5 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

So the next step will be pushing for a full repeal.

 

Yep.  Repeal now, replace later.  Or so they say.  Frankly, I think if they succeed in repealing Obamacare, they won't even BOTHER replacing it.  All they want is President P-Funk's legacy dead and gone.

Trump quietly signed to extend the Iran nuclear deal he once vowed to end.

 

Trump extends Iran nuclear deal he vowed to scrap

8 minutes ago, Khan said:

Yep.  Repeal now, eplace later.  Or so they say.  Frankly, I think if they succeed in repealing Obamacare, they won't even BOTHER replacing it.  All they want is President P-Funk's legacy dead and gone.

 

But as many, many insiders have said last night (and as I indicated on the last page via various tweets), most of them don't actually want to do it and jumped at the chance to walk away. They know repeal is political suicide. Most of them were just trading on Obama hatred during the election year.

 

"Repeal Obamacare" is rapidly becoming the new "Repeal Roe v. Wade" - it's a third rail the GOP establishment trades on but most have no actual political stomach for. As Josh Marshall notes, McConnell is now locking himself into a failure cycle on it. He will try again but I think it will get worse for him each time (and I thought it had a good chance of passing a week or two ago).

 

CNN and Politico on Trumpcare's failure.

 

3 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Trump quietly signed to extend the Iran nuclear deal he once vowed to end.

 

Trump extends Iran nuclear deal he vowed to scrap

 

He allegedly spent 55 minutes in a meeting the other day whining to advisors about why he didn't want to.

 

Meanwhile:

 

Quote

Special Counsel investigators are seeking information from the still-publicly unidentified eighth person who attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower, this person's attorney Scott Balber said Tuesday.

 

"The eighth person has been identified by prosecutors and we are cooperating fully with prosecutors as a result of the investigation. To preserve the integrity of the investigation we are declining to identify him at this time," Balber told CNN.

Edited July 18, 20178 yr by Vee

I am utterly fascinated by the Special Counsel's office. The hammer has got to come down soon because they've brought on top notch prosecutors. Those aren't people who left their jobs just to spin their wheels for months. Now they've moved into permanent offices just down the street from the DOJ complete with a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility). This is going to pop off soon one way or another either with indictments or Donnie trying to fire Mueller.

it Extremely Rules that @megynkelly's brand has become "regularly loses in the ratings to home video of someone shitting their cargo shorts" pic.twitter.com/OSPSVYlHQ0

— KRANG T. NELSON (@KrangTNelson) July 18, 2017

Eighth person in Don Jr. Russia meeting identified: Ike Kaveladze, who works for the Agalarovs https://t.co/DW14vXjA4L

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 18, 2017

Trump will conclude his first 6 months as the most unpopular president, at this point, since modern polling began. https://t.co/hOEuGvz7qL

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) July 18, 2017

ICYMI

Trump administration has also decided to allow 15,000 more H-2B visas, which allow seasonal workers access to the U.S., most likely to the benefit of big industry/business.

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Trump quietly signed to extend the Iran nuclear deal he once vowed to end.

 

Trump extends Iran nuclear deal he vowed to scrap

 

Trump probably forgot he spoke out against the deal.  Seriously, marceline might be right: this guy might be suffering from some form of dementia.

2 hours ago, Vee said:

 

So...Megyn Kelly's tanking in the ratings, and Jimmy Fallon's been shut out of the Emmys.  Not a TOTAL victory for this NBC-loathing fool (21 Emmy nods for SNL?  Srsly??) but still...what goes around, comes around.

3 hours ago, Vee said:

As Josh Marshall notes, McConnell is now locking himself into a failure cycle on it. He will try again but I think it will get worse for him each time (and I thought it had a good chance of passing a week or two ago).

 

Wait, what's the definition of insanity again?  Oh, yeah: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result every time.  Or something like that.  Anyway, let's hope that proves true for Mitch "Ahab" McConnell and his white whale that is repealing and/or replacing Obamacare.  I, for one, look forward to seeing the man driven ever-so-slightly mad at the prospect of never besting the ACA.

 

I mean, I'm still not convinced that the GOP won't ever repeal it -- I think they will one of these days, even if they don't actually WANT to, because accidents can and do happen -- but I'm also willing to extend some faith.

Edited July 18, 20178 yr by Khan

3 hours ago, Khan said:

 

Yep.  Repeal now, replace later.  Or so they say.  Frankly, I think if they succeed in repealing Obamacare, they won't even BOTHER replacing it.  All they want is President P-Funk's legacy dead and gone.

Every time I think their plans to screw up healthcare is dead, some remnant of it rises from the ashes. 

It keeps rising from the ashes for two reasons: 1) the GOP wants to demolish every piece of Obama's legacy, as I've said before; and 2) they probably realize that if they DON'T follow through on their promise to eliminate Obamacare, voters might make their displeasure known the next time they show up at the voting booths.

This photo, courtesy of @tedbarrettcnn: Reince Priebus ducking out of Senate lunch for a phone call, obscured by giant trash bin pic.twitter.com/hoD8QDOnvu

— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) July 18, 2017

14 minutes ago, Khan said:

It keeps rising from the ashes for two reasons: 1) the GOP wants to demolish every piece of Obama's legacy, as I've said before; and 2) they probably realize that if they DON'T follow through on their promise to eliminate Obamacare, voters might make their displeasure known the next time they show up at the voting booths.

 

Which is ridiculous because Republicans always vote Republican no matter what. 

Just in: @SenFeinstein says #SpecialCounsel Mueller gave Senate Judiciary all-clear to interview Don Jr and Manafort in public session

— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 18, 2017

...and Capito, whose state is hugely reliant on M'caid, puts the dagger in straight repeal https://t.co/wSoIwe0t0Q

— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) July 18, 2017