9/20: With Ginsburg's Death, Americans Worry About Losing Obamacare Insurance

The late Ruth B. Ginsburg was a reliably liberal vote on the Supreme Court, and with her absence, the outlook for a SCOTUS decision supporting the Affordable Care Act -- Obamacare -- is uncertain. 

The week after the election, the Court will hear arguments on three questions: Who has the standing to challenge the ACA's mandate tax? Is the current mandate tax constitutional? How much of the ACA can remain standing if it is not? 

Republicans have tried to rescind or gut the ACA ever since it was enacted in 2009. In 2012, a Republican-sponsored suit went to SCOTUS so the court could review whether the ACA's "mandate" -- that all Americans must sign up for health insurance or be fined -- was constitutional.

SCOTUS decided that the mandate is a tax and that it was therefore constitutional. In 2017, Republicans set the "tax" to $0 for people who didn't meet the ACA's requirement to get health insurance.

Hence the question: Is a tax of $0 constitutional? The case that started the most recent lawsuit was brought by several states led by Texas. The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the $0 tax was not constitutional. It then sent the case back to the lower court, asking whether, if the tax was deemed unconstitutional, that meant the entire ACA would have to be scuttled or whether there were parts that could survive. 

In January 2020, an opposing group -- a bunch of states led by California and joined by the U.S. House of Representatives -- asked SCOTUS to go ahead and rule instead of waiting on the lower court. 

Meanwhile, with his typical doublespeak, Trump has praised himself for assuring coverage for pre-existing health conditions. That, however, was built into the ACA from the start. Trump has long promised to produce a new, even better, super-fantabulous and yet cheaper substitute for the ACA. So far, he hasn't. 

After SCOTUS hears arguments for both California et. al. and Texas et. al., chances are they won't come up with a decision until the end of January.

But you never know. 

Will this decision be made by an eight-person or nine-person court? What will it mean if SCOTUS nullifies Obamacare? Will the SCOTUS decision make any difference at all if Trump is reelected? How could Biden deal with a decision striking down Obamacare?

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/18/pandemic-supercharges-campaign-battles-over-obamacare-418049?fbclid=IwAR2jxK4xn5OEka26kPKeWrhzPZvMhLhQhQ9T5ptXdYCY4c6F2s0LO1O0MKI

https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/03/justices-grant-affordable-care-act-petitions/

9/23: Republican Cindy McCain Endorses Joe Biden for President

Senator John McCain's widow has a couple of reasons to dislike the Republican in Chief. In 2015, Trump dismissed McCain's remarkable long-ago leadership when McCain, then a pilot, was jailed in a VietCong prison along with other American military members. “He’s not a war hero," Trump sniffed. "He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”

When McCain died in 2018 of brain cancer, the president complained about the honors McCain received, such as lowering the flag to half mast. Then Trump bragged about "authorizing" McCain's funeral plans, which didn't need his say-so. Later, Trump said, "I don't care about this, I didn't get a 'thank you' and that's okay." This from a president who fled to a bunker in the White House, unused since 9/11, when shouts of "Black Lives Matter!" were audible from a protest nearby.

That's the same president who gleefully attacks the media as "enemies" of the government, which he seems to equate with himself. "Remember that beautiful sight? The street was a mess," Trump said, describing the demonstrations in Minneapolis after George Floyd's death. "That idiot reporter from CNN got hit on the knee with a can of tear gas, right? And he went down. ‘I’ve been hit. I’ve been hit.’" Trump mimicked the reporter. "Police brutality!" [It was a rubber bullet, not tear gas.] That's the guy who lacks the guts to face up to a crowd outside a closed, fans-only rally, making fun of the physical bravery of others.

Thank you for listening while I got that off my chest. Moving on:

While Trump was bloviating, bobbing, and weaving, McCain and Biden were continuing with a decades-long friendship that started with the day, back in the 1970s, that McCain was assigned to be a military attache to then-Senator Biden during an overseas trip.

Cindy McCain tweeted yesterday, “My husband John lived by a code: country first. We are Republicans, yes, but Americans foremost. There’s only one candidate in this race who stands up for our values as a nation, and that is @JoeBiden."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/cindy-mccain-endorses-joe-biden_n_5f6a8f0fc5b6189caef95631?fbclid=IwAR0HQDp9QW7NW35UyfoyltEBHX6WuwrLjcGk3AKXFPNtTnLGZl80Pnu0fBo

9/21: So You Want Federal Funds? Welcome Our Thugs!

In one of the most alarming steps yet taken by the Trump administration, the president is threatening to withhold federal funding from any city that didn't welcome Trump's mercenary army of storm-troopers during protests this past year.

On Monday, Attorney General William Barr announced that New York City, Portland, and Seattle are under the gimlet eye of the Justice Department, as per instructions given in a memo from The Donald dated 9/2/2020. That memo is entitled "Memorandum on Reviewing Funding to State and Local Government Recipients That Are Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction in American Cities."

Trump's memo detailed the activity that the president disliked in the three cities that Barr has cited. (Washington, DC was mentioned in the memo, too, but not in Barr's announcement.)

The memo doesn't threaten to withhold funds; it threatens to "review" them. Thus, Barr's announcement is the warning shot in a battle that looks at least as badly planned as the Bay of Pigs. Lawyers can attack this ridiculous ploy in more ways than we can count. It's a gift to late-night comics.

Problem is, it's also terrifying. If Trump hadn't used a shock-and-awe offense before, we'd be even more scared. However, Barr's step could well have to do with helping Trump split the public's attention away from the travesty that Senate Republicans hope to accomplish in confirming a new Supreme Court Justice before decency (not to mention their own supposed convictions) allows.

We can take it with a smirk -- hopefully. At bottom, this shows why Donald Trump must not be reelected. This step is truly fascist.


What's your thinking on the implications of this announcement? Should we take Barr's step seriously? What is the likelihood that the federal government would go through with the threat of cutting federal funds to obstreperous districts? Should we subject Trump to ridicule over the whole idea?


https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/517365-doj-designates-new-york-portland-and-seattle-as-permitting-anarchy?fbclid=IwAR3tusfTLTp4WofH1CtJBsewW95Lemq4erHvmnnvzpt_8iiXPM-tgGvfAoE

9/26: "Freak Aisle!"

Kyle Rittenhouse is in jail and on his way to prison (we hope) after killing two protesters and wounding another in Waukesha, WI.

Freak Aisle, misspelled.

His mom, however, is still walking the streets. On Thursday, Wendy Rittenhouse walked herself up to the podium at a Waukesha County Republican rally in Wisconsin (she lives in Michigan) where, along with her son's lawyer, she received a STANDING OVATION from the crowd. 

The lawyer, John Pierce, "deserved" it as much as Ms. Rittenhouse. Sure, she raised her son as a single mom. Sure, she drove him from their home in Michigan to the protest where he committed his murders. But John Pierce is the one who made Kyle a grass-roots hero and cause celebre in the alt-right world of "don't trust the mainstream media" crazies. 

Pierce sold those crazies the story that Kyle stood up and fought for traditional U.S. culture. You could put that story to music and call it an auld lang syne, because their outdated white-superiority world is rapidly vanishing into the past. This year is its last hurrah -- we hope.

We think the guy with the cardboard sign, "Free Kyle," made a spelling error. "Freak Aisle" is about right. 


"File:A Kyle Rittenhouse supporter in Kenosha Wisconsin.jpg" by Lightburst is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

https://www.newsweek.com/kyle-rittenhouses-mother-receives-standing-ovation-wisconsin-gop-event-1534364?fbclid=IwAR2t6swrMpmT1jEQOpss0IUlgRusjkcPeX3ZR3Qxj7W51izYfur_bNWiLX8

9/26: Trump Plies Black Georgia Voters with a "Platinum Plan"

Trump made an effort to court Black voters on Friday in a campaign rally in Atlanta by announcing his "Platinum Plan."

He pledged to create a half-million new Black-owned businesses and three million new jobs for the Black community, and to increase access to capital in Black communities by half a trillion dollars. He also said he'll ask Congress to make Juneteenth a holiday, and designate the KKK a terrorist organization.

Trump left out a few factoids. He didn’t explain how a white, fair-haired man can create a Black business. He didn’t say where the funding will come from. He didn’t mention that Kamala Harris has already introduced a bill to make Juneteenth a holiday. He did, however, say he was calling the KKK a terrorist group ALONG WITH Antifa, according to The Hill.

Not to mention that Trump's written info on the Platinum Plan said he'd increase diversity training in law enforcement, although he demanded that diversity training be eliminated immediately and completely for federal employees only a few weeks ago.

What came out loud and clear in this befuddling performance was his dislike of Black Lives Matter. He took a hard kick at "defunding the police" and reiterated much of what he has said about BLM before: That they are violent protesters, socialists and/or Marxist, bad for Black people, etc.

Trump can't fall much farther among Black voters in the Peach State, where the two candidates are at 47% each overall. On Tuesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, based on its own polling, that 85% of Black voters favor Biden, with 8% more undecided. That leaves a mere 7% percent who may see Trump favorably.

Trump is apt to find out that all that glitters is not Platinum.

Do you think that Trump actually plans to carry out his "Platinum Plan?" Is he just making empty promises? Do you think he can convince Black voters that he's trustworthy? Will this plan help Trump or hurt him?

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/518298-trump-assails-black-lives-matter-in-appeal-to-black-voters?

fbclid=IwAR3x9NHSs_Ed7sT7B1ijA1qrnJXPPXpngURploZNa3f0bhMaJRcHrK5TltQ 

https://thedailywealthmultiplier.com/trump-launches-plan-for-black-america-with-some-holes/ 

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign-polls/517521-trump-biden-tied-at-47-percent-in-georgia-poll

THEHILL.COM

Trump, Biden tied in Georgia: poll

President Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden are ti

9/26: UPDATE -- Federal Judge Kicks Land-Management Chief Pendley Out of Office

Remember William Pendley? He's the guy who would never be confirmed as the head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in part because of his two books arguing that the federal government shouldn't own land?

Pendley has had a series of interim appointments since July 2019, first by "secretarial orders" issued by the head of the Department of the Interior, and then via "succession orders" -- which Pendley issued himself!

Friday, federal judge Brian Morris put an end to it. Morris said Pendley had served "unlawfully as the Acting BLM Director for 424 days," and further, stopped him from exercising the authority of the agency's director. That is, he ordered Pendley kicked out of his position.

If you hear cheering coming from the offices of conservation and environmental groups tonight, you can thank Montana's Democratic governor, Steve Bullock, who brought the lawsuit against Pendley.

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/518376-court-removes-pendley-from-role-as-public-lands-chief?fbclid=IwAR3nHHwqQ0_MGOacr8QkEJ5iZg-LVtC_kHka2uMjz3iVCsY0zmggTh5XOZo

9/25: "Donald Trump May Win or Lose, but He Will Never Concede" --- Part I: Trump and Trumpers' Tactics So Far

The coming national election will be ugly, messy, and possibly violent, not least because a long-standing court order against Republican intimidation at the polls has expired. With Trump's illegal machinations, we're far more likely to have a muddy, multi-day mud fight with lawsuits flying like paper airplanes in a middle-school English class. According to Barton Gellman of The Atlantic, "Donald Trump may win or lose, but he will never concede." So far, when we've talked about Trump refusing to leave office, we've presupposed that there will be a clear-cut winner by January 20. It's a clear part of Trump's strategy to keep that from happening. Absent a Biden landslide, Trump plans to throw election totals in doubt and then use any means he can find to warp the results his way. He has already stated that he will accept the election results only if he wins. We've already seen Trump is working to gum up the gears of the election process in ways that disenfranchise Democratic voters, poor voters, young voters, and voters of color. Those efforts, large and small, add up to an astonishing level of sabotage of the voting system. Did it ever seem that we'd have one party willing to crush America's constitution to keep power? It has never happened before. Thanks to the dead consent decree that required Republican politicians to play nice at the polls, there is no legal bar to Trump's pushing to have the National Guard, county sheriffs, city police, or self-proclaimed patriots with long guns and grudges stand by to intimidate voters and even argue with them as they walk from their cars to vote. Add to that the obvious intention by Republicans to invent reasons to throw out mail-in ballots, supposedly the favorite of Democrats, by getting extra picky about the already persnickety details involved in mail-in voting (Did they use both envelopes? Did they sign in the right place?). That is, the Republican party is literally going out of its way to hack the voting system. Who needs Russians when you have Republican politicians to do the job? That's almost a certainty, because most mail-in ballots will be counted after election day. Trump has stated he thinks that whoever wins on election night wins the election. He won't win that fight, and he knows it. There are strategies beyond that point.

What parts of Trump's plans for disrupting the election worry you the most? Should the Republican party be outlawed because of its willingness to subvert the Constitution? Is that even possible? Or have Democrats also done illegal election meddling?

THEATLANTIC.COM

9/25: "Donald Trump May Win or Lose, But He Will Never Concede" — Part II: Could There Be Rival Electors?

Electors must be appointed by December 8th. That gives both Republicans and Democrats a hard deadline to finish counting and arguing over the vote totals beforehand. Electors are assigned according to the popular vote, and very few are "faithless," in that they cast their votes for a different candidate than the one they were assigned for.

However, in Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court gave states the power to choose electors by OTHER than the popular vote.

Republican-led states can, literally, change who is an elector however they choose, and the rules for doing so differ by state. The Republican party allegedly has plans to recommend that very step. Trump is certain to lean on states to do so, probably based on "voting fraud." They'd be charged with "doing the people's will" instead, according to Gellman.

Republican politicians control both legislative chambers in six key states. Of those, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have Democratic governors. Arizona and Florida have Republican governors.

Would Trump or Republican politicians really pressure states to do this? The Atlantic asked the Trump campaign, which prompted this email response from one staffer. “It’s outrageous that President Trump and his team are being villainized for upholding the rule of law and transparently fighting for a free and fair election.” By now, we know that such language means Yes.

We've all figured that Trump wants his election thrown to the Supreme Court, which he'll have packed with conservatives by the end of the year, if not before the election. But the results may not go to SCOTUS, at least not immediately: They may go to the senate. Gellman says it's even possible, for some states that have internal arguments over who gets to choose electors, for states to wind up with rival panels of electors on December 14. In any case, if the states are deadlocked, their votes get kicked to the President of the Senate -- Mike Pence.

In such a situation, the Constitution says that the Vice President opens all the state certificates in front of the senate and counts the votes. But who does the counting? Which certificates are counted? Gellman writes. The answer isn't clear, and the 12th Amendment, which is intended to clarify, does just the opposite. Pence could choose to reelect himself and Trump.

And then it may be indeed be up to the Supreme Court to choose the winner by the way it decides to clarify the 12th Amendment. If that happens, Trump's rough, rushed Supreme Court appointment, which would make the Court almost comically one-sided, will be under the same pressure as SCOTUS was for Bush v. Gore, except with a tougher law to interpret.

Still, "conservative" at SCOTUS means, at least for some justices, a particular reading of the Constitution -- not a fuzzy nostalgia for the bad old days. You never know. SCOTUS might surprise us all.

We can always hope.

Do you think that the country as a whole will remain peaceful while a process like this goes on? Do we really want lawyers to be the ones battling over fair election standards? What will happen if Trump loses? What will happen if Trump wins?

THEATLANTIC.COM

The Election That Could Break America

If the vote is close, Donald Trump could easily throw the election into chaos and subvert the result. Who will stop him?

9/24: Eric Trump Must Testify Before Election in State Fraud Case

Remember that never-ending federal lawsuit about Cyrus Vance, Jr.'s subpoena for Trump's tax returns? The one that went to the Supreme Court and still hasn't ended?

We're not talking about that federal lawsuit. We're talking about New York State's investigation into whether the Trump Organization committed fraud. The organization allegedly routinely inflated assets to apply for loans and deflated them for tax purposes -- an accusation that began with former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen.

Letitia James, New York's Attorney General, asked for financial records and for an interview with the president's son Eric in August. Eric is the Trump Organization's executive vice president. He asked to have his testimony delayed till after the election.

Yesterday, Arthur Engoron, Justice on New York County's State Supreme Court, ruled that documents James had requested be turned over to her, and that Eric Trump has to testify before the election because the election had no bearing on the case.

"We will immediately move to ensure that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization comply with the court's order and submit financial records related to our investigation," James said in a statement. "Further, Eric Trump will no longer be able to delay his interview and will be sitting down with investigators in my office no later than October 7."

CBSNEWS.COM

Court orders Eric Trump to testify before New York attorney general ahead of election

9/23: Trump Allies Misquote Biden to Make Him Look Bad -- Again

“Alternative facts” continue to dance across Trump fans' fields of vision, sent there deliberately by the Trump campaign. This time, it was Biden's supposed bungling of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Biden was contrasting Trump's concern for the "red" states and disdain for the "blue" ones in his remarks on COVID-19 deaths. (If you left out the blue states, Trump said, U.S. COVID statistics don't look all that bad.)

Biden's words were part of a campaign speech in Wisconsin on Monday. "He's saying if you live in a state like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, states with Democratic governors, you're not his problem," Biden said. "I don't see the presidency that way. I don't pledge allegiance to red states of America or blue states of America. I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE, UNDER GOD. FOR REAL."

The Trump campaign ran an eight-second clip showing only the lines I've capitalized and pretended that they were showing Biden trying to recite the “Pledge of Allegiance.”

The ad went up on Twitter on Monday, posted by Steve Guest, the "rapid response director" of the Republican National Committee, and on Facebook yesterday.

Reporters checking the post that day noted that there were north of 13,500 retweets and 1.5 million views of the video, followed, of course, by idiotic responses from people who accepted at face value the depiction of Biden as a doddering, fuzzy-headed elder. The commenting hasn't stopped.

"I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I'm not going to govern as a Democratic president: I'm going to govern as president," Biden continued in his speech.

He'll need more graciousness than I am feeling at this moment to brush off the blatant lies of his opponents' buddies.

CNN.COM

Fact check: Trump campaign posts another dishonestly snipped Biden quote to make him sound confused