Okay this controversy about Kathy Griffin and that photo, this was purely staged! Why? Because trump is having a serious problem which threatens to undermine the plans of the establishment to rob Americans of Healthcare and who knows what else they got planned. And what is that problem you would ask? Nobody likes trump.People don't mind standing up to trump and his agenda which is really their agenda. And who are they? The people who put trump in power. So notwithstanding their race card play by calling the Affordable Healthcare Act 'Obamacare' which I repeat is not a bad name but that's not what the Act is called, the old wave the flag. mom and apple pie, and singing I'm proud to be an American which a lot of you out there seem to go for every time. How'd they do that? By disrespecting the President, the highest office in the land, the symbol of America! This bullshit was staged!!! They want to take away your Healthcare but they're afraid to move because so many don't like trump and we all know Hillary Clinton won this past election.
But any fool can see that Kathy Griffin was pulled in to stage this thing to get people to feeling sorry for trump and not be so 'un American' when they move ahead to take away your Healthcare. How do I know it was staged? Coz' Kathy Griffin is not in jail!!! Everyone in America, even complete idiots know you CANNOT MAKE ANY KIND OF A VEILED OR LITERAL THREAT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! YOU CAN'T EVEN JOKE ABOUT SUCH A THING!!! HER CELEBRITY WOULD NOT SAVE HER AGAINST SUCH A SERIOUS CHARGE, unless it had been President Obama, for they never did arrest anyone for shooting into the white house while he was President! But the fact that she isn't in jail should let the world know that this was staged and see how quickly she apologized trying to minimize any long term damage to her career. Don't shed too many tears for her for she was paid extremely well to be a part of this I'm sure. The repugnicans are gonna' use all the political clout they can get outta this for right now they are the most hated party in this country but instead of yield to the wil of the people they'll try anything except doing the right thing and leaving our Healthcare alone. That's not what their rich masters want and so this lame sorry assed trick and they're probably dreaming up their next stunt if this one doesn't work the way they want it to. So don't be fooled folks, this is some bullshit for if they weren't in on this little stunt, Kathy Griffin would be in jail. They may have let her out soon after, but the secret service would have definitely arrested her. The enemy will do anything to do what they want to rather than the right thing, and your loyalty needs to be to God, not to America, apple pie, wave the flag and cry over 'old glory', baseball and other fantasies concocted about living here. God bless the USA is being sung in the background. That's what the repugnicans want you to be thinking instead of thinking about how they're wanting to take away your healthcare. Now Kathy Griffin is rich; Healthcare isn't one of her problem
They're still trying to sell us on this staged bullshit from kathy griffith. Now she's getting on tv with tears trying to sell us on this staged bullshit. How she made a big mistake, she's getting death threats, and she doesn't know if 'her career will survive the scandal!'(her sobbing and tears) Remember folks, she works in hollywood, she's good at this sort of thing. What scandal?!!? She was paid very well for this role and if she wasn't she should have demanded more money! Sorry sistah, we love you, but we're not buying it!
Kathy Griffin totally offended everyone, but here’s one thing she did right
Published: May 31, 2017 2:27 p.m. ET
The comedienne drew widespread condemnation for her ‘decapitated’ Trump photo
Getty Images
In a video posted on Twitter and
Facebook, Kathy Griffin said, ‘I beg for your forgiveness. I went too
far. I made a mistake and I was wrong.’
It was
gruesome. And it wasn’t funny. So how do you recover from something
like that? And can you? Amid the furor surrounding Kathy Griffin, crisis
management experts say it’s possible.
Comedienne Kathy Griffin
has given it her best shot, admitting that she badly misjudged a stunt
in which she posed with a fake bloody mask designed to look like the
head of President Donald Trump. The image was shot by the celebrity
photographer Tyler Shields. But even Griffin’s close friend and CNN New
Year’s Eve co-host Anderson Cooper tweeted: “For the record, I am
appalled by the photo shoot Kathy Griffin took part in. It is clearly
disgusting and completely inappropriate.” But so far only one venue —
Route 66 Casino Hotel in Albuquerque, N.M. — has canceled one of her
upcoming shows. “Many advertisers will want nothing to do with her,”
says Ronn Torossian, chief executive of 5WPR.
As the backlash was gathering momentum on Tuesday, Griffin posted an apology on Twitter
TWTR, -0.60%
and Facebook
FB, -0.60%
that read, “I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong,” with a video, in which she says,
“I went way too far. The image is too disturbing. I understand how it
offends people. It wasn’t funny. I get it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes
in my career. I will continue. I ask your forgiveness. I’m taking down
the image. I’m going to ask the photographer to take down the image. I
beg for your forgiveness. I went too far. I made a mistake and I was
wrong.” Of course, the image will be online for as long as the internet
exists and, for some, no apology will be enough. But did Griffin do
anything right?
How many times have I told you white fools that the innocent will pay for the crimes of the guilty! Do you think you're maintaining your power by allowing your white kkkops to murder my people? Have you forgotten that there is God in Heaven who sees everything you do? You are cutting your own throat fce against other people and especially God's justice against other people and especially God's Own people! Those honkies who call themselves jews are not God's people and you know this! We Are! Don't you know you can't get into the Kingdom of Heaven by climbing over the fence???? What you think God won't notice all these pale faces claiming to be his chosen people? You think He forgot or something? Unless you bring those murderers to justice, God has put a curse on you and this is only the beginning. NOw this poor man committed no murders to my knowledge but he DIDN'T STAND UP FOR JUSTICE EITHER!! God is getting ready to strip the white establishment bare for the WHOLE WORLD to see and there will be justice but your crimes will be paid in full only with BLOOD! Don't bother going to your religious leaders for they have been lying to you and God is sick of them and their insincerity and devotion to an ignorant ideaological fantasy called whiteboi supremacy! You are not right with God with your hatred, racism, an hearts full of injustice celebrating it and supporting it. These things you believe in so reverently the constitution, and all that malarchi is not of Christ nor does it glorify God. You wanna wave the flag and talk about how proud you are to be an American and stand by while your kkkops kkkommitt murders and your unjust court systems sanction it. Is this what your proud of?!!? Well God isn't pleased and He is not with America as long as you're doing all of these unGodly things! What you think you're gods now can change the rules of right and wrong?!!? Well the Real God is here now and He's not pleased like you are with your evil accomplishments!!! So wave your flags and sing lee greenwood's 'God Bless the usa' coz he will not!!! God is going to Destroy you and now you will know why. Those of you who say we did stand up for justice (you and only you) stand on your faith, for the just shall live by faith, for God is getting ready to destroy your other brethren soon if they don't make some quick changes; number one get those murderers and give justice to the victims they celebrate. So you can celebrate the deaths of your kkkops all you want, for their deaths were God Approved and more are coming for these evil vermin! Don't you get it you fools, GOD HAS TURNED AGAINST YOU! You think I want to warn you; no I want you to burn! But God put this on my heart and I shall not be like Jona in the belly of the fish. Your crimes have come before the Lord and you're getting ready to pay; BIG TIME!!!! ALL OF YOU!!!!!
Police chief killed, another three dead in shooting at Ohio nursing home
An Ohio police chief was killed while responding to a shooting at a
nursing home that left three others dead, according to police.
Kirkersville Police Chief Steven Eric Disario, 36, was identified as
the officer ambushed while responding to reports of a gunman at the
nursing home, located about 25 miles east of Columbus. When deputies
arrived they discovered the father of six wounded, in the street,
Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp said during a press conference.
The gunman was among the dead discovered inside Pine Kirk Care Center
in Kirkersville. Two staff members of the facility were also killed in
the shooting, but no residents were injured, Thorp said.
Didn't want to print much of this stupid story for the important thing to remember is that God is paying you back for the crimes you have committed against His people with your insufferable racism by these evil kkkops! More deaths will come for these sons of satan as they continue to kkkommitt kkkrimes they feel the system here will allow them to get away with against the African(Hebrew) American community!!!! As God has constantly put upon my heart to tell you; the innocent will pay for the crimes of the guilty! God commands you to arrest those murderous kkkops and do unto them PROPER justice not what you want coz' that's not justice or you will lose ALL of your power period!!!! Ignore this anointed one of the Lord if you want; last chance!!!!!!
