Friday Open Thread | PRINCE

Posted on April 21, 2017 by rikyrah

Today marks the one year anniversary of Prince’s death. Feel free to post some photo & videos, folks!

I’ll post some fresh photos after I visit Paisley Park today.

WE MISS YOU, PRINCE.

This entry was posted in Media, Music, Open Thread, Politics and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

91 Responses to Friday Open Thread | PRINCE

  4. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:41 pm

    uh huh

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    The #resistance is 86% female.
    Sanders wants to re-district it the way #GOP has re-districted states so women cede hard-won #reprorights.

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    #Prochoice Ossoff is running against a virulently #antichoice candidate in #GA06. Sanders told the media @ossoff isn’t progressive.

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    The next day Sanders campaigned for #HeathMello–who is anti-choice, calling him a progressive.This is bait-and-switch on women’s rights.
    3/

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    There are fundamental progressive tenets.
    Women’s #reprorights are paramount among those.
    Women have fought for generations for this.
    4/

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    Sanders may be pro-choice, but he has never fought for #reprorights & 3x in three weeks has asserted progressives needn’t be pro-choice.
    5/

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    America was built on #misogyny & #racism through the unpaid labor of women & black people. Forced pregnancy & rape were part of that.

    Victoria Brownworth‏ @VABVOX

    Sanders is trying to shift the goalposts on the backs of women.
    That might benefit men, but it will hurt women irreparably.
    It must stop.

    Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 5:33 pm

    United CEO will NOT become Chairman of the Board

    BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

    Reply
  9. Liza says:
    April 21, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    Yay! Martha McSally is from my district.

    APRIL 20, 2017
    American Bridge Releases Radio Ads on Trump’s Dangerous Ties to Russia

    Today, American Bridge 21st Century released radio ads against three vulnerable Republican members of Congress, focusing on Trump’s dangerous ties to Russia.

    The 60-second spots will run for the next seven days against Rep. Martha McSally (AZ-02), Rep. John Katko (NY-24), and Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23).

    With new revelations in the growing scandal surfacing weekly, the American people deserve the kind of answers that can only come from a truly independent investigation operating free of politics. That’s why Americans overwhelmingly support creating an independent commission to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia. But Republicans in Congress are standing in the way, instead putting their party ahead of the country.
    …
    http://bridgeproject.com/american-bridge-releases-radio-ads-trumps-dangerous-ties-russia/

    Reply
  10. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    Does Trump Know What the Word ‘Steal’ Means?
    by Nancy LeTourneau April 21, 2017 3:33 PM

    Donald Trump sent out an fundraising email on behalf of Karen Handel, the Republican who will be facing Jon Ossoff in a runoff this June for Georgia’s 6th District House seat.

    Trump sends fundraising email for Karen Handel pic.twitter.com/qk2ff266Xa

    — Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) April 20, 2017

    Notice that in the first sentence, he accuses Democrats of spending millions of dollars in an attempt to “steal a Congressional seat from Republicans.” He goes on to suggest that they “will stop an nothing to tear down Karen Handel.”

    That last sentence is probably in reference to the fact that both Democrats and the media are pointing out that Handel is best known nationally for a failed attempt to take cancer screening funding from Planned Parenthood – a decision for which she was eventually forced to resign from the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. But as Trump has certainly demonstrated, bringing up someone’s history is just the way the game of politics is played.

    It is Trump’s accusation that the Democrats are trying to steal the election that is outrageous. You have to wonder whether or not someone as morally bankrupt as this president has a basic understanding of what that word means. However, it lines up with a lot of the things he’s said and done that indicate he really doesn’t have any idea what democracy is all about either.

    Reply
  11. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 2:25 pm

    Bernie, Fix My Party: Why Are Democrats Treating Bernie Sanders as if He’s Their Iyanla Vanzant?

    Michael Arceneaux
    Today 11:42am

    Why in the hell are Democrats still accepting lectures from Bernie Sanders? Although the Vermont senator deserves credit for certain accomplishments—pulling younger people into the political process and pushing the Democratic Party in a more progressive direction—it’s not as if the man had that great a shot at becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Not when he was 3.7 million votes and hundreds of pledged delegates behind Hillary Clinton.

    For all the fairy tales about the system being rigged and the “Mighty Morphin Power” Democratic National Committee going against the will of the people, the reality is that more people wanted Clinton as their candidate.

    …………………………..

