.
Read Dave’s latest post, if you haven’t already.
The Washington Post has some more detail on McConnell’s latest dodge.
One can never underestimate the steely resolve of a gang of GOPers intent on making other people suffer, even if it requires shooting themselves in a sensitive area. But then again, Mitch McConnell is perceived as being responsible for this latest Repub fustercluck — and neither he nor the guy squatting in the Oval Office seem to have a vast stock of either good will or fear built up to bring the defectors back.
***********
Apart from a huge sigh of relief (and a strengthened resolve not to take your eyes off these bastids), what’s on the agenda for the day?
That's it. Trumpcare is dead.
Nothing matters? Bullshit.
The calls, the rallies, the town halls: it all mattered.
Now we keep fighting. https://t.co/IYquaQyQCR— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) July 18, 2017
Takes a helluvalot to back off a 7-year promise. But nothing scares lawmakers like sustained, passionate activism from their constituents.
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) July 18, 2017
.
Fox News reporter speaks up, in case you’re wondering:
WH official: Inaction is not an option. We look fwd to Congress continuing to work toward a bill the President can sign to end..Obamacare
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) July 18, 2017
“Cut off all escape routes! Do not let those lemmings back away from that cliff! https://t.co/OYYIuHnKPN
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 18, 2017
Every Trump voter should be repeatedly told their vote for Trump was squandered by the GOP, who had no interest in advancing Trump’s agenda
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 18, 2017
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
good morning.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Even the liberal Chris Christe:
Quinerly
Dallas Morning News opinion piece lays out in pretty good detail what Trump has actually done while in office: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2017/07/17/outline-trumps-achievements-first-six-months-office
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
All hail Queen Gabbie (photo)
and her subjects (photo)
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Meanwhile, they’re comparing Obama to Tigger. (photo) Too funny!
chris
Yay! Well done, Americans! All those phone calls, letters and emails paid off. Activism works, don’t stop now.
(Also, yer preznit has left the Iran deal in place. Against his better judgement of course.)
So much winning!
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Trump wants that power!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: Well, Tigger is beloved. Who wouldn’t want that.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: I meant the power to ban critical speech.
Baud
@chris:
He has a better judgement?
Kay
bystander
Just listening to Steve Ratner showing how 57% of economists are more pessimistic about the economy currently. Followed by lamenting how Hillary was just not able to show she was a leadery leader with real leadership skills who set out some real policy. Why she insisted on talking about her keen emails, I’ll never know.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Even when he does have power, all he does is whine. He’s pathetic.
Baud
The Atlantic
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: This is true, Kay, the folk that lose their healthcare will just be dead.
Keith P.
Redstate’s reaction seems to be “AWESOME! The repeal-only option is what we should have done from the start!” So does pure repeal have a chance? I would expect it to lose even more moderates.
Baud
@bystander:
Who’s that? Sounds like an asshole.
MattF
Krugman notes that, according to Politico, Trump and Congressional Republicans took it for granted that repealing Ocare would be easy-peasy, done by President’s Day, end of February. Krug says their error is mostly due to The Bubble, but there’s also the degree of breathtaking cynicism, including the apparent assumption that Democrats have been just faking it all along.
But, you see, Democrats were not faking it. I guess it’s a sort of corollary to Cleek’s Law– conservatives assume that liberals are obeying the inverse of the Law. However, that’s not actually true.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: He was Obama’s “Car Czar”.
Baud
@MattF: Not a single Dem defection. I hope they get some credit.
Waratah
@Quinerly: I cannot think of anything left out. I hope this spreads like wildfire.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That sucks.
Kay
@bystander:
Why do they say this? It’s such a huge lie. Hillary Clinton is a health care expert. She knows more about it than any of them, and she talked about it constantly.
I know they all hate her but pretending she didn’t talk about policy is just a blatant lie. The fact is political media ignored health care. I think I watched all the debates. They didn’t ask about health care.
Baud
@Kay: It’s morally acceptable to lie about Hillary. You know this.
aarrgghh
as if there was ever any agenda — besides putin’s — that trump could advance, even if he wanted to. (“who knew [insert issue here] could be so complicated?”)
Baud
@Kay: There was a health care question in the Ken Bone debate.
ETA: in fact, I think it was Bone’s question.
Kay
@chris:
No one cares but Trump’s education agenda is dead too. The House bill has nothing he wanted, with the exception (oddly) of cutting money for teacher education. That’s before it even gets to the Senate- they’ll put the teacher ed money back in. This is WITH a GOP majority in Congress and IN his first year. If he can’t do it now when can he do it?
DeVos is reduced to hiring wack job far Right lawyers to tweak executive functions.
schrodingers_cat
Trolls show up when the resistance has been effective.
