Donald Trum and maga Republicans like Senator Susan Collins support chaotic Iranian war and Americans pay the cost

Does anyone in America know what Donald Trump is doing in the Strait of Hormuz? Does Trump himself know❓

Reported in The Hill and Yahoo News by Max Burns

So Chief.....has Iran surrendered yet❓

On Sunday, he boldly announced “Project Freedom,” his scheme to escort commercial ships through the shuttered strait. He then swiftly reversed course just two days later, declaring that the strait would remain closed, even as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was selling Project Freedom to the press. 

While Hegseth touted a plan that no longer existed, Trump again changed his timeline for ending his increasingly unpopular war in Iran.

Trump’s impulsive and contradictory actions in Iran have confounded his generals, his Cabinet and the public since the war began 10 weeks ago. Trump is now so bogged down that he is confounding himself, too. It is time for Congress to exert some constitutional authority and wrap this debacle up before regular

Americans endure even more financial suffering.

Trump has clearly lost the plot of what has become a staggeringly expensive conflict without any clear strategic goal. In fact, the only measurable result of Trump’s Iran strikes has been a spike in the cost of gasoline by more than 50 percent since March. The cost of jet fuel rose so much so quickly that Spirit Airlines had no choice but to declare bankruptcy and liquidate 17,000 previously well-paying American jobs.

Great Depression bread lines😓😔😒😠😟

“For the first time in my life, I have no idea how to face what comes next,” former Spirit Airlines employee Jorge Luis Camacho lamented in a GoFundMe fundraiser, posted shortly after the company shuttered. “Bills have to be paid, and financially, I have nothing.”

Camacho and his former Spirit coworkers will have a hard time finding new work in an economy battered by the Iran war. A Goldman Sachs report published in March estimated that Trump’s war is costing the U.S. economy more than 10,000 jobs each month, with losses concentrated in the leisure and hospitality industries, retail and manufacturing. The economic uncertainty wrought by Trump’s war is now the most potent job-killer in the country.

Indeed, the Iran War may well be remembered for little else besides the rolling job losses and financial hardship it inflicted on working-class Americans who were already grappling with rising consumer prices. Bank of America reports that credit card spending has surged roughly 4.3 percent in March, the most in more than three years, as consumers pile on debt to pay for basic necessities like gasoline. Unsurprisingly, consumer confidence has collapsed to the lowest level ever recorded as most Americans prepare for the worst.

Then there’s the day-to-day expense of running a war without end. The conflict has drained more than $72 billion in taxpayer funds at a time when Republican leaders say there simply isn’t any cash available to extend healthcare subsidies for the 22 million Americans facing skyrocketing premiums. And that’s before Trump heads to Capitol Hill with hat in hand to ask for $80 billion to $100 billion more in war funding.

At some point, enough has to be enough, even for the spineless MAGA gophers currently clogging up the Congress.

It appears at least a few Republicans are beginning to realize how economically (and politically) disastrous Trump’s war is shaping up to be. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently pushed for a War Powers Act vote in the Senate; her moment of courage was dampened by Republican leader John Thune flatly ignoring the request. That hasn’t stopped Murkowski from building support for the vote from Republicans including Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Curtis (R-Utah) and Todd Young (R-Ind.).

If Murkowski and her colleagues are trying their best to steer their party away from an electoral disaster, they’ll still likely run headlong into House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) absolute resistance to anything that could be viewed as Trump criticism (But, wait❗ What happened to Johnson's pledge to govern according to the Bible❓) . Johnson has so far resisted calls to rein in Trump’s war powers, even as the most recent Ipsos poll found a growing majority of Americans souring on the war.

Republicans are currently caught in the trap of defending a war their own leader doesn’t seem to understand — and just like Hegseth this week, they increasingly finding themselves defending policies, only to discover that Trump has already abandoned them and reversed course.

Who is on first❓

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must eliminate Immigration and Customs ICE evil operations

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski says
Homeland Security secretary should resign amid rising calls for her firing or impeachment by Lisa Mascaro for AP published in the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska.

WASHINGTON, DC— A groundswell of voices have come to the same conclusion: Kristi Noem must go.

From Democratic Party leaders to the nation’s leading advocacy organizations to even the most centrist lawmakers in Congress, the calls are mounting for the Homeland Security secretary to step aside after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two people who protested deportation policy.

At a defining moment in her tenure, few Republicans are rising to Noem’s defense.

