The Youngest received his paperwork and card for this program (born out of such ire created by the VA scandal (whereby vets were refused timely service of their health needs) rose to heights that it coalesced both Dems and Repubs) a little while ago.  It allows him, in certain circumstances, to go to a civilian healthcare provider when needed.  As it turned out, he has had the unfortunate experience of having to have taken advantage of it; happy it was available but not that he was ill.  Now, Obama wants to kill it and his just released 2016 Budget:

The Obama administration outraged members of Congress on Monday by proposing to scale back a new program aimed at letting veterans access health care outside the VA system.

Last August, Congress passed a VA reform bill that created the Veterans Choice Program, which was supposed to be a way to speed up access to health care given the breakdown within the VA itself. President Barack Obama quickly signed it into law.

Of course he did – dead vets kinda spoils the Narrative that all Government has only our best interests at heart.  Until it doesn’t (remember, the scandal was all about “hiding the numbers” so the VA managers could get their bonuses; dead vets spoils that as well.

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San Francisco recently voted to raise the minimum wage to $12.25 an hour with incremental increases to $15/hour by 2018.  At least one small business owner is shuttering a business as a result.

(Yahoo! Finance) “Borderlands Books as it exists is not a financially viable business if subject to that minimum wage.” …

The blog post went on to say that the Borderlands café business will stay open and should have “no difficulty at all” with the new minimum wage because it will be able to raise prices as needed. The bookselling business is different, the blog post argued, because book prices are set by the publishers and clearly printed on the books:

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From Paul Hsieh at PJ Media

The concept of “herd immunity” applies to gun ownership and crime rates just as it does to vaccinations and infectious disease.

Crime rates in Chicago dropped dramatically in 2014 after the state of Illinois allowed legal concealed carry. From the Washington Times:

[T]he number of robberies that have led to arrests in Chicago has declined 20 percent from last year, according to police department statistics. Reports of burglary and motor vehicle theft are down 20 percent and 26 percent, respectively. In the first quarter, the city’s homicide rate was at a 56-year low.

As Richard Pearson of the Illinois State Rifle Association observed:

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Ah yes, the Progressives have their panties in a bunch in that SB116 would have NH’s streets and byways become an ocean of blood when it would turn us into the equivalent of Vermont in terms of no longer needed permission from the Government to keep a firearm and bear it either in an open or concealed carry.  Remember, the four “tells” of a Progressive that hates your Freedom:

• You don’t need that
• I don’t know of anyone who says they need that
• It’s about the quality of life“
• It is the cost of civilization

Shall we judge how to tell that Carla Breton is a Progressive?

Jan. 24 — To the Editor:

I have just been informed of a bill introduced by Sen. Jeb Bradley which challenges the reasonable requirement to obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon. I cannot believe there is opposition to requiring a license to carry a gun, concealed or otherwise.

Yup, “I don’t know of anyone who says they need that” applies here; shades of Pauline Kael:

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The head of the NH Chiefs of Police is concerned that if we allow constitutional carry minors could be permitted to carry concealed firearms.  I think we’re all concerned about that as are the sponsors of SB 116 but New Hampshire State law prohibits this and the new bill does not, to my knowledge, attempt changes to that.

But the chiefs chief is also on the record suggesting that (without regard to that law) minors have already been given permits by police departments in New Hampshire to carry concealed.  I’m hoping he misspoke, but either way,  are there any chiefs who would like to rebut the following?

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Last week, in Concord, a hearing took place for HB 119, a bill “establishing the John G. Winant Memorial Commission”.

The primary sponsors of this bill are very liberal Democrats Rep. Steven Shurtleff (House minority leader) and Senator Lou D’Allessandro.

The purpose of this bill is to “oversee the location, design, construction, and maintenance of a John G. Winant memorial”.  The bill also allows the governor to accept contributions and donations (in-kind or otherwise) for the memorial, in the “name of the State”.  By all accounts, no taxpayer money will be involved in this process.

So, what’s the big deal?   Well, for starters, Winant was a Republican.

So, why would two of New Hampshire’s most fervent Democrat leaders be sponsoring such a bill?

And why should ALL House Republicans reject this bill when it comes to the floor?

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Sometimes low hanging fruit yields interesting follow ups: Saturday I posted a tweet from @GraniteGrandma (Mary Gagnon).  She says that only the police should have guns.  I said Stalin would agree with her.  She responded to that with this.

http://twitter.com/GraniteGrandma/status/561714067837292544

So is it?  A safety issue?

There is a safety issue, but GraniteGrandma is not going to like it.

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From the UL a couple of days ago (reformatted, emphasis):

<snip>

As for his personal efforts, Guinta discussed his newly introduced Operation TAXPAYER (To Ax Persistent Abuse of Your Earned Revenue) initiative, which includes legislation designed to reduce federal offices, initiatives and programs.

…Guinta said the initiative would change House rules to require any bill that comes to the floor to be reviewed by the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, which would review the bill to make sure it is not redundant of an existing federal program, initiative or office. “The bill would have a score on it that says, ‘This bill duplicates X amount of resources or dollars,’” Guinta said following the event. For example, many existing jobs programs serve the same purpose, he said.

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Yes, a side effect of the Stupid Party when they try to out Democrat the Democrats and grow Government using other peoples’ money – and may run out in 1 year.  Why am I not surprised that Ohio Governor John Kasich (and rumored Prez Wannabee):

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s Obamacare expansion blew past projections in its first year, putting 471,452 Ohioans on Medicaid and costing taxpayers $2.1 billion.

Because enrollment has so dramatically exceeded Kasich administration estimates—the governor expected 366,00 to enroll by July 2015—the Obamacare money appropriated to pay for program benefits will be exhausted months early.  If recent enrollment and cost trends persist, Kasich’s Obamacare expansion will be more than $1 billion over budget by the time Ohio’s 2015 fiscal year ends on June 30. Actual Obamacare expansion claim expenditures reported by the Ohio Department of Medicaid are shown in the chart below.

NH is having the same problem:

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