Does Israel Have A Role to Play Avi Says Yes. Two More Rants. Let The Good Times Role Until It All Comes Crashing Down.

Pelosi and the WRAP U

And:

Bari Weiss appears on Bill Maher: https://youtu.be/U-9ry71e0fU
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For those who are not coming to our home to hear Avi later in the evening, he will be speaking at The Plantation Club at 5:30 under the auspices of The SIRC.  Because our monthly meetings are intended as a public service all are invited. Since this is a special meeting any normal  modest fee has been waived.  If you are coming from outside The landings, let me know and I will arrange for a pass at the main gate.
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I believe you will have plenty of  discussion regarding the election results and their meaning and you do not need any more from me right now.  I will put my two cents in at some later date after I have read what others conclude and synthesize it all but, while we remain divided as a nation, I think it quite relevant that what I picked up on over a year ago is continuing and beginning to blossom even further.

My friend, Avi Jorisch, is coming Tuesday, Nov. 13, to speak about his new book:
"Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World." 

Why is this relevant and how do I connect the two?

In a loose sense, Israel, that tiny little insignificant nation, seen through Avi's eyes believes God allowed them to come about in order to help the world heal.

Ironically, this was the role America once served and might still if we heal our own divisive wounds but until such time as that happens, perhaps that is the role Israel can play in the interim.

The relationship Israel is constructing with it's Arab/Muslim neighbors is not born our of love but out of pragmatism. Israel has what they need and they have what Israel needs.  It is that simple. This has been Bibi's understanding all along and has formed the basis of his diplomatic strategy and initiatives.

Time will tell whether these two necessities can ward off and/or withstand the efforts of radicals sworn to keep this from happening.  Iran being the greatest threat but Wahhabism cannot be dismissed nor eons of tribal Middle East hatreds constructed around religious divisions. This is why I always argued Obama's support and funding of Iran was a fool's game, totally misguided and ultimately dangerous to world peace.

I am not suggesting America is irrelevant but until our nation and the two main parties resolve their own internal hatreds and antipathies America has less relevance on the world scene beyond our military strength, which we remain conflicted to employ, even when it comes to protecting our own sovereignty.If Congress is split, as a result of Tuesday's vote, and Trump's ability to continue his efforts is impeded we will become even more irrelevant because our adversaries will know he has been turned into a political eunuch.

Perhaps I am over stating the case, because I am no foreign policy expert, but then neither are so many of the so-called experts.  Just think about Secretaries Perry and Clinton and you should  understand.

Time will tell. Meanwhile,  think about it..  (See 1 below.)

Finally:

When the pungent fumes of political rhetoric and propaganda  have wafted away perhaps truths, that were ever present but crushed by political partisanship, will reveal themselves and become more acceptable. (See 1a below.)
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Two Ross Rants. (See 2 and 2a.)
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Abrams struggles.

I understand her appeal.   After all, white guilt helped elect Obama and Abrams is Obama in a skirt.  The same will happen in Georgia if she is elected because she is  unqualified to be a governor not only administratively speaking but morally. But then, being white has become a burden and thus a negative. We are entering the age where diversity rules regardless of ability. Perhaps that is what The Age of Aquarius was always about. Get naked, smoke pot , screw authority and let the good times roll until it all comes crashing down around our feet.

In terms of the general election, the progressive radicals have the upper hand in the Democrat Party. They have no program and the few things they openly admit to seeking are backward looking.  "Back to The Future" was a clever, entertaining  movie but it ain't a way to run a government and a nation in need of solutions.  See 3 below.)
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Dick
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1) Israel Is Making Arab Friends

‘Hatikva’ plays in Abu Dhabi, Netanyahu visits Oman, and the ‘cold peace’ with Egypt gets warmer.

By 

Joshua S. Block

The Middle East is changing. On Oct. 28 Israel’s culture and sports minister, Miri Regev, toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. She was in the United Arab Emirates for the International Judo Federation’s Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, where Israeli athletes were allowed to compete under their flag for the first time. The Israeli team took the gold, and its national anthem, “Hatikva,” was played in a country that does not formally recognize Israel.

Although Israel and the Arab Gulf states have long had clandestine diplomatic ties, recent public gestures of normalization have taken the relationship to a new level. Hours before Ms. Regev arrived in Abu Dhabi, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from a historic visit to Oman, where he met with Sultan Sayyid Qaboos bin Said al Said.

