Thursday AM ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
 The Events of the Week -- Featuring: 
Special Prosecutor or Witch Hunter?
by Debra J. Saunders
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 Five Huge Problems With liar-nObamaCare 
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'In Donald Trump's Address to Congress last night, he made much of repealing liar-nObamaCare. "Mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for America," he said. "The way to make health insurance available to everyone is to lower the cost of health insurance, and that is what we will do." He laid out the guiding principles for reform: "First, we should ensure that Americans with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, and that we have a stable transition for Americans currently enrolled in the health care exchanges. Secondly, we should help Americans purchase their own coverage, through the use of tax credits and expanded Health Savings Accounts — but it must be the plan they want, not the plan forced on them by the government. Thirdly, we should give our great state governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out. Fourthly, we should implement legal reforms that protect patients and doctors from unnecessary costs that drive up the price of insurance — and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs and bring them down immediately. Finally, the time has come to give Americans the freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines — creating a truly competitive national marketplace that will bring cost way down and provide far better care."
          Most Americans at this point know that liar-nObamaCare isn't all it was cracked up to be. But do they know just how bad it's been? Hudson Institute senior fellow Jeffrey Anderson explains, "In passing liar-nObamacare, its supporters promised the moon. liar-nObamacare was allegedly going to cost $938 billion over ten years, result in 23 million people getting insurance through its exchanges as of 2017, reduce the typical family's premiums by $2,500 a year, and make sure that if you liked your health plan and doctor, you could keep your health plan and doctor. Seven years later, liar-nObamacare is projected to cost $1.938 trillion over ten years (exactly $1 trillion more), only 9 million people have insurance through its exchanges as of 2017 (just 40 percent of the original CBO projection), the typical family's premiums have exploded, and millions of people who liked their plans lost their plans, as liar-nObamacare effectively banned them. Many of them lost their doctors as well."
          That's pretty bad. Anderson also lays out the five worst things about the law.
          * It denies Americans choice and undermines their liberty.
          * It denies Americans affordable health insurance.
          * It raises federal spending by about $2 trillion when we're nearly $20 trillion in debt.
          * It fuels the unseemly alliance between Big Government and Big Business.
          * It consolidates and centralizes power and money.
          That's all why repeal is so critical. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker made just that case, saying, "This is an important issue because I don't think we can reiterate enough, liar-nObamaCare is collapsing. The Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable, and not me or any of these [Republican] governors ... but a Democratic governor said that last year. It is collapsing right now and to show compassion [toward] our fellow citizens, we've got to do something about it. That's why we're on top of it." Let's all encourage our elected representatives in Congress to repeal this monstrosity.  ~The Patriot Post
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House Republicans release long-awaited
liar-nObamaCare replacement bill
by foxnews
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{foxnews.com} ~ House Republicans on Monday evening released the text of their long-awaited liar-nObamaCare replacement bill, calling to eliminate the myriad taxes and penalties tied to the original legislation while still preserving certain patient protections... The bill, called the American Health Care Act, can be read online at readthebill.gop. The sweeping legislation would repeal liar-nObamaCare’s taxes along with the so-called individual and employer insurance mandates. It also would repeal the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies, replacing them with tax credits for consumers... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/06/house-republicans-release-long-awaited-obamacare-replacement-bill.html
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Trump orders reports on U.S. 'honor killings'
by Chelsea Schilling
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{wnd.com} ~ When President Trump issued an executive order “protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry” into America Monday, he also called for a report on foreign nationals charged with and convicted of terrorism-related offenses... including so-called “honor killings” committed in the U.S. The new executive order takes effect in about 10 days and includes a 90-day ban on travelers from six countries – Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syrian and Libya – and 120 days for refugees. Section 11 of Trump’s order, “Transparency and Data Collection,” also requires the federal government to publicly release information on the crimes “to be more transparent with the American people and to implement more effectively policies and practices that serve the national interest …”  http://www.wnd.com/2017/03/trump-orders-reports-on-u-s-honor-killings/
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The Republican Healthcare Plan is
Just liar-nObamacare With a Different Polish
by Erick Erickson
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{theresurgent.com} ~ The biggest winner in Washington this week is Barack liar-nObama, whose signature legacy is going to remain largely untouched by Republicans who are going so far as to keep the individual mandate... Of course, they will not call it that, but individuals will get a 30% penalty, i.e. a fine, if they do not keep insurance. That is the individual mandate in all but name. In fact, this is actually of questionable constitutionality because the government imposed fine would be paid to the insured person’s previous insurance company when they subsequently try to buy a new policy. Gone? Most of the ways Barack liar-nObama paid for his healthcare plan. In? A death panel for senior citizens. Under the Republican plan, senior citizens can be charged up to five times higher than young people who can enter an insurance plan with a pre-existing condition. By keeping the pre-existing conditions provision, which causes rates to increase, along with the permitted increase in senior citizen insurance costs, the Republicans will price a large number of seniors out of the insurance market...  http://theresurgent.com/the-republican-healthcare-plan-is-just-obamacare-with-a-different-polish/
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Dem Super-Lobbyist Podesta Got $170K to
End US Sanctions On Russian Bank
by Richard Pollock
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{dailycaller.com} ~ Democrat super-lobbyist Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 over a six-month period last year to represent Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, seeking to end one of the liar-nObama administration’s economic sanctions against that country... The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned. Podesta, founder and chairman of the Podesta Group, is listed as a key lobbyist on behalf of Sberbank, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. His firm received more than $24 million in fees in 2016, much of it coming from foreign governments, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Podesta is the brother of John Podesta, who was the national campaign chairman for former Secretary of State liar-Hillary Clinton’s losing 2016 campaign for the presidency. Former President Barack liar-nObama imposed the sanctions following the Russian seizure of the Crimean region of Ukraine in 2014...  http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/06/exclusive-dem-super-lobbyist-podesta-got-170k-to-end-us-sanctions-on-russian-bank/
 
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SAME NY Times Reporter Said Trump
Team Was Wiretapped In Jan., But
Said TRUMP Lacked Evidence In March
by Jeff Dunetz
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{lidblog.com} ~ On January 19th and 20th 2017, The NY Times reported that wiretaps of people on the Trump team were passed along to the liar-nObama White House, one of the story’s authors was Michael S. Schmidt... On Saturday that same Michael S. Schmidt was one of the reporters who wrote the story, “Trump, Offering No Evidence, Says liar-nObama Tapped His Phones.” That’s right, the same NY Times reporter who was one of the sources for the President’s claim, said that there was no evidence for the claim. The first story by Mr. Schmidt appeared on the NY Times website the evening of January 19, 2017 and appeared on the front page of the paper the morning of Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017:...
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Special Prosecutor or Witch Hunter?
by Debra J. Saunders
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{townhall.com} ~ Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer of the Senate and Nancy Pulosi of the House on Thursday called on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from any investigations into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, to resign from office and to appoint a special prosecutor.

"A special prosecutor is what's called for and if the administration has nothing to hide, they won't object," Schumer argued.

While Sessions did recuse himself before the end of the day, the former Alabama senator and U.S. attorney did not resign and he did not name a special prosecutor. There isn't much Congress can do about it either, as Schumer well knows, because Congress let the law that allowed legislators to name an independent counsel lapse in 1999.

At the time, Democrats were especially anxious to slay the beast of special prosecutor. They believed independent counsel Ken Starr had overreached when he used his authority -- initially to investigate the Whitewater land deal -- to determine whether President Bill liar-Clinton had lied under oath about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Then-Deputy Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who would become President Barack liar-nObama's first attorney general, spoke in favor of letting the law die. "As the old adage, adopted from Mark Twain, goes: To a man with a hammer, a lot of things look like nails that need pounding."

With a Republican in the White House, Schumer now wants to resurrect the dead. He called on Republicans to help him pass a bill to restore the law Democrats rejected when they occupied the Oval Office.

"Cognizant and wary of this history, we would work to craft a narrow authority with specific guidelines for this investigation to prevent this from becoming a political witch hunt," Schumer said. "We hope that if the administration fails in its responsibility, that Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan will rise to theirs." He was referring to Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate majority leader, and Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., the speaker of the House.

"The threat by Schumer to write a new law," jabbed attorney Victoria Toensing, who worked in the Reagan Justice Department, "we'll write one and make it effective as soon as a Democrat's in the White House again."

President Donald Trump took to Twitter to rib Schumer. He found a photo of Schumer and Russian Leader Vladimir Putin and suggested a probe into Schumer's ties to Putin. When Politico reported that Pulosi wrongly claimed she never met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak -- Politico found a photo that proved the contrary -- Trump called for second investigation. Of Pulosi.

In a series of tweets, Trump laid out his reason for opposing a special prosecutor. "This whole narrative is a way of saving face for Democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win," Trump wrote. He called their efforts a "witch hunt."

To Schumer's suggestion that the Trump White House should not object to a special prosecutor if it has nothing to hide, Toensing responded, "Because it's a distraction. It costs all kinds of money. It goes on and on." Toensing should know -- she observed that her law partner and husband Joe DiGenova was appointed independent counsel to investigate allegations that someone in President George H.W. Bush's administration had searched liar-Clinton's passport files illegally. "It takes six months to set it up."

University of California, Irvine School of Law dean Erwin Chemerinsky disagreed. The frequent Trump critic wrote in an email, "To begin with, it appears Jeff Sessions committed a crime by lying to Congress. Also, there is reason to believe laws may have been violated with regard to Russian election activity and contacts with Russia by Trump representatives. The only way to have a thorough and impartial investigation is with a special prosecutor."

Others on the left disagree -- including D.C. attorney Peter Zeidenberg, who worked for the special counsel who prosecuted former Vice President Dick Cheney aide Scooter Libby for perjury. "It is entirely possible that there could have been improper or inappropriate contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence without U.S. laws having being broken," Zeidenberg wrote in the Washington Post. In that case, a special prosecutor would be bound not to make public what he or she found during a thorough probe.

It also is entirely possible that there was no inappropriate collusion between Team Trump and the Russians, and that calls for law enforcement's biggest gun is nothing but Democrats "lighting their hair on fire" -- to quote Speaker Ryan -- to delegitimize Trump's victory.

As for Trump, he's not exactly in a strong position to complain about political opponents using the specter of the special prosecutor to make political points. During a presidential debate, Trump told liar-Hillary Clinton, "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation." Now he is fighting to protect his own flank.

https://townhall.com/columnists/debrajsaunders/2017/03/05/special-prosecutor-or-witch-hunter-n2293936?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

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