GOP's WeDon'tCare is DOA ... but my NCAA bracket has new life

^
The House GOP had to cancel Thursday's scheduled Obamacare Repeal/WeDon'tCare Replacement vote ... because they don't have enough votes for it to pass.

Dems won't vote for it because it's a draconian plan that gives billions of dollars in tax cuts to the top 0.5% while throwing the middle class and working poor under the bus. Moderate Republicans (an endangered species, to be sure) also worry about that, though a "softening" of some of the most draconian language appeased many of them.

Meanwhile, the right-wing extremists won't vote for WeDon'tCare because it isn't draconian enough. All those fetuses they don't want aborted? Welcome into the world ... but no health care for you!

Ryan, Trump & Co. managed to come up with a lose-lose proposal, one that every national medical society has panned as a potential disaster.

Among the health-related things Trump promised in the year leading up to his inauguration:

++ "We're going to have insurance for everybody."

++ "Everybody's got to be covered."

++ "We're going to come up with a new plan that's going to be better health care for more people at a lesser cost."

++ "You're going to end up with great health care at a fraction of the price."

And then he backs a plan that does none of that. I guess the only campaign promises this so-called president really cares about are the big, beautiful wall and the Muslim ban.

As John Oliver said: "He asked us, 'What do you have to lose?' And we're finding out every day."

++++++

And speaking of Trumpian lies, here's an amazing interview he gave Time - READ IT - in which he defends his many lies by, well, lying some more.

And yet his sheeple are either so gullible or so afraid of him that they just keep lining up behind him. I've never seen anything like it.

++++++

OK, on to something more fun ...

My NCAA tournament bracket is so broken that I've decided to take a mulligan and tee it up again.

Sweet 16

Michigan over Oregon
Kansas over Purdue
West Virginia over Gonzaga
Arizona over Xavier
Butler over North Carolina
UCLA over Kentucky
South Carolina over Baylor
Florida over Wisconsin

Elite 8

Kansas over Michigan
Butler over UCLA
Arizona over West Virginia
South Carolina over Florida

Final Four

Kansas over Butler
Arizona over South Carolina

National Championship

Kansas over Arizona

Somehow, the Jayhawks have mostly flown under the radar. They are too good for that, and I think Bill Self wins his second title.

Unless, of course, I'm wrong.

If so, I'll admit it. Which I guess means I can't be president of the United States.
^

Basketball and football in the enlightened New South

^
Wow, has it really been 3 weeks since I last posted? How time flies when I'm not feeling like writing for free.

It's a big week here in The New South.

Actually, North Carolina used to be The New South. Then we elected a bunch of enlightened gentlemen who have turned back the clock to a more genteel era -- when broads, coloreds, heathens and homos knew their places.

A couple of days ago, Bob Rucho, the Republican state representative who serves the area that includes my town of Matthews, took to Twitter to say this:

"Justice Robert's pen & Obamacare has done more damage to the USA then the swords of the Nazis, Soviets & terrorists combined."

That's right: In the space of 140 characters, this noble public servant managed to insult Jews, political prisoners, 9/11 victims and the grammar police. When numerous people -- including his own party's leadership -- suggested he might want to apologize, he doubled down and said he meant every misspelled, mispunctuated and misused word he twitted.

Yes, we sure are very refined here in The New South.

But I digress ...

Now where was I? Oh yeah. Big week.

First, my Eagles scored our first home victory of the season, and we go into the winter break with our first two-game winning streak. After an 0-2 start, we split our next two games before winning these last two in decisive fashion. More importantly, the girls are smart and coachable and really seem to be having fun. I'm already looking forward to January.

+++

I'm also looking forward to January to see how the Panthers do in the NFL playoffs. That's this week's other thang here in Charlotte (and, I admit, the thang that probably appeals to a few more folks).

If the Panthers take care of business at home Sunday and beat the Saints, they'll be in first place in the NFC South. They will clinch a playoff spot and will have the inside track on a first-round bye.

This is my fourth Panthers season as a North Carolinian, and it's been a blast to have the city be in such good spirits most Monday mornings. A top-notch NFL team has that kind of effect on its town.

+++

Meanwhile, I have less than two weeks to cast my Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Last year's vote was a difficult one and this is even more challenging, loaded with a dozen all-time greats in their first or second years of eligibility. I've got my selections in mind but I've been preoccupied with basketball and haven't studied it yet. I'll be making my picks in the next few days and will be sure to post them here.

I'd wish everybody Happy Holidays now, but I'd hate to offend Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin with such a generic greeting. So instead I'll give them what they want:

"Merry Kwanzaa from The New South, y'all!"
^

Chief Justice Roberts: Unimaginable hero (or villain) in sport-like Obamacare drama

^
My single favorite things about sports (or "sport," as Mitt Romney likes to say) is that we just don't know what will happen. We may think we know what will happen, but even the most skilled prognosticators are wrong time and time again.

For me, covering sports meant chronicling different dramas everyday, with new heroes and villains, surprising stars and incredible 3D action.

If only life could be more like sports, how interesting life would be.

Sometimes, thankfully, life doesn't disappoint. Such was the case Thursday, when the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare came down.

Although a majority of pundits seemed to think the law would be shot down, there were plenty who felt it would be upheld. But did any of the folks on either side of the aisle -- even one? -- believe the drama would unfold the way it did?

As it turns out, it wasn't Anthony Kennedy -- Mr. Swing Vote -- who would decide the law's fate, as pretty much everybody had predicted. No, the unlikely hero (for libs) or villain (for cons) was Chief Justice John Roberts, a reliably conservative jurist vetted by Karl Rove and appointed by Dubya Bush, who saved Barack Obama's signature act as president.

Why did Roberts do it? Why did he go out of his way -- seemingly digging and digging until he found something of a loophole -- to uphold the dreaded individual mandate that Republicans hated (even though many GOPers liked it before it was pushed by Obama, who hated it before he liked it)?

We might not know until Roberts writes his memoirs. Heck, we may never know.

In the end, it was something straight out of a John Grisham novel ... except in this one, readers would have shaken their heads in disbelief and said: "Yeah, right. As if that could happen."

But happen it did: a thrilling, impossible conclusion to a hotly contested Game 7, a wild finish that left half the audience elated and the other half crushed.

Pretty cool, just like sport itself.
^