Radio America Online News Bureau

liberals

GOP Refuses Tax Hike, Virginia Dem Primary, Libs Nuke Friendships

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Listen to “GOP Refuses Tax Hike, Virginia Dem Primary, Libs Nuke Friendships” on Spreaker.

Join Jim and Greg as they discuss Senate Republicans’ refusal to raise taxes to pay for Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill, the results of the Virginia Democratic primary, and a new study showing the unlikeliness of bipartisan friendships.

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Would A GOP House Actually Repeal Obamacare?

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Listen to “Would A GOP House Actually Repeal Obamacare?” on Spreaker.

Congress is currently engulfed in impeachment hearings, subpoenas, and talking points. But House Republicans say if they regain the majority in 2020, they will reduce the debt and repeal Obamacare.

Should they be believed this time?

Republicans made Obamacare repeal the centerpiece of their campaign messaging from 2010-2016.  After winning the House, the Senate, and the White House, Republicans tried to move on Obamacare.  Ultimately, GOP leaders did not push a straight repeal.  Instead they looked to repeal key mandates and make other reforms.  The legislation passed the House but died in the Senate.

The individual mandate was ultimately neutered in tax cut legislation, when the Republicans voted to fine people zero dollars for refusing to purchase health insurance.

However, costs are still rising and Americans are deeply frustrated with their coverage.  So would Republicans actually move to repeal Obamacare?  What other provisions ought to be part of any plan to remove Obamacare but still cover pre-existing conditions, bring down costs, and address other major concerns?

Greg Corombos asks Chris Jacobs, a longtime health policy expert and the author of “The Case Against Single-Payer.”

As Democratic presidential hopefuls argue about whether to pursue single-payer or keep private insurance but add a government-run public option, Jacobs explains why he believes those candidates are debating distinctions without a difference.  He reveals why a pubic option would also eventually lead us to government-run care.

Listen to the full podcast here.

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Erasing Ideas: ‘War on History,’ Part 1

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Listen to “Erasing Ideas: ‘War on History,’ Part 1” on Spreaker.

For more than a generation now, Americans are increasingly told by some of our own citizens that America really isn’t all that great and never was.  George Washington and Thomas Jefferson can’t be heroes for their roles in founding the freest society in history because they owned slaves.  Christopher Columbus shouldn’t be commended for his daring and courage, and neither should the pilgrims because of their supposed mistreatment of the natives they encountered.

In his new book, “War on History: The Conspiracy to Rewrite America’s Past,” Daily Signal columnist Jarrett Stepman walks readers through every era of American history from Columbus up to modern times and how liberal activists and academics are trying to re-imagine American society by convincing us there’s no good reason to remain moored to the people and ideals that got us here.

Listen to the first of our two-part interview with Stepman to hear how this effort to erase American history began, how it went from the radical fringe to conventional wisdom, and what we lose by failing to set the record straight.

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Blue Wave Meets Texas, Cohn Leaves White House, Libs Want to Take Your Cars

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are fully aware that Democrats may have a good year in the midterms but Tuesday’s primary results suggest the Democrats still have a long way to go in Texas.  However, they don’t like the departure of chief Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn and they really don’t like that Trump’s surprise announcement on new tariffs is the reason for it.  And they confront a growing trend on the left demonizing people for driving or even having cars.  Jim points out it’s because urban liberals cannot fathom that anyone lives a different way than they do and Greg suggests that when lefties decide they don’t want something then no one else is allowed to have it either.

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The Dire Need for Civil Service Reform

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President Trump fired a major shot in the effort to enact civil service reform during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, creating what one leading workforce expert hopes will be an effort to root out the “intransigence and incompetence” from the federal workforce.

In his speech, Trump hailed the passage of legislation in 2017 that gave more authority for Veterans Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin to fire people failing to perform at levels needed to provide veterans the service they deserve.  He then said that flexibility should be available to all cabinet secretaries.

“Tonight, I call on Congress to empower every cabinet secretary with the authority to reward good workers and to remove federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people,” said Trump.

American Legislative Exchange Council Education and Workforce Development Task Force Director Inez Stepman studies civil service issues and detailed the problem in a Federalist column Wednesday.

Stepman says getting rid of most incompetent and uncooperative federal workers is exceedingly difficult.

“I think the average American has very little idea how difficult it actually is to fire a federal worker.  The process is usually over 300 days long.  It includes two appeals that are conducted at the same standard of proof as a civil trial.

“That means there is a discovery period.  You can call witnesses.  You can call Bob from across the cubicle and say, ‘Well, Bob says I’m doing a great job.  Why are you firing me?'” said Stepman.

She says the recent false alert for a missile attack in Hawaii is a perfect example of the problem.

“The guy who believed the drill in Hawaii and then sent out that horrible message that basically said, ‘Duck and cover, there’s a nuclear missile on the way to Hawaii,’ that guy was known to be a problem in the department for ten years.  but you can’t get rid of someone like that under our current civil service laws,” said Stepman.

It doesn’t have to be that dramatic.  Stepman says Americans are plagued by slow, subpar service on a daily basis.

“Almost anyone who’s ever tried to apply for a passport, who’s ever tried to go to the DMV, who has ever tried to go to any government outlet – since this is a problem at the state level as well – has been frustrated with how slow and incompetent government employees seem to be.  And this has a lot to do with that,” said Stepman.

Current civil service laws largely stem back to legislation passed in 1883 that was designed to make civil servants apolitical by hiring based on merit and making it very difficult to remove them by the changing of administrations.

Instead the system left Americans stuck with with too many slow and incompetent workers.  But Stepman says the impact on the functioning of our government is the bigger problem.

“It’s a deeper constitutional problem.  We have 2.8 million federal workers all over the country, but many of them in D.C.  They have very little political accountability.  They stay in office no matter who the people vote in or what policies the voters want to be enacted,” said Stepman.

The other goal of the 1883 reforms was to keep civil servants politically impartial.  Stepman says Federal Elections Commission records from 2016 prove that effort a failure too.

“Ninety-five percent of the donations over $200 that were made by federal employees went to Hillary Clinton in 2016.  It was 99 percent at the State Department.  That’s not an apolitical civil service.  That’s a civil service that has its own interests in growing government.  We’re talking about millions of people who make decisions for the American people, where the voters have absolutely no say over whether they stay or go,” said Stepman.

Stepman says we see this bias rise up against President Trump on a regular basis.

“Even in instances where you can see President Trump is trying to shake something up, often times he’s dealing with a flood of leaks.  He’s dealing with openly rebellious staff in most of his departments.

“Those people cannot be fired.  Donald Trump cannot say, ‘You are obviously trying to slow walk my policy…It’s time for you to go.  If you can’t get in line with the program the American people voted for, it’s time to get someone else.’  He can’t do that, nor can any other president.  Bill Clinton complained about the same thing,” said Stepman.

Stepman says some states are addressing the problem.  Georgia, for example, changed their hiring policy for state employees and is now seeing a big difference.

“The State of Georgia, a couple decades ago, said all their new hires would be at-will.  They couldn’t do much about the union contracts from the past, but all their new hires were going to be at-will.  Now their civil service is about 88-90 percent at-will and functioning a lot better than most other states,” said Stepman.

She says following the template of the Veterans Affairs reform bill would be a great legislative plan at the federal level.

“I think an easy first step would be to take the exact same language from that VA bill that was passed overwhelmingly with both parties and say, ‘Why is this only good for the VA?  Don’t you want the Department of Education or the Department of Energy to have the ability to cultivate a good workforce as well,” said Stepman.

Stepman expects labor unions and other interests to fight back if this idea gains legislative traction, but she says the push is now on after Trump’s speech.

“President Trump saying this as part of the State of the Union is the first major coverage this issue has received outside of super wonky circles.  So I think it’s important that we keep informing the American people about the fact that federal employees enjoy so many job protections that most Americans do not at their jobs,” said Stepman.

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ABC Suspends Ross, GOP Rep’s Sex Harassment Payout, Lib Meltdown Over Tax Vote

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the decision of ABC News to punish Brian Ross over his sloppy, false, and damaging report about when President Trump urged Mike Flynn to make contact with Russia – just the latest in a long history of shameful reporting by Ross. They also erupt as Republican Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold reportedly used $84,000 of taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment complaint made by his former staffer. And they chronicle the liberal hysteria following the Senate vote on tax reform – including assertions that the vote killed America, that it will kill millions of people, and that it is akin to raping poor people.

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Police, Politics, and Protests

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While the debate rages on about the violence and ideology on display in Charlottesville on Saturday, a prominent black conservative is fuming over the lack of an appropriate police presence to prevent the clashes and says whether or not we see a replay in other American cities probably depends upon the politics of the political leaders there.

The Charlottesville police admit they should have done more to separate the different protesters, but that’s not good enough for former constitutional law professor Horace Cooper.  Cooper is now co-chair of the Project 21 National National Advisory Board.  Project 21 is a leadership network of black conservatives.  He says law enforcement has an obligation to plan for the worse.

“In the event that we are apprehensive that a particular public expression could lead to heightened tensions between communities, you don’t send your officers home for the weekend.  You, in fact, call some of those who are taking off and say, ‘I want you on standby,'” said Cooper.

And he Cooper is dumbfounded that police were not at least ready to intervene as the likelihood of violence increased.

“The second that you get concerned that something is happening that’s going to be very aggressive and dangerous, you bring those people in.  Our Constitution allows for peaceable expression.  Freedom of expression does not include burglary, does not include theft, does not include rape, does not include mayhem,” said Cooper.

But while Cooper says the police could have prevented at least one death and many injuries by keeping order more aggressively, he says this is just the latest incident where he believes politics trumped public safety.

“We’ve seen it in Ferguson.  We’ve seen it in Baltimore.  We’ve seen it in Berkeley.  In all too many instances, the voices of condemnation call off the responsible authorities to see to it that all parties stay in their lanes, and instead allow private mayhem to occur,” said Cooper.

“It looks like it’s precisely to let the private mayhem have its way over the so-called injustice that the media and the political leaders that are doing this have identified,” said Cooper.

So will the revolting images we witnessed from Charlottesville play out in other American cities?  Cooper says that largely depends upon who is in charge in those places.

“If these things happen in jurisdictions where people are willing to allow the space for mayhem to occur, it will occur and it will not be good.  If they happen in jurisdictions where leaders are willing to hold individuals accountable, we can stop this.  I am hopeful that the latter is true,” said Cooper.

He says leaders can set a proper tone long before tensions and passions rise, noting stark differences in how protesters responded to the George Zimmerman verdict in Florida verus the rioters in Ferguson, Missouri.

“[Florida Gov. Rick Scott] insisted that they were going to hold all people who rioted and committed mayhem criminally liable and it killed off almost all aspects of the over-the-top rhetoric.  The governor of Missouri (Jay Nixon) did exactly the opposite and we saw nights and nights of criminal activity,” said Cooper.

As for his personal thoughts on Charlottesville, Cooper says he urges everyone to always wait for the facts before leaping into outrage mode.  He says an online mob mentality almost devoured the wrong person for the deadly vehicle attack.

“The prior owner of the 2010 Dodge Challenger had been identified all across social media and threats were being made to his family and his household even though this was a car he had already sold years ago,” said Cooper.

Cooper clearly finds the views of the white supremacists “repugnant” but takes solace in the fact that their views are representative of just a tiny fraction of the American people.

“That is not a significant number of the American polity.  It is not a major influence in our country today, and when the attention is given to them, it is my hope that the little attention that they get helps to remind people this isn’t your next door neighbor.  This isn’t the person you work with.  These are very, very marginal individuals,” said Cooper.

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‘March Against Sharia’ Organizer Hails Results, Rips Critics

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Act for America‘s “March Against Sharia” unfolded in more than 20 American cities on Saturday, with the group’s chairman declaring great momentum from the events and blasting the groups behind the counter-protests in several locations.

“The growth out of this movement has been phenomenal.  We have added 250,000 followers to Act for America,” said Act for America Founder and Chairman Brigitte Gabriel.  “A quarter of a million patriotic Americans stepped up and said, ‘We are joining you.’  We are excited.  This is the movement we have been waiting for.”

She says many Americans are realizing that if they don’t stand up to Sharia law now, they may not have the chance years from now.

“We need to come together to save America because it’s the last man standing.  Europe is gone.  Nobody else in the world can stand up to Islamofacism the way we can.  We need every American who loves this country involved,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel says thousands of Americans turned out for the marches across the nation and many more supported the effort on line, some because they had to work and others because they feared for their safety.  She says the absence of injuries ought to convince many more people to get involved.

“The most important thing that this rally showed to every conservative out there is that you can get out and nobody’s going to kill you.  Nobody’s going to harm you.  The worst they can say to you is you are an Islamophobe,” said Gabriel.

Sharia is the Islamic law that is increasingly seeping into western courtrooms.  Even in the United States, Gabriel says 143 cases in 22 states have allowed Sharia law as a defense.  She says issues like female genital mutilation and honor killings are very real issues in American culture.

Gabriel says Americans may be shocked to know just how many girls have suffered as a result of Sharia’s endorsement of female genital mutilation as a means of supposedly tamping down “hypersexuality.”

“[The Centers for Disease Control] came out and said over a half a million girls – 513,000 girls – in the United States today in 2017 are at risk of female genital mutilation or have already been victims of female genital mutilation.  That’s over half a million American girls,” said Gabriel.

“Who would have thought that in America today we were going to be discussing or sealing with such a barbaric practice that people think is only practiced in the backwoods of Africa and the Middle East,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel says honor killings also continue in our own communities.

“These are girls and women who are killed by a male in their family for simple things such as asking for a divorce, wanting to wear make-up, wanting to go out on a date, or wanting to go out to a cafe with male and female friends,” said Gabriel.

When critics accuse the March against Sharia of being anti-Muslim, Gabriel points to these issues to stress the movement is explicitly anti-Sharia.

“We welcome people to our country from all over the place, from different backgrounds, different religions, different sexual orientations, whatever it is.  I am an immigrant to America.  But we want people who come to the United States to abide by our rules, obey our Constitution. adopt our culture and become part of the American fabric and live in a way that is compatible with our western democracy and respect for human rights,” said Gabriel.

She says that is clearly not happening.

“We do not want people coming here genitally mutilating young American girls, killing American girls in the name of honor or teaching the hatred and encouraging the killing of gays and lesbians, etc.,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel says the active involvement of many Muslims in the March Against Sharia is also evidence of what its focus truly is.

“Our rally included a former imam who helped us organize the rally, four practicing Muslims speaking at our rallies.  The Muslim that organized our Atlanta rally was named Mohammed and he’s the one who pulled it all together.  We had acid attack survivors who spoke at our rallies.  We had Miriam Ibrahim speak at our rally in Virginia Beach,” said Gabriel.

Ibrahim was the woman sentenced to death in Sudan for converting to Christianity and forced to give birth while shackled in prison.  Fierce international pressure eventually led to her release.

Despite those testimonials, Gabriel says the Muslim groups and their liberal allies had no intention of listening.

“Their voices were drowned and that is such a shame because the left is not listening to those voices crying for help and standing up for America’s liberty and security and our western values.  They don’t understand what we’re dealing with and they are being used as useful idiots,” said Gabriel.

She also says the anti-Muslim label is an example of “intentional confusion.”

“Because they could not argue with the facts that we were presenting, they had to change the conversation and make us look like we are Islamophobes and this is anti-Islam,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel says the nexus of groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, and far left groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter are joining forces to “drown the voices of patriotic Americans.”

Act for America is looking to build on its momentum at an October conference in Washington, D.C.

“We are going to descend on Washington, D.C., put pressure on elected officials and remind them that America’s national security is the number one concern for the country.  We will not follow the path of Europe,” said Gabriel.

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False Trashing of Tillerson, Flynn Wants Immunity, Pence Protects His Marriage

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy watching the Washington Post get called out for false reporting on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson by Matt Lee of the Associated Press.  They also wonder what Mike Flynn has to say to congressional investigators based on reports Flynn wants immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.  And they unload on liberals for sneering at the boundaries Vice President Mike Pence and his wife have established to protect their marriage.

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Three Martini Lunch 2/16/17

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enthusiastically welcome a liberal threat to launch primary challenges to Democratic senators in 2018 for being too nice to Donald Trump.  They also slam Republicans John McCain and Susan Collins for voting against very solid conservative nominees.  And we react to the mainstream media temper tantrum after not getting to ask questions at some of Pres. Trump’s press conferences.

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