So the white establishment, the evil white establishment in this country tried to use the Miss America Pageant to sound off and justify their wicked satanic agenda to rob Americans of the healthcare they need by putting this Black woman up there who works for the government and asking her 'is healthcare a right or a privilege?" She knew what she needed to say in order to keep her job and possibly win the contest. Now let us ask the government who is SUPPOSED TO SERVE US NOT A CABAL OF RICH ASSHOLES HIDING BEHIND THE SCENES LIKE THE COWARDS THEY ARE AND IRONICALLY WHO USE EVERY TRICK IN THE BOOK TO GET OUT OF PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES, is collecting taxes from hard working Americans a right or a privilege? You don't want to pay for us to have healthcare and the money is coming from us anyway, why should we pay taxes that pay your salaries pay for your healthcare and your childrens healthcare, and allow you to live like you're some kind of fuckin' American aristocrat? Is this the french revolution being played over here in America? Remember what happened to those idiotic aristocrats that drove the common people to take drastic action against these fools? Want it to happen here? God put it on my heart to tell you is that that's where you're headed!!!
Miss USA Clarifies Polarizing Statements On Healthcare And Feminism
On Sunday
night, Miss District of Columbia Kara McCullough was crowned Miss USA
2017. The 25-year-old scientist who works at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission is a graduate of the HBCU South Carolina State University.
Even though McCullough is highly accomplished and is the second Black
woman and Miss District of Columbia to win in a row, she found herself
surrounded by controversy due to the answers she gave regarding
healthcare and feminism during the question section of the pageant.
McCullough initially said healthcare is a privilege and as a
government employee, she sees that in order to have healthcare you need
jobs. Her initial statement about feminism was that women are just as
equal as men in the workplace.
McCullough appeared on “Good Morning America” earlier this week to clarify her answers.
About the term “equalism” she said she preferred to use instead of
feminism, McCullough said during her interview, “For me, where I work at
with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ‘equalism’ is more of a term of
understanding that no matter your gender, you are still just kind of
given the same accolades on your work…I believe that if a person does a
good job, they should be, you know, credited for that in a sense.”
On healthcare, she said it should be a “right for all.”
“I am privileged to have healthcare and I do believe that it should
be a right…I hope and pray moving forward that health care is a right
for all worldwide,” she said.
McCullough seems to have been basing her answers from her personal experiences and not on societal norms.
They wanna talk about everything but our Healthcare. This nonsense they're focused on now trying to say the American people want to know about it, WELL WE DON'T! We don't give a shit whether trump asked the director of fbi to give his pal a break; WE WANT OUR HEALTHCARE!!!
Did Trump try to put the fix in for Michael Flynn? James Comey must testify before Congress immediately
The Times Editorial Board
The claim by fired FBI Director James B. Comey that
President Trump asked him to shut down an investigation of former
national security advisor Michael Flynn is potentially the most
explosive development in the unfolding saga of investigations into
possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. It has led
some members of Congress to begin talking about impeachment, while
others are seriously discussing the possibility that the president may
have committed obstruction of justice.
See, the repugnican scum is biding their time before they try to finish their damneable job of robbing all Americans (except themselves)of much needed healthcare. You see they want us to go back to making a choice between buying FOOD or THE MEDICINES WE NEED TO LIVE! How evil and selfish can any group of people be to even feel justified in doing this?!!? At first I thought they were doing this because they hated a black man being President. But if you go back and read up on it they stopped Bill Clinton for doing this, and when he tried again all of a sudden his marital indiscretions became front page news fodder from right wing trashmongers like the washington post (which by God's grace I will shut down one day) instead of focusing on the real issue. So those of you out there who think the repugnicans are representing the 'white man's ' issues be advised; they simply don't want Americans Black, white, Red, or Yellow to have access to affordable healthcare. They want us to struggle trying to take care of ourselves, while they sit back and enjoy the tax money they've taken from us, smoke their cigars, enjoy limo service to breakfast lunch and dinner, got the the doctor if they need to or send their kids to the doctor if they need to, raise their pay every year and enjoy a menagerie of different benefits and perks that come with their office, AT OUR EXPENSE! THAT'S OUR TAX DOLLARS THEY'RE SPENDING! Now whoever is behind the repugnican party insisting on pushing this issue, we need to know who they are and start nationwide boycotts and stop their ability to make money and peddle influence in this country. The Affordable Healthcare Act was a gift from God for many many many of us who struggled to pay their healthcare bills and pay their regular bills (lights, gas, and water, rent, carnotes, car insurance, and BUY FOOD). It is an evil evil satanic person who doesn't care if people die because they can't get the healthcare they need and WE CAN ALL BLAME THE repugnicans for tha. the repugnicans are the ones to blame, as well as the corporations and money circles who support them. Those of you out there who know who they are put those bastards out on front street so we can start boycotts, and any other means necessary to run these bastards out of this country!!! Put the word out on them so they don't go somewhere else and do to them what they're trying to do to us! KILL US!!!!
