 25% on March 1st, so all working hard to complete by that date!Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee are wasting their time. Democrats, despite all of the evidence, proof and Caravans coming, are not going to give money to build the DESPERATELY needed WALL. I’ve got you covered. Wall is already being built, I don’t expect much help!Democrats are becoming the Party of late term abortion, high taxes, Open Borders and Crime!More troops being sent to the Southern Border to stop the attempted Invasion of Illegals, through large Caravans, into our Country. We have stopped the previous Caravans, and we will stop these also. With a Wall it would be soooo much easier and less expensive. Being Built!Looking for China to open their Markets not only to Financial Services, which they are now doing, but also to our Manufacturing, Farmers and other U.S. businesses and industries. Without this a deal would be unacceptable!Schumer and the Democrats are big fans of being weak and passive with Iran. They have no clue as to the danger they would be inflicting on our Country. Iran is in financial chaos now because of the sanctions and Iran Deal termination. Dems put us in a bad place - but now good!Very sadly, Murder cases in Mexico in 2018 rose 33% from 2017, to 33,341. This is a big contributor to the Humanitarian Crisis taking place on our Southern Border and then spreading throughout our Country. Worse even than Afghanistan. Much caused by DRUGS. Wall is being built!(Video)Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterized by the media - and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc. Their testimony was distorted press.... ... ....I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday. A false narrative is so bad for our Country. I value our intelligence community. Happily, we had a very good meeting, and we are all on the same page!Our great U.S. Border Patrol Agents made the biggest Fentanyl bust in our Country’s history. Thanks, as always, for a job well done!Just out: The big deal, very mysterious Don jr telephone calls, after the innocent Trump Tower meeting, that the media & Dems said were made to his father (me), were just conclusively found NOT to be made to me. They were made to friends & business associates of Don. Really sad!Nellie Ohr, the wife of DOJ official Bruce Ohr, was long ago investigating for pay (GPS Fusion) members of my family, feeding it to her husband who was then giving it to the FBI, even though it was created by ousted & discredited Christopher Steele. Illegal! WITCH HUNTThis Witch Hunt must end!SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:President Trump warned us 2 years ago that the Democrat party would push for late term abortion.. watch Clinton accuse him of using "scare tactics""nO vOters, wE wOuLD NEVER dO tHAT" - 2 YEARS LATER ...And they wonder why we call them NPC. Behold, the womanoid robot.House Dems Reject GOP Proposal to Block Raises for Federal Employees Guilty of Sexual Misconduct. Vote was chaired by Democrat Tony Cardenas, who is accused of drugging teenage girlGraham: We’re Getting Trump’s Ninth Circuit Nominees Confirmed🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:Press that button!! You know you want to!Roger Stone Explains How to Dress for CourtOhio Passes Heartbeat Bill Which Bans Abortions After 6 WeeksWhite people in Chicago at 2AM...Friday, February 1st:TODAY'S ACTION:President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Personnel to Key Administration PostsPresident Trump Meets to Discuss Fighting Human Trafficking on the Southern Border🔥🔥TRUMP TWEETS🔥🔥:I inherited a total mess in Syria and Afghanistan, the “Endless Wars” of unlimited spending and death. During my campaign I said, very strongly, that these wars must finally end. We spend $50 Billion a year in Afghanistan and have hit them so hard that we are now talking peace... ... ....after 18 long years. Syria was loaded with ISIS until I came along. We will soon have destroyed 100% of the Caliphate, but will be watching them closely. It is now time to start coming home and, after many years, spending our money wisely. Certain people must get smart!Best January for the DOW in over 30 years. We have, by far, the strongest economy in the world!JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!Great news on Foxconn in Wisconsin after my conversation with Terry Gou!(Retweeting The White House) "We added 304,000 jobs, which was a shocker to a lot of people. It wasn't a shocker to me."Thank you to Senator Rob Portman and Senator Cory Gardner for the early and warm endorsement. We will ALL WIN in 2020 together!National African American History Month is an occasion to rediscover the enduring stories of African Americans and the gifts of freedom, purpose, and opportunity they have bestowed on future generations..SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:Governor Who Endorsed Infanticide Received $2 Million From Planned ParenthoodEMBARRASSING - Elizabeth Warren apologizes to Cherokee Nation over taking DNA test to prove Native American rootsVirginia Governor on Blast!!! @GovernorVA Are you the one in blackface or the one in the KKK hood?Very Fake News CNN falsely labels Northam a Republican.REMINDER: Cory Booker Groped Someone In High School and Wrote an Op-Ed About It. Then Tried to Destroy Kavanaugh's Life. Fuck Him.🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:If Fake News Journalists need help coding, I know a guy.YUGE difference between President Trump and Ralph Northam!u/Daniel_Wat posted this in r/dankmemesNorthamsgoneNew Planned Parenthood Ad Campaign is looking lit 🔥👽Saturday, February 2nd:SIGNIFICANT TWEETS AND NEWS:(D)Ralph Northam now claims he is neither the blackface or KKK person in his yearbook photo...ok...so why was his nickname “Coonman”?Planned Parenthood receives about $500,000,000 a year in taxpayer funds. In the most recent election, Planned Parenthood helped contribute $30,000,000 to Democrat’s campaigns. Democrat politicians are buying campaign contributions with your hard-earned money. It’s a corrupt money laundering cycle.The greatest jobs President America has ever seen! MAGAnomics – January Jobs Report, Massive Wage Growth, Manufacturing Report and Overall Economic Numbers Stun Financial Media…Don Jr. is a certified spice dealer🐸 TOP SPICE OF THE DAY 🐸:The two parties in a nutshell.Quick Shills are up early. Post pics that make them realize they have no charisma or class“And I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you meddling Republicans!”Definitely not the most convincing apology I have ever seen.WHAT A SPICY WEEK!Of course no recap is complete without some tunes for your jamming pleasures:I'll Keep You SafeWorld On FireOne DanceIt's StrangeRight To ItImagineMAGA ON PATRIOTS! #robgray

[omcik-blog]

New Post has been published on OmCik

New Post has been published on http://omcik.com/cruz-goes-from-lucifer-to-dealmaker-in-health-care-overhaul/

Cruz Goes From ‘Lucifer’ to Dealmaker in Health Care Overhaul

Sen. Ted Cruz (Photo: Cruz)

(Bloomberg) — Ted Cruz is trying a radically new role: dealmaker.

The first-term senator from Texas is seeking to unite warring wings of the Republican Party around an effort to kill the Affordable Care Act and is showing a new willingness to compromise with colleagues to devise a replacement plan.

(Related: Cruz Pushes ACA Repeal Gambit That Could Roil U.S. Senate)

It’s a significant departure for the formerly obstructionist Cruz, who lost the Republican presidential contest to Donald Trump and has long had icy relations with other lawmakers. Cruz once called Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor, and former Republican House Speaker John Boehner once called Cruz “Lucifer in the flesh” and the most “miserable son of a bitch” he had ever worked with. His most notable legislative accomplishment so far has been to help force a shutdown of the government for 16 days in 2013 in an unsuccessful effort to strip funding from the Affordable Care Act.

Cruz, 46, said Trump’s election and Republican control of the government prompted him to change his approach. These days, he’s negotiating regularly with McConnell and other senators. “The entire world changed on election day,” Cruz said in one of several recent interviews. “My focus today is on delivering results and not wasting this historic opportunity.”

Cruz’s engagement underscores how difficult it has been for Republicans to follow through on one of the party’s top priorities. While the majority of GOP lawmakers have long championed getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, there are deep divisions among Republicans about what should replace it. While the House narrowly passed a health care plan, Senate Republicans have been mired in discussions about how to craft legislation that could attract enough votes to pass.

‘Constructive’ Behavior

Fellow Republicans say they’re pleased with Cruz’s current approach.

Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican whip and fellow Texas senator, called his health care efforts “constructive.”

“I like the way Senator Cruz has been conducting himself,” Cornyn said.

Whether he’ll be able to help bridge the Republican divide, given that his previous behavior left a strong distaste with a number of lawmakers, remains to be seen. McConnell has said Republicans are nearing the introduction of their health care plan. But some GOP senators have said they’re skeptical about whether their party can pass a bill.

Cruz has been working to pass a health care bill for several months. He set up a working group of conservatives and moderates, starting with Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, which later expanded to include party leaders. They met once a week for two months in Cruz’s conference room without the press catching wind of it — a point of pride for Cruz.

