Friday, March 31, 2017

Heffley and Yudichak, amazing guys

Rep. Heffley and Sen. Yudichak have announced that Carbon County will receive $800,000 in grants for various purposes, spread around to different municipalities.  The grants are for a host of projects, one of which will increase water pressure in the West End of Palmerton, according to Mr. Heffley.


I think it is just wonderful the way those two official sty have dipped into their own pockets to provide the people of our county with grants.  It must have been quite a personal sacrifice to come up with those funds, but at least they can bask in our gratitude.  They are truly special to sacrifice like that for our benefit.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

China, environmental leader

China was the home of the “one child” rule, which may have been the most important environmental policy of the 2nd half of the 20th century.  It brought a burgeoning population with attendant famines under control.  Although that policy has been abandoned, it is because China has become an industrialized country where large families are seen as a disadvantage, not a positive.  The rule is no longer needed.

Now China is emerging as an environmental leader in other areas.  China’s policy on discouraging ivory use, which I originally thought was not really serious, is having an effect.  The price of ivory, according to “Save the Elephants,” a legitimate wildlife organization, has dropped by half in the past three years, mainly because of dropping demand.

In alternative energy, China is rapidly moving past the U.S.  Trump has indicated he won’t try to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement, and he has scrapped the Obama administration’s policies on climate change.  Guess who has become the global leader in alternative energy use.  That’s right, China.  


Two or three years ago, I never thought I would see China as the environmental nation and the U.S. as the pariah.  That’s what two months of Trump has done.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Defending "truth"

The philosopher Richard Rorty (1931-2007) thought that proving “truth” was difficult if not impossible, since any philosophical conclusion uses language, which itself differs from culture to culture and over time.  The philosopher can’t stand outside his or her own language.  

Nonetheless, Rorty wrote that Western liberal thought was worth defending because of its results.  He said that believers in the Western enlightenment tradition should be proudly “ethnocentric,” since the tests for truth in politics, science, and, I would add, objective news reporting, led to results that have been beneficial.

Scientific progress, individual freedom, and self-government all result from the project which began with the Enlightenment.  We have a scientific method for establishing what works.  Without that method, I wouldn’t even be alive.  We have a method for establishing the truth of statements; we use evidence and verification.  We don’t believe that Hillary Clinton ran a sex ring out of a pizza restaurant or that Obama was born in Kenya or that global warming is a hoax, because we don’t have independent evidence to back up those claims.


Rorty did not live to see current the attack on Western values.  I think he expected other cultures (for example, various religious groups) to have their own definition of “truth,” i.e., the world was created in six days by an entity who evidently looks like man.  What I don’t think he would have anticipated is a President of the United States breaking with our Enlightenment tradition.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

White Trash

Deborah Eisenberg’s White Trash is a 400 year history of the poorest people in America.  I just finished reading it, and it was depressing.  The earliest settlements in New England and Virginia contained marginal people, and their “betters” usually blamed “those people” for their condition.  If they were poor, it somehow had to be their own fault.

In the early 20th century the eugenics movement actually pushed for the sterilization of marginal people, and “scientific” studies blamed “breeding” for the persistence of poverty.  

Groups like the Industrial Workers of the World and the CIO tried to unite all classes of workers, but in recent decades “identity” politics has largely replaced class politics.  One could argue that Trump made a class appeal, but he appealed almost exclusively to whites, not to the lower or lower middle class across racial and ethnic lines.  The Clinton campaign, of course, was noted for its direct appeals to various ethnic, gender, and racial subgroups.

I’m old enough and Marxist enough to still think in class terms.  I’ve always been opposed to affirmative action plans that are based on race or ethnicity.  To me, lower income blacks, Latinos, Asians, and whites have a common interest against the guys in suits who own the stocks and run the corporations.  


Unfortunately, the people on top have always been successful at pitting racial and ethnic groups against one another.  Just look at politics in states like Mississippi or Alabama.  

Monday, March 27, 2017

The New Colossus

Since Trump’s election I have seen lines from “The New Colossus” quoted in various publications.  The sonnet,  written by Emma Lazarus, can be found on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

I thought you might like to read the whole poem.


Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”


Emma Lazarus, 1883

Sunday, March 26, 2017

How to spot a possible terrorist

The April issue of Harper’s Magazine has a list of incidents in which U.S. and U.K. airlines removed Muslims or passengers who were perceived to be Muslim from their flights.  

Asked for a glass of water.
Asked for a second Diet Coke.
Saved seats for friends.
Requested a strap for a child’s booster seat.
Upgraded to business class.
Read a book.
Read an article titled “What ISIS Really Wants.”
Looked at a flight attendant.
Looked at an Arabic text message.
Appeared scary to another passenger.
Watched the news.
Soved an algebraic equation.
Sweated.

Prayed for a safe flight.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Toronto cancels school trips to the U.S.

The Toronto District School Board announced that it would no longer plan student field trips to the U.S.  

“We don’t want to put our students in the position of traveling down to the border with their friends and classmates on a trip and then being told they cannot enter the U.S. for no legitimate reason,” according to a spokesman for the Toronto Board.  

The Toronto district has about 246,000 students, including students from the six countries referenced in Trump’s order.  


This information is from Craig S.Smith, “School Trips From Toronto To the U.S. Will Cease,” New York Times, (Mar. 26, 2017), p. A7.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Not a nice person

Today I realized I am a mean person.  My self-image was that I was a nice man, kind to strangers and small animals, the antithesis of mean.  Then, today, I was disappointed that the Republican “Health Care” bill didn’t pass.  

I wanted all those people who benefit from the Affordable Care Act and voted for Trump, people in Kentucky and Ohio and Mississippi, Trump supporters who never had health insurance pre-Obama but now do, to lose their medical insurance, to see the consequences of their vote.  

Instead, the House voted against Trumpcare.  They lucked out.  They voted for a man who promised to take away their health care, but now they still have it.  I was so disappointed.


I’m also ashamed of myself.  What kind of person wants other people to suffer?  I am not a nice man.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Hunting with semiautomatic rifles

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is now taking comments on chaining its policy to allow the use of semiautomatic rifles.  

Here is my comment, sent earlier this evening.

Dear Game Commission members,
Because of knee and back problems, I haven’t hunted for the last few years, but when I did, I always regarded it as a sport, not a way to efficiently kill animals.  Please keep it a sport and don’t allow semiautomatic rifles.  I don’t care if Pennsylvania is the only state not to allow such rifles.  We should set an example for the other 49, not follow blindly in a misguided policy.


The comment period is open until March 27.  The email address for the Game Commission is <pgccomments@pa.gov>.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Impeach Trump

Since January 20 I’ve been driving around with an “Impeach Trump” bumper sticker on my truck.  I had them specially made at a print shop in Broadheadsville, and I was expecting more reaction, either thumbs up and honking from reasonable and decent people, or having my tires shot out or my windows broken from the same haters who shouted “Lock her up” and destroyed our Hillary yard signs last fall.


Until yesterday, nothing.  Then a man in Jim Thorpe asked me where I got the sticker.  I told him I had it made, and I could send him one.  He was so delighted, and said that it would go on his car the day he received it.  So now there are two of us in Carbon County with “Impeach Trump” stickers.  

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Neil Gorsuch

We actually had a qualified nominee for the Supreme Court, but the Republican Senate, in a naked power grab, refused to even meet with Mr. Garland.  My own Senator Toomey was part of that cabal.

Now we get Neil Gorsuch, polite guy, friend of corporate interests, recommended by the “originalist” commentators, who believe that the document approved in 1789 must be followed to the letter.  Originalists, by the way, always seem to forget about the intentions of the people who have added 27 amendments, including the13th, 14, and 15th.

Gorsuch is very polite, very personable.  He is also opposed to workers’ rights, women’s reproductive freedom, limits on campaign contributions, and environmental protections.  If Democratic Senators have any integrity, they will vote against a man who is completely unqualified to sit on the highest court in the land.


Remember who nominated him. 

Monday, March 20, 2017

First Day of Spring

If this is the first day of spring, why were my crocuses blooming weeks ago?  Why were the migrating birds here over a month ago?

In the last half of the 20th century, the spring emergence of leaves, frogs, birds, and flowers advanced in the Northern Hemisphere by 2.8 days per decade.  In an article entitled “Springing Too Far Ahead,” David George Haskell, a professor of biology at the University of the South, noted that in his lifetime (he’s nearly 50), springtime has advanced about two full weeks.

If you don’t need to be a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing, neither do you need to be a climate scientist to observe global climate changes.  Just get outside of Trump Tower and walk around Central Park occasionally.  


When Bush beat Gore (?), I was depressed, thinking we were losing precious time to deal with planetary warming.  After eight years of President Obama, I began to have hope.  Now we are not only losing momentum, we are actually regressing.  

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Hope on Gerrymandering

The Incumbent Protection Plan, also known as gerrymandering, is under attack in Pennsylvania.  A group called Fair Districts PA is trying to drum up public support for fair and reasonable legislative districts in the state.  Everyone who studies government knows that gerrymandering leads to cynicism, gridlock, and a decline in voting participation.  Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get legislators like Doyle Heffley or Jerry Knowles to change the system that elected them.

Now a U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin has ruled 2-1 that Wisconsin’s gerrymandered districts are illegally drawn.

Most district court cases ordinarily go to a federal Court of Appeals, but redistricting cases by pass the Appeals Court and go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.  If the Supreme Court upholds the Wisconsin decision, Pennsylvania’s district lines will have to be redrawn as well.  


Keep your fingers crossed.

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Abolish the agency! Fix the problem!

The Des Moines Water Works, the utility that provides drinking water to Iowa’s capital, has spent millions of dollars to clean its water of pollutants that run off from farm fields.  Iowa, with about three million people, also is home to 22 million hogs and 55 million chickens.  Those animals produce lots of manure, about 20 billion gallons of which is spread on Iowa’s fields.  

Tired of spending all that money to clean up Des Moines drinking water, the Water Works utility filed lawsuits against some of the larger ag operations.

The Republican legislature, evidently sensitive to the interests of big ag, is now considering a bill to dissolve the utility, which would effectively end the lawsuit.

Incidentally, the EPA has found that approximately 750 streams and creeks in Iowa are also impaired, mostly because of agricultural runoff.  We could take care of that problem as well by abolishing the EPA, which is now a distinct possibility.


Information for this post can be found in “Iowa Agency That Challenged Farm Runoff Faces Elimination,” Lancaster Farming, March 18, 2017, p. 10.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick's Day

President Trump yesterday hailed the”tremendous” contributions of Irish Americans and their descendants.  He said nothing about the approximately 50,000 undocumented Irish immigrants living in the U.S.  


While the white English-speaking Irish are less likely to be targeted by ICE agents than Latinos, remember that Trump is asking Congress for billions for detention centers and deportations.  Irish immigrants who are here without papers will be caught up in this anti-immigrant fervor.  

Thursday, March 16, 2017

So Much Better Than Trumpcare

When H. Ross Perot was running for President in 1992, he had a solution to our health care issue.  He said we should look at countries that have better health care at lower cost and copy them.  

An article in the on-line publication Global Research notes that all industrialized countries have better health care at lower cost than the U.S.  However, there is more than one system we could copy.

The article notes that T. R. Reid in The Healing of America discusses three models:  the “Bismarck model” in Germany, where health providers and insurers are private, but insurers are not allowed to make a profit; the “Beveridge model” of Britain, where most healthcare providers are government employees and the government acts as the single payer for all health services; and the Canadian model, a single-payer health system in which the healthcare providers are mostly private.

And then there is Trumpcare, which is pretty much based on the system that rich people get wonderful health care and poor people die.


I am grateful to Tom M., a reader who called my attention to the Global Research article.  If you wish to read the whole article, you can find it at <http://www.globalresearch.ca/trumpcare-dead-on-arrival-can-we-please-now-try-single-payer/5579933>.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Delaware River Basin Commission meets

Today 12 environmentalists, members of Save Carbon County, boarded a bus in Lehighton for a trip down to Washington Crossing State Park for a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission.  