Hope You Don't Expect The Senate GOP To Be Transparent About Obamacare Repeal
Senate
Republicans have spent the last 10 days or so promising not to tackle
health care in the same hurried, irresponsible way that their House
counterparts did.
Senate
Republicans have spent the last 10 days or so promising not to tackle
health care in the same hurried, irresponsible way that their House
counterparts did. “We are not under any deadlines,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said last week, “so we are going to take our time.”
They
have also suggested they have little interest in drafting something
that looks like the American Health Care Act ― the wildly unpopular
House bill that would roll back many of the Affordable Care Act’s most
important insurance regulations and deprive something like 24 million
people of coverage. “We’re starting over from a clean sheet of paper
here,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) promised.
All of that is probably true ― and less meaningful than it sounds at first blush.
It’s
possible to write a bill in a slower, more deliberative manner than the
House did without allowing the kind lengthy, open public debate that
legislation of such magnitude would seem to require. It’s also possible
to pass less disruptive, less extreme legislation that would
nevertheless take away insurance from many millions of people, causing
widespread hardship.
In fact, from the looks of things, this is precisely what Senate Republican leaders are trying to do.
GOP leaders are trying to shield their legislation from scrutiny
The
big boast Senate Republicans are making is that they won’t vote on
legislation before the Congressional Budget Office has a chance to
analyze it. That’s what House Republicans did when they voted on their
bill last week, less than 24 hours after making amendments that had
potential to affect insurance coverage and the federal budget in fairly
significant ways.
“Y’all, I’m still waiting to see if it’s a boy or a girl,” Sen. Lindsey Graham
(R-S.C.) quipped afterward. “Any bill that has been posted less than 24
hours, going to be debated three or four hours, not scored? Needs to be
viewed with suspicion.”
But voting without a CBO score was merely one way in which the House rushed its debate.
House
leaders wrote legislation privately and then pushed it through the two
committees of jurisdiction with markup sessions that lasted just one day
each. Leaders had to pull the bill from the House floor at the last
minute, because it lacked enough support to pass, but their response was
to return to private negotiations, hash out the additional amendments,
and then proceed quickly with the final vote.
Even
those House Republicans who had time to read and study the final
language (many admitted they hadn’t) probably didn’t grasp its
implications, because those implications were still becoming apparent in
real time. Two days before the vote, for example, a Brookings Institution report showed how the bill could bring back annual and lifetime limits on benefits, even for employer policies.
You saw what the House Republicans did. When you don’t read it, you don’t know what the impact is. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
Those
limits, which the Affordable Care Act prohibits, would be a huge deal
for that tiny portion of Americans dealing with the most severe medical
problems ― think aggressive cancer that requires chemotherapy and
surgery, or genetic disorders that require long stays in neonatal care.
By the time a Wall Street Journal
article on the subject brought the possibility to national attention,
the vote was just hours away ― too late for new information to have an
effect.
Of
course that was precisely what House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his
allies were trying to accomplish ― to avoid public scrutiny, to get
legislation through the House before either the media or the public
could recognize and seize on its shortcomings. Now it looks like Senate
Republicans are intent upon doing the same thing.
Back
in March, the first time the House was set to vote on repeal, Senate
leaders indicated that they intended to bypass the two committees that
had jurisdiction. “Probably straight to the floor,” Cornyn told CNN, when asked about the plan, “Because there has already been a lot of consultations on a bicameral basis to get us here.”
Leadership
hasn’t said much about his plans since that time, and the office of
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to answer HuffPost’s
inquiries about process and timetable. But on Wednesday, finance
committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told The Hill, “I don’t think
it’s going to go through the committees, at least from what I know about
it.”
Democrats are furious, in part because most of them were around in 2009 and 2010 when they spent more than a year
writing and debating what eventually became the Affordable Care Act.