TriassicSands
@Keith P.:
and
The problem is there aren’t really any moderates. Of the four senators who came out against the BCRA, three of them thought the bill was too generous. Only Collins thought it needed to do more. The so-called moderates who might oppose the bill are all busy weighing their own political liability, not worrying abt harming the American people. The last several decades have taught Republican office holders that as long as they say the right things they can screw their constituents with impunity. There’s a lot of security in having stupid/ignorant constituents.
gene108
@Kay:
Trump has an education agenda? Yikes!!!
chris
@Baud: I think it’s called John Bolton, who has an opinion piece in the Hill. More rubble, less trouble!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: All I heard was talk about Hillary Clinton’s emails.
TriassicSands
@Amusing Ourselves to Death:
It’s much worse than an uphill battle, but giving up is not an option. What the “Americans” want can change. We have to make sure that we make the reasons why they should want to change as clear and hard to ignore as possible.
Kay
@Baud:
I forgot about him but ONE and not even from a moderator? They didn’t think health care was important. Hillary Clinton thinks health care is important.
I saw an interview with Clinton when she was Sec of State – they asked her about Obamacare. She was a great advocate- really engaged- and she wasn’t even supposed to be part of that or talk about it. I mean come on. They can slag on Clinton all they want but this idea she wasn’t substantive enough is just a lie. They wanted to cover her emails. That was a decision. A bad decision but one they made.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It’s funny. As savvy as we all now seem to be about distractions, no one realized what a distraction EMAILS was.
debbie
The first thing Schumer and his leadership need to do is stand up and call bullshit on McConnell’s statement about Dems not being serious about healthcare reform. They need to fight to ensure all of the blame on all of this mess rests solely with the GOP.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: Hillary Clinton talking to the press was like talking to your dog, if the dog was named emails. Emails, blah, blah, blah, emails, blah, blah…
bystander
@Baud: As Bill points out, Ratner was an economic advisor to Obama.
@Kay: Sure Hillary had policies, but we all preferred peeking at her emails and reading the emails the Russians stole and then fed to Andrea Mitchell to find -surprise! – no instances of pay-for-play.
Who’s Ken Bone?
Baud
@Kay: She was both not substantive and too wonkish, Kay. It depends on your mood and the particular group of haters who are in your audience.
eclare
I want to thank everyone here for their kind words and encouragement yesterday regarding my mom’s health problems. They helped a lot. I came home for a few hours in the afternoon, and when I went back, her color was better, and she was off of oxygen. Hopefully after a few days of medication adjustments and some rest she’ll be able to go home.
And yes, I will be calling Corker’s and Alexander’s offices today, although it will hard not to say to Alexander’s staffperson BWA HA HA!
debbie
@Quinerly:
Wish I could read what you’ve linked to, but those @!#$ anti-ad blockers!!
Baud
@bystander:
Ken Bone
rikyrah
@Kay:
Phucking ridiculous ? ?
Patricia Kayden
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: And Chris “Shut down the bridge” Christie surely knows about things that are “probably against the law”. I’d take his word for that.
TriassicSands
@aarrgghh:
Oh, there’s a Trump agenda all right. It’s all about enriching the family. And it’s doing quite well with the absence of any ethics oversight. Trump doesn’t care if the US is a third world hell hole when he leaves office as long as he’s a lot richer than he was the day he was sworn in. Since that’s what he cares about, there is every reason to believe he will be a very successful president. The wreckage he leaves behind is just collateral damage in a worthy cause.
rikyrah
@Baud:
Tis true. Nancy Smash and even Chuck S deserve applause.
chris
@debbie: Don’t know which ad blocker you’re using, but usually you can turn it off for one page and read an article.
FlipYrWhig
@Kay: They don’t mean she didn’t do it. They mean she didn’t do it to their satisfaction. Which tends to mean “she should have talked about policy in such a way that it made people with misgivings about her feel happy and reassured and maybe even excited.” The fact that policy talk by any presidential candidate has never done this appears not to effect Clinton critics.
Patricia Kayden
@Kay: At this point, who the hell is he even lying to? I assume his base will support him no matter what he does and we all know that he knows as much about healthcare as my Boxer dogs do. He’s just along for the ride as Congressional Republicans fulfill their fantasy of destroying President Obama’s legacy.
Baud
McConnell could bring up Repeal Only and require a 60 vote margin. That way every Republican can cast a free vote knowing the Dems will block it.
Kay
@gene108:
It’s just a bunch of brags- ONE BILLION for this or that. He got none of it.
Obama actually got almost 4 billion from Congress for his specific executive branch ed agenda. He got a lot more but that was technically stimulus and it went mostly to supporting schools who would have gotten killed in the state budget aftermath of the financial crash, so I don’t count that.
Congress didn’t really have any choice after the crash – schools have to be open or all hell would break loose. It would be immediate and catastrophic. Schools have real budgets. They’re open because they have X guaranteed for the next quarter- real money.
debbie
I suppose holding off “repeal and replace” for two years is the best way to ensure the ACA remains in effect, but the chaos is going to be horrible.
Ian G.
Moran’s defection is interesting. I wonder if he’s reading the tea leaves back home, where Brownback’s brutal austerity program has been defenestrated. I wonder if he’s being told he’s toast if he’s going to pull a similar stunt on Kansas from the federal level.
debbie
@Kay:
Trump’s education agenda won’t be dead until Betsy DeVos is kicked to the curb.
gene108
@debbie:
McConnell will blame anything and everything he can on Democrats. He justified not having a vote on Garland on Joe Biden.
Democrats need their own news channel, newspapers, and radio stations. That’s the only way to get the message out nowadays, because the media has been hell bent on ignoring Democrats for as long as I can remember.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I used to say this with respect:
Hillary is a grown up Tracy Flick. Might not be the most charismatic, but, she knew her shyt-COLD.
The type of knowledge that could allow folks to sleep at night, knowing that the country would be in competent hands.
Patricia Kayden
@Amusing Ourselves to Death: If Republicans knew how to govern, I’d agree with you. So far there is zero evidence that they are capable of passing laws which is why Trump has been in office for 6 months with zero legislative accomplishments. Can Republicans keep mucking it up for the next year and a half until they’re replaced in the Senate? Yep. I think so. The only thing they’re good at is obstructing Democratic Presidents.
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: And this one is a cute concern troll!
Baud
@gene108:
They would just end up bashing Democrats too.
rikyrah
@Ian G.:
He tried to be slick, by holding town halls in the remote parts of the State, but those pro Obamacare forces went to him and got in his azz.
MattF
@Ian G.: This is looming in the not-so-distant future with raising the debt ceiling. I can see how a shutdown of Federal services plus (essentially) defaulting on US bonds and notes will unite rich and poor against wingnut policies. Kansas may turn out to be the canary in the coal mine.
eclare
@Baud: Don’t forget too prepared. The horror.
schrodingers_cat
@Immanentize: #28 the troll with death in its nym is neither amusing nor cute.
MattF
@TriassicSands: The politics is pretty straightforward. Moderates have to avoid being labelled as ‘no better than Democrats’ and conservatives can hold to ‘repeal Obamacare’ and not alienate the Fox fans. Wondering what any of them ‘really’ thinks is just idle speculation.
Baud
The Economist
bemused
Anyone know of a handy, concise article/chart comparing how Dems vs GOP operated crafting healthcare bills? Not hard to find all info in various articles but the convenience of someone laying it all out in one link would be great. Not surprising but still mind-boggling that everything they accused Dems of doing before ACA passed the amoral GOP has done 100fold.
Immanentize
@FlipYrWhig: @Kay:
And sadly, too many of the Obama people seem invested in rehashing 2008 and winning again by pointing out Hillary was an inferior loser unlike Obama. Even though she got more votes than he did in 2012 (I think that’s right). It is sad to see that need to keep defeating her.
Kay
@debbie:
Right but it’s executive/administrative action – “we’ll publicly oppose civil rights because civil rights are political correctness” – it’s mostly signalling to the base. DeVos never ran shit. She was a far Right political activist who happened to have a ton of money so bought what she wanted from the Michigan legislature. They should have kept her as a donor/lobbyist. She’s almost uniquely unsuited to that job, which is all about persuasion since the federal government only contributes about 10% to schools (depending) and doesn’t have that much real statutory clout over them.
She said “I’m not here to make friends” (which is what people who can’t persuade anyone else always say at work) – that’s 100% wrong. She IS there to make friends. Schools don’t have to listen to her on MOST issues. She has to persuade them.
Immanentize
@Baud:
Like they did for umpteen times in the last seven years.
ed_finnerty
@?BillinGlendaleCA: with apologies to The Far Side
Immanentize
@schrodingers_cat: Maybe not, but it is very very concerned!
debbie
@Kay:
I’m hoping she becomes the worst advertisement for her policies.
Kay
@debbie:
They’re just so lame, Congress:
They take testimony from a reality tv show host rather than someone who actually does these jobs or went thru trades training? Do they want to be considered a joke? They’re making us all dumber. This is who they SEEK OUT when they have 4 hours to conduct a hearing. Who compiles these witness lists? The whole thing is TIME. There are endless witnesses one could call. They’ll never lack testimony. What they run out of is time. Why was he a priority?
Baud
@Kay: They are obviously presidential material.
janelle
@Immanentize: Obama got roughly 62,000 more votes in 2012 than Clinton got in 2016. I’m not an Obama supporter with an anti-Clinton agenda (I enthusiastically voted for both of them when they were the nominees), just setting the facts straight.
debbie
@Kay:
They could pair that up with testimony from Chuck Norris about strengthening our military. Two birds, one stone.
Kay
@debbie:
I find her kind of fascinating. IMO, one of the things you learn about “privilege” as you work over decades is there are people who have to answer questions and people who don’t. DeVos is in the latter category. She seems to assume people have an obligation to read her mind. That’s a REAL class indicator. Lower status people assume they will have to defend everything they do. Explain, justify, prepare for hostile response and demands to SHOW YOUR WORK. She doesn’t even address anything- it’s almost regal.
It took me 20 years to figure out that I don’t have to answer every question- that some questions are about asserting power to make the person respond. She was born knowing it. That’s a class thing.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: Mike Rowe’s whole political shtick is to give anti-worker policies blue-collar cred, because coddling workers is disrespectful to them, or something like that. Republicans love the guy.