Noem “has, through her words, and I think in her actions — she’s taken a direction that has not been helpful to the situation, and I don’t think that it helps the country," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

“I think you have a secretary right now that needs to be accountable to the chaos and in some of the tragedy that we have seen,” Murkowski added. “... I voted for her. I think the president needs to look at who he has in place as a secretary of Homeland Security. I would not support her again and I think it probably is time for her to step down.”

Top House Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California said in a joint statement that “the country is disgusted by what the Department of Homeland Security has done.”

“Kristi Noem should be fired immediately,” the Democrats said, “or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.”

Republicans and Democrats call for Noem to step down❗

What started as sharp criticism of the Homeland Security secretary, and a longshot move by Democratic lawmakers signing onto impeachment legislation in the Republican-controlled House, has morphed into an inflection point for Noem, who has been the high-profile face of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement regime.

Noem’s brash leadership style and remarks in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti, R.N., and Renee Good — in which she suggested Pretti “attacked” officers and portrayed the events leading up to Good’s shooting an “act of domestic terrorism” — have been seen as doing irreparable damage, as events on the ground disputed her account.

Her alliance with Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who was recalled from the Minnesota operation Monday as border czar Tom Homan took the lead, has left her isolated on Capitol Hill.

“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C.

But Donald Trump stands by Noem and praises her work

President Donald Trump defended Noem at multiple junctures, strongly indicating her job does not appear to be in immediate jeopardy.

Asked by reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday for a trip to Iowa whether Noem is going to step down, Trump had a one-word answer: “No.”

Pressed later during an interview on Fox (Fake❗) News if he had confidence in Noem, the president said, “I do.”🙄

“Who closed up the border? She did,” Trump said, “with Tom Homan, with the whole group. I mean, they’ve closed up the border. The border is a tremendous success.”

As Democrats in Congress threaten to shut down the government as they demand restrictions on Trump’s mass deportation agenda, Noem’s future at the department faces serious questions and concerns.

The Republican leadership of the House and Senate committees that oversee Homeland Security have demanded that department officials appear before their panels to answer for the operations that have stunned the nation with their sheer force — including images of children, including a 5-year-old, being plucked from families.

“Obviously this is an inflection point and an opportunity to evaluate and to really assess the policies and procedures and how they are being implemented and put into practice,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, where Noem had been the state’s House representative and governor before joining the administration.

Asked about his own confidence in Noem’s leadership, Thune said, “That’s the president’s judgment call to make.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Noem a “liar” and said she must be fired.

Fighting about DHS funding

Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that DHS enforces the laws from Congress, and if lawmakers don’t like those laws, they should change them.

“Too many politicians would rather defend criminals and attack the men and women who are enforcing our laws,” McLaughlin said. “It’s time they focus on protecting the American people, the work this Department is doing every day under Secretary Noem’s leadership.”

The ability of Congress to restrict Homeland Security funding is limited, in large part because the GOP majority already essentially doubled department funding under Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts law.

Instead, Democrats are seeking to impose restraints on Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations as part of a routine annual funding package for Homeland, Defense, Health and other departments. Without action this week, those agencies would head toward a shutdown.

To be sure, Homeland Security still has strong defenders in the Congress.

The conservative House Freedom Caucus said Tuesday in a letter to Trump that he should invoke the Insurrection Act, if needed, to quell protests. The group said it would be “ready to take all steps necessary” to keep funds flowing for Trump’s immigration enforcement and removal operations.

On the job for a year, Noem has clashed at times with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, as Republicans and Democrats have sought greater oversight and accounting of the department’s spending and operations.

Noem has kept a low profile since the Saturday press conference following Pretti’s death, though she appeared Sunday on Fox (Fake❗) News.

She doubled down in that interview on criticism of Minnesota officials, but also expressed compassion for Pretti’s family.

“It grieves me to think about what his family is going through but it also grieves me what’s happening to these law enforcement officers every day out in the streets with the violence they face,” she said.
Once rare, impeachments now more common

Impeachment, once a far-flung tool brandished against administration officials, has become increasingly commonplace.

Two years ago, the Republican-led House impeached another Homeland Security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, in protest over the then-Biden administration’s border security and immigration policies that allowed millions of immigrants and asylum seekers to enter the U.S. The Senate dismissed the charges.

Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said if the Republican chairman of the panel, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, does not launch an impeachment probe, he would.

Raskin said he would work with the top Democrats on the Homeland Security and Oversight committees to immediately launch an impeachment inquiry related to the Minnesota deaths and other “lawlessness and corruption that may involve treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

More than 160 House Democrats have signed on to an impeachment resolution from Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.

