President Donald J. Trump: Orange is the New Black, House Slytherin Rises Also Heil Trump!

[Ragnus]

Man, just watching my friends on Facebook go at it with each other over the pink pussy hats that were worn at the march on Saturday.

The self cannibalization of the Liberal side of our country is as entertaining as it is pathetic. We can't band together over anything anymore.

Combine that with the fact that living anywhere liberal is stupid expensive and just getting worse, and there's no wonder why I'm considering moving to Houston. Even with the same pay I'm making now, I could possibly single paycheck a family vs. not make ends meet as a kidless couple.

[Melena]

The commentary on the right is just as amusing. I had someone say the safety pin thing was awful and discriminatory as it didn't list every possible thing you can come to them about.

[Aerin]

Here's the information on the executive order Trump signed about Obamacare last Friday when no details were given.

The order directed the Health and Human Services secretary and the heads of other agencies to minimize the financial burden of Obamacare on Americans, states, insurers, health care providers and others to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Therein lies one of the main hurdles to quickly taking down the Affordable Care Act. Much of Obamacare is controlled by law or by a hefty slew of regulations that an executive order can't undo with the stroke of a pen.

What the Trump administration can do is tinker with the guidance that enables agencies, states, insurers and others to actually implement Obamacare. Also, the Health secretary can be more liberal with his use of waivers in order to loosen some provisions or allow states to tailor their implementation of certain aspects of the law, particularly Medicaid expansion.

"It's a mix of symbolic arm waving (lacking more specific and targeted details) and directional guidance to empower Trump administration officials to lean against more regulation on the margin," said Tom Miller, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, which has long opposed Obamacare. "What remains unclear is how far they can go before they bump up against clearer statutory requirements and existing final regulations."

[6souls]

So it does away with regulation which has never proved disastrous before.

[Aerin]

I'm honestly not sure what regulations (if any) would remain anywhere if Trump had his way.

Also, GOP senators unveil ObamaCare replacement bill

“We recognize that our bill is not perfect,” said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who introduced the 2017 Patient Freedom Act with Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and fellow Republican.

“We need comprehensive legislation,” Collins continued. “It’s still a work in progress. ... But if we don’t start putting specific legislation on the table that can be debated, refined, amended and enacted, then we will fail the American people.”

...

Among the highlights of the plan are measures allowing states to continue to offer ObamaCare, urging “price transparency” on medical procedures, keeping existing subsidies and tax credits provided in the 2010 law and extending coverage to 30 million more uninsured Americans.

They said the plan would slow -- or “bend”-- the cost of such a plan to the federal government and allow young adults to stay on their parents’ policies. They suggested their plan would take about three years to be fully implemented.

Cassidy made clear the bill -- particularly the option to stay on ObamaCare -- was created with the intent to win support from Senate Democrats, considering at least eight of them will be needed to join the chamber’s 52 Republicans to vote to pass such legislation.

“We think that gets us to 60,” Cassidy said.

[6souls]

http://www.npr.org/2017/01/23/511200...fic-trade-deal

Less Government jobs and more international babies from two new EO's Trump has enacted.

Trump also signed two other executive orders, though NPR has not seen the official language on the orders yet. One is expected to impose a hiring freeze on federal workers, except for defense-related positions; the other may be a reinstatement of the so-called Mexico City policy, a rule that began in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was president. As NPR has reported, the policy "blocked federal funding for international family planning charities unless they agreed not to 'promote' abortion by, among other actions, providing patients with information about the procedure or referrals to providers who perform it."

[Salodin]

Fuck man, so they want to keep Obamacare, do the changes Democrats have been wanting for years, and get to rebrand it as "Republican Success". Yes, who gets credit for this matters, cause it's their party that's going to be in power for years to come if successful healthcare finally gets off the tarmac.

[Olo401]

This press briefing is an unmitigated disaster. Spicer's response to a direct question asking if he will be 100% honest at the press room podium was something like "Yes, absolutely. We may disagree on what the facts are, but I will do my job the best way I can"

And then someone challenged him on the inauguration attendance thing and he scapegoated some unnamed company that was in charge of statistics & started talking about online & TV viewership and claimed that combined it was the most viewed event in history ever.

