Friday Open Thread | “Roots” 40th Anniversary Week

Posted on March 10, 2017 by rikyrah

TGIF, Everyone!

This entry was posted in Media, Open Thread, Politics, Racism, Slave Auctions, Slave Breeding in America, Slavery and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

76 Responses to Friday Open Thread | “Roots” 40th Anniversary Week

  7. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 7:10 pm

    GOP Congressman Falls Apart And Admits That Sick People Will Be Screwed On Trumpcare
    Published on Mar 10, 2017

    Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) fell apart while he was being questioned by MSNBC’s Kate Snow on what would happen if someone got sick while on the Republican Obamacare replacement plan. His answers revealed that folks will be screwed.

    https://youtu.be/MUet5mr9UrU

    Reply
  10. Liza says:
    March 10, 2017 at 6:14 pm

    DHS reportedly wants to expand immigration detention by 550% – which means billions for two private prison giants https://t.co/BKUExBLX7f pic.twitter.com/qs6CDKiTSM— MuckRock (@MuckRock) March 10, 2017

    //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 3:37 pm

    The Republican health-care plan isn’t about health care at all
    By Catherine Rampell Opinion writer March 9 at 7:19 PM
    Let’s abandon the pretense.

    Republicans’ “health care” bill is not really about health care. It’s not about improving access to health insurance, or reducing premiums, or making sure you get to keep your doctor if you like your doctor. And it’s certainly not about preventing people from dying in the streets.

    Instead, it’s about hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts — tax cuts that will quietly pave the way for more, and far larger, tax cuts.

    The American Health Care Act, which has been opposed by nearly every possible stakeholder of nearly every ideological orientation, is being rushed through Congress with non-extreme vetting. In fact, it passed out of one committee in the middle of the night, overseen by a committee chairman who just a day earlier criticized Obamacare for being “written in the dark of night.”

    ………………………………………………….

    On the other hand, it’s quite easy to see how another well-established Republican goal would be achieved: tax cuts. Specifically, $600 billion of them, predominantly benefiting the rich.

    The Joint Committee on Taxation has released a series of estimates showing what some of the tax-related provisions of Trumpcare would do.

    Among the biggest are repeals of two ACA surtaxes on the highest-earning Americans: a 0.9 percent payroll tax add-on and a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income for couples whose incomes exceed $250,000 ($200,000 for individuals).

    Repealing these would cost $275 billion over the next decade.

    Reply
    • rikyrah says:
      March 10, 2017 at 3:37 pm

      The presence of expensive tax cuts in a bill purportedly about health-care reform is not a side effect; it’s the entire point. They make it easier for Republicans’ (much bigger) individual and corporate tax cuts to sail through the Senate with minimal Democratic obstruction in a few months’ time.

      Why? Under normal circumstances, Democrats would almost certainly filibuster the coming tax overhaul, preventing it from ever getting to a vote. But Republicans can take the filibuster option away by using the “reconciliation” process, which is an option if, and only if, the tax bill doesn’t increase government deficits in the long term, relative to existing law.

      Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 2:13 pm

    The best part about having Harriet Tubman on Underground?

    We know her story. She wasn’t caught. So, they can use her to do whatever storyline they want, and Harriet will give ‘ the good guys’ their wins.

    Reply
  15. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 2:12 pm

    In the Russia scandal, many key players have bad memories
    03/10/17 11:26 AM
    By Steve Benen
    During his Senate confirmation hearing, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he did not meet with any Russian officials during the 2016 campaign, despite two meetings he had with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Asked about the purpose of the meetings, Sessions said last week he didn’t fully remember.

    Michael Flynn talked to Ambassador Kislyak during the transition period, and after insisting that U.S. sanctions against Russia didn’t come up during their conversations, Flynn later said he didn’t remember whether sanctions were part of the discussions or not.

    Maybe memory loss is contagious? CNN had an interesting report late yesterday:

    In an October speech to the Detroit Economic Club, Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, denied meeting with Donald Trump or campaign officials during the course of 2016 presidential election, but acknowledged that he met with members of Congress and others who approached him at events.

    Kislyak spoke to the Detroit Economic Club on Oct. 27th of last year.

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 2:11 pm

    Putting an end to the debate about the GOP as a ‘governing party’
    03/10/17 01:06 PM—UPDATED 03/10/17 01:44 PM
    By Steve Benen

    MSNBC’s Chris Hayes talked with Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) last night about the Republican health care plan, which Lance voted for in committee yesterday. Chris asked a simple question early on, which ordinarily wouldn’t even come up after a committee vote: “How many hearings – open hearings with witness testimony and the like – have you had on this bill?”

    Lance dodged, saying Republicans had held hearings about their opposition to the Affordable Care Act, so Chris asked again, “In this Congress, though. How many hearings in this Congress on this bill?” Lance dodged again, referring to 2016 campaign rhetoric. Chris stuck with it, asking, “I get that, but there`s legislative language now. I’m just curious, how many hearings has your committee had on this bill?”

    Lance dodged again, and Chris asked again. The two went back and forth multiple times, with the Republican congressman refusing to acknowledge that his committee hasn’t held any hearings on the American Health Care Act, which some have labeled “Trumpcare.” Lance eventually said he thinks maybe the Senate will hold some “discussion” about the legislation.

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 2:10 pm

    Republicans take aim at men paying for prenatal care
    03/10/17 10:44 AM—UPDATED 03/10/17 10:48 AM
    By Steve Benen
    One of my favorite moments of the legislative debate on the Affordable Care Act came in September 2009, during an otherwise unremarkable committee hearing. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), at the time the Senate Minority Whip, was complaining bitterly about proposed benefits to be included in a standard benefit package.

    To drive home his point, the Arizona Republican said, “I don’t need maternity care.”

    ”I think your mom probably did,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) replied.

    While that should’ve effectively ended the argument forever, four years later, this came up again during a House hearing, when Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) also complained about standard benefits covering maternity care. “To the best of your knowledge has a man ever delivered a baby?” the Republican congresswoman asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

    This week, as the Washington Post reported, it happened once more, as yet another GOP lawmaker took aim the “Obamacare” provision that requires health plans to cover pregnancy and childbirth.

    At the start, Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.) was talking with Republican Rep. John Shimkus (Ill.) about Shimkus’s objections to the Affordable Care Act’s requirements for health-insurance plans…. “What mandate in the Obamacare bill does he take issue with?” Doyle asked Shimkus, using the formal parlance of congressional committees.

    “What about men having to purchase prenatal care?” Shimkus said.

    At that point, one could hear the room start to stir. “I’m just … is that not correct?” Shimkus said. “And should they?”

    Reply
  18. Ametia says:
    March 10, 2017 at 1:35 pm

    Where are you Liza?

    Middle-Schooler Who Wrote G.O.P. Health-Care Bill Claims He Has Not Been Paid
    By Andy Borowitz 01:31 P.M.

    WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The middle-school student who wrote the Republican health-care bill that was unveiled earlier in the week complained on Friday that he still has not been paid for his work.

    Kevin Tenco, a seventh grader from House Speaker Paul Ryan’s congressional district, in Wisconsin, said that Ryan hired him two weeks ago to write the American Health Care Act with the promise that it “wouldn’t be too much work” and that he would be paid handsomely for his effort.
    “He said I would get paid, like, five hundred dollars, and I could buy a Nintendo Switch,” Tenco said.

    Taking Ryan at his word, the thirteen-year-old, from Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, “pulled several all-nighters” to complete the health-care bill in time for its Monday unveiling.

    “I basically went to the Wikipedia page for Obamacare, cut and pasted a bunch of stuff and then threw in some tax cuts and whatnot,” he said. “It doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but I was super tired by the end of it.”

    According to Tenco, Ryan’s failure to pay him in a timely fashion for writing the American Health Care Act has left him “feeling really bad about our government.”

