AHCA DOA: Today's news for March 23rd

Before I continue, allow me to state for the record I am not going to comment on the terrorist attack in London. However, if you feel the need to find out more about it, here is the latest.

Back to the real news...

Fox News:

ObamaCare replacement bill in jeopardy after conservatives, moderates fail to reach deal

House Republicans' ObamaCare replacement plan was in peril early Thursday after lengthy leadership and committee meetings failed to produce an agreement that would shore up support among conservative members.

"We have not cut the deal yet," said House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. The committee spent 13 hours in session Wednesday without setting up a formal rule governing debate on the health care bill, which had been expected to be voted on by the full House Thursday.

Fortunately for Republicans, help is on the way:

Politico:

Koch network pledges to defend Republicans who vote against GOP health bill

The Koch brothers' network of well-funded outside groups says it will spend millions to protect Republicans who oppose the party's health care bill from political fallout.

Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, the Koch network's big budget grass-roots activism and advertising groups, are teaming up to create a "seven-figure" reserve fund to support lawmakers who buck President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan on the health care vote, as the threat of primaries looms over some opponents of the bill. The Koch groups will spend the money on paid media, direct mail and grass-roots canvassing.

Freedom Partners called the GOP bill "Obamacare 2.0" and said it falls short of truly repealing the 2010 law.

“Republicans have been promising to fully repeal Obamacare since it became law. This bill doesn’t do that," said James Davis, executive vice president of Freedom Partners. "We will stand with lawmakers who keep their promise and oppose this legislation — and work toward a solution that reduces costs and provides Americans with the relief they need and deserve.” 

Call it a hunch, but I think that wasn't the kind of help that President Trump and House speaker Ryan wanted.

In other Trump news...

Politico:

Nunes claims some Trump transition messages were intercepted

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes declared Wednesday that members of Donald Trump’s transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under inadvertent surveillance following November’s presidential election.

The White House and Trump’s allies immediately seized on the statement as vindication of the president’s much-maligned claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower phones — even though Nunes himself said that’s not what his new information shows.

But then the whole Russian connection storyline takes a turn for the absurd:

Politico:

GOP Takes Up Russia-Aligned Attack On Soros

A group of congressional Republicans is teaming up with Russia-backed politicians in Eastern Europe with the shared goal of stopping a common enemy: billionaire financier George Soros.

Led by Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, the conservative lawmakers have signed on to a volley of letters accusing Soros of using his philanthropic spending to project his liberal sensibilities onto European politics. As Lee and other senators put it in a March 14 letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Soros’ Open Society Foundations are trying “to push a progressive agenda and invigorate the political left.”

So the Republicans feel the same way about Soros as the Russians do? That doesn't mean they are complicit with the Russians. Politico really needs to lighten up on the Russian meme. This is reaching epic levels of silliness.

That said, if Soros wants to pour money into promoting Leftist causes in Eastern Europe, God bless him. The GOP needs to shut up about it.

Speaking of free speech...

USA Today:

AT&T, other U.S. advertisers quit Google, YouTube over extremist videos

AT&T, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson and other major U.S. advertisers are pulling hundreds of millions of dollars in business from Google and its video service YouTube despite the Internet giant's pledge this week to keep offensive and extremist content away from ads.

AT&T said that it is halting all ad spending on Google except for search ads. That means AT&T ads will not run on YouTube or two million websites that take part in Google's ad network.

"We are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate," the company said in an emailed statement. "Until Google can ensure this won’t happen again, we are removing our ads from Google’s non-search platforms."

While these companies have the right to pull their advertising dollars, sadly it is in the cause of denying free speech to people. "Offensive and extremist" have different meanings to different people. Once you start down that road, it isn't a long trip to Oceania.