Thought we could use something cute to look at while the ugly business of removing healthcare from tens of millions of Americans is underway in the U.S. House of Representatives:
FUUUUUUUUUUCCKKKKK! That is all.
Update: Trumpcare bill clears hurdle for passage, per CNN’s breaking news alert. Speculation on what’ll happen to it in the Senate? Blow back in the districts?
If looking at a basket of baby otters would cheer you up, click here. Otherwise, I got nothing. Open thread.
Paul W.
First.
And america finishes last.
LAO
Yeah, cute. But not cute enough.
A Ghost To Most
otters?
SiubhanDuinne
Otters!!
BABY otters!!
Major Major Major Major
Aw, grumpy otters. Cute.
Formica
Hey hey hey, goodbye? On the floor of the House? Stay classy, Republicans!
bystander
Thanks for the baby otters. I needed that.
HeleninEire
It just passed the House. Come to Ireland Balloon Juice friends.
TenguPhule
Destined to die in a Trump Oil Slick at the rate we’re going.
/Why yes, I’m depressed, why do you ask?
SiubhanDuinne
And it is done in the House. I feel sick in a way that medical care can’t help.
Guess it’s time to start phoning Senators.
TenguPhule
@HeleninEire: Aren’t you going to get screwed by BREXIT next?
mdblanche
@Formica: That’s the Democrats singing that. To the Republicans.
Taylor
@Formica: Democrats singing goodbye to Republicans.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@HeleninEire: Seriously considering it (I may be eligible for an Irish passport. Gotta look into that….)
John Revolta
They look like I feel.
chopper
i would not want to be the senate parliamentarian right now.
NR
Remember when Trumpcare was supposed to be better than Obamacare? Yeah, not so much.
Betty Cracker
@HeleninEire: I’d seriously consider it if they’d have me. Alas, my Irish ancestors came over too long ago to qualify me for citizenship.
Yarrow
@HeleninEire: People can’t. You had a family contact to emigrate. Most are stuck in the US.
zhena gogolia
@Taylor:
Well, that’s stupid too.
LAO
@Formica: It was the democrats.
ETA: Ignore me, many got there first.
hueyplong
Save the video and still shots of Republicans yukkng it up, for use in 2017 campaign ads.
Elizabelle
Gag. May this be the most pyrrhic of victories. May Helen and I see the flames from this side of the pond.
Will buy La Vanguardia tomorrow to say what they have to say about our domestic terrorists.
Betty Cracker
@mdblanche: Seriously? LOL! From their lips to the FSM’s al dente orecchiette!
Formica
Oh. Consider me corrected then.
Jeffro
My understanding is that Paul Ryan has ordered in cases of Bud Light to celebrate. A grinning Randian, drinking in the Capitol to celebrate taking away 24M people’s health care. Sounds good Paulie – see you next November!
Lizzy L
OK, today, I hate these people.
We will stop it in the Senate. And we will throw the people who voted for it OUT. We can’t get to all of them, soulless zombie scum, but we can get to some.
I hate them.
celticdragonchick
IT passed
SenyorDave
I have they have ads ready to go for next week. Maybe some folks whose lives were literally saved by obamacare. Oh, and fuck the NYT. My short term mission is to get my mom to cancel her NYT subscription.
D58826
Trumpcare passed the house.
Hate to be a party pooper but based on the price that the GOP has paid over the last 8 years of obstruction I doubt that they will pay any real price in 2018. They may lose a few house seats but not enough to flip the house. The D’s are defending 24 seats in the Senate, 10 in deep red states. They will be lucky if they can hold the 52-48 margin that exists now.
And if all else fails for the GOP there is SCOTUS. Given the age distribution, Der Fuhrer will probably get 2-3 more seats to fill before 2020. The conservative court will return to the Lochner era where anything at the federal/state level that smacks of protecting the average American will be declared unconstitutional. They will have a lock on SCOTUS for the next 30 years.
To rephrase Lincoln – ‘the government of the people, by the people and for the people HAS perished from this earth to be replaced with a government of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%. And the people voted for the change‘.
Emerald
How did Issa vote? Don’t care. After I get my hip replacement in August I’ll be going door to door here in Oceanside. If anything goes wrong with the hip replacement I’ll get a verdamnten scooter and go door to door.
These people are monsters. None of them deserves to hold public office at any level.
