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Not this time

25 Thursday May 2017

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“…an Executive Order that in text speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination…”

Trump Muslim ban protest at Kansas City International Airport – January 29, 2017.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the preliminary injunction on Donald Trump’s (r) revised Muslim ban executive order:

Opinion of the court, No. 17-1351, International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump [pdf]

[….]

The question for this Court, distilled to its essential form, is whether the Constitution, as the Supreme Court declared in Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2, 120 (1866), remains “a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace.” And if so, whether it protects Plaintiffs’ right to challenge an Executive Order that in text speaks with vague words of national security, but in context drips with religious intolerance, animus, and discrimination. Surely the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment yet stands as an untiring sentinel for the protection of one of our most cherished founding principles—that government shall not establish any religious orthodoxy, or favor or disfavor one religion over another. Congress granted the President broad power to deny entry to aliens, but that power is not absolute. It cannot go unchecked when, as here, the President wields it through an executive edict that stands to cause irreparable harm to individuals across this nation. Therefore, for the reasons that follow, we affirm in substantial part the district court’s issuance of a nationwide preliminary injunction as to Section 2(c) of the challenged Executive Order.

[….]

The Government has repeatedly asked this Court to ignore evidence, circumscribe our own review, and blindly defer to executive action, all in the name of the Constitution’s separation of powers. We decline to do so, not only because it is the particular province of the judicial branch to say what the law is, but also because we would do a disservice to our constitutional structure were we to let its mere invocation silence the call for meaningful judicial review. The deference we give the coordinate branches is surely powerful, but even it must yield in certain circumstances, lest we abdicate our own duties to uphold the Constitution.

[….]

As we previously determined, the Government’s asserted national security interest in enforcing Section 2(c) appears to be a post hoc, secondary justification for an executive action rooted in religious animus and intended to bar Muslims from this country. We remain unconvinced that Section 2(c) has more to do with national security than it does with effectuating the President’s promised Muslim ban….

[….]

Bigly.

Previously:

Trump Muslim ban protest at Kansas City International Airport – January 29, 2017 (January 29, 2017)

Roy Blunt’s (tele) town-hall: What he said and what he didn’t say

25 Thursday May 2017

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Missouri GOP Senator Roy Blunt entertained about 5000 constituents today (5/23) at one of the tele-town hall events that have become de rigeur for GOPers who want to avoid the messy give-and-take with outraged constituents that unpopular Republican policies can generate. When asked why he hadn’t met with some of us in person during last week’s congressional recess, Blunt huffed and puffed and observed that he had held some 2000 town halls during his last term – more than just about anyone else, he said. Of course, that was in the BT (Before Trump) Era and back in the days when, thanks to a Democratic majority in the Senate and President Obama’s veto pen, the GOP never had to face the  worst consequences of their horrible policies.

My impression of the format? It worked. Blunt and his staff had total control; no matter what he said, there was no opportunity for pushback, no inconvenient follow-up questions. We often got to see hear him practice the fine art of political evasion. He did, to be honest, let us know where he stands on lots of issues – although, thanks to the controlled format, he was also able to leave lots unsaid. The highlights, as well as I can reconstruct them from my notes, including what was not said, follow below:

Trump Budget Proposal:

Biggest takeaway? Blunt really seems to want to distance himself from the Trump budget. When asked about specific cuts – in health care, jobs training programs and support for the new NGA headquarters slated for St. Louis – the latter two of which he promised to support vigorously – he noted that the budget was advisory only, and reminisced about the way GOPers had ignored Obama’s proposed budget. The implication was clear that they would do the same to Trump’s financial fiasco.

Veterans Administration:

Blunt did, without specifically pointing it out, endorse one key elements of the Trump Budget spending. He observed that wanted to make it possible for veterans to get their treatment from private doctors by expanding the same “choice” option for which the Trump budget increases spending.

