Blog For Arizona

Jesus Rebranded: Capitalism is the reason for the season

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Mark Fiore has a new video mocking the FAUX News "War on Christmas" and conservatives' mental breakdown over Pope Francis attacking their "sacred" belief in faith based supply-side "trickle down" economics. Mark Fiore's videos - Vimeo (link to video, no embed due to privacy settings). Mark Fiore writes:

Between the "War on Christmas" and the accusations that Pope Francis is a Marxist, some people can't seem to make up their mind.  Who better to wage a war on Christmas than the people who want the Pope to be more of a capitalist!  Seems like the most holy Christmas ever was one without rampant consumerism.  (Remember, Joseph and Mary had the nerve to stay in a place for free on Christmas Eve-- sounds like a couple of moochers to me!)

Amidst the imagined attacks on Christmas, Rush Limbaugh and some Fox News characters accused Pope Francis of being Marxist after he said some critical words about our economic system.  Never mind that Pope Benedict had similar complaints.  Everything has been coming up Pope Francis lately, who was picked as Time's "Person of the Year" and was featured on the cover of the New Yorker.  Having been raised Catholic and having done plenty of cartoons about the scandals in the Catholic Church, I'm happy that we're talking again about things like helping the poor, imagine that.

* * *

As usual, you can also find more links to news stories behind this cartoon on my website.

Yes, the GOP is responsible for denying millions of Americans access to health care under the 'Medicaid Gap'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Rush Limbaugh of the Republic, GOPropagandist hack Doug MacEachern, has his panties all in a bunch about an AP (All Propaganda) report in which the reporter, David Lieb, dared to stray from the GOP narrative that the AP usually provides by actually reporting the truth: ObamaCare is fairing considerably worse in Red States run by Republicans. Newsy report finds Republicans cause of Obamacare woes.

I don't know what alternate reality this hack lives in, but perhaps he hasn't noticed that damn near the entire GOP caucus of the Arizona legislature is in court right now trying to prevent thousands of Arizonans from gaining access to expanded Medicaid (AHCCCS). He could have read about it in the pages of the Republic. Medicaid battle heads to court.

Since this hack only trolls the conservative media entertainment complex for his material, he likely ignored this New York Times report from October about Red State sabotage of the expanded Medicaid provisions of ObamaCare, which has resulted in a GOP-created "Medicaid gap," denying millions of Americans access to health care under "ObamaCare." Millions of Poor Are Left Uncovered by Health Law:

A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the eight million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured and ineligible for help. The federal government will pay for the expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent of costs in later years.

No, 'ObamaCare' is not in a death spiral

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Tea-Publican political strategy for the 2014 midterm elections is a single issue campaign: repeal "ObamaCare" (second verse, same as the first). Tea-Publicans have convinced themselves from their own GOPropaganda in the bubble of their conservative media entertainment complex feedback loop that "ObamaCare" is a trainwreck and is in a "death spiral."

The Tea-Publican political strategy does not allow for entertaining any fixes to "ObamaCare" to make it work more efficienty. This is what happens when you have demonized something as satanic and evil. Repeal has become a religious crusade for the GOP. One doesn't compromise with evil.

A number of commentators are sounding a warning of an "ObamaCare trap" for the GOP based upon its repeal only stance. The GOP has long since abandoned its "repeal and replace" lie. There is no consensus on a GOP alternative ("ObamaCare" IS the the GOP health care plan; it was crafted by the Heritage Foundation and implemented as RomneyCare in Massachusetts), although Rep. Tom Price's really bad bill has emerged as the point of discussion among the GOP.

Repeal leaves the GOP advocating for a return to the old broken health care system that no one was happy with. Moreover, this would mean taking away health care benefits from millions of Americans who now have access to health care, many for the first time in their lives. "No health care for you!" is not a winning political strategy.

'Tenther' Sen. Kelli Ward to push the so-called 2nd Amendment Protection Act again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Capitol Times followed up on its report last week on "Tenther" Sen. Kelli Ward's bill to "nullify the NSA" with this tidbit way down in the report: Ward intends to reintroduce here bill from last year to nullify the enforecment of federal gun laws in Arizona. AZ lawmaker ready to take on NSA:

After unsuccessfully pushing legislation to defend Arizonans’ 2nd Amendment rights in 2013, Sen. Kelli Ward is preparing to try again during next year’s legislative session.

The Lake Havasu City Republican told the Arizona Capitol Times she’ll file another bill, similar to 2013’s SB 1112, that would attempt to prevent certain federal gun laws from being enforced in Arizona.

Guns manufactured and owned within Arizona’s borders would also be made exempt from any federal gun law, according to Ward’s 2013 legislation.

Ward’s previous attempt to pass such legislation failed after Senate Rules Attorney Stacey Weltsch told lawmakers she had no doubt the measure would be struck down in court — that various portions of the law would have violated the Supremacy Clause, interstate commerce regulations and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution.

Despite Weltsch’s warnings, Ward’s bill still cleared the Rules Committee in 2013, but could never gather enough votes to pass on the Senate floor. Strong objections from Senate Democrats, as well as concerns from some GOP lawmakers, left it clear the bill lacked enough votes for approval.

The bill was held on the Senate floor, never coming up for a vote.

America's real problem: the 'haters'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Gallup is out with another poll today showing approval of Congress in the single digits. Trust in Congress Gallups to single digits:

Just 8 percent of those surveyed Dec. 5 – Dec. 8 rated the ethical standards of members of Congress “very high” or “high.” This shameful low puts them one point behind car salespeople.

But here’s what’s being ignored. Congress is viewed with such contempt that its trustworthiness actually dropped from a similar Gallup survey conducted just a week later. In the poll conducted Nov. 26 – Nov. 29, the federal legislature was viewed by 10 percent of the public to have “very high/high” honesty and ethical standards. Car salespeople were the ones with the 8 percent “very high/high” rating.

So, in one week, Congress fell two points and car salespeople ticked up one point.

If opinion polls were like employee performance evaluations (which they are not), it would be fair to say that these "employees" are beyond redemption; it is time for them to be fired. Just pack up what they can carry in a box, and have security escort them out the door. Goodbye (and good riddance). This is a national scandal.

The Tea-Publican economic terrorist are already plotting the next debt ceiling hostage taking

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Beltway media villagers were tripping all over themselves on Sunday to lavish praise on the GOP's alleged boy genius, Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan (R-WI), for his "pragmatic" budget compromise with Democrats. You would think it was the dawn of a new bipartisan era of cooperation where long-delayed legislation like a jobs bill and a comprehensive immigration reform bill were suddenly possible.

I can't believe how stone-cold stupid the Beltway media villagers are. First of all, the Senate still has to pass the House budget this week, which is not at all a certaintly. And then comes the appropriations committee process where Democrats and Tea-Publicans will square off over farm bill subsidies, food stamps and an extension of long-term unemployment insurance benefits, just to name a few.

Secondly, there is no "dawn of a new bipartisian era" -- this is the GOP 2014 election strategy to become the "Anti-ObamaCare" single issue party. Ryan on Sunday defended his budget deal to avert a government shutdown, saying that it would allow the Republican Party to "focus" on destroying President Barack Obama's health care reform law. Paul Ryan: Averting shutdown with budget deal allows GOP to 'focus' on killing Obamacare . That sounds like the same old bunch of dead-enders to me.

(Update) Judge sends Arizona Prop. 200 voter registration case back to the EAC

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Wichita Eagle reports today, Judge sends voter citizenship suit back:

A federal judge has sent back to federal elections officials a request by Kansas and Arizona to force modifications in a national voter registration form so the states can fully enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements.

U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren on Friday sent the states' lawsuit back to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, with instructions that the commission has to have a final decision by Jan. 17.

The states want the federal form to include instructions requiring Kansas and Arizona residents to provide a birth certificate, passport or other proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote.

The Justice Department says such a change places an additional obstacle for eligible voters and would affect nationwide policy by setting a precedent.

Well Judge, here's the problem with your order. The EAC has no commissioners to comply with your order.

Senate Tea-Publicans have used obstruction of presidential appointments to the EAC to "nullify" the agency out of existence without ever enacting legislation to terminate the agency. This unprecedented form of "nullification" is being remedied with executive and judicial nominees now that Democrats exercised the constitutional option to eliminate the Senate filibuster rule, but the confirmation process has not yet made it down to presidential appointments to the EAC.

Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll: Democrats should go on the offense on 'ObamaCare'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research poll of "battleground" congressional districts for the Women's Voices, Women Vote Action Fund and Democracy Corps released on Thursday recommends that Democrats go on the offensive on "ObamaCare." Are you listening Reps. Barber and Sinema? New WVWVAF Poll: Affordable Care Act Remains Popular with Rising American Electorate:

Survey Shows Unparalleled Support for Women’s Economic Agenda

WASHINGTON, DC – December 12, 2013 – The Affordable Care Act remains incredibly popular with people of color, unmarried women and other members of the Rising American Electorate, and a plurality in Republican districts and a majority in Democratic districts still support implementing “Obamacare” over repealing it. Those are some of the key findings of a major new poll (PDF) sponsored by Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund and conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for Democracy Corps.

