MOTHER JONES DAILY: The Trump Administration Is Already Ignoring the Supreme Court, "Well, we’re all going to die," says Joni Ernst in defense of Medicaid cuts, The worrying backstory of Trump’s proposed “Office of Remigration”, Toxic pesticide levels found in tampons 40 times higher than legal limit for water, Forget Dobbs—the personhood movement wants much more, When it comes to Trump's brain drain, “the damage is already done” 30MAI25

 

May 30, 2025 Death comes for us all. But should our elected officials have a say in the details? The question emerges after Sen. Joni Ernst defended the Republican Party's desire to impose the largest Medicaid cuts in US history, a plan that will sever critical health care services for the most vulnerable Americans. As the crowd expressed alarm with the plan, Ernst, wearing a smirk, told her constituents: "Well, we all are going to die." As I wrote in a quick piece today, it is true: Every one of us will indeed perish. But implicit in Ernst’s cavalier response on Friday is that the inevitability of death neutralizes how death comes for us: The reality is that so much of the death that American society tolerates—our gun epidemic, a lack of universal health care, etc.—is a choice enshrined in our shitty politics. Just take a look at the staggering rise in babies born HIV positive right now, thanks to a similar casual cruelty of Elon Musk. Ernst’s point is an accidental bedrock of GOP politics. Death does not matter, for certain people, if it means a supposed economic boost to the few. —Inae Oh P.S. Thanks to all the newsletter readers who’ve responded so enthusiastically to our appeals for support during our spring membership drive. The campaign ends tomorrow, and we’re getting oh so close to our $150k goal. This is my last chance to ask for your help before the deadline, so I hope you’ll chip in to support our work.

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LIFE BEGINS AT RAPE

Virginia state senator explains 'host' status of pregnant women & Woman in debunked Obamacare horror story finally speaks ... to Fox News & Daily Kos Recommended 24&25FEB14

steve martin st sen r VA is another of those hypocritical right wing tea-baggers who is pro life until a child is born and then votes against all the programs that will give a child a quality life if they need the help. These people make me sick, their rhetoric is repulsive and disgusting. Equally disgusting is how julie boonstra has agreed to be part of the gop / tea-bagger campaign of lies and deception against Obamacare while she herself benefits from the program while battling cancer. What a bitch! From Daily Kos.....
Hunter

Congratulations, you're now a "host."

Where do they find these people.

A pregnant woman is just a "host" that should not have the right to end her pregnancy, Virginia State Sen. Steve Martin (R) wrote in a Facebook rant defending his anti-abortion views. [...] "I don't expect to be in the room or will I do anything to prevent you from obtaining a contraceptive," Martin wrote. "However, once a child does exist in your womb, I'm not going to assume a right to kill it just because the child's host (some refer to them as mothers) doesn't want it."

Martin is a personhood advocate, meaning the "host" loses her personhood the minute the sperm and the egg hook up. Sucks to be you, host. If you're in Virginia, Martin is one of the people in charge of your laws, which is (directly) why Virginia dreams up things like mandatory ultrasound laws and (indirectly) a partial explanation for why Ken Cuccinelli was not seen, among Virginia Republicans, as hopelessly nuts. We got rid of one Cuccinelli, but they've got spares. They practically clone the bastards.

Originally posted to Hunter on Mon Feb 24, 2014 at 11:45 AM PST.

Also republished by Virginia Kos, Daily Kos, and Feminism, Pro-Feminism, Womanism: Feminist Issues, Ideas, & Activism. 

Mon Feb 24, 2014 at 08:19 AM PST

Woman in debunked Obamacare horror story finally speaks ... to Fox News

by Joan McCarter

The subject of the latest debunked Obamacare horror story is finally talking, and of course it's to Fox News. Julie Boonstra is a Michigan resident with leukemia, and she appeared in an Americans For Prosperity ad against Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Gary Peters, saying that Obamacare made her cancer treatment unaffordable because of out of pocket spending. Subsequent fact checking, though, found that her monthly premium payments were essentially cut in half, and the limits the law imposes on out of pocket expenses means that at worse, she'd break even between those costs and her premium saving. The ad also implied she lost access to her doctor, though fact checking determined that her doctor is included in the plan she picked on the exchange. So with no real basis to the story she presented in the ad, how does Boonstra respond? The only way she can, the way Republicans always go, playing the victim.

