The CBO's preliminary score of the apparently-defunct Graham-Cassidy bill -- the CBO would need a few more weeks to consider the bill's effects fully -- predicts that "millions" would lose their health insurance if the bill had passed. Dig Sen. Cassidy's lame excuse that the CBO's score pertains to a bill that they've since revised! As if the latest revision has unicorns and puppies in it.
University of Wisconsin study finds that state's notorious Voter ID law probably deterred nearly 17,000 registered voters in Dane and Milwaukee counties alone from going to the polls on Election Day 2016. Mr. Trump won that state by a little over 22,000 votes, so that's significant, but not as significant (as the study's lead author says) as the fact that the Voter ID law sows confusion and thus disenfranchises good Wisconsin citizens, all to "stop voter fraud." The confusion is "a feature, not a bug," says Rick Hasen, and if you remember Gov. Walker closing down a crapload of DMVs after getting the law passed, you would likely agree.
I'm a bit stunned to see a "liberal" media news outlet trumpeting a poll finding that nearly two-thirds of Americans think corporations pay too little in taxes. And here we thought the push for a corporate tax cut would sell better than another tax cut for the rich would! Of course right-wingers will muddy the waters further by claiming theirs is a tax cut for small businesses, but we know that cutting the top income tax rate (which of course they'll try to do) doesn't really help small businesses, and we also know that big corporations can't seem to help using small businesses as a kind of human shield.
Former U.S. House Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) gets 21 months for sexting a minor. I guess Mr. Weiner gets to see how "rhinocerously" thick his skin is, once his fellow inmates realize who he is. I don't despise Mr. Weiner for possibly killing Hillary Clinton's chances of becoming President, but you must recall that Mr. Weiner was the first member of Congress to get famous supporting single-payer health insurance, and who knows how many years he might have set back our cause with his stupid dalliances. (Yes, I did decide to write a sentence with "Weiner" and "member" in it. C'mon, I'm getting old.)
Finally, from the "From the Mouths of NBA Coaches" file: Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, in writing about the controversy over his club not going to the White House to shake hands with President Trump, reminds us of a few critical facts. "In his tweet to Steph, Trump talked about honoring the White House but, really, isn’t it you who must honor the White House, Mr. President?" Yeah, ya think? Also, too, "the president works for us, not vice versa." Mr. Trump really does think we all work for him and that we are so, so lucky to have him around. We will need to remind him, repeatedly, that he's wrong about all of that.
(Oh, and even though the Senate cancelled the Graham-Cassidy vote yesterday, call your Senators anyway and tell them to stop trying to destroy Medicaid, take health insurance away from people, and create loopholes in the pre-existing conditions ban, and then tell them to start embracing single-payer health insurance. They need to hear our will as often as possible, and if hearing our will today hurts their feelings, well, tough toodles, because being a Senator is a big-boy game.)
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