Immanentize
@janelle: thank you — I knew it was about the same, but I thought it went the other way.
bystander
@Baud: Thanks for refreshing my recollection. I think.
Oldgold
From Josh Green’s new biography on Steve Bannon:
Bannon raged at Paul Ryan as a “limp-dick motherfucker who was born in a Petri dish at the Heritage Foundation.”
I think this is the only thing I have ever agreed with Steve Bannon on.
O. Felix Culpa
Oooh, look at the funny trolls! I always follow advice to quit just after a big win, don’t you?
satby
Good morning! The trolls are out, which as @schrodingers_cat: says is a sign that they’re desperate to demoralize the resistance. Kinda funny how sad and obvious it is.
O. Felix Culpa
@Oldgold:
Bwahahahaha! That made my day, despite the source. Repubs in disarry?
ETA: In case it wasn’t clear, by “source” I mean the Trump Whisperer aka Rasputin, not esteemed commenter Oldgold.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby: Good morning! Lovely day for a stroll over a troll, doncha think?
bystander
@Baud:
You forgot “overprepared”. Hillary could never distinguish that fine line between being prepared and over prepared. Nobody likes a smarty pants knowitall. But who knows that better than you?
WaterGirl
@TriassicSands:
Every word you wrote is true. I cannot think of a single Republican that I would call a statesman. Not one. What a sad state of affairs.
WaterGirl
@eclare: So glad to hear that your mom is doing so much better!
satby
I was up and out by 6:30 to bring foster cat Smokey to get neutered today. He’s finally going to be ready for adoption by next week! Considering the conditions he came from, he’s an amazingly good boy.
WaterGirl
@Quinerly: I can’t get to that, either. :-(
satby
@eclare: yes, glad she’s on the mend. She’s going to feel so much better with her meds rebalanced!
bystander
@Kay:
Later this week David Caruso and Mark Harmon will be guests to discuss law enforcement. After the success Richard Chamberlain had testifying on healthcare, repubs are anxious for another PR victory.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Which makes him so much better than the barbarian in the White House, who had every advantage and yet doesn’t come close to being a good human.
geg6
@satby:
Yes, I always feel happy when the trolls come out in force. That means we’re winning.
Another Scott
@Kay: This isn’t new and probably isn’t worth getting too upset about. We know the GOP isn’t about optimizing policy for the best outcomes for the USA. They’re about constructing memes that enable them to reward the 0.01% and rile up the lizard brains of their supporters.
I haven’t paid attention to Rowe’s politics, and I’ve only seen his “Dirty Jobs” show a couple of times, but I thought it was interesting in more than a “OMG, Yuck!” sense.
Yes, someone should watch the hearing for us, and the Democrats on the panel should be willing to challenge him if he only spouts Teabagger nonsense. But outrage fatigue is a real thing.
Pace yourself, Kay! :-)
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
Applause for the Democrats, sticking together to bring this horrible “Republicans only” bill down. Got to think they slowed the process and gummed up the progress, even while citizen demonstrations are getting also deserved praise. Media big on ignoring Democrats, but that does not mean they were not deadly effective behind the scenes.
I wonder if some of the Republicans trusted their Democratic colleagues’ instincts more than the hellbent (hopefully hell-bound) GOP leadership. The GOP Senators escaped a vote on this. So far.
debbie
@bystander:
And yet, the Dems are accused of being too cozy with Hollywood!
germy
Just saw Mayor Pete Buttigieg on CBS this morning. Impressive young man. They peppered him with “what’s wrong with the democrat party?” and “Do you agree with Donald Trump?” questions, but he handled them deftly.
In their introduction, they suggested he could be a rising star; possible governor, possible president someday.
Chris
@Amusing Ourselves to Death:
Americans have no idea what the fuck they want, and when you give them something they might have said they want, are as likely as not to throw an immediate tantrum about how it’s not what they wanted after all. It’s sad, but true. That’s caused any number of problems for Democratic initiatives in the past, but it can also cause plenty for Republicans.
MattF
@Elizabelle: Republicans had to trust Democrats because they were (and are) the only sources of actual facts about healthcare. Y’know, ‘facts’ as in ‘facts’.
ETA: Note, btw, the portrait over McCain’s hospital bed.
eclare
@Oldgold: I just read that and thought the same thing, pretty funny and accurate.
JMG
McConnell’s spite vote on repeal only puts his caucus in a tremendous bind. Both a yes and a no vote are guaranteed to alienate people pols need to be re-elected, either donors and the right-wing noise brigade or actual voters.
Elizabelle
@MattF: I really do suspect that goes on behind the scenes.
I wonder if we might see a wave of GOP retirements before 2018. Some of them may be as sick of their FoxWorld/TrumpLand voters as we are.
Chris
@Elizabelle:
The vast majority of those citizens were also Democrats, so Dem cred all around.