“Despite all the noise over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, our polling shows that it remains popular among African Americans, Latinos, unmarried women and other members of the Rising American Electorate,” said Page Gardner, founder and President of Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund. “They realize that the reform law will improve their lives and ensure that they have affordable and reliable health care. These often economically-vulnerable Americans make up nearly 54 percent of the voting-eligible population, and these are the voters who decide elections.”

Arizona Democratic Party launches the realmcsally.com website

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It looks as if I finally have some help in my lonely quest to expose Martha McSally as a media invention, and an ill-informed and ill-prepared candidate. The Arizona Democratic Party sent out this press release on Wednesday:

Who is the Real McSally??????

December 11, 2013

Phoenix, AZ–DJ Quinlan, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party issued the following statement on the launching of therealmcsally.com website:

“The voters of Southern Arizona deserve to know where Martha McSally stands on crucial issues that affect the future of our country and state. Unfortunately McSally won’t come clean. In fact, her website does not even contain an issues page. That’s why we are launching therealmcsally.com website. It will serve as a resource to the voters of Congressional District 2 to help them track the multiple positions (or lack thereof) that Martha McSally has taken.

Sen. John McCain makes a complete ass of himself again

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

President Barack Obama, along wth former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, were among almost a hundred world leaders and dignitaries from around the globe who paid tribute to Nelson Mandela today in a memorial service in South Africa.

President Obama delivered a moving memorial Read the Transcript (video below the fold) which was well received by South Africans. Obama garners big applause at Mandela memorial.

The conservative media entertainment complex, which has alternatively been trashing Nelson Mandela since his death because Ronaldus Magnus and Dick Cheney once branded him a terrorist, or trashing conservative politicians who offered words of praise for Mandela following his death, or engaging in revisionist history as they are wont to do, had something else they wanted to focus on today: a reception line. Obama greets world leaders. And what, pray tell, got the clowns of conservative media all worked up in feigned outrage?

Obama shook hands with world leaders, including Cuba's President Raul Castro. Oh Noes!

The Democratic wing of the Democratic Party fights back against the corporatist Third Way

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Oh Noes! The Beltway corporate media villagers are clutching their pearls and reaching for their smelling salts today because the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party is fighting back against the corporatist banksters of Wall Street from the Third Way "Democratic" think tank, whom the corporate media villagers always refer to as "centrist" and presume to speak for the Democratic Party.  As if.

Jonathan Martin at the New York Times reports, Coalition of Liberals Strikes Back at Criticism From Centrist Democrats:

In a sign of the left’s new aggressiveness, a coalition of liberals is trying to marginalize a centrist Democratic policy group that was responsible for a Wall Street Journal op-ed article this week that said economic populism was “disastrous” for the party.

The coalition, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, and three other liberal advocacy organizations have urged their members to contact a group of congressional Democrats who are honorary leaders of the centrist group, Third Way. It published the op-ed article on Monday contending that the liberalism of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio of New York City and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts would lead Democrats “over the populist cliff.”

The article — written by Jon Cowan, president of Third Way, and Jim Kessler, its senior vice president for policy — criticizes progressives like Ms. Warren and Mr. de Blasio for opposing measures to cut costs to Social Security and Medicare.

The liberal groups’ campaign has already gotten results, the latest indication that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party is ascendant.

Mark Bergman, a spokesman for Representative Allyson Schwartz, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said she “read the op-ed, thought it was outrageous, disagrees strongly and told Third Way that.” Ms. Schwartz, who is locked in a primary campaign for governor of Pennsylvania, is an honorary chairwoman of Third Way.

White House says HealthCare.gov now working for 'vast majority of users'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Washington Post reports HealthCare.gov meets deadline for fixes, White House says:

Administration officials announced Sunday that they had met their Saturday deadline for improving HealthCare.gov after completing a series of hardware upgrades and software fixes to the troubled Web site.

A progress report released Sunday morning by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said: “While we strive to innovate and improve our outreach and systems for reaching consumers, we believe we have met the goal of having a system that will work smoothly for the vast majority of users.” Read the administration report.

Government and outside technical employees have worked round-the-clock for weeks on the fixes so the administration could keep its promise to have the site working smoothly for most people by Nov. 30.

The report served as the basis for a press briefing Sunday morning by Jeffrey Zients, the man President Obama tasked to oversee the fixes.

“The bottom line, HealthCare.gov on Dec. 1 is night and day from where it was on Oct. 1,” when the site was launched, he told reporters.

As a result of the improvements: the average system response time is under 1 second; the error rate is “consistently well below 1 percent”; the online system is stable — not crashing — more than 90 percent of the time; as many as 50,000 shoppers can use the site at the same time, or up to 800,000 visits a day.

This is how wars get started

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You would never know it from watching the news on the tee-vee in the United States, but there is an international conflict that has been building for over a year in the Pacific between an increasingly aggressive China and its neighbors over who controls the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and the natural resources under the seas.

In November 2012, China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a "first generation multi-purpose carrier-borne fighter jet" classified as the J-15, landed the first jet on the aircraft carrier. Since then, China's navy has been testing the territorial claims of its neighbors in Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and even Vietnam. These are the kinds of incidents that can easily escalate into a military confrontation where a "miscalculation" occurs.

This past weekend, China established an "air defense identification zone" in the East China Sea. On Tuesday, the U.S. Sent Two B-52 Bombers Into Air Zone Claimed by China (There was no immediate Chinese response to the flights conducted without prior notification as demanded under the new declaration from Beijing). On Thursday, Japan and South Korea defied Chinese air defence zone (again without prior notification as demanded under the new declaration from Beijing).

On Friday, things started getting hairier when China scrambled fighter jets in response. China sends jets as U.S., Japan fly in defense zone:

China said it launched two fighter planes Friday to investigate flights by a dozen U.S. and Japanese reconnaissance and military planes in its new maritime air defense zone over the East China Sea.

It was the first time since proclaiming the zone on Nov. 23 that China said it sent planes there on the same day as foreign military flights, although it said it merely identified the foreign planes and took no further action.

Ezra Klein: Healthcare.gov website is improving quickly

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

One of the harshest critics of the federal government's healthcare.gov web site has been Ezra Klein of the Washington Post (whom I suspect has an unhealthy faith in modern technology). Recent modifications to the web site now have "techie" Ezra Klein suggesting that the healthcare.gov may finally be working as it was intended to work. Wonkbook: Is Obamacare turning the corner?:

A spin through HealthCare.Gov this morning went smoothly. The site loaded quickly. The process progressed easily. There were no error messages or endless hangs. I didn't complete the final step of purchasing insurance but, until then, the site worked -- or at least appeared to work -- exactly as intended.

My experience isn't rare. There are increasing reports that HealthCare.Gov is working better -- perhaps much better -- for consumers than it was a few short weeks ago. "Consumer advocates say it is becoming easier for people to sign up for coverage," report Sandhya Somashekhar and Amy Goldstein in the Washington Post. "The truth is, the system is getting stronger as it recovers from its disastrous launch," writes Sam Baker in the National Journal. Applying "was no problem at all, with no delays," says Paul Krugman.

Reports from inside the health care bureaucracy are also turning towards optimism. People who knew the Web site was going to be a mess on Oct. 1st are, for the first time, beginning to think HealthCare.Gov might work. Data backs them up: By mid-November, the pace of enrollment in the federal exchanges had doubled from what it was in October.

Cristina Saralegui joins Get Covered America Campaign

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Press release from Get Covered America, Cristina Saralegui Joins Get Covered America Campaign As Efforts Ramp Up to Reach Women On Health Care Enrollment:

As families prepare to gather for the holiday season, the Get Covered America campaign is ramping up outreach efforts to English and Spanish-speaking women as the number one messengers for encouraging enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace. Today, the campaign released a new Spanish-language PSA featuring veteran Latina journalist and talk-show host Cristina Saralegui as part of their “She Knows/Ella Sabe” campaign, which equips women with the information they need to help their spouses, partners, children and neighbors enroll in new health coverage options.

“One out of four uninsured people who are eligible for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace is Latino, and access to affordable health care is critical to hard-working Hispanic families,” said Cristina Saralegui. “I’m thrilled to join the Get Covered America campaign to help spread the word to Latinas across the country, since we all know that a healthy woman means a healthy family and a healthy community.”

On GetCoveredAmerica.org, the campaign is launching new digital tools—including a female avatar named “Nona”—to help women sign up for the new health care options and commit to getting their family and loved ones covered as well.

“Women are often the most trusted voices both at home and in the community, and they play a critical role in making sure their family and friends have the information they need to get covered,” said Anne Filipic, President of Enroll America. “That is why we are so proud that Cristina Saralegui is joining our campaign and encouraging women, especially Latinas, to get the facts about the new health insurance options and spread the word to their loved ones.”

Watch the new Spanish-language PSA HERE (below the fold).

Arizona Marketplace health care insurance exchange info

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Health Insurance Marketplace is found at the official government web site, HealthCare.gov. The Spanish language version is at CuidadoDeSalud.gov. [Update: The Obama administration is planning a soft launch for the Spanish-language version of HealthCare.gov in early December, after a two-month delay, a senior administration official told TPM Tuesday. Exclusive: Spanish CuidadoDeSalud.gov Set For Soft Launch Next Month.]

Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild's office provides public service information that our local media does not, Health Insurance Marketplace Now Open:

The Marketplace, at HealthCare.gov and CuidadoDeSalud.gov, is online with costs and more detailed information.  Consumers have a choice of plans to compare.

With a single application, you can also see if you qualify for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Those without Internet access can call 1-800-318-2596 (TTY: 1-855-889-4325) to enroll.

Local groups that can help people navigate the Health Insurance Marketplace include:

El Rio Community Health Center – 3480 E. Brittania Dr, Suite 120  (520) 670-3909

Pima County Health Department – 3950 S. Country Club, Suite 100  (520) 724-9999

Tucson Urban League – 2305 S. Park Ave  (520)791-9522

Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce – 823 E. Speedway Blvd.  (520) 620-0005

United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona – 330 N. Commerce Park Loop , Suite 200  (520) 903-9000

St. Elizabeth’s Health Center – 140 W. Speedway Blvd., Suite 100  (520) 628-7871

The above agencies are the only qualified navigators and offer their services free of charge.  Do not provide your social security number or health information to anyone but those groups, after you’ve made contact. The government will never call you for information.

Small businesses with fewer than 51 employees have their own marketplace. Call 1-800-706-7893 (TTY: 1-800-706-7915) for questions about the Small Business Health Options (SHOP) Marketplace.

'ObamaCare' success story: California

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Hey, hysterical media villagers! "ObamaCare" is working where the GOP is not sabotaging it. Since our GOP-friendly media here in Arizona will not report the "ObamaCare" success stories, I will start posting them here.

Paul Krugman wrote about the success of the state-run California Marketplace health insurance exchange, known as Covered California, in his recent column. California, Here We Come?:

We know what each side of the partisan divide wants you to believe. The Obama administration is telling the public that everything will eventually be fixed, and urging Congressional Democrats to keep their nerve. Republicans, on the other hand, are declaring the program an irredeemable failure, which must be scrapped and replaced with ... well, they don’t really want to replace it with anything.

At a time like this, you really want a controlled experiment. What would happen if we unveiled a program that looked like Obamacare, in a place that looked like America, but with competent project management that produced a working website?

Well, your wish is granted. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you California.

'ObamaCare' success story: Kentucky

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Hey, hysterical media villagers! "ObamaCare" is working where the GOP is not sabotaging it. Since our GOP-friendly media here in Arizona will not report the "ObamaCare" success stories, I will start posting them here.

The Washington Post reported on the success of the state-run Marketplace health insurance exchange in deep-red Kentucky (but a Democratic governor), known as "Kynect." In rural Kentucky, debate over health law takes a back seat as people sign up:

[In Kentucky] where the rollout has gone smoothly, and in a county that is one of the poorest and unhealthiest in the country, Courtney Lively has been busy signing people up: cashiers from the IGA grocery, clerks from the dollar store, workers from the lock factory, call-center agents, laid-off coal miners, KFC cooks, Chinese green-card holders in town to teach Appalachian students.

* * *

Now it was the beginning of another day, and a man Lively would list as Client 375 sat across from her in her office at a health clinic next to a Hardee’s.

“So, is that Breathitt County?” she asked Woodrow Wilson Noble as she tapped his information into a laptop Thursday morning.

“Yeah, we live on this side of the hill,” said Noble, whose family farm had gone under, who lived on food stamps and what his mother could spare, and who was about to hear whether he would have health insurance for the first time in his 60-year-old life.

This is how things are going in Kentucky: As conservatives argued that the new health-care law will wreck the economy, as liberals argued it will save billions, as many Americans raged at losing old health plans and some analysts warned that a disproportionate influx of the sick and the poor could wreck the new health-care model, Lively was telling Noble something he did not expect to hear.

“All right,” she said. “We’ve got you eligible for Medicaid.”

Listen to your momma! Sign up for 'ObamaCare'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Insurers and advocacy groups are pursuing a new strategy in the quest to get millions of young people to sign up for "ObamaCare": They are appealing to their mothers. The New York Times reports, New Pitch for Health Law: Listen to Mom:

In one cheeky campaign, AARP is urging mothers to send e-cards to their children reminding them to sign up. One e-card reads, “As a reward for signing up for health insurance, I’ll defriend you on Facebook.” Another group, Organizing for Action, is seeking to steer holiday conversations toward health care by encouraging parents to have “the talk” with their adult children. (video below the fold. Check out barackobama.com/talk to learn more.).

The military-industrial complex and the establishment media reject diplomacy with Iran

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The military-industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisienhower warned Americans against in Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation, needs an enemy -- real or imagined -- to justify the trillions of dollars spent on national security and defense.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) prepares an annual series of reports on international defense spending, The Military Balance 2013 (subscriber-only). In its press release, Military Balance 2013 Press Statement | IISS, the IISS notes that while "the Pentagon was already implementing cuts of $487 billion over ten years, and as a result of sequestration will now need to make additional reductions of $600bn over ten years," . . . "It needs to be remembered, however, that the defense budget of the United States still equals that of the next 14 nations combined (Bar Chart) and the United States still intends to remain engaged globally."

Then there is the establishment media, led by the Washington Post, which is home to Neocons who believe in a Pax Americana empire through military superiority and global domination. The establishment media serves to create the narratives for crises and conflicts and enemies of the United States to maintain taxpayer funding to the military-industrial complex, as well as U.S. interventions abroad. War and the threats of war are big business, and has made a lot of people extremely wealthy.

The military-industrial complex and the establishment media have a vested financial interest in maintaining wars and the threats of wars. If peace were to break out, they could no longer justify the trillions of dollars spent on national security and defense ans marketing war.

Which brings me to the breakthrough deal brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry and our allies with Iran late Saturday. After 34 years of a "cold war" between the U.S. and Iran, this rapprochement of diplomatic relations was long overdue. Iran, six world powers reach historic deal on nuclear program.

So what's it going to be, Guv? Yes or no?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Governor Jan Brewer's publicity agent for her crappy book Scorpions for Breakfast, Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services, frequently inserts into his reporting the reminder that "The governor said she remains convinced that, despite a constitutional provision, she can run for what would be a third term. 'I have not made up my decision,'' she said."

Almost a year ago, Brewer's Secretary of State, Ken "Birther" Bennett, also a GOP candidate for governor in 2014, argued that Governor Brewer is constitutionally prohibited from running again. Howard Fischer reported, Brewer can't run again in 2014, Bennett says:

The state's chief election officer said Monday that his interpretation of state law is that Republican Jan Brewer's reign as governor must end in January 2015, no matter what she and her lawyer say.

Secretary of State Ken Bennett said he understands Brewer believes that the two years she spent finishing off Democrat Janet Napolitano's term do not count toward the two-term limit voters mandated in 1992.

Brewer, elected in her own right at the 2010 election, is saying she could run again in 2014 if she wants, although she has not yet decided if she will.

* * *

Bennett sidestepped a question of whether he would take legal action to keep Brewer off the ballot should she seek the nomination.

The TanMan's PR stunt does not go as planned

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The TanMan, Weeper of The House John Boehner, decided to engage in a PR stunt on Thursday attacking problems with the federal "ObamaCare" Marketplace web site, because media messaging PR is all he can do -- he can't pass any substantive legislation or even routine budgets. The TanMan's PR stunt didn't quite go as planned.

Steve Benen reports, Boehner proves the wrong point:

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote a blog post Thursday, highlighting his own personal experience when he “sat down to try and enroll in the DC exchange.”

Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating. After putting in my personal information, I received an error message. I was able to work past that, but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this “internal server error” screen. […]

Despite multiple attempts, I was unable to get past that point and sign up for a health plan. We’ve got a call into the help desk. Guess I’ll just have to keep trying…

As it turns out, his willingness to “keep trying” was a good idea. Boehner, who is not yet eligible for Medicare, “called the DC Health Link help line,” and a “few hours later,” the process was complete. He’d signed up for health insurance.

Doh!

Thanksgiving Day is being obliterated as a national holiday by Christmas Inc.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In an earlier life, I worked in retail management. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I would work a double shift, ten days on and one day off. That's maybe three days off, depending on when Thanksgiving fell on the calendar. But at least I got Thanksgiving and Christmas off (before returning to the day after Christmas returns until New Years Eve).

a number of years ago, retailers began eliminating New Year's Day as a day off. Several years ago some retailers (ahem, Kmart) began eliminating Thanksgiving Day as a day off. Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday, but it is being obliterated as a national holiday by Christmas Inc.

(Christmas Inc. has also intruded on Halloween with retailers putting both Halloween and Christmas items side-by-side as early as Labor Day).

Isn't the insanity of the "Black Friday" greed fest enough for people? The media villagers feed this frenzy with stories about the fools camped out in parking lots a week in advance, the crush of frenzied shoppers breaking down doors in stampedes, chirpy reporters doing live remotes in the early morning to promote advertisers, etc. There have been people trampled to death, and there are always shootings and the occasional riot that breaks out as people fight over "limited supplies" during "limited hours" sales. Do we really want this kind of behavior on Thanksgiving Day, for godssake?

Ellen Gallinski writes at Time, Don't Go Shopping on Thanksgiving. Just Don't.

There’s been a lot of outrage over Macy’s — the retailer most synonymous with Thanksgiving and family with its parade of floats — deciding to open its stores on the day when we are supposed to give thanks. Petitions have cropped up online against other retailers like Target and Walmart lobbying them to stay closed on Thanksgiving.

But there’s an easier way to take a stand. You don’t have to sign a petition or go out and protest in front of stores. All you have to do is do something else on Thanksgiving Day other than opening your wallet.

Fact Check: AFP's 'Pants on Fire' ad about 'ObamaCare'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The "Kochtopus" organization Americans For Prosperity is running ads in Southern Arizona against Rep. Ron Barber that begins with some innocuous blonde speaking in a concerned voice about how Americans don't like political ads (it is a political ad!) and saying "health care isn't about politics, it's about people." Ahhh, isn't that special.

Remember, this is from the "Kochtopus" organization Americans For Prosperity -- far-right radical politics is all they do, and the "Kochtopus" doesn't give a damn about you or your health care.

In fact, AFP wants to repeal "ObamaCare" which would kick millions of Americans off of health insurance that they did not have before "ObamaCare," and millions of seniors would lose new benefits they received under Medicare. Millions more working poor would be kicked off expanded Medicaid in states like Arizona without the federal funds.

The ad makes three specific claims:

>> "Millions of people have lost their health insurance": This is objectively FALSE. The ad is conflating the recent cancellation notices for substandard insurance policies with "losing insurance," but these policy holders are being offered other plans, or can purchase a plan from the Marketplace health insurance exchange. The key provision of "ObamaCare" is that individuals cannot be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions, or hitting an annual cap or lifetime cap on benefits.

The GOP Playbook - 'Whine Fest 2014'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

For the third election cycle in a row, the GOP has decided that it will run against "ObamaCare." It is now a single-issue party fixated on denying millions of needy Americans access to affordable health care. In fact, the GOP would kick millions of Americans off of health insurance who now have it as a result of "ObamaCare" and return to the status quo of the old broken health care system. The only health care alternative offered by the GOP is "perhaps you should die, and decrease the surplus population."

The modern-day Tea-Publican Party has become a sociopathic political party that lacks empathy, compassion and humanity for their fellow human beings, and rejects The Social Contract embodied in the Constitution ("to promote the general welfare") on which this country has collectively advanced for over 200 years. It has devolved into “post-policy nihilism,” in which Tea-Publicans are no longer guided by any real policy, but instead are chronically positioning themselves only in opposition to President Obama.

The New York Times reported on Thursday, G.O.P. Maps Out Waves of Attacks Over Health Law:

The memo distributed to House Republicans this week was concise and blunt, listing talking points and marching orders: “Because of Obamacare, I Lost My Insurance.” “Obamacare Increases Health Care Costs.” “The Exchanges May Not Be Secure, Putting Personal Information at Risk.” “Continue Collecting Constituent Stories.”

The document, the product of a series of closed-door strategy sessions that began in mid-October, is part of an increasingly organized Republican attack on the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature legislative initiative. Republican strategists say that over the next several months, they intend to keep Democrats on their heels through a multilayered, sequenced assault.

The idea is to gather stories of people affected by the health care law — through social media, letters from constituents, or meetings during visits back home — and use them to open a line of attack, keep it going until it enters the public discourse and forces a response, then quickly pivot to the next topic.

(Update) Questions for Martha McSally: Will you ever come out from hiding in the bunker?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics -- I am not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

I have never seen a candidate so controlled by handlers and so afraid of answering substantive questions from the media. I have speculated previously "it is painfully obvious that Martha McSally is a vacuous candidate who does not know enough about any subject to offer a thoughtful and detailed explanation of her positions. So she continues to hide in the bunker and refuses to offer any detailed explanations of her positions."

Today, Martha McSally actually gives an answer that confirms my suspicion. She is ill-informed, and ill-prepared -- and frankly, too intellectually incurious and lazy, and lacking in discipline -- to be a qualified candidate for Congress.

Jim Nintzel writes at the Tucson Weekly, Detail Work:

In an interview with the Weekly earlier this month, McSally explained that she generally doesn't know enough about the details of legislation to make a good decision about how she would vote on it.

"I'm not in Congress, I don't have a staff, I don't have the briefings," McSally said. "I'm not going to spend all of my time making comments on legislation I haven't studied or been briefed on or have the same sort of opportunities that a member of Congress has. I'd be spending literally day and night if I'm going to comment on every single piece of legislation that comes up, and I'm not going to just willy-nilly go, 'Yeah, I would have voted for that or I wouldn't have voted for that' if I haven't really studied it."

McSally said sharing her general principles ought to be enough for voters, and that Southern Arizonans were not interested in how she would vote on legislation this year.

"The only people who are pushing me on this are the media," McSally said. "Not constituents. Not voters. Voters want to know what my philosophies are."

This is an admission against interest that she is ill-informed, ill-prepared, too intellectually incurious and lazy, and lacking in discipline to effectively serve as a member of Congress. If I was vetting this candidate, my recommendation to the party would be that McSally should not be a candidate for public office.

The mendacity of mini-me, Robert Robb

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I posted about this the other day in George Will and his mini-me, Robert Robb: "George Will's mini-me at the Arizona Republic is not a lawyer, but he frequently pretends to be one in his columns. Lucky for him he is not a lawyer . . ."

Mini-me wrote a dismissive column on the Arizona Court of Appeals decision striking down the new campaign contribution limits in Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, et al. v. The Honorable Mark H. Brain, and real parties in interest (.pdf), a lawsuit brought by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, on the theories that it violates two citizen initiatives enacted by voters in the same year, the Citizens Clean Elections Act and the Voter Protection Act. Robb used to work for the Goldwater Institute, and his legal analysis parallels closely the legal arguments made by Clint Bolick of the Goldwater Institute in this case. Contribution limits: Read the law, not the tea leaves.

On Wednesday the mendacity of Robert Robb took a double-barrel shotgun blast from Thomas Collins, an attorney and executive director of Arizona Citizens Clean Elections; and Sam Wercinski, executive director of the Arizona Advocacy Network.

Collins: Clean Elections ruling follows the law:

In his Nov. 15 column, “Contribution limits: Read the law, not the tea leaves,” Robert Robb once again wrongfully attacks the Arizona Court of Appeals for following the law and upholding the Citizens Clean Elections Act that voters passed in 1998.

That court blocked House Bill 2593 in October. HB 2593 would increase the amount of political donations candidates can receive by nearly 10 times and eliminate altogether other limits that work to prevent corruption and the appearance of corruption in Arizona. Under Clean Elections, the court found, the new bill cannot apply to state and legislative campaign-contribution limits.

(Update) Hey, hysterical media villagers! 'ObamaCare' is working where the GOP is not sabotaging it

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In all the media hysteria over the rollout of "ObamaCare," the feckless media villagers always leave out three predicate facts: Chief Justice John Roberts created the Medicaid opt-out with his poorly considered legal opinion upholding the constitutionality of "ObamaCare," opening the door to partisan mischief; second, said partisan mischief did occur with Red State Tea-Publicans refusing to expand Medicaid and denying more than 5 million desperate Americans access to health care; and third, Red State Tea-Publicans refused to set up their own state-run Marketplace insurance exchanges, creating the need for a complex federal system not contemplated. GOP sabotage should be included in every report.

As for all the unhinged media hysteria, Paul Begala at CNN writes Chill: Obamacare snafus are fixable:

[D]espite the bed-wetting from Beltway Chicken Littles, the President's problems are eminently fixable. The Affordable Care Act isn't collapsing. The Obama presidency isn't imploding.

Similarly, Ed Kilgore at the Democratic Strategist looks at the polling that media villagers are so enamored with, and writes in Polling Panic:

What does it all mean? Probably that most people aren't breathlessly following events in Washington other than to register their heat and noise.

Democrats didn't win the 2014 elections in October and they aren't losing them in November. It's time to chill a bit.

So chill out, media villagers. The sky is not falling despite your best efforts to recklessly and irresponsibly panic the public.

Mythbusters: No, 'illegal immigrants' are not voting in Arizona elections (but you already knew that)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the reality-based community where facts matter, this is old news. But in the conservative media entertainment complex world of conspiracy theories, where Tea-Publicans routinely demonize Mexican immigrants and falsely claim that they are voting in elections to support voter I.D. requirements that have a disparate impact on the elderly, the poor, minorities and college students -- a form of voter suppression -- this is "new" news. The Arizona Republic today reports, Illegal immigrant vote-fraud cases rare in Arizona:

Arizona has spent enormous amounts of time and money waging war against voter fraud, citing the specter of illegal immigrants’ casting ballots.

State officials from Gov. Jan Brewer to Attorney General Tom Horne to Secretary of State Ken Bennett swear it’s a problem.

At an August news conference, Horne and Bennett cited voter-fraud concerns as justification for continuing a federal-court fight over state voter-ID requirements. And some Republican lawmakers have used the same argument to defend a package of controversial new election laws slated to go before voters in November 2014.

But when state officials are pushed for details, the numbers of actual cases and convictions vary and the descriptions of the alleged fraud become foggy or based on third-hand accounts.

An examination of voter-fraud cases in Maricopa County shows those involving illegal immigrants are nearly non-existent, and have been since before the changes to voter-ID requirements were enacted in 2004.

In response to an Arizona Republic records request, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office provided a list of 21 criminal cases since January 2005 in which the suspect was charged with a felony related to voter fraud. A search of court records found 13 other cases.

Of the 34 Maricopa County cases, two of the suspects were in the country illegally and 12 were not citizens but living in the U.S. legally, court records showed. One of the suspect’s legal-residency status was unclear from the records.

Hey, hysterical media villagers! These governors say 'ObamaCare' is working

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember when the gatekeepers of the corporate media admitted their complicity in the Whitewater conservative scandal mongering of the 1990s, and promised that it wouldn't happen again? Yeah . . .

This was followed by their complicity in selling an illegal and unnecessary war in Iraq and fabricating justifications for war crimes: illegal torture, indefinite detention, and rendition of prisoners to black site prisons; and the wholesale undermining of American's constitutional right to privacy with pervasive electronic eavesdropping, "sneak peak" national security letters without a warrant, etc. War crimes are a "big f#%king deal," as Joe Biden would say. But IOKIYAR.

With the election of President Barack Obama, It's Whitewater all over again:

The “scandals” confronting President Obama are derived almost entirely from the political and media mindset that gave us Whitewater.

That is to say, they are minor instances of bureaucratic incompetence and/or executive overreach that are seized upon by hysterical right-wing media and politicians and eventually aggrandized by their craven mainstream brethren into red-alert-Chryon, full-scale Media Narratives.

The engine of belief that drives these stories is that, with enough rooting around by reporters and congressional panels and special prosecutors, the president eventually will be implicated in some kind of Major Impropriety.

This is what allows otherwise self-respecting journalists to flog stories that are, by all rational standards, partisan boondoggles.

This is the beauty of the scandal mentality: It’s inherently speculative. And it is thus nourished not by an accretion of increasingly damning facts, as in Watergate, but by a daisy chain of lurid conjecture and tangential inquisitions. To quote [bob Woodward], “You’ve got to investigate all these things.”

To put it plainly, Watergate was a foxhunt; Whitewater was a fishing trip.

The latest scandal mongering fishing trip by the corporate media has been the "ObamaCare" rollout. Echoing GOPropaganda talking points, the media villagers have been hysterically reporting any minor instances of bureaucratic incompetence as if it is the biggest disaster of all time! Just last week, the New York Times (of Judy Miller fame -- Iraq war, Plamegate) made the ridiculous comparison that the "ObamaCare" rollout is just like the failure of the Bush administration to respond to people suffering and dying as New Orleans drowned after Katrina (with helpful quotes from Bushies making this unjustified comparison). "One of these things is not like the other."

George Will and his mini-me, Robert Robb

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The one political pundit who pisses me off more than any other, mostly because he is treated as credible and "intelligent" by other media villagers, is the patrician prevaricator for the plutocracy, George Will. Just because Will uses the entire dictionary in his columns does not make him "intelligent." If you actually follow the substance of what he says, he is a conservative ideological extremist. Just because he is not a bomb thrower like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity does not make him any more credible.

Arizona has its own version of the patrician prevaricator for the plutocracy, a George Will mini-me if you will, Robert Robb of the Arizona Republic. This conservative ideological extremist sets me off in the same way that George Will does.

Here is the latest example of how mini-me at the Republic lives in the shadow his role model, George Will.

The patrician prevaricator for the plutocracy was on FAUX News Sunday, and "suggested that President Barack Obama had caused a "constitutional scandal" by giving states the option of letting insurance companies continue to sell junk insurance plans for one year. George Will: Obamacare 'Fix' Lets Next GOP President Stop Taxing Rich Without Congress:

"It looks to a great many of us [GOPropagandists] to be illegal," he added, referring to the so "fix" that will give insurance regulators the leeway of allowing low-quality insurance plans to continue for additional year. "What we're told in grade school when we study civics is in that building behind you are the two legislative chambers of the federal government, the Senate and the House. It turns out, there's a third. It's called the White House press room, into which the president can, on a whim, sashay and rewrite laws."

"I do think this is a constitutional scandal," Will said. "Suppose the next Republican president -- and there will be another Republican president -- comes into the press room sometime and says, 'You know, I really think the capital gains tax does not serve the national interest so we're just, as an act of executive discretion, going to quit enforcing that for a few years. That's not the rule of law."

The 39 Squishes

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

My apologies to Alfred Hitchcock for the wordplay on his brilliant adaption of "The 39 Steps."

No apologies are owed, however, to the 39 Democratic "squishes" in the House who voted for Rep. Fred Upton’s “Keep Your Health Plan Act.” Their defections were pointless. This Tea-Publican messaging bill will not get a hearing in the Senate, and even if it did somehow get a vote, President Obama has promised to veto it.

As Steve Benen observed, "[W]hat was the point of all of this effort? It boils down to Republican 'messaging' goals, which some party leaders consider more important than anything else."

So 39 Democratic squishes simply aided and abetted GOP messaging goals. With friends like these . . .

Andrew Rosenthal at the New York Times was unsparing in his criticism of the 39 squishes. Cutting the Heart Out of Health Reform:

It’s easy to be mad at President Obama over health care reform – the broken website, the confusing choices, his false promise that everyone could keep their current plans.

But it’s still hard to fathom why 39 Democrats voted for a bill in the House that would allow people to retain current, substandard individual policies, and renew them next year even if they don’t provide the basic coverage required by the Affordable Care Act. (You have to wonder, to start, whether they actually read the act before they voted for it, the same question I’d like to ask of Mr. Obama and his team. The changed requirements were in that law.)

Perhaps it was just a protest vote, a freebie based on the lawmakers’ certainty that the Senate will never take up or pass this ridiculous bill. But did those Democrats know what they were voting for this time around?

(Update) Raise the minimum wage!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Cronkite News Service reported this week that Arizona’s hourly minimum wage going up by 10 cents for 2014:

Under a law Arizona voters approved in 2006, Katherine Castillo and others earning minimum wage will receive a 10-cent-per-hour increase to $7.90 starting Jan. 1. For tipped workers, the state minimum wage will rise from $4.80 to $4.90 per hour.

It will mark the fourth straight year that Arizona has had a higher minimum wage than the federal hourly rate of $7.25, which has remained the same since 2009.

Unfortunately, like all reporting about the minimum wage, the reporter allowed the spokespersons for industries that exploit workers by paying extemely low wages to comment on the minimum wage, without ever challenging their boilerplate talking points:

Rick Murray, CEO of the Arizona Small Business Association, said the law hurts the state’s workforce because it goes against the ideals of a business where wages depend on the demand of a certain skill.

“I’m against the fact that the minimum wage is mandated by the government when it should be market-driven,” he said.

Steve Chucri, president and CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association, said that raising the minimum wage forces higher operating costs on the food industry can lead to layoffs.

“A dime here and a nickel there may seem innocuous to most people,” Chucri said, “but restaurants cannot simply raise menu prices. It’s too competitive of an industry.”

Brad Flahiff, director of development at Barnett Management Co., which operates Burger King franchises in Arizona, said that constantly increasing the minimum wage hurts employees as well as employers.

“It harms the people who are doing better and those who either don’t have those skills yet or are not performing at the same level,” he said. “And yet we are forced to reward them the same way.”

