Healthcare: A Congressional Exemption.

© nicolasjoseschirado, fotalia.

Rethuglicans are still hard at work, trying to figure out how to repeal the ACA, without working overly hard on the whole ‘replacement’ aspect. The more egregious parts of the repeal ‘n’ replace have kept some conservatives from getting on board, but Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ) has come up with a cunning plan: we’ll exempt members of congress and their families! Now we can screw over all those peons and stay safe, yay! Disgusting asshole.

A new amendment to the Republican ObamaCare replacement bill exempts members of Congress and their staff from its effects.

The new changes to the bill would allow states to apply for waivers to repeal key ObamaCare provisions, such as the protection against people with pre-existing conditions being charged more and the requirement that insurers cover a range of health services, like prescription drugs and mental health.

The GOP amendment exempts members of Congress and their staffs to ensure that they will still be protected by those ObamaCare provisions.

The exemption was flagged by health law professor Tim Jost.

Democrats quickly jumped on the development, arguing that Republicans are willing to take away protections for the general public, but not themselves.

“The best evidence yet that the new GOP repeal plan is a disaster for people’s health care is that the GOP exempted Members of Congress from living under it,” said Leslie Dach, director of the Protect Our Care Campaign, one of the main groups fighting repeal.

The amendment is helping to woo some conservatives, who argue that the ObamaCare regulations are driving up premium costs, and note that high-risk pools would be able to fill the gap.

Via The Hill.

“And now there’s a lot of words, I won’t bother reading everything,”

Time for a Pants On Fire Reality Check! The white house has released “President Trump’s 100 Days of Historic Accomplishments.” Historic. Right. I suppose “President Trump’s 100 Days of Abysmal Failure” didn’t go over well. As usual, the press release is “alternative fact” based, and has little to do with reality in any way, shape or form.

The release sorts Trump’s accomplishments into three categories. Front and center is a section entitled “TAKING EXECUTIVE ACTION” that touts the 30 executive orders Trump has signed in hist first 100 days — a total the White House says is higher “than any other President since Franklin Roosevelt.”

There are two big problems with that claim, however.

First, it’s false. As historian Peter A. Shulman explained, the White House is overlooking executive orders not included in the American Presidency Project, the non-comprehensive source the Trump administration appears to have used to tally the number of executive orders signed by previous presidents.

When executive orders not included in the American Presidency Project are included, FDR’s total actually dwarfs Trump.

FDR signed 99 of them. That’s considerably more than 30, but this isn’t a bloody contest, in spite of the Tiny Tyrant’s trying to make this all about ratings too. Fucking idiot.

…Besides those inaccuracies, it’s odd that Trump would tout EOs as an accomplishment, since he repeatedly criticized President Obama for signing them. In December 2015, candidate Trump blasted Obama’s EOs and characterized them as the last resort of presidents who can’t work with Congress.

“I don’t think he even tries anymore. I think he just signs executive actions,” Trump said of Obama. “That’s the way the system is supposed to work. And then all of a sudden, I hear he tried, he can’t do it, and then, boom, and then another one, boom.”

Trump also blasted Obama’s executive orders in 2012, tweeting that they represent “major power grabs of authority.”

[…]

There’s also the question of how much credit Trump should take for signing executive orders that in some cases he seems to be barely familiar with. For instance, during a signing ceremony for an executive order on agriculture on Tuesday, Trump, reading off a sheet of paper, said, “So this is promoting agriculture and rural prosperity in America. And now there’s a lot of words, I won’t bother reading everything, but agriculture and rural prosperity in America — that’s what we want.”

And that alone rather neatly sums up the Idiot Unpresident. “I don’t have the slightest idea of what I’m doing, and I’m not going to *gasp* read, but it must be good, because I’m going to sign it, and someone said…”

Oh gods. Just not enough facepalm in the universe. Not enough. Think Progress has the full reality check.

Caving On The Wall and Other Sundry Items.

Tucker Viemeister.

The Tiny Tyrant has backed off on the “fund my wall or else” threats, now saying it can wait until September. Think Progress has the full story.

In the meantime, in spite of the Tiny Toddlin’ Tyrant’s tweets about destroying healthcare, the ACA is becoming more and more popular. Rather funny how it took Trump to make people realize that the ACA is a good thing.  Raw Story has the full article.

Politico has an exposé on the white house fake war on fake news. It’s quite enlightening! Recommended Reading.

And, Amnesty International has compiled 100 human rights violations committed by the Tiny Tyrant in these first not-quite-100 days. A good illumination of just how much damage has been done in regard to human rights in a very short amount of time. Think Progress has the full story.

