115th United States Congress

[Rooney]

When you know you have a guaranteed veto waiting for your bill, you write any and all kinds of shit that makes you look good to your base.

[Niiro]

Do you blame them because they do it or do you blame the voters because it works.

[Krandor]

It's standard political theater, no matter what your political affiliation or even what country you hail from.

[Psion]

Do you blame them because they do it or do you blame the voters because it works.

you blame them because they do it, the same as you would blame the person taking advantage of a mentally unstable person, not the unstable person.

taking advantage of people is wrong, especially when the victims are, for whatever reason, unable to resist.

[tyven]

If anyone is curious these are the Senators taking the first crack at their version of the AHCA: Alexander (TN), Barrasso (WY), Gardner (CO), Cornyn (TX), Lee (UT), Thune (SD), McConnell (KY), Cruz (TX), Enzi (WY), Toomey (PA), Hatch (UT), Cotton (AR), Portman, (OH), and Capito (WV)...

It is a who's who of shitheads and I see no problem with this falling short of the "Is it evil enough?" threshold that the House version first ran into. Looks like Portman and Toomey will be playing the roles of MaCarthur and Upton, there to rein things in when it looks like it could cost them some moderate votes. Cruz is the direct line to House Freedom Caucus.

This is going to get done.

[archibaldcrane]

So, do you think we should still definitely expect all the taxes gone and essentially that amount cut from Medicaid, with the only real questions being "on what timeline" for each?

[tyven]

Yea Cadillac tax may stick around. They didn't kill it in house

[archibaldcrane]

Yea Cadillac tax may stick around. They didn't kill it in house

Really? That's fuckin wild, I heard more complaining about that and the medical device tax than anything else.

[tyven]

There's been bipartisan effort to kill it forever tho so we'll see

[archibaldcrane]

It's still not implemented right? They keep pushing it back somehow?

Yeah, pushed back two years until 2020 as of now. https://www.cigna.com/health-care-reform/cadillac-tax

[archibaldcrane]

An unpopular tax that they can reliably push back at will is useful to make the CBO score show a budget-positive result for the total bill.

[archibaldcrane]

Regarding the shameless and heretofore fairly unique bald-faced lying regarding the AHCA: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-polit...ca-senate-lies

Capitol Hill reporting, meanwhile, has long more or less relied on the convention that what members of Congress say is an important guidepost to what they think, want, and believe. Not that no member of Congress would ever tell a fib, but that politics is largely an inherently public undertaking in which politicians take public stances on issues as a way to influence the course of policymaking. If that’s changed, then coverage of Congress will need to change too — taking on more of an investigative approach in which the key question is to find out what’s really going on, regardless of what members say they’re doing.

[Niiro]

you blame them because they do it, the same as you would blame the person taking advantage of a mentally unstable person, not the unstable person.

taking advantage of people is wrong, especially when the victims are, for whatever reason, unable to resist.

While your comparison of the voter base to the retarded is apt, I'm less inclined to let them off the hook.

[Psion]

Do you tell mentally challenged kids that their autism/downs syndrome/clinical depression is their own fault?

the general populace of america is sick. i doubt anyone is unaffected, myself included. some certainly show worse symptoms but the countries suffering an epidemic of apathy in politics. many factors likely contributed, and it crept in too slowly for people to catch on until it was too late. only now, when we're seeing visible signs of that sickness, too blatent to ignore, are we starting to realize just what a serious issue we have. going around blaming the victims won't fix things anymore than berating a patient who caught a mutated form of animal flu would. we can only find the causes, treat the symptoms as best as we can, and educate people to avoid this situation in the future.

[Greatguardian]

Itt people with clinical depression are mentally challenged.

[Psion]

Yes? clinical depression is a mental challenge. it's not an impairment to intelligence but to emotion...but it's still mental. perhaps mentally disabled would work better?

[Tyrath]

Itt people with clinical depression are mentally challenged.

I mean it is a mental illness.

[Quicklet]

According to conspiracy theory twitter and this reporter who appears to be a legit local news reporter in the Baltimore area, the FBI is executing a search warrant at a GOP Fundraiser/Consulting firm in Annapolis.

https://twitter.com/jemillerwbal/sta...14093899325440

Waiting to see if this gets corroborated by larger outlets.

[tyven]

According to conspiracy theory twitter and this reporter who appears to be a legit local news reporter in the Baltimore area, the FBI is executing a search warrant at a GOP Fundraiser/Consulting firm in Annapolis.

https://twitter.com/jemillerwbal/sta...14093899325440

Waiting to see if this gets corroborated by larger outlets.

If it's in Annapolis this is probably a state level thing.

Any federal fundraising/consulting shops wouldn't be that far outside the district

[Quicklet]

Given the current disposition of many FBI agents toward Trump, I imagine we'll know by the end of the day whether this is something or nothing.