For now, I’m safe. I’m on Medicare. Of course, they’re after that too.
Yarrow
I don’t give a fuck about the cute otters.
JanieM
@TenguPhule:
Why? The Republic of Ireland isn’t part of the UK. Or maybe you mean in whatever sense the entire EU is screwed by the UK leaving.
Kelly
Merkley and Wyden are solid protectors of my health insurance. I wonder how many Republican senators hope the parliamentarian tosses it out?
TenguPhule
@JanieM: But you share a border with them and May is playing hardball. Which last I heard is threatening to reignite the old Ireland killing sprees.
Barbara
@Emerald: Yes. Issa voted yes. Time to call his office every day and tell them what you plan to do this week to defeat him. Don’t let them get comfortable.
TenguPhule
@Lizzy L:
Only if Mcconnell doesn’t have the votes and doesn’t change the rules.
Yeah, this doesn’t fill me with great confidence either.
Mart
@TenguPhule: Confused with Scotland?
D58826
@Lizzy L:
Fat chance. The GOP has to much invested in repealing the entire 8 years of the Obama presidency. They will find a way to get 51 votes.
I mean Chaffettz is now talking about taking Obama’s presidential pension away because of the speech he is planning on giving. Not to worry W’s speaking fees are ok. This is the level of Obama hatred on the right.
Thru the Looking Glass...
Damn, those baby otters are cute…
And meanwhile, between this massive floater of a horrible healthcare bill and the GOP’s love affair with all things Russian, hopefully we’re seeing the beginning of the end of the Republican Party as we currently know it… the 2018 midterms cannot come soon enough…
LAO
@Barbara: You know who else voted yes? Justin Amash. What a shitheel.
TenguPhule
@Mart: Northern Ireland.
JPL
@Jeffro: Does he know it’s owned by foreigners?
what a bunch of f..kers.
Patricia Kayden
@D58826: Well, that’s that then. That’s what Americans get for voting for a sociopath. Nothing more to say.
TenguPhule
@D58826: They only need 50. Pence will break ties.
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne:
It is. But also, DO NOT LET UP on any House members who voted for this shit. Make their lives fucking miserable.
Chris
@D58826:
And unlike Republicans in 2010, 2012 and 2016, we’ll be facing intense voter suppression measures pointed directly at the demographics that vote for us, and backed by the most racist Attorney General we’ve had in over half a century.
JPL
What makes me smile is taking the dog out front, and looking at the Jon Ossoff sign across the street.
HeleninEire
@TenguPhule: Nope. I am in the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland. We are good. Staying in the EU. We love the EU.
Kryptik
We’re fucked, aren’t we?
I don’t trust the Senate to save us. Not after the shitshows we’ve seen. And I don’t trust the electorate to see through it all and lay it at the GOP’s feet as it should. The country despised us enough to give us Trump out of almost pure spite.
Everything sucks. I hate everything.
TenguPhule
@Chris: And to make things worse, today Trump is giving the Fundy Churches free reign to dump money and action into the political arena.
Mart
@TenguPhule: Did not realize Northern Ireland was still part of UK and Ireland is not. Learned something!
D58826
@TenguPhule: true.
Yarrow
@Emerald: Issa voted for the bill. Throw him out.
TenguPhule
@HeleninEire: Ah, lucky you.
The Moar You Know
BUT HER EMAILS
TenguPhule
@Yarrow: Preferably taking a page from Putin and using a high rise building.
/Too soon?
ArchTeryx
@Kryptik: They voted for mass murder…me included. Time to get my affairs in order. One way or the other.
I’m surplus.
D58826
@The Moar You Know: and she is SHRILL
HeleninEire
@hedgehog the occasional commenter: Go to the Irish consulate in America web site. VERY informative. Extremely simple if one of your parents was born in Eire. A bit more difficult if it was one of your grandparents. VERY difficult beyond that.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: Sucks to be you.
bystander
I’m so glad Jimmy Kimmel got to cry on tv in his plea to stop the partisan wrangling. It was so moving.
A$$hole.
Mary G
We must keep fighting. Our lives depend on it.
eclare
@TenguPhule: Nope….
Rommie
Dammit, not only do I live in a state that helped Trump win, now I also live in the CD of that asshat Fred Upton, who weaseled his wavering colleagues on-board. *After* pulling a transparent request for a bribe by his faux-NO vote stand. A Jack and an Ass aren’t enough to cover the bullshit he just pulled.
