John McCain is still a POW: To overturn the offense of Obamacare, the offense must be removed

Obamacare was passed without a single Republican vote. It should be repealed without a single Democrat vote to remove that offense.

But John McCain thinks like a loser, not a winner, and wants to work with Democrats now, before any of that happens. Like that'll work.

Trump was right about McCain the first time. And McCain is going to die in captivity.

Gingrich Pot calls Mooch Kettle black

June Foray, the voice of Rocky, Natasha and the fair Nell, has died at 99

Story here.

CBO says overturning individual mandate would mean 15 million would drop health insurance in a heartbeat, so to speak

Reported here.

Things we can't say anymore

The Black Death can't reappear soon enough

CNBC's John Harwood lies about the size of the individual market in health insurance, and by omission

Here:

Individual market coverage has risen to 18 million from 11 million in 2013.

That's simply false.

The Kaiser Family Foundation had individual market coverage at 15.4 million already in 2013, as I reported at the time here. Rising by less than three million in four years to 18 million, if that's even true, is purely a function of natural population growth, not Obamacare's success in extending individual market coverage where there was none before. These millions who have seen their premiums and their deductibles soar as a result of Obamacare were far more numerous than Harwood says.

Completely unaddressed by Harwood is the small group market where employers have fewer than 50 employees. Their costs have also soared, as anyone working for a small business can tell you. Obamacare compliant small group plans typically charge FIVE TIMES what individuals used to pay on the individual market before Obamacare. This small group market was 25 million strong in 2013.

That's over 40 million people in 2013 who have born the brunt of paying for Obamacare's handouts to deadbeats and grifters, not the 10 million or fewer Harwood claims.

HE'S A LYING SACK OF JAWEA.

Duplicitous bastards

HR 3762 reloaded in the Senate fails this time 45-55

From the story here:

The Senate on Wednesday rejected an amendment to gut Obamacare without a replacement ready to go, a bill identical to a 2015 measure that passed Congress.

Senators voted 45-55 on the measure, with seven Republicans and all Democrats voting no. The Republicans voting no were Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Dick Heller of Nevada, John McCain of Arizona, Rob Portman of Ohio, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Only Collins voted against the measure in 2015. ...

The bill is identical to a 2015 measure that passed Congress that would gut Obamacare's taxes and mandates but leave in place insurer regulations. The bill would have let Obamacare stay in place for two years while a replacement was crafted. Former President Barack Obama vetoed the legislation in 2015.

Once a Bruce Jenner always a Bruce Jenner

The male aggression rears its ugly head, or something:

Jenner in the past [you know, ages ago . . . in April] told Diane Sawyer that she has “one deal-breaker” with the Republican party: “You mess with my community, you do the wrong thing with our community, you don’t give us equality and a fair shot, I’m coming after you.”

The story is here.

Drug overdoses soar in Medicaid expansion states under Obamacare

Your government Medicaid doctors are drug pushers.

Story here.

Well, now maybe I can get back to doing what I do best: Ballbusting

Laugh of the Day: Mount Trumpmore, a new birth of freedom

Story here.

Meanwhile the transnational Max Boot is upset that the Boy Scouts love Trump, hate Hillary

Very telling, that.

He must read WaPo tweeter Jenna Johnson here, and NY Magazine here, which omit references to the loud sustained boos by Boy Scouts for Obama but focus instead on the boos for Hillary.

Well, they emphasize what's important to them. Since they are Clinton advocates and Trump opponents and want to make the story a story about Trump's inappropriate partisanship, the fact that Trump was contrasting himself with his predecessor, not Hillary, has to be ignored.

Most stories have been about the boos for Obama.

Here is Boot:

At one point he actually had the boys booing Clinton, a former secretary of State, former first lady and the first female major-party presidential nominee in U.S. history. This is an offense not only against good taste but also against the Boy Scout rule forbidding any political activities in uniform.