This is, of course, bullshit. What else would you expect from industries that rely on the exploitation of workers?

Questions for Martha McSally: Jim Nintzel doesn't get an answer either

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics -- I am not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly and host of the Arizona Illustrated political roundtable tried to get Martha McSally to take a position on the current hot topic of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) and - suprise! - McSally is still hiding in the bunker with no ready answer to substantive questions. This is one incredibly ill-informed and ill-prepared candidate for someone who has been running for office since 2010. From

Republican Martha McSally, who hopes to unseat Barber next year, declined to take a position on ENDA.

"I haven't read the law, so I'd have to read it before I make a comment," she told the Weekly last week.

When she ran in 2010, McSally was opposed to "adding 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' or 'gender expression' to the protected classes of race, religion, age, sex, and ancestory in anti-discrimination law," according to a survey she filled out for the Center for Arizona Policy, a religious-right organization.

McSally said last week she filled the survey out early in her political career, so she would have to go back and review how the question was phrased before she could say whether she still stood by it. The questionnaire, she said, only let her say whether she supported or opposed various positions, and she felt she should have instead been given an opportunity to write longer answers.

[Note: This is B.S. Candidates frequently attach detailed responses to questionnaires when they have a nuanced or detailed position on an issue. I have to read these questionnaires all the time. A candidate does not need to ask permission to attach their response. Where is that proactive, take charge leadership skills McSally wants us to believe? She was intimidated by a "check the box" questionnaire from CAP?]

Questions for Martha McSally: Do you support the automatic GOP Sequester budget cuts?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics -- I am not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

Patrick McNamara of the Arizona Daily Star reported this week on Congressman Ron Barber signing "a letter along with 32 other members of Congress imploring Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to preserve the A-10 program, which has a large presence at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base." Barber backs A-10 retention at D-M. "The letter was written in an effort to head off any threat from impending federal budget cuts in the coming fiscal year, which almost certainly will include defense-spending reductions."

This would be the automatic GOP Sequester budget cuts in the event a budget agreement is not reached before January.

McNamara got himself a quote from Martha McSally, who is running for Barber's seat, presumably because she used to fly the A-10 (hopefully not because he is treating McSally as the GOP "presumptive nominee;" she has two primary opponents, Ed Martin and Shelley Kais).

Naturally, McSally went for snark over substance, suggesting that it seems the congressman has only now realized the threat of impending elimination of the A-10 program. This is in reference to her own reckless and irresponsible fear mongering over Davis-Monthan AFB possibly being closed if the A-10 is phased out. Questions for Martha McSally: On what basis do you assert that Davis-Monthan AFB will close?

Let's be clear: The only immediate threat to the A-10 at Davis-Monthan AFB is the automatic GOP Sequester budget cuts. While McNamara's report in regards to Congressman Ron Barber was about the federal budget and defense cuts, oddly enough he does not report whether he asked Martha McSally about her support for the automatic GOP Sequester budget cuts to the defense department budget (if he did, he failed to report any response). Instead, he framed McSally's responses based upon her previous reckless and irresponsbile fear mongering over the A-10.

Once again, Barber and Sinema fail a gut check vote

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The recent media hysteria over "if you like your insurance plan, you can keep it" is all about ignoring sound public policy for "gotcha" political gamesmanship. That's all the Beltway media villagers and pundits care about. It's always a political game of meaningless polls and election speculation for these effin' idiots, they are too damned ignorant to comprehend complex public policy. The corporate media is complicit in the failure of effective government, and aids and abets those who seek to undermine government.

Let's be clear: the elimination of substandard health insurance policies that provide no real coverage and leave the insured vulnerable to medical costs in the event of a serious injury or illness that can leave them bankrupt is not a bug but a feature of the ACA. The policy was designed to eliminate these fraudulent insurance policies from predator insurers. The "grandfather" clause for these substandard policies gave these predator insurers until 2015 to sell their fraudulent product, but many of them used the ACA as a ready excuse to cancel these fraudulent policies now, blame it on "ObamaCare," and upsell their policy holders into more expensive policies without advising them that a less expensive policy may be available from that insurer, or available on the Marketplace insurance exchange. Predators do not inform their marks, or send them to their competitors.

All the media hysteria in favor of predatory insurers and the broken health care system status quo that existed prior to the ACA has created so much background noise that it encouraged Tea-Publicans to engage in further sabotage of the ACA, and made Democratic squishes go soft on sound public policy.

David Cay Johnston on seriously flawed reporting on 'ObamaCare'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

[T]he headline atop the front page of The New York Times Monday morning: “Talk of Penalty is Missing in Ads for Health Care.” I damn near spit out my coffee when I saw that mosleading headline -- from a Times reporter no less.

Tax expert David Cay Johnston at the National Memo had the same reaction. Obamacare Penalized By Flawed Reporting In The New York Times:

News flash – there is no penalty for failing to get health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Reporter Anemona Hartocollis built an entire piece around a faulty premise, stated clearly in her third sentence.  Times editors embraced her flawed reporting with the gusto of prominent placement, giving unwarranted credibility to what is, to be polite, a pile of misinformation.

Had Hartocollis read the law – or had any of the dozen or so Times editors who review every Page One story done so – they would not have published such nonsense anywhere in the paper.

* * *

Had anyone at the Times read the law, they would know that is bunk. Here is what the law says, with statutory numbering removed:

WAIVER OF CRIMINAL PENALTIES. – In the case of any failure by a taxpayer to timely pay any penalty imposed by the section, such taxpayer shall not be subject to any criminal prosecution or penalties with respect to such failure.

LIMITATIONS ON LIENS AND LEVIES. – The Secretary [read IRS] shall not – file notice of lien with respect to any property of a taxpayer by reason of any failure to pay the penalty imposed by this section, or levy on any such property with respect to such failure.

There is a simple way for the world’s most authoritative newspaper to stop embarrassing itself this way – require reporters to actually read the laws they write about, a policy I suggested when I was a reporter there, obviously to no avail.

Dean Baker on the media hysteria over 'If you like your insurance, you can keep it'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Dean Baker has a must-read post at the Huffington Post for all those panicky Democrats in Congress -- and also Bill Clinton -- who care more about the politics of elections than getting public policy right on health care. The media focus should be on the regulation of predatory insurers engaged in consumer fraud, not on a campaign pledge President Obama made. The media is giving these predatory insurers a pass. The Obama Pledge on Keeping Your Insurance:

President Obama has been getting a lot of grief in the last few weeks over his pledge that with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in place, people would be able to keep their insurance if they like it. The media have been filled with stories about people across the country who are having their insurance policies terminated, ostensibly because they did not meet the requirements of the ACA. While this has led many to say that Obama was lying, there is much less here than meets the eye.

First, it is important to note that the ACA grand-fathered all the individual policies that were in place at the time the law was enacted. This means that the plans in effect at the time that President Obama was pushing the bill could still be offered even if they did not meet all the standards laid out in the ACA.

The plans being terminated because they don't meet the minimal standards were all plans that insurers introduced after the passage of the ACA. Insurers introduced these plans knowing that they would not meet the standards that would come into effect in 2014. Insurers may not have informed their clients at the time they sold these plans that they would not be available after 2014 because they had designed a plan that did not comply with the ACA. [i.e., consumer fraud]

However if the insurers didn't tell their clients that the new plans would only be available for a short period of time, the blame would seem to rest with the insurance companies, not the ACA. After all, President Obama did not promise people that he would keep insurers from developing new plans that will not comply with the provisions of the ACA.

CBS News' non-apology apology for Benghazi!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan has been accused of having a personal agenda in the past, and with the Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory in particular. Kevin Drum explains in Reporter Lara Logan brings ominous news from Middle East:

As a journalist, I was queasy. Reporters should tell the story, not be the story. As an American, I was frightened.

Logan even called for retribution for the recent terrorist killings of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other officials. The event is a harbinger of our vulnerability, she said. Logan hopes that America will “exact revenge and let the world know that the United States will not be attacked on its own soil. That its ambassadors will not be murdered, and that the United States will not stand by and do nothing about it.”

In the “good old days,” reporters did not advocate, crusade or call for revenge.

On 60 Minutes on Sunday, Lara Logan apologized only for having presented an "eye-witness" in her now discredited report who was no eye-witness to Benghazi at all. She did not apologize for her lack of due diligence in vetting this supposed eye-witness, nor did she say a word about her own personal agenda that colored her judgment and led her to rely on this supposed witness because it told a narrative that fit her personal agenda.

It was a non-apology apology: "I was duped by a source." No taking personal responsibility for her own actions by Ms. Logan.

Ezra Klein: President Obama should not apologize

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

All this faux outrage from the conservative media entertainment complex and Tea-Publican politicians over insurance cancellation notices is a disgusting spectacle to behold.

