As more people begin seeing through the fog of political “talking points”, the next response from those suffering from battered conservative syndrome is to say: well, do nothing, and allow ObamaCare to simply self-destruct.
Unfortunately, this is not an option.  At least it’s not a reasonable option.  To understand how battered conservatives are being lead around, used and abused, it is very important to understand the abusers.  There are many.

Last week Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin informed congress it will soon be necessary to raise the debt ceiling.   Immediately, crony-constitutional conservative types, like many who assemble in the House Freedom Caucus, shouted “no way”; apparently, according to their pearl-clutching political position – it unnerves their fiscally conservative sensibilities.
Interesting.
On October 21st, 2015, the Freedom Caucus itself backed Paul Ryan for Speaker of the House of Representatives. (LINK)  A week later, October 28th, 2015, members of the same Freedom Caucus voted to approve a $2+ trillion dollar Omnibus spending bill, a massive continuing resolution, and removed the debt ceiling restrictions (link).  Two days later, October 30th, 2015, at 3:00am in the morning, the Omnibus CR bill passed the Senate (link).
This was yet another year without a federal budget, and a specific decision to fund all of Obama’s spending priorities for 2015 and 2016.  (more…)

Don’t listen to the Western media version of what Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says. It is important to listen to his words directly:

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CNN has intentionally broadcast a filtered version of this interview focusing on the “foreign invaders” perspective. However, pay close attention to the 06:15 point of the video above where Assad discusses President Trump and his policy, and how Assad (correctly) views Turkey as facilitating ISIS.

“We have hopes that this administration in the United States is going to implement what we have heard, taking into consideration that talking about ISIS doesn’t mean talking about the whole terrorism; ISIS is one of the products, al-Nusra is one of the products, you have so many groups in Syria but they are not ISIS – but they are al-Qaeda. They have the same background of the Wahhabi extremist ideology”. [ie. The Muslim Brotherhood]

Asked about cooperation with President Trump specifically, President Assad expands: (more…)

Last night President Trump had a lengthy dinner and conversation with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in advance of several upcoming foreign emissary visits to the White House, and T-Rex’s strategic trip to Asia.
Today President Trump took Secretary Kelly (DHS), Secretary Ross (Commerce), Secretary Mnuchin (Treasury), Secretary Shulkin (VA), together with their spouses to Trump National Golf Club in Virginia.
Accompanying the cabinet group was key staff: Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Senior Adviser Steve Bannon, and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Clockwise from President Trump: Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Hilary Ross, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Louise Linton (engaged), Karen Kelly and DHS Secretary John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Senior Adviser Steve Bannon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Merle Bari Shulkin and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin.

This type of exit from DC is really smart for multiple reasons.  It might be a little challenging for the convoy to drive 35 minutes, but it allows the cabinet team to synergize in a more relaxed environment with introductions and fellowship amid the spouses.
Additionally, it provides a fully private venue, with full pre-arrival security controlled by Team Trump (ie. no ears); and an escape from the toxic fumes which perpetually emanate from the DC Swamp.
(more…)

On Saturday in Louisville, Ky., Vice President Mike Pence spoke about President Donald Trump’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare.  Anyone else notice Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul were not present?

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“The ObamaCare nightmare is about to end. … Virtually every promise with ObamaCare has been broken,” Pence said, adding Kentucky is one of the many states negatively affected by the Affordable Care Act.
Pence promised that ObamaCare would not continue, since it has been a top priority of the Trump administration to repeal and replace the program.
(more…)

In the largest measure, the basic problem is in 2009 Harry Reid passed the ObamaCare legislation in the Senate with 60 votes.  The House then passed the exact same bill, and the Democrats moved to immediate reconciliation to remove the House concerns (Gator-Aid, Cornhusker Kickback, Louisiana Purchase etc.).
In 2017 the Republican congress are attempting to repeal and replace that ObamaCare legislation with only 52 Senate votes available, well, maybe.
Unfortunately for the GOP there are not even 52 votes for repeal.  Portman, Thune, Collins, Murkowski, Graham, McCain, Blunt, Cochran, Cornyn, Hatch, McConnell and others, are not necessarily on board; that’s 11. (Leaving only 41).
No amount of byzantine rule changes surrounding “reconciliation” are going to overcome that factual vote hurdle.  In 2009 Senator Reid started with 60 votes.  In 2017 Senator McConnell starts with 52.

So anything coming from the House of Representatives has to keep this reality in mind.  Even if support or opposition is based on ideological principle, it still has to pass – or it’s moot.
There’s no doubt the Paul Ryan proposal holds the worst U.S. CoC aspects demanded by Tom Donohue.  Heck, Donohue poured a lot of lobbying money into the entire architecture in ’09/’10 and he’s paid republicans in congress hundreds of millions to make sure his interests in keeping ObamaCare around are protected.  Ryan is big GOPe and he’s supported by the Big Club.
And, as much as Paul Ryan is beholden to Donohue to retain some form of ObamaCare, so too are the Rand Paul / Ted Cruz types paid by billionaires like Cary Katz (Conservative Review); who want an abject repeal without compromise. (more…)

Reposting part of a previous outline by request.  The repost is requested as an outcome of the latest wage rate news within the February labor report.  The wage rate increase is not being highlighted, and in some reports downplayed, by media.   However, the measurable matrices inside the space between two economic engines is responding according to prior outline on the new economic dimension.

First the recap of the day’s news on labor rates:

WASHINGTON DC – With the labor market near full employment, wage growth could speed up as companies are forced to raise compensation to retain employees and attract skilled workers. A proxy for take-home pay rose a solid 0.5 percent in February.

The annual wage increase is close to the 3 percent to 3.5 percent range that economists say is needed to lift inflation to the Fed’s 2 percent target. Inflation is already firming, in part as commodity prices rise.

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Earlier today President Trump and Vice President Pence held a meeting with key congressional committee leaders to discuss the ongoing healthcare reform.

[Transcript] 11:50 A.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  I want to thank each of the House committee leaders for being with us today.  Your devotion and leadership has been amazing, and I want to just applaud you and the diligent work of your committees to advance the Obamacare repeal-and-replacement legislation that we’ve been talking about for a long time, and that we’ve been running with and I ran with, and I can tell you.  And that’s what people want, they want repeal-and-replace.  The bill passed just now through Ways and Means, and it will — I think the committee just voted recently, right?
(more…)

In the latest Bloomberg News report on the labor market, Bloomberg buried the lede:

[…]  Goods-producing industries, which include mining, construction and manufacturing, added 95,000 jobs in February, the most since 2000.

This is critical for many reasons.  However, before going further, again we must remind everyone about the Magic Wand. WATCH:

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What many people do not realize is the scope of four decades of lies being sold by politicians and political operatives, who are espousing the sales pitch of globalists, and who constructed the second (Wall Street) corporate paper economy around the premise of off-shoring manufacturing and industrial jobs.
(more…)

~ The First 50 Days ~

(White House Release) JUMPSTARTING JOB CREATION: President Donald J. Trump is looking out for the American workers who Washington has left behind.

• President Trump has worked with the private sector to deliver tens of thousands of new jobs for Americans.
• President Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement and negotiations.
• President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to clear roadblocks to construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
• President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum declaring that the Dakota Access Pipeline serves the national interest and initiating the process to complete its construction.
• President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum to help ensure that new pipeline construction and repair work use materials and equipment from the United States.

(more…)

White House press secretary Sean Spicer delivers the press briefing for March 10th 2017.
Live Stream Link – Alternate Live Stream #1 – Alternate Live Stream #2

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