jerseyhoya wrote:These people are awful and should have lots of bombs dropped on their heads #nuanced

jerseyhoya wrote:The NRSC has basically thrown a perfect game this primary season. With the challenges to incumbents and the unelectable in the general sorts thrown forward by the tea party in some races, the job they managed is really remarkable.

The GOP does have ongoing issues in primaries that hinder the party in generals, but for reasons of good 'establishment' candidates and shitty challengers and ready incumbents none of that broke through this time. And no one else here really cares, but the folks in the national party deserve a massive fucking tip of the cap for navigating this minefield. Without it we wouldn't be set up so damn well to pick up 6+ seats in November to get the majority back. If this attention to primaries had occurred in the past two cycles, we might already be in the majority, and if not it would be a complete layup this cycle.

683 Tweet 683TweetOfficials in a Georgia county are refusing to pay medical expenses for a toddler badly injured during a police raid on the home where the boy was staying.

Bounkham Phonesavanh was hospitalized for weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT officer tossed a flash grenade into his crib during a no-knock raid May 28 in Habersham County.

The 19-month-old suffered serious wounds, including a hole in his chest that exposed his ribs, and burns to his face and chest when the grenade detonated just inches away from him as he slept.

The grenades were developed for combat use and are intended to temporarily blind and deafen anyone nearby.

Officials in Habersham County, which conducted the drug raid, have turned down the family’s request to pay for the boy’s medical bills, saying they’re not allowed to help.

“The question before the board was whether it is legally permitted to pay these expenses,” county attorney Donnie Hunt said in a statement. “After consideration of this question following advice of counsel, the board of commissioners has concluded that it would be in violation of the law for it to do so.”

But the Phonesavanh family isn’t satisfied with the decision or the explanation, their attorney said.

The attorney said an independent investigation in June found the county used faulty information to obtain the search warrant, and the county continues to examine its handling of the case.

A state senator has introduced legislation to limit the issuing of no-knock warrants in Georgia, although he admits a previous attempt in 2006 failed.

pacino wrote:Georgia County will not pay medical bills for baby their flash bomb injured:

683 Tweet 683TweetOfficials in a Georgia county are refusing to pay medical expenses for a toddler badly injured during a police raid on the home where the boy was staying.

Bounkham Phonesavanh was hospitalized for weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT officer tossed a flash grenade into his crib during a no-knock raid May 28 in Habersham County.

The 19-month-old suffered serious wounds, including a hole in his chest that exposed his ribs, and burns to his face and chest when the grenade detonated just inches away from him as he slept.

The grenades were developed for combat use and are intended to temporarily blind and deafen anyone nearby.

Officials in Habersham County, which conducted the drug raid, have turned down the family’s request to pay for the boy’s medical bills, saying they’re not allowed to help.

“The question before the board was whether it is legally permitted to pay these expenses,” county attorney Donnie Hunt said in a statement. “After consideration of this question following advice of counsel, the board of commissioners has concluded that it would be in violation of the law for it to do so.”

But the Phonesavanh family isn’t satisfied with the decision or the explanation, their attorney said.

The attorney said an independent investigation in June found the county used faulty information to obtain the search warrant, and the county continues to examine its handling of the case.

A state senator has introduced legislation to limit the issuing of no-knock warrants in Georgia, although he admits a previous attempt in 2006 failed.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Great thread title, jh.

pacino wrote:Georgia County will not pay medical bills for baby their flash bomb injured:

683 Tweet 683TweetOfficials in a Georgia county are refusing to pay medical expenses for a toddler badly injured during a police raid on the home where the boy was staying.

Bounkham Phonesavanh was hospitalized for weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT officer tossed a flash grenade into his crib during a no-knock raid May 28 in Habersham County.

The 19-month-old suffered serious wounds, including a hole in his chest that exposed his ribs, and burns to his face and chest when the grenade detonated just inches away from him as he slept.

The grenades were developed for combat use and are intended to temporarily blind and deafen anyone nearby.

Officials in Habersham County, which conducted the drug raid, have turned down the family’s request to pay for the boy’s medical bills, saying they’re not allowed to help.

“The question before the board was whether it is legally permitted to pay these expenses,” county attorney Donnie Hunt said in a statement. “After consideration of this question following advice of counsel, the board of commissioners has concluded that it would be in violation of the law for it to do so.”

But the Phonesavanh family isn’t satisfied with the decision or the explanation, their attorney said.

The attorney said an independent investigation in June found the county used faulty information to obtain the search warrant, and the county continues to examine its handling of the case.

A state senator has introduced legislation to limit the issuing of no-knock warrants in Georgia, although he admits a previous attempt in 2006 failed.

So the county prefers a Tort Act claim to get filed against it--and possibly some civil rights violations to boot-- than simply acknowledge wrongdoing and pay some medical bills? Wow.

