We are becoming desensitized to lies told by our president and vice-president.
Here is a whopper. Mike Pence went to Kentucky and said that the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) had failed in Kentucky. He was either misinformed or lied. Our nation’s leaders have access to accurate information, so I think it likely he lied.
Because of ACA, the number of uninsured people in Kentucky dropped dramatically. How can this be a failure?
Half a million Kentuckians gained insurance because of ACA:
In 2013, 20.4 percent of Kentucky residents were uninsured. In 2016, that number had fallen to 7.8 percent.
Remember, this is a blog about education. When families are uninsured, their children are less likely to get the health care they need, and more likely to be sick, and to be absent from school, and to have lower motivation because of illness and stress.
When listening to Pence or Trump, it is safe to assume that whatever they say is not true. David Corn of Mother Jones tweeted the other day, “You can’t fact-check crazy.” But in this instance, you can fact-check Pence’s claim that Kentucky is worse off because of ACA. It is not.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Pence’s mind, like a lot of Americans’ minds, is deranged by magical thinking (in his case, the fundamentalist Christians cult variety). Trump’s mind is deranged by pathological self-love –he IS the world in his mind. If he is puffed up, then all is well. If he is deflated, then the rest of the world can be reduced to a cinder for all he cares. Neither care for the world as it truly is.
Write or Call the White House: Call them out for their lies!
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/write-or-call
PHONE NUMBERS
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
email:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
His soft-spoken, Grinch-esque smirk, and faux-Christian schtick is getting old. He’s Ted Cruz with a waxen hairdo. Not sure if I can muster any sympathy for Kentuckians who voted for Donald, McConnell and Bevin and will shafted by their politics and policies.
And when they are shafted, they will turn on a dime. The problem is they will always be looking for someone to blame, never in the mirror. For decades that has always been the ‘other’, blacks,immigrants. This worked well when Democrats were in power as that “they were seen as too illegal immigrant friendly” to supportive of the the “Welfare Queen ” . It is going to be hard to see how this plays out this time, few in this administration could be accused of compassion. . But I am sure they will find a way .When all else fails we can always count on a Reichstag fire.
I am also sure the Democrats will accommodate them by not wanting to offend their corporate puppet masters.Furthering the perception that they are all the same and Washington doesn’t work for them.
Joel,
As you know, I don’t accept the premise that both parties are the same. That way lies hopelessness, and without hope there is no possibility of activism and change. There is a large difference between the parties. There are DINOs as there are RINOs, but if Democrats had won the election in November and taken control of the Congress, we would not now be talking about protecting healthcare from demolition and saving environmental regulation and civil rights enforcement. Nor would there be roundups of undocumented immigrants–instead there would be a national discussion about creating a path to citizenship for hard-working immigrants who want to become Americans. Nor would there be a travel ban. We are now dealing with an authoritarian government that wants to deconstruct the state and roll back the New Deal. If Democrats had won, they would be working now on expanding the reforms of the past century, not rolling them back.
“. . . I don’t accept the premise that both parties are the same. That way lies hopelessness, and without hope there is no possibility of activism and change.”
The sooner “average Americans” (however one defines that term) understands just how similar, other than a few social issues, the two parties are, the closer they will be to booting out the oligarchic duopoly that currently runs this country.
Don’t need no hope. Ain’t no hoping about it! The change has to come from each individual to finally start standing up for him/herself and doing the change that needs to be done to rid this country of the scourge that is the Rethuglican and Dimocrap oligarchic duopoly.
Duane, dream on. The day when the public ousts both parties will not occur in your lifetime, or mine of those of my grandchildren. Or ever.
As much as I am cynical, Diane, I’m not quite as pessimistic about that “ousting” as you. To each her/his own, eh!
Should be ruins not runs this country. Ay ay ay.
It’s the system we’ve got, like it or not. I’ve alienated many Dems (as they have alienated me as well), but they’re all we’ve got. Even Bernie had to admit that to run for president.
The Dump and his cabinet would fill the psych ward of a mental institution. They ALL are broken souls. SAD. IMPEACH!
Got Trumpencitis 🤢 🤒 🤕❓
Get Trumpencectomy 👨⚕️👩⚕️❗️
Trump doesn’t make things up, he gets them from TV. The three-year-olds of the world, biological and mental, are solidly behind him on this, in the abstract of course. When you get into specifics there is great divergence here.
To Akademos:
IMHO, divergence is used to indicate the state of being extremely intelligent.
In the case of making things up from TV, it is called MANIPULATION and ALTERNATIVE FACTS = IMAGINATION FOR CON ARTISTS or LIES FOR POLITICIANS. Back2basic
An important distinction: ideas not coming from Trump, but from the media he validates. Who is the puppet and who is the true puppetmaster?
Worse off is a subjective term and, with rising costs to owners, could be looked at that way for many places, including Kentucky, with ACA.
I really think We The People are building stamina and not becoming de-sensitized to these moral monsters.
Teachers know for sure that uninsured and under-insured families are stressed-out families.
Even if a family members doesn’t become “sick”, the economic/psychological stress distorts every aspect of daily life. Children and parents are not calm, important things fall under the radar, homework does not get done, parent-teacher relationships fragment.
Joy, creativity and thoughtfulness evaporate.
Who wants to live and work like that?
Nobody!
We don’t want children who grow up to be a Trump or a Pence or a Ryan.
Enough already.
This nasty bunch is on its way out.
I’ll be interested to hear when Pence tells the truth about something.
You have to assume that Trump, Pence, and Republican friends care about the health and wellbeing of children and families. They are not family friendly. Kentucky is among the states were the coal industry is now free to pollute rivers and streams.
“Can’t fact check crazy” I love it! Agree with Laura- they are not family friendly.
The ACA has helped over 11,000 people in Kentucky get treatment for heroin addiction in a state that has high rates of addiction. Doesn’t Pence know that a good Christian should not “bear false witness?”http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/08/obamacare-repeal-jeopardizes-mental-health-addiction-coverage/96199628/
Silly Rabbi, Pence is using the Alternative Bible …
Which alternative bible?
The one with the Alternative Ten Commandments.
E.g. Thou shalt not bear false witness unless thou can make a bundle of cash doing so.
Pence is a politician, politicians lie. . . .
Anything else need to be said?
Some politicians lie more than others.
Check Politifact.
And you called us” deplorables”….Republicans apparently are not as accomplished in name calling as some of you righteous souls.
The expansion of medicade enabled more middle class to get health insurance. that will change this year when the states have to take it over. I might suggest that the employer mandate also created unemployment problems so even more folks were forced to go on medicade. This is unfunded welfare.
There are millions of people paying dearly for insurance who can not use it because they will never meet the deductibles. At least when you chose not to be insured–it is a personal decision. Many citizens were happily covered until Obama took away their insurance. Why don’t we count them among the uninsured…they cannot use the insurance? I have known people who seek medical care when they are too ill to make a difference in the outcome. “If only they had come in sooner”, the doctors say. They die from treatable conditions….I have had friends schedule multiple surgeries in one year to be able to reach the deductible so they can afford medical care. This may not be healthy for them. Obamacare is essentially high priced catastrophic care for too many people and an unfair tax for younger people who might see a doctor 1x a year or less.. The government must get out of health care business, stop dictating rates, conditions and coverage and stop funding insurance companies. The free market and personal choice must be allowed to grow in a free society.
April,
The free market will leave millions of people with no insurance and no choices. Government steps in when the free market doesn’t work. Many Trump voters will lose health insurance.