Dead Cats: Sanctuary, 07/26/17, (27)17: James Brody

Posted on July 26, 2017 by jamesbrody

HEALTH CARE: Hannity Free Market option.

LEADS: Zito – Rust Belt smiles; Roseak – Smashed drives; Roebuck & Brennan – Philly busts; Bauerlein – Liberal violence; Tanfani Sanctuaries; PennLive – PA budget.

RECOMMENDED: Convention of States; Charlie Gard; Kunkle – Bike tax!; Mark Levin 07-25-17)

HEALTH CARE

Bridget Johnson, PJM: “Senate Votes 50-50 to Move to Healthcare Debate as McCain Returns”

Still a PITA!

“Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week, arrived near the end of the vote and received a standing ovation from colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gave McCain a hug before the Arizona senator voted for the motion to proceed.

“After the vote, McCain railed against the bill as being crafted outside of regular order and rammed through, chiding his colleagues to ‘stop listening to the bombastic loudmouths on the radio and television and internet — they don’t want anything done for the public good.’ (emph added, jb)

“McCain said he voted to proceed simply to allow amendments on the ‘shell of a bill,’ but ‘I will not vote for this bill as it is today.’

“‘If this process ends in failure, which seems likely, let’s return to regular order’ with committee hearings and “contributions from both sides,” he said, eliciting applause from senators. . .”

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/2017/07/25/senate-votes-50-50-to-move-to-healthcare-debate-as-mccain-returns/

I drove to Washington twice that weekend. I remember Sunday especially. I stood in the trees next to the Capitol and shouted “NO” as Nan carried her big gavel and led her crowd. I still see Mr. Ryan and two friends standing on a balcony laughing. . .

Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $50/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a 90% discount.

The map below contains a listing of public addresses and website links to 607 DPC practice locations in 47 states + DC (we still have not located any DPC practices in North Dakota, South Dakota, or Iowa,). Website readers should note that these practices met our three part definition of DPC, although they may not always self-describe as DPC. Both “Pure” DPC practices and DPC hybrids are included in the mapper, and they are now color coded! I’m happy to report that over 70% of the practices in the mapper are known to be pure.

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

LEADS

Salena Zito, NY Post: “Why the Rust Belt just gave Donald Trump a hero’s welcome”

“. . . Six months after Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States, he received a hero’s welcome in this town. The festive scene made a counter-visual to the daily nonstop press reports about investigations into members of his inner circle, Russian interference in last year’s election and the debate over ObamaCare.

‘Trump’s approval rating, according to Gallup, is 39 percent. Youngstown is the 39 percent.

“On Monday, police said the advance ticket request of over 20,000 had exceeded the 6,000-seat capacity of the center, prompting the event coordinators to put a large screen outside the center for the overflow crowd.

“Dave Torrance, from Hermitage, Pa., had left early in the morning with three of his friends to see Trump. Torrance, 71, wore a blue ball cap with “American Patriot” embroidered across the top and a navy T-shirt with an American flag across the front.

“Torrance, who is black, says he gets his fair share of criticism from folks when they find out whom he supports. He got more when he told them he was driving to see him in person at the rally.

“‘They don’t understand why I think he is doing OK,’ he said. ‘They don’t think because I am black that I should support him. I am polite about it, but I tell them that politics isn’t about color, it is about accomplishments, and I think Trump is doing the right things.’ . . .”

http://nypost.com/2017/07/25/why-the-rust-belt-just-gave-donald-trump-a-heros-welcome/

Luke Roseak, Daily Caller: ‘Buying Property’

“Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested At Airport after Transferring $300k to Pakistan from House Office”

“Imran Awan, a Pakistani-born IT aide, had access to all emails and files of dozens of members of Congress, as well as the password to the iPad that Wasserman Schultz used for Democratic National Committee business before she resigned as its head in July 2016. In March, his wife Hina Alvi, who also was on the House payroll, withdrew her children from school and left the country, the affidavit says. The Capitol Police confronted her at the airport but could not stop her. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted a search of Alvi’s bags immediately prior to her boarding the plane and located a total of $12,400.00 in U.S. cash inside. Alvi was permitted to board the flight to Qatar and she and her daughters have not returned to the United States,” the affidavit says. “Alvi had numerous pieces of luggage with her, including cardboard boxes… Your affiant does not believe that Alvi has any intention to return to the United States.”

“Soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, four of his relatives appeared on the payroll of other Democrats at inflated salaries, but Democratic staffers said they were rarely seen at work. They collected $4 million in taxpayer salaries since 2009. . .”

http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/25/wasserman-schultzs-it-aide-arrested-trying-to-flee-the-country/

Also – Adelle Nazarian, “Report: FBI Investigating Smashed Hard Drives Retrieved from Wasserman Schultz’s Pakistani-Born IT Worker’s Home”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/25/report-fbi-investigating-smashed-hard-drives-retrieved-from-from-wasserman-schultzs-pakistani-born-it-workers-home/

Jeremy Roebuck & Chris Brennan, Philly.com: “Aide pleads guilty, says Brady campaign paid primary challenger to quit”

“Federal prosecutors said Tuesday that U.S. Rep. Bob Brady’s campaign secretly paid a 2012 primary rival $90,000 to abandon his race and that the city’s longtime Democratic power broker later tried to derail an FBI investigation into the payoff by coaching a witness.

“Those accusations, in court filings made public for the first time, emerged with the disclosure that an aide to Brady’s challenger, senior Municipal Court Judge Jimmie Moore, had admitted her role in the payoff scheme and pleaded guilty to conspiring to conceal it.

“Neither Brady nor Moore has been charged with a crime. Nor were they identified by name in the court documents that outlined the plea by Moore’s former political aide, Carolyn Cavaness. But a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia about her guilty plea made clear the crime was related to the 2012 primary campaign for Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District, which Brady has represented for nearly two decades. . .”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/ex-aide-to-brady-rival-admits-scheme-to-pay-off-challenger-20170725.html

Mark Bauerlein, Philly.com: “A long history of violence among U.S. liberals”

“Whether it’s real (the softball shooter) or make-believe (Kathy Griffin), liberal violence in contemporary America is a fact. It would seem to be a natural focus for Moyers’ campaign against political hatred. But at his web site one can only find brief notices of the shooting in Alexandria that emphasize the bipartisan nature of wrath in the United States, citing another story on “potential incitement of political violence by Democrats and Republicans, the right and the left,” as well as a population research finding that “Republicans and Democrats were indistinguishable in their support for political violence.”

“This all sounds like a cross-political appeal to reason, but in truth, it’s an effective way to push the liberal-peace and conservative-violence meme. When a lunatic with right-wing opinions goes on a rampage, it says something about the essence of conservatism. When a lunatic with left-wing opinions acts, it summons forth bipartisan expressions of civility. Conservative hate is conservative, but liberal hate isn’t liberal at all.

“Republicans and conservatives should recognize the across-the-divide call for unity as a hustle. The next time a right-wing crazy picks up his gun, the one-sided denunciations of conservative hate will come once more. Liberals pay themselves a compliment when they attribute vice to their adversaries, and they double down on back-patting when they (putatively) rise above politics after one of their own commits violence. Conservatives shouldn’t help them do it. . .”

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/commentary/a-long-history-of-violence-among-u-s-liberals-20170725.html

Joseph Tanfani, LA Times: “Trump administration toughens policy against sanctuary cities”

“The Trump administration on Tuesday strengthened its crackdown on so-called sanctuary cities, announcing a new policy that says local governments will lose some federal grants if they do not give federal officials advance notice when illegal immigrants are about to be released from custody and allow immigration agents access to local jails.

“The new policy, announced by the Department of Justice, will apply to all cities that get grants from the so-called Byrne Justice Assistance grant program, for which the administration has requested just over $380 million for the coming year.

“Under the policy, cities will have to meet three conditions if they want the grants: honoring requests to give 48-hour notice when detainees are about to be released; allowing agents access to local and state jails, in order to pick up undocumented people who are being released; and compliance with a law that prohibits any jurisdictions from stopping the exchange of information about an individual’s immigration status. . .”

http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-sanctuary-1501017073-htmlstory.html

PennLive: “Taxes, college grants, worker pay: How Pa.’s budget debacle may impact you”

http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/07/unfinished_pa_state_budget_exp.html

We are truly devastated to say that following the most recent MRI scan of Charlie’s muscles, as requested in the recent MDT meeting by Dr Hirano; as Charlie’s devoted and loving parents we have decided that it’s no longer in Charlie’s best interests to pursue treatment and we will let our son go and be with the angels.

“The American and Italian team were still willing to treat Charlie after seeing both his recent brain MRI and EEG performed last week. He’s not brain dead (and never has been). He still responds to us, even now, but after reviewing the recent muscle MRI it was considered that Charlie’s muscles have deteriorated to the extent that it is largely irreversible and, were treatment to work, his quality of life would now not be one which we would want for our precious little boy. They both agreed that treatment should have been started sooner.

“There is one simple reason for Charlie’s muscles deteriorating to the extent they are in now – TIME. A whole lot of wasted time. . . .”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/24/charlie-gard-mothers-full-statement-sorry-couldnt-save/

Also: NH Union Leader: “Pray for Charlie Gard: The cost of socialized medicine”

http://www.unionleader.com/editorial/Pray-for-Charlie-Gard-The-cost-of-socialized-medicine-07262017

Frederick Kunkle, WaPo: “Bicyclists fear Oregon’s controversial bike tax could spread”

Also, inspections and tags! Tell Wolf!

“Oregon has yet to collect a penny from a pioneering tax on bicycles to pay for infrastructure, and already at least one lawmaker from another state is thinking about getting into the act.

“Which is exactly what Jonathan Maus, who founded and edits the blog BikePortland.org, feared would happen.

“‘Now that this Pandora’s box of taxing bikes — from one of the most bike-friendly states in the country — now that that’s out in the open, well, now obviously a lot of other states are going to do that,’ Maus said Wednesday. ‘This is what states do: They look at what other states are doing to raise funds. They’re definitely going to try it.’

“He thinks the motive behind the bike tax is emotional, not financial.

“‘This is like a culture war kind of thing,’ Maus said. . .”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2017/07/20/bicyclists-fear-that-oregons-controversial-bike-tax-could-spread/?utm_term=.e90274775ec5

Mark Levin (07-25-17)

“On Tuesday’s Mark Levin show, Everyone is so excited over the 51-50 vote for proceeding with debate on a replacement for Obamacare, with Mike Pence casting the tie breaking vote. You have John Boehner who believes Obamacare has been around too long to be repealed and you have Mitch McConnell and his misconduct. Then you have President Trump, who wants to sign anything that comes to his desk so he can claim a victory.

“The only antidote to Obamacare is free market capitalism. This is about us being able to purchase an affordable healthcare plan. We have an entire debate which is not a debate at all. It is virtually a 100% embrace of a notion of liberty and law that is alien to our founding. The two Republicans that voted against debate were two of the most liberal Republicans, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski. Have you seen any leaks against them? Conservatives are attacked and liberals get a pass because they vote with the Democrats.

“Later, AG Jeff Sessions has spent 30 years fighting for conservatism. As Attorney General, he has defended this President brilliantly and aggressively in hostile federal courts and the first major politician to endorse Trump. It would be a horrible mistake for the President to dismiss him. Trump will never find somebody who is as loyal to him and his agenda as Sessions has been. Sessions does not deserve to be treated this way by Trump as if he is some enemy or hostile. Finally, newly declassified memos detail the extent of improper Obama-era NSA spying. This is what Congress and a special prosecutor should be investigating!”

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/25/july-25-2017/

Posted in Conservative, Pennsylvania, TEA Party | Tagged Health Care, Sessions, Wasserman-Schultz | Leave a comment

Dead Cats: ‘Fusions, 07/24/17, (27)16: James Brody

Posted on July 24, 2017 by jamesbrody

Andrew McCarthy – Trump has himself to blame.

HEALTH CARE: Bolton – Senate healthcare; Hannity Free Market option.

LEADS: Wong – Struggle & recess; Durden – Kushner/collusion; Bedard – sanctuaries; Kryt – Pot in Fusions; Paletta & Merle – Scaramucci; Chakraborty – Sanctuary standoff; Hinderaker – DJT fights Mueller; Durden – Trump slams leaks.

RECOMMENDED: Convention of States; Kunkle – Bike tax!; Investors – Hillary gets deeper; Mark Levin 07-21-17)

Andrew McCarthy, NRO: “Trump Has Himself, Not Sessions, to Blame for the Limitless Mueller Investigation”

“President Donald Trump’s rant against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in an interview with the New York Times, is a foolish bit of revisionist history. Sessions erred in the rashness and overbreadth of his recusal from the Russia investigation, but the president has himself to blame for the appointment of a special counsel.
“Trump is the one who hired Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. It is Rosenstein whose order appointing Robert Mueller fails to set limits on Mueller’s investigative jurisdiction, thereby authorizing the fishing expedition that has Trump so ballistic. Moreover, it was Trump’s own botching of the firing of FBI director James Comey that spooked Rosenstein, inducing him to appease furious Democrats by giving Mueller free rein.
“Trump has a point, though not as much of one as he seems to think, in saying that Sessions should not have recused himself. I’ve argued that the recusal was unnecessary, or at least premature. “The disqualification regulation on which Sessions relied calls for an attorney general to step aside if “a criminal investigation or prosecution” causes him a conflict of interest. At the time of his recusal, the Russia probe was a counterintelligence investigation. “(For all we know, it still is.) For the umpty-umpth time, a counterintelligence investigation is not a criminal investigation, and no criminal prosecutions have resulted from it. Thus, there was nothing for Sessions to recuse himself from. . .”
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449743/donald-trump-jeff-sessions-president-blame-mueller-affair

HEALTH CARE

Alexander Bolton, The Hill: “Senate healthcare bill appears headed for failure”

“Senate Republicans plan to vote this week on revised healthcare reform legislation, but a number of serious problems mean that the chances of getting that bill passed are slim to none.

