David French of National Review and Chad Benson of Radio America fill in for Jim Geraghty and Greg Corombos. They hope that Congress may exert its constitutional authority by passing legislation to end the family separation policy, secure the border, and stop illegal immigration. They also fear the growing divide between conservatives and liberals as they each adopt more extreme policy positions. And they react to the insane comparisons between the U.S. border and Nazi concentration camps.
Jim and Greg are both on vacation this week. They will be back June 25th. There will new episodes with guest hosts Thursday and Friday of this week. Today, please enjoy an encore presentation of the Three Martini Lunch.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America serve up only good martinis today, although the last one comes with a twist. They cheer Congress and President Trump for enacting “Right to Try” legislation, allowing terminally ill patients to undergo promising treatments not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. They also get a lot of enjoyment out of the excerpt from an upcoming HBO documentary that shows Obama Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes truly speechless after Donald Trump was declared the winner on Election Night 2016. And just two days after ABC fired Roseanne Barr for her horrible tweet about Valerie Jarrett, Samantha Bee puts the left on the spot after using a vile word to describe Ivanka Trump.
Jim and Greg are both on vacation this week. They will be back June 25th. There will new episodes with guest hosts Thursday and Friday of this week. Today, please enjoy an encore presentation of the Three Martini Lunch.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are in very good spirits as they savor three wonderful martinis for conservatives. First, they celebrate the news that three American hostages are on their way home from North Korea in advance of the upcoming Trump-Kim summit. They also applaud President Trump for withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, which was riddled with inspection loopholes and was never properly submitted to Congress. And they cheer the victory of conservative Patrick Morrisey in the West Virginia U.S. Senate primary, the lopsided defeat for “Cocaine Mitch” accuser Don Blankenship, and strong turnout for Republicans in three primary states.
Jim and Greg are both on vacation this week. They will be back June 25th. There will new episodes with guest hosts Thursday and Friday of this week. Today, please enjoy an encore presentation of the Three Martini Lunch.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem after three previous administrations acknowledged Jerusalem as the Israeli capital but refused to move the embassy. They also wince as Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoes legislation that would allow residents to carry guns without a permit, leading Jim to wonder whether the anti-gun backlash after Parkland is making GOP officials more timid. And they roll their eyes as the media condemn Israel for defending its borders against thousands of Palestinians specifically sent to the border to instigate a response from Israel.
Grassroots activists and state officials are making another push to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, and a leading figure in the effort believes there is a 50-50 chance it can get passed before the midterm elections.
“Health reform is not dead,” said Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner, who has been working with other activists to revive the effort ever since the Senate failed to advance legislation last summer. They plan to hold a press conference outlining their reform principles this coming week.
“Next Wednesday afternoon, here in Washington, with a number of governors, state legislators and others,” she said.
Turner says this new approach builds upon a last-minute effort by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., that would move much of the authority to make health care policy out of Washington.
“It’s based upon the chassis of Graham-Cassidy with block grants to the states but with a lot of refinements that make this a much better bill,” said Turner. “We need to move resources and authority back to the states to heal their health insurance markets that have been broken by Obamacare.”
What would her preferred legislation actually look like?
“Basically we’re saying this money that’s currently going to insurance companies, dumping more and more money into Medicaid, these sort of open-ended entitlements. Let us turn those into a block grant and distribute that money among the different states and give them more flexibility in how they spend that money in order to provide better choices for health insurance and lower costs,” said Turner.
Turner says there would still be federal subsidies associated with the plan to help people afford private, commercially available health insurance. There would also be funds for patients facing chronic illness or major events like organ transplants.
She adds that the individual market was badly hurt by Obamacare, despite endless promises to the contrary.
“We actually have no more people covered in the individual market today than we did before Obamacare passed. We spent all this money. We have turned our health care system upside down and no [additional[ people have private health insurance.
“Yes, there are more people covered (overall), but the great majority of them are on Medicaid which, as we know, is a terrible program for people,” said Turner, noting Medicaid patients have a terrible time finding primary physicians who will see them and certain specialists are also almost impossible to get.”
She says legislation grounded in the ideas she is pushing would open many more doors for patients.
“People need the option of private coverage, quality coverage, that gives them not only access to coverage, but actually access to care,” said Turner.
But will activism among the grassroots and the state level get Congress to take up this issue so close to Election Day?
“We believe the Senate is going to take our recommendations seriously and hopefully we’ll be able to move this forward. We think there are a lot of forces that are going to bring them back to health reform this summer, even though they’d really like to do something else,” said Turner.
Turner is also buoyed by the news that the Senate will remain in session for most of August and is confident Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring the issue to the floor if he knows there are 50 votes to pass it. Republicans would once again need to approve the reconciliation process for the debate since there is no chance of getting 60 votes for the legislation.
We think it won’t be very hard to get it through the House. The Senate is really where the focus will be over the next several weeks,” said Turner.
“I’m pretty optimistic. I’d give it a 50-50 chance, which is a lot more than most people on Capitol Hill would give it,” she said.
After venting about their run-ins with government bureaucracy, Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America dive into three crazy martinis related to the Justice Department’s Inspector General report. They marvel at the mountain of obvious political bias inside the FBI during the 2016 campaign and that the IG does not believe that bias affected the Hillary Clinton investigation. They also shudder at the lack of ethics that the media used to obtain classified information from FBI officials. And they find it really difficult to comprehend that former FBI Director James Comey didn’t know that Clinton’s former top aide Huma Abedin is married to disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner.
By: Joshua Paladino
The American Medical Association House of Delegates voted for a resolution to support a nationwide ban on the sale and ownership of “assault style weapons.”
The group also voted to support a nationwide gun-owners database, a 21-year-old age requirement for all firearms purchases, and greater restrictions on individuals with histories of domestic violence.
The AMA also requested that law enforcement have the right disarm people who are potentially suicide and possess firearms. Nearly two-thirds of the 30,000 people who die from a gun each year commit suicide, according to the Department of Justice.
At the same meeting, the American Medical Association voted to reconsider its long-standing opposition to physician-assisted suicide. The AMA’s current policy, according to its Code of Medical Ethics says, “Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.”
It continues: “Instead of engaging in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life. Physicians should not abandon a patient once it is determined that cure is impossible.”
An AMA council studied physician-assisted suicide for the past two years and concluded that the group should remain opposed or neutral to the practice. The AMA House of Delegates, however, rejected the conclusion, with 56 percent of the delegates voting to continue to review the issue.
The U.S. Senate race for Virginia is set after Corey Stewart beat out Nick Freitas for the Republican nomination. Jose Montoya reports.
By Mitchell Sanders
The number of political candidates murdered in Mexico during this campaign season continues to soar.
According to a Mexico City-based security consultancy, one hundred thirteen candidates have been murdered since the campaign season began in September.
Most recently, Fernando Purón, a congressional candidate from the Mexican city of Piedras Negras, was gunned down by a bearded man as he posed for a selfie with a supporter after a debate. While the gunman has not been apprehended and his motive is unknown, Purón had received death threats while serving as mayor of Piedras Negras and is thought to have run afoul of the local crime group known as the “Zetas.”
Purón had vowed to combat organized crime saying, “You take on crime head-on – you don’t fear it, you call it for what it is.”
Experts believe that most of the recent shootings are the result of gangs jockeying for power in local government. Gangs with powerful governmental connections can receive lucrative kickbacks or even influence or control local law enforcement.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America celebrate another free speech victory coming out of the Supreme Court as it ruled against a Minnesota law that banned political apparel at the polls. They also remain confused at President Donald Trump’s praise for the murderous North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un. And they look at the initial details of the long-anticipated Inspector’s General report about Comey, Lynch, and the Hillary Clinton private server investigation.