Leaked Memo Urges GOP House Members To Pressure Amazon Regarding Conversion Therapy Books

(stock photo of depressed teen via Depositphotos)

A memo currently being circulated among Republican members of Congress asks the lawmakers to “contact Amazon with concerns” regarding “censorship” after the online retail giant announced it had removed books on the subject of so-called ‘conversion therapy.’

Earlier this month, Amazon announced it had removed all books by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, widely credited as the ‘father of conversion therapy.’

The action by Amazon was the result of months of complaints and an online petition that garnered over 82,000 signatures demanding the removal of the titles which included A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, Healing Homosexualityand How a Gay Boy Became a Straight Man.

Conversion therapy, sometimes known as reparative therapy, has been shown to lead to depression, anxiety, drug use, homelessness and suicide.

The discredited practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity has been widely denounced by major medical organizations like the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association as phony 'pseudo-science.'

Currently, 18 states plus dozens of local municipalities have banned the harmful practice for minors.

But Vice News obtained a copy of the memo, given to members of the Republican Study Committee, which includes more than 70% of all GOP members of the House. The document was handed out during a private meeting of the members on Wednesday.

It would appear that Republicans want to see Nicolosi’s books back in circulation on Amazon.

“These books were available on Amazon until an LGBT activist repeatedly petitioned Amazon to remove the ‘homophobic books’ from the company’s website,” reads the memo per Vice News. “Amazon removed Dr. Nicolosi’s books and those of several other authors on similar topics.”

“It is not clear that any of the banned books have violated an Amazon policy,” continues the document. “But rather that the company is choosing to censor speech.”

The memo urges the GOP lawmakers to read an article from the Federalist which tries to assert hypocrisy for banning books on conversion therapy when Amazon still sells history book about Hitler, Mussolini, KKK leader David Duke and U.S. terrorist Timothy McVeigh.

So that I have this right:
1) If you bake cakes, you should have the right to not serve gay people, but
2) If you sell books, you should be told you have to sell books filled with verifiable lies that attack, demean and harm gay people?https://t.co/hgwu3I3Rkq

— Todd Schulte (@TheToddSchulte) July 19, 2019

As a person who happens to be gay: this is shameful, dangerous, and deeply offensive.

As a free speech lawyer: Amazon's business decision not to sell curing homosexuality books has literally nothing to do with liberty or the First Amendmenthttps://t.co/K6s9gerp2e

— Matthew Schafer (@MatthewSchafer) July 19, 2019

Dear @HouseGOP You people want private businesses to be able to refuse service to gay customers but you also want to force private businesses to sell anti-gay literature. HYPOCRITES.

House GOP Pressuring Amazon to Sell Books on Gay Conversion Therapy https://t.co/aZmFT9M72A?

— Kim Wexler's Ponytail (@MadisonKittay) July 19, 2019

Calling the LGBTQ community “a supposedly oppressed and marginalized group,” the Federalistarticle states the community “wields an extravagant amount of power” aimed at “anyone who chooses not to support” LGBTQ rights.

Vice News contacted Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) who has previously chaired the Republican Study Committee. Walker shared he didn’t know about the move to pressure Amazon but admitted he thinks Amazon shouldn’t be in the business of ‘banning speech.’

The author of the online petition, Sky Gray, told Vice News via email that the goal of banning conversion therapy books could be hampered with members of Congress getting involved.

”It shouldn't be surprising that the conservatives are in support of conversion therapy; they've made it clear they are in the past,” said Gray. “It looks like this is going to be a bigger fight than previously anticipated, though I knew it would be an uphill battle.”

“Looks like the hill just got a lot steeper, with this knowledge in mind,” he added.

A poll conducted by Public Policy Polling released in April this year showed 80% of respondents believe performing conversion therapy on minors should be illegal.

News Round-Up: April 15, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• Now, y'all know the fab Shoshana Bean is back on the Broad Way starring in Sara Bareilles' Waitress, right? Annnnd, her leading man is the oh-so-talented Jeremy Jordan? Get to the Brooks Atkinson Theater before they be gone. #JustSaying

• A jury sentenced a man to death because they thought he would enjoy being in prison for life because he is gay.

