WHO ya gonna call?

From Salon:

More than a dozen U.S. health experts based at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva provided real-time information about the new coronavirus in China last year, according to a new report.

President Donald Trump announced last week that the U.S. would stop providing funding to WHO, because it allegedly “missed the call” by not sounding the alarm “months earlier.” Trump, who also accused WHO of being “China-centric,” has ramped up his rhetoric against the organization after numerous media reports revealed that the president and his advisers did not head warnings about the emerging pandemic from intelligence agencies, health experts, economists and even top White House aides. The president continued to downplay the threat publicly in an apparent attempt to calm the stock market.

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When Pigs Fly

From HIVE at Vanity Fair:

Way back in 2009, when fiscal austerity was still in vogue, Congressman Tom Price was among the most hawkish lawmakers on the issue of government spending. “This is just another example of fiscal irresponsibility run amok,” he cried on CNBC, denouncing the use of private jets by Congress. But at some point, the former orthopedist lost his way. Earlier this year, after he was nominated by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, reports emerged that Price had “traded more than $300,000 in shares of health-related companies over the past four years while sponsoring and advocating legislation that potentially could affect those companies’ stocks.”

…snip…

Yes, the good life seemed to go to Price’s head, and the gravy train hasn’t stopped since he joined the Trump administration. Earlier this week, we learned that Price had taken a page from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s playbook and decided to spend thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on private jets when commercial flights (or Amtrak, or a car) would have sufficed.

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The Other Smoke-filled Room

From The Guardian:

Tobacco companies have moved swiftly to strengthen their grip on Washington politics, ramping up lobbying efforts and securing significant regulatory wins in the first six months of the Trump era.

Day one of Donald Trump’s presidency started with tobacco donations, senior figures have been put in place within the Trump administration who have deep ties to tobacco, and lobbying activity has increased significantly.

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Doctoring the Facts

From THINK PROGRESS:

The Senate health care bill makes massive cuts to Medicaid. But you wouldn’t know that just from listening to Trump administration officials on the Sunday shows.

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Toady Foster

From VANITY FAIR:

On Monday, Trump convened his first full Cabinet meeting since taking office, gathering the heads of every major government agency for a press gaggle around the elliptical mahogany table that occupies a prominent place in the West Wing. Traditionally, the media is present only at the beginning of such meetings, during which the president makes a brief statement and a few photos are snapped before a review of the administration’s progress continues behind closed doors. Trump tried something a little different.

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Senile Impants

From MSNBC:

HHS Secretary Tom Price testified yesterday before the Senate Finance Committee on his department’s budget, and not surprisingly, there was a fair amount of discussion of the Republican plans on health care policy. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) asked the committee’s chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whether the panel would hold any hearings on the GOP’s proposal.

The Utah Republican, apparently unsure how to respond, had an aide whisper a talking point in his ear.

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The Name of the Game is Blame

Who is to blame for the health care bill fiasco, and whose job might be in jeopardy? Not Eddie Munster’s  Paul Ryan’s, according to Chris Krueger, strategist at Cowen and Company (WSJ):

Ryan is probably safe as speaker because nobody particularly wants to be Henry VIII’s next wife.

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(The Family of Henry VIII, c. 1543-1547. Unknown artist, after Holbein.
Hampton Court Palace. © The Royal Collection.)

Price is Far Right, but All Wrong

From Los Angeles Daily News:

The White House and Republican leaders in Congress scrambled on Tuesday to shore up support for their health care bill as critics went on the attack over new estimates [from the Congressional Budget Office] that 14 million people would lose insurance coverage in the first year alone.

…snip…

With Washington blanketed in a rare March snow, congressional GOP leaders and top aides to President Donald Trump got to work trying to salvage the legislation, which they hope to push through the House next week and the Senate the week after that. Trump has promised to sign the bill, fulfilling seven years of GOP promises to undo “Obamacare,” even though the legislation breaks the president’s own past promises to safeguard Medicaid and provide health insurance for all.

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2, count em, 2 bonus images if you scroll down!