November 10-11, 2016
Nov 10 11:36 Bulldozing the Democrats' Firewall Nov 10 15:39 Aaron Sorkin thoroughly unhinged Nov 10 23:27 Gazelka named Senate Majority Leader Nov 11 01:08 The media's mea culpa? Nov 11 02:05 Anti-Trump protests hit Minnesota Nov 11 04:25 Minnesota's health care crisis Nov 11 12:53 Thissen steps aside; what's next? Nov 11 14:32 Gov. Dayton's latest hissy fit Nov 11 17:59 The MNsure debate just changed
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Bulldozing the Democrats' Firewall
Tuesday night isn't just about Trump unexpectedly defeating Mrs. Clinton, though that's certainly part of the story. The story behind the headlines is that Trump took a bulldozer to the Democrats' firewall while stealing part of the Democrats' base. Because of that, the Democrats are left with the question of how to gain political relevance again.
Democrats have already started asking what's next for their former juggernaut. According to this LA Times article , some Democrats "argued for a more aggressive effort to move the party to the left, hoping to drive up turnout among younger and minority voters. Others stressed a need to reach out to the disaffected working-class white voters who so conspicuously deserted the party this year."
The Democratic Party needs to remake itself. A major component of Trump's stump speech focused on energy development. The Democrats' counter to that was (and still is) green energy. Let's set aside the policy momentarily. That's a losing argument for Democrats because these blue collar voters long for jobs that let them live in the cities they grew up in. They love the lifestyle their small towns give them.
Simply put, unless and until the Democrats stop treating environmental activists like they walk on water, they should be prepared to consistently lose those blue collar voters to the Republicans each cycle. Trump won the Great Lakes states because he understood people's frustrations. Further, it's clear that the ACA has people worried about their family budget. While Democrats see the ACA as their signature accomplishment, voters see it as a millstone around their neck.
If the Democratic Party doesn't start listening to the American people on this issue, they'll find themselves with smaller delegations in DC and in state legislatures and governorships for the near future. During the final 3 weeks of the campaign, part of Trump's message focused on the ACA. By doing that, it became clear that Trump would be the forgotten voters' voice in DC.
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2016 11:36 AM
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Aaron Sorkin thoroughly unhinged
Saying that this Aaron Sorkin op-ed sounds like a liberal that's unhinged is understatement.
Sorkin's op-ed starts by saying "Sorkin Girls, Well the world changed late last night in a way I couldn't protect us from. That's a terrible feeling for a father. I won't sugarcoat it - this is truly horrible. It's hardly the first time my candidate didn't win (in fact it's the sixth time) but it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has."
It's hard to read that, then think it gets more unhinged after that. That's what happens, though. Sorkin continues, saying "And it wasn't just Donald Trump who won last night - it was his supporters too. The Klan won last night. White nationalists. Sexists, racists and buffoons. Angry young white men who think rap music and Cinco de Mayo are a threat to their way of life (or are the reason for their way of life) have been given cause to celebrate."
I won't pretend that I think Mr. Trump is a policy wonk. Clearly, that isn't fact. Further, it's indisputable that the KKK endorsed Mr. Trump. That doesn't mean Trump is a bigot.
Apparently, Sorkin didn't have a problem voting for a corrupt woman who lied repeatedly to Congress and to various judges.
Mr. Sorkin has the constitution right to make these statements. He should consider, though, that it's Trump voters' rights to ridicule him for being this unhinged. It's also within the Trump voters' constitutional rights to boycott his products.
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2016 3:39 PM
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Gazelka named Senate Majority Leader
Thursday, Senate Republicans voted to make Paul Gazelka the new Senate Majority Leader for the 2017-18 session. At his press conference after the vote, Sen. Gazelka said that "the Republican agenda for the 2017 session with include reduced government spending, tax relief and reduced healthcare costs."
There's certainly a mandate to fix MNsure and Minnesota's health care system. Health insurance premiums have gone through the roof. Access is getting more limited each year. Options are dwindling each year, too. It's worth noting that House and Senate Republicans ran on fixing MNsure and on skyrocketing health insurance premiums.
According to this article , Sen. Gazelka understands the situation they're in, saying "We're going to have to figure out a way to work together at some level. We're going to work with the governor. We're going to work with the House and we're going to do good things for Minnesota." It doesn't take Nostradamus to predict that Gov. Dayton will pick lots of fights with Republicans.