The same weekend, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Oman’s foreign minister, told a security forum in Bahrain: “Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this. The world is also aware of this, and maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as other states] and to also bear the same obligations.” He added: “Our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world.” The foreign ministers of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and Adel al-Jubeir respectively, also called for rapprochement with Israel.

The list goes on. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Atlantic in March: “I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have the right to have their own land.” At the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had an amicable meeting with Mr. Netanyahu. Israel and Egypt have had diplomatic relations since 1979, but it has often been characterized as a “cold peace.” Mr. Netanyahu, in his address to the General Assembly, said that Israel and the Arab world are “closer together than ever before, in an intimacy and friendship that I’ve not seen in my lifetime and would have been unimaginable a few years ago.”

Weeks later, the Emirati ambassador to Washington, Yousef al-Otaiba, shared a table with his Israeli counterpart, Ron Dermer, at a public pro-Israel event. And following Mr. Netanyahu’s visit to Oman, it emerged that Transport Minister Yisrael Katz had been invited by the sultanate to participate in the upcoming World Congress of the International Road Transport Union to discuss plans for a railway linking Israel to the Persian Gulf.

The growing alliance between Israel and the Sunni Arab world is driven in part by economics. Israel’s entrepreneurship benefits all nations in the region. But an even more pressing concern is the common threat from Iran. Tehran’s hegemonic ambitions are being felt from the battlefields of Syria to the Gulf of Aden. In May, Bahrain went so far as to back Israel’s right to defend itself against Iranian aggression.

“We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers,” Oman’s foreign minister said last week. But the rapprochement between Israel and the Arab world will change the region for the better.

1a)

Trump’s Health-Care Progress

The Administration is improving the individual market by expanding insurance choices.

By

The Editorial Board

Americans say health care is a leading concern in Tuesday’s election, and voters say they trust Democrats over Republicans by double-digit margins. Yet the Trump Administration has put together an impressive suite of reforms that allow consumers more freedom and personal choice, not that you’ll read about it anywhere else.

Last month the Trump Administration rolled out a rule on health-reimbursement arrangements that would allow employers to offer workers tax-exempt dollars to buy insurance in the individual market. The Obama Administration banned this via regulation as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The Administration’s thinking is that these arrangements will be most attractive to small firms that lack the economies of scale that make offering insurance affordable. About 30% of workers at firms with three to 24 employees are covered by employer health benefits, down from 44% in 2010, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data. Eight in 10 companies with fewer than 200 employees offer only one plan.

Health reimbursements would be a cheap and easy option for, say, startups. This is also a way to offer more individuals the tax break on health care that employer insurance receives. Ending this economic distortion for everyone would be preferable, but equal treatment is a step forward.

The reflexive response from Democrats is that this is another effort to undermine the Affordable Care Act, but they need a new script. The rule will draw more young and healthy workers into the individual market, which currently skews toward the sick or those poor enough to be eligible for tax-credit subsidies. Reimbursements should make the ObamaCare exchanges more stable, which is what Democrats claim to want.

The rule includes guardrails to prevent employers from dumping sick employees onto the exchanges, and to prevent a person from getting both employer contributions and public subsidies. The Administration expects that some 800,000 employers will provide reimbursement arrangements to more than 10 million employees. Some three million will have been buying coverage on the individual market, meaning the rule should save the fisc money on increasingly expensive tax credits.

By failing to repeal ObamaCare, Republicans can’t address all of its dysfunctions. But at the margin by expanding choices they are making the individual market better, not worse, even as Democrats accuse them of sabotaging ObamaCare. Other new Trump options include short-term plans and association health plans. And unlike ObamaCare, the government isn’t coercing you to buy these products.

Speaking of association plans, the returns are coming in on the Democratic claim that allowing employers to band together to offer coverage is “junk insurance.” The plans are still nascent, but look at what the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce is offering: nine plan choices; dental, vision and life coverage available; pre-existing conditions covered; and more, with premium rates locked in for two years.

This is no surprise. The selling point of association plans is that businesses can pool risk and cut overhead costs. Businesses want to offer generous coverage that helps to attract workers in a tight labor market.

There may also be more relief ahead with the recent announcement that Health and Human Services rescinded a 2015 guidance for Section 1332 waivers. This is the Affordable Care Act’s waiver process for states to opt out of parts of the law. But Democrats designed the waivers to ensure that only progressive fantasies like single payer in Vermont could win approval. The Obama crowd then restricted the statute further in regulation.

The law stipulates that waivers must show the state plan provides coverage that is at least comprehensive and at least as affordable to comparable number of residents. Oh, and make it budget neutral.

The Trump Administration will interpret this in more rational ways, versus Obama guidance that applied the standards down to how plans would affect subpopulations in the state. The guidance was so prescriptive that most states didn’t bother coming up with ideas. The question now is how many enterprising Governors will decide they can do better than the status quo even within the restrictions.

You haven’t heard about all this because Democrats want to define the election as a choice between them and Republicans who supposedly want to deny insurance to people with lung cancer. But political control of health insurance is not the only way to care for the sick. The GOP tends to favor block grants for high-risk pools that subsidize those who need help paying for expensive treatments.

ObamaCare set up an interim high-risk pool to cover anyone with pre-existing conditions who had been denied coverage, at least until the exchanges went live. Peak enrollment: 115,000, even as Democrats claim now that 130 million people have pre-existing conditions and are at risk from Republican policy.

The GOP’s incremental progress on health-care freedom would have been hard to imagine a year ago when it failed to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Repeal is still desirable given the law’s fundamental flaws. But the Administration is working within the law’s limits to allow as much freedom as possible. If these products prove to be popular, Democrats may find it harder to eliminate the choices to stand up single payer.

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2)Ross Rant Nov 2

Consumer confidence is close to an all-time high. Unemployment for Oct should be still at 3.7%, or maybe lower. The jobs numbers from ADP this week were much better than forecast at 227,000. Fact is GDP would be higher if there was anyone left to hire. Lack of anyone left to hire is the biggest constraint on growth now. Wage growth was better than forecast for October at 3.1% annualized, the highest in 10 years. Black unemployment continues to go lower, which has implications for the election. Christmas is looking like it could be a very strong season. Oil is down to $63, which is very helpful for inflation staying under control. While corporate earnings remain very strong, they will not grow as fast going forward just due to scale, but as I have pointed out, even if they are up 17% or 18% instead of 24%, that is still excellent. PE ratios have now been reset by the big decline, just as earnings mostly beat, so stock prices are now much more in line with forecast earnings, which means there is room to rise again. Consumers have cash and are feeling very good as savings and home prices have risen. When analysts and talking heads say earnings have peaked, they really mean they will  not grow as fast as they had been doing. It does not mean earnings are headed down. The question now is -will companies continue to spend on cap ex going into 2019 at the improved rate they had been doing. Unclear. Will housing rebound- unlikely as rates and prices increase further. All in, 2019 will be a good year, but not as good as Q2 in 2018. There will not be a recession in 2019. The stock market rout is over for now, and the only issue is how much higher or lower from here by year end. Depends on next week. In almost every modern mid-term election, the market went up considerably after the election.  Since it is considered by the market to be a given that the Dems win the House, if they do, the reaction may have already been seen in the drop this past month.  If the Republicans, win the market goes up a lot. It is not over until it is over. All the polls and press were wrong in 2016. Vote your financial well-being--- vote Republican.

Senior housing has been way overbuilt.  Demand is not materializing as people live longer and healthier lives and stay in their own homes later in life. The developers got the demographics and demand all wrong.  They may not see stabilization for another two to three years.

Modi is having a very positive impact on business in India. The World Bank just raised India 23 places in its ranking of countries in a measure of ease of doing business. India still has a long way to go at 77^thplace, but huge progress is being made, and more progress is happening. This is critical for US policy of backing India as the counter to China in Asia.

Based on more new data and the actions of the government and Xi to bolster the stock market and companies and banks, it appears China may be in worse economic shape than we know. A rush to make and ship orders before tariffs hit has bolstered production, but it still was weak and will now decline as tariffs take hold. That will accelerate once the added tariffs go into place shortly. The meeting between Trump and Xi in late November will be the key turning point one way or the other. Trump has the much stronger hand now and is letting them twist in the wind for the moment. When considering all the coming tariffs on China, consider the US dollar is rising making Chinese products lower priced in dollars. Chinese manufacturers are hurting so they will lower prices to get volume.  Wal Mart and others will slightly reduce margins. So the net impact of the tariffs is impossible to estimate yet. Altogether, maybe it will not be very material for consumers. Metals prices are the bigger issue when it comes to end product prices. It could happen that tariffs on Steel and aluminum might be changed to quotas or lower tariffs next year, but that is unlikely. Depends on how Trump judges the politics of the impact of the tariffs.

