After some sentences there should never, ever be a “but.” Far too often, however, the word appears, and what follows it is inevitably a justification of horrible things.
The worst example of this in 2024 came only recently, when liberals online and even some Democratic elected officials said they were “opposed to political violence, but ... ” when it comes to the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson by someone who appears to be a progressive anti-cap...
Opinion
Government-run health care systems also deny or delay treatment
Many critics of the U.S. health care system claim the tragic murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is understandable because health insurance companies occasionally refuse to cover certain medical treatments. And they often assert that if the country were to embrace a U.K. or Canadian-style government-run health care system, no one would be denied care. Those critics are either misinformed or intentionally trying to deceive the public, because government-run health care systems ...
The Conrad Rule is the answer to our budget reconciliation woes
With the return of unified government in Washington, the Republican majorities in the House and Senate are getting ready to use one of the most powerful tools in the budgetary toolbox: budget reconciliation.
In doing so, the new majority will undoubtedly try to pack as many of its policy priorities as possible into this filibuster-proof legislative vehicle, thereby requiring only a bare majority in the Senate. But what they certainly shouldn’t do is use the reconciliation...
How much impact could RFK Jr have as the head of HHS?
Whether or not the U.S. Senate confirms Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the secretary of Health and Human Services, his nomination and that of others suggests the federal government's role in health policy might change dramatically in the second Trump administration. Members of Congress — and many others — are now asking an important question: What impact might changes at Health and Human Services have on the health of the nation?
Between us, we have worked in federal, state and loc...
Trump 2.0: How many days before he loses momentum?
The Wall Street Journal recently featured a line from the “Karate Kid” movie to describe President-elect Trump’s agenda for his first 100 days in the White House: “Strike Hard, Strike First, No Mercy.”
That means on day one, Trump wants GOP majorities in the House and Senate voting to lower taxes, cut spending, increase border security and end subsidies to promote clean energy.
But as boxer Mike Tyson once put it, “Everybody has a plan until t...
Americans are mad as hell and Democrats must respond to voter anger
Progressives, and ordinary people who buy groceries, scored a victory this week when a judge quashed a mega-merger between two mammoth grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons.
The merger could have cost grocery shoppers in Washington state alone an extra $800 million per year. Things got even better when the two big grocery chains turned on each other and Albertsons sued its erstwhile merger partner after the ruling. Judicial action toppled the corporate giants and ele...
Make America Happy Again: How the US is forgetting its promises and failing its people
Democrats are still soul-searching about losing last month's election. Was it the Harris campaign? The price of butter? The ASPCA vote?
It could be a little of all three. However, the fundamental reason is simple: The U.S. is the among the wealthiest countries in the world per capita, but the American people are not happy.
The Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, but the founding documents do say we all have an equal right to pursue it. The ...
UnitedHealthcare shooting highlights US insurance crisis
The shocking murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street corner last week suggests an unsettling truth about American healthcare: Our system hasn't just failed — it has lost its moral legitimacy entirely.
The chilling messages inscribed on the shell casings, "deny," "defend" and "depose", read like an indictment of our entire healthcare apparatus.
What's even more disturbing is the public response. Across social media, many are not expressin...
Republicans just won a permanent Senate majority
Kamala Harris’s defeat was damaging to the left. But her loss overshadows the true scope of the damage wrought on the Democratic Party: the permanent loss of the Senate.
Democrats have lost the Senate before, but this loss is different from 2014. This time, it may well be for good. For the first time in a century, there is not one Democratic senator from a reliably red state.
We have entered an era of one-party rule — at least where the Senate is concerned.<...
Democrats, forget ‘resistance’ and focus on ‘betrayal’
Over the last month, we’ve woken up to many stories that sound a lot like this one, from the New York Times: “The Democratic Party emerged from this week’s election struggling over what it stood for, anxious about its political future, and bewildered about how to compete with a Republican Party that some Democrats say may be headed for a period of electoral dominance.”
But that piece was actually published on Nov. 7, 2004 — 20 years ago.
That doesn’...