    “I was all set to write an immigration reform bill for Congressman Ryan, but now there’s no way,” he said.

    http://www.newyorker.com/?p=3324278&mbid=nl_031017%20Borowitz%20Newsletter%20(1)&CNDID=24441272&spMailingID=10595698&spUserID=MTMzMTgyNDUyMzAyS0&spJobID=1120825919&spReportId=MTEyMDgyNTkxOQS2

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 1:30 pm

    Uh huh
    Uh huh

    the Conster, la Citoyenne says:
    March 10, 2017 at 2:07 pm
    Wait until all those Trump voting 30 and 40 somethings in the burbs and exurbs realize that not only will their own health care costs be an issue, their parents are going to spend all their inheritance and reverse mortgage the house they hoped to sell one day for profit, to pay for health care. Also “filial responsibility” laws.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      March 10, 2017 at 1:39 pm

      LET’S BREAK THAT DOWN FOR FOLKS, SHALL WE?

      Filial responsibility laws (filial support laws, filial piety laws) are laws that impose a duty upon third parties, usually (but not always) adult children for the support of their impoverished parents or other relatives. In some cases the duty is extended to other relatives.

      Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 12:13 pm

    Republicans take aim at Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeepers
    03/10/17 09:23 AM
    By Steve Benen

    As the debate over health care heats up, Republicans are fighting battles on multiple fronts. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and his allies have to worry about, among other things, intra-party divisions, Democratic criticisms, denunciations from industry stakeholders, spirted progressive activism, and opposition from most of the nation’s most prominent conservative organizations.

    But one foe looms larger than any other. The New York Times reports:

    President Trump showed an affinity for “working the referees” in his race to the White House, criticizing a federal judge as biased, panning polls as rigged and even questioning the aptitude of the nation’s intelligence agencies.

    Now, with Mr. Trump’s administration aggressively pitching the House Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Capitol Hill’s official scorekeeper — the Congressional Budget Office — is coming under intense fire. As it prepares to render its judgment on the cost and impact of the bill, the nonpartisan agency of economists and statisticians has become a political piñata — and the latest example of Mr. Trump’s team casting doubt on benchmarks accepted as trustworthy for decades.

    At some point very soon, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is going to issue a non-partisan report on the impact of the Republicans’ American Health Care Act, which some are calling “Trumpcare.” The analysis will provide all kinds of important data, including the cost of the GOP bill and how many Americans are likely to have health insurance if the Republican proposal is implemented.

    The CBO’s conclusions are not likely to be flattering – which is why Republican leaders are scrambling to push their bill now, before lawmakers and the public have all the facts, since reality is likely to cast “Trumpcare” in a very unflattering light.

    Reply
  21. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    LOL

    The older girl walks in like a BOSS

    😄😄😄😄😄

    https://mobile.twitter.com/phil_lewis_/status/840176136235683845

    Reply
  22. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 11:45 am

    To get what they want, Republicans learn to play Trump against Ryan
    03/10/17 10:14 AM—UPDATED 03/10/17 10:23 AM
    By Steve Benen

    It’s a trick many children learn at a young age: if one parent won’t give you what you want, quietly ask the other parent, who might offer a more satisfying answer.

    A similar dynamic is unfolding in Washington right now. The Huffington Post reported yesterday:

    Leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, unhappy with the Republican health care legislation being rushed through the House by Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), are taking their concerns directly to President Donald Trump.

    Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) and former Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) spent Thursday afternoon at the White House, meeting with budget staffers, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, and Trump himself…. Freedom Caucus members are demanding changes to the health care bill that Republican House leaders refuse to make.

    Paul Ryan has told his members that he’s simply not prepared to make major changes to his health care reform bill, the American Health Care Act, which some have begun calling “Trumpcare.” The White House, however, is far more flexible, with the president telling everyone he’s ready to negotiate.

    The result is hardly surprising. When the Huffington Post asked House Freedom Caucus member Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) if he and his allies who are critical of Ryan’s bill are deliberately circumventing the Speaker’s office to negotiate with the White House, the congressman didn’t exactly deny it.

    “We’re appealing to a president who likes to negotiate, who likes to win, and who likes to keep his promises,” Labrador said.

