Summary
The Senate confirmed Dr. Mehmet Oz as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in a 53-45 party-line vote.
Oz will oversee healthcare for over half the U.S. population, including Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA programs, amid debates over Medicaid cuts.
He supports work requirements for Medicaid recipients.
He’s also embraced RFK Jr.‘s campaign to redesign the country’s food supply, reject vaccine mandates, and cast doubt on some long-established scientific research.
The only way this works for the republicans is if we never have any elections again. Looks like they are planning to gut social security and medicare. So they are absolutely gearing up for no future votes.
Remember folks, drink your own urine!
If we get out of this maga morons need to be held accountable
Thanks Oprah for platforming this fucker, along with Phil and John of God.
Let’s be honest, it was just going to be some other fucknut if not him
Has anybody checked to see if all the dolphins have left the planet yet?
Ya’ll we’d love to help but we can’t put that energy into someone who doesn’t to help themselves. If ya’ll had taken any of the numerous paths away from this in the past two decades then sure, maybe, but sorry this one is on you.
Good luck and all but we’re gunna be over here trying to make sure we’re protected from the meltdown the US is so determined to have.
Bernie tried to help, twice, but you guys didn’t care.
You get what you deserve.
Sorry to the rest of the world.
It’s soul crushing at this point to see how effectively a bad actor can fuck up the US. A carnival barker is nominating arsonists and telling everyone the bonfire is going to be amazing and loved by all, and instead of giving consideration to what the fuel for the bonfire will be, the half of the Senate comprised of arsonists and pyromaniacs has decided the bonfire must be funded at all costs and should be the biggest bonfire ever.
I fucking hate this. Fuck fascists.
Russia is extremely happy about all of this.
Bruh it’s not a bad actor, this couldn’t have been done if our politicians weren’t so greedy, and actually gave a damn about the American people.
It’s soul crushing at this point to see how effectively a bad actor can fuck up the US.
I think it’s gone underappreciated how much a government depends more on the quality of the people in power than the structure of government.
Especially by the nonfascist party with any power.
Part of what makes the Dem leadership so damn inept at protecting the people from the abuses of the GOP is their reverence for the “sanctity” of the systems and processes making them accept unacceptable outcomes.
For all the awful things that they do (which is pretty much everything they ever do), the GOP are right about one thing: in politics, getting the desired results is more important than following procedure.
That they’re being so hamfisted about it that they’re causing a shitload of unintended harm and that their goals are themselves extremely harmful to the vast majority of the people means that they’re still not right to do it though, of course…
A lot of their supposed ineptness aligns with a hidden wish to throw fights on particular issues. Like when they let the parliamentarian shoot down one of their immigration efforts when they held the senate and could dismiss the parliamentarian’s advice without so much as even a vote if they had wanted to.
For all the awful things that they do (which is pretty much everything they ever do), the GOP are right about one thing: in politics, getting the desired results is more important than following procedure.
This is the exact opposite take-away to draw from this. 😅
You’re asking for a dictatorship. You just want your dictatorship. And that’s bad. The structure of government still matters a great deal - it’s just irrelevant if the parties involved refuse to maintain the system. You want a democracy. More than you want outcomes (hear me out). Because without a democracy you are truly at the whim of a mad king. With a democracy, even a stagnant an ineffective one, progress can be made though it will be made slowly. BUT it is still preferable to a fast-acting autocracy that is unresponsive to the needs of the people.
You’re asking for a dictatorship.
On the contrary. I’m asking for politicians to focus on the real outcomes for real people alive today, rather than tying their own hands with avoidable bureaucracy.
You just want your dictatorship.
Nope. Representing the will of the people more than the ideas of long dead slave owners is not dictatorship no matter how much you insist on your ridiculous strawman.
The structure of government still matters a great deal
As a means towards the minimizing of abuse and otherwise making it more difficult to achieve malicious aims, sure.
Far too often, though, it’s being used as an invalid excuse for Dems to not do their REAL job of representing the will of the people who are affected by their actions.
it’s just irrelevant if the parties involved refuse to maintain the system
Technically correct, but unrelated to my point. I’m not advocating getting rid of all rules and having a free for all.
I’m saying that for example allowing an unelected bureaucrat with only ceremonial authority to decide whether a minimum wage raise is allowed is farcical to the point of dereliction of duty if not malicious sabotage.
You want a democracy
Correct. I want rule of the people. Not rule of the ancient and often irrelevant decrees of old.
More than you want outcomes (hear me out)
This better be fucking good…
Because without a democracy you are truly at the whim of a mad king
Again with the false dichotomy. I have never nor will I ever argue for autocracy.
There are other options than “you don’t get to have a living wage because an advisor said nah” and “let’s dictate policy on a whim!” 🤦
With a democracy,
Again pretending that I’m arguing against democracy rather than for a more representative one 🙄
even a stagnant an ineffective one, progress can be made though it will be made slowly.
That’s the problem, though: it’s generally been one step forward three steps back since 1980 or so, since the least awful party won’t fight, has awful messaging, and care more about the sacred bureaucracy and their owner donors than the people in general.
BUT it is still preferable to a fast-acting autocracy
Wow, you’ve built a dead horse out of straw and you’re still beating it! that would be impressive if it wasn’t so damn stupid.
unresponsive to the needs of the people.
that’s what I’m saying! That the Dems in their hyperfocus on norms and procedures ARE unresponsive to the wants and needs of the people!
BECAUSE their obsession with how Thomas Jefferson thought things ought to be done 250 years ago distracts them from properly focusing on the real life consequences of their actions and lack of same.
They’re acting like they’re in a fucking Aaron Sorkin show where ideology is the worst character flaw imaginable and whomever holds the best rousing speech about bravely weathering adversity deservedly wins everything 🤦
Yup. We have the people that destroy 100 yr corporations for their personal profit in charge… It’s gonna be great…
They really went out of their way to appoint the worst possible person for each job.
A word we should all learn for the sake of brevity:
I finally realized why I get so triggered over this - I lived it personally with my ex-wife. I see right through the facade of lies and bullshit. And it’s maddening that nobody else seems to understand it.
Yeah he’s got some serious abusive spouse energy going on at times with all the emotional whiplash. Beats the shit out of you and then “aww baby, come on, you know I love you” then beats you some more.
An abusive spouse who’s buddies with the police.
Only. The. Greatest.
Fucking Christ. This timeline gets stupider and stupider.
Going to have The Kardashians run the Department of Energy.
and Shia Lebeouf for ambassador to the UN. Pee Wee Herman for chairman of the joint chiefs. Gal Gadot for secretary of interior. What we really need is Steven Segal back. Maybe trump can ask his daddy for that. I imagine Putin is ready to toss him by now.
No shit, Kim K would be an improvement over 99% of the current pics.
At least it would be fun to get fucked by her
What a joke. Embarrassing.
Oh, yay! I can’t wait for my coverage to include dietary supplements. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll even get to keep coverage for something I actually need to live.
Maybe it’ll cover crudités.
Great now I’ve got both Fetterman AND Oz in my damn government
He at least managed to not vote for a Republican nominee for once. Maybe some small part of his pre-stroke brain is able to recognize at least one Republican he thinks is not fit for greater power. All it took was the Republican being the actual guy he built his career through opposing.
I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
With the way Trump’s stirring up trouble, we may not have to for very much longer.
At this rate, you won’t be for long.
