Trump Sees Many Successes and Puts White House in Order with General Kelly as Chief of Staff

THE TABLES ARE TURNING ON THE DEMOCRATS : THAT IS THE REAL NEWS TODAY. The mainstream media and its Progressive Democrat masters seem to be less anxious to blame President Trump for Russian interference in the 2016 presidentia election. • • • A SECOND SPECIAL COUNSEL? TheHill reported last week that Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are asking for a second special counsel separate from Robert Mueller to probe aspects of the 2016 election and actions by officials in the Obama administration, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. TheHill says that Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and other Republicans on the Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday requesting the appointment of a second special counsel. The letter asked for a second special counsel to investigate officials including former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former FBI Director James Comey. The letter was sent a day after Republicans on the Committee voted to request documents related to Comey's communications with the Obama administration and journalists. The GOP request for documents focuses on questions raised by Republicans and the Trump administration about Comey's handling of the FBI investigation into Clinton's email use and the former FBI Director's alleged "leaks" of memos he wrote to document his interactions with Trump. • • • HAS A SENIOR DEEP STATE LEAKER BEEN FOUND? On Friday, American Thinker's Thomas Lifson wrote that a suspect has been identified in leaking of classified info from the FBI. Lifson quotes Sara Carter of Circa citing three anonymous sources in an exclusive report identifying a suspect in the investigation of the criminal leak of classified information from the FBI. The surprise is that the suspect is highly regarded and a close friend of James Comey, according to Carter, who writes : "FBI General Counsel James A. Baker is purportedly under a Department of Justice criminal investigation for allegedly leaking classified national security information to the media, according to multiple government officials close to the probe who spoke with Circa on the condition of anonymity. FBI spokeswoman Carol Cratty said the bureau would not comment on Baker and would not confirm or deny any investigation. This comes as Department of Justice Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would soon be making an announcement regarding the progress of leak investigations. A DOJ official, while not commenting on Circa’s inquiry into Baker, did say that the planned announcement by Sessions is part of the overall "stepped up efforts on leak investigations." • Baker was appointed to the FBI's general counsel by Comey in 2014. Baker worked as a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice during the 1990s, then joined the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review in 1996, according to his FBI bio. (https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/pressrel/press-releases/james-a.-baker-appointed-as-fbis-general-counsel). In 2006, Baker received the George H.W. Bush Award for Excellence in counter-terrorism -- the CIA’s highest counter-terrorism award, according to his biography. During Baker's long and distinguished career he received the "NSA’s Intelligence Under Law Award; the NSA Director’s Distinguished Service Medal; and DOJ’s highest award -- the Edmund J. Randolph Award." • AND, says Lifson, "Baker may be totally innocent of leaking, and it may be others." A federal law enforcement official with knowledge of ongoing internal investigations in the bureau told Circa, "the bureau is scouring for leakers and there's been a lot of investigations." • • • OBAMA ADMINISTRATION UNMASKED HUNDREDS OF AMERICANS. TheHill reported last week that the House Intelligence Committee chairman has accused Obama aides of hundreds of unmasking requests during the 2016 election to unmask the names of Americans picked up in intelligence reports, including Trump transition officials. Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes wrote a letter to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, saying the requests were made without giving justifications about why the information was needed : “We have found evidence that current and former government officials had easy access to US person information and that it is possible that they used this information to achieve partisan political purposes, including the selective, anonymous leaking of such information.” The letter was provided to The Hill from a source in the intelligence community. • TheHill report states that in March, Nunes disclosed that he had seen data suggesting Trump campaign and transition officials were having their names unmasked by Obama White House officials -- National Security Adviser Susan Rice and CIA Director John Brennan have acknowledged making such requests though they insisted the requests were for legitimate work reasons. Nunes was forced to recuse himself from his Committee’s work on its investigation of Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election because he had reviewed intelligence reports on White House grounds that he said showed unmasking of Trump officials by Obama aides. Democrats accused him of working with the White House to make the disclosures. • But, TheHill says that in Thursday’s letter, Nunes said the total requests for Americans’ names by Obama political aides numbered in the hundreds during Obama’s last year in office and often lacked a specific intelligence community justification. He called the lack of proper justifications a “serious deficiency.” His letter also said there were many requests from senior government officials, unlike career intelligence analysts, who “made remarkably few individualized justifications for access” to the US names. Nunes wrote : “The committee has learned that one official, whose position had no apparent intelligence related function, made hundreds of unmasking requests during the final year of the Obama administration. Of those requests, only one offered a justification that was not boilerplate.” Sources familiar with the Nunes letter told TheHill the official was then-UN Ambassador Samantha Power. Nunes also wrote that “Obama-era officials sought the identities of Trump transition officials within intelligence reports.” • Nunes said he intends to introduce legislation to address concerns about the unmasking process impacting Americans' privacy. The usual procedure is that Americans whose email or phone data or conversations are intercepted by the National Security Agency without a warrant overseas are legally required to have their names redacted or masked with descriptions like “US person 1” to protect their identities in intelligence reports. But, beginning in 2011, Obama loosened the rules to make it easier for intelligence officials and his own political aides to request that the names be unmasked so they could better understand raw intelligence being gathered overseas. The change has been criticized by groups as diverse as the liberal ACLU and conservatives like Nunes because of the privacy implications. • The law containing the unmasking authorization is set to be renewed before the end of this year, and Congress is sufficiently concerned about the Obama lapses in following the procedure set by Congress that it is questioning whether the unmasking procedure ought to be scrapped completely. • • • SESSIONS ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON SANCTUARY CITIES. Liberty Headlines reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last Tuesday that sanctuary cities around the US must give immigration officials more access, or else they’ll lose millions of dollars in DOJ grants. Sessions said sanctuary cities will be punished for not communicating with ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials or not allowing them access to inmates in jails or failing to announce the release of criminal aliens, according to a release from the Center for Immigration Studies. The CIS is accused by Progressives of being right-wing. CIS is a non-profit research organization "that favors far lower immigration," and has been described as conservative, a label rejected by CIS. After an NPR story described CIS as "decidedly right-wing," Edward Schumacher-Matos, the then ombudsman of NPR, argued that this mislabelled CIS, noting the organization's "political diversity." CIS funding comes from contributions and grants by private foundations, from contracts with the Census Bureau and Department of Justice, and from donations by individuals, including donations made through the Combined Federal Campaign. The Center's staff have been called on to give testimony before federal and state legislators dozens of times and on numerous subjects within the realm of immigration. In 2006 and 2007, as Congress worked on comprehensive immigration reform, CIS gave congressional testimony 27 times. The Center's research was cited by Justice Kennedy in his opinion in Arizona v. United States, on June 25, 2012, as evidence of Arizona's problem with crime committed by illegal aliens. • The CIS director of policy studies said in last week's release : “The four largest Byrne/JAG grants in 2016, worth more than $10 million, all went to sanctuaries jurisdictions: New York City; Cook County, Ill.; the City of Los Angeles; and Philadelphia. The Department of Justice should cut them off unless they change their policies. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing local governments that interfere with immigration enforcement and endanger the public.” • There were over $30 million in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants given to over 300 sanctuary city jurisdictions in 2016, according to CIS. Justice assistance grants are given to cities and help out in a number of ways -- cities use the grant money to “support a range of program areas including law enforcement, prosecution, indigent defense, courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, planning, evaluation, technology improvement, and crime victim and witness initiatives and mental health programs and related law enforcement and corrections programs, including behavioral programs and crisis intervention teams. • The DOJ will not stop all sanctuary city grants under the new sanctions, but those with stronger sanctuary policies will, according to CIS : New York City; Chicago; Cook County, Ill.; Philadelphia; San Francisco County, Calif.; Orleans County, La.; Newark, N.J.; Travis County, Texas; Taos County, N.M.; Lycoming County, Pa.; and Butler County, Pa. • Attorney General Sessions said in announcing the crackdown : “So-called sanctuary policies make all of us less safe because they intentionally undermine our laws and protect illegal aliens who have committed crimes. These policies also encourage illegal immigration and even human trafficking by perpetuating the lie that in certain cities, illegal aliens can live outside the law. We must encourage these ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions to change their policies and partner with federal law enforcement to remove criminals.” Liberty Headlines noted that the DOJ pressure on sanctuary cities began to increase when Sessions addressed the issue in Philadelphia recently. He stressed the tension between law enforcement and city officials when it comes to helping immigration agents : “Local police I know totally are supportive and want to work together on so many of these issues and I know you want to help. The problem are the policies that tie your hands and that makes all citizens, especially the police on the streets, less safe. I urge the City of Philadelphia and every sanctuary city to reconsider the harm they are doing to their residents.” • While the effort to crack down on sanctuary cities harboring of illegal immigrants may seem minor, it is clear that AG Sessions is giving these cities that are violating US law the opportunity to come into compliance. More severe sanctions can be considered later for those sanctuary cities that continue to scoff at US immigration law -- FBI criminal conspiracy investigations, and charges of harboring criminals and obstructing justice, as well as prosecutions of individual govenrment officials can come later. • • • OBAMA DEEP STATE SLOWS DEPORTATION. the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard wrote recently that former President Obama's administration named the bulk of members on the Justice Department's deportation appeals board : "Nearly seven in 10 members of an influential deportation appeals court were named by pro-immigration former Presidents Obama and Clinton, adding to concerns of delays in the process of sending an illegal home. According to a new report, 11 of 16 members of the Justice Department Board of Immigration Appeals were named by Attorneys General working for Democratic Presidents, nine by Obama and two by Clinton. The other 5 were named by former President George W. Bush's Justice Department." • The Board oversees the backlogged immigration courts and decisions by the Department of Homeland Security, making it the ultimate appeals court. There is a vacancy on the board, prompting the Center for Immigration Studies to call on President Trump to immediately fill it and even consider adding more Republican members. Using data from the Governmental Accountability Office, CIS said that there is a backlog of about 437,000 cases pending before immigration courts, and the average time for each is 404 days, with appeals often taking another 211 days, for a total of 615 days per case that goes into appeal. CIS says adding more members to the Board could speed the process. • • • TRUMP HAS GOOD SUPPORT AT STATE LEVEL. "Real Clear" reported Trump's job approval ratings are 50% or higher in 17 states, and above his job approval average of 39% in another 16 states, meaning that over two-thirds of the nation feels better about him than reported in national poll headlines. • Gallup summarized the President's polls since coming into office and reported these details : Trump had approval ratings of 50% or higher in 17 states in the first half of 2017; another 17 states gave him approval ratings below 40%; 16 states produced a rating average of between 40% and 49%. The highest approval ratings were in West Virginia, North Dakota and South Dakota, while the lowest were in Vermont and Massachusetts.Gallup said that Trump largely owed his victory in the 2016 presidential election to his wins in three key Rust Belt states -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In these states, his January-June approval ratings were just slightly above his overall average of 40%, including 43% in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and 42% in Michigan. Gallup says that for President Trump to successfully win re-election, "historical patterns suggest his overall 40% rating would need to rise closer to 50%." He would also need to improve his support in the key Rust Belt states that delivered the Electoral College win to him. In those states, his job approval is slightly above 40%, but barely so, raising questions of whether he can carry them in 2020. • • • RUSSIA, DEMOCRATS AND FUSION GPS. WND says suddenly Russia is the last thing Democrats want to discuss : "The establishment media has gone from virtual 24/7 coverage of the narrative that President Trump colluded with Russia to almost nothing, and they did it overnight. How far has Russia fallen off the media’s radar? So far, that, in a noteworthy role-reversal, it is actually the White House now pushing the story on the media. And why is the White House suddenly embracing the Russia story? Because it is now poised to boomerang on the Democrats, big time, following a key Senate Judiciary committee hearing last Thursday." Then, at the end of Thursday’s daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders chided reporters, “You guys love to talk about Russia, and there’s been nonstop coverage. And the one day that there might have been a question on Russia, there wasn’t.” So, tongue-in-cheek, Sarah raised the topic herself, noting, “[T]here was public testimony that further discredited the phony dossier that’s been the source of so much of the fake news and conspiracy theories. And we learned that the firm that produced it was also being paid by the Russians.” • That was the revelation that shut down mainstream media interest. Thursday’s testimony indicated the entire Russia collusion story may be turned on its head. WND says : "While there is still no evidence the President or his associates colluded with Russia against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, evidence may be emerging that there was collusion by Democrats with Russians against Trump. The FBI investigation into possible Trump team collusion with Russia seems to have been based entirely, as WND has reported, on an infamous dossier of dubious veracity." WND says that after the Senate hearing, a Capitol Hill source with knowledge of the investigations told its reporter : “Democrats have peddled the dossier’s claims, but if it turns out Democrat groups actually cooperated with Kremlin-linked individuals in compiling the dossier or funding its compilation, they may have to explain that under oath.” • In plain Englishn that would mean that it was the Democrats who colluded with Russia. Not Trump. • The dossier and where it came from are the keys. It was filled with errors and later-discredited salacious allegations against Trump, and was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, who wildly claimed the hackers who obtained the leaked Democratic Party emails were “paid by both Trump’s team and the Kremlin.” The truth now seems to be emerging -- WND says the dossier "was commissioned and peddled by a company called Fusion GPS. Aimed at Trump, it is now back-firing on Democrats." • Ranking Democrats on investigative committees and former Obama administration intelligence official have repeatedly said that they have seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump presidential campaign or administration and Moscow. But, last Thursday Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, who did opposition research for a former Clinton White House operative before joining Fusion GPS, refused to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel reported : “Word is Mr. Simpson has made clear he will appear for a voluntary committee interview only if he is not specifically asked who hired him to dig dirt on Mr. Trump. Democrats are going to the mat for him over that demand. Those on the Judiciary Committee pointedly did not sign letters in which Mr. Grassley demanded that Fusion reveal who hired it.” Strassel also noted that although the left was “salivating at the prospect of watching two Trump insiders [Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort] being grilled about Russian ‘collusion,'” suddenly Democrats on the committee “meekly and noiselessly retreated,” and let both men speak to the committee in private. Strassel suggests that "Democrats are willing to give up just about anything -- including their Manafort moment -- to protect Mr. Simpson from having to answer that question.” • However, WND says a witness who did testify publicly made the potentially game-changing disclosure that Fusion GPS is also on the payroll of the Russians -- investor William Browder testified that Fusion GPS should have registered as a foreign agent because it was acting on the behalf of the Russians. Senator Lindsey Graham then asked Browder, “The group that did the dossier on President Trump hired this British spy, wound up getting it to the FBI, you believe they were working for the Russians?” Browder answered affirmatively : “And in the Spring and Summer of 2016 they were receiving money indirectly from a senior Russian government official.” Browder said Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya had hired Fusion GPS, via a lobbying firm, to lobby against the 2012 Magnitsky Act, a law passed to punish Russian officials thought to be responsible for the death of tax-fraud whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky by prohibiting their entrance to the United States and denying their use of the American banking system. Veselnitskaya met in June 2016 with Donald Trump Jr., which Democrats initially claimed proved collusion by his father’s campaign with Russia, but Veselnitskaya really wanted to talk about the Magnitsky Act, so Donald Jr., seeing that the meeting was a complete “waste of time,” abruptly left. Browder said he believes that meeting was just part of a massive Russian effort to lobby against the Magnitsky Act. • The WSJ's Strassel wondered : “What if, all this time, Washington and the media have had the Russia collusion story backward? What if it wasn’t the Trump campaign playing footsie with the Vladimir Putin regime, but Democrats? The more we learn about Fusion, the more this seems a possibility....What if it was the Democratic National Committee or Hillary Clinton’s campaign? What if that money flowed from a political entity on the left, to a private law firm, to Fusion, to a British spook, and then to Russian sources? Moreover, what if those Kremlin-tied sources already knew about this dirt-digging....What if they specifically made up claims to dupe Mr. Steele, to trick him into writing this dossier?” • Strassel speculated that if Russia were really looking to meddle in the 2016 election and create chaos, “few things could have been more effective than that dossier,” which underpinned the FBI investigation, congressional investigations and deeply wounded President Trump, all of which worked to the benefit of Russian President Putin. The question, Strassel added, “Is whether Russia engineered it.” • • • DEAR READERS, Andrew McCarthy has suggested in National Review that Trump should turn the tables on his tormenters in three moves that would make the Democrats the hunted : Appoint a special counsel to investigate political spying, including unmasking and leaks to the media; have Congress hold hearings on whether the Obama Justice Department colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election; have Congress hold hearings on collusion between the Clinton Foundation and Russia. McCarthy contends those investigations could succeed where the Trump-Russia collusion investigation failed, because, unlike the latter, there is evidence of actual wrongdoing. But, it now appears that Andrew McCarthy's work may be done by congressional committee investigations already underway. The tables do seem to be turning in President Trump's favor on a number of issues plaguing his presidency. • Many years ago, America enjoyed the film comedy titled, "The Russians are Coming, the Russians Are Coming." Perhaps the Democrats aren't laughing now. And, perhaps they're learning to be more afraid of General Kelly, the new White House Chief of Staff, than of the Russians. General Kelly in his first half day on the job has convinced the President to let go Anthony Scaramucci, the vulgarity-prone White House communications director.

McCain, Collins, Murkowski, McConnell, 0bamacare, Trump and the Progressive War on America

FIRST THINGS FIRST. • • • MEMO TO ANTHONY SCARRAMUCCI. There is one thing you need to learn and apply super-fast. We Republicans, Deplorables, Trump supporters do not appreciate crude and vulgar language from anyone who represents us. President Trump does not use vulgarity. No one else in the White House uses vulgarity. And neither do we. It is a sad commentary that Progressive Democrats resort to it, to cover for their lack reasonable arguments against President Trump. Senator Lindsey Graham uses profanity but he is barely a Republican. So, if you want us to respect your opinions and accept your advice, eliminate ALL vulgarity now. • After Scarramucci's outrageous outburst last Thursday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Laura Ingraham the new White House communications director is "full of himself" : "I think he got down here from New York and he is all excited; frankly he is talking more than he is thinking. He needs to slow down and learn the business. Scarramucci is not in the position of being a wealthy entrepreneur who says whatever randomly he thinks. His job should be to organize the communications of the President of the United States and help the President communicate with the country, and picking fights internally doesn’t get you there." Gingrich gave "the Mooch" a little advice : "It may get you news coverage but he will learn very quickly that you can get news coverage lots of ways. This is a city where if you are in the White House you get plenty of news coverage. The question is whether or not it is useful news coverage or whether or not it gets you to where you want to go and I’m very underwhelmed by this propensity to go out and first of all go attack your own side....I think he has to learn to be part of a team and be a part of some kind of plan process if he is going to actually live that out." • The bottom line is that we want Anthony Scarramucci to help President Trump to get his message out and keep America informed and with him. But, his language does not represent us or the President. It has to change. • • • THE REAL NEWS IS THE SENATE COLLAPSE OF THE OBAMACARE REPEAL. On Friday, Patricia McCarthy wrote in American Thinker : "Yesterday, seven Republicans in name only -- Senators Shelley Moore Capito (W.V.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), John McCain (Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Lamar Alexander of (Tenn.), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) -- voted not to repeal major portions of Obamacare, Obama's dreadful legacy that has, for millions of Americans, virtually destroyed the health insurance industry and access to their actual health care. Only members of Congress were allowed to keep their doctors and keep their plans. That was the promise Obama made to every American. It was a lie." • McCarthy was referring to the continuing vote against every compromise bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell brought to the Senate floor, and she attacked Senator John McCain : "Betrayal is common among people without conscience. Yes, McCain has demonstrated prodigious conscience in the past, but no more. He long ago became a tool of the left. That is what the word "maverick" means when applied to John McCain. It was Arthur Miller who wrote that 'betrayal is the only truth that sticks.' And stick it does. Not one of these people should be re-elected....those seven Senators are wedded to the welfare state and to expanding it, despite the fact that the nation is trillions of dollars in debt....These Senators claim to be representing their constituents, but they are not. They are self-serving sops for the left and the lobbyists who fill their coffers. They are sell-outs." • Patricia McCarthy could just as easily have been describing the shock McCain vote later on Friday when he ruined even the "skinny" Obamacare repeal that would have led to a House-Senate conference committee to merge the two chambers' views of 'repeal and replace' and take a compromise bill back to both houses for final approval. A friend whose political opinion I trust wrote to me after Senator McCain's vote to say this : "John McCain gave Trump the payback for being called a coward. McCain doesn't care about re-election or constituents or anything...he's dying. I respect his service record but I despise his political record." That just about sums it up. The mainstream media and ProDems are calling McCain's vote his "legacy" vote. It is his 'legacy' -- a sad end that will be etched into history as an example of party disloyalty and lack of respect for every American who is suffering under the catastrophe that is Obamacare. • It was clear that Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine were going to vote against any bill that remotely touched on changing, let alone repealing, Obamacare. These two RINOs -- Republicans in Name Only -- are in the wrong party. Why their state GOP committees continue to support them is a mystery. They should be forced to face real opposition in the next GOP primary where they are running for re-election, and hopefully a real Republican will be able to beat their fake brand of RINO #NeverTrump neo-conservativism. • Senator Collins is always particularly chummy with ProgDems, trying to be the "moderator" who brings the GOP closer to whatever Progressive, anti-constitutional view Democrats are pushing on every issue that comes before the Senate. There could be no better proof of Collins' fifth-column tactics than her conversation with Democrat Jack Reed that someone picked up on a mic and recorded. Reed at one point said : "I think he's crazy. I mean, I don't say that lightly and as a kind of a goofy guy," apparently referring to Trump. The remark came after Collins expressed concern that the White House had drafted a budget that has "no thinking" and is "incredibly irresponsible." BUT, consider these facts : Susan Collins was first elected in 1996, so during her time in the Senate, US debt has risen more than $15 trillion; Jack Reed has been in Congress since 1991, so ditto. Where do they get the nerve to call a budget prepared for President Trump -- a budget that tries to control and allocate spending responsibly -- one with "no thinking and "irresponsible." Collins voted to save Obamacare -- its cost estimates have more than doubled -- how crazy and irresponsible is that??? And, not once did Senator Collins protest. • In a speech on the floor of "The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body," -- no more, friends, no more -- Democrat Minority leader Chuck Schumer claimed that ‘Our Founding Fathers Intended’ for Congress to ‘Improve Our Healthcare System.’ Thomas Lifson of American Thinker called that remark "nonsense on a stick." Lifson added : "Our Republic was founded on the notion of limited government. There is nothing in the Constitution, nothing in The Federalist Papers, and nothing in the historical record of the constitutional debate indicating that the federal government was contemplated as having a role in improving health care." • Lifson's point is well-taken -- Progressives have managed to control America's past by teaching her children about a fake revisionist history of the American Revolution, our Founders and our Constitution. As Lifson says, to do that is to "also control the future" -- making up fake history on the floor of the Senate will fool the young Americans who are products of public education, but it is a naked propaganda lie, and Chuck Schumer knows it. He is one of the reasons the Senate has lost its standing as the "world's greatest deliberative body." • • • HAS THE #NEVER TRUMP GOP FACTION SIGNED ITS OWN DEATH WARRANT? Liberty Headlines and LifeZette reported within hours after Senator McCain's sabotage vote against the repeal of Obamacare that "Conservative Grass-Roots Critics Begin Calling for McConnell to Resign." LifeZette said several prominent conservatives -- and at least one Republican congressman -- quickly called for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to resign. Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama told Chris Cuomo on CNN : “Let’s be clear about what happened in the last 24 hours in the United States Senate -- it was an abject failure of the United States Senate to do what America needs doing. It was a failure from newest member Luther Strange at the bottom to the very top with Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader, and I hope that the Senate will not quit, I hope and urge the Senate to stay in Washington DC until the job gets done." Brooks was explicit about McConnell : “And if they’re gonna quit then by-golly maybe they oughta start at the top with Mitch McConnell leaving his position and letting somebody new, somebody bold, somebody conservative take the reins, so that they can come up with plan that can get through the United States Senate.” Brooks quoted Harry Truman : “Unquestionably the leadership at the top is responsible. The buck stops there, that’s why you take on that kind of responsibility. If Mitch McConnell cannot get the job done on this, how is he going to get the job done on the rest of President Trump’s agenda over the next three-and-a-half years? This is a killer.” Brooks said what many Republicans believe -- Mitch McConnell is an old-school gentleman who rose to power in a Senate that had rules and played by them. That is no longer the case because the Progressive Democrats, including those in the Senate, have declared outright war on President Trump and on the Republican Party. It is that war that somehow McConnell and other Senate and House leaders do not get -- they cannot see that Progressives led by Obama, Schumer, Pelosi and their banker, Soros, are locked in a war to destroy the Republic whose only defenders are Trump, the GOP, and the Americans who support them. Brooks said : “It’s not necessarily anything bad about Mitch McConnell himself personally. But he’s got a job to do, and if he can’t do it then, as ‘The Apprentice’ would say, ‘you’re fired,’ get somebody who can.” • Nationally syndicated conservative radio host Mark Levin was a bit more blunt. Levon tweeted early on Friday : “McCain joins Democrats, McConnell fails again and must go." • Similar calls reverberated across social media. Josh Hammer, contributing writer to The Daily Wire and The Resurgent; tweeted on Thursday night : “Mitch McConnell should resign as Majority Leader by Monday, at the latest.” His tweet had been retweeted over 300 times and “liked” by nearly 900 users as of Friday evening. • The demands for McConnell’s head are not surprising given the spectacular failure of his leadership on the healthcare issue, according to Eddie Zipperer, an assistant professor for political science at Georgia Military College who talked to LifeZette : “McConnell fumbled the seven year promise to repeal and replace Obamacare like it was a buttered pig. His leadership is nonexistent. He started with a bill put together by the Blue Cross/Blue Shield dream team he assembled and it all went downhill from there. McConnell should step aside immediately before he’s allowed to help RINOs and Democrats bail out the insurance companies with a bill that will contain zero repeal.” Zipperer says : “now it’s time for Senate Republicans to repeal and replace him.” • • • WND LABELS GOP MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 'SPINELESS JELLYFISH'. A challenger for Paul Ryan's seat in the House, businessman Paul Nehlen, told WND the GOP members of Congress failed on Obamacare : "They are unwilling to fulfill their oath of office to protect and defend this country." • But, WND broadened its attack, writing : "And there are additional signs of Republican defiance to Trump’s plans, especially on immigration. Politico reported earlier this week several House Republicans are seeking to dodge a straightforward vote to fund President Trump’s border wall. Representative Ilena Ros-Lehtinen, a Hispanic Republican from Florida, has been especially vocal in her opposition. Some Senate Republicans are also joining the 'resistance.' ” • Nehlen, who challenged Speaker Paul Ryan for his congressional seat last year, and is challenging again in 2018, says he is disgusted with the conduct of the Republican Congress, and of Paul Ryan : “Speaker Ryan didn’t help Mr. Trump defeat Hillary Clinton....But I have a message for Speaker Ryan : The American people are not done fighting for President Trump’s good agenda. That’s why I am announcing my second challenge to Paul Ryan for the nomination in Wisconsin’s first congressional district.” Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck told Breitbart that things have changed since Trump won the election. Nehlen says : "Paul Ryan is a career politician who has been in DC for nearly two decades. He may have been a nice Wisconsin boy when he left Janesville, but now Ryan is working for special interests....Wisconsin voted to drain the swamp last November, so that’s what I’m going to do." • Nehlen says his message is more important than ever because Speaker Ryan and the GOP Congress are failing President Trump -- out of malice, not simple incompetence : “From Trump’s perspective, they are failing President Trump. From their perspective, they are succeeding....Uniquivocally, there are a group of UniParty (Republicans and Democrats of the globalist variety) who wish to undermine Trump and get globalism back on track. I applaud Trump’s perseverance in the face of their efforts.” • Nehlen lost to Ryan by a huge margin in 2016. Will the Obamacare fiasco give Nehlen a chance? We'll have to wait for 2018 to find out. • • • TRUMP IS RESHAPING HIS ANTI-SWAMP STAFF. Most commentators see President Trump's personnel decisions and attacks on his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, as proof that Trump cannot manage the presidency properly. This is nonsense. President Trump is facing leaks and sabotage not just from the GOP Congress, but from the Deep State within his own administration -- aided by the ProgDems in the Senate who are slow-motioning Trump appointee approvals. • Breitbart reported on Saturday that Fox News' “Justice,” host Jeanine Pirro responded to Representative Barbara Lee, a California Democrat, accusing President Donald Trump of “militarizing” the White House by appointing General John Kelly to White House Chief of Staff. Judge Jeanine ripped into the Democrats and then praised General Kelly, saying there is no better leader to help Trump. Judge Jeanine said : “Will someone please tell me why it is that ever since Donald Trump became President you Democrats have lost your minds and are in a constant state of psychotic rage? Militarizing the White House? Are you crazy? You guys are the ones who openly contemplated blowing up the White House. You leftists are the ones destroying property and attempting to burn down buildings to prevent us from exercising our First Amendment free speech rights....As we face a nuclear powered North Korea, Iran and others who want to destroy this great nation, there is no better person, no better leader, no one more knowledgeable to help the President run the west wing of the White House than General John Kelly.” • If we take a hard, honest look at AG Sessions, ever since President Trump started calling him out on items needing DOJ attention, Sessions has responded. Clearly, he was working on the items now in the news -- sanctuary city crackdowns, ICE support, telling Congress to investigate the 'unmasking,' -- but it took Trump to get the news out where it helps by letting America know that the Trump administration is at work for its future. • Reince Priebus was loyal to Trump Republican National Committee chairman during the campaign and he is loyal now. But, he could not take the tough decisions that war against America requires. General Kelly will be that tough Chief of Staff for Trump who calls everybody to order and gets them all marching to the right tune and cadence. Priebus will find another way to help the President that will be more in keeping with his personality and background. Sessions will probably stay at DOJ, but if he agrees to be transferred to DHS to replace Kelly, that would need to be carefully orchestrated to prevent a hostile mainstream media and #NeverTrump congressional backlash that paralyzes the Justice Department. • DEAR READERS, Patricia McCarthy wrote : "Betrayal is always an inside job. With the exception of Collins, long a lefty RINO, these Senators all voted numerous times to repeal the deadly bill [Obamacare] that has bankrupted thousands of businesses, sent doctors into early retirement, and left millions with no insurance at all. And then there are the costs for those who did fall for the trap and enroll : they now cannot afford their premiums or their deductibles. Everyone knows this, including those seven Senators who betrayed those of us who elected them. Do they care? Not one bit. They are happy to condemn the rest of us to the Progressive dream of single-payer, the kind of system that rations care in the cruelest possible way. It's the kind of system that makes people wait months and years for needed care or denies it altogether in the name of rationing or fairness. There is nothing fair about it; it's sadistic. But it will never affect them, so who cares? They have nothing to lose." • That statement can be extrapolated to cover every issue facing President Trump and his team as they face off against the Swamp. The majority of Republican members of Congress long ago -- decades before Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell took up the GOP leadership chores -- bought into the nanny state form of creeping socialism with its "fairness" doctrine -- fairness to everyone but those Americans paying the bill for it. The free market works, and the Progressive Democrats and the RINOs can't stand that truth. So they lie about Trump's successes -- yes, he is having them, just look at the stock market's spectacular rise since he was elected, a rise that feeds 401-ks and helps middle America save for retirement while producing capital to create new jobs an innovation, or look at border crossings by illegals down over 70% since November. But, the ProgDems and RINOs fudge numbers to show that socialist policies produce personal wealth, jobs and productivity when they do not. Why should the government interfere with the free market? Despite Senator Schumer's whopper of a lie about the Founders, they would have been appalled by today's tightly regulated economy. Let people choose the healthcare policy they need, want, and can afford. Let the government retreat to its proper place in the economy -- helping those who are unable to help themselves. • Far too many Republicans in Congress are hypocritical cowards, as Patricia McCarthy put it : "Their word means nothing; they lack strength of character. They think nothing of betraying the citizens who put them in office. Maybe they have forgotten that betrayal is almost always the reason empires fall." • What we now know is that #NeverTrump Republicans and RINOs in Congress are career politicians who, along with their staffs, lobbyists, and enablers in the federal bureaucracy, have amassed a huge amounts of power while running up huge debts for Americans of this and future generations. And, they detest the outsider President Donald Trump, who won the presidency despite them, and who wants to reduce their power. The mainstream media supports them instead of going after the real stories of the Swamp's insidious war on America. • Mitch McConnell is not made for today's brutal political war. What GOP Senator is? Maybe Chuck Grassley is the only older GOP Senate leader who could take the heat and produce. But, but even Grassley wants to be 'fair' and that is a dangerous by-word for creeping socialism and the victory of Progressives over the Constitution. • McCain went to Washington to vote "No." I don't think persuading him was possible. But, political pressure of a sort might have been successful. There must be a soft underbelly to John McCain. But, that is exactly what McConnell, and maybe even Grassley and Vice President Pence, will not do -- apply political pressure to their own. It puts them at a fatal disadvantage facing the ProgDems, whose foot soldiers in the House and Senate step out of line at their own career's peril. New Republican leadership in Congress is vital. We need to clean the Swamp, and we need the right congressional leaders to help President Trump do it. Who is up to the GOP leadership job?? We cannot wait much longer to get the right answer to that question.