Left unsaid: Choice programs haven’t been an unequivocal success, partly because of hasty implementation, but also in terms of expense. They are opposed by some veterans groups that would prefer to see the funds used to bolster the VA hospital system instead.

Trumpcare: pre-existing conditions

When Blunt was asked about Trumpcare’s callous destruction of existing protections for pre-existing conditions, he first trotted out a somewhat garbled verson of the standard, but misleading GOP talking point about providing “access” to health care rather than insurance. He then, laudably, expressed sympathy for those who suffer from chronic illness. When, however, he said, and I paraphrase, that when one is healthy, one may have many problems, but when one is ill, there is only one problem and one focuses only on that illness, I got the impression that he wanted to suggest that pre-existing condition talk was somewhat beside the point. He then quickly shifted the emphasis to his past support for increased funds for medical research.

Left Unsaid: Blunt didn’t address how the six million chronically ill folks who may, under Trumpcare, be unable to afford insurance will get “access” to those new treatments that increased research funding may discover.

Obamacare

As part of what struck me as an implicit and awkward apology for Trumpcare, Blunt resorted to the GOP all-time go-to: Obamacare is falling. This is an attempt to deflect attention from Trumpcare that works only because it has become an article of faith for the GOP true believers, facts be damned. Insurers, Blunt claimed, are pulling out of the market, leaving a shambles where soon nobody will be able to get coverage.

Left Unsaid: Blunt did not point out that by refusing to either continue or deny CSRs (cost-sharing reductions), subsidies paid to insurers to help cover low-income individuals, President Trump is creating uncertainty that is causing insurers to consider leaving the Obamacare market and pushing them to steeply raise premiums . Insurer groups even wrote a letter to Trump imploring him to do something about the situation.

Trumpcare in the Senate

In response to a question about why Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell had said that he would not work with Democrats in fashioning the Senate Healthcare proposal, Blunt, after patting himself on the back for all his bipartisan initiatives, rather reasonably replied that Democrats weren’t willing to work with McConnell – which why would they? Obamacare is still superior to anything Republicans have proposed, after all.

Left Unsaid: Why is the Senate, all male, all Republican working group so secretive about what they are planning – and why does it consist of some of the most rightwing, anti-Obamacare Senate members? Why aren’t Senators like Susan Collins (ME-R), who has proposed her own version of a replacement bill, included in the working group?

Student Debt

Blunt ignored the new Trump budget proposal as if it was really as irrelevant as he earlier indicated and boasted instead about Pell grant funding increases and legislation that allowed students to use them year around. He said some nice words about how the federal government recognizes the desirability of creating a skilled citizenry, but, in so many words, said if you can’t pay back those huge educational loans, too bad, baby, you’re on your own.

Left Unsaid: What does he think of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ proposals to cut student loans funding, cut current debt forgiveness programs, cease government subsidies to pay student loan interest charges, and help students who fall behind in repayment.

Trump Russiagate scandal

Blunt is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and he was emphatic that Russian interference in U.S. elections needs to be investigated and all questions must be answered as a matter of national security. He stated, not surprisingly, that the best place for that to happen was the Intelligence Committee.

Left Unsaid: No mention was made of possible Trump campaign collusion with the Russians. Nor was any mention was made of the recently named Special Prosecutor, Robert Mueller, whose investigation, as far as Blunt’s presentation went, might not even exist.

Afternote

A gentleman asked about the “leakers” who so trouble Donald Trump. He observed that he could write a program himself and catch the miscreants, so why couldn’t the big-time government folks catch them and put them in jail where they belong? Blunt agreed that unsanctioned leaking was bad and might compromise security in some instances. To his credit, Blunt, unlike many of his GOP colleagues, did not minimize the RussiaGate scandal by suggesting that the real evil-doers were the whistleblowers.

Left unsaid: Blunt did not offer the questioner a job writing that program to catch the leakers. Wonder why.