And then, there’s the trouble with Flynn. – Aaaaaand, the white house didn’t hire Flynn, oh no, no, no, nope, we didn’t!

Reactions on 100 Days…

“Can the bar go any lower? Donald Trump brags he got ‘higher ratings than 9/11’ in interview about the first 100 days. Link.”

The Twittersphere isn’t too impressed by all the trumpeting over those first 100 days which don’t count at all, no.

Via Raw Story.

A Tangled Tale: The Red Pill.

The Daily Beast has uncovered the tangled origins of Reddit’s angry and toxic Red Pill forum. It turns out the creator of said forum is a once upon a time democrat turned republican, Rep. Robert Fisher. He’s quite the specimen, to say the very least. The article is in-depth and link heavy, so just a bit here.

Last November, voters in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region re-elected to the state House of Representatives a man who appears to be one of the secret architects of the Internet’s misogynistic “Manosphere.”

The homegrown son of a preacher, 31-year-old Robert Fisher is a Republican who represents New Hampshire’s Belknap County District 9. In addition to his legislative duties, Fisher owns a local computer repair franchise, and in his spare time, seems to have created the web’s most popular online destination for pickup artistry and Men’s Rights activists, The Red Pill, according an investigation by the Daily Beast.

An investigation into Fisher’s online aliases found a trail of posts linking the lawmaker to the username Pk_atheist, the creator of The Red Pill—an online Reddit community of nearly 200,000 subscribers which promotes itself as a “discussion of sexual strategy in a culture increasingly lacking a positive identity for men.”

The Daily Beast has the full story.

OH FFS.

This is unbelievably infuriating, but I’ll leave you to discover your own outrage here, as it’s another work day, and I must work, rather than try to figure out what the fuck to say about the latest idiocy from the regime.

President Donald Trump won’t be attending this year’s White House Press Correspondents’ Dinner, but quietly invited some of his favorite news outlets for a small, private reception Monday ahead of the annual event. The group features some of the farthest right and most nationally recognized conservative media outlets and hosts, while networks such as CNN and MSNBC—which the president has repeatedly condemned throughout his first 100 days for reporting on his approval ratings—were left off the guest list.

Instead, the networks and publications invited to the soiree include sites such as Breitbart and The Daily Caller, often accused of Trump propaganda and fake news during the 2016 election season, as well as headlines like “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy” and “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?”

The event was called to honor right-leaning outlets after “they were neglected the last eight years,” Sean Spicer said in an interview Monday.

Neglected? Right. They are nothing more than tabloids, with zero credibility, they just make shit up. Oh, yes, right up Trump’s backside, then.

“They’re an important medium to communicate to a massively growing number of Americans who, frankly, have grown tired of mainstream media’s coverage,” Spicer said. “We’ve definitely done our fair share of meetings with mainstream reporters. Once in a while it’s important to appreciate the folks who have really covered the president fairly and covered a lot of issues ignored by mainstream media.”

Making shit up out of whole cloth equals fairness now, does it? Christ. I don’t just want out of this country anymore, I want off this planet. One with no Trumps at all. You can read the full article at Raw Story.

Oh look, it actually gets worse! A Fox and Friends anchor has been declared the new U.S. State Deparment spokeswoman [sic].

“Heather’s media experience and long interest in international affairs will be invaluable as she conveys the administration’s foreign policy priorities to the American people and the world,” the statement said.

Uh huh. Fuckety fuck fuck. That’s all I got.

“I Don’t Watch Them!”

Jim Cooke/FMG.

Just the other day, Unpresident Trump insisted that he simply does not watch mainstream media anymore, no, not ever. He doesn’t watch anything which is negative. Naturally, that statement is belied by his frequent morphs into Mr. Tweet, ranting about this, that, and the other negative something as seen or read on mainstream media. He’s running away to a ‘campaign rally’ in order to avoid the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, but does anyone think the Tiny Tyrant won’t be obsessing over every remark anyway?

It would seem that the Tiny Tyrant’s staff was unaware of his insistence that he does not watch, no, not ever, not anymore, as they have said that it’s extremely difficult to curb his excessive reliance on television. They also said he ‘hate watches’ in the evening, going over all the negative stuff, which outside of Fox, is pretty much everything everywhere.

“When I see it’s such false reporting and such bad reporting and false reporting that I’ve developed an ability that I never thought I had,” Trump insisted. “I don’t watch things that are unpleasant. I just don’t watch them.”

“I don’t watch CNN anymore. I don’t watch MSNBC anymore. I don’t watch [negative] things, and I never thought I had that ability. I always thought I’d watch.”

