North Korea accuses Donald Trump of being a senile old man who plays too much golf.

In this episode, we read Roberts Rules of Order out loud to you, our dear audience.

In this episode, we don’t really need Tom to do a show. We also discover Jeff Sessions has done a lot with his power.

It seems like BCRA is dead in the water, but we still decided to do a podcast about it.

Pre-show notes

BCRA is dead:

• Lee and Morran are the third and fourth senators against BCRA
• McConnell moving forward with repeal and delay
• CBO score of 2015 full repeal bill

Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA)

Before we begin the show, Ruchit hawks wares on Amazon India Bazaar in a post-pre-show. Then, we pretend like BCRA is still alive.

• Sara Kliff explainer
• Newest version of BCRA is still an abomination

Changes from last draft:

1. Adopt Cruz amendment.
   • Insurers say that Cruz amendment is “unworkable in any form” and will lead to millions of folks terminated in insurance.
   • Cruz offers legislation to rename street
   • Paul Krugman: Ted Cruz’s Giant Leap Into the Known
2. Reverse proposal to eliminate the 3.9% investment tax and 0.9% payroll tax on wealthier americans, but still retaining plenty of tax cuts for the wealthy
3. Replace ACA cost-sharing subsidies with a $182 billion fund to do something similar to the cost-sharing subsidies
   • The Polar Payoff. See also Vox: “The Kodiak Kickback” is a $2B payoff just for Alaska
   • Contrary to the beliefs of Ruchit and Antonin Scalia, the Kornhusker Kickback was nixed from Obama Care
4. HSAs can be used to pay insurance premiums
5. $45 billion to combat opioid addiction (but, due to the Medicaid cuts, this is still net less funding for opioid addiction compared to no change in law)
6. It has a new provision allowing people to use tax credits to buy catastrophic plans with extremely high deductibles that cover no routine care.
7. It replaces the ACA’s subsidies with stingier tax credits based on what high-deductible plans cost and allows insurers to charge older people more than they can now.

Will BCRA pass?

We predict yes, and we are wrong.

• Greg Sargent on choice facing Senators
• Senator Susan Collins of Maine has gone almost as far, saying that the bill cuts too much and that only major revisions could win her over.
• McCain’s surgery delays vote on bill
• Kasich spokesman: Pence’s healthcare claims ‘false’
• Ben Sasse wants to repeal and delay

Pre-sidebars

Before the sidebars, Ruchit contemplates buying a planter.

• Massive iceberg breaks off from Antartica.
• Mr. Smith goes to Greenland

Sidebars

TJ: 2017, Disney is coming out with a new DuckTales show.

• David Tennant
• Doctor Who
• Broadchurch
• First female Doctor is Jodie Whittaker

As a bonus sidebar, DuckTales Theme Song sung by the new cast

Ruchit: Kid does presidential impressions for his middle school graduation. This is from the summer of 2016.

AJ: DeliMan

• Ziggy Gruber at Kenny & Ziggy’s Deli

After show

In the after show, we discuss Indian cooking implements.

• Dosa griddle
• Microwavable Idli Maker

Ruchit is fooled by Donald Trump, but is also obsessed with Donald Trump Jr.

Don Jr

Don Jr is in the news.

• Don Jr releases emails: FW: Russia - Clinton - private and confidential
• Legal Experts say Don Jr confessed to a crime (Vox)
• Who is Rhona Graff
• The Election Law Blog covers some previous precedents.
• Tom Delay’s conviction overturned.

• Episode 17, where Ruchit claims to have seen the Trump conspiracy go down.
• Don Jr’s defense: it was a waste of time

Better Care Reconciliation Act

This is part of the podcast where Tom gets bored.

• The CBO analysis
• The Ted Cruz proposal to get more senators on board.
• The ACA was a three-legged stool:
  • Community rating
  • Guaranteed issue
  • Individual mandate
• Even GOP leadership doesn’t like Ted Cruz
• Ben Sasse is a Sasse-hole
• Senate GOP health bill quietly brings back preexisting conditions

Sidebars

TJ: Sad Full House

Ruchit: Don Sr in a Russian music video

AJ: How Tinder Could Take Back the White House

Social media has also made canvassing more inclusive. Several people who volunteered with us said our bot allowed them to canvass despite physical or mental health conditions that prevented them from handing out leaflets. Nathalie Wright, a disability activist and writer, said: “I could do it in my own time on my own terms, as much or as little as I wanted. This reflects a bigger shift this election, where politics has been made more accessible and relevant to people who are usually marginalized.”