For all of the discussion that took place behind closed doors back then,
quite a lot took place in public ― over the course of more than 130
hearings, spanning five committees, according to a Democratic tally that didn’t even include administration events like the daylong, bipartisan session at Blair House that President Barack Obama presided over personally.
“We
had 45 bipartisan hearings and roundtables,” Sen. Patty Murray
(D-Wash.), ranking Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee, said in an interview. “Every issue and aspect of this was
discussed. People had a chance to really see the impact ― line by line,
amendment by amendment ― and know what they were actually passing.”
“You
saw what the House Republicans did,” Murray added. “When you don’t read
it, you don’t know what the impact is. And somebody who is being
impacted doesn’t have a chance to say, ‘Wait a minute, that doesn’t work
for me.’”
This isn’t just some partisan talking point. Norm Ornstein,
a respected political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute,
says, “The push and pull, give and take of an open markup can make a bad
bill, with stupid provisions, sloppy drafting, unintended consequences,
repeated mistakes from past experience, a better one.”
Earlier
this week, Murray and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking Democrat on the
finance committee, sent their GOP counterparts a letter demanding
hearings. They have not gotten a formal response, and neither did
HuffPost inquiries to those offices, except for a statement from Hatch’s
office that he “appreciates Senate Democrats’ renewed interest in
improving the nation’s healthcare system and welcomes their input and
ideas as we move through this debate.”
Most Republicans seem ready to accept some pretty big cuts
One reason the House bill is so spectacularly unpopular is the likelihood that it will leave so many millions
of Americans without health insurance. And from the very beginning of
the debate, senators have been warning, publicly and privately, that
they could not abide such dramatic losses of coverage.
Many
of those warnings focused on the American Health Care Act’s proposed
cuts to Medicaid. That includes phasing out the new funding available
through Obamacare that the states have used to expand eligibility for
the program ― effectively making it available to all people with incomes
below or just above the poverty line. Among the 32 states that have
accepted the money and expanded the program are more than a dozen with
Republican senators.
One
of them is Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has reportedly taken the lead
on figuring out how the Senate legislation will deal with Medicaid.
Something like 700,000
of his constituents got insurance through the Medicaid expansion, and
the program has become a critical source of financing for opioid treatment, as well as for community clinics
that provide basic medical care to the poor. Ohio’s Medicaid expansion
also has a vocal, influential champion in Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio), one
of about a half-dozen Republican governors who have lobbied hard to keep the expansion in place.
But Portman told reporters on Wednesday that he was looking for a “soft landing” on Medicaid and that he supported ending expansion funding eventually. A key letter
on Medicaid he and three other Republican senators wrote during the
early stages of House debate was careful to talk about “stability for
individuals currently enrolled in the program” ― which suggests they are
open to a proposal that tapers off funding slowly, and lets people who
qualify under the expansion hold onto Medicaid until their enrollment
lapses.
That’s
actually what the House bill already does. The Medicaid population
would still drop sharply in the first three years, CBO predicts, because
low-income people tend to have volatile incomes
and lose eligibility quickly. Senate Republicans might have some other
ideas for stretching out the transition ― they have said very little
publicly ― but it appears to be a matter of when, not whether, the
expansion population loses its coverage.
“Clearly the House has done some important work,” Sen. Roger Wicker
(R-Miss.) said this week. “I think we’d like to take the Medicaid
provision and engineer a softer landing and eventually get to the same
place”
The House bill wouldn’t simply roll back the Medicaid expansion. It would also introduce a “per capita cap” that would reduce the program’s funding over time. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito
(R-W.V.), who joined the Portman letter and whose home state is
particularly dependent on Medicaid, left a meeting two days ago saying
that the Senate was open to per capita caps ― a tell-tale sign that the
cap, or something like it, could end up in final legislation.
And
then there are the implications that repeal could have for people
purchasing coverage on their own, either directly from insurers or
through healthcare.gov and state-run insurance exchanges. Senate
Republicans have said the House bill would punish older consumers too
much, by allowing insurers to charge near-retirement seniors up to five
times what they charge younger consumers ― and, simultaneously, by
rearranging the Affordable Care Act’s financial aid so that it doesn’t
provide extra help to people with high insurance costs.
But
they haven’t made the same fuss about the way the House bill also
shifts assistance away from lower-income consumers, which is a big
reason why so many people would lose coverage. And key members like Hatch
seem committed both to cutting as much spending as possible ― and
rescinding the Affordable Care Act’s taxes, including hefty levies on
corporations and the wealthiest American households. The net result is
likely to be large losses of insurance coverage, even if they are not as
large as the losses in the House bill.
Senate politics are tricky enough that public pressure matters
GOP
leaders face some big obstacles as they try to craft a bill that can
pass, and most likely those obstacles are bigger than the ones that
stood in the way of Ryan and his allies earlier this year.
In
the Senate, Republicans need 50 votes to pass legislation, assuming
Vice President Mike Pence would break a tie, and they have only 52
seats. Already two of their members, Sens. Bill Cassidy
(R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), have called explicitly to preserve
or even expand the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of insurance
coverage. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who is among those who have been
most openly critical of the House bill, faces a difficult re-election
fight in a Democratic state.
Put
those together with the likes of Capito, Portman and Sen. Lisa
Murkowski (R-Alaska), and their strong feelings about protecting the Medicaid
expansion population, and it’s easy to see how the Senate could end up
with a bill that’s less extreme than the House version ― or maybe no
bill at all.
But
even Cassidy and Collins have left themselves wiggle room, which means
they could end up supporting a bill in exchange for minor modifications,
just as so-called moderates in the House did. And they will be fighting
ultra-conservatives like Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah)
and Rand Paul (R-Ky.), whose idea of “compromise” is a bill that looks like the House bill or is maybe even more extreme.
The
deciding factor could be public reaction, but the public can’t react to
a bill unless it gets a good look at it. It appears Republican leaders
are trying not to let that happen.
Lets get something straight with you repugnican scum; THERE IS NO OBAMACARE! President Obama was a great man a man of honor who served this country well, unlike you repugnican scum, but his name is not on this bill. IT IS THE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT YOU PIRATES! THE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE ACT!! President Obama's name is not on this Godly law that provided relief to millions in this country! Not like this bill straight from satan himself that you're trying to palm off on Americans! You prove that you are against American with everything you do; why are you still in this country?!!? We know why you do it, to remind some of your racist constituents that a Black President helped to craft this Bill, and you want to remind them of that while you do something underhanded and possibly illegal. You've lied and lied and lied about the Affordable Healthcare Act you got some less than intelligent dolts believing your bullshit! Thank God that the majority of Americans aren't fooled by you scurvy rogues as you sit on the bill waiting Americans to calm down before you FINISH ROBBING THEM OF THE HEALTHCARE THEY NEEEEED! YOU AIN'T TAKING YOURS AWAY; JUST OURS YOU WORTHLESS SCUMBAGS! God curse you and your families and we pray to God that when you finally push that stupid bill through that ALL AMERICANS WILL RISE UP AND DRAG YOU OUT INTO THE STREETS AND DEAL WITH YOU!
The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill fundamentally altering former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Although it is a major victory for President Donald Trump, the bill is far from becoming law.
The American Healthcare Act (AHCA) is out of the House with 217 GOP
lawmakers supporting the new healthcare legislation. Every Democrat in
the House opposed it, as did 20 Republicans. But, again, don’t worry
about it making drastic changes to the nation’s healthcare system just
yet.
There are a number of major hurdles the AHCA needs to clear before it
imposes sweeping changes to the healthcare system for tens of millions
of Americans. Here’s what you need to know.
Video
GOP Moves To Defund Obamacare; Democrats Can't Block It
1) The AHCA doesn’t “repeal and replace” Obamacare.
It’s a distinct pivot from Trump’s pledge to eliminate Obamacare and
overhaul healthcare. But the Republicans did write three major changes
for Obamacare with Thursday’s bill. It a) reduces the “individual
mandate” that taxes Americans who do not maintain their own health
coverage, thereby cutting $883 billion in taxes while slashing federal
funds for Medicaid; it b) weakens the language that forces insurers to
cover Americans with pre-existing conditions; and it c) gives states the
freedom to waive coverage of 10 “essential benefits,” which could allow
private companies to drop those benefits, too.
In short, the AHCA allows states to fully repeal Obamacare one by one, but it does not repeal it at the federal level.
2) The Senate must now vote on AHCA—if they vote on it at all.
The Senate will not be voting on the proposed healthcare act as is.
