Coffee Talk with Tiff

January 15, 2026 12:22 pm EST Tiff Coffee Talk with Tiff 0
Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s Thursday…

President Shitshow’s public schedule for…

01/15/2026:

Rumor around the diplomatic water cooler has President Petty anxiously eyeing the Nobel Peace Prize like it’s the last piece of pie. María Corina Machado, the exiled Venezuelan opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, has publicly dedicated her award to Petty’s foreign policy genius and even floated the idea of sharing it with him as a thank-you for helping oust Nicolás Maduro. Nobel officials immediately shot that down, noting that once the Peace Prize is awarded it can’t be transferred or shared with anyone, no matter how many compliments or ego strokes are involved.


After an ICE agent murdered Renee Good in Minnesota that led to more protests against ICE, the Federal government responded by sending in more agents to the area.

Last night, an ICE agent shot a teen in the leg leading to a clash with protesters.

This morning in response to his thugs being treated like the thugs they are, President Asshole threatened to invoke the insurrection act.

Brennan Center for Justice (published 04/21/2022–updated 11/12/2025):

What is the Insurrection Act?

The Insurrection Act authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the United States to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. The statute implements Congress’s authority under the Constitution to “provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.” It is the primary exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, under which federal military forces are generally barred from participating in civilian law enforcement activities.

Although it is often referred to as the “Insurrection Act of 1807,” the law is actually an amalgamation of different statutes enacted by Congress between 1792 and 1871. Today, these provisions occupy Sections 251 through 255 in Title 10 of the United States Code.

Brennan Center for Justice (published 04/21/2022–updated 11/12/2025).

How has the Insurrection Act been used in the past?

The Insurrection Act has been invoked about 30 times throughout American history. Presidents George Washington and John Adams used it in response to early rebellions in the states against federal authority. President Abraham Lincoln invoked it at the start of the Civil War, and President Ulysses S. Grant used it to crush the first incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870s. Several other presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland, have deployed troops under the Insurrection Act to intervene in labor disputes, almost always on the side of employers.

Most famously, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson all invoked the Insurrection Act during the civil rights movement to enforce federal court orders desegregating schools and other institutions in the South. In the latter half of the 20th century, Presidents Johnson and George H.W. Bush each invoked the law in response to massive civil unrest that caused dozens of fatalities. These 20th-century incidents reflect a modern consensus that the Insurrection Act is an exceedingly specialized president tool. Indeed, in the past 130 years, it has been used exclusively in two circumstances: either when state and local law enforcement were overwhelmed and governors asked for federal military assistance or when state authorities were themselves actively obstructing federal civil rights laws or failing to protect constitutional rights.

Brennan Center for Justice (published 04/21/2022–updated 11/12/2025).

When was the Insurrection Act last invoked?

The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992, when the governor of California requested military aid from President George H.W. Bush in response to civil unrest in Los Angeles that followed the acquittal of four white police officers charged with beating Black motorist Rodney King. The violence in Los Angeles killed 63 people and resulted in one billion dollars’ worth of property damage. At 33 years and counting, this is the longest period the United States has ever gone without an invocation of the Insurrection Act.

No president has invoked the Insurrection Act without a request from the state concerned since Johnson did so to provide protection for civil rights activists in Alabama marching from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

Brennan Center for Justice (published 04/21/2022–updated 11/12/2025).

Speaking of ICE thugs…

Given the murder of Renee Good and other incidents where ICE overstepped the line of human decency, one question has rose to the top of questions being asked. Who are these ICE thugs and what if any training do they have?

As Immigration and Customs Enforcement was racing to add 10,000 new officers to its force, an artificial intelligence error in how their applications were processed sent many new recruits into field offices without proper training, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the error.

The AI tool used by ICE was tasked with looking for potential applicants with law enforcement experience to be placed into the agency’s “LEO program” — short for law enforcement officer — for new recruits who are already law enforcement officers. It requires four weeks of online training.

Applicants without law enforcement backgrounds are required to take an eight-week in-person course at ICE’s academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Georgia, which includes courses in immigration law and handling a gun, as well as physical fitness tests.

“They were using AI to scan résumés and found out a bunch of the people who were LEOs weren’t LEOs,” one of the officials said.

The officials said the AI tool sent people with the word “officer” on their résumés to the shorter four-week online training — for example, a “compliance officer” or people who said they aspired to be ICE officers.

[snip]

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to a request for comment. The AI mistake was identified in mid-fall — over a month into the recruitment surge — and ICE immediately began taking steps to remedy the situation, including manual reviews of résumés of new hires, the officials said.

“They now have to bring them back to FLETC,” said one of the officials, referring to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

[snip]

ICE had a mandate to hire 10,000 new officers by the end of 2025 and offered new recruits $50,000 signing bonuses using the money Congress allocated under the One Big Beautiful Bill. One of the officials said that although ICE met the goal on paper, bringing back people who were misidentified for more training means it didn’t successfully add 10,000 ICE officers on the street in 2025.

NBC News. 01/14/2026.

Stupid shit elected officials and Trump cabinet members said.

There has been a lot of things happening over the first 15 days of 2026. Last week one of those things was the Department of Health and Human Services releasing new guidelines for healthy eating.

The PDF is 10 pages long. People have criticized the new recommendations as being too expensive to maintain given the higher costs of food, especially fresh fruits and veggies.

In response to the criticism U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told News Nation on Wednesday that don’t worry poor people you can get one piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, one corn tortilla, and one other thing.

What’s for dinner?

Lenny shared this with me.

Joking aside, I did find a couple of things in the PDF that made me say “what the fuck”.

Pg. 7:

Infant is at high risk for peanut allergy (due to the presence of severe eczema and/or egg allergy), talk with your health care professional about peanut introduction as early as 4 to 6 months.

This can be done by mixing a small amount of peanut butter with breast milk or formula, thinning it to a safe consistency, and feeding it by spoon.

For infants with mild to moderate eczema, introduce peanut-containing foods at around 6 months of age.

Dietary Guidelines For Americans. 01/07/2026.

Now maybe I’m just super old, but I was told if your kid has a peanut allergy there is no safe amount of peanuts they can have.

Pg. 9:

Again I’m old, but we were told to avoid fish as we could not be sure those fish we consumed contained low-mercury.


President Idiot has derailed my “shit they said” segment, by unveiling his long awaited healthcare plan.

Today, I’m thrilled to announce my plan to lower health care prices for all Americans and truly make health care affordable again. We’re doing things that nobody’s ever been able to do we’re calling it the great healthcare plan instead of putting the needs of big corporations and special interests first. Our plan finally puts you first and puts more money in your pocket.

The government is going to pay the money directly to you. It goes you and then you take the money and buy your own health care. Nobody’s ever heard of that before. That way it is big insurance companies lose. People our country when this proposal locks in massive discounts on prescription drugs.

My administration is achieving through our most favored nation drug pricing agreement. Now when hear about for four in the last 40 years they’ve been trying to do it but they’re never able to do it. No other president was able. I got every other country to approve by the use of tariffs and other things. They all approved. Nobody else got it. No president for most part that didn’t even try because it was impossible.

It’ll bring down drug prices 80 90% some cases just numbers nobody’s ever heard before. Your prescription drugs will come way down and under this policy the prices of many drugs will be slashed by 300 400 even 500%. Starting this month at Trump Rx.gov.

So instead of Americans paying highest drug prices in world which we have for decades we will now be pay low cost paid any other nation. That’s what we’re going to pay and American people get savings. I have to reiterate the lowest price in world is what you are going to pay before you were paying high price by far and politicians did nothing about it.

So I’m asking Congress to complete work we have started next my plan would reduce your insurance premiums stopping government payoffs from big companies sending that money directly to people.

Obamacare was designed to make insurance rich. I call un the unaffordable care act with billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies that helped their stock prices skyrocket over 1,700 percent as you paid more money for healthcare every single year more and more the premiums went higher and higher.

I want to end this flagrant scam put extra money straight into the health savings account in your name when you go out and buy your own health care and you get better health care for less money that way to reduce insurance premiums my plan ends the giant kickbacks to insurance brokers and corporate middlemen that only drive up the cost but we are driving down the cost.

It fully funds a long neglected part of the law known as the cost sharing reduction program. This may be a great cut premiums on the most popular Obamacare plans. It is hard to believe there are any because its hated program and unaffordable but it is going to cut them by an average of 10% to 15%.

Next the great health care plan that s name called the great healthcare at a lower price mandates unprecedented accountability and transparency from insurance companies all health so that special interest can no longer profiteer at your expense as the saying goes sunlight is best disinfectant and my plan orders all insurance companies to publish rate and coverage comparisons in very plain English.

It requires insurers to publish detailed information about how much of money they are going paying out in claims versus how much they are taken in profits. In other words you will be able to watch the scam.

It forces them to release detailed data on how many claims are being denied and whether those denials are eventually overturned in appeal.

Most importantly it requires any hospital or insurer who accepts Medicare or Medicaid to prominently post all prices at their place of business so that you can easily shop for better deal or care and you will end up doing both. We have maximum price transparency and cost will come down incredibly.

I am calling on Congress to pass this framework into law without delay so that we can get immediate relief from the American people. Thank you very much much thank.

It’s the tweet. 01/15/2026.

The White House posted this as the tape rolled.

Greathealthcare.gov:

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO LOWER HEALTHCARE COSTS

Today, President Donald J. Trump is calling on Congress to enact the Great Healthcare Plan, a comprehensive plan to lower drug prices, lower insurance premiums, hold big insurance companies accountable, and maximize price transparency.

Greathealthcare.gov. 01/15/2026.

LOWERING DRUG PRICES

The Great Healthcare Plan calls for codifying the Trump Administration’s Most-Favored-Nation deals to get Americans the same low prices for prescription drugs that people in other countries pay. This would build off President Trump’s landmark actions that made insulin more affordable in his first term and the successful voluntary negotiations following his recent Executive Order to lower drug prices. Voluntarily negotiated deals with HHS/CMS will be grandfathered in.  

The Great Healthcare Plan makes more verified safe pharmaceutical drugs available for over-the-counter purchase. This will lower healthcare costs and increase consumer choice by strengthening price transparency, increasing competition, and reducing the need for costly and time-consuming doctor’s visits.

Greathealthcare.gov. 01/15/2026.

lowering insurance premiums

The Great Healthcare Plan stops sending big insurance companies billions in extra taxpayer-funded subsidy payments and instead send that money directly to eligible Americans to allow them to buy the health insurance of their choice.

The Great Healthcare Plan funds a cost-sharing reduction program for healthcare plans which would save taxpayers at least $36 billion and reduce the most common Obamacare plan premiums by over 10% according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The Great Healthcare Plan will end the kickbacks paid by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to the large brokerage middlemen that deceptively raise the cost of health insurance.

Greathealthcare.gov. 01/15/2026.

HOLDing BIG INSURANCE COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE

The Great Healthcare Plan creates the “Plain English Insurance” Standard by requiring health insurance companies to publish rate and coverage comparisons upfront on their websites in plain English—not industry jargon—so consumers can make better insurance purchasing decisions.

The Great Healthcare Plan will require health insurance companies to publish the percentage of their revenues that are paid out to claims versus overhead costs and profits on their websites.

The Great Healthcare Plan will require health insurance companies to publish the percentage of insurance claims they reject and average wait times for routine care on their websites.

Greathealthcare.gov. 01/15/2026.

maximize price transparency

The Great Healthcare Plan requires any healthcare provider or insurer who accepts Medicare or Medicaid to prominently post their pricing and fees in their place of business.

Greathealthcare.gov. 01/15/2026.

At the end they share a button that says “view the fact sheet”.

This is the fact-sheet:

Pg 1:

Pg. 2:

Speaking of healthcare…

On January 13th, the Trump admin “informed more than 2,000 addiction and mental health programs nationwide that it was immediately terminating almost $2 billion of their funding”.

Last night the New York Times reported that less than 24 hours the admin has reversed their decision.

Less than 24 hours after the Trump administration informed more than 2,000 addiction and mental health programs nationwide that it was immediately terminating almost $2 billion of their funding, the administration reversed course and reinstated the money.

An administration official confirmed Wednesday night that the money was being restored, but declined to say why.

The decision followed furious lobbying by lawmakers from both parties to restore the cuts and a letter to the health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with signatures from 100 House members.

“These are cuts he should not have issued in the first place,” Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement after reports of the reversal.

[snip]

On Tuesday, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which Mr. Kennedy oversees, had sent a form letter to the programs about the cuts.

The form letter, obtained by The New York Times, said the funding termination would be effective immediately, explaining only that the services no longer aligned with the agency’s priorities. The letter described those priorities as supporting “innovative programs and interventions that address the rising rates of mental illness and substance abuse conditions, overdose, and suicide.”

The cuts would have affected longstanding agency investments like drug courts that offer treatment as an alternative to incarceration, programs for pregnant and postpartum women in recovery, screening and referral services, and overdose prevention education for young people.

Missouri’s statewide association of emergency medical services workers, a nonprofit professional organization, had learned that $5.2 million was being slashed from programs that train staff to administer and distribute overdose reversal medication, as well as to talk with people in crisis about mental health and addiction treatment programs.

NYT (gift link). 01/14/2026

But sure, Greathhealthcare.gov will be fabulous.


That’s a wrap.

This is an open thread

About the opinions in this article…

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About Tiff 3455 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.