I love my corner of the State, but really hate a large chunk of the people. Damn them all to the hell they think they’ll avoid.
Librarian
Ok, everybody repeat after me: “I never thought the leopard would eat MY face!!”
ArchTeryx
@Mary G: A few of us, anyway.
HeleninEire
@Mart: Yeah. This.
tulip
@D58826:
This. There will be no blow back. Either the R’s are protected by gerrymandering or this is what people want.
D58826
I am so disgusted with my fellow citizens that I would be temped to make a contribution to the North Korean ‘build a bomb’ go fund me effort.
satby
@Betty Cracker: yep, mine too. Or I would be gone.
germy
ArchTeryx
@Betty Cracker: Well, while I don’t share the sentiment, I admit it is hard to appreciate the cute critters when you are staring slow, agonizing death straight in the face while an entire politicial party lines up to dance on your grave.
hueyplong
A CBO rating prior to a Senate vote would be nice
Miss Bianca
@HeleninEire: I would, I would seriously like to.
Maybe I can talk my mead-brewing buddy into selling everything we own and opening a meadery over there instead of here…I mean, the Irish have honeybees aplenty, right?
Betty Cracker
@Kryptik: Well, maybe. But they’d have to blow up the filibuster to pass this godawful bill or anything resembling it in the Senate. I wouldn’t put anything past the Senatortoise from KY.
Would they reap the whirlwind if they did pass it? Seems like they would, especially when shit starts affecting people with employer based coverage and Medicare recipients.
But, I’m trying to stay out of the political predictions business. I never thought we’d sink so low as to elect the orange fart-sack, so what do I know?
Omnes Omnibus
Tammy Baldwin’s offices answered the phone right away. She is committed to fighting tooth and nail against the bill. I said that I had her back.
Ron Johnson’s phones went straight to VM. I left a message saying that I would be watching what he did and my use of my money and my time in future elections would be strongly influenced by his vote on this issue.
Seanly
Sorry, but no amount of cuteness helps with this. I hope all those motherfuckers die
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: Yes. Since I’m facing loss of insurance coverage and a family member with a couple of chronic diseases that need coverage. Yes. Yes, it does suck to be me.
Edit: I completely understand ArchTeryx’s thought processes and decisions about his future. I have the means to do the same We know when we are surplus and don’t count.
schrodingers_cat
Rs have declared a war on us. We have no choice but to fight.
eclare
@germy: What do you do if your rep is a solid D, other than call and thank him?
catsup
@HeleninEire:
Thanks for the invite, but while both our governments might prefer that I die rather than get an abortion, only yours has taken the legal steps to ensure it. Well, for now. Besides, Canada’s closer.
LAO
@hueyplong: The CBO rating is expected next week.
D58826
@tulip:
Gerrymandering only helps in the House but I saw a stat the other day that it only takes about 16% of the electorate to give one party 51 seats. Unfortunately the population distributions are such that the R’s have an easier time making that 16%. The R’s can win ten states and gain 20 seats by one vote for each seat while the D’s can send two senators from Calif. with a 2 million vote advantage but each senator counts the same
For the past several elections the D’s have racked up a larger popular vote for thew House than the R’s but, like Hillary’s 3 million vote margin, it’s concentrated in all the wrong places.
Betty Cracker
@schrodingers_cat: Yep.
germy
LGM put up a photo of jason chaffettzz wheeling himself in (on his government-fixed foot and government-supplied wheelchair) to cast his vote.
Send him back to newskin.
clay
@bystander:
That seems entirely unwarranted.
Mike J
Voteblue fund for the opponents of every person who voted for Tryancare.
https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/noahca
Yarrow
@ArchTeryx: Exactly.
celticdragonchick
EVERYBODY!!! ALL JUICERS!!!
CALL THIS MOTHERFUCKER RIGHT THE FUCK NOW AND DEMAND TO SPEAK TO THE PERSON IN CHARGE OF HEALTH CARE POLICY!!! LET HIM KNOW IN LOVING DETAIL WHAT THE FUCK YOU THINK OF HIM AND HIS EDUCATIONAL LEVEL AS WELL AS THE POS REPUBLICAN ASSHOLE HE WORKS FOR.
SAY THAT YOU LIVE IN GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA 27401…IN FISHER PARK NEIGHBORHOOD IF NEED BE.
