Inside the GOP’s Health Care Debacle

Politico

"Eighteen days that shook the Republican Party—and humbled a president."

. . . "The group of roughly 30 House conservatives, gathered around a mammoth, oval­shaped conference table in the Cabinet Room of the White House, exchanged disapproving looks. Trump wanted to emphasize the political ramifications of the bill's defeat; specifically, he said, it would derail his first­term agenda and imperil his prospects for reelection in 2020. The lawmakers nodded and said they understood. And yet they were disturbed by his dismissiveness. For many of the members, the "little shit" meant the policy details that could make or break their support for the bill—and have far­reaching implications for their constituents and the country. 

" 'We’re talking about one­fifth of our economy," a member told me afterward.

"Ultimately, the meeting failed to move any votes. Two Freedom Caucus members—Brian Babin and Ted Poe, both of Texas—told the president that they had switched to yes, but their decisions had already been registered with White House vote­counters prior to sitting down with Trump. (Their colleagues didn't appreciate the gesture, feeling that Babin and Poe were trying to score points with the president at their expense.) Upon returning to Capitol Hill, the Freedom Caucus gathered in a meeting room inside the Rayburn office building, discussed Trump's admonitions to them and took another vote. The tally had not changed: Of the group’s roughly three dozen members, two­thirds remained opposed, with only five or six of those saying they were "soft" in that stance. " . . .

Via Lucianne

Pro-Family Group Wins: North Carolina Will No Longer Teach First Grade Boys To Dress Like Girls

Daily Caller  Hear the lady read to you from this book in the accompanying video.
Really?

"There used to be a common phrase teachers and parents would use when school-aged boys acted up: “Boys will be boys.” Recently, a North Carolina school district tried to change that by teaching first graders that some boys should actually be girls. Without notifying parents, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system planned to read young students a picture book called “Jacob’s New Dress.” In the book, a schoolboy, Jacob, wants to wear a pink dress. Instead of teaching their son that dresses are for girls, Jacob’s parents decide to sacrifice their son’s mental health; they even make the boy a new dress and send him to school adorned in the garb of the opposite sex." . . .

Do Democrats Represent Anyone Other Than The Most Liberal Americans?

Excerpt from the Townhall article titled, "6 Questions Democrats Should Be Asking Themselves Right Now"

John Hawkins

. . . "If you’re a man, Democrats accuse you of perpetuating rape culture. If you’re white, they accuse you of being privileged. If you’re a Christian, they accuse you of being as bad as radical Islamists. If you’re a non-liberal woman, you’re constantly told that women who hold you in contempt and don’t represent your views speak for you. If you’re moderate, for all intents and purposes, they tell you to shut your mouth and do as you’re told. Democrats would rather offend a million Americans in flyover country than hack off a liberal college professor. At some point, if you want to represent people, you have to at least make an attempt to address issues they care about in a way that they appreciate. Democrats have abandoned this idea and have started explaining to Americans that they’re too stupid to know what’s good for them. That’s not how you make friends and influence people.

"5) Has The Democratic Party Gotten Too Extreme? Democrats from the Clinton years would think today’s Democrats are nuts and Democrats from, say, 40 years ago would vote Republican before they’d vote for the radicalism that has been embraced by today’s Democrat Party. Gay marriage, men in the women’s restrooms, detaching gender from genitalia, trigger warnings, safe spaces, cultural appropriation, white privilege, open borders – these are radical shifts for the Democrat Party that have happened in a relatively short period of time. At what point do you start to wonder if your party has moved too far, too fast?" . . .

Democratic Senator Who Thought Filibustering Judges Was Tyranny Of The Minority Now Supports Blocking Gorsuch

Matt Vespa

. . . "Ever since Schumer announced his intention to lead this idiotic crusade to block Gorsuch, all eyes are on the nine or so Senate Democrats who have said that Trump’s Supreme Court nominee—Gorsuch—should get a hearing and a vote. What that is remains to be seen. Are they talking about the panel vote? Do they mean cloture? If it is cloture, then that’s the ballgame. Gorsuch will get the 60 votes to end debate and move his nomination for a final vote in which only a majority is needed for confirmation. If it isn’t, well—Democrats are acting dumber than usual, trying to cater to their hyper left wing base that demands all-out war against Trump’s agenda, despite the party being ill-equipped to put up much of a fight against Republicans. You would think that Senate Democrats would opt to keep their powder dry for when the balance of the Court would be threatened (in their eyes) if a second vacancy should occur during Trump’s presidency. Instead, they’re lining up for this circus, where a conservative is replacing a conservative on the Supreme Court." . . .