“The latest wallop of bad news for Republicans came Friday when the Senate parliamentarian announced that key provisions of the revised bill would not pass muster under the special budgetary rules that Republicans are using to pass the legislation with a simple majority instead of 60 votes.

“There is no indication yet from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was diagnosed last week with brain cancer, that he will be back in Washington in time for a vote — which means GOP leaders may be starting one vote short.

“Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has already announced her opposition to the Senate healthcare bill, on Sunday criticized what she called a confusing and disjointed process.

“She said a vote is likely Tuesday, but said senators still don’t know whether they’ll vote on the House-passed measure, one of several Senate versions or a bill that simply repeals as much of the law as possible and sets a two-year transition period for crafting a yet-to-be-determined replacement. . .”

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/343379-senate-healthcare-bill-appears-headed-for-failure

Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $50/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a 90% discount.

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

LEADS

Scott Wong, The Hill: “Congressional GOP struggles for a win as recess looms”

“No healthcare overhaul. No tax reform. No infrastructure package. No budget. No government funding bill.

It’s now entirely possible that congressional Republicans will depart for the long August recess without sending a single major piece of legislation to President Trump’s desk.

After the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare stalled in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he’d call a vote this week on a straight repeal bill. But the GOP defections are piling up and few see a viable path for full repeal.

Across the Capitol, House Republicans are facing a defining challenge of their own of their own as they struggle to round up the votes for a fiscal 2018 budget resolution that leaders say is needed to pave the way for tax reform.

Their push to vote on a 12-bill omnibus to fund the entire federal government before the summer recess has also sputtered. Instead, Republicans will vote on a scaled-back, security-focused minibus, though skeptical appropriators warn that it will be ignored by the Senate, requiring another dreaded short-term stopgap measure in September to avert a shutdown. . .”

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/343238-congressional-gop-struggles-to-pass-legislation-as-recess-looms

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “Kushner Releases 11-Page Statement: Denies Collusion, Confirms Four Meetings with Russians”

“. . .The key statement: “I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government. I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector. I have tried to be fully transparent with regard to the filing of my SF-86 [security clearance] form, above and beyond what is required.”

“In the most consequential meeting, Kushner said he agreed to meet with a Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov, on Dec. 13 at the request of the Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak

“Kushner’s interview with committee staff is voluntary, will take place out of the public eye and will not be under oath. It nevertheless may serve as a building block for the ongoing Russia investigations by Special Counsel Bob Mueller as well as House and Senate committees. . .”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-24/jared-kushner-confirms-four-meetings-russians-denies-collusion

Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner: “ICE chief lists worst sanctuary cities: Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, Philadelphia”

“…”In the last year, I’ve read all these stories of how the crime rate has exploded in Chicago, and the president’s trying to help them. We’re stepping up our game in Chicago. Is Chicago doing everything that it can to decrease the criminal activity up there? I say no,” Homan said.

“‘I say no because if you’re an illegal alien, and you get arrested in the United States for a crime, and you get booked in Cook County, Chicago, my officers aren’t allowed in the jail. They don’t accept our detainers. They don’t share information with us,’ he said.

“Homan said that in denying to detain criminals, sanctuary cities end up putting them back on the street where they “will re-offend” and prompt ICE agents to take the dangerous step of tracking them down.

“‘Why would Cook County not want my officers, federal law enforcement officers, to go talk to somebody who is illegally in the United States that committed yet another crime against the citizens of this country? It’s ludicrous,’ he said.

“But, said the one-time Border Patrol agent, ‘They’re a sanctuary city, they’re proud of it.’. . .”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ice-chief-lists-worst-sanctuary-cities-chicago-nyc-san-francisco-philadelphia/article/2629466

Jeremy Kryt, Daily Beast: “Mexican Drug Smugglers High on Ford”

“Trump’s Wall is an epic fail in the making. Here’s how the Sinaloa Cartel smuggles drugs into the U.S. from a Ford plant in Sonora.

“Fresh evidence indicating just how totalmente loco is President Donald Trump’s scheme to build “The Wall” turned up this month at the Ford dealership in Youngstown, Ohio.

“That’s where the bales of marijuana were discovered, hidden in a batch of Ford Fusions shipped by rail from the company’s plant in Mexico. A subsequent investigation turned up 17 other loaded Fusions in three other Ohio counties and nearby Pennsylvania. In total, police found 400 pounds of weed between July 7 and 11. That’s more than $1 million which should have gone toward lining cartel pockets, instead of making headlines.

“Long maligned for its lack of appeal to young drivers, the Fusion now seems to be trending with a certain demographic. Just not the one Ford had in mind.

“So far this year dozens of other Fusions stuffed with hundreds of pounds of skunk in the trunk have been found from Arizona to Minnesota. And since the cars as such are shipped legally, no physical barrier—no matter how tall or transparent Mr. Trump might like it to be—would have kept the stashed cannabis out. . .”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/mexican-drug-smugglers-high-on-ford

Damian Paletta & Renae Merle, WaPo: “Scaramucci took winding path but finally landed a top job with Trump”

“NEW YORK — To avoid the pitfalls of politics, Anthony Scaramucci, the talkative Wall Street financier picked by President Trump Friday to lead his communications strategy, often advises those close to him to have thick skin.

“It is a lesson he learned years ago from Trump. The two were seated at the same table during a Lupus Foundation luncheon and a dispirited Scaramucci told Trump that he was being ‘ripped apart’ by the media.

“‘Look, it comes with the territory. You are gaining a high profile, which means it’s time for people to start shooting at you,’ Trump told him, according to Scaramucci’s 2016 book ‘Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole.’

“‘Big deal you were raked over the coals a little bit,’ Trump continued. ‘So what? It has been happening to me for over 30 years.’

“President Trump’s decision to bring Scaramucci into a top White House role represents a remarkable political ascension for the investment veteran, who had bounced around several Republican campaigns before striking gold as a full-throated Trump supporter.

“Scaramucci, known as ‘the Mooch,’ is in many ways cut from the same cloth as his new boss. Investors, associates and those who have worked with him say he is a brash New Yorker who is comfortable jousting with the media and a relentless promoter who doesn’t mind throwing sharp elbows.

“Scaramucci said he would report directly to Trump as he takes charge of crafting the administration’s communications strategy and messaging. The new press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, will report to him. . .”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/21/scaramucci-took-winding-path-but-finally-landed-a-top-job-with-trump/?utm_term=.cb012525c411

Barnini Chakraborty, Fox: “Sanctuary city standoff looms as ICE director vows agent surge”

“The acting ICE director is vowing to use new resources to target undocumented immigrants in sanctuary cities – a move likely to hit resistance from mayors and local law enforcement who previously have refused to cooperate with federal authorities.

ICE Director Thomas Homan told The Washington Examiner he thinks sanctuary cities like New York and San Francisco are “ludicrous” and plans to direct extra agents to those areas.

“What I want to get to is a clear understanding from everybody, from the congressmen to the politicians to law enforcement to those who enter the country illegally, that ICE is open for business,” Homan said.

“Attorney General Jeff Sessions also traveled Friday to Philadelphia, one of the nation’s biggest sanctuary cities, to call out the local government for not cooperating with federal immigration policies. He said such cities ‘aren’t giving sanctuary to law-abiding people but criminals’ and urged Philadelphia to ‘reconsider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens.’. . .”

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/21/sanctuary-city-standoff-looms-as-ice-director-vows-agent-surge.html

John Hinderaker, Powerline: “TRUMP FIGHTS BACK AGAINST MUELLER”

“I take it as a given that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is part of the Democratic Party’s effort to destroy the Trump administration. This is evidenced by the fact that he has staffed his investigation with Democratic Party activist lawyers and contributors to the Hillary Clinton campaign, and by his expansion of his “investigation” beyond any reasonable interpretation of his charge.

“This is what the order appointing Mueller says he is empowered to investigate:

“The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confirmed by then-FBI Director James B. Comey in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:

‘(i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and

‘(ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and

‘(iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).

“Item (iii) authorizes the special counsel to look into efforts to obstruct his investigation, so Mueller’s mandate extends only to “links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” and matters arising directly therefrom.

“Mueller evidently hasn’t found any evidence linking the Trump campaign to whatever the Russians did during the 2016 campaign–no one else has either–so instead of giving up, he is broadening his investigation to include President Trump’s business dealings:

FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a controversial SoHo development in New York with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, the person said.

“What on God’s green Earth do the 2013 Miss Universe pageant or Trump’s sale of a house in 2008 have to do with Russian interference in the 2016 election? Nothing. Some have tried to argue that the Miss Universe pageant is relevant, on the ground that Donald Trump, Jr. met Rob Goldstone, who years later introduced him to a Russian lawyer, there.

But so what? Mueller apparently doesn’t have any evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russians to spear phish the DNC’s email accounts, and no matter how much he investigates the Miss Universe pageant, or Trump’s 2008 sale of a house, he still won’t have any such evidence. . .”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/07/trump-fights-back-against-mueller.php

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “In Furious, Bizarre Tweetstorm Trump Slams Leaks, “Amazon Post”, “Failing NYT”, Hillary, GOP Senators”

“Trump may have broken a personal tweetstorm record on Saturday morning, when starting shortly after 6:30am, in a furious blast of ten tweets (and still going), Trump lashed out at the “Amazon Washington Post”, the “failing New York Times”, touched on his right to pardon, questioned why the Attorney General isn’t looking at the ‘many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes’ and the ‘33,000 emails deleted’, asked ‘what about the Clinton ties to Russia including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian reset, big dollar speeches”, compared Donald Jr.’s email disclosure to Hillary Clinton’s email deletion ‘and acid wash’ of her 33,000 emails, slammed ‘dead ObamaCare’, and finally (at least for now) slammed both Republican senators who must ‘step up to the plate and vote to Repeal and Replace’, as well as Democrat Senators who are ‘obstructionists, no ideas or votes.’

The tweet that has attracted the most media attention so far, is Trump’s assertion that he has ‘complete power to pardon’ following reports that he was discussing his ability to pardon people in the ongoing investigation into ties between his campaign and Russia. “While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS.’

“The WaPo reported last week that Trump’s new lawyers are looking into his authority to grant pardons in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The Post also said that Trump has also talked to his advisers about his ability to pardon his aides, family members and even himself in the investigation. . .”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-22/raging-bizarre-tweetstorm-trump-slams-leaks-amazon-post-failing-nyt-hillary-gop-sena

“Corruption: Amid the trivial fault-finding by the media of President Trump’s every move, it’s important to note that the very same pundits who now rip Trump have completely ignored the growing scandal of Hillary Clinton’s pay-for-play tenure as secretary of state. It’s reasonable to wonder why no charges have yet been filed, yet the media, blinded by their Trump hatred, seem strangely incurious.

“The legal investigative think tank Judicial Watch recently released 448 pages of documents that it dug up from the U.S. State Department, the fruit of months of Freedom of Information Act requests and document-digging. The documents are damning, showing even more instances of Hillary Clinton performing official favors for those who donated to the Clinton Foundation and certain political campaigns.

“To put it even more bluntly, the emails make a prima facie case for a criminal prosecution of Clinton. As Judicial Watch notes . . .”

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/clinton-scandal-only-deepens-so-why-is-trump-not-hillary-targeted-for-investigation/

Mark Levin (07-21-17)

I heard that Bill Cunningham is to join Levin’s crew!

“On Friday’s Mark Levin show, yes, President Trump could pardon himself and his family. What’s important is what the Constitution says in Article 2 Clause 1 – the President shall have power to grant reprieves or pardon for grievances against the US. There are no limitations on the text except for cases of impeachment. Regardless of how the move may look politically, the question isn’t a political one. Rather, it’s simply about what’s in the Constitution.

“After that, Orrin Hatch was sent out to attack Mike Lee. If you follow Orrin Hatch, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell’s line of thinking, conservatives like Lee are Obamacare Republicans, which is completely false. The political knives are out from the elite and establishment Republicans to get Mike Lee. In addition, Both Republicans and Democrats are lying about healthcare. Republicans lie that they are going to repeal and Democrats lie that Republicans actually mean to repeal Obamacare.

“Also, Republicans have lost the debate over healthcare because they have not engaged in the debate. 62% of American people now support the idea that the federal government must provide healthcare. This is a fight over ideas. If we lose the fight over first principles to progressives and their ideology, we will not recover this nation. It is not a battle between Republican and Democrat, but is about Americanism vs. Progressivism.