“The week after the election I brought my staff together,” he said, and told them they had a new mission. For the past four years, he told them, they had been fighting “a president with a radical agenda” and had focused on stopping bad things from happening as the loyal opposition.

Support Needed

Republicans can’t afford to lose the support of Cruz, making him crucial not only to passing a health care bill in the Senate but also to potentially selling such a compromise to House conservatives and outside groups.

Cruz already played a behind-the-scenes role in the May House vote to approve that chamber’s version of an Affordable Care Act change bill, H.R. 1628.

After an earlier attempt to pass H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act bill, collapsed because of opposition from the Freedom Caucus, Cruz was among those insisting the party not give up.

Rep. Mark Meadows (Photo: Meadows)

“I have long said, when it comes to repealing Obamacare, failure is not an option. This was the central promise Republicans have made for seven years,” he said. But he also criticized an early version of the bill for not doing enough to repeal Affordable Care Act regulations and to bring down premiums.

Op-ed Writer

Cruz worked with House conservatives, including Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows of North Carolina. He penned an op-ed in Politico arguing that language gutting the Affordable Care Act insurance regulations should be included in the bill and could pass procedural muster in the Senate.

Meadows said he’s met with Cruz many times on health care, often “without any fanfare or any knowledge of his involvement.”

“I don’t know that it’s a different Ted Cruz, because I’ve seen this Ted Cruz before,” Meadows said. “The only one that got reported for a long time was the other Ted Cruz.”

“I’m very optimistic that his involvement this time will actually produce results,” Meadows said. “He knows the real pressure points and what becomes real obstacles for us.”

An amendment giving states the option to nix insurance regulations ultimately brought on members of the Freedom Caucus and the votes for the bill. But Cruz’s task in the Senate is harder. While Ryan could lose more than 20 Republican votes and still pass the bill, McConnell can only lose two.

New and Improved

It’s a fact Cruz cites repeatedly when asked about his new approach. The new Cruz makes clear his preferences but isn’t drawing red lines in public that could blow up the bill.

Take the issue of taxes. A central dispute among Republicans is whether any Affordable Care Act repeal must eliminate all of its taxes, including those on the wealthy.

Moderates like Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are focused more on cutting premiums while not leaving tens of millions more people without insurance as the Congressional Budget Office says the House bill would do.

“We should repeal all of the Obamacare taxes,” Cruz said. “But I’m sure that and many other issues will continue to be subjects of discussion within the conference, and to reach a bill that can pass, we have to arrive upon a proposal that will command the support of 50 senators.”

Cruz is in a vastly different place than he was a year ago. Back then, the Cruz who excoriated his colleagues was running for president.

Graham’s Cracks

His tactics and demeanor rubbed so many colleagues the wrong way that Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joked to reporters that senators wouldn’t convict his murderer. Another time, he said a choice between Trump and Cruz for the party’s nomination was like choosing to get shot or getting poisoned.

Cruz is now running for re-election and in need of rehabbing relationships with his colleagues. Legislative wins might help, too. He said he is optimistic that a health care deal will come together, even as several colleagues have predicted failure.

“For several months now, I have been spending day and night, meeting with House members, meeting with senators, meeting with the administration, to bring people together to actually deliver on our promise to repeal Obamacare and critically to lower premiums to make health care more affordable,” he said.

He added: “You need senators who represent different parts of the conference, are in different spots on the ideological spectrum and are willing to work together in good faith and productively to reach a solution.”

— Read Freedom Caucus Keeps Heat on Would-Be ACA Changers on ThinkAdvisor.