If you think we have free speech in the US – think again, which is why I do the Rant. For most people now, if you say the un PC thing you think, then you may get fired, or admonished, or at least attacked on social media. Companies are forced to delete some ads that do not fit the PC script. Even Halloween costumes are not monitored by social media. On campus there are strict speech codes, and you may get expelled if you dare to speak your mind. If you post on Facebook or Google, you get censored, and your post deleted if it does not comply with what Silicon Valley deems acceptable- which is nothing much from conservatives. The Rant is free from caring what anyone says, so I say what I think, and if someone objects they can just block it, or ask to be deleted from the mailing list. That has happened only a couple of times in 11 years. Free speech was considered by Jefferson to be the most critical right we have, which is why it is the first amendment, and for far too many Americans today, it no longer exists. For me it is essential. Many years ago in the Soviet Union they said there was free speech also, until after you said it. Here we have free speech until the social media, your employer, or the dean shut you down. There is little difference from the Soviets. You do not go to prison -you just lose your job, and career, or your education. Try to go to a cocktail party in San Fran or Palo Alto and see how much free speech you have. This is why polling is so inaccurate. Many on the right just do not answer, or they lie until they get into the voting booth. Loss of free speech is the biggest risk we have in America today.

The media is piling on to Trump as the reason for the Pittsburgh attack, the bombs, and for going to pay respects. They ignore all of the violence of the left and all of the incendiary comments on main stream media and CNN. Now Don Lemon called all white men worse than terrorists, but did you hear that on any mainstream media. Did Chris Cuomo object. No Cuomo essentially said he agreed. CNN is out of control and has lost all credibility. For protesters to show up in Pittsburgh at the temple to protest Trump paying respects, and to demean such a solemn time, is what is disgraceful. I would point out the calls to violence by the left with unceasing attacks by the media and Hollywood types calling for his assassination, burn down the White House, and other disgraceful rhetoric, Maxine Waters, Holder, Hillary and others calling for harassment, impeachment and kicking Republicans. But for CNN, NBC, ABC, etc they only blame Trump. In talking to what I thought were adults recently about politics, it is very disappointing that many on the left are just spouting talking points, and hate for Trump, and lack any acknowledgement of, or understanding of what the left and media are doing. It is simply Trump is racist, a Nazi, and all the other bad things. All sorts of groups are now “victims”. They simply ignore, or are oblivious to, what the left says about killing or impeaching the president. The new polls make an interesting point. Like the election in 2016, the average says Trump is at 49% approval, and has high disapproval, but when you look at individual states, he is approved by anywhere from more than 52% in some states, to over 60% in N Dakota. Point being, the Trump disapproval is centered on the coasts, which bring down the average, just as the popular vote did, but the election will be decided like in 2016, in the heartland, district by district. We will not know who controls the House until the next day at least. Republicans hold the Senate and pick up seats, so even if the Dems get the House, they cannot pass anything, they can only be obstructionist. The Republicans get lots of judges confirmed.

The birth right issue is far less clear than the press make it to be. The wording of the amendment is not completely clear at all. Maybe as important, when the 14^th was passed, the author, Jacob Howard, said on the floor, “The amendment will not, of course, include persons who are foreigners, aliens, or Ambassadors…..” The Chair of the Judiciary Committee at the time the amendment came to a vote inserted  “the person is subject to the complete jurisdiction of the United States”, and then explained it means “not owing allegiance to anyone else”. The civil rights act of 1866 passed by Congress supported this position. In 1898 the Supreme Court held that only the children of permanent residents were automatically citizens. US vs Wong Kinm Ark.  Two other cases in 1872 and 1884 seem to support the statements of the authors. The intent of the Congress in passing the bill was directly aimed to help slaves and blacks in general, not tourist babies or illegal aliens. That is completely clear. Intent of Congress matters to courts, and it is clear here from the two co-author’s words on the floor when it was voted on. Do not be fooled by the press or Paul Ryan that it is a fully settled issue.  It might, or might not be so clear when argued by good lawyers. Only the US and Canada have birthright, plus 2 countries in Africa. Nobody else does. This is a winning issue for Trump politically.