"They're not scaring me. Cancer scares me," she said. "I battle cancer every day. They're not going to intimidate me." [...] "Under my old policy, I knew what I could afford every single month because I wasn't hit with extra charges. Now I don't know what I have to pay month to month," she said. "Leukemia tests are extremely expensive."

Just to set the record straight, pointing out factual inconsistencies is not intimidation. No one is saying that Boonstra isn't experiencing real angst over having to change health insurance in the middle of her fight with cancer. No one is diminishing her fight with cancer, they're just pointing out some basic truths which show that her story just doesn't add up. And as Brian Beutler points out, if the Koch brothers achieved what they're trying to with this and other ads—repeal—then she would really become a victim. The protections she now has under this law—to never be kicked off her health insurance plan, to never have to worry about having health coverage because of her leukemia, having her annual out of pocket expenses limited, and never having to worry about reaching an annual or lifetime cap where her coverage is just cut off—would be gone if the campaign she's participating in succeeds. Which is, yes, insane.
If Boonstra is a victim, she's the willing victim of the Koch brothers and AFP who would ultimately throw her to the wolves. But if she hates the law that much, fine, whatever. What she's doing, though, jeopardizes every other cancer patient in the nation.

Originally posted to Joan McCarter on Mon Feb 24, 2014 at 08:19 AM PST.

Also republished by Daily Kos. 

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 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/24/1280038/-Virginia-State-Sen-explains-host-status-of-pregnant-women?detail=email 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/24/1279971/-Subject-of-debunked-Obamacare-horror-story-finally-speaks-to-Fox-News?detail=email 

 

tom rust & ken cuccinelli, NO POLITICAL DIFFERENCE! VIRGINIA'S 86TH DISTRICT DESERVES BETTER

tom rust is a tea-bagger in moderate republican clothing. Now he has a real fight to hold on to his delegate seat in Richmond because Jennifer Boysko is exposing his duplicity to the voters of the 86th district. Consider this....
tom rust voted for cuccinelli's 'personhood' plan that would outlaw abortion even in the case of rape and incest. God help the women in their families if any of them become pregnant from rape or incest because there's no compassion in their politics and the laws they want passed. (HB1440, 8 FEB 11) http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-04/opinions/41762920_1_contraception-so-called-personhood-amendment-attorney-general 
rust's vote for this 'personhood, plan would also ban some common forms of birth control AND In Vitro Fertilization procedures. rust claims to be pro family and votes to deny people a chance for a family.

tom rust supports cuccinelli's position and voted for requiring women to have invasive, unnecessary ultrasounds before terminating a pregnancy. (HB2579 10 FEB 09 & HB1042 3 FEB 10) tom rust followed cuccinelli's orders and voted to de-fund Planned Parenthood. (HB1600, Item 4-5.04#2h) 

As a tea-bagger republican tom rust voted with the right wing extremist repiglican leadership in Richmond 97% of the time, willingly participating on his party's war on women as well as voting to cut $620 million from education, increasing class sizes. (HB30 25 FEB 10; HB30, Item 0.9#2h 25 FEB 10) 

tom rust also voted to ban state funding of embryonic stem cell research. (HB30, 4-0.01#4h 23 FEB 12; HB1600, Item 4-0.01 12 FEB 09) His vote reflects his lack of compassion, his lack of empathy for those suffering from illness (and their families) whose only hope is a new treatment and / or cure discovered through embryonic stem cell research. 

Check out tom rust's voting record at www.leg1.state.va.us
you will see he doesn't have the best interest of the 86th district or of Virginia as a whole in mind when he votes. It is time to change this, on 5 NOV 13 vote for Jennifer Boysko for 86th district delegate! http://www.jenniferboysko.com/