Had a great visit with our grandson, Kevin. Easy to be with and introduced him to many of our dear friends. Believe he enjoyed himself.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Robert Kagan is a very bright man and served on The Board of Advisors of St John's College:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Muslims were allowed to flood Europe because they were persecuted by their own where they lived.
Obama sought to flood America with Muslims as well.
These are facts. Facts are revealing if one chooses not to be blind.
When it comes to climate change progressives demand we listen to their handpicked experts but when it comes to illegal immigration they are unwilling to listen to "experts" who have a different message.
More Democrat hypocrisy? You decide. (See 1, 1a and 1b below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Progressives and Me Too nutcases are teaching Biden old white men are no longer qualified by virtue of their color and sex. We have truly come a long way and MLK would be so proud of what we have accomplished. Does his beautiful speech about content of character have merit. (See 2 below.)
Democrat candidates are offering American voters policies based on greed, envy and socialism. They want to raise taxes, increase government rules and red tape and oppose Trump on every basic issue from illegal immigration to extreme climate change and it's horrendous cost
Can they win without offering voters what they want simply by highlighting Trump's abrasive personality? I doubt it but time will tell.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++.
Some interesting op eds:
I Worked With Biden. Here's What You Should Know Jennifer Palmieri, Time
History Will Not Be Kind to the Collusion Truthers Julie Kelly, American Greatness
Conservatives Have No Idea How to Handle Buttigieg Sommer & Tani, Daily Beast
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Does Trump have a better health care plan than Obamacare? (See 3 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Does Trump have a better health care plan than Obamacare? (See 3 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dick
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1) A HISTORY LESSON WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET!!!
The War started in the 7th Century and lasted through the 17th Century. Many will contend it never stopped; the Facts below are Historically correct.
That is why many of us Choke when we hear someone say we will defeat or contain these Islamic Terrorists in a few Years, or even "30 Years" as has been stated by Leon Panetta.If the latest batch of Murders, Beheadings,and Killing of Innocent Christians has at all shocked you, it is time for you to read this Compilation of Historical Facts about the Intense Hatred that Muslims have for ANY and ALL who are “NOT” Muslims!
WE ARE THE STUPID.
In 732 A.D., the Muslim Army, which was moving on Paris, was Defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles Martell.
In 1571 A.D., the Muslim Army/Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Attack Southern Europe in the Battle of Lepanto.
In 1683 A.D.,the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally Defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish Christian Armies.
This Nonsense has been going on for 1,400 years!
The SAD thing is that more than half of all Politicians do not even know any of this. If these Battles had not been Won, we would most likely be speaking Arabic. And Christianity could be Non-existent. Judaism certainly would NOT exist!
Reality check:
A lot of Americans have become so Insulated from Reality that they Imagine America can Suffer defeat without any Inconvenience to themselves.
Think:
The following events are true historical facts. It has been many years since 1968, but History keeps repeating itself.
1. In 1968, Robert Kennedy was Shot and Killed by a Muslim Male.
2. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, Israeli Athletes were Kidnapped and Massacred by Muslim Males.
3. In 1972, a Pan Am 747 was Hijacked and eventually Diverted to Cairo where a Fuse was lit on Final Approach. Shortly after Landing, it was Blown up by Muslim Males.
4. In 1973, a Pan Am 707 was Destroyed in Rome With 33 People Killed, when it was Attacked with Grenades by Muslim Males.
5. In 1979, the United States Embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim Males.
6. During the 1980’s, a number of Americans were Kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim Males.
7. In 1983, the United States Marine Barracks in Beirut was Blown up by Muslim Males.
8. In 1985, the Cruise Ship Achilles-Lauro was Hijacked, and a 70-year-old American Passenger was Murdered and thrown Overboard in his Wheelchair by Muslim Males.
9. In 1985, TWA Flight 847 was Hijacked at Athens, and a United States Navy Diver,who was trying to Rescue Passengers – was murdered by Muslim Males.
10. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim Males.
11. In 1993, the World Trade Center was Bombed for the First Time by Muslim Males.
12. In 1998, the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were Bombed by Muslim Males.
13. On 09/11/01, FOUR Airliners were Hijacked. Two of the Planes were used as Missiles to take down the World Trade Centers. One Plane Crashed into the United States Pentagon, and the other Plane was Diverted and Crashed by the Passengers. Thousands of People were Killed by Muslim Males.
14. In 2002, the United States fought a War in Afghanistan against Muslim Males.
15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was Kidnapped and Beheaded by you guessed it - a Muslim Male. (Plus two other American Journalists who had just recently been Beheaded.)
16. In 2013, the Boston Marathon Bombing resulted in Four Innocent People, including a Child, being Killed and 264 other People injured by Muslim Males.
NO, I really do not see a pattern here to Justify Profiling. Do YOU?
