The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
36 House GOP Reps. Vacating Seats .
Friday Top Headlines
by Political Editors: House Republicans roll out immigration bill packed with border security and immigration reforms (The Daily Signal).
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Trump denies making crude remark, but stands by “tough” language on DACA proposal (Fox News) .
House votes to renew NSA spying, rejects reform push (The Hill) .
Trump renews call for Internet tax, making a veiled threat against Jeff Bezos’s Amazon (CNBC) .
Fiat Chrysler will move Ram production, 2,500 jobs to Michigan from Mexico (Fortune) .
Lawsuit filed against liar-nObamaCare insurer over coverage (The Hill) .
Facebook overhauls news feed to focus on what friends and family share (The New York Times) .
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NFL investigates Oakland Raiders: May have hired white head coach before interviewing black one (The Daily Wire) .
Feminists are ditching “pussyhats” because they’re racist and transphobic (National Review) .
Humor: In historic compromise, border wall to be built around Hollywood (The Babylon Bee) .
Policy: Germany — the new poster child for climate change hypocrisy (The Daily Signal) .
~The Patriot Post
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White House, Congress Scramble to Save
Iran Nuclear Deal in Face of Opposition
by Adam Kredo
{freebeacon.com} ~ Senior White House officials and congressional leadership are scrambling to save the Iran nuclear deal and convince... President Donald Trump to again waive key sanctions on the Islamic Republic despite opposition, according to multiple sources working on the matter who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon. The White House is facing down a weekend deadline by which it must waive key economic sanctions on Iran in order to preserve the nuclear accord. While Trump has expressed frustration about the need save the deal, senior national security officials are working to convince him that waiving these sanctions is the best course of action. On the congressional front, Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) is said to be working with Senate Democrats on new legislation to hold Iran accountable for its ongoing ballistic missile construction and other rogue activities. That bill, sources said, is failing to gain traction among Republicans due to what many described as a range of flaws that mainly serve to lock in the Iranian nuclear deal and prevent Trump from abandoning it... http://freebeacon.com/national-security/white-house-congress-scramble-save-iran-nuclear-deal-face-opposition/?utm_source=Freedom+Mail&utm_campaign=a2fe5f6abe-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_01_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b5e6e0e9ea-a2fe5f6abe-45611665.
Iran Spends $16 Billion Annually to
Support Terrorists and Rogue Regimes
by David Adesnik
{defenddemocracy.org} ~ “Leave Gaza, leave Lebanon, my life for Iran,” chanted a crowd of protesters at Tehran University... “Leave Syria, think of us!” demanded others. Iran does not disclose how much it spends supporting foreign “resistance” organizations and clients such as Bashar al-Assad, yet open-source reports suggest those efforts cost more than $16 billion per year. Tehran’s most expensive foreign commitment is supporting the Assad regime in Syria, which may cost $15 billion per year or more. Syria expert Stephen Heydemann estimated in 2015 that Iran spends $15-20 billion per year supporting Assad. A senior military officer, speaking under Chatham House rules, also believes that $15 billion is the best estimate. Some elements of that support, such as publicly announced lines of credit, have a specific value: Iran extended a $1 billion line of credit to Syria in 2017, on top of the $5.6 billion it provided previously. The greatest cost, but also the hardest to estimate, is the deployment of troops to protect Assad, including thousands of its Revolutionary Guard and roughly 20,000 Shiite militiamen from across the region. This does not include the cost of oil and weapons... http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/david-adesnik-iran-spends-16-billion-annually-to-support-terrorists-and-rogue-regimes/.
Iranian protesters tortured,
family members intimidated, say relatives
by Hollie McKay
{foxnews.com} ~ Hundreds of demonstrators extended their protests this week outside Iran’s notorious Evin Prison... demanding information about about loved ones detained -- without being charged -- since ongoing anti-government protests erupted almost two weeks ago. Uncertainty surrounds the status of more than 3,000 who have been detained since protests broke out on Dec. 28 and quickly spread to more than 130 locations across the country. “People inside are being tortured, maybe tortured to death,” Amir, a 31-year-old activist and business owner, told Fox News in a telephone interview from outside the prison on Tuesday night. Amir, who declined to give his last name for fear of retribution, spoke from amid a crowd of protestors, who could be heard chanting “free the prisoners” and “we are united” in the background... http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/01/10/iranian-protesters-tortured-family-members-intimidated-say-relatives.html.
Trump administration opens door
to allowing Medicaid work requirements
by Brooke Singman
{foxnews.com} ~ The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will open the door for states to impose work requirements... for Medicaid recipients, in a major shift that could affect millions of low-income people receiving benefits. “Medicaid needs to be more flexible so that states can best address the needs of this population. Our fundamental goal is to make a positive and lasting difference in the health and wellness of our beneficiaries, and today’s announcement is a step in that direction,” CMS Administrator Seema Verna said in a statement. A letter sent to state Medicaid directors Thursday said the move would help "improve Medicaid enrollee health and well-being through incentivizing work and community engagement."... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/11/major-shift-as-trump-opens-way-for-medicaid-work-requirement.html?cq_ck=1515672588658.
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36 House GOP Reps. Vacating Seats
by Jordan Candler: It will be extremely interesting to see how this November’s elections play out. To date, 36 Republican representatives have either resigned or announced they are retiring or seeking another office, according to the House Press Gallery’s Casualty List. This is more than twice the number of departing Democrats. Republicans currently have a 46-seat lead in the House (239 Republicans versus 193 Democrats), meaning Democrats will need to flip two dozen seats to regain the majority.
How likely is that to happen? It depends. As long as the Republican casualty list grows, the outlook could brighten for Democrats. Republicans will likely retain control of most of these seats because of the states they’re in, but other seats are less definitive. For example, California Rep. Ed Royce just published a statement in which he announced this will be his “final year of my Foreign Affairs Committee chairmanship,” and by extension his congressional career.
As Hot Air’s Allahpundit explains, Royce’s seat isn’t nearly as safe from Democrats: “Royce was probably the party’s only chance of holding the seat, and even that was no sure thing. Without him, CA-39 likely turns blue.”
This is a quagmire, both strategically and ethically. On the one hand, Republicans need to retain as many seats as possible. But Royce has been on Capitol Hill for a quarter-century. As Allahpundit explains, he cannot remain chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee because of committee term limits enacted by the Republican Party. This is the likely reason for his vacating. Which is ironic — in one sense he’s hanging up the cleats because of committee chair term limits. Yet he has been a lawmaker in the House for 25 years. Terms limits did end up ending his career in the House, but not in the way you’d expect.
Moreover, Allahpundit continues, “Royce is the seventh committee chairman in the House to announce his resignation this year; faced with the prospect of running an uphill race in November and winning, only to return to the House as a backbencher instead of his committee’s head honcho, he decided to pack it in.” In other words, the inevitable reality of his (and others) going back to an second-tier status prompted his retirement. Some voters who support term limits also support doing anything and everything to retain the majority — including electing someone time and time again. No one is saying the solution is an easy one, but they might not be able to have it both ways.
And while it’s proving exceptionally difficult for Congress to adopt term limits for everyone, these cases show that they do work. After all, most were committee chairs only because of the power that came with it.
~The Patriot Post
https://patriotpost.us/articles/53342
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