CALL HIM. FUCK WITH HIM. YELL AT HIM. MAKE HIM MISERABLE. HE FUCKING DESERVES IT.
Congressman Tedd Budd
Phone: 202-225-4531
Brachiator
As I (easily) predicted, the CNN headline is:
This will be the lede on all the pundit shows. Not what the bill does, or does not do, for the American people.
Also, stark summary of white people voting against their own best interests:
West Virginia is number one, with 36 percent. At least they’ve got those Trump promised coal mining jobs.
germy
@eclare: I called my D and offered encouragement. I’m sure their staff gets harassed by wingnuts, so they appreciate the friendly word.
Death Panel Truck
@Jeffro: Paul Ryan drinking union-made beer? Not a chance.
If he drinks light beer at all, it’ll be Coors. They’re rabidly anti-union.
mai naem mobile
Motherfuckers I hope every single one of them habe several kids or grandkids with very very expensive birthan defects. And I know I sound like a bitch saying that .
JPL
In the GA 6th district Handel has come out for, and Ossoff against. Handel is a fighter for mammograms, but what good are mammograms, if you can’t afford the cure.
satby
Get on social media and start raising the roof about this. Donate to the Democratic opponents of the Republicans in swing districts or (sigh) the DCC as a more meaningful protest because the Rs understand $$ and a spike in donations specifically to their opponents delivers a punch.
Steve in the ATL
@JPL: oh, NOW Handel is in favor of mammograms? Fuck her.
SatanicPanic
It’s a nice thought Betty, but I don’t think there’s an animal cute enough to save this day. Not even otters. Not even puffer fishes, or axolotls, or fuzzy kittens. Nothing.
germy
WaPo
D58826
@JPL:
I think this bill addresses that issue. You can’t afford the mammogram either.
germy
Emerald
@Barbara:
I just sent donations to both of Issa’s opponents. I’ll be signing up with one or both of them and/or Indivisible San Diego to go door to door as soon as I’m physically able to do that.
Also just called Issa’s office and told him that, and that anyone who could vote for such an abomination does not deserve to hold public office at any level. They didn’t answer–went straight to voicemail, but at least I got through before it was full.
mai naem mobile
@Brachiator: almost all in their south. Shean should have burned the whole south down.
Miss Bianca
Just glad I scheduled my colonoscopy for earlier this year. You know, while it was still funded. Sorry I didn’t do the mammogram at the same time, now.
eclare
@germy: I have before, and I will again, but just wondering what to do now, other than contact my senators. Not really in a position to donate much money. I have so much hate fueled energy.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@HeleninEire: Do the Irish need any amateur photographers? I’ve been told I’m pretty good.
I’m also house trained and don’t bark much.
(Grasping at straws? Sure. Why not?)
jacy
I will lose my access to healthcare. I have so many preexisting conditions that I can’t count them on one hand. I should be monitored constantly so that if my cancer returns, it will be caught early enough that it can be beaten back again. I’m a single mother, freelancer, who lives month to month and I’m still underwater and on a daily financial knife-edge that could leave me literally homeless from medical bills when I COULD afford insurance. I will have to live with constant, low-level terror that I will die because I don’t have the money to save myself, or find myself and my elderly mother on the street with nowhere to go. So, yeah, no otters for me today.
LAO
@JPL: @Steve in the ATL: I find it utterly stunning that a woman, who single-handily ruined a bipartisan cancer foundation* stands a strong chance of being elected to Congress.
*I know it wasn’t a great charity, too much spent on fundraising and not enough on research, but still.
Kryptik
@Betty Cracker
We’ve seen the electorate’s almost endless capacity to fall for any explanation that would excuse them from blaming the GOP for anything, or at the very least, tolerating the GOP’s malfeasance because their spite takes joy in the suffering of their most hated ‘other’.
Trusting in the capacity of the voting population to make the rational choice on this after what we’ve seen these last 6-7 months is pollyanna self-delusion at this point.:
mai naem mobile
@germy: I thought he was Doterra not Nuskin
Shalimar
@tulip: Fuck this “there will be no blow back” bullshit. YOU ARE THE FUCKING BLOWBACK! YOU HAVE 18 MONTHS! MAKE THEIR LIVES HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Moar You Know
I think we need another approach to dealing with the GOP. What we’ve been doing simply isn’t working.
