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Libertarians clash with Richard Spencer in DC | Washington Examiner – Washington Examiner

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

There were some unhappy people at this weekend's libertarian conference when they found Richard Spencer in the building.

Videos posted to social media Saturday showed the white nationalist, often associated with the alt-right movement, attracted a crowd at the International Students for Liberty Conference at a Washington, D.C., hotel.

Sitting at a table with a large white sign bearing his name, Spencer was met with chants of "fuck you," but offered to talk with those who were willing. He mentioned he was invited to speak at the conference by people attending the event, though one account, citing a libertarian press source, disputed the claim.

Spencer broached topics such as President Trump's travel ban and getting sucker-punched in the face in Washington, D.C., in January.

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At one point Spencer called Jeffrey Tucker, the content director for the Foundation for Economic Education, "totally awful."

Later, Tucker himself confronted Spencer, saying, "You don't belong here. Students for Liberty opposes everything that you stand for." He called Spencer a "troll," a "fascist" and a "liar."

Spencer made headlines in November after he gave a toast in Washington, D.C., that drew approving Nazi-style salutes from several conferencegoers. "Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!" boomed Spencer, popularizer of the term "alt-right" to describe white nationalists, at a National Policy Institute gathering in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Spencer then extended his right arm with a glass to toast that victory. Most members of the audience cheered. Some can be seen in a video excerpt of a forthcoming documentary extending their right arms and palms instead in unmistakable Nazi-style salutes.

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Multiple accounts on social media said Spencer was eventually removed from the conference Saturday.

Spencer himself tweeted: "Looks like I was deported by a 'libertarian' lover of the deep state guys," referring to Tucker. Deep state is when government and military officials are involved in secretly guiding the direction of government policy.

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Libertarians clash with Richard Spencer in DC | Washington Examiner - Washington Examiner

Libertarian author Steven Greenhut will talk public employee pensions at Maui County Club – MauiTime Weekly

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

And now for something fun: Steven Greenhut, a very intelligent and conscientious writerand one of my former editors from my time in Californiawill be on Maui this weekend to do a talk for the Grassroot Institute of Hawaiiabout public employee unions and pensions.

County public employees in the state of Hawaii make among the highest wages in the nation, even after adjusted for Hawaiis high cost of living, states the lecture notice. Steven Greenhut is the author of Plunder! How public employee unions are raiding treasuries, controlling our lives and bankrupting the nation. He will open the books on police and fire departments across the country, and show that the problems of pension spiking, overtime, and Cadillac benefits are also happening in Hawaii.

Greenhut is the Western Region Director for the R Street Institute, a columnist for the Orange County Register and a true libertarian. He opposes public employee unions, big public pensions, eminent domain (which he also wrote a book about), civil asset forfeiture, the drug war, militarized law enforcement and interventionist wars of all types, shapes and sizes.

Seriously, this will be a good talk. Greenhut will speak at 11:30am on Friday, Feb. 24 at the Maui Country Club (48 Nonohe Pl., Paia). The cost is $20, and it includes lunch. Click here for more information.

Photo courtesy Steven Greenhut

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Libertarian author Steven Greenhut will talk public employee pensions at Maui County Club - MauiTime Weekly

Urban heat islands: cooling things down with trees, green roads and fewer cars – The Guardian

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

The difference between the temperature in the city and the temperature in the non-urbanised surroundings can be greater than increases from global warming. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

When it comes to coping with heatwaves, our own cities are conspiring against us. Road surfaces, pavements and buildings all contribute to keeping urbanised environments three to four degrees hotter than surrounding non-urbanised areas.

With heatwaves like the ones that have just baked half of Australia to a crisp forecast to increase in frequency and intensity, city councils are taking the urban heat island effect very seriously.

Some of the modelling studies have shown that we can often have an urban heat island magnitude so thats the difference between the temperature in the city versus the temperature in the non-urbanised surroundings that can be greater than the types of temperature increases that were looking at with global warming, says Dr Melissa Hart, graduate director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of New South Wales.

The urban heat island effect occurs because the dense dark surfaces such as bitumen on roads and building materials used in cities accumulate and store heat during the day and then release it at night.

Thats important, particularly during hot summer evenings; if the minimum temperatures are much warmer at night and not cooling down then that can have health implications, Hart says. And those health implications are staggering: in 2009, 374 people died across metropolitan Melbourne in one heatwave: more than Victorias annual road toll.

One of the simplest solutions to reducing the urban heat island effect is to provide more shade, with trees.

In 2012 Melbourne city council launched an ambitious project to double the tree canopy cover from 22% to 40% by 2040, by planting about 3,000 new trees every year.

On thermal images, you can see clearly the red hotspots of cities are streets, roads, carparks wherever there is bitumen and concrete and you can see the contrast with parks, garden and trees, says councillor Cathy Oke, chair of Melbourne City councils environment portfolio.

But tree planting has its limitations: trees cant be planted in the middle of roads, they cant necessarily be planted on private property, and there are also potential issues with having too many trees. CSIROs Dr Simon Toze gives the example of some US cities that went overboard on tree planting and as a result, women felt less safe walking around the streets.

We want to make sure that what we do is not actually having a detrimental effect elsewhere, says Toze, principal research scientist at CSIRO Land and Waters Urban Living Lab, highlighting other issues such as water use and bushfire risk that can have implications for tree-planting efforts.

Another approach that can cut down on heat absorption is to consider different surface materials for roads and pavements.

As well as committing to a 50% increase in tree canopy cover by 2030, the city of Sydney has begun a trial of lighter-coloured pavement in one inner-city street to see if this will reduce temperatures by reducing heat absorption.

But lighter-coloured pavement can be a problem in very sunny areas. On a bright day like today in Brisbane, the last thing you want is to be driving on the road with the sun coming down and bouncing off the pavement, Toze says. Its a trade-off that weve got to work through.

One alternative is green roads with a more porous surface that allows water to seep in and even grass to grow through, which in turn cuts down the amount of heat absorbed by the road surface. Toze says it might be particularly useful for low-traffic areas that dont see heavy vehicles, although he admits they are notorious for trapping womens high heels.

A similar principle to green roads applies to green roofs and green walls, where the building is partly or fully covered by vegetation. Sydney already has about 100 buildings with green roofs or green walls, including the award-winning One Central Park building on Broadway. This approach indirectly reduces urban heat by cooling the building itself and reducing its air-conditioning requirements, which in turn reduces the amount of waste heat released into the environment. But green roofs can also have unwanted side effects.

Some recent work coming out of our centre found that if you put green roofs on the rooftops all across Sydney you reduce the temperature but you can actually increase the humidity a little bit, Hart says. That can mean youve got a slight increase in heat stress because of the combined influence of temperature and humidity.

Contributors to the urban heat island effect and the potential solutions to it vary enormously from city to city, which is why modelling of individual cities is vital. What works in one city like planting trees along the wide streets of the US city of Portland is not going to be as effective or even as practical in the narrow street canyons of Hong Kong, Hart says.

Their research on Sydney suggests the density and colour of building materials is one of the more significant contributors to the heat island effect.

This affects the amount of radiation from the sun thats reflected straight back out rather than absorbed, says Hart. And so the simple matter of painting surfaces white or lighter colours, rather than the dark can have a significant impact.

Theres another contributor that is less talked about, and thats us. Our vehicles, the machinery we use to make our days more comfortable such as air-conditioning and refrigeration and even our own bodies produce significant amounts of heat. This anthropogenic heat is something Hart argues we need to understand and deal with.

Obviously you cant get rid of the people in a city but there are ways we can mitigate that, she says. More public transport means fewer heat-producing cars on the roads.