Essentially what the right-wing is arguing for is continuation of the status quo of a health insurance market that was completely broken. One where people were at the mercy of unscrupulous insurance companies who would sell you a crappy health insurance policy with a low premium, but with high out-of-pocket costs and no coverage for serious illness or medical procedures, preexisting condition exclusions, annual limits -- and frequently cancelled after its term of one year expired. Consumers with a pre-exisitng condition were uninsurable at any price.

In essence, the right-wing is defending health insurance consumer fraud and victimizing consumers. The fact that some people are happy with being victimized by insurers with a crappy health insurance policy and no coverage speaks more to their shortcomings -- "please take my money for nothing in return, i love throwing my money away!" These are not the kind of people who should determine sound public policy.

Ezra Klein argues Obama shouldn’t apologize for blowing up the terrible individual market:

NBC's Chuck Todd asked President Obama about the people losing their health insurance despite his promise that "anyone who likes their plan can keep it." (See the video and read the transcript here.)

"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," Obama replied.

The answer is a bit of a dodge. People aren't finding themselves in this situation based on the president's promises. They're finding themselves in this situation based on his policy. And Obama isn't apologizing for the policy.

"Before the law was passed, a lot of these plans, people thought they had insurance coverage," he said. "And then they'd find out that they had huge out of pocket expenses. Or women were being charged more than men. If you had preexisting conditions, you just couldn't get it at all."

Obama was wrong to promise that everyone who liked their insurance could keep it. For a small minority of Americans, that flatly isn't true. But the real sin would've been leaving the individual insurance market alone.

Check out thehealthsherpa.com - techies solve healthcare.gov problems

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

CBS Evening News reported on Friday night, S.F. programmers build alternative to HealthCare.gov:

[T]three of them have created their own website that addresses some of the most annoying problems with HealthCare.gov.

In a San Francisco office shared with other tech start-ups, three 20-year-olds saw HealthCare.gov as a challenge.

With a few late nights, Ning Liang, George Kalogeropoulos and Michael Wasser built "thehealthsherpa.com," a two-week-old website that solves one of the biggest problems with the government's site.

"They got it completely backwards in terms of what people want up front," said Liang. He added: "They want prices and benefits, so that they could make the decision."

Liang showed CBS News how it worked. "You come to our website and you put in your zip code -- in this case a California zip code. You hit 'find plans,' and you immediately see the exchange plans that are available for that zip code."

Cincinnati rejection of pension initiative foreshadows Arizona pension initiative fight in 2014

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this year I told you about the Virginia-based ballot initiative activist Paul Jacob, and his Liberty Initiative Fund that was behind the City of Tucson public employee pension initiative which failed to qualify for the ballot. As I told you, this right-wing organization was behind a Tea Party group called Cincinnati for Pension Reform, which did qualify this model pension initiative for the ballot in Cincinnati in November. Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201).

So what happend with the Cincinnati pension initiative? It was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a crushing defeat. Cincinnati Issue 4: Voters say loud no to pension reform:

Cincinnati voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 4, a major overhaul of the city’s troubled pension system, in Tuesday’s election.

The vote was 78 percent against and 22 percent for.

Peter McLinden, Cincinnati-area Regional Director at AFSCME Ohio Council 8,  released this statement:

"Today's vote will be heard beyond Cincinnati and sends a message for those on the ideological extremes who think it is ok to impose their agenda on an entire city. Had this passed, outside money and political extremists would have cost Cincinnati taxpayers more money, with less services. ...  That said we all are dedicated to working together moving forward to fix the pension system in a way that is in the best interest of Cincinnati public employees and taxpayers."

The Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory falls apart

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have been following this story for the past couple of weeks, and today the Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory fell apart. CBS News, which has gone to hell in a handbasket ever since Scott Pelley took over the anchor desk, in my opinion, will have Lara Logan apologize on 60 Minutes for the sensationalist Benghazi report that had the conservative media entertainment complex all in a lather.

Steve Benen reports, CBS backs off unraveling Benghazi tale:

It’s been nearly two weeks since CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired a report that caused considerable excitement from Benghazi conspiracy theorists. Though much of the report, a full year in the making, covered familiar ground, the segment also highlighted an alleged witness to the attack, who said he scaled a 12-foot wall, beat an al Qaeda fighter with the butt of his rifle, and personally saw Ambassador Chris Stevens’ body.

The man’s name is Dylan Davies – he used a pseudonym on “60 Minutes” for no apparent reason – and he has a book coming out about his Benghazi experience, published by a CBS-owned company that releases far-right books from conservative personalities.

Almost immediately, Davies’ story started to unravel – he’d previously told his employers he was nowhere near the U.S. consulate during the attack. Making matters worse, Davies told the FBI the opposite of what he’d told “60 Minutes.” By earlier this week, the defense was that Davies lied before, but the public should neverthless believe his dramatic tale that makes him look like a hero.

The CBS reporters involved with the story continued to defend it anyway, brushing off broad criticism as politically motivated, and insisting that their segment was accurate. On last week’s edition of “60 Minutes,” the show featured feedback from viewers who cheered the segment, but made no mention of the burgeoning controversy.

That posture collapsed last night. The CBS program said about 12 hours ago that it had “learned of new information that undercuts the account” from their alleged witness. Soon after, “60 Minutes” pulled the segment from its website.

Gov. Chris Christie is 'sick of you people' (public school teachers)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post is the lead writer for "The Fix" column, which is the Post's version of the D.C. media villager insider gossip at POLITICO Tiger Beat on The Potomac. The Fix column loves to waste time on campaign speculation years in advance before anyone has even announced as a candidate, weighing who is up and who is down as the front-runner in the conventional wisdom of the Beltway media villagers, who unbelievably get paid to write this crap.

On Sunday, Chris Cillizza filed this report, Ranking the Republican presidential contenders for 2016, in which the lede was Governor Chris "Christie is clearly No. 1. Who’s next?"

The very same day, Dave Weigel at Slate filed this report on another "Christie moment." Behind That Photo of Chris Christie Wagging His Finger at a Teacher:

On Saturday, during a short reporting trip to New Jersey, I watched Gov. Chris Christie campaign in Somers Point and captured a moment that quickly got memed. Over the weekend I've seen the photo I tweeted of teacher Melissa Tomlinson being lectured by Christie get copied on dozens of Twitter accounts and blogs. This isn't a #humblebrag—just saying, I was surprised that "Christie takes exception to protesting teacher" was a story in November 2013.

But here's what I saw. After the rally, Christie made his way back to his campaign bus, flanked by low-key security guards. Tomlinson, who had been carrying a sign and handing out fliers from her Badass Teachers Association, asked Christie why he'd called New Jersey schools "failure factories." Christie rounded on her, blurting out that he was sick of "you people."

"This story—oh really? They have more money now than they’ve ever had before. This is an old story from you folks, and they fail because you guys are failing in those schools. Have you ever sent your child to one of those schools?

"You portray us as the bad guys," said Tomlinson.

"Guess what, this is the most money the school has ever spent on education in the history of this state," said Christie.

"It is not," said Tomlinson.

"$9 billion in education!" yelled an onlooker.

"Yeah, and it’s down 0.1 percent," said Tomlinson.

"And it’s never enough for you," said Christie.

"All I want is money for my students and my school," said Tomlinson.

"Do your job," said Christie, turning away and heading into the bus.

(Update) The Washington Post looks at Sean Noble's 'Kochtopus' dark money organizations

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I'm still waiting on The Arizona Republic to do investigative reporting into the hub of "Koch Brothers Network" dark money political non-profit corporations operating out of Maricopa County. The media is supposed to be the 'watchdog of democracy,' not the media arm of the GOP.

Instead, the Republic's resident GOPropagandist Doug MacEachern wrote a love letter to the "Kochtopus," For liberals, Kochs and tea party are evil personified, and the Republic turned over its opinion page to one of the key players at the center of the California money laundering scheme, former House Speaker Kirk Adams, president of Americans for Responsible Leadership, who dismissed the California investigation as a "big old nothing-burger." Why anonymous is good. Hard-hitting investigative journalism response from the Republic: "What condiments go well on a nothing burger?" (actual question).

The Arizona Republic is useless.

Matea Gold and Tom Hamburger at the Washington Post today take a look at Sean Noble's 'Kochtopus' dark money organizations, California donor disclosure case exposes how nonprofits can play in politics:

[N]ew revelations in California provide an unusual look at one national network of such groups that helped move $15 million into ballot-initiative campaigns last fall while working hard to hide the identities of their prominent financial backers. A pair of conservative nonprofits at the heart of the effort were together fined a record $1 million after a year-long state investigation, while two political committees were ordered to repay the state for $15 million in donations they received.

* * *

Several of the advocacy groups at the center of the California case have played significant roles in national elections, including Americans for Job Security, Americans for Responsible Leadership and the American Future Fund. Those three groups have reported more than $68 million in campaign-related expenditures during the past two election cycles, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Because they are set up as nonprofit organizations rather than political committees, the groups are not required to disclose their financial supporters to the FEC.