Last year, when there was a DFL majority in the Senate, Gov. Dayton still threw a hissy fit pretty much each week. He campaigned hard for an all-DFL legislature, saying that was the only way they'd get things done, which I wrote about here , here , and here . It isn't just that Gov. Dayton didn't get an all-DFL legislature. It's that Minnesotans gave us GOP majorities in the House and Senate.
This is the video of the Senate GOP announcement of Sen. Gazelka getting elected as the Senate Majority Leader-elect:
Posted Thursday, November 10, 2016 11:27 PM
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The media's mea culpa?
I sat stunned while reading this article about the media getting things badly wrong about this past Tuesday's election. The reason why I'm stunned is because it's written by Will Rahn, a "political correspondent and managing director, politics, for CBS News Digital."
Rahn's article doesn't pull punches. For instance, Rahn wrote "It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that, with a few exceptions, we were all tacitly or explicitly #WithHer, which has led to a certain anguish in the face of Donald Trump's victory. More than that and more importantly, we also missed the story , after having spent months mocking the people who had a better sense of what was going on."
Proof that Rahn didn't pull his punches came when he wrote "This is all symptomatic of modern journalism's great moral and intellectual failing: its unbearable smugness . Had Hillary Clinton won, there's be a winking 'we did it' feeling in the press, a sense that we were brave and called Trump a liar and saved the republic."
After that, Rahn really unloads:
There's been some sympathy from the press, sure: the dispatches from 'heroin country' that read like reports from colonial administrators checking in on the natives. But much of that starts from the assumption that Trump voters are backward, and that it's our duty to catalogue and ultimately reverse that backwardness. What can we do to get these people to stop worshiping their false god and accept our gospel ?
We diagnose them as racists in the way Dark Age clerics confused medical problems with demonic possession. Journalists, at our worst, see ourselves as a priestly caste. We believe we not only have access to the indisputable facts, but also a greater truth, a system of beliefs divined from an advanced understanding of justice.
That's the definition of smugness. It's why Trump was smart running against 'the media'. Simply put, the media is corrupt. They're complicit in attempting to rig the election. There's little doubt that Mrs. Clinton counted on the media's support to get her message out.
This interview is must watch TV:
Posted Friday, November 11, 2016 1:08 AM
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Anti-Trump protests hit Minnesota
WCCO-TV is reporting that organized protests stopped traffic on I-94 for almost an hour Thursday night. According to WCCO, "more than 3,600 people were expected for the march Thursday night from the University of Minnesota's West Bank campus through the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood." Later in the article, WCCO-TV reported that Robin Wonsley was one of the protest organizers.
Ms. Wonsley is quoted as saying "For 18 months this man has ignited bigotry and racism, Islamophobia, sexism : saying he's going to implement and bring forth policies that are going to reflect those values and that rhetoric. That is what Americans are afraid of right now."
This video shows how disruptive these protesters are:
According to this article , Wonsley is a far left lefty:
"We are not defeated right now," said Robin Wonsley, an organizer with the Socialist Alternative MN group , which helped to set up the protest and spread word about it on Facebook.
Here's more on Socialist Alternative :
Socialist Alternative is a national organization fighting in our workplaces, communities, and campuses against the exploitation and injustices people face every day. We are community activists fighting against budget cuts in public services; we are activists campaigning for a $15 an hour minimum wage and fighting, democratic unions; we are people of all colors speaking out against racism and attacks on immigrants, students organizing against tuition hikes and war, women and men fighting sexism and homophobia.
We believe the Republicans and Democrats are both parties of big business, and we are campaigning to build an independent, alternative party of workers and young people to fight for the interests of the millions, not the millionaires.
We see the global capitalist system as the root cause of the economic crisis, poverty, discrimination, war, and environmental destruction. As capitalism moves deeper into crisis, a new generation of workers and youth must join together to take the top 500 corporations into public ownership under democratic control to end the ruling elites' global competition for profits and power.
We believe the dictatorships that existed in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe were perversions of what socialism is really about. We are for democratic socialism where ordinary people will have control over our daily lives.
Posted Friday, November 11, 2016 2:05 AM
Comment 1 by eric z at 11-Nov-16 12:33 PM
Gary, cosmetologists in Tucson were protesting his hair.
Really.
That at least makes sense.
