Lesser Evils

If you know a little about me, you know I’m very willing to overlook prior bad acts by candidates in order to ensure Democratic control of our bodies of government. The electability of a moderate Democrat with a less-than-perfect record was one of the primary motivators behind my support for Hillary Clinton. And if you’re one of my friends on the farther left, I’m sure you’re thinking “Bella really will just shill for any empty suit that calls themselves a Democrat. Is there a floor on this thing, or will we have to re-educate her when the revolution comes?”

I’m proud to report to you, my left friends and all other readers of the blog, that we found the floor. The floor named Joe Manchin.

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Kavanaugh Confidential

One of the major debates in the Kavanaugh hearings was about documents that had been deemed committee confidential. That meant these documents could only be viewed and discussed in closed door meetings of the Judiciary Committee. 200,000 pages of Kavanaugh’s documents from his time in the White House were withheld from the public. another 100,000 documents were withheld from the Committee altogether at the request of the current White House, on the grounds of executive privilege.

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An Undue Burden

I know Super Tuesday just happened, and we all want to talk about how well Donald Drumpf is doing, and Clinton's impressive victory, and Sanders' win in Colorado, but right now I want to talk about something more important.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, which is challenging a Texas law that, if it goes into effect, would close clinics across the state. The law would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital no more than thirty miles away, and mandate that clinics meet the standards of an ambulatory surgical center. 

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Supremely Chaotic

Much has been said about the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, so I won't try to rehash old points. I'll just say that those of us who have last names ending in vowels lost one of our own. Love him or hate him, he was an Italian, so I feel a certain kinship with the man.

But that doesn't mean I think that his seat should go unfilled for the next 11 months, because I know about the history of the court and it's nominations, and by the end of this blog post, you will too!

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Balancing Act

There's a lot of moments from the Republican debate I could fact-check, dispute, and tear apart for my many blog readers (all 12 of you). But while there has be article after article about Marco Rubio's flip-flopping, Donald Trump's sexism, and the Christie/Paul debate, no one has written about the incredibly interesting and sexy issue of John Kasich and balancing the federal budget.

If you watched the debate, you may remember John Kasich, current governor of Ohio, touting numerous times that he balanced the federal budget. It's certainly correct that John Kasich was the Chairman of the Budget Committee in 1997, which was the last time we had a balanced Federal budget. It's true that this was the first time the United States had a balanced budget since 1970. It's true there was a Republican-controlled Congress at the time. And yes, it's true that Bill Clinton was the President the last time the Federal budget was balanced.

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SCOTUS Does Care!

Today, the court upheld all provisions of the Affordable Care Act! In a contentious case before the Supreme Court, regarding the Federal subsidies for health insurance, Chief Justice John Roberts once again defended the Affordable Care Act.

King v. Burwell cuts at the heart of one of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare, for those not in the know). Namely, the idea that people can receive subsidies from the Federal government to sign up for insurance through the health insurance exchange. Currently, people receive a subsidy whether they sign up for health insurance through a state exchange, or through the Federal exchange, set up because many states flat-out refused to set up health insurance exchanges. 

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(Finally) Ready for Hillary

I’ll confess. I didn’t come out of the womb Ready for Hillary. I wasn’t even Ready for Hillary in 2008. Until recently, I still wasn’t Ready for Hillary. I was Holding Out Hope for Joe Biden, or Assuming Elizabeth Warren Would Run, or even Maybe Going to Give Bernie Sanders A Try. But I was, and on some level remain, Skeptical of Hillary.

After the November Midterm Elections, and with Hillary Clinton’s announcement that she would be running for President in 2016, I can finally say that I am totally Ready for Hillary.

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