More. There’s Always More.

orwell-1984-propaganda

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. And an historic health care initiative providing health care to millions of low-income Americans actually takes away their access to care.

Confused? So, apparently, is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. At a press conference on Tuesday, HHS Secretary Tom Price claimed that “Medicaid is a program that by and large has decreased the ability for folks to gain access to care.”

In fact, nearly 70 million people receive health coverage through Medicaid. An Obamacare provision that expanded eligibility for the program extended coverage to 11 million people. A 2016 poll shows that 87 percent of these beneficiaries are “satisfied with their Medicaid coverage and benefits.”

Nevertheless, House Republicans released a bill this week that would make massive cuts to Medicaid. Price spent his remarks touting this bill.

Well, it’s definitely Nineteen Eighty-Four. We have arrived: Healthcare Is Sickness. Apparently, it is also slavery, along with freedom. What can you even say anymore?

There’s video at the link. Think Progress also has a new article up about just who is going to be targeted the most by the new “healthcare”.

Facts Be Damned. Oh, And Fuck Women.

White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon listens at right as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the White House on January 31. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon listens at right as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the White House on January 31. CREDIT: AP Photo/Evan Vucci.

One of the uglier aspects of the ‘new’ Muslim ban is a focus on ‘honor killings’, even though that’s not a massive problem here in uStates, but it’s a convenient thing to rail about when you’re attempting to incite a racial panic. Just how much the Regime does not care about victims of honor killings is highlighted by the fact that the Violence Against Women grants are going to be eliminated, even though roughly 1,500 women are murdered as a result of domestic violence per year. It should not be ignored that both Trump and Bannon have been accused of domestic violence. Nor should Trump’s attitude toward women in general, which is incredibly ugly. The reasoning behind the ban is nothing more than slimy white nationalism, and there isn’t all that much to cover the shit over, they simply don’t care. Well, that’s not quite fair. They do care about any possibility of having this ban legally overturned as well. As usual the problem does not just rest with the Regime’s legislation and executive orders. It also lies on the shoulders of all those Regime voters and supporters.

I am sick to death of people wringing their hands over these poor, poor Trumpians who start crying when the chickens come home to roost. No, I do not have sympathy for them, because they have none for anyone, they were firmly and flatly in favour of bigotry, hatred, and misogyny, and any of them who claim they weren’t, they are liars. Trump’s whole fucking campaign was nothing but a constant litany of bigotry, hatred, and misogyny, as well as a paen to the might of white, and a psalm sung to the filthy rich.

The whole excuse of “well, some of them just wanted to throw a brick at the establisment” is a fucking lie, too. One Big Lie. If those people truly wanted to buck the establishment, Trump would have been dumped and Sanders would have ended up in the white house, and we would be moving towards a properly socialized government. That would have been tossing a brick at the man. Voting for Trump? For fuck’s sake, how could you possibly get more establishment? The excuse of “they thought he was a good business man!” won’t wash either. Trump’s constant failures over the years were not a secret. His incompetency was out there for all to see, during the whole campaign. The regime voters chose to ignore it. The excuse of “oh hey jobs”? No, doesn’t wash either, because what all those white Trumpians meant by that was “stomp all over those brown peoples!”. They never have anything to say when you point out that they don’t want to work cleaning toilets and peoples’ houses.

No, no more fucking excuses. The assholes who voted in the regime who are now crying? They’re only crying because they weren’t supposed to get bitten on the arse. They wanted all those others to get fucked over. Anyroad, back to the fucked up, shit-caked ban…

President Trump’s second Muslim ban, signed on Monday, includes a provision directing the Department of Homeland Security to collect and make public “information regarding the number and types of gender-based violence against women, including so-called ‘honor killings,’ in the United States by foreign nationals.”

According to numbers from a Department of Justice-sponsored study conducted in 2014, there are less than 30 such “honor killings” in the country each year. The killings — which are “perceived by the perpetrator to be a way to restore honor to the family in the face of a perceived damage,” according to the report — are sometimes “motivated by a radical and dark interpretation of Islam,” as Fox News wrote in late 2015.

The inclusion of the “honor killings” provision in the new Muslim ban marks the second time in a week the Trump administration has outlined a plan to use federal resources “to whip up as much racial panic as possible,” as Matt Yglesias of Vox puts it. The first instance was Trump’s vow to create the Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement office, or VOICE, during his speech to Congress last week, even though immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans.

