David Dayen at The Fiscal Times writes—America's Biggest Crisis Has Nothing to Do With Donald Trump:

Since the 2016 election, my social media feeds have been overtaken by Cassandras, darkly warning of the death of liberal democracy. But lately I’ve been thinking about a different collapse — not of the political system, but of a large swathe of our society. Over the past few weeks, a stream of data has revealed the desperation of an almost catatonic America, taking place outside of the dominant media corridors and conversations.

For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), deaths in 2015 from heroin abuse surpassed deaths from gun homicides, an unprecedented phenomenon for a country seen as more addicted to its firearms. Total opioid deaths, including overdoses of prescription drugs like OxyContin and synthetic opiates like fentanyl, hit 33,092 last year. [...]

Though opioid addiction has belatedly claimed headlines, painkillers aren’t the only medications Americans seek out. CDC numbers indicate that just as many died from alcohol-related causes in 2015 as from opioids; add drunk-driving deaths and the number more than doubles. Annual tobacco deaths still hover around half a million, dwarfing these other vices. Others abuse food. [...]

Add this all up and you get the incredible finding that life expectancy fell in 2015 for the first time since 1993 (the height of the AIDS crisis). In other words, we’re looking at something akin to a new plague. And it’s a localized plague, with deep impacts on middle-aged rural whites.

Ailments like cardiovascular disease and cancer are increasing significantly in Appalachia and the South, while dropping along the coasts. Suicides and alcohol and drug poisonings, the despair deaths, hit these communities hard. [...]

What is the source of this pain that has so many in small towns reaching for a needle or a bottle, dessert or a gun? One hypothesis is that poverty increases the stress load, which positively tracks with high blood pressure, obesity and other health problems. But beyond poverty, there’s the depression that accompanies a lower standard of living. If you were born in 1940, you had a 92 percent chance of making more money than your parents at an equivalent age, according to research from economist Raj Chetty. For someone born in 1980, that number is down to 50 percent.

The economic crisis in small towns, in other words, correlates with the public health crisis. [...]

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At Daily Kos on this date in 2003—Republicard: spend like there's no tomorrow:

Introducing the Republicard. First practiced under the record deficit-spending of the Reagan-Bush administrations, and now re-issued under the fiscal wreckage of George Bush with a trifecta of Republican-rule to again spend like there’s no tomorrow. Miles, the creator of the card:

Last week I was hearing about a proposal that had been introduced into Congress to honor Ronald Reagan by putting him on the dime coin. Aside from the fact that FDR, creator of the "March of Dimes," certainly deserves to stay on that coin (and Nancy Reagan agrees) ... it occurred to me that if someone were to honor George W. Bush, given his enormous deficits, the most appropriate place to do so would be ... a credit card. So I imagined what it might look like, and came up with the RepubliCard: (This idea simultaneously occurred to political cartoonist Tom Toles who had a cartoon on this theme appear the very next day).

Molly, the wife of Miles, had the opportunity to hand one of these cards to Governor Dean last week. And thanks to more production by Miles, you too can hand them out to your friends.

Quite the pattern developing here: First it was reported that Michael Flynn, Donald Trump’s pick to be national security advisor, had a meeting with the leader of a far-right Austrian political party that was founded by ex-Nazis. And now, a senior member of Trump’s transition team who was in Israel to attend “a gathering of conservative parliamentarians from the US and Europe” joined in a boycott of a high-level briefing with Israel’s deputy foreign minister after Israel refused to allow a Swedish neo-Nazi to attend the meeting:

A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said the decision to exclude [Kristina] Winberg was made due to her party’s far-right and ultra-nationalist positions. [...]

“The Swedish representative is a member of a party with neo-Nazi tendencies and therefore the Foreign Ministry decided not to include her in the meeting with Hotovely,” Emmanuel Nahshon said. 

So of course a member of Team Trump would stand in solidarity with Winberg, a member of the European Parliament for the Sweden Democrats, who describe themselves as “social conservative with a nationalist foundation” and:

… has been criticized in Sweden for its far-right and anti-immigration policies, particularly against what it calls the “Homosex lobby” and the “Islamization of Sweden.”

Sounds rather familiar, doesn’t it? 

