Day: June 26, 2017

I’m rereading the series in french which is good practice except it takes me forever.

You’re a wizard, Harry!

Twenty years ago today, British publisher Bloomsbury released J.K. Rowling’s debut novel, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” the first in the seven-book series about a boy wizard that went on to become a global phenomenon.

The outspoken billionaire author, who was living in relative poverty when she first completed her manuscript, took to Twitter on Monday to celebrate the milestone.

Less ‘mean’?

Twenty two million fewer people would have insurance under the Senate GOP’s health care bill by 2026 when compared to current law, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday. The CBO’s analysis of the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would partially dismantle the Affordable Care Act, comes just days before the Senate is expected to vote on the bill.

The analysis find that the Senate Republicans did not much better than their House counterparts—whose Obamacare repeal bill the CBO found would result in 23 million losing insurance—in staving off devastating coverage losses under their plans. The CBO said of the Senate bill on Monday that the first round of coverage losses, some 15 million in 2018, would come from the elimination of the individual mandate.

As time goes on, the Senate bill’s deep cuts to Medicaid would take hold, and the CBO predicted that by 2026 enrollment in the program among those under 65 would fall by 16 percent.

As a blogger, I try to stay out of the Internet:

White House employee Ivanka Trump apparently has a rather curious understanding of what it means to be a senior adviser to the president. On Monday, she informed Fox & Friends that despite having an office in the West Wing, “I try to stay out of politics.”

Trump went on to say: “I instead like to focus on areas where I can add positive value, where I can contribute to the agenda. Policies around workforce development, about ensuring that barriers are removed for the American working family … focusing on how we can help our veterans and how we can really deliver them the care that they so need.”