Shelton to keynote Libertarian event on coast | Local News … – Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

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TUPELO Mayor Jason Shelton will provide a keynote address this Saturday at a political event in Biloxi hosted by the state Libertarian Party.

Shelton is a Democrat and will join a roster of speakers that otherwise tilts Republican and Libertarian.

At least some deological diversity is precisely the point of the gathering, which is dubbed Loungin with Libertarians.

Promotional material for the event describes it as a venue for Libertarians and adherents of other political viewpoints to interact and network.

This is the fifth such Loungin event. It will be held at the White House Hotel in Biloxi.

Shelton himself is an advocate of a more collaborative and less ideologically blinkered political discourse. He has criticized the major U.S. political parties as a preoccupation with partisan advantage to the neglect of a functioning government.

With that in view, Shelton is happy to consider his appearance at a Libertarian event as en effort to help leverage his elected officer to broker a different kind of political environment.

I do feel a personal responsibility to do what I can to make it better, Shelton said in a recent interview with the Daily Journal. As mayor of Tupelo, you have a pretty high profile job.

Shelton himself is comfortable in a bi-partisan environment. He has twice now been comfortably elected as a Democrat in a traditionally Republican city and maintains a strong working relationship with a City Council under the control of a Republican supermajority.

Though he hasnt ruled out a run for higher office, Shelton has avoided strongly ideological fights during his tenure in office and has focused instead on what he calls good government.

Other speakers at the Saturday Libertarian event include a Republican member of the Biloxi City Council and the independent mayor of McLain. A member of the state Libertarian Partys executive committee will also deliver remarks. Other guests expected to attend include the newly-elected Republican mayor of Ocean Springs who identifies as largely Libertarian in outlook.

Libertarians generally align themselves with the Republican Party because of their strong support of a minimal federal government, low regulation and light taxation.

The party typically differs from traditional Republican stances, however, on foreign policy and national security issues as well as civil liberties and drug policy.

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Shelton to keynote Libertarian event on coast | Local News ... - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal

Let the Libertarian debate – The Washington Post – Washington Post (blog)

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Summer in a gubernatorial election year means its time to start the debate over the number of debates.

And it has, with a flourish. Republican nominee Ed Gillespie proposed a series of 10 debates with Democratic nominee Ralph Northam, a somewhat more modest demand than the 15 debatesRepublican Ken Cuccinelli demanded of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in 2013.

Northam has accepted threedebatesand seven joint appearances, but he dismissed the overall demand as a public relations stunt.

Gillespie called Northams counter-offer insulting.

Both candidates are correct. This is a public relations stunt, as Northam said, and a very old, tired one at that. It is also insulting, but not in the way Gillespie meant.

The insult is that gubernatorial debates in Virginia are little more than smaller versions of the carefully packaged affairs weve all witnessed at the national level.

What people watch for and what the press and political junkies delight in are those gotcha moments that make for great copy and easy attack lines.

But lets indulge Gillespie on his demand for many debates and ignore his own ducking and dodging on the issue in the waning months of the Republican primary.

Lets have 10 debates. Or 19, as the Roanoke Times has suggested.

But lets also insist on a couple of things.

Libertarians had a good case for being included in the 2013 debates between Cuccinelli and McAuliffe. But their candidate, Robert Sarvis, had to settle for running an ad during one debate. He was excluded from another by a media outlet because he didnt qualify under debate rules worked out between the major-party candidates.

Bipartisan agreement is easy to find, especially if it leads to keeping voters in the dark.

While Sarvis ended up winning just 6.5 percent of the vote, and Republicans still blame his campaign for costing Cuccinelli the election (a claim Paul Goldman and I refuted), including Sarvis on the debate stage would have offered voters a bit of relief from that campaigns incessant negativity.

It also might have offered them a critique of the major parties, their policies and their records.

That would have been refreshing and enlightening.

Hyra campaign director John Vaught LaBeaume told me that his candidate would be willing to participate in any and all debates or forums that both the Democratic and Republican candidates agree to take part in.

As he should.

LaBeaume also hopes the debate organizers are open to including Hyra and do not fall prey to the self-interested campaigns of the Democratic and GOP nominees.

That would mean the Northam and Gillespie campaigns would have to agree to allow Hyra in as part of their ground rules for debating one another.

Thats self-serving and should not be tolerated by any debate sponsor, particularly if that sponsor is a media organization.

To its credit, Roanoke television station WDBJtried to get the campaigns to agree to allow Sarvis to join the debate the station sponsored in 2013 owing to quite a bit of negative reaction to [his] exclusion.

The McAuliffe campaign was somewhat interested in the idea; the Cuccinelli campaign wasnt.

Should we expect a similar outcome this year?

Gillespie spokesman David Abrams told me, Either Ed or Ralph Northam is going to be the next governor of Virginia, which is why the organizations sponsoring debates invited them.

Northam spokesman David Turner told me the campaign would agree to include Hyra in the debates.

Thats a good first step. One that fits Northams political calculus, but still good. Candidates should agree to participate in as many as possible and televise them all. And organizers truly interested in an exchange of ideas rather than a clash of talking points dont allow the candidates to dictate terms.

After all, youre paying for the microphone.

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Libertarian Republicans Powered by Billionaire Money Plan to Undo Gains of Last 100 Years – WMNF

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Posted July 7, 2017 by Adam Flanery & filed under American History, Civil Rights, Labor, National Government, National Politics, News and Public Affairs, Social Services, State Government.

A lot of books have tried to explain the rise of conservative power that poses a direct challenge to the reforms that came about under the New Deal, the labor movement, the Civil Rights movement, and the Great Society.

In her new book, a Duke University professor reveals a little known conservative think tank that had its beginnings on the University of Virginia campus. With help from one of the Koch brothers, the think tank helped reframe the debate over the role of business, government and individuals.

The book is Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Rights Plan for America.

The author is Nancy MacLean. Shes the William H. Chafe Professor of History and Public Policy at Duke University. Her previous book is Freedom is Not Enough. Host Rob Lorei interviewed her about her new book.

To listen back to this interview from Thursday, June 15, 2017 click here.

Tags: Koch brothers, Nancy MacLean

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Libertarian Republicans Powered by Billionaire Money Plan to Undo Gains of Last 100 Years - WMNF

Read Austin Petersen’s Goodbye Note to the Libertarian Party – Hit … – Reason (blog)

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FacebookAustin Petersen, the second-place finisher [*] for the 2016 Libertarian Party presidential nomination, is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Missouri currently held by Democrat Claire McCaskill. But he's running as a Republican and explains his decision below. For an exclusive, in-depth interview and podcast with Petersen, who also worked as a producer on Judge Andrew Napolitano's Fox Business show, Freedom Watch, go here.

Dear friends in the Libertarian Party,

For the last eight weeks, I've spent six hours a day calling my supporters to ask them their thoughts on how I might best advance liberty. I took the time to listen to every single persons' opinion about a potential opportunity to seek a seat in the U.S. Senate here in my home state of Missouri.

Of the thousands of people I spoke to, all encouraged a run, hundreds donated, and the vast majority offered their opinion regarding which party I should align with. Over 98% of them, including registered Libertarians, independents, Republicans, and even Democrats, said to run GOP.

For that reason and others, I have chosen to listen to them, as they are the lifeblood of all efforts that I will make to advance our common cause. They are the people whose time, energy, and money I will need to bring our movement a victory that we desperately need. Without the grassroots, I am incapable of action on the field. I feel I must act as a good representative and steward of their hopes and dreams for a better future.

I have served the Libertarian Party in nearly every capacity, at every level, from your humble volunteer coordinator at your national office, to one of your top contenders for President of the United States. Any future successes I may garner in the realm of politics will come in large part because of the experience and opportunities you gave me to advance American freedom, and for that I thank you.

Sadly, I must depart for now. I go with no ill will, and wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Best Wishes,

Austin Petersen

For Reason's interview with Petersen, go here.

[*]: The original story mistakenly reported Petersen finished third at the LP National Convention.

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Read Austin Petersen's Goodbye Note to the Libertarian Party - Hit ... - Reason (blog)

For Restaurants in the San Juan Islands, a Beautiful Setting Brings Serious Challenges – Eater

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This is a business for crazy people, says Jay Blackinton, a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist for Rising Star Chef of the Year and one of Food & Wines best new chefs of 2017. This isnt a place to make money. Up here its even worse. The business is running a restaurant, but up here refers to Orcas Island, a picturesque member of the San Juan Islands off the northwest coast of Washington.

Blackinton is describing the unique challenges, including seasonality, of operating a restaurant accessible from Seattle only after a few hours ride by car and ferry. Starting right now, we will be slammed until mid-September when the weather starts to turn. Then it just turns off and gets really slow, he says. You want full-time employees all the time, but you cant have that, so we try to make work for people.

