If there was a god Orrin Hatch would be dead by now.
One would think he’d be rather anxious to go ahead and get his own fucking planet.
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My feelings as well, the GOP had undermined an already disappointing ACA to the point of being next to useless, I believe we are better off without it. We will have two years to think about how to do universal coverage right, and after the next election will be well positioned to implement it.
Bu do we do need that democrats in the House stand strong against palliative measures that republicans will want to pass. They have campaigned on destroying ACA, voted 50+ times on it’s repeal. Now that they finally accomplished it, allow them to own it. They do not have a replacement plan, and certainly not one that should pass the house. People are going to suffer some people will even die. So be it, no time for bleeding hearts, need to use the opportunity to come with a complete and workable solution.
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Right now there is one thing I am not worried about - the Democrats negotiating down to make deals with the GOP. The Democrats really do finally get why they were elected once and for all - not to make deals with the GOP, but to protect us from them.
If they start to show signs of forgetting that I am more than willing to remind them. In no uncertain terms. We can treat them to a little Town Hall action.
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To educate the Judge, the penalty is STILL THERE… Shouldn’t there be minimum intelligence tests required before someone can sit in judgment on others?
26 USC Chapter 48, 5000A:
The Penalty part:
“©(2)(B) Percentage of income
An amount equal to the following percentage of the excess of the taxpayer’s household income for the taxable year over the amount of gross income specified in section 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer for the taxable year:
(iii) 2.5 percent for taxable years beginning after 2015.”
The 2017 Amendment: 2017-Subsec. ©(2)(B)(iii). Pub. L. 115–97, §11081(a)(1), substituted “Zero percent” for “2.5 percent”.
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Yea, I feel sorry for the poor SOB’s in the universe where Hatch will be their god.
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Republicans making friends everywhere.
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Nothing has happened to the ACA by this ruling! It is nothing more than stupid distraction and last-ditch posturing by a bunch of Losers (Federalist Society).
The appeals process is underway, and the ACA stands.
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I guess a “Bush judge” is preferable to an “Obama judge.”
I think so too.
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I just made that point on my dog walk this morning. It could make the argument for single payer more popular than ever.
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Seems that almost everybody took this ruling in that vein.
It just might happen. The Democrats who ran for the House in New Mexico won and they ran on health care hard. They ran on health care here and we made progress. And as we saw right after Trump took office and they started the repeal thing again - voters care a lot about this. They got up and went in numbers to yell at their GOP reps.
In exit polls I think it was number 1 in the midterms.
I think there is an excellent chance.
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I was calm when I heard about this last night. No matter what happens, Republicans have lost the healthcare battle.
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These are the only pics I have on my computer so far. They’re from the shelter where I got him. I haven’t uploaded any of the videos or pics off my smartphone to my computer yet. I did post one of the pics here a few weeks back though.
He’s some kind of terrier-____-poo or miniature-_____-doodle I think. Or, if you must…a very proud Heinz 57. He’s the color of butterscotch, even a bit blonder. Maybe some Yorkie in there. He’s a great bundle of energy and joy, but as a male dog, he really looks ridiculous trying to lift his leg to pee without losing his balance and falling backwards. Do boy dogs figure out how to lift their leg and pee in a balanced manner eventually? I think he’s trying too hard. I really haven’t a clue. Maybe he’s still maturing but at a rather slow pace. He’s a total goofball. Not as smart as my girl, a cairn terrier mix that passed away in June, but just as sweet, good natured and playful. He’s easy to love but has learned already how to be demanding of my attention when I’m trying to do other things. He sucks as a watchdog, and I’m trying to teach him to bark when the postal worker shows up. No such luck so far. I think there has to be some retriever in him because he puts his mouth on everything, loves to lick and chew even though he has all his teeth now, and loves to bring me all his toys for playtime with no end in sight. Unfortunately, he inhales his food and I have to find one of those bowls that slows him down so he won’t get indigestion or bloat. I tried putting a hockey puck in his bowl but it didn’t work. He’s supposed to be around a year old. He’s already fallen in love with the Corgi next door. First thing he does when he’s let out is pee on the sidewalk steps that lead up to her front door just to let her know he’s around for a play date if she’s available. Its so cute.
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Mandate was not repealed. It was zeroed out. Add $1 to it and this Judge’s argument dissolves. Even without adding $1 the ruling is still fatally flawed. Congress intended for the ACA to continue without a penalty but with the option to raise it later. Congress has that right. Judges don’t get to play legislator when the provisions line up so clearly. Severability issue was also addressed in prior law suits.
Republicans haven’t understood how the attack on health care + the Trump-Russia scandal built the opposition to Trump and the blue wave. GOPers think the blue wave was all about Trump. It wasn’t. It was part Trump but also about how much we hate GOP policies which are just as poisonous to us as Trump’s crimes are to the health of the Republic. Now those same two factors will shift into overdrive for Team Blue in a national election which will be high turnout and in which Dems will have more money to compete and will have more states in which to play offense.
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Republicans have lost the healthcare battle.
There’s your democracy according to Republicans. One schmuck dead-ender MAGA judge doing a late Friday end-run he knows is a fail. And then Dump tweets about it as a great victory.
It’s a great victory like bolting the door to Hitler’s bunker was a great victory.
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This is an important distinction cited by various lawyers looking at this. It shows the judge to have crippling arguments in his decision, this is just one of several.
The judge asserted — without any support — that the penalty-free mandate “requires [the plaintiffs] to purchase and maintain certain health-insurance coverage.” But that’s not right. An unenforceable instruction to purchase insurance is not coercive in the slightest.
good article in WaPo that picks this apart.
and California has already said it will appeal.
I am worried about the new SCOTUS, and what a newer SCOTUS without Ginsberg might do, but there are a lot of holes in the Texas judge’s decision.
@khyber900
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Oh, hilarity ensues.
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