So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone - particularly Fanatics intent on Killing US - Airport Security Screeners will NO longer be allowed to Profile certain People.
So, ask yourself:
"Just how Stupid are we?!?!"
Have Americans completely lost their Minds or just their "Power of Reason?"
As the writer of the Award Winning story "Forrest Gump" so aptly put it, "Stupid is as Stupid does."
As Barack Obama said in his book: "Nothing sounds as Beautiful as the Muslim Evening Prayers from the Tower."
NOW JUST THINK ABOUT THE NUMBER OF MUSLIMS NOW IN THE IN POLITICAL POSITIONS ACROSS THE U. S.
1a) Are Democrats Pushing Sharia Law?
1) A HISTORY LESSON WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET!!!
The War started in the 7th Century and lasted through the 17th Century. Many will contend it never stopped; the Facts below are Historically correct.
That is why many of us Choke when we hear someone say we will defeat or contain these Islamic Terrorists in a few Years, or even "30 Years" as has been stated by Leon Panetta.If the latest batch of Murders, Beheadings,and Killing of Innocent Christians has at all shocked you, it is time for you to read this Compilation of Historical Facts about the Intense Hatred that Muslims have for ANY and ALL who are “NOT” Muslims!
WE ARE THE STUPID.
In 732 A.D., the Muslim Army, which was moving on Paris, was Defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles Martell.
In 1571 A.D., the Muslim Army/Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Attack Southern Europe in the Battle of Lepanto.
In 1683 A.D.,the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally Defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish Christian Armies.
This Nonsense has been going on for 1,400 years!
The SAD thing is that more than half of all Politicians do not even know any of this. If these Battles had not been Won, we would most likely be speaking Arabic. And Christianity could be Non-existent. Judaism certainly would NOT exist!
Reality check:
A lot of Americans have become so Insulated from Reality that they Imagine America can Suffer defeat without any Inconvenience to themselves.
Think:
The following events are true historical facts. It has been many years since 1968, but History keeps repeating itself.
1. In 1968, Robert Kennedy was Shot and Killed by a Muslim Male.
2. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, Israeli Athletes were Kidnapped and Massacred by Muslim Males.
3. In 1972, a Pan Am 747 was Hijacked and eventually Diverted to Cairo where a Fuse was lit on Final Approach. Shortly after Landing, it was Blown up by Muslim Males.
4. In 1973, a Pan Am 707 was Destroyed in Rome With 33 People Killed, when it was Attacked with Grenades by Muslim Males.
5. In 1979, the United States Embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim Males.
6. During the 1980’s, a number of Americans were Kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim Males.
7. In 1983, the United States Marine Barracks in Beirut was Blown up by Muslim Males.
8. In 1985, the Cruise Ship Achilles-Lauro was Hijacked, and a 70-year-old American Passenger was Murdered and thrown Overboard in his Wheelchair by Muslim Males.
9. In 1985, TWA Flight 847 was Hijacked at Athens, and a United States Navy Diver,who was trying to Rescue Passengers – was murdered by Muslim Males.
10. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim Males.
11. In 1993, the World Trade Center was Bombed for the First Time by Muslim Males.
12. In 1998, the United States Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were Bombed by Muslim Males.
13. On 09/11/01, FOUR Airliners were Hijacked. Two of the Planes were used as Missiles to take down the World Trade Centers. One Plane Crashed into the United States Pentagon, and the other Plane was Diverted and Crashed by the Passengers. Thousands of People were Killed by Muslim Males.
14. In 2002, the United States fought a War in Afghanistan against Muslim Males.
15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was Kidnapped and Beheaded by you guessed it - a Muslim Male. (Plus two other American Journalists who had just recently been Beheaded.)
16. In 2013, the Boston Marathon Bombing resulted in Four Innocent People, including a Child, being Killed and 264 other People injured by Muslim Males.
NO, I really do not see a pattern here to Justify Profiling. Do YOU?
So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone - particularly Fanatics intent on Killing US - Airport Security Screeners will NO longer be allowed to Profile certain People.
So, ask yourself:
"Just how Stupid are we?!?!"
Have Americans completely lost their Minds or just their "Power of Reason?"
As the writer of the Award Winning story "Forrest Gump" so aptly put it, "Stupid is as Stupid does."
As Barack Obama said in his book: "Nothing sounds as Beautiful as the Muslim Evening Prayers from the Tower."
NOW JUST THINK ABOUT THE NUMBER OF MUSLIMS NOW IN THE IN POLITICAL POSITIONS ACROSS THE U. S.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!
1a) Are Democrats Pushing Sharia Law?
A fan thought I exaggerated when I wrote that Sharia law will spread like wildfire across America if Democrats win the White House. She feared my over-the-top statement about the spread of Islam will damage my credibility.
