US Politics January 2018: "You All Just Got A Lot Richer"

Karl & YMP, that is.

i've no doubt this will be chalked up as a GOP win in the medium term. and by the time the fallout happens the Dems will for some reason take the hit bc hey why not. they're in charge now and stymieing our business genious president.

Breaking: Medicaid will allow states to create a work requirement for "able-bodied" adults to qualify for Medicaid. The new policy marks the first time Medicaid has allowed states to impose such requirements as a precondition of coverage.

— NPR (@NPR) January 11, 2018

oh jfc

I would on the one hand encourage people to analogize this insulting turn of events in terms that might make more immediate sense to a Wal-Mart employee (just in terms of the percentage of Wal-Mart's profits which are affected applied to an hourly employee's paycheck to illustrate how infinitesimally small a figure it is) but on the other hand I know how big a deal a $2/hour increase can be when you're earning a dirt wage and how disinclined you might be under those circumstances to look a gift horse in the mouth. Which is to say, yes, the cynical optics will probably go over like gangbusters.

Federal officials said they would support state efforts to require able-bodied adults to engage in work or other “community engagement activities” as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid.

“Our fundamental goal is to make a positive and lasting difference in the health and wellness of our beneficiaries, and today’s announcement is a step in that direction,” said Seema Verma, the administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

...In a speech to state Medicaid officials in November, Ms. Verma indicated that the Trump administration would be receptive to work requirements and other conservative policy ideas to reshape Medicaid. And she criticized the Obama administration, saying it had focused on increasing Medicaid enrollment rather than helping people move out of poverty and into jobs.

“Believing that community engagement requirements do not support or promote the objectives of Medicaid is a tragic example of the soft bigotry of low expectations consistently espoused by the prior administration,” Ms. Verma said. “Those days are over.”

oh fuck off

so bigoted of them to expect that people with no money will not be able to afford health care

xps - I have occasionally worked for large corporations.

One might wonder aloud, "jeez, the chuckleheads at the top make millions, and the company itself has cash reserves in the billions, why we hafta be stingy about making one-sided copies?"

Many of my colleagues would be like, "well, they must know something we don't. They're at the top, after all, and we're just here in the mailroom." I assume that many Wal-Mart employees would take the same view of it.

Yeah, I can look at the man in the mirror for an example of same. Constantly hearing about the millions more we make for the company every year while getting a perfunctory annual raise that allows me to purchase a fancy sandwich every week without compromising my budget.

from a friend who's spent several years campaigning & organizing at wal-mart:

"they did a big wage hike a few years ago when there was a lot more organizing going on in their shops, but that can't really be a factor now. i'd guess it has more to do with falling unemployment rate and more competition in low wage labor markets, plus rising minimum wages in lots of states. also worth noting that every time they do an hourly wage hike like this they tend to cut hours"

Believing that community engagement requirements do not support or promote the objectives of Medicaid is a tragic example of the soft bigotry of low expectations consistently espoused by the prior administration,” Ms. Verma said. “Those days are over.”

This being the previous administration headed by someone repeatedly mocked by Republicans as a "community organizer."

the relentless cruelty of this crew, in ways large and small, is psychologically debilitating. I admit I have not been personally effected by these changes---yet--- but the steady stream and my desire to stay informed has the cumulative effect of making me dread facing each day, even as I go about my daily business. Much like climate change - don't call it warming(!) -- I wonder if this is simply the new normal.

AFAIC the only thing I can control is my own complicity in allowing it to become the new normal. Don't know if that's helpful at all. It's only occasionally so for me.

Like, hey, maximize the personal kindness and at least know that you're not part of the problem.

someone tell Ms Verma that jobs are mostly obsolete

We must never acknowledge or plan for that inevitability. Coal is coming back! The resurgence of dodo farming is right around the corner!

I believe that it's normal, but I don't think it's new, tbh.

Speaking as a student of history, I think it may be one of the oldest things.

*a wretched stench suddenly materializes*

what's that?

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who said Wednesday he is not seeking reelection in California’s 49th district, has been discussing with colleagues the possibility of running in a neighboring San Diego district if embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) resigns, multiple sources told The Hill.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/368513-exclusive-issa-mulls-running-in-neighboring-district

I mean

https://fthmb.tqn.com/8qxmkhPynlHmWNiFL48Is_VsXeg=/768x0/filters:no_upscale()/monument-FDR-words-564089831-crop-58cf2f355f9b581d72ab53bc.jpg

+ BONUS DOGE

thanks for your responses, even though you are all strangers I doubt I will ever meet I have found ilx to be the best such collection of strangers, and the most consistently humane, anywhere on the internet.

YMP I am unfamiliar with that quote or monument. What/where is it?

Yeah, it's always worth checking in with the past and refreshing your perspective. The arc of the moral universe is long, etc. Lots of things and people are shitty right now but lots of things and people have been a whole hell of a lot shittier in the past.

Sparkle: FDR memorial, in Washington.

thank you

cute doge

hard to imagine trump with a dog somehow. it might get at his cheeseburgers.

don's dog nothingburger only responds to russian commands fwiu

I've occasionally wondered how many childhood pets died in his care. It's in the double digits, of that I'm sure.

I like goldfish that don't float

oh hey look what else wal mart did today

Employees at what may be as many as 260 Sam's Club stores across the U.S. learned abruptly on January 11 that they'd lost their jobs as Walmart announced a wave of store closings.

http://www.mlive.com/business/index.ssf/2018/01/walmart_abruptly_closes_sams_c.html

President Trump’s announcement of U.S-made F-52s fighter aircraft delivered to Norway may have rattled its neighbor Russia, the source of rising tension among NATO allies.

Was it a secret advanced jet capable of beating its Russian counterparts? A ruse to fool intelligence analysts? Neither, it turns out. The “F-52” is a fictional jet only available to fly if you’re a gamer at the controls of “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”

Trump lauded the sale of the fictional planes alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg at the White House on Wednesday, remarking on the very real and growing defense relationship with America’s Northern Europe ally.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2018/01/11/trump-lauded-delivery-of-f-52s-to-norway-the-planes-only-exist-in-call-of-duty/

xpost Geez, you think this might compromise the optics from this morning's announcement?

(Narrator: It won't.)

for fucks sake

Whose idea was it to start letting it speak in public again?

can't wait for his angry tweets about Crimson Jihad

Boring Bowser and his little mushroom kingdom are no match for the might of our powerful whips and boomerangs

Announcements very much in character

Not discounting the possibility that people in Trump's circle are just actively fucking with him at this point.

Yet another article explaining why rural whites are racists voting for Republicans who deny them health care yet why Democrats need them because big tent

gamer-americans across the nation thrilled that daddy donald has confirmed his membership among their ranks, prepare for the coming final assault on the brotherhood of NOD

Can we just get him a Twitch account and convince him it's his own 24-hour news channel or something?

lol at fucking Wal Mart. cool tho that there will be lots of empty ones for the FEMA re-education camps

'the fake news media won't tell you about the shadow moses incident folks!'

In other news, the Trump Administration issued a warning for people traveling to Oregon. Many cases of dysentery have been reported.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump attacks protections for immigrants from "shithole" countries in Oval Office meeting, by @jdawsey1.https://t.co/ccCLBQHDPU

— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) January 11, 2018

he specifically asked for geir instead

i mean

Nixon's phrase was "shit-ass countries"

but never a bad word about russia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.fastcompany.com/40515682/the-other-scary-foreign-hacking-threat-trump-is-ignoring

this must be the point when DACA activists and Hispanics will go hard against Dems, will start “falling in love” with Republicans and their President!

kinda bizarre to open up cnn.com and just see the word "shithole" screaming out from the headlines. america in 2018.

WaPo, also. and the NYT isn't touching the story as yet, no doubt flummoxed by decorum.

mr. shithole