New Health Bill Could Mean a Cheaper Plan with Fewer Benefits

There has been a lot of controversy over the changes President Trump wants to make to the healthcare bill, and Trump is finally proposing what he wants to change. The bill has been written and presented to the Senate. The next question would be to see if the senators will pass the bill. 

From what it seems, Trump has some major changes he would like to put into place in his term as president. These changes could mean policies charging less but giving you a lesser amount of benefits, new funding for opioid treatment, or more money for states to lower premiums for high-cost enrollees. The article also talks about the Graham plan and the Cruz Amendment. The hardest part for President Trump will be to have the senators pass this bill. 50 votes are needed for the bill to pass and many senators are already publicly saying they will not vote for the bill to be passed. 

Read this article and watch the video to get a better understanding of what Trump would like to change and how the Senate is reacting to it.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/13/politics/senate-health-care-bill-ted-cruz-amendment/index.html 

-CNN U.S News

Use these questions below as a jumpstart for discussion:

1. What is your opinion on the changes proposed by Trump?
2. Do you think that the new bill will be passed by the Senators?
3. If this bill is passed, how will this affect the future of healthcare

Trump and Russia: Is the Smoke Turning Into Fire?

Collusion - the secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.

As I'm sure many of you have heard, there has been quite a lot of speculation and reporting about possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election. The story, which began during the campaign and intensified after Trump's historic and shocking victory, has gained more attention of late. The short version of the story goes something like this...

President Trump and his campaign staff have been accused of working cooperatively with the Russian government to win the 2016 presidential election. This cooperation includes Russian hackers hacking the Democratic National Committee's email servers to find "dirt" on the Clinton campaign and publishing emails on Wikileaks, as well as propagating "fake" news (not the kind President Trump tweets about) on social media websites like Facebook in order to sway voters to vote for Trump. This cooperation also includes Trump campaign staffers Paul Manafort (former campaign manager), Jared Kushner (Trump's son-in-law and White House adviser with top level security clearance), Mike Flynn (Trump's former National Security Adviser), Jeff Sessions (Trump's Attorney General), and Donald Trump Jr. meeting with and having conversations with Russian ambassadors and official government lawyers about campaign strategy and US sanctions on Russia.

All of the above are facts that are indisputable and accepted by both Trump's supporters and opponents. The real question behind all of this is, did Trump or his campaign staff collude with the Russian government to win the election?

If the answer is yes, then it is unprecedented in American history and very illegal. It would mean the current president of the United States worked with a foreign government (one of our biggest enemies) in order to win a democratic election in this country. The repercussions for the president and the country would be historic and would most likely end with impeachment. So...obviously this is an incredibly big story and one that had a lot of smoke (reporting that speculated about wrongdoing) and little fire (actual wrongdoing)...until now. 

Enter Donald Trump Jr. 

Yesterday the president's son decided to tweet out an email chain between himself and a high profile Russian intermediary about setting up a meeting with a lawyer for the Russian government in order to obtain documents that had information that would hurt the Clinton campaign. He did this in before the New York Times was about to publish a story about the emails as a way to preempt the story. Based on the content of the emails, it doesn't look for the Trumps...it may be the first sign of the coming fire.

I'm sure to many of you this sounds complicated and maybe even a big "nothing burger" (as some Trump supporters have said), so I have posted some links below that hopefully will help explain the story, it's accusations, and it's implications.


Links on the Russia Scandal:
The Russia Scandal Timeline - from The Washington Post
Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said - from The New York Times (this is the NYT article discussed above)
Read the Emails on Donald Trump Jr.’s Russia Meeting - from The New York Times 

Links on the Russia Scandal's Implications for the President and the Country:
What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime? - from Politico 
If Donald Trump Jr. Sinks, Who Goes Down With Him? - from Politico 
What Happens If The Election Was A Fraud? The Constitution Doesn’t Say. - from FiveThirtyEight.com 
Imagining President Pence - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Republicans Matter Most, And They Don’t Seem To Care Much About Trump Jr. - from FiveThirtyEight.com 
Will Donald Trump Be Impeached? - from FiveThirtyEight.com 

Questions for Discussion:

1. Based on the Russian Scandal timeline, did the Trump campaign collude with Russia?
2. Is the Donald Trump Jr email chain evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia?
3. Is there enough evidence to impeach President Trump? Explain.
4. Should President Trump be impeached?
5. Is this story a "big nothing burger" as some Trump supporters have said?
6. Is the media spending too much time on this story or is it the most important political story right now?

When writing your response don't feel like you need to answer all of these questions. Instead, focus on the ones you are most interested in writing about and respond to those. If you are confused please feel free to email me, or to ask questions to each other in your posts!

Independence Day Roundup

First of all, happy independence day to all! While you, like me, spend your day barbecuing and doing your best imitation of Nathan's hot dog eating champion Matt Stonie (pictured below), we can't forget the greater significance of the 241st birthday of America.

Comment Directions:

It has been a particularly busy week since my last current event post. So busy, in fact, that I've decided not to focus on a single current event in this post. Instead, I've compiled a list of links to different articles on some of the major news stories of the last couple weeks. However, since there will be several articles posted here I will not give you any questions to discuss, instead for your comment you should briefly summarize the main point or thesis of the article, or articles,  you read and thoughtfully reflect on it. I want to hear your opinions on these articles and on each other's posts! Do you agree with the author's thesis? Why/why not? What about your classmates? Engage each other in some thoughtful, provocative political discussion!

The Link List:

America's 100 Other Declarations of Independence - From Politico.com

Happy birthday, America! Here’s what you need to know about federalism. - From The Washington Post

Plausible deniability: The drug that President Trump can’t stop abusing - From The Washington Post

How the Psychology of Cyberbullying Explains Trump’s Tweets - From Politico.com

The evolution of Donald Trump, as seen in his Fourth of July tweets - From The Washington Post

What is Kris Kobach Up To? - From Politico.com

Purple America Has All But Disappeared - From FiveThirtyEight.com

How Civic Obligations, Education, and Federalism Can Save America - From The Atlantic Magazine

Finally, please be sure to start your comment by telling us which article, or articles, you are commenting on.

A Word on Current Event Comments

First, congratulations on completing your first current event comments. On the whole, everyone did a nice job analyzing my different current event posts, and many of you demonstrated a good grasp of our government at work. However, now that you have completed your first current event comments I have some constructive (I hope) criticism for you:

Good Analysis, But...
Most everyone did a nice job analyzing the articles I posted, however, I would like to see you do more than just state your opinion. Instead, try expanding your analysis beyond yourself - add links to other articles, connect my current event to other events or other ideas, try to make connections beyond the article! Most often in order to write a thoughtful and analytical comment you might need to do some extra background reading so you can better inform your opinion (for example what in the constitution makes Trump's travel ban constitutional or unconstitutional?)

Comments are meant to drive further discussion
Many of you chose to write comments that simply stated your opinion (I agree/disagree). However, I am not looking just for your opinion, I am also looking to see you interact with and discuss these current event topics with your fellow classmates. Therefore, it's important to try to address both the article and your classmates. This means you should try to reference each other in your comments. It also means that I would like to see you actually think beyond the agree/disagree part of the comment. When you address your classmates think, do you agree with their opinion? Why or why not? Do you have a question for them? Do want to start an argument? Go for it! This is politics! It gets bloody sometimes!

If You're Commenting Late...
Many of you chose to write comments toward the end of the two week cycle, which is fine. However, be aware that if you choose to wait until the last minute to write a comment on article it will be difficult for you to provide any original analysis of your own. If you wait until the last minute many of your other classmates will have already read and commented on the article you choose to comment on. While being the first commentator on article doesn't automatically give you a better grade, it does give you the advantage of original analysis because you're the first to comment. 

Overall, you did a nice job with your comments, but there is certainly room for improvement on the next round. Remember to check the blog frequently, and if there are any questions please ask!

Supreme Court Extravaganza

The end of June is fast approaching, and that means it's time for summer vacation...for the Supreme Court. Yup, just like you and I the Supreme Court is readying itself for a well deserved summer break. Before they leave the courthouse for the summer however, they have some important work to conclude.

For those of you who don't know, the Supreme Court's "season" runs from October to June. The Court hears cases from October to April and issues decisions in May and June. Traditionally they save their most important, controversial, and divisive decisions until the very end of their session in June. That means the court is getting ready to issue MAJOR rulings during the next week on issues like gay marriage and Trump's travel ban.

Here is an excellent little primer on the issues before the court and the make-up of the court itself. The article includes embedded links that will help to explain anything you don't understand, so please click away!

The Skimm's Guide to Supreme Court Decisions 2017

Major News from Court's Last Day

President Trump's Travel Ban:

As I'm sure many of you know, one of President Trump's first major actions as President was to issue an executive order (more on those during class) that effectively banned immigrants coming from seven Muslim majority countries (below).

