The Political Page, T+158 -- June 27, 2017

Schadenfreude: anyone affected by the most recent ransomware virus that is currently spreading globally has no one to blame but themselves. This is a repeat of a similar attack just a few months ago. As a disbarred president once said, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."
The ransomware could have been avoided two ways, one easy, one a bit more expensive:

• download the security patches (for free)
• switch from Microsoft OS to Apple OS (kind of expensive, but oh so much more gratifying when all is said and done)

Senate health care: I don't have a dog in this fight, at least not directly. I would prefer to let ObamaCare run its expected course; for the GOP to get involved is a huge gamble. But if it's important to President Trump, he should spare no expense in spending whatever money it takes to "buy" the five or six or seven or eight "hold-out" Republicans. In fact, just for fun, he should dangle a few billion dollars in front of some senators from blue states just to see if they would be willing to sell out. LOL. One can assume if the shoe were on the other foot, if Hillary were in office with a "do-or-die" bill, money would be no object. [Update: after posting the above about three hours ago, I now see a story along the very same line: Republicans eye billions in side deals to win Obamacare repeal votes. GOP learning lessons from the Dems: "never let a crisis go to waste." GOP senators won the 2016 election; now they get the "spoils." Billions of dollars worth of spoils.]

Senate health care: in his conversations with the five or six or seven or eight "hold-out" Republicans, President Trump should also tell these senators that once the bill is passed, they can offer amendments to other spending bills to undo those portions of the health care act they don't like. Plus get a few billion dollars for their own states.