Contrary to this statement:

Trump turns on cable news immediately upon arising each morning and spends the day checking in via a television in the White House dining room. However, once the president goes upstairs at the end of the day, aides lose their ability to monitor and moderate the president’s intake.

“Once he goes upstairs, there’s no managing him,” one adviser told the Post.

“Sometimes, at night, he hate-watches cable shows critical of him, while chatting on the phone with friends, said someone familiar with the president’s routine — a quirk a senior official jokingly called ‘multi-teching.’” the Post said.

[…]

Foreign leaders are urging their diplomats to go on U.S. television when they visit the country so as to catch Trump’s attention. Trump has insisted that he wouldn’t dream of firing Press Secretary Sean Spicer — even after his gaffe comparing Hitler favorably to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

“I’m not firing Sean Spicer,” said Trump. “That guy gets great ratings. Everyone tunes in.”

There we are again – “great ratings”. That’s all this unstable, stupid asshole cares about. He thinks of himself and everyone around him as being on a television reality show. And if the world is going to hell in a handbasket, eh, who cares? Ratings! Things going bad again? Oh, have Spicer say something stupid about Hitler.

Via Raw Story, one and two.

400.

ProPublica has gathered all the very, very quiet hires of the current regime, many of which were lobbyists, who love themselves a swamp. All are ‘loyalists’ to the regime.

While President Trump has not moved to fill many jobs that require Senate confirmation, he has quietly installed hundreds of officials to serve as his eyes and ears at every major federal agency.

ProPublica has obtained a list of many of them. They include dozens of former lobbyists, Trump campaign staffers and some affiliated with the online far-right.

You can see the database here, and the related story here.

Sunday Facepalm.

Big Cartel.

Rick Wiles is going full court paranoid with yet another screed, this time claiming that the Tiny Tyrant is under house arrest. I’d be okay with that, actually, perhaps he’d finally pretend to do his fucking job, rather than behaving as though the election hadn’t happened. According to Wiles, there is a terrible conspiracy going on, to hush the far right, to still all those screeching voices, oh my yes. And who is doing all this horrible hushery? Why, the Deep State, of course. I think that must be the new name of the Illuminati or something. I can’t keep up with it all.

Wiles said that O’Reilly’s firing from Fox News over numerous sexual harassment allegations and Jones’ custody battle are the work of the deep state, which he claimed is out to silence influential voices on the Right. Trump, according to Wiles, has also been muzzled by this “shadow government.”

“I’m not sure he’s sending out the tweets,” Wiles said. “I think, more than his Twitter privilege—hey, I’m going to go ahead and say it, this is what I think—I think Donald Trump is under house arrest by the deep state. I think they’ve put him under house arrest. He’s changed. He doesn’t even act the same anymore. He doesn’t behave the same. He’s not the man we elected. Something’s happened to him.”

Yes, something happened. He has been elevated, a la The Peter Principle, to a position so far over his level of competence that even he can’t ignore it anymore. Golly, presidenting is hard! Who knew it was so complex! As for his “twitter privilege”, people have been desperately trying to separate Mr. Tweet from his phone from day one. I’m sure most of us are quite grateful for that effort, too. It’s a pity his house arrest won’t prevent him from heading back out on the Yeehaw Rally campaign trail.

“I think the shadow government said to him, ‘You were not supposed to win, but you did it, but we’re going to allow you to stay in the White House under our terms,” he continued. “I honestly believe the man is under house arrest. I believe that they have locked him down, they have isolated him and he has been surrounded by the deep state goon squad and they are making the decisions … I do not believe he is the president of the United States anymore, I believe he is a figurehead.”

He was never the president. Never. He’s an unstable bully, perched in a position of power, who has realized that his usual bully tactics aren’t suited for government, and who doesn’t have the spine to commit to a full tyrancy. Apparently, he’s not the only one who doesn’t know how government is supposed to work. If anyone has isolated Trump, it’s the man himself.

Wiles later cited the news of O’Reilly’s firing, Jones’ trial, and the retirement announcement of Rep. Jason Chaffetz as proof that the deep state is “taking out” powerful conservatives “one by one.”

Oh gods. Chaffetz? Who the hell cares? At least Chaffetz finally had the sense to realize that he was fucking up on the behest of Trump multiple times, which was going to kill his career if he didn’t get out. That puts him a bit ahead of the other rethugs. As for O’Reilly, well, perhaps if the man had stopped doing everything penis first, he would not have lost his job. As it stands, he got millions of dollars in a golden parachute, and is going to start doing podcasts. I don’t see the slightest sign of him being silenced.

