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50 STATES AND DC, CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT

Has Trump Helped Women? Let Me Count the Ways By Mary Vought –

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/02/29/has_trump_helped_women_let_me_count_the_ways.html

Last month, radical leftists held their annual Women’s March in Washington. They claim the Trump administration doesn’t represent women, but the facts indicate otherwise. In reality, women have benefited from huge gains, financial and otherwise, during the past three years.

Take the most important issue for families: The economy. Our nation has created more than 7 million jobs since the 2016 election — and women have filled over half, or more than 4 million, of those vacancies. The unemployment rate for women stands at a minuscule 3.2%, and last September reached its lowest level since 1953. And as the unemployment rate has declined, so too did the number of women in poverty, decreasing by 1.5 million in President Trump’s first two years in office. 

Likewise, President Trump and his administration continue to work to improve our health care system. As the mother of two young daughters, one of whom suffers from cystic fibrosis, I know that Donald Trump is fighting to help the sickest among us. That’s why the  administration recently released a series of regulations that could lead to 28,000 new organ transplants every year, not only saving lives but also, saving up to $13 billion in taxpayer funds over five years.

Efforts like the organ donation rules don’t win much press, but they show how the president is committed to reform health care. His administration has approved record numbers of generic drugs, making once costly prescriptions more affordable for patients. Individuals also have new ways to achieve portable health insurance coverage, providing them with additional and better coverage options to choose from.

Democratic Majority for Israel Waves the White Flag in Presidential Contest Joshua Sharf

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/28/democratic-majority-for-israel-waves-the-white-flag-in-presidential-contest/

Jewish Democrats have let their distaste for Donald Trump warp American Jewish organizations’ responses to his overwhelmingly pro-Israel presidency. They have acted in the interests of partisanship over the people whose interests they are supposed to represent.

Word is that the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) is waving the white flag in the presidential race, will spend no more money on it, and will not endorse a candidate. DMFI had been running ads against Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

Democratic Majority for Israel does not intend to run any more televised ads against Sen. Bernie Sanders . . . beyond the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, DMFI CEO Mark Mellman confirmed to Jewish Insider. “We don’t have plans to be further involved in the presidential race—against Sanders or anyone else, for that matter,” Mellman told a gathering in New York City earlier this week.

Instead, the group will focus on down-ticket races, supporting pro-Israel Democrats in the primaries and general election.

It’s hard to overstate how bad this news is for those who want a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. And given that anti-Zionist is usually only a thin disguise for broader Jew-hatred, it’s hard to overstate how bad this news is for American Jewry.

14 Crucial Questions That Bernie Sanders Surrogate Ilhan Omar Won’t Answer Ben Weingarten

https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/28/14-crucial-questions-that-bernie-sanders-surrog

If Ilhan Omar is who Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders entrusts with Minnesota in 2020, America deserves a response to these burning questions about her past.

Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., is perhaps best known for her antisemitic rhetoric, radically left-wing policy, and mounting allegations that she committed marriage and immigration fraud.

But as I argue in my new book, “American Ingrate: Ilhan Omar and the Progressive-Islamist Takeover of the Democratic Party,” the sensational aspects of Omar’s story belie the fact that she is not only one of the most prominent symbols of the Democratic Party’s ascendant far-left base, but a powerful player in her own right. Her collusion with Islamist adversaries foreign and domestic, and alleged criminality and proven corruption, should send chills down the spines of Americans.

Ilhan Omar Is a Significant Democratic Player

Omar’s clout was demonstrated most recently when Democratic presidential front-runner Bernie Sanders tabbed her campaign co-chair in the all-important 2020 state of Minnesota. The congresswoman also recently introduced a battery of bills concerning foreign policy that senior Obama National Security Council official Ben Rhodes characterized as the “new progressive baseline.”

Lest we forget, this is a House member who, in spite of her known virulent antisemitism, blame America first positions, and potentially compromising background, retains a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which grapples with the most sensitive national security and foreign policy information and issues.

The party signaled a willingness to allow her to act with impunity, effectively condoning her rhetoric and behavior by refusing to censure her by name for her comments, specifically regarding the so-called Israel lobby, and her invocation of other antisemitic tropes.

Omar’s symbolic and substantive significance is summarized simply in the reality that a vote for Sanders is a vote for Omar and their shared agenda of socialism at home and submission abroad. Yet she has faced almost zero media scrutiny. She and her supporters attack as bigots the few who dare pursue her story. But it would be bigoted to treat her differently from any other politician on the basis of her identity traits.