In a similar vein, the number of “honor killings” in the U.S. stands in stark contrast to the roughly 1,500 women who are murdered as a result of domestic violence in a given year. But according to numerous reports, Trump’s budget proposal will eliminate the Department of Justice’s Violence Against Women grants. Those grants had a $480 million budget last year and funded 25 grant programs helping domestic violence victims, according to Mother Jones. Trump and chief strategist Steve Bannon have both been accused of domestic assault.

[…]

But the “honor killing” provision is just the latest example of Trump trying to portray Islam in a violent light. Despite the fact that a person in America is much more likely to be killed by a right-wing extremist than a Muslim terrorist, the Trump administration has signaled it wants a federal counter-terrorism program to stop focusing on violent white supremacists and any other extremist groups not comprised of Muslims. And after the Department of Homeland Security released a report last month undermining the administration’s core rationale for the Muslim ban  — “citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terrorist activity,” it found — the administration tried to downplay the report.

“The president asked for an intelligence assessment,” the a senior administration official told the Wall Street Journal. “This is not the intelligence assessment the president asked for.”

Right. An accurate assessment is provided, but the Tiny Tyrant doesn’t want that, and neither does shadow tyrant Bannon. They want shit shoveled onto a platter, and shaped into the form of whatever they asked for, providing them with a basis for the regime.

Think Progress has the full story.

Also see: The mass deportation of African immigrants that isn’t getting media attention. Nobody noticed.

iPhone or Healthcare? Healthcare or iPhone? Updated.

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The long-awaited “replacement” to ACA has been revealed, and oh, it’s not good. People have been reacting, to say the least, and rethugs are desperately trying to come up with a defense.

The Republican Party’s proposed Obamacare replacement plan is already facing a storm of criticism, and Republican lawmakers are scrambling to defend it on cable news networks.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) appeared on CNN Tuesday morning to explain why obtaining health care is a matter of personal responsibility for millions of Americans, and not an area that requires government intervention.

In particular, Chaffetz said that, under the new GOP plan, poor Americans would be forced to make wise financial decisions if they really wanted to have access to health care.

“You know what, Americans have choices, and they’ve got to make a choice,” he said. “And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and want to go spend hundreds of dollars on, maybe they should invest in their own health care.”

Oh, there’s that peculiar notion of rethuglican choice again. “Here you are, you have no choice at all, isn’t that great? Now, make the right choice!” A couple of hundred dollars is not going to get anyone very far when it comes to healthcare. Anyone who has ended up with an out of pocket doctor visit could tell you that. Any money left over is eaten alive by prescription meds. Once again, we see a fine example of the loathsome and utterly disconnected attitude rethugs have towards people, especially those with wallets on the thin side – you uppity poor people really shouldn’t have anything except the very basics, it’s not right you have more! You only get a nifty phone or internet access once you’ve hauled yourself up by your bootstraps and made a fortune. Let’s have a dose of reality here, a subject which republicans consistently fail in:

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average premium for an individual health care plan in the United States is just over $235 per month. Buying an iPhone 7 through a wireless carrier and paying for it in installments over a two-year period costs $27 per month.

In other words, forsaking an iPhone 7 will save Americans enough money to pay for roughly 11% of what it would cost to get health insurance.

I’m not wealthy, and I don’t have a smartphone of any kind, but that’s because I don’t like phones. I still think all people should have healthcare, I don’t give the tiniest of shits what kind of gear they may or may not have, because that’s not in the least bit relevant. It is the same old ugly republican line, though: if you don’t have something, it’s your fault. Oh look, you got something. Well, it’s because of that you can’t have anything else. The basic fuck you, while avoiding any responsibility for it.

The so-called replacement plan is a travesty, and that’s an understatement. I’m sure people expected it to be, but as usual, the news is worse than what we imagined. Think Progress has a break down of 6 very important points to the new “plan”. Click on over for the full details, which are appalling.

House Republicans released on Monday a plan to undo Obamacare that will likely leave millions more Americans uninsured.

After significant internal division about the path forward on Obamacare, lawmakers unveiled two bills that, taken together, would repeal and replace President Obama’s signature health care reform law. House committees are expected to hold votes on the bills as early as this week.

Here’s what you need to know about the legislation, and what it says about the House GOP’s plan for the future of health insurance in America:

It includes massive cuts to Medicaid, the program that provides coverage for millions of low-income Americans.

