Samantha Bee rips Paul Ryan's fantasy to cut Medicaid

Last night on Full Frontal, Samantha Bee covered the Republican Senate's healthcare bill. She also has a great joke about Speaker of the House Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) fantasy which is to cut Medicaid. Check out the video below. Hilarious. That's a picture of Ayn Rand at the 1:50 mark. Rand is an inspiration to Ryan.

Conservative Republicans lie about Medicaid cuts

The Republican Senate's Healthcare plan known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act cuts Medicaid in the amount of about 770 billion dollars. Conservative Republicans argue that they are actually spending more from 2018 to 2026. And they are right that spending is going up but the conservatives are lying that this is an increase rather than a cut because it fails to take into consideration the larger increases under current law. The Republican Senate plan slows the spending, reduces eligibility and uses a lower inflation rate. The number of the cut comes from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Here are three reports that indicate the Republicans actually are cutting Medicaid. Politifact. USA Today. In this article The Daily Kos destroys the Trump Administration's charts.

Stephen Colbert skewers Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle company Goop looks like it is selling snake oil. Sounds like great comic fodder for Stephen Colbert. Here are videos from June 22 and a second one from last night.

If the Trump Campaign colluded with the Russians then it is illegal

Wow. We're seeing conservative Republicans argue that collusion between Trump and the Russians is not illegal. I've written about the possible crimes of the Trump campaign. They range from the Logan Act to campaign finance laws to the epspionage act. But I guess it takes law professors to explain it to the conservatives. Here's a Business Insider article with a list of possible crimes that could be applied if the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. Sigh, we need some outrage. Here's Keith Olbermann.

Transformers: The Last Knight IMAX 3D review

I am going to regret saying this but I kind of liked Transformers: The Last Knight. Yeah, I know it's getting skewered by the film critics. But with all of its flaws, the basic story gets through with no help from director Michael Bay. When Bay stops being Bay, the movie works. It's like Trump's aides trying to hide his smartphone so he can't tweet.

Transformers: The Last Knight. starts out in England at the time of King Arthur. The Knights of the Round Table are badly outnumbered and about to be defeated by Wonder Woman and the Guardians of the Galaxy. Okay, the stuff about Wonder Woman and the Guardians isn't in the movie. A barely recognizable Stanley Tucci as a drunken Merlin the Wizard seeks the help of an alien transformer to assist Arthur. With this needless and silly plot thread, I'm guessing that Tucci was really blitzed to deliver his lines. Anyway, he gets this magical staff that helps the knights. Then some transformers tun into a three headed dragon which is kind of lost in the all the action and they defeat The Avengers. Okay, they defeat the knights' adversaries. I forgot who they were fighting.

Flash forward. it's a time after the dreadful Transformers: The Age of Extinction. (2014) Spunky Hispanic orphan teenager Izabella (Isabela Moner) is living in a restricted zone with her robot R2-D2. Um... sorry wrong cute, small robot. It's name is Squweeks. The area is restricted because the government is hunting down all transformers even the good ones which are called Autobots. Anyway, some boys stumble in and find her. One of the kids immediately gets a crush on her. Hey, this is here for Bay's need to romance young and younger girls. Remember, the teenage daughter sexual affair with an adult in Age of Extinction? Anyway, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) from that movie, saves the kids from government robots out to kill transformers. He finds a old robot who gives him a magical medallion from the days of King Arthur. Yeager and Izabella escape, and the other kids are blown to bits by the government. Okay, the kids getting blown to bits didn't happen, they just disappear.

Yeager and Izabella who stows away on his jeep arrive at a junkyard where Yeager hides out with his robot friends, Cambot, Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow. Sorry, about those are the robots from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yeager's robot friends are Bearded Guy with Mini-Gun, Samurai Guy, and Bumble Bee. Hey, I only know two Autobots. Meanwhile, Cybertron, a transformer planet is being flown on a collision course to earth. The government gets the evil Decepticons to attack Yeager and his autobots.

Meanwhile, the action is being monitored by Sir Edmund Burton. (Anthony Hopkins?!) He transports Yeager and Bumblebee to England. He also kidnaps Professor Viviane Wembly (Laura Haddock) who bears a striking resemblance to Megan Fox. This being a Michael Bay movie, she's here for eye-candy. Yeager and Wembley are recruited for the problem of planet crashing into planet thing. Whew, talk about all the stuff in this movie. I didn't even get to Optimus Prime. Folks, that's the basic plot description needed to review this film. And it's also the problem.

