"He said his party was working with the White House to reduce this burden by "giving money back to the American people to purchase their own health insurance at an affordable cost"."

It was doing just fine until Trump needed money for his Big Beautiful Bill that needed funds from somewhere and the Repubs agreed to rob Medicare to fund the tax breaks for the rich. They now realize it's costing them their political future. That and Trump's tariffs have pretty much put the economy into a K shaped one. While the rich have been holding up the economy for now, that won't continue because the bottom end of the K are the ones that keep the economy afloat; it's a matter of numbers and the population as a whole spends far more than the fewer rich.

You can witness a politician jumping through hoops when their future is threatened and there is no one to blame for this medical disaster of costs except for the republican party that took no suggestions from the Democrats and rammed Trump's bill through. Giving money back isn't going to help, it will not even be pennies on the dollar in help and the people still have to buy their insurance from the same places.

Then, let's finally create a system that puts your health over corporate profits.

We need Medicare for All.

It's called single payer and as long as profits drive health care it will never happen. The medical industry will turn heaven and earth to protect their profits. We are the only first world country without it. Both our costs as well as our poor record of health care are a direct result of for profit health care.

"Here ya go bro.
archive.ph

You can give that dollar to the homeless."

#3 | Posted by donnerboy

Ty every much.

Trump has figured out he can't gaslight the economy when people know what's coming out of their wallets. Happy talk on the economy doesn't work when people know what they are spending and aren't happy about it.

Since he can't pull that off, the next best thing is to hide the evidence. Then there are no uncomfortable government facts to get in the way by his thinking. It won't help him, economic data will be provided by independent parties. If the data made a great upturn, you could be sure there'd be official data on hand to show.

As it is, he's made a mess of the economy and it's coming home to roost.

It's paywalled, $1 to keep reading.

First thing both Trump and Hegseth did, was to make sure the lawyers who could tell them it wasn't legal to do this or that, weren't in the room and the second thing they did was start removing those who spoke up. Then there was no one to tell them it was wrong to do what they wanted.

Hegseth and a lot of his underlings in the chain of command will no doubt be facing charges.

There's a reason Trump wants gerrymandering done. Because if he loses, not only does his whims not carry through without a complaint, if voting goes the way it has shown to go but he will likely be up for impeachment yet again for the illegal acts he's been actively wanting and doing. Of course if no one brings it up then there are no charges for the actions and if they do bring it up, there's no way it carries through in congress with all branches under control of the Repubs. He loses that, he's in trouble for his unchecked actions.

The reason Hegseth doesn't want survivors, is there is no one to speak up about them not being drug runners. They've already destroyed the evidence so legal cases can't be brought up that stick. That means it's useless to bring a survivor but for charges that's been fished out of the water. According to a news outlet, the coast guard has a 20% chance of stopping a boat from drugs and finding none. That means if the same ratio holds true then 20% of those boats destroyed aren't drug runners. You certainly can't question those that were hit if they were and there's no evidence to show they were. So it's all misdirection with people dying no matter who they are. They can't even provide names of those they blew up.

This has long been known that Saudi Arabia was deeply involved with 9/11, from diplomats to funding of terrorists housing and flight school.

Said they'd likely be held up because of the Democratic investigation he directed Pam Bondi to start back around the 14th or so. Sort of knew this would come. The question will be how it is released. How much black ink will be used to cover over things or what will be held back. Everyone knows there's a reason Trump doesn't want to have those files in public hands.

I think that Trump vetoing the Epstein bill remains a possibility.

#2 | Posted by Zed

He can approve it and it will still not be released. Remember him telling Bondi to investigate the Democrats over Epstein?

""It jeopardizes future federal investigations, and we have national security concerns regarding classified information," Johnson said of the bill."

The DOJ will say that national security will prevent the releasing of all files. There will be some either not released or altered.

It is very likely, those files have already been scrubbed to remove Trump and the Republicans.

Have a feeling Trump has been holding this as a trump card in case the Epstein thing got out of hand and he needed another distraction.