Blackinton owns Hogstones Wood Oven, which started as a rustic pizzeria in 2013 but quickly added more creative and ambitious tasting menu options as the chef was inspired by his ingredients. The islands are amazingly fertile, and almost all of Hogstones food comes from local farms, like Maple Rock, where Blackinton also works. These tasting menu experiences thrilled the intrepid restaurant elite, wholl happily go off-grid for unique experiences and a taste of true terroir, but stymied many unsuspecting tourists. What a lot of people do on the islands is they make places that are Im gonna get mobbed for saying this pretty mediocre. Because thats what most people expect, want, and are willing to pay for. Were mostly not the pizza place people are looking for, he deadpans.

This is a business for crazy people. Up here its even worse.

Now, Blackinton is trying to ease confusion by moving the casual Hogstones to the lovely backyard, currently being revamped, and opening Aelder in the dining room, offering four-, seven-, and 12-course experimental menus almost exclusively by prepaid reservation through the online ticketing system Tock. When Aelder opens on July 7, walk-ins will be allowed to order the four-course menu, or be directed to Hogstones out back.

Seattle, generally, has been slow to embrace this kind of strict reservation policy. But most restaurateurs, certainly ones who work with limited ingredients, dream of having diners locked in, eliminating one major variable affecting service and the bottom line. We get a lot of people who come up here just to eat here, he says. So why wouldnt people be willing to do that? I think its going to work well.

Aelder is part of a growing trend of hyper-local high-concept restaurants separated from Washingtons coast by a stretch of water. It joins the ranks of the revered Willows Inn on Lummi Island and Ursa Minor on neighboring Lopez Island. Chef Nick Coffey, who previously pushed boundaries in the tiny kitchen of Seattles Barjot then helped award-winning chef Matt Dillon open Ciudad last year, opened Ursa Minor in April after years of visiting the island and feeling awed at the natural beauty and bountiful harvest.

Coffey, recognizing the importance of balancing local and tourist business, ran a successful Kickstarter campaign, raising more than $30,000 based on his desire to fully support Lopez Islands many artisan producers and growers with menus that will rotate frequently. Like many businesses on the island, we need the visitors to help sustain us through the slower times, he says. But we want to build a restaurant here that the residents are proud of and dine in as often as theyd like. And, as many entrepreneurs have discovered since crowdfunding exploded, the support can be as valuable as the influx of cash. Kickstarter does create a network around you of people that are vested in the business and interested in it succeeding, Coffey says. Theyre telling their friends; its a great networking tool as well as fundraising.

Youre trying to fill the restaurant during those two busy months then scaling back the rest of the year.

As a first-time restaurateur, Coffeys doing his best to prepare for the highs and lows of island living. Theres about two months of really busy season so youre trying to fill the restaurant during those two months then scaling back on the rest of the year until youre a little more established, he says. Ursa Minor is only open Thursday to Sunday right now, and might drop Thursdays after September. Coffey also plans to close in January and February, typically the slowest months of the year.

Even the Willows Inn, despite its reputation as a fine-dining astonishment with two-time James Beard Award-winner Blaine Wetzel at the helm, still has an off-season. Were fully booked most of the year, but we still definitely feel the effect of a seasonal fluctuation in business levels, says Wetzel, who apprenticed at Denmarks two-Michelin-starred Noma and seems to have brought a bit of that restaurants magic with him when he took over the inns kitchen on Lummi Island. Thats why were open just four days of the week in the winter and early spring.

Wetzel, who helps run the companys farm yes, another restaurant with a farm and forages regularly with his staff, admits that the pickings get slimmer in the winter, since its so windy that no locals are fishing or diving for shellfish. But he says its not sourcing food thats challenging The ingredients here are amazing, way more than enough its the mundane things.

Lummi is just five to 10 minutes from the mainland by ferry, but the ferry is too small for deliveries, which means the inn cant operate the way most restaurants do, relying on regular deliveries of fresh linens and cleaning chemicals. Theres not even a dumpster out back what garbage truck would empty it? To underscore the isolation, Wetzels phone keeps cutting out during an interview. Another challenge you have to deal with: Half the time you have no signal, he says. The internets so bad we have to have like four satellites to have decent speed for guests.

Naturally, staffing is a challenge, but not for lack of interest. Ive had many people reach out over the years who wanted to work here, and Id love to have them in the kitchen, Blackinton says. But its impossible to find places for people to live. It is and isnt my responsibility to make sure people have a place, but I have to keep looking for those resources if I want to continue to have staff in the future. Im short a cook right now, but I have no idea where they would go, because everythings pretty filled up here. One of his long-term goals is to add rooms to his operation.

Coffey agrees finding housing for employees is difficult. On my staff, theres one guy still looking for a place, basically couch-surfing right now, he says. But for the most motivated people, it eventually works out. More accommodations would certainly make peoples transition to the island easier. People want to come from further away to work in the restaurant, he says, and even some kind of hostel or shared bedding situation would be much appreciated. Its a constant concern in the community.

Its impossible to find places for people to live.

In its favor, the Willows Inn does have rooms, and plenty of people are willing to come from all over the world and intern for little to nothing to gain experience at such a highly regarded restaurant. The Willows Inn recently shut down its stage program, though, and has been ordered by the Department of Labor to pay $149,000 in unpaid wages and damages to 19 former stages. As soon as I learned that this, something that was common practice in the industry, is technically not legal, then we discontinued it, says Wetzel, who himself staged in his career. He also says ending the stage program wouldnt affect payroll or quality. Its not like we were relying on free labor for the restaurant to operate, he says. These were young, aspiring chefs and cooks from around the country who wanted exposure to what we were doing and an opportunity to learn. Wed often just have one extra hand in the kitchen to show whats going on.

Wetzel says his staff which can include 15 cooks for 30 diners on a given night are compensated competitively, and consider the limited schedule and significant off-season bonuses. This type of restaurant is usually combined with a strenuous schedule, he says. I think us having the time off every year is a real benefit in that it offers some balance in a field [where] thats rarely the case.

When asked why they stick it out on the islands, all of these chefs agree: Its worth the challenge. Its hard to answer this question because it sounds so dumb, Oh, its just a beautiful place. But its home, Blackinton says. If you have the opportunity to do something like this in a place that feels like home, then its a no-brainer, as far as fulfillment of your spirit goes.

As for visitors, they can stop in and reap the reward as they please. You figure it out and you get access to some of the best products in one of the most beautiful and wild areas in the country, Wetzel says. These islands are so abundant, with small farms, old farms, native tribes that fish, kind of eccentric or artisanal people and producers. And its not just a new thing, its been that way a long time.

Adam H. Callaghan is the editor of Eater Seattle. Suzi Pratt is a Seattle-based photographer. Editor: Hillary Dixler

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Future Islands at the Iveagh Gardens: unbridled passion, unbelievable dancing – Irish Times

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Thank you for being part of our history, being part of our lives, Samuel T Herring tells the rapt Dublin crowd

Artist: Future Islands

Venue: Iveagh Gardens

Date Reviewed: July 6th, 2017

Samuel T Herring marvels at sight in front of him. This is gorgeous, he says, before the music starts. Its always good to be in Dublin . . . But Imma shut the f*ck up and make some music.

A Future Islands gig is a lesson in how to live life to the full. While the rest of the band keep it low key, frontman Herring is the living embodiment of dance like nobodys watching, except everyone is and theyre taking notes. On record, their music is all well and good but when they take to the stage, it becomes an unruly beast thats coaxed on by Herring, a man who has relentless energy.

Opening with Ran, their recent single from latest album The Far Field, this is their fourth gig this week. From Limerick to Cork, and from Galway to this evening, their biggest headline show ever, theres a mutual adoration borderline infatuation between Future Islands and Ireland, and it only gets stronger with every thump Herring directs to his chest, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Each song is introduced with a short anecdote that takes us on a brief but bittersweet journey. This is a song about a long walk home alone . . . one of those nights where you thought you had a place to stay but you got turned away at the door, he says wistfully as Before the Bridge bursts into life, growling the verses from the pit of his stomach.

Their music works its way up from the base of your spine until every limb finds its own unique rhythm but, truly, nothing can compare to the art form that is Herrings dancing. You could spend years studying in an elite dance school and it wouldnt be a patch on what he has to offer.

He has a strong repertoire of shapes to pull, and pull them he does. And often. A Dream of You and Me sees him kicking his legs out like a Russian dancer; Inch of Dust has him winding his entire body up like a jacked-up sean ns singer; for Sun in the Morning, hes slinking his body like a desert snake; and during Doves, he drops down, rotates his hips and bites his lip, putting pop tween queens to shame.

The human body is a marvellous thing and for every primal ape run, shimmy and shake, he throws his entire soul into his performance, making him one of the most committed frontmen out there.

Theres a reluctance in the crowd to head to the bar or nip to the loo, in case we miss a glimmering moment that can never be experienced again. When Seasons (Waiting On You) starts,the security have to scold guests to walk and not run, like strict primary school teachers, down the steps from the portaloos.

Its 10pm and still bright out and as two lads crowd surf, like two little tug boats, during Spirit it feels like one of those summer nights that will never end. Except it does, but not before they get kitted the f*ck out in Irish football jerseys.

Thank you for being part of our history . . . being part of our lives, Herring says.

