Thursday Noon ~ TheFrontPageCover

The Front Page Cover
~ Featuring ~
 False Health Care Choices Prevent Real Reform
by Arnold Ahlert
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 Will Trump Give Kelly the Authority to Succeed? 
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By Todd Johnson:  "Somebody's got to be in charge. Somebody's got to be the go-to guy who can go to the Oval Office and deliver a very tough message to the president." —Dick Cheney on the role of White House chief of staff
          With last Friday's appointment of retired General and Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to the White House chief of staff position, followed quickly by the firing of Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci Monday afternoon, the Trump administration is undergoing yet another radical transformation. It may look like chaos, but the moves are signs that things are being brought under control.
          While Republican operatives have lauded the latest shake-up of staff at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, there is still a fundamental question about the way ahead for this beleaguered administration. Will Trump actually empower Kelly to take on the traditional role of a chief of staff or will he continue to facilitate an environment in the executive mansion that is more reminiscent of an episode of Game of Thrones? Kelly's firing of Trump's pal Scaramucci gives an indication, as does the fact that all personnel will now go through Kelly. That wasn't the case with Reince Priebus, which handcuffed him from the beginning.
          However, before examining Trump's frenetic management style, it's important to look at the three reasons why he chose John Kelly. They will not only provide some insight into Trump's thought process but also some indicators about the future.
          First, the president viewed Kelly's performance at DHS to be top-notch, and more importantly, Kelly was incredibly loyal to Trump during the administration's bungled executive order on immigration and travel restrictions in February. Trump has said on numerous occasions that he values the trait of loyalty above all others and he believes Kelly is a person he can trust.
          Second, Kelly is a retired senior military officer and Trump loves generals, as evidenced by his selections of Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster as National Security Advisor and retired four-star Gen. James Mattis to be secretary of defense. Trump believes a military officer can bring some badly needed order and discipline to the West Wing that was sorely missing under Priebus.
          There is some precedence for his logic. Back in 1973, former Supreme Allied Commander Alexander Haig held the chief of staff position in the Nixon administration and was later credited by a former official for "holding the office together" during the final days of the Watergate crisis.
          Third, Trump values Kelly's former experiences in the nation's capital. During his storied career, Kelly served at the Pentagon and worked closely with significant decision-makers from both parties. He served as a military assistant to both Leon Panetta and Robert Gates and was lauded by both men for his dedication to duty and ability to get things done. More importantly, Kelly was exposed to the contentious political atmosphere surrounding the DC Beltway and the challenges associated with implementing policy.
          Which leads us back to the question of whether Trump is serious about enabling Kelly to thrive in his new position. While we believe Trump respects Kelly, we doubt Trump is going to change his leadership style. As a result the chaos surrounding this administration will continue to swirl.
          As a septuagenarian former businessman, Trump is loath to change. He believes his business-executive, shoot-from-the-hip style, which has earned him billions of dollars and the presidency, is the template for success. But Trump's predisposition toward listening to family members and longtime associates over professional staff makes it difficult for him to govern effectively.
          In his insightful book, "The Gatekeepers: How The White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency," Chris Whipple writes about the critical role that chiefs of staff have played since the middle of the 20th century. The major theme of the book is that a strong chief of staff is often the difference between a strong or weak presidency. Whipple writes that a chief can make or break an administration and that each president reveals himself by the choice he selects.
          Regarding Kelly, Whipple now says Scaramucci's dismissal is "a signal that everybody needs to come through [Kelly] — that there needs to be discipline." He added, "To do it on Day One is a good first step, but it's a minimal first step. Ultimately you've got a much bigger problem, which is Donald Trump."
          John Kelly certainly has the tools to be an outstanding chief of staff, but only time will tell if President Trump will allow him to do what is needed to be successful.  ~The Patriot Post
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Clapper Asks “WHAT’S The Definition of
TRUTH?” As He Continues To LIE About Trump
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{rickwells.us} ~ It’s the most hypocritical pairing and theatrical presentation imaginable, Fake News CNN’s Anderson Cooper asking James “Not Wittingly” Clapper if the White House is credible... Neither of them would recognize credibility if they stepped in a pile of it and tracked it across their living room carpet. Clapper, who was caught in the infamous moment here on video lying to Senator Wyden in response to a question he had been given beforehand, is asked by Fake News Cooper, “Does this White House, are they credible in their public statements?” In his typical, “I’m lying now so I’ll look downward and wiggle my head a little” manner that telegraphs his deceptive intent, Clapper responds, “Well there’s certainly a lot of doubt about that and what’s happened most recently just has the effect of casting more doubt on the credibility of what they say.”... http://rickwells.us/clapper-asks-whats-definition-truth-continues-lie-trump/
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Capturing the Yavneh terrorist
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by Chana Roberts
{israelnationalnews.com} ~ A new video shows footage of civilians holding the terrorist to the floor and searching him for the knife. Later, police arrive and handcuff the suspect... In the video, civilians can be heard calling, "Where's the knife? Where's the knife? Where's the knife you, son of a wh***?" and "Did you call an ambulance?" The terrorist stabbed a 43-year-old man at a supermarket in the central city of Yavneh on Wednesday morning, just before noon. Police say the incident was a terror attack... http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/233332?utm_source=activetrail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
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Europe's Cities Absorb Sharia Law
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If the West keeps betraying the democratic value of individual freedom,
Islamic fundamentalists, like those who imposed burqas on Libyan
women, will do the same to Western women
by Giulio Meotti
{gatestoneinstitute.org} ~ Within days after the Islamic State conquered the city of Sirte in Libya two years ago, enormous billboards appeared in the Islamist stronghold warning women they must wear baggy robes that cover their entire bodies, and no perfume... These "sharia stipulations for hijab" included wearing dense material and a robe that does not "resemble the attire of unbelievers".Two years later, Europe's three most important cities -- London, Paris and Berlin -- are adopting the same sharia trend. Paris has said au revoir to "sexist" ads on public billboards. The Paris city council announced its ban after the Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the move meant that Paris was "leading the way" in the fight against sexism. London Mayor Sadiq Khan also banned advertisements that promote "unrealistic expectations of women's body image and health". Now Berlin is planning to ban images in which women are portrayed as "beautiful but weak, hysterical, dumb, crazy, naive, or ruled by their emotions". Der Tagesspiegel's Harald Martenstein said the policy "could have been adopted from the Taliban manifesto"... https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10754/europe-sharia-law
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UN's Uselessness With North Korea
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by Joseph Klein
{frontpagemag.com} ~ With every passing day, the United Nations is becoming more useless in helping to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis... Tough rhetoric and a series of resolutions from the UN Security Council ramping up economic sanctions on the North Korean regime have failed to slow down North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. This was evidenced again last Friday by North Korea’s second ICBM launch, following its first on July 4th. The missile involved in the latest test is said to be capable of reaching as far as the eastern portion of the United States, although there have been some reports of re-entry problems. Shortly after the July 4th ICBM test launch, the UN Security Council held an emergency session. U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said she expected a tough new Security Council resolution to be completed in a matter of days. Four weeks and another ICBM missile launch later, there is still no draft... http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/267450/uns-uselessness-north-korea-joseph-klein
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liar-nObama Created TERRORIST FAST TRACK
With MAVNI – US Citizenship For Service Scheme
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{rickwells.us} ~ The same government that tells us they can vet Syrians in the absence of any government record keeping in their home nation is the one that is now facing a potentially serious problem of terrorists... within our military ranks due to insufficient vetting. Obviously they can’t be trusted to vet civilians when they can’t even handle the job for our military services. Of course these problems all began when Hussein liar-nObama took over, in 2009 and he recognized a need to get as many hostile foreign operatives into the country as possible. The program he created is called MAVNI, which stands for Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest. Since 2009 the program has enrolled more than 10,000 foreigners who are given a fast track to US Citizenship in exchange for joining the military. Supposedly they are high demand areas of expertise that there is a shortage of, such as language or medical skills...http://rickwells.us/obama-created-terrorist-fast-track-mavni-us-citizenship-service-scheme/
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 False Health Care Choices Prevent Real Reform 
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By Arnold Ahlert:  "Even when Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress, liberalism remains the default ideology of the federal government." —Washington Examiner columnist W. James Antle III
          Nothing proves Antle's assertion better than the GOP's futile and apparently final attempt to pass "skinny" liar-nObamaCare repeal. Unsurprisingly, reliably liberal Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were joined by "maverick" John RINO-McCain of Arizona and every Senate Democrat in a 49-51 defeat of the measure. "I regret that our efforts were simply not enough, this time," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, following the debacle. "This is clearly a disappointing moment. It's time to move on."
          What remains infuriatingly elusive to McConnell and his equally myopic colleagues is that it was always time to move on. Instead, America endured a frustrating exercise whereby the party that ostensibly espouses limited-government, free-market principles was determined to replace a Democrat, government-run health care plan ... with a Republican, government-run health care plan.
          It's time for some clear thinking. And no one illuminates the "false dichotomy between doing nothing and passing a fake repeal that accelerates the death spiral without creating an alternative to the insurance cartel" better than Conservative Review's David Horowitz. Like progressives, Horowitz embraces the idea of "single-payer" health care. Unlike progressives, Horowitz envisions a transaction directly between the consumer and the provider, not the government and the myriad number of middlemen that are the primary drivers of health care's skyrocketing costs.
          "Rather than trying to fix the insurance cartel, it's time to leave them in the dust and reduce the price of health care itself," he declares. "It's time to get the government out of any third- or fourth-party payer scheme and to stop manipulating statutes, subsidies, and the tax code in order to line the pockets of third-party payers."
          OpenSecrets.org provides tremendous insight regarding why members of both political parties have focused primarily on lining the pockets of those third-party payers. It's because senators and House members were getting their pockets lined in return during the 2016 election cycle. On the Senate side, the top three recipients of insurance company campaign contributions were Republican, including Ohio's Rob Portman, whose vote in favor of liar-nObamaCare repeal in 2015 — when it faced a certain veto — became a "no" vote last week when it really mattered. On the House side, the four top recipients were also Republican, led by "mercurial" House Speaker Paul Ryan, who garnered $666,849.
          This dynamic reveals why Americans have endured the default ideologies and false dichotomies both parties contemptibly pitch as "reform." liar-nObamaCare was built on a foundation of lies and foisted on a "stupid" American public. The GOP "repeal and replace" effort? Titanic deck chair rearranging.
          Horowitz cuts through the bipartisan obfuscation with some essential guideposts. The first one is apparently as elusive as it is obvious: Medical insurance is not health care. Thus the cost problems of health care itself must be solved before the cost of insurance is determined.
          When poverty necessitates government involvement? "The best way to offer a hand out is to give a direct handout — to empower the poor consumers to pay their bills directly rather than creating a market-distorting government program or lining the pockets of the venture socialist insurance cartel to administer a convoluted third-party program," he explains.
          For the rest of America, currently enduring the increasingly catastrophic permutations of liar-nObamaCare's death spiral, we begin with price transparency. A system where "all health care providers, from hospitals and surgery centers to doctor's offices, medical labs, and pharmacies, post their prices online," Horowitz states.
          The far more critical component? Once again, sending the bill directly to the consumer, not the insurance company. "Consumers would then be able to decide whether they want to submit the claim or negotiate with the insurer to cover a certain percentage, just like they do with auto insurance claims," he explains. "Except now they would be negotiating from a position of strength, because they are not flying blind without prices. Watch the dominos of government-run health care fall and the heads of big-insurance lobbyists explode."
          One additional component is equally critical. No provider should be allowed to "charge a different rate for each patient," explains former hospital president Steven Weissman.
          Another cartel-busting idea that already exists should be expanded. A section of the "Affordable" Care Act "allows ministries to get together and form non-profit health-sharing organizations that are exempt from liar-nObamacare's regulations and subsidies and immune to the crony capitalist greed inherent in the insurance cartel," Horowitz reveals. Non-religious organizations should be able to form similar sharing organizations and receive "the same tax benefits through the individual and employer tax scheme as the insurance cartel has enjoyed for 60 years," he adds.
          On to the proverbial elephants in the room. The cost reductions arising from making a private sector approach the root of health care reform would make Medicare and Medicaid reform far simpler to accomplish.
          In fact, Medicaid could be eliminated. "Instead, we can directly pay most of the bills of the indigent and chronically ill without a government insurance program," Horowitz writes. For those who can't even afford reduced rates, "regulated escrow accounts" that directly pay medical bills, much like food stamps pay directly for food, could be created.
          Such a system would not only eliminate the middleman but fraud as well — fraud that ranges somewhere between $68 billion and $230 billion every year, according to the National Healthcare Anti-Fraud Association.
          Conservative Review offers an additional list of 20 other ideas that would radically reduce health care costs. They include ending the malpractice boondoggle, making more drugs available without prescriptions, and breaking up the AMA monopoly on medical school accreditation and physician licensing that fuels the nation's doctor shortage, to name a few.
          Why should Americans endure a system that empowers insurance cartels and government bureaucrats when they can have one that empowers patients and health care providers? If anything should die — with or without dignity — let it be the "default ideology" of false health care choices. 
~The Patriot Post
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