Trump 7 - Cheeto in Charge

[GreyhoundFan]

Excellent piece comparing Agent Orange and John Lewis: "Where was Donald Trump when John Lewis was fighting for civil rights? Let’s compare."

Quote

We shouldn’t be surprised anymore.

There’s apparently no depth too low for Donald Trump to sink in his unpresidented attacks on anyone who challenges him. And Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) certainly did that, citing Russian interference in the election and questioning the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency.

Even so, the president-elect’s Twitter tirade against Lewis at the beginning of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend is still mind-boggling and a national embarrassment.

Trump called Lewis, who risked his life to defy segregation, who has been arrested 40 times for his unrelenting activism, who helped get voting rights for millions of Americans, who kept fighting even after his skull was fractured, “All talk, talk, talk — no action.”

So let’s compare Trump’s actions to Lewis’s actions.

We can start in 1960, when Trump was 14 and Lewis was 20. They both clearly showed their leadership potential early.

At New York Military Academy in Cornwall, N.Y., Donald Trump won a “neatness and order medal.”

That same year, John Lewis became one of the original 13 Freedom Riders, defying laws that prohibited blacks and whites from sitting next to each other on public transportation.

Three years later in 1963, man-of-action Trump led his private school’s white-gloved drill team in the Columbus Day parade in New York. But he was also removed from that drill team command, classmates said, because he hazed younger students.

That same year, Lewis helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and spoke alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

In 1965, Trump got his second Vietnam draft deferment as a Fordham University student.

In 1965, on a day that became known as Bloody Sunday, Lewis helped lead 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. When the marchers stopped to pray, they were tear-gassed and beaten by troopers. Lewis’s skull was fractured.

In 1973, Trump’s actions got him sued by the Department of Justice. He was managing his dad’s properties and wouldn’t rent apartments to African Americans. The Trumps eventually settled the lawsuit without any admission of wrongdoing.

That same year, John Lewis was running the Voter Education Project, which pushed to register minority voters across the country.

Trump owned the ’80s, right? His actions that decade?

In 1981, Trump bought a 14-story building facing New York City’s Central Park and began a campaign to drive out the rent-stabilized tenants so he could begin gutting and renovating the building. According to lawsuits, Trump cut heat and water to the remaining tenants.

In 1981, John Lewis was elected to the Atlanta City Council.

In 1987, Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” became a bestseller. Action? He didn’t even write it; talk about talk talk talk. And his ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz, now regrets the picture he painted of Trump in that book.

In 1987, Lewis was elected to Congress.

I don’t think Trump knows enough about America or American history to have deliberately targeted one of our country’s civil rights heroes in his tweet storm.

You can see that in his messages: “Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime-infested).” Much of Lewis’s district is affluent. But Trump demonstrated again that he equates black people with crime.

So there was hope last week when it was announced that he was going to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Martin Luther King Day. It looked as though he may have been willing to fill in some of the gaps in the American story he’s been missing, including the part Lewis played in the triumphs of the civil rights movement.

But then Trump canceled the visit. Turns out it was all talk, talk, talk.

Pretty sad, isn't it?

[47of74]

24 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Excellent piece comparing Agent Orange and John Lewis: "Where was Donald Trump when John Lewis was fighting for civil rights? Let’s compare."

Pretty sad, isn't it?

It seems to me that a lot of times when Donald J. Putinfluffer complains about someone else it's highlighting one of his own flaws instead of any supposed flaws his targets have.  For example, if you look at him Agent Orange is nothing but talk, talk, talk.  But he and the Branch Trumpvidians don't want people to realize that, so they point fingers at others and claim that they have the qualities that he himself broadcasts to the world every time his little orange cheeto stained fingers tap keys on his phone's twitter app.

[ghost]

This is worth the read IMHO. http://www.yarnharlot.ca 

Rainbow Boy....

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, Childless said:

Not to mention the fact that child support payments are supposed to be going to the child, not the ex spouse.  Her life style should be dictated by her job, not the money her child's father contributes toward the costs incurred by his kid.  I make a lot less money and I manage to get by just fine.  Time to suck it up Marla.

 I want to stand up and cheer for that hairdresser.  You go girl!  Don't let anyone give you the shaft because they want to act like a spoiled brat.  Know your worth and stick to your principles.  If Marla is that concerned about money, she can do her own damn hair and makeup.  It's not like anyone's really going to see her anyway.  She's not going to actually be on stage with the Putinfluffer.

I sincerely hope that hairdresser has friends watching her back, threats sometimes do turn into actions. :-( 

For those of you who have experience with child support payments, is it common for child support payments to still be paid to the parent after the child is an adult? I understand that some parents have agreements that support will continue until their child graduates from college, but does the adult child gain control over their money at some point? 

Thanks!

[JMarie]

5 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

So Marla has decided to become more like the Orange Menace, and try to avoid paying... "Hair stylist to Marla Maples: No free services in exchange for Inauguration Day ‘exposure’"

Okay, dumb question, why is Marla attending the Inauguration? She's not married to Cheeto, and hasn't been, for years. The other thing is, poor little Marla, she's worried about her financial situation, since she's no longer going to be getting child support? I have a novel concept: GET A JOB! And, I don't mean some TV gig, I mean a job where you work and get paid for that work, not for smiling.

I always thought Marla was getting alimony, and that's why she never remarried.  Being a spinster myself, I have no experience with alimony.  But I do remember how, on Two and a Half Men, Alan was overjoyed when his ex remarried, and he didn't have to pay alimony anymore.

 

[apple1]

2 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

... is it common for child support payments to still be paid to the parent after the child is an adult?

Child support payments in my state end when the child turns 18, even if the child is in college. (It is possible that individual arrangements for certain contributions toward college expenses may be worked out by the parties' attorneys on an individual case-by-case basis, but that is not child support).

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, JMarie said:

I always thought Marla was getting alimony, and that's why she never remarried.  Being a spinster myself, I have no experience with alimony.  But I do remember how, on Two and a Half Men, Alan was overjoyed when his ex remarried, and he didn't have to pay alimony anymore.

 

From what I've read, Marla never received alimony, her prenuptial agreement limited her to a one time payment. An article from a couple of years ago:

Quote

 

According to her Twitter account, Maples recently moved out of her posh house in Calabasas, Calif. Her 20-year-old daughter Tiffany Trump is now in college.

It’s not clear how much Maples stands to make from the more than 150 items up for bid. She received at least $1.9 million in her prenup-enforced divorce settlement.

Maples’ auction items include a 25-piece set of Trump Tower bone china, a watercolor portrait of Maples and Trump on their wedding day and a bottle of 1945 Chateau Lafite Rothschild given as a wedding gift and valued at up to $5,000

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/donald-trump-auctioning-marriage-items-article-1.1531760

Based on this article and the comments in the article about her and Tiffany and the DC hairdresser, Marla is struggling to maintain her lifestyle. 

For those wondering if and when Melania will leave Trump, my guess is that she will hang on until he leaves her. I'm betting the prenuptial agreement is set up so that it's in her best interest to let him initiate divorce proceedings.

[JMarie]

Will any FJers be participating in a drinking game on Friday?  Since he's said he's writing his own inauguration speech, I anticipate a lot of the following:  huge, great, tremendous, and terrible (America's a given).  Plenty of opportunities to drink!

[Childless]

8 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

For those wondering if and when Melania will leave Trump, my guess is that she will hang on until he leaves her. I'm betting the prenuptial agreement is set up so that it's in her best interest to let him initiate divorce proceedings.

Since her 70 year old, overweight husband with an unhealthy diet is starting what is arguably the most stressful job on the planet at the end of the week, she's probably just decided to hang on until he keels over.  Especially since she's found a way to stay married to him without having to live with him.  Right now, she has a pretty sweet set up.  She's good for at least the next 4 years.  This is probably the happiest she's ever been.

