JustOneMinute

Taylor Testimony Damaging

Taylor testimony damaging, or so says Fox News' Chris Wallace.

Must See TV?

The public impeachment hearings begin tomorrow.

The battle lines are drawn. Is there anyone left likely to change their mind?

Sunday Afternoon

Away we go, finally.

We'll Never Have Paris

Jonathan Adler, one of The Few, The Proud, the Green Right-wingers, describes a market-oriented agenda to grapple with climate change. He has a companion piece in the LA Times.

This triggers a flashback to my post last August, when Politico and the NY Times were describing an emergence of Green Republicans.

South of the Border

This is appalling:

9 Members of Mormon Family in Mexico Are Killed in Ambush

Six children were among the victims in a massacre attributed to organized crime, relatives said. Other children were rescued, some of whom hid along a roadside.

 

 

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

Here we go again. I actually think the beginning of the end of Elizabeth Warren's campaign's end will be marked as yesterday with the release of her progressive fan fiction on Medicare For All.

Paul Krugman has the funniest reaction - serious libs pulled this together, the numbers sort of add up, this will never make it through Congress anyway, so lets talk about something else. Uh huh. I think Biden and Buttigieg will be happy to talk about this. Time will tell.

DO LET ME ADD: Among her revenue raisers is a proposal to adopt a mark-to-market on capital gains for the 1 percenters. She thinks that will raise $2 trillion, which ain't hay. Presumably she is getting a cue from Sen. Wyden, the ranking Dem on the Senate Finance Committee. As a longshot, maybe the Minuteman got results! (Yeah, yeah, this got booed off here and it hardly makes me want to back Warren, but the idea is coming on like a freight train. President Buttigieg will be looking for sock-the-rich revenue ideas, especially Constitutional ones. Of course, that might mean we're safe until 2025...

Saturday Afternoon Open Thread

Here we go again. I actually think the beginning of the end of Elizabeth Warren's campaign's end will be marked as yesterday.

Paul Krugman has the funniest reaction - serious libs pulled this together, the numbers sort of add up, this will never make it through Congress anyway, so lets talk about something else. Uh huh. I think Biden and Buttigieg will be happy to talk about this. Time will tell.

DO LET ME ADD: Among her revenue raisers is a proposal to adopt a mark-to-market on capital gains for the 1 percenters. She thinks that will raise $2 trillion, which ain't hay. Presumably she is getting a cue from Sen. Wyden, the ranking Dem on the Senate Finance Committee. As a longshot, maybe the Minuteman got results! (Yeah, yeah, this got booed off here and it hardly makes me want to back Warren, but the idea is coming on like a freight train. President Buttigieg will be looking for sock-the-rich revenue ideas, especially Constitutional ones. Of course, that might mean we're safe until 2025...

She Had A Plan

Elizabeth Warren releases her Medicare For All fan fiction.

She will hold down costs by paying current Medicare reimbursement rates, in a fantasy taken seriously by on one.

NY Times:

Would ‘Medicare for All’ Save Billions or Cost Billions?

...

In our current system, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are paid by a number of insurers, and those insurers all pay them slightly different prices. In general, private insurance pays medical providers more than Medicare does. Under a Medicare for all system, Medicare would pick up all the bills. Paying the same prices that Medicare pays now would mean an effective pay cut for medical providers who currently see a lot of patients with private insurance.

For a Medicare for all system to save money, it needs to reduce the health care industry’s income somewhat. But if rates are too low, hospitals already facing financial difficulties could be put out of business.

Politico:

Medicare for All' backers find biggest foe in their own backyard

Hospitals threaten to derail big and small Democratic plans for coverage expansion.

On the revenue side Sen. Warren proposes a spate of new taxes and a level of IRS enforcement and taxpayer compliance that seems unprecedented (in a "Gee, how come nobody ever thought of THAT?" kind of way) - she hopes to raise compliance from 84% to 92%, which is great. Why not 95% like in the UK?

Left unmentioned: the rest of her plan includes having government office workers check under the cushions of every sofa in Federal offices for spare change. Another revenue source is money left by the Tooth Fairy.

This will work.

No it won't. Politico again with Obama alums rehashing their battle scars and guessing Warren has no chance with this.

More Tea Leaves On The Impeachment-Lite Drama

From Politico:

Top NSC Russia official to step down ahead of impeachment testimony

As with Bolton, Washington wonders: Did he jump, or was he pushed?

Tomorrow's excitement MAY include a House vote affirming the existence of an ongoing something-or-other. An impeachment inquiry, maybe, but why insist on labeling this thing we have?

To The Polls!

Back in Brexit-land the Parliament approves a plan for a Dec 12 election. Andrew Stuttaford of NR is nervous.

Re-Enter Sandmann

The Covington HS kids come closer to having their day with their defamation suit against the Washington Post.

I've Had Worse News

Not that we celebrate death around here but I'll cheer for justice:

ISIS leader al-Baghdadi believed to have been killed in a US military raid, sources say

Trump will address the nation at 9AM. I doubt it is to announce tonight's starting pitchers.

DO LET ME ADD: My kids have put up with many years of the following type of dialogue:

Eager Learner: "I hate those guys [at the DMV / at the supermarket / reffing the game/ whatever]. They are the worst!"

Pedantic Yet Seemingly Inexhaustible Dad: "OMG don't hate! We aren't haters! OK, yes, we hate ISIS. And Bin Laden, but he's dead. And Kim Il-whoever is running North Korea into the dirt is hate-worthy. That pretty much covers it. Don't be a hater."

I try to keep the list pretty short but I'm always happy to shorten it. If I were a better Christian I'd take a hate-the-sinner sin-not-the-sinner view, but I have other failings I'll focus on before my ISIS-hating rises to the top of my self-improvement list.

BONUS: Here is a transcript of Obama on Osama. Some will wonder whether Trump will also be self-congratulatory.

Are You Ready For Some Football?!?

Something new to argue about. Auburn at LSU and Wisconsin at Ohio State may answer some questions while we await the Nov 9 Totally NOT An Armistice Day showdown between LSU and ALabama.

Traditional Friday 'Now What?' Open Thread

I don't know the Outrage du Jour but we have one every day.