++It is an axiom that Obamacare will succeed in states which wanted to cooperate and fail in states that refused to implement it. Even that may be too pessimistic. Today, it looks like some Red States are moving toward the expansion of Medicaid for poorer citizens. The Virginia legislature, Ohio and Michigan look like they are moving on this. One half of the Pennsylvania legislature approved but it is now stalled because they are in recess. New Hampshire may soon implement the Medicaid expansion.
++HHS estimates there are 11 million Hispanics who qualify for Medicaid or the health insurance exchanges. HHS has already gotten out the information how Obamacare helps Medicare patients. It's clear from recent polls of seniors that they haven't fallen for the GOP's campaign on Medicare cuts. Seniors led to the GOP tsunami in 2010 have now moved toward the Democrats in significant numbers.
++The great campaign to get the uninsured not to sign up for health insurance seems to be heading to a flop. According to a USA Today poll of 19 states with health insurance exchanges, the states report that 8.5 million will sign up. 5.3 million of whom reside in California. HHS did a survey of all 50 states concluded that 7 million would sign up. Apparently it is an underestimate. The states report that the vast majority of people signing up are not sick, which was a concern for those trying to game whether premiums would rise or fall.
++Since the exchanges are being set up October 1 for enrollment until March 2014,the issue of Obamacare may not surface as a potent issue in the 2014 elections.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
August is for the Insane Asylum
++Detroit's favorite son, novelist Elmore Leonard died this morning at the age of 87. He had a stroke while working on another novel. Thanks for dozens of good reads!
++Mariano Rivera overcame blowing three straight saves, something he never has done in his career, and saved one against the Bosox, while A-Rod blasted a homer.
++Meanwhile, catch those Dodgers.
++I was at an empty Russell Building a few days ago, reminding myself we are all safe when Congress in not in session. I remain skeptical that Congress can reach a budget agreement before September 30. Conventional wisdom has a continuing resolution and a whale of a fight over the next phase of sequestration in January. Mitch McConnell says he's saving the real battles for the debt ceiling clash.
++Teabag town halls are not going the way the GOP thought. Republican representatives have been challenged about their lies about Obamacare. Meanwhile, the immigration reform blowback has not materialized.
++Jim DeMint and his Heritage Action has targeted six states for the remained of the month to mobilize reaction to Obamacare. While on vacation, President Obama in his Saturday address said that efforts to defund Obamacare are not a game and he vowed to implement the bill as efficiently as possible. George Will claimed that Obama is as bad as Nixon in postponing the implementation of the individual mandate since that was law. Unfortunately for Will, the Supreme Court twice ruled that the executive has the power to decide when to implement a law because it is more aware of the concrete circumstances and problems involved in such a maneuver.
++Jim DeMint said today he didn't know whether President Obama would sign a bill that would defund Obamacare. Then again no one can explain how you defund Obamacare because it is mandatory spending.
This simple fact has not stopped the Teaparty from mounting primary challenges to Mitch McConnell,Lamar Alexander and Lindsey Graham.
++Maine's Teabagger Governor LePage said that Obama hates white people. LePage yesterday faced half the Maine Republicans in the legislature resigning from the party because he dared raise taxes in his budget.
++Ted "Calgary" Cruz released his short form birth certificate that showed he was born in Canada to an American mother. When it was brought to his attention that he was a Canadian citizen by law,he said he would renounce his Canadian citizenship.
++Conservatives are jubilant that there exists another fabricated study that showed the "Invinciables", younger voters with no health insurance, could save $1,000 a year by not signing up for Obamacare. Of course, they didn't figure on costs if these younger people actually got sick. Freedomworks, Americans for Prosperity continue their campaign to get younger people to to enroll in health insurance exchanges because they would sabotage the cost-savings of the program.
++There is another fierce fight among the Right. Diana West wrote a new book that suggests that American politics was occupied by the Soviet Union under FDR. She points the figure at Harry Hopkins as a Soviet agent. The counter-attack was blistering. Conrad Black, a conservative who wrote a biography of FDR, called her worse than Oliver Stone, and Ron Radosh dissected her claims with the existing scholarship on the subject. Interestingly, a younger generation of college professors who do not know the primary literature thought she did a splendid job.
++The weekend brought more drama from Glenn Greenwald. Glenn's husband,a Brazilian man named Miranda, was held up at Heathrow having come from Berlin with thumb drives of more Snowden material. This act got Andrew Sullivan and Rachel Maddow up in arms when Miranda was detained under the UK's terrorist act. Naturally, equating journalism with terrorism raises legitimate concerns. But it gets murkier because Miranda isn't a journalist. Glenn says that he will expose more of the UK's secrets in revenge. Also both Miranda and the Guardian are suing the UK authorities. Somehow I get the sense there is less here than meets the eye.
