As Democrats eye health care again, keep an eye on these phony 'narratives' they will tell

Monica Showalter  "John Merline of Investor's Business Daily has always been that outfit's health care expert, not just explaining why Obamacare fails, but exposing all the smelly little shibboleths that propel such bad laws to find their way into the congressional ledgers. I think he actually read the 2,300-page original Obamacare law, quite unlike most Democrats who voted for it.

"Now with Democrats coming back into the saddle, focused primarily on 'fixing' health care, (when they can stop themselves from thinking about impeachment), Merline's taking it to another level, exposing the baseline myth that health care overseas in western socialized settings is best. He doesn't even go for the low-hanging fruit, such as Castrocare that crazier lefties like to praise, he takes on places like France and Canada with supposedly socialized medicine we are all supposed to want and that Democrats say they have in mind for us. His important new piece exposing that phony narrative hits it out of the park.

He begins:

The question often arises, "What is heath care reform and why do we need it?" The answer is almost always something like: The U.S. spends more than any other industrialized country on health care, but gets worse-quality health care. And, the U.S. is the only country that doesn't provide universal coverage to all of its citizens.

Each of these claims is technically true, but also very misleading. When you look at the data, the picture gets far more nuanced. And the alleged advantages foreign countries have over the U.S. start to dissipate.

"What I like about the piece is that it tells me a lot of things I didn't actually know.

"Did you know that there isn't really any such thing as 'socialized' medicine in Westernized countries? I didn't. I thought everyone overseas got a free ride, and it turns out they all have to pay something. It's like high deductibles we have here. Here's his example, citing Canada:" . . .

California hopes America will think like they do

California politics might benefit, but so will the left-wing Democrat candidates, given California’s penchant for supporting far left-wingers

"California has jumped ahead in the primary line. Usually holding their primary in June, months after Iowa’s kickoff in February, California’s Democrat primary will be held on March 3, 2020, allowing the state to have a greater influence in the primary game, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"From the WSJ:

The move from a June primary in 2016 will press hopefuls to consider a West Coast perspective on issues such as immigration and the environment, empower the state’s growing Latino and Asian populations and drastically increase the amount of money candidates must raise to mount a competitive campaign.

California’s calendar change is one of several developments reshaping Democrats’ primary process. Following the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary—two predominately-white electorates that are the traditional vetters of presidential candidates—at least six of the next nine states on the 2020 calendar will take Democrats through a swath of states where black and Hispanic Democrats dominate primary elections, including Texas.

. . . 

The geography for primaries will likely mean the voters critical to winning the presidential nomination will be considerably different from the electorate that carried the party to sweeping victories in the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats flipped 40 House Republican seats and regained the chamber’s majority.

. . . 

Live by the tweet....

Rich Terrell

The Liberal Arts Weren’t Murdered — They Committed Suicide

Victor Davis Hanson

Over the past few years, lots of employers have privately concluded that today’s graduating liberal-arts majors are quite confident and yet so often poorly educated. Or worse, those hiring were turned off by the strange combination of youthful ignorance and arrogance. Employers had clearly no desire to be enlightened by fresh graduates who were entirely unaware that their inductive skills were suspect or nonexistent.

"The great culture wars on the campuses of the 1980s were largely lost by traditionalists. And the question then became not if but when the liberal arts would die off as a result. What is strange nearly 40 years later is that the apparent outrage over what was clearly foreordained is now becoming fact. What did academia expect, given its years of academic specialization and politicized indoctrination?

. . . "Nor I am sure that by agreement we live in a time “when Nazism is resurgent.” Certainly the world’s most frightening societies are North Korea and Venezuela, where wide-scale poverty and government oppression are normalized. Both are failed Communist states. The current likeliest threat to the global order for future generations of liberal societies will be statist and authoritarian China, whose government is still proudly Communist in a tradition that includes Mao Zedong’s 50 to 70 million dead. The point is that if students are interested in riveting history classes, they will probably not wish to be told that they should so enroll in one because “Nazism is resurgent” in today’s West." . . .

Trump praises Green Beret charged with rogue killing of Afghan man

NY Post

"The Army Green Beret charged with murder for the rogue killing of an Afghan man in 2010 is a “hero,” President Trump tweeted Sunday as he promised to “review” the case.