(And one can’t help but wonder: is Bibi starting to get concerned?)

The Obama administration has slapped sanctions on 15 Russian individuals and businesses because of their involvement in projects in Ukraine and Crimea.

The Treasury Department designated seven individuals and eight corporate entities involved in a range of projects, including the construction of a bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean peninsula. It also targeted businesspeople who are associates of President Vladimir V. Putin or are involved in activities that aid in Russia’s destabilization of Ukraine.

“Today’s action is in response to Russia’s unlawful occupation of Crimea and continued aggression in Ukraine,” John E. Smith, the acting director of the Treasury’s office of foreign assets control, said in a statement.

“These targeted sanctions,” he added, “aim to maintain pressure on Russia by sustaining the costs of its occupation of Crimea and disrupting the activities of those who support the violence and instability in Ukraine.”

These measures are "part of a regular updating of the sanctions, once every six months" according to administration officials, in conjunction with the extension of sanctions issued by the European Union on Monday. President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel worked closely together to "keep a united front against Russia" on this one, working against a number of countries who wanted the EU sanctions to last. The precise role of Putin-loving Donald Trump's Electoral College victory is unclear—but he is expected to cozy up to Russia in any number of ways, especially since they did him such a solid by helping him secure that electoral vote win. The end of these sanctions in six months’ time is almost assured.

We don't know if Trump is personally damaged by any of these sanctions, because we haven't seen his tax returns to know precisely which pies he has fingers in.

Bill O'Reilly has never been much for dog whistles when discussing American minorities and their irritating insistence on rights. He took to his program last night to explain that any talk of ditching the Electoral College system of picking a president is ... an attack on the “white establishment.”

No, we're not kidding.

“This is all about race,” the conservative commentator said on his Fox News show. “The left sees white privilege in America as an oppressive force that must be done away with. Therefore white working class voters must be marginalized.”

He later added that liberals believe “white men have set up a system of oppression and that system must be destroyed ... The left wants power taken away from the white establishment and they want a profound change in the way America is run.”

It's not just the method of picking a president, you see. It's that "liberals," more and more "reliant on the minority vote," are plotting to disadvantage Good White People.

We've written about Bill for many years, but it's still impressive how smoothly rhetoric from white nationalist groups makes it to O'Reilly's lips and bullet points. The above could have been taken from a Klan rally, word for word. It's a staple of the ever-paranoid white supremacist groups courted by Trump's top adviser. And Bill O'Reilly is quite comfortable televising the notion. Minorities and liberals are coming for you, white America. Be afraid. They’re going to take the power of your “white establishment.”

This isn't a one-off by O'Reilly, by the way. He has a long and uncomplicated history of being racist on television.

So talking about the danger faced by The Whites at the hands of The Other is a thing that he can freely opine about on Fox News, complete with pre-prepared graphics and bullet points about the power of the "white establishment"—because Fox News knows their audience.

Here's Republican Deep Thinker Newt Gingrich once again. This time the disgraced former House speaker has been tasked with explaining why Donald Trump's repeated claims he would "drain the swamp" of Washington cronyism and crookedness has turned, immediately after the election, into packing Washington with even bigger swamp monsters.

All right, Newt, we'll bite. Why is this particular campaign talking point no longer operative?

I'm told he now just disclaims that. He now says it was cute, but he doesn't want to use it anymore. ... I'd written what I thought was a very cute tweet about "the alligators are complaining," and somebody wrote back and said they were tired of hearing this stuff.

Got it. It's inoperative because he says it's inoperative. It's inoperative because it was intended as a "cute" talking point, but never as something he was actually going to follow up on. It's inoperative because now that the election's over some random guy on Twitter says they're tired of hearing about Washington crookedness and so now Donald Trump is going to do the exact damn opposite of what he may or may not have promised, just to make sure that one guy doesn't have to hear about it anymore.

Dan Diamond reports that the White House is prodding researchers to copy data on the Affordable Care Act out of fear that the incoming Trump administration may erase this information:

Spooked by Trump's rhetoric and pledge to repeal Obamacare, several dozen independent researchers are racing to download key health care data and documents before Jan. 20. They say they began the effort on their own, and then got a boost from Jeanne Lambrew, the White House's top health reform official, who also sounded alarms the new administration might expunge reams of information from public websites and end access to data, researchers told POLITICO.

Researchers don’t want to say anything about the matter on the record because, as one of them said: "Talking about it now sounds pretty paranoid. And talking about it publicly is a pretty good way to end up on the shit list."

Paranoid? Given the vows of Republicans in general and the unpresidented-elect in particular to dismantle the ACA, it just makes good sense to put these data in some place safe. Knowing the details of any program provides evidence to tweak it or ultimately replace it with something better. And even though the Trump transition team has backed off from its earlier menacing request for the names of Department of Energy employees who have worked on Obama’s climate initiatives, it’s no stretch to think this witch hunt might merely have been delayed and will come back and spread throughout the government after Trump actually takes office.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spends his days dreaming up ways to make the lives of low-income people even more hellish—and now he believes he has an ally in Donald Trump. He's trying to recruit the popular vote-losing president-elect in his scheme to humiliate food stamp recipients with drug testing. So he’s writing letters to the PEOTUS.

“We want your help as soon as possible,” Walker wrote, before outlining specific demands, the first of which is the ability to screen and test people who need food stamps for drug use.

While states have broad authority to change the requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash welfare program, and thus 10 states have chosen to drug test applicants and recipients and deny those who refuse the tests or fail them, they currently have no such latitude over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.

But that hasn’t stopped Walker from signing a measure into law that would drug test SNAP applicants and recipients and then suing the federal government to allow him to carry it out. He’s also asked Congress to pass legislation that would give him the permission he seeks, but a bill put forward to do so failed.

Never mind that drug testing is a pretty big expense for the states that are doing it for their TANF programs, with almost no return: “tests are showing up very few positive results — in 2015, two states uncovered exactly zero.” Walker says this is just doing SNAP recipients a favor, getting them ready to get jobs by getting rid of “barriers to employment related to substance abuse.”

In truth, about one-third of families getting SNAP have at least one person who’s employed, as of a 2013 report. Another 20 percent are disabled individuals. Another 17 percent are elderly, and out of the work force. Oh, and 44 percent of households have children. So that’s nearly 70 percent of the SNAP population—not counting the kids—who don’t need Walker’s “help” in getting employment-ready. But by all means, Scottie, let’s get those grandmas peeing in plastic cups.

Here's what Republicans are threatening to repeal during Congress’ first days back in session in January.

The Affordable Care Act’s historic expansion of health insurance coverage has brought medical care within reach of millions of Americans who previously couldn’t afford it, new research shows.

The share of adults who skipped medical care because of costs dropped by nearly one-fifth between 2013 and 2015, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund.

The gains were even more dramatic in the states that have most expanded coverage through the federal healthcare law, often called Obamacare.

“The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance coverage expansions are working to get people covered and help them afford healthcare,” said Sara Collins, vice president of the fund, a New York-based foundation that studies healthcare systems around the world.

“We know that health insurance is essential for people to get the care they need,” Collins said. “In this time of uncertainty about the ACA, it’s important to keep in mind the financial and health protection health insurance provides for families.”

Even people who stupidly voted for Trump know that the ACA is essential for their financial and physical health. Too bad they were only hearing the "make America white" again message he was sending, and ignored that "I'm going to repeal Obamacare" part.

The Pendejo-Elect thinks we are all as gullible as his supporters. Not only will he not build a wall on the southern border, his promise to build a wall between the Presidency and his businesses also won’t be built. Or if it is, it will be as porous as all his other promises. 

Led by Sen. Ted Cruz, Republicans will be wasting no time in their efforts to roll back civil rights for LGBT Americans.

[The First Amendment Defense Act] would prohibit the federal government from taking "discriminatory action" against any business or person that discriminates against LGBTQ people. The act distinctly aims to protect the right of all entities to refuse service to LGBTQ people based on two sets of beliefs: "(1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage."

The intentionally broadly-written law would, in other words, enshrine the "right" of any private business to deny service to gay Americans outright if they are personally opposed to marriage equality. It would not merely allow businesses to deny their services in same-sex marriage ceremonies themselves: it would allow any business to discriminate against any customer, gay or straight, for any service, whether it be selling them gasoline or a hamburger, if a pseudo-religious reason can be attached to it.

The customer likely doesn't even have to be gay. The business can simply declare that they believe that customer might be an unmarried fornicator or a single parent, or perhaps declare that serving a particular customer might nebulously benefit some gay American later on. The law makes no mention of religious beliefs that are not hostile to LGBT Americans or equality; the religious belief declaring LGBT equality to be sinful is elevated as the only government-protected religious belief on the subject that will be tolerated.

It is an un-American and deeply anti-First-Amendment bill, which is of course why Sen. Ted Cruz and team are quite certain they will be able to gain the support of their Republican colleagues and their new anti-civil rights president.

After a year of delays, Texas says it will officially end Medicaid funding for the state’s 34 Planned Parenthood centers in 30 days, unless litigation prevents the move. The decision conflicts with federal law, as President Obama noted in April, and federal courts in other states have ruled that Medicaid funds cannot be withheld from the organization.

A legal challenge to the cut-off that has lain dormant for the past year in a federal court in Austin will come alive now that the state’s final decision in the matter has been made.

After a years-long battle, Texas officials first gave a notice of intent in October 2015 that it was going to kick Planned Parenthood out of the Medicaid program in 30 days. But the final notice was not delivered until now. 

U.S. law has for 40 years barred federal money from being spent on abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the woman’s life. But forced-birthers have argued this prohibition doesn’t go far enough and that no taxpayer money should be given organizations that provide other services if they also provide abortions. In the past year in Texas, Planned Parenthood has provided birth control, cancer screenings, and well woman services to some 11,000 low-income women.

In the final notice to Planned Parenthood, Texas Health and Human Services Inspector General Stuart Bowen took note that secret videos purporting to show the organization’s illegal activity related to procurement of fetal tissues were part of the decision:

Bowen claimed in the letter that the videos revealed Planned Parenthood has a history of "deviating from accepted standards" to procure tissue samples for researchers and a "willingness to charge more than the costs incurred for procuring fetal tissue," among other violations.

“Your misconduct is directly related to whether you are qualified to provide medical services in a professionally competent, safe, legal and ethical manner,” Bowen wrote in the letter. “Your actions violate generally accepted medical standards, as reflected in state and federal law, and are Medicaid program violations that justify termination.”

This is nonsense. Thirteen states have investigated and found no evidence to back up the purported claims of wrongdoing in the videos. In fact, soon after they were revealed to the public, the videos were shown to have been heavily edited to give the appearance that Planned Parenthood profited from the sale of fetal tissue derived from abortions, which is against the law. Christopher Mele reports:

Gee, who could have foreseen that the Republican legislature of North Carolina might not have been entirely truthful with the Charlotte leaders in promising a special session to repeal HB2 if the city withdrew its non-discrimination ordinance? The city acted on Monday, in anticipation of the  special session by the legislature today. And in return: this bullshit.

On Wednesday afternoon, the top Republican in the state Senate introduced a bill that would repeal the bathroom bill. However, the bill introduced by Sen. Phil Berger, the senate president pro tempore, would also impose a “six-month cooling-off period,” during which local governments would not be able to enact ordinances relating to employment or public restrooms.

Rights groups that have long criticized the bill had said this week that they were disappointed to see Charlotte have to abandon its ordinance, even as they were pleased that H.B. 2 could face a repeal. These same groups said Wednesday that they would accept only a full and complete repeal rather than one including any caveats.

“It is unacceptable. It’s a gimmick. It’s H.B. 2.0,” said Mara Keisling, president of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “It’s not okay and any legislature that would do that wouldn’t really be doing that for only six months.”

This is supposedly in retaliation for Charlotte having repealed only a portion of its own ordinance. State Republicans raised hell over the fact that the repeal vote the city council took on Monday only dealt with the public accommodations part of the ordinance, and said that wasn't good enough. So in an emergency session earlier Wednesday, the city fully repealed it, believing they were clearing the way for the legislature to make good on the agreement.

And this is what they got. Which is why you never fucking bargain with a Republican when people’s rights are on the line.