[studentofrhetoric-blog]

Saturday, February 25th, 2017

International News:

--- "North Korea is evading international sanctions with a sophisticated network of overseas companies, enabled partly by its continued access to the international banking system, says a forthcoming United Nations report seen by Reuters. North Korea is under heavy U.N. sanctions and a strict arms embargo designed to impede the development of its banned nuclear and missile programs. The U.N. panel of experts, which produced the 100-page draft report, was created to investigate reported infringements of those sanctions. “Designated entities and banks have continued to operate in the sanctioned environment by using agents who are highly experienced and well trained in moving money, people and goods, including arms and related materiel, across borders,” the report says. U.N. member states should “exercise heightened vigilance” over North Korean diplomats engaged in commercial activities, it says, because some may be providing financial support to illegal networks."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-sanctions-un-idUSKBN164043

--- "German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that Germany needed to fulfill its commitment to boost defense spending to meet NATO's target of 2 percent of gross domestic product. "Obligations have to be fulfilled and others in the world will demand that of us, and I think they're right that Germany must fulfill its obligations too," she said at an election campaign event in her constituency of Stralsund in northeastern Germany. Germany has come under increased pressure since the election of U.S. President Donald Trump to meet NATO's defense spending target, which was agreed by all members of the 28-nation alliance in 2014."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-merkel-idUSKBN1640A8?il=0

--- "French President Francois Hollande fired back at Donald Trump on Saturday after the U.S. president remarked in a speech that a friend thought "Paris is no longer Paris" after attacks by Islamist militants. Hollande said Trump should show support for U.S. allies. "There is terrorism and we must fight it together. I think that it is never good to show the smallest defiance toward an allied country. I wouldn't do it with the United States and I'm urging the U.S. president not to do it with France," Hollande said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-usa-paris-idUSKBN1640CD?il=0

--- "The PLA Navy is likely to secure significant new funding in China's upcoming defense budget as Beijing seeks to check U.S. dominance of the high seas and step up its own projection of power around the globe. China's navy has been taking an increasingly prominent role in recent months, with a rising star admiral taking command, its first aircraft carrier sailing around self-ruled Taiwan and new Chinese warships popping up in far-flung places. Now, with President Donald Trump promising a U.S. shipbuilding spree and unnerving Beijing with his unpredictable approach on hot button issues including Taiwan and the South and East China Seas, China is pushing to narrow the gap with the U.S. Navy."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-defence-navy-idUSKBN16500P

Domestic & International News:

--- "The Kuwaiti government could pay up to $60,000 to President Donald Trump's hotel in Washington for a party on Saturday that will be an early test of Trump's promise to turn over profits from such events to the U.S. Treasury. The Kuwait Embassy is hosting an event to mark their National Day. Similar National Day celebrations at the Trump International Hotel for a crowd of several hundred can run from $40,000 to $60,000, according to cost estimates from the hotel seen by Reuters. The hotel declined to comment on the figures. One of Trump's lawyers, Sheri Dillon, pledged at a Jan. 11 press conference to donate any Trump Hotel profits from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury. The White House and Alan Garten, the general counsel for the Trump Organization, did not return calls for comment on whether any profits from foreign government payments to the hotel have been donated. Dillon's firm declined to comment."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-hotel-idUSKBN1640LE

Domestic News:

--- "U.S. Senator Tim Scott faced a quandary on Saturday in hosting his town hall: he promised to meet with his South Carolina constituents, but he wanted to avoid the kind of adversarial free-for-all so many Republicans encountered this week. Scott decided to ban placards from his North Charlestown meeting in hopes of averting the raucousness that erupted at dozens of town halls during the first congressional recess of Donald Trump's month-old presidency. The senator also required the crowd submit questions in writing ahead of time after other Republican lawmakers faced a wave of anger on issues ranging from Trump's immigration and healthcare policies to the president's ties to Russia. Despite Scott's precautions, arguments broke out and constituents told one another to shut up, though many in the audience - mostly white and over the age of 50 - said the senator remained respectful and sincere. And it never degenerated into an all-out shouting match."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-protest-idUSKBN1640TN?il=0

More on town halls: https://www.apnews.com/66c83ca520064b66b1ed3f37c50d87a3/At-town-halls,-GOP-caught-between-Trump,-angry-voters

--- "U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will begin rolling back Obama-era environmental regulations in an "aggressive way" as soon as next week, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Saturday - adding he understood why some Americans want to see his agency eliminated completely. "I think there are some regulations that in the near-term need to be rolled back in a very aggressive way. And I think maybe next week you may be hearing about some of those," EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told the Conservative Political Action summit in Washington DC. Pruitt added the EPA's focus on combating climate change under former President Barack Obama had cost jobs and prevented economic growth, leading many Americans to want to see the EPA eliminated completely...Pruitt was confirmed as EPA head last week. His appointment triggered an uproar among Democratic lawmakers and environmental advocates worried that he will gut the agency and re-open the doors to heavy industrial pollution. He sued the EPA more than a dozen times as his states' top attorney and has repeatedly cast doubt on the science of climate change. "