++The Washington Post published an investigative piece that showed the NSA "violated privacy rights" over 3,000 times last year. Pretty bad, hey. Except the computer geeks who know this game claim that all such violations combined would equate to illegally downloading a Justin Beiber album. or about 58MgB. Pretty slim stuff.
++Meanwhile Julian Assange won the hearts and minds of the Left by backing Rand Paul and the libertarian wing of the Republican Party as the only hope for America. Assange's Wikileaks Party in Australia decided to back white supremacists in the parliamentary elections. Who's goofing whom?
++Meanwhile Snowden remains in Moscow and alerted the world that they should not listen to his father. He is surrounded by a team of the world's leading lawyers and will not be represented by Bruce Fein, the libertarian lawyer from D.C.
++The basic problem still remains--the United States farms out its intelligence to private contractors like Booz-Hamilton who are not responsible to anyone. This costs us $50 billion a year. To prevent another Snowden, the DOD can not even estimate the cost of its preventive program. Meanwhile the FISA court said that it could not determine whether the NSA is really in compliance with the law. Down the rabbit hole we go.
++Meanwhile, Howard Dean is in Iowa. No, not for a 2016 run but Howard wants to revive his 50-state strategy to elect Democratic legislators in Red States. In case, you have missed it Republican legislators have had a field day in the states passing the most onerous anti-abortion laws, anti-voting laws, and primitive educational laws. Basically, these legislatures are passing a vision of life the Right wants to believe--with catastrophic results for anyone else.
++Democrats in Washington believe they have a secret weapon against House Republicans. Next year's sequestration will hit defense spending far greater than domestic spending because of changes this year that eased defense sequestration. They believe that the Republicans will have to suck it up and eliminate tax loopholes for corporations and the oil industry. I don't believe it.
++The Chamber of Commerce is moaning that going Big behind Republicans has not paid off the way they wanted. They were behind the Jobs bill, the Highway Bill,and Immigration Reform and now they have nothing to show from the millions they contributed to GOP campaigns.
++The Cooch has doubled down on his attempt to revive Virginia's Sodomy Law. Now he explains that this was an instrument to prosecute pedophiles. Don't believe it.
++A special prosecutor is investigating Governor Perry's abuse of power in Texas.
++Mariano Rivera overcame blowing three straight saves, something he never has done in his career, and saved one against the Bosox, while A-Rod blasted a homer.
++Meanwhile, catch those Dodgers.
++I was at an empty Russell Building a few days ago, reminding myself we are all safe when Congress in not in session. I remain skeptical that Congress can reach a budget agreement before September 30. Conventional wisdom has a continuing resolution and a whale of a fight over the next phase of sequestration in January. Mitch McConnell says he's saving the real battles for the debt ceiling clash.
++Teabag town halls are not going the way the GOP thought. Republican representatives have been challenged about their lies about Obamacare. Meanwhile, the immigration reform blowback has not materialized.
++Jim DeMint and his Heritage Action has targeted six states for the remained of the month to mobilize reaction to Obamacare. While on vacation, President Obama in his Saturday address said that efforts to defund Obamacare are not a game and he vowed to implement the bill as efficiently as possible. George Will claimed that Obama is as bad as Nixon in postponing the implementation of the individual mandate since that was law. Unfortunately for Will, the Supreme Court twice ruled that the executive has the power to decide when to implement a law because it is more aware of the concrete circumstances and problems involved in such a maneuver.
++Jim DeMint said today he didn't know whether President Obama would sign a bill that would defund Obamacare. Then again no one can explain how you defund Obamacare because it is mandatory spending.
This simple fact has not stopped the Teaparty from mounting primary challenges to Mitch McConnell,Lamar Alexander and Lindsey Graham.
++Maine's Teabagger Governor LePage said that Obama hates white people. LePage yesterday faced half the Maine Republicans in the legislature resigning from the party because he dared raise taxes in his budget.
++Ted "Calgary" Cruz released his short form birth certificate that showed he was born in Canada to an American mother. When it was brought to his attention that he was a Canadian citizen by law,he said he would renounce his Canadian citizenship.
++Conservatives are jubilant that there exists another fabricated study that showed the "Invinciables", younger voters with no health insurance, could save $1,000 a year by not signing up for Obamacare. Of course, they didn't figure on costs if these younger people actually got sick. Freedomworks, Americans for Prosperity continue their campaign to get younger people to to enroll in health insurance exchanges because they would sabotage the cost-savings of the program.
++There is another fierce fight among the Right. Diana West wrote a new book that suggests that American politics was occupied by the Soviet Union under FDR. She points the figure at Harry Hopkins as a Soviet agent. The counter-attack was blistering. Conrad Black, a conservative who wrote a biography of FDR, called her worse than Oliver Stone, and Ron Radosh dissected her claims with the existing scholarship on the subject. Interestingly, a younger generation of college professors who do not know the primary literature thought she did a splendid job.