*Typos corrected and format edited slightly (12.56 pm, 5/25/2017)

Truman Gala – Jackson County Democratic Committee – May 20, 2017

21 Sunday May 2017

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The Jackson County Democratic Committee held its annual Truman Gala in Kansas City last night. The sold out event included remarks from local and statewide office holders and a keynote address from Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow.

The 2018 election was one of the many themes of the evening, both in discussions before the formal program and in the remarks of speakers.

Each of the members of Congress who spoke also informed the crowd that the activism from individuals taking place now – phone calls, emails, participation at town halls, and marches – are working. “Keep doing what you’re doing” was a common refrain.

Judy Baker.

Representative Emanuel Cleaver – May 20, 2017.

State Auditor Nicole Galloway – May 20, 2017.

Senator Claire McCaskill – May 20, 2017.

Jackson County Executive Frank White – May 20, 2017.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker – May 20, 2017.

Manny Abarca and Marissa Baum – May 20, 2017.

House Minority Floor Leader Gail McCann Beatty – May 20, 2017.

Senator Debbie Stabenow – May 20, 2017.

Ann Wagner wants to fool us with a shiny object

16 Tuesday May 2017

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Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2) has been in the news recently over healthcare issues. And not in a good way.

First, she did a Howard Dean impersonation that was captured on video and widely circulated. Images of a harpy-like Wagner hoarsely screaming “freedom” after voting for the House Obamacare replacement bill which will, if enacted in the form Wagner endorsed, free millions of their healthcare and perhaps their lives, excited only disgust and derision.

Second, when constituents eager to talk to Wagner about her efforts to deprive them of their healthcare tried repeatedly to get her to come to a constituent meeting over the recent congressional recess, they finally reconciled themselves to going it alone in hopes she would pay long-distance attention. She not only remained true to her convictions however, by staying away, but, in the words of the Riverfront Times, responded by “deriding a bunch of old people attempting to hold a town hall at the Lodge Des Peres over the health care issue as ‘radical leftists.'”

I’m hoping that the criticism that Wagner’s “acting out” has received may give her some pause – reports are that she wants to take Claire McCaskill’s place in the Senate next year, and if any of those healthcare chickens come home to roost too soon, she may be out of luck. So I wasn’t too surprised when I received her email newsletter dated May 15 and read this paragraph describing what a caring person Wagner is when it comes to sick people, specifically, sick children:

During my time in Congress I’ve met with too many children suffering from debilitating and deadly diseases. Our country is on the forefront of innovative medical research, but more needs to be done to improve pediatric disease research. This is why I co-sponsored the Kids First Research Act which would transfer approximately $320 million in funds from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund to the Pediatric Research Initiative Fund at the National Institutes of Health. Recently, I met with 8-year-old Ava, who lost her twin brother Sam to rhabdomyosarcoma, and their mom to talk about the need for pediatric cancer research funding. Cancer remains the leading cause of death from disease among children, and I believe this bill can help lead to medical breakthroughs that will save lives and empower our children.

Helping children with cancer. Oooh and ahhhh. What better way to wash away the nasty taste of that AHCA Freedom yodel. Especially since, while it’s no doubt a goodish thing for children with cancer, it’s not really a big reach. The bill simply redirects funds allocated for another purpose. It does not require any new spending, but allows Wagner to pat herself on the back in constituent communications. And since the funds in the Presidential Election Campaign Fund are a total joke in these post-Citizens United days nobody is likely to protest too heartily about the loss. Politicians like Wagner know that as long as they secure a stable of generous corporate clients whose interests they can represent they’re good,

Of course the $320 million is a drop in the bucket when it comes to cancer research. And it is precisely this bucket that will be considerably reduced in size if Wagner’s GOP president, Donald Trump gets his way. The budget plan that Trump presented in March would cut $5.8 billion from the current cancer research funding, debilitating President Obama’s cancer “moonshot” initiative, and bringing cancer research to a near standstill – except for, perhaps, the handful of pennies Wagner and her other co-sponsors propose to redirect towards pediatric cancer research. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology, “cutting the [cancer research] funding in this way will have devastating and generation-long effects.”