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-epa-idUSKBN1640S9?il=0

--- "U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he would not attend the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, a high-profile event that draws celebrities, politicians and journalists. "I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!", Trump wrote on Twitter. On the campaign trail and in the White House, Trump has had a strained relationship with the press, calling journalists "the enemy of the people" and frequently criticizing outlets and individual reporters whose coverage he does not like. The reporters' group said it would go ahead with its April 29 dinner despite Trump's absence. The Washington event typically draws movie stars, politicians and business leaders to hear a humorous speech by the sitting president. The dinner "has been and will continue to be a celebration of the First Amendment and the important role played by an independent news media in a healthy republic," said Jeff Mason, a Reuters White House correspondent who heads the association this year. Ronald Reagan was the last president to sit out the event after he was shot in 1981."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-press-idUSKBN1640TF?il=0

--- "U.S. Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as chairman on Saturday, choosing a veteran of the Obama administration to lead the daunting task of rebuilding the party and heading the opposition to Republican President Donald Trump. Members of the Democratic National Committee, the administrative and fundraising arm of the party, picked Perez on the second round of voting over U.S. Representative Keith Ellison, a liberal from Minnesota. Following one of the most crowded and competitive party leadership elections in decades, Perez faces a challenge in unifying and rejuvenating a party still reeling from the Nov. 8 loss of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He immediately made Ellison his deputy. After losing the presidency and failing to recapture majorities in Congress, party leaders are anxious to channel the growing grassroots resistance to Trump into political support for Democrats at all levels of government across the country. "We are suffering from a crisis of confidence, a crisis of relevance," Perez, a favorite of former Obama administration officials, told DNC members. He promised to lead the fight against Trump and change the DNC's culture to make it a more grassroots operation."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-democrats-idUSKBN16404L?il=0

Additional analysis: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/0225/Why-does-the-race-for-DNC-chairman-matter

--- "A pickup truck driven by a man who appeared to be "highly intoxicated" plowed into a crowd of spectators watching the main Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans on Saturday, sending more than 20 people to the hospital, police said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-new-orleans-parade-idUSKBN165019

[the-daily-wtf-blog]

Day 15: The massacre.

Source: https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2017/02/03/Day-15/

02/03/2017

Updated: 02/03/2017 03:55:14 PM PST

Subscribe: Get the Daily WTF in your inbox

1/ Kellyanne Conway cites non-existent “massacre” defending ban. There’s no such thing as the Bowling Green massacre. (CNN)

.@KellyannePolls says that 2 Iraqi refugees "were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre." (There was no such massacre.)

17,13517,135 Retweets

17,26717,267 likes

Very grateful no one seriously hurt in the Louvre attack ...or the (completely fake) Bowling Green Massacre. Please don't make up attacks.

36,98136,981 Retweets

103,451103,451 likes

UPDATE:

Federal judge in Seattle halts Trump’s immigration order. The temporary restraining order is granted on a nationwide basis. (Seattle Times)

Government reveals over 100,000 visas revoked due to travel ban. (Washington Post)

U.S. segregating Muslims as part of travel ban. Lawsuits being filed contend that the Department of Homeland Security is subjecting refugees, immigrants and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries to flagrant religious and racial discrimination. They also claim that customs officials refuse to provide information in a timely fashion on the numbers and identities of detainees being held, and are aggressively blocking detainees’ access to legal advice. (Newsweek)

Related:

Kellyanne Conway cites “Bowling Green massacre” that never happened to defend travel ban. Kellyanne Conway has taken “alternative facts” to a new level. During a Thursday interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, the counselor to the president defended President Trump’s travel ban related to seven majority-Muslim countries. At one point, Conway made a reference to two Iraqi refugees whom she described as the masterminds behind “the Bowling Green massacre.” (Washington Post)

Conway admits “Bowling Green massacre” error. “Honest mistakes abound,” she wrote on Twitter. (NY Times)

