President Trump just called me. Still on phone.
"We just pulled it," he tells me.— Robert Costa (@costareports) March 24, 2017
Soothing Balm of Nature (Open Thread)
As we wait for the Trumpcare vote to come down, here’s something lovely to look at — our white squirrel, Salt, hanging out in an oak tree:
Open thread!
Juliet was waiting with a safety net
Trumpcare isn’t dead yet. I won’t be surprised if the Freedom Caucus caves and votes for it this afternoon. If you live in a district with a Republican Congressional representative, get on the phone and tell them to vote against it pronto if you can. Try district offices as well as the DC office.
Things will get worse, not better, for Republicans if they pass this piece of shit onto the Senate. But there’s a real risk of this thing passing, becoming a law, and ruining millions of lives. So let’s kill it now while we can.
Update by Dave Anderson
You've got about 45 minutes to call your reps and put the nail in this coffin. (202) 224-3121. https://t.co/Yh0HvnOHVR
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) March 24, 2017
Something Strange in the Greater DC Area: There Appears to be a Cluster of Missing African American and Latina Teen Girls
There is concern that there is a cluster or, perhaps, a spike in missing persons cases in the DC area where the missing person is either an African American or Latina teen girl.
The figure is startling — more than a dozen black and Latina teens have been reported missing in D.C. since March 1.
The apparent jump in the number of missing young people in the District has raised concern in neighborhoods and on social media.
Actually, what’s happening is D.C. police are now acknowledging a continuing problem.
https://twitter.com/DCPoliceDept/status/839886925632835584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwtop.com%2Fdc%2F2017%2F03%2Fdc-police-address-concerns-over-missing-teens%2F
As indicated by the social media response, DC authorities are taking the issue seriously.
Chanel Dickerson, who recently became commander of the D.C. police’s Youth and Family Services Division, said she was shocked by the number of missing children in the District. She said many of the cases involved runaways and she has pledged to publicize each case and provide equal service to all.
The 211 people who went missing in January did not reflect an increase in cases, Dickerson said, just better reporting by the families. While that may be true, it is far from reassuring. Few believe that the children are being snatched off the street in mass, but they do think that the children are endangered.
Sharece Crawford, a member of an Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Southeast Washington, said she believed that more black girls were getting involved with gangs and also being forced into prostitution.
“What we need is a citywide alert about the dangers out here and how parents can protect their children,” Crawford said. “Residents are very worried. They are wondering if the city is taking this seriously. They say things like, ‘If white girls were disappearing uptown, there would be a state of emergency.’ ”
The good news is that some of the missing teens are being found.
Amongst the teens missing, it’s been reported that 13-year-old Taylor Innis has been found in “good health.” Missing teen Antwan Jordan has been found safe.
Here’s the picture arrays with the pertinent information from one of the Essence authors/reporters.
It takes 3.2 secs to retweet and help find these 8 BLACK GIRLS reported missing in Washington, D.C. during the past three days (1/2) pic.twitter.com/xpEwNcW44S
— Black Marvel Girl (@BlackMarvelGirl) March 13, 2017
It takes 3.2 secs to retweet and help find these 8 BLACK GIRLS reported missing in Washington, D.C. during the past three days (2/2) pic.twitter.com/kaP15Bk4Kk
— Black Marvel Girl (@BlackMarvelGirl) March 13, 2017
As much as we are paying attention to a lot of important, fast moving things, it is equally important to pay attention to other equally important issues that impact people in different, but still important ways. It is important to remember that there are people at risk not because of anything the Federal, state, or local government may or may not be doing – though they may be at risk for things that should have long been done, but weren’t. Rather, people can be at risk just because of the reality of day to day life. It is important to keep in mind that as we focus on the big issues that we don’t lose sight of equally important things closer to home.
