DAILY NEWS
Seattle’s next leaders, Trumpcare tax, our workless future, Fats
Friday, October 27, 2017
LOCAL
THIS WASHINGTON
► In today’s Seattle Times — Tired of K-12 funding excuses? Imagine how Stephanie McCleary feels (by Donna Gordon Blankinship) — Everyone at the annual reunion of people involved in the McCleary education funding lawsuit seem to have grown a lot more frustrated as the 2018 deadline nears. We have all gotten older. Our children have graduated from high school or college. About 700,000 other children have graduated since the lawsuit was filed. And the quality of K-12 education in Washington state still depends largely on your ZIP code. And no one is more frustrated than the woman whose name has become synonymous with this school funding debate.
TRUMPCARE
“I’m very disheartened to have to approve these rates. For months, we’ve struggled with the ongoing uncertainty at the federal level and have shared our concerns with our Congressional delegation and with the president’s administration. I warned of the harm their actions could inflict on real people and their families. The president’s decision to stop making cost-sharing subsidy payments and weakening the enforcement of the individual mandate to buy health insurance are behind the surge in premiums we’re seeing this year. The other major cost driver is the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs — something the administration promised to tackle, yet has failed to take on.”
► From HuffPost — This is how much Trump’s ACA sabotage increased health insurance costs — Trump’s decision to cut off billions of dollars owed to health insurance providers under the Affordable Care Act caused premium increases that range from 7 percent to 38 percent higher than they would have been for mid-level “Silver” health plans, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported.
► In today’s Washington Post — What it’s like to look for health insurance now that Trump has tried to undermine ACA — Shopping for health insurance has always been confusing. But consumers looking for coverage at the start of open enrollment on Wednesday face an especially baffling experience, and this year, they will have less time and less help to reach a decision because of funding cuts and rule changes.
EDITOR’S NOTE — So what are the Republicans who control Congress going to do about the mess Trump is making of our health care system?
EDITOR’S NOTE — Instead, they plan to spend the rest of the year trying to ram through partisan trickle-down tax cuts targeted to the wealthy that are partially funded by cuts in health care programs working people depend on like Medicaid and Medicare…
FEDERAL BUDGET
► From The Hill — Budget vote raises red flag for GOP on tax reform — The GOP barely scraped up enough votes to pass their partisan budget, as 20 on their side defected. That included 11 GOP lawmakers from New York and New Jersey who wanted to send a message about the need for their leaders to compromise on plans to eliminate the state and local tax deduction, which could hit their districts hard.
► In today’s Spokesman-Review — Former White House official skeptical of the ‘magic math’ of tax cuts (by Shawn Vestal) — Jared Bernstein says there are plenty of reasons to mistrust the “fairy dust” of tax cuts. One of his strongest arguments is one of the most familiar: The past five years in Kansas. In 2012, Kansas implemented a series of deep tax cuts that were, Gov. Sam Brownback said, going to be a “shot of adrenaline into the heart of the Kansas economy.” Instead, the heart of the Kansas economy seized up. Economic growth stayed firmly leashed, with the state’s economy underperforming its neighboring states and the nation dramatically. Massive budget shortfalls threatened state services to such a degree that moderate Republicans took over the Legislature and did the unthinkable: Raised taxes.
THAT WASHINGTON
► In today’s NY Times — Democrats pressure Trump to fulfill promise to impose steel tariffs — Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that he would block Trump’s nominations of two trade officials until the White House advanced a stalled effort to protect American metal producers from cheap Chinese products.
DAILY TRUMP OUTRAGE™
► The icing on this particular cake, today from The Hill — Whitefish Energy contract bars government from auditing deal — Under the deal, the government isn’t allowed to “audit or review the cost and profit elements” under the agreement, allowing the company greater discretion and secrecy for how it spends the $300 million to restore power to the island… San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz has called for the deal to be voided and investigated after representatives for the company feuded with her on Twitter and asked her if she wanted them to stop working.
From The Onion — Nabisco baffled after Trump administration gives it $200 million contract to rebuild Puerto Rico’s roads —
NATIONAL
► From Mother Jones — You will lose your job to a robot — and sooner than you think — Until we figure out how to fairly distribute the fruits of robot labor, it will be an era of mass joblessness and mass poverty. Working-class job losses played a big role in the 2016 election, and if we don’t want a long succession of demagogues blustering their way into office because machines are taking away people’s livelihoods, this needs to change, and fast. Along with global warming, the transition to a workless future is the biggest challenge by far that progressive politics—not to mention all of humanity—faces. And yet it’s barely on our radar.
► From TPM — Specter of violence looms ahead of Tennessee ‘White Lives Matter’ rallies — Given the rash of violent incidents at recent white nationalist events and the rhetoric of some of the leading participants, civil rights groups and city leadership in Murfreesboro and Shelbyville are preparing for the worst. The groups openly tout themselves as paramilitary organizations, with strict hierarchical command structures, that heavily arm themselves when permitted by state or local law.
► From the People’s World — Labor movement slams fascists and Trump’s support for them — The AFL-CIO strongly condemned the hate groups of the radical right, including the white supremacists, fascists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, so-called “alt-rightists,”” and their ilk, all now out in the open and responsible for the fatal riot in Charlottesville, Va.
T.G.I.F.
► The Entire Staff of The Stand salutes the great Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino, one of the founders of rock ‘n’ roll music, who passed away this week at the age of 89. The first of the many major hits he wrote and performed was “Ain’t That a Shame.” It was covered by John Lennon who said it was the first song he ever learned to play on the guitar, by birther/crooner Pat Boone who wanted to change the title on his whitewashed version to “Isn’t That a Shame” but was dissuaded by people with some sense, and by country singer Hank Williams Jr., among many others. But nobody did it like Fats himself — here in a clip from the otherwise forgettable 1956 film Shake, Rattle & Rock!
The only other version of this classic song that ever did it justice — and was reportedly Fats Domino’s favorite cover version — was by Cheap Trick live at Budokan. Enjoy!
The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.