Facebook users are marking themselves “Safe” from Kellyanne Conway’s made-up terror attack. The fabricated attack—which she told Hardball’s Chris Matthews was carried out by two Iraqi refugees—“didn’t get covered,” implying the press were complicit in covering up a massacre that never took place. (Gizmodo)

2/ Trump will order a sweeping review of the Dodd-Frank Act rules enacted in response to the 2008 financial crisis. Trump also will halt regulations that requires advisers on retirement accounts to work in the best interests of their clients. (Bloomberg)

Related:

Trump has mounted an all-out assault on financial regulation, announcing an array of steps to tear down safeguards enacted to prevent a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis and turning to the Wall Street titans he had demonized during his campaign for advice. The actions constitute a broad effort to loosen regulations on banks and other major financial companies. (NY Times)

3/ Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner worked to sink LGBT executive order. The couple favored putting out a clear statement from the president, promising to uphold the 2014 Obama executive order and stopping the momentum for the turnaround in its tracks. Members of the religious right with ties to the Trump administration say they have been led to believe that some changes will still be coming. (Politico)

4/ The jobless rate ticked up to 4.8 percent. Employers added 227,000 to payrolls, but pay gains were scant despite increases in minimum-wage laws. Trump said that this latest report showed there was a “great spirit in the country right now.” (NY Times)

Related:

Trump said unemployment rate wasn’t real. if the president wants to set a different measure of the job market for his administration to focus on and improve, it would be best if he could let us know what it is now, so that we can really assess whether things get better or worse during his presidency. (NY Times)

Opinion: Trump is preparing to gut Wall Street oversight. This gives Democrats a huge opportunity. It presents a new and very specific way for them to press the case against Trump for more transparency around his own holdings and the unprecedented welter of conflicts-of-interest — and possibilities for corruption — they may be creating. (Washington Post)

5/ Hill Republicans revolt over Trump’s plans to build border wall. A growing number of congressional Republicans are objecting to the cost and viability of a proposal that was a rallying cry for the billionaire businessman during his insurgent campaign. (CNN)

6/ Senate advances DeVos’s nomination, setting her up for final vote. Senators voted 52-48 to advance DeVos’s nomination. No Democrats voted yes. Pence is expected to have to break a 50-50 tie, the first time a vice president will cast the deciding vote on a Cabinet nomination. (The Hill)

Related:

How DeVos became Trump’s least popular cabinet pick. Nine out of 10 students in this country attend public school. So DeVos’ rhetoric about replacing “failed” public schools with charter schools and voucher programs may have rubbed many people — even Trump supporters — the wrong way. (NPR)

7/ Trump missing top lieutenants across federal government. The work at some agencies has slowed because of the lack of deputies. Trump has so far failed to nominate deputies and other top officials to run the day-to-day operations at most federal agencies, creating a vacuum across the government that has businesses, lobbyists and lawmakers in limbo as they wait to see how Trump’s agenda will be carried out. (Politico)

8/ The Trump administration is showing white nationalists it won’t fight them at all. The Trump administration is reportedly planning to rebrand a government effort to combat violent extremism into one that focuses only on terrorists acting in the name of Islam and take advantage of yet another opportunity to ratify white nationalism and white supremacy. (Washington Post)

9/ More companies back away from Donald Trump under pressure from customers. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit Trump’s 15-member council of business leaders yesterday. Nordstrom announced last night that it will stop selling Ivanka Trump’s name-branded line of clothing and shoes. (Washington Post)

10/ Trump’s Mar-a-Lago getaway could cost taxpayers more than $3 million. Trump regularly hassled Obama for his travel. Now Trump is about to get a taste of his own medicine. (Politico)

Related:

Eric Trump’s trip to Uruguay cost taxpayers $97,830 in hotel bills. (Washington Post)

11/

View image on Twitter

Holy shit. The Germans seem to be not be thrilled with Donald Trump... Der Spiegel is one of Europe's biggest news magazines.

180180 Retweets

200200 likes

View image on Twitter

After Trump's immigration order: “Liberty’s Flameout” http://nyer.cm/jZ9jWiu

8585 Retweets

7474 likes

WTF, right? Get this in your inbox, daily.

-Matt Kiser

[furynewsnetwork]

LISTEN TO TLR’S LATEST PODCAST:

By Steve Birr

Leaders in the vaping industry are hopeful President Donald Trump will help slash regulations threatening to put electronic cigarette vendors across the country out of business.

E-cigarette manufacturers and vendors faced a brutal year of new rules and regulations from the federal government and localities throughout many states. Health officials are pushing lawmakers to amend the laws governing traditional cigarettes to all vaping devices, despite evidence e-cigarettes eliminate 95 percent of the dangers associated with smoking, because the majority of cancer-causing chemicals are inhaled through smoke.

The biggest blow to the vaping industry in 2016 and the largest threat facing vendors and manufacturers going forward is a decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finalized in May forcing all vape products to be regulated the same way as cigarettes. Many local vape vendors anticipate closure within the next two years if the rule goes through, but are increasingly confident the Trump Administration is likely to fight the new rules.

“The FDA will get less cooperation from the Administration on the expansion of regulatory regimes in the category,” Jan Verleur, CEO of VMR and co-founder of V2, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another look at the [FDA] deeming regulation. I know there are a lot of parties that are getting set up to challenge that regulation. I would think domestically with regards to regulation the outlook is quit good right now.”

The FDA move requires e-cigarette vendors to submit a pre-market tobacco application for their products to the FDA for approval and is threatening to gut the domestic market. Vendors and manufactures have until Aug. 8, 2018 to submit the applications for their products and many are anticipating closure, due to the application costs, which range from $100,000 to $400,000 dollars each.

Even if the administration does not directly challenge the FDA rules, vapers are hoping for recourse in Congress. Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the Cole-Bishop amendment, which would remove much of the onerous requirements from the FDA’s decision and give the industry more time to respond to FDA requirements. The Senate is expected to vote on the amendment as part of a larger spending package and supporters are hopeful for its passage.

Despite the general optimism within the industry, there is one aspect of Trump’s agenda that is leaving them concerned. Due to the high cost of labor in the U.S., vaping devices, like most electronics, are assembled oversees, largely in China.

“If there were to be trade tariffs imposed at some point in time in the next four years, that would be a negative because we are an electronics industry,” Verleur, who oversees the largest independent vaporizer brand in the U.S., told TheDCNF. “Outside of that I would say on the home front the regulatory clouds may be parting for our industry. So as long as China tariffs are not imposed, I think it could be more good than bad that Mr. Trump has ascended to the presidency.”

The industry will still face major opposition from health officials at the federal and state level, who argue the vapor exhaled by e-cigarette users is a threat to air quality and presents second-hand hazards to those exposed. The Tennessee Department of Health even issued an advisory Jan. 9 warning against using e-cigarettes to quit smoking.

Proponents of vaping argue critics are ignoring the positive impact the devices are having on current smokers.

“Our industry is one born out of innovation,” said Verleur. “You would not have seen an industry go from nothing to in excess of $5 billion domestically in the flash of an eye if we were not solving some problem.”

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[robertmcangusgroup]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle

Sunday 15th January 2017

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you… where ever you are on this little blue planet as we spin endlessly through the universe … This is an opening that I have used several times while writing our Sister paper “The Daily Tulip” over the past year or so and I realized today exactly how appropriate it is for us, We are all on a journey no matter who we are, none of us is in control, we are merely passengers along for the trip.. and as we progress through life on the little blue planet, some of us arrive at our stops and depart, just like people on the train that sat opposite you, you exchanged smiles, maybe even gave the newspaper to them but when the train pulled into the station they got off, their journey through.. and you never will see them again.. well life is exactly like that, to us three score and ten as it says in the bible (70 years) is a long time but age and time are relative to the person or thing we are discussing, but 70 years is nothing but a blink of the eye to the Giant Redwood or the Diamond sparkling in the girls engagement ring, so my advice to you all is to treat each day as a very special day, because you never know if it’s going to be your station our train arrives at, So treat others with respect, as the bible says, “Do unto others as you would be done unto” in other words you have to give it to get it… So my philosophical moment over, let’s have some coffee and talk about the news…

WELL LET’S START with a familiar subject, Respect.. A rare bottle of whisky signed by US president elect Donald Trump has sold for £6,000 at auction in Glasgow. The 26-year-old GlenDronach single malt whisky was bottled in 2012 to mark the opening of Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire. A Canadian bidder paid more than twice the estimated price to secure the bottle at the auction of rare whiskies. A bottle of 52-year-old Macallan 1950 fetched £10,000, while a bottle of the Black Bowmore went for £5,200. Laurie Black, whisky expert at McTear's auctioneers, said: "There was a huge amount of interest in the bottle and we were delighted with the final price, which was several times more than previous Trump bottles have sold for. "The GlenDronach is a stunning whisky in its own right, however, the Trump connection gave this particular bottle a presidential boost."

AN MP WHO issued a social medial appeal after discovering a soft toy abandoned outside the House of Commons has reunited it with its young owner. Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, found a toy rabbit at the Carriage Gates entrance last July. She tried to trace the owner on social media but no-one came forward for months. After turning to Mumsnet, a user got in touch at Hogmanay, saying the toy belonged to her six-year-old daughter. The woman said she worked near Westminster at the time and her daughter was "gutted" when the bunny went missing as they had been "inseparable since birth". She reclaimed the toy on a visit to the House of Commons on Wednesday. Ms Blackman updated followers on the toy's time at Westminster, including pictures of her and the Jellycat Bashful Bunny with Big Ben behind them and at Prime Minister's Questions. She also drafted an Early Day Motion stating the House of Commons is "saddened by the discovery of the abandoned bashful bunny by the gates of the Palace of Westminster" which was not submitted to parliament but was signed by several SNP colleagues. Ms Blackman said previously: "I have two young children, so I know the devastation that can be caused when a toy is lost."

I’LL TAKE FRIED COD AND 100 VALIUM TO GO PLEASE….. Fake valium tablets are now so freely available across Scotland they have become "cheaper than chips", a drug expert has warned. The tablets, bought on the street, have been linked to the deaths of six people in the Toryglen area of Glasgow in the past nine months. In some cases the pills contained etizolam, as a substitute for diazepam. Andrew Horne, from support group Addaction, said deaths occurred on a weekly basis in all parts of Scotland. You're wrapped in bubble wrap and things don't really matter as much. But then again, the problem's still there in the morning Jamie, Glasgow drug user Mr Horne said the problem of fake valium was not a new one - but the huge quantity of such drugs circulating on the black market had led to rock bottom prices. He told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "It's absolutely everywhere. "Addaction runs services from Oban to Eyemouth and you can be sure that you're seeing fake valium - valium is a bit of a misnomer. "To say what is fake valium is as cheap as chips would be a misnomer in that it's cheaper than chips. "It's selling for pennies across the country." The fake valium pills are often coloured with blue food dye to make them look like the genuine valium pills, leaving users with blue lips. Sold on the street, there is no regulation over what they contain. Substitute chemicals are often highly dangerous, especially if combined with other drugs.

THE HEADLINE READ: Man Wanted For Public Indecency, I thought it was a job application.. CCTV images of a man police want to find in connection with a public indecency offence in Edinburgh have been released. The incident happened in Broomhall Avenue at about 02:30 on Sunday 12 June. Detectives believe the man can help them with their investigation and are appealing for anyone who recognises him to come forward. The man is white, 25-30 years old, 5ft 10in - 6ft and of medium build. He also has short dark hair, and stubble or a short beard. He was wearing a navy blue zip-up hooded top with white stripes down the sleeves, a light-coloured t-shirt, navy blue tracksuit bottoms with purple stripes, and black shoes. Det Con Mike Haddock, of Police Scotland, said: "This has understandably been extremely distressing for the victim involved and we've been conducting a number of inquiries since then.

MAKES ME HAPPY… The John Muir Way has been awarded Scotland's Great Trail status three years after the coast-to-coast route was established. The 134-mile route, which is named after the 19th Century Scottish conservationist, launched in 2014 to mark the centenary of his death. It runs between Helensburgh in the west and Muir's birthplace in Dunbar. The John Muir Way is the 28th long distance route to be given the accolade by Scottish Natural Heritage. The route, which includes castles, towns, villages and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, attracted more than 60,000 people in 2015. Muir left Scotland for America aged 11 and became one of the most influential figures in the history of the environmental movement.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today, it was certainly murder and mayhem…

Our look at Scotland today is of some of the "Ready Meals" available in Scotland ........

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Sunday 15th January 2017 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in ….. Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus