As 2015 begins, there is much to be optimistic about for the new year. The American economy is really starting to take off. The private sector has created new jobs for a record 57 months, driving down the unemployment rate and finally beginning to put upward pressure on wages. Plummeting global energy costs are putting […]
Category: The States
Many leaders in the Republican Party and its amen corner are shocked--SHOCKED!--to learn that one of its top figures in Congress addressed a white supremacist group in 2002. But Rep. Steve Scalise's outreach to the white power crowd shouldn't have come as a surprise to the likes of Erick Erickson or Jennifer Rubin or anyone […]
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. For two free health care clinics, that is. In Mena, Arkansas, the 9th Street Ministries free clinic closed its doors after 16 years, its services no longer needed by the low income residents in poverty-stricken Polk County who have now obtained health insurance […]
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal doesn't just want to be President of the United States. In 2012, he claimed he wanted to rid his Republican Party of its demons to purge it of "dumbed-down conservatism" and ensure the GOP was no longer "the stupid party." But he didn't mean it. After all, in the intervening two […]
From the beginning, the magnitude of Republicans' lies about Obamacare has been directly proportional to their fears it would succeed. First it was "death panels," which Politifact cited as its 2009 Lie of the Year. In 2010, it was the Affordable Care Act's mythical "government takeover of health care," a fraud that earned the GOP […]
As the Washington Post among others reported Monday, Google is testing a new service "that provides live video chat advice to searchers looking for information on some medical conditions." The feature, uncovered by a Reddit user who noticed his Android phone suggested "Talk with a doctor now" when he did a search about "knee pain," […]
In a midterm campaign filled with affronts to voters and reality alike, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reached a new low in last night's Kentucky Senate debate. Declaring once again that the Affordable Care Act should be repealed "root and branch," McConnell pretended nothing would happen as a result to the 520,000 Kentuckians whose new […]
News of the first reported case of Ebola virus in the United States is an even more virulent strain of right-wing outrage. While GOP Senator and 2016 White House hopeful Rand Paul worried that President is doing too much to help contain Ebola in West Africa ("Can you imagine if a whole ship full of […]
Until her current Oregon Senate run this year, millionaire neurosurgeon Monica Wehby's political career consisted of appearing in anti-Obamacare ads and pushing a ballot measure to limit medical malpractice awards. Now, Dr. Wehby is calling for upper class tax cuts, a balanced budget amendment and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the same Republican […]
Can you put a cost on stupid? In the case of Republican-led states rejecting Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid coverage to their low income residents, The answer is a resounding "yes." Florida, Texas, North Carolina and 20 other No states aren't merely losing billions in federal funds to provide insurance for millions of their residents. As […]