Elizabelle
@MattF: LOL. Had not seen that. Too funny.
eclare
@germy: I saw him on Seth Meyers, I think. He came across as capable, good sense of humor, I think he’ll start to get more press.
Quinerly
@eclare:
Missed your posts yesterday. Sending positive thoughts.
rikyrah
@satby:
Nothing but truth this morning, satby :)
Quinerly
@debbie:
Comes through to me on my smarty pants phone without a problem. Dallas paper. A very good piece that lays it all out, in my opinion.
rikyrah
@satby:
You are good people, satby :)
rikyrah
@germy:
He became mayor at 30?
Wow
Quinerly
The master of kompromat believed to behind Junior’s meeting: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/world/europe/russia-donald-trump-jr-kompromat-yuri-chaika.html?nytmobile=0
rikyrah
Could Reince be the missing person from Jr’s Meeting with the Russians?
Quinerly
Is the president fit? In the physical sense: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/18/is-the-president-fit-215385
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
rikyrah
When Republicans Tell the Truth About Their Health Care Bill
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 17, 2017 3:03 PM
……………………………
One way to answer that question is to take a look at what happens when Republicans actually tell the truth about their intentions with this bill. HHS Sec. Tom Price did that recently in this exchange with Jonathan Karl of ABC News.
What Price is suggesting is that all insurance companies have to do is go back to the days when they denied coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. That goes against what Trump and most Republicans in Congress promised when they talked about their plans to repeal Obamacare. The ban on denying people coverage for pre-existing conditions is something they have repeatedly promised to keep. Tom Price just told the truth. The current bill reneges on that promise.
But Britt Hume went even further than that on Fox News.
In a way, Hume gets it: “Once that idea is gone [guaranteeing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions], Obamacare essential remains.” That is precisely why Republicans are having such a hard time coming up with an alternative. They promised to keep the regulation about coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, but can’t do that without keeping major portions of Obamacare in place.
MomSense
@eclare:
Glad to hear she is doing a little better. Having just gone through something similar, I will say that the recovery is slow so pace yourself and try to get some rest whenever you can.
Quinerly
Foreign Policy piece by Max Boot. Worth the read: http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/17/what-did-trump-know-about-his-jrs-meeting-and-when-did-he-know-it-veselnitskaya-akhmetshin/
MomSense
@satby:
Great news!!!
Frankensteinbeck
@Elizabelle:
Yes, I should call my Senators, thank them, and urge them to keep fighting.
rikyrah
Putin to Dolt45: Bytch, gimme my stuff back.
……………………………………..
Quick Takes: Putin Wants Trump to Pay Up
A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 17, 2017 6:05 PM
* In many ways, Putin has gotten exactly what he wanted from a Trump presidency: chaos and a weakened Western alliance. But he clearly wants those compounds back that Obama shut down in response to Russia’s meddling in our election.
Quinerly
Background piece on the Somali born 31 year old cop who shot and killed that Australian woman: http://m.startribune.com/what-we-know-about-mohamed-noor-minneapolis-police-officer-who-fatally-shot-justine-damond/435018163/
rikyrah
Trump’s Buddy Aras Agalarov in the Steele Dossier
by Nancy LeTourneau
July 18, 2017 8:00 AM
………………………..
Obviously the Trump’s and the Agalarov’s know each other and Goldstone is comfortable referring to them by their first names. That’s because Aras, the father, was responsible for talking the Trump’s into bringing the Miss Universe Pageant to Russia in 2013. Agalarov is one of those oligarchs Russia has become known for in recent years and has been referred to as “the Russian Trump.” His son, Emin, is a would-be pop star.
What we see from this email is that Aras and Emin have been involved in the Russian government’s support for Trump’s candidacy. It was a meeting between the top Russian prosecutor and Aras that led to the meeting with the members of Trump’s campaign team in order to provide them with documents and information that would incriminate Hillary Clinton.
Now, take a look at what is stated in the Steele dossier.
…………….
There is no proof that “Source D” is Aras Agalarov. But obviously he is the one responsible for bringing Trump to Moscow in 2013 for the pageant. The date of June 2016 jumps off the page as the month Aras initiated a meeting between the Trump campaign team and Russian operatives for the purpose of feeding them valuable intelligence on his opponent.
rikyrah
WATCH: A golden retriever noticed that a fawn was drowning. He jumped in to save it. What a good boy. pic.twitter.com/EaP43wtXOo
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) July 17, 2017
Update: Great news, the fawn is recovering in a rescue facility! By the way, this dog’s name is Storm. https://t.co/yGefVvSaw5?amp=1 https://t.co/bqcPV3wkHC
— Yashar Ali (@yashar) July 18, 2017
Ben Cisco
@Kay:
It appears that you answered your own question.
Quinerly
A lot of great pieces on http://www.memeorandum.com this AM. Cruise over there and check out the last 8 hours of postings. I’ve been reading pieces since 5:00AM. Gotta get moving. Poco is already packed for our trip. I’m not. Have a great day!
MattF
OT. Interesting NYT item about how investors are (once again) getting screwed by the financial industry.