My statement is not an exaggeration. For crying out loud, the federal government illegally funded a national curriculum titled “Access Islam.” This indoctrination program outrageously teaches students how to become Muslim -- how to pray as a Muslim, how to perform Islamic “daily worship,” and how to perform the “core duties” of being a Muslim.
My statement is not an exaggeration. For crying out loud, the federal government illegally funded a national curriculum titled “Access Islam.” This indoctrination program outrageously teaches students how to become Muslim -- how to pray as a Muslim, how to perform Islamic “daily worship,” and how to perform the “core duties” of being a Muslim.
A California school banned all Christian-based books from its library, including books by Christian authors. Superintendent Dr. Kathleen Hermsmeyer says they do not allow “sectarian materials” on their state-authorized lending shelves. Public schools are celebrating Islam while banning Christmas.
Public education is the battlefield of the culture war. Democrats use public schools to normalize the LGBTQ agenda in the hearts and minds of our kids. Upon infiltrating public schools, LGBTQ activists began molding and shaping students into their image beginning in pre-k.
Democrats continue to up the ante by expanding deviancy. Students are being indoctrinated to embrace numerous dangerous sexual perversions under the umbrella of “healthy sex education” -- BDSM, rimming, anal sex, asphyxiation, gender-bending and more.
Beginning with portraying pedophiles as victims of our closed-minded society, Democrats are pushing to legalize pedophilia along with 11 other perversions. Civil unions granted homosexuals the same benefits as marriage. And yet, Democrats chose to use activist judges to destroy God's sacred union of marriage. This is a long way down the road from LGBTQ activists claiming they simply wanted tolerance. Today, many Americans quake in fear opposing any demand of LGBTQ activists. Democrats want government to mandate that Christians throw away their Bibles to fully embrace Democrats' anything-goes-sexually society.
Now Democrats are using government mandates to instill Islam in public schools while rooting out Christianity. Remember Democrat AG Loretta Lynch’s threat to jail anyone caught speaking badly of Islam? Lynch's boss, Obama, was the most pro-Islam and anti-Christian president in U.S. history.
Democrats use blacks, women, homosexuals, and Muslims as useful idiots to further their extreme radical leftist agenda. For example. Democrats and fake news said that opposing Obama's punish-America policies was racist. Had Hillary won, opposing her leftist agenda would be branded sexist. If homosexual Democrat presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg wins the WH, opposing his extreme radical leftist ideas will be branded homophobia. If one of the anti-Semitic Democrats win the presidency, opposing their hate-Israel rants will be branded Islamophobic. This tactic is called “shaming.” Democrats and fake news routinely use shaming to silence all opposition, while forcing their anti-American and anti-Christian agendas down our throats.
Judge Jeanine Pirro's TV show was taken off the air for two weeks for daring to tell the truth about Muslim Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's rabid anti-Semitism. Rather than strongly rebuking Omar's hatred for our ally, Israel, every Democratic presidential candidate decided to give Israel their middle finger by refusing to attend AIPAC.
Can you believe there are “Muslim Community Patrol” cars in Brooklyn, New York which look exactly like police cars? Disturbed residents are questioning why this is necessary because the NYPD is extremely diverse. These Muslim patrols are allowed to stealthily enforce Sharia law in their neighborhoods -- no homosexuals, no women wearing short skirts and so on.
Respecting Islam, a California public school caved to Sharia law by forbidding students to draw images of Mohammed. And yet, Democrats defended the NEA funding “Piss Christ” which featured a crucifix submerged in urine.
My late dad was a Methodist pastor. Dad said that every year for decades LGBTQ activists brought ordaining homosexuals to the table at their annual conference. Due to the Bible's clear rebuke, ordaining homosexuals was voted down. Then one year, it passed. We are seeing this same persistence tactic used to further Sharia law.
Thank God that Texas turned back the establishment of the first official Sharia court in America. But do not become complacent, folks. These people will never give up and will keep coming back at us.
Traditions, principles and values everyday Americans and Christians hold dear are under relentless attack by Democratic enemies within. As a Christian, I view the Democrats' aggression as the Spirit of Anti-Christ. Jesus proclaiming himself our savior and Lord is as repulsive to leftists as is showing Dracula the cross. This is why even though Islam clearly hates homosexuals and suppresses women, Democrats overwhelmingly prefer Islam over Christianity. Democrats are banning Christianity in public school while quietly replacing it with Islam.
No, I do not believe Sharia law will overtake America. But if Democrats take the White House, Sharia Law will swiftly gain government-protected strongholds across America.
1b) Immigration as Economic Warfare
Political influence in America is garnered through a number of mechanisms -- campaign contributions, social media, YouTube, news channels, and authority from moral figures such as the church, to name a few. However, the dominant force in American politics for the last two decades has been economic warfare against American citizens.
This economic warfare has two primary components; the use of government to economically favor one group over another; and the collusion of immigrant groups to economically inhibit Americans who oppose replacement migration.
The first aspect of this warfare is simple. The government institutes programs that give special privileges to one group of people in the form of educational access and benefits, exclusive contracts with the government, quotas within the job market, and legal protections that are exclusive to those people. While many of these benefits are subtle, on multigenerational timelines they effectively destroy the unprotected group while ensuring the success of the protected group. In addition to this, there is the selective enforcement of laws and the absolution of some groups from many laws.
However, the more important aspect of this warfare is the collusion of immigrants to exclude portions of the native population from the economy. This activity has two facets -- exclusion from the market and denial of service.
Consider a nation where the native people makes up 70% of the population and the immigrant population makes up 30%. If the entirety of the immigrant population refuses to purchase the products of the native population, then as long as the native population does not reciprocate this behavior, immigrant businesses have access to 100% of the market and the native businesses have access to only 70% of the marketplace. The end result of this activity is that immigrant businesses will always win out over native businesses.
In practice, the immigrant population need not exclude all the native population. They only need to target those who openly oppose their goals of mass legal and illegal immigration. Add in the portion of the native population that goes along with the boycott of the nativists, and it becomes impossible for anyone within the native group who opposes replacement migration to complete in the marketplace.
In effect, a smaller population of people willing to engage in this economic exclusion can unquestionably control the policies of a nation when the larger group is unwilling or incapable of implementing similar policies. The smaller population has effectively conquered the larger population and controls the political future of the nation.
While marketplace exclusion is passive, the denial of service phase of the warfare is active. Here, the immigrant population and those who support the policy of replacement migration implement the following practices:
It is in this state that the American people now find themselves. Any citizen who openly opposes replacement migration and supports the enforcement of U.S. laws is denigrated by foreign media, has their personal businesses attacked, and if they attempt to peaceably assemble, then they are set upon by violent political groups like Antifa that assault them in the open without fear of police or legal punishment.
The end result of this economic warfare is the usurpation of power from American citizens to foreign nationals. First, this is hidden but as their power grows it moves into the open. This can be seen in Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez asserting that immigration laws should not apply to Latinos as this land is rightfully theirs, as well as Senator Kamala Harris asserting that foreign nationals have the right to make laws with respect to U.S. citizens.
There is no good response to this type of cultural and economic warfare, but the first step in defeating it is acknowledging both that it is happening and that the American people have both the right and the obligation to oppose it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)
Don’t do it, Joe.
You backed the Iraq war. That question will be resurrected, as opposed to redebated. It is always fair to redebate it—to be asked, “Why did your generation of Democratic politicians back that war. Looking back what did you misunderstand?” But it will only be resurrected, and thrown in your face.
Public education is the battlefield of the culture war. Democrats use public schools to normalize the LGBTQ agenda in the hearts and minds of our kids. Upon infiltrating public schools, LGBTQ activists began molding and shaping students into their image beginning in pre-k.
Democrats continue to up the ante by expanding deviancy. Students are being indoctrinated to embrace numerous dangerous sexual perversions under the umbrella of “healthy sex education” -- BDSM, rimming, anal sex, asphyxiation, gender-bending and more.
Beginning with portraying pedophiles as victims of our closed-minded society, Democrats are pushing to legalize pedophilia along with 11 other perversions. Civil unions granted homosexuals the same benefits as marriage. And yet, Democrats chose to use activist judges to destroy God's sacred union of marriage. This is a long way down the road from LGBTQ activists claiming they simply wanted tolerance. Today, many Americans quake in fear opposing any demand of LGBTQ activists. Democrats want government to mandate that Christians throw away their Bibles to fully embrace Democrats' anything-goes-sexually society.Now Democrats are using government mandates to instill Islam in public schools while rooting out Christianity. Remember Democrat AG Loretta Lynch’s threat to jail anyone caught speaking badly of Islam? Lynch's boss, Obama, was the most pro-Islam and anti-Christian president in U.S. history.
Democrats use blacks, women, homosexuals, and Muslims as useful idiots to further their extreme radical leftist agenda. For example. Democrats and fake news said that opposing Obama's punish-America policies was racist. Had Hillary won, opposing her leftist agenda would be branded sexist. If homosexual Democrat presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg wins the WH, opposing his extreme radical leftist ideas will be branded homophobia. If one of the anti-Semitic Democrats win the presidency, opposing their hate-Israel rants will be branded Islamophobic. This tactic is called “shaming.” Democrats and fake news routinely use shaming to silence all opposition, while forcing their anti-American and anti-Christian agendas down our throats.
