Commentary | LobbySeven

Zombie Trumpcare Is Dead, In The Senate, Again, For Now, Again

As you know, John McCain is not the favorite Republican Senator here. That being said, his moment last night was a rare piece of Congressional theater that lived up to and beyond the hype. Never a strong voice on health care, his quick buy emphatic thumbs down adds a complex piece to a complex and occasionally apocryphal legend. Past sins are not all forgiven in one fell swoop, but few people in history have been in a position to singularly, in an instant, do so much for so many. Credit is due. But plenty will be written about the senior Senator from Arizona; like him or not, you don’t think he lacks for media coverage. To paraphrase something I read, giving McCain credit for a decision that

Volume 17: Campaign Finance

We can tell an entire history of the United States, parallel to the one you learned in high school, looking only at how money affects politi

The Fundamental Theorem of Health Insurance

Many disciplines have “Fundamental Theorems.” They take a complex topic and distill it to an essence, from which much of the rest can be derived. A fundamental theorem should be as short and simple as possible. It should be accessible, easy for non-experts to follow. But it should also have reach – to be called on frequently for insight. Many Fundamental Theorems are stated for branches of Mathematics. For example, in arithmetic, every integer greater than 1 can be uniquely expressed as a product of prime numbers. But other disciplines have them also. In poker, “Every time you play a hand differently from the way you would have played it if you could see all your opponents' cards, they gain;

The Chronicles of Zombie Trumpcare: Dead in the Senate, For Now

Big news that you've already heard - with significantly more than two Senators opposing the latest version of Trumpcare, Majority Leader McConnell has given up on this version of the bill. I'm not happy on the reporting of what's going on here, so wanted to write something quick. I'm going to do as little future-predicting as I'm able to. Let's start with reconciliation. Reconciliation is that thing they use in the Senate to pass legislation with 50 votes instead of 60. With the GOP holding "only" 52 Senate seats, any plan to repeal (rather than fix) Obamacare will have to go through the reconciliation process. But, reconciliation is tricky - tricky enough where I need to caveat this entire

Poop Cruz: The Latest in Trumpcare

I guess we can hope this bill won’t involve wading through fecal matter. But I do understand there will be more amendments in coming days, s

Hobby Lobby: Shooting Fish in a Barrel

Burwell v. Hobby Lobby was a major case – it created new law. Since we now have this precedent, I thought it might be fun to apply it here.

Fun Facts for #Canada150

When you grow up near Detroit, you are basically half Canadian. Canadian television was broadcast to my home - over the air, in the days before cable. It was quicker to get to Canada than to a different U.S. state - to get there, you go South. If you were 19 and wanted some beer, Labatt's was easy to find - and legal to buy - at the Beer Store. So yeah I'm a proud Canadaphile. In honor of its recent birthday, I thought we could all do well to learn about our neighbor to the North. Of course, nothing is more Canadian than being forced to listen to Americans poke fun at your country. So, in the spirit of friendship ensconced in the Rush-Bagot Treaty (1818), not all of these facts will be, stri

Volume 24: The 2018 Election, Who Projected It Best?

The Book Launch Party