Congressional Republicans pulled the American Health Care Act from a vote last week, after it became obvious that it wouldn't get enough votes to pass. So how about we play offense, and use the tools in the upper right-hand corner of this page (or the bottom of this page, if you're viewing on a cellphone) to call our Reps and Senators and demand a Medicare-for-all, single-payer health care system? Rep. Conyers (D-MI) has introduced H.R. 676 again, and Sen. Sanders (I-VT) has pledged to introduce his own version of a Medicare-for-all bill in the Senate. If you think your Reps and Senators are just too far gone, you could remind them that Medicare runs extremely well, and you could also remind them that America spends twice the money per capita on health care that single-payer country Canada does -- and nearly three times the money that socialized-medicine country England does. My guess is that today's CEOs (whom too many of our Congressfolk imagine are their real constituency!) are not so devoted to "free" market economics that they'll pass up an opportunity to spend less money on health care than they do now.
Meanwhile, after Florida state Attorney Aramis Ayala declared that she would no longer seek the death penalty in any capital cases, Florida's ultra-right-wing Governor, Rick Scott, is trying to remove her from a high-profile murder case. You may well be wondering where state and federal law stands here, and happily Jordan Smith at The Intercept tells us -- the Florida law allowing a Governor to replace a prosecutor is rather broad and vague, while prosecutors typically have the discretion to seek sentences they deem appropriate (they'll have to defend their choices in court, after all). Also, the U.S. Supreme Court has not only found Florida's death penalty scheme unconstitutional, but has also ruled that state governments can't mandate the death penalty in laws. Yet Mr. Scott is, surprise, surprise, all hot to mandate the death penalty for someone, like he's afraid everyone will find out he's never gotten 50% in an election or something. So Color of Change helps you tell Mr. Scott to drop his crusade to replace Ms. Ayala.
Finally, Americans for Financial Reform helps you tell Congress and the President to stop their incessant attempts to destroy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB has helped nearly 30 million Americans get their money back from scammers, and you'd think that would be popular, right? I mean, no one likes getting their pocket picked! But you'd be wrong -- American banksters, those utter parasites who do nothing for our country and who spend all their time figuring out how to redistribute your wealth upward to themselves, are hot to get rid of the CFPB, all the while yelling REGULASHUNZ BAD!!!! Of course, without the CFPB, we might never have known that Wells Fargo was opening up customer accounts (and charging the fees that come with those accounts) without their customers' knowledge, and I remember everyone, regardless of political ideology, being against that. It's enough to make you wonder if most politicians don't care about doing wrong, but only about getting caught doing wrong.
Oh, and the House plans to vote today on S.J.Res. 34, the anti-internet privacy bill; if you didn't call your Reps yesterday, you'll want to call them today.
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