Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Trump again comes out in support of Obamacare repeal without replace: Give him HR 3762 already!


As high school grades inflate, SAT scores deflate

Reported here:

Recent findings show that the proportion of high school seniors graduating with an A average — that includes an A-minus or A-plus — has grown sharply over the past generation, even as average SAT scores have fallen.

In 1998, it was 38.9%. By last year, it had grown to 47%.

That’s right: Nearly half of America’s Class of 2016 are A students. Meanwhile, their average SAT score fell from 1,026 to 1,002 on a 1,600-point scale — suggesting that those A's on report cards might be fool's gold.

McConnell reportedly set to bring full repeal bill like HR 3762 to a vote in the Senate

Here and here for the story.

There were 52 "Yeas" for the HR 3762 Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate on December 3, 2015 out of 54 Republicans, which Obama subsequently vetoed. It was the only repeal bill ever to reach Obama's desk:

Alexander of Tennessee
Ayotte of New Hampshire (seat lost to Democrats in 2016)
Barrasso of Wyoming
Blunt of Missouri
Boozman of Arkansas
Burr of North Carolina
Capito of West Virginia
Cassidy of Louisiana
Coats of Indiana (Todd Young)
Cochran of Mississippi
Corker of Tennessee
Cornyn of Texas
Cotton of Arkansas
Crapo of Idaho
Cruz of Texas
Daines of Montana
Enzi of Wyoming
Ernst of Iowa
Fischer of Nebraska
Flake of Arizona
Gardner of Colorado
Graham of South Carolina
Grassley of Iowa
Hatch of Utah
Heller of Nevada
Hoeven of North Dakota
Inhofe of Oklahoma
Isakson of Georgia
Johnson of Wisconsin
Lankford of Oklahoma
Lee of Utah
McCain of Arizona
McConnell of Kentucky
Moran of Kansas
Murkowski of Alaska
Paul of Kentucky
Perdue of Georgia
Portman of Ohio
Risch of Idaho
Roberts of Kansas
Rounds of South Dakota
Rubio of Florida
Sasse of Nebraska
Scott of South Carolina
Sessions of Alabama (Luther Strange)
Shelby of Alabama
Sullivan of Alaska
Thune of South Dakota
Tillis of North Carolina
Toomey of Pennsylvania
Vitter of Louisiana (John Neely Kennedy)
Wicker of Mississippi.

There were two Republican "Nays":

Collins of Maine, who is still there
Kirk of Illinois, who lost his seat to the Democrats.

Now out of 52 Republicans in the Senate we have 48 votes this time for repeal that we had last time, plus 3 Republican freshman in the Senate to pressure to vote for repeal, which would bring the total to 51, assuming Collins of Maine again votes "Nay".

We'll see if they have the guts.

Monday, July 17, 2017

Ted Cruz concluded Mitch McConnell is a liar in 2015, now Ron Johnson appears to be doing the same

The Ted Cruz incident with McConnell involved the Export-Import Bank (story here).

Now, Ron Johnson is reportedly concluding McConnell committed a breach of trust by privately telling moderate senators that the Medicaid cuts in the healthcare bill won't actually occur, as reported here.

The current Republican bill in the Senate appears dead as four senators in the Republican caucus have said they don't support it. With a 2-seat majority, only 3 defections are tolerable (the tie-breaker vote is cast by the Vice President, Mike Pence).

When all is said and done we might find out that the loss of support is all intentional and orchestrated in order to save the Senate from having to vote on the issue again at all. The nay-sayers may be handsomely rewarded at some future date while getting to please their constituencies.

Remember, Republicans generally don't believe in anything except for what is. In other words, maintaining the status quo is their objective. They are pragmatists who are willing to accept progressive creations once passed, like the income tax, Social Security, Medicare and now Obamacare, and will defend those programs no matter how they became law.

Lighting their hair on fire for anything is completely out of the question, including for the constitution.

The only thing that will save us now is a meteor strike on the Senate chamber while they are all in session.

As defined by homeownership, the absolute size of the middle class hasn't really grown at all since 2005


I wish this bag under my eye would just go away


The Senate ceased being a gentlemen's club when they started letting just anybody in in 1913

Spare me the blather about its august rules, traditions and decorum, especially when propounded by the gaggle of mediocrities, grifters, hacks, and perverts now occupying it, and aspiring to it. 

Remember the Republican motto: In order to save the Union we have to destroy it


Saturday, July 15, 2017

Michigan Doctor Men with funny names charged in $1.3 billion healthcare fraud conspiracy: Mashiyat Rashid, Yasser Mozeb, Abdul Haq, Tariz Omar, Mohammed Zahoor

From the story here:

More than 400 people across the country were charged Thursday for taking part in health care fraud and opioid scams including six Michigan doctors in connection with a raid Wednesday at the Fisher Building in Detroit. ... Rashid and Mozeb are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks.

Laugh of the Day: Leave it to Rod Dreher to crank out 2,000 to 3,000 words about so much bologna

Here, in the comments section.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Peter Beinart suddenly discovers "projection"

I'm not surprised after he swam in it for eight years under Obama, whose fault nothing was.

If an Hawaii judge can ignore the Supreme Court, Trump can ignore the Hawaii judge


Trump tells 64-year old Brigitte Macron "You're in such good shape": At least he didn't call her a "corpseman"

Melania can't take that guy anywhere.

Story here.

Kid Rock's tired of Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow's "bullshit", plans to run against her


J. P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon complains "stupid shit" is distracting America from implementing better tax and spending policies

Blame the Democrats and NeverTrumpers, Jamie.


It's almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world and listening to the stupid s--- we have to deal with in this country, and at one point we all have to get our act together or we won't do what we're supposed to [do] for the average Americans and unfortunately people write about this saying like it's for corporations. It's not for corporations. Competitive taxes are important for business and business growth, which is important for jobs and wage growth. And honestly we should be ringing that alarm bell, every single one of you, every time we talk to a client.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

Trump Jr. saga: Loretta Lynch personally signed off on Moscow lawyer entry to US in October 2015, but it appears the lawyer overstayed and no one followed up

The Hill reports here:

The Moscow lawyer had been turned down for a visa to enter the U.S. lawfully but then was granted special immigration parole by then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch for the limited purpose of helping a company owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, her client, defend itself against a Justice Department asset forfeiture case in federal court in New York City.

During a court hearing in early January 2016 as Veselnitskaya’s permission to stay in the country was about to expire, federal prosecutors described how rare the grant of parole immigration was as Veselnitskaya pleaded for more time to remain in the United States. ...

The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York confirmed Wednesday to The Hill that it let Veselnitskaya into the country on a grant of immigration parole from October 2015 to early January 2016.

Justice Department and State Department officials could not immediately explain how the Russian lawyer was still in the country in June for the meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and the events in Washington D.C.