So you understand what is really going on between Turkey and the Saudis, just be aware the hatred goes back to the Ottoman Empire when the Turks twice invaded and destroyed the Saudi caliphate, and in one case beheaded the Saudi ruler. It is only since WWI that the House of Saud was able be rid of the Turks, and to reassert control in 1932, so this current situation regarding the murder is part of a historic hatred and fight for the dominance of the Arab world.   The Turks are just using the murder to try to push aside the Saudis from the leadership position in the Sunni world.  It has not got anything to do with moral outrage. All of this makes it much harder for the US to walk the fine line, and retain relations with both, and not to help Turkey push aside the Saudis who we need to offset Iran. Cutting off arms sales and other steps may sound nice politically, but there are far bigger geopolitical issues at stake which will affect the history of the Mideast for many years. Senators who just mouth off are either unaware of all the aspects, or are just stupid politicians. Nothing in the Mideast is simple or clear cut, and this one is especially complex.

I attended a very good presentation last night about cancer research. Bottom line.  We are years away from a cure for cancer. It is a very complex disease that mutates constantly and comes in many forms. There is no magic bullet. There is terrific research and advances, but cancer keeps mutating in ways to fight the efforts to kill it,  and every cure has a side effect that then must be dealt with. Many cancers can be cured now, but you have to have early detection and top docs. For early detection and many common cancers, many good docs can be effective, but if you have advanced cancer, or a complex case, you need to be treated at a major academic research institution. Don’t smoke. That is the leading cause.

2a) 

Subject: FW: Ross Rant Nov 4

The peak labor force participation rate in its best time period, for prime years of 25-54 years old, was 84.6% in the late 90’s.  It is now up to 82.3%. There are 6.1 million unemployed, of which only 1.4 million (.9% of all workers) are considered long term, and of that only 506,000 are classified as discouraged. 1.5 million are classed as marginally attached which means they could work if they really wanted to, but they are not trying to find a job. This suggests there are still a number of prime age people who can, and are, coming back into the work force, even though virtually everyone I speak to says they cannot find anyone to hire with any skill set, and who is not on drugs.  White male unemployment is only 3.5%, and for blacks it is 6.2%, a record low. This means a lot of black males who have criminal records have rejoined the real labor force. So we are now bringing the marginal workers back into the labor force. This is good, but there are issues.  Good: means it is better for society to have more people working at real jobs than hanging out and doing drugs or crime. It means many fewer getting entitlements like food stamps and Medicaid. That is good for the deficit. Jobs mean marginal people now have some self esteem which can lead in some cases to have them stay clean and try to improve themselves by working harder. The negative is these people on the margin are not skilled, so the cost to train and retain is much higher, offsetting the lower wage they may earn than a skilled employee. Marginal workers also mean lower productivity and maybe more mistakes and accidents.  Overall, it is much better for society to have people working at legitimate jobs.  The bad news is only 60.6% of the total population is working to be taxed to pay for the rest. With the level of entitlements today, this does not work. This is why we desperately need entitlement reform and reduction.

The establishment jobs added number of 250,000 from BLS is considered more accurate than some other data as it is a sampling survey of companies that employ 25 million workers, and it is reconciled annually to unemployment claims records.  The 3.7% number is derived from a household survey monthly which is much less accurate as they really only hear from a portion of those people, and it is adjusted seasonally. October is always a good jobs month as retailers and suppliers are gearing up for Christmas. Average hourly earnings are $27.03.

U6 is a more complete picture, but also not fully accurate as it asks people do they want a job, and are they looking, and if a person says yes but there is nothing “suitable”, they are counted as unemployed. Who knows what “suitable” means to someone in this job market that says they cannot find “suitable” work. It also counts as unemployed, people working part time who want to work full time. Hard to really know how hard a part timer is really looking for full time work, or just saying that. Overall the unemployment numbers are a reasonable estimation and give a good trend of what is happening, but they are not fully accurate. What is very clear is that anyone who is able bodied and not on drugs, can find work if they really want to right now. Drugs take up a large number of the unemployed, so if we discount them, and we add as employed those earning a living from crime, and those earning from off the books work, and from running a small business out of their garage and selling online but not reporting it, then the real unemployment is likely much lower than 3.7%, but nobody has any way to know. Based on the hundreds of thousands who reentered the workforce each month for the past year, there is still some room to raise the participation rate, but not a lot. Therefore wages will continue to rise at above inflation rates, and many more people will go off entitlements. We should have a continuation of these good reports well into 2019, but later in the year it is totally  unclear. A lot depends on how the Democrats obstruct Trump initiatives, and how long it takes to get China to do a real deal that includes the real issues of IP theft and restrictions on foreign companies doing business in China.  It also depends on getting WTO rewritten.