In writing “American Ingrate,” I sought answers to some of the most vexing yet basic issues about Omar’s background, positions, and associations. I delivered a list of questions via email first to Omar’s chief communications staffer in September 2019, then to her general press account in December 2019, and again in February 2020 following the release of “American Ingrate.” Neither Omar nor her office ever responded.

Omar Should Answer These Questions

The Direct Primary Care Solution for America’s Health Care Woes by Rep. “Chip’ Roy (R- Texas- District 21)

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/direct-primary-care-solution-americas-health-care-woes/
It could free us from insurance domination of health care.

Austin — “the live music capital of the world” — is a lovably “weird” city and home to many musicians and artists. Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Townes Van Zandt, and Janis Joplin all called it home at one time or another. Great venues like Antone’s, the Broken Spoke, and Stubb’s kept the music scene alive for years, and as it continues to evolve, they serve as storied reminders of what has always made Austin great — a vibrant arts scene.

When I was in law school at the University of Texas, I remember rushing to buy the 2-CD KHYI set each year for the best music of the day. But I also recall that the proceeds from the sale of the set went to providing health insurance for artists. This was a way people in the arts community looked after one another.

Unfortunately, while the creative community remains alive in Austin, the rising cost of housing, driven both by demand and by property taxes, and the skyrocketing cost of health care are crushing many of the artists who live gig to gig and paycheck to paycheck. Since 2013, insurance premiums have gone up more than 60 percent across the board, while private-market premiums have doubled and even tripled. While Washington “leaders” dither and waste time, some creative doctors are using a fast-growing direct-primary-care (DPC) model that may well save the day.

“METSI Care,” a recently opened DPC clinic on 6th Street in East Austin, is built on the model of the black-bag doctor. In this model, you pay a doctor for health care at a reasonable monthly fee and the doctor provides the services directly, rather than insurance (or government) bureaucrats telling you what you get, or what’s “in network.” The two doctors running METSI when I visited are focusing their care — in part based on personal interest and passion — on those in the music, entertainment, technology, and service industries. While they are targeting artists, it is important to note their doors are open to all who knock.

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Ilhan Omar?By Kyle Shideler

https://thefederalist.com/2020/02/27/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-ilhan-omar/

Ben Weingarten’s new book ‘American Ingrate: Ilhan Omar and the Progressive-Islamist Takeover of The Democratic Party,’ makes a compelling argument that Democrats’ sharp leftward turn threatens both American ideals and national security.

There is always a temptation in politics, and indeed in all human life, to reduce people to symbolic representations. Storytelling — or, if you prefer the D.C. swamp lingo, “the narrative” — remains the evolutionarily prescribed way to relay complex information to large groups of people and ensure they retain the core message. Narratives need heroes and villains, someone who will embody within himself the key ideas being transmitted.

Understanding this is important to getting to the heart of Ben Weingarten’s American Ingrate: Ilhan Omar and the Progressive-Islamist Takeover of The Democratic Party. While ostensibly it is a book about Ilhan Omar and her sordid history – allegations of immigration fraud, long-standing ties to anti-American regimes and terror-linked groups, her long train of antisemitic remarks – this is not Weingarten’s real focus.

Weingarten has not really written a book about Omar so much as a book about how it is that a person with Omar’s baggage became a battle standard to which all the left now repairs. They do not defend her in spite of her foibles, but because of them.

This Is No Time to Go Wobbly on Capitalism As Democrats embrace outright socialism, some CEOs and Republicans call for unwise compromises. By Nikki Haley

https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-is-no-time-to-go-wobbly-on-capitalism-11582739248?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Ms. Haley served as governor of South Carolina, 2011-17, and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, 2017-18. This op-ed is adapted from a speech she delivered Wednesday to the Hudson Institute.

There’s an important debate happening in America right now, a competition among three distinct views of the world. The first view is held by those who think capitalism is the best and fairest economic system the world has ever seen. The second is held by those who think socialism is the answer to a host of problems from climate change to inequality. Then there are those who are pushing a watered-down or hyphenated capitalism, which is the slow path to socialism.

Mark me down as a capitalist. I grew up in South Carolina as the daughter of Indian immigrants. My mom started a small business selling clothes and gifts. She worked hard and showed my brothers, my sister and me what it meant to live the American dream. The U.S. is a country where people can find jobs that match their talents and passions. America has lifted up more people and unleashed more prosperity than any other country in human history.

In 1800, you were lucky if you lived to be 40. A third of children didn’t live past 5. Since then, the U.S. has become an industrialized nation. Average real income per person has soared by 4,000% since 1800. Medical breakthroughs mean Americans live much longer. In 1820, 94% of the world lived in extreme poverty, earning less than $1.90 a day, adjusted for purchasing power. Today that figure is closer to 10%. Because of capitalism, the world is cleaner, healthier and wealthier than ever.

Death by a Thousand Progressives Leftists are destroying our great country one attack at a time, and we have to stop them. Willie Richardson

https://patriotpost.us/articles/68823-death-by-a-thousand-progressives-2020-02-26

Pete Buttigieg is encouraging a nine-year-old boy to “come out the closet” on the stage of a presidential campaign. Hip Hop rapper YG targeted a conservative young man and threw him out of his concert because he would not say, “F— Donald Trump!” Two young Trump supporters were run off the road by a car because of their Trump flags on their bikes. To top it off liberal style, there are rumors that the tarnished Hillary Clinton is being courted as a VP candidate for Bloomberg. Sigh.

If America is to be destroyed it will not explode from outside, but implode from the inside. Hence the phrase “death by a thousand progressives.” America as we know it is being threatened by communism, socialism, and Marxism during this election year. Over a century ago, President Abraham Lincoln had this to say about the potential downfall of America:

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

Ilhan Omar’s appalling ‘collusion’ with Turkey’s tyrant By Benjamin Weingarten

https://nypost.com/2020/02/25/ilhan-omars-appalling-collusion-with-turkeys-tyrant/

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s mandate defined “collusion” as “links and/or coordination” with foreign powers. Democrats and their media allies tried and failed to hang the charge around President Trump’s neck. But one of their own darlings, Rep. Ilhan Omar, has inarguably colluded with an unsavory Islamist regime: Turkey’s.

In fall 2017, Omar, then a state representative, attended a closed meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. According to a report since deleted from a Somali-language periodical, Omar and the Islamist strongman discussed “issues involving Omar’s native Somalia and issues for Somalis in Minnesota. … The meeting ended with Erdogan asking Omar to voice her support for Turkey.”

A month later, Omar would take to Twitter to praise Turkey for providing airlifts for Somalis injured in a Mogadishu truck bombing.

Given recent concerns over foreign influence, one might ask: Why was this state representative meeting with the leader of an increasingly anti-American regime? With what authority was she negotiating Turkish-Somali relations or any foreign-relations matters?

Official Investigation into the shooting death of DHS whistleblower Philip Haney continues By Peter Barry Chowka

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/02/official_investigation_into_the_shooting_death_of_dhs_whistleblower_philip_haney_continues.html

The sheriff’s office in rural Amador County, California, which originally labeled the death by a single gunshot of DHS Obama era whistleblower Philip Haney last week as “self inflicted,” has now backed away from that assertion. A follow-up press release from the office of the Sheriff – Coroner on Monday had this to say:

On February 22, the Amador County Sheriff’s Office released initial details regarding Philip Haney being found deceased in our jurisdiction. . . Unfortunately, there was misinformation being immediately put out that we have determined Mr. Haney’s death to be a suicide. This is not the case. We are currently in the beginning phase of our investigation and any final determination as to the cause and manner of Mr. Haney’s death would be extremely premature and inappropriate. No determination will be made until all evidence is examined and analyzed.

This latest official statement, on top of an avalanche of comments by his friends and colleagues on social media, further opens the door to the widespread suspicion that Haney was the victim of politically motivated foul play.

Nunes: House Republicans Are Mulling Criminal Referrals Against Mueller Prosecutors Debra Heine

https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/25/nunes-house-republicans-are-mulling-criminal-referrals-against-mueller-prosecutors/

House Republicans are prepared to send criminal referrals to the Justice Department alleging that some of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s prosecutors purposefully misled the courts and Congress.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told investigative journalist John Solomon that his team found glaring evidence of deception while scouring documents recently released by the FBI, including witness reports known as 302s.

“We’re now going through these 302s, and we’re going to be making criminal referrals on the Mueller dossier team, the people that put this Mueller report together,” Nunes said during an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast.

In one instance, Mueller’s deputies seem to have distorted FBI interview memos of key figure George Papadopoulos, concluding wrongly that he was trying to thwart or frustrate the investigation’s efforts to question Mifsud, when the 302 show that he was actually trying to be helpful.

According to the sentencing memo signed by [Aaron] Zelinsky and fellow Mueller prosecutors Jeannie Rhee and Andrew Goldstein: Papadopoulos’ “lies undermined investigators’ ability to challenge the Professor or potentially detain or arrest him while he was still in the United States. The government understands that the Professor left the United States on February 11, 2017 and he has not returned to the United States since then.”

But FBI 302 reports detailing agents’ interviews with Papadopoulos show that he had in fact supplied information that would have enabled investigators to challenge or potentially detain or arrest Mifsud while he was in the United States.