Category: Uncategorized

The Trump Team Reportedly Had 18 Contacts With Russia During the Campaign

I don’t see how this is anything other than straight up, original intent treason:

Six of the 18 [newly disclosed] contacts were between Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., and campaign officials, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Among other things, they spoke about “establishing a back channel for communication between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass the U.S. national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations,” Reuters heard from four current U.S. officials.

The Trump Team Reportedly Had 18 Contacts With Russia During the Campaign

To me it feels like [Republicans] have fallen prey to a Donald Trump cult.They are ceding their loyalty not to the constitution, not to the country, not to their constituents but to this president of their party but who wasn’t even a Republican until a few years ago. They’ so desperate to want to play, to want to be invited to dinner at the white house that they are willing  to remain silent in the face of a president who is attacking our institutions.

I thought what James Clapper said yesterday, that our institutions are being attacked both externally and internally, was spine chilling. And it’s something that we should take so seriously. This president started off by attacking the Intelligence Community. He has tweeted against judges. He has tweeted intimidation to Sally Yates on the day of her testimony. He has tweeted a veiled threat to the former FBI Director.

So I have to ask Republicans over and over again. What is it going to take for you to wake up and recognize your duty is to country and not to this one man. How far does it have to go? What does he have to do for you to wake up and speak up and do what you need to do?

Ana Navaro, sometimes Republican strategist, asks the right questions before any of the Trump-leaked-secrets information hit later in the day. Some member of the GOP that has the courage to stand is going to be the one that gets to pick up the pieces. I’m starting to think that person is currently outside government…

The Center for American Progress helpfully worked through a few common preexisting conditions among, oh, all of them that will be newly surcharged should the AHCA pass. I think my favorite is completed pregnanct with no or minor complications; that’ll be an additional $17,060 atop your existing fees. Makes perfect sense to me.

The GOP’s health care plan is and always has been: sick individuals should endure bankruptcy for themselves and their families and then, when the money’s gone, kindly go die in the streets. If you don’t have the money to go bankrupt keeping yourself alive in the first place, then don’t get sick (because people who live a good life just don’t get sick) or just go die in the streets. Period.

And, of course, who is not subject to these exciting new ideas? That’d be Congress. I’ve said it before and will say it again: Congress and their dependents should be automatically enrolled the lowest coverage health care allowable by law with no recourse to outside insurance and no Congressional Clinic with 24/7 full service walk-in care for ~$500/year either. Such a law could be about two sentences long (which seems to be the limit for the GOP’s attention) and would greatly clarify these debates.

Via Kevin Drum, a superb chart showing just how historic the growth spurt would need to be to have a hope of actually paying for Trump’s one sheet master plan on taxes. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Tax Foundation economist Alan Cole has some relevant comments:

“Pass-through taxes are decently well-structured as they are, and it’s probably best to leave them alone,”[according to the foundation’s model], it would add about 0.12 percent to the country’s annual growth rate, but again, at a cost of about $1.5 trillion. As far as tax reform trades go, really? Is this the one that you want?”

All I see is the rich, rich success of that extra 4% of magic pony growth. Every living American will very likely be a millionaire in short order.

I’ll tell you what’s at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.

Lyndon B. Johnson, man ahead of his time.

I was struck last night by a comment that I heard made by Speaker Ryan, where he called this [Affordable Care Act] repeal bill ‘an act of mercy.’ With all due respect to our speaker, he and I must have read different Scripture…The one I read calls on us to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless, and to comfort the sick. It reminds us that we are judged not by how we treat the powerful, but by how we care for the least among us. There is no mercy in a system that makes health care a luxury. There is no mercy in a country that turns their back on those most in need of protection: the elderly, the poor, the sick, and the suffering. There is no mercy in a cold shoulder to the mentally ill. This is not an act of mercy. It is an act of malice.

Joe Kennedy III (D. MA) doing it the right way

There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Ben Carson weighs in on slavery. Immigrants.

So why do Republicans hate Obamacare so much? It’s not because they have better ideas; as we’ve seen over the past few weeks, they’re coming up empty-handed on the “replace” part of “repeal and replace.” It’s not, I’m sorry to say, because they are deeply committed to Americans’ right to buy the insurance policy of their choice.

No, mainly they hate Obamacare for two reasons: It demonstrates that the government can make people’s lives better, and it’s paid for in large part with taxes on the wealthy. Their overriding goal is to make those taxes go away. And if getting those taxes cut means that quite a few people end up dying, remember: freedom!

Paul Krugman, writing in the Times of New York. I’d only quibble with the “over the past few weeks, they’re coming up empty handed” part. The GOP has had YEARS to come up with a plan. They haven’t. In fact, they haven’t even produced so much as a meaningful tweak, much less full replacment. Their plan is that anyone who can’t pay or exhausts their tax sheltered Health Savings Account should kindly go die in the streets. Period. Just how big should that HSA get? I guess that depends on how sick you plan on being or the level to which you are prepared to shop around during your heart attack.