Friday, August 25, 2017

To libertarians there is no injustice too great which can be perpetrated in the pursuit of open borders


You know, we could make a LOT of money if we took our "allies'" oil "off the market", so to speak


Peter Berkowitz agrees with us that Hillary Clinton was the worst candidate since Mondale


Although Hillary Clinton won the 2016 popular vote, her Electoral College loss—the only result that is constitutionally relevant—to Donald Trump inflicted a trauma for Democrats comparable to 1984. True, Mondale’s margin of defeat was enormous, but he ran against a popular incumbent president and gifted politician whose policies were credited with reviving a moribund economy. And yes, Clinton fell a mere 70,000-combined votes short in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. But the embarrassing scandal for Democrats was that a race between their former secretary of state/former senator/former first lady and the major-party candidate with the highest disapproval ratings and the least political preparation in American history was even close.

But losing 20 states in 2016 to your party's loser from 2004 isn't just embarrassing. It's a sign of popular revulsion. 

Chris Jacobs for The Federalist favors the status quo on Medicaid in exchange for Obamacare repeal

It's uncanny how similar Chris Jacobs' overarching point is to the one we expressed here in June when we said that the status quo ante Obamacare was not the way forward, and that the way forward involves getting a buy-in from moderates and liberals on reform, but not repeal, of the Medicaid expansion in exchange for repeal of Obamacare root and branch.

The difference is in solving the funding problem. Jacobs admits his plan precludes "repealing all of Obamacare’s tax increases." Our idea doesn't, in exchange for a broadly based Medicaid payroll tax to democratize the costs. 50 million participants in the small group and individual markets are bearing the burden of funding "health insurance" for the poor, i.e. Medicaid, through grossly more expensive premiums and deductibles than before Obamacare.

As others have observed, the growth of the uninsured post-Obamacare is in this group because they can't afford it anymore.

The way forward is a compromise which keeps the Medicaid expansion, funds it fairly, retains state control of the program (federalism) just as now, and repeals Obamacare. 

Jacobs, here:

In both the House and the Senate, debate focused on a push-pull between two competing issues: The status of Medicaid expansion in the 31 states that accepted it, and what to do about Obamacare’s regulatory regime. During the spring and summer, congressional leaders attempted messy compromises on each issue, phasing out the higher federal match for Medicaid expansion populations over time, while crafting complex processes allowing states, insurers, or both to waive some—but not all—of Obamacare’s regulatory requirements.

But rather than constructing substantively cumbersome waiver arrangements—the legislative equivalent of a camel being a horse written by committee—Occam’s Razor suggests a simpler, cleaner solution: Preserving the status quo (i.e., the enhanced federal match) on Medicaid expansion in exchange for full repeal of Obamacare’s insurance regulations at the federal level.

A “grand bargain” in this vein would give Senate moderates a clear win on Medicaid expansion, while providing conservatives their desired outcome on Obamacare’s regulations. 

Thursday, August 24, 2017

He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.


"The shortage of unskilled, non-English-speaking Mexicans we experienced in the '60s has been remedied by now"


We fought a civil war 150 years ago to force Democrats to give up slavery. They've become so desperate for servants that now they're importing an underclass to wash their clothes and pick their vegetables. This mass importation of unskilled immigrants is the left's new form of slavery. 

The hysteria continues: Simply featuring a picture of a white child is now white supremacy


Thankfully, shouting Allahu Akbar! is now like shouting Fire! in a crowded theatre in at least one city



What was that slogan from WaPo? Democracy dies in darkness? In Venice at least, the enemies of democracy will die in broad daylight.

Sunday, August 20, 2017