International news

Undisclosed meeting? What are we supposed to think?

Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin had another meeting recently that no one knew about … until now.

Hmmm. And the president continues to keep secrets that need not be kept? Is that what’s going on here?

The two presidents met for more than two hours in Hamburg, Germany the other day. Trump “pressed” the Russian president on whether his government interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Putin reportedly denied any such involvement. Of course he would deny it.

Then the men shook hands and went their separate ways. Then Trump decided to meet privately with Putin for more than an hour. The only other person in the room was Putin’s translator.

What did they talk about? What do the heads of state of two of the world’s most powerful nations say to each other? Did any of it — anything at all — have something to do with that “Russia thing,” the hacking into our electoral process?

They call this kind of thing “rolling disclosure.” It lends itself to whispering, conjecture, speculation. They only way for any of that to be dispelled is for the principals to tell the public in a forthright manner what they discussed and the context that they discussed it.

According to The Washington Post: “But Trump’s newly-disclosed conversation with Putin at the G20 dinner is likely to stoke further criticism, including perhaps from some fellow Republicans in Congress, that he is too cozy with the leader of a major U.S. adversary.”

Fox News White House correspondent Ed Henry sought to brush the questions aside, suggesting that “other media” are casting this secret meeting in a negative light. There could be an explanation, Henry said.

Sure thing, hoss. Then we need to know precisely what these two world leaders said to each other. Absent that, what is the world expected to think?

 

medical news, national news, political news

You’re up, congressional Democrats

Congressional Democrats — in both chambers of Capitol Hill’s legislative body — now have a chance to make good on where congressional Republicans have face-planted.

The GOP wanted to replace the Affordable Care Act. They wanted first to repeal the law, then substitute something else in its place. They just couldn’t cobble together a law that pleased everyone within their caucus, let alone the rest of this vast country.

They have cratered. Their repeal and replace effort is done. Gone. Kaput. Toast.

What’s left? Oh, wait! They can work with congressional Democrats. They can figure out a way to make changes to the ACA, if only congressional Republicans can stomach the idea of maintaining something with Barack H. Obama’s name on it.

In order, though, for Republicans to reach across the aisle, their legislative colleagues — Democrats, I must add — need to offer a starting point.

Suppose it comes to a repair and revamp effort on the ACA, what might the Democrats offer as their chief sticking point?

Are premiums too high? Do Americans have enough choices of doctors? Are there ways to actually make the ACA more, um, affordable for every American who applies for insurance under the government plan?

Democrats have said they are willing to work with Republicans to improve the ACA. To get the discussion started, though, we need to hear from Democratic political leadership on where they intend to start.

We’ve hearing a lot of yapping and yammering from Republicans — for too long, if you were to ask my opinion. Now it’s time for Democrats to take the stage.

national news

‘Let Obamacare fail,’ says POTUS; yeah, that shows ‘heart’

Donald J. Trump wanted the U.S. Senate Republican caucus to approve a health care plan with “heart.”

He didn’t get it. The Senate GOP plan cratered this week under the weight of the divisions within the caucus. The House of Representatives’ GOP plan was too “mean,” the president said.

So what does the president propose to do now? He wants to let the Affordable Care Act — Barack H. Obama’s signature domestic initiative — to “fail.”

There you go. Let the ACA fail — actually hoping it does — and then act. Meanwhile, millions of Americans who have obtained health insurance under the ACA’s auspices are left without health insurance.

That is such a heartfelt response, Mr. President.

The ACA isn’t doomed to fail, though, according to studies released by health insurance and medical agencies. It’s actually stabilizing, reports indicate.

Trump’s response to his own legislative failure — and make no mistake, the president owns this one bigly — is yet another example of this guy’s inability or unwillingness to take responsibility for any failure.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has talked openly about possibly working with Democrats to repair the ACA. If he can get the president focused long enough on the details of what is at stake, perhaps he can bring Donald Trump along, too.

Stranger things have happened, although this whole circus is beginning to rank among the strangest events in a good while.

medical news, national news, political news

Stop telling the lie about ACA ‘failure,’ Mr. Leader

I am not going to label U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar, even though he’s just told another whopper about the Affordable Care Act.

He has called it a “failure.” He now plans to ask his Senate colleagues to repeal it and then seek to pass a replacement for it separately to smooth the “transition” from one health insurance plan to another.

“Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful,” McConnell said.

Good bleeping luck with that, Mr. Leader.

The ACA is not failing. It is stabilizing, according to medical and insurance studies. Millions more American have health insurance coverage now than they did before the ACA was enacted in 2010.

Still, Republicans in Congress want to wipe out Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislation. It doesn’t matter now whether they can have a replacement bill in place. They want the ACA gone.

McConnell’s new strategy came to light after two more Senate Republicans, Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas, signaled their opposition to the GOP monstrosity that came forward just before the Fourth of July recess. Senators went home and got a bellyful from their constituents about how much they hate the GOP plan. Moreover, an increasing number of Americans are on board with the ACA; they don’t want it trifled with.

Not one to listen to reason, Leader McConnell is going to try to get the Senate to toss the ACA into the crapper and then hope the Senate and the House of Representatives can cobble together a replacement.

Forgive me for repeating myself: Why not summon Democrats to the table, too, to work out a bipartisan repair of what you think is so terrible about the Affordable Care Act?

legal news, national news, political news

No dirt on Hillary? Really!

Let me try to keep this straight.

Donald J. Trump Jr. accepts an invitation to meet with a Russian government operative who tells him she’s got some dirt on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States.

Don Jr. goes to the meeting along with his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, then the campaign chairman for Don’s dad, Donald J. Trump Sr., the Republican presidential nominee.

He meets with the lawyer/government operative. What does Don Jr. get out of it? He says nothing came of it. There was no dirt of any use to the Trump campaign.

In other words, Hillary was clean.

The story, of course, isn’t entirely that the Russians didn’t have the goods on Clinton; it is that Trump the Younger thought they did and that he “loved it.” He didn’t call the FBI to rat out the Russian government. Indeed, the only grownup from the Trump team — Manafort — didn’t bother to blow the whistle, either. Oh, no. Don Jr. was accepting “normal” opposition research — from a hostile government that was hacking into our electoral process, undermining our democratic system.

As for the Hillary story, the Russians came up with as much actionable dirt on the Democratic nominee as congressional Republican investigators were able to find over the course of several years. That would be, um, nothing, man!

What a coincidence!

medical news, national news, political news

Two more senators to vote ‘no’ on Trumpcare … what’s next?

U.S. Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas are now “no” votes on Trumpcare.

Do you know what that means? It means the Senate Republican concoction meant to replace the Affordable Care Act lacks the votes it needs for approval. Now that Lee and Moran have climbed aboard the No Vote Bandwagon, there might be other fence-straddlers who will climb aboard, too.

What, oh what does the Senate GOP do?

Here’s a thought: How about getting on the horn with Senate Democratic leaders and start to hammer out a bipartisan compromise? Perhaps something that includes repairing and mending the ACA is in order. Hmmm? How about that?

Former President Barack Obama — who’s off doing whatever it is former president do — has made it clear: He doesn’t claim any particular pride of ownership of the ACA. He said while he was still president that he’d be willing to work with Republicans who wanted to improve the health care law.

The Senate caucus now appears irreparably split on the ACA repeal/replacement plan.

So … why not actually legislate right alongside Senate Democrats to make improvements to an existing law?

Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

national news

Happy Trails, Part 31

STRAFFORD, Mo. — As we travel around the country in our pickup truck and fifth wheel, we meet the nicest people, most of whom are chock full of helpful information.

So, we pulled into an RV park just outside of Strafford, which is a bit east of Springfield, Mo. We checked in. The nice woman, the co-owner of the park, walked us through the usual stuff: directions to the public shower, the Dumpster, TV listings, Wi-Fi connection, directions and approximate distances to the nearest retail outlets.

Then she pointed out something that kind of caught me by surprise. “Here is the county where we’re located, Webster County. The other counties around us are this, this and this. You need to know where you are if you’re watching the weather and we have some serious storm alerts.”

Gulp!

I said nothing to the RV park co-owner. However, of all the RV parks where we’ve stayed, I believe this is the first time we’ve been told about the potential for — how should I put it? — potentially deadly weather.

As I noted, the vast majority of RV park hosts are gracious in the extreme. I appreciate greatly this lady’s willingness to share some emergency information.

I guess my question is: What happens if we have to bug out — in a hurry? I guess I’d better develop a quick-exist strategy … pronto!

medical news, national news, political news

Get well, Sen. McCain, and vote to nix GOP health plan

It is with heartfelt concern for a great American that I must point out a fascinating irony relating to his current medical condition.

U.S. Sen. John McCain is recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot in his skull. I honor this great man’s service to the country and the extreme sacrifice he paid when he was held captive for five years during the Vietnam War.

I wish him a complete recovery.

The irony? It exists in the debate that the Senate Republican caucus us having over a health care plan it has cobbled together ostensibly to replace the Affordable Care Act.

The Senate GOP has put together a plan that the Congressional Budget Office says will cut millions of Americans out of their health insurance in the next decade. It will slash Medicaid spending that helps poor Americans pay for health insurance. It lacks the “heart” that the president of the United States said he wanted.

Meanwhile, Sen. McCain is getting some of the best health insurance possible because of his government service.

What is wrong with this juxtaposition? Nothing in and of itself, of course. It’s just that McCain is one of those Senate Republicans reportedly straddling the fence: does he support the bill or oppose it?

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell debated any further open consideration of the bill until McCain returns to the Senate. He needs McCain’s “yes” vote. I should add that McConnell and many of his Senate Republican colleagues are part of a distinct American minority: only 17 percent of Americans favor the GOP monstrosity.

I wish nothing but the best for Sen. McCain. I want him to return to the Senate full of his usual ration of p** and vinegar. I also would prefer that he oppose the Senate health plan.

political news, State news

‘Lyin’ Ted’ makes a comeback

Flash back for a moment to the 2016 Republican Party primary campaign for president of the United States.

One of the candidates was tossing out insulting nicknames: Low Energy Jeb, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary … oh, and Lyin’ Ted.

All of those insults were disgraceful displays of petulance from the man who tossed them, Donald John Trump.

But now it seems that “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz is showing that he might have earned that moniker. He said that “No one in Texas cares about the Russia” story. Really, Sen. Cruz? No one in Texas? He says he has attended numerous town hall meetings and no one brings up the questions about the president’s relationship with the Russian government, or whether that government sought to tilt the 2016 election in his favor.

Excuse me, Sen. Cruz, while I say it out loud and for the record: That is a lie.

Social media erupted with comments from Texans who do care about the Russian investigation and what it might produce.

According to the Austin American-Statesman: “Washington is obsessed right now. It is the Democratic talking point du jour,” Cruz told reporters on Capitol Hill … “But when I go back to Texas, nobody asks about Russia. You know, I’ve held town halls all across the state of Texas, you know how many questions I’ve got on Russia? Zero.”

Read more from the American-Statesman here.

My trick knee is throbbing once again and it is telling me that Cruz has, indeed, received questions about Russia. I also am going to toss out the notion that this issue is far more than just a Washington, D.C., parlor game.

So, with that, allow me only to say, with extreme vigor and conviction: Stop your lyin’, Ted.

national news

These six months have dragged on and on … and on

I have to agree with Frank Bruni, the esteemed New York Times columnist.

Bruni posits that the first six months of Donald J. Trump’s time as president have seemed like the longest six months of his life.

Mine, too.

Here is Bruni’s Times column.

Bruni seems to suggest that it’s the lying that has done him in just six months into Donald Trump’s time as president. As Bruni writes: “I was just 9 when Richard Nixon resigned and a teenager during the Jimmy Carter years. I began paying close attention only with Ronald Reagan. He and every one of his successors bent the truth, to varying degrees. He and every successor had a vanity that sometimes ran contrary to the public good. But none came close to Trump in those regards.”

It won’t change. Bruni knows — as many of us do — that 71-year-old men don’t change their ways just because they assume a new job in an arena with which they have zero familiarity.

Trump appears set now, six months in, to govern precisely the way he ran for the office of president. It will be chaotic, disorganized, confusing.

And it will seemingly last many lifetimes longer than its actual length … however long it will be.

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