Learning the hard way that governing is tough.

   Let's be honest, there is no way that republicans will let trumpcare go down tomorrow. They have way too much invested in getting rid of the healthcare plan named after the black man.

Still, the fact that they are having such a hard time getting the votes to support this dreadful plan (a plan it took them seven years to perfect) says all you need to know about the dysfunction among these right-wingnuts in Washington.

In one corner you have the real conservatives, and in the other corner you have the moderates. In the middle you have Paul Ryan and the trump White House, whose concern is not for the health of the American people, but rather the political optics of their dreadful trumpcare rollout.

Trump and Ryan just want a win at this point. Any win. Why? Because in case you have been living on another planet, these first 60 days or so have been absolutely horrible for team trump and the republicans.

And what's scary is this: As Chris Hayes stated earlier, the White House does not know what's in the health care plan and he does not care. He just wants a win. Details be damned. Details, by the way, which are serious, and which have serious consequences for the lives of real people.

"Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie said Thursday that the Trump administration had not convinced him to change his vote on the bill to replace Obamacare, and said that he hoped it would sink in the House.

“I am still very much opposed to the bill,” Massie said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Thursday. “I think it’s worse than Obamacare.” [Source]

Mr. Massie has changed his vote from No to HELL NO!

It's going to be a long night.

*Pic from abcnews.go.com




    

Obamacare lives. (For now)

It looks like the supremes upheld the most important portions of the ACA today, and that's a big win for this president.

Now, as is to be expected, the right wingers are losing their collective minds.

"an act of judicial activism" from the Supreme Court designed to "protect the Affordable Care Act." ~Karl Rove~

"With today's Obamacare decision, John Roberts confirms that he has completely jettisoned all pretense of textualism. He is a results-oriented judge, period, ruling on big cases based on what he thinks the policy result should be or what the political stakes are for the court itself. He is a disgrace. That is all." ~National Review~

"[Roberts] will undermine his own credibility as a fair-minded jurist, because he has reached to bizarre and odd contortions in order to save this statute twice." ~Andrew Napolitano, Fox News~

 "an absolute disaster" and wondered "what does [this] mean for the rule of law?" ~Rush Limbaugh ~

"I braced for this decision by SCOTUS still shocked....folks country has fundamentally changed...another giant step toward Banana Republic" ~Fox's Charles Payne~

And on and on it goes.

It seems like only yesterday that Chief Justice Roberts was a darling of the right wing. But this just goes to show you how dangerous it is to throw all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to politics.

Of course this decision will never cause me to change my mind about Chief Justice Roberts. That Citizens United decision will forever tarnish him and his legacy in my book.

 "I am disappointed in the Burwell decision, but this is not the end of the fight against ObamaCare "

Jeb, I am sure you are.

"Five years ago, after nearly a century of talk, decades of trying, a year of bipartisan debate," the law is finally and firmly entrenched, Obama said, .....Health care, he said is "not a privileged for a few, but a right for all.".... The setbacks I remember clearly." However, "as the dust has settled, there can be no doubt that this law is working."

Show off.

White lines for the white party.

How many other people in congress are getting high and snorting coke?

They sure as hell govern like they are high down there.

Anyway, they have each other's back. (It's amazing how selective outrage can be.)  Now comes word that speaker Boehner will not punish Trey Radal for turning his DC digs into a trap house.

Of course Mr. Boehner can't take the high road with this one, because he has some problems of his own. But hey, we won't go there. We all have our demons.

“I’m profoundly sorry to let down my family, particularly my wife and son, and the people of Southwest Florida,” he said. “I struggle with the disease of alcoholism, and this led to an extremely irresponsible choice. As the father of a young son and a husband to a loving wife, I need to get help so I can be a better man for both of them.

Thank you Mr. Boehner Radel.

The first step towards recovery is recognizing that you have a problem.

Speaking of having a problem, his Oness certainly has one with his ACA roll out. No doubt there have been bumps along the way, but it could (and should) get better.

Still, what I want to know is this: What is the republican plan to fix health care in this country? And what, exactly, is their alternative to Obamacare? It's gotten so bad that FOX News now has to ask the very same question.

This is the party leader's answer to that question:

“I think you have to repeal the whole law and then you take whatever parts are most needed, like pre-existing conditions and things like that,” Priebus told Fox.
“Sure, but what is the Republican plan?” Camerota asked. “Yes, there are little things that you like — pre-existing conditions, obviously, buying insurance across state lines. So what is that plan called by the Republicans?”
“I’m going to answer the question,” Priebus briefly stymied before explaining:

I think it’s really important for people to understand that there is nothing wrong, whatsoever, for being totally opposed to Obamacare, which most people in this country don’t want. There’s nothing wrong with being opposed to something that is ruining people’s lives. So we are 100% opposed to it, and we will always be opposed to it so long as it’s as much as a disaster as it is.

After that, Reibus noted that “Democrats jammed [the GOP] with Obamacare” and wouldn’t listen to any of the “few, good solid ideas” they had for the healthcare law."

Mr. Reibus, we are all ears.............

 

The puppet masters.

Here Is

the real reason that your government has been shut down.

"Freedom Works has signed on to the following Memo to the Movement by the Conservative Action Project:

Current Event:

The current continuing resolution (CR) funding the government expires on March 27, setting up an opportunity for Congress and President Obama to honor the bi-partisan sequester savings already agreed upon.  It also presents an opportunity to achieve even more savings by defunding and stopping the implementation of Obamacare, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently reported will force 7 million Americans out of their existing health insurance.

Action:

• Conservatives cannot support a CR that is above the sequester level of $974 billion annually.  While many conservatives would prefer reprogramming defense cuts to other areas of discretionary spending (dollar for dollar cuts in the same year), the current sequester savings are better than none at all.

• Conservatives should not approve a CR unless it defunds Obamacare.  This includes Obamacare’s unworkable exchanges, unsustainable Medicaid expansion, and attack on life and religious liberty.

A mere “date-change CR” is unacceptable.  Although the Obama administration and others will argue the CR is not the appropriate legislative vehicle to defund Obamacare, it is easily done through a series of appropriation riders.  Because the CR represents one of the best vehicles possible to delay the implementation of Obamacare, it must not be used to bargain on the upcoming sequester.

Issue in Brief:
On October 1, 2013, open enrollment begins for the federally backed health care exchanges. On January 1, 2014, new money from Washington will begin flowing to states and individuals, all but ensuring that these new entitlements will become a permanent fixture of life in America. The window of opportunity to stop the implementation of these massive new subsidies is closing.
Although many of Obamacare's provisions are now the law of the land, many of the law's most damaging and irreversible provisions do not take effect until 2014.

Once implemented, the new spending contained within Obamacare, primarily the Medicaid expansion and exchange subsidies, will cost taxpayers more than $1.6 trillion over the next decade, according to the latest CBO estimates.  Given the history of federal entitlement programs and the back-loaded nature of Obamacare spending, some estimate the full implementation cost could reach  $2.6 trillion over ten years. It will increase the federal government's health spending by 15 percent.

The issue is far from settled in the states, which are tasked with either implementing the wide-ranging mandates and invasive requirements put forth by Obamacare, or deferring such choices to the bureaucrats in Washington.

The fractured opinion amongst the states is one reason the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has continually pushed back the deadline for states to make a decision on the exchanges and Medicaid expansion.

The invasive elements of Obamacare are not set in stone; in fact, elements of the law are already under assault from Republicans and Democrats alike. The CLASS Act was repealed and there is bipartisan support for eliminating the devastating Medical Device Tax.

Blueprint to Defunding Obamacare

Obamacare’s funding mechanisms are as complicated as the law itself, but they can be stopped through the appropriation process, which includes the upcoming continuing resolution.

• Federally Backed Exchanges.  An appropriations rider must eliminate the refundable tax credits for premiums and the cost sharing subsidies that are essentially used to support insurance purchased in the Obamacare exchanges, which starts January 1, 2014.

• Medicaid Expansion.  An appropriations rider must eliminate the enhance match funding for the Medicaid expansion, which takes effect January 1, 2014.

• Permanent Appropriations.  Obamacare contains items called “permanent appropriations” which guarantee funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) and Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF).  An appropriations rider turns off funds for these so-called permanent appropriations, which are already in effect.

• Implementation.  An appropriations rider must block the implementation of Obamacare, covering salaries, rulemaking, enforcement, etc.

• Life and Religious Liberty. Obamacare is an unprecedented attack on life and religious liberty. An appropriations rider must repeal the HHS mandate that attacks the religious values and principles of countless Americans.

• Miscellaneous Programs.  An appropriations rider must block all funding for newly authorized discretionary programs contained in Obamacare and return reauthorized programs back to their pre-Obamacare levels.

Signed:

Edwin Meese III
Former Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan

Chris Chocola
President
Club for Growth

Jenny Beth Martin
Co-Founder
Tea Party Patriots

Penny Nance
President
Concerned Women for America

The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell
President
Constitutional Congress, Inc.

