Donald Trump has come under fire in the mainstream media for attacking the press. He has been called a threat to democracy and free speech for fighting back against the attacks against him. Yet recently Nancy Pelosi went on record as calling the mainstream media “accomplices” in the so-called Russia hacking scandal and the “undermining of our election” for the way it covered the email scandal and yet the mainstream media is silent.
Here is what she had to say:
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
House Republicans release Obamacare replacement plan
The House Republicans have released their Obamacare replacement plan. Some of the features include doing away with the individual mandate, “strengthening” Medicare, keeping the child under 26 provision, and not allowing insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. It also includes cutting taxes, establishing a Patient and State Stability Fund of $100 billion, and expanding Health Savings Accounts. (Not sure where that $100 billion big government program is going to get its money…)
It will be interesting to see how this goes. Rand Paul, for one, is opposed to the plan. He called it Obamacare-lite. I like some of what I am reading but I do not like other parts of what I see here. This is probably a jumping off point but I believe the two most popular aspects of Obamacare–the under 26 provision and the pre-existing conditions provisions–are going to survive the final cut.
I have been saying for quite awhile now that Obamacare will never be fully repealed because it is too entrenched in the system already and the establishment Republicans do not have the will to repeal it and they never did, they just talk a good game during election cycles. This could be the best we can hope for but the jury is still out…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, March 5th open thread: ‘Hocus Pocus’
Here is the open thread for Sunday, March 5th. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
Last week we discussed 9 stories, did you miss any of them? If so there is an easy way to make sure it does not happen again. I understand that all of you are busy and cannot always find the time to check the blog for updates so why not subscribe to America’s Watchtower and receive email updates whenever I write a new post? That is the easiest way to follow the blog to ensure you never miss another post.
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I found out yesterday that this song (mostly due to the video) is my 6 year old nephew’s favorite song so here is Focus performing “Hocus Pocus” live from 1973. This is dedicated to Sammy.
frui diem
Chelsea Clinton defends Kellyanne Conway on Twitter
Last week Democratic Congressman Cedric Richmond made a misogynistic joke about Kellyanne Conway which would have led to his resignation had he been a Republican, or if it did not go that far it would have at least rekindled the “war on women” fire. But of course he is a Democrat so the mainstream media and the other Democrats did not bat an eye. He is free to speak with impunity and the ladies in white from the address to the Congress were nowhere to be seen.
Last night a Democrat finally came to the defense of Kellyanne Conway, albeit on a Friday night on Twitter and not on national television, and it was none other than Chelsea Clinton. Here it is:
Kellyanne Conway Tweeted out a thank you. It was not much but at least one Democrat has finally come forward.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
CNN has been dubbed “very fake news” by Donald Trump and of course this has drawn the ire of the left but when you read stories like this you have to wonder how the so-called “most trusted name in news” can be considered to be anything but a propaganda arm of the Democratic party.
CNN has hired Valerie Jarrett’s daughter and assigned her to cover Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, here is more:
CNN has assigned the daughter of one of President Obama’s top advisers to cover the Department of Justice.
The network announced in a press release that Valerie Jarrett’s daughter Laura would be one of four reporters to cover the Justice Department in 2017. The New York Post broke the news that Jarrett had been hired in September, though a formal announcement about her beat did not come until Thursday.
Valerie Jarrett has been Obama’s closest confidant for nearly his entire career. She spent all eight years in the White House as his senior adviser. The president and his family “[shut] down a whole suburb” to attend Laura Jarrett’s 2012 wedding to the son of Canadian Liberal Party member of Parliament.
Yeah, there is no agenda at CNN…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
When the Obama regime failed to implement gun control laws it focused on ammunition instead and the day before he left office a ban on lead ammunition on Federal land was signed into law.
The ban was contained in Director’s Order 219–from National Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe–and it required regional directors to work with state-level agencies to begin phasing out the use of lead ammunition on Federal land. This included banning lead ammunition in “National Parks, tribal lands and national wildlife refuges in order to mirror policies in states where traditional ammunition is already restricted.”
Of course this went unnoticed by most Americans and I have to admit I did not hear about it until today when, as his first act as Interior Secretary, Ryan Zinke repealed the ban.