"Maj. Mathew Golsteyn admitted killing an Afghan man who was questioned and released in a 2010 bazaar terror bombing.

"Two people cooperating with US forces brought the Afghan to a US military compound the day after a 2010 bazaar explosion that killed two Marines. The suspect was released after no bomb-making materials were found but later was shot dead on the street.“At the request of many, I will be reviewing the case of a ‘U.S. Military hero,’ Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder. He could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas. @PeteHegseth @FoxNews,” he tweeted Sunday morning.

"Golsteyn admitted killing the man during a 2016 Fox News special, and also on a CIA polygraph, leading the Army to announce charges against him Friday.

"He was reprimanded in 2014 and his Silver Star was revoked, but now he faces the death penalty if he’s convicted on the murder charge." . . .

Green Beret's wife welcomes President Donald Trump's offer to review murder case

. . . Taking the man to his home after a 24-hour detention, Golsteyn allegedly killed the man there and buried him in a shallow grave, Army documents said. Later that night, Golsteyn and two other soldiers dug up the remains and brought them back to their base where they burned his remains in a burn pit.  . . .

. . . "Kleinschmidt’s stepson was 27 when a militant set off an explosion that killed him and another Marine, Lance Cpl. Larry M. Johnson, 19, at a bazaar in southern Afghanistan.
“Our rules that we have to follow are not the rules that the Taliban follows,” said McQueary’s mom, Deborah Kleinschmidt." . . .

'I'm here because of that interview': Green Beret says the Fox News interview in which he admitted killing a suspected Afghan bomb maker led to his murder charges

. . . Jerry Golsteyn said it has been very difficult for the family in light of the fact that the military had previously cleared his son of any wrongdoing, only to bring the charge against him years later.
'It was an enemy combatant,' the father said of the slain Afghant. 'He was a known bomb maker, he was identified, and actions taken were to protect the lives of the villagers and those in his unit and the people around him.'
Trump and other senior military and administration leaders have issued statements about military criminal cases in the past, triggering legal appeals and other complications as the courts work to insure impartial proceedings.
The president, however, does have broad authority to pardon criminal defendants. 

Boys are Growing Frustrated by Living in a Feminized Society… and That’s Showing Up in Their Friendships

 Annie Holmquist at Intellectual Takeout  "I burst out laughing the other day while reading a friend’s Facebook status. He explained that he and his two grade school sons were watching Anne of Green Gables when they came to the part where Anne and Diana have a conversation while standing on a cliff overlooking the sea. The youngest son suddenly blurted out, “Anne better watch out, Diana might push her off the cliff.”

In amazement, my friend looked at his son and asked if he thought girl friendships were the same as the physical, often rough-and-tumble one which existed between him and his brother. The conversation ended in hysterical laughter as all three of them recognized just how different male interactions are from female ones.

I thought of this story when I came across a piece by Heidi Stevens in the Chicago Tribune. Stevens, the mother of a nine-year-old boy, recently noticed how intense and troubled her son’s friendships are with other little boys. Curious, she reached out to psychologist Wendy Mogel to find out if her son was an anomaly. Mogel assured her he was not and that many other little boys wrestle with “existential questions,” including:

• “How can I be myself without getting into trouble?”
• “Does anyone consider me a hero?” and
• “What do I contribute to this family that someone else doesn’t already contribute better?”

Boys, like the sons of my friend mentioned above, are naturally known for relationships which involve rough play and high adventures. Although energetic and overactive to female perspectives like my own, they often fuse strong friendships which are helpful in forming bonds of manhood.

But as Mogel implies, these rough, but good, friendships seem to be disappearing, particularly as boys wrestle with the above questions. Instead, boys have friendships infused with more drama and trouble. Mogel believes this change stems from the way we expect boys to behave these days:

. . . "Rules are great and necessary, but the fact is, we’re disallowing boys to be boys. We’ve taken away toys like guns and swords because they’re “dangerous.” We’ve medicated little boysbecause their movements and noise are too much for us to take. We’ve tried to make sure girls are equal and included, and thus removed the institutions where boys don’t have to compete against those of the opposite sex.