No, I have no idea what that approach could or should be.
ms_canadada
@ArchTeryx: I looked into adopting/marrying (in name only) an America (you) so you could access our Canadian system. Wish I could. (((Hugs)))
HeleninEire
@catsup: They took those steps 30 years ago. Within a year Ireland will be WAY ahead of America in terms of abortion.
They are already WAY ahead of America on Plan B. It is available, without a prescription, in any pharmacy. 35 Euros without a health card. 2.50 Euros with.
Oh and in the same vein: Ireland was the first country in the world to approve same sex marriage on a referendum vote. THE FIRST.
HeleninEire
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: IGGY – is that you IGGY?????????? Yes, you can be my dog, IGGY.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@The Moar You Know: Larger bribes than their corporate paymasters are offering.
Brachiator
@tulip:
The GOP is protected by gerrymandering and Koch Brothers’ money.
Was this what people wanted? A little more complicated. Trump supporters (and others, to be fair) hated the individual mandate, and were fast to blame any premium increase on Obamacare itself. They also believe that the vast majority of new people to get health insurance through Obamacare were illegal aliens and lazy black people. These people will not pay attention to the details, even if they later find themselves kicked in the teeth by Trumpcare.
Mike J
Wingers upset it’s not awful enough.
mdblanche
Yarrow
@jacy:
I’m so sorry. My situation isn’t quite as bad as yours but I’ve got my own health issues. I’m terrified and beyond angry. Otters do nothing for me today. It feels cruel.
SatanicPanic
@germy: Good luck fixing it though. If it passes the Senate it’ll be 2020 at the earliest before we can even think about that.
satby
@jacy: I and my sister with MS also lose our insurance. And I’m posting on FB to thank any Republicans I know for throwing a 62 year old woman with asthma and her disabled sister off of insurance. I suggest everyone else do the same if you know you’re losing your access to insurance. Too many of the people I know think only freelancing minorities and immigrants get Medicaid or are on the exchanges. Put a face to who they voted to hurt.
Betty Cracker
@Kryptik: Hence my last paragraph. But godDAMNIT, I’m not giving up.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: I’ll take the otter photo down.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@HeleninEire: Yes! Iggy has mad blogging skills not found among Irish Schnauzers! And of course he needs Muppet — she’s the Mika to his Joe! But smarter, with no dead staffers! And they need a wrangler, and nobody in Ireland has wrangled them, so I’ll have to come along.
[starts packing, whistling Whiskey in the Jar]
Jake the antisoshul soshulist
Shouldn’t someone tell the right that American Exceptionalism does not mean being exceptionally bad.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: It’s fine. Others are enjoying it. I just can’t today. I’m sorry.
Omnes Omnibus
@Shalimar: I just called Paul Ryan’s D.C. office. They did have the guts to answer the phone. I said a was from a small town in his district and that what he did today was going to kill people. I said I would work my ass off to see him defeated in 2018 and that I hoped to see him in the unemployment office soon.
SgrAstar
@Jeffro: Bud Light???!!!!!! You gotta be kidding.
D58826
@Yarrow: My nephew is 12 weeks old. His Mom experienced gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. I guess that is a pre-existing condition and he will be priced out of the health care market. Seems that he didn’t pre-live right in Gooper terms.
TenguPhule
@The Moar You Know: *whistles innocently*
LAO
@Omnes Omnibus: Why wouldn’t they answer the phone. Paul Ryan is celebrating his great victory as we speak.
Also, good on you.
D58826
@Yarrow: leave it up. need some small ray of sunshine
LAO
@Jake the antisoshul soshulist: or exceptionally cruel.
laura
@NR: It’s WAY better if your a rich and greedy fucker who only cares about tax cuts for yourself and cares not a whit about anyone other than yourself.
On the other hand, as a health care bill it sucks majorly.
Shalimar
@Omnes Omnibus: :) I called Rubio’s office earlier. But today is an easy day to find the energy and time to call. We all need to do everything we can to stay energized and continue organizing from now until they all lose their jobs.
LurkerNoLonger
@eclare:
I think this is key. Energy, no matter how it’s fueled, is what’s needed against these soulless motherfuckers. I’ve heard people worry about the resistance to Trump running out of steam over the long haul and what this vote today proves is there will never not be something to get angry, and therefore, energized about.
HeleninEire
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA: You’re HIRED as Muppet’s and Iggy’s handler!
See you soon!