Now, I may have missed it, but I don’t believe I’ve heard Wagner take The Donald to task for his effort to virtually eliminate new cancer research. She certainly didn’t address the issue in her newsletter when she tried to take credit for helping to halt the scourge of childhood cancer. So far, she’s lined up right behind Trump, voting with his position 96.6% of the time, so I don’t really expect her to take a radically different tack on down the line when it comes to his budget priorities.

Childhood cancer is indeed, a terrible thing. But so is adult cancer. Lack of research dollars is going to hurt all of us, children and adults. And a few pennies thrown at pediatric cancer research isn’t going to fix the problem for any of us. But – and this is the real issue – we’re also going to be hurt, children and adults, when the AHCA pre-existing condition provisions kick in and we can’t get or afford coverage. Even if we had all the research dollars for cancer in the world – and what Wgner is taking credit for giving us is a pittance – it won’t help us if we can’t afford the treatments that that research discovers. That inconvenient fact doesn’t seem to bother our freedom yodeler, Ann Wagner, at all.

Speaking as an adult with chronic cancer, as far as I’m concerned, Wagner’s endorsement of the Kids First Research Act is nothing more than a shiny object intended to direct our attention away from the meat cleaver she’s more than willing to apply to our health care. And I aim to tell her just that if she ever gets over her allergy to her constituents and manages to make it to a real town hall meeting instead of the stage-managed telephone jobbies she uses to divert our attention from her fear of real interaction with a diverse group of constituents.

*Last sentence slightly changed (5/17/2017, 12:17 am)

Roy Blunt: When partisan games become treason

11 Thursday May 2017

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The day before he was scheduled to testify about the FBI investigation into the Russian role in the 2016 election and the possibility of Trump-Russian collusion, FBI Director Comey was fired. Trump spokespeople then went on TV and said it’s “time to move on” from that pesky Russian business. One wonders if the White House really thought that firing Comey would squelch an inquiry that, given the abrupt nature of the firing and its bizarre rationale, we have no recourse but to conclude is really close to putting the Big Orange Daddy on the hot-seat. .

And what does our GOP Senator Roy Blunt have to say about this remarkable occurrence? Not much:

After Comey’s firing Tuesday, Blunt issued this statement: “Director Comey has served the country well in a number of different roles. Many, including myself, have questioned his actions more than once over the past year. I believe new leadership at the FBI will restore confidence in the organization and among the people who do the hard work to carry out its mission.”

Get the picture? Officer Blunt at the scene of a bloody accident, directing traffic to “move along, nothing to see here folks.”

Tell me this, Roy Blunt: who’ll be selecting that new FBI director? The President who is under investigation by the very FBI whose director he fired? The Attorney General who had to recuse himself from the investigation since he was caught playing footsie with the same Russians who compromised Trump’s former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn? The members of a GOP controlled congress who can’t seem to understand why stonewalling the appointment of a special prosecutor or independent commission to investigate the Trump-Russia love-fest might make them potentially complicit with treason?

Yeah. Just business as usual according to ol’ Roy.

Meanwhile at the White House, Trump celebrated with the Ruskies, specifically the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who, by all accounts, was in high good humor. Which, why wouldn’t he be? Maybe he thinks that Trump’s little show of dictatorial temper has finally derailed the inconvenient dust-up that seemingly soured his usefulness for for Russia. Of course he, and by extension, Putin, might just be gloating because they’ve proven they can get Trump to jump through Russian hoops at will. All joking (wink,wink) aside, Politico’s Susan Glasser points out just how bizarre holding this meeting, at this time was:

The images of Trump putting his arm genially on Lavrov’s back—and a later White House official readout of the meeting that said Trump “emphasized his desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia”—couldn’t have come at a more fraught political moment for Trump, amid a barrage of bipartisan criticism of his firing of FBI Director James Comey. On Wednesday morning before meeting with Trump, Lavrov even cracked a joke about his hosts’ political predicament, laughingly claiming not to have heard of the Comey firing while standing alongside Trump’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

In other words, Lavrov was right where he has always wanted to be Wednesday: mocking the United States while being welcomed in the Oval Office by the president himself.