It defunds Planned Parenthood and eliminates abortion coverage.

It includes a big tax break for insurance companies that pay their CEOs more than $500,000 per year.

A significant portion of the bill is devoted to ensuring lottery winners don’t have access to Medicaid.

It could trigger a “death spiral” in the individual insurance market.

It will result in a lot fewer people having health insurance.

Via Raw Story and Think Progress.

UPDATE: Oh my, looks like the Tiny Tyrant is scrambling for something, anything, in the face of the overwhelming scorn for “Trumpcare”. This hasn’t stopped the appearance of Mr. Tweet, though, who started out with this:

Our wonderful new Healthcare Bill is now out for review and negotiation. ObamaCare is a complete and total disaster – is imploding fast!

Jesus. How can anyone be that fucking disconnected from reality and still be on the planet?

Also see: How would repealing the Affordable Care Act affect health care and jobs in your state?

 Across the country, 29.8 million people would lose their health insurance if the Affordable Care Act were repealed—more than doubling the number of people without health insurance. And 1.2 million jobs would be lost—not just in health care but across the board.

MUTHAFUKKA PLEASE!!!

Housing a Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson speaks to HUD employees in Washington on Monday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Susan Walsh,

Housing a Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson speaks to HUD employees in Washington on Monday. CREDIT: AP Photo/Susan Walsh.

Ben Carson’s assertion that slaves were immigrants did not go unnoticed, by anyone.

“This is as offensive a remark as it gets,” said Steven Goldstein, executive director of the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect.

The remarks sparked outrage on Twitter, including from the actor Samuel L. Jackson. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) also criticized Carson.

Samuel L. Jackson: OK!! Ben Carson…I can’t! Immigrants ? In the bottom of SLAVE SHIPS??!! MUTHAFUKKA PLEASE!!! #dickheadedtom.

A HUD spokesman later called the tempest “the most cynical interpretation of the secretary’s remarks to an army of welcoming HUD employees. No one honestly believes he equates voluntary immigration with involuntary servitude.”

“Involuntary servitude.” Even the mealy-mouthed spokesman can’t manage to say the word slavery. Carson probably thinks drapetomania is sound medical theory.

Carson was well received by the hundreds of HUD employees in the room and got a standing ovation at the close of his remarks.

And there are still people soundly denying the boot stomp of white nationalism. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only problem with Carson, who holds a number of seriously problematic views, especially when it comes to civil rights. Carson views a fair amount of rights to be “extras”, and he has no use for those at all, no. Primarily, this has to do with LGBT discrimination, and in his new position, it’s fair to surmise that bigotry will rule the day when it comes to fair housing.

It is common for conservatives to refer to “extras” as assistance for people in poverty, but Carson has used the word “extras” before when referring to LGBTQ protections.

“It’s one of the things that I don’t particularly like about the movement,” Carson said to Fusion’s Jorge Ramos in 2015. “I think everybody has equal rights, but I’m not sure that anybody should have extra rights — extra rights when it comes to redefining everything for everybody else and imposing your view on everybody else.”

Via Raw Story and Think Progress.

Slaves Were Just Immigrants With A Dream.

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Ben Carson. Talking about slaves. Well, in a manner of speaking, very bad speaking. I have no idea how this man ever got a degree of any kind, but this level of stupidity should be lethal.

At one point during the talk, Carson reflected on how America was a land of “dreams and opportunity.”

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

So, slaves were people who just jumped on a ship, stuffed themselves into chains in intolerable conditions, and just worked for less once they arrived here to happy immigrants land. Could we at least get a law which prohibits people this astonishingly dense from speaking in public? Please?

Via Raw Story.

A Taxonomy of Trump Tweets.

Earlier this year, George Lakoff, a cognitive linguist at the University of California, Berkeley, crafted a “taxonomy” of how Trump uses Twitter to shift the conversation from unwelcome reports and subsume the news cycle with his own agenda.

There’s an excellent analysis of The Ministry of Truth at The Washington Post. Recommended Reading.

Here They Go Again…

Tucker Viemeister.

Tucker Viemeister.

President Trump is preparing to sign a new executive order Monday that White House officials hope can withstand legal scrutiny in imposing a 90-day ban on U.S. entry for new visa seekers from six majority-Muslim nations, according to a fact sheet the administration sent to Congress.

In addition, the nation’s refu­gee program will be suspended for 120 days, and it will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration.