Another issue is our over-reliance on air conditioning during hot periods. If were building buildings that can deal with these conditions a little bit better than they currently do and we dont have to rely on air-conditioning so much, then youve got less energy consumption and less waste heat.

There are no simple solutions, but ignoring the problem is definitely not an option, Oke says.

The reality is that the climate is changing,[and] that cities that are already hot will get hotter, she says. The cooler we can make our city now, its an insurance policy for the future.

Urban heat islands: cooling things down with trees, green roads and fewer cars - The Guardian

Maggie Barry keen to see ‘mega herbs’ on trip to Auckland Islands – Stuff.co.nz

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

EVAN HARDING

Last updated14:43, February 21 2017

Robyn Edie

Minister of Conservation Maggie Barry on board the HMNZS Otago, in Bluff on Tuesday, before travelling to the Subantarctic Islands.

Conservation minister Maggie Barry, who hosted a gardening show on New Zealand television for years, is hanging out to see the "mega herbs" on the Auckland Islands.

Speaking on the deck of HMNZS Otago shortly before leaving on a 4-day exhibition to the islands, Barry said she wantedto get a glimpse of the rich biodiversity on the island.

"Particularly something close to my heart, I have never seen before the mega herbs, and the mega herbs are in flower so I am really hanging out to have a look at those."

Robyn Edie

Scenes from on board the HMNZS Otago as it prepares to head to the Auckland Islands on a maintenance trip

Barry hosted Maggie's Gardening Show on TVOne from 1991 until 2003.

She expects to get a sense of the pest control work that is needed to rid the islands of the likes of feral pigs and cats, pointing to the government's long term goal of ridding nature reserves of predators by 2025.

She believed New Zealand was capable of the goal, saying she one day wanted to see what New Zealand looked like predator free first hand.

Robyn Edie

Scenes from on board the HMNZS Otago as it prepares to head to the Auckland Islands on a maintenance trip

Barrie was looking forward to the trip, and not worried about seasickness, saying she had a good constitution.

The trip to Auckland Islands had been on her bucket list, andshe had heard amazing stories about the remote islands from DoC staff, she said.

The Auckland Islands are 465 km south of Bluff. TheHMNZS Otago, which has 60 crew on board, is expected to take a day to reach the islands.

Robyn Edie

Scenes from on board the HMNZS Otago as it prepares to head to the Auckland Islands on a maintenance trip

The Otago left Bluff port shortly after 10am on Tuesday.

It was supposed to have left from Bluff port on Monday night, but was delayed when Barry's plane was unable to land in Invercargill due to fog.

Barry, who is accompanied by DoC staff, will experience and observe the vital conservation and research work being carried out on the Auckland Islands.

The largest of the subantarctic islands, the Auckland Islands have unique and valuable ecosystems which support a range of species found nowhere else in the world.

The trip is also the first opportunity DoC has had for maintenance and inspection work on the island for three years.

Barry is to meet researchers working with at-risk species such as the New Zealand sea lion and albatross.

She will also see how DoC is managing the World War 2 coast watchers huts.

Also on board the HMNZS Otago for the trip are a representative from Ngai Tahu, a representative from the nature conservancy and new parliamentary private secretary for conservation Scott Simpson.

The HMNZS Otago will resupply some of the researchers on the islands and bring two researchers back from Enderby Island.

-Stuff

Devoted horse trainer sails her ponies to the Shetland Islands in a tiny motor boat so they can meet their relatives – The Sun

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

She took Albert and Ernie to meet their horsey relatives on the Islands

TRAINER Emma Massingale took her ponies Albert and Ernie on a motorboat, to meet their horsey relatives on the Shetland Islands.

Emma, 34, practised on a lake, above, near home in Holsworthy, Devon, before making the trip for real.

SWNS:South West News Service

Once there, her Shetlands ran free with herds on their native Scottish isles.

Emma was pictured loading them on to a little motor boat before they sailed to the islands northeast of mainland Scotland

She said: The first time, Albert got his front feet on the boat but left his back feet off. Ernie hopped straight on.

SWNS:South West News Service

They were really good by the end.

Its a wildlife haven out there with dolphins and orcas, quite weird alongside the ponies.

Ernie, who Emma has owned for four years and rescued from Bodmin Moor, is related to one of the first Shetland ponies on the islands.

SWNS:South West News Service

Emma camped on the islands,met the Shetland Pony Society and traced the ancestry of her diminutive companions.

In the past, working Shetlands on the islands were used to carry peat and seaweed.

They also wore their very own knitted Fair Isle jumpers.

SWNS:South West News Service

Emma is a specialist and professional horse trainer, having developed her own unique way of communicating with herds of horses.

Her latest adventures will be shown on BBCs the One Show on Wednesday.

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Devoted horse trainer sails her ponies to the Shetland Islands in a tiny motor boat so they can meet their relatives - The Sun

When America Threatened to Nuke China: The Battle of Yijiangshan Island – The National Interest Online (blog)

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

In 1955, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army embarked on a bloody amphibious landing to capture a fortified Nationalist island, only about twice the size of a typical golf course. Not only did the battle exhibit Chinas growing naval capabilities, it was a pivotal moment in a chain of events that led Eisenhower to threaten a nuclear attack on Chinaand led Congress to pledge itself to the defense of Taiwan.

In 1949, Maos Peoples Liberation Army succeeded in sweeping the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) government out of mainland China. However, the Nationalist navy allowed the KMT to maintain its hold on large islands such as Hainan and Formosa, as well as smaller islands only miles away from major mainland cities such as Kinmen and Matsu. These soon were heavily fortified with Nationalist troops and guns, and engaged in protracted artillery duels with PLA guns on the mainland.

In 1950, the PLA launched a series of amphibious operations, most notably resulting in the capture of Hainan island in the South China Sea. However, a landing in Kinmen was bloodily repulsed by Nationalist tanks in the Battle of Guningtou, barring the way for a final assault on Taiwan itself. Then events intervened, as the outbreak of the Korean War caused President Truman to deploy the U.S. Seventh Fleet to defend Taiwan. However, the naval blockade cut both waysTruman did not allow Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek to launch attacks on mainland China.

This policy changed with the presidency of Eisenhower in 1953, who withdrew the Seventh Fleet, allowing the Nationalists to build up troops on the forward islands and launch more guerilla raids on the mainland. However, the PLA was able to counter-escalate with new World War II surplus heavy artillery, warships and aircraft it had acquired from Russia. The series of artillery duels, naval battles and aerial bombardments that followed became known as the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.

On November 14, four PLA Navy torpedo boats laid a nighttime ambush for the KMT destroyer Tai-ping (formerly the USS Decker) which had been detected by shore-based radar. An ill-advised light onboard the destroyer gave the PLAN boats a target, and the 1,400-ton ship was struck by a torpedo and sank before it could be towed to safety. Later, Il-10 Sturmovik bombers of the PLA Naval Air Force hit Dachen Harbor, sinking the Landing Ship (Tank) Zhongquan. These episodes highlighted that the Nationalists could no longer rest assured of control of the sea, making maritime lines of supply to the more forward island garrisons progressively less secure.

While the PLA unleashed heavy artillery bombardments on the well-defended Kinmen Island east of the city of Xiamen, it more immediately planned on securing the Dachen Archipelago close to Taizhou in Zhejiang Province. However, the Yijiangshan Islands, a little further than ten miles off the Chinese coast, stood in the way. The two islands measured only two-thirds of a square mile together, but were garrisoned by over one thousand Nationalist troops from the Second and Fourth Assault Groups and the Fourth Assault Squadron, with over one hundred machine gun positions, as well as sixty guns in the Fourth Artillery Brigade. The garrisons commander, Wang Shen-ming, had been awarded additional honors by Chiang Kai-shek before being dispatched to the post, to signal the importance placed on the island outpost.