    Sanders said so himself Tuesday night during an interview on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes. Sanders is currently on a unity tour with the new DNC chairman, Tom Perez, but when asked about party affiliation, he said, “No, I’m an independent.”

    To quote Joseline Hernandez, “Ho, why is you here?”

    Reply
  12. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    It’s a little late for Trump to say the 100-day metric is ‘ridiculous’
    04/21/17 01:03 PM
    By Steve Benen
    We still have a week to go before Donald Trump’s presidency reaches the 100-day mark, but the Republican president is apparently coming to terms with the fact that he’s off to a dreadful start, and the 100-day coverage will be unflattering.

    And so, Trump is doing something that, at first blush, seems quite rational: he’s telling everyone to ignore the metric, which he now sees as unimportant.

    Donald Trump just called using his first 100 days in office to judge him a “ridiculous standard,” but he repeatedly boasted about what he would achieve in that exact time frame before he took office.

    Trump tweeted Friday morning that “no matter what I accomplish during this ridiculous standard of the first 100 days,” media organizations “will kill!” He said he has accomplished “a lot,” including the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

    Note, the one accomplishment the president pointed to is the one that required him to do practically no work: he was encouraged to nominate Gorsuch; he did; and then Senate Republicans did the heavy lifting.

    Nevertheless, there are basically three angles to Trump’s whining: (1) the broader significance of a president’s first 100 days in office; (2) what this president has to show for his first 100 days of effort; and (3) why it’s too late for Trump to pretend the standard is, as he put it, “ridiculous.”

    Reply
  15. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 2:08 pm

    The Current celebrates Prince: programs and events schedule

    Listen live here:
    http://www.thecurrent.org/listen

    Reply
  18. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 21, 2017 at 12:03 pm

    Bring it on…time to rock & roll

    Fired acting AG Yates will testify on Russia during an open congressional hearing
    http://www.rawstory.com/2017/04/fired-acting-ag-yates-will-testify-on-russia-during-an-open-congressional-hearing/ …

    Reply
  21. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:42 am

    FAN-TAB-U-LOUS!!!!!!

    Reply
  23. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:34 am

    Please TRUST that if government is going after Julian Assange, it means he has the 411 on TRUMP & CO.

    Reply
  24. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:30 am
    Reply
  26. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:24 am

    “click! photography changes who we are”
    https://youtu.be/rcp8EGCxXBM&rel=0
    Uploaded on Mar 4, 2009 by Smithsonian
    “click! photography changes everything is a conversation about how photography shapes our culture and our lives. In this episode, Lonnie Bunch, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, talks about how photographic images play a central role in shaping cultural identity.”

    Reply
  27. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:19 am
    Reply
  28. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:17 am

    “Black Wall Street~Vintage Footage~ Massacre in Tulsa OK 1921, Historical Black Town”
    https://youtu.be/-y0KoC3UUM0&rel=0
    Published on Sep 21, 2014
    “Solomon Sir Jones (1869-1936)
    Solomon Sir Jones, Baptist minister, businessman, and amateur filmmaker. Jones became an influential Baptist minister, building and pastoring fifteen churches. He was head of the Boyd Faction of Negro Baptists in America and was a successful businessman. Jones filmed the rebuilding of Black Wall Street after the Tulsa Massacre.”

    “NMAAHC: Reverend S.S. Jones Rare 1920s Footage Of All-Black Towns Of Oklahoma”
    https://youtu.be/EtAbacpIpTY&rel=0
    Published on Sep 29, 2016
    “Known and respected by the citizens of the towns whose lives he captured on film, Rev. Jones’s work offers revealing glimpses of these communities as a haven for African Americans who very often faced discrimination elsewhere in America. The subjects are everyday life: a family on the front porch of their bungalow, shop workers at a storefront, farmers plowing their fields, children playing on seesaws in a schoolyard.

    “Much of the material documents the economic life of the towns, from business districts filled with prosperous merchants to the homes of successful professionals, with an abundant countryside beyond. As Rhea Combs, curator of film and photography for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, points out in her commentary, here we even find a married couple who were oil barons, proof of the extraordinary progress made in the relatively short time since the end of slavery.”

    Reply
  30. Tyren M. says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:05 am

    I was good til I stopped by lol. Now I’m Youtubing all things Prince. Hope some work gets done today.

    Reply
  31. yahtzeebutterfly says:
    April 21, 2017 at 11:02 am

    The 8 minute video at the link below is well worth your time watching. Oplanga Pugh portrays Colorado pioneer Aunt Clara Brown.

    Reply
  37. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 10:17 am

    2 words for you, Keith Ellison; FUCK YOU!

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 21, 2017 at 10:18 am
      Reply
    • Tyren M. says:
      April 21, 2017 at 10:50 am

      Good morning Ametia and 3Chics,
      He’s gone. Can’t wait to see your new pics from the Purple Palace.

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      April 21, 2017 at 11:29 am

      Well, I’m disappointed in Keith for saying this, that’s for sure. He apparently doesn’t remember the rise of the Tea Party and the Democrats in Congress running scared with their tails between their legs in the 2010 midterms, running away from their own president because they thought they wouldn’t be re-elected if they supported him. Again, it’s this flawed belief that PBO was somehow supposed to cure the nation of its racism which is what the Tea Party so shamelessly exploited. Why didn’t the Democratic representatives have PBO’s back? That’s been my question for the last nine years.

      The Democrats have been AWOL for PBO since he was a candidate daring to challenge party royalty.

      Reply
  38. SouthernGirl2 says:
    April 21, 2017 at 10:15 am

    DO ME, BABY!

    [facebook url="https://www.facebook.com/IAMHIPHOPTVCHANNEL/videos/637537929691490/" /]

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 21, 2017 at 10:22 am

      I LOVE this pic of Prince so much!

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        April 21, 2017 at 11:37 am

        Yeah, his performance at the Superbowl halftime show is the best show they ever had.
        I love “Purple Rain” from that show, it is truly iconic. It is as good as the original from the film, just as heart wrenching, but in a different way.

        Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 10:00 am

    White House’s ‘heavy hand’ makes government shutdown more likely
    04/21/17 08:43 AM
    By Steve Benen

    When it comes to putting a price tag on Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, estimates vary quite a bit. The White House started the year using a $12 billion figure, while congressional Republicans said $15 billion. The Department of Homeland Security thinks the costs may reach $20 billion, while congressional Democrats believe it’s more realistic to say $70 billion.

    There’s no shortage of problems with this. The president may dream of a giant wall separating the United States and Mexico, but there’s little public support for the project, and even less backing for spending billions of our taxpayer dollars on it. (The idea that Trump would get Mexico to pay for this has always been one of the Republican’s more ridiculous campaign pledges.)

    And yet, we’re confronted with the possibility that short-term funding for Trump’s wall may push the country towards a government shutdown next week. The Associated Press reported yesterday:

    White House budget director Mick Mulvaney says that Democratic negotiators on a massive spending bill need to agree to funding top priorities of President Donald Trump such as a down payment on a border wall and hiring of additional immigration agents.

    Mulvaney told The Associated Press in an interview that “elections have consequences” and that “we want wall funding” as part of the catchall spending bill, which lawmakers hope to unveil next week.

    …………………………..

    A Politico report added, “Republicans said privately it would be helpful for Mulvaney and the White House to concede that the Democrats are not going to fund the wall and move on. But there is a combative element to the divided Trump White House that believes otherwise.”

    Reply
  41. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:56 am

    Trump admin: Tax cuts for the wealthy will pay for themselves
    04/21/17 10:14 AM
    By Steve Benen
    As things stand, it’s hard to say with confidence whether Donald Trump’s White House intends to pursue a sweeping tax reform package, which would overhaul the entire federal system, or a more modest package of tax cuts. The former is a very heavy lift, while the latter is difficult to pay for.

    At least, that is, in theory. In practice, the Washington Post reports that the Trump administration isn’t too worried about finding the money to pay for tax cuts, because it believes the Tax Fairy will come along and make the costs magically disappear.

    The Trump administration plans to rely on controversial assumptions about economic growth to offset steep cuts to business and individual tax rates, a chief architect of the plan said Thursday.

    Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the economic growth that would result from the proposed tax cuts would be so extreme – close to $2 trillion over 10 years – that it would come close to recouping all of the lost revenue from the dramatic rate reductions. Some other new revenue would come from eliminating certain tax breaks, although he would not specify which ones.

    Sure, tax policy has an impact on the economy, but every time Republicans have said tax cuts will pay for themselves through increased, growth-based revenue, the money hasn’t materialized. For a contemporary refresher, consider what happened in Kansas when Gov. Sam Brownback (R) said his tax cuts would pay for themselves.

    Even House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said he disagrees with the idea. The person Republicans chose to lead the Congressional Budget Office doesn’t believe it, either.

    Reply
  42. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:46 am

    Celebration 2017 Kicks Off At Paisley Park

    In honor of the one year anniversary of Prince’s sudden passing, Paisley Park is hosting a four-day celebration, Mary McGuire reports (2:55). WCCO This Morning – April 21, 2017

    Tons of videos!
    http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/video/category/news/3654390-celebration-2017-kicks-off-at-paisley-park/

    Reply
  43. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:42 am

    Trump desperate to revive failed, unpopular GOP health care plan
    04/21/17 08:00 AM—UPDATED 04/21/17 08:07 AM
    By Steve Benen
    In its latest national poll, released this week, Quinnipiac asked respondents an interesting question: “Do you think that Republicans in Congress should try to repeal and replace Obamacare again, or do you think they should move on to other issues?”

    The results weren’t close: only 36% of the public wants GOP lawmakers to keep trying, while 60% want Republicans to move on. What’s more, the results were quite broad: men and women, people of different education levels, people of every age group, people of different races and ethnicities all said they don’t want to see the repeal effort to continue.

    And yet, Donald Trump, who said last month that he’s prepared to move on, now insists he’s not moving on. The Washington Post reported:

    ……………..

    President Trump is pushing Congress toward another dramatic showdown over the Affordable Care Act, despite big outstanding obstacles to a beleaguered revision plan and a high-stakes deadline next week to keep the government running.

    The fresh pressure from the White House to pass a revision was met with skepticism by some Capitol Hill Republicans and their aides, who were recently humiliated when their bill failed to reach the House floor for a vote and who worry now that little has changed to suggest a new revision would fare any better.

    The president, referring to proposed changes to the GOP’s existing American Health Care Act, told reporters yesterday, “The plan gets better and better and better, and it’s gotten really good, and a lot of people are liking it a lot.”

    Like so much of what Trump says, there’s no reason to believe any of this. In fact, let’s take these two points one at a time.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 21, 2017 at 9:47 am

      a total IGNORAMOUS….

      Reply
    • Liza says:
      April 21, 2017 at 10:07 am

      This is about Trump 1. Thinking he can destroy PBO’s legacy by destroying the ACA, and 2. Being able to say “I got this done”.

      He doesn’t understand what he is trying to repeal, nor does he understand the so called “replacement”, nor does he care. He is nothing but a very dangerous mass of bloated fat cells, operating without direction or control, unless destroying the country could be considered a direction.

      Reply
  44. Liza says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:40 am

    Prince already gone a year, unbelievable. I like a comment on this video , “Put him in the top 2 with Hendrix”.

    Reply
  46. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:36 am

    “I will shut down the government unless Democrats pay for the wall I said Mexico would pay for.” Genius. https://t.co/TwYlPHYiPK— David Frum (@davidfrum) April 21, 2017

    Reply
  49. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:21 am

    Attorney General Sessions Is An Extremist on Marijuana
    by Nancy LeTourneau April 21, 2017 7:02 AM

    Here is Attorney General Jeff Sessions at a Senate Hearing on April 4, 2016:

    “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.”
    – Your new attorney general Jeff Sessions
    Happy 420 pic.twitter.com/6Tz6yDgZ9M

    — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) April 20, 2017

    Of course, this is the same guy who recently said that marijuana is “only slightly less awful than heroin” — which is not only false, but dangerously so.

    Yesterday, in honor of 4/20, CBS released a new poll on American’s attitudes about marijuana. The numbers demonstrate that Sessions is out on a limb on this topic.

    Sixty-one percent of Americans think marijuana use should be legal, a five-point increase from last year and the highest percentage ever recorded in this poll. Eighty-eight percent favor medical marijuana use.

    Seventy-one percent oppose the federal government’s efforts to stop marijuana sales and its use in states that have legalized it, including opposition from most Republicans, Democrats, and independents.

    Sixty-five percent think marijuana is less dangerous than most other drugs. And only 23 percent think legalizing marijuana leads to an increase violent crime.

    Reply
  50. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:19 am

    How New York’s Free College Plan Could Disrupt Higher Ed Market
    by Kirk Carapezza April 20, 2017 11:31 PM

    Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill making the Empire State the first state to cover tuition at all public colleges and universities for low- and income families.

    New York’s decision to offer free tuition at public colleges follows similar efforts in Chicago, Oregon and Tennessee, where lawmakers have made community college free.

    “We say every child has a chance to make it in our New York,” Cuomo said shortly before signing that legislation at LaGuardia Community College in Queens.