“Later, 3 Arab terrorists shot 2 Israeli police officers dead in the Temple Mount area. Now Israel has put metal detectors there for anyone entering, and the Palestinians are in an uproar. Mahmoud Abbas and Muslim leaders are encouraging people to protest against the Israeli security forces until the metal detectors are removed. This is just a pretext to kill more Israelis. Adam Kredo calls in to explain why the State Dept is unsure why Palestinian terrorists kill Israelis.”

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/21/july-21-2017/

Posted in Conservative, Pennsylvania, TEA Party | Tagged Health, Levin, Pot, Scaramucci, Trump | Leave a comment

Dead Cats: Sanctuary?, 07/21/17, (27)15: James Brody

Posted on July 21, 2017 by jamesbrody

Melanie Phillips – Blind Europe

HEALTH CARE: Strassel – Self Interest; Moran – Discharge petition; Hannity Free Market option.

LEADS: Philly.com – Sessions in Sanctuary; Durden – Leave NKor; Wong – US to Challenge Spratly Islands; Ciarmella – Asset forfeiture; Pfeiffer – Trump warns Mueller.

RECOMMENDED: Kunkle – Bike tax!; Mark Levin 07-20-17; Investors – Clinton’s scandals – Charge her!.

Melanie Phillips, Jerusalem Post: “EUROPE REMAINS BLIND BECAUSE IT DOESN’T WANT TO SEE”

“In Budapest this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had an unintentionally revealing moment.

“On an open microphone, he was overheard condemning as ‘crazy’ the EU’s insistence on resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict as a precondition for closer trade ties. European links with Israel, he said, would determine whether the EU would ‘live and thrive or shrivel and disappear.’

“The situation is surely even broader and starker than that. European leaders don’t realize their fate is wrapped up not only with Israel but with Judaism itself.

“They don’t grasp that prejudice against the Jews is a major driver of Islamist attacks not just against Israel but also against the West. And they don’t understand how their own orthodoxies are aiding that malign process.

“Last April Sarah Halimi, a 67-year-old French Jewish woman, was murdered by her 27-year-old neighbor, Malian immigrant Kobili Traore, who beat and tortured her before throwing her alive out of the third floor window of her Paris apartment. During the attack he shouted ‘Allahu akbar’ and ‘you sheitan!’ (devil). He had previously taunted her repeatedly with anti-Jewish remarks.
“The police, who had failed to respond to the pleas by Halimi’s family to do something about Traore because they feared being accused of anti-Muslim prejudice, have refused to acknowledge this was an anti-Jewish crime.
“In recent years, French Jews have been repeatedly attacked by Muslim assailants motivated by religiously based hatred of Jews. France has persistently ignored the significance of this. . .”

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Europe-remains-blind-because-it-doesnt-want-to-see-500258

HEALTH CARE

Kimberley Strassel, WSJ: “Our Self-Interested Senators”

“. . .Up to now, this exercise has been about trying to improve health care and the federal fisc. The House bill isn’t perfect—no bill ever is—but it amounts to the biggest entitlement reform in history. It repeals crushing taxes. It dramatically cuts spending. And it begins the process of stabilizing the individual health-care market and expanding consumer freedom.

None of this is good enough for a handful of senators, so now it’s time to make this exercise all about them. Mr. McConnell should make clear that the overwhelming majority of the Republican Party stands ready to make good on its repeal-and-replace campaign promise—and that it would have done so already were it not for a cynical or egotistic few. It’s time for some very public accountability.

“That rests in Mr. McConnell giving his caucus a drop-dead date to broker a compromise, after which he will proceed to bring up the House bill. And any Republican who votes against moving forward, “a motion to proceed,” will forever be known as the Republican who saved ObamaCare. The Republican who voted to throw billions more taxpayer dollars at failing entitlement programs and collapsing insurance markets. The Republican who abandoned struggling American families. The Republican who voted against a tax cut and spending reductions. The Republican who made Chuck Schumer’s year.

“And that’s only a short list of the real-world accountability. That vote might also provide home-state voters a new, eye-opening means to account for the character of their senators. Few things drive conservative voters battier than phony politicians, those who say one thing and do another to avoid hard choices.

“Nearly every Senate Republican is on record having voted to repeal ObamaCare—back when they knew that President Obama’s veto made the vote consequence-free. And to be crystal clear, any senator who now votes against simply proceeding to debate is doing so for just one reason: To again avoid consequences, to again avoid accountability. . .”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/our-self-interested-senators-1500592123

Jonah Goldberg, NRO: “On Health Care, Bipartisan Dishonesty Is the Problem”
“. . . I have always argued that bipartisanship is overrated.
“Bipartisan support often means unthinking support (as the Founders could have told you). Partisans may be annoying from time to time, but they also can be relied upon to point out the shortcomings of what the other side is doing. When partisan criticism is missing, it might be a sign that politicians in both parties are helping themselves, not the country. Or, it might mean they’re pandering to the passions of the public and press rather than doing the hard work of thinking things through.
“So you’ll get no warm and fuzzy pleading for moderates to scrub clean the word “compromise” so that it’s no longer a dirty word in Washington. Others can make the case for that. And besides, that argument misses the essence of this spectacular failure. Honest partisanship isn’t the problem, bipartisan dishonesty is.
“For seven years Republicans campaigned to repeal Obamacare. We now know that for many of those politicians, that pledge was a sales pitch that expired after the sale — i.e., the election — was final.

“But before liberal readers pull a muscle nodding their heads: The Democrats aren’t any better. Obamacare itself was lied into passage. “You can keep your plan!” “You can keep your doctor!” “Your premiums won’t go up!” These were lies. If those promises were remotely true, Obamacare wouldn’t be the mess it is.

“But these aren’t even the lies I have in mind.

“The Republican ‘repeal and replace’ bills debated for the last six months did not in fact repeal Obamacare. They kept most of its regulations intact — particularly the popular ones. The GOP did seek to repeal and reform the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, but that’s not the same thing as repealing Obamacare.

“Yet Republicans insisted it was a repeal because they wanted to claim that they fulfilled their repeal pledge. Actually fulfilling the substance of the pledge was a low-order priority. Heroically winning the talking point: This was their brass ring. . .”
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449711/health-care-fight-bipartisan-dishonesty-battle-between-liars

Sean Moran, BigGovt: “Rep. Tom Garrett Announces Intent to File Discharge Petition on Obamacare Repeal”

“Rep. Tom Garret (R-VA), along with a dozen Freedom Caucus members, announced his intent to file a discharge petition that would put a clean repeal of Obamacare before the House.

“The House Freedom Caucus repeatedly argued that the best path to repealing Obamacare revolves around a simple repeal of Obamacare and then replacing the Affordable Care Act with a free-market alternative.

“Congress passed a clean repeal bill of Obamacare in 2015 only to have it vetoed by President Obama. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, reintroduced the same legislation in 2017. However, Congress has not taken up that legislation.

“Rep. Tom Garrett announced his intent to file a discharge petition that would put that clean Obamacare repeal bill before the House. Garrett said, “I commend both the President and Republican leadership for working to replace the monstrosity that is Obamacare. However, we have seen discussions for replacement continue to stall and we must change our approach to reforming healthcare.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/19/rep-tom-garrett-announces-intent-to-file-discharge-petition-on-obamacare-repeal/

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $55/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a discount.

Pure = Green Icon
Unknown = Yellow Icon
Hybrid = Red Icon

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

LEADS

Philly.com: “Jeff Sessions in Philly today to speak about sanctuary cities’

“. . .A protest is planned for Sessions’ late morning visit to the U.S. Attorney’s Office at 6th and Chestnut Streets.

“Sessions’ visit comes a day after he vowed to remain on the job despite a rebuke from President Trump for recusing himself from the investigations into possible Russian ties to the Trump’s presidential campaign.

“Sessions has said that sanctuary cities are violating the supremacy clause of the Constitution by limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“A federal judge on Thursday refused to reinstate President Donald Trump’s executive order to cut funding from cities that limit cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities.

The attorney general recently singled out Philadelphia before law enforcement officials in Las Vegas, saying the city is ‘advertising’ its sanctuary policy and ‘protecting criminals.’ . . .”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/jeff-sessions-philadelphia-sanctuary-cities-trump-20170721.html

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “US Urges All Nationals in North Korea to “Depart Immediately”, Bans Tourists from Visiting”

“Dennis Rodman will be disappointed to learn that the US is set to ban all citizens from traveling to North Korea, according to two agencies that operate tours there. Koryo Tours and Young Pioneer Tours said the ban would be announced on 27 July to come into effect 30 days later, the BBC reported. ‘After the 30-day grace period any US national that travels to North Korea will have their passport invalidated by their government.’ The ban comes one month after US student Otto Warmbier died following his imprisonment by the Kim regime.

“China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which had taken Warmbier to North Korea, and Koryo Tours said the ban will come into force on July 27 – the anniversary of the end of the Korean War – with a 30-day grace period. . .”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-21/us-urges-all-nationals-north-korea-depart-immediately-bans-tourists-visiting

Kristina Wong, Breitbart: “EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Pentagon Plans to Challenge Chinese Claims in South China Sea”

“. . . Although the U.S. Navy has routinely conducted these “freedom of navigation operations”all around the world for decades, the Obama administration put a stop on them in the South China Sea from 2012 to 2015, with only a few in 2016, out of concern for upsetting China.

Under Obama, the Pentagon would send requests for FONOPs to the National Security Council, where they would stall. There was a concern ‘of doing anything that would cause anybody to get their feathers ruffled,’ the official said.

“During that time, China began aggressively building up islands and reefs in the South China Sea and increasingly placing military equipment on them, even though the territory is also claimed by Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.

“Under the new plan, the White House will already be aware of the planned operations so that they will not be ‘a surprise’ every time a request comes up the chain of command, and they will be approved faster than before, the official said. . .”

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/07/20/trump-pentagon-south-china-sea-plan/

Greg Farrell & Christian Berthelsen, Bloomberg: “Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions”

“The U.S. special counsel investigating possible ties between the Donald Trump campaign and Russia in last year’s election is examining a broad range of transactions involving Trump’s businesses as well as those of his associates, according to a person familiar with the probe.

“FBI investigators and others are looking at Russian purchases of apartments in Trump buildings, Trump’s involvement in a controversial SoHo development in New York with Russian associates, the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow and Trump’s sale of a Florida mansion to a Russian oligarch in 2008, the person said.

“The investigation also has absorbed a money-laundering probe begun by federal prosecutors in New York into Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

John Dowd, one of Trump’s lawyers, said on Thursday that he was unaware of the inquiry into Trump’s businesses by the two-months-old investigation and considered it beyond the scope of what Special Counsel Robert Mueller should be examining. . .”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-20/mueller-is-said-to-expand-probe-to-trump-business-transactions

Christina Wong, BigGovt: “Susan Rice Postpones Testifying to Congress on Unmasking Trump Officials”

Hillary, Susan, Samantha & Omar . . .

“. . . Several news outlets reported in March that Rice had unmasked members of Trump’s campaign and transition team members during that surveillance. A conversation between Russian Ambassador and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was illegally leaked to the Washington Post in February.

“Rice originally told PBS that she “knew nothing” about unmasking. Later she acknowledged that she engaged in unmasking Trump officials but has insisted that it was not politically motivated and only did it when it related to national security matters.

“This would have been the first time Rice testified since those reports that she unmasked Trump’s associates, although she has given interviews to MSNBC and other friendly outlets.

“Rice recently told the New York Magazine that she believes this is an extension of her being targeted by the right since erroneously saying the September 2012 Benghazi attack was due to spontaneous protests, not a planned terrorist attack, and suggested her race and gender played a role. . .”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/18/susan-rice-postpones-testifying-house-intelligence-committee-unmasking-trump-officials/

C.J. Ciarmella, Reason: “Justice Department Rolls Out New Policy to Seize More Money Under Asset Forfeiture”

“The new directive also includes some safeguards for property owners, but civil liberties groups say they don’t go far enough.

“The Justice Department, rolling back an Obama-era directive, will seize more cash and property from suspected criminals, whether or not they have been charged with a crime, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday.

“At a televised meeting with law enforcement leaders from around the country, Sessions laid out a new policy directive regarding the Justice Department’s Equitable Sharing Program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars a year in asset forfeiture revenue to state and local police departments.

“‘President Trump has directed this Department of Justice to reduce crime in this country, and we will use every lawful tool that we have to do that,’ Sessions said. ‘We will continue to encourage civil asset forfeiture whenever appropriate in order to hit organized crime in the wallet.’

“Civil asset forfeiture is a controversial practice that allows police to seize cash and property suspected of being connected to criminal activity. The property owner does not have to be convicted or even charged with a crime to have his or her property seized and forfeited by the government.

“Under the equitable sharing program, federal authorities may ‘adopt’ state and local forfeiture cases and prosecute them at the federal level. Those local police departments get to keep up to 80 percent of the forfeiture revenue, while the rest goes into the equitable sharing pool and is distributed among partner departments around the country . . .”

http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/19/justice-department-rolls-out-new-policy

Alex Pfeiffer, Daily Caller: “Trump Delivers A Warning To Mueller”

HT InfoWars!

“President Donald Trump told The New York Times Wednesday that it would be improper for special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate his family’s finances in a manner not related to the probe into Russian election interference.

“Mueller, a registered Republican, has hired at least seven Democratic donors to join his investigative team, including one attorney who donated roughly $34,000 to federal Democratic candidates.