Three big trends have decisively changed the Republican Party over the past decade, weakening its ability to win presidential elections and gravely inhibiting its ability to govern effectively if it nevertheless somehow were to win. First, Republicans have come to rely more and more on the votes of the elderly, the most government-dependent segment of the population -- a serious complication for a party committed to reducing government. Second, the Republican donor class has grown more ideologically extreme, encouraging congressional Republicans to embrace ever more radical tactics. Third, the party’s internal processes have rigidified, in ways that dangerously inhibit its ability to adapt to changing circumstances. The GOP can overcome the negative consequences of these changes and, in time, surely will. The ominous question for Republicans is, How much time will the overcoming take?
…
Bush’s deviations from conservative orthodoxy do explain why the party has veered rightward since 2008. But condemning deviations has also provided a welcome escape from uncomfortable questions about whether party orthodoxy still produces positive results under contemporary circumstances. After all, when it came to economic management, Bush governed very much in the manner of President Ronald Reagan, although he failed to achieve Reagan’s outcomes. Bush cut income taxes -- but instead of a 1980s-style boom, he got stagnating wages followed by a severe global recession. Like Reagan, Bush relaxed regulation of business, especially energy and finance. Instead of a surge in productivity, however, he presided over a housing bubble and a spike in gasoline prices.

What to think of this? Better not to think of it at all. Better to double down. Since 2006, those Republican politicians who have ventured new ideas have been compelled to disavow those experiments in order to retain any chance of surviving future party contests. Romney had to distance himself from the health-care reform he oversaw as governor of Massachusetts. Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich both had to walk back their early support for actions to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
…
The fear of the “tipping point” that gripped Republicans in 2012 was exactly wrong. Obamacare won’t turn Americans into grateful serfs, endlessly voting Democratic to guarantee their handouts. Every other advanced country has some kind of universal health-care program -- and also a center-right party that wins much (and even most) of the time. Right-of-center governments currently hold power in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and many other places. These parties haven’t run out of issues on which they can disagree with their social democratic opponents, and they’ve found plenty of voters willing to cast a ballot for private initiative and business enterprise.
…
Conservatism should be thriving in the United States. The Obama administration has raised taxes on high earners to the highest levels in 30 years, while failing to act on promises to reform the corporate tax system. Yet even as taxes rise, government revenues fall short of what’s needed to meet existing commitments to retirees -- never mind to fund the costly new social spending that is the chief domestic legacy of the Obama years. The health-care system in the United States continues to cost more and deliver worse results than that of any other developed country. Instead of market mechanisms to deal with climate change, the Obama administration has ordered up a new system of bureaucratic regulation of carbon emissions. More children are growing up in fatherless homes, more men in their prime working years have quit the job market, and the benefits of economic growth seem to be flowing to fewer and fewer families. Washington’s allies and rivals alike sense a weakening of American power -- and a loss of American purpose.

The United States desperately needs a party of business enterprise, of American leadership, and of work and family that can win elections and govern effectively. Instead, the country’s center-right has detoured into an ideological dead end. It must speak for a coalition broader than retirees and the rich. Above all, it must accept -- and even welcome -- that in the United States, as in every other developed country, universal health insurance is here to stay.

slugsrbad wrote:

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Great thread title, jh.

pacino wrote:Georgia County will not pay medical bills for baby their flash bomb injured:

683 Tweet 683TweetOfficials in a Georgia county are refusing to pay medical expenses for a toddler badly injured during a police raid on the home where the boy was staying.

Bounkham Phonesavanh was hospitalized for weeks in a burn unit after a SWAT officer tossed a flash grenade into his crib during a no-knock raid May 28 in Habersham County.

The 19-month-old suffered serious wounds, including a hole in his chest that exposed his ribs, and burns to his face and chest when the grenade detonated just inches away from him as he slept.

The grenades were developed for combat use and are intended to temporarily blind and deafen anyone nearby.

Officials in Habersham County, which conducted the drug raid, have turned down the family’s request to pay for the boy’s medical bills, saying they’re not allowed to help.

“The question before the board was whether it is legally permitted to pay these expenses,” county attorney Donnie Hunt said in a statement. “After consideration of this question following advice of counsel, the board of commissioners has concluded that it would be in violation of the law for it to do so.”

But the Phonesavanh family isn’t satisfied with the decision or the explanation, their attorney said.

The attorney said an independent investigation in June found the county used faulty information to obtain the search warrant, and the county continues to examine its handling of the case.

A state senator has introduced legislation to limit the issuing of no-knock warrants in Georgia, although he admits a previous attempt in 2006 failed.

So the county prefers a Tort Act claim to get filed against it--and possibly some civil rights violations to boot-- than simply acknowledge wrongdoing and pay some medical bills? Wow.

There are probably state or municipal laws that prevent paying costs/bills without an official adjudication.