5 Cases of IOKIYAR for February 2017

1. Suicide: Because states are unable to obtain lethal injection drugs, Arizona's Department of Corrections now encourages people on death row to assist in their own executions by obtaining their own drugs, either on their own or with the help of someone else such as their lawyer. That's more than an insult, however, as Arizona passed a law three years ago outlawing assisted suicide:
   ARS § 13-1103 (A) (3) A person commits manslaughter by intentionally providing the physical means that another person uses to commit suicide, with the knowledge that the person intends to commit suicide. Thus, according to Republicans, suicide is okay if it's advocated by Republicans.
2. Obamacare: Back when Republicans could recklessly pass any legislation to repeal Obamacare, knowing that President Obama would veto it, Republicans went full-bore. One of Donald's biggest promises was to immediately repeal and replace the ACA. Now that they're in charge of the entire government, they've gone gun-shy. Back in 2014, the Republican-controlled House moved forward with a lawsuit against the ACA to block the individual subsidies that were used to expand coverage through the marketplaces. Initially, a ruling favoring the House was made, but the Obama Administration appealed. This past December, Republicans asked that a ruling on that appeal be put on hold. Yesterday, they asked for what amounts to an indefinite hold, unsure whether or not the new administration would defend the appeal or not, at which point the ACA and the marketplaces would immediately collapse while employer-based coverage would see prices skyrocket.
3. Ethics: I almost feel sorry for Republicans in Congress. In 8 years, the closest thing to an ethics violation in the Obama Administration was the gun-walking sting, called Fast and Furious. And yet, all they got out of it was a finding of contempt of Congress, whereas the conclusion of multiple investigations led to a stray ATF office and agents. Republicans considered the IRS's actions (targeting keywords in non-profit status reviews) to be ethically-challenged, but nothing came of it other than a contempt of Congress finding -- you get the picture here, where Republicans use the contempt of Congress charge to express frustration at finding nothing else. Fast forward to 2017 and we have Republicans trying to avoid investigations of ties between Russia, Donald, and Mike Flynn, putting the stops on accessing Donald's tax filings and investigations into his conflicts of interests. Even if the law says that the President is exempt from conflicts of interest, it does not mean that he is exempt from bribery, coercion, or Emoluments violations stemming from those conflicts of interests. 
4. Russia: Russia is an existential threat. Until it isn't -- because Donald told them so. Even polls show how registered Republicans now think of Russia as friendly. I guess parking a spy ship 30 miles off the eastern seaboard is how friendly nations treat each other? I'm not saying that Russia is an existential threat -- to the contrary, I think they're just troublemakers -- but the fact of the matter is, when you think military hawks, Republicans have long been the Party of Fear and War.
5. Balanced Budget: Starting with Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, whenever Republicans have controlled the House they've introduced a bill to create a Balanced Budget Amendment. This year will have been the second time Republicans (first time was 2003 - 2006) have controlled the entire Legislative branch and the Executive, and this year will have marked the second time they've decided that deficits are less important than other things. I'm not complaining, of course, except that it's become a convenient excuse to complain about Democrats and runaway budgets even while they can't control themselves. Ridiculous people.