The new guidelines name six of the seven countries included in the first executive order, but it leaves out Iraq. That nation will increase cooperation with the United States on additional security vetting under separate negotiations and its citizens are not subject to the new order, the fact sheet states.

They hope it can withstand scrutiny? Hope? Jesus Christ, you about have buildings full of bloody lawyers, pretty sure they could just tell you. What they are hoping is that attempting to sound less like draconian fascists will baffle, boggle, and delay those awful judges.

“The United States has the world’s most generous immigration system, yet it has been repeatedly exploited by terrorists and other malicious actors who seek to do us harm,” the fact sheet stated.

No. No, the States does not have the world’s most generous immigration system. One of the nastiest aspects of American exceptionalism is this idea that no matter what is on the table, ‘Merica is always the bestest ever! When it comes to the refugee situation, the U.S. is way the fuck down on the generosity list. The same old bullshit line is being used as justification, the war on terror. Thanks ever, Bush. Again, the behaviour implies the States are the only target of terrorism, which couldn’t be further from the truth. We’ve been pretty damn lucky in that regard, compared to other countries. While this idiocy is going on, Iran and North Korea are playing with missiles. Guess that’s not as important as tearing families apart and making people miserable. Oy. I have canvas and paints out today, so hopefully this will be the day’s dose of stupid.

The full story is at The Washington Post.

Also see this:

Donald Trump’s top advisers try to cheer up the sulking commander in chief by reminding him of their looming plan to endanger the lives of some of the most desperate and vulnerable people on earth.

That fact comes to us not from Trump’s political opponents or some nefarious conspiracy of “Obama holdovers” in the “deep state,” but from Trump’s closest friends and allies in politics.

Distracted By A Photo, Again.

President Trump walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House with his grandchildren Joseph and Arabella Kushner, before departing for Florida on March 3. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post).

President Trump walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House with his grandchildren Joseph and Arabella Kushner, before departing for Florida on March 3. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post).

Trying to read a rather important article about the Tiny Tyrant’s latest meltdown, which also contains some serious stupidity – he’s intent on proving President Obama wiretapped him, even though it has been pointed out to him, more than once, that if a wiretap was approved, that would mean there was evidence of criminal activity on Trump’s part. The average bear would have backpedaled on this nonsense right away, saying they shouldn’t have taken Breitbart so earnestly or something, but no. In the not so quiet background, Bannon is encouraging this idiocy, with talk of deep state having it in for Trump. So naturally, he ran away to Florida (a bit more on the later). Anyroad, I’m reading, but keep scrolling back up to look at that photo. That’s tape on his tie, right? (Click photo for full size.) Three pieces of tape. I’ve never seen that one before. Anyone out there also tape up the back of their tie?

As for the Tiny Tyrant’s need to run off to Florida every weekend, which is not only costing taxpayers millions for each trip, it’s not endearing the residents of West Palm Beach to him, either.

Residents and business owners in West Palm Beach complained over the weekend that President Donald Trump’s frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort are making their lives miserable.

NBC News reported that Trump’s weekend visits were not only expensive for the taxpayers, but the safety measures implemented by the Secret Service are also costing local business owners big.

“We’re basically going broke,” a spokesperson for Southern Helicopter told NBC News. “We were not expecting him to come down almost every weekend.”

Jonathan Miller, the president of Stellar Aviation Group, worried that his business would go under if Trump continued to make Mar-a-Lago his weekend destination. Miller estimated that he is losing $30,000 each weekend because of Trump.

Additionally, the taxpayers of Palm Beach County are already on the hook for $1.7 million in extra security, and the White House has so far ignored requests to reimburse the county.

President Jekyll and Mr. Tweet.

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Whoever was keeping Mr. Tweet locked up tight lost the battle, and unhinged tweets are once again littered about, this time mashing up Pres. Obama, wire taps, McCarthyism, and Watergate. I’m just going to include one here:

How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

No, Teeny Tyrant, this isn’t Watergate, and you aren’t Nixon. You’re a corrupt fucking idiot, who has his very own massive scandal to worry about. I wonder, does he think this twittershit actually makes a difference? Apparently, this latest appearance of Mr. Tweet was triggered by an article in Breitbart. You can read about that here. You can read some of the responses here.

