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“The media parrots Democratic Party talking points without embarrassment, which helped elect Obama president. But as those talking points corroded the credibility of the press, the parroting helped elect President Trump.”
(H/T: Don Surber via Instapundit)
Hypocrites:
Gun-Controlled Hollywood Surrounds Golden Globes with Good Guys with Guns (H/T: Breitbart)
If environmentalism is the left’s religion, then Planned Parenthood is their place of worship. (H/T: RedState)
SHOT: Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on Republicans repealing Obamacare: She added that some rural or community hospitals will “have to shrink or even shut down if they can’t count on funding through Medicaid,” which was expanded under the law. CHASER: Ummm, I guess she doesn’t know history: Since 2010, rural hospitals have been … Read more
From The Corner:
Historic GOP Victory in Kentucky Leads to Flurry of Conservative Legislation
After taking the state house of representative for the first time in 95 years, Kentucky Republicans have passed a series of conservative reforms poised to rollback decades of Democratic economic meddling, as well as protect the unborn.
So what did they do that is such a good example for NH to following? Abbreviated:
“Free compliance advisors are available for on-sight consultation aimed at helping small businesses comply with regulations.”
At what point “a lot of Government” too much government? Another example of government regulation run amok being buisness harmful.
Manhattan culinary staple China Fun shutters, blaming government over-regulation
We keep pointing these examples under the principle that at some point, Government’s micro-management is attacking the heart of America’s economy – that of small buisnesses. We’ve seen 10s of thousands of new Federal regulations strangling growth overall (to the point of an overall average of about 1.7% GDP growth over Obama’s term) issued by bureaucrats that have never signed the front of a paycheck nor have concern over what this avalanche costs those businesses. There is no feedback cycle that makes it personal with an adverse outcome for themselves when it tanks a business. And States and local government, often times not also understanding the Law of Unintended Consequences in beeing seen as “doing something”.
The story (reformatted, emphasis mine):
For 25 years, China Fun was renowned for its peerless soup dumplings and piquant General Tso’s chicken. What left a bad taste in the mouths of its owners and loyal patrons was the restaurant’s sudden Jan. 3 closing, blamed by management on suffocating government demands. “The climate for small businesses like ours in New York have become such that it’s difficult to justify taking risks and running — nevermind starting — a legitimate mom-and-pop business,” read a letter posted by the owners in the restaurant’s front door.
And I think this next line doesn’t just include businesses but ANYTHING that has pockets as it seems those that “govern” have turned their backs on government but re-engineering society:
[Submitted by someone who has not yet given permission to use their name – but emphasis is mine]:
What a phony son of a b****!
I just watched Obama on live TV telling our troops how honored he is to serve with them when all he has ever done is, at best, ignore and demean, them and at worst decimate our military and implemented sequestration. He rightfully praises General Dunford, but there’s no mention of all of the talented generals that Obama has forced into retirement because they disagreed with his dangerous plans and policies. I believe he slipped up, but tellingly so when he said he would miss Marine 1 – the helicopters that flew him around, and Air Force 1. He’s praising himself saying how there’s been no terrorist attacks on our homeland in 8 years. What rock has he been hiding under?
2009 – a terrorist opened fire on a recruiting station in Little Rock, AR killing an active duty military man and wounding one
2009 – Terrorist Nidal Hasan killed 13 at Fort Hood, Texas
2012 – He must have forgotten about that little terrorist attack on the US consulate in Benghazi and the four who died there. Oh wait, that was caused by somebody who produced an anti-muslim video.
It is appropriate to post this Op-Ed as the NH House of Representatives starts its business.
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While cleaning my garage of junk recently so I could get my car in out of the season’s first snow, my mind was wandering and I started to think about the term “moderate Republican” and what it might mean.
My first thought was that it might be a Republican who was temperamentally willing to reach across the aisle, as they say, to others with diametrically opposed political beliefs to reach a compromise on important issues to get some legislation passed. Anything, as long as it passed with some bipartisan support.
Then, I thought of the term that a legislator must “go along to get along.” I have always heard that is one of the first things new legislators must learn.