Dedicating Beach Foam to Samus Coleman and finishing on a slower note with Little Dreamer (One more to send you starry-eyed off into the night), theyre pandering hard to the crowd, and do we mind? Were used to being pandered to when international acts claim to be one-quarter Irish or praise the Guinness, but Future Islands play this one particularly well.

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Christian roots are deep in these islands – WND.com

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Hawaiian missionaries

In 1778, British Captain James Cook discovered Hawaii, which he named the Sandwich Islands in honor of John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.

Captain Cook was killed in Hawaii in 1779. When Captain Cooks voyages were read in England they raised awareness of new lands and inspired a missionary movement, led by William Carey, who took the Gospel to India in 1793.

The Hawaiian Islands were united by King Kamehameha I in 1810. In 1819, King Kamehameha I died. His wife, Kaahumanu, and his son, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II), abolished the pagan religion with its kapu rules and human sacrifice. The next year the first missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham and Yale graduate Asa Thurston, with his wife, Lucy, arrived from New England on the brig Thaddeus. Hiram Binghams grandson, of the same name, discovered the Inca city of Machu Pichu in 1908, was governor of Connecticut and a U.S. Senator.

A 12-letter Hawaiian alphabet was created by missionaries Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, who then translated the Bible into the Hawaiian Language. In 1823, Queen Kaahumanu and six high chiefs requested to be baptized as Christians. The Queen Kaahumanus government then banned prostitution and drunkenness, resulting in sailors resenting the missionaries influence.

In 1824, Chiefess Kapiolani, the cousin of Kamehameha I, defied the volcano goddess Pele by saying a Christian prayer, climbing down into the lava crater and returning unharmed, then eating the forbidden helo berries.

In 1825, Queen Keopuolani first spoke Hawaiis Motto, The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness (Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono) as she was baptized into the Christian faith. When Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) died, his brother, King Kamehameha III, ascended to the throne, having the longest reign in Hawaiis history, 1825-1854.

The various island kingdoms of the Pacific had no navies capable of repelling the global maritime powers of the day, namely, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, French, British and Japanese. King Kamehameha III was instrumental in using diplomacy to keep the Kingdom of Hawaii from being taken over by the British and French.

King Kamehameha III introduced the first Hawaiian Constitution in 1840: Kingdom of Hawai`i Constitution of 1840, Declaration of Rights of People and Chiefs: God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the earth, in unity and blessedness. God has also bestowed certain rights alike on all men and all chiefs, and all people of all lands. God has also established government, and rule for the purpose of peace. We are aware that we cannot ourselves alone accomplish such an object God must be our aid, for it is His province alone to give perfect protection and prosperity. Wherefore we first present our supplication to Him, that he will guide us to right measures and sustain us in our work.

Hawaiis 1840 Constitution continued: It is therefore our fixed decree,

I. That no law shall be enacted which is at variance with the word of the Lord Jehovah, or at variance with the general spirit of His word. All laws of the Islands shall be in consistency with the general spirit of Gods law.

II. All men of every religion shall be protected in worshiping Jehovah, and serving Him, according to their own understanding, but no man shall ever be punished for neglect of God unless he injures his neighbor, of bring evil on the kingdom.

The above constitution has been agreed to by the Nobles, and we have hereunto subscribed our names, this eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord 1840, at Honolulu, Oahu. (Signed) Kamehameha III. Kekauluohi

Discover more of Bill Federers eye-opening books and videos in the WND Superstore!

King Kamehameha III granted the Ka Wai freshwater springs where High Chiefess Hao frequented to be the location for building of the historic Kawaiahao Church. Located on the Island of Oahu, the Kawaiahao Church is listed on the state and national registers of historic sites, as it is one of the first Christian churches in Hawaii. Built between 1836-1842 in New England style architecture, Kawaiahao Church was called the Westminster Abbey of Hawaii. Constructed with 14,000 coral slabs, quarried by hand from reefs 10 to 20 feet under water each slab weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Within its walls the kingdoms royalty prayed, sang hymns, were married, christened their children, and finally laid in state. On the grounds surrounding the church are buried some of the original missionaries.

In 1852, Hawaiian James Kekela went as a missionary to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. He wrote that Hawaii was fortunate to have come under the protection of the United States rather than France: The French government is celebrating the 14th of July in Papeete, as America does on the 4th of July. What Americans do to celebrate is to give speeches, worship God, do things to strengthen the body, and so on. The French are pleasure lovers, acting as in the old days the dances of Tahiti, Tuamotu, Rurutu, Tubuai, and Atiu. What is done is like what the (filthy arioi?) did. It is a very painful thing for our eyes to behold, because all kinds of liquor are allowed on the tables on this day-beer, soda, wine, whiskey.

Hawaii became a U.S. Territory July 7, 1898, when President McKinley signed the Treaty of Annexation. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state. The occasion was marked by ceremonies within the sanctuary walls of the Kawaiahao Church.

On April 19, 1970, President Richard Nixon spoke at the historic Kawaiahao Church, saying: Reverend Akaka I wanted to attend this great church, with all of its history that is here having in mind the fact that today you will be commemorating the 150th anniversary of Christianity in these islands.

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OPINION: Islands of intolerance – Arkansas Democrat-Gazette – Arkansas Online

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Is there no limit to the level of disgusting behavior on college campuses that parents, taxpayers, donors and legislators will accept? Colleges have become islands of intolerance, and as with fish, the rot begins at the head. Let's examine some recent episodes representative of a general trend and ask ourselves why we should tolerate it--plus pay for it.

Students at Evergreen State College harassed biology professor Bret Weinstein because he refused to leave campus, challenging the school's decision to ask white people to leave campus for a day of diversity programming. The profanity-laced threats against the faculty and president can be seen on a YouTube video titled "Student takeover of Evergreen State College."

What about administrators permitting students to conduct racially segregated graduation ceremonies, which many colleges have done, including Ivy League ones such as Columbia and Harvard universities? Permitting racially segregated graduation ceremonies makes a mockery of the idols of diversity, multiculturalism and inclusion, which so many college administrators worship. Or is tribalism part and parcel of diversity?

Trinity College sociology professor Johnny Eric Williams recently called white people "inhuman a**holes." In the wake of the Alexandria, Va., shooting at a congressional baseball practice, Williams tweeted, "It is past time for the racially oppressed to do what people who believe themselves to be 'white' will not do, put [an] end to the vectors of their destructive mythology of whiteness and their white supremacy system."

June Chu, dean of Pierson College at Yale University, recently resigned after having been placed on leave because of offensive Yelp reviews she had posted. One of her reviews described customers at a local restaurant as "white trash" and "low class folk"; another review praised a movie theater for its lack of "sketchy crowds." In another review of a movie theater, she complained about the "barely educated morons trying to manage snack orders for the obese."

Harvey Mansfield, a distinguished Harvard University professor who has taught at the school for 55 years, is not hopeful about the future of American universities. In a College Fix interview, Mansfield said, "No, I'm not very optimistic about the future of higher education, at least in the form it is now with universities under the control of politically correct faculties and administrators." Once America's pride, universities, he says, are no longer a marketplace of ideas or bastions of free speech. Universities have become "bubbles of decadent liberalism" that teach students to look for offense when first examining an idea.

Who is to blame for the decline of American universities? Mansfield argues that it is a combination of administrators, students and faculties. He puts most of the blame on faculty members, some of whom are cowed by deans and presidents who don't want their professors to make trouble.

I agree with Mansfield's assessment in part. Many university faculty members are hostile to free speech and open questioning of ideas. A large portion of today's faculty and administrators were once the hippies of the 1960s, and many have contempt for the U.S. Constitution and the values of personal liberty. The primary blame for the incivility and downright stupidity we see on university campuses lies with the universities' trustees. Every board of trustees has fiduciary responsibility for the governance of a university, shaping its broad policies.

Unfortunately, most trustees are wealthy businessmen who are busy and aren't interested in spending time on university matters. They become trustees for the prestige it brings, and as such, they are little more than yes men for the university president and provost. If trustees want better knowledge about university goings-on, they should hire a campus ombudsman who is independent of the administration and accountable only to the board of trustees.

The university malaise reflects a larger societal problem. Mansfield says culture used to mean refinement. Today, he says, it "just means the way a society happens to think, and there's no value judgment in it any longer." For many of today's Americans, one cultural value is just as good as another.

------------v------------

Walter E. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

Editorial on 07/06/2017

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OPINION: Islands of intolerance - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - Arkansas Online

Price war breaks out on Scottish islands flights – BBC News

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BBC News
Price war breaks out on Scottish islands flights
BBC News
As Flybe prepares to go head to head with Loganair from the beginning of September, some flights from Stornoway to Glasgow are on sale for just 50. The airlines have jointly operated routes across the Highlands and islands under a franchise agreement ...

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Price war breaks out on Scottish islands flights - BBC News

Evolution and war: The ‘deep roots’ theory of human violence – Genetic Literacy Project

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The world learned the details of the Islamic States systemic rape and slavery of women through shocking stories told to the New York Times in 2015.Our collective outrage also showed how war has changed. Rape, torture and slavery are considered beyond taboo; they are criminalized even in war. This archaic behavior is not supposed to happen in our modern world.

