PrairiePundit

Washington Post: Late-night hosts mock Trump’s NFL feud: ‘How can one person be on the wrong side of everything?’ How does this "late-night host" remain so ignorant of the public reaction to the disrespect for teh national anthem and the flag?   Polling shows that a large majority in this country agree with Trump on the national anthem. The Washington Post  and Hollywood need to get out of their Trump hatred bubble.  By pandering to those athletes who were taken in by the "hands up, don't shoot" lie the NFL is doing grave damage to its business.  The boos are real and the shrinking audience is too big to be ignored or to suggest that the President is wrong in demanding that people respect the national anthem and the flag.

NY Times: Health Bill Appears Dead as Pivotal G.O.P. Senator Declares Opposition Senator Susan Collins of Maine announced her opposition to the latest bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving party leaders short of the votes they need. I have yet to see a proposal from Collins that will fix the abuses Obamacare has piled on those in the individual market. When a truck drivers insurance goes from 500 a month to over $2000 a month with a deductible that makes it virtually worthless for most purposes that is a problem that opponents of change do not address.  The same goes for the single mothers whose policies now cost a $1000 a month or more with a huge deductible. When you have people like Jimmy Kimmel who pays roughly $40 a month for his health coverage through a union supporting this deeply flawed law it shows how out of touch the supporters of the mess are. So why are liberals celebrating keeping this mess in place?  What is Collins solution ...

National Interests: The United States has substantial air, land, and sea forces stationed in South Korea, as well as several units based in Japan and the western Pacific earmarked for a Korean contingency. Together, these forces far exceed the firepower of North Korea’s armed forces and represent a powerful deterrent not just against Pyongyang but any potential adversary in the region. The first U.S. forces that would be involved in a North-South Korean conflict are those currently based in South Korea. On the ground, the U.S. Army rotates a new armored brigade into South Korea every nine months—currently the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Each brigade is manned by 3,500 soldiers and consists of three combined arms battalions, one cavalry (reconnaissance) battalion, one artillery battalion, one engineer and one brigade support battalion. Armored brigade combat teams typically consist of approximately 100 M1A2 Abrams tanks, 100 M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles...

IBD: If you were among the brave few who bought a Tesla Roadster in 2008, you purchased your government-subsidized $100,000-plus electric car when a barrel of oil cost as much as $162 in today's dollars. "Peak oil" was an article of faith — as crude supplies ran out, ever-higher oil prices would destroy demand for the internal combustion engine and other fossil-fuel monstrosities. But now, if you're one of the 500,000 wannabe Tesla owners who, according to CEO Elon Musk, has put down a $1,000 deposit on a $35,000 Model 3, the company's new mass-market electric sedan, you're probably just as familiar with a fashionable new green conceit. Now the article of faith is "peak demand" for oil, the idea that electric cars will soon make oil obsolete. Funny how green logic seems to work. It doesn't matter whether there's too much demand for oil or too little — either way, oil is doomed. Sadly, for Mr. Musk and all the true believers, peak dema...

Hot Air: Chicago’s Awesome New Soda Tax Produces Predicted Results ... Long before it went to effect we were warning the county that this experiment has been tried in cities around the nation and it’s almost uniformly failed in spectacular fashion. So it would be a real shocker to see it be a big success in the Windy City, right? Fear not. Local retailers are already screaming because their sales are down by nearly fifty percent and they’re predicting that they’ll need to cut back on workers . (CBS Chicago) ... The local retailers report that more than 4 in 10 local stores have seen a drop in beverage sales of at least 30%. And it’s affecting overall sales traffic as well. The common sense explanation as expressed by some of the owners is that nobody is going to go all the way out of the county just for soda and then return to buy the rest of their groceries from them. If you’re making the trip anyway you’ll buy almost all your groceries in a place where the taxes on everythin...

BBC: Russia is committing "grave human rights violations" in Crimea, according to a report by the United Nations. The UN human rights agency says it has documented arbitrary arrests, torture and at least one extra-judicial execution in the region. "There is an urgent need for accountability," UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine after the country's pro-Russian leader was overthrown in 2014. According to the Interfax news agency, Russia's human rights ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova dismissed the report as "an unjust and biased assessment of the human rights situation in Crimea". A Crimean official also complained that the account was not objective and did not reflect reality. The report cites "grave human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, and at least one extra-judicial execution". It adds that there ha...

Remington Research: ... Most Americans, 51%, say they have watched less football this year compared to the past. Of respondents who said they have watched less football this year, 69% cite their reason as players using the NFL as a stage for their political views. Republicans and Non-Partisans have been cutting back on watching football at a higher rate than Democrats, as 66% of Republicans say they have watched less football this year compared to 33% of Democrats. Among Non-Partisans, 55% reported they have watched less football this year compared to the past. Almost two-thirds of Americans, 64%, state that NFL players should stand and be respectful during the national anthem while 24% of Americans do not believe players should stand and be respectful during the national anthem. By party affiliation, 91% of Republicans, 60% of Non-Partisans and 43% of Democrats believe players should stand and be respectful during the national anthem. Among Democrats, 41% do not believe playe...

Fuel Fix: Permian Basin could yield 70 billion oil barrels in coming decades, IHS says ... ... those 75,000 square miles in Texas and New Mexico could hold more crude in so-called recoverable resources – the amount that can be extracted with modern technology – than Kuwait and Argentina combined. And that's if U.S. shale drillers can only extract between 4 percent and 6 percent of the crude stuck in 52 different rock formations – a typical figure for such plays. ... The yields could go much higher if the price of oil gets back to $70 a barrel.

Fuel Fix: Energy Secretary Rick Perry delighted in poaching companies from California while governor of Texas. Now he is going after the west coast state once again, saying he is "frustrated" with their opposition to oil and gas development. "They are anti-fossil fuel," he said at a meeting of the National Petroleum Council in Washington Monday. "At some point in time California is going to come to its senses. Perry is making a push to modernize and expand the pipelines and other infrastructure that move oil and natural gas around the country, fighting back against a swelling anti-fossil fuel movement that has grown up in response to climate change. Adding to a list of pipeline projects facing state opposition, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday he would not grant a permit for an eight-mile long gas pipeline over concerns about greenhouse gas emissions. President Donald Trump has said expanding U.S. energy production is a priority for his adminis...

Eli Lake: Can We Stop Calling It a 'Muslim Ban' Now? The list of restricted nations never included some of the largest Muslim countries. Now it includes North Korea and Venezuela. The arguments of the left had already lost in the Supreme Court and now they have even less chance.

Washington Times: Enrollment at the University of Missouri continues to crater in the wake of the November 2015 race protests, with this year’s incoming class down 33 percent from the one two years ago. ... Total enrollment is down nearly 13 percent since 2015. ... Students at the University of Missouri protested the school’s handling of racial incidents on campus beginning in September of 2015. The movement gained considerable traction when several members of the football team said they would not play or practice until then-University of Missouri System President Tim Wolfe resigned. Forfeiting football games would have cost the university an estimated $1 million per contest. In an email leaked in January of 2016, Mr. Wolfe said ceding to the demands of students would end up costing the university more in the long run. “In hindsight the $1 million penalty associated with forfeiting the game against BYU would have paled in comparison to the more than $25 million in lost tu...

Washington Times: A federal appeals court revived Texas’s anti-sanctuary city law Monday, allowing key parts to take effect — including a prohibition on cities and states trying to thwart cooperation with deportation officers. Police and sheriff’s departments also are required to comply with detainer requests when the federal government asks that illegal immigrants be held for pickup, under the 3-0 ruling by a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals . The decision overturns an injunction by a district court judge — though the appeals court said the big arguments remain to be heard later. Still, the decision is a watershed moment, marking the highest court to allow states to force their localities to comply with detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ... This is a good ruling the opponents' case makes no sense.  How can you argue that the state is interfering with federal immigration law when it is facilitating its enforcement and stopping those...

NY Times: North Korea Says It Has the Right to Shoot Down U.S. Jets North Korea’s foreign minister escalated the tensions with the U.S., saying the country had the right to shoot down American warplanes, even if they are not in North Korean air space. He also called President Trump’s derogatory comments about the country and its leadership “a declaration of war.” It is interesting how he ignores his own derogatory comments and threats to the US.  By his logic, he is already at war with the US.   Does North Korea have an air defense that could threaten US jets?  Probably not.  If the US planes approach at an altitude above the range of their ancient air defense system, North Korea would probably just be wasting ammo and poking holes in the sky. If North Korea did launch such an attack it would not be the first time they have attacked the US military in international waters.  During the Vietnam Tet offensive, they captured a US spy ship ...

NY Times: Iraqi Kurds Vote on Independence, Despite Opposition Many have long yearned for nationhood. But Iraq considers the vote illegal, and the United States, Iran and Turkey are also opposed. World War I was a disaster for the Turkish empire.  The Europeans who divvied up the spoils of the Turkish empire made the mistake of putting the Kurds' ancestral home gound in what remained of Turkey, as well as in Iran and Iraq.  It has not worked out well for anyone especially the Kurds who have been abused by all three at one time or another. The treatment has not quelled the Kurds' desire for independence.  It has enhanced it.  If I were a Kurd, I would vote for independence from despotic regimes like that in Turkey and Iran.  I suspect the US opposes the vote because it is inconvenient to their objectives in Iraq and Syria.  On the other hand, it could be a benefit to US objectives in Iran.  In the long term, it could also help in...

