Radio America Online News Bureau

Archives for March 2017

‘The Military Is Now A Libertine Institution’

by

The U.S. Marine Corps needs to punish whoever posted and disseminated photos of women in compromising moments but the military must also realize its relaxing of rules regarding sexual conduct was a huge mistake, according to a top researcher on military personnel.

For weeks, the Marines have been responding to revelations that photos of military women in showers and other racy images were posted on social media pages frequented by active duty members and veterans.

On Tuesday, Marine Corps leaders were grilled about the problem and the response during an appearance on Capitol Hill.

Center for Military Readiness President Elaine Donnelly says tough penalties for those responsible for humiliating the women are certainly in order.

“The commandant can and should say to the Senate, ‘We will prosecute cases to the extent of the law.’  If the controlling legal authority sees there is evidence, that evidence will be taken forward, and there will be punishment according to the law.  The problem is an absence of a law that would ban this sort of behavior,'” said Donnelly.

She says some the the images were apparently “sexting” type messages, in which women willingly sent boyfriends explicit photos of themselves, only to see the pictures get posted to social media sites once the relationship went sour, but that doesn’t make the actions of the men any less heinous.

“A woman who does that puts herself at greater risk.  This doesn’t mean that she should be exploited or that he should betray her.  All I’m saying is, when you take that risk, then you elevate the chances that you will be the victim of betrayal,” said Donnelly.

While she expects the Marines to prosecute, Donnelly does not believe the strong USMC opposition to social engineering policies like allowing women to perform ground combat roles or reversing LGBT policies deserves blame for what happened to the women.

“That is the worst, most preposterous spin of all.  You know why?  The Marines asked that this not happen.  The Marines asked for exceptions.  The Marines also asked that the 1993 law (banning gays and lesbians from military service) be repealed.  They were overruled in both cases by the politicians,” said Donnelly.

That repeal happened in 2010, when the so called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was scrapped by Congress, along with the actual law that laid down rules of conduct.

“‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ never was a law.  That was a regulation.  Congress repealed that but they also repealed the underlying law.  That law used to say that disciplinary requirements applied on base and off base.  That was taken away by Congress,” said Donnelly.

In addition to the public scandal, Donnelly says the latest numbers on sexual assaults within the military continue a disturbing rise.

“The numbers are still going up, the numbers of actual cases.  And, get this, the number of male-on-male sexual assaults also are continuing to increase.  In 2010, that percentage was under 10 percent.  Last time I checked, it was 17 percent.  Now, it’s north of 20 percent.  What is going on here?” asked Donnelly.

Donnelly believes that open a Pandora’s Box of sexual activity in the U.S. military.

“The military is now a libertine institution.  There are very few limitations on sexual conduct other than being consensual,” said Donnelly.  “If any kind of sexual expression in the military is now OK, how do you draw the lines?  There are no lines anymore.”

In the Senate hearings Tuesday, lawmakers demanded answers from Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller.  Donnelly was not impressed.

“The members of the Senate who looked at the commandant of the Marine Corps, almost yelled at him, Sen. (Kirsten) Gillibrand, ‘How did this happen?  Who is accountable?'” said Donnelly.

“Excuse me, Sen. Gillibrand, you are accountable or should be held accountable  because you voted to repeal the 1993 law that spelled out the fact that disciplinary regulations apply on base and off base,” said Donnelly.

Donnelly says the photo scandal and the rise in assaults are all due to politicians foisting a social agenda upon the military.

“The results of eight years of Barack Obama are now coming forward.  This nude picture scandal is only a small part of it,” said Donnelly.

Standard Podcast [ 15:49 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 3/15/17

by

Jim Geraghty of Radio America and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow turning a supposedly big scoop on Pres. Trump’s tax history into a dud of a story.  They also discuss why some in the media are determined to make Chelsea Clinton into some sort of political power player.  And they shake their heads as former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley starts testing the waters for a presidential run in 2020.

Standard Podcast [ 20:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 3/14/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are glad to hear Senate Democrats have found no good reason to oppose Neil Gorsuch for the U.S. Supreme Court.  They also react to the Congressional Budget Office scoring of the GOP health care bill.  And they shake their heads as the Middlebury College professor assaulted by students says she understands their anger and blames Trump for it.

Standard Podcast [ 24:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

‘We’re Not Starting with a Clean Slate’

by

While Republicans still appear divided over the American Health Care Act, one of the fiercest critics of Obamacare says the GOP plan “is the best they could come up with” and that conservatives need to realize the starting point is a cratering health care system and not a “clean slate.”

Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner is also lead author of “Why Obamacare Is Bad for America.”  She says the GOP plan is the best way to use the budget reconciliation process and protect coverage for Americans as major changes hit the health care system.

“The repeal and replace really need to come together because it takes time for the states and the health insurance industry to respond to the new policies that would be offered in the American Health Care Act and to get that up and running,” said Turner.

