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« on: March 20, 2017, 07:09:00 PM » |
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________________________________________ The Patriot Post Digest 3-15-2017 From The Federalist Patriot Free Email Subscription ________________________________________
Mid-Day Digest
Mar. 15, 2017
IN TODAY’S EDITION
What’s the real deal with Trump’s tax returns? As DC closed for a snow day, here are some men who never leave their posts. Insurance isn’t what most people think it is, and that’s what’s wrong with health care. Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.
THE FOUNDATION
“A just security to property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species.” —James Madison (1792)
TOP RIGHT HOOKS
The Real Story on Trump’s Tax Return1
Tuesday evening, with much ballyhoo, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow revealed two pages of Donald Trump’s 2005 tax return, which she claimed to have obtained under what can only be described as dubious circumstances. Maddow declared, “For some reason that we cannot discern, this document has been made available. It has surfaced. It has been handed to a reporter.” And what does the return show? Trump earned a lot of money — $150 million — and paid a lot in federal taxes — $38 million, or what amounts to about 25% of his income. Stop the presses!
Catching wind of the story, the White House preempted MSNBC by releasing a statement that included Trump’s earnings and taxes paid. The statement concluded, “Despite his substantial income figure and tax paid, it is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns. The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.”
During the primaries, we called for Trump to release his tax records2 for reasons of learning who and what he has supported, not to know how much he’s worth or whether he paid his “fair share” in taxes. We also noted then and will reiterate now that Trump is under no legal obligation to share his tax returns, irrespective of what previous presidential candidates have traditionally practiced. What is truly disconcerting is the growing notion that it’s totally acceptable for the mainstream media to obtain and disseminate illegally leaked confidential information in an effort to harm Trump.
This latest Leftmedia witch-hunt exposes yet again just how anti-Trump they are. Recall the MSM collective yawn over Barack Obama’s numerous nefarious connections3, such as Jeremiah Wright4 or Bill Ayers. Where was the dogged reporting by the MSM exposing Obama’s truly scandalous past associations? It was conveniently absent. In fact, great energy and effort was put into defending Obama against legitimate questions, often by dismissing them as merely the kooky concerns of the tinfoil hat club.
Now the Leftmedia is invested in the narrative of Trump being illegitimate, and no matter what the facts reveal, they have committed themselves to discrediting Trump at every conceivable opportunity. That’s what’s truly behind this tax story. And yet as has happened repeatedly, it’s proving only to blow up in their faces.
Slush Holidays at Taxpayer Expense5
By Mark Alexander
Yesterday afternoon I received a call from one of our contributing authors after he left work and was driving north on I-95 just south of Washington, DC. He found it humorous that there was not a single vehicle in the southbound lanes — normally a parking lot of rush-hour traffic. Today, Weather.com and other “weather news” outlets are doing their best to excuse all the hype they stirred up over the great March blizzard6. But the Daily Mail called winter storm Stella “The Blizzard that WASN’T,” while the New York Post declared “NYC Blizzard is a Dud.”
Fortunately, the DC media posted a “Snow Survival Guide7” ahead of the two inches of slush that besieged the nation’s capital yesterday, so all food market shelves were denuded of milk and bread.
Of course the 24-hour weather prognosticators face the same constraints as the rest of the 24-hour news recycling talkingheads — they are motivated, first and foremost, by market share and advertising revenues. In other words, they are driven by financial incentive, which is why they incessantly hype news — everything is a crisis, stay tuned 24/7! Of course there is rarely national news that rises to the level of the media’s hyperbolic “ALERT” bulletins. But in all fairness, the weather prognosticators have the task of trying to predict something, while the rest of the MSM are constantly rehashing news about something past — ad nauseam.
Top Headlines8
Schumer, who voted for the border wall in 2006, now threatens a government shutdown over funding it. (The Daily Signal9)
GOP senators say House health bill won’t pass without changes. (The Wall Street Journal10)
White House seeks to cut billions in funding for United Nations. (Foreign Policy11)
Trump to ease Obama-era rule on auto fuel economy standards. (The Washington Times12)
Congress demands investigation into Obama administration meddling in foreign elections. (The Washington Free Beacon13)
Senate Judiciary Committee demands all records on FBI plan to pay British ex-spy who made “Russia dossier” on Trump. (CNS News14)
Study debunks oft-cited research alleging voter ID laws are racist. (LifeZette15)
Tennessee sues federal government over “refugee” resettlement, citing violation of the Tenth Amendment. (CNS News16)
Student loan defaults are surging, study finds. (Associated Press17)
Congress passes legislation to undo Obama restrictions on drug tests for unemployed. (Washington Examiner18.)
Humpday Humor: Disrespect our flag? Here’s a challenge for you! (Video19)
Policy: How the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is trying to kill the Second Amendment. (America’s 1st Freedom20)
Policy: America’s way ahead in Syria. (Critical Threats21)
For more, visit Patriot Headline Report22.
FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS Making Health Insurance Insurance Again23
By Louis DeBroux
The release this week of the Congressional Budget Office’s scoring of the GOP’s ObamaCare replacement24 bill brought on immediate condemnation, hyperventilation, and Chicken Little the-sky-is-falling theatrics from all the usual suspects in the Democrat Party and the Leftmedia (but we repeat ourselves).
According to the CBO, the GOP plan would reduce the deficit by several hundred billion dollars, but add 14 million to the ranks of the uninsured in 2018. Pretty horrible, right?
Not if we keep in mind the CBO’s track record, which is not very good. By law, the CBO must score legislation statically (essentially net-zero formulations) rather than dynamically (factoring in human behavioral responses to economic changes). Unable to factor in human behavior, CBO projections are generally off by a wide margin.
In 2009, the CBO predicted ObamaCare would cost taxpayers $900 billion over 10 years, but just two years later the projected costs had more than doubled. Likewise, the number of Americans added to the insurance rolls was a fraction of projections, and a sizeable chunk of those added were lumped into Medicaid, which is a taxpayer-funded welfare program, not insurance.
Lost in the discussion of premiums, enrollment rates, deductibles and so forth is the fact that ObamaCare was never an insurance program. Rather, it was a quasi-socialist health payment program, a temporary bridge to what Democrats actually wanted — single-payer, government-run socialized health care. ObamaCare was never intended to work; at least, not as it was sold to the stupid American people25.
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