September 19, 2017 8:30 AM
Morning Reads for Tuesday, September 19
Good morning! Shoutout to N’Chris (regular readers may recall that he is my spouse, and he’s sent me several primo links this week).
- But first, Smyrna news. In a state where some cities have cancelled their municipal elections because there’s only one candidate for each seat, three candidates qualified to run for Smyrna’s Ward 3 yesterday – and there’s still a day and a half of qualifying to go.
- One national PAC is crowdfunding campaigns for candidates in Georgia who want to run against unopposed members of Congress.
- One opinion writer notes that not every critique of Hillary Clinton is rooted in sexism.
- There’s a rising death toll for journalists in India.
- During Hurricane Irma briefings in Manatee County, Florida, the sign language interpreter was pretty lousy, and warned of the approaching pizza and bear monster.
- Are you watching The Vietnam War on PBS? That’s our family viewing this
weekmonth.- Related: Georgia wants to honor all of our state’s Vietnam veterans.
- What we can learn by knitting and embroidering reproduction mittens from one of America’s WWII-era Japanese internment camps.
- “Feed me, Seymour!” Here are the most-produced high school musicals in America.
- Where are the female executive chefs in Atlanta?
- Updated at 8:47 because how could I omit the Juggalo link?
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A hurricane is kinda like a pizza-shaped bear monster, sure. I just wonder if anyone called the police or EMA after the presser and asked what the heck all that pizza stuff was about.
The Great Man is speaking at the UN right now! MAGA!
Not sure what Stephen Miller is worse at: writing speeches or getting women to go out with him.
I’ve also struggled to understand Miller. Best I guess, he is still rebelling against his parents, and perhaps had a rotten bar mitzvah.
Dunno if he had one, actually, but now curious…
His adolescence, though, may also affect his dating life and writing depth.
Update: Based in part on fine reporting from The Hollywood Reporter, it appears that he did have a bar mitzvah, but that his political views are borne from his parents’.
Georgia is planning to execute Keith Tharpe next week. There is little doubt regarding his guilt. The only issue is some unfortunate comments made by a juror, eight years after the trial.
https://chamblee54.wordpress.com/2017/09/19/keith-tharpe-and-jaquelin-freeman/
Scary. Whether a “dry run” or an innocent explanation, thanks to alert security workers in India. I had visions of the radio bomb that brought down PA 103 in ’88.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/cellphone-bomb-mangalore-airport-india-11202489
Thank you, Maxine! Shades of the Wellstone memorial? Think we might be able to get the Righteous Brothers back together for an amended version of “Unchained Melody” and call it “Unhinged Melody”?
Ohhhhh, and she was even able to sneak in a reference to slaves building the White House. Maybe she can go back even further in history and make a reference to slaves having built the pyramids, too.
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/maxine-waters-pushes-trump-impeachment-eulogy/
I’m glad Noway is here to determine when and where black folks are allowed to mention slavery.
Nope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Hatfield
Here’s an exchange between Vox’s Jeff Stein and Senator Isakson re: Graham-Cassidy:
Jeff Stein: What is the policy explanation for the Graham-Cassidy health care bill?
Johnny Isakson: Policy explanation? I’m not into policy, so I don’t really know. I’m into facts.
Stein: [In a follow-up interview hours later on Tuesday] You were joking earlier, but what is the health policy in the Graham-Cassidy proposal that you like?
Isakson:More state innovation. More input from the states.
Stein:What does that mean, exactly?
Isakson: The governors — I’m from a state that didn’t expand Medicaid, and the way we were going in health care looked like those states would actually be hurt worse than other states. By going to block grants, back to the states, the control of money stays with the states, and you have less [un]predictability and external deviation in terms of funding.
Stein: So just a follow-up on that. It’s one thing to say the bill gives the states power — that’s one thing. But it doesn’t just do that. It also cuts the money they have — some estimates say around 16 percent of federal funding.
Isakson: I’m not going to confirm that statement one way or another. I don’t know what the numbers are going to end up looking like.
Stein: Right, but if it does cut federal spending overall, would you support it?
Isakson: You know, those are dangerous questions. I’m waiting until I see the totality of the legislation to say whether I support the whole thing or not, anyway. I’m not a no, but I’m not a yes either — and I’m waiting for my governor to respond to me with their input as well. It’s really key what they’re doing.
…
In a nutshell, here’s what Graham-Cassidy does: It ends the Medicaid expansion and gives money to states in block grants. From there, states can “innovate” with supper “innovative” ideas like not spending money on actually covering people, not spending money to subsidize low and middle income earners, allowing insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Yep, you read that right. States won’t be obligated to spend the money on covering citizens or providing care to middle-income or even low-income Americans. States can allow insurers to discriminate based on pre-existing conditions. States can allow insurers to institute annual caps and lifetime caps. States can allow insurers to provide insurance policies that don’t cover prescription drugs, ambulance rides, ER visits, pregnancy, pre-natal care, cancer, or anything else they don’t feel like covering.
Healthcare comprises 1/6th of the US economy and we’ve got a bill that will radically alter how that market operates and functions. That bill will get one sham hearing in a homeland security subcommittee, no public debate, no markup, no input from Democrats, stakeholders, or healthcare experts. This is absolute madness and it will lead to tens of millions of Americans losing health insurance and tens of millions more finding that coverage is now too expensive for them. All because the Republican Party is really really mad that a black President passed a law that people like. This is insane and its not how government should operate.