Daily action: AN IMPORTANT MORAL VICTORY

Daily Action

2 hrs · 

Today's Daily Action is to call your Senators at 844-241-1141 and tell them whatever is on YOUR mind - after all, these are YOUR elected representatives. Four key points below.

1- It is always a good day to practice using your voice even if there isn't an impending vote. Today, as we head into Independence Day is as good a day as any for your first call to Congress ever, your first call in a long time or your fifth call this week.

2 - Healthcare appears stalled for now. The Senate is breaking for recess and as of this morning, there was no new health care bill or outline of a bill. This is a tactical victory for us - even as we remain vigilant ;-)

3 - We won an important moral victory this week. Here's why: we started this week literally begging our democratically-elected leaders, sometimes tearfully, not to kill us (!) We were told that we were wasting our time because McConnell is wily and we are powerless. The six quotes below are all from Republican Senators who are opposed to the current bill:

"As drafted, this bill will not ensure access to affordable health care in West Virginia, does not do enough to combat the opioid epidemic that is devastating my state, cuts traditional Medicaid too deeply, and harms rural health care providers." - Senator Shelly Moore Capito

"I'm opposed to this bill because I don't think it does the job and would make matters worse in many cases." - Senator Susan Collins

"It’s not an acceptable proposition to have a bill that increases the burden on lower-income citizens and lessons the burden on wealthy citizens." - Senator Bob Corker

“It’s not about getting me to yes. It’s about getting Nevada to yes. … Low-income families, should they have health insurance? The answer is yes.” - Senator Dean Heller

“The Senate healthcare bill missed the mark for Kansans and therefore did not have my support. I am pleased with the decision to delay the vote – now is the time to take a step back and put the full legislative process to work." - Senator Jerry Moran

"The Congress of the United States — whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, in the House or in the Senate — shouldn't we all be working together on the problems that are part and parcel of who we are as Americans? This is not for Republicans to fix or Democrats to fix. This is for us as Americans to fix. So when did we get to the point where we said, 'No. We're not going to talk to Democrats about a fix'? We should be working with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle." - Senator Lisa Murkowski

"I continue to have real concerns about the Medicaid policies in this bill, especially those that impact drug treatment at a time when Ohio is facing an opioid epidemic. For months, I have engaged with my colleagues on solutions that I believe are necessary to ensure that we improve our health care system and better combat this opioid epidemic. Unfortunately, the Senate draft falls short and therefore I cannot support it in its current form." - Senator Rob Portman

Sometimes you just have to tune out your inner cynic, the doomsdayers in your Facebook feed, the naysayers on Twitter, the media pundits on both sides and FIGHT ON for what *appears* to be a hopelessly foolish, naively optimistic cause.

4 - Have a wonderful weekend!

Dazed GOP bolts Washington in health care disarray

Senate Republicans are still divided on their bill to repeal Obamacare, and a weeklong recess won't offer much respite.

POLITI.CO

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Action alert health care bill June29, 2017

Leslie Fox shared Daily Action's post.

45 mins · 

Daily Action

7 hrs · 

HOLD THE LINE
Today's Daily Action is to call your Senators at 844-241-1141 and speak out against the Republican health care bill. As expected, Mitch McConnell is working behind closed doors to create an agreement among Republican senators. It's critical that the Senate knows we are still watching.

If your Senator is a Republican, ask them if they're holding a town hall over the upcoming July 4th recess - and if not, why not? Ask them if they are pursuing a bipartisan solution to health care.

If your Senator is a Democrat, thank them for staying vigilant and encourage them to hold town halls over the July 4th recess so they can hear from their constituents directly.

Beleaguered health care bill gets new terms in effort to secure votes

White House, Senate GOP agree to add $45 billion to address opioid crisis, near agreement on Health Savings Account money.

POLITICO.COM

Here's a Trump campaign guy who is a foreign agent

Paul Manifort was 
Trump's campaign manager for several months before Conway. He has now registered as a foreign agent because he has taken a lot of money to work for a pro Russian group in Ukraine, Trump supporters have been saying no one of Trump's campaign was connected to Russia, This guy was. He continued to be an adviser up into the fake presidency, CBS news


NPR

June 28, 20175:15 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

JIM ZARROLI

Facebook

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/28/534765010/paul-manaforts-firm-received-17-1-million-from-ukrainian-political-party

A firm headed by Paul Manafort, who served as President Trump's campaign manager last year, made more than $17 million in two years working for the pro-Russia political party that controlled Ukraine's government, according to documents filed late Tuesday.