I’ll just note that it’s probably an unfixable situation– money + knowledge + power is all on the side of Wall Street. And besides, stockbrokers have a hard life and deserve a break.
Chris
@Quinerly:
@rikyrah:
I got done not long ago with a book about the history of the KGB in the Third World during the Cold War… which only further convinced me that 2016 and aftermath was right up the Russians’ alley, and Putin’s especially. The book is candid that the KGB had its limitations – in its ability to understand foreign countries and predict events, in its ability to control events, in its ability to understand its own political system. But one of the things that comes up over and over and over in the book is the KGB’s love of manipulating foreign politics by either leaking damaging information or, better yet, manufacturing realistic enough forgeries of what appear to be damaging documents, in order to sow discord between allies, or within a government. (Of course, Wikileaks is a truthy purveyor of integrity and so we needn’t worry about that here, but…)
Another fun fact, incidentally, is that while the KGB had mixed successes in infiltrating Western governments, it had a lot more success in infiltrating the private sector. Including those parts of it that were linked to the government and to the development of sensitive technology, the kind the USSR might want to copy for itself. At a time when privatizing and outsourcing everything, even in the defense and intelligence sectors, is increasingly the worship-word of the West, that, again, is clearly no cause for concern.
Grung_e_Gene
@Matt McIrvin: as a push back against theStem and Mike Rowe blue collar jobs scam I’ve always replied: A human beings worth isn’t measured by his trade skills, i.e. how much excess labor value he can produce for the vulture capitalist class. Besides Traitor Trump doesn’t pay carpenters or working class workers.
Kay
@MattF:
The problem is there’s nowhere else to put your money if you’re an ordinary “saver”. It’s real estate or Wall Street. I’d like to protest how horrible they are but where else am I supposed to put savings other than a mutual fund? Under my mattress?
They have us trapped :)
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
It’s just so surface and trendy. They just noticed skilled trades? I read this piece the other day on how skilled trades training “tops out” early in wages compared to general college education. Duh. That is LITERALLY the phrase they use, the tradespeople. They say they “topped out” at such-and-such. Christ. It is THEIR PAYCHECK. They know they top out! They’re aware!
Jeffro
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: It’s like in WW II movies, when a fighter plane gets hit…you can hear the plane begin its death-spiral…
rikyrah
!NEWS! Mitch McConnell to bring up a vote on straight repeal with a two-year trigger. ???????? https://t.co/2PCE9X8wyK
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 18, 2017
McConnell says his GOP health care bill `will not be successful.’ He’ll bring a repeal now, replace later vote to floor soon. pic.twitter.com/JX5C1bFTig
— Laura Litvan (@LauraLitvan) July 18, 2017
If you didn’t like phasing out the Medicaid expansion starting in 2020, why would you like nuking it entirely in 2020?
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 18, 2017
Handy chart. The one in the middle, with 59M uninsured, is the score of the bill McConnell plans to vote on. ? https://t.co/NcVV46RwWi
— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) July 18, 2017
The new Senate strategy of #RepealAndDelay will be scored w/ 10 million more in coverage losses than other bills – https://t.co/090lbBeRMQ pic.twitter.com/M13EtWL9k3
— Marc Goldwein (@MarcGoldwein) July 18, 2017
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
I still don’t understand what happened. Makes no damn sense.
rikyrah
HEY KAY!!!!
Trump voter fraud commission says it doesn’t have to follow federal laws because it’s not a federal agency: https://t.co/tGRQ0lIQau pic.twitter.com/z4AVDhch4S
— The Hill (@thehill) July 18, 2017
UH HUH
UH HUH
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/17/17
GOP health bill collapses on new rejections from Sens Lee, Moran
Frank Thorp, NBC News Capitol Hill producer, talks with Rachel Maddow about Senators Mike Lee and Jerry Moran rejecting the Republican health bill, putting Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell below the threshold he needs to pass the bill without working with Democrats.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/17/17
Americans speaking out on health care see another battle won
Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, talks with Rachel Maddow about the energized activism of ordinary Americans that have kept the pressure on legislators to not ruin American health care options with an poor replacement for Obamacare.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/17/17
Senator Murphy: GOP health bill a ‘train wreck,’ ‘monstrosity’
Senator Chris Murphy, member of the Senate Health Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about how big a failure the collapse of the Republican health/tax bill is and what next steps can be expected as Senator McConnell appears determined to avoid input from Democrats.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/17/17
NY subpoenas records on huge Manafort loans from small bank: WSJ
Rachel Maddow relays a report from the Wall Street Journal that the Manhattan district attorney’s office in New York has issued a subpoena to a Chicago bank run by a Trump adviser over $16 million in loans to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/17/17
Trump 2020 campaign donors paying for family’s lawyers
Rachel Maddow shares reporting on how Trump re-election campaign money is being used to pay for lawyers, including for Donald Trump Jr., and attempts to sort through some of the contradictory announcements made about changes in the Trump team’s legal representation.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 7/17/17
McConnell’s GOP health/tax bill attacked from all sides
Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell discuss the failure of Senator Mitch McConnell to assemble enough votes to pass his health care bill, and what this means for the Republican political landscape.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Thanks-but I think the more important thing is the lawsuits. Trump’s voter fraud commission is going to be sued A LOT.