[Howl]

As Melania herself noted, "I have two boys." 

[apple1]

7 hours ago, JMarie said:

Will any FJers be participating in a drinking game on Friday?  Since he's said he's writing his own inauguration speech, I anticipate a lot of the following:  huge, great, tremendous, and terrible (America's a given).  Plenty of opportunities to drink!

You forgot "deal". :-(

[GreyhoundFan]

I guess when you are a narcissist and an idiot, you don't look up to anyone AND you can't string together two coherent thoughts: "Donald Trump was asked to name one of his heroes. His answer was very, very strange."

Quote

Donald Trump was asked a seemingly innocuous question by the Times of London over the weekend: Name a few of your heroes. Here's how Trump responded:

 

Quote

Um, okay. Let's unpack this.

Trump makes clear he likes neither heroes nor the concept of heroes. But, he never says why. He then transitions into:

1) Talking about how he respected his dad.

2) How negotiating ability is like a gene — you either have it or you don't (which sort of reads as Trump making clear he didn't learn to negotiate from his dad).

3) A rehashing of the Republican primary fight, which concluded roughly seven months ago.

4) An argument that talent is what matters most in success.

5) A return to sort-of praising his dad for teaching him leadership (although he, again, believes that is the sort thing you are born with).

Er, what?

I take away three things from this “answer” from Trump.

Number one is that his tendency to just talk when asked something is very much on display here. This is a stream of consciousness answer for the ages. Trump goes from heroes to winning the Republican primary within seconds. Then to baseball and golf and then to his dad. It may make more sense to watch than to read. But it makes no sense to read.

Second, Trump is just not introspective. A question about heroes by its very nature necessitates some level of introspection from the person to whom it is asked. What makes a hero? What are the traits you most admire in a person? Who are the sorts of people that you model yourself after? Trump simply doesn't open up. Ever. He is constantly moving forward. He doesn't look back. He doesn't second guess. He assumes he has always done the right thing. In a way, it's a remarkable personality trait and one that as someone who constantly second guesses himself, I sort of admire. The point is that Trump doesn't engage in navel-gazing in public — and, my guess is, in private either.

Third, Trump views himself as totally sui generis. He owes no one for his successes. He models himself after no one. There is no blueprint for Donald Trump except the one he writes for himself. Viewed through that lens, Trump's odd transition from a dismissal of heroes to a discussion of how he beat so many candidates in the Republican primary actually makes sense. The truth is Trump views himself as a prime mover of history, someone who makes new paths rather than following old ones. What Trump was really saying then was that he doesn't believe in heroes only singular men in history — of which he considers himself one. He believes they only made one Donald Trump and then broke the mold.

The way in which Trump reveals his true nature is often when he is seemingly just talking to talk. The assumptions he makes — or refuses to make — speak to a worldview at which he, alone, sits at the center.

 

[catlady]

18 hours ago, apple1 said:

Child support payments in my state end when the child turns 18, even if the child is in college. (It is possible that individual arrangements for certain contributions toward college expenses may be worked out by the parties' attorneys on an individual case-by-case basis, but that is not child support).

my state is similar.  child support can go to age 21, at which point current payment stops.  however, if the parent owes any arrears (whether due to unemployment or other reason), arrears payments go to the custodial parent until the balance is zero.  the custodial parent gets the arrears, because in theory, they have fronted expenses to which the other parent should have contributed.

i work in payroll/HR, so we see this now and then via wage garnishments.

[GreyhoundFan]

You couldn't make this up. "Donald Trump’s new 2020 campaign slogan is out, and it’s very, well, Donald Trump"

Quote

Donald Trump, who wasted no time after the 2012 presidential election to pick his slogan for 2016, isn't waiting much longer when it comes to his reelection slogan.

It's “Keep America Great!” Or maybe just “Keep America Great,” sans exclamation point.

Trump, who filed the paperwork for “Make America Great Again” just days after Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election, announced his already-arrived-upon 2020 slogan in a just-published interview with The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty. The reveal comes in the middle of a must-read interview in which Trump seems to decide, on the spot, to nail down the new slogan and share it with the world.