The Science Is Settled! Now Shut Up!

American Thinker   "Oftentimes, those on the political left assume the mantle of moral superiority, and superiority in their knowledge of scientific advances as well.  Both are self-serving and usually fraudulent claims, but that doesn't stop liberals from pretending they are our intellectual and philosophical betters.  No matter how much factual evidence they're shown that disproves an argument, they continue to spout the same nonsense and then accuse those who don't agree with them of being behind the times or anti-science.  Their alleged scientific proof is often filled with holes or is nonexistent altogether, even as the liberal news media promote their unsubstantiated theories.  Disagreement is met with angry and sometimes violent rebukes from those who specialize in outrage instead of honest debate.

"The most recent area of scientific legerdemain is, of course, climate change, or man-made global warming.  For the past decade or so, we've been inundated with dire predictions of earthly catastrophes that have yet to materialize, while we're shamed into reducing our imagined "carbon footprint" in order to save the Earth.  We're told the science is settled and that no further debate is necessary, despite no significant change in the worldwide climate or temperature.  Meanwhile, there is proof of faked data, which was revealed in the "Climategate" email scandal, and proof that the methodology for gathering temperature was fraudulent, as exposed by author Christopher Horner in his book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism.  There is abundant verifiable evidence that man-made global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the power-hungry and embraced by the gullible, but we're told that the science is settled and that dissent is wrong or ignorant or even stupid." . . .
Photo added by TD

The Freedom Caucus Kills the Health Care Bill

Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard  "Before Republicans captured Washington, the conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus were a nuisance. Then, with the GOP in control of the House, Senate, and White House, they became a roadblock. Now, in single-handedly killing the legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, they've turned into gang of renegades running amok inside the House GOP. Neither President Trump nor House speaker Paul Ryan can sway the 30 or so Freedom Caucus members, much less control them. Trump, the supposed closer, was unable to forge a deal with them. Ryan offered changes in the bill, but that only egged on the Freedom Caucus to demand more.

"The political damage from this stinging defeat could be enormous. Any effect it has on Trump's first-year agenda won't be good. Recall that the president started with repeal and replace of Obamacare partly because that would clear the way for a bigger tax cut. Its downfall now "makes tax reform more difficult," Ryan said. "We're going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future."

Meanwhile Democrats taunt and mock those of us who voted for Trump and the Republicans.

'They own Obamacare!' Furious Trump lashes out at Democrats after House Republicans' health care vote fiasco

UK Daily Mail  "President Donald Trump blamed Democrats in Congress on Friday after House Republicans were forced to cancel a vote on their health care bill – warning the opposition party that they will continue to 'own Obamacare' as it spins in a death spiral.

The stunning uppercut came on the day he failed to deliver – for now, at least – on the promise he made in hundreds of campaign appearances, to 'repeal and replace Obamacare.' 

"Shortly after the vote was called off, a resigned House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters that Obamacare was still 'the law of the land. It's going to remain the law of the land until it's replaced.'

"Although it was GOP infighting that caused the legislative crisis, the president predicted that Obamacare will ultimately crash and burn – forcing Democrats to come crawling to the White House for his help in crafting a workable replacement 'when it explodes – which it will soon.' 

" 'The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,' Trump claimed, naming the Democratic Party's leaders in the House and Senate, 'because now they own Obamacare. They own it. One hundred per cent own it.'

" 'They have Obamacare for a little while longer until it ceases to exist, which it will at some point in the near future.'

" 'And just remember,' Trump warned: 'This is not our bill. This is their bill. Now when they all become civilized and get together and try to work out a great health care bill for the people of this country, we're open to it.'  . . .

Democrats have taunted Republicans and TEA Partiers for years as here, on the first passage of Obamacare. They mocked and taunted half the American population.

Reboot  . . . "Republicans more or less fell into a losing strategy. They began by thinking they could quickly repeal Obamacare and then replace it at leisure. To their credit, they substantially modified their plan in response to criticism, attempting to do portions of both repeal and replace in one bill. But this new approach was a bad fit for the old schedule. A viable repeal-and-replace plan could not be slapped together as fast as Republicans wanted to move. Compounding the problems were Speaker Ryan’s high-handedness and President Trump’s erratic leadership.
"This week’s embarrassments make it hard to see the opening that remains for Republicans. The fact is that Republicans reached a fair degree of consensus during this process."
. . . 
"They have spent seven years saying they were going to replace Obamacare. They didn’t say they were going to spend a few weeks on a half-baked plan and then give up. Back to work, ladies and gentlemen."  Full National Review article

Professor Hypocrite, Tear Down This Door!

Mike Adams

"One of my conservative friends recently suggested that leftist professors should be prohibited from putting political posters and bumper stickers on their office doors. I strongly disagreed and told him I would defend the leftists if he ever tried to interfere with their political speech. But I wouldn’t do it for reasons of principle. I would do it because I enjoy the wealth of good writing material supplied by my more extreme left wing colleagues – most of them self-described feminists. A case in point is the recent MoveOn.org poster that is making its way onto so many faculty office doors on campuses across America. In case you haven’t seen one, here is the exact wording of the poster: [see photo above]."

"It’s hard to comprehend so much idiocy crammed into such a small space. So just in case you missed some of the more intellectually herniated nuances, let me break them down for you. In just five lines, the leftist professor sporting this sign manages to call attention to five distinct things about her character, her professionalism, and her worldview. They follow in no particular order of importance:" . . .

Some of her bullet points discussed in more detail in the article:

• She really isn’t looking to bring refugees and immigrants into her office; she is looking to bring like-minded disciples into her classes. . . .
• There is no Muslim ban but the professor is too misinformed to know it (or ms-informed if she is a feminist) . . .
• She locks her doors instead of adopting an open borders practice in her day-to-day living . . .
• She works in a profession lacking diversity.  . . .
• She is a mouthpiece for Marxist propaganda. . . .

Remember Ken Starr? His plane just disappeared on his way to DC to testify.

Fake News Update: Fake News: Ken Starr NOT Killed In Plane Crash On The Way To DC To Testify

Several fake news websites have copied an article from satirical fake news site The Resistance: The Last Line of Defense which was titled: "Remember Ken Starr? His Plane Just Disappeared On His Way To DC To Tesitify". Various other sites have relabeled it as "BREAKING: Ken Starr's Plane Just Disappeared On His Way To DC To Testify Against Hillary", probably to fix the spelling error. The original article begins:

Ken Starr, the lead prosecutor who helped congress impeach Bill Clinton, was on his way to Washington DC this morning when his plane disappeared from radar. A plume of smoke in the area the plane was seen after the plane was spotted just outside of Wilkershire, Maryland.

The NTSB says the tower in Philadelphia lost contact with the plane about ten minutes before the explosion and that without a significant development, it appears all five people on board were killed.

As of 1:12 CST, this is the only source reporting this event other than one other linking to this as did I. TD . . .

The original story:
Open Magazines  "Ken Starr, the lead prosecutor who helped congress impeach Bill Clinton, was on his way to Washington DC this morning when his plane disappeared from radar. A plume of smoke in the area the plane was seen after the plane was spotted just outside of Wilkershire, Maryland. 
As Elaine once told Jerry Seinfeld, "Fake, fake, fake, fake."

In Defense of Devin Nunes

Bloomberg  "One of the strangest turns in the story of Russia and the Trump campaign has been the recent outrage from Democrats over politicization of the investigation. 
"This all centers on Chairman Devin Nunes, the Republican who is leading the House Intelligence Committee's investigation. He was an adviser to the Trump presidential transition. The White House asked him last month to talk to a reporter to rebut news stories that alleged Trump associates had many contacts with Russian intelligence officers. On Wednesday, Nunes briefed the president about new information he had regarding dozens of widely disseminated intelligence reports on the Trump transition. "He did this before he briefed his committee's Democrats.

" All of this has prompted an outbreak of high dudgeon from the party of Clinton. Representative Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the committee, says Nunes must choose whether he wants to lead a credible investigation or be a surrogate of the Trump White House. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Nunes is a "stooge.' " . . .
Via Lucianne:
Benghazi Liar Adam Schiff Slimes Devin Nunes  . . . "Schiff has had no problem in himself acting as a surrogate for Team Obama or Team Hillary. That deafening silence you hear is the 
outrage he has expressed over the leaking of classified information to the press designed to fatally wound the Trump transition. Schiff had no problem repeating claims without evidence that Team Trump was colluding with the Russians. Now he is troubled by Nunes citing reports proving President Trump was right about his team being monitored." . . .

Did Obama Surveil Trump? Sure Looks That Way  . . . " 'I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions the intelligence community ... collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition," Nunes told reporters.
"Nunes immediately came under intense criticism from congressional Democrats for his revelations. What's both hilarious and sad is that these are the very same Democrats who have been nearly silent as a series of illegal leaks from the intelligence bureaucracy have made their way into the mainstream media, in a transparent attempt by unnamed intelligence officials to damage Trump's presidency." . . .

Freedom Watch Notifies Congress of “Deep State” Intelligence Whistle-Blower – full pdf…

The Last Refuge  "Freedom Watch notifies congress of a “Deep State” intelligence community whistle blower, Dennis Montgomery, with hundreds of millions of documents showing CIA and FBI and Intelligence Committees were spying on, and conducting surveillance on, American citizens for political purposes.

"Mr. Montgomery is trying to use a legal “whistle-blower” process and not follow the same approach as Edward Snowden." . . .

Page one of eleven:

K-12: No Joy In Reading. That's the Plan.

Bruce Deitrick Price  . . . "To start with, Sight-words are the worst way to start.  Instead of learning letters and the sounds they represent, children memorize graphic designs.  Rudolf Flesch (Chapter V of Why Johnny Can't Read) said that as of 1948, eleven studies had been conducted; all found that phonics is superior.  (So the Education Establishment has always known that if you want a society to have low literacy, you will promote Sight-words.  And that is what they relentlessly do.) 

Children who rely entirely on Sight-words will invariably end up semi-literate (aka functionally illiterate).  However, it's also true that the more verbal children will in time figure out that Sight-words are not efficient.  These children will notice that certain letter-shapes represent certain sounds.  And by the third grade, many children will be reading phonetically even though they were never taught to do so!" . . .

Bruce Deitrick Price explains educational theories and methods on his site, Improve-Education.org. For info about his four new books, see his literary site, Lit4u.com.

The Reading Wars; Phonics versus Whole Language  . . . "Phonics proponents led by Rudolph Flesh in his 1955 book Why Johnny Can't Read attacked the whole word  
approach because it did not get students into reading children's stories that did not have carefully controlled vocabularies. Phonics advocates focus their efforts on the primary grades and emphasize the importance of students being able to sound out (read) words based on how they are spelled. A problem with English is that it does not have a one-to-one sound symbol relationship that would make reading much easier. The many homonyms in English such as to, too, and two create difficulties for students, even at the university level in regard to spelling.

"While knowing basic phonetic rules helps students sound out words, other very common "outlaw words" still need to be memorized as sight words because they don't follow any but the most complicated rules. It is estimated about half the words in the English language cannot be pronounced correctly using commonly taught phonic rules. Other problems with phonics include the differing size of students' vocabularies and differing dialects of English that vary in their pronunciation rules

"Phonics is considered a "bottom up" approach where students "decode" the meaning of a text. The advantage of phonics, especially for students who come to schools with large vocabularies, is that once students get the basics down, they can go to the library and read a wide variety of children's literature." . . .

UK Guardian: Fabulous Phonics: a creative approach to teaching reading and writing

"Last week, I spent a fascinating afternoon at John Donne primary school with 24 early years and foundation stage (EYFS) teachers listening to deputy head and early years specialist Ruth Moyler share her creative approach to teaching phonics." . . .

Her resources:

Phase 2 of Fabulous Phonics for reception teachers: 'SAT' 'PIN' 'MDG'Phase 2 Fabulous Phonics for reception teachers: 'OCK' 'CK' E U 'RHB'Phase 3 of Fabulous Phonics for reception teachersFunny phrases for phase 3 phonicsPhase 2 phonics suggestions for real 'sound' objectsPhase 3 phonics suggestions for real 'sound' objects

Whole Language: What It Is, What It Isn't  This author prefers phonics.

Whole language "describes a literacy philosophy which emphasizes that children should focus on meaning and strategy instruction. It is often contrasted with phonics-based methods of teaching reading and writing which emphasize instruction for decoding and spelling. However, from whole language practitioners' perspective, this view is erroneous and sets up a false dichotomy. Whole language practitioners teach to develop a knowledge of language including the graphophonic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic aspects of language. Within a whole language perspective, language is treated as a complete meaning-making system, the parts of which function in relational ways. It has drawn criticism by those who advocate "back to basics" pedagogy or reading instruction because whole language is based on a limited body of scientific research."

Defending Whole Language: The Limits of Phonics Instruction and the
Efficacy of Whole Language Instruction  pdf