They basically waved a red flag in front of a huge cadre of election lawyers – voting rights people are like 99.9% lawyers :)
You can’t swing a cat in a voting rights get-together without hitting 4 lawyers. It’s boring and procedural and nit-picky. It doesn’t lend itself to slogans and lies. This is just the federal lawsuits. There’s almost endless state law to sue on too.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: Have a great road trip. Beach!
rikyrah
The Republican health care gambit falls apart
07/18/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
………………………….
This is a story with a lot of moving parts, so let’s unpack the developments with some Q&A.
So, the Republican crusade is dead?
Sort of. The legislation Mitch McConnell unveiled last week clearly doesn’t have the votes to pass and GOP leaders don’t believe they’re in a position to twist a few arms and change a few minds. That legislation, at least for now, is dead.
Now what?
McConnell is now planning to hold a vote – “in the coming days,” according to a written statement from his office – on what’s known as “repeal and delay.” This entails repealing the Affordable Care Act now and creating a two-year window in which Congress would work on a Republican alternative.
This sounds familiar.
That’s because it was the original Republican plan after last year’s elections. GOP leaders settled on “repeal and delay” as the quickest and easiest way to achieve their political goals.
So why didn’t it pass?
Largely because Donald Trump and his White House team rejected the approach, insisting that Congress kill “Obamacare” and replace it with a Republican model simultaneously.
If implemented, how bad would “repeal and delay” be?
We don’t have to speculate: As regular readers may recall, the CBO found back in January that this approach would cause premiums to spike and would take health coverage from 32 million Americans over the next decade.
That sounds horrible. How worried should I be about this passing?
Not very. There’s no reason to believe this bill can get 50 votes. The less conservative Republican senators will almost certainly balk, and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said last week this tack is “a non-starter.”
So why is this McConnell’s new plan?
A couple of reasons. First, the White House hasn’t given him much of a choice. Donald Trump and Mike Pence have both publicly pushed this approach – despite the White House saying the opposite earlier in the year – and the president reiterated his support for this plan overnight. McConnell isn’t in a position to blow off the wishes of his own party’s White House.
Second, Senate Republicans voted to pass this same plan in 2015, when they knew it’d face a presidential veto. McConnell will effectively turn to his members and say, “Well, you voted for it two years ago, so you should vote for it again now.”
So McConnell thinks it has a chance of success?
Not really. By all accounts, he wants to go through the motions, prove that he did his due diligence, and move on. Members who voted for this in 2015 knew there’d be no consequences for their actions, making it a hollow political exercise. This time, it would count – and the harm to Americans would be real.
Kay
The President is lying again because he knows he failed miserably despite EVERY procedural advantage. The soft bigotry of low expectations again. It’s sad. He should work harder.
Kay
@rikyrah:
But they can’t do the tax cuts for rich people unless they gut Medicaid. Such a dilemma! I bet the donors are PLENTY MAD.
rikyrah
Trump wonders ‘why legislators don’t seem to listen to him’
07/18/17 09:24 AM
By Steve Benen
…………………………………
Circling back to our coverage from several months ago, Trump won an improbable election victory in part based on his ability to persuade voters that he has a unique talen. “Deals are my art form,” the Republican bragged. “Other people paint beautifully or write poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.”
The evidence to back up the boast was elusive – no one has ever been able to prove that Trump actually excels in negotiations or deal-making – but he kept talking about his expertise as a guy who knows, perhaps better than anyone in the world, how to seal a deal.
And then Trump decided he’d strike a deal on overhauling the American health care system. Given a chance to prove just how adept he is as a world-class negotiator and deal-maker, the Republican flunked the test spectaculalry. What emerged was a picture of a president who didn’t understand the issue, didn’t care to do his homework, showed no interest in policy or substantive details, wouldn’t help sell his preferred plan to the public, and couldn’t engage in meaningful negotiations because he simply didn’t know what he was talking about.
As the health care fight unfolded, Trump was at different times passive and impatient, ignorant and demanding. In the president’s mind, to lead on the issue meant barking vague orders to a separate branch of government, and then sitting back, waiting for a bill he wouldn’t read or understand to arrive in the Oval Office.
The president told TV preacher Pat Robertson last week, “I am sitting in the Oval Office with a pen in hand, waiting for our senators to give it to me…. I’m sitting waiting for that bill to come to my desk.”
Rolling up his sleeves, opening some briefing books, and trying to do real, substantive work apparently never occurred to him.
Quinerly
@Elizabelle:
Yes! I need a break. In the beginnings of converting my lower level stone walk out area into a rental unit…possibly an Air BnB. It’s about 1000 square ft…putting in full kitchen and open living/sleeping space. We are doing it in stages and I’m more or less the general. Can take the time now from work and from this. Going for it! Poco can practice everything he has learned in school…strutting his stuff on Bogue Banks. Thanks for the well wishes.
