http://freebeacon.com/
And:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/
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An interesting phenomena seems to be taking place unless the report of distancing by Republican Politicians from Trump is fake news. Even if this is true now that Chief of Staff Kelly is on board will matters calm down and co-operation build even with the Democrats?
It seems the vast majority of those who voted for Trump remain loyal but many Republican politicians , particularly those up for re-election, have removed themselves from supporting their president.
They claim to be turned off by his behaviour, his tweeting and his non-traditional presidency. I can well understand their concerns over his persona but his basic agenda remains something I continue to embrace as they should. What is wrong with replacing Obamacare with something better? What is wrong with reducing illegal entry and protecting our nation's borders? What is wrong with tax relief and modification that would result in stimulating our economy and bringing more equity into the mix of taxation? What is wrong with providing choice for those seeking a better education? What is wrong with rebuilding our military and getting NATO members to live up to their own responsibilities? What is wrong with being concerned about our deficits and seeking to increase revenue even if it means temporarily increasing the deficit? What is wrong with challenging cities and states that are unwilling to adhere to federal laws regarding their protection of illegals and withhold funding? I could enumerate more "what's wrong with's" but I suspect you get the point.
It appears to me those Republicans failing to support their president are displaying their independence but have chosen a questionable rationale. Further, it seems they are sending a message to voters they would rather fail in their legislative responsibilities in the mistaken belief it will go unnoticed by voters in 2018.
Worst of all is the cowardly manner in which they have not only refused to protect their president from scurrilous charges of unproven collusion but, in many instances, have actually sided with his persecution while backing away from calling for comparable efforts to prosecute instances of illegality and real collusion and bring to justice former Obama associates who allegedly were involved in this type of behaviour. You know the names: Rhodes, Lynch, Clinton, Rice Wsserman Schultz etc..
Apparently Republican establishment politicians do not understand Trump's election demonstrated Middle America does not wish to live under socialism and does not wish to embrace the Democrat's "Better Deal." They see through it as nothing more than the same old taco wrapped in new language.
More expenditures on free goodies, more deficits, lower economic growth resulting in more unemployment and a decline in middle class numbers, continued destruction of public education, a weakened military and the list of tired failed legislative/radically progressive ideas is unending.
Or, perhaps they do understand because they realize were Trump to successfully drain the swamp they too would suffer. They too would lose power, they too would have their office perks stripped away, they too would have to seek employment and earn a living as do those over whom they rule etc.
Trump is threatening them as retribution for failing to support his call for ending Obamacare. Will he carry through? Stay Tuned. (See 1 below.)
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Will N Korea go bust before they launch? (See 2 below.)
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Unlike Obama, Trump seems willing to supply beleaguered allies, willing to defend themselves, with an ability to do so. (See 3 below.)
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Today Trump was apprised, by Senator's Tom Cotton and David Perdue, of proposed vast changes in legal immigration policies with a merit based focus on those who bring skills etc. It is the first change in over 50 years and now we will see whether the proposals will be embraced by those on both sides of the aisle.
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Sent by a friend and fellow memo reader.
Whether this was written by Sgt. Brown is actually irrelevant because it makes sense regardless. (See 4 below.)
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Clifford May is correct. Western Values are the best. (See 5 below.)
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Words matter. (See 6 below.)
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Off to Orlando, New York and Athens, Ga. No memos for about a week. You deserve a reprieve.
Have a great weekend.
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Dick
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1) ObamaCare for Congress
Trump can change a rule that exempts Members from the law’s pain.
By The Editorial Board
Over the weekend Mr. Trump tweeted that “If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!” He later added: “If ObamaCare is hurting people, & it is, why shouldn’t it hurt the insurance companies & why should Congress not be paying what public pays?”
Mr. Trump is alluding to a dispensation from ObamaCare for Members of Congress and their staff, and the back story is a tutorial in Washington self-dealing. A 2009 amendment from Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) forced congressional employees to obtain coverage from the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The Senate Finance Committee adopted it unanimously.
That meant Members and their staff would no longer enjoy coverage from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which subsidizes up to 75% of the cost of a plan. The text of the Affordable Care Act says that staffers may “only” be offered plans created by the law or on the exchanges.
The law did not specify what would happen to the employer contributions, though Democrats claim this was merely a copy-editing mistake. A meltdown ensued as Members feared that staffers would be exposed to thousands of dollars more in annual health-care costs, replete with predictions that junior aides would clean out their desks en masse.
Mr. Obama intervened in 2013 and the Office of Personnel Management issued a rule that would allow employer contributions to exchange plans, not that OPM had such legal authority. One hilarious detail is that OPM certified the House and Senate as “small businesses” with fewer than 50 full-time employees, and no doubt the world would be better if that were true. This invention allowed Members to purchase plans on the District of Columbia exchange for small businesses, where employers can make contributions to premiums. This is a farce and maybe a fraud.