Winning again: Trump dumps trannies from military

David Harsanyi: There isn't a single Republican lawmaker effectively answering the lies told about Obamacare or their own plans

But Harsanyi provides persuasive answers, here.

How to identify a member of the establishment

Anyone who complains about the existence of alternative sources of information like Twitter, blogs, conservative talk radio, etc.

In other words, anyone who has lost control of the messaging, like John McCain in the Senate today, and John Boehner in a leak to WaPo.

Presidents ranked by performance of the S&P 500

Boy Scouts love Trump, boo Obama, Newsweek features lefties calling them Hitler Youth

Says the former magazine sold for a dollar because nobody read it anymore. Soon to be a former website.

Unlike John McCain, Democrat Tulsi Gabbard is very glad Trump stopped funding al-Qaeda in Syria

Here.

Meanwhile the redundant Damon Linker is just fine with a thieving lefty as defacto head of the Democrat Party

Here in "Democrats don't need 'A Better Deal.' They need Bernie Sanders":

That he was an independent who became a Democrat solely for the purpose of running for president and spent a good deal of time on the stump railing against the party's choice to succeed Barack Obama as president is just one reason why he should be treated as the party's de facto leader and its presumptive presidential frontrunner — and why he should have been the one to craft and deliver the party's message heading into the midterms. ... Populism is a politics of anger. It needn't escalate to violence. It shouldn't tear down institutions that can be reformed in productive ways. But it does need to channel the passion for justice and give voice to justified resentments.

Emotion, not reason, has the better of a person who can write that, or "who is sufficiently woke enough" and "now, at long last . . . has finally . . .."

If you get WaPo delivered and live next to Damon Linker, make sure you are "woke" before he is or you might be out of luck. 

Thieving lefty: Washington neighbor of Bernie Sanders tells Chris Plante Sanders routinely pinched his Sunday delivery of WaPo

Plante reported yesterday the anecdote from the neighbor, saying WaPo actually investigated and confirmed that an old balding and greying guy was personally observed by the person  responsible for the route picking up the paper at the door. The subscriber, however, is younger and has a full head of hair.

Makes you wonder which one has really lost half his mind

The Laugh of the Day comes from a John Boehner leak: Trump should never get into a pissing match with skunks

Mika Skunkski and Joe Skunkorough

A guy who recognizes that the media are skunks can't be all bad.

Here:

“You never get into a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel. He does it every day.” Boehner said, adding, “Never get into a p---ing match with a skunk. He does it every day.” “It may have worked during the campaign. But I think he would do himself well if he would just slow the tweeting down and just focus on what he’s doing and not being critical,” Boehner said.

Trump appoints another one who is against The Wall: Scaramucci

Another real confidence builder, there, Mr. President. Not.

WaPo, here:

Despite auto company bailouts, Michigan employment lags year 2000 levels by 308,000 jobs, the worst in the country

Ohio comes in number two, with a shortfall in jobs of 108,000 from the previous peak.

Together Michigan and Ohio account for 95% of the shortfalls in eight states recently identified in a Wall Street Journal blog post.

Drug abuse in Michigan reaches an all-time high, state makes the top 10

Reported in Crain's Detroit Business, here:

Research indicates Michigan's drug abuse problem is at an all-time high. A study released in May found Michigan ranks 10th for drug use and addiction among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, with analysts considering such factors as abuse of prescription drugs, illicit drugs and the rate of overdose deaths.

In 2015, Michigan recorded 1,981 fatal drug overdoses — more than five per day — with nearly half related to opioids. That death rate represents more than a 10-fold increase from 1999

Hey Trump! If you want out of Afghanistan, nuke the poppies and it ceases being a narcostate which can wage war

Deep state swamp: Federal workers gave Hillary 95% of their political contributions

The Department of Education is the worst, but the whole damn thing has to go.

Story here.

George Herbert Walker Bush's legacy: It took only 7 years of NAFTA to destroy hours worked in the United States

Hours of all persons grew 44% during the Reagan bull market, which ended in August 2000. Since then, hours of all persons has grown just 3%.

NAFTA went into effect in January 1994, eleven years after the Reagan bull began and a little over one year after Bush inked the deal. Seven years later hours of all persons peaked.

It reminds me of Bill Clinton's innovation, the so-called Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which blew up the housing market after just 10 years.

Republicans take away your job, then Democrats come along and take away your house.

If you're living in your car, you'd better watch your back.  

Laugh of the Day: David Brooks is a conservative the same way Obama was a constitutional law professor

Seen here in the comments.

Great point Mr. President: Don Jr. hands over his emails, Crooked Hillary deletes hers . . . BY THE THOUSANDS

Income inequality has increased really for just one reason: Growth of owner occupied housing is in decline

Homeownership is the ticket to the middle class, and fewer and fewer tickets are being issued:

Your mortgage interest deduction is only eighth in the latest list of top things on which government claims it loses revenue

But libertarians especially hate it. Expect more articles telling you it's got to go as tax reform talk heats up in Congress.

Here are the top 20 "tax loss expenditures" for 2016-2020:

1.  Exclusion of employer contributions for health care and insurance: $863 billion

2.  Lower tax rates on dividends and long term capital gains: $678 billion

3.  Income made by controlled foreign corporations: $587 billion

4.  Contributions made to IRAs and 401k plans: $584 billion

5.  Pension plan contributions: $424 billion

6.  Earned Income Tax Credit: $373 billion

7.  Deductions taken for state and local income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes: $369 billion

8.  Deductions taken for mortgage interest on owner occupied homes: $357 billion

9.  Obamacare "subsidies": $327 billion (what a laugh: they raise the cost, give you a subsidy, and count the subsidy as a tax-free gift)

10. Child tax credit: $271 billion

11. Expensing depreciable business property: $248 billion

12. Deductions taken for charitable contributions: $231 billion

13. Social Security benefits: $214 billion

14. Municipal bond income: $195 billion

15. Deductions taken for taxes on real property: $180 billion

16. Capital gains taxes excluded at death: $179 billion

17. Medical expenses and over the counter medications under cafeteria plans: $169 billion

18. Capital gains taxes excluded on sale of principal residence: $166 billion

19. Life insurance proceeds: $128 billion

20. Deduction for income from domestic production activities: $102 billion.

Total revenue the government claims it's "losing" because of its "benevolent" tax policy on these items: $6.645 trillion over five years, or $1.329 trillion annually.

My, how nice of them. 

Justin Raimondo is right, and Coulter and Nehlen are wrong: Afghanistan is the world's first narcostate, supplying over 75% of the world's heroin

Nuke Afghanistan's poppy fields, and you solve a lot of the world's problems. Raimondo is right, Coulter and Nehlen are wrong. Mexico isn't the "source". It's the conduit. 

From the New York Times in 2013, here:

Afghanistan is already the world’s largest producer of opium, and last year accounted for 75 percent of the world’s heroin supply. “The assumption is it will reach again to 90 percent this year,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the United Nations’ top counternarcotics official here.

China per capita cigarette consumption is 114% higher than US

The Chicoms consume about 4.7 cigarettes per day per capita, about 7.1 packs a month, despite recent attempts to tax the habit out of existence (2350 billion cigs in 2016 divided by population of 1.379 billion).

Americans consume 2.2 cigarettes per day per capita, about 3.3 packs a month (258 billion cigs in 2016 divided by population of .3231 billion).

Life expectancy in the US is 79 years, in China 76 years.

Deaths per 100,000 from coronary heart disease in China are pushing 100, in the US 78.

Trump excoriates Obama for his healthcare lies

What will the next point be on the graph when Trump is done?

John McCain diagnosed with a cancer that usually kills within 12-15 months with treatment

Story here.

McConnell still to go ahead with repeal only bill next week, to put Republican women on the record voting against it

Good for him.

Story here.

Inquiring minds want to know: Is it cheaper to stop drugs by building a wall or nuking the opium fields of Afghanistan?

The $15 billion cost of a wall would buy you roughly 750 upgraded B61 nuclear gravity bombs.

Each one can incinerate about 50 square miles.

Afghanistan has about 780 square miles devoted to opium production.

Number of B61 bombs needed: just 16.

Cost $320 million.

Hundreds of bombs left over to enlighten other ne'er-do-wells.

Three pleasant outcomes: 1) Drugs eliminated at the source; 2) Afghan War ends immediately; 3) Drug mules and gangs stop coming over the border.

I say we nuke 'em.

Supremes intervene again to uphold Trump right to ban 24,000 refugees awaiting entry

From the story here:

The high court on Wednesday blocked Watson’s order as it applies to refugees, but not the expanded list of relatives. The justices said the federal appeals court in San Francisco should now consider the appeal. It’s not clear how quickly that will happen.

In the meantime, though, up to 24,000 refugees who already have been assigned to a charity or religious organization in the U.S. will not be able to use that connection to get into the country.

With Bush and Obama, America has entered a new era of stupid, paying in excess of $1 for every extra dollar of GDP

The Reagan GDP miracle is a complete myth: It was all government spending (on defense)

And it set a horrible precedent for the dramatic overspending of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, which has sent us on a course to oblivion. You can argue it was necessary to defeat the USSR, but you can't argue that baseline spending (in black) has done anything but go up, up, up to dangerous new levels as a result (notice the baseline Jimmy Carter inherited from liberal Republicanism, for which he got the blame from Ronald Reagan, which wasn't very nice of the old man who went on to bequeath a similar giant new baseline to his successor, G.H.W. Bush).

No, the real miracle was the pathetic loser in Iran, Jimmy Carter, who spent the least in the post-war for his additional GDP, followed by Bill Clinton.

Of course, the spending is all the prerogative of the Congress. The president proposes but the Congress disposes, as the saying goes.

Beware libertarian politicians preaching balanced budgets, as well as utopian infrastructure spending enthusiasts promising the moon and liberal Republicans selling government spending as security to senior citizens at the expense of younger Americans in a time of protracted war. They have delivered little beyond $20 trillion in debt.

Memo to GOP

Not one more dime.

Mark Davis has a firm grasp of the obvious

The GOP isn't conservative enough to give their voters what they want.

Here.

Reagan couldn't accomplish much because Democrats controlled Congress

Trump has the same problem.

These two women voted to repeal Obamacare in 2015, but now they refuse to

Shelley Moore Capito -- WV

Lisa Murkowski -- AK

Turncoats Shelley Moore Capito and Lisa Murkowski said Tuesday they’ll oppose a repeal of the Affordable Care Act

Capito and Murkowski should be run out of the party on a rail. They both voted for repeal last time.

Story here.

Trump again comes out in support of Obamacare repeal without replace: Give him HR 3762 already!

As high school grades inflate, SAT scores deflate

Reported here:

Recent findings show that the proportion of high school seniors graduating with an A average — that includes an A-minus or A-plus — has grown sharply over the past generation, even as average SAT scores have fallen.

In 1998, it was 38.9%. By last year, it had grown to 47%.

That’s right: Nearly half of America’s Class of 2016 are A students. Meanwhile, their average SAT score fell from 1,026 to 1,002 on a 1,600-point scale — suggesting that those A's on report cards might be fool's gold.

McConnell reportedly set to bring full repeal bill like HR 3762 to a vote in the Senate

Here and here for the story.

There were 52 "Yeas" for the HR 3762 Obamacare repeal bill in the Senate on December 3, 2015 out of 54 Republicans, which Obama subsequently vetoed. It was the only repeal bill ever to reach Obama's desk:

Alexander of Tennessee

Ayotte of New Hampshire (seat lost to Democrats in 2016)

Barrasso of Wyoming

Blunt of Missouri

Boozman of Arkansas

Burr of North Carolina

Capito of West Virginia

Cassidy of Louisiana

Coats of Indiana (Todd Young)

Cochran of Mississippi

Corker of Tennessee

Cornyn of Texas

Cotton of Arkansas

Crapo of Idaho

Cruz of Texas

Daines of Montana

Enzi of Wyoming

Ernst of Iowa

Fischer of Nebraska

Flake of Arizona

Gardner of Colorado

Graham of South Carolina

Grassley of Iowa

Hatch of Utah

Heller of Nevada

Hoeven of North Dakota

Inhofe of Oklahoma

Isakson of Georgia

Johnson of Wisconsin

Lankford of Oklahoma

Lee of Utah

McCain of Arizona

McConnell of Kentucky

Moran of Kansas

Murkowski of Alaska

Paul of Kentucky

Perdue of Georgia

Portman of Ohio

Risch of Idaho

Roberts of Kansas

Rounds of South Dakota

Rubio of Florida

Sasse of Nebraska

Scott of South Carolina

Sessions of Alabama (Luther Strange)

Shelby of Alabama

Sullivan of Alaska

Thune of South Dakota

Tillis of North Carolina

Toomey of Pennsylvania

Vitter of Louisiana (John Neely Kennedy)

Wicker of Mississippi.

There were two Republican "Nays":

Collins of Maine, who is still there

Kirk of Illinois, who lost his seat to the Democrats.

Now out of 52 Republicans in the Senate we have 48 votes this time for repeal that we had last time, plus 3 Republican freshman in the Senate to pressure to vote for repeal, which would bring the total to 51, assuming Collins of Maine again votes "Nay".

We'll see if they have the guts.

Ted Cruz concluded Mitch McConnell is a liar in 2015, now Ron Johnson appears to be doing the same

The Ted Cruz incident with McConnell involved the Export-Import Bank (story here).

Now, Ron Johnson is reportedly concluding McConnell committed a breach of trust by privately telling moderate senators that the Medicaid cuts in the healthcare bill won't actually occur, as reported here.

The current Republican bill in the Senate appears dead as four senators in the Republican caucus have said they don't support it. With a 2-seat majority, only 3 defections are tolerable (the tie-breaker vote is cast by the Vice President, Mike Pence).

When all is said and done we might find out that the loss of support is all intentional and orchestrated in order to save the Senate from having to vote on the issue again at all. The nay-sayers may be handsomely rewarded at some future date while getting to please their constituencies.

Remember, Republicans generally don't believe in anything except for what is. In other words, maintaining the status quo is their objective. They are pragmatists who are willing to accept progressive creations once passed, like the income tax, Social Security, Medicare and now Obamacare, and will defend those programs no matter how they became law.

Lighting their hair on fire for anything is completely out of the question, including for the constitution.

The only thing that will save us now is a meteor strike on the Senate chamber while they are all in session.

As defined by homeownership, the absolute size of the middle class hasn't really grown at all since 2005

I wish this bag under my eye would just go away

The Senate ceased being a gentlemen's club when they started letting just anybody in in 1913

Spare me the blather about its august rules, traditions and decorum, especially when propounded by the gaggle of mediocrities, grifters, hacks, and perverts now occupying it, and aspiring to it. 

Remember the Republican motto: In order to save the Union we have to destroy it

Close Senate healthcare vote delayed because McCain recuperating from surgery: Watch, next week Murkowskie will stub her toe

Story here.

Hm, hundreds withdraw their voter registrations in Colorado as Secretary of State gets ready to turn over records to Trump

Imagine that.

270 in Boulder County, 180 in Denver, 365 in Arapahoe County, according to the story here.

What America needs now is an army of Paul Kerseys

The much maligned Jimmy Carter is the hero of the post-war for paying the least for GDP

Michigan Doctor Men with funny names charged in $1.3 billion healthcare fraud conspiracy: Mashiyat Rashid, Yasser Mozeb, Abdul Haq, Tariz Omar, Mohammed Zahoor

From the story here:

More than 400 people across the country were charged Thursday for taking part in health care fraud and opioid scams including six Michigan doctors in connection with a raid Wednesday at the Fisher Building in Detroit. ... Rashid and Mozeb are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and pay and receive health care kickbacks.

Laugh of the Day: Leave it to Rod Dreher to crank out 2,000 to 3,000 words about so much bologna

Here, in the comments section.

Peter Beinart suddenly discovers "projection"

I'm not surprised after he swam in it for eight years under Obama, whose fault nothing was.

Here.

If an Hawaii judge can ignore the Supreme Court, Trump can ignore the Hawaii judge

Trump tells 64-year old Brigitte Macron "You're in such good shape": At least he didn't call her a "corpseman"

Melania can't take that guy anywhere.

Story here.

Kid Rock's tired of Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow's "bullshit", plans to run against her

J. P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon complains "stupid shit" is distracting America from implementing better tax and spending policies

Blame the Democrats and NeverTrumpers, Jamie.

Here:

It's almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world and listening to the stupid s--- we have to deal with in this country, and at one point we all have to get our act together or we won't do what we're supposed to [do] for the average Americans and unfortunately people write about this saying like it's for corporations. It's not for corporations. Competitive taxes are important for business and business growth, which is important for jobs and wage growth. And honestly we should be ringing that alarm bell, every single one of you, every time we talk to a client.

Trump Jr. saga: Loretta Lynch personally signed off on Moscow lawyer entry to US in October 2015, but it appears the lawyer overstayed and no one followed up

The Hill reports here:

The Moscow lawyer had been turned down for a visa to enter the U.S. lawfully but then was granted special immigration parole by then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch for the limited purpose of helping a company owned by Russian businessman Denis Katsyv, her client, defend itself against a Justice Department asset forfeiture case in federal court in New York City.

During a court hearing in early January 2016 as Veselnitskaya’s permission to stay in the country was about to expire, federal prosecutors described how rare the grant of parole immigration was as Veselnitskaya pleaded for more time to remain in the United States. ...

The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York confirmed Wednesday to The Hill that it let Veselnitskaya into the country on a grant of immigration parole from October 2015 to early January 2016.

Justice Department and State Department officials could not immediately explain how the Russian lawyer was still in the country in June for the meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and the events in Washington D.C.

Watch Maxine Waters' eyes get real big when Pelosi mistakenly refers to Trump as Bush

At least Maxine was paying attention to the dingbat.

Here, but I repeat myself.

Pelosi has now made the mistake five times according to the story here, raising questions about her fitness for office.

David Brooks, who thinks he's so much smarter than a high school graduate, mistakenly calls stirato bread striata bread

Here.

All the recipes by the people who actually know Italian bread call it stirato. Here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

When gathering up your cultural signifiers with which to preen and beat the illegitimi over the head, David, maybe you should first make sure that they are intelligible. Looks like all those layoffs of the striata eaters at the Times are starting to expose the columnists for the ignoramuses they are.

Ralph Peters becomes irrational about Putin like Bush, under questioning by Tucker Carlson

"I looked the man in the eye. I found him very straightforward and trustworthy – I was able to get a sense of his soul."

Here:

[Vladimir Putin] is malevolent and he is as close to pure evil as I can find. ... [H]e is as bad as Hitler. ... Vladimir Putin hates America, he wants to hurt us. ... Russia is evil, Russia is our enemy.

Laugh of the Day: Baloney sandwich Joe Scarborough says he's not going to be a filet mignon anymore

Seen in the comments section, here.