Insurance Companies’ Very Bad Week
Last week President Trump issued an executive order rolling back President Obama’s executive order to subsidize insurance companies. The subsidies reimburse the companies for reducing certain out-of-pocket expenses to policy holders.
The only problem is Congress refused to appropriate money for the subsidies. So Obama whipped out his pen and phone and and started spending the money anyway. And Trump continued that practice. But a federal district court judge says that’s illegal.
Insurance Companies’ Very Bad Week
This week two Republican senators, Tom Cotton and Pat Toomey, introduced a bill to to partially end the individual mandate, no longer requiring some people to buy health insurance.
Yesterday two more Senators, Republican Lamar Alexander and Democrat Patty Murray, made a deal to keep the subsidies alive. Trump said nice things about it last night but withdrew support today.
Time.com tries to explain what’s going here.
Jimmy’s Late Night Opinions
Harvey Weinstein probably won’t have much to say about current events for a while, but Jimmy Kimmel will. The comedian turned policy wonk has had a lot to say about health care and gun control lately thanks to the failed Graham-Cassidy bill and the Las Vegas massacre.
As for Harvey Weinstein’s escapades? Well, Jimmy had a lot to say about Donald Trump.
Jimmy’s Late Night Opinions
What if you don’t like Jimmy’s late night opinions? On CBS Sunday Morning he said, “I mean, you don’t have to watch the show. You don’t have to listen to what I say.”
“Yeah, I mean, I saw, I don’t know if it was a study or a poll, some combination of those two things, that, like, three years ago I was equally liked by Republicans and Democrats. And then Republican numbers went way down, like 30% or whatever. And, you know, as a talk show host, that’s not ideal. But I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Despite the Deplorable decline his ratings are up 11% from a year ago..
Boy Scouts Want Cookies
The Boy Scouts are now open to girls. And the Girl Scouts aren’t happy. They want to know what’s wrong with a girl being a Girl Scout. Besides, what would you call a girl in the Boy Scouts?
Some people think this will lead to sex abuse in the woods. But I think it’s all about the cookies.
The Boy Scouts are beginning a hostile takeover of the Girl Scouts. James Hamblin in The Atlantic gets to the heart of the matter: “Girl Scouts sell cookies that are vastly superior to Boy Scout popcorn.”
Harvey Weinstein Revelation
Meryl Streep is shocked shocked by the Harvey Weinstein revelation. She reached out to the Huffington Post to call his behavior “disgraceful, inexcusable, and an abuse of power.”
In 2012 she called him “God.”
Hillary Clinton is shocked shocked too. And “appalled“. Weinstein has helped raise $1.5 million for Democratic candidates.
Weinstein Revelation
Holman Jenkins in the WSJ says Harvey is warning the Hollywood liberal elite that his problems are their problems:
He was a guest at the Obama White House 13 times. He gave hundreds of thousands to the Clintons. In 2016, he hosted or headlined multiple fundraisers for Mrs. Clinton with people like Leonardo DiCaprio, Helen Mirren, Julia Roberts and Sarah Jessica Parker.
Moron to Moron Talk
NBC reported that Secretary of State Tillerson called President Trump a moron. Trump called NBC “fake news”.
The Moron Thing
Tillerson strongly denied that he ever threatened to resign.
But what about the moron thing?
