Tag Archives: GOP

Political Tea Leaves in the Culture War

28 Saturday Apr 2018

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama claims a horde of GOP House members are quitting over assassination fears. He may only make an excuse for the swinging of the old pendulum. Or he may be on to something.

He also said the “socialist Bernie Sanders wing of society” was pushing for a revolution that would lead to Maoist level of violence.

“There are a growing number of leftists who believe the way to resolve this is not at the ballot box but through threats and sometimes through violence and assassinations,” he said.

If true, this is the result of a turning point Pat Buchanan says happened 50 years ago.

They’re certainly interesting times, these.

Advertisements

The Return of Everyone’s Favorite Political Game – Whack-a-Bill!

30 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Where’s the Bill? Who got the Bill? Anyone seen it? There it is! Nope. Too late. You gotta be quick with the mallet.

This time it’s the GOP’s super secret tax legislation.

Rank-and-file House Republicans are increasingly alarmed by the secrecy shrouding the massive tax bill their party leaders plan to ram through Congress next month.

Just days ahead of the legislation’s release, GOP members of the House Ways and Means Committee are still in the dark on numerous details being ironed out by the powerful tax-writing committee’s chairman, Kevin Brady (R-Texas), and his staff. And they’re blaming the panel’s top-down approach for the uncertainty.

“There are a lot of open issues,” said Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio), echoing comments made by several of his colleagues on the committee.

Heading into the weekend, question marks remained on at least two high-profile proposals to offset the cost of slashing individual and business tax rates: curbing federal deductions for state and local taxes and business interest as well as potential changes to taxing retirement savings.

The uneasy feeling among members extends to their tax aides, who’ve been excluded from a recent series of hours-long member meetings with Brady and his tax counsels.

Alarm? Exclusion? Ha!

An unnamed source tells me the Bill is currently held up in a vault in the Congressional basement, next to the Shrine to Baphomet.

Really, who needs details. These arch-conservative geniuses played Whack-a-Bill with the ObamaCare thing earlier in the year and that worked out just as planned. Nothing to worry about.

Whack-a-Bill™ is like the old Whack-a-Mole game at the county fair – except it’s legislation, your money and rights, instead of a fake plastic rodent.

140309-tomasky-whack-a-mole-tease_xawuvk

Older version seen here. The Daily Beast.

Whack-a-Bill™ reminds you that your vote counts…

If You Like Your Money, the Insurance Companies can Keep Your Money

09 Monday Oct 2017

Posted by in News and Notes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Courtesy of ObamaCare, here come a new round of double-digit premium increases:

Obamacare plan premiums may increase an average of 45 percent in Florida next year due to health care insurers rate hike requests, according to Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation.

There are six insurers in Florida selling plans on and off the exchanges in 2018 including Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Celtic Insurance Company, Florida Health Care Plan, Health First Commercial Plans, Health Options, and Molina Healthcare of Florida.

Molina Healthcare requested the highest rate increase of 71.2 percent. Individuals with this coverage can expect their monthly premium to increase from $402 to $688.

….

“Consumers enrolled in a silver on-exchange plan that do not receive a premium subsidy will have the option of purchasing a similar off-exchange silver plan without this extra cost,” the office said. “Plans other than the on-exchange silver plans will increase an average of 18 percent.”

“In 2013, an unsubsidized plan comparable to an existing silver plan would cost a family of four an average of $7,200,” the report states. “In 2018, the average unsubsidized cost for the same family totals $17,000.”

healthcare-costs

Dave Granlund.

Thank God the GOP is on the case. Give them another eight years. Or 80. Never.

Taxing Details?

26 Tuesday Sep 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Here’s the current rumor about the great tax reforms:

Top White House and GOP leaders have agreed to raise the lowest individual tax rate from 10 to 12 percent, paired with doubling the standard deduction, 5 senior Republicans tell us.

Why this matters: Trump intends to sell the proposal tomorrow as a populist “tax cut.” But as recently as yesterday top Republicans on Capitol Hill were nervous as they got word that Trump wasn’t entirely thrilled with the product that had been hashed out in immense secrecy for weeks (with two members of his administration, Gary Cohn and Steven Mnuchin, working with GOP leaders.)

Late last night Republicans close to the process felt more confident that Trump had come around to supporting the framework — despite his misgivings about the corporate rate not being low enough and about the political risks of raising the lowest rate (even though many more people will now pay no tax because of the increased deduction, meaning they can accurately call it a tax cut for the middle class as well as for the wealthy.)

Big picture details: Republicans plan to collapse the number of brackets from seven to three. The standard deduction would almost double to $12,000 for a single filer and $24,000 for married couples, meaning Trump can accurately argue that many more low income earners would pay no tax under his plan. As we previously reported, the top tax bracket would fall from 39.6% to 35%.

Yes, but: Trump won’t go into great detail when he talks about the tax plan tomorrow in Indiana, leaving plenty of negotiating room for the tax-writing committees in the House and Senate. As of yesterday morning Trump hadn’t signed off on the final product, and as with all policy announcements involving Trump, Republican Hill leaders will be holding their breaths to some extent until the president actually utters the words. Speaking with conservative groups at the White House yesterday Trump, reassured them of his commitment when he gushed about the “tax cut” he was planning to unveil.

Technically, rate-wise, this is an increase for the poor and a cut for the wealthy. In reality, if any of this is true, it will mean less of an actual burden for all. That might make sense – more sense than the GOP Obama-Trump-Ryan-GrahamCare repeal replace amendment meddling whatever, which has once again failed.

We’ll know more tomorrow or next year or, certainly, by the mid-terms. Then, suddenly, all the failure will be touted as smashing success. This is why many other countries have more than two parties.

Through the Ceiling: Where the GOP will Succeed

30 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

They can’t or won’t repeal, replace, tune-up, or modify ObamaCare. They won’t cut taxes. They won’t maintain even the semblance of a coherent legislature.

But rest assured they will raise the debt ceiling. No idea what the guy in the story from Goldman (the one still working there and not in the administration) is fretting about. It’s a done deal.

In a letter to lawmakers Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the federal borrowing limit, or debt ceiling, needed to be raised by Sept. 29 or the government risked running out of money to pay its bills.

The Treasury Department has been employing cash-conservation measures since March, when borrowing hit the formal ceiling of nearly $20 trillion. Those measures are expected to run out in early to mid-October. When they do, the government won’t have money to pay interest on debt, write Social Security checks or make millions of other routine payments, unless it can tap credit markets for borrowing to raise additional cash. Missing payments could send financial markets in a tailspin.

It’s canon now; raise it and then raise it again. There’s no pretense anymore about fiscal responsibility. No more “this is the last time,” or “this one and then never again,” or “doing it now and then we’ll pare down the spending…” Blah, blah, blah. Up, up, up it goes.

The question is “how high?” And I have no idea. If they only through in another $Trillion or two, then they’ll be back again with this next year. Why not double it? Triple? Why not just leave it open-ended or infinite?

Raising-Debt-Ceiling

Four Winds / Newsday.

Rand Paul says the GOP Senate will just Keep ObamaCare

13 Thursday Jul 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

This is the most pitiful crowd of governing idiots ever assembled. Tacitus’s recitation of Tiberius’s mocking condemnation of the Roman Senate seems kind and weak by comparison to what must be said of this rabble.

I miss the old days, when Republicans stood for repealing Obamacare. Republicans across the country and every member of my caucus campaigned on repeal – often declaring they would tear out Obamacare “root and branch!”
What happened?

Now too many Republicans are falling all over themselves to stuff hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars into a bill that doesn’t repeal Obamacare and feeds Big Insurance a huge bailout.

Obamacare regulations? Still here. Taxes? Many still in place, totaling hundreds of billions of dollars.

Insurance company bailouts? Those, too. Remember when Republicans complained about Obamacare’s risk corridors? Remember when we called the corridors nothing more than insurance company bailouts? I remember when one prominent GOP candidate during a presidential debate explicitly called out the Obamacare risk corridors as a bailout to insurance companies. Does anyone else?

Now, the Senate GOP plan being put forward is chock full of insurance bailout money – to the tune of nearly $200 billion. Republicans, present company excluded, now support the idea of lowering your insurance premium by giving a subsidy to the insurance company.

Remarkable. If the GOP now supports an insurance stabilization fund to lower insurance prices, maybe they now support a New Car stabilization fund to lower the price of cars. Or maybe the GOP would support an iPhone stabilization fund to lower the price of phones.

The possibilities are limitless once you accept that the federal government should subsidize prices. I remember when Republicans favored the free choice of the marketplace.

The Senate Obamacare bill does not repeal Obamacare. I want to repeat that so everyone realizes why I’ll vote “no” as it stands now:

The Senate Obamacare bill does not repeal Obamacare. Not even close.

In fact, the Senate GOP bill codifies and likely expands many aspects of Obamacare.

…

Thank you, again, Senator Paul. Much like his father and, unfortuantely, probably doomed to Ron’s effectiveness. There is no hope in either conservatism or in the utterly failed GOP.

Rand-Paul-J.-Scott-ApplewhiteAP-640x480

All we have left? Applewhite/AP.

My Republican friends, please, please, please, please remember this (and more) come the next election – I’ll be here to remind you. Kindly retire the mantra that you, “have to vote Republican or else the Democrats will win.” You did and they have. The GOP, by this measure at least, is the worst offender of the two.

Just pathetic. Men not even fit for slavery.

Just Repeal it Already. Idiots.

22 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

I was assured that Karen Handel’s trouncing of the zone jumper boy would instantly fix everything. Yet, now, we here murmurs in the Senate against Trump-RyanCare, or ObamaCare II. Rand and his three fellow conservative musketeers lead a revolt.

The four conservative GOP senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Ted Cruz of Texas — released a joint statement Thursday afternoon outlining their concerns:

“Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor. There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current healthcare system but it does not appear this draft as written will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal Obamacare and lower their healthcare costs.”

“It looks like a reiteration or a keeping of Obamacare,” Sen. Paul told reporters Thursday afternoon. “I’m a ‘no’ on the bill currently.”

Trump promised us “the best healthcare.” McConnell said he would rip up ObamaCare “root and branch.” Ryan whimpered something. What gives. Rush told us for 25 years the Republicans were the conservatives. Odd, that they would keep having problems getting legislation past that element within their own party.

AP PAUL 2016 A USA IL

“Yeah … no.” Freedom Works.

The shame of it is that these fools are in complete control. The loyal opposition in disarray, unable to win sure runoffs, the Jellyfish Party could simply ram through a full repeal and be done with it – the ensuing “Russia” accusations aside.

No, the real shame is the continuing charade of the “two-party system” and its…

No, wait, the actual shame is that the people believe in any of this. It’s 2017. 10,000 years of political lies would seem enough.

Whatever it is, it is a shame.

For shame. Idiots.

Rejoice! For all Political Problems are now Solved!

21 Wednesday Jun 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Yesterday the voters of Georgia’s 6th Congressional District did all Americans a favor we will find difficult to repay. They elected Republican Karen Handel to replace the Trump-picked Tom Price.

The election, featuring Handel and some kid who doesn’t even live in the district, was said to be the most expensive of its kind in history. The money was well spent.

nimbus-image-1498055620518

Carlos Slim’s Blog.

The success of the GOP, yesterday, gives President Trump a mandate – something he’s lacked since being elected himself back in November. It also proves that Democrats have recovered from their losses and are on-board with the GOP agenda to fix everything. Great news.

Now that Handel is ready to join Congress, the Republican party finally has a majority, both in the House and the Senate, something they’ve lacked until now. The election also gives them the White House, control of Judicial appointments, and control of most State Houses – something they have never had before.