Aftershow

We talk about the shopping Ruchit wants to do:

• The skillet Ruchit wants to buy
• The Kind Bars Ruchit wants to buy
• The dog treats Ruchit wants to buy
• The pet safe cat laser Ruchit wants to buy

After the after show, we talk about bitcoin.

All the listeners are invited to Ruchit’s July 4th Party to celebrate #America.

• Ruchit plans on passing out these pocket constitutions at his party.
• The case we refer to in the pre-show is Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer
• Ruchit Brags about his batting average
  • Our current term’s batting average is:

Preview of the Supreme Court’s next term

Trump’s refugee ban has gone to the Supreme Court and they’ve granted cert, in Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project.

• The lower court provided injunctive relief to the folks fighting the refugees.
• We have talked about Trump’s refugee ban in previous episodes:
  • Everything We Know about the Ninth Circuit
  • Everything We Know about Regulations
• The order of the Court is per curium

Cases from the previous term Paven v. Smith

This is a same-sex marriage case controlled by Obergefell:

In the decision below, the Arkansas Supreme Court considered the effect of that holding on the State’s rules governing the issuance of birth certificates. When a married woman gives birth in Arkansas, state law generally requires the name of the mother’s male spouse to appear on the child’s birth certificate—regardless of his biological relationship to the child. According to the court below, however, Arkansas need not extend that rule to similarly situated same-sex couples

A similar case from the Texas Supreme Court, Pidgeon v. Turner.

Hernandez v. Mesa

This case involves a cross-border shooting of a Mexican child by a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

• We talked about this case in Everything We Know about Regulations
• The DOJ investigation of the shooting

Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer

This case involves public funds and whether religious institutions should have access to those public funds.

• We talked about this case in Everything We Know about the Death Penalty

Maslenjak v. United States

If you lie during your citizenship application process, does that lie have to be material in order for the Government to revoke your citizenship? The Supreme Court said yes.

• We talked about this case in Everything We Know about Trumpcare.

Sidebars

AJ: Pregnant women almost got to commit murder in New Hampshire

TJ: Apple’s shot from an iPhone ad campaign requires more than just an iPhone:

• Direct link to the Youtube video

Ruchit: Barbarian Days

Aftershow

We follow up from our bitcoin episode.

• The SEC investigation
• The ETH cryptocurrency flash crash caused by hoax.

Coffee is a seed

Takes a lot of work before AJ and Tom can drink their coffee and snobbishly look down on Ruchit.

• Coffee seed is removed using the washed method.
• Alternatively, you can dry-process coffee or use the hybrid method.
• Robusta vs. Arabica beans

Film Processing

We take a quick digression:

• You can process photo film with coffee
• What is photo film?

Coffee Waves Framework

Like feminism, coffee comes in waves:

• The waves framework
• Trish Rothgeb neé Skeie original article
• Anderson’s coffee, a second wave roaster.
• Alfred Peet
• Third-wave coffee
• Salon: Baristas gone wild: Meet fourth-wave coffee
• Civet coffee, made from cat poop.

Making Coffee

AJ has a very specific coffee-making routine.

First, He Roasts The Coffee

• AJ buys his own green coffee and roasts his coffee.
• Sweet Maria’s for all your green coffee needs
• Heat-gun dog-bowl method
• AJ’s heat gun
  • AJ’s gloves
  • AJ’s dog bowl
  • AJ’s stringer
• A coffee roasting oven
• City roast, Full-City roast

Second, He Heats The Water

• AJ has a goose-neck kettle
• AJ grinds his beans with his favorite grinder: Orphan Espresso Lido E
  • Cheapest minimally viable grinder: Hario Skerton or Hario Mini Mill
  • Cheapest decent electric grinder: Capresso Infinity or Baratza Encore

Third, He Brews His Coffee

• AJ uses a pour over Chemex with coffee socks.
• Vacuum coffee pot
• Hario Mizudashi for cold brew coffee
• Moka Pot
• Aeropress
• French press

As an aside, check out coffee naps. They’re good.