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
You’re in Cohen’s district, yes? Call and thank him, by all means, but then also ask the person you talk with, “What else can I do? What do you recommend?” You might get some good, unanticipated suggestions, and at the very least, you’ll have made a friend who may be a useful ally in the future. (Few things are more flattering than to be asked for one’s advice!)
LAO
I’d laugh, but it would just morph into tears of rage.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@jacy: I wish I had words. But there aren’t any good ones. You’ve managed to hang on through so much, and to have that rug pulled out is just wrong.
Of course the whole thing is wrong. And I’m (very cautiously) hopeful that the Senate will save us. But in the end, I got nothin.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: Oh, yes, will definitely call to thank him (unfortunately I work in a cubicle and currently all conference rooms are taken). Yes, will ask for recommendations!
Elizabelle
@D58826: Well why don’t we all just get guns — they’re readily available — and blow our brains out.
It passed by ONE vote. One vote.
Forgive me, but yours is the first comment I came across like that, and if it is going to be an evening of wailing and stepping on our own dicks — those that have them — I am outta here.
Mnemosyne
@Yarrow:
If it helps, while otters are adorable, they’re also vicious predators in the weasel family.
So picture those adorable otter babies ripping open Paul Ryan’s abdomen and merrily eating his intestines while he screams in agony.
It makes me feel better, anyway.
MCA1
The actual real world lack of coverage ramifications for 20-30 million people if this piece of shit actually becomes law is obviously the number one saddening and angering thing about this, but the contenders for second most aggravating aspect of it are so numerous I have a hard time deciding:
– the colossal hypocrisy of the Republicans bitching and moaning endlessly back in ’08 and ’09 about how the ACA was being simultaneously shoved down their throats and passed in total secrecy where no one knew what was even in the bill, despite the dozens of committee meetings and open public debate about it and the fact that they just refused to actually sit down and read it, and now passing this garbage (a) without a CBO score, (b) without having a fucking clue what’s in it, and (c) without any public debate whatsoever;
– the monstrous tackiness of celebrating what they’ve done;
– the complete lack of connection to any policy or outcome or analysis of what the bill is or does. That doesn’t matter to them. This is just some disembodied “Vote against Obama” symbolic thing – it feels good to them, so they’ve been itching so badly to do it that they did it in spite of all of the real world stuff;
– that it will be spun as a “victory” for Trump and Ryan;
– that they will get away with it without serious electoral consequence, just like they always do.
PaulWartenberg
Democrats better have every district challenged and running on this issue in 2018 or by God we deserve the hell we are in.
Omnes Omnibus
Just called Sean Duffy from my home town. Gave the same message that I gave Ryan with an added does of ” I am ashamed that someone from my town would do this.” His constituency house is a couple of blocks away from my parents’ house
PaulWartenberg
my SOB congresscritter Tom Rooney (FL) voted for this evil.
And he has the balls to call himself a MODERATE in that useless Tuesday Group???
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
I’ve been called out here for less graphic descriptions then that.
Shalimar
@mdblanche: Half of them will be opposed to the House bill. That doesn’t mean anything. The danger will be Senators coming together on something slightly less extreme, like Trumpcare 2.0 that was just short of enough House support last month. Still terrible.
Right now I am taking heart in Corker saying nothing will pass the Senate in the next month. That is a lot of time to put pressure on them.
Shalimar
@TenguPhule: What I have seen you called out for were murder fantasies. You can get in trouble with the feds for that, and also, let’s face it, if we start murdering members of Congress, the 2nd Amendment lovelies will do it too and they will be better at it.
A baby otter accident is totally innocent. Could happen to anyone.
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Yes, that helps. I also imagine him screaming for a doctor and they say, “No, sorry, otter attacks are a pre-existing condition. Not covered.”
Mart
@MCA1: They also promised no vote on a bill until it had a minimum of three days review. No more “ramming down out throats” BS they always cry about.
chopper
@Kryptik:
given the lack of respect yertle has for literally any of the rules of the senate, i expect him to push this thing through via reconciliation whether or not it meets the rules. he just don’t give a shit.
D58826
@Elizabelle: One vote or 100k votes, it still passed.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Yarrow:
Yes and if I understand this correctly they will have to vote again on the reconcilation with the Senate. Give them a reason to rethink that yes vote.
JPL
@Shalimar: That’s what happens. Instead of 24 million kicked off, there will only be 18 million. Of course, they won’t pay for it, because republicans don’t fully fund bills they support.
