All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[jeanvaljean]

I honestly don't think Trump/Ryan figured for the "Who Is The Most Straight Edge?" angle.

Since it probably wasn't going anywhere, it was the perfect time to get out in front of a camera and talk -

- "I'm doing this for voters who wanted an actual repeal."
- "I'm doing this for voters who actually want lower health care costs."

Since they wouldn't have to worry about actually being able to come through on either of those, it was "Win/Win".

While passing the bill would probably have caused more damage to the party, it's hard to consider it a win when the media gets quotes like this one out of it:

Attachment 47064

[WestPhillyPunisher]

While passing the bill would probably have caused more damage to the party, it's hard to consider it a win when the media gets quotes like this one out of it:

Attachment 47064

If that's the case, then this country is in SERIOUS trouble. What I saw yesterday with Republicans pulling their bogus healthcare bill before it went to vote, knowing damn well it would lose was the GOP taking their ball and bat and going home in a fit of pique because they weren't going to get their way. Par for the course, following the lead of a president who's acted more like a spoiled child than a responsible adult.

[Shining Trapezohedron]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...e-trump-214947

Inside the GOP’s Health Care Debacle
Eighteen days that shook the Republican Party—and humbled a president.

(I don't know about that title, Politico. "Humbled"? Really?)

Yeah, the headline is as far from the truth as possible, (Trump is never humbled), but the content of that article is top notch.

Politico is really rising up to become one of my favorite get-go sites when it comes to politics.

Amazing how the Trump Administration tries to force people to go along with their agendas by intimidation of their own Republicans.

I foresee the Freedom Caucus causing them more problems.

On the opposite end of the spectrum were Meadows, Jordan, Labrador and Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, arguably the four core members of the Freedom Caucus. Moments before I talked to Walker, I had intercepted the four of them walking toward the meeting room. They hadn't heard the news; when I told them Ryan had pulled the bill, they exchanged glances and tried to suppress grins

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Amazing how the Trump Administration tries to force people to go along with their agendas by intimidation of their own Republicans.

Mango Mussolini thought he could bully, threaten and strongarm Republicans into giving him what he wanted, but learned a hard lesson that Beltway politicians don't play those games. I agree that Trump didn't go the humbled route, he's too damn arrogant for that, instead he blamed Democrats for the bill's failure, despite the fact he never reached out to them to hear their concerns. So much for Trump being a "dealmaker", it's takes two sides to party, and when his own party basically said "**** you" to him, it was all over. For now anyway.

[Shining Trapezohedron]

Mango Mussolini thought he could bully, threaten and strongarm Republicans into giving him what he wanted, but learned a hard lesson that Beltway politicians don't play those games. I agree that Trump didn't go the humbled route, he's too damn arrogant for that, instead he blamed Democrats for the bill's failure, despite the fact he never reached out to them to hear their concerns. So much for Trump being a "dealmaker", it's takes two sides to party, and when his own party basically said "**** you" to him, it was all over. For now anyway.

It's also funny because he is now faced with the one force that helped him into becoming the President.
The Teaparty, or "Freedom Caucus" went pretty hard in for him.

I hope they are going to be at odds for the rest of his candidacy.

Mind you, this doesn't make the Freedom Caucus good people, considering they are only going in on Trump, because the new Healthcare bill doesn't kill enough people as it is.

[numberthirty]

The Drone Strikes, unlike the ACA, are not a program started by Obama. If anything, they're Bush's legacy Obama carried on.

So negative on your negative, birdy thirthy.

If you kept doing something, it is part of your legacy. If you justified something when you started to do it, it is part of your legacy.

No amount of trying to explain that away works.

It is also not George W's Justice Department that tried to run this gem up the flag pole...

“We do not believe that al-Aulaqi’s U.S. citizenship imposes constitutional limitations that would preclude the contemplated lethal action” by the U.S. military or CIA, the memo concluded, clearing the way for a drone strike that would trigger intense legal and political debate.

Let's not even discuss what seemed to be lies about the number of non-combatants killed by drone strikes during the Obama administration.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

It's also funny because he is now faced with the one force that helped him into becoming the President.
The Teaparty, or "Freedom Caucus" went pretty hard in for him.

I hope they are going to be at odds for the rest of his candidacy.

Mind you, this doesn't make the Freedom Caucus good people, considering they are only going in on Trump, because the new Healthcare bill doesn't kill enough people as it is.

Moderate Republicans hated the bill because it was too draconian for their liking (and could've cost them dearly in 2018 if it passed) while hardcore conservatives like the so-called Freedom Caucus bitched to high heaven because it wasn't draconian enough. In that regard, the GOP was very much united thanks to Trumpcare. Way to go, Donnie!

[numberthirty]

Moderate Republicans hated the bill because it was too draconian for their liking (and could've cost them dearly in 2018 if it passed) while hardcore conservatives like the so-called Freedom Caucus bitched to high heaven because it wasn't draconian enough. In that regard, the GOP was very much united thanks to Trumpcare. Way to go, Donnie!

One thing about that whole "Free Market" angle...

Why would the outfits who have a good thing going as it is even remotely play ball with a system that would potentially create competition for their gravy trains?

I haven't seen anyone from the GOP explain how companies that are dropping out because of making less money would support a setup where they will make less money.

[Shining Trapezohedron]

Moderate Republicans hated the bill because it was too draconian for their liking (and could've cost them dearly in 2018 if it passed) while hardcore conservatives like the so-called Freedom Caucus bitched to high heaven because it wasn't draconian enough. In that regard, the GOP was very much united thanks to Trumpcare. Way to go, Donnie!

Is it only me who thinks this incredibly sad?
I mean, they aren't even "moderate" out of the goodness of their hearts.
They are "moderate" because otherwise they lose their jobs.

How anyone can think of the Republicans as anything but sheer, unmitigated evil, I do not understand.

Nothing they do is for the health and well being of their constituents.

[Shining Trapezohedron]

Brexit protest: thousands march in London to 'unite for Europe'

Currently ongoing.
Live reporting at link

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...or-europe-live

[Tami]

Trump gets tamed by Washington

For weeks Trump had seemed disinterested and disengaged from the specifics of the health care fight, both behind closed doors with his aides and at public rallies. Trump “just wanted to get something he could sign,” said one adviser who talks to him frequently. “He was over it.” He would often interrupt conversations on the law to talk about other issues, advisers and aides said.

In one phone call with Ryan earlier this month, Trump told the House speaker that he had a problem with the bill. It wasn’t over Medicaid expansion, maternity coverage, deductibles or insurance premiums. Rather, it was that he didn’t like the word “buckets”—which Ryan had been using to describe the parts of their plan.

“I don't like that word buckets. You throw trash in buckets. I don't like that word,” Trump said, according to two people familiar with the call. Trump preferred “phases.” Ryan agreed and adopted the term.

That's all Trump knows, is 'Appearance'. How things look and sound, not how they work.

[Tami]

Left out of AHCA fight, Democrats let their grass roots lead — and win

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), a freshman from a safe seat in Chicago’s suburbs, was just about to deliver his speech against the American Health Care Act when he heard a commotion on the House floor. The bill was being pulled. Democrats, who up until that moment thought the Republicans might yank a rabbit out of the hat, began celebrating, and Krishnamoorthi thought back to election night, when he learned that he would be coming to Washington with President Trump.

“I thought this repeal bill would sail through,” he said. “It was the president’s number one priority. And what was incredible about this process was the phone calls — we had 1,959 phone calls in opposition to the American Health Care Act. We had 30 for it.”

On Friday afternoon, as congressional Democrats learned that the GOP had essentially given up on repealing the Affordable Care Act, none of them took the credit. They had never really cohered around an anti-AHCA message. (As recently as Wednesday, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was still using the phrase “make America sick again,” which most Democrats had abandoned.) They’d been sidelined legislatively, as Republicans tried to pass a bill on party lines. They’d never called supporters to the Capitol for a show of force, as Republicans had done, several times, during the 2009-2010 fight to pass the Affordable Care Act.

Instead, Democrats watched as a roiling, well-organized “resistance” bombarded Republicans with calls and filled their town hall meetings with skeptics. The Indivisible coalition, founded after the 2016 election by former congressional aides who knew how to lobby their old bosses, was the newest and flashiest. But it was joined by MoveOn, which reported 40,000 calls to congressional offices from its members; by Planned Parenthood, directly under the AHCA’s gun; by the Democratic National Committee, fresh off a divisive leadership race; and by the AARP, which branded the bill as an “age tax” before Democrats had come up with a counterattack.

Democrats need to get better at being the opposition, but until they do the Grassroots will continue to make themselves known.

[Tami]

How eliminating two EPA programs could affect large parts of America

President Trump proposed to slash the Environmental Protection Agency ’s budget by 31 percent, the biggest cut of any federal agency, in addition to eliminating a fifth of its workforce. Efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes are among the more than 50 programs that would be eliminated.

Just for starters.

[Tami]

A New Bill on Copyright Law Would Take Power from the Library Of Congress and Give it to Trump

Do you trust Trump with anything?

US copyright laws are severely outdated, and it looks like lawmakers are finally taking action. Thursday, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that proposes to change the country’s head of copyright from someone appointed by the Library of Congress, to someone picked by the president.

The register is the head of the US Copyright Office, part of the Library of Congress, and gives out copyright licenses and oversees their protection. She also acts as an advisor to Congress on questions around copyright. The bill stipulates that the new appointee will need Senate approval, that the office will have a 10-year term (right now the law doesn’t specify a term length), and that the president can remove the director.

[Shining Trapezohedron]

Left out of AHCA fight, Democrats let their grass roots lead — and win





Democrats need to get better at being the opposition, but until they do the Grassroots will continue to make themselves known.

Your Democrats are faced with an incredibly aggressive opponent.
It is really time for them to abandon their meekness and start going all in.

If they really want to stand for all the vulnerable people of the US, they need to act like that.