Here is more:
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed a Secretarial Order on Thursday repealing the lead ammunition ban issued the day before Barack Obama left office.
It is interesting to note that Thursday was Zinke’s first day as Interior Secretary and repealing the onerous ban one of his first actions.
Zinke overturned this ban with Secretarial Order 3346.
S.O. 3346 “revokes Director’s Order 219.” Moreover, S.O. 3346 is effective immediately.
Chalk one up to the good guys.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
As you all know by now Kellyanne Conway has come under fire for having the audacity to kneel on a couch in the Oval Office. One misogynistic Democratic Congressman, Cedric Richmond, made an incredibly sexist joke about it. Here is what he said:
He has since “clarified” his remark by saying:
“Since some people have interpreted my joke to mean something that it didn’t I think it is important to clarify what I meant, ” he told the Post. “Where I grew up saying that someone is looking or acting ‘familiar’ simply means that they are behaving too comfortably.”
That has to be one of the lamest excuses for an inexcusable comment I have ever heard. He specifically mentioned the ’90’s and it is clear to me he was referencing Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. There is no other way to take this, luckily Kellyanne Conway is a Republican or else there would be hell to pay.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Barack Obama’s Department of Justice funneled billions of dollars to leftist organizations
It is now being reported that Barack Obama’s Department of Injustice was using what basically amounts to strong-arm tactics and extortion to create a slush fund in order to fund leftist organizations to the tune of roughly $3 billion. Yes, that is billion with a “B.”
Here is more on the scheme and how it worked:
The Obama administration funneled billions of dollars to activist organizations through a Department of Justice slush fund scheme, according to congressional investigators.
“It’s clear partisan politics played a role in the illicit actions that were made,” Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, told Fox News. “The DOJ is the last place this should have occurred.”
Findings spearheaded by the House Judiciary Committee point to a process shrouded in secrecy whereby monies were distributed to a labyrinth of nonprofit organizations involved with grass-roots activism.
“Advocates for big government and progressive power are using the Justice Department to extort money from corporations,” Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton told Fox News. “It’s a shakedown. It’s corrupt, pure and simple.”
When big banks are sued by the government for discrimination or mortgage abuse, they can settle the cases by donating to third-party non-victims. The settlements do not specify how these third-party groups could use the windfall.
So far, investigators have accounted for $3 billion paid to “non-victim entities.”
Critics say banks are incentivized to donate the funds to non-profits rather than giving it to consumers.
“The underlying problem with the slush funds is we don’t know exactly where the money is going,” Ted Frank, director of The Competitive Enterprise Institute Center for Class Action Fairness, told Fox News. “Using enforcement authority to go after corporate defendants, DOJ bureaucrats are taking billions away from taxpayers to fund their pet projects overriding congressional preferences.”
Under the Clean Water Act signed in 1972 the EPA was given authority to govern navigable waters but in 2015 Barack Obama and the EPA extended the Act to give the EPA, according to critics of the law, authority to manage puddles on farmer’s lands.
This rule was so controversial that it has not yet been implemented because it is on hold facing litigation but today Donald Trump signed an Executive Order telling the EPA to review the rule.
Here is more:
President Trump signed an order Tuesday directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to formally reconsider former President Barack Obama’s Clean Water Rule.
It’s the first step toward repealing the 2015 water rule, which asserted federal power over small waterways like wetlands and streams for the purposes of controlling pollution under the Clean Water Act. Trump promised on the campaign trail to repeal the regulation.
“It’s a horrible, horrible rule. Has sort of a nice name, but everything else is bad,” Trump said at a White House signing ceremony, surrounded by Vice President Pence, first lady Melania Trump and top opponents of the regulation, including newly installed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio.).
Farmers, homebuilders and county commissioners were also present.
“The Clean Water Act says that the EPA can regulate navigable waters, meaning waters that truly affect interstate commerce. But a few years ago, the EPA decided that navigable waters can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer’s land, or any place else that they decide,” Trump said before signing the order.
“It was a massive power grab. The EPA’s regulators are putting people out of jobs by the hundreds of thousands.”
This is sure to draw the ire of the left which will use this to claim Republicans do not care about clean water, and they will claim that the President is putting special interests and big business ahead of the environment when in reality this is about government overreach and helping the farmers who would be hurt by this rule.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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