The travel ban was immediately brought to court by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Association) and was declared unconstitutional by 2 separate appeals courts (the 9th and the 4th). President Trump then asked the Supreme Court to review it, and today they decided that they would hear argument on the travel ban in October. At the same time, they decided to let parts of the ban take effect until they made their final decision on its constitutionality. Here are some excellent articles on what the court did, why the did it, and the impact it will have:

Supreme Court allows Trump's travel ban to take partial effect 

from Politico.com

What the Supreme Court’s travel ban ruling means 

- from The Washington Post

The Court and the Separation of Church and State: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia vs. Comer

The court's most controversial ruling of the day came in a 7-2 decision in which the court ruled "that states cannot exclude religious institutions from state programs that have a purely secular intent — in this case, making playgrounds safer". The case is controversial because it seems to set a new precedent that public tax dollars can be used to fund religious institutions, despite numerous state and federal laws that say the opposite. Most importantly the case might pave the way for President Trump, and his secretary of education Betsy DeVos, to implement federal school vouchers programs. You can read more about the court's ruling here:

States must support some church programs, high court rules 

- from Politico.com

Opinion analysis: Church prevails in funding dispute 

- from SCOTUSBlog.com

Questions for Discussion:

Rather than giving you specific questions for this current event, I'm just going to give you some general/big idea questions that you can use to start your comments.

1. Do you agree with the court's decision in the case?
2. How will the court's decision impact the country and it's citizens?
3. How will the court's decision impact President Trump?

The Fate of Obamacare

As I hope some, or most of you, have heard, the Senate will be considering a bill to repeal and replace President Obama's signature healthcare law, The Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare). The bill was written by Senate Republicans in response to a similar bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year. The House bill was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans and has been unpopular with the public since it's release (so unpopular in fact the President Trump went as far as calling it "mean" just last week).

This all helps explain why the Senate Republicans decided to pass their own version of a healthcare bill, however, the Senate bill has not been without controversy either. Perhaps the biggest criticism of the bill before it's official release today was that until today nobody, except a small group of senators, had seen it. The Senate Republicans choose to write the bill without allowing public hearings or markup (amendment adding) sessions - meaning that the bill was basically written in secret by a small group of Republican Senators, and it will have major impact on the whole population of the country, but the public was not given the opportunity to see how.

OK, enough of my yapping, on to the real questions: (1) What's in this bill? And (2) will it pass the Senate?

Here are some articles and links that should help you (and me) to better understand what's in this bill, what it does to Obamacare, and whether or not it will reach President Trump's desk.

First Step: What is Obamacare?
Before reading or commenting it's a good idea to find out, or to refresh yourself on exactly how Obamacare works. Below is a video on just that:



Links for Further Reading:
Senate GOP brings Obamacare repeal bill out of the shadows - from Politico.com
What's in the Senate's Obamacare repeal bill - from Politico.com
GOP Senate Health Care Bill: What you need to know - from Politico.com
The Senators Who Could Take Down The Health Care Bill - from FiveThirtyEight.com
Will the Senate Pass Its Healthcare Bill? - from FiveThirtyEight.com

Questions for Discussion:

1. Should Obamacare be repealed or stay in place?
2. How does the Senate bill change Obamacare? How is it different from the bill proposed by the House?
3. Does it matter that the Senate bill was written in secret without the input of the public?
4. Is the Senate bill a good change/fix to Obamacare? If so, why? If not, what would be better?
5. Will the Senate healthcare bill pass the Senate?
6. Which Senator has the best chance to stop the passage of the bill?

Before you comment, look over these questions and decided which you would like to write about. Obviously, there are too many here for you to write about all of them in a well developed comment, so instead decided which you think you have the strongest opinion about.

DON'T FORGET TO READ MY POST ON CURRENT EVENT COMMENTS BEFORE YOUR COMMENT!!

Current Event Comments

Before you begin commenting on my current event posts for you summer assignment I thought I would lay down a couple ground rules to help you decipher what is and what is not a current event.

To be credited with a current event post:

Your post must attempt to analyze the current event.
Don't only try to answer the questions that I pose in the order I pose them. You need to consider the importance of the event and its impact on the country politically, socially, economically, etc.

This is a political discussion - be opinionated and provocative!
Make sure that your comment addresses both the article posted and your classmates' comments. This blog should be treated as an extension of our classroom discussions. If you're the first to comment, end with a question for your classmates or me. Feel free to disagree with your classmates too, political debate is at the heart of American politics

You must comment a current event post within the 2 week period.

Remember your 4 current event comments are due in 2 week increments starting on July 2nd. In order to earn credit for a current event comment for that two week period you must comment on a current event I posted during that two week period.

You must comment on a current event I post to earn credit.

At least for the first 2 current events, you must comment on one of my current event posts to receive credit. As we get farther into the summer, and you begin to post your own current events, I will allow you to comment on each other's current events and earn credit for a current event comment. Keep checking the blog for updates!

If you're looking to see what a good current event post comment looks like check one out from last year:
Independence Day Roundup