So, I took a deep breath and with the renewed oxygen in my brain I started really thinking about this issue. What does it really mean?
That’s been a big complaint stemming from the time that the Reps held all three branches – they still acted like they were in the minority. Too scared to stand up and man up to the Principles they gave campaign lip service to – and they wondered why they were kicked to the curb in 2008? No one trusted them. It has taken them 8 long years to regain some of it back. Notice I said “some” – I think much of why they now hold Congress and the Oval Office (well, the later in two weeks) is not the Rs themselves but an unwillingness to let Hildebeast carry on a third Obama term. But I digress.
So the VERY first thing that they wanted to do was to get rid of the Office of Congressional Ethics? Yeah, that’s really being “laser focused” on the real problems at hand as this newest Congress gets started. Sorry, it just showed me that they Haven’t. Learned. A. Dang. Thing. Business as usual and watching their own backsides. The reasons why they got put there in the first place?
Second place. Or third. Or “anything but”. And then you know what happened that made me think – instead of the Rs keeping Trump in line, it may well be that the best thing that has ever happened to the DC Republicans is Trump:
Since Obamacare was passed, the Republicans have said “REPEAL!”. I’ve been waiting for this to happen for real quite some time , again to see if actions would finally match the political rhetoric:
Senate Budget Committee Chair Michael Enzi (R-WY) introduced a budget resolution Tuesday that includes “reconciliation instructions” that enable Congress to repeal Obamacare with a simple Senate majority. Passing a budget resolution that includes those instructions will mean that the legislation can pass through the budget reconciliation process, in which bills cannot be filibustered.
That means Republicans will only need 50 of their 52 members in the Senate, and a bare majority in the House, to pass legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act. According to the Wall Street Journal, the budget resolution could be passed by both houses as early as next week.
To be clear, passing the budget resolutions does not itself repeal Obamacare. But it’s the necessary first step if Republicans are to do that this year, and unless three or more Republican senators defect (or 24 House members do), it’ll be smooth sailing for the repeal effort from there on out.
Live by the sword, die by it. I just hope that the Rs don’t lose
(H/T: Animal House, Kevin Bacon)
“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.” – President Obama, Inauguration (2009)
Apparently, Obama is going to make like George Washington and make his “farewell” speech (sigh….if only). I do wonder if he’ll mention these two specific things rather than his logic-twisting, alternative-reality pronouncements that he’s been making lately (e.g., how FORTUNATE we’ve been to have him as President). After all, if he says it seems to be that he thinks it becomes real – you know, like God speaking something into existence:
Medicare?: “The Medicare Actuary says that taxpayers now face a Medicare unfunded liability ranging from $27.9 to $36.8 trillion.”
The VA?: “One year after outrage about long waiting lists for health care shook the Department of Veterans Affairs, the agency is facing a new crisis: The number of veterans on waiting lists of one month or more is now 50 percent higher than it was during the height of last year’s problems, department officials say.”
Let’s take the latter one first as this has been totally under his control and it has only gone from worse to abysmal.
This is the year that Republicans in both Concord and DC have absolutely are out of excuses to get things that the base has been demanding for years. The excuses started after the Democrats won the House, Senate, and the Corner office(s) – we can’t get anything done as we don’t have a majority! Safe to to say, they didn’t go into much detail as to WHY they lost – they had everything before and didn’t get it done then.
They said – things will be different if we get the House. So, we gave them the House. Then the whining started in on “what do you expect from us – we only have 1/2 of 1/3 of Government. We need the Senate, too”. So we did – and the whining didn’t stop even then: “that Obama, he keeps blocking everything we try to do….Waaaaaa” (but in the meantime, they gave Obama all the funding for all the stuff they campaigned against). GIVE US THE OVAL OFFICE (and here in Concord, the Governorship, even as the turncoat Republicans GAVE Maggie “The Red” Hassan the Obamacare Medicaid Expansion she and other Dems wanted (and not just a few Republicans, too).
So now both sets of Rs have a complete run of the three branches twice over. There can be no more excuses. Right? Am I right?