In fact, they may not vote on the AHCA at all, with Senate Republicans
already working to craft their own piece of legislation that is expected
to be drastically different than the AHCA. If the Senate can pass that
bill—they would need it to be budget neutral to do so because that’s the
only way to pass it with just 51 votes—it would then head back to the
House, where it will likely face resistance from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which already blocked the bill once for not being conservative enough.
This back and forth process can significantly delay passage of the bill—if a consensus in the Senate is even reached.
Thursday’s headlines could have been nothing but an effective way to anger your liberal friends on Facebook.
Members of Congress needed to show their respective constituents that
they’re moving forward with their campaign promises to ditch Obamacare.
There are several Republican senators who are not on board. Hell, even Republican leaders have suggested scrapping AHCA altogether.
4) Republicans can force this thing through.
Republicans can pass this bill through what is called budget
reconciliation. This process would only require 51 votes. But this can
only happen if House Republicans eliminate a specific change that was
recently made to AHCA. (Congress was exempt from the law, and the amendment changed that.)
However, if that amendment stays as written, it has to be passed the
old-fashioned way, which means Democrats could filibuster it and block a
vote by forcing 60 votes to pass.
Even still, Republicans could eliminate the legislative filibuster
(filibusters used on regular bills like the AHCA, which are not
enshrined in the Constitution), but that would be a high-risk gamble
that could come back to bite them.
5) More importantly, Trump is determined to move forward.
Repealing Obamacare was a central issue to Trump’s campaign and
Republicans remain pressured to successfully pass their own version of
healthcare law. Trump and his administration failed in their first
attempt in March, but despite its unpopularity with the American people, are right back at it.
Trump praised Thursday’s AHCA bill as “incredibly well
crafted,” poised to end the “suffering” of Obamacare. It’s a difficult
fight, but it’s one the president is committed to seeing through
trump says to hell with Americans Healthcare and moves back to trying to get Russia to betray Assad since they don't want to fight a powerful enemy! Still don't understand, God stands against you and your evil agenda do you! The Lord is getting ready to take you down permanently! There will be no deals for you, so Saith the Lord son of satan!
Trump meets with Russian foreign minister
The Russian diplomat refuses to discuss the firing of James Comey
By JOSH LEDERMAN and VIVIAN SALAMAAssociated Press
WASHINGTON — All but ignoring the drama over Russia and the U.S.
election, President Trump on Wednesday sought to advance prospects for
cooperation between the former Cold War foes in Syria and elsewhere in a
rare Oval Office meeting with Vladimir Putin’s top diplomat.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s talks with Trump were already
destined to be a closely watched affair, given the dire state of
U.S.-Russian relations and diplomatic wrangling going on over a
Moscow-backed deal to stabilize Syria. Yet Trump’s stunning decision on
the eve of the meeting to fire the FBI director overseeing a
Russia-related investigation injected further intrigue into Lavrov’s
first visit to Washington since 2013.
President Trump greets Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the White House on Wednesday. Russian Foreign Ministry via AP
Trump “raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving
conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere,” according to a White House
statement.
Trump and Lavrov met in private, though both sides cast the session
as a sign of ties having improved since the U.S. leader’s assessment of
them last month as at an “all-time low.” On Wednesday, they focused on
areas of budding agreement and Lavrov sought to blame the recent
acrimony on former President Barack Obama.
“The previous administration bent over backwards to undermine the
solid foundation of our relations,” Lavrov told reporters at the Russian
Embassy after meeting Trump. “We have to start at a very low level.”
In contrast, he credited Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson,
whom he met earlier in the day, with taking a “businesslike” approach
that is “free from ideology,” focused on reaching agreements. None were
apparently reached Wednesday.
The meeting was Trump’s highest level face-to-face contact with a
Russian official since taking office and in itself represented modest
progress. The last time Lavrov visited the American capital was before
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and intervened militarily in Syria to
help President Bashar Assad – actions that fueled U.S.-Russian
tensions.
The Russian diplomat steadfastly refused to weigh in on Trump’s
decision to fire James Comey, the former FBI director, who had been
overseeing investigations of alleged Russian interference in the U.S.
election and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign. Lavrov called it a
U.S. decision, echoing Putin, who said Russia had nothing to do with
Comey’s dismissal.
“Was he fired? You’re kidding,” Lavrov said sarcastically, feigning surprise as he started his day of meetings in Washington.