Cheryl Chumley: When the Pittsburgh Steelers decided to stay their sorry selves in the locker room during the playing of the national anthem at Sunday’s game, the entire NFL fanbase, minus the Friends of Colin Kaepernick crowd, gave a collective sigh — a heavy, frustrated, “here we go again” sigh. Then came Alejandro Villaneuva , jogging onto the football field to stand and place hand over heart as the anthem played. Alone. And now Villaneuva ’s the hero; his teammates, the dark-hearted. Villaneuva is a U.S. Army veteran who served three tours in Afghanistan. It’s sad that his fellow teammates couldn’t put aside their partisan politicking for messages that aren’t based entirely on truths for the playing of the one song that’s supposed to unite all of America — for the one song that recognizes the great sacrifices of those who went before, those who gave so much, those who served as Villanueva did. The Steelers were reportedly surprised that Villaneuva didn’t stay in the ...

Washington Examiner: ... The law struggled for years when Obama was in office, even though his administration created it. Many of the problems were the result of short-term fixes by the Obama administration through the use of executive decisions, waivers, and deadline extensions. These inflicted losses for insurers in the exchanges. Those decisions by Obama slashed choices for customers and hiked prices, especially for those who were not receiving federal subsidies. The Obamacare law gives the secretary of Health and Human Services latitude to decide questions about open enrollment, customer outreach, and special enrollment periods. Leaving such issues up to a government healthcare agency meant experts could weigh in and provided flexibility and adjustment during the early years. This was arguably necessary, to a degree, experts say, given that the law overhauled the healthcare system and caused disruption for millions of people. But some of the decisions that were made also inj...

Melanie Phillips: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s squad inquiring into allegations of collusion between Team Trump and President Putin’s Russia broke into the home of Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort in the middle of the night, drew their guns on Manafort and his wife, carted out boxes of stuff and took out Manafort himself in handcuffs and pyjamas, telling him to expect an indictment. For what, precisely? If prosecuting authorities uncover evidence to support a prosecution, they charge someone. They don’t tell that individual to expect a charge about some unspecified offence at some unspecified future date unless they are putting the metaphorical screws on him. Nor do they physically strong-arm him as though he were a dangerous mobster especially if – as in the case of Manafort – he was already cooperating with Congressional investigators and had made 300 pages of documents available to them. Manafort may have unsavoury business associations – as former prosecuto...

Erick Erickson: If you listened to the media over the weekend, or the Patriots’ owner, you’d think Donald Trump had just politicized sports. Actually, Trump is responding to the politicization of sports. The players, ESPN pundits and analysts, and the national press corps has politicized sports. They are the ones who started taking knees, covering the taking of knees heroically, and trying to examine the politics of it all. The NFL, ESPN, and other media outlets already have internal data showing the protests are not popular. ESPN has internal data showing its politicization of sports is not popular. So along comes President Trump to express a widely held sentiment and he amps up the rhetoric. The press and player reaction is to not only double down on the protests, but to accuse Trump of inserting politics into the situation — something everyone already knows the players and pundits did first. And now what happens? Because of the way the argument has unfolded, you are either o...

Washington Examiner: The recent hurricanes affecting coastal states have renewed calls to reform or repeal the Jones Act, an obscure, century-old shipping law designed to protect American maritime interests and shipbuilders. Enacted in 1920, the federal law prohibits tankers from hauling oil between U.S. ports unless those vessels are American-made, flagged and manned by a crew that is 75 percent U.S. citizens. The Trump administration this month extended a temporary waiver to the Jones Act in response to fuel shortages caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, to allow foreign-flagged vessels to meet demand. But some lawmakers and experts say the waivers prompted by the hurricanes showcase the need to repeal a law they view as protectionist and anti-competitive, making it harder to move goods to market, and raising prices for consumers. Because of the high cost of using vessels that qualify under the Jones Act, critics say coastal shipping has declined, even though infrastructur...

Times: Tens of thousands of Parkinson’s disease patients with a mixture of dementia and psychosis are being denied an effective drug that is available in the United States. About 130,000 people in Britain have Parkinson’s, which erodes the brain’s control over body movements, leading to shaking and poor co-ordination. In the long term, four out of five of these patients will also face mental decline when the disease spreads from the base of the brain to the areas that handle memory and planning. As the condition worsens, three quarters of this group will also develop aspects of psychosis, such as paranoia, delusions or seeing, smelling or hearing things that are not really there. Scientists in Britain have carried out a fresh analysis of the findings from their trial of a Parkinson’s medication and found that it is particularly potent in patients who have both dementia and psychosis. The anti-psychotic pill, which is called pimavanserin but marketed in the US as Nuplazid, t...