In last week’s Senate health-care debate, Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson circulated an idea to block subsidies for Members, who earn at least $174,000 a year and would not receive generous taxpayer underwriting on the exchanges. The Johnson amendment would restore staff to the federal benefits program. Alas, the amendment commands almost no support. Not even Democrats want to sign up for their own policy.
But Mr. Trump could direct OPM to scrap the rule for Members, which is reversible because Mr. Obama reworked his own law through regulation that can be undone by a successor. Mr. Obama also refused to pursue a legislative fix for the problem lest Republicans demand something in return.
Revoking the rule would have the political benefit of forcing Members to live under the regime that Democrats rammed into law and Republicans have failed to fix. If Members are pained by higher premiums and fewer insurance choices, perhaps they will be inspired to fix the law for the millions who have had to endure it.
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2) Nukes Won’t Save North Korea
The U.S. and South Korea’s war games are their best sanction.
By Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.
“These systems are capable of ranging Seoul without moving, and can deliver both high-explosive and chemical munitions with little or no warning.”
This would seem a pretty good deterrent given the improbable scenario, as North Korea surely understands, of a U.S. and South Korean attack on the North. Then why nukes? Penetrating North Korean rationalizations is never a sure thing, but a likely answer is to be found in the recent joint Chinese-Russian proposal of a freeze in North Korea’s missile and bomb testing in exchange for an end to U.S.-South Korean annual military exercises.
When North Korea is already spending 22% of gross domestic product to maintain its military, the cost of mobilizing in response to near-constant U.S. and South Korean maneuvers is a killing burden. Washington’s and Seoul’s war games are their most effective sanction and always have been.
North Korea upped the tempo of its training flights sixfold, to 700 a day, on the first day of the 2013 U.S. and South Korean “Key Resolve” annual maneuvers. That naturally sent Seoul’s analysts to their calculators, concluding triumphantly that the North was either draining its war reserve or starving its civilian economy of fuel.
The North especially goes ape over carrier deployments. When President Obama dispatched the USS George Washington, the North denounced “imperialist aggression” and promised “unpredictable disasters.” When President Trump sent the USS Carl Vinson, the North raged about “maniacal military provocations.”
When the U.S. and Japanese navies are operating in nearby waters, the North must keep its jets in the air and defenses mobilized. When U.S. and South Korean and (recently) Chinese troops are on the move near its border, it must activate troops in response.
Blood-curdling threats are the norm, possibly because they are cheaper than jet fuel. The North’s deputy United Nations ambassador warned earlier this year amid various Trump deployments that “thermonuclear war may break out at any moment.”
Or not. Both sides have been playing this game for a long time. Miscalculation is always possible, but much less so than in 1950.
Adm. Harry Harris, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said before Congress in April that the goal is to “bring Kim Jong Un to his senses, not his knees.” Tellingly, the admiral noted North Korean “shortfalls in training and equipment.”
In 2013, when Gen. Mike Flynn headed the Defense Intelligence Agency, he testified that “the North’s military suffers from logistics shortages, largely outdated equipment, and inadequate training.”
The U.S. and its allies can maintain their mobilization virtually indefinitely. North Korea can’t. Motor fuel is a sore point, but so are food, equipment, and sanitation and health care for troops in the field.
Ultimately, the Kim family regime remains in power by distributing resources to its loyalists, which actually shows every sign of being the growing priority today. In April, foreign reporters were invited to witness a ribbon cutting on a sumptuous new apartment block in Pyongyang for Kim favorites. The Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean paper, recounted the scene:
“Premier Pak Pong-ju then delivered a speech in which he claimed the opening of the street is more powerful than ‘hundreds of nuclear bombs.’ A Los Angeles Times correspondent tweeted that the street is ‘impressive’ and the skyscrapers lining it as ‘very modern’ but pointed out that the thousands of soldiers massing in the capital ‘looked severely stunted. A reminder of widespread malnutrition outside of Pyongyang.’ ”
In theory, what North Korea wants is a peace treaty ending the Korean War of 1950-53 and removal of U.S. forces from the region. Unfortunately, the North can’t afford the treaty it claims to want, because it can’t do without a U.S. threat to justify its sociopathic dictatorship.
In the end, the irresolvable dilemma is North Korea’s, not the West’s. The Kim regime doesn’t have a realistic solution for itself except to make sure the standoff goes on forever. The answer to North Korea’s nukes is a deep breath and to invest in missile defense, which the world needs anyway. The upside is likely to be a marked deterioration in its conventional forces.