He even (perhaps for show) calls his lawyer into the room to get the paperwork started. Check this out:

Halfway through his interview with The Washington Post, Trump shared a bit of news: He already has decided on his slogan for a reelection bid in 2020.

“Are you ready?” he said. “ ‘Keep America Great,’ exclamation point.”

“Get me my lawyer!” the president-elect shouted.

Two minutes later, one arrived.

“Will you trademark and register, if you would, if you like it — I think I like it, right? Do this: ‘Keep America Great,’ with an exclamation point. With and without an exclamation. ‘Keep America Great,’ ” Trump said.

“Got it,” the lawyer replied.

That bit of business out of the way, Trump returned to the interview.

The whole thing is completely Trump for a couple reasons.

The first is that he can barely contain his affection for — and apparent desire to return to — political campaigning. This is a guy who is just days away from being sworn in as the 45th president, and he's already talking gleefully about the next campaign. (And if you don't think he's gleeful, read Tumulty's whole interview; it's really something.)

Granted, every politician has at least one eye on the next campaign at all times. They are in the survival business, and that means worrying about how what you do will be perceived next week, next year or even four years from now. But Trump takes this to another level. He basically continued the campaign even after it was over, going on a “thank you tour” that at times seemed to be more about Trump keeping up the fight rather than uniting the country.

(Before taking the inaugural oath, he even reportedly already had plans to keep a campaign office open throughout his first term to work on his reelection.)

The second reason it's so Trump is that, mere days from taking office, Trump has already determined that in four years time, he will have Made America Great Again. He's banking on it without having passed one bill or signed one executive order.

Which, coming from Trump, isn't shocking. He has promised his voters the world and then some. And he did so again while explaining the new slogan.

“I never thought I'd be giving [you] my expression for four years [from now]," he said. “But I am so confident that we are going to be, it is going to be so amazing. It's the only reason I give it to you. If I was, like, ambiguous about it, if I wasn't sure about what is going to happen — the country is going to be great.”

There are things that are outside a president's control, of course — as President Obama will attest (and has attested). External factors will impact America's greatness for the next four years, however you define “greatness.”

But never mind all that: Trump is ready to put the new slogan on paper . . . if not on a hat quite yet.

 

Cheeto hasn't stepped foot in the Oval Office, and he's already looking to 2020. Sigh. So, I guess this means that Rancid Penis, Adolf Steve Bannon, Jared, and Pence will be doing the actual work of the president, while Agent Orange spends his time Tweeting and campaigning.

[Mecca]

OH.MY.GAWD!!! Watching the HHS Hearing of Dr. Price has me wanting to run out of the room screaming. Hearing Dr. Price reminds me of exactly why I left nursing a few years back and went back to school for a career change. It was doctors like this asshat that had me stressed and pulling my hair out. Look, I get it. Doctors should be compensated for the work they do and the education they have, but get a fucking grip. Doctors like this make a shit ton of money. A shit ton. They want to blame everybody else in this equation but never look a themselves and how their shady ass actions helped create the mess the healthcare system is in. They take an oath to care for people, yet they often refuse to see patients that are self-pay or have Medicaid. They would refuse those patients, those same patients would end up in my clinic, and I had a difficult time getting an attending to oversee their care because resident doctors cannot see patients without an attending to oversee and sign off. Trust me. Nightmare. I can kick my own ass for giving up. Sometimes I have a lot of regrets leaving the indigent clinic I ran because I really fought for my patients and demanded they were treated well and not just as practice projects for residents, but it was greatly effecting me in a negative way. Doctors like this are running off good staff. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES!! Not all doctors are this, not at all, but I have worked with a lot of assclowns in my career. Believe me.

Dr. Price is pushing telemedicine. The same guy that fucking moans about electronic medical records is now endorsing telemedicine. UGH! He claims that he wants a to focus on patients, yet he is pushing to dismantle the ACA. What an asshole. 