On December 16, 1955, PLA Gen. Zhang Aiping persuaded Beijing that he could launch a successful amphibious landing on the island on January 18. However, the planning process did not go smoothly: Zhang had to overcome last minute jitters from Beijing on the seventeenth questioning his forces readiness for the operation. Furthermore, Zhangs staff rejected a night assault landing, proposed by Soviet naval advisor S. F. Antonov, causing the latter to storm out the headquarters. Zhang instead planned the assault Chinese-stylewhich meant deploying overwhelming firepower and numbers in a daytime attack.

At 8:00 a.m. on December 18, fifty-four Il-10 attack planes and Tu-2 twin-engine bombers, escorted by eighteen La-11 fighters, struck the headquarters and artillery positions of the KMT garrison. These were just the first wave of a six-hour aerial bombardment that involved 184 aircraft, unleashing over 254,000 pounds of bombs.

Meanwhile, four battalions of heavy artillery and coastal guns at nearby Toumenshan rained over forty-one thousand shells on the tiny island, totaling more than a million pounds of ordnance.

The amphibious assault finally commenced after 2:00 p.m., embarking three thousand troops of the 178th Infantry Regiment, and one battalion of the 180th. The fleet numbered 140 landing ships and transports, escorted by four frigates, two gunboats and six rocket artillery ships. These latter vessels began pounding the island with direct fire, joined by troops of the 180th regiment, who tied their infantry guns onto the decks of small boats to contribute to the barrage. By this time, most of the Nationalist guns on Yijiangshan Island had been silenced, though artillery still sank one PLAN landing ship, damaged twenty-one others and wounded or killed more than one hundred sailors.

When America Threatened to Nuke China: The Battle of Yijiangshan Island - The National Interest Online (blog)

Amid health care ‘chaos,’ Tennesseans push lawmakers for assurances – The Tennessean

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

VIDEOS: OBAMACARE, HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE ISSUESObamacare may not be replaced until next year | 1:15

When will America get a new healthcare plan? President Donald Trump is now saying it could be a year from now. Aaron Dickens reports. Buzz60

1 of 9

The prospect of repeal has made Obamacare more popular than ever! Rob Smith has all the details. Buzz60

2 of 9

GOP Congress Members recently introduced legislation that would give the authority to states to keep ObamaCare. Jose Sepulveda (@josesspulveda87) has more. Buzz60

3 of 9

Gov. Bill Haslam is calling on Congress to cede more control over health policy and regulation to the states, as the debate over repealing or replacing the Affordable Care Act rages on in Washington. Wochit

4 of 9

Chris Kane had insurance through Community Health Alliance before it went defunct then moved to Blue Cross Blue Shield Tennessee, now will have to go to Humana. He has concerns about finding the right doctors for his family, a wife and infant. Amy Smotherman Burgess / News Sentinel

5 of 9

The health care heavyweight is grappling with hefty losses and ongoing uncertainty on the marketplace. Karen Kraft / The Tennessean

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Changes to the Affordable Care Act in Tennessee Kyleah Starling/ The Tennessean

7 of 9

Insurance broker Jonathan Katz of Virginia Medical Plans speaks with USA TODAY healthcare reporter Jayne O'Donnell about some the problems facing those enrolling for Obamacare. USA TODAY

8 of 9

Five states are expected to have just one company selling insurance on the 2017 Obamacare exchanges and consumers in most of the counties in nine other states won't find any competition for their exchange business either. Martin E. Klimek, USA TODAY

9 of 9

Obamacare may not be replaced until next year

Why Obamacare is more popular than ever

Potential GOP ObamaCare replacement wouldn't really 'replace' it

Haslam: States need more control over health care

BCBST departure from 3 metro areas

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is leaving the Obamacare marketplace

Obamacare Exchange 'Very Near Collapse'

Obamacare exchanges still troubled by enrollment issues

As insurance companies dwindle, patients left frustrated with lack of choice

Christa Dansereau, far right, is concerned about how her family will be able to buy health insurance in 2018 since Humana has left the healthcare.gov exchange. Dansereau is considering looking for a new job with the top priority being health insurance benefits.(Photo: Submitted by Christa Dansereau)

WithTennessee's healthcare.gov market for 2018 at a breaking point, some are ramping up calls on federal lawmakers to take action to make sure people aren'twithout health insurance options next year.

Since Humanas decision last week to leave the federally run exchange, the Tri-Cities area is the only region of the state that will have two insurers from which residents can choose in 2018. The Greater Knoxville area will have none.

Yet,without progress on repeal-and-replace or repair of the Affordable Care Act in Washington, D.C., the exchange's existence in the state beyond 2017 will depend on business decisions by insurers BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and Cigna.

And there could come a point at which there is one insurer or none.

If Cigna leaves, Memphis and Nashville will have no on-exchange option.If BCBST leaves, then dozens ofcounties will have no insurer on the exchange from which to buy.

Humana exit shakes up 2018 ACA exchange, leaves Knoxville coverage gap

They dont even have to change legislation they are creating chaos. They are playing games while real Tennesseans are sitting around their kitchen tables worried about their health care," said Michele Johnson, executive director of the Tennessee Justice Center, which advocates for health care and coverage. "Its time for them to govern.

The number of people who enrolled in 2017 plans on the federally run exchange the market that offers tax subsidies to offset premiums for more than 80 percentof peopleis about 3.5 percent of Tennesseans. The number that is eligible is roughly twice that.

Its a small slice of the state most people get employer-sponsored coverage but many rely on the exchange and its tax credits to buy coverage. For some with pre-existing conditions, the Affordable Care Actgave them the opportunity to get coverage.

Even one decision from BCBST or Cignawill propel peopleinto a situation similar to Christa Dansereau, a married mother of three in Knoxville who is wondering where she's going to buy insurance in 2018 since Humana left the exchange.

Sheworks at a preschool and her husband is a real estate agent,and neither has access to employer-sponsored coverage. With three kids, one with a life-threatening nut allergy, going without coverage is not an option.

I am seriously considering changing jobs and looking only at companies that offer health insurance. It is a big life decision," Dansereau said. "It is not one I want to do because I like to teach preschool, but I have to put my family first."

Her family has shopped for private insurance for years and the ACA brought some relief, she said, to the years of high deductibles and being concerned about pre-existing diseases. The increases in premiums and deductibles in recent years didn't impact Dansereau's family because the coverage was better than what the family had before the ACA.

McPeak: 'Timing is critical' for Congress to stabilize individual health insurance

"It wasnt until we were able to shop on the marketplace we didnt have to be concerned every time we went to the doctor," she said.

As days turn to weeks without a repair or replacement plan from Republican lawmakers in Washington who campaigned on repeal-and-replace insurers are getting cold feet and shoppers are anxious about whether they will have insurance options next year.House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said a proposal would emerge from congressional Republicans as early as this week.

Even action in the coming weeks might not keep insurers on the market. If lawmakers delay enacting a replacement plan until after midterm elections in 2018, people could be left with no options on the market, something many, including U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have repeatedly warned.

Alexander urgedCongress to heed the developments in Tennessee as a reason to take swift action to keep insurers on the exchange through 2018.

Activists for the ACA willholdrallies or panels around the state this week as the impact of federal uncertainty begins to take hold.

More than two-thirds of Tennesseans oppose repealing the Affordable Care Act, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling in Januarycommissioned by the Alliance of Healthcare Security, a group that supports the federal law.

With Obamacare repeal, devil is in the details for Nashville companies

Proponents of the ACA are expected at an "alternative town hall" outsideU.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn's town hall in Fairview on Tuesday. Blackburn, R-Tenn., is expecting ACA questions at the one-hour event, according to a spokeswoman.

The "Save My Care" national bus tour will make a stop in Nashville on Wednesday at Centennial Park. Protesters are expected to walk to the Nashville offices of Alexander and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker.

Dr. Thomas Phelps is trying to get his concerns about the chaos in Tennessee heard by the state's federal lawmakers deciding to give Twitter a shot.

Im worried for my patients because the chaos caused by the Republican rush to repeal the Affordable Care Act is already harming Tennesseans, like causing Humana to leave the market," Phelps said in a statement.So Im reaching out the only way President Trump, Sen. Alexander, and Sen. Corker seem inclined to communicate: via Twitter.

On Thursday, there will be a town hall in Knoxville as well as a forum in Chattanooga.

Dansereau said she's very frustrated that she may have to resort to finding a new job.

"The two major problems: being able to have health care and also being afraid of pre-exiting conditions having those be the most important of my job search feels ridiculous," Dansereau said. "It isa (situation) that is going to impact a lot more people than just me and my family.

Reach Holly Fletcher at hfletcher@tennessean.com or 615-259-8287 and on Twitter @hollyfletcher.

Read or Share this story: http://tnne.ws/2m228e9

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Amid health care 'chaos,' Tennesseans push lawmakers for assurances - The Tennessean

President Trump Turning to Health Care, Tax Overhaul in Second Month: Analysis – NBC 7 San Diego

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

As President DonaldTrump begins his second month in office, his team is trying to move past the crush of controversies that overtook his first month and make progress on health care and tax overhauls long sought by Republicans.

Both issues thrust Trump, a real estate executive who has never held elected office, into the unfamiliar world of legislating. The president has thus far relied exclusively on executive powers to muscle through policy priorities and has offered few details about what he'll require in any final legislative packages, like how the proposals should be paid for. The White House also sent conflicting signals about whether the president will send Congress his own legislative blueprints or let lawmakers drive the process.

White House chief of staff Reince Priebus told The Associated Press that he expects a health care plan to emerge in "the first few days of March." Pressed on whether the plan would be coming from the White House, Priebus said, "We don't work in a vacuum."

On Sunday, White House advisers held a three-hour meeting on health care at Trump's South Florida club, their third lengthy discussion on the topic in four days. Gary Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs banker now serving as Trump's top economic adviser, and newly sworn in Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have been leading talks with Republican lawmakers and business leaders on taxes. Neither man has prior government experience.

Republicans long blamed Democrats for blocking efforts to overhaul the nation's complicated tax code and make changes to the sweeping 2010 health care law signed by President Barack Obama. But with the GOP now in control of both the White House and Congress, making good on those promises rests almost entirely with the president and his party.

To some Republicans' chagrin, both issues were overshadowed during Trump's first month. The president spent more time publicly fighting the media than selling Americans on his vision for a new health care law. Fresh questions emerged about Trump's ties to Russia, particularly after national security adviser Michael Flynn was fired for misleading the White House about his conversations with a Russian envoy. The White House botched the rollout of a refugee and immigration executive order, Trump's most substantive policy initiative to date, and the directive was quickly blocked by the courts.

Priebus said the distractions did not slow down work happening behind the scenes on the president's legislative priorities.

"Obviously with the White House staff, you're able to walk and chew gum at the same time," Priebus said. "The economic team isn't screwing around with the legal case and the lawyers aren't screwing around with tax reform."

One of the biggest questions on Capitol Hill is how involved Trump plans to be in legislative minutia. One GOP leadership aide whose office has been working with the White House described the president as a "big picture guy" and said he expected Trump to defer to Capitol Hill on health care in particular. The aide was not authorized to speak publicly and insisted on anonymity.

Priebus said he expects Congress to pass both a tax package and legislation repealing and replacing Obama's health care law by the end of the year. But the White House's outward confidence belies major roadblocks on both matters.

After spending years criticizing "Obamacare," Republicans are grappling with how to replace it and pay for a new law. While some lawmakers worry about getting blamed for taking health insurance away from millions of people, others worry the party won't go far enough in upending the current system.

"My worry now is that many people are talking about a partial repeal of Obamacare," Rep. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said. "If you only repeal part of it and you leave it some sort of Obamacare light, which some are talking about, my fear is the situation actually gets worse."

Trump has said he wants to keep popular provisions like guaranteeing coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions and allowing young people to stay on their parents' insurance plans until age 26. He's also raised the prospect of allowing people to buy insurance across states lines, which is not part of the law.

On taxes, Republicans have a potentially more vexing impasse. House Republicans want to scrap the 35 percent tax on corporate profits, which is riddled with exemptions, deductions and credits, and replace it with a "border adjustment tax." The system would tax all imports coming into the U.S., but exclude exports from taxation.

House Speaker Paul Ryan's office has been vigorously promoting the idea to Trump, who has called the system "too complicated." Some House aides have privately voiced optimism that the White House is coming around, though Priebus would only say that border adjustment was "an option we're all discussing and debating."

The president has said he plans to release a "phenomenal" tax plan in the coming weeks.

Published 3 hours ago | Updated 13 minutes ago

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President Trump Turning to Health Care, Tax Overhaul in Second Month: Analysis - NBC 7 San Diego

Local VA health-care chief thinks of Lincoln as she whittles wait times – Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Peggy Kearns keeps the motto of the Department of Veterans Affairs, coined in 1865 by President Abraham Lincoln, front of mind as she works to ensure that military veterans in Southern Nevada receive prompt, quality medical attention: Care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.

But Kearns, director of the Veteran Affairs Southern Nevada Healthcare System, said living up to Lincolns edict in his second inaugural address is challenging, despite a $464 million annual budget.

The biggest problem, she said, is recruiting and retaining doctors and health care professionals in an area thats short of them.

Were working on our access challenge by looking at our processes and how we can be more efficient in using our staff, our physicians and how we schedule people, she said. Everyday we track how we are getting people in, and how fast were getting them in, and looking at how we can do that quicker and better.

Kearns, speaking Thursday to the Military Officers Association of Americas Southern Nevada Chapter, said she and the VA staff at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center and satellite clinics in Laughlin and Pahrump are nonetheless making progress in reducing appointment wait times.

Average wait times for primary care decreased from 9.91 days a year ago to 5.71 days as of Feb. 1, while specialty care remained virtually unchanged at 14.57 days. The district offers same-day access in primary care and mental health for vets with urgent needs.

The declines come amid a growing caseload for the VA district that serves 158,000 veterans who live in Clark, Nye and Lincoln counties, as well as parts of southern Utah, northern Arizona and southeastern California.

The number of outpatient appointments has increased 72 percent since fiscal 2011, reaching 857,295 in 2016, Kearns said.

EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

And more than 59,000 individual veterans were treated in the Southern Nevada VA system last year, a total that already exceeds the projection that the district would treat 55,000 veterans by 2022.

Those numbers serve as a Presidents Day reminder how far the VA system has come since Lincolns address on March 4, 1865, when his intent was to bind up the nations wounds from the Civil War.

The federal government authorized its first medical facility for veterans 54 years before Lincoln promised to expand care to all veterans.

Now the collection of what were originally known as old soldiers homes is a much more elaborate system of health care facilities more than 1,200 in all in all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, serving 8.9 million veterans.

We are the largest integrated health care system in the United States, some say the world, Kearns said.

The VA expanded locally with the 2012 opening of the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center, dubbed the crown jewel of the network by then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki because it was the first major VA hospital built in 20 years.