"Let’s face it: Little boys are different from little girls and adults. And unless we allow them to have outlets for natural boy play and ideas, we should not be surprised when they seem frustrated and can’t succeed in modern society.

"Is it time to stop treating the traditional, rough-and-tumble boy like a dangerous creature who must be toned down to suit feminized society?"

 hips infused with more drama and trouble. Mogel believes this change stems from the way we expect boys to behave these days:

. . . "Rules are great and necessary, but the fact is, we’re disallowing boys to be boys. We’ve taken away toys like guns and swords because they’re “dangerous.” We’ve medicated little boysbecause their movements and noise are too much for us to 

Empty Seats Galore: Thousands of Empty Seats Plague NFL in Week 15 of Season

Well, this issue hasn't helped: Law Professor: Stop Saying Football Players Have a ‘Constitutional Right’ to Kneel During the National Anthem. They Don’t.

Teresa Stanton Collett, a professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law "points to the case of Kelvin Cochran as an example of how few protections employees actually have. Cochran, a fire chief from Georgia, was terminated after a local councilman learned that he had published a book on faith that contained a few pages expressing support for the orthodox Christian view on sexual relations.

"As private employees, NFL players have even fewer protections than Cochran. (Cillizza actually acknowledges this fact later in his CNN piece: “Yes, the NFL is a private association made up of 32 team owners. And, yes, as such, they have the right to fire or penalize an employee who, they believe, engages in conduct unbecoming to the team.”)" . . .

The Gateway Pundit     You'll notice the games pictured are in progress

. . . "The NFL playoffs are right around the corner and there doesn’t seem to be the excitement for the sport like there was years ago.

"The Super Bowl is even struggling to find performers for its half time show.

"Variety ran an article last week titled, “Maroon 5 and How the Super Bowl Halftime Show Became Music’s Least Wanted Gig.”

“Who would have thought that the Super Bowl Halftime show, an American institution watched by more than 100 million people, would become the least wanted gig in music? ” Variety wrote.

"Americans watch sports to escape the daily stresses of life and work; we don’t want to watch spoiled millionaire SJWs protesting the American flag and disrespecting our Veterans."   H/T Breitbart

Personally, I do not care to watch another anti-police, pro-Black Lives Matter half-time musical screed again. TD

NFL kneeling goes full circle

Don Surber  "Get woke, go broke as they say at Instapundit. The NFL has a long way to go until it is broke, but given the number of liberals put in charge of the league, it is but a matter of time. The league took its fan base for granted, tried to expand its appeal, and virtue signaled like a Hollywood award ceremony.
"And somehow, the league managed to get Rihanna to join President Donald John Trump's boycott of the NFL.
"Ah, enjoy the Trumpenfreude this morning with your coffee.
"Our story begins with Colin Kaepernick, a scrambling quarterback who had some initial success but who went the way of all scramblers not named Fran Tarkenton. The league caught on and adjusted.
"After leading his team to the Super Bowl, followed by the NFC championship the next season, followed by three seasons of missing the playoffs, he was benched in 2016.
"He decided then to start kneeling during the National Anthem.
"He said, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
"Now he is suing the NFL for conspiring not to hire him after he opted out of playing for the 49ers in 2017.
"The protests continued as the league courted the Black Lives Matters crowd. " . . .,

Iowa Democrats Don’t Know What They Want But They Know It’s Not Hillary

Hot Air  "Since it’s never too early to start the 2020 election cycle, CNN got out ahead of the pack this week and put a poll in the field in Iowa, the first caucus state for the presidential election. They were looking to see who the hot prospects for the nomination are. The results aren’t all that much different from some national polls we’ve already looked it, but there were a few juicy bits of goodness in there.

"At the top of the pack (as usual) were Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The only real shocker was to see Beto O’Rourke moving up into third place. But there was one name missing from notable contention and Chris Cillizza read the tea leaves. Iowa Democrats have pretty much no interest in seeing Hillary Clinton darkening their doorways for a third try. (CNN)

. . . 

"The top four candidates are all men. Biden gets 30%, Sanders pulls 14, O’Rourke gets 9, and Cory Booker gets 5%. The first woman we see on the list is Kamala Harris who ties John Kerry (!) with 4%. Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar show up with 3% each.