    Under the new law, students whose families earn up to $125,000 won’t have to pay tuition at the state’s community colleges or four-year universities.

    Supporters say the legislation could rekindle the national movement for tuition-free college sparked during the presidential campaign.

    Critics point out that there are a lot of holes in Cuomo’s free college program. For one thing, students still need to pay for room, board and other fees. For another, they’re required to stay and work in New York for the same number of years that they receive the benefit, otherwise grants convert to loans.

    Regardless of the pros and cons of ‘free’ college, it’s good news if you’re a parent in New York, right?

    Well, it could be bad news for the people running private and public colleges in neighboring states.

    “I think they should be worried because it’s the same admission market,” said Brian Mitchell, the former president of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

    Mitchell expects Cuomo’s plan will reduce out-of-state admissions at private schools in the northeast.

    “If you are subsidizing public sector tuition in the sense of making it free, you put the privates at a profound disadvantage,” Mitchell said. “It’s not just the privates in New York State, but it’s the privates in Pennsylvania and in Massachusetts. The first second and third largest collection of private colleges are in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts respectively, and they should all pay close attention to this.”

    Reply
  51. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:17 am

    Sessions Suggests That Hawaiians Aren’t Real Americans
    by Martin Longman April 20, 2017 4:23 PM

    Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III sure knows how to make sure one of our fifty states gets the clear message that the Justice Department holds them in low regard:

    I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific can issue an order that stops the President of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and Constitutional power.” –Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General of the United States

    I am going to make a general observation here that Hawaii is not only a series of islands in the Pacific, but it is the least white and most ethnically and racially diverse state in the country. That probably has at least a little to do with why a white conservative man from Alabama named after the former president of the Confederacy and the man who fired on Ft. Sumter doesn’t think it’s a legitimate part of America.

    And, just so we’re clear, the Attorney General made this remark on the “The Mark Levin Show” Tuesday night while discussing the fact that President Trump’s efforts to ban Muslims from entering the country wasn’t passing judicial muster. Sessions is confident that the placement of Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court will solve that problem.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 21, 2017 at 9:58 am

      Beauregard “HILLBILLY” Sessions

      Sessions took that comment straight out of Cokie Robert’s playbook. The gall of this bitch, even putting her two thin lips together to tell the POTUS where he should be vacationing.

      Reply
  52. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:13 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/20/17
    Georgia’s Jon Ossoff builds local strategy in national spotlight
    Jon Ossoff, Democratic candidate for Congress from Georgia, talks with Rachel Maddow the national spotlight on his election and the dynamics of his district and the Democratic Party

    Reply
  53. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:12 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/20/17
    Trump Russia national security investigator leaving DoJ
    Matthew Miller, former Justice Department spokesperson, talks with Rachel Maddow about the announced departure of Mary McCord, who is in charge of the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to the Donald Trump campaign.

    Reply
  54. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:11 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/20/17
    Report shows high level Russian role in 2016 election meddling
    Rachel Maddow relays a Reuters report that a Vladimir Putin-linked think tank drafted strategy papers for Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Donald Trump has failed to deliver on his promise to deliver a report on Russia’s 2016 cyber attack.

    Reply
  55. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 9:10 am

    THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/20/17
    Excess Trump inauguration cash pairs with donor access
    Rachel Maddow reports on the unusually large amount of money raised for the relatively small Trump inauguration and notes that some large donors with ties to Venezuela were granted access to the Trump White House.

    Reply
  56. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:58 am

    Uh huh
    Uh huh

    Last summer, a shell company with a bogus address started buying Trump condos. U.S. gov’t has been asking questions.https://t.co/IBNl6oZ5Nw pic.twitter.com/ksrTLrX4Te

    — Brad Heath (@bradheath) April 21, 2017

    Reply
  57. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:57 am

    Will those who tweet, tweet Tom Perez asking if Democrats have changed the rules so that Presidential candidates MUST release 10 years of tax returns? And, if not, WHY?