Judge Jeanine Pirro's TV show was taken off the air for two weeks for daring to tell the truth about Muslim Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar's rabid anti-Semitism. Rather than strongly rebuking Omar's hatred for our ally, Israel, every Democratic presidential candidate decided to give Israel their middle finger by refusing to attend AIPAC.
Can you believe there are “Muslim Community Patrol” cars in Brooklyn, New York which look exactly like police cars? Disturbed residents are questioning why this is necessary because the NYPD is extremely diverse. These Muslim patrols are allowed to stealthily enforce Sharia law in their neighborhoods -- no homosexuals, no women wearing short skirts and so on.
Respecting Islam, a California public school caved to Sharia law by forbidding students to draw images of Mohammed. And yet, Democrats defended the NEA funding “Piss Christ” which featured a crucifix submerged in urine.
My late dad was a Methodist pastor. Dad said that every year for decades LGBTQ activists brought ordaining homosexuals to the table at their annual conference. Due to the Bible's clear rebuke, ordaining homosexuals was voted down. Then one year, it passed. We are seeing this same persistence tactic used to further Sharia law.
Thank God that Texas turned back the establishment of the first official Sharia court in America. But do not become complacent, folks. These people will never give up and will keep coming back at us.
Traditions, principles and values everyday Americans and Christians hold dear are under relentless attack by Democratic enemies within. As a Christian, I view the Democrats' aggression as the Spirit of Anti-Christ. Jesus proclaiming himself our savior and Lord is as repulsive to leftists as is showing Dracula the cross. This is why even though Islam clearly hates homosexuals and suppresses women, Democrats overwhelmingly prefer Islam over Christianity. Democrats are banning Christianity in public school while quietly replacing it with Islam.
No, I do not believe Sharia law will overtake America. But if Democrats take the White House, Sharia Law will swiftly gain government-protected strongholds across America.
1b) Immigration as Economic Warfare
Political influence in America is garnered through a number of mechanisms -- campaign contributions, social media, YouTube, news channels, and authority from moral figures such as the church, to name a few. However, the dominant force in American politics for the last two decades has been economic warfare against American citizens.
This economic warfare has two primary components; the use of government to economically favor one group over another; and the collusion of immigrant groups to economically inhibit Americans who oppose replacement migration.
The first aspect of this warfare is simple. The government institutes programs that give special privileges to one group of people in the form of educational access and benefits, exclusive contracts with the government, quotas within the job market, and legal protections that are exclusive to those people. While many of these benefits are subtle, on multigenerational timelines they effectively destroy the unprotected group while ensuring the success of the protected group. In addition to this, there is the selective enforcement of laws and the absolution of some groups from many laws.
However, the more important aspect of this warfare is the collusion of immigrants to exclude portions of the native population from the economy. This activity has two facets -- exclusion from the market and denial of service.
Consider a nation where the native people makes up 70% of the population and the immigrant population makes up 30%. If the entirety of the immigrant population refuses to purchase the products of the native population, then as long as the native population does not reciprocate this behavior, immigrant businesses have access to 100% of the market and the native businesses have access to only 70% of the marketplace. The end result of this activity is that immigrant businesses will always win out over native businesses.
In practice, the immigrant population need not exclude all the native population. They only need to target those who openly oppose their goals of mass legal and illegal immigration. Add in the portion of the native population that goes along with the boycott of the nativists, and it becomes impossible for anyone within the native group who opposes replacement migration to complete in the marketplace.
In effect, a smaller population of people willing to engage in this economic exclusion can unquestionably control the policies of a nation when the larger group is unwilling or incapable of implementing similar policies. The smaller population has effectively conquered the larger population and controls the political future of the nation.
While marketplace exclusion is passive, the denial of service phase of the warfare is active. Here, the immigrant population and those who support the policy of replacement migration implement the following practices:
- Place pressure on employers to fire natives openly opposed to replacement
- Deny platforms to the native population that opposes replacement
- Payment processors
- YouTube
- Email, etc
- Write articles condemning the natives and ensure that anyone who employs them will be targeted as well
- Engage in violence against the natives and protest their house and employment
- Deny legal protections to those nativists as a recourse of defense from violence
- Prosecute any physical defense mounted by the nativists as initiatory violence
- Place the same pressures on their families
It is in this state that the American people now find themselves. Any citizen who openly opposes replacement migration and supports the enforcement of U.S. laws is denigrated by foreign media, has their personal businesses attacked, and if they attempt to peaceably assemble, then they are set upon by violent political groups like Antifa that assault them in the open without fear of police or legal punishment.
The end result of this economic warfare is the usurpation of power from American citizens to foreign nationals. First, this is hidden but as their power grows it moves into the open. This can be seen in Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez asserting that immigration laws should not apply to Latinos as this land is rightfully theirs, as well as Senator Kamala Harris asserting that foreign nationals have the right to make laws with respect to U.S. citizens.