"CNN is busy pushing Beto’s chances, describing how his score may not be high but his name recognition is low so he has “lots of room to grow.” That may be true, but do the Democrats really want to run the guy with a different record of “running?” (As in away from the scene of a DWI crash.) Time will tell. But if Hillary Clinton is really thinking about a third shot at the brass ring, she may want to consider this poll and think again.

WESTERN EUROPE Beautiful German town ‘unrecognisable’ after it accepted 1,200 migrants

Voice of Europe

The mayor and the residents of Boostedt are increasingly worried about how migrants are affecting their hometown. In the last three years, around 1,200 migrants were settled in the town’s military barracks, which is a 26 per cent population increase.

"Hartmut König, the mayor of the town with 4,600 inhabitants, tells German broadcaster NDR in an interview how admitting so many migrants has had a negative impact on the town.
“ 'It’s quite simply the behaviour. For example, in shops things are stolen. I experienced it myself: three refugees walking on the pavement, not making enough room for a woman with a pushchair and a child coming in their direction. They make no room; she has to move onto the street to get around them,” the mayor says.
“ 'That’s just one incident, but it shows the entire picture. Besides that, they leave piles of rubbish and use every available space to sit around and drink beer,” he adds.

"While broadcaster NDR attempts to minimise the issues, saying that these migrants are mostly young men with little chance of permanent residency in Germany, residents share their worries in front of the camera." . . .

Numerous posts on topics related to this subject.   Here are just two that are juxtaposed ironically, I'd say:
WESTERN EUROPE  British man who called migrant groomers ‘animals’ is facing seven years in jail

"A British man who organised a rally against Muslim rape gangs in Sunderland is facing seven years in jail. William ‘Billy’ Charlton, 53, was accused of ‘stirring up racial hatred’ by Police.He spoke at rallies along with Tommy Robinson and described “immigrants” as “rapists”, “animals” and “monsters”, a court heard.The Sunderland resident was angry about rapes being committed by migrants in the city. . . .

 11-year-old girl gang raped in Sweden – Perpetrators walk free and laugh in her face

"Swedish independent journalist Joakim Lamotte has talked to a mother whose 11-year-old daughter was raped by two men.

"The girl was forced to both anal and oral sex. The young men were arrested, but released shortly after. Several times the daughter has met the boys when she walks to school. They laughed in her face.

"The mother has just been informed that the investigation has been closed, and that her daughter will not be redressed.

"Her daughter’s life has been destroyed, she says, and the only resort they see is to move to another town. She is strongly critical of how the police have handled the case." . . .

65-year-old Swedish woman sentenced to prison for criticising Islam and migration

OFFICIAL Report Refutes DEMOCRATS' Claims on Death of 7-Year-Old Guatemalan Girl

Socio-Political-Journal

No Responsible Parent would subject their Children to the Horrors associated with walking thousands of miles for work. Even after Mexico offered the Migrants, Fence Jumpers, Drug Mules, Slave Traders, Terrorists and Frauds safe haven, this family still decided to continue. The real Villians are the Democrats who constantly use Children as a way to gain power. They are the ones responsible for this unnecessary death. My question, this one Death, funny how they don't care about the Millions of Poor Children here already. How they don't care about the 60 MILLION ABORTIONS that they Promoted and Support...tmiraldi

. . . "But the official accounts from Homeland Security officials in Washington and from agents say the girl — and the 162 other illegal immigrants she was caught with — did have access to water, food, and bathrooms, despite the remote location and overnight hours where they were caught.

"They say the girl’s father, who had brought her on the treacherous 2,000-mile journey, snuck into the U.S., got caught, then waited nearly 8 hours before alerting agents Jakelin was sick and vomiting.

"At that point there was little to do but treat her as best as possible — she was revived twice by agents trained in emergency medicine — and get her to a hospital, where she later died after suffering a heart attack, liver failure and respiratory failure.

“For them to vilify us instead of putting the blame where it belongs, which is on the parent, that’s unconscionable,” Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council and an agent himself, told The Washington Times. “We’re now allowing the parents to get away with neglect, to get away with child endangerment.” . . .