    Reply
  58. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:55 am

    From WaPo:

    KAREN HANDEL’S VULNERABILITIES: CNN profiles Karen Handel, who is now the GOP candidate in the June runoff against Jon Ossoff in the closely watched House special election. Two key points:

    [Her] stances on social issues are certain to be a focus in the runoff — particularly her effort to stop the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the breast cancer charity where she was senior vice president for policy, from funding screenings through Planned Parenthood because she opposes abortion rights … Handel’s efforts as secretary of state to purge Georgia’s voter rolls by requiring voters to prove their citizenship led to fights with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

    Reply
  59. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:50 am

    The GOP has a new plan to destroy Obamacare. It’s even crueler than the last one.
    By Greg Sargent April 20 at 10:17 AM

    THE MORNING PLUM:

    House Republicans have been hinting they may introduce a new plan to replace Obamacare before the 100th day of the Trump presidency. Naturally, giving President Trump something to arbitrarily tout as an achievement (even if it passes the House, the Senate looms) in advance of the arbitrary 100-day mark is far more important than the human toll the proposal would have on millions.

    Now Republicans are indeed set to introduce the new plan, multiple reports tell us. And judging by a new study set to be released today, it is even crueler than the last GOP plan: The study finds premiums would likely soar for the sick, probably pushing them off coverage.

    The Huffington Post has a detailed rundown of the new GOP plan, which is designed to bridge the gap between moderates and conservatives who rejected the last one for different reasons. It allows states to seek a waiver to get rid of the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on charging higher premiums to people with preexisting conditions, on the condition that states set up or participate in high-risk pools that would help cover any of those people who lose insurance. It would also restore to the GOP bill the ACA’s requirement that insurers cover Essential Health Benefits (EHBs) — such as doctor’s and emergency room visits and maternity care — but allow states to seek waivers from them.

    In effect, the waiver on preexisting conditions is designed to make conservatives happy, while giving moderates high-risk pools that allow them to argue it wouldn’t harm people with preexisting conditions. The restoration of EHBs is designed to make moderates happy, while telling conservatives states could still get out from under them.

    But the waiver on prohibitions against jacking up premiums for people with preexisting conditions — which is called “community rating” — is a major problem. It would smack them with far more in costs — potentially pushing them off coverage entirely.

    ………………………..

    Of course, the new plan’s defenders would reply that these people can go into high-risk pools (this is apparently meant to give moderates cover to back it). But they’ve historically been underfunded and/or resulted in people paying higher prices or going without coverage.

    Meanwhile, the new GOP plan would keep in place the old plan’s phase-out of the Medicaid expansion, which would itself result in 14 million fewer people on Medicaid, according to the Congressional Budget Office. You’d think that this, plus the gutting of protections for preexisting conditions, would render the new plan toxic for GOP moderates who, in rejecting the old plan, have confirmed that they are not willing to embrace a massively regressive plan that would push millions of poor and sick people off coverage while delivering an enormous tax cut to the rich. Of course, the need to give Trump a fake achievement to tout is also an urgent matter, so who knows what they’ll do.

    Reply
  61. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:46 am

    The “new” GOP health bill is a sham. Changes are really about giving moderates/conservatives new talking points:https://t.co/Y4lncMJVuJ pic.twitter.com/72KOgHP3tJ

    — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) April 21, 2017

    Reply
  62. Ametia says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:46 am

    clarencehouseTo mark The Queen’s 91st birthday, we are sharing this photo of Her Majesty and The Prince of Wales at home in Balmoral in 1952.

    Reply
  63. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:43 am

    Dear America: You know, if you elect Democrats next year you won’t HAVE to live in constant fear of the ACA being repealed. Just saying. https://t.co/nNwRTP6hJm

    — ☪️ Charles Gaba ✡️ (@charles_gaba) April 20, 2017

    Reply
  64. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:40 am

    Happy Birthday to her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

    She’s 91.

    Watching The Crown made me add a level of respect for her.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      April 21, 2017 at 8:53 am

      I’ve put “The Crown on my list of series to watch. Should be interesting…

      Reply
      • rikyrah says:
        April 21, 2017 at 9:01 am

        What it made me remember was that Elizabeth II was SO YOUNG when she got The Crown. Only 25 years old. And, the world was changing rapidly, and she had to adapt to the times, yet be a symbol of consistency for those who looked up to her. She was forced to be a feminist, yet, had to honor tradition. The climax of the series between her and Margaret made me so sad, but was excellent drama. The production values, the acting, all top knotch.

        Reply
  65. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 8:36 am

    We are literally living in a fucking Tom Clancy novel where an entire party has committed treason.— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) April 20, 2017

    Reply
  66. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 6:20 am

    I still can’t believe that he’s gone.😥😥😥

    Reply
  67. rikyrah says:
    April 21, 2017 at 6:19 am

    Good Morning, Everyone 😄😄😄

    Reply

Leave a Reply