    Reply
  24. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 11:19 am

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA

    Little girl caught stealing candy. Does NOT want to go to the police station

    https://youtu.be/bqrRG4hvFPc

    Reply
  25. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 10:35 am

    GOP Leaders Shoot Down Moving Up Medicaid Expansion Phase Out Date
    ByTIERNEY SNEED
    Published MARCH 10, 2017, 10:41 AM EDT

    The Republican House leaders pushing the passage of the GOP’s Obamacare repeal and replacement legislation shot down Friday the idea that they’d be open to negotiating how the bill handles Medicaid expansion. Conservatives are lobbying to speed up the process by which Republicans aim to phase out the program, by requesting that its enrollment be frozen in 2018 instead of 2020, as it is under the current plan.

    “I think right now, that would be very difficult to do,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said at press conference, when asked it leadership was open to the idea.

    If leaders’ concede to the conservatives’ demand to move up the Medicaid expansion phase out date, they risk losing the support of more centrist Republicans, and particularly those hailing from expansion states, which are represented by 20 Republicans in the Senate.

    “As we repeal Obamacare, we want to make sure that we don’t create gaps,” Energy and Commerce Chair Greg Walden (R-OR) said at the same press conference.

    “I’ve had discussions all along about different dates, different timelines, with governors, with insurance commissioners, with leaders of these different groups,” he added, while pointing to the fact that the current plan passed out of his committee Thursday with unanimous support of the panel’s Republicans.

    Conservatives have sought to get around leadership by appealing directly to President Trump. According to a CNN report Thursday evening, the White House is has shifted its stance on the Medicaid expansion issue in favor of what the hardliners are asking for.

    At Friday’s press conference, the Republican House leaders denied that they were being cut out of the loop, and also said they had no problem with the conservative members airing their concerns with the White House.

    Reply
  26. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 10:33 am

    Conservatives want to blow up Senate rules to kill Obamacare
    By ELANA SCHOR and JENNIFER HABERKORN
    03/09/17 05:49 PM EST

    House Republican leaders narrowly tailored their Obamacare repeal bill to avoid violating Senate rules, but conservatives are pushing back with advice of their own: tear up the rulebook.

    A growing number of conservative lawmakers on Thursday urged GOP leaders to push the limits of how much of the health law they can reshape under a powerful procedural maneuver known as budget reconciliation — and to overrule the Senate parliamentarian if she doesn’t decide in their favor.

    Such a gambit would require the unlikely buy-in of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a noted institutionalist who earlier this year avoided talk of changing his chamber’s rules to kill the ability to filibuster Supreme Court nominees.

    If the Senate changes precedent for what can be passed under reconciliation now, a future Senate — whether controlled by Republicans or Democrats — could enact a wide range of legislation with just a simple majority.

    “There are limits to what we can do” on Obamacare while complying with the Senate rules, Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Senate Republican, said in a Thursday floor speech. Under reconciliation guidelines, bills can be passed in the Senate with a simple majority and cannot be filibustered, as long as their provisions have a direct impact on spending or tax levels.

    But conservatives in both chambers are still trying to make the case for sending the Senate a more far-reaching Obamacare repeal bill than the one House GOP leaders unveiled this week.

    Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday kept up his pitch for a strategy that would see Vice President Mike Pence overruling the Senate parliamentarian, if necessary.

    Reply
  27. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 10:22 am

    New GOP-approved bill allows companies to mandate genetic testing of their employees. https://t.co/sgOZOdtoYY

    — Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) March 10, 2017

    Reply
  28. SouthernGirl2 says:
    March 10, 2017 at 10:22 am

    Harriet Tubman & Rosalee: A formidable team

    http://screenertv.com/television/underground-season-2-premiere-john-hawkes-harriet-tubman-aisha-hinds-wgn-america/

    There’s been a ton of buzz around Aisha Hinds’ addition to the “Underground” story, as abolitionist icon Harriet Tubman. In the weeks leading up to the Season 2 premiere, we were given further insight into Tubman’s role on the show when Jurnee Smollett-Bell told us that Harriet Tubman would be training Rosalee to be a soldier.

    Wednesday’s episode gave us a better idea of how this dynamic duo operates: Harriet Tubman with a shotgun in one hand and a hatchet in the other is indeed a sight to behold. And yet, as their teamwork helps to bring more runaway slaves to the Hawkes’ home — with the hopes of leading them along the Underground Railroad to freedom — we can’t help but wonder how John’s untimely death will affect their strategy moving forward.

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 10:12 am

    SOCIOPATHS.

    the.ENTIRE.lot.of.them

    Ryan On Millions Losing Care: ‘Never Going To Win A Coverage Beauty Contest’

    ByMATT SHUHAM
    Published MARCH 10, 2017, 10:10 AM EDT
    House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) admitted Friday that the Congressional Budget Office will likely estimate that millions of people would lose health insurance under the GOP’s proposed health care bill.

    But he said that the the bill wasn’t meant to address the “beauty contest” of increasing coverage.

    “We always know, you’re never going to win a coverage beauty contest when it’s free market versus government mandates,” Ryan told radio host Hugh Hewitt, after Hewitt floated the possibility that the CBO would estimate 15 million people will lose health insurance because of the American Health Care Act.

    He was referring in part to the Obamacare’s mandate that individuals purchase insurance, and the tax penalties it imposes on those who don’t. But the law also provides more government assistance to buy care than the Republicans’ alternative, which provides tax credits based mostly on age.

    Reply
  31. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:56 am

    BREAKING: Nearly 1,000 U.S. troops in Syria to fight against ISIS: Pentagon – @haaretzcom

    — Conflict News (@Conflicts) March 9, 2017

    Reply
  32. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:56 am

    Please keep calling your reps about #Trumpcare. The bill has passed two committees already with no modifications. Updated call guide here: pic.twitter.com/smoeGDfgTB

    — The Resisterhood (@resisterhood) March 10, 2017

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:55 am

    And of course, keep calling about Russia. We are NOT letting go of this. Public pressure needs to remain loud & insistent. Call guide here: pic.twitter.com/oOqudXqTLL

    — The Resisterhood (@resisterhood) March 10, 2017

    Reply
  34. Ametia says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:53 am
    Reply
  36. SouthernGirl2 says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:48 am

    In America- In America
    They say I’m free in America
    In America- In America
    I still can’t breathe in America…
    Watch’em squeezing my neck
    Watch them bullets connect…

    Reply
  37. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:45 am

    If he’s from Virginia, what da hail is he doing taping people in Ohio?

    US man stalks Indians, posts video saying ‘they’re taking away our jobs’
    INDIA Updated: Mar 07, 2017 09:49 IST
    Siladitya Ray
    Hindustan Times, New Delhi

    Days after the fatal shooting of Indian-born engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, an anti-immigration website that features photos and videos of Indian families relaxing in the city of Columbus, Ohio, has alarmed community members in the United States.

    A post on the website SaveAmericanITJobs.com called ‘Welcome to Columbus Ohio suburbs – Lets take a walk to Indian park’ features a video of Indian families hanging out in a public park in suburban Ohio. The video’s description mentions how wealthy Indian families have ‘moved in’ to suburban homes in Ohio as “displacement of Americans has occurred”. As of March 6, the video has over 41,000 views on YouTube.

    A Buzzfeed report says that the website is created and maintained by Steve Pushor, a 66-year-old computer programmer from Virginia.

    In the video, Pushor’s camera pans over people playing volleyball and children riding bikes, as he narrates: “The number of people from foreign countries blows my mind out here. You see this whole area is all Indian, amazing. It’s an amazing number of jobs have been taken away from Americans. The Indian crowd has ravished the Midwest. It’s a takeover.(sic)” Pushor sarcastically describes the park as a “mini Mumbai”.

    Pushor initially posted this video and the accompanying document ‘Ohio – A Journey To Indian Park’ in August. The document labels India as a “hell hole” and highlights the loss of “Norman Rockwell white people class” in the US. A link to the document now directs to a 403-error page, but an archived version of the page are still available online.

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:15 am

    Uh huh
    Uh huh

    ,a href=”http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/silicon-valley-tech-alt-right-racism-misogyny”>Meet Silicon Valley’s Secretive Alt-Right Followers
    I investigated the role of “alt-techies” in the extremist movement emboldened by Trump.

    JOSH HARKINSON
    MAR. 10, 2017 6:00 AM

    Readers of The Right Stuff long knew that founder “Mike Enoch” had two main interests: technology and white supremacy. Posts on the neo-Nazi site have included discussion of “a new blogging platform built on node.js,” while other less techie content has alluded to the “chimpout” in Ferguson, putting Jews in ovens, and Trump’s “top-tier troll” of Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

    In January, Enoch was outed as Mike Peinovich, a Manhattan-based software engineer. His unmasking highlighted a lingering question about the racist far-right movement that rose to prominence with Donald Trump’s election: What support might the so-called alt-right have among techies?

    Ever since I began investigating the extremist groups lining up behind Trump last spring, several of their leaders have made big claims to me about an alt-right following in Silicon Valley and across the broader tech industry. “The average alt-right-ist is probably a 28-year old tech-savvy guy working in IT,” white nationalist Richard Spencer insisted when I interviewed him a few weeks before the election. “I have seen so many people like that.” Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer, told me he gets donations from Silicon Valley, and that Santa Clara County, home to Apple and Intel, is his site’s largest traffic source. Chuck Johnson, the publisher of the conspiracy-mongering site Got News, said he gets lots of pageviews from the Bay Area.

    After Peinovich was outed, he also insisted to me that many techies secretly identify with the alt-right, which he attributed to a backlash against the “corporate feminist and diversity agenda” of tech companies. “The fact that speaking up about this virtually guarantees career and social suicide, as in my case, shows why so many white males in tech would be attracted to the alt-right.”

    Reply
  42. Ametia says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:15 am
    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:10 am

    From Smartypants:

    You want to know how possible it is that Republicans will fail to repeal Obamacare? Trump has already crafted his plan B, which of course involves blaming someone else.

    In a private Oval Office meeting with conservative activists Wednesday, President Donald Trump sold Paul Ryan’s health care bill as strong and necessary. But minutes later, his top aides offered some willingness to consider changing some of the core provisions, even as Trump himself suggested a fallback position — that they could try again in two years, and Obamacare will fail on its own, leaving Democrats to take the blame.

    Reply
  44. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:08 am

    Is Trump Being Investigated?
    by Martin Longman
    March 9, 2017 4:16 PM

    Keeping Matt Taibbi’s warning in mind that there may not ultimately be any there in the investigation into Donald Trump’s Russian connections, what would an ordinary person infer from the following which just appeared on the New York Times website?

    WASHINGTON — With questions still swirling over President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that he was wiretapped on orders of President Barack Obama, the Justice Department on Thursday declined to confirm statements a day earlier from the White House that Mr. Trump was not the target of a counterintelligence investigation.

    Officials also said the White House had not relied on any information from the Justice Department in offering a statement denying the existence of an investigation.

    The White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, told reporters on Wednesday that “there is no reason to believe there is any type of investigation with respect to the Department of Justice” or “that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever.”

    But a Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that there was no indication that anyone at the Justice Department had given the White House that assurance.

    Asked whether Mr. Trump was in fact the target of an investigation, the official offered a “no comment.”

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:07 am

    We’re All Conspiracy Theorists Now
    by Nancy LeTourneau March 10, 2017 8:00 AM

    Given the Breitbartization of the news, I’m sorry to say that in order to really understand what is going on in our country right now, it is important to occasionally check in on what is making the headlines at that site. Frankly, I was a bit blown away by this one: “WikiLeaks: CIA Uses ‘Stolen’ Malware to ‘Attribute’ Cyberattacks to Nations Like Russia.”

    Documents released by WikiLeaks show that the CIA kept records of malware attacks supposedly stolen from outside agents, including the Russian government, used to “misdirect attribution” of hacking sources.

    Essentially what they are doing is using the latest Wikileaks release to suggest that the whole story about Russian hacking of the DNC and members of Clinton’s campaign was a false flag set up by the CIA. That idea is now spreading on right wing web sites and twitter. In the past we could simply ignore this kind of thing by relegating it to the fevered imagination of extremists. But now those same extremists are inhabiting the White House.

    It’s important to keep in mind that the recent Wikileaks dump comes at a time when the U.S. intelligence community is leaking details of their investigation into whether or not the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election. In return, the president has attacked them – going so far as to compare the intelligence community to Nazis.

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:04 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 3/9/17
    Fmr Ambassador Fried: West at lowest we’ve seen since the 1930s
    Rachel Maddow talks with former Ambassador Daniel Fried, a 40-year U.S. diplomat, talks with Rachel Maddow about the State Department under Donald Trump and the shifting world power structure.

    Reply
  47. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 9:01 am

    Paul Ryan flubs the basic idea behind insurance
    03/09/17 02:51 PM—UPDATED 03/09/17 02:58 PM
    By Steve Benen
    In an apparent bid to drive me batty, CNN recently published a report that described House Speaker Paul Ryan as “a legendary wonk.” In reality, for those who take a closer look the Republican congressman’s record and rhetoric, it’s painfully obvious that Ryan is neither legendary nor a wonk.

    Take today, for example, when the GOP House Speaker did a little presentation on Capitol Hill for reporters in defense of his controversial American Health Care Act, which some have begun calling “Trumpcare.” At one point during the slideshow – complete with Ryan’s sleeves rolled up – the Wisconsin Republican tried to explain what he sees as the Affordable Care Act’s fatal flaw:

    “The fatal conceit of Obamacare is that we’re just gonna make everybody buy our health insurance at the federal-government level, young and healthy people are going to go into the market and pay for the older, sicker people. So, the young healthy person is going to be made to buy health care, and they’re going to pay for the person, you know, gets breast cancer in her 40s or who gets heart disease in his 50s. […]

    “The whole idea of Obamacare is … the people who are healthy pay for the people who are sick. It’s not working, and that’s why it’s in a death spiral.”

    Let’s take these two points one at a time, starting with the latter.

    The first problem with Ryan’s analysis is that he keeps using the phrase “death spiral” without fully understanding its meaning. As we discussed the last time the Speaker screwed this up, if the ACA were in “death spiral,” we’d see declining enrollment numbers, with consumers withdrawing from the system because they can’t afford the premiums and would rather pay the penalty than buy insurance they can’t afford.

    The real-world evidence, however, points in the opposite direction. As Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, told the Huffington Post in January, “It seems to me that enrollment holding steady amidst tremendous uncertainty about the future of the law and big premium increases is a positive sign. There is no evidence of a market collapse or insurance death spiral.”

    The second problem is that Ryan doesn’t seem to understand what “insurance” means.

    Reply
  48. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 8:59 am

    Trump’s climate-denying EPA chief makes matters worse
    03/09/17 04:24 PM
    By Steve Benen

    Gina McCarthy, who led the EPA during President Obama’s second term, reflected this week on her successor. “It’s fine to have differing opinions on how to meet the mission of the agency. Many Republican administrators have had that,” McCarthy told the New York Times. ‘But [with Scott Pruitt], for the first time, I see someone who has no commitment to the mission of the agency.’”

    We were reminded today that McCarthy’s concerns about Donald Trump’s far-right EPA chief are grounded in fact.

    Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Thursday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.

    “I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

    “But we don’t know that yet … We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis,” he added.

    Or put another way, the Republican head of the EPA disagrees with practically every climate scientist on the planet. Pruitt, not yet a month into his tenure as EPA’s administrator, also disagrees with the EPA.

    Chances are, everyone who takes environmental policy seriously already considers Pruitt a punch-line to a bad joke, but for those who just weren’t sure how bad he’d be, this morning’s comments should remove all doubt.

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    March 10, 2017 at 8:57 am

    Good Morning, Everyone :)

    Reply
  50. Ametia says:
    March 10, 2017 at 8:48 am

    As if WE would FALL for the jobs report’s credit to #45.

    N.E.V.E.R.

    Reply
  53. Ametia says:
    March 10, 2017 at 7:36 am

    Good Morning, Everyone.

    Reply

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