In the meantime, the U.S. and South Korea maintain their long-term watching brief on the Northern regime’s effort to hold itself together. Keep up the pressure through the annual war games variously known over the years as “Team Spirit,” “Key Resolve,” “Foal Eagle” and “Ulchi-Freedom Guardian.” No regime is forever. And North Korea’s is more mercenary than most—suggesting an endgame in which the Kim family essentially sells out one day.
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3)A Trump Card in Ukraine
Lethal aid would raise the cost of Putin’s military aggression.
By The Editorial Board
President Trump will soon have a chance to test that question when he receives an imminent recommendation from the State Department and Pentagon to sell Ukraine lethal, defensive weapons such as anti-tank Javelin missiles. These weapons would help Ukrainians defeat Russian armor and make it harder for Mr. Putin’s proxy forces to advance further into Ukraine’s eastern provinces, which the Russians invaded in 2014.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has sought this kind of help for years. But Barack Obama refused on grounds that lethal aid would merely escalate the conflict; he shipped only such non-lethal aid as short-range radar and night-vision goggles. Mr. Putin escalated anyway, violating the Minsk cease-fire accords brokered by John Kerry.
The Russians have declared separatist strongholds in Donetsk and Luhansk and built up forces in the occupied areas. Kurt Volker, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty last week that “there are more Russian tanks in there than in Western Europe combined.” That’s in addition to Russia’s plans to deploy as many as 100,000 troops for military exercises in Belarus on NATO’s front lines this summer.
As President, Mr. Trump hasn’t been the patsy for Mr. Putin that his U.S. critics claim. He endorsed NATO’s deployment of troops to Poland and the Baltic states. Vice President Mike Pence visited Estonia Monday and affirmed the U.S. will “always” stand with its Baltic allies, and on Tuesday he said in Tbilisi that the United States “strongly condemns Russia’s occupation on Georgia’s soil.”
Mr. Trump now has a chance to show he’s no Obama echo and make Mr. Putin pay attention by helping Ukraine, which has shown it is willing to fight for independence. Russia’s invasion has cost 10,000 lives and displaced more than two million civilians. Mr. Poroshenko has plowed money into upgrading Ukraine’s armed forces, embraced U.S. military training, and quietly forged good relations with countries like Poland and Lithuania.
Opponents of lethal aid say Mr. Putin can always trump any Ukrainian effort, but then why hasn’t he done so already? Russia could occupy all of Ukraine if it wanted to, at least for a time, but it fears the political and military cost. The point of lethal aid is to raise the price Mr. Putin pays for his imperialism until he withdraws or agrees to peace under the Minsk terms.
Mr. Putin launched his attack when Kiev had no soldiers protecting the eastern border, but his proxy troops were forced to slow down when the Ukrainians organized and started to inflict casualties. The Russian doesn’t want dead soldiers arriving home before next year’s presidential election.
Bolstering Ukraine’s defenses would also send a message to Mr. Putin that Mr. Trump wants to negotiate with Russia from a position of strength. This could help the U.S. position in Syria, where Mr. Trump has been too willing to accept Russian and Iranian dominance after the fall of Islamic State. Mr. Putin took advantage of Mr. Obama after concluding the American was weak and would never push back. Selling lethal weapons to Ukraine would show the Kremlin those days are over.
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4)From Sgt. Robert Brown US Army
Nobody has a "right" to serve in the Military. Nobody.
4)From Sgt. Robert Brown US Army
Nobody has a "right" to serve in the Military. Nobody.
What makes people think the Military is an equal opportunity employer? Very far from it.
The Military uses prejudice regularly and consistently to deny citizens from joining for being too old or too young, too fat or too skinny, too tall or too short.
Citizens are denied for having flat feet, or for missing or additional fingers. Poor eyesight will disqualify you, as well as bad teeth. Malnourished? Drug addiction? Bad back? Criminal history? Low IQ? Anxiety? Phobias? Hearing damage? Six arms? Hear voices in your head? Self-identify as a Unicorn? Need a special access ramp for your wheelchair? Can't run the required course in the required time? Can't do the required number of push ups?
Not really a "morning person" and refuse to get out of bed before noon?
All can be reasons for denial.
The Military has one job. War. Anything else is a distraction and a liability.
Did someone just scream "That isn't Fair"? War is VERY unfair, there are no exceptions made for being special or challenged or socially wonderful.
YOU change yourself to meet Military standards. Not the other way round.
I say again: You don't change the Military... you must change yourself.
The Military doesn't need to accommodate anyone with special issues. The Military needs to Win Wars.
If any of your personal issues are a liability that detract from readiness or lethality... Thank you for applying and good luck in future endeavors. Who's next in line?
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5) Celebrating the values of the West is right because they’re the best
Trump’s campaign for the survival of Western civilization drives the so-called ‘progressives’ crazy
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