We can now, immediately, expect the following:

Tax cuts (big and today);

Healthcare reform (probably by Friday);

The wall;

The end of illegal immigration, crime, and terrorism;

The defeat of ISIS;

A chicken in every pot;

Lasting peace with Russia;

Sound currency and permanent economic stability; and

Peace and happiness forever.

Now comes a new era of American pride and excellence. This will go down as the best strategic move in U.S. political history, practical, partisan, and theoretical. And, most importantly, it proves the value of voting and that every vote really does count. Let the good times roll.

Go ahead and hold your breath.

Death Panel: The Spectacle of Obama-TrumpCare Continues to Disappoint – Everyone and in the Most Ridiculous Ways

16 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

I suppose “fund it so we can kill it” ranks up there with “pass it so we can find out what’s in it.” It’s no cause to hunt them down on the diamond, but the current GOP crop has to be the most ridiculous bunch of idiot losers in legislative history. Has anyone any idea where the ObamaCare repeal/replace/repeal and replace/amend/screw up is possibly going? It seems the GOP doesn’t:

Top congressional Republicans have delivered a surprising plea to the Trump administration: Don’t sabotage the Affordable Care Act while we try to repeal it.

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander on Thursday became the second GOP committee chairmen in as many weeks to urge the administration to continue payments of subsidies to insurance companies that are considered crucial to stabilizing the individual market and preventing sharp premium increases.

Under President Trump’s direction, the administration has refused to guarantee that it will pay the subsidies, which are known as “cost-sharing reduction payments” and help insurers keep down deductibles for low-income customers while still making a profit. The decision has infuriated Democrats and insurers alike, and several companies have cited the uncertainty caused by the administration as the reason for exiting Obamacare exchanges in certain states and counties.

In an unusual alliance, Republicans in Congress are now joining the effort to pressure Trump to make the payments even after they sued the Obama administration over their legality three years ago. “These payments will help to avoid the real possibility that millions of Americans will literally have zero options for insurance in the individual market in 2018,” Alexander told Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, at a hearing on Thursday. “We have a collapsing individual market as a result of the Affordable Care Act, and as part of a transition from a collapsing market to a stable market in which Americans have more choices of insurance at a lower-cost, I believe Republicans will need to temporarily support some things we don’t want to do in the long term, and I would hope Democrats would do that as well.”

You, our man, do what we sued the other guy to stop a few years ago. In the meanwhile, we’ll busy ourselves doing nothing.

These fools could have: 1) fixed the current system; 2) replaced it with … anything, or; 3) just plain repealed it. They could have done this already. The same crowd rammed a full and complete repeal through Congress a few years back when Obama was in the White House. Naturally, he vetoed the Bill. They could do the exact same thing now, with Trump ithcing to sign off on it. A Bill to do that is ready right now and has been in the House hopper since January. Instead they dally and posture in the most pitiful manner possible.

And people vote for this?! Some pay money to support this?

Obama and Co. gave America a failed policy from the start. Just about everyone with an IQ north of room temperature knew that. They still know it. The Democrats, the media, and the medical/insurance scam industry are already starting to shift the blame for the systemic failures of the doomed-from-the-start law to the GOP and even Trump. Congressional Republicans are moving Heaven and Earth to help justify the shift.

Again, the healthcare options are, in order of best to worst:

  1. Free market system (never again in the USA);
  2. Universal coverage through private distribution (the Swiss system – also not likely);
  3. Universal socialist coverage (the Soviet system – possible and better than:);
  4. Continuing to prop up the ObamaCare tax and obscure system (where we are);
  5. The let’s drag our feet while everything goes to hell, start a repeal and yank it, again and again, Republican approach – prop up what we once sued to stop; let it all fall apart; get people good and shooting angry; stop the mandates but keep the taxes; etc., etc., etc.; and
  6. Outlaw healthcare and put everyone on arsenic…

It’s amazing, given the comparison, that numbers 3 and 6 actually seem somewhat attractive.

obamacare-cartoon-july-15-3

The Daily Hatch.

Please, please remember this come November of 2018 and 2020.