Sidebars

AJ: the worst ever coffee youtube

Ruchit: The Maker, Toast

TJ: National Parks Maps npmaps.com and from the Government.

• Check out Big Bend

Ruchit lived in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.

Where is that?

Saudia Arabia cuts off diplomatic ties with Qatar.

• Qatar’s supply of natural gas
• The episode of Everything We Know about the American Heartland where Ruchit tells the story of Gulf naming dispute.
• Qatar has the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East
• American universities in Qatar

Qatar

Why did these countries move against Qatar?

• Qatar may have paid $1 billion ransom:

Qatar paid up to $1bn to release members of its royal family who were kidnapped in Iraq while on a hunting trip, according to people involved in the hostage deal — one of the triggers behind Arab states’ dramatic decision to cut ties with the government in Doha.

• Al Jazeera is funded, at least partially, by the Qatari ruling family.
• 60-Minutes on Qatar
• Trump takes credit for the move against Qatar
  • Trump tweet #1
  • Trump tweet #2
• Trump may not have known that Qatar hosts American troops.
• Trump’s razor is a spin on Occam’s razor.
• Qatari World Cup
  • Qatari World-Cup worker conditions. It’s bad.
  • Qatar was planning on building an air-conditioned outdoor field.

More things we know about the Middle East

For one, Twitter is extremely popular there. Saudi Arabia royal family tree:

• Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia

Everything We Know about Technology

AJ was really mad about Ruchit and I continuing the show about Bitcoin without him.

• Apple introduced a new iPad and AJ bought it.
• Baylor Law School hosts an advocacy competition called Top Gun that incorporates technology.
• Trial Pad app for your iPad
• AJ uses PDF Expert

Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

• EFF list of Printers that have tracking dots.
• Why do printers have tracking dots?
• A Case of Identity, a Sherlock Holmes story.

Sidebars

Ruchit: A New York Times article about the Fleet Foxes.

• Ruchit believes twitter has no value, yet wants us to tweet Robin Pecknold and ask him for an interview.
• Fleet Foxes have a new album, Crack-Up

AJ: Tadashi Tokeida on Numberphile

• Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and Simon’s Foundation sponsor Brady Haran’s videos
• The Numberphile
• The Klein bottle

Tom: Statements I Most Regret by Cass Sunstein

Jim Comey Testifies before Congress

The Senate Intelligence Committee calls Jim Comey to testify.

• Before he testified, the Committee published his pre-written statement.
• Comey is a leaker, but not an unlawful leaker

Comey was asked several questions that we talk about:

COTTON (R-AR): Let’s turn our attention to the underlying activity at issue here: Russia’s hacking into those e-mails and releasing them, and the allegations of collusion. Do you believe Donald Trump colluded with Russia? COMEY: That’s a question I don’t think I should answer in an open setting.

And:

HARRIS (D-CA): Are you aware of any efforts by Trump campaign officials or associates of the campaign to hide their communications with Russian officials through encrypted communications or other means? COMEY: I have to give you same answer, Senator.

Finally, everyone’s favorite Arizona Senator:

MCCAIN (R-AZ): Are you aware of anything that would lead you to believe that information exists that could coerce members of the administration or blackmail the administration? COMEY: That’s not a question I can answer, Senator.

• The 538 Live Blog
• John McCain’s questions of Jim Comey

• Adam Liptak finds a case where obstruction has been found when the defendant uses words like, “I hope...”
• John Dickerson’s interview with Donald Trump.

The United Kingdom had an Election

The UK election and the news roundup surrounding the election.

• NYTimes: Britain in Disarray
• Labour: Tory Britain in 2030: Daddy, do you hate me?
• We Demand ad
• From the archive: Strict laws keep UK elections short and cheap

Sidebars

AJ: Giant of the Senate

TJ: KenM aka Kenneth McCarthy

• KenM talks to Jimmy Dean Sausage
• KenM responds to Good Housekeeping

AJ and Ruchit read a conversation they had in the slack about Bitcoin out loud to Tom.