Shouldn’t we be asking Blunt if he really believes that Trump, who, in addition to his intellectual shortcomings, may be compromised by Russian entanglements, can possibly go toe-to-toe with Putin, who, morally repugnant though he is, is still a very smart, very devious man, a man who, in short, doesn’t just talk about the “art of the deal,” but really knows how to deal. Already, Glasser warns, “a number of Russia policy experts with whom I spoke […] worry, too, that Trump is allowing Lavrov—and Putin—to define the terms of his dealings with them on key issues such as Ukraine and Syria.”

Can Republican politicians like Senator Blunt continue to turn a blind eye to what is going on? Is it worth undermining the integrity of our government in order to milk the oblivious fool in the White House for their own domestic purposes?

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) – Columbia District Office – May 10, 2017

10 Wednesday May 2017

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The office was closed.

Close to sixty individuals showed up outside Representative Vicky Hartzler’s (r) Columbia distict office today to take issue with her support of Trumpcare. Since the office was closed the group lined up facing the traffic on South Providence Road. They spent over an hour and a half doing, holding signs and waving to the passing traffic – which, more often than not, leaned on their horns in support.

There were similar actions today at Representative Hartzler’s (r) district offices in Lebanon and Harrisonville.

Yes, I do this for free…

Vicky voted to make America sick again.

Anti-life, pro-death.

Coward.

No cuts to our care.

Messages left on the district office door:

Closed for meetings…

Vicki – I was here. Where were you [?]

I want the truth

No more billionaire welfare

Time for an independent commission to investigate Russian ties!

We expect town halls. It’s your job to meet us!

Save the ACA!

Vicky, Why do you support an American fascist narcissistic personality disordered DT who wants to emulate + repeat Hitler’s History? You do not represent me!

The First Amendment is an all American thing.

We estimate that the probability of Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) holding an open public town hall in the district anytime soon is zero.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

09 Tuesday May 2017

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Russia. It’s got to be about Russia.

From the White House:

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release May 09, 2017
Statement from the Press Secretary
 
Today, President Donald J. Trump informed FBI Director James Comey that he has been terminated and removed from office.  President Trump acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

“The FBI is one of our Nation’s most cherished and respected institutions and today will mark a new beginning for our crown jewel of law enforcement,” said President Trump.

A search for a new permanent FBI Director will begin immediately.

The letter:

Read that second paragraph. Several times. He never got out of junior high school…

One of many reactions:

Joy Reid‏ @JoyAnnReid
We’ll soon find out if we also have a compromised congress, in addition to a scandalized White House. 1/
5:27 PM – 9 May 2017

Joy Reid‏ @JoyAnnReid
If Senate Republicans rubber stamp a Trump lackey to replace Comey and don’t appoint a special counsel, we’ll know Rome has fallen. 2/
5:28 PM – 9 May 2017

Joy Reid‏ @JoyAnnReid
Trump, with Jeff Sessions and his deputy’s help, may have just took a huge step toward putting himself beyond the reach of law. 3/
5:29 PM – 9 May 2017

Who watches the watchers?

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): Okay, this is funny. And sad.

09 Tuesday May 2017

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Someone in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District has started an online fundraising campaign to pay Rep. Vick Hartzler (r) to actually have open public town halls in the district:

Rep. Hartzler’s AHCA Town Hall!