I just want to focus on one thing: the very sacred election process. Right. Would you be talking about all the voter suppression which took place? Pretty sure you’d consider that bit sacred, seeing as it was illegal, unethical, and well into evil territory. Or is it the travesty of the electoral college that’s sacred? One thing is for certain, you don’t consider the votes of millions of people to be shit, let alone sacred. I expect the Idiot-in-Chief meant sacrosanct, but that word is a bit big.

Well, that so-called grand and normal moment, oh so presidential and all that, it didn’t last long, did it? What amazes me is that anyone fell for that shit in the first place. Just because Trump can manage, with enough wrangling, to be President Jekyll for a moment, does not mean Mr. Tweet has gone away.

Also see this response:

A California Congressman took to Twitter on Saturday morning to warn President Donald Trump that — if he is correct that his Trump Tower phones were tapped — he is “in deep sh*t.”

Think Progress is also covering this story.

“And I’m Not Judging, I’m Just Saying,”

Rep. Roger Marshall. CREDIT: (AP Photo/John Hanna.

Rep. Roger Marshall. CREDIT: (AP Photo/John Hanna.)

Yet another rethug is flapping his mouth over healthcare, this time claiming that a certain class of people doesn’t want healthcare, no, and Jesus said so.

In an interview with STAT, Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS) says he doesn’t support Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion because he believes some poor people just don’t want health care.

“Just like Jesus said, ‘The poor will always be with us,’” Marshall, a doctor and first-term congressman, said. “There is a group of people that just don’t want health care and aren’t going to take care of themselves.”

The author of the STAT piece, Lev Facher, writes that he “pressed” Marshall on that point. But the congressman “shrugged.”

“The Medicaid population, which is [on] a free credit card, as a group, do probably the least preventive medicine and taking care of themselves and eating healthy and exercising. And I’m not judging, I’m just saying socially that’s where they are,” Marshall said. “So there’s a group of people that even with unlimited access to health care are only going to use the emergency room when their arm is chopped off or when their pneumonia is so bad they get brought [into] the ER.”

Interesting that Marshall, who is a physician, thinks that medicare equals unlimited access to health care. I guess when your whole career focus is sucking up to the rich, you can get a highly skewed view of things. Medicare is most certainly not unlimited access to health care, and it’s not remotely true that people who do have medicare/medicaid don’t bother to use it. They do. Healthcare is good, but if you want people to also eat in the healthiest and most nutritious manner, and exercise, you can’t just hand them medicare. Social systems are also needed, to provide safe ways to travel, places to exercise, and in urban areas, problems like food deserts need to be addressed as well, and there’s quite a bit more which also needs to be dealt with. Here in uStates, you get the idea that quality of life is only for those with a certain amount of money in the bank.

As for that “Hey, Jesus said the poor will always be with us”, that’s a transparent and disgusting excuse to continue to wipe your feet on the backs of all those who aren’t deemed to be monied enough.

Marshall’s personal views aside, a Harvard School of Public Health study published last summer shows that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion resulted in improved health for low-income adults — and fewer ER visits.

“Two years after Medicaid coverage was expanded under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in their states, low-income adults in Kentucky and Arkansas received more primary and preventive care, made fewer emergency departments visits, and reported higher quality care and improved health compared with low-income adults in Texas, which did not expand Medicaid, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,” a summary of the study says. “The findings provide new evidence for states that are debating whether to expand or how to expand coverage to low-income adults.”

Other studies examining the effects of providing Medicaid coverage to more impoverished people have found similar results.

Oooh, look, studies! Perhaps Rep. Marshall should stick his nose in those, and do a bit of learning. He won’t though, because if there’s one thing rethugs don’t like, it’s having their views challenged in any way.

But Marshall, citing the hospital he helped run in Kansas, suggested he’s primarily concerned with quality of care on the other end of the economic spectrum.

“Our vision was that we would look more like a hotel with customer service that delivered five-star health care,” he said. “So our cafeteria looks more like a coffee shop than it does a sterile hospital dining room. We have bright windows everywhere, and outside of every window there’s a garden. Thinking that healing is more than just a knife and a needle.”

Ah. Well, no wonder you’re not terribly interested in everyday people. They can’t fund your 5 star health hotel. I’d be willing to bet most people would feel better in that kind of environment when ill. Pity all you care about are the rich.

The purpose of the STAT interview was to highlight Marshall’s role as part of the GOP Doctors Caucus, described in the piece as “a group of 16 lawmakers with health care backgrounds who have put themselves at the center of the effort to unwind the Affordable Care Act.”