But Homeland Security officials said the father had every opportunity to alert them, both during an initial 20-question screening each migrant is given when first apprehended, or during the period when migrants were waiting for the bus to return, or again while the bus was taking them back.

“There were agents on the bus. The father could have brought this issue to their attention at any time,” a border official briefing reporters said. “There’s no indication it was lack of attention that resulted in this.”

"He said the area is so remote that there’s no faster means of medical treatment than what happened.

“ 'It’s very unfortunate in our line of work, but sometimes aliens do die in the desert. Sometimes our agents get killed in this process,” he said. “It’s a difficult, dangerous environment and the elements, the terrain itself make it all the more difficult.” . . .


More at this site:
Democrats and the BORDER: What They DON'T Want YOU to Know

. . . 26 Democrats voted Yea for the Secure Fence Act. Among them:

• Joseph Biden of Delaware (“I voted for the fence related to drugs,” he explained in a 2007 debate. “A fence will stop 20 kilos of cocaine coming through that fence.”)

• Sherrod Brown of Ohio (while still in the House, Brown voted Yea that September 14.)

• Tom Carper of Delaware

• Hillary Clinton of New York (the Halloween after voting for SFA, she told the Council on Foreign Relations that America should “secure our borders with technology, personnel, physical barriers if necessary in some places.”)

• Dianne Feinstein of California (“Democrats are solidly behind controlling the border, and we support the border fence,” she told the Los Angeles Daily News. “We’ve got to get tough on the border. There’s no question the border is a sieve.”)

• Bill Nelson of Florida (freshly defeated by Republican Rick Scott)

• Barack Obama of Illinois (“The bill before us certainly will do some good,” Obama argued on the Senate floor. “It will authorize badly needed funding for better fences and better security along our borders, and that should help stem some of the tide of illegal immigration in this country.” He added that SFA would stymie “immigrants sneaking in through unguarded holes in our border. . .”)

• Chuck Schumer of New York

• Debbie Stabenow of Michigan

Liberal silliness. 12/2018

Lloyd Marcus writes:

• . . . "After 34 years, Disney World has canceled its annual Christian Music Festival.
• Six thousand to 10,000 churches close each year in America, over 100 per week. 
• In Dover, Ohio, a Nativity scene and a Ten Commandments display were removed from public property after an atheist group complained.
• The new "Batwoman" TV series will feature the first lesbian superhero on television.
• "Whiteness Forum" seeks to ban the Christian cartoon Veggie Tales, claiming that it is racist. 
• A Virginia middle school banned Christmas songs with "Jesus" from its "winter concert." 

. . . "Angrily, I questioned why stupid parents gleefully support drag queens reading LGBTQ stories to their children at libraries.   Any idiot can see that leftists are purposely sexing our kids as early as pre-school with homosexual Christmas children books like "Santa's Husband." 

PETA Compares 'Anti-Animal Language' to Hate Speech  "COMPARING AGE-OLD sayings like "be the guinea pig" and "beat a dead horse" to racist and homophobic slurs, the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is calling for the rewrite of common animal cruelty-based idioms."


Episcopal Church Hosts Pro-Abortion Rally Featuring “Christian” Pastors Promoting Abortions

. . . A group of Ohio religious leaders criticized lawmakers’ efforts to pass protections for unborn babies Thursday during a pro-abortion protest at a church in downtown Columbus.
"The event at Trinity Episcopal Church, coordinated by the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, included Christian and Jewish leaders who oppose a bill to prohibit abortions after unborn babies have a detectable heartbeat, about six weeks of pregnancy." . . .

Ruby Rose to play first openly gay superhero in 'Batwoman'
. . . "Rose who is a member of the LGBT community herself, took to Instagram on Tuesday to both confirm the news and share what it means to her to showcase this kind of representation on TV.
"The Bat is out of the bag and I am beyond thrilled and honored. I'm also an emotional wreck." she wrote in the caption to a photo of her by an illustration of Batwoman. "Because this is a childhood dream. This is something I would have died to have seen on TV when I was a young member of the LGBT community who never felt represented on tv and felt alone and different. Thank you everyone. Thank you god.' " (Little "g" in the original)