William Wilson
President
Americans for Limited Government

Duane Parde
President
National Taxpayers Union

Susan Carleson
President
American Civil Rights Union

Andrea Lafferty
President
Traditional Values Coalition

Alfred S. Regnery
President
The Paul Revere Project

Lewis Uhler
President
National Tax Limitation Committee

Brent Bozell
President
ForAmerica

Matt Kibbe
President
FreedomWorks

Marjorie Dannenfelser
President
Susan B. Anthony List

David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance

The Honorable David McIntosh
Former U.S. Representative
Indiana

David Bozell
Executive Director
ForAmerica

Colin Hanna
President
Let Freedom Ring

Stuart Epperson
President
Council for National Policy

Heather Higgins
President
Independent Women's Forum

Cindy Chafian
President
The Mommy Lobby

Gary Bauer
President
American Values

Mike Needham
CEO
Heritage Action for America

David Bossie
President
Citizens United

Mathew D. Staver
Chairman
Liberty Counsel Action

James Martin
Chairman
60 Plus Association

Erick Erickson
Editor
RedState.com

T. Kenneth Cribb
Former Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan

Becky Norton Dunlop
Former White House Advisor
President Ronald Reagan

Grace-Marie Turner
President
The Galen Institutue

Myron Ebell
President
Freedom Action

Craig Shirley
Reagan Campaign Biographer

Rev. Lou Sheldon
Chairman
Traditional Values Coalition

Richard Rahn
President
Inst. for Global Economic Growth

Lee Beaman
Businessman
Nashville, TN

Bob Reccord
Executive Director
Council for National Policy

Angelo M. Codevilla
Professor Emeritus
Boston University

Tom Donelson
Chairman
America's PAC

Brian Baker
President
Ending Spending

Kay R. Daly
President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary

Don Devine
Senior Scholar
The Fund for American Studies

Gary Aldrich
President
Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty

Ralph Benko
President
Center for Civic Virtue

Andresen Blom
Senior Strategist
Center for Civic Virtue

Joe Gregory
CEO
Gregory Management Co.

Rebecca Hagelin

(All organizations listed for Identification purposes only)" [Source]

 

The above public service announcement was brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Field Negro. (h/t twitter fam, Rhonda) 

Desperate measures.

I see where some poor guy just robbed a bank for a dollar so that he could get proper medical care. (h/t Vaughn for this story) That is not a good look for A-merry-ca. This reminds me of the story of that Michigan woman who is trying to sell her handwritten letter from O to pay her house note. Both cases of desperate people doing whatever it takes to survive in these post Bush apocalyptic times.

"A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he had a gun, according to the police report.

He then sat down and waited for police to arrive. "… I say, 'I'll be sitting right over here, on the chair, waiting for the police,'" Verone told reporters, recalling the June 9 robbery in an interview from Gaston County Jail.

   And wait for the police, he did.

"He's sitting on the sofa as you walk in the front door," the bank teller said in a 911 call.

Police arrested Verone where he sat. He was unarmed.

Verone said he asked for $1 to show that his motives were medical, not monetary, according to news reports. With a growth in his chest, two ruptured disks and no job, Verone hoped a three-year stint in prison would afford him the health care he needed.

"I'm sort of a logical person and that was my logic, what I came up with," Verone told reporters. "If it is called manipulation, then out of necessity because I need medical care, then I guess I am manipulating the courts to get medical care."

But the charge of larceny, not armed robbery, is unlikely to keep Verone behind bars for more than 12 months. He is being held in Gaston County Jail on a $2,000 bond, according to a spokesman for the jail, and is scheduled to appear in court June 28." [Story]

Poor Richard, the poor  guy can't buy a break; he didn't even rob the bank right.

I wonder if he voted for Obama and "Obamacare"?

When wingnuts are whining children suffer.

*

I tried to go through the day without hearing or seeing wingnuts crying about his O ness pushing Obama- care down their throats, but I couldn't. These wingnut whiners are everywhere. I guess now they are seeing how lefties felt during the run up to the frat boy's war. Billions of dollars and over 4,000 dead -brave- American soldiers later (including one who was very close to me) we can see where that got us. For some reason I am thinking that if Obama-care passes, history will be kinder to it. (Yeah, I know they had an election in Iraq recently, and the Iraqi people went out and voted. Nice. Like what were they going to do, spend the day at the beach?)

But you can't tell that to the wingnuts, they are pulling out all the stops. In fact, they did something recently that I want to blog about tonight.

Down in Ohio there is a congressman who is sitting on the fence with his vote, and the wingnuts, in what could go down as one of the most crass political acts in A-merry-can history, featured an ad. with the man's daughters. Yes, his under aged daughters.

"In southern Ohio, opponents of the bill have created a blowback effect by airing an ad targeting Rep. Steve Driehaus to stand firm as a "no" vote on the legislation. The ad prominently featured the congressman’s young daughters, in violation of the unwritten law that forbids dragging lawmakers' family members – most especially their underage children – into the fray. " [story]

Damn, even criminals have a code of honor when it comes to children. But not the wingnut, not when A-merry-ca's future is at stake.

Oh field, stop it, didn't you see where they offered an apology to the man?

Yes, I saw that. And I bet that they wish they could take the ad. back as well. I mean it's not like the damage hasn't already been done. (Just look at some of the wingnut comments under this post. )

Sadly, I am guessing that somewhere in wingnutville, they are looking for Sasha and Malia doubles.

* Pic by ArtMaggot.