++The weekend brought more drama from Glenn Greenwald. Glenn's husband,a Brazilian man named Miranda, was held up at Heathrow having come from Berlin with thumb drives of more Snowden material. This act got Andrew Sullivan and Rachel Maddow up in arms when Miranda was detained under the UK's terrorist act. Naturally, equating journalism with terrorism raises legitimate concerns. But it gets murkier because Miranda isn't a journalist. Glenn says that he will expose more of the UK's secrets in revenge. Also both Miranda and the Guardian are suing the UK authorities. Somehow I get the sense there is less here than meets the eye.
++The Washington Post published an investigative piece that showed the NSA "violated privacy rights" over 3,000 times last year. Pretty bad, hey. Except the computer geeks who know this game claim that all such violations combined would equate to illegally downloading a Justin Beiber album. or about 58MgB. Pretty slim stuff.
++Meanwhile Julian Assange won the hearts and minds of the Left by backing Rand Paul and the libertarian wing of the Republican Party as the only hope for America. Assange's Wikileaks Party in Australia decided to back white supremacists in the parliamentary elections. Who's goofing whom?
++Meanwhile Snowden remains in Moscow and alerted the world that they should not listen to his father. He is surrounded by a team of the world's leading lawyers and will not be represented by Bruce Fein, the libertarian lawyer from D.C.
++The basic problem still remains--the United States farms out its intelligence to private contractors like Booz-Hamilton who are not responsible to anyone. This costs us $50 billion a year. To prevent another Snowden, the DOD can not even estimate the cost of its preventive program. Meanwhile the FISA court said that it could not determine whether the NSA is really in compliance with the law. Down the rabbit hole we go.
++Meanwhile, Howard Dean is in Iowa. No, not for a 2016 run but Howard wants to revive his 50-state strategy to elect Democratic legislators in Red States. In case, you have missed it Republican legislators have had a field day in the states passing the most onerous anti-abortion laws, anti-voting laws, and primitive educational laws. Basically, these legislatures are passing a vision of life the Right wants to believe--with catastrophic results for anyone else.
++Democrats in Washington believe they have a secret weapon against House Republicans. Next year's sequestration will hit defense spending far greater than domestic spending because of changes this year that eased defense sequestration. They believe that the Republicans will have to suck it up and eliminate tax loopholes for corporations and the oil industry. I don't believe it.
++The Chamber of Commerce is moaning that going Big behind Republicans has not paid off the way they wanted. They were behind the Jobs bill, the Highway Bill,and Immigration Reform and now they have nothing to show from the millions they contributed to GOP campaigns.
++The Cooch has doubled down on his attempt to revive Virginia's Sodomy Law. Now he explains that this was an instrument to prosecute pedophiles. Don't believe it.
++A special prosecutor is investigating Governor Perry's abuse of power in Texas.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Stop Obama Before he Legalizes Everyone
++Marco Rubio explained to a Florida audience that immigration reform has to pass in order to prevent President Obama from legalizing all undocumented immigrants and making them citizens by executive order. Or,conversely, stop the Democratic plot to make Republicans not pass immigration reform so that they can campaign against the GOP on this. Greg Sargent explores this bizarre twist in today's Amazon Post. And if Obama won't defund Obamacare himself, we might have to pass a budget to prevent him from shutting down the government. You know, this was once a major political party in the developed world.
++Kathleen Sebelius travelled down to Atlanta to explain the Affordable Care Act. She made the obvious point that where Democrats controlled a state government and were "all in" on the plan,ACA will work very well. Where Republican state legislatures interfered with the implementation ACA will not work as well. The reason it will work well in states that buy into the plan is because accurate information is being transmitted to the citizen, while Republican states generate misinformation and raise fears. By the end of her tenure, Sebelius might be made a saint. Her tolerance of nonsense is amazing.
++Kathleen Sebelius travelled down to Atlanta to explain the Affordable Care Act. She made the obvious point that where Democrats controlled a state government and were "all in" on the plan,ACA will work very well. Where Republican state legislatures interfered with the implementation ACA will not work as well. The reason it will work well in states that buy into the plan is because accurate information is being transmitted to the citizen, while Republican states generate misinformation and raise fears. By the end of her tenure, Sebelius might be made a saint. Her tolerance of nonsense is amazing.
Obama Has Left the Building
and he is playing golf on Martha's Vineyard. On this return he will resume his road tour of upstate New York and Pennsylvania talking about the middle class.Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum said in Ames, Iowa that the middle class is a Marxist idea.