“You want to create the lifeboat for people to be protected, both those with Medicaid as well as those with [Affordable Care Act] exchange coverage while this new bridge is being built to a new system.  So they’ve got to do both at the same time,” said Turner.

Several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus say the best approach is to do what lawmakers promised they would do: fully repeal Obamacare and then replace it with a market-based system.  They point to all Republicans supporting full repeal in 2015, when the plan passed Congress but was vetoed by President Obama.

While she wishes Congress could just rip out the old system and start over again, Turner says the current realities must be addressed.

“Conservatives may not like it, but we’re not starting with a clean slate.  We’re starting with Obamacare and we’ve got to figure out how we protect people and then move toward a system that really does give people the kind of choice and more affordable coverage that they’ve been saying for years that they want,” said Turner.

Turner says full repeal also leads to sticky procedural issues in Congress.

“All those you are saying, ‘All we want to do is repeal the law first and worry about replace later’ are not respecting what their constituents are asking.  But also those who say, ‘We want to repeal the whole law,’ are not paying attention to the process,” said Turner.

“The only way they could do this is through the budget reconciliation process that allows 51 votes (to pass legislation), but it doesn’t allow most of the regulations to be repealed in this law.  That’s going to have to come later through other measures,” said Turner.

Republican leaders do plan to use reconciliation for the American Health Care Act, or AHCA.

“The [American Health Care Act], I believe, pushes as far as they could, the limit of what they could get through with reconciliation.  They already are moving the legislation to allow the purchase of health insurance across state lines.  That will pass in a separate measure and I think that you very well may get some Democratic support for that,” said Turner.

She also think Democratic votes might be there to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, which has often been referred to by critics as “death panels.”

Turner also believes time is of the essence since so many other Trump administration priorities are on hold until the work on health care is done.

“They can’t do tax reform, which corporate America in particular is desperate for if we’re going to create jobs and enhance our international competitiveness.  They can’t get to that until they pass this.  They have the debt ceiling coming up and they have the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice coming up.  There are a lot things backed up behind this,” said Turner.

Some Obamacare critics have suggested that letting Obamacare implode for another year will gin up more support for more aggressive action.  Even President Trump has said if the AHCA fails, he plans to blame the floundering health care system on Democrats.

Turner says that is irresponsible because the ongoing exodus of insurance options could leave many people with no choice at all.

“The leadership of Congress are being statesmen here.  Coinservatives may not like it, but they are saying, ‘We have an obligation to people to protect them.  If you waited a year, you would find people in the middle of cancer treatment were losing their coverage because there’s no insurer in their area to provide that coverage.  They can’t wait,” said Turner.

Turner says Republicans have been working on this legislation ever since Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., became speaker in October 2015.  The effort included exchanges of policy ideas among both lawmakers and policy experts, including Turner, who contributed suggestions both to the AHCA and Speaker Ryan’s “A Better Way” campaign during the 2016 elections.

“I believe this is the best they could come up with.  It’s not perfect.  nobody loves all of it.  I don’t love all of it, but I think it’s the best they could come up with under the circumstances to get this through the House and be able to move on with the rest of the agenda the American people care about, including jobs,” said Turner.

Standard Podcast [ 13:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Battling the Bureaucratic Leviathan

by

Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner explains how government and private sector bureaucracy teamed up to drive the price of health care out of reach for tens of millions of Americans and why the Affordable Care Act only made things far worse.  Turner also discusses why she believes the new Republican plan will succeed in bringing costs down and removing Washington from the doctor-patient relationship.  Finally, she explains the factors that must be addressed to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Standard Podcast [ 12:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 3/13/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss Pres. Trump’s removal of 46 Obama-era U.S. attorneys and how many critics fail to mention this happens with every modern administration.  They also shake their heads as scores of high-level government appointments have yet to be filled and no nominations have been made.  And they wince as Iowa GOP Rep. Steve King says, “We can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s babies.”

Standard Podcast [ 17:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 3/10/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America offer three good martinis.  CENTCOM declares no major mistakes were made in the Yemen raid.  Rebels are preparing to lay siege to the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.  The February jobs report looks strong.  And we have fun with the kids who stole the show in the BBC interview.

Standard Podcast [ 23:17 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Politics and Plugging Leaks: A Look Inside the CIA

by

The leaking of CIA methods and the ongoing debate over whether the intelligence community is trying to undermine President Trump have thrust a part of our government into the spotlight that greatly prefers to operate in the shadows.

In the first few weeks of the Trump administration, much attention has been paid to the litany of unnamed sources offering information to the media that casts the president in a negative light, possibly even in cahoots with Russia.  In addition, Trump has accused President Obama of keeping him under surveillance during the campaign.

The latest headline material for the intelligence community centers on Wikileaks releasing CIA documents which reveal methods of spying on subjects, including the use of smart phones, televisions and other devices.

When it comes to the exposure of CIA secrets, there is the immediate and the long-term fallout.

“Our intelligence service may no longer be able to access information they need to prevent an attack.  So that’s as serious as it gets,” said Herbert E. Meyer, who served as special assistant to then-CIA Director William Casey during the Reagan administration.

Meyer also served as vice chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council.  Most recently he’s founder of Storm King Press and the author of the updated booklet, “Why Is the World So Dangerous?”

The long-term damage of CIA secrets and methods being exposed is also sobering.

“This discredits the CIA and the intelligence service.  We’re living in an age when rumors go all over the place and news is unchecked.  You can never tell the difference between a fact and an allegation.  So once again, the idea is out there that the CIA is spying on everybody,” said Meyer.

“That does an enormous amount of damage to our credibility as a country and to citizens.  So it’s really very, very damaging, whatever the facts (in the Wikileaks case) turn out to be,” said Meyer, who says rooting out leakers at the CIA isn’t very difficult.

Meyer admits there are endless new ways to track people than when he was serving at the CIA, but he says the agency always adhered to strict privacy policies unless it had good reason for surveillance.

“There was obviously a clear line.  We looked overseas.  If it was something here in the United States, the FBI dealt with it, said Meyer.  “So the line was a little thicker, a little brighter then.  But in all fairness to everyone, it’s a different world now.”

But even worse than the leaking, according to Meyer, is the intelligence community’s obsession with simply gathering information.

“Since 9/11, our intelligence service has been making a fundamental mistake.  They came to the conclusion that 9/11 happened because they didn’t have enough information.  To some extent that was true, but you know, it’s never enough.  It’s a trap.  If you’re not careful, you try to know everything about everything and you wind up knowing nothing about nothing,” said Meyer.

Meyer likens that approach to constantly shopping for groceries to make a dinner but never actually making the dinner.

As for the intelligence community regularly leaking sensitive material to a media eager to paint the president in a bad light, Meyer says that happened all the time during the Reagan years.

“About twice a week,” said Meyer.  “There’d be a conversation on the seventh floor of the CIA and the next day it would be in the Washington Post.  Absolutely amazing (and) that’s nothing new,” said Meyer.

But while Meyer says there are certainly intelligence personnel who do not like the president, there is not a grand conspiracy to bring down the president.

“It’s not ‘deep state.’  That’s sort of an overdramatic version of it.  The same thing is happening at the EPA.  It happens at the agriculture department.  The people like us don’t pay as much attention to that,” he said.

When it comes to whether the Obama administration spied on Trump or his campaign, Meyer is mystified by the drawn-out intrigue.

“This is a classic case of what’s wrong with Washington, D.C.  You can never get to the bottom of anything.  You can never get anything straight.  It’s like trying to read a book while someone throws sand in your eyes,” said Meyer.

He says Trump could resolve this quickly.

“The president has access to every document in the executive branch.  There’s nothing that you can keep from a president.  So why doesn’t President Trump simply call the directors of the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA and say, ‘Get in here with everything you’ve got on this and let’s take a look,'” said Meyer.

“The president also has the absolute authority to declassify anything.  If he wanted to, he could declassify the nuclear launch code.  So why can’t we get our hands on this stuff?  Why can’t we just see it?  If there was a FISA request that was denied last spring, somebody wrote the requests, somebody signs it.  The document exists.  Let’s see it.

“If there was a FISA request that was approved in October, let’s see that.  If anything was approved and there are tapes, recordings [or] transcripts, let’s see them,” said Meyer.

 

Meyer says he expected obfuscation from the Obama administration but Trump should handle this differently.

“We have a president who is, in effect, on our side as opposed to the last president.  So why doesn’t he just get his hands on it and says, ‘Here’s what there was’ or ‘There was nothing.’  I don’t understand why this takes more than 10 minutes to get straight,” said Meyer.

“Remember, we never got to the bottom of Benghazi, but that’s because the people in the White House were trying to keep us from getting straight answers.  Why can’t we get straight answers now?  That’s what I don’t understand,” said Meyer.

Standard Podcast [ 10:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

Three Martini Lunch 3/9/17

by

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss the latest revelations surrounding former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and breathe a sigh of relief that he’s already gone.  They also lament FBI Director James Comey’s admission that there is no longer any such thing as “absolute privacy” anymore.  And they discuss Pres. Trump’s decision to nominate former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to be U.S. Ambassador to Russia.

Standard Podcast [ 20:54 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share

‘This Is A Really Terrible Piece of Legislation’

by

The first man to sue the federal government over the Affordable Care Act says Republicans are breaking their campaign promises to repeal the health care law and are instead abandoning free market principles with legislation that will make health care even worse and let the Democrats off the hook for the blame.

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli III launched the first constitutional challenge to the law, widely known as Obamacare, in 2010.  His efforts, along with others, ultimately ended in a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court decision that saved President Obama’s most significant domestic policy.

Late Monday, House Republicans unveiled the text of the American Health Care Act and promoted as a means of getting Washington out of health care, reducing costs and regulations and setting the stage for market-based reforms.

But Cuccinelli says the bill is nothing more than a GOP version of Obamacare.

“This is a sloppy Democrat bill.  The people who call this Obamacare-lite are wrong.  It’s not lite.  It’s just a Republican form.  This is a really terrible piece of legislation on its own merits.  It’s even worse when you realize this is what’s supposed to pass for keeping their promise to actually repeal Obamacare,” said Cuccinelli.

He says any members trying to keep their promise to repeal the law have to vote against it.

“The problem for conservatives is if it doesn’t really mean actually getting rid of Obamacare and all of the worst features of it, then it should be voted against,” he said.

“Otherwise, it’s an adoption by the Republicans of all the worst elements of Obamacare.  They’re going to own the consequences.  They’re going to own those price increases and health insurance increases, which will keep happening,” said Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli says it will be up to congressional Republicans to get this right because President Trump has yet to wade into many specifics.

“Whatever bill gets to the president’s desk, he’s going to sign it.  He was very unspecific in the campaign.  They’ve been very unspecific in the last week or two.  Clearly, they just want to check this box and ‘get it done,’ whatever that means,” said Cuccinelli.

Republicans ran on repealing Obamacare in the past four election cycles.  The issue was largely responsible for the GOP takeover of the House of Representatives in 2010 and the Senate in 2014.  Cuccinelli says the promise resonated with voters, so it makes no sense to abandon that mission now.

“They’re all running around, at least leadership is,  afraid that they’ll upset somebody.  Well, I’ve got news for you.  People are already upset, and it isn’t a question of whether people are upset after you do whatever you’re going to do.  If that’s all you care about, what will they be more upset about: doing what you said you would or going in another direction?” said Cuccinelli.

“If you go in another direction to appease a constituency you didn’t rely on to get elected, what you’ve succeeded in doing is ticking everyone off.  That’s the direction Republicans are headed right now,” Cuccinelli.

But Cuccinelli goes a step farther.  He says Republicans are really abandoning a full repeal because they do not actually want a market-based health care system.

“They don’t want the regulations to go away.  That’s their dirty little secret.  They don’t want market-based health care.  They want big government control, even though someday it’s all going to come crashing down just because of how bankrupt it will all be,” said Cuccinelli.

He says GOP leaders have gotten comfortable turning to government to address problems.

“Let’s take (House Speaker) Paul Ryan for instance.  Paul Ryan has never done anything in his adult life except be in government.  It’s his solution to every perceived problem.  He doesn’t rely on the market.  He doesn’t trust the one force in the history of the world that has raised more people up out of poverty than any other, and that’s free market capitalism,” said Cuccinelli.

So what does Cuccinelli specifically see s the biggest problems with the GOP bill?

“There were 24 major regulations with Obamacare.  Under Ryancare, 22 and a half of those stay in place.  And of course we get blessed with a brand new entitlement.  I don’t know if anybody in the Republican leadership noticed, but we are bankrupt.  They do nothing really to resolve that problem,” said Cuccinelli.

“They make no move toward a market-based approach to health care.  There’s no expansion of freedom and there’s no reason for people to want to become a doctor any more than under Obamacare,” he added

Supporters of the GOP point out that this legislation needs to start the reform process because it can pass through reconciliation, meaning a simple majority in both chambers can get the job done.  They also suggest Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price can tackle most of the regulations unilaterally.  Then, they say market-based ideas can come in later legislation.

Cuccinelli isn’t buying it.

“I could swallow [all of that] a whole lot more easily if the first bill was a repeal bill.  So if you want us to trust you, then you do what you said you were going to do.  Is that really too much to ask?  Just do what you’ve been promising for seven years,” said Cuccinelli.

“Don’t put it on Tom Price to get rid of the regulations.  You do it in the legislation.  You do it as part of the vote.  It’s what repealing means,” said Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli says Republicans had no problem passing a full repeal in 2015 so there’s no good reason not to pass it again.

“All of them have voted on that bill.  Were they lying then when they voted on it?  It sure seems like it now.  Why not just pass a true repeal again?” he said.

“They were loudly speechifying back then.  Now they’re using scare tactics to say, ‘Those of you people who want to hold us up for this repeal bill are for Obamacare,” said Cuccinelli.

“That is the worst kind of ducking of a debate on the substance of an important, important issue to every family in America.  And it’s a dodge on their campaign promises.  They’re all breaking their promises and making liars out of themselves,” said Cuccinelli.

Standard Podcast [ 13:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Share