Progressives & Democrats must be strategic if we are to win 2018

Call: (646) 716-5812 – Facebook Live: PDRLive Live stream: BlogTalkRadio Radio Show Date: July 9th, 2018

Infighting within the Democratic Party is unnecessary. If we remember it is not about us, the individual Democrats or the party but about the people we serve coexistence is easy.

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It is important that we point out problems we all perceive within the Democratic Party or within Progressive groups that fall out of scope with the tenets of the party or Progressive values. What is essential however is differences and all we are unified in our votes in November. The mistake in not being unified with our vote has already cost us two Supreme Court Justices, a big chunk of the Affordable Care Act, much of environmental regulations, and much more. We made absolutely no point. But in the process, many are and will continue to be hurt by our disunity and inability to bite our tongue and vote with the expectation of leaving a fight for another day.

From the Newsfeed

RawStory: The Russian Bots are back. One of the present-day agitprop campaigns linked to Putin’s hacker squads is the “WalkAway” hashtag. The Huffington Post reported over the weekend that this troll attack is a counter-measure against the potential “blue wave” coming this fall, with the WalkAway hashtag intended to simulate real-world Democrats who have apparently chosen to leave the party due to its (try not to laugh) alleged intolerance and lack of civility. It’s a ludicrous concept, given the galactically more egregious incivility of Trump and his Red Hats, extending back at least three years and including a deadly terrorist attack in Charlottesville, among myriad other examples. In any case, this “hashtag has been connected to Russian bots,” according to the HuffPost report: It has ranked as the third or fourth most popular Kremlin-linked hashtag for days, according to bot tracking by the Hamilton 68 site run by the bipartisan Alliance for Securing Democracy, which keeps tabs on Russian activity on the American internet. Arc Digital has made the same connection in the “strikingly similar” tweets pushing a “familiar narrative” of Democratic “bullying.” Arc traced the campaign from a Facebook group in May and subsequent tweets whose traffic suddenly began to explode late last month. As I write this, Hamilton 68 has ranked #WalkAway as the most tweeted hashtag in the last 48 hours. To be clear: This isn’t being circulated by earnest yet misguided voters who formerly identified as Democrats. This is clearly being circulated by trolls connected to the Russian influence operations. #WalkAway has obvious roots in the 2016 primaries, when Russian trolls attempted to turn liberal or left-wing voters against casting general election ballots for the eventual Democratic nominee (either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton), thus diminishing Democratic turnout. The same goal applies here.

NBCNews: The Trump administration is freezing payments that are part of an Obamacare program that protects insurers with sicker patients from financial losses, a move expected to add to premium increases next year. At stake are billions in payments to insurers with sicker customers. The latest administration action could disrupt the Affordable Care Act, the health care law that has withstood President Donald Trump’s efforts to repeal it completely. In a weekend announcement, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the administration is acting because of conflicting court rulings in lawsuits filed by some smaller insurers that question whether they are being fairly treated under the program. The so-called risk adjustment program takes payments from insurers with healthier customers and redistributes that money to companies with sicker enrollees. Payments for 2017 were $10.4 billion. No taxpayer subsidies are involved. The idea behind the program is to remove the financial incentive for insurers to cherry-pick healthier customers. The government uses a similar approach with Medicare private insurance plans and the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Major insurer groups said Saturday that the administration’s action interferes with a program that’s working well. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, whose members are a mainstay of Affordable Care Act coverage, said it was “extremely disappointed” with the administration’s action. The Trump administration’s move “will significantly increase 2019 premiums for millions of individuals and small-business owners and could result in far fewer health plan choices,” association president Scott Serota said in a statement. “It will undermine Americans’ access to affordable coverage, particularly those who need medical care the most.”

Note: Tariffs are a backdoor method for Trump to increase taxes on Americans.