The Moar You Know
@rikyrah: And therefore return to pre-Obamacare levels of profit. Does anyone think they won’t fight that to the death?
Enjoy watching the insurers donate every last dime to the Democratic Party next election, dumbshit. Also +1 for continuing to remind the public that it’s OBAMA’S health care act and the GOP has nothing to do with it. Thank God these people are so incompetent.
Quinerly
@rikyrah:
It’s so upsetting from all angles. I teared up reading the piece.
Kay
I don’t know how to break this to Trump voters but the President’s plan on NAFTA is bullshit. It’s exactly the same as every other President of both parties – he vows to enforce existing contract terms. EVERYONE says that and has for 20 years. It’s what Clinton I and II ran on, and Bush I AND II and Obama.
They elected BushBushClintonClintonObama on trade.
Quinerly
@Chris:
Thanks for your post!
eclare
@rikyrah: Seconded.
rikyrah
Please please please don’t call this “repeal, then replace.” They have PROVEN they can’t come up w a replacement. This is repeal. Full stop. https://t.co/4b1rgllRHH
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 18, 2017
rikyrah
awe
90-year-old Ohio grandmother has knitted and delivered 2,252 hats for newborns to hospital across street from her. https://t.co/m57wcFgrLB pic.twitter.com/wcvcL5UVIj
— ABC News (@ABC) July 18, 2017
WaterGirl
@rikyrah:
If only that had been the title of the article!
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@eclare:
1. I’m glad your mother is doing better.
2. Mock the people in Alexander’s office. Remind them he used to stand for good government, back in the day when he replaced Ray Blanton–lo, how he is fallen from the light! (As Marlowe put it, Lucifer was an angel once, and most dearly loved of God…)
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@Ian G.: I think he is. Even Kansans like having health insurance. There are a lot of people in Kansas who are now thinking about the actual effect of certain cherished Republican
pipedreamspolicies, and not liking what they’ve seen. Paved roads, functioning schools, businesses not fleeing the state because of the lack of paved roads and functioning schools, enough funding to keep I-70 open in the winter, having a working state mental health system where your schizophrenic aunt can go to get her condition stabilized instead of wandering the cornfields in a state of extreme agitation…it’s amazing how much better government can make your life.Barney
The WH official’s proclamation sounds better in the original Russian: Ni shagu nazad!
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
Congressmen are proud, and Senators in particular view themselves as kings, each one with the power to bring the government to a standstill. They did not like having an arrogant moron order them around like servants.
@Kay:
I know trade is a big issue for you, Kay, but poll studies have shown that Trump voters actually do not care about it at all, and change their minds on the issue at a whim. As long as he’s bashing minorities, he can flip-flop all he likes about NAFTA.
satby
@germy: He’s pretty popular around here, but it’s a deep red state and they kind of hate everyone.
eclare
@MomSense: Thanks for the advice. Luckily I’m in between jobs right now, so I can help all she needs.
eclare
@rikyrah: Love your summary!
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: Good Morning to you and Ms. O! Yes, let’s relish when we put a run on the scoreboard. We all know the game’s not over by a long shot!
Percysowner
House GOP Unveils Budget With Steep Medicare Cuts because having tried to kill Medicaid wasn’t enough, now they want to kill Medicare. Somehow I think ads about Granny being thrown into the street and dying there won’t exactly make the GOP win lots of votes. Plus Grannies and Grandpas USE Medicare and they VOTE.
eclare
@rikyrah: I know, why do you shoot someone in their pajamas? Anyway, just reinforces the message to never, ever call the police.
Chris
@Frankensteinbeck:
Insofar as they understand “trade,” they understand it the same way they do everything else – as “take shiny goodies from Good Deserving Me, give shiny goodies to Bad Lazy Unwhites. Sad!”
eclare
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): Damn, called before I saw this. Went with the “how could you destroy 1/6 of the American economy?” and “this would have devastating impacts on rural hospitals and nursing homes”. We all know people having the right to health insurance as decent human beings doesn’t work, so I went with the bizness aspect.
Frankensteinbeck
@Percysowner:
Paul Ryan is truly the perfect Randian asshole. Destroying Medicaid didn’t work, so next stop, Medicare!
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@rikyrah: My mother is involved in a program that provides kitted or crocheted baby stuff to a local hospital–she started when she moved to Kansas City in the early 1990s. I’m not sure how many she’s done, but there’s a woman who has done 2000+ pairs of booties.
rikyrah
@eclare:
These stories are ALWAYS bullshyt, but this doesn’t even have the usual ‘Cop-ese’ explanation. I haven’t read any that makes any kind of sense….for the people who always look for one. Even those people don’t have anything that they can use in defense.
Betty Cracker
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio): Love that description!
Quinerly
Was Trump in the room?: http://crooksandliars.com/2017/07/cummings-requests-secret-service-documents
LurkerNoLonger
@MattF: The best-laid plans of Turtles and men often go awry.