“Trump has previously called this hiring practice “ridiculous,” and was asked by the Times whether he would ever order the Justice Department to fire Mueller. He said he would not do so, but he did say that Mueller would cross a red line by opening a broad investigation into his family’s finances unrelated to the Russia investigation.

“‘I think that’s a violation. Look, this is about Russia,’ Trump said.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/19/trump-delivers-a-warning-to-mueller/

“On Thursday’s Mark Levin show, Are we capable of choosing our own health care policies or making our own health care decisions? Do you trust politicians and bureaucrats to make decisions about the health care of your family? If you do, which politicians and which bureaucrats do you trust to make these decisions? Are we not a free people, an independent people? Liberty is all but forgotten in the health care debate. Republicans and Democrats are unified in the belief that government must be involved with health care. The idea that all of us should be wards of the government, wards of the state, incapable of making our own decisions must be stopped and has to be fought.

“In addition, we have reached a point in our country where liberty is defined through government subsidies and welfare. This is not liberty this is servitude. We are in a state of servitude to Obamacare. The government drives up the cost of medical care and deductibles and is creating waiting lists and rationing.

“Later, Freedom Caucus members Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows call in to discuss a petition to get a bill brought up before the House that would send the same repeal bill Republicans sent to Obama in 2015 to President Trump. The petition would require 218 congressmen to sign on. If we can’t get rid of Obamacare now, we will never get rid of it. A lot of Republicans campaigned against Obamacare, but are not willing to vote against it. It is time for them to legislate and live up to their words.

“Finally, Robert Mueller is a dangerous man and is going well beyond his mandate. Mueller is now starting to dig into Trump’s business dealings.”

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/20/july-20-2017/

Investors: “Clinton Scandal Only Deepens — So Why Is Trump, Not Hillary, Targeted For Investigation?”

“To put it even more bluntly, the emails make a prima facie case for a criminal prosecution of Clinton. As Judicial Watch notes . . .”

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/clinton-scandal-only-deepens-so-why-is-trump-not-hillary-targeted-for-investigation/

Posted in Conservative, Pennsylvania, TEA Party | Tagged China, Deep State, Health Care, Sanctuary, Sessions | Leave a comment

Dead Cats: LostAgain!, 07/19/17, (27)14: James Brody

Posted on July 19, 2017 by jamesbrody

HANSON – The 5^th American War.

HEALTH CARE: Ernst/Limbaugh – Establishment vs Trump; Drucker – Roll Call Vote; Hurt – Blame lying Dems; Berry – Liberal GOPers; Hannity Free Market option.

LEADS: Lawler – Housing discrimination; Nixon – Engineering the wall; Curl – Hating Hillary; Meotti – Islam converts a cathedral.

RECOMMENDED: Mark Levin 07-18-17.

Victor Davis Hanson, NRO: “The Fifth American War”

“. . . On four prior occasions in American history the country nearly split apart, as seemingly irreconcilable cultural, economic, political, social, geographical, and demographic fault lines opened a path to hatred and violence.
“During the Jacksonian Revolution of the 1830s, factions nearly ripped the country apart over whether the East Coast Founders’ establishment of a half-century would relinquish its monopoly of political power to reflect the new demographic realties of an expanding frontier — and its populist champions often deemed unfit for self-governance. For the most part, the Jacksonians won.
Three decades later the nation divided over slavery, prompting the most lethal war in American history to end it and force the defeated Confederate southern states back into the Union.
“The Great Depression, and the establishment’s inept responses to it, left a quarter of the country unemployed for nearly a decade — hungry and desperate to expand government even if it entailed curtailing liberty in a way never envisioned by the Founders. The result was eventually the redefinition of freedom as the right of the individual to have his daily needs guaranteed by the state.

“In the 1960s, the hippie movement — fueled by furor over the Vietnam War, civil-rights protests, and environmental activism — turned holistic in a fashion rarely seen before. A quarter of the country went “hip,” grooming, dressing, talking, and acting in a way that reflected their disdain for the silent majority of “straight” or “irrelevant” traditional America. . .”

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449594/fifth-american-war-blue-state-vs-red-elites-vs-populists-egalitarianism-vs-liberty

HEALTH CARE

McCain wants to work with Dems, three (Alaska, Maine, Virginia) want to be bought instead of voting for repeal. Trump says he won’t own this mess. Meanwhile, McConnell wants a rollcall.

Douglas Ernst, Washington Times: “Limbaugh on GOP health care fiasco: ‘Establishment unifying to get rid of Donald Trump’”

“Radio host Rush Limbaugh says an implosion of the Republicans’ health care bill in the Senate is further proof of “the establishment unifying to get rid of Donald Trump.”

“Millions of listeners tuned into ‘The Rush Limbaugh Show’ on Tuesday and received extended commentary on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s failure to move Republicans closer to repealing and replacing The Affordable Care Act. The conservative said too many people — including those working for the president — have misidentified the opposition.

“‘The fight is not Republican versus Democrat,’ Mr. Limbaugh said. ‘The fight is Donald Trump and his cadre and you, the Trump base, versus the Washington establishment. It has always been that and nothing more. And, frankly, I think one of the problems has been that there aren’t enough people in the Trump White House who understand that that’s the way the table’s set.’

“Mr. Limbaugh said the president will continue to face opposition by Republicans because Washington “is built around the existence of this establishment.”

“‘This is the elite membership of the establishment unifying to get rid of Donald Trump and make sure that nothing of his announced agenda happens,’ the host said. ‘No wall, no tax reform, no immigration reform of substance, and certainly no repealing of Obamacare. Not all members of the establishment are equally powerful. There are those who run it. You don’t know who they are. They don’t seek office. They’re not office holders. They are the chess players, the puppeteers.’ . . .”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/18/rush-limbaugh-on-health-care-failure-establishment/

David Drucker, Washington Examiner: “Why Mitch McConnell is making the Senate vote on doomed Obamacare repeal”

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., aims to send a message to the Republicans he leads: After four elections and seven years of promising to repeal Obamacare, it’s time to choose.

“That’s why, knowing full well the votes weren’t there, McConnell switched from the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would partially repeal and replace Obamacare, to the straight-repeal legislation that Senate Republicans approved in 2015, when President Barack Obama was still around to veto it.

“McConnell couldn’t round up the 50 out of 52 available Republican votes he needed to pass BCRA. The bill collapsed amid complaints about a leadership-driven legislative process and philosophical differences among conservatives and centrists about what to do with Medicaid.

“But the majority leader essentially thinks Republicans are making excuses.

“To teach them a lesson about governing, and smoke out exactly where various members stand on Obamacare repeal, McConnell is forcing a tough vote on a bill that’s likely doomed — an unusual move for a political operator who always has his eye on the next election. . .”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/why-mitch-mcconnell-is-making-the-senate-vote-on-doomed-obamacare-repeal/article/2629043

Charles Hurt, Washington Times: “Blame dishonest Democrats who created Obamacare and lied about it”

“Behold, this is your health care, run by the federal government.

“Politicians far, far away in Washington — advised by armies of bureaucrats whose salaries you pay but you have never met — all huddled in Congress deciding what pills they will give you and how long is long enough for you to be on life support.

“Also, they will decide just how much money you will pay for pregnancy insurance, even though you do not technically have a uterus and your name is not Caitlyn Jenner. (Isn’t it funny how the only way anybody buys something named the ‘Affordable Care Act’ is if the federal government forces them to buy it?)

“Oh, and they are deciding just how much of your money they are going to set aside to “stabilize the insurance market,” which is just the latest rosy euphemism for “dump trucks full of your tax cash given to massive insurance companies that you already despise.”

“Meanwhile, throngs of cloaked lobbyists slither the hallways of Congress in search of legislative gems and baubles they can haul in dirty sacks back to their nests to be pawned off later. . .”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/18/blame-democrats-who-created-obamacare-and-are-dish/

Susan Berry, BigGovt: “Liberal Republican Senators to Block Defunding Planned Parenthood in Obamacare Repeal”

“Pro-abortion liberal Republican Sens. Susan Collins (ME), Lisa Murkowski (AK), and Shelley Moore Capito (WV) say they will not vote in favor of an Obamacare repeal bill. That decision puts the effort to both repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood out of reach for the Republican Party.

“In the 2015 Obamacare repeal bill, which passed both the House and Senate, Collins and Murkowski joined then-Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) in an attempt to remove the bill’s provision to eliminate much of Planned Parenthood’s federal funding.

“Capito kept her promise to her constituents to repeal Obamacare by voting in favor of the 2015 repeal bill, well aware that Obama would veto it. Now, with a Republican in the White House who will actually sign the bill to repeal the disastrous healthcare reform, she said in a statement that her opposition to repeal just two years later is based on the ‘concerns and needs of West Virginians.’ . . .”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/19/2015-clean-obamacare-repeal-bill-defunded-planned-parenthood-one-year/

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $55/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a discount.

Pure = Green Icon
Unknown = Yellow Icon
Hybrid = Red Icon

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

LEADS

Joseph Lawler, Washington Examiner: “Mike Lee, GOP call on Ben Carson to undo Obama housing discrimination rule”

“A group of congressional Republicans is calling on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson to undo the housing discrimination rule advanced under former President Barack Obama, saying the regulation will punish communities that are not as diverse as the Obama administration would have wished.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee joined with 12 other senators and seven representatives late Friday to ask Carson to rescind the rule, known as “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.”

“‘We stand with you in opposing any and all instances of discrimination, but this rule does not actually help in that effort,’ the senators wrote, warning that the rule would increase federal involvement in local zoning decisions.

“A spokesman for Carson said Monday that he had received the letter and would review it but offered no comment. . .”

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/mike-lee-gop-call-on-ben-carson-to-undo-obama-housing-discrimination-rule/article/2628846

Ron Nixon, NY Times: “Engineers Begin Preparatory Work for Border Wall Construction”

“WASHINGTON — The United States Army Corps of Engineers has begun preliminary preparations for the construction of segments of a wall in several places along the border with Mexico, the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday.

“Engineers are drilling and taking soil samples to determine what type of barriers would be most effective in the different types of geography along the border, said David Lapan, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.

“The drilling and soil testing are taking place in El Paso; Santa Teresa, N.M.; Calexico, Calif.; San Diego; and the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. Mr. Lapan said the testing has been completed in El Paso and Calexico. The agency has identified the San Diego area and the Rio Grande Valley as priority regions for new border walls.

“The drilling and testing come as Customs and Border Protection, the parent agency of the Border Patrol, continues to evaluate dozens of proposals that have been submitted by vendors for designs for a border wall.

“President Trump mandated construction of the wall in an executive order in January. In March, the Department of Homeland Security put out a call for prototypes of a “physically imposing” and “aesthetically pleasing” border wall. The structure would also be designed to prevent climbing and tunneling. . .”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/us/politics/border-wall-construction.html

Joseph Curl, Washington Times: America hates Hillary — and digs Trump”

“Nearly every day, another mainstream media poll emerges that claims President Trump has the lowest approval rating since Caligula. But there’s one person Americans like even less: Hillary Clinton.

“Bloomberg’s latest national poll puts Mr. Trump’s approval rating at 41 percent. Mrs. Clinton’s is two points lower, at 39 percent.

“‘There’s growing discontent with Hillary Clinton even as she has largely stayed out of the spotlight,’ said pollster J. Ann Selzer, who oversaw the Bloomberg survey. ‘It’s not a pox on the Democratic house because numbers for other Democrats are good.’

“So, it’s Just Hillary. In fact, her dismal rating in the latest poll is the second lowest since the poll began tracking her in September 2009. And she continues to lose ground from her 44 percent rating right before the 2016 election. . .”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/18/america-hates-hillary-clinton-and-digs-donald-trum/

Guilio Meotti, Gatestone: “Qatar, Saudi Arabia to Islamize One of Europe’s Greatest Cathedrals”

HT InfoWars!

“In Islamic symbolism, Córdoba is the lost Caliphate. Political authorities in Córdoba dealt a blow to the Catholic Church’s claim of ownership of cathedral by declaring that “religious consecration is not the way to acquire property”. But this is how history works, especially in the lands where Christianity and Islam fought hard for dominion. Why are secularists not pressing Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to give Christians back the Hagia Sophia? No one has raised an eyebrow that “Christendom’s greatest cathedral has become a mosque”.

“The Spanish left, governing the region, would like to convert the church into “a place for the meeting of faiths”. Nice ecumenical words, but a death trap for the Islamic domination over other faiths. If these Islamists, supported by the militant secularists, will be able to bring Allah back inside the Cathedral of Córdoba, a tsunami of Islamic supremacism will submerge Europe’s decaying Christianity. There are thousands of empty churches just waiting to be filled by the voices of muezzins.

“The Western attempt to free Jerusalem in the Middle Ages has been condemned as Christian imperialism, while the Muslim campaigns to colonize and Islamize the Byzantine Empire, North Africa, the Balkans, Egypt, the Middle East and most of Spain, to name but a few, are celebrated as a season of enlightenment. . .”

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10685/cordoba-cathedral-islam

On Tuesday’s Mark Levin show Dan Bongino, Contributing Editor at Conservative Review fills in for Mark. You have the Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul axis in the Senate and then you have everyone else. The Republican Party is a waste of our time and they suckered us. They took our donations and time, making us believe that they would repeal Obamacare. What is one major long and lasting policy victory the Republican Party has had in 30 years? They can’t tell you one and have let us down on healthcare and are going to let us down on taxes. Nothing is going to change in this movement until the grassroots makes it change. In spite of this, Democrats are still worse as they are nihilists and want to destroy this country.

“Later, Mitch McConnell is going to put up a vote for a full repeal of Obamacare with no replacement. It is unlikely that this will pass but at least Republicans will be on the record for where they stand. Moderates like Shelley Moore Capito better vote for this bill or she is going to be in trouble politically. If Capito doesn’t vote for this bill she will probably never live it down in West Virginia as future opponents will remember where she stood.

“After that, Medicare Reserves will be exhausted by 2028. How can the left tell us that Medicare is a model for success when it is failing? By free market standards Medicare is a substandard of care.”

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/18/july-18-2017/

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Health Care, Islam, McConnell, Trump | Leave a comment

“Dead Cats: McCHealed, 07/18/17, (27)13: James Brody

Posted on July 18, 2017 by jamesbrody

HEALTH CARE: McCain reaches for Dems; Simple “repeal’ emerges; Trump/Pence agree; Martosko – Let it fail; Boyle – Senate bill died; Durden – McConnell shifts; Hannity Free Market option.

LEADS: Athey – Ukraine; Ritter – OJ time; Richardson – Bike tax.

RECOMMENDED: Mark Levin 07-17-17.

HEALTH CARE

1. McCain suddenly feels better, wants to reach out to Democrats.

2. McConnell may attempt a vote on simple “repeal.”

3. Trump wants a repeal vote. Pence agrees.

David Martosko, UK Daily Mail: “’Let Obamacare fail!’ Trump promises eventual replacement for medical insurance law after Senate bill collapses – but says it will require current system to fall apart first

President is predicting that a collapse of the Obamacare system will be the catalyst that propels Congress to action on a replacement
Fifty votes were needed to pass a Senate replacement bill but enough Republicans defected Monday night to doom it
Most likely scenario now is a straight ‘repeal’ vote that would take effect in two years, giving lawmakers time to craft a new system
Trump said Monday night that the GOP should repeal Obamacare first and ‘start from a clean slate’
But now he’s also predicting that even without a ‘repeal’ vote the current system will fail on its own
That matches predictions he has made since midway through his White House campaign

In March he declared in the Oval Office that ‘the best thing we can do politically speaking is let Obamacare explode’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4707064/Trump-promises-Obamacare-replacement-Senate-collapse.html

Matthew Boyle, Breitbart: “As Senate Bill Dies, President Trump, Mitch McConnell Call for Clean Repeal of Obamacare Now, Replacement Later”

HT InfoWars!

“President Donald J. Trump is calling on congressional Republicans to drop their failed efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare in one fell swoop and instead pass a clean repeal of the failed health care overhaul from the previous administration now and push through a bipartisan replacement plan later.

“Trump’s tweet on Monday evening comes after two more Senate Republicans–Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS)–joined Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Susan Collins (R-ME), together crushing a plan from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“McConnell’s plan, which has hit a number of roadblocks, failed to garner enough GOP support to pass the Senate. The latest iteration of the bill–the third overall, incorporating a watered-down version of an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)–was put on hold over the weekend after plans to hold a vote this week were delayed because Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) underwent a craniotomy surgical procedure in Arizona. McCain’s vote would have been needed to pass the bill, but with Lee and Moran now against the legislation, the bill would fail even with his vote.

“Lee’s and Moran’s public statements against the Senate bill kill it once and for all.

“McConnell is now saying he will support Trump’s idea of passing clean repeal of Obamacare now and a replacement of Obamacare later. The legislation for a clean repeal of Obamacare has already passed both chambers of Congress in 2015, with a majority in the House and in the Senate voting for it.

“It’s hard to imagine the clean repeal of Obamacare–the 2015 bill–would fail in the House or the Senate, given that most of the GOP members in both chambers have already voted for it.

From here, it is unclear as of yet what the timeline will be. But Republicans in Congress wasted nearly seven months of the Trump administration–Thursday will mark seven months exactly since Trump’s inauguration–fiddling around with repeal and replace at the same time.

“House Speaker Paul Ryan similarly failed multiple times to pass his own version of the Senate bill for months, and it was only after he left Washington for Europe and Hollywood that Republican rank-and-file House members from the House Freedom Caucus and the Tuesday Group were able, outside the purview of Ryan, negotiate their own fix to pass the bill through the House. . .”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/17/senate-bill-dies-president-trump-mitch-mcconnell-call-clean-repeal-obamacare-now-replacement-later/

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “McConnell Abandons ‘Replace’ Plan, Calls For ObamaCare ‘Repeal & Delay’ Vote; Trump Tweets “We Will Return!”

“As we detailed earlier, with the tweeted support of President Trump – “Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now” – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for a vote to repeal Obamacare with a two-year delay.

“After two more Republican senators announced their opposition to the Republican health care bill on Monday night, leaving the party leadership short of the required votes to move the legislation forward, President Trump expressed his view clearly…

“‘Despite having said before this was not his preferred path.And as ABC reports, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has called for a vote to repeal Obamacare with a two-year delay.’

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-18/mcconnell-follows-trump-calls-obamacare-repeal-delay-vote

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $55/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a discount.

Pure = Green Icon
Unknown = Yellow Icon
Hybrid = Red Icon

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

LEADS

Amber Athey, Daily Caller: Rep. Schiff: Democrat Collusion With Ukraine ‘Problematic’ [VIDEO]”

“Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, admitted Sunday that it was “problematic” for Democrats to collude with Ukraine.

A January Politico report indicated that a Democratic National Committee operative worked with Ukrainian government officials to dig up Russia-related opposition research on Donald Trump. The operative later shared that information with the DNC and the Clinton campaign. (RELATED: Everybody Is Forgetting That Clinton Allies Did The Same Thing As Don Jr.)

“Several Trump allies have pointed out that the Ukraine storyline isn’t dissimilar from Donald Trump Jr. meeting with a Russian lawyer with the intention of collecting damaging information against Hillary Clinton.

“During a Sunday interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Jon Karl asked Rep. Adam Schiff, who has been an outspoken critic of the Trump Jr. meeting, if he also found the DNC-Ukraine collusion to be wrong.

“‘No, it wouldn’t be acceptable for the Democrats to accept help from the Ukrainian government,’ Schiff admitted.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/16/rep-schiff-democrat-collusion-with-ukraine-problematic-video/

Ken Ritter, AP: “OJ Simpson faces good chance at parole in Nevada robbery”

“LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson, the former football star, TV pitchman and now Nevada prison inmate No. 1027820, will have a lot going for him when he asks state parole board members this week to release him after serving more than eight years for an ill-fated bid to retrieve sports memorabilia.

“Now 70, Simpson will have history in his favor and a clean record behind bars as he approaches the nine-year minimum of his 33-year sentence for armed robbery and assault with a weapon. Plus, the parole board sided with him once before.

“No one at his Thursday hearing is expected to oppose releasing him in October — not his victim, not even the former prosecutor who persuaded a jury in Las Vegas to convict Simpson in 2008.

“Assuming that he’s behaved himself in prison, I don’t think it will be out of line for him to get parole,” said David Roger, the retired Clark County district attorney. . .”

http://hosted2.ap.org/APDefault/*/Article_2017-07-17-US–OJ%20Simpson-Parole/id-007527cc665b4dfca27041be053d0bf3

Valerie Richardson, Washington Times: “First bicycle tax in nation leaves bike-crazy Oregon riders deflated”

“In Oregon, a state known for its avid bicycling culture, the state Legislature’s approval of the first bike tax in the nation has fallen flat with riders.

“Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign the sweeping $5.3 billion transportation package, which includes a $15 excise tax on the sale of bicycles costing more than $200 with a wheel diameter of at least 26 inches.

“Even though the funding has been earmarked for improvements that will benefit cyclists, the tax has managed to irk both anti-tax Republicans and environmentally conscious bikers.

“BikePortland publisher Jonathan Maus called it ‘an unprecedented step in the wrong direction.’

“We are taxing the healthiest, most inexpensive, most environmentally friendly, most efficient and most economically sustainable form of transportation ever devised by the human species,” Mr. Maus said…” And still using public roads!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/17/first-bicycle-tax-nation-deflates-oregon-riders/

PA BUDGET

Angela Coulombis & Liz Navratil, Philly.com: “Pa. Senate back in Capitol – but no budget deal yet”

“HARRISBURG — The Senate returned to the State Capitol early Monday afternoon with good intentions: to consider various bills related to the still-incomplete state budget.

“But by day’s end, the chamber had canceled committee meetings planned to start moving those bills along the legislative pipeline. And though senators are expected to return Tuesday, it is unclear what exactly they will be doing once they convene.

“It is all part of the continued uncertainty surrounding the nearly $32 billion spending bill the GOP-controlled legislature sent to Gov. Wolf, a Democrat, hours before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year. He let it become law, though there is still no agreement on how to pay for it.

“Meanwhile, Pennsylvania government continues to operate without a balanced budget, raising a host of questions about whether it violates the constitutional mandate that any spending plan must be bolstered by a revenue package. . .”

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/pa-senate-back-in-capitol-but-no-budget-deal-yet-20170717.html

“On Monday’s Mark Levin show, while President Trump is making this week, “Made in America Week, ” does he and the Republican Party really believe in it? Why adopt a European style socialized healthcare system? That system means rationing and lines. If we really believe in “Made in America” we will adopt a healthcare system that will help our coal workers, steel workers and all Americans. Made in America is about liberty and individualism and that we are mature enough to decide what kind of healthcare we want. In addition, what the Republicans are proposing is not going to reduce deductibles or the cost of care. This bill is a loser and should not be voted for. It is ironic when it comes to the massive healthcare industry, that the entire debate on healthcare is a progressive debate. There is no Americanism in this debate and nothing about free markets, private property or choice.

“Also, moderate Republicans have already extracted payoffs from Mitch McConnell for support of the Republican healthcare bill. If Republican senators are serious in maintaining a majority they shouldn’t do stupid things like going behind our backs and making these deals.

“After that, while GOP leadership promotes healthcare, not a finger is lifted in support of the military. Can we have a bill that doesn’t turn our military into a social engineering project? Finally, the media focus on Trump and Russia, yet there are no discussions with Hillary about the Clinton Foundation’s contacts with the Russians. How come Republicans will not inquire or look into this? The weakness they show is unprecedented.

“Finally, Mike Lee calls in to say that he and Jerry Moran are not going to be voting in the Senate for a motion to proceed with the Republican healthcare bill. America wants more repeal.”

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/17/july-17-2017/

Posted in Conservative, Pennsylvania, TEA Party | Tagged Health Care, McCain, McConnell, Trump | Leave a comment

Dead Cats: CanMcC!, 07/17/17, (27)12: James Brody

Posted on July 17, 2017 by jamesbrody

JennyBeth – Make your calls!; Honor Israel.

HEALTH CARE: AP – McConnell defers vote; PAUL – Repeal; Drudge Links 7-16-17; Hannity Free Market option.

LEADS: Durden – Hacker still leaking; Washington Times – Judiciary restoration; Goldberg – Ugly environmentalist; Salazar – Wall money; Leonard – Our health; Durden – CBO figures.

RECOMMENDED: Williams – Overpopulation; Kahane – Hating Sarah; Levin 7-13-17.

Jenny Beth: Health Care

“With Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress, and with President Trump in the White House, our chances of repealing ObamaCare have never been better. But, here’s the catch: We still have work to do this week.

“Senate Republicans have put together a bill to repeal ObamaCare, but the bill leaves in place some of the very same onerous regulations that we have opposed for years! The good news is that Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have proposed an amendment that would simultaneously provide Americans more choices at substantially lower costs. How does the amendment accomplish all of that? The amendment would allow health insurance companies to sell any healthcare plan, as long as at least one plan would qualify under the Affordable Care Act.

“The Cruz and Lee amendment cuts through the excessive regulations and puts consumer choice front and center. It’s a simple fix that would have a significantly positive effect for the entire health insurance market, and for American consumers.

Time is of the essence, and our chance to repeal ObamaCare is now. We must act quickly to let every senator know how important the Cruz-Lee amendment is!
Please call both of your U.S. senators every day this week and let them know you want them to support the commonsense and much-needed amendment that will put us on the path to healthcare freedom.

“Call the Capitol switchboard and ask to be transferred to your senators’ offices. Every U.S. senator should hear from us!

“When you call each Senate office, please be sure to make some of the following points:

The Cruz-Lee amendment is exactly what the Senate bill is missing. As your constituent, I am asking you to support this critically important amendment.

“The Cruz-Lee amendment eliminates some of ObamaCare’s worst regulations, and allows insurance companies to provide more of the types of plans that Americans want.

The Cruz-Lee amendment is a commonsense, free-market fix to the Senate bill.

ObamaCare has been in place for more than seven years. It’s time to repeal the law fully and completely. The Cruz-Lee Amendment helps us accomplish that.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch, and the American people understand this. According to polling conducted by the Cato Institute, support for Community Rating drops to just 31 percent when people are asked to consider that Community Rating results in lower quality health care, and it drops to just 25 percent when people are asked to consider that it results in months-long wait times to see a specialist.

