Years before Facebook, there was blogging. And as blogging was making a crescendo to its brief heyday, I used to send out an email every day about what was going on in the world. It took a while for the readership to hit 1,000 recipients, and then gmail decided I was a spammer, and luckily Matt and Tom let me join them here at DCW.
Almost a decade later, the world has changed, and attention spans have greatly decreased. But here is the list of what I’m thinking about today…see how far you can get.
The New House ACA Repeal Bill: Have you read it? If not, you can do so here. (You’ll need to use the PDF download link as the front page is just lies.) As I always tell you READ IT. Otherwise you’re just going with someone’s interpretation and it’s hard to quote your favourite insanity verbatim. It’s short, 123 pages. Nothing like the original 3,000+ ACA bill. And that matters, because the new bill lacks CBO scoring, and answers to the kind of important questions that make #NotMyCheeto complain that healthcare is difficult. Of course it’s difficult you moron, human lives are involved.
The upshot is that the underwrites are replaced with tax credits. That’s actually great if you make a decent amount of money (although there are phase-outs for individuals beginning at $75,000 and couples at $150,000) who can actually afford the premiums, but are terrible for people who need help making monthly premium payments. Further, the credits are age based, and will be great for millenials with high-deductible catastrophic policies, but too skimpy for everyone else. If you’re older or have pre-existing conditions, consider yourself officially screwed. AARP is already on the case because people 55 – 65 will face the greatest affect.
Want to take action? Call your rep and tell a personal story about how you will be affected by this bill. Remember, read the bill first so you can be specific.
Jon Ossoff: I’m thinking a lot about Jon Ossoff. Jon’s a guy from Georgia with actual government creds, who currently works investigating crime and corruption. He’s young. He’s a progressive. And he’s running in the 18 April jungle primary to take Tom Price’s suburban Atlanta seat. For progressives, this is the second test of whether we are willing to do what is necessary to oust the racist, misogynistic, homophobic, anti-semitic haters that are the GOP. (The first test was won in Delaware’s special election last month.) You can view his site here. And you can Google him for a lot of good information on his background and the importance of this election. And as an aside, I’m a huge fan of jungle primaries.
Want to take action? This is where the rubber truly meets the road. Lots of people contact me wanting to really, truly do something in the face of the fascist takeover last November. Here’s your chance: send a check. Send a bigger check. This is a situation where money really matters. In the last election, Tom spent millions to keep his seat, while his Democratic challenger was only able to raise $14,000. Until Citizens United is repealed, money is critical to advertising and GOTV efforts. If you’ve got the time, go down to Georgia and knock doors. Personally, I’m planning on going down the weekend before the election to knock doors because that is what wins elections.
The Muslim Ban: Yes, it’s still a ban on Muslims. Yes, the intent is still to discriminate. If you read the whole EO, you’ll find a few interesting things buried within. First and foremost, the line “any class of aliens” – this is what’s going to screw the Bannon administration in court. There are intelligence reports documenting that the six countries have not sent terrorists to the US, while other countries have. Thus, the only “class” is citizens of countries who haven’t done anything to us, while excluding countries like Saudi Arabia which has.
Want to take action? Join the ACLU and get on their monthly donation plan. Also, join “Register Me First“. If you think #NotMyFurher will stop here, you haven’t read the Bannon manifesto. Be proactive and stand with other Americans.
Wiretap #FakeNews: Not only did Obama NOT wiretap Trumpkin, not only was there no FISA warrant, but had this happened it would have been because there was direct proof that the campaign actually was colluding with the Russians.
Want to take action? ENJOY! There is nothing anyone can do: the short-fingered vulgarian is out of his depth and truly lacks understanding of how governance works. (Don’t kid yourself, Herr Bannon does know.) He’s begging for investigations, and there will be lots of them into Russian interaction with the campaign and its members. (Including Jared!) You can encourage your elected reps to investigate, but they’re already on it.
So that’s today’s rant. I hope you learned something and are spurred to direct action. SCROTUS views the world as a zero-sum game, and I say we put him on the losing side.