“Alex Jones may not survive what’s happening to him right now,” he said. “They’ve got his lawyer on record in the courtroom saying, ‘He’s just acting, he’s a performance actor.’ I mean, that’s from his own lawyer.”

Wiles claimed that Jones may have been set up by the supposed deep state, saying, “They just took down Bill O’Reilly. Now Alex Jones is on the ropes. Who is next? Who is the next person that’s going to be taken down? They are eliminating all opposition to the shadow government.”

Jones is professional liar. He lies, and if that isn’t swallowed, he tries a different lie. He’s also claimed that eating chili affects his memory, and he smokes weed once a year to test potency. As for who is going to be next? Does the shadow government have a request line, because I’d be happy to submit your name, Mr. Wiles.

Via RWW.

A Profile in Avoidance.

The couple with Donald’s daughter Ivanka at the 2004 Met Gala.
By Evan Agostini/Getty Images.

Vanity Fair has an interesting profile of Melania Trump, who, it seems, simply wanted a life of quiet avoidance cushioned by a great deal of money. Interesting reading, but also truly sad, a look at brittle, splintery, unhappy lives.

As the gorgeous wife of a Manhattan billionaire, Melania has had every opportunity to become a fixture on the gala-going benefit circuit. But that would presume an interest in social status or a cause. As Bytner recalls, “She was passionate about . . . Well, I can’t think what she was passionate about.”

[…]

Trump decided not to run in 2012, saying he wasn’t ready to leave the private sector. Four years later, the time had come. Trump’s official story is that he consulted with his family about his decision to run, and they all agreed. A former campaign aide recalls a conversation in which Melania told this aide that she didn’t want Donald to run, because she was terrified he might win. According to another Trump insider, “She never wanted this, and never had any interest.” (Grisham maintains that “Mrs. Trump has always been supportive of all her husband’s endeavors.”) Tolerating his boorishness—that she could do. Repeating a couple of lame sound bites to Joy Behar—fine. But serious campaigning for one’s spouse required far more actual effort.

Melania seemed to do her best to ignore the new reality, on the grounds that she wanted to be home for Barron. Over the course of Trump’s 17-month campaign, she rarely joined her husband at rallies, and the speeches she gave could be counted on one hand. Compare that with Michelle Obama, who spoke all over the country on Barack’s behalf, though she too had young children. During the primaries, Donald made do by re-tweeting a picture of Melania next to an unflattering shot of Heidi Cruz, Ted’s wife, with the caption “The images are worth a thousand words.”

But then he clinched the nomination, and more Melania participation was required—which, alas, did not do her any favors. In February 2016, in an interview with MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski, Melania expounded on illegal immigration, using her personal story as an example of model behavior. “I followed the law . . . . And you should do that. You should not just say, O.K., let me stay here. And whatever happens happens.”

The full article is here.

Oh Gods, Stop Campaigning. Just Stop.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a rally Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images).

The Incredible Thin-Skinned Man With The Terrifyingly Fragile Ego can’t cope with the upcoming White House Correspondent’s Dinner. Oh, whatever is a compleat loser to do? Why hold a campaign rally, of course! Rather than face the slightest criticism, or gods forbid, a witty and cutting remark, Trump is going back, back, back to the campaign trail, the only place apparently, where he felt sufficiently loved and somewhat successful. Problem being, of course, that the fucking campaign is over, and he got the job he professed to want. Might be nice if he did the damn job, rather than run back to the campaign crap, yet another pacifier for the Tiny Tyrant. Everyone knows that no matter much how he tries to avoid what has become a presidential tradition, he’s going to take in every remark, every witty jab, every tiny criticism, *poof* into Mr. Tweet and have one fit after another, so why not just go, and pretend to be an adult for one night? Christ, what a waste of space.

President Trump on Saturday announced plans to hold a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on April 29, marking his 100th day in office.

The White House did not offer additional details about where the rally would take place or what Trump’s focus would be, referring questions to Trump’s campaign apparatus. The campaign listed on its website an event scheduled for that night at 7:30 p.m. in Harrisburg, Pa.

The rally will coincide with the annual White House correspondents’ dinner, which Trump elected not to attend in a break from tradition.

[…]

Trump’s rally would offer counterprogramming to the annual celebration of political journalism that draws more than 2,000 reporters, celebrities and advertisers to the Washington Hilton. Trump announced in February that he would be the first president in 36 years to skip the dinner. His staff also turned down invitations to be guests at the event.

Counter programming, eh? I’d be willing to place my bet on what will garner the most views, and the most press! The Washington Post has the full story.

And then there’s this problem when he’s not running back to the refuge of pretend campaigning: ‘Anything could happen’: Trump aides fret when he gets free time because that’s when he screws up.