But thats a pretty recent development. Systemic rape used to go hand in hand with war as women, resources and landswere assimilated into the victors communities. The victorious menhad more children, more land and more power. Some researchers have argued that this is proof of the deep roots theory of war: Human males fight each other for reproductive advantage, proving that war is an evolutionary advantageous behavior.

But this theory has been hard to prove. In fact, studies of human groups and other primates have added to the evidence both for and against the controversial idea that humans were made for war, evolutionarily speaking. A January 2015study indicates that societies dont actually benefit from head-to-head action, though other forms of violence do pay off.

Harvard evolutionary biologists Luke Glowaki and Richard Wrangham studied the Nyangatom people of East Africa. The group are polygamous shepherds who raise small livestock and can have multiple wives. At times, the Nyangatom go to war with other groups. But there is a another pervasive and nearly constant form of violence in the group. Young riders make raids on nearby camps with the goal of stealing cattle. Glowaki and Wrangham asked if either or both of these types of violence was beneficial to the men who engaged in them. They measured by counting the the number of wives and kids they had.

This study is one of many that has heightened thedebate over how muchwar has had an impact on a warriors evolutionary success. At least in this society,sneaking around after dark and stealing cows may have beenmore consequential. Robert Sapolosky at the Wall Street Journal explained:

By contrast, lots of battle raidingopen-field, daytime combat with hundreds of participantsdid not serve as a predictor of elevated reproductive success, probably because such fighting carried a nontrivial chance of winding up dead. In other words, in this society, being a warrior on steroids did not predict reproductive success; being a low-down sneaky varmint of a cattle rustler did.

But researchers only discovered this by looking at the elders in the community. Stealthy animal raiding did lead to better outcomes but decades later. In Nyangatom culture, most of the stolen livestock goes to fathers and other paternal relatives rather than being kept by the young men who stole them. The male heads of families made marriage decisions for their younger relatives. So, while it this kind of violence makes a difference, the payoff is quite delayed. The researchers speculated the cattle-rustling effect would be stronger in a group where the raiders got to keep the livestock they stole and incentives were strengthened.

Other studies also point to the idea that inter-group warfare might not be beneficial, but intra-group violence is. Chimpanzee tribes, for example dont often go to war with other tribes. Instead the most common types of violence involve a group of males ganging up on one individual male. This often happens when conditions are crowded or there were increased numbers of males in the tribe. And the researchers found that chimps participation in violence happened outside of the spheres of human influence, meaning violence was not a behavior the chimpanzees learned from us.

But other evidence suggests that humans likely didnt participate in war as we know it until relatively recently. A 2013 survey of killings in 21 groups (foragers rather than shepherds) found that group warfare was rare compared to homicide. John Horgan categorized the evidence at Scientific American:

Some other points of interest: 96 percent of the killers were male. No surprise there. But some readers may be surprised that only two out of 148 killings stemmed from a fight over resources, such as a hunting ground, water hole or fruit tree. Nine episodes of lethal aggression involved husbands killing wives; three involved execution of an individual in a group by other members of the group; seven involved execution of outsiders, such as colonizers or missionaries. Most of the killings stemmed from what Fry and Soderberg categorize as miscellaneous personal disputes, involving jealousy, theft, insults and so on. The most common specific cause of deadly violenceinvolving either single or multiple perpetratorswas revenge for a previous attack.So it maybe that a proclivity for violence and an innate sense of revenge that perpetuates war, rather than war itself.

Another factor to consider is that while our common ancestors lived in groups like these thousands of years ago, almost no one does anymore. In fact, finding these undisturbed cultures is hard to do. Having more cows doesnt carry the same appeal it once did. Its unlikely stealing your neighbors TV for your uncle will fetch you a better bride. Some scientists worry that if we accept the idea that violence was a beneficial tool for our ancestors, it somehow overturns the societal progress that has moved us beyond the rape and pillage culture to something still imperfect, but largely more peaceful.

This is the biggest struggle with the deep roots theory of human violence. Just because something garnered an advantage thousands of years ago doesnt make it okay today. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, who has written a book on human violence, said in the Boston Globe:

romantics worry that if violence is a Darwinian adaptation, that must mean that it is good, or that its futile to work for peace, because humans have an innate thirst for blood that has to be periodically slaked. Needless to say, I think all this is profoundly wrongheaded.

Meredith Knight is a contributor to the human genetics section for Genetic Literacy Project and a freelance science and health writer in Austin, Texas. Follow her @meremereknight.

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Evolution and war: The 'deep roots' theory of human violence - Genetic Literacy Project

Elon Musk’s business achievements and future aspirations – ABC Online

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Updated July 07, 2017 19:41:56

Elon Musk is the driving force behind South Australia's giant storage battery project, but his to-do list includes putting a human on Mars, roads filled with electric vehicles that drive themselves and developing the capacity for humans to "plug themselves in" to computers.

Mr Musk, 46, was born in South Africa, went to school there, then completed university in Canada and the United States.

He spoke with scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson in a podcast last year about ways he wanted to have a big impact on humanity citing the internet, sustainable energy and space exploration among his areas of focus.

Others he spoke of were artificial intelligence and exploration of human genetics.

The start-ups sector holds Mr Musk is high regard.

Back when he was 24, he got only days into PhD studies at Stanford University when he decided to leave and start the first of what became a series of multi-million-dollar business ventures.

With his brother, he started Zip2 with just $2,000, a company that helped others post content such as maps and directory listings.

Four years later that company was sold for more than $300 million and Mr Musk pocketed about $22 million as his share.

The young businessman then rolled half the money into a company that ultimately became PayPal.

It was later acquired by eBay for more than $1.5 billion.

Aged 31, Mr Musk started turning his attention to space exploration hopes, founding the company SpaceX, and also joined electric car company Tesla, as he pondered the way forward for vehicle transport.

Tesla sells electric cars that run on lithium ion batteries. In 2016, it sold more than 82,000 cars but needed to work out how it could achieve an aim of many as 10,000 new cars per week by 2018, the hurdle being enough lithium ion batteries.

Mr Musk turned his ambitions to that area, and started building the Gigafactory 1 last year in Nevada in the United States.

It is more than half completed now and, once operational, is being tipped to have the largest footprint of any building in the world.

Mr Musk has said the planet would need just 100 lithium ion factories of this size to be able to meet the Earth's total energy requirements.

Topics: business-economics-and-finance, environmental-technology, science-and-technology, computers-and-technology, sa, united-states, canada, south-africa, australia, adelaide-5000, jamestown-5491

First posted July 07, 2017 19:39:04

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Elon Musk's business achievements and future aspirations - ABC Online

Private sector has health care cures, if we’d only get out of its way: Steve Forbes – USA TODAY

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Steve Forbes, Opinion contributor Published 6:00 a.m. ET July 7, 2017 | Updated 7:27 a.m. ET July 7, 2017

Protest in New York.(Photo: Mary Altaffer, AP)

Who knows what if anything Senate Republicans will do about health care reform.

But there is a fundamental truth that is being overlooked in all the hyperbolic rhetoric over Medicaid, mandates, subsidies, accessibility and taxes: Free markets would turn our ailing healthcare system into a dynamic, innovative cornucopia of better and ever more affordable care for all of us. We'll see if Washington can rise to the challenge of starting to remove the formidable obstacles to such a market where patients would be in charge rather than the third party payers of government, big insurers and big employers.

There are a number of impressive examples of what the private sector is capable of providing us if government barriers were removed.

Senate health bill: Reports of Medicaid's demise greatly exaggerated

Face facts, GOP: Obamacare is a lifeline that's doing enormous good

Take one particular product from Stryker, one of the world's largest medical device companies. Its innovative SurgiCount scanners address the problem of "retained" surgical sponges. Despite being considered a "never event," surgical sponges are left inside patients an estimated dozen times a day in the US. A single such incident costs about $600,000 in corrective surgery, indemnity payments and legal settlements. SurgiCount avoids all that by electronically tracking the sponges used in an operation, rather than leaving that to chance in a manual count by harried operating room surgeons and nurses.

Innovation can be seen at the retail level as drug store chains Walgreens, CVS and Rite-Aid push further into health care delivery. The authoritative journalHospitals & Health Networksreported that this push will continue "to put pressure on traditional providers to 'up their game' on access or partner." What Hospitals & Health Networks didn't say is that it would at the same time enhance consumer access and choice.

In similar fashion, the University of Southern California Center for Body Computing's Virtual Care Clinic, along with eight partners, helps deliver wireless, on-demand health care to anyone with a smartphone. The Virtual Care Clinic system uses mobile apps, wearable sensors, data collection, "virtual" health care providers and more to connect users with USC medical expertise.

USC is calling it an "anytime, anywhere" disruptive health care model to deliver "borderlesshealth care." That would pair nicely with an ideasome Republicans have long advocated, topermit sales of health insurance across state lines.