Trump has directed Pam Bondi to investigate the Democrats who might have been involved with Epstein. This strongly smacks of corruption as the DOJ is supposed to be independent from the Executive. It is not POTUS that determines who will be investigated, that's up to the DOJ. It appears Trump is once again, trying to run some misdirection as he isn't interested in what Republicans might have been involved with Epstein, only the Democrats.

Biden never released info because at that time the case was under investigation and cases under investigation are not talked about while evidence is gathered to prevent spoilage of the evidence as well as prevention of witness tampering.
Trump has continually blamed Biden for anything and everything, so he could see himself as blameless.

This also could set up blockage of the Epstein release of files from the DOJ while they too claim the investigation is ongoing, even though Republicans are supposedly left out of the investigation. Again, it looks like Trump is either trying to shield himself or he is trying to shield his mega-donors and the wealthy who might have been involved. Either way, it sets up a clear case of cover-up, where the more Trump is involved and comments, the more it looks like he has something serious he's afraid will come out and and is trying to hide that info from being released. The more he tries to misdirect the more he digs himself a hole in involvement.

Trump claimed he parted with Epstein and he hadn't spoken to Epstein in 15 years, which would have been 2004. Yet the release of some of Epstein's emails showed that Epstein had attended Thanksgiving Dinner at Mar-a-largo in 2014. There's a lot that's off in what Trump claims and what appears to be facts.

You can add my name to the list. 82nd Airborne, Army.

Monday I had the honor of being one of 62 who did a motorcycle escort for the moving Vietnam Wall. It is now set up for visitors. Tuesday I joined a ceremony for Veterans Day.

Happy b'day, LauraMohr.

I heard from an elderly lady, she said "Don't get old, you won't like it". *smiles*

The vote will likely go against the Dems unless some of the Repubs up for re-election join in. If it goes that way, there will be a lot of voters against the Repubs. They will seal being the losing party should it fail to pass.

Something else in Walmart's offer is that more of the goods use the store brand 'great value' rather than premium goods to reduce the cost. They didn't do that last year.

The Repubs have had at least 10 years to present their so called replacement for ACA. They speak of there being one but no one has seen it, in all likelihood because of the great PR it would put out, means it doesn't exist as a plan.

Trump's idea of sending out $2000 checks from the tariff income, doesn't sound good at all. Remember the last time Trump halted the sending out of checks so his name could be on the reprinted checks? What happened after that? Inflation happened with a vengeance. So much unearned money had been dropped on the public, to spend as they wished, but there was no increase in output of factories and the like to increase available products. It takes time to ramp up production and get it to the market. Trump's idea of sending out checks will likely result in the same increase in inflation all over again.

His idea of sending money out to the public to replace the ACA stinks as well. The public still has to buy it's insurance from the same insurance companies and the amount that goes to the public will be no where near what it will take to buy coverage. Not even a decent sized bandaid to help out. This too would add to the inflationary push.

Repubs know, even if they don't admit it, they are in a nine line bind. Their political fortunes depend on selling a pigs ear as a silk purse and it isn't being taken so well by the voters and they are saying so with their votes.

We have congress critters acting like school kids, not grown adults. The word compromise has been eliminated from the politic sphere it seems. The Repubs have ramrodded pretty much all they want or in support of trump, without consideration of the Dems. It's been a steady stream of 'my way or the highway' to the Dem party. What couldn't be voted on to railroad through, has had it's funding removed by refusing to spend what has already passed congress, effectively removing preapproved programs from being implemented or had continued funding terminated.

It's resulted in the shutdown of government, where all unnecessary jobs have been closed down. Of course in this process, digital security has went out the window along with the shut down...what could go wrong?

Face it, Trump is gaslighting. He doesn't shop for groceries and that makes him out of touch with the public that does have to. Lying about it doesn't change the reality Joe Public sees when he has to open his wallet to pay for things like food, rent, and utilities.

We can't get rid of this lying, ignoramus, con man, quick enough. At the rate he's going now, it will take decades to return the US to what it once was. Every accusation to the Dems is a self confession.

