The Patriot Post Digest 6-23-2017

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The Patriot Post Digest 6-23-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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Mid-Day Digest

Jun. 23, 2017

IN TODAY’S EDITION

As the GOP Senate releases its ObamaCare repeal bill, Obama himself can’t stay on the sidelines, opting to slam his opponents for their “meanness.”
Trump says he has no tapes of his meetings with Comey. But does someone else?
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“Amplification is the vice of modern oratory.” —Thomas Jefferson (1824)

TOP RIGHT HOOKS

Obama Fights to Preserve His ObamaCare Lie1

Barack Obama has a habit of making statements that just aren’t true. Remember this doozy from his final press conference as president: “I want to be quiet a little bit and not hear myself talk so darn much,” insinuating that he would follow the example set by George W. Bush and refrain from political criticism and discourse. Less than two weeks later Obama weighed in on the political dustup over Trump’s travel ban executive order. But honestly, with his track record, did anyone really believe Obama?

With Senate Republicans releasing their version2 of a bill to repeal and replace the “Affordable” Care Act on Thursday, Obama once again took up the mantle of Lecturer in Chief by posting a 939-word message3 on Facebook slamming the GOP’s plan. Obama wrote, “Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old or start a family — this bill will do you harm.” In typical leftist hyperbole he continued, “[It is] a massive transfer of wealth from middle-class and poor families to the richest people in America.” That’s rubbish, though ObamaCare was just the opposite.

After blasting the GOP bill for its “fundamental meanness,” Obama pivoted and hypocritically defended ObamaCare as not a partisan issue, before characterizing Republicans as only interested in “notching a political win,” not working “to make people’s lives better.”

There is so much wrong with Obama’s comments that it’s difficult to know where to begin. First, Obama conveniently ignores the fact that the ACA is failing and that has nothing to do with Republicans. After all, he also ignored the fact that not a single Republican voted for it. ObamaCare is his and the Democrats’ disaster alone. It’s quite simply despicable to suggest that the Republicans’ motivation for repealing and replacing a ticking time-bomb disaster of a law is due to partisanship.

Second, it’s flat out false to imply that ObamaCare made people’s lives better. Obama sold his socialist pipe dream to the American public on one lie after another. “It’ll save you money.” False. ObamaCare has doubled and tripled the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Americans. “You can keep you plan. You can keep your doctor.” False and false. Insurance companies had to scrap old plans in order to comply with the law’s increased coverage demands. Doctors in turn were forced to adjust which insurance they would and could accept, as they don’t work for free.

Finally, the original problem of increasing health care costs was only compounded by Obama and the Democrats, as they simply took advantage of a real problem as an excuse to justify forcing greater government control onto the American people. ObamaCare has not cut costs or liberated Americans from health concerns; it has done the exact opposite. And Obama has the gall to blast Republicans for daring to actually deal with the problem of health care costs without robbing Americans of their Liberty. Shame on him.

The Trump v Comey Tape That Wasn’t — or Was?4

By Mark Alexander

On Thursday, Donald Trump5 answered a question regarding his conversation with former FBI Director James Comey, a question which, in retrospect, he should not have baited.

In late May, after firing Comey6, Trump wrote, “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” That was a shot across Comey’s bow ahead of his illegal release to The New York Times the contents of official memos he “recorded” about his conversation with Trump. Comey leaked those memos a few hours after Trump’s remark, which the administration anticipated.

In Comey’s Senate testimony earlier this month, which we detailed in “Comey v. Trump: Obstructing the Truth7,” he offered a very convoluted explanation for leaking his official FBI record of their conversation to the press, suggesting it was Trump’s remark a few hours before that leak which prompted him to do so. However, Comey had, clearly, already determined he was going to leak those documents, and affirmed in his Senate testimony, “I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” (And some suggest Comey is not “political”?) In effect, Comey indicted himself8.

Newt Gingrich offered this assessment of the original tape tweet: “I think [Trump] was in his way instinctively trying to rattle Comey. He’s not a professional politician. He doesn’t come back and think about Nixon and Watergate. His instinct is: ‘I’ll out-bluff you.’”

Well, the bluff failed, and in our repeated assessment, Trump (and whoever is vetting his social media posts), needs a cease and desist order to stop the self-inflicted unforced errors9, which are fueling the DemoMSM propaganda machine’s10 successful efforts to derail the Republican agenda11.

On Thursday, Trump answered the Comey tape question he baited, writing, “With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea whether there are ‘tapes’ or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”

Of course, that follow-up has set all the MSM talkingheads’ hair on fire. But the screeching and screaming aside, it’s not a difficult path to interpret Trump’s original tape-bait comment in the context of his follow-up remark, given that, indeed, it was issued amid “all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information.” Ask yourself, based on all of the felonious leaks by Barack Obama’s12 deep state holdovers in the last six months, do you think it possible that Trump’s conversation with Comey was recorded by a “third party”?

Top Headlines13

Trump questions Mueller’s investigation: It’s full of “Hillary Clinton supporters.” (Washington Examiner14)

Sealing and transfer of Susan Rice records angers House committee investigating “unmasking.” (The Washington Times15)

Who needs Paris? U.S. is well on its way to lower emissions with economic, technological changes. (The Washington Times16)

Trump administration rejects UN Human Rights Council’s “safe abortion” text. (CNS News17)

Judge halts DHS attempt to deport 100 criminals to Iraq; Give 14-day reprieve. (The Washington Times18.)

Canadian sniper posts longest kill shot — 3,450 meters. (The Globe and Mail19)

A week after Illinois man attempts mass murder of GOP congressmen, an Illinois man is charged with threats to assassinate President Trump. (Bellville News-Democrat20)

The FBI’s briefing on the GOP baseball shooting was bizarre. (The Federalist21)

Senate bill ditches Trump plan to privatize air traffic control. (Washington Examiner22)

FCC proposes $120 million fine for alleged robocall scammer. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution23)

Policy: Circuit court win for religious freedom on gay marriage. (The Daily Signal24)

Policy: Taking on the scourge of opioids. (National Affairs25)

For more, visit Patriot Headline Report26.

FEATURED RIGHT ANALYSIS
The GOP Senate Takes a Swing at ObamaCare2

By Michael Swartz

Practically from the day the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — much more well-known as ObamaCare — was signed into law by its namesake, Republicans in the House proposed bill after bill to repeal it. As a campaign issue, opposition to government intrusion into health care propelled the GOP to a smashing, Tea Party-aided victory in the 2010 midterm elections that put them back in control of the House of Representatives, where they could then pass those ObamaCare repeal bills they had proposed.

Unfortunately, those repeal bills ran into the predictable roadblock of Democrat leader Harry Reid in the Senate, so the excuses began: We only control one-half of one-third of the government, they told us. True enough — House Republicans could do little to overcome the Senate or Barack Obama’s veto. Yet once the actual ObamaCare law took full effect, Americans learned that not only would we not be able to keep our doctors and our plans as promised27, but that $2,500 per family in promised savings was a fantasy as well28. The GOP told us they’d repeal ObamaCare if only they had control of the Senate, too — which voters delivered to them in 2014.

Still, frustration with the system boiled over, and the much-predicted ObamaCare death spiral began. Yet even as insurers bolted from failing state insurance exchanges, participants’ premiums and deductibles surged ever higher, and an increasing number of people decided the tax penalty was less onerous than staying with health insurance that cost thousands of dollars a month

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The Patriot Post Digest 6-23-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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out-of-pocket, Republicans found themselves with a 2016 presidential candidate who criticized ObamaCare but favored many of its provisions. As president, Donald Trump has been less than helpful in crafting legislation — he threatened House conservatives29 for opposing the House bill and celebrated the bill in a Rose Garden ceremony, but then called that same bill “mean” when talking to the Senate.

Once the party of limited government, Republicans are now cowed by the Left’s charge that they “sabotaged” ObamaCare30, and they appear unable to live up to their repeated promise of repealing this onerous legislation.

In March, the House made its first attempt at reform31. It didn’t even get a floor vote, although a modified version 2.0 barely passed32 a month later. It was something, albeit unimpressive. The Senate then turned up its nose at the House version and drew up its own plan, which they revealed yesterday.

Unless you’re a serious policy wonk, it’s doubtful you’ll read the entire 140-plus pages33 of this “discussion draft.” With the possible exception of senators like West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat whose state went all-in for Donald Trump, we can expect uniform Democratic hysteria. Not that their caterwauling means anything, because Republicans are considering this measure via reconciliation rules, meaning a simple majority is all they need. So the fate of the Senate version would seem to rest on perhaps a half-dozen senators34 who are either at the moderate center or farthest right on the GOP spectrum.

Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ron Johnson have announced they “are not ready to vote for this bill,” though they’re “open to negotiation.”

While some believe this bill is a modest step in the right direction, many observers give the Senate proposal a thumbs-down. “With this bill, Senate Republicans are betraying the promises they made on the campaign trail for the better part of seven years,” writes analyst Sally Pipes35. “If it passes, the GOP will have cemented the basic architecture of Obamacare into place — wittingly or not.” She notes that the Senate bill preserves most of the premium subsidies and Medicaid handouts to states, with cuts in the latter not taking effect until the out years beyond this election cycle. Yet Elizabeth McKee of Americans for Tax Reform, also writing in the Washington Examiner, praises the Senate bill for all the tax breaks it gives to middle-class families36 hit hard by the myriad hidden taxes in ObamaCare.

It’s worth noting that one major victory would be the elimination of the utterly rotten individual mandate — which requires Americans to purchase health insurance under penalty of law.

Lost in the translation, however, are some other ideas that Republicans promised to look into when repealing ObamaCare, such as tort reform. Tweaking around the edges isn’t going to rework a system that gets bogged down in defensive medicine, increasing time and expense just to guard against a malpractice suit.

A key difference in the approaches taken by the GOP Congress and their Democrat counterparts from eight years ago is the rush37 that the Republicans seem to be in to get this bill through. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to take this bill from “discussion draft” to floor vote before the Senate leaves on its Independence Day recess. And while we’re not talking about the 2,000-plus mind-numbing pages in the ObamaCare bill, the GOP version is still 140 pages. Democrats have harped on the bill being crafted in secret, which Republicans themselves once decried when Democrats did the same thing concocting ObamaCare. Now that the GOP plan is out, the focus seems to be on the Medicare cuts that actually are several years removed from being a reality — but which make for good Demo talking points to spoon-feed the mob.

In a perverse way, the Left should be pleased with the damage they’ve done. The argument is no longer about whether health care should be an entitlement for everyone, but only how we pay for it. When Republicans concede the point about extending personal health insurance subsidies well up the income ladder to the fringes of the white-collar class, that battle is lost. When the insurance industry is so dependent on the decisions of Uncle Sam that they stop selling policies in certain areas because there’s no guarantee they’ll be made whole if they lose money, we’ve shifted from a capitalistic free market to a con game in which the American taxpayer is the mark.

All that being said, is it too much to ask Republicans to go to bat and deliver on seven years of promises?

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Welfare: The U.S. Version of the Caste System38 — Our system incentivizes people to remain poor by staying on welfare and supporting the politicians who further their benefits.
A Green Wall Against Blood-Red Mexican Violence39 — Trump suggests solar wall. How can Democrats object to another sustainable energy “green” solar project?
Jeh Johnson Confirms Russians Were Behind DNC Hacking40 — The former DHS secretary also asserted that the Democrat National Committee refused any help.
The Gory Facts About Solar vs. Coal Energy Employment41 — Solar jobs are a tragic waste of human labor because it takes so much more to produce so much less.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Erick Erickson: Democrat Anger Is Helping Republicans42
Rich Lowry: A Democratic Blind Spot on Culture43
Mona Charen: Puberty Suppression and FGM44

For more, visit Right Opinion45.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Erick Erickson: “For perspective, in November last year, the Democrat challenger to Congressman Tom Price received 38.3 percent of the popular vote in the sixth congressional district of Georgia. Jon Ossoff only improved that by 10 percent with $30 million. Democrats may say the race should not have been that close, but the reality is spending that much money to drive out 100 percent of Democrats plus some anti-Trump Republicans cost them $30 million they now cannot spend elsewhere. And they still lost. … The violence generated by left-wing activists is enough to turn off swing voters. From a mass assassination attempt in Washington by a Bernie Sanders supporter to left-wing activists burning down small businesses, rioting, blocking conservatives from college campuses, and persecuting Christian small businessmen, the GOP has a plausible argument that emboldening the Democrats will just cause more violence. The Democrats’ unyielding anger could be what keeps them motivated for a year, but could also be what causes their defeat in 2018.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “There are, fundamentally, only two causes of the progress of the nineteenth century — the same two causes which you will find at the root of any happy, benevolent, progressive era in human history. One cause is psychological, the other existential — or: one pertains to man’s consciousness, the other to the physical conditions of his existence. The first is reason, the second is freedom.” —Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

The BIG Lie: “Now that people actually know what the Affordable Care Act does for them, there’s overwhelming support for it.” —Tom Perez

Non Compos Mentis: “Reminder: A Win For A Woman Doesn’t Always Mean A Win For Women.” —The Huffington Post’s Emma Gray, who laments, “Having more women in Congress is great, but Karen Handel isn’t pro-women”

Belly laugh of the week: “‘Resistance summer’ is going awesome. It’s going well. The Democratic Party is on the move. We are getting across this country. We are fighting every single day.” —Rep. Keith Ellison

Delusional: “I think I’m worth the trouble. … I am a master legislator.” —Nancy Pelosi

Friendly fire: “You can’t tell people you’re against big money, that you’re fighting for the average American, and then spend so much of your time with PACs and corporate interests and the very wealthy. … If money were the critical factor, we’d be in the majority right now.” —Dem Rep. Beto O'Rourke expressing frustration with Pelosi

Alpha Jackass: “My advice would just be to Republicans who do cozy up to [Trump] — it’s like hugging a suicide bomber. He blows you up in the process with him.” —MSNBC’s Elise Jordan

Village Idiots: “When was the last time an actor assassinated a president? I want to qualify, I am not an actor. I lie for a living. However, it has been a while and maybe it is time.” —Johnny Depp

And last… “[Democrats] want to fantasize about frog-marching [Trump] straight from his impeachment proceedings to the nearest federal penitentiary. But do they want to do the one thing that would make it easier to win tough races in marginal areas, namely moderate on the cultural issues? Not so much. … Stopping Trump is imperative, so long as it doesn’t require the party rethinking its uncompromising stance on abortion, guns or immigration.” —Rich Lowry

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson

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