Day: July 28, 2017

The desperate quest to ‘repeal’ Obamacare: Daily Bullshit, July 26-28, 2017

benfell

Updates

  1. July 27, 9:04 am:
    • Mr. Fish captures much of my feeling about Donald Trump’s decision to exclude transgender folks from military service (figure 1).
      Mr. Fish, July 26, 2017, Truthdig, fair use.
      Fig. 1. Mr. Fish, July 26, 2017, Truthdig, fair use.

      Which is all to say, I couldn’t care less: Warmongerers, transgender or otherwise, can go fuck themselves.

    • I have seen mention of a supposed “Better Deal” that Democrats will be running on. I have not seen anything of substance. Until I do, I will assume that this alleged “Better Deal” is more hot air, symptomatic of a Democratic Party focus on an “economic message” rather than economic substance. “Messages” don’t pay rent. Democrats, too, can go fuck themselves and, no, I still don’t think they’re any better than Republicans, who should also go fuck themselves.
    • The Judge in Waymo’s intellectual property suit against Uber has warned that Waymo has yet to show that Uber has actually used Waymo’s technology in its self-driving cars.[1]
  2. July 27, 11:49 am:
    • The so-called “skinny repeal” of Obamacare will include defunding Planned Parenthood, which may violate the Senate rules that would allow the measure to bypass a Democratic Party filibuster.[2]
  3. July 28, 3:17 am:
    • Perhaps you recall Samuel Gross, a University of Michigan law professor, telling Vox’s Sean Illing, “The fact that we’re even talking about [the possibility of Donald Trump pardoning himself] is a measure of how far we’ve fallen.”[3] No, not quite. This is how low we’ve sunk: The Boy Scouts are apologizing for Trump’s behavior at a Jamboree.[4]
    • Until the mother-fuckers threw defunding Planned Parenthood into their so-called “skinny repeal” of Obamacare,[5] I thought maybe the “skinny repeal” had a chance. I don’t think Planned Parenthood did the effort in—this was more a matter that the very fact they would throw something like that in despite a significant possibility if wouldn’t comply with Senate rules signaled that Republicans were working on ideology rather than engaging in a pragmatic exercise. And, in the event, they failed.[6] Idiots.
    • So this part is weird: A Republican opposed to single-payer introduced a Medicare-for-All amendment. Bernie Sanders called it a sham. Democrats said they wanted to see a final bill. It didn’t get a single vote in favor.[7] I think Democrats were making excuses: Obamacare was a means of bailing out the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries.[8] Single-payer isn’t, so I think Democrats will never actually pass it even if they come to power.

Austerity

Carol Graham, Sergio Pinto, and John Juneau, II, “The geography of desperation in America,” Brookings Institute, July 24, 2017, https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-geography-of-desperation-in-america/

Obamacare

Stephanie Armour, Kristina Peterson, and Michelle Hackman, “Senate Health Debate Rolls On After First Option Fails,” Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-begin-debate-on-health-care-bill-1501009650

Joe Williams, “Senate Rejects First Obamacare Repeal Proposal,” Congressional Quarterly Roll Call, July 25, 2017, http://www.rollcall.com/news/senate-rejects-first-health-care-repeal-proposal/

Jordain Carney, “Senate rejects repeal-only ObamaCare plan,” Hill, July 26, 2017, http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/343887-senate-rejects-repeal-only-obamacare-amendment

Peter Sullivan and Nathaniel Weixel, “Bare bones repeal plan gains steam in Senate,” Hill, July 26, 2017, http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/344013-bare-bones-repeal-plan-gains-steam-in-senate

Peter Sullivan, “Senate Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood in ‘skinny’ repeal,” Hill, July 27, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/344133-senate-republicans-plan-to-defund-planned-parenthood-in-skinny-repeal

British Broadcasting Corporation, “US healthcare: Senate ‘skinny repeal’ bill fails,” July 28, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40750071

A new Cold War

“The American political elite has become unhinged,” [Russian senator Konstantin] Kosachyov went on. “It has chosen our country as a target or, more precisely, as a training wall.”[9]

Now Russians are calling it a Cold War.[10] This is not something I’d like to agree with them on. But it’s apparent that mainstream U.S. politicians in both major parties aren’t interested in being responsible and actually solving problems when they can just blame Russia instead. And it’s equally apparent they aren’t the least bit concerned about a renewal of the nuclear MADness that was a fixture during my childhood—maybe they’re confident that 1) they can all get in their bunkers in time and 2) they can outlast the ensuing devastation.

Lena Smirnova, “Moscow Hears Political Saber Rattling in Fresh U.S. Sanctions Vote,” Moscow Times, July 26, 2017, https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/russia-hears-political-saber-rattling-in-fresh-sanctions-vote-title-58509

Uber

Cyrus Farivar, “Judge: Waymo may be in “a world of trouble” if it can’t prove actual harm by Uber,” Ars Technica, July 26, 2017, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/ubers-ex-ceo-may-defend-levandowski-against-waymos-theft-allegations/

Boy Scouts

Ella Nilsen, “The Boy Scouts just apologized for the president’s behavior,” Vox, July 27, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16051646/boy-scouts-apology-trump

  1. [1]Cyrus Farivar, “Judge: Waymo may be in “a world of trouble” if it can’t prove actual harm by Uber,” Ars Technica, July 26, 2017, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/07/ubers-ex-ceo-may-defend-levandowski-against-waymos-theft-allegations/↩
  2. [2]Peter Sullivan, “Senate Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood in ‘skinny’ repeal,” Hill, July 27, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/344133-senate-republicans-plan-to-defund-planned-parenthood-in-skinny-repeal↩
  3. [3]Samuel Gross, quoted in Jeff Stein, “The White House denies reports that Trump is looking into pardons,” Vox, July 23, 2017, https://www.vox.com/2017/7/23/16016704/white-house-trump-pardons↩
  4. [4]Ella Nilsen, “The Boy Scouts just apologized for the president’s behavior,” Vox, July 27, 2017, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/27/16051646/boy-scouts-apology-trump↩
  5. [5]Peter Sullivan, “Senate Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood in ‘skinny’ repeal,” Hill, July 27, 2017, http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/344133-senate-republicans-plan-to-defund-planned-parenthood-in-skinny-repeal↩
  6. [6]British Broadcasting Corporation, “US healthcare: Senate ‘skinny repeal’ bill fails,” July 28, 2017, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40750071↩
  7. [7]Lydia Ramsey, “The Senate voted down a single-payer healthcare system — and there’s a specific reason Bernie Sanders opposed it,” Business Insider, July 27, 2017, http://www.businessinsider.com/senate-health-care-single-payer-vote-daines-amendment-2017-7↩
  8. [8]David Benfell, “Obamacare, the neoliberal consensus, and a kid fighting cancer,” Not Housebroken, May 11, 2016, https://disunitedstates.org/2016/05/11/obamacare-the-neoliberal-consensus-and-a-kid-fighting-cancer/; my argument is based on Neil Barofsky, Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street (New York: Free Press, 2012); Brad Jacobson, “Obama received $20 million from healthcare industry in 2008 campaign,” Raw Story, January 12, 2010, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/01/12/obama-received-20-million-healthcare-industry-money-2008/; Gaius Publius [pseud.], “Obama Got $20 Million from Healthcare Industry in 2008. Was Killing Single-Payer Part of the Deal?” Naked Capitalism, February 5, 2014, http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/02/gaius-publius-obama-got-20-million-healthcare-industry-2008-killing-single-payer-part-deal.html↩
  9. [9]Lena Smirnova, “Moscow Hears Political Saber Rattling in Fresh U.S. Sanctions Vote,” Moscow Times, July 26, 2017, https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/russia-hears-political-saber-rattling-in-fresh-sanctions-vote-title-58509↩
  10. [10]Lena Smirnova, “Moscow Hears Political Saber Rattling in Fresh U.S. Sanctions Vote,” Moscow Times, July 26, 2017, https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/russia-hears-political-saber-rattling-in-fresh-sanctions-vote-title-58509↩