POLICING THE USA:Alook atrace, justice, media

Senate health bill breaks GOP promises on costs and Trump's on coverage

These are but a few examples among many and there would be countless more if we achieved a genuine free market system. But the truth is that both parties over the years share responsibility for shockingly higher health care costs and an all-too-inflexible system.

The GOPmust share some of the blame for the cost spiral Obamacare has wrought for the past seven years. When Republicanscontrolled both Congress and the White House in 2003 to 2007, they could have passed many of the health care reforms they now advocate most notably permitting nationwide shopping for health insurance and greatly expanding the eligibility for tax-free health savings accounts.

Had President George W. Bush and the GOP Congress done so, it's highly improbable that Obamacare would have seen the light of day. The same nationwide free-market competition that holds down car and auto insurance premiums would have a similar effect on health insurance premiums.

More patient consumerism and choice are what's needed, not Medicaid for all.

Steve Forbes, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and 2000, is thechairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media. Follow him on Twitter: @SteveForbesCEO

You can read diverse opinions from ourBoard of Contributorsand other writers on theOpinion front page, on Twitter@USATOpinionand in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

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Private sector has health care cures, if we'd only get out of its way: Steve Forbes - USA TODAY

GOP health-care bill not addressing problems, could be ‘very destructive’: Mount Sinai CEO – CNBC

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Republican health-care proposals don't address the real problems and could potentially wind up being "very destructive" to large hospitals in urban areas, Mount Sinai Health System CEO Dr. Kenneth Davis told CNBC on Thursday.

GOP leaders are still trying to garner enough votes to pass their bill in the Senate, while others in the party are putting forward their own ideas.

"We're going to be losing an awful lot of Medicaid and that's going to provide the hospital systems with lots more patients with uncompensated care," Davis said in an interview with "Closing Bell."

Plus, people with pre-existing conditions will also find they can't afford their policies, he said.

"The hospitals by law are going to have to take care of them and it's going to be very difficult to see how a lot of hospitals that already have very small margins are going to survive in that environment. We are fundamentally not dealing with the basic problems in health care by these bills."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Kentucky voters on Thursday that he's still grappling with getting enough votes for passage.

"I'm in the position of a guy with a Rubik's cube, trying to twist the dial in such a way to get at least 50 members of my conference who can agree to a version of repealing and replacing" Obamacare, he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ted Cruz, R- Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R- Utah, are circulating the "Consumer Freedom Option." The amendment would let insurers offer at least one Obamacare-compliant plan on a state's exchange, which would cover pre-existing conditions and get funding from tax credits and stability funds. "Freedom plans" would also be offered for healthy, young people.

Davis said the problem with that proposal is it takes healthy people out of the risk pool.

"As a consequence we are leaving behind in that comprehensive policy those people with pre-existing conditions, chronic disease or people who think they are at risk for illness," he said. "Those policies are going to be terribly expensive because you don't have the healthy people in those pools to bring down premiums."

He believes the issue of the high costs of health care need to be addressed.

"That means we have to change the way we deliver care," Davis said.

He proposes moving from fee-for-service toward a system where care providers are paid to manage a group of patients ahead of time.

"If they manage those patients efficiently, they're going to have some margin. If they manage them inefficiently, it's their loss," Davis said. "We've got to change the way health care is delivered. These bills are not addressing those questions."

CNBC's Kayla Tausche contributed to this report.

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GOP health-care bill not addressing problems, could be 'very destructive': Mount Sinai CEO - CNBC

Who Would Enjoy Tax Breaks Under The GOP Health Care Proposals? – NPR

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The GOP health bills would eliminate the 10 percent tax on the use of tanning beds. It was one of more than a dozen taxes introduced as part of the Affordable Care Act. Robert Gauthier/LA Times via Getty Images hide caption

The GOP health bills would eliminate the 10 percent tax on the use of tanning beds. It was one of more than a dozen taxes introduced as part of the Affordable Care Act.

There's a lot of talk on Capitol Hill about the tax cuts included in the Republican health plans, but unless you are a frequent user of tanning beds or have personal wealth that puts you in the top 1 percent, you might not feel much effect.

The House and Senate bills both change or eliminate more than a dozen taxes that were levied to help pay for the Affordable Care Act's insurance subsidies and to bolster Medicare and expand Medicaid. Republicans and other ACA critics have argued that the taxes are onerous for businesses and families.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the tax cuts and coverage changes in the Senate proposal would reduce the federal government's revenue by $700 billion over the next 10 years.

We're answering three key questions about the tax cuts:

Most of them fall into two buckets.

Bucket 1: Taxes related to individual income

The ACA levied a 0.9 percent increase in the Medicare payroll tax on income above $200,000 for individuals or $250,000 for couples.

It also added a 3.8 percent tax on net investment income as in stocks, bonds, interest and capital gains that kicks in after $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.

As Senate leaders consider revisions to their bill, some senators including Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee have suggested leaving the investment tax in place to provide more money for subsidies, but others have objected to that idea. This would be a major divergence from the House-passed bill.

Still, if both of those taxes in the ACA were repealed, high-income Americans would collectively pay about $231 billion less in taxes over 10 years, according to the CBO analysis.

Bucket 2: Taxes on corporations

Since the passage of the ACA, drug companies and medical device manufacturers have complained that the taxes levied on them have a chilling effect on innovation and affect their ability to hire more workers. They also argue that costs are passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.

Under the Senate plan, drug companies would see an estimated $25.7 billion cut over 10 years, while medical device makers would get about $19.6 billion in savings. Some of the cuts would start as early as this calendar year.

In both bills, there's also relief for insurers. The GOP plans would eliminate a tax on all insurers based on their market share. Congress waived the tax this year, hoping the one-time move would help slow premium increases. The CBO analysis of the Senate bill found a permanent cut would save the industry $144.7 billion over the next decade.

Other taxes outside the buckets

Smaller but not insignificant cuts come from eliminating other taxes, including a limit $2,600 this year on how much workers can annually set aside tax-free in flexible spending accounts to pay for things like medications, eyeglasses or co-payments for doctor's office visits. The plans would also increase the amount people could put in tax-protected health savings accounts. The Senate proposal would also revert tax law back to pre-ACA days in setting the threshold for medical deductions at 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income; the ACA had boosted that to 10 percent. The House approach is even more generous.

And not to be forgotten: The GOP plans would delete a 10 percent tax on the use of tanning beds.

The short answer: Unless you're wealthy, probably not.

The ACA significantly increased average taxes on high-income people mainly through the investment income tax and the Medicare payroll tax. So the top 1 percent and other high earners are the group that would benefit most from the repeal, according to several analyses, including one by the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C.

Under the GOP proposals, the top 1 percent those earning $875,000 a year or more in 2026 would get an average tax cut of about $40,000 per year, while middle-income people earning about $50,000 to $90,000 would see about a $300 cut, according to Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the center.

Those earning about $28,000 or less could save an average of $180 a year through the changes to limits on FSA and HSA contributions and the threshold on medical deductions, he says.

Even though the tax cuts and other changes would reduce Treasury revenue by about $700 billion over the next decade, spending cuts exceed that amount, so the deficit actually goes down by $321 billion, the CBO says.

The biggest spending cuts hit the Medicaid program, which provides health coverage for low-income children and adults and people with disabilities. Medicaid pays for nearly half of all births and much of the cost of nursing home care. Spending on Medicaid by 2026 would shrink by 26 percent compared with what it would be under the ACA.

As to other effects, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage would rise, the CBO says. Because the GOP proposals cut the tax penalty for not having insurance, it estimates that far fewer people would enroll in coverage. That, coupled with smaller subsidies to help lower- and middle-income people buy their own insurance and cuts to Medicaid, could lead to 22 million fewer insured Americans by 2026, the CBO says.

States could choose to try to make up for federal Medicaid spending cuts and maintain current levels of coverage, but that would probably involve raising state taxes, cutting other budget items such as education, or both.

Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Who Would Enjoy Tax Breaks Under The GOP Health Care Proposals? - NPR

Protesters opposing GOP health care bill descend upon lawmakers, some arrested – ABC News

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Protesters around the country on Thursday responded to lawmakers who declined to hold town halls by bringing their complaints straight to the doors of their elected officials' offices.

From Arkansas to Arizona, supporters of Obamacare chanted, sang songs and in some cases, got arrested as they made their case against the Senate Republican health care bill.

ARIZONA

The Arizona chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America, a grassroots PAC operating inside the Democratic Party, said five of its members were arrested at a gathering outside the Phoenix office of Sen. Jeff Flake after a building manager called the police, claiming they were standing on private property. ABC affiliate KGUN reported that the four women and one man were taken into custody for trespassing after they repeatedly refused to leave the private property.

Protesters chanted "Where is Jeff Flake!" and "Nows the time to stand and fight! Health care is a human right!

In Tucson, Pima County Sheriff's deputies arrested two men at a health care-related protest at Sen. Jeff Flake's office Thursday morning, according to KGUN. Deputies say the men were arrested just before 9 a.m. for reported threats. One of the protesters allegedly referenced the shooting of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, according to KGUN.

ARKANSAS

In Arkansas, protesters waited in Sen. Tom Boozman's Little Rock office, but were told by a staffer to limit themselves to ten people inside the small waiting room.

"Let's please be respectful of each other," the staffer told the group.

"Well, we would like for our senator to be respectful," a protester responded. "If you're going to have constituents, and if he's going to be the U.S. Senator, he should have an office where constituents can come sit and speak their minds!"

At Sen. Tom Cotton's office, in the same building as Boozman's office, other protesters sang pro-Medicaid songs, to the tune of "Glory, Glory Hallelujah."

And another protester told a Cotton staffer, "The legislation is supposed to make cuts to VA services ... as a veteran Sen. Cotton should have other veterans in mind." The staffer responded, "We appreciate your service. Thank you."

TEXAS

Sen. Cruz was one of the few Senate Republicans to hold a town hall. Most of the questions at the event in Austin were on veterans' health care, but he did have a few spirited exchanges with supporters of the ACA.

"I'm happy to have a conversation, but if we're just yelling back and forth at each other, we can't have that," he told one heckler.

At the end of the event he thanked the largely friendly audience for a "respectful and spirited debate," adding, "we may not have convinced each other but that's part of the democratic process."

Protesters, who chanted songs, also rallied outside of Sen. John Cornyn's office in Austin.

Police were spotted escorting protesters away, and one of the officers was spotted frisking a male protester.

COLORADO

Obamacare supporters held a "Save Medicaid Rally" in Denver, where several hundred people showed up.

One female protester urged rally-goers to call Sen. Corey Gardner. "Call him at least once a day and tell him to vote no and to commit to us, before he leaves Colorado, to vote no on this ridiculous tax cut for the wealthy!" she said.

Activists at Sen. Corey Gardner's Denver office didn't get a face-to-face meeting, but they did get a 15-minute phone chat with their senator, who was not in the Denver area.

They told him they "demanded" that he vote "no" on the Senate bill -- but Gardner said he couldn't say how he would vote because the bill as presented is just a "discussion draft," not the final version.

"I cant commit yes or no," he told the activists, from the Denver chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.

KENTUCKY

A few dozen protesters chanted and held signs outside Sen. Mitch McConnell's office in Lexington.

"Don't get sick! Please die quick!" chanted protesters, mocking the GOP's healthcare plan.

KANSAS

Sen. Jerry Moran was treated warmly by a crowd at a town hall in Palco that seemed largely supportive of Obamacare, because he opposes the current Senate GOP bill.

He had a few exchanges with the liberal members of the audience, but all of them were respectful. This was a crowd that clearly appreciated being among the few that actually had an opportunity to talk to their senator over this recess.

If public hearings are not held in the Senate on the next Senate bill, will you withhold your vote? one attendee asked Moran of the health care bill.

I will not necessarily. That's not the criteria. I know that's not the answer you were looking for, Moran responded.

No! she said back, though she listened attentively as he explained why that wasnt the case.

Moran touched on the scarcity of Republican town halls.

I've been told that it's silly to hold town hall meetings, he said. You may not be my voters, but you are my constituents. And you deserve to have a conversation with me, he added, to applause.

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Protesters opposing GOP health care bill descend upon lawmakers, some arrested - ABC News

Why we fight for universal healthcare – Los Angeles Times

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Six months into President Trumps term, the Republican majority in Congress has largely been consumed by its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is unsurprising, given the GOP has been fixated on repealing Obamacare for the past seven years.

At the time of passage, we all recognized that the ACA was far from perfect, but its benefits for many Americans were undeniable. Americas uninsured rate has dropped to its lowest point in 50 years, millions more Americans have access to a doctor and do not risk financial ruin when they get sick or injured.

Unlike most legislative battles, the partisanship surrounding the ACAs passage has continued through its implementation. Congressional Republicans have fought to weaken the law rather than address changing conditions in the healthcare market or any deficiencies. Now in control of the White House, President Trump has taken steps to undermine the Affordable Care Act and cause its collapse, by withholding payments to insurers and creating destructive uncertainty in the market. If insurers cannot count on the Trump Administration to make required payments, they must raise premiums dramatically or leave the market just the kind of death spiral the president hopes to create.

I supported the ACA in 2010 because I believed then, as I do now, that healthcare is a human right and it ought to be universal. I supported including a public option in the ACA that didnt make it into the final bill, because it would have further constrained costs and created additional competition.

That is a concept I still support, because in the wealthiest nation in the world, it is unconscionable that millions of Americans, including children, go without access to care. For millions of families, a bad diagnosis can mean bankruptcy. For the parents of children with a congenital heart condition or other birth defect, it means a lifetime of worry not only about their child, but what will happen when they hit their lifetime limit and potentially owe millions.

The ACA did not fix every issue in our healthcare system, but it created a framework to get us the rest of the way. Through Medicaid expansion, millions more low-income Americans became eligible for coverage. Moreover, by creating a system of insurance exchanges and subsidies to help those who did not get coverage through their employer, the ACA created a market-based solution to expand access and affordability. And it worked.

Now, seven years later, Congressional Republicans are forging ahead with a bill that President Trump called mean. It would force more than 20 million people off their coverage, allow states to opt out of protections for preexisting conditions and lifetime limits, and most importantly, gut coverage for millions of children, disabled and elderly Americans. This bill would cut $800 billion from Medicaid in the first 10 years and hundreds of billions more later to give a major tax cut to the wealthy.

The Senate bill is no better and may become worse still. The Republicans who tout it do so because of the tax cut it creates, not its purported health-policy solutions. Yet Republicans push forward because they feel compelled to repeal the ACA, no matter how many Americans suffer as a result. That either chamber would tout a bill that cuts off tens of millions of Americans and is supported by only 16% of the public is as perplexing as it is wrongheaded.

The battle we fight today should be about expanding coverage to millions more, not deciding how much coverage we should take away from people who already have it. Whether Congressional Republicans are successful in their repeal efforts or not, universal healthcare must be our goal.

As President Trump realized all too late, healthcare is really complicated. But our priorities should not be: We must endeavor to provide quality, accessible care to every American.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) represents the 28th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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Why we fight for universal healthcare - Los Angeles Times

What Are the Implications for Medicare of the American Health Care Act and the Better Care Reconciliation Act? – Kaiser Family Foundation

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An important question in the debate over proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is what might happen to the laws many provisions affecting the Medicare program. The American Health Care Act (AHCA), which was passed by the House of Representative on May 4, 2017, and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), released by Senate Republicans on June 22, 2017, would leave most ACA changes to Medicare intact, including the benefit improvements (no-cost preventive services and closing the Part D coverage gap), reductions to payments to health care providers and Medicare Advantage plans, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

However, both bills would repeal the Medicare payroll surtax on high-income earners that was added by the ACA, effective January 2023. That provision, which took effect in 2013, provides additional revenue for the Part A trust fund, which pays for hospital, skilled nursing facility, home health and hospice benefits. The Part A trust fund is financed primarily through a 2.9 percent tax on earnings paid by employers and employees (1.45 percent each). The ACA increased the payroll tax for a minority of taxpayers with relatively high incomesthose earning more than $200,000/individual and $250,000/coupleby 0.9 percentage points.

In addition to repealing the ACAs Medicare payroll surtax, both bills would repeal virtually all other tax and revenue provisions in the ACA, including the annual fee paid by branded prescription drug manufacturers, which would decrease revenue to the Part B trust fund. The bills would also reinstate the tax deduction for employers who receive Part D Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) payments, which would increase Medicare Part D spending.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the provision in the AHCA and the BCRA to repeal the Medicare payroll surtax would reduce revenue for Part A benefits by $58.6 billion between 2017 and 2026. Proposed changes to the ACAs marketplace coverage provisions and to Medicaid financing in both bills would also increase the number of uninsured, putting additional strain on the nations hospitals to provide uncompensated care. As a result, Medicares disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments would increase, leading to higher Part A spending between 2018 and 2026 of more than $40 billion, according to CBO.

Altogether, changes to Part A spending and financing in the AHCA and BCRA would weaken Medicares financial status by depleting the Part A trust fund two years earlier than under current law, moving up the projected insolvency date from 2028 to 2026, according to Medicares actuaries (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Repealing the Medicare payroll tax on high-income earners, plus other provisions affecting Medicare spending and financing, would deplete the Part A trust fund in 2026, 2 years earlier than under current law

Reducing the flow of revenues to the Part A trust fund by repealing the payroll surtax paid by high-income earners and increasing Part A spending due to higher DSH payments has direct implications for the ability of Medicare to pay for Part A benefits on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. When spending on Part A benefits exceeds revenues, and assets in the Part A trust fund account are fully depleted, Medicare will not have sufficient funds to pay all Part A benefits (although the Medicare program will not cease to operate).

In addition to the impact on Medicares solvency in the short term, repealing the high-income earner payroll surtax and other proposed changes affecting Part A spending and revenues would also worsen the programs long-run financial status, increasing the 75-year shortfall in the Part A trust fund from 0.73 percent of taxable payroll to 1.18 percent, according to Medicares actuaries.