Before he left from Washington, President Obama gave a press conference which covered reforms in the NSA and the FISA court, healthcare,and immigration reform. Depending on your politics, it was either a superb performance (my opinion) or a dismal failure on the subject of surveillance. The more the NSA, Snowden and other subjects are debated,the weirder the conversation. President Obama referred everyone to his Defense College speech on May where he outlined changes in the surveillance regimen and the use of drones but nobody seemed to listen.
++Flying from Washington, Obama spoke to the veterans with disability and promised them that there would be a cutting of the backlog of care. While there he was greeted with birthers,the Florida doctor who invented Obama as an African medicine man, and other racist reminders of the tea party.
++Yukking it up a Missouri rodeo clown decided to dress as Obama and urged a bull to gore him to the applause of the crowd. Later he was ritually fired and banned from the Missouri State Rodeo for life.
++Florida's Governor Scott began another purge of the voter lists and North Carolina's Pat McCory implemented the most suppressive voting bill in modern times. Today, Hillary Clinton spoke at the ABA Convention about the tsunami of voter ID bills that hit the states who were past violators of the Voting Rights Act before it was gutter by the Supreme Court.
++Mitch McConnell came up with another ingenious way to delay Obamacare. He argued that the threat of cyber attacks and hackers meant that Obamacare should be postponed. Ted Cruz and other Republicans arguing that they want to shut down the government to defund Obamacare have their facts wrong--Obamacare is mandatory spending and would continue on even if the government was shut down.
++Eric Cantor and Rand Paul keep saying the deficit is growing. But today the figures are out that it is shrinking at the fastest rate since just after WWII and the fastest rate in over 5 years. But it doesn't matter because Eric Cantor is saying that beginning in 2016 it will pick up again.
++The new Washington Post owned by Amazon claims that Republicans have figured out a way to keep funding the government. However, the pre-Amazon Post ran an article that all three of the major Republican staffers who did the gritty detail work in the past have all left Congress, leaving no one left in the GOP side, who knows anything about the budget.
++An Arizona couple who feared the US repression of Christianity and the rise of homosexuality set sail for Kiribati to seek refuge. Their boat was overwhelmed by storms and they were rescued by a Japanese freighter. The couple and their kids were delivered to Chile where the repressive US government paid their way back to Arizona.
++In Ames, Iowa, the Holy-Rollers of the Religious Right were entertained by Ted Cruz and his father Rev.Rafael, who turned on the crowd with analogies between Fidel Castro and Barack Obama. The Religious Right were commanded the vote against all those who were for same sex marriage, pro choice and against gun rights like Jesus would do.
++For your amusement,check out the Lakers section of the LA Times to see the video of a young Kareem Abdul Jabbar playing against Wilt Chamberlain, the two best centers in NBA history. Wilt actually came to play for a change.
++Mariano Rivera blew three straight saves but won one. He still has 35 saves and 3 wins this year, his last. Watch A-Rod. It will be the last you see him once his appeal to MLB fails. Ichiro Suzuki is nearing 4,000 hits in pro baseball, a combination of Japan and America.
++There are now 6 states who are refusing to enforce the changes to health insurance under Obamacare. Refusing the Medicaid extension and the regulations on the health insurance industry, Texas is now sinking toward 50 in terms of healthcare in the United States. Florida has announced skyrocketing new health insurance premiums but as the Orlando Tribune reports this is because Florida actually passed laws to allow the health insurance industry to ignore all caps.
++The GOP is disturbed that they may fail for the third time to take the Senate. A very messy primary in Georgie between extreme right candidates may favor Sam Nunn's daughter, who is running as a Democrat. In South Carolina, Lindsey Graham now faces two challengers, one of whom called him a Nancy boy. And the Kentucky race with Matt Bevin, Alison Grimes and Mitch McConnell looks like it will be the most expensive in the country.
++Today Democrats vote for whether Cory Booker will be the nominee for Senate. I like Pat Holt, just because he's a scientist. Booker is supposed to win.
++Eric Holder announced yesterday plans to reform our criminal justice system with an emphasis on eliminating mandatory sentencing for drug use and possession. A federal court ruled Stop and Frisk in New York City was unconstitutional because it was racial profiling.
Before he left from Washington, President Obama gave a press conference which covered reforms in the NSA and the FISA court, healthcare,and immigration reform. Depending on your politics, it was either a superb performance (my opinion) or a dismal failure on the subject of surveillance. The more the NSA, Snowden and other subjects are debated,the weirder the conversation. President Obama referred everyone to his Defense College speech on May where he outlined changes in the surveillance regimen and the use of drones but nobody seemed to listen.
++Flying from Washington, Obama spoke to the veterans with disability and promised them that there would be a cutting of the backlog of care. While there he was greeted with birthers,the Florida doctor who invented Obama as an African medicine man, and other racist reminders of the tea party.
++Yukking it up a Missouri rodeo clown decided to dress as Obama and urged a bull to gore him to the applause of the crowd. Later he was ritually fired and banned from the Missouri State Rodeo for life.