Why I Hate The NY Times, Part [n]*
There is most likely a middle way. Republican lawmakers might be comfortable with a system that shifts more of the costs of care onto people who are sick, if it makes the average insurance plan less costly for the healthy. But making those choices would mean engaging in very real trade-offs, less simple than their talking point.
“Republican lawmakers might be comfortable…” Think of the assuptions not in evidence required to write that phrase. Think also of the cluelessness in what comes next: those who buy insurance are seen here in the Republican frame, as two binary populations, the healthy and the sick.
That would be the “virtuous” healthy paid less than the molly-coddled, feckless sick. That the same people might occupy both identities at different points of their lives seems not to have occured to this Times writer, Margot Sanger-Katz — whom I’ve noted before has an odd willingness to couch her Upshot explainers in weighted and coded language.
As seems to be hers and several Times-folk’s penchant, much of the story from which I extracted above is perfectly fine, an actual explainer of what Essential Health Benefits do and why they’re important. She even notes that in a system without a required benefit package–
…the meaning of “health insurance” can start to become a little murky.
Well, yeah, as it doesn’t actually insure against unanticipated risks. I’d take issue with the meekness of her critique here, that is, but at least she suggests to the fragile sensibilities of her tender readers that perhaps a minor problem might result here.
Which makes the passage I quoted up top both weird and revealing: cheap insurance for the healthy and soak-the-sick policies for those with the misfortune to suffer the ails that impinge on just about every human being, sometime or other is a pretty damn good example of a murky notion of health insurance.
That is: the habit of mind, the reflexive and seemingly unconscious acceptance of a right wing tropes that lead both to conclusions unsupported by the evidence and an inability to grasp what one has actually just said. This happens a lot at The New York Times. Happened a lot there too, over the crucial months of 2016. Which goes a long way, IMHO, to accounting for the predicament we’re in now.
*Where [n] is an arbitrarily large number.x
Image: Codex Aureus Epternacensis, Christ Cleansing Ten Lepers, c. 1035-1040.
I lay traps for troubadors
This is a sad story. I’m glad at least that this guy has come to his senses about Trump and I hope others do before more damage is inflicted on Americans, whether they voted for him or not:
Beginning in January 2016, Kraig Moss traveled to 45 rallies, belting out songs in support of Donald Trump and telling the story of his late son, Rob, who died three years ago from a heroin overdose. In this way, the musician earned the title of “the Trump Troubadour,” a true believer said to symbolize “the voice of unheard America.”
[….]But this bill backed by the president “disgusted” him. He no longer sings songs about Trump, and he now wonders if any of his sacrifices were worth it.
[….]“The one platform that I was just so genuinely involved in with my heart was the one thing that he just turned right around,” Moss said. “He’s turning his back on all of us.”
Whats going to happen today?
The short answer is mass chaos.
The longer answer is we will seeing some non-controversial bills come up under suspension rules this morning. Around 10:00 AM, the Rules Committee will vote on the most recent set of changes that were placed in the bill overnight. Those changes (stripping or punting EHB mainly) are probably going to cost a quarter of a trillion dollars and could lead to millions more not getting coverage but they are not waiting for a CBO score. Once a special accelerated rule is voted on, the actual voting starts.
My opinion is that we are in good shape if there is an immediate blocking coalition of 23 Republican No votes in the first six or seven minutes. At that point, the internal logic of the Republican caucus makes voting Yes and seeing the bill Fail become a no reward position so we could see a cascade towards No. If we don’t see that, I would not be optimistic.
My gut feeling is that AHCA either passes by less than three votes or fails by more than fifteen. I can’t see the incentive structure for a narrow failure as the House leadership will hold the vote open for hours to arm twist a couple of hold-outs.
So call the House one last time.
Update 1:
GOP Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, says he is a “no” on the GOP health care bill pic.twitter.com/8aLRGzEIkZ
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 24, 2017
He is from New Jersey, part of leadership and as of this morning he was in the New York Times Undecided/Unclear column. So him moving to a clear No is intriguing.