[ShepherdontheRock]

Anyone see the Betsy DeVos hearing? Does she eerily remind anyone else of Sarah Palin?

[JMarie]

1 hour ago, Mecca said:

OH.MY.GAWD!!! Watching the HHS Hearing of Dr. Price has me wanting to run out of the room screaming. Hearing Dr. Price reminds me of exactly why I left nursing a few years back and went back to school for a career change. It was doctors like this asshat that had me stressed and pulling my hair out. Look, I get it. Doctors should be compensated for the work they do and the education they have, but get a fucking grip. Doctors like this make a shit ton of money. A shit ton. They want to blame everybody else in this equation but never look a themselves and how their shady ass actions helped create the mess the healthcare system is in. They take an oath to care for people, yet they often refuse to see patients that are self-pay or have Medicaid. They would refuse those patients, those same patients would end up in my clinic, and I had a difficult time getting an attending to oversee their care because resident doctors cannot see patients without an attending to oversee and sign off. Trust me. Nightmare. I can kick my own ass for giving up. Sometimes I have a lot of regrets leaving the indigent clinic I ran because I really fought for my patients and demanded they were treated well and not just as practice projects for residents, but it was greatly effecting me in a negative way. Doctors like this are running off good staff. THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEMSELVES!! Not all doctors are this, not at all, but I have worked with a lot of assclowns in my career. Believe me.

Dr. Price is pushing telemedicine. The same guy that fucking moans about electronic medical records is now endorsing telemedicine. UGH! He claims that he wants a to focus on patients, yet he is pushing to dismantle the ACA. What an asshole. 

Did anyone else feel like screaming when Rand Paul said how when he was a resident, he and the other residents would sit around and calculate how many hours they worked vs. how much they were paid, and how they wished they were being paid minimum wage?

[candygirl200413]

I'm going to see if I can find it, but either an article or a twitter rant about how this is Trump's goal to have most of his cabinent picks be a hot mess for lack of a better choice.

Again, this is just another step how Price could give any type of attention to those that need it.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is classic: "In retraction request to CNN, Trump team confirms CNN story"

Quote

For a journalist, there are few things quite so distressing as a retraction request. It’s a form of nuclear pushback, the ultimate in combat between the subject of a news article and a media outlet. Not only are the facts of the story off, says the retraction request, but also its entire thrust, its reason for being, is null.

As President-elect Donald Trump and his people lay waste to various media-government norms and standards, they now appear intent on defanging the retraction request. The Presidential Transition Team on Tuesday issued one such document that accused CNN of the following journalistic malpractice: “On January 16, 2017, CNN broadcast a story by Manu Raju, titled ‘First on CNN: Trump’s Cabinet pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help it,’ which omitted facts and drew conclusions in an effort to attack President-Elect Donald Trump’s designee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Tom Price.”

The piece, said the retraction request, was “blatantly false.” It was not.

Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) is Trump’s nominee to serve as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Price, however, has traded in medical stocks even though his post in the House involves health policy, as the Wall Street Journal has reported. The Journal found more than $300,000 in trading of “health-related companies over the past four years” as Price went about “sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.” As we write this post, Price is being grilled at a Senate confirmation hearing that is touching on these matters.

Citing House records, CNN’s Raju earlier this week reported that last March, Price bought $1,001 to $15,000 worth of shares in Zimmer Biomet, a medical device company specializing in knee and hip implants. The purchase was followed less than a week later by Price’s introduction of the Healthy Inpatient Procedures (HIP) Act, which would delay implementation of a regulation affecting companies such as Zimmer Biomet. “This new, mandatory payment model handed down from CMS comes with tremendous risk and complexity for patients and health care providers. Rushing its implementation would be unreasonable and potentially detrimental to patients and their quality of care,” Price said in a statement. “At the very least, a delay in implementation is warranted to give all involved time to better assess, review, and weigh the impact and consequences of this proposal and more adequately prepare so patients are protected.” As Raju reported, Zimmer Biomet was among two companies that would have been most dramatically affected by the regulation that Price sought to delay.

And here’s the money-in-politics kicker to this story: After Price introduced the regulation-delaying bill, his reelection campaign received a contribution from the medical company’s political action committee.

In his initial response, Price spokesman Phil Blando didn’t address the specifics of the transaction: “Dr. Price takes his obligation to uphold the public trust very seriously,” Blando told CNN. “The Office of Government Ethics has completed an exhaustive review of Dr. Price’s financial holdings and just as Dr. Price was compliant with congressional disclosure rules, Dr. Price will comply fully with the recommendations put forward by the ethics office.”

Once CNN and Raju published the piece, however, the landscape shifted. As if shocked by the claims in the CNN story, Price’s people attempted to rebut the story on two fronts. First, Blando issued this statement: “Any effort to connect the introduction of Dr. Price’s legislation, co-sponsored with Democrats, to a campaign contribution is demonstrably false. Dr. Price is fully complying with the recommendations put forth by the Office of Government Ethics.” And second, “a Price aide” said that “Zimmer Biomet is included in a broker-directed account and that the stock was purchased without [Price’s] knowledge,” reads the story.

CNN updated Raju’s story with the fresh input from team Price. Key point: Raju noted in the article that he’d asked about a broker, though he received no reply on that point.

Based on the foregoing, the presidential transition team issued this statement:

On January 16, 2017, CNN broadcast a story by Manu Raju, titled “First on CNN: Trump’s Cabinet pick invested in company, then introduced a bill to help it”, which omitted facts and drew conclusions in an effort to attack President-Elect Donald Trump’s designee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Tom Price.

The facts were available to CNN through House Financial Disclosure Filings. Mr. Price’s position on the Comprehensive Joint Replacement demonstration, which date back to fall 2015, is also a matter of public record.

The facts are:

• Dr. Tom Price has a diversified portfolio with Morgan Stanley in a broker-directed account. The portfolio includes both health care and non-health care related stocks.
• Dr. Price’s Morgan Stanley financial advisor designed his portfolio and directed all trades in the account. Pursuant to the arrangement with Morgan Stanley, the financial advisor, and not Dr. Price, has the discretion to decide which securities to buy and sell in his account.
• Dr. Price’s financial advisor periodically rebalances his portfolio to ensure proper diversification. On March 17, 2016, Morgan Stanley undertook a comprehensive rebalancing of Dr. Price’s portfolio. In the course of that rebalancing, the advisor purchased 26 shares of Zimmer Biomet, worth $2,697.74, on behalf of Dr. Price.
• Dr. Price learned of the purchase of Zimmer Biomet on April 4, 2016, when his financial advisor sent him a list of trades to be disclosed on his House Periodic Transaction Report (PTR).
• Dr. Price submitted the PTR reflecting the March trades on April 15, 2016.
• Dr. Price began work on his legislative effort to delay the comprehensive joint replacement demonstration project in 2015 in order to preserve treatment options for patients. He sent a Dear Colleague letter regarding this effort on September 21, 2015.

The Presidential Transition Team requests that CNN retract this blatantly false story.

When was the last time that a retraction request so thoroughly confirmed a story? Far from a retraction-worthy effort, Raju’s work profiles as a model of careful and measured journalism. According to an email chain provided by CNN, Raju pressed Blando in an email that laid out every material detail, including a timeline of Price’s purchase of Zimmer Biomet shares; his subsequent introduction of the regulation-delaying legislation; his attempt in 2015 to influence the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on this regulation; the fact that Zimmer Biomet would take a big hit from the regulation; and the matter of the campaign donation.

Based on all that, Raju posed the following questions:

Why did Dr. Price purchase shares of Zimmer Biomet shortly before introducing the legislation?
Is he concerned about the appearance of insider trading?
Does he regret the move?
Did he use a broker to make the purchase? If so, who is his broker?

Instead of receiving discrete responses to those worthwhile questions, Raju got the blanket statement that answered none of them. Nor was this a rush job — Raju sent his questions to Blando last Thursday and didn’t publish the story until Monday.

This being the Trump era, this being CNN, this being a hard-nosed story — a huge amount of pressure is now being applied to the 24/7 news network. In addition to the retraction request from the transition team, two lawyers representing Price have sent a four-page letter to Richard Davis, the network’s executive vice president of news standards and practices. It attacks Raju’s reporting and appears to lay the groundwork for legal action. After seeking a retraction of the story, the letter argues that repetition of its reporting “can be treated as a knowing publication of false statements and as potentially defamatory communications.”

The argument from J. Randolph Evans and Benjamin P. Keane rests on two main pillars. “The truth of the matter is … that Dr. Price was involved in HIP Act development long before his financial advisor purchased Zimmer Biomet as part of his portfolio rebalancing on March 17, 2016.” That’s Pillar No. 1. However, an early version of the story shared with this blog by CNN notes that Price has been active on just this front over the past year and a half. Now for Pillar No. 2 in the letter: “Likewise, it is clear that Dr. Price introduced the bill itself long before he even learned that he held a stake in Zimmer Biomet on April 4, 2016.” The letter notes that the congressman’s publicly available disclosure form lists April 4, 2016, as the date on which he was notified of this purchase.

CNN should have made note of that detail in the original story, write Price’s attorneys. An updated version addresses the knowledge question.

The Erik Wemple Blog despises this form of non-engagement. A review of the facts shows that Raju invited Price & Co. to provide extensive and detailed feedback on all aspects of the timeline. He got blandness. Then, after CNN published a factual story, the subjects freaked out about mitigating facts that were omitted from the story. Is this the response of the drain-the-swamp crowd to enterprise reporting on congressional ethics?

As Raju reported, Price held onto his Zimmer Biomet stock even after April 4. In Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) badgered Price on this whole matter, asking whether Price reprimanded or fired his broker after learning that she’d invested in a stock affected by Price’s legislative activities. “What I did was comply with the rules of the House,” responded Price.

Wow, just wow.

[apple1]

6 hours ago, Mecca said:

OH.MY.GAWD!!! Watching the HHS Hearing of Dr. Price has me wanting to run out of the room screaming. Hearing Dr. Price reminds me of exactly why I left nursing a few years back and went back to school for a career change. It was doctors like this asshat that had me stressed and pulling my hair out. Look, I get it. Doctors should be compensated for the work they do and the education they have, but get a fucking grip. Doctors like this make a shit ton of money. A shit ton. They want to blame everybody else in this equation but never look a themselves and how their shady ass actions helped create the mess the healthcare system is in. They take an oath to care for people, yet they often refuse to see patients that are self-pay or have Medicaid. ... Not all doctors are this, not at all, but I have worked with a lot of assclowns in my career. Believe me.

Dr. Price is pushing telemedicine. The same guy that fucking moans about electronic medical records is now endorsing telemedicine. UGH! He claims that he wants a to focus on patients, yet he is pushing to dismantle the ACA. What an asshole. 

OMG, @Mecca, I could have written this post (the ... is omitting the parts that didn't apply to me personally). I have been saying these exact things. I am a registered medical technologist (clinical laboratory scientist in the newer lingo) - a "degreed" LOL allied health professional. When I look at and listen to Price (a psychiatrist could possibly have a field day with this) he brings back to my mind the very nastiest, most arrogant, most hateful, most narcissistic, most self-interested (I guess that is the same as narcissistic), most greedy, most disrespectful physicians I have interacted with during my 40-plus years of working my professions. Physicians like him (gag - he is throwing out the phrase "patient-first" to promote dismantling the ACA) have two types of self-interest: making a lot of money and having power. No interest whatsoever in actual patient well-being.