Manafort, who resigned from Trump's campaign last August after his work for Ukrainian interests came under scrutiny, has registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department, as did his deputy, Rick Gates.

Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said Manafort had started the registration process under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in September of last year, before the November 2016 election.

"Paul's primary focus was always directed at domestic Ukrainian political campaign work and that is reflected in yesterday's filing. Paul has appreciated the professionalism and guidance of the FARA unit throughout this process," Maloni said.

Economics of Health Care vs. the soul

CBS this morning, Rand Paul discusses the health care bill. He said a lot about the economics of it but the one thing missing from hi equation is the fact that it's about helping people who need medical care. One would think it;s about people buying a car, That's because Republican senators look at money differently than the rest of us. Take one example isolate one aspect of the bill. Let's take the issue of the 22 million who will lose their insurance under ''trump care."[1]

The republican's major  argument is that these guys will drop out because the Obama requirement to have insurance will be lifted.They wont be forced to buy it so they wont buy it.That means they are consumers making a decision not people in need of care who can't afford something. Here we see the fundamental difference in the way Republican senators look at money and the way ordinary people do,For Republican senators money is a tool which enables one to increase personal power, gain security agaisnt the trammels of the world, and procure pleasure for oneself. For working people ad poor people money is more like blood in your body or breath in your lungs. For the Senators one is makimng choices between options, choosing to spend. The issue is about choosing to spend. For the parents with a child who has cancer who owe $200,000 in meds there are no options either they have the money or they do not. That kind of money for most people can only come from insurance, and without a requirement to make the insurance people accept  pre-existing conditions a lot lot of kids will die, It's not a matter of choosing. They are not shoppers they are not medicals consumers.

The Senators heads are in economics text books and business culture that just does not view human need as part of the equation, It assets the spending of money is always a choice made by consumers who can choose between alternatives but for real people whose child will die the alternative is not there there. Two other attitudes of Paul's related to this issue also serve to illustrate the consequences of this kind of thinking. one is his assertion that they are not really cutting back medicaid. The other assertion he makes is that regulation increases cost of medical care and to get cost down and create the alternatives we have to end regulation. The lie that they are not cutting medicaid is because they don't count the medicaid expansion created when Obama care was past as really part of medicaid "proper." But this is just another example of how their thinking lacks real humans in the equation, read people are part of that expansion and they need it. Here they assert the tax incentives will help them to buy new insurance but most poor and working class people can't do anything with a tax incentive, you don't pay tax you have no tax incentive.

The idea that regulation increases cost is the result of that kind of negative thinking that comes from business culture. It's based upon money not made which is counted as lost. I estimated that I should make $40 million on some venture but undertaking it would mean regulation  will reduce my profit to 30 million,I've lost 10 million due to regulation. So i will run the price up to make up for the "loss." The truth is I didn't lose anything because it's not even done yet. The bottom line is real people are not shoppers they need medical care and that means they need issuance like we need blood. If we take away the mandate to buy insurance of course they will choose not to buy it because they need that money for other things. But they are not merely making an economic decision they are doing what they can to survive, often at the risk of dying due to illness. They are gambling with their health because they have no choice. The bill leaves things like pre existing condition up to the states,fora lot of states,such as my beloved lone star disaster, that means less money to cover people. Our governor just refused medicaid money. let them die.

It makes much more sense to fix Obama care and keep it than to scrap it and try to start over and please all the contradictory views, or as the Publicans have opted just leaving real human need out of the equation. They are really using the excuse of eliminating Obama care (a promise no one cares about now) as a cover for making more  tax relief for the rich. When questioned about that option it's really hiding tax relief in health care Senator Paul essentially admitted that's the case,




[1] Removing the mandate is not the only reason, others are given increased premiums

"But the budget office put Republicans in an untenable position. It found that next year, 15 million more people would be uninsured compared with current law. Premiums and out-of-pocket expenses could shoot skyward for some low-income people and for people nearing retirement, it said.

The legislation would decrease federal deficits by a total of $321 billion over a decade, the budget office said."

NYT y THOMAS KAPLAN and ROBERT PEARJUNE 26, 2017
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/us/politics/senate-health-care-bill-republican.html

Kelly Anne Stupid Way defends Medicaid cuts

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…/kellyanne-conway-defends-me…

Kelly Anne Stupidway defends medicaid cuts by saying adults can always find jobs.I an preparing myself to die,I an putting my affairs in order because I expect to be dead in a year, the doctor says I can't work. I can't even get in a wheel chair,

these fools are criminals. they murdered me, they are going to murder millions of people do would not have to die if rational humans were in charge. They are criminals,Trump is a murdering criminal, they should be thought of as on par with Nazi war criminals,

Please crank up the resistance,we are fighting to save humanity, civilization,and democracy, Relatives say"we wont let that happen,: that's what they said when I lost my house.

btw if adults can always find jobs then why do they need Trump to save their jobs?

Kellyanne Conway Defends Medicaid Cuts, Says Adults Can Always Find Jobs

Reality check: Most of them have jobs already.

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM|BY JONATHAN COHN

FactPower.org

Sponsored · 

it through for a vote. The bill will likely NOT go to a conference committee after the Senate vote. The House is expected to approve the Senate's bill as written, and then it will go the president's desk. We have to get our act together RIGHT NOW. Please SHARE this bill summary with other activists. The best way is to SHARE it with every political group you belong to!

RED ALERT: SHARE THIS BILL ANALYSIS WITH YOUR POLITICAL GROUPS! THE VOTE IS NEXT WEEK!

Learn More

FACTPOWER.ORG

New Evidence: Obama tried to prevent Putin effecting elections

New Land Mark article in Washington Post:

 abstract of this article in CBS This Morning

JUNE 23, 2017, 8:03 AM| "According to a Washington Post investigation, in August the CIA gave then-President Obama a report that "detailed Russian President Vladimir Putin's direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race." The article's co-author, Greg Miller, joins "CBS This Morning" from Washington to discuss why Obama administration officials did not respond to the report and their regrets on the handling of the information."[1]

Early last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried “eyes only” instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides.Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race.But it went further. The intelligence captured Putin’s specific instructions on the operation’s audacious objectives — defeat or at least damage the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and help elect her opponent, Donald Trump.[2]

for Wash. Post read more 

for CBS This morning read more



CALL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS 202-224-3121



Republican Senators* at (844) 241-1141


[1]CBS this Morning report on the article, "WaPo ReportervGreeg Miller Rports on Putin Eelectin interferarnce, (Junne 23,2017) URL:
http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/wapo-reporter-greg-miller-on-putin-election-interference-report/

[2] Greg Miller, "Obama's Secret Struggle to retaliate against Putin's election interference..."Washington Post, (June 23, 2017) URL
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/world/national-security/obama-putin-election-hacking/?utm_term=.4e5c057c49a3

Fascism tames the media

http://money.cnn.com/…/jim-acosta-white-house-b…/index.html…

you need to see this, The press knows the curtain has lowered on Presidential accountability, Trump is is isolated from real critique, media is going along because they must have the story but they get pablum not access. This is the way fascists tame the media,.

CNN's Jim Acosta unloads on White House over off-camera briefingsC

After yet another day when the White House refused to conduct its briefing on camera, or even allow audio of the briefing to be broadcast, CNN's Jim Acosta let…

MONEY.CNN.COM

Daily Action

2 hrs · 

H.E.L.P. is AWOL.

If both of your Senators are Democrats, today's Daily Action is to call the GOP members of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (or HELP) Committee at (844) 904-7411 and demand that they do their job and commit to holding public hearings on the healthcare bill.

Call them out for the secrecy of this bill-writing process - this secrecy is only possible because they have obeyed Mitch McConnell and refused to do the job they were sent to Washington to do.

Call them out for making Senate history because in the history of the Senate there has never been a committee that has failed to hold a single hearing on legislation of this magnitude when that issue was clearly within their jurisdiction.

Call them out for failing at bipartisanship. Several members of this committee have gone on TV to "talk the talk" on how a bipartisan solution would be ideal -- but the very reason why they are refusing to go through the Committee process is because the Committee is bipartisan.

Call them out for being hypocrites - they went on and on about the immaturity and irresponsibility of the House process and are doing the exact same thing themselves.

And finally, at the END of the call, ask them why we need this Committee in the first place? Because if we can tackle major healthcare legislation without the Committee, it's a frivolous body that should be dissolved.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/mitch-mcconnell-on-the-h…/…

Analysis | Mitch McConnell on the health-care legislative process, 2010 vs. 2017

The Senate Majority Leader earns an Upside-Down Pinocchio for his shifting rhetoric on passing health-care legislation.

WASHINGTONPOST.COM|BY FACT CHECKER

Time to act on Trump's anti-health care bill

The house passed a monster of a health care bill. It was  a mutilation of Obamacare not a revocation They stealth-fully found a way to cheat 24 Million Americans out of their health insurance and leave millions more with no medicaid. They even found a way to destroy the value of no pre-existing condition but made it look as though they left it in, The sane people who care about lives were angry and shocked but we all said wait the senate will save us. So the Senate was supposed to make up for the harms and produce a sane bill. But is that going to happen? There are several changers, Hereis the way things are shaping up.


(1) An Action Alert wet out saying that  while we were detracted by the hearings:

McConnell whips Senate GOP back in line on Obamacare repeal

 BURGESS EVERETT , JENNIFER HABERKORN and ADAM CANCRYN 

politico

06/06/2017 12:14 PM EDT

Updated 06/06/2017 05:05 PM EDT

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/06/senate-republicans-obamacare-repeal-timing-239186

For a day at least, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has his party’s beleaguered efforts to repeal Obamacare back on track.After two weeks of increasingly dour assessments from Republicans on the party’s stalled health care efforts, Senate Republicans emerged from more than two hours of meeting with a fresh burst of optimism that they could actually pass a bill to repeal and replace the health law.Sen. Lindsey Graham went into Tuesday’s party lunch predicting that the Republican effort to gut Obamacare was “more likely to fail than not.”He emerged singing a different tune: The health care overhaul he heard about contains “promising proposals” and he was for holding a vote this month after the Congressional Budget Office weighs in and the party’s idea are put into legislative form.
“Now I say promising, but I don’t know what it looks like legislatively … the key word is promising,” Graham said. “There better be [a vote this month], because this is not like fine wine, it does not get better with age.”
Ditto Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who has been outspoken about his concerns on the direction the party has taken, but now says he is feeling increasingly comfortable and "very encouraged" by Republicans' plans.

more

(2) While you watched Comey, Senate GOP moved to cripple healthcare...

Michael Hiltzik Contact Reporter   Los Angels Times 

— Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

As it happens, the Senate’s work on a measure to cut back the health coverage gains secured by the ACA took place as California budget negotiators reached agreement on restoring dental and optical coverage cut from the state’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, in 2009. The plan is to restore dental coverage for Medicaid patients in 2018 and eyeglasses in 2020. Some details are still being negotiated, but this is what political leaders do when they’re serious about improving the health of their constituents.

McConnell’s goal is to present a bill to the Congressional Budget Office for analysis as soon as next week, so a final vote can be held before Sept. 30. That’s the deadline for a measure to be passed this year under Senate budget reconciliation rules, which would prevent a Democratic filibuster and allow passage by the GOP’s razor-thin 52-48 majority — with Vice President Mike Pence casting the deciding vote if two Republican senators bail out and produce a tie. (Amanda Michelle Gomez of Think Progress has a good rundown of the procedural complexities here.) Unlike the House, the Senate can’t vote on a bill that hasn’t first been scored by the CBO.

Call and send a letter to your Senator and tell them to vote "NO" ➜ (844) 856-9449 and https://goo.gl/yIOmT2

Trump investigations

from Vox:
In one of the many signs that things aren’t going well for President Donald Trump, it’s become genuinely difficult to keep up with all the different government investigations related to his presidential campaign’s ties to Russia and its attempts to sway the 2016 election.
These investigations, however, can be broken down into three categories:

• First, the intertwined Justice Department investigation, now led by a special counsel, into the ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and, reportedly, the possible cover-up.

• Second, the investigations led by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, which are broadly looking at Russian intervention in the 2016 election.

• Third, the Senate Judiciary Committee and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have been looking into former National Security Adviser MichaelFlynn’s conduct specifically — and have recently expanded their inquiry to the circumstances surrounding former FBI Director James Comey’s firing.

These differences matter. They affect both the scope of the investigations and their potential consequences. The Justice Department investigation could lead to criminal charges, for example, while the House and Senate variants could lead to impeachment.
It’s still too early to say whether any of that will happen or how far the investigations will go. But here’s what we know so far about each of them.

Read more

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/19/15658246/trump-russia-fbi-investigation