TenguPhule
@Shalimar: I was called out for wanting death sentences instead of life in prison for the GOP fuckers (and this is after fair trial and convictions, mind you). FFS, I’ve been called out for murder fantasies taking place in OTHER PEOPLE’S HEADS.
I was told to rein it in by someone I respect, so I did. But it irks me when some of those same critics take the same or bigger liberties with language and get a free pass.
Elie
@Elizabelle:
I hear you girlfriend! I cannot take that kind of self abuse…
PaulWartenberg
Every Republican is a motherf-cker. Remember that.
catsup
@HeleninEire: Are you saying that legislation to overhaul Ireland’s barbaric women’s health restrictions has already been approved and will go into effect within the year, or are you just assuming that healthcare in the States will plummet that far below you? If it’s the former, good for you! If it’s the latter, I’m not going to cross the ocean on the off chance that the US decides to change its constitution just to ensure that what happened to Savita Halappanavar can happen here too. Congrats on legalizing gay marriage in 2015, though.
Carolina Dave
@celticdragonchick: not answering, voice mailbox is full. He doesn’t care. Club for Growth puppet.
D58826
@Elie: Jeeze I’m getting abused for being a pessimist (which I am) and on the next thread people are talking about riots and armed insurrection.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: Uh, I liked the otter photo. And while I am not as fucked as some others, I am only one small step away from being well and truly fucked, so I get the rage. I just don’t get turning it against baby otters.
@Mnemosyne: OK, I’m laughing at that image a little harder than I probably should. And those little guys looked grumpy enough to do it, too!
HeleninEire
@catsup: I am saying both. Ireland is well on its way to becoming one of the most progressive countries in the world, after 500 plus years of oppression. America is going backwards in a big big way.
And before you respond: I have not seen you here before so perhaps you do not know who I am. I am an American born citizen whose mother was an American immigrant born in Belfast. I moved to Ireland 6 months ago after living my entire life (54 years) in America. I know from where I speak.
Elie
@D58826:
Didn’t see that–
Nothing personal mind you– I’m just down in the dumps and can’t take the tone that pushes us further into despair. We cannot give up but hearing the drum beat of doom just does not help…
D58826
@Elie: np. All I’m saying is it will be a steep climb back to control of congress and it’s a bit early for Nancy to be measuring the drapes in the speakers office. Doesn’t mean we give up trying
Mel
@jacy: I understand. Same boat here. I can’t stop crying. What in the hell are we supposed to do, esp as most other countries won’t approve people with health conditions for citizenship unless they are in a very few, very specific fields (doctors, high level techies, famous musicians, artists, etc)?
I guess all of us who worked our asses off every day of our lives, but then had the bad luck to become ill or be injured, are just discardable trash.
How many families will go under, just trying to keep a loved one alive? How many people will choose to end things rather than see their lived ones lose eveything trying to keep them alive?
The magnitude of personal and national tragedy if this bill passes the Senate in any form will be monumental. I have a wonderful spouse who has sacrificed everything (our retirement, his career, his chance to have children, so many years when he could gave easily left and started a new life) to keep me alive. There was a point not too many years ago where he was working three part time jobs, none of which offered insurance, and we truly didn’t know if we would have a roof over our heads from week to week.
Because of the ACA, insurance became accessible. We have just gotten to a point where we could see a little light at the end of the tunnel. There’s an off-label medicine thst, while very scary, might put my awful autoimmune condition into remission. My doctor was able, after a long struggle to get insurance approval. How likely do you think it is that that will stand for future treatments if this bill passes? Without ibsurance, I die. With insurance, we still struggle to pay med bills, but there is a chance that I get welll, and we have some hope for a future.
All that most people who struggle with a chronic illness or who live under the shadow of a past illness want is to be able to live a reasonably normal life. Living with the pain and uncertainty thst is the byproduct of illness makes this difficult enough. Add to that the stress of financial issues, that inevitably come with illness unless a person is rificulously wealthy, and it becomes much more difficult. But take away access to healthcare, and it ensures financial and emotional ruin for millions of people and families.
Some days, the only things that keep me going are the desperate hope that I can get well enough to get back to work and be truly useful again, and the fact thst if I give up now, all the sacrifices that my hubby has made, all the things he has lost and all the courage and kindness he has given to me in the face of this ugly damned ilness were in vain.