Follow Up

Ep. 16, Everything We Know about Impeachment:

• CNN: Flynn providing documents to Senate, first batch by June 6
• Washington Post: Comey preparing to testify before Senate about Trump conversations
• Trump attorney Michael Cohen subpoenaed
  • Trump attorney Michael Cohen asks, “Says who?“
  • Trump associates meet with Ukrainians at the Loews Hotel.
• New York Times and the Washington Post allow you to share tips with WhatsApp.

Around the News

People are beating up other people:

• Matt Renaldi calls ICE on protesters outside the Capitol.
• Greg Ginforte body slams and beats up Ben Jacobs.
• Keith Hennessey: President Trump’s tax reform vs. his balanced budget. Hennessey writes a follow-up post about this issue too.

23:23: If you reach this far into the podcast, pause the podcast, go to this link and watch the video with us.

You can watch the full video here.

Hope Hick’s dear-leader statement on Donald Trump:

President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He has built great relationships throughout his life and treats everyone with respect. He is brilliant with a great sense of humor … and an amazing ability to make people feel special and aspire to be more than even they thought possible.

Did r/Bitcoin say it? Or did our friend Arps say it?

In this segment we play a game where we try to guess whether a quote is by r/bitcoin or by our friend Arps.

• There are lots of towns that used to exist but no longer do, due to natural patterns of economic migration. False sentimentality isn’t a countervailing concern. - click for answer
• The FDA kills more people than it saves. - click for answer
• As a libertarian centrist I’d like to pick and choose the best of both parties. Unfortunately increasing polarization makes that hard. - click for answer
• At some point it becomes dynastic - not that you Chelsea [Clinton] apologists see any problem with that. - click for answer
• Winter is coming. Is it efficient to heat the house with old mining equipment instead with regular heating? - click for answer
• Venezuela is a sneak peek preview of how a bernie administration would work out. - click for answer
• Political parties are no longer mere proxies for positions. They are tribal identities, placeholders for moral standing. - click for answer
• Breathing on your own is too “libertarian” for Hillary Clinton. - click for answer
• Politics defeats the market, but technology defeats politics. - click for answer
• Freedom is a mindset and BitCoin is freedom. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Trump’s sons hold BitCoin. - click for answer

Everything We Know about this Supreme Court

In this segment we review our Supreme Court predictions. We got some right, and we got others wrong. Currently, our batting averages are: Ruchit (0.630), Tom (0.625), and AJ (0.445).

• TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Food Group Brands LLC
• BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell
• Impressions Products, Inc. v. Lexmark Int’l, Inc.
• County of LA v. Mendez

Sidebars

TJ: Politwoops preserves deleted tweets by your favorite politicians, including:

• I like your house, Jason Chaffetz
• And I like turtles, Jason Chaffetz
• Best. Termination. Letter. Ever., Liz Cheney

AJ: Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law

Ruchit: Ethereum is the forefront of digital currency

Aftershow

In the after show, AJ goes to bed. Ruchit and Tom continue to talk about BitCoin. What is BitCoin? What is Ethereum?

• Is BitCoin anonymous? Mark Andreessen says:

Much like email, which is quite traceable, Bitcoin is pseudonymous, not anonymous. Further, every transaction in the Bitcoin network is tracked and logged forever in the Bitcoin blockchain, or permanent record, available for all to see. As a result, Bitcoin is considerably easier for law enforcement to trace than cash, gold or diamonds.

• Glenn Flieschman’s response to Andreessen
• What is the blockchain?
• MooCash
• Ether’s smart contracts.

The average block size of a bitcoin block in the blockchain:

• Four million pounds worth of bitcoin thrown away.
• In India, Prime Minister Modi took 500 and 1000 rupee notes out of circulation.

Bitcoin’s processing requirements:

Bitcoin’s worldwide computational output is currently nearing 200 exaflops—200,000 petaflops—or 800 times the combined capacity of the top 500 supercomputers in the world.

Bitcoin is a form of convenience technology?

• Bitcoin’s micro-transactions.
• Splitwise and Venmo used for vacations planning.
• Applications of the blockchain.