Casing the Colors © Week 20

Casing the Colors © Week 20 • • • CHAPTER 36 • • After the successful allied summit meeting, Secretary Stevens, General Bennett and Kate Gordon were on a plane headed back to the United States when Bill called President Wellford to get a reading on the situation in Atlanta, after hearing from Scott that there was new trouble. Stu's voice was tense. "Atlanta and Pittsburgh are powder kegs. Rebels have broken through the inner city perimeters, trapping civilians in the middle. There are a horrible number of casualties." Pete Lowell, who was with the President, broke in. "I've been on the phone with the TV networks and it's playing all right with them so far. If Scott could get back out onto the lines, it would really help us with the media." "General Gordon and General Volti have already given me full reports," Scott said. "Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg are moving in to reinforce our Atlanta positions. General Gordon's Ranger units are in place outside both cities. I'll get back out to the lines as soon as we brief you on Europe." "Right," President Wellford answered, "but keep this line open in case I need to talk to you. We've got one hell of a mess here." Stu Wellford was colliding with the reality of civil war and Scott was reassuring as he attempted to calm him. "Stu, we need to use this line to talk to Europe and our troop positions. General Gordon and Pete Lowell are there with you and you can depend on their advice. Use your code to break into this line if you need us." "Stu," Kate said, "President LeNoir told me this morning that French troops will be in place on the Italian border by noon tomorrow, with American troop placements to supplement them. Germany, Britain and France will be ready for the Italian assault by mid-afternoon. We'll give you all the details when we see you." They closed the telephone line. "Bill, I didn't tell the President," General Bennett said after mulling over how much information would be safe with Secretary Stevens, "but Phil Carlson is expecting a massive counter-assault from Miguel sometime tomorrow night. Intelligence reports put the action at somewhere between El Paso and Tucson. The good news is that the refugees now in Texas seem to be out of harm's way. If we can get the Italian attack started early tomorrow, it would divide media coverage and occupy Miguel and Raqqa on two fronts. But, President Wellford has to give the order." By the time they were on the way to the White House, they had a plan. General Bennett gave the Oval Office presentation to a group consisting of Stu Wellford, Bill Stevens, Jim Gordon, the Joint Chiefs, Pete Lowell and Kate Gordon. Stu sat quiet for a few seconds after Scott Bennett ended his remarks. "How many Italian casualties will there be?" he finally asked. "Perhaps a half million," Scott replied. "It's unavoidable. If we don't stop the terrorists in Italy, all of Europe will be threatened." "What about the southwest, how many casualties there?" the President persisted. "Up to a hundred thousand," Scott said, observing Stu's reaction. "Most of them Hispanic, is that right?" Stu continued, cross-examining the General. "Yes," Scott, answered, "plus military casualties." "Does the Italian government know what is going to happen?" Stu asked, turning toward Bill Stevens. "No, Stu," Bill said firmly. "Their security is too weak to risk briefing them." "What will the terrorists do when we hit them?" Stu asked. "We can't be certain," General Gordon answered, taking the lead in what had obviously become another presidential confrontation, "but we expect to see commando strikes against strategic targets, and possibly chemicals." Stu pivoted his chair away from Bill to look directly at Jim Gordon. "Chemicals?" he said, his voice hoarse. "What the hell does that mean, General?" "Stu, we know that Libya, Iran and Iraq have chemical weapons capability. Whether they would use it is another question. It could backfire if the Mexican refugee camps in Texas or the Africans in Sicily are devastated along with their targets. But, it's a possibility and we've included it in our planning." "Here in the United States?" Stu stopped in mid-sentence, his eyes tracking the room for support. Realizing that he was almost alone with his military advisors, he sat silent, waiting for them to take up the defense of their proposal, buying himself time to think of a way out of the dilemma he had helped create. "We expect the biggest problem here in America will be street riots, not chemicals," Scott said, trying to be positive. The terrorists will undoubtedly start trouble tomorrow in the urban centers they control to divert our resources and attention before their border assault. But, our most important objective, whatever they do, will be to hold the Mexican border. If Miguel's army breaks through in large numbers, we would face military action in US civilian areas outside the inner cities and that could trigger the collapse of our popular support." "General Bennett, you don't give me many options," Stu replied. "I can't say no and if I say yes, we're likely to be lighting matches to both Italy and America." "Stu," Jim Gordon interrupted, cutting off Scott, "we don't have many options to offer you. Boats are unloading African terrorists in Sicily, half of Sicily is marching toward Rome, we've got a million Mexicans in refugee camps in Texas and Arizona with more arriving every hour. Raqqa and Miguel have converted our inner cities into armed rebel strongholds and tomorrow night Miguel will attack frontally across the Rio Grande. Give me another reasonable option and I'll run with it." In the uncomfortable silence, the assembled group studied the floor and wondered what Stu would say. He searched for a way to forestall a global confrontation with the terrorists, a confrontation that seemed to his military colleagues to be not only inevitable but necessary. General Gordon's strong voice filled the silence. "We have to face the fact...now...that Raqqa and Miguel mean to destroy America and Europe, and if all we can do is sit here arguing about how to avoid the reality of guerrilla warfare, we might as well admit that we're finished." "Where is the Attorney General?" Stu asked. "In his office, I suppose," Bill Stevens offered offhandedly. "Call him." "Why, Stu?" Bill asked. "What can George add?" "Damn it, Bill, I want to talk to him. I don't have to explain why," Stu replied, his voice rising in anger. "I wasn't trying to stop you," Bill answered, "but, Stu, we need a decision. Now. Not after the Justice Department chews over it and it's been leaked and spread all over the front page of the Washington Post. We need to act." The two old political friends stared at each other cross the Oval Office desk, locked in a wordless battle of wills. Pete Lowell broke the deadlock. "Stu, we'll get George. But, promise you will decide this morning." "I promise," Stu sighed, "I promise." "Kate, can you give me a hand?" Pete asked as he headed for the door. Scott followed and stopped them outside the office. "We've got to keep Stu under control. Kate, can you bring George here yourself, instead of phoning him? Set the situation up with George before Stu spreads his view on the table. You know what I mean." Bill Stevens appeared in the corridor. "We've got a problem, friends," he said. "Stu is never going to agree to the attack on Italy. He seems paralyzed by the thought of killing civilians without warning their governments. That's what he wants to talk to George about. What the hell do we do?" Scott Bennett answered, leaving no room for argument. "Bill, go back, ask Jim to come out, and then keep Stu occupied. Tell Jim I want to check some details with him. We need to secure the White House quietly, without alerting anyone. Are we all together?" he asked, looking from one to another of the small group. Bill, Pete and Kate were silent, their eyes meeting in the unspoken understanding that any debate would be both useless, and perhaps personally dangerous. They all knew exactly what Scott was proposing and could only hope that Jim Gordon would keep him from going over the top. Kate studied the man she knew so well, trying to decide if he would fight to deliver America from its agony or become the third player in the new order being forced on the West by Raqqa and Miguel. Bill gripped Scott's shoulder with one hand and reached for Kate with the other. Pete Lowell locked arms with Kate and Scott, forming a circle of complicity. When Kate returned from the Executive Office Building with George Morrison in tow, she found her father outside the Oval Office talking to three men in dark business suits. She guessed they were part of his elite Ranger unit, undercover as they looked for the source of the White House leak. Once inside the Office, she understood that Stu did not know what was happening. Stu motioned for the Attorney General to sit near him. "George," he began, "I've asked you to join us because we are discussing a series of military actions in Europe and along the Rio Grande and I have serious doubts about their constitutionality. We are planning to attack Italy and Mexico, with significant civilian casualties and no warning given to their governments." George Morrison began to speak, walking over the President's last words in his enthusiasm to express his opinion about the tactics of American Agenda. "Governing by Supreme Court fiat is unconstitutional. You all know that," he said, looking around the room to include everyone in his lecture. "Stu, you were a Supreme Court Justice before you took up saving the world. Congress has stopped taking official action but it hasn't agreed to dissolve itself and it hasn't gone home. We have 535 elected members of Congress on the other end of the mall watching everything we do. The Supreme Court is sitting in daily session but it is not hearing cases or acting on the petitions of those who oppose American Agenda and your presidency. We all know what the Court would be forced to say about our actions if we told it to proceed to rulings. What else do you want me to tell you? If the Constitution is the standard, we're guilty as hell." Kate watched Stu run his hands over his face as if he were wiping away cobwebs. He looked up at Billl Stevens. "What do you need, Bill?" he finally asked. "I guess I'm committed whether I like it or not." "Just give us the authority to start moving ahead, Stu. I'll work with Jim and Scott to do the rest." "All right," Stu said. Looking around the room, he added, "Gentlemen, you are officers of the United States of America. I hope you remember that in the next few days. Don't destroy America along with the terrorists. We will need a country when this is all over." Stu Wellford's thought flowed back to that day in General Gordon's library when he and Kate had agreed to American Agenda. Why had it all seemed so simple then...how had it all got so screwed up. The generals got up and started for the Oval Office door. Scott called after them to say there would be a meeting in the White House communication center in ten minutes. He took Kate by the arm and followed the Joint Chiefs, thanking Stu for his favorable decision as he exited. Bill Stevens was left to talk to Stu and George. The three men Kate had seen talking with her father entered the office as she and Scott left. Pete Lowell was behind them. He's joined us, she thought. He's on our side. General Gordon was waiting for Scott and his daughter at the far end of the corridor. "The White House is secure," he said, "but no one will know unless they try to see the President. The men you just saw will stay with Stu and George to monitor their actions and communications with the outside world. The phone lines into the Oval Office have been diverted. Pete is in charge of the White House communications system until further notice." "Thanks, Jim," Scott said, "I know you oppose this." "We all do," General Gordon snapped, "but no one wants Raqqa in the White House. Bill Stevens is with us and Pete can handle Stu for a day or two. You and I need to decide what plan we follow." "I've asked Admiral Taylor to come to the White House to meet with us." "Paul Taylor," Jim Gordon asked. "Why?" "I'd feel better if Kate and Bill had an aide, someone we can trust with anything." "Not a bad idea. Paul Taylor would sell his soul to save the fleet." So, Rear Admiral Paul Taylor, US Navy, Annapolis Class of 1980, was attached to the State Department. He was tough and conservative and understood that Kate Gordon and Bill Stevens were never to be beyond his reach or his agreement with their actions. His other orders were to muscle NATO and assure that the European military elite complied with their requests. • • • CHAPTER 37 • • Admiral Taylor arrived at the White House in time to help with the final decisions for the Mexican offensive, which had been removed from the President's desk and placed in the Joint Chiefs' portfolio under their emergency orders. General Bennett and General Gordon went by helicopter to get a firsthand look at the situation in Pittsburgh. The terrorists and their hill district ghetto recruits were systematically shelling and burning city blocks in a chain rolling out toward the east suburbs. National Guard units continually lobbed light artillery and mortars against the rebel advance and as the generals circled high above the Parkway East, they could see shells exploding into residential neighborhood streets. In a briefing with the commander on the ground at County Airport, General Gordon was told that civilian casualties were in the ten thousand range. Most of America couldn't watch developments in Pittsburgh or Atlanta because Pete Lowell had exercised his Media Relations Office authority to censor both live TV coverage and tapes of the battle areas. TV reports showed only that National Guard units had halted rebel advances east of Pittsburgh and were turning them back toward the inner city. Atlanta's situation was just as bad. Peachtree Street was on fire along much of its length and the area of the city north toward the airport was being shelled. Casualties were put at six thousand. But TV coverage only showed Ranger units driving rebel groups back toward the downtown. When one major network tried to telecast live reports from the trouble areas without MRO approval, their satellite signals were scrambled by military surveillance systems. Several reporters managed to get in and out of the battle area with filmed reports but their efforts to telecast them were limited to local channels and brief before being shut down, so they didn't offer anything that wasn't already known by the residents caught in the offensive. When national networks tried to pick up and rebroadcast the videos, the images were scrambled. Scott Bennett was outraged that a bunch of ghetto recruits, untrained and without visible leadership or sophisticated weapons, could inflict such damage and hold out so long against highly trained troops. "It's won't be different just because it's happening in Atlanta and Pittsburgh instead of Saigon or Kabul," General Gordon reminded him. "Guard units in place near Stone Mountain are moving toward positions south of Peachtree Street. Paratroopers will be dropped close to downtown before daylight to support your ground troop movement. In Pittsburgh, we've secured the Fort Pitt Tunnel to control access to the airport. Troops are sweeping from the Golden Triangle toward the hill district, forcing rebels toward our converging troops moving in from the County Airport area east of the city." Jim Gordon's reports reassured the others in the first hours of military action. "Remember, we could take more extreme action, but we want to hold civilian casualties to an absolute minimum," he always added. As daylight failed, they monitored the military action and fine tuned preparations for the next day's offensives along the Mexican border and in Europe. Just after 9 p.m., Admiral Harralt phoned with the startling news that large numbers of people were collapsing in center city streets in Atlanta. Terrorists had contaminated the water supply and were releasing chemical agents into the atmosphere. They had apparently decided to risk sacrificing the entire civilian population, along with many of their own recruits, to drive home their determination to hold onto the Atlanta Airport, the largest in America, where a rebel unit in chemical warfare gear already occupied the control tower. Planes from Florida were quickly dispatched to destroy the tower and runways to deprive the rebels the use of their prize. Scott Bennett gave the order to carry out the air attack, then he took possession of the cabinet room where he could listen to field reports. Bill Stevens and Kate Gordon briefed European leaders, quickly moving from phone to phone as aides contacted the key allied ministers. General Gordon was on the phone to Phil Carlson to receive an update on the Mexican border offensive. All of them were scrambling to get as much information as possible in the short time they had before having to decide what to do about the rebels' use of chemicals. Everyone stopped and looked up as Admiral Taylor forcefully tapped an ashtray at the far end of the cabinet room table. "The rebels are using social media and TV inserts to inform Pittsburgh about the poisoned water and chemicals in Atlanta. They've also sent a message to our local military commander to tell the White House that if we don't turn Pittsburgh over intact, including the airport, by midnight, Pittsburgh will join Atlanta." Scott jumped to his feet and mobilized the response without even considering the need for consensus. "Bill, push Europe about preparing for chemical attack. Get their security beefed up, especially around water and electricity installations and airports. Ask Prime Minister Moore to move his staff to the air base north of London. He needs to get the King out of London, too." "Kate, ask Chancellor Gerhardt to go to Ramstein. I suppose President LeNoir won't leave Paris without a fight, but ask him to go to England. If he refuses, detail a NATO air fighter squadron to stand by for his possible evacuation." "Jim, get on the line to NATO Command. Tell them to send a fighter squadron to Rome to wait for orders from Admiral Taylor." Kate knew that her father could have stopped Scott, but he didn't. She realized that he agreed. General Bennett then turned to Paul Taylor. "Take Kate and go to Andrews. I'll have military planes waiting for you. Go to Rome and bring the Italian president and the Pope out to Germany. Use all necessary force to evacuate them. You've got until noon tomorrow. We're advancing the timetable for Italy. Kate will handle the diplomatic job but don't let anything happen to her. Understood?" Paul nodded as he took Kate by the arm and headed for the door. "I need a few minutes with Pete," she said as they rushed along the corridor. "Wait for me at the South Entrance." She ran to the Oval Office to tell Pete Lowell she had a message from Scott for George Morrison. "Give me a minute with him," she said as Pete turned to go back into the President's office. Less than a minute later, having delivered her message to the Attorney General, she was on her way to meet Paul. Three hours out over the Atlantic, in separate military jets, Admiral Taylor and Kate Gordon got the word that Pittsburgh had been ravaged by the same chemical and biological attack that had decimated Atlanta. There would have been no way to prevent it, except to surrender troops and precious airport runways to Raqqa. From the White House, Scott spoke to Kate through her flight helmet headset. "I'm sorry about Atlanta and Pittsburgh, but we're not going to surrender anything or anyone."

President Trump Is the Deplorables' Bulldozer Standing at the Doors of the Swamp and the ProgDems Are Rattled

THE REAL NEWS TODAY IS THAT PRESIDENT TRUMP IS DELIBERATELY TROLLING THE SWAMP. • And he is getting some good reactions. Maybe the GOP is beginning to believe President Trump is for real. We Deplorables have always known that. • • • THE DEMOCRATS AND UKRAINE. Blabber Buzz and Legal Insurrection reported on Thursday that Republicans in Congress are going to probe the widely alleged DNC-Ukraine connection in the 2016 election. The Democratic National Committee is alleged to have worked with Ukrainian officials to influence the outcome of the 2016 election by damaging Trump. This isn’t getting as much attention as the Russia story but, honestly, nothing does, given the mainstream media's role in trying to destroy President Trump and the GOP. But, the article says that Republicans in Congress are taking an interest in the DNC-Ukraine connection, joining the White House in asking questions about the extent to which a Democrat Party consultant may have worked with Ukrainian officials to hurt then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential bid last year. • Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley wrote a letter earlier this week to the Justice Department, according to the article, asking whether the DNC broke the law. Grassley specifically asked if the DOJ was investigating Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-American DNC consultant who allegedly had meetings at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington DC, to discuss incriminating information about Trump campaign officials. President Trump has questioned why the same scrutiny being applied to his campaign is not being applied to the Democrats’ alleged Ukraine connection. In a Tuesday tweet, he complained about the lack of an investigation into Ukraine efforts to “sabotage” his campaign. • Trump administration lawyer Jay Sekulow addressed this issue in a recent appearance on CNN. Real Clear Politics provided a transcript of the Sekulow-Jake Tapper exchange to Blabber Buzz -- SEKULOW: Well, the Ukrainians -- you know, I go back to the Ukrainian example. I know you don’t want to discuss it because you say it’s not being investigated, which raises the question. But, here, in the Ukrainian situation, they actually exchanged documents from a foreign government. So… TAPPER: Because Paul Manafort did work -- because Paul Manafort did work in Ukraine, people in Ukraine wanted the United States to know. SEKULOW: Yes. TAPPER: But that was all from a legal and public hearing. SEKULOW: Well, wait a minute -- well, wait.APPER: I don’t… SEKULOW: He was running -- but, Jake, he was running the campaign at the time. So, I mean, when we’re acting like this is some kind of one-off thing that never happens in campaigns, and you just stated the evidence of exactly what took place there, right. TAPPER: No. Nobody from -- nobody from the Ukrainian government met with the Clinton campaign. Again, as I said... SEKULOW: That’s not true. There were representatives at the Ukrainian Embassy. The Politico report was clear. Go ahead. Again, I know you want to change the subject. • Jake Tapper had no desire to discuss the DNC-Ukraine issue, and he blurred or denied facts already published in the pro-Democrat media. • The progress in Trump's favor is that now the very influential Senator Churck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is looking into the DNC-Ukraine "collusion." • Are Senate GOP leaders finally getting behind their GOP President? I hope so. • • • THE BORDER WALL. President Trump has had a lot of trouble getting Congress to keep his border wall funds request in the budget. But, Liberty Headlines reported last Saturday that while many Republican congressmen have discussed delaying or cancelling the August recess to fix health care and deal with a few other budget issues, now, a group of 17 Members of Congress are advocating the House to hold off on the recess until the border wall is funded. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan, the group, led by Representative John Ratcliffe of Texas, demanded tighter border security : “For decades, the American people have been told that the safety and security of our country is one of the principal responsibilities of the federal government. Unfortunately, the American people have been let down time and time again by lack of action on meaningful border security. The time for excuses has now ended; it is time for action.” The letter also addressed the “strain” to public resources caused by illegal aliens, the crimes committed (such as the death of Kate Steinle by an illegal alien in 2015), drug trafficking, sex trafficking, gangs, and “other nefarious activity.” The letter concluded : “Before the House departs for the upcoming district work period, we ask House Leadership to bring a bill to the floor that funds enhanced border security measures, including following through on a commitment made by President Trump : the construction of a border wall. We stand ready to roll up our sleeves and work -- through August if need be -- to get this done." • In March, The Trump administration planned $4.1 billion in funding the border wall through 2018, according to Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Two months later, the White House seemed to scale the amount back to just $1.6 billion, but Mulvaney said it wasn’t as drastic as it was made out to be : “That’s not the whole funding for the border security this year, this is just additional money. And we’ll be able to use that on things like maintenance on the existing wall -- infrastructure, roads, bridges, gates, technology, lighting -- things that will have a material impact on border security this year.” In July, House Republicans proposed allocating $1.6 billion for construction of the border wall in the next fiscal year. Representative John Carter, also of Texas, joined Ratcliffe : “This funding bill provides resources to begin building a wall along our southern border, enhance our existing border security infrastructure, hire more border patrol agents, and fund detention operations." • But, border-wall advocates say the money would only cover 28 miles of the wall in the Rio Grande Valley. It would also cover 32 miles of “border fencing” as well as “secondary fencing” for 14 miles in San Diego, California. • Of course, Democrat congressmen continue to vow they will oppose money for a border wall. Representative Linda Sanchez of California said last week : “[Republicans] know that the majority of the Democrats don’t support funding for that wall. If they choose to include it, then they are basically saying, ‘We have the votes among the Republican Party to pass this without a single Democratic vote.’ ” This week, the House is expected to vote on a small number of bills that would include funding for the wall, and Representative Ratcliffe says : “Protecting the American people is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of the federal government, and inaction on securing our border is no longer acceptable. We refuse to sit back idly while the can continues to be kicked down the road. One more casualty -- more more life lost -- is one too many. We’ve got to secure our borders now -- no excuses.” • Let's hope Ratcliffe and his allies win this budget war. • • • THE DEMOCRAT "BETTER DEAL." There could not be more obvious proof that President Trump is on the right track about how to Make America Great Again than the latest Democrat effort to find a message Americans will listen to. Democrat Party officials and elected leaders rolled out their “rebranding” scheme last week to try to win back the blue collar and rural voters they lost to Donald Trump and his Republican allies last year, and they have the full cooperation of two reliable institutions to help them make their case -- the New York Times and Washington Post. • Frustrated by voter refusal to accept their allegations about Russian collusion by the Trump campaign and their failure to win any of this year’s special elections against allegedly “vulnerable” Republicans, Democrats pulled their latest rabbit out of the tired ProgDem hat -- “A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future.” • The party has high hopes for the new slogan as a game changer, issuing multiple alerts to the media in advance and the hope of strong coverage. They sent some of their highest profile figures to rural Berryville, Virginia, for the rollout -- Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi led House and Senate Democrats in formally unveiling their new economic agenda and presenting Americans with “A Better Deal” that they say will "boost wages, lower costs, and unrig the economy so it works for all Americans, not special interests or just the wealthiest few." Schuler and Pelosi were joined at the event by Senators Chris Van Hollen, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren, and Mark Warner, and Representatives Ben Ray Luján, and House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) Co-Chairs Cheri Bustos, David Cicilline, and Hakeem Jeffries. • The AP, Reuters, and the MSM were only too happy to give the "Better Deal" full front-page coverage. AP reported : "Democrats think of themselves as the party of working people and were surprised when Trump was able to steal working-class voters from them. They subsequently figured out that voters don’t know what the party stands for, and the new effort is aimed at changing that. Schumer acknowledged on Sunday that Democrats were partially to blame for the American people not knowing what the party stands for." Reuters also aided the Democrats’ roll-out with a timely article promoting their old class-warfare theme's new window dressing : "The new plan presents Democrats as the party creating jobs; offering job training; keeping healthcare costs low while making college affordable; and pushing higher wages including a hike in the minimum wage [which, in Seattle, has led to fewer jobs]. The plan is called: “A Better Deal -- Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages.” Fox News commentator Juan Williams wrote an op-ed to promote the ProgDem rebranding : "The new plan presents Democrats as the party creating jobs; offering job training; keeping healthcare costs low while making college affordable; and pushing higher wages including a hike in the minimum wage. The plan is called: “A Better Deal -- Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Wages.” • The only thing notable about the tired old Democrat refusal to support anything that will actually MAGA is the 100% support they are getting from the MSM. Liberty Headlines called it "synchronized assistance" from the New York Times and the Washington Post, both of which allowed their editorial page editors to clear space on their highly-valued opinion page to choreograph commentaries by Senator Schumer and House Minority Leader Pelosi on the precise day of their media blitz. Here’s Schumer in the Times : "Americans from every corner of this country know that the economy isn’t working for them the way that it should, and they wonder if it ever will again. One party says the answer is that special interests should continue to write the rules and that government ought to make things easier for an already-favored few. Democrats will offer a better deal" And, here’s Pelosi in the Washington Post : "For the first time in a decade, the GOP had the White House, Congress and complete control of the legislative process to advance its agenda. But instead of creating good-paying jobs, or rebuilding America’s crumbling infrastructure, or advancing tax reform, Republicans have spent six months trying to raise Americans’ health costs to fund tax breaks for billionaires. Democrats have a better approach -- in fact, a better deal....a fresh vision for 'A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future.' ” • Liberty Headlines asks a good question, to which we all know the answer : "If it was the Republicans who were on the outside of power scraping to regain relevance with their own coordinated rebranding campaign, do you think they would get any love from the Times’ and Post‘s opinion editors?" • In any event, there is no news in the ProgDem "Better Deal" campaign except this -- even the slogan "Better" deal shows that they are playing catch-up with President Trump. Ask yourself, "Better" than what?? The only answer is "Better" than Trump. And that is laughable. These poor ProgDem babies languishing in the Swamp had to go back almost a centruy to FDR's "New Deal" to find something to say. But, the age of Roosevelt and his Depression pandering to unemployed rural and small-town workers is simply outmoded -- gone. And, so are the old Democrat Party divide-and-conquer tactics meant to tie America's workers to a Democrat Party that drowned them and their jobs and communities in socialist policies designed to use their tax dollares to feed an envisioned welfare state in which everyone would vote Democrat because there would be no other party to vote for. Donald Trump broke that mold forever; There is no longer a "New Deal" or a "Better Deal" Democrat Party. There is a Make America Great Again party that has finally made Americans realize what they need and who they trust to get it for them. • • • JUST HOW 'COOKED' IS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY? For that answer, we go straight to the horse's mouth, so to speak -- Cook County, Illinois. InfoWars and Blabber Buzz reported on Tuesday that community organizers in Chicago are asking President Trump to drain the corrupt Illinois Swamp. You won't see this in the MSM, but black community organizers in Chicago are blasting the ‘racist Democrat machine’ and omni-present corruption as the primary reasons their once-great city is deteriorating rapidly, with shocking violence, crippling economic depression, and eroding infrastructure killing it. A powerful new short film by Rebel Pundit entitled “Chicago Carnage: Black Activists Slam #REALFAKE Trump Tower Deception” is centered around a new anti-Trump sculpture erected by the city -- on the taxpayer dollar -- directly across from the iconic Trump Tower. Rebel Pundit says : "The sculpture sits as a perfect photo-op to take selfies and group photos flipping off the Trump sign, while standing underneath it right next to the golden sculpture that screams ‘REAL FAKE,' saying the incendiary monument 'could only be intended to give a giant middle finger to President Trump.' ” • In their scathing commentary, local activists Paul McKinley and Mark Carter lay blame squarely at the feet of nefarious city and state political leadership -- which is overwhelmingly Democrat -- and even blame Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, also expressing hope that President Trump has the opportunity to make Chicago great again and inviting his administration to help drain the Illinois Swamp. McKinley says : “It is ironic that this sign showed up right here, and not in front of City Hall, not in front of the Capitol. What you see here is the great deception. It sits here to deceive you and get your mind off real issues. This is an attempt by the same liberal agenda to talk about politics way up...in Washington DC, but never about the politics right here in Chicago. It has nothing to do with jobs, contracts and opportunities. It has nothing to do with a better education. It has nothing to do with healthcare. It has nothing to do with any of those things,” he points out, going on to address the Chicago crises of school closures, black unemployment, and violence -- all some of the worst in the nation, adding, “Every day of the week, there’s a body count -- 30 people shot up, 40 people shot up -- that’s not ‘real fake.' " Carter says : “This is a city for the elite. The rest of the city looks like a bomb has been dropped, like a third world country.” • Both men denounce the notion that Donald Trump could possibly be to blame for decades-old local issues when he has only been President for six months, and accuse Progressives of simply using him and the specter of ‘white racist conservatives’ as scapegoats to deflect attention from their own self-serving and/or criminal behavior. Carter says : “They want you to be focused on Donald Trump being the problem. There’s nothing fake about this guy -- he tells you what he’s about. The fake is Barack Obama, the fake is Bill Clinton. The Democratic machine in this city is intentionally dummying down the people, socially engineering the people into poverty. These are white and black racist Democrats doing this to us. They don’t want the killing to stop -- they need the people to continue to be poor, they need these bloodsucking programs that have never done anything to bring down violence, unemployment, poverty.” • McKinley and Carter are asking for help from President Trump and federal investigators to break up the corrupt Chicago juggernaut -- something he already threatened to do in January : "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!" That Trump tweet got 209,096 likes. Carter now says : “The feds need to come in and investigate the city council in this city, the state representatives, the state senators, the congressmen. If Donald Trump wants to come here and get the real answers -- come here and talk to the real people, we’ll show you you how things are working in this city.” McKinley ends the film by sying : “If he does that, he can make Chicago great again." • This is not the first appearance McKinley and Carter have made in films denouncing Democratic politicians and attempting to pry black Americans away from their overwhelming loyalty to socialist ProgDem demagogues. In “Voices of the Ex-Offender -- Chicago Activists Message to Black America” -- another presentation by Rebel Pundit in 2014, they delivered a similar wake-up call. • • • DEAR READERS, what is at once amazingly honest and touching about these two black men trying to save their city is that experience has led them to the same conclusions that led a majority of Americans to vote for Donald Trump last November. The Schumer-Pelosi ProgDem "Better Deal" will not help Carter and McKinley to drain the Illinois and Chicago Swamps. It will make them worse. • Again and again in human history, when people are able do something about their lives, to change what a political system has done to them, they always vote to be free, to be in control of their own lives, and to get rid of the politicians who represent the corrupt old system. That is why the Progressive Democrats and their MSM are trying to destroy President Trump. Their ultimate target is to destroy human liberty -- Donald Trump represents human liberty. He is a great man, but he knows that the millions of Americans whose dream of liberty he represents are greater. ProgDems despise average Americans -- the Deplorables -- with their dream of freedom and opportunity. President Woodrow Wilson's expansion of government powers during WWI, FDR's reversal of Coolidge's small-government policies, Johnson's disastrous Great Society anti-poverty programs, and Obama's governance by executive order in defiance of the American people's elected representatives -- these are the antecedents of the Schumer-Pelosi "Better Deal." • As a Fox News commentary pointed out at the time of Hillary's Deplorables remark, "anything [traditional Americans] say 'no' to is to be labeled racist, sexist, misogynist, xenophobic and nativist." • What can possibly follow once you have labeled your opponents "Deplorable"? What follows, say many experts on human group behavior, is the urge to crush them. • That, in essence, is what we are facing. And that is why the hostility toward Trump will never disappear. Assuming that Trump is re-elected in 2020, we are in for eight years of political warfare. There will be more "Deplorables" speeches, and they will become more extreme. Here is an example -- within hours of Anthony Scaramucci's appointment as White House communications director, Mother Jones headlined that he "may have a Russia problem of his own." • Mother Jones seems to have forgotten that Anthony Scaramucci already had that accusation hurled at him by CNN -- which had to retract it because it was a lie and then fired three reporters who worked on the fake news story. • We Deplorables may not be what the ProgDems want in their camp, but we weren't born yesterday. We understand that Chicago blacks and hispanics are being abused and "plantationed" by the Democrat machine. We know that is what Progressive Democrats want to do to all of America. But, we Deplorables have the ace in the hole -- a leader who believes in us, and who believes in personal freedom and liberties. There is something else that makes President Trump a great President -- he is not afraid. He has no personal career agenda. It doesn't bother him to be attacked because he is defending us. He is our gigantic bulldozer standing at the doors of the Swamp.