I'm going to the Badlands to protest prairie dogs. Makes as much sense as saying Seahawks should have beaten New England, Golden State should have beaten Cleveland.
It happened differently than the Seattle or Oakland fans wanted, but life goes on.
Gary, with luck each of us will outlive and survive the Trump presidency, in light of the alternative.
SO - Now let's see what happens. Or do you have another choice?
Response 1.1 by Gary Gross at 11-Nov-16 01:03 PM
Eric, I'm a firm believer that we have one president at a time. We won't just survive a Trump administration. We'll thrive during it. I know that's a strange concept after 8 years of talking about the "new normal" but it's what usually happens.
Minnesota's health care crisis
This op-ed by Peter Nelson, the "President and Senior Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment and a member of the Minnesota Health Care Financing Task Force", highlights the fact that MNsure and the ACA are a disaster.
For instance, Nelson highlights the fact that residents "from Red Wing to Lake City to Wabasha to Winona already struggle with living in the highest cost region in the state. Yet for a family of four shopping through MNsure, the monthly premium cost of a benchmark plan (the second-lowest cost silver plan) will rise in 2017 by another 66 percent, from $1,136 to $1,883." Unfortunately for Minnesotans, the bad news doesn't stop there.
Another bit of bad news is that the "number of companies offering health plans in the area will drop from three to two, and the number of health plan choices will reduce by half from 30 to 15. But those health plan choices won't be available to everyone. New enrollments in Medica health plans across the state are capped at 7,000 people to help limit financial risk and manage network capacity." After that, the only options left are sold by Blue Plus:
When Medica's caps are hit, choices for southeastern Minnesota residents will be limited to just three health plans offered by Blue Plus, and these choices will be costly. The monthly premium for a family of four will be $2,434 for the only remaining silver plan, an astounding 114 percent higher than the 2016 benchmark.
Higher premiums, tiny networks, fewer health insurance providers and sky-high deductibles identify this as a legitimate health care crisis.
When Sen. Gazelka was announced as Senate Majority Leader-Elect, he stated firmly that health care reform during the regular session had to include real reforms . He let it be known that rebates were part of the Senate Republicans' plan but only part of the plan:
"Relief without reform will not get us where we need to go."
Clearly, this crisis isn't just about health insurance premiums. If the DFL isn't prepared to do more than a temporary fix, they'll earn the wrath of Minnesota voters. Republican Greg Davids has already put forward a plan that attempts to fix all of these problems. If the DFL or the Twin Cities media (pardon the repetition) question Republicans' ability to govern, Republicans should throw their proposals in the DFL's faces.
Posted Friday, November 11, 2016 4:25 AM
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Thissen steps aside; what's next?
According to this article , Paul Thissen was encouraged to run for another term as the DFL leader in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In the end, though, he declined, saying in part "I am grateful to my colleagues and Minnesotans for giving me the chance to lead the caucus for the last six years. It has been one of the greatest privileges of my life to lead our caucus and to build a better future for our state. Many of my colleagues have encouraged me to seek re-election as our caucus leader. I thank them for the confidence they have placed in me. However, six years is a long time - the longest period a DFL leader has served since my great political hero, Martin Olav Sabo. And after six years, I've decided that I will not be seeking to continue in my role as caucus leader when we reconvene in January. It is time for new voices in leadership to emerge."
Instead of being led by Rep. Thissen, the leader of the House DFL Caucus will be led by Melissa Hortman.
Rep. Thissen's decision will undoubtedly start speculation over whether he's intending to run for governor again. His profile fits perfectly into what the DFL is these days. He's a Metrocrat, which is essential these days in the DFL. Thissen's fidelity to the truth is virtually nonexistent. In a party that's led at the state level by the Alliance for a Better Minnesota and by Corruptocrats like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Dishonest Donna Brazile at the DNC level, Thissen is a good, though not great, fit. Most likely, the DFL will endorse Lt. Gov. Tina Flint-Smith as their gubernatorial candidate in 2018.
What's interesting about the DFL's pick for their House leader is that they picked a climate-change fanatic from the Twin Cities to be their leader. That isn't surprising, is it?
Posted Friday, November 11, 2016 12:53 PM
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Gov. Dayton's latest hissy fit
Ever since Republicans took control of Minnesota's state House of Representatives, Gov. Dayton has thrown a hissy fit against Republicans pretty much every week. Based on this Strib article , it's apparent that Gov. Dayton's hissy fits will continue through the end of his administration.