++Florida's Governor Scott began another purge of the voter lists and North Carolina's Pat McCory implemented the most suppressive voting bill in modern times. Today, Hillary Clinton spoke at the ABA Convention about the tsunami of voter ID bills that hit the states who were past violators of the Voting Rights Act before it was gutter by the Supreme Court.
++Mitch McConnell came up with another ingenious way to delay Obamacare. He argued that the threat of cyber attacks and hackers meant that Obamacare should be postponed. Ted Cruz and other Republicans arguing that they want to shut down the government to defund Obamacare have their facts wrong--Obamacare is mandatory spending and would continue on even if the government was shut down.
++Eric Cantor and Rand Paul keep saying the deficit is growing. But today the figures are out that it is shrinking at the fastest rate since just after WWII and the fastest rate in over 5 years. But it doesn't matter because Eric Cantor is saying that beginning in 2016 it will pick up again.
++The new Washington Post owned by Amazon claims that Republicans have figured out a way to keep funding the government. However, the pre-Amazon Post ran an article that all three of the major Republican staffers who did the gritty detail work in the past have all left Congress, leaving no one left in the GOP side, who knows anything about the budget.
++An Arizona couple who feared the US repression of Christianity and the rise of homosexuality set sail for Kiribati to seek refuge. Their boat was overwhelmed by storms and they were rescued by a Japanese freighter. The couple and their kids were delivered to Chile where the repressive US government paid their way back to Arizona.
++In Ames, Iowa, the Holy-Rollers of the Religious Right were entertained by Ted Cruz and his father Rev.Rafael, who turned on the crowd with analogies between Fidel Castro and Barack Obama. The Religious Right were commanded the vote against all those who were for same sex marriage, pro choice and against gun rights like Jesus would do.
++For your amusement,check out the Lakers section of the LA Times to see the video of a young Kareem Abdul Jabbar playing against Wilt Chamberlain, the two best centers in NBA history. Wilt actually came to play for a change.
++Mariano Rivera blew three straight saves but won one. He still has 35 saves and 3 wins this year, his last. Watch A-Rod. It will be the last you see him once his appeal to MLB fails. Ichiro Suzuki is nearing 4,000 hits in pro baseball, a combination of Japan and America.
++There are now 6 states who are refusing to enforce the changes to health insurance under Obamacare. Refusing the Medicaid extension and the regulations on the health insurance industry, Texas is now sinking toward 50 in terms of healthcare in the United States. Florida has announced skyrocketing new health insurance premiums but as the Orlando Tribune reports this is because Florida actually passed laws to allow the health insurance industry to ignore all caps.
++The GOP is disturbed that they may fail for the third time to take the Senate. A very messy primary in Georgie between extreme right candidates may favor Sam Nunn's daughter, who is running as a Democrat. In South Carolina, Lindsey Graham now faces two challengers, one of whom called him a Nancy boy. And the Kentucky race with Matt Bevin, Alison Grimes and Mitch McConnell looks like it will be the most expensive in the country.
++Today Democrats vote for whether Cory Booker will be the nominee for Senate. I like Pat Holt, just because he's a scientist. Booker is supposed to win.
++Eric Holder announced yesterday plans to reform our criminal justice system with an emphasis on eliminating mandatory sentencing for drug use and possession. A federal court ruled Stop and Frisk in New York City was unconstitutional because it was racial profiling.
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Congress Has Left The Building-Who would know?
** The House repealed for a record 40th time Obamacare.
**Rep. Issa now claims the IRS is obstructing his investigation and will subpoena records directly from the Treasury Department.
**President Obama intervened directly to solve the Obamacare problem for Congress and its staff, according to Politico, so the congress critters will not have to pay huge increases in insurance.
**The State Department shut down all the embassies in the Middle East and issued a terrorist warning for all travel because of threats of an Al Qaeda attack. Seems to be based on real intelligence that Al Qaeda and comrades out of the Arabian peninsula are up to something.
**Last night, the Senate approved without dissent 4 gay ambassadors and one gay official of the Justice Department. Times have certainly changed.
**The economy added 162,000 jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 7.4%, the lowest since December 2008.
**Gun deaths since Newtown are at 6,734. The number exceeds American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.
**Believe it or not, the NRA has requested the Supreme Court overrule prohibitions against minors from owning guns.
**Vacationing Paul Krugman phoned in his blog claiming we are on the verge of Impending Chaos because Republicans have gone insane. Krugman's concern has been politely repeated in the Washington media who finally are waking up to the idea that there can be no budget deal in time for September 30, when funding for the government runs out. Instead, people are saying that we are looking at years of sequestration, which will gut the social safety net and erode the military. The trigger for concern was yesterday's failure of the Senate to pass the Transportation Bill, which would have passed if the Republicans didn't filibuster it.
**Senate Republicans are telegraphing that when they return from recess they will conduct a mother of a filibuster on all of President Obama's judicial nominees.
**There is movement on the Hill for changing the NSA and reforming parts of the Patriot Act. While true, caution should be taken because the problems with the NSA do not register significantly in the polls. The same can be said about torture,where a plurality approve--wherever polling takes place.
**Charlie Cook ranks the Kentucky Senate race a "toss-up". With Sam Nunn's daughter in the Georgia race,Nate Silver's 50-50 chance of the Republicans taking control of the Senate grows a tad dimmer. Lindsey Graham is being tea bagged in South Carolina. Reaction to North Carolina's passage of voter suppression laws and severe anti-abortion laws have bolstered Kay Hagan's chances at re-election.
**Another same sex couple in suing Oklahoma for recognition of same sex marriage.
**Lindsey Graham and John McCain are being sent to Egypt on behalf of President Obama to scout out the Egyptian military's position on restoring democracy. The administration refuses to acknowledge that it was a coup that overthrew Mohammed Morsi so that aid can continue. The Egyptian military has vowed to break up the pro-Morsi demonstrations.
**John Kerry has secured promises from Israel and the Palestianian Authority to start negotiations over the next 9 months to reach agreement on the final status of a Palestinian state.
**Bobby Jindal is heading to Iowa to test the presidential waters. Tom Harkin and Senator Dick Durbin are traveling to Steven King's district to pump for immigration reform.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Snowden Has Left the Airport
++Whistleblower and former Booz-Hamilton employee Snowden has left the Moscow airport and been given one-year asylum in Russia. He has been offered a job by Russia's Facebook. The U.S. says it is sad.
++Award-winning writer Samantha Powers was approved as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Most important about Ms. Powers is that she is married to Cass Sunstein, whom Glenn Beck said was the "most powerful man in America". She was approved by the Senate by a vote of 87 to 10. Marco Rubio led the dissenters.
++Patricia Millett made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, putting confirmation of Obama's judicial nominees off until September.
++Illinois' Governor just signed the bill legalizing medical marijuana, making the state 20th to do so.
++Mitch McConnell successfully filibustered the Senate's Transportation bill sending Susan Collins in a huff about the Senate not being able to do its work.
++The Post's op-eds tonight were filled with Republicans lamenting the carnival atmosphere of the GOP's threats to close down the government. Michael Gerson tried to lecture the tea baggers that Obamacare will fail anyway of its own weight but that their nonsense to repeal it only breathes new life in it. Basically he cautioned the GOP on threatening to defund Obamacare as a recipe for electoral disaster. Charles Krauthammer lectures the libertarians on the threat of isolationism.
++Same sex marriages are now legal in Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington,D.C. A lesbian couple has launched a federal suit to have same sex marriage recognized in Virginia. A Gallup poll now has over 50% of Americans believing same sex marriages should be legal in all states.
++All the noise about the debt ceiling,defunding the government and Obamacare seems not to make sense but it does. Congress will be away on recess until September. The House will only be in session for 9 days in September. By the end of September,there has to be either a budget agreement or a continuing resolution and lifting of the debt ceiling. October 1, another phase of Obamacare kicks in. So the nihilists among the Republicans want to bring the house down but others think any budget deal is going to be close to impossible except for a continuing resolution. But the problem with this is that sequestration will then continue--gutting both domestic discretionary spending and the military budget.
++ Ted Cruz will join Jim DeMint on the "Defund Obamacare Tour" funded by the Heritage Action for America, the activist arm of the Heritage Foundation.
++The House will conclude tomorrow with its 40th attempt against Obamacare. This time it is a bill to prevent the IRS from being involved in enforcing the bill. Testimony from the staff rolling out Obamacare infuriated Republican congressmen because the Obama official said that she has met with thousands of small businesses and small business associations and there have only been anecdotal evidence that a small number of small businesses will not ensure their employees. The CBO projects the delay in implementing the individual mandate will cost the government about $10billion and mean that 500,000 will not be insured in 2014 as planned.
++The Tea Party Republicans hope that lightning will strike twice this summer and they will repeat the uprising of 2010. But this time they will have to confront the basic benefits of Obamacare and reality might de-rail their game. The big money players are still hoping to dissuade young people from applying for medical insurance so that the "exchanges" will become more expensive than advertised. Kaiser polls indicate that young people or the "invincibles" now believe health insurance is important for their lives. The key will be how many act on their beliefs.
++Award-winning writer Samantha Powers was approved as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Most important about Ms. Powers is that she is married to Cass Sunstein, whom Glenn Beck said was the "most powerful man in America". She was approved by the Senate by a vote of 87 to 10. Marco Rubio led the dissenters.
++Patricia Millett made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, putting confirmation of Obama's judicial nominees off until September.