• Dallas police arrested 29-year-old Edward Thomas on a charge of aggravated assault for the brutal beating of a transgender woman. Authorities are investigating whether the brutal attack caught on video should have hate crime charges attached, although gender identity is not a protected class in the state. The video, posted to Facebook, is quite disturbing as Thomas punches the victim over and over as a crowd stood by.

• At Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri, an unnamed student tore down a large hanging sign advertising the school’s Gay Straight Trans Alliance (GSTA). The vandal crumpled up the sign into a ball and dropped it into the crowd below as dozens of students laughed and clapped.

• A 40-year-old man has filed a lawsuit against his parents for throwing away his porn collection that he estimates was worth $29,000.

• Donald Trump has a challenger for the 2020 Republican nomination - former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld has officially declared as a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2020.

• Sen. Bernie Sanders has released 10 years of tax returns showing both income and tax rate jumped after presidential campaign, and revealing his millionaire status.

• I could really, really wish to be in Mykonos right now with this guy... :)

View this post on Instagram

Mykonos at its best. @rondorff #blueandwhite #stripes #swimtrunks #rondorff . AD. . Photographer: @pascalpprl

A post shared by KILLIAN (@killian___) on Apr 14, 2019 at 5:46am PDT

Out On The Campaign Trail, President Obama Puts It All In Perspective

President Obama ,out on the campaign trail this week for midterm elections, reminded me (again) why I loved this guy as president.

Here's just a few examples of how clear he makes it all to understand.

Remember how 'Hillary's email' was the worstest thing in the world in 2016?

OMG, the sky is falling! She's leaking classified info! She's irresponsible.

And then this week comes the report that Donald Trump doesn't like using his secure government phone.

So, he tweets and calls informal advisers like Sean Hannity on his iPhone - a phone that apparently the Chinese and Russian governments can listen in on.

Barack puts it all in perspective:

"They didn’t care about [Hillary Clinton’s] emails…because if they did, they’d be up in arms right now as the Chinese are listening to the president’s iPhone that he leaves in his golf cart," Barack Obama said at a campaign event, slamming GOP politicians and conservative media pic.twitter.com/KjlLHOTXC5

— POLITICO (@politico) October 26, 2018

Barack Obama said Republican "fear mongering" over the migrant caravan is one of many issues GOP leadership has used to distract while “they are robbing you blind.”

"They’re giving tax cuts out to billionaires, but they don’t want you to notice that," he continued pic.twitter.com/VYHKpltgia

— POLITICO (@politico) October 26, 2018

"Fox News will not tell you that what the Republicans are saying about pre-existing conditions aren’t true... but it would be nice if the serious outlets did,” Obama said, slamming the media for not calling out inaccurate statements made by elected officials pic.twitter.com/xqg1dqeqxf

— POLITICO (@politico) October 26, 2018

Dang, I miss this guy.

After Massive Tax Cuts For The Rich, GOP Senate Blames Rising Deficits On Medicare/Social Security

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell

Remember when the Trump tax cuts were not only going to pay for themselves but lower the deficit?

Yeah, not so much.

From Bloomberg News:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed rising federal deficits and debt on a bipartisan unwillingness to contain spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and said he sees little chance of a major deficit reduction deal while Republicans control Congress and the White House.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem,” McConnell said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg News when asked about the rising deficits and debt. “It’s a bipartisan problem: unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the demographics of America in the future.”

McConnell’s remarks came a day after the Treasury Department said the U.S. budget deficit grew to $779 billion in Donald Trump’s first full fiscal year as president, the result of the GOP’s tax cuts, bipartisan spending increases and rising interest payments on the national debt. That’s a 77 percent increase from the $439 billion deficit in fiscal 2015, when McConnell became majority leader.

People aren’t idiots, Mitch.

You blew up the deficit with huge tax cuts for the ultra-rich, now you want to go dismantle the social safety net, just like everyone predicted.