Two years later, however, the nationwide VA scandal over wait times erupted. Long appointment wait times in Phoenix and other VA facilities, including the North Las Vegas hospital, forced Shinseki to resign. His successor, Robert Bob McDonald, vowed to change the VAs culture and improve access to health care.

Under the Trump administration, Kearns predicts former VA Undersecretary of Health David Shulkin unanimously confirmed Feb. 13 as VA secretary will carrys McDonalds torch for better access and a veteran-friendly culture.

Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2

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Local VA health-care chief thinks of Lincoln as she whittles wait times - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Plan to provide free health care to unauthorized immigrant kids in Oregon draws praise, criticism – The Register-Guard

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

SALEM When an errant baseball hit her in the face years ago, Fatima Preciados lip split. Soon, the 8-year-olds cut became infected.

Preciados mother tried to clean the cut with rubbing alcohol and heal it with ointments, but never took her to a doctor. Without health insurance, those types of house remedies were often the only medical treatment her family could turn to, Preciado said.

Norma Baltazar says she struggled for years to get dental health care for her young son, Raul. Finally, when a molar in the back of his mouth grew too painful, she rushed him to the emergency room. Without health insurance, she had to pay $900 to have the tooth removed.

Both Preciado and Baltazar are unauthorized immigrants, having separately come to the United States from Mexico more than a decade ago.

Today, Preciado is an 18-year-old Portland State University student and a so-called Dreamer, having secured a work permit and deportation deferral under former President Obamas DACA program.

Baltazar, a Salem house cleaner, brought Raul to America when he was only 3, making him an unauthorized immigrant as well. Shes since had another child, a daughter, who, by virtue of her birth of U.S. soil, is a legal U.S. citizen.

Now, both women are advocating for a new state law, dubbed Cover All Kids by supporters, that would extend government-funded health insurance in Oregon to many unauthorized immigrants under the age of 19.

The proposal would give government-funded health insurance to an estimated 17,600 unauthorized immigrants, at a cost of $55 million in the biennium that starts July 1. Critics blast the concept and the price tag, especially given state governments cash crisis.

But supporters say its a humane and sensible idea.

My mom always was scared that I would get hurt or get sick because we didnt have insurance, Preciado said of her childhood. I just wanted to play.

Kids dont worry about getting hurt, they dont understand, she added.

The proposed policy would let those young immigrants receive free health insurance through the Oregon Health Plan, the states version of Medicaid, if their families make less than 300 percent of the federal poverty level.

Thats the same eligibility requirement as that for an Oregon minor who is a legal resident now, and it translates to an annual income of $73,000 for a family of four. The coverage would apply only to the unauthorized immigrant children of the household, not the adults.

Faces opposition

The proposal is backed by Gov. Kate Brown, House Speaker Tina Kotek, a Portland Democrat, a contingent of Democratic and Republican state legislators, and many Oregon health care providers.

Similar policies are in place in California, Washington, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.

Still, the costly proposal in Oregon faces significant headwinds this session as the state must close a $1.8 billion budget gap a hole thats in large part the result of the growing cost of the Oregon Health Plan for legal Oregon residents.

Senate Bill 558 and House Bill 2726 would make 17,600 noncitizens newly eligible for the Health Plan, according to early estimates.

The state would have to cover the full cost of their health insurance, a projected $55 million in the 2017-19 budget. Thats different than for the rest of Oregons 1 million-strong Medicaid population, where the federal government picks up most of the tab.

The policy and its cost anger opponents of illegal immigration.

We have a state that thinks it has a $1.8 billion budget gap and yet were considering giving more state benefits to thousands of illegal immigrants, said Jim Ludwick of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. It boggles the mind.

Ludwick said his group doesnt want any harm to come to children. But, he added, the bill, if passed, could well be the foot in the door for Oregon Health Plan coverage to be extended to unauthorized adult immigrants as well.

Despite progressive stances on many social issues, Oregon voters have sometimes resisted policies favoring unauthorized immigrants. In 2014, they thrashed, by a 2-to-1 ratio, a proposal to grant them short-term driving licenses.

Emergency clauses

SB 558 and HB 2726 both contain emergency clauses, however. That means that, if they pass, theyll go into effect immediately and couldnt be referred to voters.

Supporters say the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage to unauthorized minors would be a smart investment for the state. It would mean they could get more preventative health care, reducing their need for expensive emergency care, and allowing them to be more successful in school and later life.

Oregon children should have the opportunity to be healthy and ready to learn, and Oregon families should feel confident that a medical event will not dramatically change the trajectory of their lives, Gov. Brown told the House Health Care Committee on Monday.

Rep. John Huffman, a Republican from The Dalles, said the insurance expansion makes sense morally and economically.

Covering kids up front saves us money down the road, he added.

Patchwork of care

Both Preciado and Baltazar on Monday described a complicated patchwork of health care options available now to unauthorized immigrants. Many of them dont or cant get health insurance through work. They arent eligible for the subsidies to help people buy their own health insurance policies on the exchanges set up by Obamacare.

But unauthorized immigrants can receive primary medical care in some public schools and, for a fee, at 200 safety net community health centers around the state.

Hospitals, meanwhile, are required by federal law to provide free emergency care to all people, regardless of their residency status, when a patient is at risk of dying, losing a limb or is pregnant.

Many nonprofit groups also help unauthorized immigrants cover their regular health and dental care costs or help raise money for expensive treatments.

For example, Baltazar said Raul was recently found to have a heart condition that could eventually require surgery. She said shes already identified a church-affiliated nonprofit that might help pay for the operation.

But, she added: It still worries me. Theres no guarantee.

I dont want (Raul) to worry about how we will pay for it, Baltazar said. Any child deserves to have a healthy life.

Preciado said her older sister is intellectually disabled and prone to epileptic seizures. There were times during her childhood when the family, for weeks, couldnt afford the daily medication her sister needed, Preciado recalled.

There would be nights when I would awake from my mothers frightened screams as she watched my eldest sister uncontrollably experience an epileptic seizure, she said. It was very traumatic.

UT/TT Poll: Texans want a health care program that’s not called Obamacare – Texas Tribune

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Texans want to dump the previous presidents signature health care program, but only a small minority want to move on without replacing it, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

If the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, were to be repealed and replaced, 68 percent of Texans said lawmakers should wait until they have a replacement plan worked out before they repeal the current law. A smaller group 23 percent would repeal Obamacare immediately and figure out the details of a replacement plan later.

That figure-it-out-first strategy is more popular with Democrats than with any other group, but a majority of Republicans and independents agree with them. Still, a third of Republicans and 45 percent of Tea Party Republicans said the ACA should be repealed immediately, even if a replacement hasnt surfaced.

Asked about the health care law generally, 52 percent said they would like to repeal it. Two-thirds of that group, asked what the next step should be, said they would replace the law with an alternative. Only 30 percent said they would repeal the law and not replace it at all.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

There are many features of the Affordable Care Act that Republicans are not opposed to; in fact, they embrace Obamacare in a number of areas, said Jim Henson, head of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the poll. Thats why you dont see a consensus around repealing without replacement or even repealing before a replacement is presented.

When you look at the large number of Republicans who want to repeal Obamacare but want to make sure there is a replacement, it underlines why Congress and the national leadership are moving cautiously, Henson said.

Thirty-five percent of Texans said the ACA should not be repealed, but only 25 percent of that group would leave the law as it is now. Most of the dont-repeal contingent 64 percent said they would expand what the law does.

Overall, 83 percent of Republicans and 18 percent of Democrats would like to see the law repealed. On the other side, 67 percent of Democrats and a scant 7 percent of Republicans would leave it be.