...and Epstein just keeps surfacing, the more they try to hide, lie, and gas light his importance. From following the money trail to victim testimony, none of it is good news for trump and the politicians in his thrall.

It can't be buried forever. There is too much public interest, too much ducking and dodging by the congress critters that don't want to see it come to the front. Big money donors are threatened, politicians futures are at stake, and the stench that comes from all the attempts to make it go away aren't sitting well with the public. It is obvious by trump's first promises to release the files until he was told he's in them and far more than just a buddy to Epstein.

The public wants the rich and powerful exposed and dealt with and despite trump, they will surface. There are too many investigating various aspects of Epstein's life for it to remain hidden. That Prince Andrew has had his royal privilege and rank removed tells you that some already know what the public here seeks to know. The royals have thrown Andrew under the bus to save the rest.

Misdirection only works for so long. I've known about this business with the photos of trump with two young girls bare to the waist ever since Pam Bondi had to appear before congress and testify under oath. She knew the question about the photos would come up while she was under oath. What did she do? She wrote down attack questions/claims to dodge having to answer the question. She was asked a second time about it, after she'd run out of attack material. She refused to answer so she wouldn't have to deal with perjury charges later. She refused to say if the FBI had found those photos after they had to go back to get them and if she'd personally seen them. That's as near an admission as you get while under oath.

All these other things happening are attempts to remove the importance of the Epstein files by supplanting them with misdirection to grab the attention of the public and it's not working. As soon as things start to calm down, Epstein comes back to the surface. Mike Johnson has held the house from working solely to prevent having to swear in the Arizona representative. He has claimed all sorts of reasons why he can't do it, despite he'd already done so in similar conditions for Repub representatives. Normally the speaker determines what comes up for vote and what does not. However the house membership can over ride him to have something of importance be voted on, by having enough votes to force it to come to the floor. Adelita Grijalva represents that last vote needed to do that force. Mike knows on the day he opens the house, that surfaces.

It opens trump, their source of direction and power, to be exposed as what he is and that in turn brings up the question should he continue in the office of POTUS. For the Repubs, trump isn't replaceable. They have no one else that can inspire the voters as he can and this is why Mike is not wanting Grijalva seated. It's about holding on to power. Some of the Repubs will vote with the Dems to release the files, giving them the necessary votes.

Up till now, it's been party politics. What ever trump wants, they are all for. The Dems have had no say in the matter as all has been decided without consulting them or inviting their input. It's been a one way street, with Dems being told our way or the highway.

You can lie and gaslight all you want, hide the data, and misrepresent what it says or means. What you can not hide, is when average Joe citizen goes to buy food, or pay the bills. When it hits the wallet there's no hiding the real impact by trying to change the data or misrepresenting it. So Joe citizen is not fooled.

Want to see politicians get political religion? Threaten their continued political aspirations for continuing to be a politician from voter anger. Suddenly attitudes and what they are for inspire miraculous change. The Repubs should have been able to see this coming from a long ways away. But they were so meekly accepting whatever trump wanted. Now they see the price they are to pay in the upcoming election year. The voters are more than just upset at what they've done, they are angry and voting in a way that shows it. No matter how it is papered over in statements from the Repubs claiming otherwise, the votes speak as to what the public wants.

I have little interest in Disney ever since the Kimmel affair. Since I don't watch sports, I won't miss that either. I've basically went on protest against it and most MSM as they can't be trusted to give unvarnished reports in fear of a Trump suit. Basically I've stopped watching MSM as well. Disney can fall in a hole and remain buried as far as I am concerned.

This is the start of forcing congress to do something. That's a lot of voters effected and dissatisfied. Flights being halted is next up if they dilly dally, which will bring yet more voters highly dissatisfied.

Trump will pretty much have to steal the election to keep it in the Repub majority at the rate it is going. Without it, it's pretty much a slam dunk against them and they continue to irate more and more voters they need to stay in power.

Did someone plant a seed of a spine in congress?