I worked in education and then in counseling, mostly with disadvantaged or abused kids and adults, and kids struggling with mental or physical illness and/or disability. I can’t count the times that I have had people insinuate or state outright that it is somehow my fault that I didn’t have more money to fall back on when I suddenly became ill, because my husband and I “chose to not be well off” by entering professions that were helping professions and thus not highly paid. This, despite our never taking vacations, driving 12 year old cars, and putting every spare penny away to save for the future. And you know what? I”d do it all over again, because every time I hear from one of my kidfdos that they are happy and safe now, I know I did what I was supposed to do, what I was called to do. But that doesn’t change the fact that, in one of the wealthiest countries onnearth, a person can work 70 hours a week at a hard, heartbreaking job, give it all they’ve got, scrimp and save every spare cent, and still not be sure that they can survive the inevitable curveball that will life will throw at them.
Sorry for the rant. I just ferl so heartsick today.
Jacy, ArchTeryx, everyone here who is walking this road – hugs and love to you all.
Juju
@PaulWartenberg: Call his office and tell them you will do everything in your power to see that he is not reelected in 2018, then follow through.
Mel
Apologies for the typos in the previous comment. I’m a mess today.
Raven Onthill
In the Senate? I think a “compromise” that keeps the Medicaid provisions of the bill is likely. They’re for the poors, after all, and those people have the wrong skin color. People aren’t talking enough about the Medicaid changes in the AHCA, and we don’t know what they are anyway.
Anyone know when we’ll see the text of the final House bill?
Xenos
I used to be sort of liberal who would donate money to thale ANC. I am becoming the sort of liberal who is ready to donate to the Mau Mau.
The Truffle
@MCA1: I suspect–heck hope–that this is the final straw for voters. Rep. Faso has a lot of angry constituents for voting yes. He can’t be the only one.
What happens when the CBO report comes out and the insurance companies and major associations start raising hell over this?
D58826
@Mel: The D’s have to put the faces and stories of real people to have a shot at changing peoples minds. No fancy commercials with a ‘i play a doc. in this ad but in real life i’m just an underemployed actor’. And yes, unfortunately, the faces have to be white/middle class and or rural. People have to see that it is not just the ‘OTHER’ that gets sick and needs medical care. While I think most people understand that at a personal level they don’t always scale it up to the community level.
I remember a piece about St Ronulus the Unready. Seems he stood up for an African/American teammate when he was in college But as president he was opposed to the civil rights laws. He could only relate to the wrong when it was face to face. Otherwise out of sight out of mind. He ignored aids for 7 years until his friend Rock Hudson was diagnosed with it. Then it became personal. I think the health care issue is the same thing for many people. Our pastor was criticized for working with drug addicted young people. Folks in the congregation said he should stay home and minister to his flock. His answer was that some of the kids he was dealing with were members of HIS flock.
TenguPhule
@The Truffle:
The Republicans will claim that it must be good because the evil companies don’t like it.
Betty Cracker
@Mel: Good lord, don’t worry about typos — I appreciate your sharing your story with us, and kudos to your wonderful hubby! So sorry this is happening to you and other folks who depend on the ACA for access to care.
If this abomination of a bill passes in any form, we’re all screwed, even folks who get their coverage via employers or Medicare will feel the effects eventually. Know that the rest of us will fight these greedy ghouls with every fiber of our being — for you, Jacy, ArchTeryx and everyone else the GOP is trying to exterminate. It truly is our fight too.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Shalimar:
Okay, that got a laugh. Pretty amazing on this depressing afternoon.
Raven Onthill
The more I think about it, the more I think they’re going to water it down in the Senate. Unfortunately, they aren’t likely to ditch it entirely.
Mel
@Betty Cracker:
Thank you. It truly is everybody’s fight.
When I’m so damned worn that I feel like just dropping on the spot, I am still going to pick up that phone and talk to any official who will listen, and at least try with those who don’t want to. We have to be heard. We just have to. We have to fight for all the people this will hurt right now, and for all the people who will some day in the future find themselves facing this kind of awful struggle.
Betsy
@Mel: PLEASE make this a guest op-ed in some statewide newspaper where you are. It’s already written (well written)!!!
Aleta
@Mel: Thank you for writing this. Yesterday I began to write about the people in my family and my friends who are similar. It went on so long.
You write so well.