Regardless of party flag, Texans who want the law repealed also want it replaced, a sentiment shared by 65 percent of Republicans, 64 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of independents surveyed.

The University of Texas/Texas Tribune internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 10 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points. The 623 Texans who wanted to repeal the ACA were polled separately about the next step; that group had an overall MOE of +/-3.93 percentage points. The 409 respondents opposed to repeal were also polled; the overall MOE was +/-6.85 percentage points. Numbers in charts might not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

The Texas Tribune thanks its sponsors. Become one.

This is one of several stories on the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Yesterday: What Texans think of the new president, and their views on the economy and the direction of the country and state. Coming Wednesday: Texas voters on education.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewedhere.

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UT/TT Poll: Texans want a health care program that's not called Obamacare - Texas Tribune

Genetic Engineering Market Reshaping the Fundamentals Of Entire Economies And Industries Around The Globe … – Satellite PR News (press release)

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Genetic Engineering Market Reshaping the Fundamentals Of Entire Economies And Industries Around The Globe ...
Satellite PR News (press release)
Genetic Engineering Market Research Report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the Genetic Engineering Market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of Genetic ...

and more »

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Genetic Engineering Market Reshaping the Fundamentals Of Entire Economies And Industries Around The Globe ... - Satellite PR News (press release)

The Futurist: Making an emotional connection | Marketing Interactive – Marketing Interactive

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

As the world gets excited about the possibilities that VR unfolds for all of us in the business of marketing brands, Im reminded of the golden adage: People will forget what you did, but theyll never forget how you made them feel.

Yes, emotions are back in business and today they are becoming even more measurable in real-time. As the buzz on building smarter cities and a smarter life gains momentum, one can expect technology to play a larger role in driving marketing engagements.

We expect to see more IOT and tech-enabled conversations driving B2B and B2C relationships. Marketers will be expected to find compelling narratives to better emote and engage with customers. As such, leading global telcos and tech brands are converging their products, services and infrastructure to create a more immersive and pronounced engagement with customers.

Marketing beyond VR

Sure, newfangled tech and nifty platforms, such as AR, VR, wearables and apps do help take the brand experience narrative forward, but often they dont necessarily form the narrative itself. This is a reason why more and more marketers have started investing increasingly in collaborative commerce platforms and experience centres.

Collaborative commerce platforms are fast becoming a new model of marketing engagement especially with IT and telco corporations. Brands are increasingly involving their member/customer base in not just running campaigns, but the business itself.

The active advocacy and emotional ownership that such engagements presents are tough to match through conventional social/digital marketing routes. Brand experience centres are not your flagship stores and they dont substitute for the experience. Today, brands from across industries are investing significantly in building their marquee experience centres.

While the wave of customer experience centres started as an effective way to engage B2B customers, with the likes of British Telecom and VADS back home inviting its prospects to come and experience how they could help solve complex real-life business issues in real time, the marketing practice has caught the fancy of non-tech companies as an opportunity to immerse and excite the public in the types of possibilities it creates.

Companies from across the industry spectrum are actively engaging in creating mini experience centres to immerse target segments.

The digital paradox for marketers

Organisations are busy bucking up their respective digital transformation journey. While it will ease the pressure of marketing in organising, managing and serving various customer segments, invariably it will make it increasingly tougher for brands to connect emotively with their customers in the digital age.

However, on the other hand, brands such as Amazon have effectively created a well thought out customer gratification model that keeps its emotive connect intact. In fact, the brand for the first time in its history has gone from a pure click to a brick and mortar model with physical stores in countries such as India.

Underscoring the realisation that marketing in the digital age will increasingly rely on creating immersive brand experiences be they physical, virtual or collaborative in nature.

Yes, advancements in tech be they AR, VR, bots, wearables or 3D printing will serve as effective special effects, but the narrative will need to rely on telling an effective story that engages all the five senses, which creates memorability, talkability and shareability beyond likes and views.

The author of the article is Izlyn Ramli, vice-president, group brand and communication Telekom Malaysia.

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The Futurist: Making an emotional connection | Marketing Interactive - Marketing Interactive

This Week, NASA is Announcing a New Discovery Beyond our Solar System – Futurism

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

An Exo-Conference

NASA has served as a symbol of wonder and scientific enthusiasm. From landing on the moon to the exploration of our solar system, it has been the organizations ultimate goal to make the unknown, known. As of this moment, one of the most pressing unknowns is the existence of extraterrestrial life. Avoiding discussion without a fact base, NASA has already launched several evidence-based researchprojects on the matter. From establishing a martian colonyto diving into the seas of EuropaNASA is at work trying to find answers.

NASA will be holding a press conference at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday, February 22nd to present new findings on exoplanets, which are planets that orbit stars other than our sun.

Participants of the briefing include Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Michael Gillon, astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium, Sean Carey, manager of NASAs Spitzer Science Center at Caltech/IPAC,Nikole Lewis, astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, and Sara Seager, professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During the conference, NASA will be taking questions from the public and the media on twitter through the hashtag#askNASA. At 3 p.m. EST, following the briefing, NASA will host a Reddit AMA(Ask Me Anything) session with the scientists available to answer questions in English and Spanish.

The event can be streamed live on NASA TVat the time of the conference.

The first exoplanet around a main-sequence star to be discovered was in October of 1995, and ever since, we have discovered 4,696 candidates, 3,449 confirmed exoplanets, and of these exoplanets, 348 have been terrestrial. Thanks to advanced technology, we continue to unravel more and more mysteries of the universe, and exoplanets are no exception.

Below you can find a commercially sponsored trailer for exoplanets created by NASA:

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This Week, NASA is Announcing a New Discovery Beyond our Solar System - Futurism

Would You Let a Robot Watch Your Children? – Futurism – Futurism

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Our Robotic Future

Attitudes towards robots, especially artificially intelligent (AI) robots, are mixed at best. As AI technology evolves and robots become eerily similar to living, breathing, thinking organisms, people seem to be less and less likely to trust them. Robots stir up unsettling memories of science fiction nightmares, images of robots surpassing humans in intelligence and taking over, lording over us and causing mass mayhem.

According to Elon Musk, AI technology is progressing so quickly that we may need to start mergingwith it soon, essentially becoming cyborgs. Its easy to see where he gets that notion, considering robots are already threatening to replace lawyers, childcare workers, checkout clerks, and more.

In an effort to gauge public opinion, the European Commission recently conducted a survey that looked at peoples attitudes towards robots, and the results of that effort are now available.

While the general reaction was mostly positive, there are a few areas in which people expressed a fairly obvious distrust. For instance, the study asked participants if there were any areas of work from which robots should be banned and received asignificant affirmative response for some industries. For example, 60-61 percent responded that robots should be banned from caring for children, the elderly, and the disabled, 30-34 percent said that robots should be banned from education, and 27-30 percent said that robots should be banned from healthcare.

As AI is already being used within healthcare in the form of IBM Watson, it is easy to imagine that any of these sectors could be home to AI technology and robots in the future. However, the report did show that there are several areas where people are already excited to have robotshelp propel us forward, with 45-52 percent in favor of their use forspace exploration, 50-57 percent for manufacturing, and 41-64 percent for military and security operations.

AI and robotics technology is clearly progressing much faster than many people may have expected and not just in the areas wed hope. AI robots are no longer a thing of the future, and they will only continue to get more intelligent and more prevalent in our daily lives. It is important to know how people feel about them and what can be done to minimize the risks of a sci-fi-style robot takeover, but it really all comes down to one question: How much do we trust robots?