Obamacare Repeal and Transgender Military Ban : President Trump Is Leading but Some Republicans are not Following

BREAKING NEWS. On Wednesday, President Trump tweeted that the US government will not allow transgender individuals “to serve in any capacity in the U.S. military.” In a series of tweets, he wrote : "After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow...Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military. Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming...victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail. Thank you." • The President’s tweets came a few weeks after Defense Secretary James Mattis said he would give military chiefs another six months to conduct a review to determine if allowing transgender individuals to enlist in the armed services will affect the “readiness or lethality” of the force. The deadline for that review was December 1, 2017. Transgender service members have been able to serve openly in the military since last year, when former Defense Secretary Ash Carter ended the ban. It was not immediately known how Trump’s ban would affect transgender troops already openly serving in the military. • How President Trump's shift in policy will survive court challenges is hard to see, given the status of US law concerning non-discrimination. But, there are two arguments working in President Trump's favor -- first, "transgender" -- or specifically the LGBT community -- is generally thought not to be covered by the Title VII requirement of non-discrimination because of "sex," and that argument could be extended to other areas of non-discrimination because of "sex"; and, second, the military is a particular institution that has sometimes been relieved of the burdens of non-discrimination placed on the civilian population, and as an institution uniquely bound to the President as Commander-in-Chief, it may be able to convince courts that the ban is vital for national defense reasons. • • • THE SESSIONS DOJ SET TO TAKE A POSITION. The Washington Blade, an outlet that reports on LGBT issues, published an article on Wednesday stating that "the US Justice Department under US Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to file a brief undermining efforts to ensure LGBT people are protected from discrimination under current federal civil rights law, according to two outside sources familiar with the effort." The Blade goes on to say : "Although LGBT groups -- and a growing number of courts -- are taking the view the prohibition on sex discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also bars discrimination against LGBT people, sources say the Justice Department will file a brief in an employment discrimination case before the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals opposing that view." James Esseks, director of ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project, told the Blade that the Trump administration filing such a brief would be going out of its way to undermine LGBT rights : “But fortunately whether the Civil Rights Act protects LGBT people is ultimately a question for the courts to resolve, and not for the Attorney General. We are confident that the courts will come to the right decision here.” • The case in which the DOJ is filing a brief is not related to transgenders but to a gay man. The case is Zarda v. Altitude Express, and the plaintiff is the estate of deceased New York skydiver, which alleges he was fired from his job in 2010 for being gay. A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit determined Title VII doesn’t prohibit anti-gay discrimination, and therefore doesn’t apply to Zarda’s case, but the court, at the request of Lambda Legal, an LGBT legal group, has agreed to reconsider the ruling “en banc,” before the full court. • Before the deadline on Wednesday, sources have told the Blade that the Justice Department intends to file a friend-of-the-court "amicus" brief that would affirm the view of the three-judge panel and argue that the prohibition of sex discrimination under Title VII doesn’t prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Additionally, according to the Blade, "sources say DOJ is going to take the opportunity to argue Title VII also doesn’t prohibit discrimination based on gender identity -- even though transgender discrimination isn’t at issue in the case. Such a brief would reverse a position under former US Attorney Eric Holder asserting discrimination on the basis of gender identity is prohibited under Title VII. In a 2014 memo, Holder wrote the Justice Department will no longer assert Title VII’s prohibition on gender discrimination “does not encompass gender identity per se (including transgender discrimination).” Although the Justice Department under the Obama administration never took an official view on whether sexual orientation discrimination is prohibited under Title VII, the Blade says that "a brief arguing against the position that LGBT people are protected under Title VII would effectively turn a Justice Department that once argued for protections for LGBT people into an institution that seeks to undermine them." The Blade argued in its article that four federal appellate courts -- the First, Sixth, Ninth and Eleventh circuit courts of appeals -- have determined employment discrimination against transgender people is barred under the law. Although case law that has determined Title VII bars workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual people is less developed, some courts are reconsidering decisions made in past decades against protections based on sexual orientation. The Seventh Circuit determined earlier this year...that sexual orientation discrimination constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII, but the Eleventh Circuit came to the opposite view." • According to the Blade, Lambda Legal is preparing to submit a petition before the US Supreme Court seeking a nationwide affirmation that anti-gay workplace discrimination is barred under current law. Lambda Legal will apparently argue that the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the US agency that enforces federal employment non-discrimination law, determined in administrative cases that transgender people are protected under Title VII in its 2012 ruling in Macy v. Holder and lesbian, gay and bisexual people are protected under the law in its 2015 decision in Baldwin v. Foxx. • President Trump's statement on Wednesday was particularly timely -- a sign that the White House and the Sessions DOJ are in fact talking to each other -- coming on the morning of the day when the DOJ is expected to file a brief in federal court supporting the position that Title VII does not include protection from non-discrimination in employment for the LGBT community. While the Justice Department brief would apparently be restricted to an interpretation of law related to employment, it could have broader implications for other federal laws barring sex discrimination in areas such as housing and education. And, according to the Blade : "although the Justice Department and the Education Department agreed to revoke Obama-era guidance assuring transgender kids access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Education Department issued a memo declaring the administration may take up complaints filed by transgender students [concerning] incidents of sex discrimination outside of the bathroom issue." • Will the DOJ mention the Department of Defense and military "employment" of transgender people, i.e., those claiming a sexual preference different than their birth sex, in its amicus brief on Wednesday? • • • IN OTHER NEWS -- HEALTHCARE. • We all know who baby Charlie Gard is. The little tyke, soon to have his first birthday, and soon to be dead, after the British nationalized healthcare system (the NIH), its hopsital and doctors, and the British and European courts decided in effect that little Charlie is not worth trying to save. It was a battle of two young parents who just wanted to try to make their baby's condition a little better and give him a chance at life up against a system that is short on resources and constrained to make 'death' decisions based not on caregiving but on money. • America tried to help -- An American doctor who is an expert in Charlie's genetic disease went to the UK,examined Charlie,and told the doctors in London he could improve Charlie's condition; Congress passed special legislation giving the family permanent residency in the US for as long as Charlie needed care; the US doctor and his hospital as a last resort even said they would send the needed drugs to the London hospital and explain how to use them to help Charlie. The answer was "No" -- no intervention, no effort to save Charlie, no solution of the British NIH but to pull the plug and let Charlie die. • That is what American Progressive Democrats want for Americans -- 'death' decisions from a one-payer government-controlled nationalized health care system that decides who lives and who dies. That is not an exaggeration. I know British people who wait for months simply to get the diagnostic process started, even when their doctor is sure they have some form of cancer. There is an age limit on dialysis. There is refusal to prescribe too expensive life-saving drugs. British who can afford it buy private insurance to cover what the UK's NIH does not, do so in order to get immediate treatment in emergencies. Do not believe ANYBODY who tells you that government-run medicine works. It does not. In France nad Italy, and even in Germany, there are rules about who gets what treatment. There is in many countries a year-long wait to get something as simple as lazer cataract removal. Nationalized healthcare is a soulless behemoth that decides based on a financial bottom line and regulations who gets care and who doesn't. • Any US Democrat or Republican member of Congress who is on the side of Obamacare should be run out of office as fast as the next election. That includes Senator John McCain, who feels free to support Obamacare II while he is getting top of the line treatment because of his cushy medical coverage paid for by US taxpayers who cannot even afford to go to a doctor under Obamacare. • The Charlie Gard case is simply unprosecutable murder carried out by a socialist state that objects to little babies with severe health problems becoming a financial drag on a stretched nationalized healthcare system. DO NOT LET IT HAPPEN IN AMERICA. Your life could literally depend on fighting off the Progressive goal of one-payer government-run nationalied healthcare. If your House member or Senator is not on the side of VP Pence and President Trump, elect somebody who is. • • • THE FAKE GOP SENATORS. American Thinker asked a vitally important question last week -- "Do Republicans who would undermine constitutional process by vetoing the election of President Trump disagree with Vice President Pence's assertion on July 18 : 'Obamacare has failed and Obamacare must go.' " Vice President Pence went on to say : "Every day Obamacare survives is another day the American economy and American families struggle...When Obamacare passed, we were promised that families would save up to $2,500 in premiums every year, but the average Obamacare plan today costs nearly $3,000 more than a plan did in 2013. While premiums are soaring, choices are plummeting. Next year, nearly 40% of Americans counties, including nine entire states, will have only one choice of a health insurance provider -- meaning they'll have essentially no choice at all." • Fox News and AP reported Tuesday on the Senate vote Monday that blocked a wide-ranging proposal by Republicans to repeal much of former President Barack Obama’s healthcare law and replace it with a more restrictive plan. The amendment vote, says Fox, portends a rough road ahead for GOP efforts to advance some form of ObamaCare replacement, even after the Senate narrowly revived the core bill in a dramatic test vote Tuesday afternoon. Senators voted 57-43 late Tuesday to reject the plan in the first vote on an amendment to