Weekend News That You Probably Already Knew

Federal Judge Reed O'Connor,
who threw out all of Obamacare
on Friday

1. A Texas federal judge finally caught that bus the Republicans have been chasing for years. "Yay!" tweeted Twitterman, we've finally done away with health insurance for millions of Americans! What a great day! “It was a big, big victory by a highly respected judge, highly, highly respected in Texas...."

Of course it would be Texas.

"If upheld on appeal, the decision could deprive an estimated 17 million Americans of their health insurance — including millions who gained coverage through the law’s expansion of Medicaid. Still others could see premiums skyrocket as price protections for pre-existing conditions lapse." (Stolberg, Pear, and Goodnough)

Now that you've caught that bus, Virginia Foxx, what are you gonna do with it?

"The decision puts Republicans in Congress into a political box. Most of them tried over and over to repeal the Affordable Care Act. And many of them survived the Democratic wave in midterm elections last month only by vowing to preserve the law’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions..." 

If Judge O'Connor's ruling stands -- and if will all ultimately be up to Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts and the other Supremes -- I wouldn't want to be a Republican running for reelection in 2020.

2. The North Carolina disease is catching and has spread. Alert the Centers for Disease Control!

Scott Walker, the defeated governor of Wisconsin, signed into law a last-minute power-grab to insure that the Democrat who replaces him will have considerably less power.

Berger/Moore are the proud parents!

3. In the first-ever "fact-checker" poll of American citizens, fewer than 3 in 10 Americans — including fewer than 4 in 10 Republicans — believe the lies that Trump has repeated over and over. (Kessler and Clement, et al.)

And if it's any consolation, those most likely to believe Trump's lies are Fox News imbibers.

4. On Friday, the UNC Board of Governors voted to reject the proposal to build a $5.3-million new shrine to house Silent Sam. (AP)

Back to the drawing board, they said.

There's still a chance, in other words, that the hardline conservatives on the BOG will try to force Sam back up on his pedestal and down the throats of the students.

5. On Friday, NC Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the General Assembly's voter photo ID law, saying it's "a solution in search of a problem" and pointing out it would have done nothing to stop the absentee ballot fraud now exposed in the NC-9.

That's because Republicans aren't interested in actual election fraud, only in making it harder for some people to exercise their right to vote.