There’s a bit of terrifying news. One that makes it rather clear the direction ‘healthcare’ is going to take under the rethuglicans. Full story at Think Progress.

Texas: Wrongful Births Bill.

(Monkey Business Images/ Shutterstock).

(Monkey Business Images/ Shutterstock).

The Texas GOP introduced yet another anti-abortion bill that would give doctors the right to lie to their patients about their pregnancies. Texas Senate Bill 25, also known as the “wrongful births bill” has made its way to the Texas Senate floor, and would prevent lawsuits against doctors if a baby is born with a disability.

In reality, the bill allows doctors to withhold information about the risk of a disability from the parents, particularly in cases when the doctor thinks the individual might decide to have an abortion if provided with the information.

[…]

The Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs passed the bill — which would legislate how much information a woman is allowed to receive about her own pregnancy — to the full Senate on Monday morning.

Right, because why on earth should a woman have the right to know exactly what’s going on in her body? Golly, there are men out there who can decide what’s important, don’t worry your cute little pink brains, women! It might be a good idea for women to find out just how religious their doctor might be, as that might have one hell of an impact on you at some point.

Full story here.

Republican Logic: A Living Wage? No, No.

Rep. Dan Shaul (Facebook).

Rep. Dan Shaul (Facebook).

A Missouri representative is rushing to kill off a minimum wage hike, on the basis that certain jobs weren’t ever meant to provide a living wage, so hey, you can keep paying people shit wages. It’s interesting, if depressing, to read all the twists and turns republicans use to justify being corrupt, villainous assholes, with a pointed interest in keeping people poor. Well, some people.

A Missouri Republican introduced legislation that would stop Kansas City from enacting a higher minimum wage — because he said workers weren’t meant to live on those wages.

Rep. Dan Shaul (R-Jefferson City) wants the statehouse to quickly pass his bill that would prohibit cities and counties from paying a higher minimum wage than what is set by state law, reported the Kansas City Star.

The bill contains an emergency clause that would allow it to go into effect as soon as the governor signs it, and the newspaper reported Shaul’s bill is moving quickly through the legislative process.

“The minimum wage wasn’t meant to be a living wage,” Shaul told the Star. “I’m all for family sustainable wages, and I certainly don’t want a family to have to work two or three jobs to get by. But grocery store baggers and fast food work isn’t where you should be working to sustain your family.”

Right. Because if the jobs you can manage to get might be as a grocery clerk or working in a restaurant, well, you should have known better, you stupid peon! Those aren’t proper jobs! Get a good, white person type job, er, white collar job! That way, you can call it a career, and get by just dandy. All that cost of living jazz, well, that doesn’t mean anything. House payments? Pfffft, get a proper job and you can get a loan! Being in debt up to your neck is the American way, you bet. Or you know, you should have just been born rich. It seems the concept of choice is a rethug Shibboleth.

Full story here.

Healthcare: Republican Hide and Don’t Seek.

CREDIT: Screencap via Twitter.

CREDIT: Screencap via Twitter.

Hide & Don’t Seek, the new rethuglican game with healthcare. They have literally hidden their ACA replacement bill. That makes it clear just how lousy it is, and that it basically only has to do with healthcare in the sense of removing it.

Democratic lawmakers spent much of Thursday wandering around the Capitol in an attempt to find House Republicans’ health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. They couldn’t find it.

On Wednesday, House Republicans said they would release their much anticipated plan the next day, but that only House Republicans would be able to see it. Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY) said it would be available in a “basement of an office building that adjoins the Capitol.”

“No one is getting a copy … We can go and read it,” Rep. Collins told the Washington Examiner.

Democratic lawmakers, such as Rep. Steny Hoyer, (D-MD) Rep. Jan Schakowski (D-IL), and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) went on an “egg hunt” for the document.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) tweeted that the bill was “under lock and key,” but that he would demand a copy so the American people could see it. Sen. Paul added that it was “unacceptable” that one of the biggest issues before Congress and the American people would be kept secret.

Paul then reportedly wheeled over a copy machine to make copies of the bill, but was barred from entering the room where it was reportedly being kept. The bill had also been moved from the room before Paul got there, Politico reported.

You can follow all the tweets and the idiotic Republican hiding of healthcare at Think Progress. I think everyone is going to find that when they get to the bill, there is no there there.