The Senate bill to replace the Affordable Care Act is much worse than even the Congressional Budget Office found, because the CBO looked only at the first 10 years. During the next 10 years, the elderly and disabled lose 25 percent more, children lose 30 percent more, adults on Medicaid almost 40 percent, and working class people who relied on the Medicaid expansion lose over half of what they had before. The 1965 Medicaid program is gutted.
Look 20 years out
Jun 30th, 2017 5:51 pm | By Ophelia BensonFewer voters, more vote hacking
Jun 30th, 2017 4:52 pm | By Ophelia BensonIt’s a good thing The Nation has Ari Berman on staff, because there sure is a lot of voting rights reporting to do under the Trump putsch. Just yesterday, he reports, there were four ominous moves against voting rights.
Election Assistance Commission, the only federal agency that helps states make sure their voting machines aren’t hacked. The House Administration Committee previously voted to kill the EAC in February, but yesterday’s vote makes it one step closer to reality—practically inviting Russia to try to hack our elections again.
1. The House Appropriations Committee voted to defund the
I for one welcome our new Putinist overlords.
… Read the restsent a letter to all 50 states informing them
2. The Department of Justice
Don’t let them silence you
Jun 30th, 2017 12:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonBut does misogyny really matter?
Sally Feldman at the New Humanist:
… Read the restIn their recent memoirs both [Harriet] Harman and [Jess] Phillips – the head girl and naughty first former of Parliament – not only offer impressive accounts of their formidable achievements, but also chronicle the endless sexism that poisons political life. And both are committed to making the path easier for the next generation.
…
But while Harman deplores the prejudices that women in public life have always had to face, Phillips rages against the newest weapon in the sex wars: internet trolling.
Revealing that she once received 600 rape threats in one day, she gives us a sample of the kind of abuse that comes tweeting her way.
The search for meaning
Jun 30th, 2017 11:55 am | By Ophelia BensonThe other day Fresh Air did a conversation with a reporter about the health insurance battle; one item jumped out at me:
… Read the restDAVIES: This is FRESH AIR. I’m Dave Davies in for Terry Gross, who’s off this week. We’re talking with Sarah Kliff about the Senate health care bill. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had hoped to get it to a vote before the July 4 recess but has postponed action because he can’t get enough support for it to pass. Sarah Kliff is senior policy correspondent for Vox and co-host of its podcast “The Weeds.”
When we left off, Kliff had explained that the Congressional Budget Office found the bill would leave millions more uninsured and would increase health
Smile, bitch
Jun 30th, 2017 11:26 am | By Ophelia BensonPeter Beinart on the two flavors of sexism:
On Thursday, Donald Trump tweeted that MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski had been “bleeding badly from a face-lift” when she visited Mar-a-Lago last December. On Tuesday, in the Oval Office, he interrupted a phone call with the Irish prime minister to call over a female Irish journalist, Caitriona Perry, while referring to her “nice smile” and “this beautiful Irish press.”
The incidents are two sides of the same coin.
Or to put it more clearly, they’re the same thing in different moods. The sexist insult and the sexist compliment are both expressions of patronage, of ownership, of altitude. The complimentary version can in fact be worse, because if not obediently and gratefully received … Read the rest
Our least-favorite quality in Trump: everything about him
Jun 29th, 2017 5:49 pm | By Ophelia BensonHere is an interesting concept –
Twitter is also a regular reminder of what has long been Americans’ least-favorite quality in Trump: his temperament. A Quinnipiac University poll this month found that just 29 percent of Americans describe Trump as “levelheaded.” Even one-third of Republicans said the president is not a prudent man.
Our “least favorite quality”? What, because he has other, better ones? His temperament is everything. It’s not as if you can put his temperament to one side in order to give due credit to other things about him; his temperament suffuses everything he does and says. It’s a very “Aside from that, Mrs Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?” idea that Trump is separable from … Read the rest
Evidence
Jun 29th, 2017 5:17 pm | By Ophelia BensonBrian Stelter clarifies what Mika Brzezinski actually looked like last New Year’s.
