1.) I’m seeing an awful lot of hot takes about the Mueller report- winners and losers, who got it most wrong, etc., and it’s sort of flabbergasting to me that we’re already rolling with these since NO ONE HAS READ THE FUCKING REPORT AND KNOWS WHAT IS IN IT. I’m assuming that is the Republican plan- gaslight us for a couple weeks until the conventional wisdom has sunk in, and then when public opinion is firmed up the way they want, release the report.
I mean, I’m a realist, so I don’t think anything is ever going to come of it in regards to Trump- I suspect there will still be more convictions and indictments rolling out of the work of the report in SDNY and elsewhere, but the main thing for me is I don’t want to make up my mind about what the report says until I have READ IT. As a wise man once said:
This is, imho, when Obama ended Ed Henry’s career as a journalist, and he then ended up a philandering adulterer at Fox.
2.) Barr and the Justice Department have decided to take the word of the wingnut judge in Texas and are now going for a complete invalidation of ACA:
The Trump administration on Monday said it supports a federal judge’s ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act should be thrown out, signaling a shift in the Justice Department’s position and alarming Democrats who vowed to oppose the move.
“The Department of Justice has determined that the district court’s judgment should be affirmed,” three Justice Department lawyers wrote to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is now considering the case. “[T]he United States is not urging that any portion of the district court’s judgment be reversed.”
Regardless of the outcome, legal experts anticipate that the 5th Circuit’s ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court. If the courts ultimately strike down Obamacare — over the objections of a group of Democrat-led states, which have spent more than a year defending the health law in court — the consequences could be substantial for patients, health care organizations and other groups that have adapted to the nine-year-old law.
And if it goes to the Supreme Court, I would not be surprised if Roberts finally says fuck it and caves.
3.) I am very upset at the passing of EFGoldman. All you people go get a checkup now. Karoli over at Crooks and Liars had her own health crisis and fortunately is doing very well. You people go to your doctor and get checked up.
4.) A little assembly line brushing: