Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

So very ready.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

We are aware of all internet traditions.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Consistently wrong since 2002

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

White supremacy is terrorism.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

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Archives for 2014

“The famously Delphic governor”

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We’re having a genuine blizzard here. It’s a Level Two, soon to be a Level Three (I don’t really know what the levels mean) and so we’re all closing everything up. They’re making fun of me in this office because we have the county emergency services agency/sheriff across the street and last time there was a Level Three they called me and told me to go home.

Me, specifically: “go home.” I didn’t know whether to feel cared for or picked on.

This time I looked out the window and I saw it coming so that’s progress.

We talked about this possibility in a primary (well, I did) former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer so how about this?

If he weren’t the nation’s oldest governor, a ripe 75, Jerry Brown would automatically be counted among serious Democratic candidates for president in 2016.
He boasts a household name, an impressive list of accomplishments in the country’s most populous state — a state some once deemed ungovernable — glowing national media coverage and a deep familiarity with the pitfalls and rigors of a White House bid, having run three times before.
Now, some are pushing Brown to consider another try for the White House, even if it means taking on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the prohibitive, if still undeclared, Democratic favorite.
Asked if Brown would categorically rule out another presidential bid in 2016, a spokesman, Jim Evans, referred to a statement Brown made in May at a California Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Citing his past primary victories, Brown said “time is kind of running out on that.”
“I guess I’ll just have to stay and do the work of being the governor, which I actually enjoy because I have some perspective that I didn’t used to have,” Brown said.
The famously Delphic governor often leaves people guessing about his motivation and intentions, which leaves plenty of leeway ahead of 2016. Absent a clear-cut statement of disinterest from Brown — who sought the White House in 1976, 1980 and 1992 — some see familiar signs of a presidential-candidate-in-waiting.

He’s old, sure, but what are the other objections?

Or, you can talk about the weather or anything else.

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The Wingnut Hole

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Richard is right – 6 million more Americans on insurance is great news. Here’s what isn’t:

Ed Kilgore has been calling this the “wingnut hole,” and many have been speculating about its size. How many Americans will go without health insurance simply because the GOP dislikes the president? Well, happy 2014, dear readers: initial estimates are in, and we have 5 million lucky winners!

These are mainly hard working poor people who would be getting Medicaid at no cost to the state (through 2016) but who won’t simply because the Republicans in their state threw a tantrum.

A few states (like Iowa) will probably find some way to take the free money the feds are handing out, as long as the program is called something like the “Non Obamacare Medical Workhouse Plan for Undeserving Moochers Who Should be Shamed”.  The rest of them are just going to let people suffer. 

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Good News Everybody

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I was on call for the go-live but was able to take a couple of days off work.  I got no calls, and my e-mail back-log has only minor implementation concerns such as whether or not Doc X is in Mayhew Product Y as a new member wants to make sure she can see him next week.   As a side note, PPACA has probably permantly altered the holiday season for health insurance companies.  Traditionally 1/1 had been the big renewal date, which meant a lot of prep work in December and thus minimal holiday time off.  However PPACA had quite a few small and medium size groups shift to a 12/1 renewal date so they could avoid community rating underwriting for one more year.  That shifted the prep work to October and November, so more holiday time off is now available. 

And even better news —

Roughly 6 million people have health insurance through the two major system disrupting changes of PPACA, Medicaid expansion and Exchanges:

These two small updates bring the totals to:

2,104,332 Private Plans
4,002,609 Medicaid/CHIP

​However, these numbers could still go somewhat higher since several states (RI, MA & MN) have extended their enrollment deadlines through midnight tonight, and Oregon has gone even further, allowing for enrollments to be made retroactively up through January 6th for 1/1/14 coverage (I would imagine that there’d be some sort of limit on this in case anyone suffers a gunshot wound or major heart attack during those first 6 days, but that’s their call).

Now back to bitching about being back at work….

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Resolutions

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resolutions b c
(B.C. via GoComics.com)

Happy news, from the Washington Post:

With millions of Americans starting to receive health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday, President Obama’s political organization is starting a new campaign to highlight the personal stories of people benefiting under the new law.

Organizing for Action, the non-profit and non-partisan advocacy group that grew out of Obama’s reelection campaign, is launching a new Web site, complete with videos and interactive maps, to showcase personal testimonials from those enrolled in the new health care exchanges…

The site, which will expand in coming days with more personal testimonials and videos, is designed to make sure people see not just the Affordable Care Act enrollment statistics, but also specific ways in which the law is benefiting everyday Americans, an OFA spokeswoman said….