"McConnell eyes cuts to Medicare, Social Security to address deficit" https://t.co/55d1IFx2BH

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) October 17, 2018

This is a direct attack on our seniors. Medicaid and Social Security aren't "entitlements," they are earned benefits for working class people. https://t.co/yxQCdCYuMs

— Andrew Janz (@JanzforCongress) October 17, 2018

Sure enough, Mitch McConnell is already saying that we need to cut entitlements -- which is a euphemism for cuts in Medicare and Social Security, something every news article should point out -- in response to the deficit the tax cut exploded 2/ https://t.co/4casxKA8CA

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) October 17, 2018

54% Of Republicans Feel Kavanaugh Should Be Confirmed Even If Sexual Misconduct Allegations Are True

A recent Marist poll shows a majority of Republicans - 54% - feel Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed even if the allegations of sexual misconduct by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford are true.

Drilling down a bit deeper, the results showed 48% of Evangelical Republicans don't mind his confirmation even if the accusations by Ford are true. That says something, doesn't it?

Thirty-two percent of Republicans do not believe Kavanaugh should sit on the high court if Ford's allegations are true.

Only 12% of Democrats believed that he should be confirmed if the allegations are true.

The same poll showed Kavanaugh is upside down in his approval ratings with 31% approval versus 37% disapproving.

House Republicans Fail To Pass Their Own Immigration Bill

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives failed today to pass their more extreme immigration bill by a vote of 193-231.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan says he will not bring a more narrowly tailored bill to the floor for a vote.

But with Donald Trump's recent executive order addressing family separations at the border possibly being challenged in courts, Ryan may have to rethink that position.

It's still possible that a solution might be found in the Senate where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has signaled he would consider emergency legislation on the issue.

All 49 Democratic Senators have signed on in support of a bill they've crafted that would legally put an end to the family separations but it's doubtful McConnell would embrace the legislation.

Here's the report from CBSN below.

JUST IN: Immigration bill backed by conservative Republicans has failed in the House. https://t.co/DDnIkfCENC pic.twitter.com/P7CURwjYZN

— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 21, 2018

FBI Denounces Release Of GOP Memo Citing "Grave Concerns About Material Omissions Of Fact"

(image via Flickr - Dave Newman)

On Monday, Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee voted to release a four-page memo which they say shows serious anti-Trump bias in the FBI's ongoing investigation into possible Russian interference and/or collusion with the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.

The memo pulls information used to obtain the original FISA warrant which allowed U.S. intelligence units to surveil foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, Carter Page, who was apparently communicating with Russian officials.

House Democrats contend the memo "cherry-picks" only parts of the warrant to paint a certain picture. The Dems wrote their own memo to be released with the GOP version, but the Republicans on the committee blocked that from happening.

For clarity, it's useful to know that the average FISA warrant application contains between 50-60 pages. So four pages would clearly not represent full transparency.

The Justice Department has already raised flags about the danger of releasing the memo.

And now the FBI, under command of Director Christopher Wray (hand-picked by Donald Trump), says the bureau has "grave concerns" about releasing the memo.

From The New York Times:

The “F.B.I. was provided a limited opportunity to review this memo the day before the committee voted to release it,” the bureau said in a statement. “As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.”

Though Mr. Wray’s name was not attached to the statement, the high-profile comment by the F.B.I. thrust him into a confrontation with President Trump, who abruptly fired his predecessor, James B. Comey. Mr. Trump wants to see the memo released, telling people close to him that he believes it makes the case that F.B.I. and Justice Department officials acted inappropriately when they sought the highly classified warrant in October 2016 on the campaign adviser, Carter Page.

The president’s stance puts him at odds with much of his national security establishment. The Justice Department has warned repeatedly that the memo, prepared by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, is misleading and that its release would set a bad precedent for making government secrets public. F.B.I. officials have said privately that the president is prioritizing politics over national security and is putting the bureau’s reputation at risk.

Republicans say it was not made clear to the judge who signed off on the warrant that part of the info in the application, the now-infamous "Steele dossier," was financed in part by the Democrats during the election.

Donald Trump has claimed the dossier has been proven to be wholly false, but in reality some parts of the dossier have been proven.

Congressional Republicans have been trying to discredit not only the dossier but agents within the FBI. They point to private text messages between two agents last year that seemed to indicate sympathy for Hillary Clinton.

Interestingly, CNN is reporting today that one of those agents, Peter Strzok, who was removed from the investigation, actually drafted former FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress that reopened the investigation into her email use.

Strzok, who co-wrote what appears to be the first draft that formed the basis of the letter Comey sent to Congress, also supported reopening the Clinton investigation once the emails were discovered on disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s laptop, according to a source familiar with Strzok’s thinking. The day after Strzok sent his draft to his colleagues, Comey released the letter to Congress, reigniting the email controversy in the final days of the campaign.

Now, if Strzok wanted the investigation reopened, how does that make him "sympathetic" to Hillary Clinton?

NEWS: FBI Agent Peter Strzok, attacked by Trump for “treason” over his texts, also did something that roiled the Clinton campaign: He wrote the first draft of the Comey letter reopening Clinton probe. Story via @LauraAJarrett @jeremyherb and me https://t.co/WONdSHW580

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 31, 2018

More @CNN breaking: Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who sent the texts mocking Trump and others and was ousted from Mueller's team, actually co-wrote the draft letter reopening the Clinton email probe.

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 31, 2018

Poll: Republicans Could Bear The Brunt Of Government Shutdown Blame

Only hours before a possible shutdown of the federal government, a new poll shows the Republicans would bear the brunt of responsibility for the ensuing debacle.

According to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll:

• 48% of those surveyed would place the blame on Donald Trump and the Republicans

• 28% would hold Democrats responsible

• 18% say both parties would share the blame

• Among the very important political Independents, 46% would blame Republicans compared to 25% who would say Dems would be responsible.

This would be the first time in modern history that the government would shut down while under control of one political party.

I thought Donald Trump's big skill was "bringing people together" to get a deal...?

News Round-Up: December 2, 2017

Some news items you might have missed:

• Woofy Alex Abramov (above) says, "Everyone should believe in something. I believe I should go to the beach this weekend." You gotta admit, Alex wears the beach very, very well :)

• Analysis by Newsweek shows the current tax bill in the Senate would devastate support systems and services for LGBT Americans.

• Uri Kokia has come out as gay making him the first professional basketball player to come out as gay in Israel. In an interview, Kokia said, “I want to show you can make a long and glorious career as a gay man.”

• A father in Mills, Wyoming, is accused of attacking his 15-year-old gay son with a knife because the father disapproved of homosexuality.

• Republican Congressman Blake Farenthold of Texas, who prides himself as a "family values" politician used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment case to the tune of $84,000. Farenthold had told his former communications director he had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about her.

• In related news, Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina reportedly used $150,000 in taxpayer money to settle a veteran-discrimination and retaliation claim with a former aide.

• Anthony Rapp has received a lot of social media attacks after telling his story of sexual misconduct by Kevin Spacey 30 years ago when Rapp was 14. Rather than fight back, Rapp decided to share them all with the world.

• Check out this touching holiday video featuring uber-cute pooch, Chobo.

Video: Senate Republican Leaders' Awkward Silence Over Roy Moore Allegations

Forty-four seconds of silence from these Republican leaders as reporters as questions about embattled Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore.

The lawmakers were gathered to promote the reveal of their newly-crafted tax plan, but the ongoing Roy Moore sex scandal was the only thing on reporters' minds.

#Awkward

This is what 44 seconds of Republican senators not responding to questions about Roy Moore sounds like | Analysis by CNN's Chris Cillizza https://t.co/UjrztCYHTH pic.twitter.com/8iDaBN4jEX

— CNN (@CNN) November 10, 2017

(h/t JoeMyGod)

GOP Sen. Jeff Flake: "My Party Is In Denial About Donald Trump"

Excerpted from his new book, Conscience of a Conservative, Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona goes all in deconstructing and taking responsibility for the process that gave rise to a President Trump.

Via Politico:

I will let the liberals answer for their own sins in this regard. (There are many.) But we conservatives mocked Barack Obama’s failure to deliver on his pledge to change the tone in Washington even as we worked to assist with that failure.

It was we conservatives who, upon Obama’s election, stated that our No. 1 priority was not advancing a conservative policy agenda but making Obama a one-term president—the corollary to this binary thinking being that his failure would be our success and the fortunes of the citizenry would presumably be sorted out in the meantime.

It was we conservatives who were largely silent when the most egregious and sustained attacks on Obama’s legitimacy were leveled by marginal figures who would later be embraced and legitimized by far too many of us.

It was we conservatives who rightly and robustly asserted our constitutional prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government when a Democrat was in the White House but who, despite solemn vows to do the same in the event of a Trump presidency, have maintained an unnerving silence as instability has ensued. To carry on in the spring of 2017 as if what was happening was anything approaching normalcy required a determined suspension of critical faculties. And tremendous powers of denial.

[snip]

For a conservative, that’s an awfully bitter pill to swallow. So as I layered in my defense mechanisms, I even found myself saying things like, “If I took the time to respond to every presiden­tial tweet, there would be little time for anything else.” Given the volume and velocity of tweets from both the Trump campaign and then the White House, this was certainly true.

But it was also a monumental dodge. It would be like Noah saying, “If I spent all my time obsessing about the coming flood, there would be little time for anything else.” At a certain point, if one is being honest, the flood becomes the thing that is most worthy of attention.

At a certain point, it might be time to build an ark.

Senate GOP Health Care Bill Crashes As More Republicans Announce "No" Votes

The Senate Republican health care bill came to a crashing halt last night as two more senators announced they would not be supporting the legislation.

Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas joined Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Maine Sen. Susan Collins in opposition to the bill. With a bare two vote margin in the Senate, those defections were enough to kill the legislation.

House and Senate Republicans have railed against the Affordable Healthcare Act for years promising to repeal and replace if they had the chance. However, seven months of control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives has yielded nothing.

The news was apparently a surprise to the Trump White House who, hours before the news broke, held a dinner with Republican Senators.

Via Politico:

At a dinner with GOP senators on Monday evening, Trump said the party would look like “dopes” if they couldn’t pass the bill after passing a repeal bill in 2015.

“If the Republicans have the House, Senate and the presidency and they can't pass this health care bill, they are going to look weak,” Trump said, according to a source familiar with the meeting. “How can we not do this after promising it for years?”

Trump had no idea defections were coming Monday night, according to another White House official with knowledge of the meeting. "Why would we have a dinner like that if we knew people were going to drop out?" the official said.

As Sens. Lee and Moran were preparing their announcement, President Trump said publicly, “We’re going to get that done, and I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people.”

Trump, 4 hours before the GOP health bill collapsed: “We’re going to get that done, and I think we’re going to surprise a lot of people” pic.twitter.com/xothzI26vV

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 18, 2017

During the presidential campaign, Trump said over and over again how he and the GOP would definitely repeal and replace Obamacare, and they would do it "very, very quickly."

Let's take a trip in the way-back machine:

Trump today: “As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan.”

Let's go to the videotape… pic.twitter.com/1JqJH422A4

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 18, 2017

Remember back in October of 2016 where Donald Trump told his followers, "You're gonna have such great health care at a tiny fraction of the cost, and it’s going to be so easy."

Just four months later, this was President Trump's new epiphany:

FLASHBACK. Trump. February 2017. "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated." pic.twitter.com/6ZraSdS6hk

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 18, 2017

Trump now says Congress should just repeal and worry about new health care legislation later.

Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2017

That doesn't look to be a winning strategy either as Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia have all said publicly they would oppose a vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement. So, that plan is dead on arrival.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has already scored a repeal-only option and the results are catastrophic. The CBO's analysis shows 32 million more Americans would be uninsured by 2026 and individual premiums would double.

So. Much. Winning.

House Republicans Protect Themselves From Health Care Repeal On Preexisting Conditions

It's always nice when our elected representatives in Congress show us that they understand us, because their lives are just like ours.

Well, kinda.

As House Republicans prepare to, yet again, "repeal and replace" Obamacare, they've included a clause that would allow states to waive out of the Affordable Care Act's ban on preexisting conditions.

In other words, insurance companies could be able to charge folks who've had cancer (or acne) higher premiums than otherwise healthy people.

Republican lawmakers like this policy a lot.

Well, ok, not "crazy like it a lot."

Like, not enough to have it apply to themselves.

The guy who wrote the amendment, Republican (natch!) Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, has confirmed that he and his Congressional cohorts would still be guaranteed the Obamacare protections against higher rates for preexisting conditions.

See? Just like us!

(source)

Trump Continues Attacks On House Freedom Caucus

President Trump continued attacking the conservative House Freedom Caucus members today on Twitter, writing, "The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!"

The fact of the matter is if Trump alienates both the Dems and the Freedom Caucus, he winds up with a minority in the House:

237 House Republicans minus 30-35 Freedom Caucus members minus all Democrats leaves Trump roughly 200 Republicans to work with, which isn't enough to get anything done.

It would seem to me that if Trump really wanted some kind of leverage over the Freedom Caucus, he would begin negotiating with, and offering real compromises to, Democrats.

The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 30, 2017

Freedom Caucus members respond:

@realDonaldTrump Freedom Caucus stood with u when others ran. Remember who your real friends are. We're trying to help u succeed.

— Raúl R. Labrador (@Raul_Labrador) March 30, 2017

.@realDonaldTrump it's a swamp not a hot tub. We both came here to drain it. #SwampCare polls 17%. Sad! https://t.co/4kjygV2tdS

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 30, 2017

Republicans Are Ramming TrumpCare Through U.S. House

When the Affordable Care Act was introduced years ago, it took months of hearings and committee meetinsg to advanced the vast legislation.

Republicans, at the time, decried the "haste" with which the process seemed to be moving.

Fast forward to 2017.

Now it's the Republicans in the driver's seat, and this car is moving away from Obamacare as quickly as the Repubs can go.

On Monday, House Republicans introduced their "repeal and replace" plan - the American Health Care Act.

Late into Wednesday night, just two days later, the critical House Ways and Means Committee slogged through 18 hours to approve the legislation on to a full vote on the floor of the House.

There has been no scoring by the CBO on the bill. No one knows how this new approach will affect the economy of the U.S.

But the GOP led House is roaring away with their bill.

Already, the legislation has it's detractors. And many are conservatives, including Senators Rand Paul and Tom Cotton.

1. House health-care bill can't pass Senate w/o major changes. To my friends in House: pause, start over. Get it right, don't get it fast.

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) March 9, 2017

.@RandPaul declares the new GOP health care plan “dead on arrival” https://t.co/xBt3vUutpA pic.twitter.com/YhzB0fITI1

— Bloomberg Politics (@bpolitics) March 7, 2017

In a private meeting with conservative groups, President Trump shared his plans in the event the new legislation not work out: Step aside, watch the ACA fall apart, and let Democrats take the blame.

But there's more! Trump also unveiled his strategy to shame elected officials into voting for the new healthcare plan.

From CNN:

Confident that the health care plan will pass the House, Trump laid out his strategy for winning passage in the Senate, telling the meeting he will campaign heavily in red states featuring vulnerable Democrats up for re-election. Trump said he will have football stadium events in states where he won by 10-12 points and he is going to dare people to vote against him,” a source at the meeting said.

Here's The Bullet Points On The New Republican Healthcare Plan

(Photo: Gage Skidmore)

Everyone is talking about the newly released Republican plan to "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act.

Here's the bullet points you should know about how this will change healthcare legislation:

• The Individual Mandate would be gone, as would the Employer Mandate. No more penalty paid for not having healthcare. No requirement of large businesses to provide health insurance for employees.

However, while there would be no individual penalty for not having healthcare (which would have gone to fund public hospitals, etc...), insurance companies will be allowed to tack on a 30% surcharge to restart your insurance should you let it lapse.

Instead of paying a penalty into a system that would fund public health services, you would pay a fine to a private company. Sound better to you?

• The A.C.A. premium subsidies would be replaced by tax credits for individuals making $75K or less ($150K for households). Folks under 30 would get tax credits of $2,000, with the amount going up to $4,000 for those over 60.

But, these are tax credits, so you have to pay for your insurance out of pocket first, then utilize the credits later when you pay taxes. If you are lower income wage earner, you may not make enough money to pay for health insurance out of pocket on a monthly basis.

