5 Things That Prove This Was the Most 2016 Week Ever

On March 11, 2016 the asteroid 2016 EF195 passed within satellite distance of Earth. The asteroid was “twice as big as the asteroid” that crashed in Russia in 2013. Having avoided the sweet meteor of death, the United States has had to endure the 2016 election without a celestial savior. A 2016 without SMOD has blown past the absurd. This week was no different. Here are five things that prove this was the most 2016 week ever.

1. Candidate suggests you look at porn.

It is pretty safe to say that this week marked the first time a major party presidential candidate suggested that Americans watch a specific piece of porn, or porn in general for that matter. Donald Trump did not disappoint. Here’s his tweet.

This would be absurd in a normal election year. Alas, in 2016 it is more of the same.

2. A former governor cannot name ONE foreign leader.

I once chided unserious candidate Evan McMullin for saying former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was an unserious candidate. Well, I may need to find a recipe for grilled crow, because Johnson once again proved how unserious he is this week. When asked to name a foreign leader, Johnson went blank. Here, watch:

3. The FBI director said Hillary Clinton wasn’t given special treatment.

With a straight face, and a touch of anger, FBI Director James Comey bristled at suggestions that the special treatment his agency gave to Hillary Clinton was, in fact, special. Politico has the report.

‘You can call us wrong, but don’t call us weasels. We are not weasels,’ Comey declared Wednesday at a House Judiciary Committee hearing. ‘We are honest people and … whether or not you agree with the result, this was done the way you want it to be done.’

The normally stoic FBI chief grew emotional and emphatic as he rejected claims from Republican lawmakers that the FBI was essentially in the tank for Clinton when it recommended that neither she nor any of her aides be prosecuted in connection with the presence of classified information on Clinton’s private email server. He acknowledged he has ‘no patience’ for such allegations.

‘I knew there were going to be all kinds of rocks thrown, but this organization and the people who did this are honest, independent people. We do not carry water for one side or the other. That’s hard for people to see because so much of our country, we see things through sides,’ Comey said. ‘We are not on anybody’s side.’

Not quite sure Comey will be able to “weasel” his way out of this one anytime soon.

4. Trump cites internet polls to say he won the debate.

For most of the summer, the daily, almost patented Trump poll tweets all but disappeared. After the debate, Trump tweeted the poll tweet to end all Trump poll tweets. You see, he used the completely unscientific results of internet polling to say he won the debate. It doesn’t matter if it is true, Trump just needs it to be true.

President Ron Paul could not be reached to offer his opinion on internet polling. But the Fox News senior leadership was available, and they told their on-air hosts that online polls “do not meet our editorial standards.”

5. We are about to find out what happens when the last exchange health insurer turns out the lights.

Some of the absurdity of 2016 has real world consequences. Insurers in at least two state marketplaces have decided to leave the Obamacare exchanges. This furthers a trend that began earlier this year. Their main reason for their leaving is that Congress has not appropriated money to pay them for the losses they have endured being in the exchange. Obamacare was designed with a built-in yearly bail out. Not only did Democrats set out to fine you for not buying the insurance industry’s products, they also gave the insurance companies a yearly bailout.

Sensing a problem, the Obama administration is deciding to spend money not appropriated for the payments to pay off these insurers. You may be wondering how that can be, when the Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, the right to approve spending. The Washington Post explains.

Justice Department officials have privately told several health plans suing over the unpaid money that they are eager to negotiate a broad settlement, which could end up offering payments to about 175 health plans selling coverage on ACA marketplaces, according to insurance executives and lawyers familiar with the talks.

The payments most likely would draw from an obscure Treasury Department fund intended to cover federal legal claims, the executives and lawyers said. This approach would get around a recent congressional ban on the use of Health and Human Services money to pay the insurers.

The start of negotiations came amid an exodus of health plans from the insurance exchanges that are at the heart of the law. More than 10 million Americans have gained coverage through the marketplaces since they opened in 2014.

Those are just five stories that confirm this past week was the most 2016 week ever. Chances are next week will ratchet up the stakes and take the prize.

Despair not, valued reader, for there are at least 80 asteroids within the Moon’s orbit projected to pass Earth between now and the election. Perhaps one of these will be the SMOD you are hoping for. Oh, and Tom Brady is returning to the New England Patriots after tomorrow’s game against the Bills. Perhaps he can save this year yet. (For more from the author of “5 Things That Prove This Was the Most 2016 Week Ever” please click HERE)

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