Seven years ago the Commission declared a moratorium on fracking on any lands in the Delaware River Watershed, which includes all of Carbon County.  The auditorium was filled with 200 fracking opponents and opponents of the PennEast/UGI pipeline.  

The Carbon County contingent was the only group who chartered a bus.  We all wore knit green “cat hats” with the ears sticking up.  We took a picnic lunch of Subway sandwiches and pretzels and a cooler full of beer.  (We may be environmentalists, but we are also rednecks from Carbon County.)


The testimony of audience members was truly impressive.  The speakers pointed out major errors and outright falsehoods in documents submitted by PennEast/UGI.  I don’t think the DRBC is likely to go along with any pipeline plans without major revisions in the documentation.  

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The next terrorist attack

Suppose we have a major terrorist attack carried out by a young Muslim, let’s say from Yemen or Syria.  Suppose the attack kills hundreds of people.

Remember the shoe bomber?  How many people did he kill?  None.  Wound?  None.  The bomb was a dud, yet that shoe bomber panicked the country into a policy in which millions and millions of people must remove their shoes in order to board a plane.

Look at the changes after 9/11.  Tourists still can’t drive up to the Wild Creek Reservoir observation area because of “terrorism” fears.  We no longer call threats to people threats; they are labeled “terroristic threats.”  Our emails are read.  We went to war with the wrong country.

As Mark Danner points out in an article in the March 23 issue of the New York Review of Books, Trump is perfectly positioned to take advantage of any new terror attack.  He wanted to protect us, but the courts said no.  He was defending our borders, but the liberals wouldn’t let him.  He wanted a Muslim ban, but Democrats complained.

He will use any terror attack to implement restrictions on the Bill of Rights, on immigrants, on democratic values.  He will get his Muslim registry.  Who will stop him?  The Republican Congress?  The Supreme Court, which will have a Trump majority?  Public opinion?


Just hope that we don’t have any stupid ISIS followers in the U.S. ready to commit mayhem.  How likely is that?

Monday, March 13, 2017

Collective Delusions

Why do people believe things that are demonstrably false?  You think I am now going to write about climate change, or voter fraud, but no.  I’m thinking about liberals who believe that vaccines cause autism.

Most of us know very little.  I don’t understand exactly how carbon dioxide affects the atmosphere, or how smoking causes cancer.  I am pretty sure of those things, but I personally could not explain the exact cause and effect.

Individually we are rather ignorant, but we take “facts” on trust if we “trust” the people who are advancing the facts. 

So, when the Republican Congress members think they can actually craft a health care plan that will be cheaper than the Affordable Care Act but will cover people’s health care needs adequately, they are depending on people like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump.  

I, on the other hand, depend on the New York Times, former President Obama, and the AARP, who say that Ryan, McConnell, and Trump are goofy.

The bottom line is that neither those Republican congress members nor I are really experts or even particularly knowledgeable on health care.  It is all about which “experts” we trust.

I don’t want to leave you thinking this is all subjective, however.  Some “experts” really are experts, and you can educate yourself on topics in which you are really interested.


So, vaccines do not lead to autism.  Global warming is real.  GMO foods really are safe to eat, though developing seeds that are “Round-Up Ready” is a misuse of science.  And finally, Donald Trump is only an expert in creating fear among voters, nothing else.  Remember that.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Jim Thorpe St. Patrick's Day Parade

Linda and I marched with the Carbon County Labor Chapter contingent in the Jim Thorpe parade today.  We wore our shirts that said “Proud To Be Irish, Proud To Be Union”, carried a banner honoring the Molly Maguires, were accompanied by Sandy who played the role of Mother Jones, passed out candy to the kids, and pretty much froze to death before the parade ended.