This proves one thing – there is NO reciprocity with or from the Left. If the sniveling little socialists don’t get what they want when they want it under the conditions that they demand – screw you all. Such tolerance from the “Tolerant” ones. Laci Green’s parents should be SO pleased with their precious snowflake. I … Read more
One reason why men can’t offer the nicety and complement “You look nice today” – the result of the perpetually outraged. And this has already proven true in the case of the passing of Debbie Reynolds: You know – like “Trigglypuff“- totally unhinged at the drop of a hat. (H/T: Liberal Logic 101)
(H/T: Liberal Logic 101)
On the news that Obama is going to sit down with the few Democrats that are still left in the US House and Senate to figure out a way to defend his Obamacare legacy. After all, he can’t depend on voters anymore – he proclaimed that they HAD to protect his legacy (“a personal insult … Read more
Good riddance, “Liveshot”. A perfect example of the Peter Principle, he should have just stuck to what he does best – marrying upward over and over. WHAT the ‘ell is he talking about – they been both for 68 years. For him to have said that? And the Dems ran him as a Prez candidate? … Read more
But there is one thing I hope all my students remember forever—the role of prices and private property. In particular, I want them to remember how these mechanisms are vital for a free and prosperous society. I make it clear to them that I think this material is of the utmost importance. In fact, prior … Read more
The entire purpose of Government is providing services to its citizens. We can quibble or argue over what services and in what quantity but they must be paid for. It is becoming increasingly clear that services must be paid for in the now but that past services are ALSO being paid for now and in the future. Which as many towns, cities and States are coming to grips that those past services are very expensive indeed. Especially out in California, services for the present are being drastically in many places due to the high price, via pensions, of those past services.
And now Nashua is feeling the price of former politicians giving too much to former government employees as they are seeing the cost of kicking that can down the road – only a snippet from the Telegraph (pay wall):
NASHUA – With the city facing a likely budget crunch in fiscal 2017-18, caused in large part by increasing pension costs, lifting the spending cap is seen as an unlikely way out of trouble.
The city’s spending cap can be lifted with a vote of 10 of the 15 members of the Board of Aldermen. That figure is out of reach given the current makeup of the board, said Brian McCarthy, president of the board…
Back to California, from Reason.com:
Completely safe is what I’m told. Um, maybe not so much? Emphasis mine, reformatted:
Mysterious illness tied to marijuana use on the rise in states with legal weed
For more than two years, Lance Crowder was having severe abdominal pain and vomiting, and no local doctor could figure out why. Finally, an emergency room physician in Indianapolis had an idea. “The first question he asked was if I was taking hot showers to find relief. When he asked me that question, I basically fell into tears because I knew he had an answer,” Crowder said.
The answer was cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS. It’s caused by heavy, long-term use of various forms of marijuana. For unclear reasons, the nausea and vomiting are relieved by hot showers or baths.
Tolerance and pluralism are important values in a free society. So are choice and association. Your choices may not be mine; my preferred associations may not be yours. In a diverse, live-and-let-live culture, our differences are manageable — as long as government doesn’t interfere. The state can’t force Elton John to take a gig he doesn’t want. It shouldn’t be able to force anyone else to, either.
-Jeff Jacoby (Boston Globe columnist)
But, so it seems, if you are a Christian baker, florist, photographer, bed-and-breakfast owner, or wedding chapel operator, the State will, with the screams of the gay mafia, force the ordinary people to “take a gig” they do not want. And the Left is perfectly fine in have local, State, or Federal Government force Individuals to go against their conscience for deeply held religious beliefs. Don’t let me forget the coercion that Obama and his pack of Progressives have forced me to support (via my taxes) abortion against my religious beliefs via the HHS “regulation” (that comes with the force of law) by redefining the English word “access” to now mean abortifacients must be “free” to those that want it via Obamacare.
Yet, when the shoe is on the other foot, as we are seeing with their candidate having been kicked to the curb by the American “flyover” public in favor of Trump, all of a sudden that long neglected clause of the First Amendment has become very, very important. This tweet says it well: