If you’re like me, you spit that out at least five times a week whenever you read a news article about the malevolent wreckage inflicted by the Trump administration in its efforts to destroy the power of the government, i.e., our government, to do what it was conceived to do. Which is…<\/p>\n
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence <\/em>[sic], promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.<\/em><\/p>\n Did you, like me, have to memorize this in school? This would have been in the same class — social studies or whatever it was called then — when we learned about our three branches of government, its parts and powers.<\/p>\n Those of us born lucky, i.e., into a secure, usually white middle class family, viewed our government as a generally helpful and benevolent structure acting to provide to everyone equally what the Preamble promised. But as we grew up, we began to understand what our luck of birth meant, and began to observe that not everybody was similarly lucky.<\/p>\n With this recognition, each of us took one of three internal directions. The first was toward satisfaction, a sense of superiority and a desire to preserve and enhance that self-appreciation throughout life. The second was toward a sense of inferiority and envy of those who were in the first group.<\/p>\n The third direction has been simply expressed by Anthony Fauci: “I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care for other people.”<\/p>\n And that is why my guts roil multiple times a week, because it has become clear that a great number of current government administrators don’t care. Don’t give a shit about people who live more perilously on our earth than I do.<\/p>\n They are hateful people and I wake up in the mornings hating them, often by name.<\/p>\n Here’s a case I read about on SCOTUSBlog, a case the current Supreme Court has decided to hear. It illustrates how awful these people are. They are willing to consider whether states can force people who rely on Medicaid to work for the benefit or lose it. I’ve highlighted the especial meanness of this especially nasty business during a pandemic.<\/p>\n \u2665<\/p>\n Justices agree to review legality of Medicaid work requirements<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Posted: 04 Dec 2020 02:39 PM PST<\/em><\/p>\n The Supreme Court announced on Friday afternoon that it would weigh in on the legality of the Trump administration\u2019s approval of Medicaid work requirements in Arkansas and New Hampshire. In a brief order<\/a>, the justices granted review in Azar v. Gresham<\/a> and Arkansas v. Gresham<\/a> and consolidated the cases for one hour of oral argument.<\/em><\/p>\n The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in February that the approval should be thrown out. The court ruled that, in green-lighting the work-requirement programs, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar failed to consider whether they would result in Medicaid beneficiaries losing health coverage. By tying Medicaid coverage to employment, job training or community service, the programs risked undermining the goal of furnishing health coverage \u2013 which, the court of appeals reasoned, is a \u201cprincipal objective of Medicaid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Both Azar and Arkansas went to the Supreme Court, telling the justices that the D.C. Circuit\u2019s decision is wrong and, if allowed to stand, could threaten efforts by other states to implement programs that promote the \u201chealth or financial independence, or both,\u201d of Medicaid recipients.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Assailing the federal government for asking the Supreme Court \u2013 during a pandemic \u2013 for permission \u201cto revive demonstration projects that would allow States to kick people off Medicaid for failing to seek and obtain jobs that are not there,<\/strong>\u201d the challengers urged the justices to deny review. Not only is the D.C. Circuit\u2019s ruling correct, they stressed, but the government now seeks to defend its decision to approve the work requirements on a ground that it never cited in that decision.<\/em><\/p>\n Oh but hey, SCOTUS is going to review this case anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you’re like me, you spit that out at least five times a week whenever you read a news article about the malevolent wreckage inflicted by the Trump administration in its efforts to destroy the power of the government, i.e., … Continue reading