“If you have a few more minutes to engage this week, please consider one of the following simple ways of multiplying your impact.

After you call your senator, tweet a message about the calland use the senator’s Twitter handle.
Write a follow-up email to the office after the call, reiterating the key points and stressing just how important this amendment is. Always be sure to include your mailing address in your email so the office knows you are a constituent.
Write a letter and hand-deliver it to a local office in your state.You can also call ahead and ask for an appointment with a policy staffer in one of the local offices.
Call each local senate officein your state.

Honor Israel: Christians United for Israel

July 17^th, Washington Convention Center, $10.

Pastor John Hagee, Vice-President Mike Pence, Ambassador Ron Dermer

Register: https://events.cufi.org/Login/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fRegistration.aspx%3fEventCode%3dNTHI2017&EventCode=NTHI2017

HEALTH CARE

AP: “MCCONNELL DEFERS ACTION ON HEALTH CARE AFTER MCCAIN SURGERY”

“Fools when they do hear are like the deaf: of them does the saying bear witness that they are absent with present.” Heraclitus

“Background from Wikipedia: “. . . McCain attended the educationally stronger St. Stephen’s School in Alexandria from 1946 to 1949. To his family, McCain had long been quiet, dependable, and courteous, while at St. Stephen’s he began to develop an unruly, defiant streak. Another two years were then spent following his father to naval stations; altogether he attended about twenty schools during his youth. He was frequently disciplined in school for fighting. He later wrote, ‘The repeated farewells to friends rank among the saddest regrets of a childhood constantly disrupted by the demands of my father’s career… At each new school I arrived eager to make, by means of my insolent attitude, new friends to compensate for the loss of others. At each new school I grew more determined to assert my crude individualism. At each new school I became a more unrepentant pain in the neck.’

“In 1951, McCain enrolled at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, an academically superior, all-male private boarding school with a rigorous honor code, tradition of hazing, and spartan living environment. Most of the children there were sons of wealthy Southerners, from whom McCain got a glimpse of life and career aspirations outside the Navy culture. Nicknamed ‘Punk’ and ‘McNasty’ due to his combative, fiery disposition, McCain enjoyed and cultivated a tough guy image; he also made a few friends. McCain earned two varsity letters in wrestling, excelling in the lighter weight classes. He also played on the junior varsity football team and the tennis team, and participated in the student newspaper, yearbook, and drama club. English teacher William Bee Ravenel III, who was also his football coach, became a great influence towards his sense of learning, honor, and self-image. With what he later termed an ‘undistinguished, but acceptable’ academic record, McCain graduated from high school in 1954.

“Having done well on its entrance exams, McCain entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in June 1954, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He had neither been ordered to go there by his parents nor discussed alternatives; as he later wrote, ‘I remember simply recognizing my eventual enrollment at the Academy as an immutable fact of life, and accepting it without comment.’

“Ambivalent about his presence there, McCain chose not to conform to the Academy’s rules and some of its traditions. Each year he was given over a hundred demerits – earning him membership in the “Century Club – for offenses such as shoes not being shined, formation faults, room in disorder, and talking out of place. His father came to the Academy to reprimand him on his behavior a number of times . . .”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_and_military_career_of_John_McCain

“PHOENIX (AP) — Sen. John McCain’s absence from the Senate as he recovers from surgery for a blood clot has led the GOP leadership to postpone consideration of health care legislation already on the brink. Can we believe this?

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday night he was deferring action on the measure as McCain recovers at his home in Arizona. Surgeons in Phoenix removed a blood clot from above McCain’s left eye on Friday. The 80-year-old Senate veteran was advised by doctors to remain in Arizona next week, his office said.

“‘While John is recovering, the Senate will continue our work on legislative items and nominations, and will defer consideration of the Better Care Act,’ McConnell said in a statement. . .”

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MCCAIN_BLOOD_CLOT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-07-15-22-56-36

Rand Paul, Great American Alliance: REPEAL!

“. . . Fortunately, a committed group of policymakers have not forgotten their promise to the American people, and have crafted legislation to fully repeal the failed healthcare system that has limited our choice, raised our premiums, and inflated drug prices.

“But James, oppositional forces in Washington, the media, and special interest groups are continuing their smear campaign to bring healthcare reform to a standstill.
“That’s why I am asking you to add your name in support of repealing Obamacare NOW and replacing it later.
“Legislators across the country campaigned on the promise of repealing Obamacare, and Great America Alliance is calling on these elected officials to band together to implement the healthcare reform Americans were promised.
“James, healthcare is an incredibly complex issue, and outside forces are waging unparalleled efforts to obstruct our progress by demanding a simultaneous repeal and replacement.
“That’s why we must drown out the opposition by voicing our support for a unified repeal strategy NOW.

“Many of my colleagues were berated by the Establishment’s protestors-for-hire – and it’s left them feeling uneasy about repealing Obamacare. But those Soros-funded social justice warriors don’t represent America – and your elected officials aren’t going to act on the will of the American people unless they hear from YOU.
“Together we can REPEAL Obamacare.

“So join us now by signing the “Repeal Obamacare” petition TODAY.

“Let’s show the Washington Establishment, the media, and special interest groups our numbers and determination cannot be tempered.”

Drudge Links 7-16-17

Republicans exempt their own insurance from Obamacare rollback…
Bill Spurs Divisions in Party…
One more defection would doom…
Insurers Oppose Cruz Amendment…

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $55/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a discount.

Pure = Green Icon
Unknown = Yellow Icon
Hybrid = Red Icon

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

LEADS

Crime rates 1, 2, 3: Baltimore, New Orleans, Philadelphia . . .Ongoing stuff: 500 blacks in a flashmob took over Germantown streets, there were no arrests. Four twenty-somethings were killed buying pot in Bucks County and were buried there. The killer was promised, “No death penalty.” Everyone runs on Broad Street, our coliseums are owned by banks and our latest environmental challenge is wads of used needles . . . Rome lives. . . http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/07/17/flash-mob-of-500-teens-confront-philly-police/; http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2017/07/its_raining_needles_drug_crisis_creates_pollution_threat

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “Mysterious Hacker Leaks Emails of Top US State Department Expert on Russia”

“Coming at a ‘sensitive’ moment for US-Russian hacking diplomatic relations, on Friday Foreign Policy reported that emails belonging to a senior US State Department intelligence official involved in Russian affairs have been leaked by a hacker known as ‘Johnnie Walker.’ The official, whose work is focused on Russian domestic affairs and who was described to FT as “probably the top intelligence guy in the entire U.S. government on Russia [who] knows more than anybody about what’s going on there,” is said to have been particularly interested in Russian media and government reshuffling.

“The emails which were sourced from a hacked nongovernmental account over a two-year period, were sent to “an unknown number of recipients” and while the leaks were first released on July 10, they did not gain widespread attention until Friday when both FP and Newsweek commented on the hack.

“In a letter announcing the alleged hacking, Johnnie Walker said that the leak would provide evidence for establishing what was called ‘agenda formation in many countries worldwide, especially where the situation is insecure.’ The sender also claimed that the US State Department official was in contact with various intelligence agencies, including the CIA, as well as “mainstream media, NGOs, and international funds.”

“Although the alleged hacking victim holds “a senior position in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research” and while name was disclosed in the leaked emails, Foreign Policy outlet did not disclose the name, citing a request from the state department, which has so far neither confirmed nor denied the hack. “The leaked correspondence was released online on Pastebin although its authenticity remains unclear for now. The description to the three archives available for download also adds the name of the alleged agent.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-15/mysterious-hacker-leaks-emails-top-us-state-department-expert-russia

Washington Times: “Restoration of the judiciary continues”

“Restoring the federal judiciary to its constitutional moorings is what many Americans call Job 1, and it was on this issue they put aside their considerable reservations about Donald Trump, swallowed hard, considered the alternative, hoped for the best, and cast their votes for him. On this score, he has redeemed their faith.

“The president came through with his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, who is proving a worthy replacement for Antonin Scalia as a faithful servant of the Constitution, regarding it not as a weathervane, subject to every breeze that blows, but as the living document the Founding Fathers intended it to be.

“Mr. Trump continues to honor his promise to appoint judges with due regard to the law, precedent and above all to the Constitution. The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared several more nominees to federal courts, including appeals courts, last week, and hours later announced another slate of similar nominees to U.S. District courts.

“There are 137 vacancies in the federal courts, an unusual number, which gives the president an unusual opportunity to reshape the judiciary. . .”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/16/editorial-restoration-of-the-judiciary-continues/

Jonah Goldberg, NRO: “‘The Ugly Environmentalist’”

“One of the hallmarks of the ‘Ugly American’ is the habit of thinking foreigners will understand what you’re saying if just shout it louder and louder.

“The Ugly Environmentalist does something similar. He exaggerates the challenge of global warming by using ever more hysterical rhetoric, thinking that if the last doomsday prediction didn’t work, this one will.
“For instance, Stephen Hawking, the famous astrophysicist, recently said that the consequences of Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord were monumental: “Trump’s action could push the Earth over the brink, to become like Venus, with a temperature of 250 degrees (Celsius), and raining sulfuric acid.”
“As Nathan Cofnas notes in the Weekly Standard, this is nuts. The share of the atmosphere taken up by that vile gas carbon dioxide (which just happens to sustain all plant life) is 400 parts per million. It’s been much higher than that in the past without boiling the oceans or raining acid from the sky. Cofnas also mentions that Venus is nearly 26 million miles closer to the sun, and that the share of carbon dioxide in the Venusian atmosphere is 965,000 parts per million, or about 2,412 times greater than Earth’s.
“And that’s Hawking, a serious scientist (at least in his own field). Journalists, always looking for novelty and drama, can be worse. A recent New York magazine cover story on climate change assured readers that all of the previous climate-change alarmism was too tepid. Basically, by the end of the century, the living will envy the dead and much of the planet will be uninhabitable or a reenactment of a Mad Max movie.
“To the credit of some journalists and climate scientists, the New York magazine article got considerable pushback, even from normally alarmist Penn State professor Michael Mann.
“Rachel Becker, a science writer, had a good take as well. Research shows that “scare tactics can backfire when people put up their psychological defenses against the threatening information,” Becker wrote at The Verge, “rather than defending against the threat itself.”
“That’s true. The more you sound like some cowbell-wielding street preacher wearing a sandwich board that says “The End Is Nigh!” the more likely it is that people will ignore you. Particularly if your last few terrifying predictions didn’t pan out.
“But this focus on how using scare tactics doesn’t persuade skeptics overlooks another problem. What about the people it does persuade?
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449477/climate-change-alarmists-environmentalists-hyberbolic-rhetoric-increasing

Adan Salazar, InfoWars: “WINNING: HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES FUNDING FOR BORDER WALL”

The Trump administration scored another victory Wednesday as the House Appropriations Committee approved $1.6 billion to be allocated toward construction of a southern border wall.

“The bill met the White House’s funding request in full and provides for a “physical barrier construction along the Southern border – including bollards and levee improvements,” according to a press release Tuesday ahead of the bill’s approval.

“‘Keeping Americans safe by protecting our homeland is a top priority. This funding bill provides the resources to begin building a wall along our southern border, enhance our existing border security infrastructure, hire more border patrol agents, and fund detention operations,’ said House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Carter.

“‘Additionally, this bill will increase funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, support grants in cases of emergency and natural disaster, and provide critical resources to protect our cyber networks.’. . .”

https://www.infowars.com/winning-house-approves-funding-for-border-wall/

Leonard, Washington Examiner: “New Senate Republican healthcare plan leaves taxes on the wealthy in place, lets people buy less expensive plans”

“A new draft of the bill Republicans are advancing to repeal and replace portions of Obamacare leaves in place taxes on high-income earners, pumps more money into opioid treatment and insurance markets, and allows customers to use subsidies toward the purchase of less expensive plans that cover fewer medical services, according to a Senate leadership outline obtained by the Washington Examiner.

“An amendment as proposed by GOP Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah was not mentioned in the outline, but the draft did include a tweaked version of the idea. As originally proposed, the Cruz-Lee amendment would have allowed health insurance companies to offer less-expensive plans that do not include Obamacare’s essential health benefits as long as they provide at least one plan that includes them. Critics blasted the proposal, saying it would make plans for people with pre-existing conditions prohibitively expensive.

According to the outline, the legislation would set up a fund that would make payments to insurers to help cover the cost of high-risk, disproportionately expensive customers who are enrolled in the exchange. To qualify, an insurer will need to offer minimum coverage that has a wide range of medical benefits and cover people with pre-existing illnesses. They could offer coverage off the exchange that would be exempt from “certain” requirements.

“Lee, who has indicated he couldn’t support the bill without the Cruz-Lee amendment, said on Twitter that he hadn’t yet seen the new version and would withhold judgment until he does.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/new-senate-republican-healthcare-plan-leaves-taxes-on-the-wealthy-in-place-lets-people-buy-less-expensive-plans/article/2628509

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “CBO Scores Trump Budget Shrinking US Deficit by Half by 2027”

“There’s good news.. and bad news. CBO has just released its ‘score’ of President Trump’s proposed budget, noting that the plan would shrink the deficit by a half from their baseline by 2017 (good news). However, even accepting Trump’s dynamic scoring and 5% growth expectations, CBO is unable to balance the budget and Yellen’s recent “US debt is unsustainable” warning seems ever more prescient.