For the record, this is a picture of @MorningMika at Mar-a-Lago at the time Trump is claiming she was "bleeding badly." pic.twitter.com/NJgioOD3Va
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 29, 2017
Imagine
Jun 29th, 2017 1:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonIt’s being a tragic day. Let’s play a popular game I just invented called Fantasy Headlines.
Trump Dragged Away Screaming by Federal Marshalls
Trump Extradited to ICC for Crimes Against Humanity
Trump Convicted on Multiple Counts of Fraud, Corruption, Perjury, Witness Tampering
Sentenced to 375 years
Rape Victim Wins Case Against Trump
Awarded 7 billion dollars in damages, vows to share with Trump’s other victims
Trump’s Hair Sculpture Blown Off in Sudden Unexpected Gale
Trump Addresses Rally in Omaha
Crowd laughs, heckles, throws popcorn
Trump Found to Owe the US Public 3 Trillion Dollars
Judge draws up payment plan
Trump Tower on the market for 600k
Mar-a-Lago Alligator Attacks Trump
… Read the restNothing left but the red baseball cap
Read this and gasp
Jun 29th, 2017 12:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonSigh. Not this crap again.
Read this & gasp. So…we should abandon Dr. King's dream & return to judging people by the color of their skin instead of their character? pic.twitter.com/IniWeMAdST
— Michael Shermer (@michaelshermer) June 28, 2017
The cardinal
Jun 29th, 2017 11:57 am | By Ophelia BensonVictoria Police has confirmed Cardinal Pell has been charged on summons over multiple allegations and is due to face Melbourne Magistrates Court on July 18 for a filing hearing.
A statement from the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney said Cardinal Pell had been informed of Victoria Police’s “decision and action”.
He denies all the allegations and says he’ll defend himself vigorously.
… Read the restCardinal Pell is the third most senior Catholic at the Vatican, where he is responsible for the church’s finances.
He is likely to step aside from his Vatican post while he fights the charges.
Victoria’s Deputy Police Commissioner, Shane Patton, confirmed in a brief press conference on Thursday morning that Cardinal Pell had been issued
Trump’s true self
Jun 29th, 2017 10:58 am | By Ophelia BensonMichelle Goldberg points out that Trump is a pig.
… Read the restThere’s a lot you can say about these tweets; among other things, it’s striking that Trump thinks that when journalists seek access to him, it means they like him. But I was most struck by Trump’s raw misogyny. Obviously, that’s not because Trumpian misogyny is anything new, but because, from the time he was inaugurated until this week, he’s mostly been holding it in.
Trump does not get much credit for being disciplined, but for the last five months, he’s mostly checked his tendencies to leeringly appraise women’s looks, at least in public. (Vanity Fair did report in April that during a visit by the Japanese Prime Minister, “the
Ten times harder
Jun 29th, 2017 10:05 am | By Ophelia BensonThe more I think about it the more staggering – and yet all too predictable – it is that Melania Trump’s people think it’s fine to justify his vulgar sexist vicious tweets by saying: “As the first lady has stated publicly in the past, when her husband gets attacked, he will punch back 10 times harder.”
In fact you could read that as a captive Melania signaling to the rest of us. “I keep telling you – he’s an authoritarian bully who thinks he’s the only important person in the world.”
But you can also read it more straightforwardly as his wife dutifully saying what he would say: nobody has any right to criticize The Great and Awesome Donald Trump, … Read the rest
In unusually personal and vulgar terms
Jun 29th, 2017 9:22 am | By Ophelia BensonThe Times on Trump’s vulgar attack on a woman tv host:
President Trump assailed the television host Mika Brzezinski on Thursday in unusually personal and vulgar terms, the latest of a string of escalating attacks by the president on the national news media.
And women. There’s more than one pattern here. There’s Trump’s loathing and disgust at women as well as his hatred of independent journalism.
… Read the restThe graphic nature of the president’s suggestion that Ms. Brzezinski had undergone plastic surgery was met with immediate criticism on social media. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, wrote on Twitter, “Mr. President, your tweet was beneath the office and represents what is wrong with American politics, not the greatness of
A nation’s pride
Jun 29th, 2017 8:25 am | By Ophelia BensonLadies and gentlemen – the PRESident of the UNIted STATES!
Hail to the Chief plays in the background
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017
Call your office, sir
Jun 28th, 2017 5:56 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnother abusive Trump lie mocked.
The failing @nytimes writes false story after false story about me. They don't even call to verify the facts of a story. A Fake News Joke!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2017
Call your office, sir. @nytimes spoke to many, many, many members of your staff yesterday – & ran everything by your team. https://t.co/wXz9cmb3hZ
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) June 28, 2017
I don’t think we’ve ever had a president who lied so openly and shamelessly and frequently and repeatedly. In fact it may be logistically impossible for us to have had such a thing, since Twitter was founded in 2006 and Bush and Obama used it only sparingly (and formally). Before Twitter … Read the rest
Textbook paternalistic sexism
Jun 28th, 2017 5:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonWas Trump’s revolting condescension to the Irish reporter Caitriona Perry sexist? Did Hitler have a silly moustache?
… Read the restThe exchange, which was captured on video and widely shared on social media, drew criticism about how Mr. Trump treats women and the message it sent about the attitude toward women as professionals in their fields.
Elisa Lees Muñoz, executive director of the International Women’s Media Foundation, said on Wednesday that she had heard about the episode in passing.
After a transcript of the exchange was read to her over the phone, she said: “Oh, Lord. I wish I could say this is a surprise.”
She said such occurrences were not limited to Mr. Trump, adding that female journalists are frequently
So many questions
Jun 28th, 2017 1:22 pm | By Ophelia BensonI wrote about “community”speak in The Freethinker.
The day after the terror attack near Finsbury Park Mosque, the BBC interviewed Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the ironically named Islamic Human Rights Commission.
The IHRC is in fact not so much a human rights organization as a public relations firm with one client: a reactionary theocratic version of Islam. In 2015 it distinguished itself by giving Charlie Hebdo an award for “Islamophobia” two months after 12 members of its staff were murdered by the Kouachi brothers, who shouted the obligatory “Allahu akbar” afterwards.
Why does the BBC consult organizations like that? Why doesn’t it talk to the not loathsome organizations instead? Why doesn’t it talk to women instead of men? … Read the rest
Which group is protected from hate speech? The correct answer: white men
Jun 28th, 2017 12:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonPro Publica provides a large bale of information on why Facebook does the strange things it does.
… Read the restIn the wake of a terrorist attack in London earlier this month, a U.S. congressman wrote a Facebook post in which he called for the slaughter of “radicalized” Muslims. “Hunt them, identify them, and kill them,” declared U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican. “Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”
Higgins’ plea for violent revenge went untouched by Facebook workers who scour the social network deleting offensive speech.
But a May posting on Facebook by Boston poet and Black Lives Matter activist Didi Delgado drew a different response.
The Montgomery behemoth
Jun 28th, 2017 11:29 am | By Ophelia BensonBen Schreckinger at Politico takes a look at the Southern Poverty Law Center and its expanded…agenda.
Since 1971, the SPLC has fought racial discrimination in the South and established itself as the nation’s most prominent hate-group watchdog, most notably winning legal fights that put some of the last nails in the coffin of the Ku Klux Klan. It has also built itself into a civil rights behemoth with a glossy headquarters and a nine-figure endowment, inviting charges that it oversells the threats posed by Klansmen and neo-Nazis to keep donations flowing in from wealthy liberals.
Trump has been a kind of gift to them, P argues, renewing their Relevance Ticket and inspiring new donors.
… Read the restThe rise of Trump is a
“I bet she treats you well”
Jun 28th, 2017 9:58 am | By Ophelia BensonA weird little incident in the weird life of weird Donnie, that shows how weird he is even – or especially – when he’s trying to be Pleasant.
… Read the restWhile President Trump spoke over the phone with Ireland’s new prime minister Leo Varadkar Tuesday, congratulating him on his recent win, he made eye contact with a female reporter in the room.
“We have a lot of your Irish press watching us right now,” President Trump told Varadkar, informing him that the whole conversation was taking place in a room full of journalists with cameras running.
He pointed at Irish reporter Caitríona Perry, U.S. bureau chief for RTÉ News, telling her to come over to his desk.
“We have all of