There is no good response to this type of cultural and economic warfare, but the first step in defeating it is acknowledging both that it is happening and that the American people have both the right and the obligation to oppose it.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2)
If Biden Runs, They’ll Tear Him Up
The old Democratic Party was warm, like him. The new one rising is colder, less human and divisive.
By Peggy Noonan
Don’t do it, Joe.
Don’t run for president. It won’t work, you won’t get the nomination, your loss will cause pain and not only for you.
And your defeat will be worse than sudden, it will be poignant.
Right now operatives for the other candidates are trying to scare you out of jumping in. We all know that what you intended as warmth is now received as a boundary violation. You addressed this in a video that was crisp and friendly: You never meant to cause discomfort, you intend to change your ways.
But it’s not going away. It will linger, and more will come.
Democratic operatives do not fear you will win the nomination—they think you’re too old, your time has passed, you’re not where the energy of the base is, or the money. But they do not want you taking up oxygen the next six to 10 months as you sink in the polls. And they don’t want you swooping in to claim the middle lane. Others already have a stake there, or mean to.
In the past you were never really slimed and reviled by your party; you were mostly teased and patronized. But if you get in the race this time, it will be different. They will show none of the old respect for you, your vice presidency or your past fealty to the cause. And you are in the habit of receiving respect. Soon the topic will turn, in depth, to Anita Hill, the Clinton crime bill, your friendliness to big business. You have opposed partial-birth abortion. Also, the old plagiarism video will come back and be dissected. It was more than 30 years ago, and for a lot of reporters and voters it will be a riveting story, and brand new.
You will be judged to be old-school, and insufficiently doctrinaire. The current Democratic Party is different from the one you entered in the late 1960s, not only in policies but in mood, tone, style. Today’s rising young Democrats see no honor in accommodation, little virtue in collegiality.
In the old party of classic 20th-century Democratic liberalism, they wanted everyone to rise. Those who suffered impediments—minorities, women, working people trying to unionize—would be given a boost. There’s plenty to go around, America’s a rich country, let the government get in and help.
The direction, or at least the aspiration, was upward, for everybody.
The mood of the rising quadrants of the new party is more pinched—more abstractedly aggrieved, more theoretical. Less human. Now there’s a mood not of Everyone Can Rise but of Some Must Be Taken Down. White people in general, and white males in particular, are guilty of intractable privilege. It’s bitter, resentful, divisive.
And it is at odds with the spirit in which your political categories were formed. Actually, your politics always struck me as being like the World War II movies Americans of a certain age grew up on. The American soldiers are in the foxhole in Bataan, and there’s the working-class guy from Brooklyn, the tall Ivy League guy, the baker’s apprentice from Ohio. They’re all together and equal, like the country they represent. When the war’s over they’ll probably stay friends and the Brooklyn guy will be in the union and the Ivy League fancy-pants will be in management, but they’ll quickly forge the new contract and shake on the deal because back when it counted we were all in it together.
That is not the 2019 Democratic Party! This party would note, correctly, that there was little racial diversity in the foxhole, and would elaborate that its false unity was built on intersectional oppressions that render its utility as a unifying metaphor null.
The party’s young theorists are impatient with such gooey patriotic sentiment. America is not good guys in a foxhole to them, it’s crabs in a barrel with the one who gets to the top getting yanked down to the bottom—deservedly.
Your very strength—that you enjoy talking to both sides, that deep in your heart you see no one as deplorable—will be your weakness. You aren’t enough of a warrior. You’re sweet, you’re weak, you’re half-daffy. You’re meh.
At this point you’re not out of step, you’re out of place.
The press too will have certain biases, and not only because they’re 30 and 40 years younger than you and would like to see their careers associated with the rise of someone their age. Their bias is also toward drama, as you well know—toward pathos, and the end of something. They love that almost as much as the beginning of something. They can’t wait to write their Lion in Winter stories. “The Long Goodbye.” “The Last Campaign.” “Biden faltered for just a moment when a white-haired woman put her hand to his face and said, ‘I remember you from ’88, Joe. We all do, and we love you.”
And that is apart from those young reporters who consider themselves culture cops, and who enjoy beating people like you with the nightstick of their wokeness.
Why will it be painful to witness all this? Because it will mark the fall of a political figure who was normal. Who knew there was a left over here and a right over there and a big middle. Who went with the flow of cultural leftism but understood the other side’s reservations and signaled that in some way he had some sympathy for them. Who knew politics wasn’t always about absolutes.
This in contrast to the up-and-coming manipulators for whom it is second nature to feign warmth and outreach, but whose every hug is backed by the sharp and crooked finger of accusation. Their engine is resentment, their fuel is unearned self-esteem, their secret is lust for power.
You probably think they’re just girls who need a hug.