• The plan would lift the limits for tax-free Health Savings Accounts. However, if you are lower-income earner, you may not have any money after your monthly bills to put into an HSA. This may be something that could help wealthier Americans, but those on a tight budget would probably not see much benefit here.

• The proposed plan would defund Planned Parenthood, removing a vital source of healthcare for millions of Americans.

• The proposed plan would prevent Americans from using their tax credits to pay for any health insurance plan that includes abortion. So, if you take the tax credits, any abortion procedures would have to be paid out of pocket, not by your health insurance.

• The proposed plan would allow insurance companies to charge older Americans up to 5 times as much as younger. Currently, Obamacare limits the difference to only 3 times the cost of younger Americans.

Three popular components of Obamacare will remain:

• No denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions

• No lifetime coverage caps

• Young people will be able to remain on their parents’ health plans until age 26

Thoughts? Leave your comments below.

Breaking: House Republicans Reverse On Gutting Ethics Rules Change

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan

House Republicans have now u-turned on their plan to gut the Congressional independent ethics panel.

From CNN:

House Republican leaders have pulled a proposal that would gut its independent ethics panel, amid widespread criticism of the plan, multiple lawmakers tell CNN.

The decision comes less than two hours after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the timing of the vote, which was scheduled for the first day of the new congressional session.

Trump called out his fellow Republicans Tuesday for proposing to curb the powers of the independent ethics panel as their first move of the year, although the President-elect suggested the ethics panel was "unfair."

"With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it ... may be, their number one act and priority. Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS," Trump said over two consecutive tweets.

The decision came after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters the vote was moving forward. He admitted he opposed the change and said he believed it should be done in a "bipartisan fashion" but said House Speaker Paul Ryan created an open process and "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."

House Republicans voted 119-74 during a closed-door meeting in favor of Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte's proposal, which would place the independent Office of Congressional Ethics under the control of those very lawmakers, a move that outraged Democrats and outside ethics organizations. The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on it as part of a larger rules package up for consideration Tuesday.

Donald Trump Goes Full Twitter Rant On His Own Party

Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of Twitter attacks on his own party today, specifically House Speaker Paul Ryan for effectively cutting him loose and accusing party leaders of trying to sabotage his campaign.

The attack virtually splinters his party and followers as he heads into the last few weeks of the race for the White House.

From Business Insider:

“Donald Trump is like a wounded animal in the forest just thrashing out at anything in his field of vision. He’s unhinged,” said Ryan Williams, a former spokesman for 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

He added: “Any loyalty to the party he may have had is gone. He’s never really been a team player. It’s clear he does not care about the Republican party or anyone else who is running on the ballot this year. This is all about Donald Trump.”

Most recent national polls show Trump's standing heading south, and his path to 270 electoral votes getting more and more narrow.

Our very weak and ineffective leader, Paul Ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

Disloyal R's are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary. They come at you from all sides. They don’t know how to win - I will teach them!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

With the exception of cheating Bernie out of the nom the Dems have always proven to be far more loyal to each other than the Republicans!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2016

Clinton Campaign Recreates 1964 "Confessions Of A Republican"

Hillary's latest campaign ad revives one of the most famous political ads in history, “Confessions of a Republican,” from the 1964 presidential election.

Adding authenticity to the remake, the spot utilizes veteran actor Bill Bogert, the very same guy from the original, along with text which echoes the 1964 concerns.

“I was a Republican who voted for Eisenhower and Nixon, my father was a Republican, his father was, the whole family was. But Donald Trump he’s a different kind of man. This man scares me.

“Trump says we need unpredictability when it comes to using nuclear weapons, what is that supposed to mean? When a man says that he sounds a lot like a threat to humanity.”

“I’ve thought about not voting. But you can’t do that. That’s saying you don’t care who wins and I do care.

“I think the party is about to make a terrible mistake in Cleveland and I have to vote against that mistake on the 8th of November.”

The original:

2016 Version:

GOP.com Has No Mention Of Presumptive Nominee Donald Trump?

Does it say something when Donald Trump has been the presumptive Republican candidate for weeks now, and there's no mention of him on GOP.com?