FLASHBACK Friday: Here Is Every GOP Senator Who Voted To Keep Obamacare In 2017 Promising To Repeal In 2015…

Weasel Zippers

Tim Young‏

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@TimRunsHisMouth

WATCH: Here's all the GOP Senators who voted against repealing Obamacare... Saying they'd repeal Obamacare. #FlashbackFriday @DailyCaller

11:46 AM - 28 Jul 2017

Murkowski Refuses To Explain Why She Campaigned On Obamacare Repeal But Voted Against It  "Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski refused to explain why she voted against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act when she previously supported similar proposals in her campaigns. 

"Following the failed “skinny repeal late Thursday night, Murkowski, one of the three Republican senators who voted against it, told The Daily Caller she was not ready to respond to why she campaigned on repealing Obamacare in her last election but reversed her position on the matter recently.

“ 'I am really very tired and so you’re asking for a really thoughtful response and I actually appreciate your question but rather than respond to each and individual request with all of these cameras around me, I’m gonna take a pass,” she said." . . .

Who Paid for the ‘Trump Dossier’? Democrats Don’t Want You To Find Out, A Scandal Of Its Own

Weasel Zippers

"Finally, someone in MSM asking the right questions and doing some real journalism.

"Via WSJ:

It has been 10 days since Democrats received the glorious news that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley would require Donald Trump Jr. and Paul Manafort to explain their meeting with Russian operators at Trump Tower last year. The left was salivating at the prospect of watching two Trump insiders being grilled about Russian “collusion” under the klieg lights.

Yet Democrats now have meekly and noiselessly retreated, agreeing to let both men speak to the committee in private. Why would they so suddenly be willing to let go of this moment of political opportunity?

Fusion GPS. That’s the oppo-research outfit behind the infamous and discredited “Trump dossier,” ginned up by a former British spook. Fusion co-founder Glenn Simpson also was supposed to testify at the Grassley hearing, where he might have been asked in public to reveal who hired him to put together the hit job on Mr. Trump, which was based largely on anonymous Russian sources. Turns out Democrats are willing to give up just about anything—including their Manafort moment—to protect Mr. Simpson from having to answer that question.

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.

CHELSEA MANNING ATTACKS MILITARY FOR WANTING TO SPEND MONEY ON PLANES INSTEAD OF TRANS SURGERIES

Milo  Whom we might say is an authority on this subject.

"Former U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning has lashed out at the military, attacking their willingness to spend money on silly things like planes in the wake of President Donald Trump’s announcement that transgender people will not be allowed to serve in the military.

"Taking to Twitter this morning, Manning – who is a trans woman – cried, “so, biggest baddest most $$ military on earth cries about a few trans people but funds the F-35? Sounds like cowardice.”

 Follow

Chelsea E. Manning 

✔@xychelsea

so, biggest baddest most $$ military on earth cries about a few trans people  but funds the F-35?  sounds like cowardice 

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"Manning continued to rant via a number of other tweets containing “brilliant” suggestions like “we should dismantle the bloated and dangerous military/intel/police state to fund #healthcare for all.' ”

Nunes: Obama political aides made hundreds of unmasking requests

Legal Insurrection

Rick Moran  . . . "This sort of thing used to be illegal until Obama relaxed privacy rules in 2011.  So while it's not technically illegal (Nunes and others think it should be), it is a clear abuse of the privilege.  It may even be an abuse of power if the White House used the unmasking to leak the names of Trump officials to the press for political purposes.

"The press is totally uninterested in this story, even though many of us would like to know what the hell the Obama administration was doing with all this information.  Is it not important that the then-president of the United States was using intelligence agencies to do his political dirty work?  I guess if it doesn't lead with Trump and Russia, it's non-news.

"It's unnerving to think your identity could be compromised even if the NSA did not have a warrant to spy on you.  But the Obama administration was far more concerned about which Republican was meeting with foreign leaders or businessmen and what they discussed than any constitutional right to privacy. "

Imran Awan Scandal Shows Just How Much Dirt Dems Wanted to Hide By Focusing on Trump-Russia

PJ Media

"When U.S. Capitol Police, the FBI, and Customs and Border Protection teamed up to arrest Imran Awan, an IT staffer for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and other congressional Democrats, Americans began to realize just how broken and corrupt the Democratic Party has become. Indeed, such scandals beg the question of whether the Trump-Russia hype has not been a desperate attempt to distract the country from a long train of scandals on the Left.

