Trump-free Friday politics roundup: Oct. 13

Health care debate comes up yet again, the U.S. is mad at UNESCO, and Iran presents more issues in this week’s politics roundup.

ACA faces sneakier foes

Oh, if by “sneakier foes”, you mean a president who can’t help but talk about it on Twitter. Also, the sneaky factor of this current effort is undermined somewhat by the public nature of the move. Still, this isn’t “standard procedure” of Congress that caused Arizona Senator John McCain to vote against ACA repeal. Neither is it the most upfront of politics.

Rather, the president has signed an executive order that allows individuals and small businesses to skirt some of the tenets of the American Care Act. The possible proliferation of “association health plans” could very well drive up the cost of insurance, particularly for those with complicated and expensive medical needs. Some people may be able to buy some plans for less money than now, but those same plans could be of distinctly lower quality.

The executive order also opens up short-term health insurance policies from three months to up to a year. Meanwhile, employers may now also be able to use pretax money to create “health reimbursement arrangements” for any medical expenses, rather than those approved by the ACA. It might also mean that employers could give their employees pre-tax money to buy their own individual plans. Late Thursday night, the president signed another order ending some major ACA subsidies.

This doesn’t mean that Obamacare has been repealed. Significant parts of the ACA, like government subsidies, Medicaid expansion, and essential health benefits, remain. Medicare and Medicaid will remain the same for the foreseeable future.

Furthermore, an executive order isn’t necessarily the law. Instead, this particular executive order is basically asking three federal agencies to enact certain rules. What exactly those rules will look like isn’t yet clear. Also, major changes such as this often take months for an agency to put into practice. These months typically include a public comments period, as well.

U.S. withdraws from UNESCO because of “anti-Israel bias”

You likely know United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) best from its designation of world heritage sites across the globe. These include a wide variety of places, from Grand Canyon National Park to Westminster Abbey, to fossil hominid sites in South Africa. It’s also taken on missions that include global literary, women’s equality, and better sex education worldwide. So, why would the U.S. want to step back from UNESCO?

According to the U.S. Department of State, “this decision was not taken lightly”. The statement goes on to mention increasing debt accrued by the organization, “the need for fundamental reform in the organization” and “anti-Israel bias”. The membership is set to end on December 31, 2018, after which the U.S. will remain a non-member observer state.

U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley also pointed to the increased politicization of the organization. She claimed that officials were especially irked when UNESCO designated the West Bank city of Hebron as a Palestinian World Heritage site. “Just as we said in 1984 when President Reagan withdrew from UNESCO,” Haley said, “U.S. taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense

Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, appeared to be taken aback by the announcement. In a statement released Thursday, Bokova wrote: “I wish to express profound regret at the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from UNESCO…. This is a loss to UNESCO. This is a loss to the United Nations family.”.

John Kelly is doing just fine, thanks

White House chief of staff John Kelly wants you to know that all the rumors are just not true. He’s not being fired anytime soon, nor is he growing outrageously frustrated with his role. And that thousand-yard stare that looks as if he’s watching his soul escape his body during a presidential speech? That’s just how he looks when he’s concentrating.

Kelly related all of this during a rare media appearance at the Thursday press briefing. “I put some organization in, with a smile on my face,” he said of his work since taking over the chief of staff job.

He was even smiling when he defended the president’s actions on Twitter, which recently included condemnations of Tennessee Senator Bob Corker and vague threats about leaving hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico to its own devices. See? Everything’s great.

Fate of the Iran nuclear deal remains unclear

How you view the 2015 beginnings of the Iran nuclear deal depends a lot on your political leanings and who you’ve listened to last. Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton echoed the president’s own words when he referred to the agreement as “ ‘the dumbest and dangerous’ deal in American history”. Others, like Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, believe that the deal is one of the reasons Iran hasn’t gone all North Korea on us in terms of nuclear armament.

Where does this leave a nominally Republican president? It’s expected that the White House will decline to certify the nuclear deal struck by the Obama administration. What certification? After the initial deal, Senators Bob Corker and Ben Cardin sponsored legislation called the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA). This act requires the president to certify parts of the deal every 90 days. It’s a middle-ground sort of bargain, given that the nuclear deal wasn’t officially a treaty.

Though the president has signed the certifications the first two times, it’s not sure that he will do sure by the third certification deadline on Oct. 15. Such a refusal would likely cite security interests (Iran has supported Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, along with Hamas and Hezbollah). Iran has also kind-of skirted the rules of the agreement; it’s been testing ballistic missiles, which could carry nuclear weapons.

However, declining to certify the deal might be more show than anything else. After all, this is a fairly complicated international deal that can’t be immediately undone with a blank signature line. This could mean that the Iran deal is moved to debate in Congress which, as we all well know, could get incredibly messy.

And, finally, your palate cleanser

Perhaps you’ve noticed that it’s finally October, the spookiest month of them all. Halloween is just a touch over two weeks away. It puts a thrill in my cold little heart to think that it’s so near.

Maybe you’re not as aggressively spooky as I am. Nonetheless, you can still get into the seasonal spirit. To that end, consider diving into some of the best ghost stories available on the Internet.

By the way, I’m not really talking about creepypastas. That’s all well and good if you’re a middle schooler just starting to explore scary tales. Alas, really good creepypastas are few and far between.

Oh, okay, fine. Check out Candle Cove and some of the 200 Phenomena of Calgary for some pretty good ones.

Next: Trump-free Friday politics roundup: Oct. 6

If you want something a bit more mannered, read the ghost stories of Edith Wharton. When she wasn’t busy writing about doomed society ladies or tragic New Englanders, Wharton mastered the art of the subtle, terrifying ghost story. So did M.R. James, who wrote some of the strangest and most British horror fiction you’ve ever encountered.

Not enough? Check out some more recommendations from the Independent and yet more from Publishers Weekly.