[Kaslo]

This press briefing is an unmitigated disaster. Spicer's response to a direct question asking if he will be 100% honest at the press room podium was something like "Yes, absolutely. We may disagree on what the facts are, but I will do my job the best way I can"

And then someone challenged him on the inauguration attendance thing and he scapegoated some unnamed company that was in charge of statistics & started talking about online & TV viewership and claimed that combined it was the most viewed event in history ever.

Well to be fair, it is possible to disagree on what the facts are, when they are disputable. As a lawyer, 95% of our job is arguing about what the facts are, so I see that. The problem was his statements this past weekend were on indisputable facts. And he's probably right on the "most watched" claim just due to a larger population and ability for people to watch from their computer screen/phone from anywhere.

[Aerin]

I'm honestly not sure what regulations (if any) would remain anywhere if Trump had his way.

Nevermind, Trump says he thinks they can cut 75% of all regulations.

At the time Trump was sworn in on Friday, the Federal Register contained 89,535 regulations — many of which Republicans say are outdated and duplicative. Those regulations have piled up since the government’s rulebook launched in 1935.

By that measure, the Trump administration would need to cut 67,151 rules to hold true to his goal to cut 75 percent of regulations.

But regulatory advocates are warning of “disastrous consequences” if Trump cuts so many rules.

“There is no way for President Donald Trump to slash regulations by 75 percent without cutting into bedrock public protections that hold Wall Street accountable, keep our water and children safe from lead poisoning, and contain food contamination outbreaks,” said Amit Narang, regulatory policy advocate at the left-leaning Public Citizen.

Doing so would “permit corporations to rip off consumers, poison our environment, [and] cheat and mistreat workers,” he added.

[Salodin]

Trump has files detailing him stepping down from his companies, and Spicer thought they were released already. An aide on stage had to correct him, saying they weren't made public yet. Sighhhhh

[Dantrag]

Next 4 years are going to SUCK fucking ass. Thanks Oba... Hillary.

[D44kpunk]

Bit late to the party, I keep seeing a bunch of fuss over this "alternative facts" thing.

I understand it being worrisome if the whitehouse feeds us lies, but are people really this upset over them talking about inauguration attendance or is it just the precedent it's setting?

Feel like I'm missing something

[Salodin]

Missing how if a WH is willing to lie about something of insignificance like inauguration attendance, they would have no problem lying about things of significance, like golden showers in Presidential Suites? Are people really so dense as to not see the significance of the office of the WH knowingly lying to the public?

[Dantrag]

Bit late to the party, I keep seeing a bunch of fuss over this "alternative facts" thing.

I understand it being worrisome if the whitehouse feeds us lies, but are people really this upset over them talking about inauguration attendance or is it just the precedent it's setting?

Feel like I'm missing something

Precedent it's setting basically. They're out right willing to LIE about FACTS because they FEEL like they're right.

[Olo401]

It's demoralizing and frustrating that the press keeps saying negative things. It's always negative. He can't win the primary he can't win the election he can't win PA or Michigan. The constant negative theme is frustrating.

"He can't constitutionally keep ownership of his companies"
"He can't change or withdraw from NATO/NAFTA/UN without Congressional action"
"He can't talk so loosely about nuclear weapons"
"He can't keep acting so rude, unprofessional, and blatantly racist/sexist/classist"
"He (and you too Sean) can't keep lying to us"

This more than anything else is frightening. It's like if you tell them they can't legally do something you're giving them a triple dog dare.

[Niiro]

He can't possibly give us a health care plan with more coverage and lower costs.

*wink*

[Yuri-G]

Bit late to the party, I keep seeing a bunch of fuss over this "alternative facts" thing.

I understand it being worrisome if the whitehouse feeds us lies, but are people really this upset over them talking about inauguration attendance or is it just the precedent it's setting?

Feel like I'm missing something

It's the fact that they will not only lie, but they will do it so brazenly. It's the precedent, like you said. When you re-label "lies" into "alternative facts" you are creating a dangerous world in which whatever the President wants you to believe is just as good as reality itself.

[D44kpunk]

I was personally under the assumption that the whitehouse always has lied to us, I guess doing so brazenly adds another dimension to it though.

[6souls]

I was personally under the assumption that the whitehouse always has lied to us, I guess doing so brazenly adds another dimension to it though.

There are half truths and lies, but when they lie against things that can be easily fact checked and threaten to cut the press out of the loop when they are called out, is a dangerous precedent.