The projected date for depletion of the Medicare Part A trust fund has varied over time as a result of changes in policy and the economy affecting both revenues and spending (Figure 2). In the past, looming insolvency has prompted policymakers to debate and pass legislation that reduced Medicare spending, thereby improving the financial status of the Part A trust fund. For example, during the mid-1990s, when the Medicare actuaries were projecting trust fund insolvency by 2001, Congress enacted the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997, which reduced Medicare spending and extended the solvency of the Part A trust fund by an additional seven years. With the enactment of the ACA in 2010, Part A trust fund solvency was extended by several years as a result of the laws provisions to increase the Medicare payroll tax on high-income earners and reduce provider and plan payments (Figure 3).

Figure 2: The projected depletion of the Medicare Part A trust fund has varied over time as a result of changes in policy and the economy affecting both revenues and spending

Figure 3: The Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund gained additional years of solvency with enactment of the ACA

Whether the Part A trust fund remains solvent for an additional 11 years, as projected under current law, or 9 more years, under proposed changes affecting Medicare Part A spending and financing in the AHCA and BCRA, Medicare faces long-term financial pressure associated with higher health care costs and an aging population. Even if the payroll surtax on high earners is retained, the Part A trust fund is likely to need additional revenue to finance care for an aging population, unless policymakers choose instead to reduce Part A spending by cutting benefits, restricting eligibility, or reducing payments to providers and plans. By cutting taxes on high-income earners and thereby reducing revenue to the Medicare Part A trust fund, the AHCA and BCRA would increase pressure on policymakers to take some type of action sooner rather than later.

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What Are the Implications for Medicare of the American Health Care Act and the Better Care Reconciliation Act? - Kaiser Family Foundation

Sen. Moran gets tough health care questions in Trump country – ABC News

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Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran faced tough questions Thursday at a town hall meeting in his home county packed with critics of Republican efforts to overhaul health care, showing that even a tiny town deep in Trump territory in a Republican state isn't isolated from the political discontent in Washington.

Moran had his first town hall meeting of the short Fourth of July congressional break in Palco, a town with fewer than 300 residents about 270 miles (435 kilometers) west of the Kansas City area, the kind of event he's held hundreds of times over the past two decades. Palco is in Rooks County, where Moran grew up. President Donald Trump carried it with 84 percent of the vote in last year's presidential race, and there is no organized Democratic Party.

But about 150 people tried to squeeze into a community center room set up to hold less than half that number, with many of them from outside the area. While the audience applauded Moran for opposing a health care bill written by Senate GOP leaders, the applause was louder for speakers who advocated a universal government-run health care program such as Medicare for the elderly or Medicaid for the poor.

Moran announced last week that he would oppose the Senate Republican bill as currently drafted after a budget analysis suggested 22 million more people would be uninsured under the proposal by 2026. Moran said the legislation needs to protect coverage for people with pre-existing conditions and not hurt rural hospitals.

"I will choose country over party," Moran said. "I will choose Kansans over party."

Like many other Republican lawmakers, Moran has been a persistent critic of the Affordable Care Act championed by former President Barack Obama and filed legislation during the Democrat's administration to repeal it. Moran said a person's view of the 2010 law could depend upon whether they get coverage through an employer or have to search for it as individuals.

"There are people who tell me they are better off, and I believe them, and there are people who are less well off," Moran said of the Affordable Care Act.

The repeal push still has the support of many Republican voters in the area, including Ashley Kuhn, the 32-year-old director of a day care center down Main Street from where Moran had his town hall. She said she's seen her family's health insurance co-payments double and deductibles rise, and she blames it on Obama's signature health care law.

"Health care needs to be changed," she said.

But Moran's town hall drew supporters of Planned Parenthood and members of health care advocacy groups from as far away as the Kansas City area. They asked him whether any ordinary Kansan would benefit under the Senate GOP's plan and whether he would vote against any bill that didn't have public hearings.

Moran wouldn't rule out a "yes" vote in such an instance, telling the audience member who asked, "I know that's not the answer you were looking for" and getting a quick reply back, "No."

In a community where several stores and cars were festooned with anti-abortion messages, a Planned Parenthood lobbyist from Topeka, Elise Higgins, asked Moran what he would do to see that its patients still could have their services covered by Medicaid, Moran told her he didn't have a "good answer." An audience member said, "You need a better one, then, senator."

Some audience members came to press Moran to pursue a bipartisan solution that built on the existing health care law and moved the nation toward broader government coverage.

"Who doesn't want health care?" Jeff Zamrzla, a retired and disabled Marine and 59-year-old Democratic activist from Salina, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the east of Palco, said after the forum. "Who doesn't want to be able to live a life that's worth living?"

At times, audience members seemed more ready to debate each other than to press Moran. When one man said, "You can't get the Democrats to do anything," several people shouted back, "That's not true!"

Moran has built his reputation in Kansas politics as approachable and somewhat affable during 14 years in the U.S. House representing western Kansas and in the Senate since 2011. As a Senator from a sprawling state, he makes a point of visiting each of the 105 counties every two years. He planned events Friday in Sublette and Liberal in southwest Kansas. He defended the choice of Palco as a venue, saying residents of small towns should have chances to interact with elected officials.

Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .

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Sen. Moran gets tough health care questions in Trump country - ABC News

Cruz Walks Health Care Tightrope, With Eye on 2018 – Roll Call

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One hour into Sen. Ted Cruzs town hall meeting on veterans issues in McKinney, Texas, on Wednesdaynight, a doctor stood up andtold him, You all are scaring the living daylight out of us with the health care nonsense youre doing.

Cruz, who has been a key playerin the Senates health care negotiations, responded that he is fighting to repeal President Barack Obamas signature health care law, and working to expand choice and competition to lower insurancepremiums.

The process of repealing it in Congress, its been messy. Its been bumpy. I am not certain well get it done, the Texas Republican said, according to a recording of the event. I hope we will. I believe we will.

The exchange highlighted broader questionsfacing Cruz ashe looks to repeal the 2010 law, a stance that helped propel him to national prominence. Does he make the bill more conservative, potentiallycompromising on other aspects of thelegislation? Or does he ultimately vote against thebill becauseit doesnt go far enough? And what will Texas voters think?

Fiveyears ago, Cruz looked into a television camera and said the effort to repeal the health carelawwould be an epic political fight.

There is going to be enormous pressure to compromise, Cruz said. I think we should repeal it in its entirety.

Cruzs comments came during a televised debate with Texas Lt.Gov. David Dewhurst, who also said he wanted to repeal the law.The pair were locked in a runoff for the Republican nomination for the Senate. They weresimilar in substance, but differed in style.

Cruz, a well-spoken lawyer who had never been elected to office, pulled off an upset to win the primary, a major tea party victory.

Fast forward to this summer, and the stridently conservativepolitical outsider is now working on the inside.

Cruzhas been engaged with 12 other colleagues in closed-door discussions on the legislation to repeal parts of the health care law. The senator who oncespoke ofthe pressure to compromise is now welcomed by his colleagues for his willingness to do so.

The quieter, behind-the-scenes style isa changefor Cruz, according to his fellow lawmakers. Four GOP senators used the same word to describe his role: constructive.

It is welcomed, said South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was open about the disdain senators felt for Cruz. (Graham once joked that if Cruz was murderedon the Senate floor, a jury of senators would not convict the killer.) Grahamand Cruz both ran for the GOP presidential nominationlast year, losing to Donald Trump.

I think running for president was probably a good experience for him, Graham said. It shows the diversity of the party and being able to solve problems is a good thing.

Senators also positively describe Cruzs willingness to engage in one-on-one meetings. Sen. Rob Portman, who raised concerns about the health care legislations effect on Medicaid recipients, said Cruz cameby his office last week to discuss the stalled bill.

Hes been looking for ways to find compromise, the Ohio Republican said.

For Cruzs allies, his role in the deal-making is no surprise.

Ive known him in private and Ive known him to be a deal-maker the entire time that Ive been in Congress, said North Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Meadows. Many others in the public have not seen that.

Meadows, who chairs the hard-lineconservative House Freedom Caucus, said Cruz and GOP Sens. MikeLee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have been keeping his caucus up-to-date on Senate developments. But the North Carolina Republicansaid Cruz has been guarded when he talks to House members.

His communications with us have been more strategic and focused thanperhaps just saying, Well, let me share whats going on, Meadows said. Its almost seen as he doesnt want to undermine the credibility he has with some of these senators.

Chip Roy, Cruzs former chief of staff, now at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said Cruz hasnt shifted his style, but is adjusting to a Republican-controlled government.

Hes trying to reflect and represent the people who sent him to Washington to change it, Roy said. What is different is the operating environment.

Meadows said he didnt expect too many Cruz supporters tobe deterred now that hes working from the inside.

For every person that may wish that he took a more strident position, I think theres at least one, maybe two, that would say were glad that Congress is finally making progress, the congressmansaid.

Cruz also still hasthebacking of conservative outside groups, who support his amendment allowing insurance companies to offer plans without certain coverage areas mandated by the2010 health care law, as long as the companies sell one plan that complies with the mandates.

But his amendment could renderthe current Senate proposal, known as the Better Care Reconciliation Act, too conservative for the more moderate members of the GOP conference. The bill remainsat a standstill, with the risk of nothing getting done to fulfill the promise Republicans have campaigned on for sevenyears.

If nothing gets done, Republicans, and even Cruz, could face a backlash from voters frustratedby inaction.

If theres three votes [against the GOP bill] and hes one of the three that could be a problem, said one Texas GOP operative. I think Obamacares that important to the Republican primary voter.

Others disagreed, since Cruzs opposition would likely be because thebill did not repealenough of the health care law.

The promise is to repeal Obamacare, not to pass anything that has the word health care in it, Texas Republican Party Chairman James Dickey said.

Democrats see Cruzs conundrum as a lose-lose situation for him.

Hes going to have to ultimately vote against this, and have reneged on his years-long pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare, said Matt Angle, a Texas Democratic consultant.Or hes going to vote for and help adopt something that is going to hurt people badly.

Cruz is one of only eight Republican senators up for re-election in 2018, and he already has a Democratic challenger in Rep. Beto ORourke.

The health care debate couldnt come at a better time for Beto ORourke because of the reliance of many of the red counties in Texas on government-sponsored health care, said Colin Strother, a Texas Democratic strategist.

Texas is one of 18 states that did not expand Medicaid under the 2010 health care law. But more than 4 million Texans are enrolled in the program, while roughly 3.6 million rely on Medicare, according to the most recent data provided by Texas Healthand Human Services and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Localizing the bills impact by explaining how the GOP legislationcould affect Texanswould be a smart move for ORourke, Strother said.

However, Republican voters in the Lone Star State have supported politicians who campaigned on repealing and replacing the 2010 law.Given the statesconservative leaning, GOPoperativesbelieve Cruz is still in a strong position. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates this race Solid Republican.

Cruz also won last years presidential primary in Texas by nearly 17 points. Trump won the state in November by 9 points.

That victory margin for Trump was the smallest for a Republicanpresidential nominee in Texas in twenty years. One GOPconsultant raised concern overhistoric trends, in which the presidents party does not fare well in the first midterm election of the administration, and said its possible GOP voters would stay home.

Democrats say there is arenewed energy around ORourke, the young third-term congressman from El Paso. Republicans say ORourke, who supports a single-payer health care system, is too liberal for Texas. But Democrats think he could have achance.

Smart people are going to be wary that a Democrat can win in Texas right up until they do, said Strother, the Democratic strategist. I think thats kind of a natural state.

To have someone run as a bold progressive that says, Im not ashamed of who I am or what I believe in, thats a different dynamic that we havent seen statewide in Texas, Strother said. And I happen to think its something that we cant handicap for.

As ORourke travels the state taking on Cruz from the left, Republicans are not gearing up for a primary battle. Dickey, the party chairman, said he was not aware of any primary challenges to Cruz, andsaid the party does not take sides in primaries.

GOP Rep. Michael McCaul last year declined to say whether he would challengeCruz. Asked last week if he was considering a primary challenge, McCaul said, I dont want to talk about Ted Cruz.

McCaul criticized Cruz for focusingon his nationalambitions insteadof serving the LoneStar State, a criticism some Texans say the senatorstill faces today. In 2018, Cruz is looking to prove that hes laser-focused on Texas.

I think Sen. Cruz realizes that he took on some negative water from the presidential race and hes trying to move past and showpeople that hes focused on his job, one Texas GOP operativesaid. Its very clear that hes going to be in the Senate for while.

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Cruz Walks Health Care Tightrope, With Eye on 2018 - Roll Call

Konica Minolta Aiming for Top Position in Precision Medicine, $1B Acquisition – Pharmaceutical Processing

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Konica Minolta to acquire U.S.-based Ambry Genetics in a deal valued at US$1 billion.

Konica Minolta, Inc.and Ambry Genetics Corporationannounced the signing of a definitive agreement for a subsidiary of Konica Minolta to acquire Ambry. The transaction is partially funded by Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ).

A reported $800 million will be paid upon closure, and there will be an additional payment of up to $200 million based on certain financial metrics over the next two years, valuing the acquisition up to a total of $1 billion.

Founded in 1999, Ambry is a privately held healthcare company in the U.S., led by founder, president and chairman Charles L.M. Dunlop and CEO Dr. Aaron Elliott. Ambry has a comprehensive suite of genetic testing solutions for inherited and non-inherited diseases as well as for numerous clinical specialties, including oncology, cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, and general genetics.

They are recognizedin diagnostic solutions for hereditary conditions in the United States, by having performed more than one million genetic tests and identified more than 45,000 mutations in at least 500 different genes. Ambry isthe first laboratory in the world to offer such tests as hereditary cancer panels and clinical exome sequencing.

Konica Minolta views the addition of Ambry as the first stepping-stone to create a new medical platform aimed at fulfilling the potential of precision medicinean emerging approach to healthcare where genetic or molecular analysis is used to match patients with the most appropriate treatment for their specific disease.

Precision medicine aims to improve a patient'squality of life and save the healthcare system money by eliminating unnecessary and ineffective treatments. Konica Minolta plans to bring Ambrys capabilities first to Japan, and then to Europe.

This acquisition is the first in a series of strategic initiatives to secure a leading position for Konica Minolta in precision medicine,said Shoei Yamana, president and CEO of Konica Minolta. The future of medicine is patient-focused. Together with Ambry, we will have the most comprehensive set of diagnostic technologies for mapping an individuals genetic and biochemical makeup, as well as the capabilities to translate that knowledge into information the medical community can use to discover, prevent, and cost-effectively treat diseases. This will not only serve as the future foundation for our healthcare business, but will pave the way for a fundamental shift in the way medicine is practiced globally.

The acquisition of Ambry and the advancement of precision medicine marks a strategicshift for Konica Minoltas healthcare business. Leveraging its long historyin materials science, nanofabrication, optics, and imaging, Konica Minolta has developed a comprehensive range of technologies and services in the healthcare field spanning digital X-ray diagnostic imaging systems, diagnostic ultrasound systems, and ICT service platforms for medical institutions.

Ambrys genetic testing capabilities complement Konica Minoltas advanced imaging technology to create the most comprehensive range of healthcare diagnostics for use by pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, payers, and consumers.

In 2015, Konica Minolta pioneered advanced immunostaining technologyHigh-Sensitivity Tissue Testing (HSTT)1that uses fluorescent nanoparticles to detect and quantify the proteins that drive disease states and offers far greater precision and accuracy than conventional immunostaining techniques.

With initial applications in oncology, the proprietary technology can determine the exact cellular location and amount of specific proteins that manifest in cells, offering an early-stage, highly precise diagnosis and insights into a patients disease that can inform research and a clinician'streatment plan.

Were excited by this opportunity to combine both our companies technologies to unlock new opportunities for precision medicine, said Charles Dunlop, president and chairman of Ambry Genetics. As a part of Konica Minolta, we will have the resources, technology, and scale to advance biomedical research and enable the matching of more patients in more countries with specialized medicines that target the underlying cause of their illness.

Konica Minoltas HSTT technology will be further enhanced by Ambrys genetics-based screening techniques, which enable clinicians to analyze both tumor and normal tissue to diagnose hereditary cancer, while also providing guidance regarding drug eligibility and response.

Ambry recently launched a combined genetic test for both inherited and acquired mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes to indicate appropriate treatment options for cancer patients who may benefit from PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapy. PD-1 and PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitors help the patient's immune system recognize attack and destroy PD-L1-positive cancer cells that would otherwise evade detection by the immune system.

The combination of these bioinformatics capabilities, alongside Konica Minoltas HSTT technology, will create new opportunities for drug discovery and clinical trials not currently available, said Kiyotaka Fujii, senior executive officer, president, global healthcare, Konica Minolta. Konica Minolta will look to accelerate innovations by drawing on the strengths of both companies. In addition to introducing Ambrys genetic-testing capabilities to the Japan market, we will look to develop new bio-imaging and proteomic services and solutions to benefit doctors, patients, and pharmaceutical companies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Konica Minolta via Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc., (MHUS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta, and INCJ, will make an upfront, all-cash payment of $800 million to Ambry. MHUS will invest 60 percent and INCJ will account for the remaining 40 percent. In addition, Ambry shareholders will receive up to $200 million in incremental consideration based on certain financial metrics over the next two years, valuing the acquisition up to a total of $1 billion.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Ambry would thereafter become a consolidated subsidiary of Konica Minolta, continuing to operate under the Ambry name and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California.

GCA Corporation acted as financial advisor to Konica Minolta and Baker McKenzie acted as legal advisor for this transaction. Intrepid Investment Bankers acted as financial advisor to Ambry and Jones Day acted as legal advisor. _____________________________________________________

Reference:

1A portion of the research on HSTT was commissioned under a project by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan.

(Source: Business Wire)

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Konica Minolta Aiming for Top Position in Precision Medicine, $1B Acquisition - Pharmaceutical Processing