Comey’s dismissal escalated concerns in
both parties that Trump may be trying to undermine an investigation that
appears to be gaining steam. Trump insisted that wasn’t the case. He
said Wednesday he fired Comey because he “was not doing a good job.”
Still, the overlap between the investigation and Trump’s diplomatic
efforts made for uncomfortable optics. Russia’s Foreign Ministry tweeted
a photo of Trump shaking hands with Lavrov and the Russian Embassy
posted another of the president greeting another participant in the
meeting: Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a central character in various
Russia-related investigations because of his contacts with several
individuals close to Trump.
Lavrov chalked up the controversy to “noise” and to “false news” –
invoking Trump’s frequent references to the Russia allegations as “fake
news.”
On Syria, where Russia has backed President Bashar Assad’s forces and
the U.S. has supported anti-Assad rebels, the talks appeared to
indicate a slight narrowing of differences.
Russia, Turkey and Iran last week agreed on a plan for four
“de-escalation zones” in the Arab country to quell a civil war that has
killed some 400,000 people and contributed to global refugee and terror
crises since erupting in 2011. The U.S. isn’t party to the deal and has
reacted cautiously, especially given its misgivings about Iran’s role.
But Lavrov said he detected a U.S. willingness to participate,
especially with a zone being formed in Syria’s south, near the border
with Israel and Jordan.
“We believe the U.S. is really interested in that,” Lavrov said,
acknowledged details of the plan still needed to be worked out. The
zones would not cover areas where the U.S.-led coalition is fighting the
Islamic State group, but enforcement and other questions remain
unanswered.
In his earlier meeting with Lavrov, Tillerson emphasized the U.S.
wouldn’t lift sanctions on Russia related to Ukraine until Moscow
reverses the actions that triggered the punishment – namely, its Crimea
annexation.
Moscow wants the elimination of those and election-related sanctions
imposed by Obama. Nevertheless, Lavrov struck a conciliatory tone and
said Russia isn’t intending to retaliate.
“Putin doesn’t want to follow the lead of those who are trying to
poison our relations to the point of no return,” he told reporters.
So jeff sessions this badd ol' boy is a kkk member. Well hell trumps' dad was a kkk grand wizard. Apparently that's how they got most of their money. Trump find a country you really like and keep it in mind; sessions, lol, say hello to your father in hell boi.
Protesters dressed as KKK members dragged out of Sessions' attorney general hearing
WASHINGTON — Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) had barely entered the room
for his Attorney General confirmation hearing when he was met by
protesters.
A pair of men dressed as KKK members jumped up on their seats in the
back of the Senate hearing room the moment Sessions walked in, adopting
seemingly fake southern accents to troll the controversial senator.
"Thank you so much for being here for the people. White people don't
get arrested. You can't arrest me, I'm white! What do we have to do,
wait for the inauguration? This is craziness!" one of the men said as he
was dragged out of the room by Capitol police.
Men dressed up as KKK members jumped out of their seats at Sen. Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General confirmation hearing.
(Andrew Harnik/AP)
Sessions' controversial racial record quickly emerged as the central
focus of Democrats in his confirmation hearings, which began Tuesday
morning — both from the senators and from protestors. WATCH LIVE: Sessions' AG confirmation hearing off to rocky start
A cadre of activists with the leftwing group Code Pink, dressed up in
pink statue of liberty outfits, and a group of marijuana advocates sat
in the back of the room.
"No Trump, no KKK. No fascist USA," three chanted as they were dragged
out by Capitol police during Session's opening statement. Seven
protesters had been removed from the room by 11 a.m.
One of those protesters with Code Pink was pulled from the room for
laughing when Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), in introducing his
home-state colleague, described his "extensive record of treating all
Americans fairly under the law."
Sen. Jeff Sessions’ Attorney General confirmation hearings began Tuesday morning.
(KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS)
"He said something funny, so I laughed!" she complained as she was hauled out by police. Sen. Cory Booker planning to testify against AG nominee Sessions
Code Pink activist Ariel Gold told the Daily News they had come "to
oppose racism, homophobia, anti-immigrant policies," and said Sessions
was "blatantly racist."
Two more were dragged out after interrupting Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as he questioned Sessions.
"I think they're on the fence about GITMO," Graham joked.
Getty Images