The problem with being in a parade is that you don’t really get to SEE the parade, but I’m sure it was fun for the people along the route.  I do wish to thank those spectators who treated the marchers to shots of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey.  What kind people the Irish are.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Schwab School in Weatherly

The bad news seems endless.  A bill to eliminate EPA.  Fake news about voter fraud.  A proposed health care bill that will end health care for millions.  A president who never reads.  I could go on and on.

Instead, here is some good news.  When you drive into Weatherly, Pennsylvania, your eyes are immediately drawn to large school on a hill dominating the town.  For years this school, the Schwab School, stood empty and deteriorating. 


Earlier this year, the Schwab School Restoration Committee raised enough money to purchase the school and transfer it to Weatherly Borough.  An activity like this can transform a town, give it hope and purpose.  My hat is off the the people of Weatherly who have had enough foresight to save this school  Nice work.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Stand your ground

The new Kong movie is out, and I’m thinking about going tomorrow.  I guess I better be careful.  In Florida a retired policeman is on trial for shooting a man to death in a movie theater over the use of a cell phone during the previews.  

According to today’s editorial in the New York Times, “Witnesses saw popcorn thrown at the shooter during the dispute, then heard a gunshot.  In a pretrial hearing, the defendant insisted the victim had been ‘ready to attack.’  The shooter said, ‘I would have to take decisive action if I wanted to survive this thing.’ A ruling is pending.”

I mean, popcorn could be lethal, especially if it’s buttered, although usually because it clogs your arteries.  Perhaps that’s what the shooter was afraid of.


By the way, in 68 percent of the “stand your ground” cases since Florida passed its legislation, the victims were unarmed.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Climate skeptics

Although I don’t agree with them, I understand that people might think that global warming is the result of some natural process rather than a result of human activity.  I don’t think this is realistic, but I can see where you might draw that conclusion, since we have had fluctuations in climate in the past before human activity.

What I can’t understand is someone who denies that global warming is taking place.  The data are clear.  For heaven’s sake, when one is 74 years old, like I am, one has witnessed global warming.  I’m not talking about fluctuations in weather, I’m talking about long term trends.  Any farmer who is at least 40 years old sees this. 

Now I read that Pruitt, the new EPA head, is staffing the agency with climate skeptics.  How hard it must be to find people that stupid.  What rocks do you have to turn over to find “climate skeptics?”  


I see some people still proudly display their Trump signs in their yards.  Wow.  It’s like saying, “I am proud to be an idiot.”

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Roxham Road

Roxham Road is a little used road that parallels I-87 in upstate New York.  Recently it has been getting more traffic.  Refugees are getting off at the end of  Roxham Road and illegally crossing the border into Canada to ask for asylum.

Most of the asylum seekers are Muslims.

Did you ever think that you would see the day when people would be crossing the border into Canada to ask for asylum?  We  were once the country that took in people.  Puritans seeking religious freedom.  Irish fleeing the potato famine.  Germans fleeing repression after the rebellions of 1848.  Russians fleeing the Communist takeover.  Jews fleeing pogroms.  Hungarians fleeing the repression after 1956.  Cubans fleeing the Communist regime in Cuba.  Vietnamese boat people.  


Now the U.S. has became the country from which people flee.  This probably delights Trump voters.  If it doesn’t, and you are appalled by this, now is the time to speak up.  Now.  

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Pat Toomey, scaredy cat

Linda and I drove down to South Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown today to participate in a noon-time demonstration outside the office of Senator Pat Toomey, the senator who is too frightened to hold a town hall.

Toomey said today in the Morning Call that what was important was that he communicates with his constituents.  Linda sent a letter to the editor saying no, what was important was that he listen to his constituents.

The demonstration was impressive.  About 75 people lined Cedar Crest Boulevard with all kinds of signs and posters.  One woman came with a huge Trump head.  She was wearing a prison uniform.  LOCK HIM UP! 


Unlike demonstrations on the right, participants were friendly, talked to each other, shared stories, and took pictures.  I’m not the most sociable person, but even I had a good time.  Unfortunately, Toomey never showed.  I guess he is in Washington taking health care away from poor people.