“Trump’s budget would shrink notably from the CBO baseline…

“According to CBO’s estimates, the deficit would fall from the $693 billion projected for 2017 to $593 billion in 2018 under the President’s proposals. After that, the deficit would generally rise, totaling $720 billion in 2027. The cumulative deficit over the 2018–2027 period would total $6.8 trillion. Measured as a percentage of output, the deficit would decline from 3.6 percent of GDP in 2017 to 2.6 percent at the end of the period. The deficit would average 2.9 percent through 2027. (The average deficit over the past 50?years has equaled 2.8 percent of GDP.) Those estimates exclude any macroeconomic feedback effects.

“This is still a big deficit, and coming a day after Janet Yellen warned that the US debt situation was unsustainable, it seems more prescient than ever to focus on spending cuts.

There is some other good news (if you buy it). By the end of the coming decade, debt held by the public would total 80 percent of GDP: 11 percentage points below the debt-to-GDP ratio projected in CBO’s baseline.

“But as CBO notes, this is due to the adminstration’s hopeful growth estimates…

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-13/cbo-scores-trump-budget-shrinking-us-deficit-half-2027

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, claims that an epoch of mass extinction is upon us, with a “global epidemic” in animal populations signaling an “ongoing sixth mass extinction” caused in large measure by human destruction of animal habitats and exacerbated by human-induced “climate disruption.”

“Our data indicate that beyond global species extinctions Earth is experiencing a huge episode of population declines and extirpations, which will have negative cascading consequences on ecosystem functioning and services vital to sustaining civilization,” the study breathlessly reports. “We describe this as a ‘biological annihilation’ to highlight the current magnitude of Earth’s ongoing sixth major extinction event.”

In a fascinating bit of irony, Gerardo Ceballos, the leader of the study, has insisted that the authors “are not alarmists” despite the fact that one of his co-authors, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, is probably the best known—and most discredited—alarmist of all time.

Ehrlich became famous through the publication of his 1968 doomsday bestseller, The Population Bomb, which generated mass hysteria over the future of the world and the earth’s ability to sustain human life.

In the book, Ehrlich floated a series of dire predictions that turned out to be spectacularly wrong, creating the enduring myth of unsustainable population growth.

He prophesied that hundreds of millions would starve to death in the 1970s (and that 65 million of them would be Americans), that already-overpopulated India was doomed, and that there was a very good chance that “England will not exist in the year 2000.”

Mankind stood on the brink of Armageddon, the book proposed, because there was no way to feed the exponentially increasing world population. Ehrlich concluded that “sometime in the next 15 years, the end will come,” meaning “an utter breakdown of the capacity of the planet to support humanity.”

“The battle to feed all of humanity is over,” he warned.

Since then, Ehrlich—whose name is now synonymous with alarmist hoaxers—has defended mass sterilization, sex-selective abortion and infanticide in order to reduce surplus populations.

To allow women to have as many children as they want, Ehrlich notoriously said, is like letting people “throw as much of their garbage into their neighbor’s backyard as they want.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/13/alarmists-threaten-biological-annihilation-from-overpopulation-and-global-warming/

David Kahane, NRO: “I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin”
“One of the most terrifying moments of my political life came last summer at the Republican convention in St. Paul. No, I don’t mean seeing John McCain careering around the Xcel Energy Center like Eyegore in Young Frankenstein, his face frozen in a Lon Chaney Sr. rictus grin as he reached across the aisle to his erstwhile friends in the media and got his hand bitten off. Rather, I’m referring to the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s outrageous acceptance speech, which whipped up the Rotary Club delegates into a frenzy of white-boy fury that not even heckling by a brave Code Pink embed could deter. Truly a fascist classic and one that sent shivers down our collectivist spines.
“Even worse was the glaze of horror on the phizzes of the assembled heroes of the Mainstream Media. Andrea Mitchell — yes, the very same Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, whose employer saw no conflict of interest at all when she married then Fed pooh-bah Alan Greenspan — stood there gaping like a frog while the rest of the assembled Finemans and Matthewses and Olbermanns scurried around like roaches when the light gets turned on: What the hell just hit us? For one horrible moment, it looked as if the carefully crafted plans of David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, George Soros, and the Second Chief Directorate, first department, of the old KGB were about to gang agley.
“Not only were we offended at the sheer effrontery of McCain’s pick: How dare the Republicans proffer this déclassée piece of Wasilla trailer trash whose only claim to fame was that she didn’t exercise her right to choose? Where were her degrees from Smith or Barnard, her internships at PETA, the Brookings Institution, or the Young Pioneers? We were also outraged that the Stupid Party had just nominated a completely unqualified candidate nobody had ever heard of, a first-term governor of Alaska whose previous experience consisted of a small-town mayoralty. As opposed to our guy, Barry Soetoro of Mombasa, Djakarta, and Honolulu, a first-term senator nobody had ever heard of, whose previous experience had been as a state senator (D., Daley Machine) in Illinois. After eight long, illegitimate, lawless years of &*^%BUSH$#@! tyranny, how dare you contest this election?
“And so the word went out, from that time and place: Eviscerate Sarah Palin like one of her field-dressed moose. . .”

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/227836/i-still-hate-you-sarah-palin-david-kahane

Mark Levin, 07-13-17

“On Thursday’s Mark Levin show, There is a strong possibility that Mitch McConnell is gearing up to screw conservatives in the forthcoming Senate health care bill. Sources from the Republican leadership say that the Ted Cruz and Mike Lee amendment, which allows insurers to sell different plans other than Obamacare, could be altered or removed later. This amendment may be the only thing that gets some conservatives on board, and knowing how McConnell operates, it is very possible he could rip it out in reconciliation leaving conservatives hanging (emph added, jb).

“Also, John Cornyn is saying if you vote against the Republican healthcare bill you are voting for Obamacare. It is Cornyn, Mitch McConnell and the majority of Republicans who are responsible for failing to repeal Obamacare.

“After that, the Treasury’s monthly federal spending topped $400B for the first time. What will future generations say about us if we continue this massive driving up of the debt?

“Later, Russian lawyer, Natalie Veselnitskaya, with whom Donald Trump Jr. met was let into the U.S by Attorney General Loretta Lynch (emph added jb). Veselnitskaya got permission to have her stay in the country extended in 2016. She embarked on a lobbying campaign against the Magnitsky Act, passed by Congress.

“Finally, Linda Sarsour is now threatening individuals and in media outlets. Her rhetoric is hateful and bigoted. We don’t need any lectures from her about what jihad means. Many of our soldiers have died because of this jihad.”

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/13/july-13-2017/

Posted in Conservative, TEA Party | Tagged Courts, Health Care, Palin | Leave a comment

Dead Cats: SARAH?, 07/14/17, (27)11: James Brody

Posted on July 14, 2017 by jamesbrody

Copyright for monkey selfies?

JennyBeth – Make your calls!; Honor Israel; Hanson – Can’t live with or take out NKor rockets.

HEALTH CARE: Everett – One vote?; Hannity Free Market option.

RUSSIAN CHICK: Solomon & Easley – DOJ let her in ; Schwab – McCain snooped.

LEADS: Goldberg – Ugly environmentalist; Salazar – Wall funded; Leonard – The rich to pay; Durden – Deficit shrinks by half?; Adamson – Melania does Paris.

RECOMMENDED: Williams – Population; Kahane – Sarah?; Levin (07-13-17).

AL: “Federal court to rule if a monkey owns the copyright for its selfie photos”

“SAN FRANCISCO — A curious monkey with a toothy grin and a knack for pressing a camera button was back in the spotlight Wednesday as a federal appeals court heard arguments on whether an animal can hold a copyright to selfie photos.

“A 45-minute hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco attracted crowds of law students and curious citizens who often burst into laughter. The federal judges also chuckled at times at the novelty of the case, which involves a monkey in another country that is unaware of the fuss.

“Andrew Dhuey, attorney for British nature photographer David Slater, said “monkey see, monkey sue” is not good law under any federal act. . .”

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/07/federal_court_to_rule_if_a_mon.html

Jenny Beth: Health Care

“Call the Capitol switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask to be transferred to your senators’ offices. Every U.S. senator should hear from us!

“When you call each Senate office, please be sure to make some of the following points:

The Cruz-Lee amendment is exactly what the Senate bill is missing. As your constituent, I am asking you to support this critically important amendment.

“The Cruz-Lee amendment eliminates some of ObamaCare’s worst regulations, and allows insurance companies to provide more of the types of plans that Americans want.

The Cruz-Lee amendment is a commonsense, free-market fix to the Senate bill.

ObamaCare has been in place for more than seven years. It’s time to repeal the law fully and completely. The Cruz-Lee Amendment helps us accomplish that.

“If you have a few more minutes to engage this week, please consider one of the following simple ways of multiplying your impact.

After you call your senator, tweet a message about the calland use the senator’s Twitter handle.
Write a follow-up email to the office after the call, reiterating the key points and stressing just how important this amendment is. Always be sure to include your mailing address in your email so the office knows you are a constituent.
Write a letter and hand-deliver it to a local office in your state.You can also call ahead and ask for an appointment with a policy staffer in one of the local offices.
Call each local senate officein your state.

Please email me at jenny.beth@teapartypatriots.org to let me know any feedback you receive from the senators’ offices. I read each of these emails, and your opinions, ideas, and suggestions help shape all of our future calls to action, so please let us know what you are hearing from Capitol Hill!

Honor Israel: Christians United for Israel

July 17^th, Washington Convention Center, $10.

Pastor John Hagee, Vice-President Mike Pence, Ambassador Ron Dermer

Register: https://events.cufi.org/Login/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fRegistration.aspx%3fEventCode%3dNTHI2017&EventCode=NTHI2017

Victor Davis Hanson, RCP: “West Can Neither Live with nor Take out North Korean Nukes”

Also http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449404/north-korean-nukes-wests-deterrent-insufficient

“When North Korea eventually builds a missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, it will double down on its well-known shakedown of feigning indifference to American deterrence while promising to take out Los Angeles, San Francisco or Seattle unless massive aid is delivered to Pyongyang.

“Kim Jong Un rightly assumes that wealthy Western nations would prefer to pay bribe money than suffer the loss of a city — and that they have plenty of cash for such concessions. He is right that the medicine of taking out Kim’s missiles is considered by Western strategists to be even worse than the disease of living with a lunatic regime that has nukes.

“No wonder that the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations had few answers to serial North Korean lying and deceit about its nuclear intentions.

Sanctions were eventually dropped or watered down either on reports of the mass starvation of innocent North Korean civilians or on false promises of better North Korean behavior.

“China publicly promised to help reign in its unhinged client while privately doing nothing. Apparently, Beijing found a rabid North Korean government useful in bothering rivals such as the Japanese and South Koreans while keeping the U.S. off balance in Asia and the Pacific. The dynamic economies and pacifism of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were taken for granted by China as easy targets for coercion and blackmail.

“Russia is never any help. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian foreign policy is reductive: Whatever causes the United States and its allies a major headache is by definition welcomed. . .”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/07/13/west_can_neither_live_with_nor_take_out_north_korean_nukes_134449.html

HEALTH CARE

Burgess Everett, Politico: “Senate Republicans one vote away from Obamacare repeal failure”

“GOP leaders unveiled a new plan to gut the health law, but it immediately ran into near-fatal opposition.

“Senate Republican leaders are praying that their fragile whip count holds over the weekend, as just one more ‘no’ vote would doom the party’s Obamacare repeal effort from even coming up for debate.

“Two GOP senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky, said Thursday afternoon they will oppose a procedural vote next week to bring the bill to the floor. GOP leaders are putting immense pressure on about half a dozen other Republican senators not to join them and topple the entire effort. Another ‘no’ is enough to kill the bill, and would also likely lead to mass defections.

“The Trump administration is also lobbying intensely for the bill, the latest version of which was released Thursday. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma spent Thursday trying to convince centrist senators to reconsider their opposition to prior drafts of the bill. Republicans are also hoping Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) can convince Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to back the measure after Lee said it was “unclear” if this version is better than the last.

“Majority Whip John Cornyn acknowledged GOP leaders don’t have the minimum 50 votes right now but insisted, ‘We’re making good progress.’ . . .”

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/13/senate-republicans-health-care-bill-cruz-lee-240498

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

Repeal ACA!

Free market program: Standard fee: $55/month for an adult, $10 per child; no limit on number of visits; medication is purchased in bulk and sold to the patient at a discount.

Pure = Green Icon
Unknown = Yellow Icon
Hybrid = Red Icon

http://www.dpcfrontier.com/mapper/

Russian Chick

John Solomon & Jonathan Easley, The Hill: “Exclusive: DOJ let Russian lawyer into US before she met with Trump team”

“The Russian lawyer who penetrated Donald Trump’s inner circle was initially cleared into the United States by the Justice Department under “extraordinary circumstances” before she embarked on a lobbying campaign last year that ensnared the president’s eldest son, members of Congress, journalists and State Department officials, according to court and Justice Department documents and interviews.
“This revelation means it was the Obama Justice Department that enabled the newest and most intriguing figure in the Russia-Trump investigation to enter the country without a visa.

“Later, a series of events between an intermediary for the attorney and the Trump campaign ultimately led to the controversy surrounding Donald Trump Jr. . .”