++Illinois' Governor just signed the bill legalizing medical marijuana, making the state 20th to do so.
++Mitch McConnell successfully filibustered the Senate's Transportation bill sending Susan Collins in a huff about the Senate not being able to do its work.
++The Post's op-eds tonight were filled with Republicans lamenting the carnival atmosphere of the GOP's threats to close down the government. Michael Gerson tried to lecture the tea baggers that Obamacare will fail anyway of its own weight but that their nonsense to repeal it only breathes new life in it. Basically he cautioned the GOP on threatening to defund Obamacare as a recipe for electoral disaster. Charles Krauthammer lectures the libertarians on the threat of isolationism.
++Same sex marriages are now legal in Minnesota, Rhode Island and Washington,D.C. A lesbian couple has launched a federal suit to have same sex marriage recognized in Virginia. A Gallup poll now has over 50% of Americans believing same sex marriages should be legal in all states.
++All the noise about the debt ceiling,defunding the government and Obamacare seems not to make sense but it does. Congress will be away on recess until September. The House will only be in session for 9 days in September. By the end of September,there has to be either a budget agreement or a continuing resolution and lifting of the debt ceiling. October 1, another phase of Obamacare kicks in. So the nihilists among the Republicans want to bring the house down but others think any budget deal is going to be close to impossible except for a continuing resolution. But the problem with this is that sequestration will then continue--gutting both domestic discretionary spending and the military budget.
++ Ted Cruz will join Jim DeMint on the "Defund Obamacare Tour" funded by the Heritage Action for America, the activist arm of the Heritage Foundation.
++The House will conclude tomorrow with its 40th attempt against Obamacare. This time it is a bill to prevent the IRS from being involved in enforcing the bill. Testimony from the staff rolling out Obamacare infuriated Republican congressmen because the Obama official said that she has met with thousands of small businesses and small business associations and there have only been anecdotal evidence that a small number of small businesses will not ensure their employees. The CBO projects the delay in implementing the individual mandate will cost the government about $10billion and mean that 500,000 will not be insured in 2014 as planned.
++The Tea Party Republicans hope that lightning will strike twice this summer and they will repeat the uprising of 2010. But this time they will have to confront the basic benefits of Obamacare and reality might de-rail their game. The big money players are still hoping to dissuade young people from applying for medical insurance so that the "exchanges" will become more expensive than advertised. Kaiser polls indicate that young people or the "invincibles" now believe health insurance is important for their lives. The key will be how many act on their beliefs.
Cruising to Recess
++The House finally passed the student loan bill, which is heading to the President's desk. It will work for several years before rates explode again.
++Democratic representative Braley from Iowa insists the House should stay in session until a real Farm Bill is passed. The House bill excludes SNAP, the food stamp program, and would leave 50 million without nutrition.
++The Senate--for the first time in history--approved a director of the AFT. Since 2006, the post has been made a position that needed Senate confirmation. Because of the Reid deal with McConnell,Obama's nominee went through but at a small margin that threatened the whole filibuster deal.
++House Republicans defunded the non-existent ACORN for the second time. They are expected to repeal Obamacare another time before the August recess.
++Obama's seeming preference of Larry Summers for FED chair met with blowback from the Senate Democrats and House women. The Senate Democrats informed the President that Larry Summers would have a tough time getting confirmed. The preference of people like Senator Elizabeth Warren is Janet Yallin. Yallin would be the first woman in history to head the Chair. An alternative is the former head of TIAA-CREF, which would make him the first African-American.
++All nominees for the NLRB have been approved so that we now have labor law back. Until now, the failure to have a full board met there was no way to enforce any labor law or the right to unionize.
++Paul Ryan hints that immigration reform could pass the House if Boehner gets rid of the Hastert Law and vote on it piecemeal. Ironically,immigration reform is the only is which the majority of rank-and-file Republicans are in favor of. A new Pew poll of Republicans indicate that the rank-and-file want the party to move even farther Right.
++Groundswell a new rightwing group of the conservative press,congressional staffers and Clarence Thomas' wife have met with John Boehner and Darryl Issa to get them to push Benghazi. The purpose of the ground is to create talking points to counter progressives and also to counter Karl Rove, whom they think is not conservative enough.
++On immigration reform,evangelical Christians, the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove are pressing House Republicans to move forward.
++President Obama has offered Grand Bargain 2.0, which consists of cutting corporate tax rates in return for raising the minimum wage and building infrastructure. Both Boehner and McConnell have turned it down.
++THUD went thud. The bill for Transportation Housing and Urban Development was pulled in the House because Republicans did not want to cut the bill to fit their own Ryan budget. It was a sign that when push came to shove when filling in the numbers on their budget, they failed. The THUD bill is considered a job creator for congressional districts.