the bill. Those voting “no” included nine defecting Republicans -- Senators Susan Collins, Bob Corker, Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, Dean Heller, Mike Lee, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul. The rejected amendment was centered on language by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, erasing Obama's tax penalties on people not buying insurance, cutting Medicaid and trimming its subsidies for consumers. Senators still plan to vote on another Republican amendment repealing much of Obamacare and giving Congress two years to come up with a replacement. A combination of solid Democratic opposition and Republicans unwilling to tear down the law without a replacement in hand were expected to defeat that plan as well. President Trump on Tuesday warned four opponents to ObamaCare repeal legislation -- two of them Republicans. "Any Senator who votes against repeal and replace...they'll have a lot of problems," Trump said during a speech in Youngstown, Ohio. • • • ARE REPUBLICANS SIMPLY TRYING TO REFORM OBAMACARE? American Thinker gives a full history of the GOP Obamacare debacle. In 2013, House Republicans thought about issuing two separate bills -- one funding the government, and a separate bill to defund Obamacare. This was the path of GOP “compromise.” But, it really was turned out to be little more than capitulation. The Senate, then with a Democrat majority under Harry Reid, could simply pass the bill funding government in its entirety, and ignore the bill to defund Obamacare. Some conservative House members devised a different approach -- providing a single bill that provided a stopgap allowance to continue funding the government with the exception of Obamacare. House Speaker John Boehner opted for it, saying that Obamacare was “a train wreck. It’s time to start protecting families from this unworkable law.” So, the House bill passed, and it went to the Senate. Ted Cruz famously filibustered for over 20 hours to protest the Senate Democrats’ insistence upon passing a “clean bill” which continued funding Obamacare. Cruz's allies included Jeff Sessions, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and David Vitter. However, turncoat Republican Senators John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell undermined Cruz’s efforts by rallying Republicans against him. Knowing that the Senate wouldn’t have the 60 votes to pass a “clean bill,” Cornyn and McConnell pushed for and voted for a cloture vote to allow a gutting of the House bill with 51 votes. They then voted against funding Obamacare, but only after it had become a meaningless show vote. Then, 2014 was another landslide victory for the GOP -- giving it the largest majority in Congress and state legislatures since 1928. So, in 2015, Republicans passed a bill to repeal Obamacare. President Obama vetoed the bill in January of 2016, and Republicans did not have the votes to override the veto. Later in 2016, Democrats lost the presidency to candidate Donald Trump, who railed against Obamacare during the campaign. • The American people, after nearly seven long years of struggle which led to a complete reversal in the balance of power at the federal level, had created the circumstances necessary to eliminate the ever-unpopular Obamacare once and for all, relegating it the annals of history as a failed socialist experiment. Republicans had "proven" that they are driven to repeal Obamacare at all costs. • But, once in power, Republicans didn’t try to repeal Obamacare at all. They tried to “reform” Obamacare. Daniel Henninger at The Wall Street Journal characterizes the recent efforts of Congress as the Republican “Obamacare reform failure.” American Thinker says it has become very clear that "Republicans’ outward desire to 'repeal' Obamacare had become Republicans’ outward desire to 'reform' Obamacare once they had attained the power to repeal it outright. That is what 'repeal and replace' means. It may sound better to the Republican faithful to 'repeal and replace' rather than 'reforming' the big-government, liberty-strangling monstrosity that is Obamacare, but there is little difference when you’re trading one federal law regulating our healthcare system for another that features an awful lot of the same regulatory strictures on private industry, rather than eliminating the federal regulations which Obamacare introduced altogether." • Henninger writes that, though Republicans had become “self-identifiably conservative” in recent years, we’ve just learned that they’re “not as conservative as they think they are.” American Thinker doesn't believe that Republicans, particularly of the Washington establishment variety, ever thought of themselves as conservatives. More likely, "they knowingly feigned conservative positions in order to get elected. And they could wear the conservative mask easily when it came to Obamacare, because none of their efforts in the past could ever actually repeal it. When Boehner championed defunding Obamacare in 2013, he knew it would never end Obamacare. It was a way to express conservative bona fides on the cheap, pandering to the conservative base, leaving now-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (who’s leading the effort to 'repeal' Obamacare in the Senate) to do the dirty work of quietly sabotaging the effort. Similarly, in 2015, Republicans in Congress knew that Obama would veto their bill to repeal, and that they wouldn’t have the votes to override the veto." • Why is the GOP majority of both houses of Congress not sending that same repeal bill from 2015 to President Trump’s desk, knowing that he would sign it? American Thinker says it is because most of the GOP majority in Congress wants reform, not repeal. Republicans can still win this -- against all odds, the American people have put the pieces in place necessary to repeal Obamacare outright. Republicans who vote against a pure repeal will surely be defeated as quickly as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, who spectacularly lost the Republican primary as a result of his pro-amnesty position in 2014. And, if Republicans do not repeal Obamacare, they will own whatever happens to Americans because of the existence of Obamacare. • • • IS THE TEA PARTY GEARING UP TO DO BATTLE? The Washington Post wrote last week that conservatives are furious and plotting revenge for the GOP failure to repeal Obamacare. They are furious that Senate Republicans got close to repealing big parts of Obamacare and are now on the verge of walking away from the effort altogether, possibly leaving President Obama’s healthcare law on the books for the foreseeable future. The WP says : "No issue motivated conservative activists more over the past seven years than repealing Obamacare, with groups on the right expending huge dollars and resources to get Republicans elected across two branches of government so they could finally pass a repeal bill. Their path seemed clear. First, the GOP took the House in 2010. Four years later, Republicans seized the Senate majority. And then in November, when President Trump unexpectedly won, conservatives thought victory was theirs. Just about every Republican who won a national election since the ACA was passed had promised to repeal it as part of their platform." • Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, stated on a call with the press : “If there is a single unifying issue in the Tea Party movement, it is the desire to repeal Obamacare." But, Martin and the Tea Party can easily see that nothing is working out as promised to them by the GOP congressional classes of 2010 and later. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has got his vote to start debate on a repeal bill. But, unless Senators can hash out an agreement on how to treat Medicaid spending -- as they have tried to do since January -- it will likely fail. • Breitbart reports that while the Senate GOP battles with its renegade members, in the House, Representative Tom Garrett, a Virginia Republican, along with a dozen Freedom Caucus members, has announced his intent to file a discharge petition that would put a clean repeal of Obamacare before the House. The House Freedom Caucus repeatedly argued that the best path to repealing Obamacare revolves around a simple repeal of Obamacare and then replacing the Affordable Care Act with a free-market alternative. Congress passed a clean repeal bill of Obamacare in 2015 only to have it vetoed by President Obama. Representative Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and former chairman of the Freedom Caucus, reintroduced the same clean repeal bill in 2017. However, Congress has not taken up that legislation. But, Representative Garrett has said his discharge petition would put that clean Obamacare repeal bill before the House. Garrett said : “I commend both the President and Republican leadership for working to replace the monstrosity that is Obamacare. However, we have seen discussions for replacement continue to stall and we must change our approach to reforming healthcare.” The Virginia congressman concluded : “The House should lead with an incremental approach by supporting a clean-repeal bill and then enter into replacement negotiations. As such, I just initiated a seldom-used parliamentary procedure to advance H.R. 1436 through a discharge petition. The overwhelming majority of my Republican colleagues cast their vote in support of this legislation in 2015, and I have faith they will do nothing short of that now.” • • • DEAR READERS, as baby Charlie Gard lies dying and many Americans cannot afford to visit a doctor, we have practical evidence of the catastrophe that one-payer nationalized medicine is for everyone. • Affordability is the key issue for any healthcare system. American families today with an income of even $100,000 can’t afford their premiums and deductibles. If a major medical problem crops up, the not-unusual $5,000 or more deductible means that the family must find that money just to get into the hospital or specialist's office, after paying perhaps $25,000 a year in premiums. That is not Affordable. It is not Reasonable. It is not Healthcare. It is government mirrors and taxes meant to hide the fact that it cannot manage the American healthcare system after putting in place an Affordable Care Act whose title is an insult to every US citizen. Healthcare must be made affordable. If this cannot be done, then the entire system collapses. And, affordability does not mean that US taxpayers come to the rescue. Affordability means private sector competition, cheaper drugs, and innovative, cheaper technology. And, with affordability will come fairness. No American wants any fellow-citizen to suffer because of a lack of medical care. Americans have always supported a safety net that protects those Americans unable to protect themselves. Accessiblity to healthcare is a key moral issue for all of us. But, fairness can only exist within a healthcare system that is affordable -- HHS Secretary Tom Price said on CNBC Wednesday morning that President Trump and his administration want healthcare to be available on an affordable basis to everyone, with nobody left out, in a system that empowers patients and their doctors and providers to make the decisions, not the federal government. In a system like that, the moral character of American society will shine through. But, do not expect Americans to pay for others to have subsidized healthcare when they themselves cannot afford it. That is the world turned on its head -- it is the healthcare system of socialism where the little Charlie Gards are left to die so that illegal immigrants and other favored groups can be fed, clothed, sheltered, and treated for medical problems. Some Americans need help, but Congress -- especially the renegade GOP Senators -- must accept that the free lunch is provided through the sweat of those able to provide it. When those people are treated like the irrelevant cash cows of society, then it all comes crashing down. Progressive Democrats and #NeverTrump Republicans conveniently forget this reality.