But their place is not your place.
It would be one thing if you wanted to enter the race to persuade the party on the merits of more-centrist approaches and working with the other side. But is that your intention? You’ve been apologizing for calling Mike Pence decent, and groveling over your “white man’s culture.” If you go with that flow, it will wash you away.
It is hard for the political personality to say no—to more fame, more power, more love. To the history books. It is hard for a man who’s always seen a president when he looked in the mirror to admit he’s an almost-president. It’s hard to get out of the habit of importance.
But you’ll never be unimportant. You’ll be Joe Biden, a liberal lion of the U.S. Senate at the turn of century. A man with a heart, unhated in an age of hate.
That’s not nothing, that’s a lot.
So don’t do it. Wisdom here dictates an Irish goodbye—a quiet departure, out the back door with a wave and a tip of the hat to whoever might be watching.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3)Trump Really Does Have a Plan That’s Better Than Obamacare
By Doug Badger
“If the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out,” President Donald Trump said last week, “we’ll have a plan that is far better than Obamacare.”
Democrats couldn’t believe their luck. They still were reeling from special counsel Robert Mueller’s finding that the Trump campaign neither conspired nor coordinated with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections.
Now the president was changing the subject from collusion (a suddenly awkward topic for Democrats) to health care (which helped them capture dozens of House seats last November).
Besides, the president really doesn’t have a plan that is far better than Obamacare, or any plan at all. Right?
The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution.
Wrong.
A look at his fiscal year 2020 budget shows that the president has a plan to reduce costs and increase health care choices. His plan would achieve this by redirecting federal premium subsidies and Medicaid expansion money into grants to states. States would be required to use the money to establish consumer-centered programs that make health insurance affordable regardless of income or medical condition.
The president’s proposal is buttressed by a growing body of evidence that relaxing federal regulations and freeing the states to innovate makes health care more affordable for families and small businesses.
Ed Haislmaier and I last year published an analysis of waivers that have so far enabled seven states to significantly reduce individual health insurance premiums. These states fund “invisible high risk pools” and reinsurance arrangements largely by repurposing federal money that would otherwise have been spent on Obamacare premium subsidies, directing them instead to those in greatest medical need.
By financing care for those with the biggest medical bills, these states have substantially reduced premiums for individual policies. Before Maryland obtained its waiver, insurers in the state filed requests for 2019 premium hikes averaging 30 percent. After the federal government approved the waiver, final 2019 premiums averaged 13 percent lower than in 2018—a 43 percent swing.
Best of all, Maryland and the other waiver states have achieved these results without increasing federal spending or creating a new federally funded reinsurance program, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has proposed to do.
State innovation also extends to Medicaid. Some states have sought waivers permitting them to establish work requirements designed to help Medicaid recipients escape poverty.
Arkansas, for example, last June began requiring non-disabled, childless, working-age adults to engage in 80 hours of work activity per month. The program defined “work activity” broadly to include seeking a job, training for work, studying for a GED, engaging in community service, and learning English.
More than 18,000 people—all non-disabled and aged 30-49—were dropped from the rolls between September and December for failing to meet these requirements. The overwhelming majority did not report any work-related activity. All became eligible to re-enroll in Medicaid on Jan. 1. Fewer than 2,000 have done so, suggesting that most either don’t value the benefit or now earn enough to render them ineligible for Medicaid.
Nonetheless, last week a federal judge ordered Arkansas to drop its Medicaid work requirement, a requirement that would likely improve lifetime earnings of Medicaid recipients.
Administration efforts to relax federal rules to benefit employees of small businesses also were nullified last week by a federal judge.
Most uninsured workers are employed by small firms, many of which can’t afford Obamacare coverage for their employees. The Labor Department rule allowed small firms to band together, including across state lines, giving them purchasing power comparable to that of big businesses.
A study of association health plans that formed after the new rule took effect last September found that they offered comprehensive coverage at premium savings averaging 23%. The court ruling stopped that progress in its tracks.
Waivers and regulations that benefit consumers are susceptible to the whim of judges and bureaucrats, which is why Congress should act on the president’s proposal.
It closely parallels the Health Care Choices Proposal, the product of ongoing work by national and state think tanks, grassroots organizations, policy analysts, and others in the conservative community. A study by the Center for Health and the Economy, commissioned by The Heritage Foundation, found that the proposal would reduce premiums for individual health insurance by up to 32 percent and cover virtually the same number of people as under Obamacare.
It also would give consumers more freedom to choose the coverage they think best for themselves and their families. Unlike current law, states could include direct primary care; health-sharing ministries; short-term, limited-duration plans; and other arrangements among the options available through their programs.
Those expanded choices would extend to low-income people. The proposal would require states to let those receiving assistance through the block grants, Medicaid, and other public assistance programs apply the value of their subsidy to the plan of their choice, instead of being herded into government-contracted health maintenance organizations.