"Awan was arrested Monday night on charges of bank fraud, to which he has pled not guilty. As Forbes' Frank Miniter argued, however, his strange case "has all the feeling of the opening scene of a movie that might soon include political corruption and so much more."

Politico reported that Awan is "at the center of a criminal investigation potentially impacting dozens of lawmakers." He was arrested after wiring $283,000 from the Congressional Federal Credit Union to Pakistan, The Daily Caller reported." . . .

. . . "The Awan brothers worked for more than 30 House and Senate Democrats, as well as former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who only fired Imran Awan on Tuesday after his arrest. News of the investigation broke in February, but Schultz kept Awan on staff for five months before firing him. Schultz even threatened Capitol Police Chief Matthew Verderosa about the investigation in May." . . .

ABC, NBC, And CBS Pretty Much Bury IT Scandal Engulfing Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Office   . . . "Concerning media coverage, Politico has reported something on it, but the big three—ABC, NBC, and CBS—have virtually buried this story, preventing the millions of viewers that tune into these respective networks from learning about it. NBC and ABC have been silent in their broadcasts, but CBS did devote 37 seconds to it. That's it (via Newsbusters):

Survey: Anthem protests top reason people watched fewer games last year

Rick Moran  
. . . "A new survey released by J.D. Power shows that the number-one reason some people watched less sports on TV was protests against the National Anthem.

ESPN:

The pollster said it asked more than 9,200 people who attended either one football, basketball or hockey game whether they tuned into fewer games and why. Twenty-six percent of those who watched fewer games last season said that national anthem protests, some of which were led by Colin Kaepernick, were the reason.

After that, 24 percent of those surveyed who said they watched fewer games said they did so either because of the league's off-the-field image issues with domestic violence or with game delays, including penalties.

One in five (20 percent) listed excessive commercials and advertising as a reason, something the NFL is seeking to address by moving around traditional ad blocks.

. . . 

"It is significant that the numbers dropped precipitously early in the season, when the anthem protests were big news, and then recovered toward the end of the year as attention to the protests waned.  It is also significant that fans are apparently getting tired of reading about athletes in trouble with the law, as the parade of sports figures being arrested for various crimes continues."

California history textbook photo?

Hey, it can happen.

Counterpoint: Krauthammer now sees Trump-Russia collusion

comicallyincorrect.com

Charles Krauthammer: Bungled collusion is still collusion  "The Russia scandal has entered a new phase and there’s no going back.

"For six months, the White House claimed that this scandal was nothing more than innuendo about Trump campaign collusion with Russia in meddling in the 2016 election. Innuendo for which no concrete evidence had been produced.

"Yes, there were several meetings with Russian officials, some only belatedly disclosed. But that is circumstantial evidence at best.

"Meetings tell you nothing unless you know what happened in them. We didn’t. Some of these were casual encounters in large groups like the famous July 2016 Kislyak-Sessions exchange of pleasantries at the Republican National Convention. Big deal.

"I was puzzled. Lots of cover-up, but where was the crime? Not even a third-rate burglary.

"For six months, smoke without fire. Yes, President Trump himself was acting very defensively, as if he were hiding something. But no one ever produced the something.

"My view was: Collusion? I just don’t see it. But I’m open to empirical evidence. Show me.

"The evidence is now shown. This is not hearsay, not fake news, not unsourced leaks. This is an email chain released by Donald Trump Jr. himself. A British go-between writes that there’s a Russian government effort to help Trump Sr. win the election, and as part of that effort he proposes a meeting with a “Russian government attorney” possessing damaging information on Hillary Clinton." . . .

Transgender Surgeries Would Cost Pentagon $1.3 Billion

Free Beacon  "Taxpayer-funded sex-change surgeries would cost the Pentagon $1.3 billion over 10 years.

"President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that transgender individuals will not be eligible to serve in the military, with the White House citing cost and military readiness concerns.

"Internal data provided to the Washington Free Beacon from Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R., Mo.), a leading opponent of taxpayer-funded sex changes, show that even by using a conservative estimate, the costs associated with 0.7 percent of the military population is great.

"Hartzler's office provided a detailed calculation that shows estimates of the current number of transgender service members, and the number likely to seek a taxpayer-funded gender transition.

" 'The 10-year cost estimate is for surgery only and is adjusted for 3 percent inflation; it accounts for Active Duty, Guard, and Reserve members currently serving as well as new recruits over the same time period," the document states. "It uses the FY 18 DoD number for total number of military members and multiplies it by the percentage of military personnel assumed to be transgender as reported by the UCLA Williams Institute and the National Center for Transgender Equality."

"The 2014 Williams Institute study found there were 15,500 transgender individuals actively serving, or 0.7 percent of the military population. By adjusting the figure for the enlistment numbers of 2,130,000, there are currently 14,910 transgender service members.

"Thirty percent will likely seek surgeries, or 4,473 transgender troops. The average cost per surgery is $132,000, which is a combination of the average cost of male to female ($140,450) and female to male ($124,400) surgeries.

"The cost to taxpayers for these surgeries would be $590 million, and $770 million with a 3 percent inflation rate by 2027." . . .

Hillary Clinton’s upcoming book: Make way for the pity party

Washington Times  "Hillary Clinton, of “I Should’ve Won the White House!” fame, apparently isn’t content to deliver 10- and 20-second talking points from her national podium about the dang Russians who worked with President Donald Trump to give him that presidential title.

"She’s gotta write a book about it, too.

"That’s right. Clinton’s new book will reportedly double down on the Russian election interference angle — as well as one that rings in former FBI chief James Comey as a heavy factor in her loss, too.

"She just wants to get the story out, her friends privately say.

“ 'She really believes that’s why she lost, and she wants to explain why in no uncertain terms,” one of her political supporters told The Hill. “She wants the whole story out there from her own perspective. I think a lot of people are going to be really surprised by how much she reveals.”

"Well, probably not — not if the book focuses, as hinted, on the Russia-Trump election collusion message, or on the Comey’s a Traitor rhetoric, either. America already knows these lines. And they’re boring." . . .

Asset forfeiture? Let's start with Bernie Sanders

Jack Hellner  "The left-wing press is braying about seizing the assets of Jared Kushner, who's committed no crime, all because he forgot to disclose an asset on one of his many bureaucratic forms.  How about seizing the assets of socialist millionaire Bernie Sanders, whose wife committed fraud?

"Somehow the media avoid Bernie's family fraud like the plague.  Can anyone imagine if a Republican had this same offense?  Well, yes we can – we have seen what they are up to with Kushner.

"Why don't the Republicans recommend seizing assets from people who got some of their assets dishonestly, such as millionaire socialist Bernie Sanders, who got some of his assets because of his wife's high salary while she was committing fraud and while her university was receiving taxpayer funds, at least in the form of student loans and aid, or whatever it was?  There were all sorts of violations she either did or is being investigated for, and the pair of them profited handsomely, as their many real estate holdings show.

"How many houses do you need, Bernie?

"It's not just Bernie, by the way.  How about seizing the assets of Hillary Clinton, too, where a substantial amount of her wealth came from the spike in speaking fees for Bill Clinton from foreign countries, including Russia, seeking favors after Hillary became commander in chief (can you say "kickbacks"?)?

I"nstead, you are willing to seize assets from a relative of Trump who left information off a form.

"That's rich from the left."

Donald Trump, the (Un-)Masked Magician

Once again, Trump the (un-)masked magician has exposed another self-serving opportunist masquerading as a Boy Scout.

Michael Bertolone  "Back in the late 1990s, there was a popular TV show called Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, in which a masked magician showed the audience how some of the most famous stage magic tricks were done.  This horrified and outraged professional magicians everywhere, as it struck at the heart of their livelihood.  Donald Trump is doing the same thing to the entrenched Washington establishment, only without the mask, and with a much greater outcry and resistance from the lobbyists, politicians, and media hacks he is exposing on a daily basis. " 
. . . 
"In an interview with Tom Brokaw in 1980 (available on YouTube), a 33-year-old Donald Trump laid out a rational argument for wanting to purchase the World Trade Center.  This interview demonstrates that Trump is crazy like a fox and uses his current over-the-top persona as a tactic.  Here, he lays out a reasoned argument with a calm, rational demeanor in complete contrast to the mainstream media's portrayal of him as president." . . .