Meanwhile, Some Guy We Hate makes what sound like smart points:

… I would be remiss if I didn’t say this — Obamacare is a godsend. My friend Donna Smith, who was forced to move into her daughter’s spare room at age 52 because health problems bankrupted her and her husband, Larry, now has cancer again. As she undergoes treatment, at least she won’t be in terror of losing coverage and becoming uninsurable. Under Obamacare, her premium has been cut in half, to $456 per month.

Let’s not take a victory lap yet, but build on what there is to get what we deserve: universal quality health care.

Those who live in red states need the benefit of Medicaid expansion…

In blue states, let’s lobby for a public option on the insurance exchange — a health plan run by the state government, rather than a private insurer. In Massachusetts, State Senator James B. Eldridge is trying to pass a law that would set one up. Some counties in California are also trying it. Montana came up with another creative solution. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat who just completed two terms, set up several health clinics to treat state workers, with no co-pays and no deductibles. The doctors there are salaried employees of the state of Montana; their only goal is their patients’ health. (If this sounds too much like big government to you, you might like to know that Google, Cisco and Pepsi do exactly the same.)

All eyes are on Vermont’s plan for a single-payer system, starting in 2017. If it flies, it will change everything, with many states sure to follow suit by setting up their own versions. That’s why corporate money will soon flood into Vermont to crush it. The legislators who’ll go to the mat for this will need all the support they can get: If you live east of the Mississippi, look up the bus schedule to Montpelier…

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Resolutions or otherwise, what’s on the agenda for today?

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Open Thread

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Everything is put away, all the guests are gone, and I am sitting here unwinding while watching the Fiesta bowl. I don’t know if it is just me, but when I walk around the house during the day when I have a ton of stuff to do, I just want to yell at the piglets to get off their asses and do something, the lazy bastards. All they do is weigh down my couches and bed and make sure I wash my sheets and blankets every week.

And then, on nights like tonight, I think the best thing in the world is just unwinding with a cup of tea, watching some football, and looking around the room and seeing two dogs sleeping on their respective couches and Steve sound asleep in his tower, and I think all is ok. I’ll never understand my married friends who wonder why I am not lonely- how do you get lonely with all these personalities around, all of whom need to be fed and try to kill themselves any time you give them the chance.

Oh, and here is Rosie, sound asleep on top of a pile of blankets that were washed and folded THIS AFTERNOON (with fabric softener to get rid of the dog smell) and then placed on the back of the double sized leather chair for guests who stay over, but she pulled them down, on top of the pillow y’all sent me tht she claimed as hers, and went all Princess and the Pea on that shit:

rosieboo

If you will notice, her eyes are open, because once she realized I was taking pictures, being a Jack Russell terrorist, she had to sit there for a while and decide whether or not she was pissed off or if I was going to make her do something she did not want to do. I, having known Jack Russell terrorists, stood at a distance like Marlin Perkins and just witnessed the situation lest I wreak havoc on the habitat and find myself under assault.

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New Years Day

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Pork, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, football, pets, and I am burning lemongrass essential oil.

Earl Grey, biscotti, and Lilyhammer on Netflix after the Fiesta Bowl.

Life is good. Watched this again today and rethought my post from last night:

Oh boo fucking hoo me. My cat was killed and I have to buy another car. And I’ll sit here with a full belly and indoor plumbing and a warm house with three animals who eat better than billions of people ever day bitching about it on computer equipment that costs more than 5 years salary in some places. White privilege ain’t got nothing on first world privilege.

This really started out as a positive happy post but because the only thing I enjoy more than sports and my pets and sleeping is self-loathing, so this happened. I’m a waste as an atheist, because I bet I could really bring it with the guilt were I an Irish Catholic woman or a 60 something NYC Jewish woman.

PS- I am totally with that kid from the AT&T ad. My New Years Resolution is to eat more jelly beans, too.

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Don’t you know the crime rate’s going up up up up up?

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I haven’t been seriously following all the winger stories about how Rahm turned Chicago into a crime-ridden hell hole, but I guess I just assumed the murder rate there must be high in some way. Not so:

In 2012, Chicago witnessed more than 500 killings…. As of Dec. 30, Chicago had reported 413 homicides, a 17 percent drop from the same period a year before and the fewest killings to date since 1965, city officials said.

[…..]

… a Yale University analysis says that despite Chicago’s grim numbers, the city’s crime rate is not exceptional when compared with other large cities. It ranks Chicago 19th, with violent crime levels similar to those of Houston or Minneapolis, and half that of Detroit or St. Louis.

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