Say ‘no’

I expect better from our elected officials than what we’ve seen. It’s unthinkable to me that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to end Medicaid as we know it. I’m counting on Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton to reject this bill, a betrayal of the people Congress is elected to represent.

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The American Health Care Act would force 24 million people to lose insurance, more than half of them low-income Americans. And capping Medicaid would force states to ration care, shoulder more costs, and deny health coverage to many of those who need it most.

These are real people’s lives on the line. The Senate needs to say “no” to any proposal that guts Medicaid and threatens the health care of millions of Americans.

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Khatera Karzai Fayetteville

From the web

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In response to Max Brantley’s May 25 column, “Virgil, quick come see”:

In my opinion, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s reasoning for removing certain statues was well presented in his speech. He knew he had some opposition to what he was doing. I also think the longtime gap between the war ending and the statue being erected is strange. New Orleans has been through a lot of trauma over the years. I never paid attention to statues of Robert E. Lee. It doesn’t mean anything to me in the year 2017. I don’t feel a sentimental heart-wrenching bond to the Confederate flag and don’t particularly like pig and hogs. If you are a person who wants to worship the Confederate flag or Razorback pigs, I don’t really care. I am still an Arkansan and still a patriotic American, because cloth flags and Razorback pigs, etc., are material objects that don’t represent everything I am. I am not just one thing. I have always been more interested in World War II history. Jason Rapert’s Ten Commandments monument to himself means nothing to me, although some people of other religions are offended by it. Regardless of how you feel about New Orleans taking down statues, I think Landrieu’s speech was one of the best speeches I have ever heard.

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ShineonLibby

You are far too easily pleased by ignorant platitudes, Shin.  The problem with Mitch the Vandal is that he didn’t even address the fact, the historical, critical fact, that some of those ex-Confederates became important American advocates for civil and equal rights. That was the pity of having him defile the Beauregard statue based only on what he did before the Civil War, and not after.  That is why these monuments are so vital, because there is a discussion that has to be heard, where folks discuss things based on facts, not lies or hysteria or hurt little feelings.  I really cannot give a flying fuck about some easily offended idiot who doesn’t even know the basic facts about what is offending them. Facts should drive policy, not feelings or emotion.  When you explain to someone looking at the Beauregard statue that he fought FOR civil rights for blacks, then you have a vital perspective that is missing. You can have a discussion, instead of throwing things down some Orwellian memory hole.

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StevenE

Mitch Landrieu, the Arkansas Times, liberals, et al., may think they’re being great social reformers, but removing the Confederate statues in New Orleans and other Southern cities is just another provocation in the escalation of a major civil conflict.

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To the average person mass media may seem innocuous, but in the real world it’s a very powerful force that has the capacity to shape people’s ideas, opinions, behaviors and political activities. Essentially, for around 60 years, America’s corrupted networks, Hollywood studios, entertainment companies and liberal academia and print media have been scripting a conflict over a false racial narrative with their programming, films and news, the issues of political correctness and now the election of Donald Trump. 

So the real reason for driving this false racial narrative being scripted by mass media is actually an attack on the people of this country who celebrate Southern culture and heritage and are proud of being white. The Confederate monument angle and that they represent a horrible episode of slavery are just pretexts to provoke a civil conflict. Actually, the conflict has already begun in certain high-octane political localities such as Berkeley, Calif., where anti-fascist followers clashed violently with Trump supporters. Landrieu and the Arkansas Times and millions of other liberals can incorrectly depict the purpose of erecting the Confederate monuments or what they represent to people to condemn their opponents who don’t delight in the defamation of Southern culture and heritage and white people if they want. But it’s nothing less than their own agenda of bigotry and hatred they so frequently accuse others of having. And it is an agenda of provocation that is leading to a very violent civil conflict in the greatest depression in U.S. history.

Thomas Pope

In response to the June 2 Arkansas Blog post, “The Jason Rapert open line”:

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How much would you pay to live a week in a world where you didn’t have to read the names of Jason Rapert or Donald Trump? How much have you got?

Silverback66

I’ve known meth heads (not personally but through random occurrences at jobs) that have fried their brains to the point that they only repeat certain words and actions over and over again until they’re either incapacitated or dead. Rapert is just like that, and to some extent, so are other conservatives, only they’re smoking shittier dope with less purity (thanks, “Breaking Bad”). He’ll be the same petty, short, angry, pathetic, latent coward that he is over and over again until he’s either out of office or out of existence. Time is a flat circle.

nadaquehacer

Jason Rapert is the 21st century version of Elmer Gantry, but I still think Burt Lancaster’s version was better.

Deathbyinches

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