Vicky Hartzler represents almost 800,000 Missourians in 26 counties. But she hasn’t shown her face at a single town hall meeting. Maybe it’s because she keeps making big, unpopular decisions for Missouri, like voting for the AHCA, and she prefers to keep ignoring us. Here’s what the AHCA is predicted to accomplish:

– Increase premiums for older Americans by up to 5x.
– Cut nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid over 10 years.
– Allow states to opt out of the most basic types of coverage.
– Cut taxes for the rich by $900 billion.
– Increase the costs of a healthy pregnancy to $17,600 while insured.
– Make healthcare inaccessible for 24 million people. 

For more information about the affects of the AHCA, read the bipartison Congressional Budget Office’s analysis and Vox’s analysis.

[….]

We are hoping to raise $17,600 for Representative Hartzler – the cost of a healthy pregnancy under the AHCA – to get her back in her district for in-person town hall meetings in at least three cities or towns in the next two months. Perhaps she can use this money to support the health of newborn babies, a constituency about which she is vocally passionate (see above). This is a unique opportunity for her to hear from her constituents.

We are tired of the lies that this legislation will somehow lower costs while keeping healthcare accessible. This is not true. The premise of health insurance is that everyone pays a little bit for the greater good. They make it work in every other developed country – why not ours?

Vicky, join us for a town hall and justify your choices – we’ll even pay you!

[….]

That would be a probability of zero.

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): about that town hall (March 28, 2017)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): making it easy (April 18, 2017)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): Who’s that yonder, dressed in black? (May 4, 2017)

Don’t count on Senators like Roy Blunt to do the right thing about healthcare

06 Saturday May 2017

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Lots of progressive commentators are consoling themselves for last week’s congressional healthcare disaster by telling us that the Trumpcare abomination won’t fly in the Senate where GOP “moderate” senators will prevail. Or whatever. It is true that the GOP-majority Senate has, as an entity, turned up its collective nose when confronted with the stench of the House bill and has committed to producing its very own version of Trumpcare (a.k.a. Dump & Dupe). In order to keep the Dump & Dupe momentum going , House Speaker Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) sicced a working group on the topic right away.

But before we get too optimistic about the final Senate product, consider that Missouri Republican Senator Roy Blunt is part of the working group. This is the same Roy Blunt who was charged in 2009 to come up with the Republican alternative to Obamacare. Remember that plan? I bet you don’t. The four page document Blunt produced was that bad. As a Kansas City Star editorial pointed out, it was short on details and long on opinion-based talking points. Nor had Blunt bothered bothered to suss out the costs of his proposals and the number of uninsured Americans it would cover. It was a sort of abbreviated GOP la-la land fantasy.

Details aren’t important to folks like Blunt whose only language is right-wing power – let the real-world consequences be damned. And he’s what passes for a Republican moderate these days. He’s already signaled that he was fine with many of the provisions of the earlier, terrible iterations of Trumpcare, asserting that ““the nucleus of the plan is clearly there.” The only part of the earlier bills he objected to was the fact “it may not be a plan that gets a majority of votes and lets us move on.”

Nor is Roy Blunt a lone ranger in the Senate. Still feeling optimistic about the Senate’s take on Dump & Dupe?

When Blunt offered his four-page outline back in 2009, the House Speaker, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), averred that “we have to be careful not to impede what works in the current system,” adding that “we take the current health care system and make it better for all Americans.” If it strikes you that this might be a good idea today – take what works in Obamacare – which is a lot – and make it better, perhaps you should phone old Roy and let him know that this is what you’d like to see come out of the Senate. Republicans can always save face by calling it Trumpcare.

Of course, that particular course of action would require that Blunt and his Senate GOP cronies actually cared about their constituents.

So maybe you should also let Senator Blunt know that you’ll remember whose fault it is if he helps  Freedom yodelers like Ann Wagner do our healthcare in. He won’t be up for election for several years, but it isn’t only elephants who don’t forget.