Outside groups that helped develop the proposal, which is similar to the president’s, are looking to refine it by incorporating other Trump administration ideas like expansion of health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements, and association health plans. They’re also reviewing various administration ideas to reduce health care costs through choice and competition.
The president really does have “a plan that is far better than Obamacare.” Congress should get on board.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3)Trump Really Does Have a Plan That’s Better Than Obamacare
By Doug Badger
“If the Supreme Court rules that Obamacare is out,” President Donald Trump said last week, “we’ll have a plan that is far better than Obamacare.”
Democrats couldn’t believe their luck. They still were reeling from special counsel Robert Mueller’s finding that the Trump campaign neither conspired nor coordinated with Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections.
Now the president was changing the subject from collusion (a suddenly awkward topic for Democrats) to health care (which helped them capture dozens of House seats last November).
Besides, the president really doesn’t have a plan that is far better than Obamacare, or any plan at all. Right?
The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution.
Wrong.
A look at his fiscal year 2020 budget shows that the president has a plan to reduce costs and increase health care choices. His plan would achieve this by redirecting federal premium subsidies and Medicaid expansion money into grants to states. States would be required to use the money to establish consumer-centered programs that make health insurance affordable regardless of income or medical condition.
The president’s proposal is buttressed by a growing body of evidence that relaxing federal regulations and freeing the states to innovate makes health care more affordable for families and small businesses.
Ed Haislmaier and I last year published an analysis of waivers that have so far enabled seven states to significantly reduce individual health insurance premiums. These states fund “invisible high risk pools” and reinsurance arrangements largely by repurposing federal money that would otherwise have been spent on Obamacare premium subsidies, directing them instead to those in greatest medical need.
By financing care for those with the biggest medical bills, these states have substantially reduced premiums for individual policies. Before Maryland obtained its waiver, insurers in the state filed requests for 2019 premium hikes averaging 30 percent. After the federal government approved the waiver, final 2019 premiums averaged 13 percent lower than in 2018—a 43 percent swing.
Best of all, Maryland and the other waiver states have achieved these results without increasing federal spending or creating a new federally funded reinsurance program, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has proposed to do.
State innovation also extends to Medicaid. Some states have sought waivers permitting them to establish work requirements designed to help Medicaid recipients escape poverty.
Arkansas, for example, last June began requiring non-disabled, childless, working-age adults to engage in 80 hours of work activity per month. The program defined “work activity” broadly to include seeking a job, training for work, studying for a GED, engaging in community service, and learning English.
More than 18,000 people—all non-disabled and aged 30-49—were dropped from the rolls between September and December for failing to meet these requirements. The overwhelming majority did not report any work-related activity. All became eligible to re-enroll in Medicaid on Jan. 1. Fewer than 2,000 have done so, suggesting that most either don’t value the benefit or now earn enough to render them ineligible for Medicaid.
Nonetheless, last week a federal judge ordered Arkansas to drop its Medicaid work requirement, a requirement that would likely improve lifetime earnings of Medicaid recipients.
Administration efforts to relax federal rules to benefit employees of small businesses also were nullified last week by a federal judge.
Most uninsured workers are employed by small firms, many of which can’t afford Obamacare coverage for their employees. The Labor Department rule allowed small firms to band together, including across state lines, giving them purchasing power comparable to that of big businesses.
A study of association health plans that formed after the new rule took effect last September found that they offered comprehensive coverage at premium savings averaging 23%. The court ruling stopped that progress in its tracks.
Waivers and regulations that benefit consumers are susceptible to the whim of judges and bureaucrats, which is why Congress should act on the president’s proposal.
It closely parallels the Health Care Choices Proposal, the product of ongoing work by national and state think tanks, grassroots organizations, policy analysts, and others in the conservative community. A study by the Center for Health and the Economy, commissioned by The Heritage Foundation, found that the proposal would reduce premiums for individual health insurance by up to 32 percent and cover virtually the same number of people as under Obamacare.
It also would give consumers more freedom to choose the coverage they think best for themselves and their families. Unlike current law, states could include direct primary care; health-sharing ministries; short-term, limited-duration plans; and other arrangements among the options available through their programs.
Those expanded choices would extend to low-income people. The proposal would require states to let those receiving assistance through the block grants, Medicaid, and other public assistance programs apply the value of their subsidy to the plan of their choice, instead of being herded into government-contracted health maintenance organizations.
Outside groups that helped develop the proposal, which is similar to the president’s, are looking to refine it by incorporating other Trump administration ideas like expansion of health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements, and association health plans. They’re also reviewing various administration ideas to reduce health care costs through choice and competition.
The president really does have “a plan that is far better than Obamacare.” Congress should get on board.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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