Would You Let a Robot Watch Your Children? - Futurism - Futurism

Nevada Pushes for 80% Renewable Energy by 2040 – Futurism

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

In Brief

Theres a lot of sun in Nevada, so it only makes sense to harness its power. Thats why long-time solar champion and Nevada legislature assemblyman Chris Brooks proposed AB 206, a bill that pushes the states renewable portfolio standard (RPS) from its current 22 percent goal to 80 percent by 2040.

The bill pushes an incremental increase in Nevadas RPS goal on a two-year interval. This would start with a 4 percent increase in 2018-2019 that would put the RPS goal at 26 percent. In each subsequent year, it would increase by4 percent until 2030, when utility companies would be required to produce 50 percent of their energy using renewable sources.

AB 206 isvery supportive of solar energy in Nevada, both in terms of rooftop and utility-scale solar power. While it cuts the existing requirement for utilities to generate 5 percent of their RPS goal from solar power, the bill includes making solar power sent from homes to the grida mandatory goal for utilities. Nevadas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) recently approved a deal between NV Energy and SolarCity that gives customers the right to retain their retail rate net metering deal, so this bill would be the second big win for solar in the state.

Nevada joins Massachusetts in the effort to push the use of renewable energy sources. The latter state recently introduced a similar bill in its state assembly that pushes for 100 percent renewable energy use in Massachusetts by 2035.

The reasons for both bills are the essentially the same, which is to encourage and accelerate the development of new renewable energy projects for the economic, health, and environmental benefits provided to the people of this State, according toAB 206.

As the federal government seems to favor fossil fuels, its left to states like Nevada and Massachusetts to keep renewable energy efforts moving through government channels. Hopefully, more states will follow in the path of these pioneers of renewable energy.

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Nevada Pushes for 80% Renewable Energy by 2040 - Futurism

Taxing Religious Freedom – Daily Caller

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

5492449

Is a threat to eliminate the tax exemption of churches that endorse candidates or political parties posed by a 1954 law called the Johnson Amendment a constitutional infringement on the rights of church leaders to freely express themselves from the pulpit?

At ColoradoPolitics.com, Deb Walker, executive director of Citizens Project writes, Government may not subsidize political endorsements through tax exemption, and that The Johnson Amendment ensures that citizens of all faith traditions (or no faith tradition) are not inadvertently financially supporting church-based politicking. There are two failures in reasoning here.

First, the reasons for exempting churches from taxation are distinguishable from those that apply to other types of charitable organizations. Whereas the law may exempt secular charities because it deems that the charitable purposes provide public benefits that outweigh the need to tax such activities, the principle of not taxing churches originates in the constitutional, philosophical and political foundations of our nation.

The Supreme Court examined this principle in Everson v. Board of Education, a 1947 case affirming the authority of a state to provide funding for school busses to transport children to Catholic schools in New Jersey writing, The centuries immediately before and contemporaneous with the colonization of America had been filled with turmoil, civil strife and persecutions, generated in large part by established sects determined to maintain their absolute political and religious supremacy. These practices of the old world began to thrive in the soil of the new AmericaCatholics found themselves hounded and proscribed because of their faithmen and women of varied faithswere persecuted. And all of these dissenters were compelled to pay tithes and taxes to support government-sponsored churches.

The people [of Virginia], as elsewhere, reached the conviction that individual religious liberty could be achieved best under a government which was stripped of all power to tax[in order to] interfere with the beliefs of any religious individual or group.

The establishment of religion clause of the First Amendment means at least thisno tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion.

This sounds as if the Court would hold that New Jersey has no authority to provide taxpayer-funded school busses for Catholic schoolchildren, but thats not case. What the Court pointed out in affirming that policy is that the amendment commands that New Jerseycannot exclude individual Catholics, Lutherans, Mohammedans, Baptists, Jews, Methodists, Nonbelievers, Presbyterians, or the members of any other faith, because of their faith, or lack of it, from receiving the benefits of public welfare legislation. (Emphasis in original)

The second error is that a tax exemption is not a subsidy. An exemption from a tax is not giving the person or group exempted something they dont already have. Neither a taxpayer not affiliated with a religious organization nor the government has something taken from them that goes to a church merely because the church doesnt pay a tax. Therefore, a tax exemption does not mean that the public is financially supporting church-based politicking, nor does it mean that the government is entangled in underwriting partisan political activity.

Where the Johnson Amendment and Walker go wrong is in failing to understand that when it comes to religion the taxing power of Congress has a constitutional hurdle it must overcome that doesnt apply to conventional non-religious charitable organizations.

The historic truths cited by the Supreme Court stand for the proposition that the government cannot tax religious institutions in ways that inhibit the free exercise of religion just as much as it does the proposition that it cannot tax anyone for the purposes of advancing religion.

Thus, when it comes to religious institutions its questionable whether or not the 501(c)(3) rules apply at all because it is the First Amendment itself that arguably prohibits the taxation of churches because religion-suppressing taxation has always been as formidable an enemy of religious freedom throughout history as religion-supporting taxation has, as the Supreme Court points out and as the Founders went to great pains to avoid.

Religiously motivated speech is a constitutionally protected aspect of religious liberty that cannot be suppressed by the threat of anti-religious, anti-free-speech government taxation. This includes the freedom of both ministers and others to preach in favor of or against any political party or candidate or any other matter that they believe would either threaten or support their rights to religious freedom.

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Taxing Religious Freedom - Daily Caller

F-35: The sound of freedom – or aggravation? – KTVB.com

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

Kim Fields, KTVB 10:31 PM. MST February 20, 2017

The F-35 is described as the future of America's tactical aviation. (Photo: Adam Worthington/KTVB)

Boise -- The F-35 is described as the future of America's tactical aviation. Its loudness is the sound of freedom for many in America. For others, the noise is nothing short of aggravation.

The Idaho Air National Guard at Boise's Gowen Field is now on the short list to become home to the next F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Squadron. Those on the inside say Boise's chances are strong, given our world-class ranges and available air space.

However, others in the community say not in our backyard. KTVB has covered the F-35 informational meetings at the Boise Airport, where some in the community voice concern the F-35s would be too noisy.

Now, KTVB is reporting a different perspective. We thought, what better way to learn more about the impact of the F-35s than from someone who's already living with the noise? News anchor Kim Fields traveled to Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah, home to the F-35, to visit with a couple who four years ago were saying, "not in my backyard."

"I used to sit out on the patio," said Gary Slate. "It just grinds on you. It just, I don't know. It just gets to you after awhile."

Slate has lived more than 40 years in a Layton, Utah, neighborhood located two miles from the end of the runway at Hill Air Force Base. He says the F-35s are the noisest when they take off; landings are relatively quiet. During KTVB's hour-long visit at the Slate home, we could hear seven F-35s fly over the home.

"Once they changed the flight path, you can't have your windows open or anything," said Slate.

Slate's home is directly underneath the flight path of Hill Air Force Base.

"It's only the people under the flight path that are really going to be bothered," said Slate. "It's the sounds of freedom to everybody else, but under the flight path, it's a different story."

Slate says the noise isn't that bad when it's just two or three F-35s taking off. When it's more than two or three, Slate says the noise is terrible. He says often as many as 25 F-35s take off three times a day from Hill Air Force Base.

In September 2015, Utah's Hill Air Force Base received the first of 72 F-35s. Slate says there are more supporters in his community by far, than critics.

Slate recalls some in the community telling him, "One of these times it's going to be the Chinese planes over your house bombing you."

Colonel Tim Donnellan, commander of the 124th Fighter Wing at Gowen Field, which currently flies the A-10, doesn't dispute the F-35 is loud.