The screenplay by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Ken Nolan and story by Akiva Goldsman has too many characters and confusing plot threads. There needs to be less action written in the movie and more character development. The teenage girl Izabella needed a few scenes where she and her robot friend bond. Instead, we're introduced to her through big action combat scenes. There are so many characters, human and transformer that they took away from any time to develop Yeager and Izabella's quasi father-daughter relationship. The result of all these multiple characters and action set pieces is that I had little emotional connection with the major characters. And you can tell the film wanted you to feel.

Director Michael Bay is always the problem with Transformers movies. Everything that makes them a nauseous experience is here. Too much fast cutting. Swirling camera shots. One big action piece after another with no time to breathe. And explosions. Did I say explosions? EXPLOSIONS! Sexist dialogue with sexual innuendo directed at the female character. Too many confusing transformer versus transformer fights.

But some strange, positive things occurred in this Bay movie that didn't exist in the other ones. First, there was actual wit in this movie. Funny jokes about overly dramatic music in film. Seeing Sir Anthony Hopkins flip someone off was almost worth the price of admission. Real diversity among the protagonists. A Hispanic lead. A scene that takes place in Cuba where some Autobots are hiding. Very little product placement. With the exception of stealing a line from Winston Churchill, there are no cringe worthy plot threads. Wembly is not forced to wear tight shorts though she does have a clinging dress that squeezes her chest. Still for a Bay movie, that's like a female hero wearing a burqa. But there's no gratuitous shot of a woman's behind. Wait a minute. Did producer Steven Spielberg have Bay kidnapped so he could direct some of this movie?

If you're going to see this movie, shell out the extra bucks and see it in IMAX 3D. First, Bay shot the movie in native 3D. That means a two camera rig. Second, according to the video, he shot it with IMAX cameras. (Video below.) The IMAX theater always has better resolution and clarity thus enhancing any 3D film. But any 3D movie shot in native 3D is better than one that is converted. All nooks and crannies of objects are captured. This causes better pop and depth. Bay also knows he's shooting in 3D and sets up shots to exploit the effect. It's not VR but I felt like some objects were in the theater. This type of native 3D is worth your extra money. Send a message to studios for more native 3D movies rather than conversions..



When Transformers: The Last Knight focuses on Yeager and Izabella's friendship with the robots and their struggles, the movie succeeds. It only stumbles when all those explosions, transformer fights, screaming dialogue and roving camera shots are thrown at you. Regardless, it's a good time waster. The grade is C Plus.

Senate Republican health care plan is cruel

Conservative Republicans in the Senate have released their health care plan. It's meaner than the House version. It will cut Medicaid at deeper rate and transfers those savings to make tax cuts for the rich. Yep, Republicans want to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich. This will kill many poor people by kicking them off Medicaid. Here's a summary of Obamacare, and Trumpcare, the House and Senate versions. Huffington Post. Note the Senate plan breaks Trump's promises to cover everybody in the country. Video at the 10 minute mar k.

I've also included Seth Myers' video where he takes a Closer Look. We do need a laugh because frankly folks the conservative Republicans are inflicting a lot of pain to working people..

Rand Paul is an idiot

Conservative Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) is selling the working people of Kentucky a bill of goods. On Morning Joe, Paul is asked about what he would say to the working people of Kentucky who are going to be kicked off Medicaid under the proposed Republican health care plan. I've got the video below and check out his "answer" at about the six minute mark. He doesn't answer the question. That's because he clearly doesn't like Medicaid and the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. He then proposes "legalizing" health insurance to be priced at $1.00 a day. Not realistic.

Look, legalizing health insurance at $1.00 per day sounds great. Note that Paul doesn't say he would mandate insurance companies to sell it at that price. At this time no health insurance company is going to sell health insurance at that price. The only way that happens is if there is a large pool of consumers and huge amount of insurance companies competing to sell policies. Since the Republican plan gets rid of the individual mandate, there won't be that guaranteed pool of consumers. Insurance companies won't have enough in premiums to make a profit. Um.. Rand, insurance companies don't make money paying claims. There will be less insuarance companies hoping in to increase competition. You sir are an idiot.

Get insurance companies out of health insurance. This country should go to a single payer plan, i.e., Medicare for all.