In a sharply-worded letter to Speaker Daudt, Gov. Dayton said "I have not received a reply to this proposal from you or your Caucus. I left a voicemail message with you yesterday morning and have yet to receive a reply. (Your) press remarks : contained yet another round of the same pre-election attacks on MNsure, the Affordable Care Act, and me. That partisan political rhetoric is counter-productive."
Apparently, Gov. Dayton is either getting absent-minded in his old age or he's incredibly dishonest or a little of both. I wrote this post to highlight Greg Davids' letter to the various committee chairs and ranking members as well as to House and Senate leadership of both parties. I wrote that post on Oct. 27. While it didn't have legislative language, it was detailed enough to lay out Republicans' priorities in fixing Minnesota's health care system.
One part of Chairman Davids' proposal deals with out-of-network expenses:
Create a tax credit to reduce out of-network-costs that arise from seeking care from a long-time primary care physician. Minnesotans were promised that if they liked their doctor they could keep their doctor, but too many are losing their long-time doctors due to narrow networks. Continuity of care needs to be addressed to ensure that we do not lose sight of the importance of actual health care when we look at the problems with health insurance coverage.
Another part of Chairman Davids' plan deals with expanding choices:
Allow Minnesotans to purchase non-qualified health plans (QHPs), and seek a federal waiver to waive tax penalties for those who purchase a non-QHP insurance plan. If the federal government will not approve the waiver, Minnesota should provide a rebate to cover the cost of the non-QHP penalty.
I suspect that it won't take long for President-elect Trump to announce that he's open to granting waivers to the ACA. I further expect it won't take long for individual states to start taking advantage of those waivers. Chairman Davids' ideas fit into President-Elect Trump's plan of getting rid of the ACA.
Gov. Dayton needs to stop throwing these hissy fits. They're unsightly, undignified and intellectually dishonest. It isn't that Republicans haven't made proposals to fix the crisis that Gov. Dayton and the DFL created. It's that Gov. Dayton doesn't like the Republicans' proposal. Gov. Dayton doesn't like the Republicans' proposal because it's forcing the DFL to admit that they got their biggest policy initiative of the last half-century wrong.'
Gov. Dayton, it's time to stop throwing your hissy fits. It's time to put your big boy pants on and admit that the DFL got health care reform wrong. If you don't do that ASAP, expect a Republican to get elected as governor in 2018.
Posted Friday, November 11, 2016 2:32 PM
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The MNsure debate just changed
The MNsure/individual market debate just changed dramatically. This article highlights what LFR has been talking about for more than a month.
The article starts by saying "Medica has hit its enrollment cap for those buying through the MNsure state-run exchange, meaning only one option for people in dozens of Greater Minnesota counties who want to switch to a new health plan."
Prior to this, we'd heard about the caps that the Dayton administration approved. A month ago, the caps were an abstract concept. Now they're reality. People in "Greater Minnesota" are hitting that brick wall. Then they're being pushed into Blue Plus, the most expensive insurance option available in Minnesota. Blue Plus has the highest premiums, the biggest deductibles and the narrowest networks.
Think of Blue Plus as a catastrophic policy with Cadillac Plan premiums. Put differently, think of them as downright expensive.
This changes the MNsure discussion dramatically. This information means this isn't just a discussion about rebates. It's transforming the debate into other parts of the ACA. Things like insurance options, doctor accessibility and network size now are legitimate topics up for debate. Then there's this:
Incoming Senate Majority Leader, Republican Paul Gazelka is pushing for "substantial reform" to deal with skyrocketing health insurance premiums. Gazelka says, "If we have Obamacare, then we have to repair this. I mean, that's the obvious point. If we don't, then we can go to something different."
Here's why Gov. Dayton likely will oppose GOP reform proposals:
Democratic Governor Mark Dayton has been a strong supporter of the Affordable Care Act - even though he did say before the election that is has become unaffordable.
With Hillary defeated, President Obama leaving office soon and the Democratic Party demoralized and disorganized, it isn't a stretch to think that Democrats won't be able to put up much of an argument. Still, Gov. Dayton still has the ability to veto legislation. It's possible that he vetoes reform legislation because admitting that Republicans were right about the ACA/MNsure isn't part of his nature.
Posted Friday, November 11, 2016 5:59 PM
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