Monday, March 6, 2017

Lead shot

Why I don’t get about the Trump administration is the gratuitous changes in regulations that seem to have no justification other than some kind of spite.

Anybody with a passing knowledge of the environment knows that lead shot and lead bullets can accidentally poison wildlife.  When an animal is wounded with a lead bullet and then dies, other animals that eat the carcass will be poisoned.  So why lift the ban on hunters using lead bullets and shot on 150 million acres of federal lands.  

For that matter, why lift the restrictions on the pipeline crossing Indian land? Why allow individuals with mental health issues to buy handguns?  Why lift the requirement that Verizon and AT&T need to take “reasonable measures” to ensure that their customers’ Social Security numbers are not stolen or accidentally released?


Are these reasons that Trump voters supported him?  I don’t think so, and I think it is time they speak up.

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Eat more peppers

Last month a report using data on 16,179 American adults who participated in a study over 23 years was issued.  In that time 4,946 participants had died.  After controlling for age, sex, smoking, blood pressure cholesterol, diabetes, and other characteristics, people who reported eating hot peppers had a 13 percent reduced risk for dying early.

Researchers speculated that capsaicin, the stuff that makes peppers hot, has some antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties.  

While the data are fascinating, the researchers stressed that they cannot prove cause and effect, but there may be some correlation.  


Tonight I’m starting my first pepper seeds for the summer garden.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Dirty Water

The EPA has warned Pennsylvania that it was not enforcing safe drinking water standards.  According to an article by Marc Levy in today’s Morning Call, the EPA said the PA Department of Environmental Protection is not only inadequately staffed to enforce the water standards, but also air quality and mine safety standards.

Cuts in the PA DEP have been occurring for two decades.  The agency has proposed fees on public water systems to make up for some of the cutbacks, but Republican lawmakers look upon that with disfavor.

I have two worries:

When the EPA is cut under Trump, it also will be inadequately staffed and unable to monitor state programs.


People who use public water systems may soon need to boil their water.


My apologies to everyone who read the same post twice.  I wish when I screw up I knew HOW I screwed up, but I don't.  Anyway, this is what should have been posted.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Trump and Service Workers

Trump is obsessed with manufacturing jobs, proposing new trade agreements, new tariffs, penalties for companies that move production overseas.  

I may have missed it, but I have not heard anything from this administration on how to make the lives better for service workers, a much larger category of workers than manufacturing jobs.

Many service jobs are outsourced from the work place.  Cafeteria workers, janitors, and security guards are typical jobs given out to low wage subcontractors.  Clerks and fast food workers may be regular hires, but they are often part-time with no benefits and no health plans.


Raising the minimum wage would help.  Making it easier for workers to organize would help.  Providing access to health care would help.  I’m waiting for the current administration to advocate any of these, but I have a feeling I’ll be waiting a long long time.

Thursday, March 2, 2017

Joe Manchin

Joe Manchin is a Democratic Senator from West Virginia.  Manchin voted to approve Ben Carson and Rick Perry, and he wants to bring back coal.  Over 200,000 liberals have asked Sen. Schumer not to appoint Manchin to any leadership roles in the Senate.

I was invited to sign the petition against Manchin, but I did not.  I understand the anger at Sen. Manchin and I share it, but I don’t see a reason to drive him into the arms of the Republicans.  Right now, if the Senate had two more votes, Chuck Schumer would be the Majority Leader.  Manchin would be voting for Schumer, unless he decides to switch parties.

Folks,we have bigger fish to fry than Joe Manchin.  For a Democrat to win an election in West Virginia is amazing.  Yes, that Democrat won’t be liberal, won’t be much of an environmentalist, and will vote ways in which I find appalling, but he will be a Democrat who will caucus with the other Senate Democrats.  We really must remember what we are fighting here.



Wednesday, March 1, 2017

It's complicated

This weekend, speaking to a gathering of governors, President Trump indicated that the health care issue involved more than he had realized.  He told the governors it was “complicated.”

We had an expression in high school when somebody said something really obvious, or finally realized something that everyone else already knew.


No shit, Sherlock.