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/341788-exclusive-doj-let-russian-lawyer-into-us-before-she-met-with-trump

Nikki Schwab, UK Daily Mail: “Revealed: ‘Ordinary ‘citizen’ John McCain dispatched a trusted aide across the Atlantic to get dirty dossier from ex-spy after former British diplomat told him about blackmail tapes

The Guardian charted the path the dirty dossier made from a British intelligence professional to Sen. John McCain and then the FBI
McCain, 80, put out a statement Wednesday saying that he was the bureau’s source of the controversial dossier
The Arizona Republican found out about the dossier’s existence while at a meeting in Canada and dispatched an emissary to hunt it down
He met an ex-British diplomat in Canada – now identified as Sir Andrew Wood -who in one version of events told him about the file
Wood is a former associate of Tony Blair the ex-British prime minister, and admitted talking to McCain
He issued a nuanced statement saying he did not give McCain the dossier and had ‘done nothing wrong’ – but he did not deny telling McCain the file existed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4114716/Extraordinary-details-ordinary-citizen-John-McCain-actually-dispatched-trusted-aide-Atlantic-dirty-dossier-ex-spy.html#ixzz4mj2yCUGM

LEADS

Jonah Goldberg, NRO: “‘The Ugly Environmentalist’”

“One of the hallmarks of the ‘Ugly American’ is the habit of thinking foreigners will understand what you’re saying if just shout it louder and louder.

Adan Salazar, InfoWars: “WINNING: HOUSE COMMITTEE APPROVES FUNDING FOR BORDER WALL”

The Trump administration scored another victory Wednesday as the House Appropriations Committee approved $1.6 billion to be allocated toward construction of a southern border wall.

https://www.infowars.com/winning-house-approves-funding-for-border-wall/

Leonard, Washington Examiner: “New Senate Republican healthcare plan leaves taxes on the wealthy in place, lets people buy less expensive plans”

“Lee, who has indicated he couldn’t support the bill without the Cruz-Lee amendment, said on Twitter that he hadn’t yet seen the new version and would withhold judgment until he does.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/new-senate-republican-healthcare-plan-leaves-taxes-on-the-wealthy-in-place-lets-people-buy-less-expensive-plans/article/2628509

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “CBO Scores Trump Budget Shrinking US Deficit by Half by 2027”

“Trump’s budget would shrink notably from the CBO baseline…

“This is still a big deficit, and coming a day after Janet Yellen warned that the US debt situation was unsustainable, it seems more prescient than ever to focus on spending cuts.

“But as CBO notes, this is due to the adminstration’s hopeful growth estimates…

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-13/cbo-scores-trump-budget-shrinking-us-deficit-half-2027

Thomas Adamson, AP: “Melania Trump takes her own path in Paris visit”

“PARIS (AP) — U.S. first lady Melania Trump took her own path through Paris on Thursday as she and President Donald Trump began a two-day visit to the French capital, starting at a children’s hospital.

At Necker Hospital, Melania Trump visited a ward decorated with images from ‘The Little Prince,’ an iconic French novel written and illustrated by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. She spoke briefly in French to six children, asking how they were and introducing herself before switching to a translator to ask how long they expected to stay. One of the children, a 14-year-old girl named Ysatis, was in a wheelchair and said she expected to leave the hospital Monday for a month of rehabilitation.

“‘You look very good, very strong … Soon you’ll be walking and running,’ Mrs. Trump told her.

“Ysatis later told The Associated Press she appreciated the visit.

“‘It was very pleasant and really good. She’s beautiful and gorgeous,’ Ysatis said.

“Martin Hirsch, director of Paris’ public hospital system, presented the first lady with a copy of ‘The Little Prince.’

“‘I will keep it, practice my French. It’s beautiful,’ she said.

“The first lady, though not as visible as some of her predecessors, has taken on a fairly prominent role on her husband’s three international trips. She visited a children’s hospital in Italy as well.

“Melania and Donald Trump have an 11-year-old son, the first boy in the White House since John F. Kennedy Jr. more than 50 years ago.

“Mrs. Trump was later expected to visit Notre Dame Cathedral and tour the Seine River by boat with Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron. President Trump was to meet with Macron before participating in Bastille Day celebrations on Friday.”
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2017-07-13-EU–Melania%20Trump/id-2db50e130bb04a1aa0d16b501db02071

David Kahane, NRO: “I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin”
“One of the most terrifying moments of my political life came last summer at the Republican convention in St. Paul. No, I don’t mean seeing John McCain careering around the Xcel Energy Center like Eyegore in Young Frankenstein, his face frozen in a Lon Chaney Sr. rictus grin as he reached across the aisle to his erstwhile friends in the media and got his hand bitten off. Rather, I’m referring to the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s outrageous acceptance speech, which whipped up the Rotary Club delegates into a frenzy of white-boy fury that not even heckling by a brave Code Pink embed could deter. Truly a fascist classic and one that sent shivers down our collectivist spines.
“Even worse was the glaze of horror on the phizzes of the assembled heroes of the Mainstream Media. Andrea Mitchell — yes, the very same Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, whose employer saw no conflict of interest at all when she married then Fed pooh-bah Alan Greenspan — stood there gaping like a frog while the rest of the assembled Finemans and Matthewses and Olbermanns scurried around like roaches when the light gets turned on: What the hell just hit us? For one horrible moment, it looked as if the carefully crafted plans of David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, George Soros, and the Second Chief Directorate, first department, of the old KGB were about to gang agley.
“Not only were we offended at the sheer effrontery of McCain’s pick: How dare the Republicans proffer this déclassée piece of Wasilla trailer trash whose only claim to fame was that she didn’t exercise her right to choose? Where were her degrees from Smith or Barnard, her internships at PETA, the Brookings Institution, or the Young Pioneers? We were also outraged that the Stupid Party had just nominated a completely unqualified candidate nobody had ever heard of, a first-term governor of Alaska whose previous experience consisted of a small-town mayoralty. As opposed to our guy, Barry Soetoro of Mombasa, Djakarta, and Honolulu, a first-term senator nobody had ever heard of, whose previous experience had been as a state senator (D., Daley Machine) in Illinois. After eight long, illegitimate, lawless years of &*^%BUSH$#@! tyranny, how dare you contest this election?
“And so the word went out, from that time and place: Eviscerate Sarah Palin like one of her field-dressed moose. . .”

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/227836/i-still-hate-you-sarah-palin-david-kahane

Mark Levin, 07-13-17

“After that, the Treasury’s monthly federal spending topped $400B for the first time. What will future generations say about us if we continue this massive driving up of the debt?

http://www.marklevinshow.com/2017/07/13/july-13-2017/

Posted in Conservative, Loubris, TEA Party | Tagged Don Jr., Goldberg, Hanson, Health Care, Palin | Leave a comment

HEALTH CARE

Bridget Johnson, PJM: “Senate Votes 50-50 to Move to Healthcare Debate as McCain Returns”

I drove to Washington twice that weekend. I remember Sunday especially. I stood in the trees next to the Capitol and shouted “NO” as Nan carried her big gavel and led her crowd. I still see Mr. Ryan and two friends standing on a balcony laughing. . .

Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

LEADS

Salena Zito, NY Post: “Why the Rust Belt just gave Donald Trump a hero’s welcome”

Luke Roseak, Daily Caller: ‘Buying Property’

Also – Adelle Nazarian, “Report: FBI Investigating Smashed Hard Drives Retrieved from Wasserman Schultz’s Pakistani-Born IT Worker’s Home”

Jeremy Roebuck & Chris Brennan, Philly.com: “Aide pleads guilty, says Brady campaign paid primary challenger to quit”

Mark Bauerlein, Philly.com: “A long history of violence among U.S. liberals”

Joseph Tanfani, LA Times: “Trump administration toughens policy against sanctuary cities”

PennLive: “Taxes, college grants, worker pay: How Pa.’s budget debacle may impact you”

RECOMMENDED:

Convention of States: “https://www.conventionofstates.com”

UK Telegraph: “Charlie Gard: Mother’s full statement – ‘we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you’”

Frederick Kunkle, WaPo: “Bicyclists fear Oregon’s controversial bike tax could spread”

Mark Levin (07-25-17)

Andrew McCarthy, NRO: “Trump Has Himself, Not Sessions, to Blame for the Limitless Mueller Investigation”

HEALTH CARE

Alexander Bolton, The Hill: “Senate healthcare bill appears headed for failure”

Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

LEADS

Scott Wong, The Hill: “Congressional GOP struggles for a win as recess looms”

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “Kushner Releases 11-Page Statement: Denies Collusion, Confirms Four Meetings with Russians”

Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner: “ICE chief lists worst sanctuary cities: Chicago, NYC, San Francisco, Philadelphia”

Jeremy Kryt, Daily Beast: “Mexican Drug Smugglers High on Ford”

Damian Paletta & Renae Merle, WaPo: “Scaramucci took winding path but finally landed a top job with Trump”

Barnini Chakraborty, Fox: “Sanctuary city standoff looms as ICE director vows agent surge”

John Hinderaker, Powerline: “TRUMP FIGHTS BACK AGAINST MUELLER”

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “In Furious, Bizarre Tweetstorm Trump Slams Leaks, “Amazon Post”, “Failing NYT”, Hillary, GOP Senators”

RECOMMENDED:

Convention of States: “https://www.conventionofstates.com”

Frederick Kunkle, WaPo: “Bicyclists fear Oregon’s controversial bike tax could spread”

Investors: “Clinton Scandal Only Deepens — So Why Is Trump, Not Hillary, Targeted For Investigation?”

Mark Levin (07-21-17)

Melanie Phillips, Jerusalem Post: “EUROPE REMAINS BLIND BECAUSE IT DOESN’T WANT TO SEE”

HEALTH CARE

Kimberley Strassel, WSJ: “Our Self-Interested Senators”

Sean Moran, BigGovt: “Rep. Tom Garrett Announces Intent to File Discharge Petition on Obamacare Repeal”

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

LEADS

Philly.com: “Jeff Sessions in Philly today to speak about sanctuary cities’

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “US Urges All Nationals in North Korea to “Depart Immediately”, Bans Tourists from Visiting”

Kristina Wong, Breitbart: “EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Pentagon Plans to Challenge Chinese Claims in South China Sea”

Greg Farrell & Christian Berthelsen, Bloomberg: “Mueller Expands Probe to Trump Business Transactions”

Christina Wong, BigGovt: “Susan Rice Postpones Testifying to Congress on Unmasking Trump Officials”

C.J. Ciarmella, Reason: “Justice Department Rolls Out New Policy to Seize More Money Under Asset Forfeiture”

Alex Pfeiffer, Daily Caller: “Trump Delivers A Warning To Mueller”

RECOMMENDED:

Frederick Kunkle, WaPo: “Bicyclists fear Oregon’s controversial bike tax could spread”

Mark Levin, 07-20-17

Investors: “Clinton Scandal Only Deepens — So Why Is Trump, Not Hillary, Targeted For Investigation?”

Victor Davis Hanson, NRO: “The Fifth American War”

HEALTH CARE

Douglas Ernst, Washington Times: “Limbaugh on GOP health care fiasco: ‘Establishment unifying to get rid of Donald Trump’”

David Drucker, Washington Examiner: “Why Mitch McConnell is making the Senate vote on doomed Obamacare repeal”

Charles Hurt, Washington Times: “Blame dishonest Democrats who created Obamacare and lied about it”

Susan Berry, BigGovt: “Liberal Republican Senators to Block Defunding Planned Parenthood in Obamacare Repeal”

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

LEADS

Joseph Lawler, Washington Examiner: “Mike Lee, GOP call on Ben Carson to undo Obama housing discrimination rule”

Ron Nixon, NY Times: “Engineers Begin Preparatory Work for Border Wall Construction”

Joseph Curl, Washington Times: America hates Hillary — and digs Trump”

Guilio Meotti, Gatestone: “Qatar, Saudi Arabia to Islamize One of Europe’s Greatest Cathedrals”

RECOMMENDED:

Mark Levin, 07-18-17

HEALTH CARE

1. McCain suddenly feels better, wants to reach out to Democrats.

2. McConnell may attempt a vote on simple “repeal.”

3. Trump wants a repeal vote. Pence agrees.

David Martosko, UK Daily Mail: “’Let Obamacare fail!’ Trump promises eventual replacement for medical insurance law after Senate bill collapses – but says it will require current system to fall apart first

Matthew Boyle, Breitbart: “As Senate Bill Dies, President Trump, Mitch McConnell Call for Clean Repeal of Obamacare Now, Replacement Later”

Tyler Durden, ZeroHedge: “McConnell Abandons ‘Replace’ Plan, Calls For ObamaCare ‘Repeal & Delay’ Vote; Trump Tweets “We Will Return!”

Health Care – Hannity: Josh Umber Sites

LEADS

Amber Athey, Daily Caller: Rep. Schiff: Democrat Collusion With Ukraine ‘Problematic’ [VIDEO]”

Ken Ritter, AP: “OJ Simpson faces good chance at parole in Nevada robbery”

Valerie Richardson, Washington Times: “First bicycle tax in nation leaves bike-crazy Oregon riders deflated”

PA BUDGET

Angela Coulombis & Liz Navratil, Philly.com: “Pa. Senate back in Capitol – but no budget deal yet”