"Yes, the F-35 is a noisy aircraft, however most jets are," said Donnellan. "If you sit out here and listen to the airliners, they're noisy. So if you live right underneath any airport, it's going to be noisy."

However, Donnellan says it won't be loud as often for Gowen Field because Gowen Field wouldn't have as many F-35s flying as Utah. Donnellan says that's the biggest misconception about the F35s - the number that would be based in Boise. He says it would be the same amount as the current number of A-10s at Gowen - 18 to 24.

The 18 to 24 F-35s would be a one-to-one replacement of the A-10 using the same fighter pilots and crew.

Donnellan also expects the F-35 would fly only two times a day at Gowen, compared to Utah's three, sometimes four times a day. And the launch windows at Gowen would be much shorter, 10 minutes, compared to Utah's two hours.

"We roughly fly six to eight airplanes in the morning and the launch window is about 10 minutes," said Donnellan. "And then in the afternoon we do the same thing. So twice a day for about 20 minutes total is about what we do now and we expect that to be the same thing with the F-35."

Donnellan stresses it would not be 20 minutes of continous noise.

"It's each aircraft that takes off," said Donnellan. "So if we were to launch six in the morning, it would be six departures. And that's it. And that's all that happens in the morning. And in the afternoon, if we fly six, we'll fly another six."

Donnellan says very rarely would the F-35 fly over Treasure Valley cities. Most flying would be done in the Mountain Home Range Complex. He says the F-35 would take off from Gowen Field and head straight to the desert east of Boise.

But what about the F35 flight path? Remember, living under the flight path in Utah is Gary Slate's biggest complaint.Donnellan says they're still researching the best options for Gowen, but he says it would be roughly similar to the A-10's current flight path.

"There are only so many options you have to leave an aiport," said Donnellan."But there are things we can do that we don't do now."

For example, Donnellan says Gowen would be being very specific about how the F-35 would take off, turning at certain distances or using certain runways.

"So those are the things we're looking into and exploring," said Donnellan. "And I will guarantee you that we are going to have more of a strict way of departing and returning with an F-35 if were selected."

Donnellan says the strict measures would help mitgate the noise, something Gary and Leslie Slate say would help tremendously if Utah would consider doing with its F-35s.

The Slates were asked: "Have you just learned to live with it?" "You have to," said Leslie Slate.

The F-35 is expected to bring 2,000 jobs to Utah over the next decade. Local, expected job numbers aren't available yet. The Idaho Air National Guard's current economic impact on the local community is $155 million dollars annually with the A-10.

Slate says he agrees the noise is worth it when it comes to the economic impact. And he says he understands what the F-35 means in terms of America's military strength. If anyone can understand, it's Slate. He worked at Hill Air Force Base for 35 years on their aircraft as a sheet metal mechanic.

The military is expected to narrow down the five finalists to four bases this spring. A final decision is expected in 2019.

If Gowen Field is not selected to base the F-35s, the Idaho Air National Guard would continue flying the A-10 until they are divested.

( 2017 KTVB)

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F-35: The sound of freedom - or aggravation? - KTVB.com

America’s declining economic freedom – Washington Times

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Its official title is 2017 Index of Economic Freedom. But you could also call it President Obamas Report Card.

At least when it comes to the United States. The index contains scores and ranks for almost every country, after all. And the news for the rest of the world, on balance, is good. Economic freedom is up again. Many countries have taken steps to ensure greater liberty for their citizens to make, spend and invest their money as they see fit. But not the United States.

Economic freedom isnt the same as political freedom (though the two often go hand in hand). Im not talking about free speech; Im talking about how free are we to earn without being overtaxed and overregulated. How hard it is to start a business and keep it running. How much our government spends. How easily we can trade with other countries.

Our economic liberty has a profound effect on our daily lives. It influences how much money we make, what kind of work we do, how high prices and unemployment are even what kind of appliances we can buy.

So where does the United States fall on this years index? Our global ranking is No. 17, with a score of 75.1 (on a 0-100 scale, with 100 being the freest).

On the list of 180 countries graded in the 2017 index, thats not bad. But thats 10 slots below where we finished in 2008. Indeed, the United States was once a regular top-10 finisher when the index was first published in 1995. Now weve been eclipsed by the United Arab Emirates, a newcomer to the global top 10.

Were not even the freest economy in the Americas. Canada and Chile beat us out this year again.

Before looking at why, lets consider how the index editors determine the scores. Each country is evaluated in four broad areas:

Rule of law. Are property rights protected through an effective and honest judicial system? How widespread is corruption bribery, extortion, graft, etc.?

Limited government. Are taxes high or low? Is government spending kept under control, or is it growing unchecked?

Regulatory efficiency. Are businesses able to operate without burdensome and redundant regulations? Are individuals able to work where and how much they want? Is inflation in check? Are prices stable?

Open markets: Can goods be traded freely? Are there tariffs, quota or other restrictions? Can individuals invest their money where and how they see fit? Is there an open banking environment that encourages competition?

Lets look at how the U.S. fares on these measures:

Rule of law: Our judiciary functions independently and predictably, but the protection of property rights has been uneven. The Pew Research Center reported in late 2015 that only 19 percent of the public trusts the government all or most of the time.

Government size: Heres where we really lag freer economies. Our top individual income tax rate is 39.6 percent. The top corporate tax rate is among the worlds highest: 35 percent. Government spending at all levels amounts to about 38.3 percent of gross domestic product (roughly $30,000 per household). Spending keeps rising, and government keep growing.

Regulatory efficiency: The number of federal regulations has increased substantially, raising total annual compliance costs to more than $100 billion in just seven years. (Thanks, President Obama.) Ballooning deficits are fueled by federal welfare programs, farm subsidies, green energy programs, corporate welfare and other special-interest spending.

Open markets: The average applied tariff rate is 1.4 percent. Over one-third of all land is owned by government. The overall financial sector remains competitive, but the banking sector is hampered by such federal interference as the Dodd-Frank legislation.

The U.S. economy is remarkably resilient, but it needs help. Fortunately, the Trump administration has promised a sharp break with the regulatory, tax and trade policies of recent years.

Regaining our place among the top 10 economies wont be easy, but it can be done. And the sooner, the better. Your move, President Trump.

Ed Feulner is founder of the Heritage Foundation (heritage.org).

Originally posted here:

America's declining economic freedom - Washington Times

Freedom Caucus maniac Jim Jordan forced to have town meeting when constituents show up – Daily Kos

Posted on February 21, 2017 by Danzig

The question is a smart onerepealing Obamacare and killing the Medicaid expansion, turning it into a block grantwould be devastating to rural hospitals that rely on that funding. Jordan not only refuses to answer that question, he says that "defunding Planned Parenthood would free up money for them," as Weigel paraphrases.

No. Just no. Defunding Planned Parenthood means taking away their Medicaid reimbursements (that's where a big chunk of federal funding for Planned Parenthood comes from). Which means taking Medicaid away from the people who use Planned Parenthood. But basically, it's cutting Medicaid! The people who use it to go to Planned Parenthood also use it for treatment at hospitals and they're not going to have it go there, either.

Weigel pressed Jordan on this, and he "acknowledged that more stuff would have to be cut to cover the funding." More stuff wouldn't have to be cut if Medicaid funding was maintained and if all the states expanded it! That's how this stuff works! Which Jordan either completely doesn't know (which wouldn't be too much of a surprise) or is completely willing to lie about (which also wouldn't be much of a surprise).

But at least he was willing to talk to voters and lie directly to their faces. That's more than can be said of most of his counterparts.

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Freedom Caucus maniac Jim Jordan forced to have town meeting when constituents show up - Daily Kos

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