++On Obamacare, Ted Cruz bemoans the Republicans lack of guts to defund it. Mike Lee, teabag Senator from Utah, said that if you fund it, you own it.
++The big fly in the Obamacare issue is the deal that the GOP made with the Democrats. To de-rail the bill when it first cae up, the GOP dared the Democrats to make Congress have to participate in the exchanges. They normally participate in the exchange for federal employees. The Democrats agreed and now everyone is faced with paying for insurance at higher rates than the federal health plans. To counter the news that health insurance premiums are falling under Obamacare,Florida and Georgia have announced massive increases. Both states neglected to agree to the Medicaid extension or to create their own exchanges. Meanwhile, Vermont is chugging on to a one-payer system and Montana has embarked on an innovative system of clinics, which has both saved the state and patients' money.
++The American economy has grown slightly more than predicted at an anemic 1.5%. Manufacturing has expanded the fastest pace in 2 years. The Car industry reports record sales. The S&P 500 has eclipsed 1,700 for its first time in history. Jobless claims are the lowest in 5 years.
++PPP has Sarah Palin galloping to a Senate nomination in Alaska but losing to Sen.Begich by 52 to 40.
++PPP also has Alison Grimes edging Mitch McConnell 45 to 44. More Importantly, over 50% of Kentuckians believe McConnell doesn't deserve re-election.
++Democratic representative Braley from Iowa insists the House should stay in session until a real Farm Bill is passed. The House bill excludes SNAP, the food stamp program, and would leave 50 million without nutrition.
++The Senate--for the first time in history--approved a director of the AFT. Since 2006, the post has been made a position that needed Senate confirmation. Because of the Reid deal with McConnell,Obama's nominee went through but at a small margin that threatened the whole filibuster deal.
++House Republicans defunded the non-existent ACORN for the second time. They are expected to repeal Obamacare another time before the August recess.
++Obama's seeming preference of Larry Summers for FED chair met with blowback from the Senate Democrats and House women. The Senate Democrats informed the President that Larry Summers would have a tough time getting confirmed. The preference of people like Senator Elizabeth Warren is Janet Yallin. Yallin would be the first woman in history to head the Chair. An alternative is the former head of TIAA-CREF, which would make him the first African-American.
++All nominees for the NLRB have been approved so that we now have labor law back. Until now, the failure to have a full board met there was no way to enforce any labor law or the right to unionize.
++Paul Ryan hints that immigration reform could pass the House if Boehner gets rid of the Hastert Law and vote on it piecemeal. Ironically,immigration reform is the only is which the majority of rank-and-file Republicans are in favor of. A new Pew poll of Republicans indicate that the rank-and-file want the party to move even farther Right.
++Groundswell a new rightwing group of the conservative press,congressional staffers and Clarence Thomas' wife have met with John Boehner and Darryl Issa to get them to push Benghazi. The purpose of the ground is to create talking points to counter progressives and also to counter Karl Rove, whom they think is not conservative enough.
++On immigration reform,evangelical Christians, the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove are pressing House Republicans to move forward.
++President Obama has offered Grand Bargain 2.0, which consists of cutting corporate tax rates in return for raising the minimum wage and building infrastructure. Both Boehner and McConnell have turned it down.
++THUD went thud. The bill for Transportation Housing and Urban Development was pulled in the House because Republicans did not want to cut the bill to fit their own Ryan budget. It was a sign that when push came to shove when filling in the numbers on their budget, they failed. The THUD bill is considered a job creator for congressional districts.
++On Obamacare, Ted Cruz bemoans the Republicans lack of guts to defund it. Mike Lee, teabag Senator from Utah, said that if you fund it, you own it.
++The big fly in the Obamacare issue is the deal that the GOP made with the Democrats. To de-rail the bill when it first cae up, the GOP dared the Democrats to make Congress have to participate in the exchanges. They normally participate in the exchange for federal employees. The Democrats agreed and now everyone is faced with paying for insurance at higher rates than the federal health plans. To counter the news that health insurance premiums are falling under Obamacare,Florida and Georgia have announced massive increases. Both states neglected to agree to the Medicaid extension or to create their own exchanges. Meanwhile, Vermont is chugging on to a one-payer system and Montana has embarked on an innovative system of clinics, which has both saved the state and patients' money.
++The American economy has grown slightly more than predicted at an anemic 1.5%. Manufacturing has expanded the fastest pace in 2 years. The Car industry reports record sales. The S&P 500 has eclipsed 1,700 for its first time in history. Jobless claims are the lowest in 5 years.
++PPP has Sarah Palin galloping to a Senate nomination in Alaska but losing to Sen.Begich by 52 to 40.
++PPP also has Alison Grimes edging Mitch McConnell 45 to 44. More Importantly, over 50% of Kentuckians believe McConnell doesn't deserve re-election.
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