Anchorage Daily News staff along with Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana, Kevin Freking and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this story.

Nurses mourn the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Call to honor her dying wish

Senator Susan Collins Alert! Bereavement first for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Statement from National Nurses United.

"Hamakom y'nachem etchem b'toch sh'ar availai tziyon ee yerushalayim." May God comfort you among all the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020)

Justice Ginsburg's death just over six weeks before Election Day is likely to set off a heated battle over whether Donald Trump should nominate, and the Republican-led Senate should confirm, her replacement, or if the seat should remain vacant until the outcome of his race against Democrat Joe Biden is known.

The more than 155,000 members of National Nurses United, the country’s largest union and professional association of registered nurses, are mourning the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and are strongly urging the Senate to honor her dying wish that she not be replaced until after the 2020 presidential race is decided.

As a predominantly female profession of caring, nurses understand how critical the next appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court will be in upholding the rights of women, Black, Indigenous people of color, and other vulnerable populations in our society. Further shifts in the balance of power on the Supreme Court toward conservative forces will cause more harm and suffering for their patients, say nurses.

“Nurses are often the ones who sit at the bedside of our patients as they transition out of this life, and we fight like hell to act in their interests and respect their wishes,” said Bonnie Castillo, RN and executive director of NNU. “We feel compelled to honor the wishes of Justice Ginsburg and work to make sure the people of the United States get to make their voices heard in the November election before a new justice is named.”

Some U.S. senators, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have already declared that they will not support a vote to confirm a new Supreme Court justice until after the election. NNU supports such efforts, and says that it will work harder than ever to elect its endorsed presidential and vice presidential candidates, Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, in November.

Opinion echo - Read the Trump OOJ Mueller Report in groups or on line

Echo opinion letter published in the Anchorage Daily News: 

Read the Mueller Report here! Obstruction of Justice!

In fact, public public readings of the Mueller Report are coming to a venue near you! As a matter of fact, a public reading was conducted in Orono Maine, so maybe the Alaska Senator Sullivan and Senator Lisa Murkowski could find a venue close to home....

Democrats in Congress are also reading aloud, a special benefit for Republicans who apparently can't read it for themselves.

In a recent KSKA (Alaska Public Radio) interview, Sen. Dan Sullivan stated he might not read Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report because it’s too long and he has too much other reading to do. Sen. Lisa Murkowski claimed she would read it, although she, too, said it was a long slog of tedious legalese.

I read the report, and it was actually easy to read and informative. Attorney General William Barr’s summary was grossly misleading. In fact, in a follow-up letter to Barr, Mueller stated that Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context, nature and substance” of his report, and consequently, “public confusion” had ensued.

In the report, Mueller provides ample evidence of Russian hacking and information dissemination via Wikileaks. The Trump campaign knew about the Russian influence into the election in support of Donald Trump and did nothing to stop it. More importantly, Mr. Trump attempted to thwart Mueller’s investigation into this matter. Mueller provides 10 instances where the president’s actions satisfy the specific legal criteria for obstruction of justice. Mueller’s conclusion includes arguments supporting congressional oversight to hold the president accountable for obstruction of justice.

In the report, Mueller provides ample evidence of Russian hacking and information dissemination via Wikileaks. The Trump campaign knew about the Russian influence into the election in support of Donald Trump and did nothing to stop it. 

More importantly, Trump's attempted to thwart Mueller’s investigation into this matter. Mueller provides 10 instances where the president’s actions satisfy the specific legal criteria for obstruction of justice. Mueller’s conclusion includes arguments supporting congressional oversight to hold the president accountable for obstruction of justice.

Sen. Sullivan won’t read the report, let alone hold the president accountable. Will Sen. Murkowski?

— Catherine Coward  Anchorage, Alaska

Tax cuts for the rich not helping in Alaska

Anchorage Alaska - It certainly doesn't appear like the Republican tax cuts for the rich are going to flow up, to help average Alaskans who could be assessed a new state payroll tax.  

So, did Senator Lisa Murkowski know this when she voted to support the Republican tax cuts for the rich?  I assume she knew but voted to support the tax cuts for the rich, anyway.

In Maine Writer's opinion, Murkowski traded her vote for drilling rights permits, on once protected lands.  But, the state needs road to get to those remote places and infrastructures to sustain the operations.

Senator Lisa Murkowski voted to support tax cuts for the rich, even while her constituents in Alaska are experiencing a recession and the state can't balance its budget.

This article is from the Anchorage Daily News- even if the Governor's proposal doesn't pass, the fact is, the state is short on revenues and those drilling permits may depend on improvements in infrastructure. That's how I read this article:

Gov. Walker proposes temporary payroll tax, using Permanent Fund earnings to balance budget

Alaska's Gov. Bill Walker put forth an ambitious budget proposal that would, if approved by lawmakers, for the first time use Alaska Permanent Fund earnings for the operations of state government.

As a side measure, the governor is proposing a modified 1.5 percent payroll tax, but not to fund general government. 

Rather, the tax would be designated for a specific purpose: taking care of overdue repairs and maintenance on schools, public buildings, Alaska's Pioneer Homes, community housing projects and harbors, including the expensive Port of Anchorage remake. And it would expire after three years.

"It's not growing government," Walker said Friday afternoon. "This is about fixing Alaska."

He also wants to borrow money to pay off hundreds of millions in tax credits owed to oil exploration companies that otherwise would be paid over several years. And he wants to reform what he called a broken budgeting system.

The proposal estimates the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend paid to Alaskans will be $1,216, far less than it would be if the formula followed before Walker were still in place.

The Republican-led state Senate has opposed any broad-based tax. Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna and the Senate majority leader, said the chamber would evaluate the governor's proposal and called elements of it good, including a push for a biennial budget that would guide spending for two years.

But even a limited tax will have a rough road in the Senate, where leaders believe the state's budget crisis will ease by 2023 or 2024, provided government is held in check, he said.

"We're still going to struggle with any kind of tax at this point to fund a temporary dip," Micciche said.

In the state House, led by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans, the budget proposal met with initial favor because it doesn't cut money for public schools and puts new money into public safety. But the payroll tax will need a close review, House leaders said.

In all, the proposed budget for the 12 months starting July 1 totals $4.7 billion in state spending, a drop of 1.7 percent from the current year budget of $4.8 billion.

The governor's proposal is a starting point for work in the Legislature.

The budget is often the last significant piece of legislation passed each session and is used to bargain for other priorities.

That's a bad system, the governor said. State employees and teachers get pink notices warning they might not have a job. The Alaska Marine Highway System cannot publish a ferry schedule.

"It's a terrible way to run a state," Walker said.

He is proposing a biennial budget that would guide spending for two years. Also if lawmakers don't pass a budget in their regular 90-day session, they shouldn't be paid or get expense checks until they do so, he said. The same goes for him, he said, if he doesn't propose a budget by Dec. 15.

State revenues have fallen billions of dollars short of state spending in recent years because of declining oil production and lower oil prices, forcing a Legislature at a standstill on taxes to spend from savings accounts.

Walker's budget proposal relies on $1.9 billion in Permanent Fund earnings — a source that has never been used to fund government operations before. It also draws $400 million from the state's nearly drained main savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve, and a smaller amount from another savings account to fill a gap of about $2.5 billion. In past years, the Constitutional Budget Reserve has been used, but there's not enough left in it to fill the entire budget gap. Under Walker's plan, the savings account will have $1.7 billion at the end of the coming budget year.

Walker also is proposing to pay off tax credits owed to oil exploration companies by issuing bonds. The credits, under a program that has since been extinguished, were offered to oil companies as an incentive to explore new areas. In this tax credit program, the state has to pay out money, not just give a break on taxes owed. About $900 million will be eventually owed, said Sheldon Fisher, state revenue commissioner. Another $100 million in credits is expected to be sold to oil companies that owe taxes, to give them a break, he said.

The Walker plan would allow oil companies to be paid for the credits all at once instead over several years, and the state would get a discount on what it owes, Fisher said.

Unlike earlier tax measures that met with sharp resistance in the state Senate, the proposed payroll tax is time-limited and and purpose-limited, Walker stressed.

The payroll tax would generate $800 million over three years as a side revenue stream, outside the $4.7 billion main budget, according to state officials. Counting federal and local matches, $1.4 billion would be available for maintenance and upgrades.

The Walker administration is pitching the tax as way to lift Alaska out of recession by creating an estimated 1,000 jobs, including in rural Alaska, for contractors, engineers and others involved in design and repair of basic infrastructure. His team calls it the "Alaska economic recovery plan," and it would require legislation before it is enacted.

People who work in Alaska but don't live here also would pay the tax, accounting for about 15 percent of the total to the state, said Fisher, the revenue commissioner. Plus, the tax would be capped at $2,200, or two times the Permanent Fund dividend amount.

Alaska's unemployment rate of 7.2 percent is the highest in the nation, which Walker called unacceptable.

Spending for agency operations is slightly higher than the current budget because of a $34 million public safety initiative, a higher-than-expected prison population and growing Medicaid health care rolls, according to the governor's budget team.

But in measurable ways, Alaska's budget has shrunk, the Walker administration said. The capital budget is lower. There are 2,800 fewer state employees than there were three years ago. The proposed budget has 217 fewer budgeted positions than the current spending plan.

The Senate has pushed for reductions or at least a budget "as flat as possible for the next several years," said Micciche, who has printed out the Walker budget documents and intends to check the calculations.

"By my first look here, it looks like the administration may have gotten that message," the senator said. "We'll see if we can all come together in Juneau starting next month."

(Happy New Year to Alaskans may not include prosperity.)

West Virginia opinion echo - support for health care vote

Although Donald Trump staged a made for TV reality show "beer  hall" style  rally in West Virginia on Thursday Aug 3, (no doubt he needed a boost in his self esteem), the newspaper Charleston Gazette Mail is giving a vote of confidence to the state's two Democratic senators: Senator Joe Manchin and Senator Shelley Moore Capito,  for standing up for health care. 

Gazette editorial: Cheers for unsung health care vote heroes

Senator Joe Manchin D-WVa

During the vote to repeal health care for millions of Americans, throw large sections of the health industry into chaos and drive up prices for the remaining Americans and businesses who buy health insurance, there was an audible gasp in the chamber when Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, voted no.

\

Senator Shelley Moore Capito D-WVa

McCain is a hero, many times over, no question. But as The Washington Post’s Philip Bump suggestedshortly after the vote, let’s save some praise for other senators who constituted the narrow majority.

“In other words, those 50 people helped McCain be the political winner,” Bump wrote. He cites seven in particular:

Five Democrats from states that vote Republican. First among those is West Virginia’s Sen. Joe Manchin.

Manchin, who as governor and as a state legislator, learned the importance of a humane and economical program such as Medicaid. He knows how cruel and financially shortsighted it would be take health coverage from the people he was elected to serve.

• Manchin never wavered in his opposition to dangerous repeal proposals. 

He was in good company with Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Jon Tester of Montana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.

• Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also never wavered. She opposed the motion to proceed.
• Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also held steady, 

In fact, Murkowski voted against both the bill and earlier procedural vote despite pressure from the administration. Bump suggests she got a call from the interior secretary reminding her of projects important to her state.

“In a 51-49 vote, every vote is the deciding vote, even the ones that were quietly there all along,” Bump wrote.

It’s important to remember what this vote was. It was a secret, who-knows-what bill contrived so Republicans who ran on a promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act they have vilified for years could give the impression of doing so. It is about politically saving face, not serving Americans or plotting sound economic policy. The so-called “skinny repeal” had potential to do plenty of damage, pulling at threads of the system without solving old problems and creating new ones.

All the senators who rejected this ill-conceived attack on people’s health and their economy deserve praise from their constituents.

Women's political clout

Republicans are obviously incapable of standing truth to power but the women showed their male colleagues how to be courageous.  In fact, two Republcian somen- Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski, handed the Republican men a lesson in political leadership. In fact, the take away message is this: Senator Mitch McConnell made a stupid and irretreeivable mistake by keeping women out of negotiations on the failed Trumpcare disaster.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska

Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, the Health Vote Heroines- By Gail Collins  

Senator Susan Collins of Maine

Were you expecting the Republican health care bill to go down with such a thud this week? Definitely a moment to remember. Unless, of course, you accept Donald Trump’s interesting theory that it all worked out exactly the way he wanted.

“I said from the beginning — let Obamacare implode and then do it,” the president told a group of law enforcement officers on Friday. This was part of the White House celebration of “American Heroes Week,” which was highlighted by Trump’s surprise effort to discriminate against transgender volunteers in the military. 

But of course he really, really wanted a bill to sign. Maybe he was too distracted by the subtle plotting against Reince Priebus to focus. Otherwise, he’s just the worst lobbyist in history. 

And he underestimated two Senate Republicans, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. John McCain’s “no” vote was the high point of the drama, but Collins and Murkowski were the fierce, consistent forces of resistance that gave McCain his opportunity. 

My favorite moment came when Trump dispatched Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to warn Murkowski that if she continued to vote against the bill, her home state of Alaska would lose stuff it wanted from the federal government.

The Alaska Dispatch News speculated that the projects Zinke threatened to ax included “future opportunities to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.” If so, cynical minds noted, he was basically warning Murkowski that if she didn’t behave, he might attempt to protect the environment.

But Collins and Murkowski care a lot about women’s issues; their joint stand was the logical outcome of a year that’s been marked by an utter Republican indifference to women. Both serve on the Senate committee that handles health care — a fact that did not appear to impress Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when he appointed 13 men to get together behind closed doors and write a health care bill.

The plan the guys came up with made no attempt to control insurance costs for maternal care. It would end the requirement that health care plans cover contraceptives. And it would bar Medicaid reimbursements for any services provided by Planned Parenthood.

“It was a huge mistake for the Republican leadership to put that in there. Lisa and Susan were clear from the start — you hurt Planned Parenthood and we’re not with it,” said Patty Murray, the leading Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

The week before the health care debacle Representative Blake Farenthold, a very conservative and extremely strange lawmaker from Texas, told a radio interviewer he was irritated with the way the women were holding things up, adding, “If it was a guy from South Texas I might ask him to step outside and settle this Aaron Burr-style.”

It was a remarkable comment and only in part because you do not find many politicians who express a desire to be like Aaron Burr. Farenthold was actually talking about shooting the women.

Collins seemed unmoved. She mentioned the incident in a private conversation with a colleague that happened to be picked up by a politician’s greatest enemy, the hot mike. She briefly made fun of Farenthold’s very large physique and asked, ”Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this Playboy bunny?” She later apologized. Nobody should mock people’s physical appearance. However, to be fair, men who are planning a political career should not pose for photographs while wearing blue pajamas covered with yellow ducks.

That conversation — with Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island — was actually more important for the way it captured the growing feeling in the Senate that the president was more than just a little eccentric.

“I think — I think he’s crazy,” said Reed. To which Collins responded, “I’m worried.”

As are we all.

nue reading the main storyPerhaps we will read about this in “The Art of the Deal: Presidential Edition.” (“If you need to win over one special vote, try to do it with threats. This is particularly effective if your target has more power than you do.”) The administration, which so far has barely managed to exercise enough clout to get a building renamed, was trying to strong-arm an influential committee chairwoman whose Senate term does not end until 2023 — a date that, many of her colleagues believe fervently, is a lot longer than they are likely to be dealing with Donald Trump.

Murkowski and Collins continued voting “no” because they believed that Trumpcare would be bad for the people in their states. Other Republican senators felt the same way, but lacked the same nerve.

“They were amazing,” said Chuck Schumer, the extremely happy Senate Democratic leader.

Both women have had memorable Senate careers, but neither has always been what you’d call a profile in courage. Collins’s Maine constituents give her a lot of latitude. Murkowski, who was first appointed to her seat by her father the governor, is known for her intense devotion to all forms of oil drilling.

Republicans are breathing much easier post health vote

Thank you Senator Susan Collins, Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator John McCain for standing strong by preventing the "Skinny Repeal" from imploding the American health care system. 
In fact, by removing the individual mandate as the GOP proposed, the Obamacare coverage would be unsustainable leaving 16 million without health insurance.

Regardless of how much drama was involved in the early morning Republiucan health care debacle, the  fact that Obamacare lives today on "GOP  Failure Friday" is a relief to people like Senator Lindsey Graham, who didn't want the cruel repeal to pass, anyway.

Senator John McCain bravely voted "no" on GOP Failure Friday

GOP senators shred 'skinny' Obamacare repeal — then say they'll support it (???).  Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Ron Johnson and Bill Cassidy initially said they wouldn't vote for a "skinny" Obamacare repeal, but later said they received assurances that it will not become law.  (Senator McCain did not support the bill). 

Graham had called it a "disaster" as policy. This made no sense. "Not only do we not replace Obamacare, but we own the disaster." (Senator Graham). Nevertheless, Graham should  have voted "no", along with his colleagues, including his friend Senator McCain.

This "morning after" the dramatic vote, there are 16 million American people who can breath easier about their own health care coverage, because they all risked losing it if the GOP bill passed.  

More important, Senator John McCain saved his Republican party from implosion with his decisive "no" vote. In fact,the Republican party would never recover from a stupid "skinny repeal".  Thank God this debacle is over- temporarily.  It's time to vote for "Medicare for all"

Any vote to move forward with Obamacare repeal would prolong the agony of figuing out how to improve the Affordable Care Act, without any viable plan for such dramatic reform.

Obviously, three brave Republicans, thanks to Senator Susan Collins, Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator John McCain, may have saved their political colleagues from facing 2018 election disaster.