Labor shortages are holding down GDP growth already, and that will just get worse as many of the marginal people get hired, and there are really no skilled people left, meaning companies cannot take on as much new work as they can get, or projects get delayed in starting. It also means less efficiency in production. That will lead to much more technology investment to replace humans or enhance worker productivity. This is where AI will play an increasing role. Economists now strongly believe we are beyond realistic full employment, and are just adding the retired who decided to earn a little money, and the real marginal workers. The issue then becomes, how much inflation will this create with wages increasing at 3%+.  These days, skilled people are changing jobs to get more money, not because they are unemployed. Hard to know since oil is now coming down in price materially despite Iran sanctions, which the administration has done an excellent job of mitigating, and can we get enough truckers to move products efficiently, and at cost that does not create inflation.  New trucks are pouring off assembly lines, and trucking companies are paying up to keep long distance drivers from retiring, so maybe in 2019 this problem will mitigate somewhat. New pipelines will be in operation in 2019 as the year progresses thanks to Trump’s major deregulation, so the cost of oil should stabilize further. The US is now the largest oil producer in the world as excessive regulation from Obama is lifted, and that production number will be rising further as pipelines come online. WTI US produced oil and gas is cheaper than Brent priced oil on the world market by several dollars. That helps make US energy cheaper than it is in the EU. Wal Mart is now a real competitor to Amazon, and many large retailers are figuring out how to compete, so the Amazon impact on prices staying low is spreading, and will help keep inflation lower than it otherwise might be.  Going into 2019 we may be in an ideal place with historic low unemployment, with inflation under control.  How long all that lasts is the real issue. There are many black swans around right now, so forecasting now is a real shot in the fog. It should be a good time for equities in the early part of 2019, and if the Republicans hold the House, it will be very good.

These data points and the Dems handling of Kavanaugh are what has led to the Republicans having a chance to hold the House, and to defy history in terms of the midterms mean big losses for the party in power. Polls are bouncing all over the place so we really will not know until Wednesday morning and maybe not until later Wednesday.

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3)

CNN's Jake Tapper grilled far-left Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Sunday over her support for confiscating guns from law-abiding Americans and for her support for banning semi-automatic rifles.

Abrams, who said last month that she wants to ban semi-automatic rifles if she is elected governor, appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" where she once again said that semi-automatic rifles must be banned in the state.

"When you were a state lawmaker in 2016, you co-sponsored a bill that would have allowed Georgia state authorities to take away so-called assault weapons from current gun owners," Tapper began. "Most similar bans would grandfather in existing weapons of that sort, semiautomatic rifles that are called assault weapons. So, is that your current position, that law-abiding gun owners in Georgia should have to give up those weapons, if authorities deem it necessary?"

"In the state of Georgia, you introduce legislation to start conversations," Abrams said as she tried to dodge answering the question. "I am happy to work with the legislature to figure out how we make an assault weapons ban work."

"AR-15s are not necessary on our streets," Abrams continued, as she continued to express her support for banning semi-automatic weapons.

"Well, just to be clear, you were one of six co-sponsors of this bill, House Bill 731, introduced January 11, 2016, not that long ago," Tapper responded. "Your co-sponsor told reporters the law — quote — 'would require gun owners of these particular models to turn their guns in.'"

"And, again, my point is this: the legislation introduced was the beginning of a conversation," Abrams said, as she continued to dance around the issue. "I am absolutely certain that, were we to pass this in Georgia, we would have a conversation about grandfathering in, about whether or not people would turn their guns in, whether there would be buybacks. There are a number of approaches to take to accomplish this goal."

"Well, just to be clear here, though — I'm just trying to understand," Tapper fired back. "So you don't support the actual legislation; you just support having a conversation about it?"

"No, what I have said is, legislation in the state legislature is about starting the conversation," Abrams said, appearing to contradict herself.

"I believe that we have to ban assault weapons in the state of Georgia," Abrams concluded.

https://youtu.be/F68nr_aqdHY

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