Juliajms

I think this is really one of the major dilemmas the original recipe ACA faces. Without the mandate and the power (fine) to back it up some healthy people will just opt out. I don't blame them because when you are living hand to mouth like that you tend to live in the moment when it comes to finances. However that raises the prices for other people and makes the whole thing unworkable. I'm sure there are ways around that, but not ones a Republican congress will pass. I'm pretty skeptical that tax credits will help people who aren't already well into the middle class, but I'll wait to see what actually gets passed. I've never been more grateful to have employer based insurance, but at the same time most of us are one job loss away from needing the ACA to fall back on.

Jones’s presentation was repeatedly interrupted by comments about killing Muslims from Frank del Valle, a staunchly anticommunist Cuban immigrant, with little or no pushback from the others in the room. “Can we not kill them all?” Del Valle asked, about 15 minutes into the presentation, during a discussion about the differences between the Sunni and Shia sects of Islam. Since Trump was elected I've been worried that various groups would join the white supremacists in scapegoating Muslims, so this story is pretty horrifying to me. I guess we should just be thankful that 45 wasn't President during 9/11. W screwed a lot of things up, but I think he quelled the Muslim hate instead of leading the charge.

I almost invested in CCA, before I understood how bad private prisons are. My husband convinced me it's blood money and since then I've learned he couldn't have been more right. Not that my pittance makes any difference, but just for my own peace of mind I'm glad I never had any part in it. To think these people are making policy that will imprison more people and then making money from it is seriously sick. I'm not sure, but I do know that the legislature has come close to over turning his tax plan, so even some of the Republicans realize it's a complete disaster. Of course, Brownback vetoed it. Some people can never admit when they completely f*cked up.

The implosion of the Kansas economy continues, but I doubt the Republicans will take the warning. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/sam-brownback-kansas-tax-cuts-donald-trump

Bill Maher on video defending sex between a 35 year old teacher and a 12 year old boy. "How can a woman rape a man?" http://thehill.com/homenews/media/320680-video-bill-maher-condoned-sex-between-35-year-old-woman-12-year-old-boy

The only thing that surprises me is that Betsy DeVos tried to stand against him.

^ I've wondered the same thing. I remembering hearing on one of the news shows that Trump can limit the number of refugees to 50,000 as has been announced and that we are basically at that number for the year anyway. I'm not sure what that means for the Syrians who were on track to come though. Hopefully they can get in. I think it's basically a myth the the majority of the American public has ever been welcoming to new comers. At the same time at least we do take a large number of people overall and there are a lot of good people who work hard to help people settle in. There are plenty of countries who won't take anyone, including Japan. Abe was quoted not that long ago saying something along the lines of 'We need to get our native population growing before we can take in other people'. Meanwhile their economy has been floundering for years in part because they have negative population growth. Pure madness and if Bannon has his way we'll be headed down the same path. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/japan-rejected-99-percent-refugees-2015-160124070011926.html

I'm glad. No one should be giving him a platform, imo. If the last year has taught us anything it should be that giving these people a platform just spreads the hate. It's sad that people can be so easily influenced but the uptick in hate crimes makes it pretty obvious that's the case. The bad news is that in the case of Yiannopoulos, he's gotten enough attention that he's like a banned book. People will seek him out more now. As to the pedophilia comments, you'd think a gay man would know better than to validate the myth that homosexuals tend to go after children. Then again he's basically a whore. He'll say anything he thinks will bring money and attention.

Anti Muslim hate groups have tripled with Trump's rise. No surprise, but he really has unleashed so much ugliness in people. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/02/anti-muslim-groups-america-tripled-alongside-trump

This is one facet of what I'm thinking. We're told that a lot of these people are older whites who are going to die off. I'm sure that's true to some degree, although people have been saying that since the 60's. At the same time, look at that whole Gamer Gate debacle. I'm sure a lot of the guys involved in that were Bernie Bros. They aren't old, uneducated people by any stretch, quite the opposite, but there is a deep streak of misogyny and racism in that group. I'm more wondering if government is going to go back to normal? Will our next president be a decent person or are we in for more of these people who just want to make a buck from the office. It feel like things are coming apart at the seems, but maybe it felt like that during the Nixon administration as well. I don't really know.

I wonder if once Trump is gone, if things will go back to normal? At first I was assuming that we just had to endure four years and then we'd get a normal president and life would go on as it always has. I'm still hoping for that, but I'm less sure. On another note 48 JCC's have been hit with bomb threats: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/living/jcc-bomb-threats-anti-semitism/index.html And as we've talked about before Trump's own base benefits the most from the very anti poverty programs the Republicans are itching to kill. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/gop-base-poverty-snap-social-security/516861/?utm_source=atltw

^ Yep. One of the smartest things President Obama did was resist the pressure to get more involved in that conflict.

This is how I see it too. The upside to Pence is that he probably won't nuke anyone or get us nuked. Not sure what his stance on immigration is, but I doubt it's as harsh as Trump/Bannon. I'm seeing talk of sending ground troops to Syria. As much as I enjoy this WH making every mistake possible, I hope they avoid this one. http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/15/politics/pentagon-considering-recommending-combat-troops-in-syria/index.html

Keeping up with this insane administration is a full time job.

I think it's hard to know what really happened. Either way he is their Dad and it's clear he's pretty manipulative. The way Ivanka brags about the fact the 45 always took her calls is just sad. As if that isn't the absolute bare minimum a parent could do. Remember how during the campaign all his children were asked who the favorite was and they all said Ivanka? I'm sure it was great for 10 year old Barron to hear that. Plus children should not have to protect their mother, it's the parent's job to protect them. No one will convince me that Ivana is some hero in all this, she choose that POS to procreate with. And yeah, there are a lot of people I feel a lot more sorry for then the Trump kids, but being rich does not protect people from the damage done by awful parents.

Yep. I feel sorry for all of his children on some level. Being raised by a narcissist is deeply damaging. As far as looks go I think Ivanka was a very pretty little girl, but she's had enough surgery to wipe all the character from her face at this point. People losing fingers trying to get from the US to Canada. This is just tragic. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/increasing-numbers-of-muslim-migrants-trek-north-to-canada-sometimes-through-freezing-temperatures-and-snow/ar-AAmSMEd?li=BBnbcA1

Not sure if I think this guy's on the right track about Trump or paranoid. https://medium.com/@yonatanzunger/ive-got-a-little-list-9acf9129f5a5#.9exz9qg5f

I agree. There isn't any will among the Republican establishment to deal with immigration reform. They get cheaper labor on both the low end and the high end front (H1 Visas) with the added bonus that these workers are dependent on their employers and have no right to vote. What's not to love? So then here comes Trump (well, Bannon) who does want to deal with immigration in what appears to be the most inhumane and destructive way possible. How odd that what little hope their is lies in the fat cats and their minions reigning him in? I agree. There would be a lot of unintended consequences to this, of course, but maybe it's time to face up to them and see where we go from that point on. Meat packing is a prime example. It's a terrible job and I don't think anyone should have to do it for anything less the the true market value of that work.

This has always made sense to me for a number of reasons. Mostly because it's true that an unlimited supply of unskilled workers lowers wages. We're always hearing that Americans don't want to be farm workers or elder care workers but this is an argument that really pisses me off when Republicans make it. If citizens don't want to work for your company or for the wages you are offering doesn't that mean that your business model isn't working? Republicans are always telling us about market economics, but they don't want to live by that when it comes to paying people or providing good working conditions. My answer to all this would be either a guest worker program or one more amnesty and then finally using e-verify. Having 11 million people living without papers is not a good plan. Not only does it lead to exploitation, but to the kind of random round ups and deportations that seem to be coming.

And what if they don't? How many people carry citizenship papers around with them? I agreed with Obama's policy of deporting people with a violent history, but rounding up good people isn't right. I imagine he won't get away with it long term. He's going to face a lot of push back from this. His own party is divided on immigration, so I don't think he's going to have such an easy time passing new legislation either. And I'm sorry that your mother is afraid. President Bannon is definitely enjoying his moment and trying to turn us into a police state, but I don't believe he has the will of the people on his side.

Wow. I had no idea that the percentage of kids who have all of their vaccinations by 35 months is so low. That is crazy.

If the police were to come across a violent felon in the course of their duties and that person were deported, I'm for that. I'm also for sending people back right after they complete their prison sentence. Raiding people's homes though, that's some creepy Gestapo like measures. I'm not for that, especially since they seem to be taking people who aren't felons. That's just traumatizing people when they should just focus on the most dangerous, imo. And yes, I know we have plenty of criminals here, but since the age of the penal colony is over we're stuck with our own.

I feel bad for people who have to retire soon or are already retired, especially if they don't know enough to get out. For people who are going to retire in 20 years this could be more of an opportunity, as the 2008 crisis was. I'm not sure what I plan to do yet. Probably double down on my son's college fund once there is a downturn, expecting that there will be a recovery sometime in the next 16 years. All I know is I'm grateful to have many years before retirement.

I agree with you. Of course, it's hugely disappointing that Trump's hate-mongering wasn't a deal beaker for more people. I was truly stunned that more people weren't outraged by the Access Hollywood tape. They might have disapproved, but they didn't care enough about women (even a lot of women didn't) to change their vote. Just like they didn't care enough about minorities or immigrants to change their vote. That doesn't mean hate was the primary reason for all of those voters or that Dems can't win them back. I'm not really confident that we can do that right now though. I think we're just hoping Trump will screw up enough to turn their votes, which isn't the greatest strategy, imo.

I was just reading that story about the farmers. I tend to be pretty sympathetic, even to people who cause their own problems, but for the love of God! Making life hard for the undocumented was one of his major promises, of course he meant it.