The details of the California scheme, revealed in interviews and a cache of investigative documents, show how political operatives casually shuffled around massive sums with little accountability. At one point, a consultant involved sent a text message requesting $11 million. The case also spotlights the extreme measures that operatives took to skirt disclosure regulations, passing along funds through a daisy chain of organizations without knowing which groups would get the cash or whether the money would end up where it was intended.

Questions for Martha McSally: Stuart Rothenberg doesn't get an answer either

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In this new series, "Questions for Martha McSally," we pose questions to the McSally campaign about her positions on current hot topics -- I am not going to give her a free pass until after the GOP primary like our local media did in 2012.

I previously posted back at the end of September, Questions for Martha McSally: Government shutdown and default on the national debt. I'm still waiting for a reply.

Turns out I am not alone. Stuart Rothenberg at Roll Call's Rothenblog actually got the chance to ask McSally my questions, and she refused to answer him as well. This candidate is seriously cowering in the bunker. Two House Candidates Who Stumbled Over Simple Questions:

Retired Air Force Col. Martha McSally is personable and engaging, and her 2,454-vote loss to Democratic Rep. Ron Barber in Arizona’s 2nd District in 2012 demonstrates that she has appeal as a congressional candidate.

But none of that exempts the 47-year-old Republican, who is running again this cycle and oozes confidence about her prospects, from answering an important question: How would she have voted on the compromise that ultimately ended the government shutdown in October?

And yet, though I asked that question repeatedly in an Oct. 29 interview, McSally did her best to bob and weave, clearly intent on not giving a “yes” or a “no.” Instead, I heard a lot of baloney about not wanting to look backward and only wanting to look ahead. 

Insurers hiding the benefits of 'ObamaCare'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

One thing I have found missing in the absolutely craptacular reporting of the past week about "ObamaCare Sticker Shock," particulary from the AP (All Propaganda), is the failure to point out that the "cancellation notice letters" from insurers to customers with substandard crappy insurance that does not meet minimum coverage standards is that these insurers are "upselling" their customers to their pricier plans -- hence the so-called "sticker shock" -- and are not advising their customers of less expensive comparable options.

Insurers also are not directing customers to the health insurance exchanges where they might find a less expensive, better quality plan from another insurer.

In other words, insurers are still engaging in the consumer fraud practices that the Affordable Care Act is trying to end.

Luckily, Dylan Scott at Talking Points Memo today does real investigative reporting in How Insurers Are Hiding Obamacare Benefits From Their Own Customers:

Donna received the letter canceling her insurance plan on Sept. 16. Her insurance company, LifeWise of Washington, told her that they'd identified a new plan for her. If she did nothing, she'd be covered.

A 56-year-old Seattle resident with a 57-year-old husband and 15-year-old daughter, Donna had been looking forward to the savings that the Affordable Care Act had to offer.

But that's not what she found. Instead, she'd be paying an additional $300 a month for coverage. The letter made no mention of the health insurance marketplace that would soon open in Washington, where she could shop for competitive plans, and only an oblique reference to financial help that she might qualify for, if she made the effort to call and find out.

Otherwise, she'd be automatically rolled over to a new plan -- and, as the letter said, "If you're happy with this plan, do nothing."

If Donna had done nothing, she would have ended up spending about $1,000 more a month for insurance than she will now that she went to the marketplace, picked the best plan for her family and accessed tax credits at the heart of the health care reform law.

The mythical moderate Republicans repudiate themselves

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Remember how the Beltway media villagers told us that the so-called "moderate Republicans" had stepped up to be the adults in the room and repudiate the Tea Party economic terrorists holding the country hostage by passing a CR budget and raising the federal debt ceiling? The media villagers all told us that we should praise these so-called "moderate Republicans" for standing up and doing the right thing for the country (at the last possible moment).

Well, this week the mythical moderate Republicans decided to repudiate themselves for having been the adults in the room. They took it all back in a resolution (which has no force of law). Insanity.

Charles Pierce at Esquire mocks the mythical moderate Republicans in The Reign Of Morons: Absurdity In The Senate:

There was an act of absurdity in the U.S. Senate yesterday -- There were 27 Republican senators who voted "symbolically" to repudiate their own actual votes a couple of weeks ago to raise the debt ceiling. This is every single Republican who voted to raise the debt ceiling. It is important to know this because the ranks of the repudiators include notable "moderates" like Kelly Ayotte and our reasonable friend from South Carolina, Huckleberry J. Butchmeup. This is important to know because of the simple fact that, for pure, sweaty, bowel-whitening fear, there is no such thing as a Republican "moderate" any more. They are all terrified, at one level or another, of empowered and weaponized insanity.

You may recall that John Kerry once was lampooned from hell to breakfast for having voted for something before he was against it. Haw, haw. These clowns, because they live in terror of billionaires who write checks, and angry shut-ins who buy gold from Glenn Beck, and costumed clowns in tricornered hats, just did something far beyond anything Kerry ever did. They voted to apologize to those very forces for having been responsible enough to keep the United States from defaulting on its fiscal obligations. This may well have been the silliest vote ever taken in the history of the United States Senate, and that is saying something, indeed.

(Update) Media villager concern trolling over cancellation of individual health insurance plans

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

As I said the other day, "There is some actually very good reporting on this topic, none of which will be reported on the tee-vee by the concern troll media villagers, nor reported in your local newspapers which rely on the AP (All Propaganda) concern trolls for sensationalistic reporting. Horseshit reporting is what is killing any serious policy discussion in this country."

Paul Waldman at The American Prospect wrote about this the other day, Another Phony Obamacare Victim Story:

In the last couple of decades, a particular technique of news-story construction has become so common that I'm sure you barely notice it as something distinctive. It's the use of a device sometimes referred to as the "exemplar," in which a policy issue is explained through the profile of one individual, whose tale usually begins and ends the story. It's ubiquitous on television news, but print reporters do it all the time as well.

* * *

To see how misleading some of these exemplar stories can be, let's take this piece from last night's NBC Nightly News, which uses an exemplar named Deborah Cavallaro, a self-employed realtor from Los Angeles who buys insurance on the individual market[.]

Waldman then systematically destroys the NBC news reporter's reporting. "Unfortunately, we seem to be seeing a lot of these stories; here's an almost identical story from CBS about a 56-year-old Florida woman that goes through the same routine[.]"

Journalists have a natural inclination to cover bad news over good and to be skeptical of the government, which is usually healthy. But if you aren't careful it can also lead to misleading reporting. If you're going to do a story presenting one person as a victim of the law, it might be a good idea to make sure they are what you say they are.

Similarly, Michael Hiltzik, the excellent business reporter for the Los Angeles Times also looked into this same "exemplar," Deborah Cavallaro, by the tee-vee reporters. Another Obamacare horror story debunked (shockingly, this story did make the editorial pages of the Arizona Daily Star today Michael Hiltzik: Don’t believe the canceled insurance hype):

"Please explain to me," she told Maria Bartiromo on CNBC Wednesday, "how my plan is a 'substandard' plan when ... I'd be paying more for the exchange plans than I am currently paying by a wide margin."

Bartiromo didn't take her up on her request. So I will.

The bottom line is that Cavallaro's assertion that "there's nothing affordable about the Affordable Care Act," as she put it Tuesday on NBC Channel 4, is the product of her own misunderstandings, abetted by a passel of uninformed and incurious news reporters. 

I talked with Cavallaro, 60, after her CNBC appearance.

Breaking the GOP filibuster on ENDA

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There is a conflict in the whip counts being done by the media counting votes to break the GOP filibuster on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the Senate -- 60 votes are needed for cloture.

Steve Benen accurately reports that when Cory Booker from New Jersey is sworn in on Thursday, all 55 Democratic senators are committed to ending the GOP filibuster. Senate Dems now unanimous on ENDA:

Once Sen.-elect Cory Booker (D-N.J.) is sworn in tomorrow, there will be 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, and all 55 now support ENDA. To defeat a filibuster and overcome GOP obstructionism, proponents will need just five votes from Republican senators.

And by my count, they have them. As of Monday, ENDA had four Republican backers – Collins, Kirk, Murkowski, and Hatch – and that was before Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who supports marriage equality and has an openly gay son, said he’s inclined to vote for ENDA, too.

So, 4 +1 = 5. And 5 + 55 = 60.

Not so fast. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is a bit of a "squish" according to the whip count by Laura Clawson at Daily Kos. ENDA just one vote shy of a filibuster-proof margin in the Senate:

So what's the road to 60, if there is one?

First up is Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who told reporters Tuesday that he’s “inclined to back” the proposal. A spokesman later clarified that Portman “agrees with the underlying principle” of the measure, but is seeking changes to address concerns with the bill’s religious liberties provisions. [...]