Aside: I have a sister who is currently seriously in need of a surgery and she happens to be in the area where Price used to have his medical practice. Certain physicians have delayed her and made her jump through a gazillion hoops. She saw a surgeon she had been referred to (this was a little over a week ago) and made the "mistake" of mentioning to him that, in addition to her physical need to get this surgery done, she (her health insurance is currently purchased through the ACA, she and her husband are self-employed after both of them were laid off from previous jobs a few years ago and both have pre-existing conditions) is concerned about getting it done before something happens to her insurance, and that surgeon lit into her and told her that Price was a good doctor, from their area, even their hospital system, and that it was all going to be great, shame on her for doubting!

(Sorry for the run-on). There is one slightly good thing about that: She knew to find a different surgeon, and fast.

As for Price: Two more things. 1) He needs to quit smoking. I knew before I even researched the subject that he is a smoker (cigars, supposedly). Look at his upper lip, his left side of it. In pictures you can tell where it sits. It is even more obvious in video. Great habit for a physician leader, right? 2) In addition to significant stock in medical device companies and in health insurance companies (and I don't mean mutual funds) - historically he apparent had very large investments in one of the world's largest tobacco companies. Go figure.

Oops - third thing. Apparently, insider trading gets you a prison term if your area of expertise is homemaking (and your name is Martha). Not so much if you have MD after your name and are a member of Congress and a potential (likely?) Cabinet member.

[CharlieInCharge]

I just wanted to post in this thread before it got shut down since it fits my name so well. Also I would like to assure everyone that I picked this username before Scott Baio revealed his Trump-love. I will use this post to denounce him and let everyone know I am the true Charlie In Charge. That is all. 

[JMarie]

Turns out Rick Perry didn't even know what the Secretary of Energy actually does.  Should we be surprised?

 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/rick-perry-energy-secretary-donald-trump.html

Quote

When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state.

In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

 

[Mecca]

My friends, it finally happened. Remember when I said a few weeks back that I dared a Trumper to freak out on me? Well, it occurred tonight. I had a run in at a restaurant with a Trump supporter. LOL! I wished I had caught it on video. This poor woman had no idea that she had come up on two of the most vocal people that would tell her off without blinking an eye.

I am going to D.C. for the protests and march with my friend, so of course we were talking about Trump and the upcoming protests. The Trumper was sitting two tables down from us, and I guess she overheard our conversation since there were no other people sitting between us. She gets up from her seat and shouts at us, "HA! HA! HA! YOU LOST, YOU SORE LOSERS!! TRUMP IS OUR PRESIDENT AND YOU BETTER GIVE HIM THE RESPECT HE DESERVES" Yeah, no. I won't be doing that, I told her. I told her I will never respect anyone that sexually assaults women, makes fun of people with disabilities, calls immigrants names, wants to break up innocent families, hates people that practice a different religion, takes away insurance from people or destroy the rights and freedoms of others while pissing on the Constitution. I told her she is more than welcome to be an asshat all she wants on her own time, I won't deny her that right, but she won't be yelling at us anymore about Trump and respect when he has yet to show it to anyone else, and I would like to finish my dinner in peace. That is when my friend went in on her. I honestly don't think she knew what to say to us, so she muffled something to the man she was eating with, and I finished my crawfish etouffee. 

Truth be told, I really, REALLY wanted to call her every name in the book and then take her stupid sequined hat she was wearing and shove it up her can, but I felt throwing back in her face the stupidity of Trump was a better approach. Dang. That felt sooooooooo good. I mean, I only said a few curse words. That must be a record for me. 

I am not kidding when I tell you all I have a shit magnet. I guess that magnet tonight attracted a Trumper. LOL! 

[formergothardite]

I just saw that Samantha Bee will be in Washington for the Women's March! I love her! 

I just saw a Trump/GOP supporter realize that Medicaid funds might very well get cut. Her kids are on Medicaid and she is all upset. Maybe she should stop voting for people who don't care about her kids. 

[SpurgeonSquarepants]

19 hours ago, ShepherdontheRock said:

Anyone see the Betsy DeVos hearing? Does she eerily remind anyone else of Sarah Palin?


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