Flipping Through The News Reports On Obamacare

The Obamacare Reality
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “If someone would spend a minute, each day, flipping through the newspapers about health care, they would understand that Obamacare has changed America for the better.” (Sen. Reid, Floor Remarks, 9/21/2016)

So What Does The News Say? NEW YORK TIMES: “Obamacare Premiums Set to Rise, Even for Savvy Shoppers”

WALL STREET JOURNAL: “Insurers Move to Limit Options in Health-Care Exchange Plans”

BUSINESS INSIDER: “Americans' out-of-pocket healthcare costs are skyrocketing”

CNBC: “Obamacare marketplaces remain vulnerable to fraud, new government audits find”

DENVER POST: “Colorado health-insurance rates to jump 20 percent on average for individual buyers in 2017”

PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN: “Affordable Care Act rates to jump in Pueblo region, state”

BALTIMORE SUN: “Marylanders face hefty rate increases for Obamacare”

USA TODAY: “Obamacare options to shrink for many in Ohio”

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD: “Health insurance rate increases may have some Nebraskans in sticker shock”

ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS: “Insurers propose massive increase in individual health insurance rates”

CONNECTICUT MIRROR: “CT health insurance rates to rise sharply in 2017”

CONCORD MONITOR: “Maine health insurance cooperative leaves N.H. market, reeling from losses”

MIAMI HERALD: “Florida’s Obamacare premiums to rise average 19 percent in 2017, state says”

HARTFORD COURANT: “State Says ConnectiCare Ending Sale Of Obamacare Policies”

[BERGEN COUNTY] RECORD: “New Jersey left with just two Obamacare health providers for 2017”

STAR TRIBUNE: “Quest to add MNsure health plan options comes up short”

BOSTON GLOBE: “Premiums soar 21 percent for popular health plan”

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Oregon settles lawsuit for botched health care rollout”

POLITICO: “Another piece of Obamacare falls short”

CNN MONEY:“Health care costs rise by most in 32 years”

NEW YORK TIMES: “Dropout by Dartmouth Raises Questions on Health Law Cost-Savings Effort”

ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Behind Health Law's 'Growing Pains,' More Serious Problems?”

THE HILL: “ObamaCare exits being felt . . .”

THE HILL: “Will the Blues be next to leave ObamaCare?”

GALLUP: “More Americans Negative Than Positive About ACA”

---

Tags: Obamacare, what the News says To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Obamacare’s Failures: ‘Too Obvious To Ignore’

Americans Struggle With ‘Dreadful’ Premium Hikes, ‘Skyrocketing’ Out-Of-Pocket Costs, And ‘Reduced Choice’
“Failing insurers. Rising premiums. Financial losses. The deteriorating Obamacare market that the health insurance industry feared is here.” (The Florida Times-Union, 9/19/2016)

‘Sticker Shock’: ‘Health Care Costs Rise By Most In 32 Years’
“Health care costs rise by most in 32 years . . . Health care costs rose sharply in August. Prices for medicine, doctor appointments and health insurance rose the most last month since 1984.” (“Health Care Costs Rise By Most In 32 Years,” CNN Money, 9/16/2016)

“Employees are paying a whole lot more for health insurance than they did a decade ago.” (“Employers Push Health Care Costs Onto Workers,” CNN Money, 9/14/2016)

• “The average family plan cost $18,142 this year, up 3.4% from 2015, the [2016 Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits] study found. That's faster than both wages (up 2.5%) and inflation (up 1.1%).” (“Employers Push Health Care Costs Onto Workers,” CNN Money, 9/14/2016)
• “‘The cost of health insurance is going up, and businesses have been forced to deal with that by raising their deductibles or increasing out-of-pocket costs for their employees,’ [South Carolina insurance broker Alex Forrest] said. ‘That stinks.’”  (“Would You Like Some Insurance With Your Insurance?,” Kaiser Health News, 9/21/2016)

“Next year, the cost of one of the most popular plans available under the Affordable Care Act could increase by 10 percent on average across the country. That comes on top of a 5 percent jump the year before. When consumers see those prices, [Missouri Association of Health Underwriters president Ryan] Hillenbrand said, ‘they get sticker shock.’” (“Would You Like Some Insurance With Your Insurance?,” Kaiser Health News, 9/21/2016)

“The cost of covering low-income beneficiaries through the law's Medicaid expansion also has increased faster than expected.” (“Behind Health Law's 'Growing Pains,' More Serious Problems?,” The Associated Press, 9/15/2016)

‘Americans’ Out-Of-Pocket Healthcare Costs Are Skyrocketing’
“Americans are also paying more to see the doctor or get a lab test.” (“Employers Push Health Care Costs Onto Workers,” CNN Money, 9/14/2016)

• “Overall, workers are paying up more for deductibles. Over half of U.S. workers with single coverage health insurance plans pay a deductible of $1,000 or more, up from 31% of workers in 2011.” (“Health Care Costs Rise By Most In 32 Years,” CNN Money, 9/16/2016)
• “In 2016, 83% of workers have a deductible . . . with an average of $1,478. The average deductible for workers has gone up $486, or 49%, since 2011. Additionally, the [Kaiser Family Foundation] survey found that 51% of workers have a deductible over $1,000 — the first time this has happened since the survey began in 1999.” (“Americans' Out-Of-Pocket Healthcare Costs Are Skyrocketing,” Business Insider, 9/14/2016)

“The problem here is that many of the Obamacare plans have high deductibles and co-pays, which makes them unaffordable for many consumers without subsidies. The average deductible for the most common Obamacare plan is over $3,000. Average out-of-pocket expenses for a hospital stay can top $4,000.” (Editorial, “Obamacare Is A Failing Insurance Product,” The Florida Times-Union, 9/19/2016)

• “With monthly premiums on health insurance going up, more people are choosing cheaper, high-deductible options. In 2016, more than 90 percent of people buying insurance under the ACA chose plans with an average deductible of $3,000 or higher.” (“Would You Like Some Insurance With Your Insurance?,” Kaiser Health News, 9/21/2016)

‘Many Consumers … Face Reduced Choice’
“Insurers that have suffered steep financial losses are scaling back participation, and many consumers, particularly in small cities and rural areas, face reduced choice.” (“Behind Health Law's 'Growing Pains,' More Serious Problems?,” The Associated Press, 9/15/2016)

• “Realistically, the plans that are working look more like that hated three-letter acronym, HMO. Two-thirds of Obamacare plans, reports The New York Times, offer limited choices of doctors. . . [M]iddle-class people forced out on the Obamacare market are not likely to appreciate seeing their choices reduced.” (Editorial, “Obamacare Is A Failing Insurance Product,” The Florida Times-Union, 9/19/2016)

“[E]ven insurers like Blue Cross Blue Shield — once considered the companies of last resort — are considering leaving the exchanges. More high-profile -ObamaCare exits would mean less competition and could lead to significant premium hikes.” (“Will the Blues be next to leave ObamaCare?,” The Hill, 9/15/2016)

• “Blues plans posted $1.9 billion in losses from the exchanges in 2015, and many are still determining where they will participate in 2017. . .  In many exchanges, the Blues are the last insurers present . . .” (“Will the Blues be next to leave ObamaCare?,” The Hill, 9/15/2016)

‘I Am Being Priced Out Of The Market’: Americans Squeezed By Massive Premium Increases And Vanishing Choices
COLORADO: “Colorado residents who buy their health insurance themselves will pay 20 percent more on average next year, and, for the first time, residents in 14 counties will have the choice of only one carrier offering plans in their area via the state health insurance exchange.” (“Colorado Health-Insurance Rates To Jump 20 Percent On Average For Individual Buyers In 2017,” The Denver Post, 9/20/2016)

• “The increases are the largest in Colorado since the 2014 launch of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In some parts of rural Colorado, premium increases will top 40 percent, according to figures approved Tuesday by the Colorado Division of Insurance.” (“Colorado Health-Insurance Rates To Jump 20 Percent On Average For Individual Buyers In 2017,” The Denver Post, 9/20/2016)
• “The changes mean that 92,000 people — roughly one of every five consumers in Colorado’s individual market — will be shopping for a new plan . . .” (“Colorado Health-Insurance Rates To Jump 20 Percent On Average For Individual Buyers In 2017,” The Denver Post, 9/20/2016)

MONTANA: “State officials Wednesday released the final 2017 rates for health insurance on Montana’s individual market, with average increases ranging from 27 percent to 58 percent.” (“2017 Individual Market Health-Insurance Rates Filed; Average Increase Up To 58%,” MTN News, 9/14/2016)

• “The average increase for Blue Cross policies on the individual market is 58.4 percent.” (“2017 Individual Market Health-Insurance Rates Filed; Average Increase Up To 58%,” MTN News, 9/14/2016)

TENNESSEE: “[T]he cost of individual health care plans is soaring under ObamaCare. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance last month approved a 62 percent average increase in individual plans and health exchange policies in 2017 by BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and an average of more than 40 percent increases for next year by rivals Cigna and Humana. BlueCross rates have more than doubled in three years.” (“White House Claims Obamacare Extends Insurance Coverage, Limits Health Costs In Tennessee,” [Chattanooga] Times Free Press, 9/14/2016)

• “Despite record rate increases planned next year by health insurers still participating in the health exchange plans in Tennessee under the Affordable Care Act, the White House says the health care reform measure is benefiting most Tennesseans.” (“White House Claims Obamacare Extends Insurance Coverage, Limits Health Costs In Tennessee,” [Chattanooga] Times Free Press, 9/14/2016)

ALASKA: “Alaskans shopping for individual health insurance on the federal exchange will only be able to choose from one insurer when open enrollment starts on November 1st. . . [F]our companies have dropped out of the insurance exchange, citing an inability to offer competitive premiums that would cover their health costs.” (“Alaskans Endure Rising Insurance Costs,” Alaska Public Media, 9/21/2016)

• “Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska is increasing premiums . . . High insurance premiums are a problem in the state. For example, Premera had increases of 37 and 38 percent the last two years.” (“Alaskans Endure Rising Insurance Costs,” Alaska Public Media, 9/21/2016)
• “Juneau Montessori School teacher Laurie Clark loves working with toddlers. But the 61-year-old is not sure how much longer she can afford to do it. . . [S]he’s paying $1,500 per month for individual health insurance, three times what she paid last year in New Mexico. ‘What choice do I have? . . .’ she said.” (“Alaskans Endure Rising Insurance Costs,” Alaska Public Media, 9/21/2016)

ARIZONA: “‘Arizona is now an example of what happens when the market is unstable, leaving residents with little choice,’ Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona said in a statement. ‘We are re-evaluating our 2017 plans and where Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona makes coverage available.’”  (“Will the Blues be next to leave ObamaCare?,” The Hill, 9/15/2016)

MARYLAND: “We are the ‘individually insured’ who don't qualify for a subsidy under the Affordable Care Act, and my premiums are dreadful . . . After the 20 percent hike last year from CareFirst, I went from the least expensive silver plan to the cheapest plan of all. This year, it looks like our premiums will rise again — at least another 20 percent. I am guessing my premiums will be hovering around $500 per month. My deductible is the out-of-pocket maximum of $6,500. . . I have maintained my own insurance for most of my adult life, but now I am being priced out of the market.”  (Letter to the Editor, The Baltimore Sun, 9/19/2016)

Democrats’ Sales Pitch: ‘Lowers Costs For Every Patient, Reins In Premiums, Copays And Deductibles’
PRESIDENT OBAMA: “Families will save on their premiums.” (President Obama, Remarks After Meeting With Senate Democrats, 12/15/09)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): “This is why this legislation is important: affordability for our middle class. It lowers costs for every patient, reins in premiums, copays and deductibles, limits out-of-pocket costs, and lifts the cap on what insurance companies cover each year. (Rep. Pelosi, Press Conference, 10/29/09)

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D-IL): “Bringing down costs of health insurance and making it more affordable is job one for this health care reform.” (Sen. Durbin,Congressional Record, S. 13413, 12/18/09)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): “[W]e are bringing security and stability to millions who have health insurance ... What we will do is ensure consumers have more choices and insurance companies face more competition.” (Sen. Reid, Congressional Record, S. 13891, 12/24/2009)

---

Tags: Obamacare’s Failures, Too Obvious To Ignore To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Cruz Endorses, Trump/Pence Stand With Police, Kaepernick Protests Growing, Franks Fights For Life

Ted Cruz endorses Donald Trump

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author: BREAKING GOOD NEWS: Senator Ted Cruz endorsed Donald Trump for president. In a statement, Senator Cruz said he wanted to honor his pledge to support the nominee and make sure Hillary Clinton was defeated. He also offered six key policy reasons for supporting Trump: The Supreme Court, Obamacare, energy independence, border security, national security and Internet freedom. You can read the senator's statement here.

Charlotte Day 3 - There was less violence in Charlotte, North Carolina, last night. But, sadly, there was more evidence that eight years of left-wing ideology from the Obama Justice Department has affected law enforcement all the way down to individual cities.

We saw it in Baltimore, where police were ordered to stand down. You may recall that the mayor said she "gave those who wished to destroy, space to do that."

In city after city, there have been few arrests and little interest in going after the professional agitators. Reports indicate that most people arrested in Charlotte have out of state IDs.

Trump/Pence Stand With Police - Speaking in Pennsylvania yesterday, Donald Trump called for a national crime control agenda to make our cities safe again. Here is a brief excerpt of his remarks:"The violence against our citizens, and our law enforcement, must be brought to an end. The people who will suffer the most as a result of these riots are law-abiding African-American residents who live in these communities. It is their jobs, housing markets, schools and economic conditions that will suffer -- and the first duty of government is to protect their well-being and safety. . .

"Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the violent disruptor, but to make life more comfortable for the African-American parent trying to raise their kids in peace. . . More law enforcement, more community engagement, more effective policing is what our country needs."Trump went on to praise the men and women in law enforcement, saying: "Every day, police officers risk their lives for complete strangers. . . our men and women in blue also need our support, our thanks, and our gratitude. They are the line separating civilization from total chaos."

He is right. And that is why the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed the Trump/Pence ticket.

Governor Mike Pence also stood up for our law enforcement officers yesterday. Speaking in Colorado, Gov. Pence said:"Now, let me be clear: Donald Trump and I . . . stand by the right of every citizen in this country to peaceably assemble. . . But there's no right to engage in violence against our citizens or our police. . .

"Sadly our opponent once again refers to what she calls the 'institutional racism' in law enforcement. . . Donald Trump and I believe the men and women in law enforcement are not a force for racism in America, they are a force for good. They stand for our families, they protect our homes and they deserve our support and respect."Kaepernick Disrespectful Protests Growing - "Kaepernicking" is the latest liberal trend. Initially, just a handful of Kaepernick's fellow football players joined him.

One left-wing blog noted that "On the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, 14 more NFL players and one WNBA player joined in the protests by taking a knee, locking arms, or raising fists."

Now college players and entire high school teams, cheerleaders and marching bands are now refusing to stand.

Whether the leadership of the NFL realizes it or not, they are in the process of destroying one of the most popular sports in America. A poll this week found that just 32% of Americans support Kaepernick's display of disrespect, while 60% say he should choose another form of protest. And 44% of fans say they are willing to boycott NFL games if the protests continue much longer.

Predictably, Time has put Kaepernick on the cover of its latest edition. To add insult to injury, the cover is headlined, "The Perilous Fight," as if what he is doing in San Francisco is something courageous. But demonstrating disrespect for America is the default position of many in left-wing San Francisco.

Now liberal politicians are getting in on the act. Two members of the Oakland City Council are reportedly refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I guarantee you that everyone we have seen following Kaepernick's example is a pro-Hillary, pro-Obama, pro-Sanders progressive Democrat. This is why Obama and Clinton are not criticizing Kaepernick or the movement he started.

But this is the party and the movement that will be in charge of the country if Hillary Clinton wins. This movement is made up of people who so despise America that they refuse to stand for the Pledge or National Anthem. #NeverTrumpers should keep this in mind on Election Day.

Poll Position
Multiple polls show the Trump/Pence team continuing to gain momentum. Quinnipiac University polls find Trump leading in Iowa by seven points. Obama carried the state twice. Quinnipiac also finds that Trump is leading in Georgia by seven and is tied with Clinton in Colorado.

New Fox News polls show Trump ahead in Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio, while another poll finds Trump narrowly ahead in Florida.

In addition, polls in traditionally Democrat states are surprisingly close: Trump trails by just two in Wisconsin and is tied in Maine.

Here's the bottom line: The race is extremely close. It is entirely possible that an event that has not yet occurred will decide the election.

Franks Fights For Life - There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about civil rights. On Capitol Hill today, my good friend Rep. Trent Franks held a hearing about "the ultimate civil right" -- the right to life. Rep. Franks, who serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, examined why the Hyde Amendment, which prevents taxpayer funding of abortion in most government programs, is such an important public policy priority.

He also heard testimony from Gianna Jessen, an abortion survivor. Ms. Jessen spoke in support of the Born Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act. As you may recall, Hillary Clinton said that an unborn baby does not have ANY constitutional rights, not even on her due date.

Incredibly, however, pro-abortion extremists on the left don't even want to recognize the rights of babies who survive botched abortions. A just society should be able to put an end to infanticide, but as the trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell demonstrated, the practice continues.

Kudos to Congressman Franks for fighting the good fight for the ultimate civil right -- the right to life.
-------------
Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families where his articles are shared.

---

Tags: Gary Bauer, Cruz Endorses, Trump/Pence Stand With Police, Kaepernick Protests Growing, Franks Fights For Life To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Trump Busts Muslim Protection Racket

Ann Coulter new book "In Trump
We Trust E Pluribus Awesome!"
Available August 23, 2016

by Ann Coulter: Forty minutes after the explosion in Chelsea Saturday night, Donald Trump told a crowd in Colorado that a bomb had gone off in New York and said, "We better get very tough, folks. We better get very, very tough."

For the next 48 hours, the media denounced Trump for jumping to conclusions about a "bomb" -- and especially for the wild suggestion that government policy had had anything to do with it. (How about our policy of naturalizing 858 people from terrorist-producing countries who were under orders of deportation? Is it deplorable to ask about that policy?)

That night, CNN boasted that it placed "numerous requests" to the Trump campaign, demanding his evidence that it was a bomb. This explosive-filled device with a detonator that blew up in a dumpster -- what makes you think it was a bomb?

Hoping to get a snappy riposte from the pouty pantsuit on Trump's wild leap from an explosion in a dumpster to a "bomb," the press asked her to comment on Trump's "conclusion" -- as they termed his statement of the blindingly obvious.

Hillary referred to the bombing as a "bombing," then snipped, "I think it's important to know the facts about any incident like this ... I think it's always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions."

True, there was a bombing, but that doesn't mean there was a bomb. Let's not fly off the handle. It could have been an exploding Edible Arrangement.

Even after the dumbest mammal in North America, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, had admitted it was a bomb, journalists were indignant that Trump had called a bomb a "bomb" before they said so.

On CNN's "Inside Politics" on Sunday, The New York Times' Maggie Haberman said that even Trump's supporters worry that "he often gets ahead of information" and that Democrats would make it an issue of his not being "careful, that he doesn't wait for facts. That he just goes off and talks."

Hey, Maggie? I'm a Trump supporter and I know lots of Trump supporters. None of us ever worry about Trump "getting ahead of the facts."

CNN's Sara Murray complained that Trump "seizes on these moments so instantly before we have the facts."

Instead of instantly seizing on this moment to assume Trump was wrong, shouldn't Sara have waited until all the facts were in?

On CBS' "Face the Nation," The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus announced, "I'm a facts girl" -- thanks for sharing your OKCupid profile with us, Ruth! -- "so I think the response, 'I'd like to wait for the facts until I comment,' is always a good idea."

The media was enraged that Trump was sensible enough to realize what had happened. HE COULD HAVE BEEN WRONG! Yeah, but he wasn't. As Trump said, "I should be a newscaster because I called it before the news."

By Monday morning, Hillary was doing PR work for Islam, calling the culprits "bad guys," but stressing that "we're not going to go after an entire religion." No one had suggested "going after an entire religion," but I guess you can never be too careful when dealing with all those deplorable, irredeemable Americans.

A few hours later, New Jersey police caught the suspect, an Irish Catholic altar boy from Teaneck named Seamus Patrick O'Sullivan. Just kidding! He was an immigrant from Afghanistan named Ahmad Khan Rahami.

This is the doubletalk the public has been forced to endure after every terrorist attack.

As described in In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! our media and politicians are pretty quick to jump to the conclusion that terrorist attacks have absolutely nothing to do with Islam.

The night a truck bomb was found smoldering in Times Square, Mayor Michael Bloomberg went on "CBS Evening News" and said he thought it was somebody "homegrown," maybe "somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something."

The morning after the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, NBC's law enforcement analyst, Jim Cavanaugh, said that his best guess was that the shooter was a person "rooted in white hate movements," and had picked the club "because it's a diverse club and he hates diverse people."

(By which I think he means yours truly! I have the perfect alibi, of course. If I ever found myself in a gay nightclub, I'd be too busy signing autographs to shoot anybody.)

The fact that the shooter was a second-generation Muslim immigrant named Omar Mateen, who had repeatedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the attack, was treated by our media as one of many strands of evidence, not nearly as important as the possibility that Mateen might be gay and had been scarred by America’s endemic homophobia.

After the 2009 Fort Hood attack by a Major Nidal Hasan yelling, "Allahu Akbar!" Obama warned Americans not to "jump to conclusions." (Deplorable, irredeemable Americans are always jumping to unwarranted conclusions!)

He proceeded to label the jihadist attack an act of "workplace violence." To Obama's credit, his policies have reduced workplace violence considerably by putting so many Americans out of work.

The media and Obama administration officials took weeks to settle on a motive for the San Bernardino terrorists, despite their having pledged allegiance to ISIS while committing the attack. That night, the Los Angeles Times falsely reported that an office dispute had preceded the slaughter. The Times won a Pulitzer for the reporting that included this intentional misdirection.

The left has apparently decided that white America is a declining demographic and they are going to treat Muslim grievance groups like NARAL: We are with you on everything. It's probably just a coincidence that Muslim immigrants are advantageous to the Democrats' electoral prospects.

Even the terrorists have been getting impatient with the American left's refusal to give them due credit. Major Hasan's spiritual adviser, Anwar al-Awlaki, denounced the Obama administration for denying that the Fort Hood shooting was a glorious act of Islamic terrorism. After Orlando, al-Qaida's in-house magazine, Inspire, ordered jihadists in America to concentrate on killing Anglo-Saxon Americans to avoid confusing the U.S. media.

When American settlers sent scouts to ride ahead and look for Indians, if the scouts returned saying there were 6,000 Sioux on the other side of the ridge, no one cared about their horsemanship or the language they used.

Trump is the only politician in 50 years to say, "Immigration security is national security." The media won't listen. But the voters are listening.
-----------------
Ann Coulter is a conservative author of ten New York Times bestsellers, writes numerous columns and is a frequent guest on numerous radio and TV shows. Her web site is AnnCoulter.com. She is the author of Adios America which she signed and gave to the ARRA News Service editor at the 2015 Eagle Council.

---

Tags: Ann Coulter, Donald Trump, Busts, Muslim Protection Racket To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Obamacare, Not Drug Prices, To Blame For Record High Health Costs

by Phil Kerpen, Contributing Author: President Obama promised he would bend the health care cost curve and he has – but in the wrong direction. Premiums and deductibles are skyrocketing and Obamacare has entered what experts grimly call a “death spiral.” Overall health care costs jumped in the last year at the fastest rate in over three decades. Looking to dodge political blame for Obamacare’s spectacular failure and steeply higher health care costs, Democrats and their insurance industry allies have settled on a poll-tested strategy of pretending prescription drugs are the principal driver of higher costs – despite the fact that data proves such claims completely false.

The latest Altarum Institute report shows that prescription drug spending is just 10 percent of total health spending, versus 32 percent for hospital and 20 percent for physicians and clinics. And the smaller piece of the pie is also growing more slowly – just 3.9 percent for drugs versus 4.6 percent for hospitals and 5.2 percent for physicians over the last year.

As millions of Americans experience steeply higher costs for narrower provider networks and less access to care, we enter yet another election cycle where health care is a dominant issue. A recent national poll found that an eye-popping 77 percent of registered voters personally have had trouble using their health insurance in the past year or know someone who has. While access is down, cost is up; the same poll found 43 percent are personally paying more for health care this year than last year.

The biggest driver of increased costs are health insurance premiums, which 26 percent of those surveyed say are their number one health care cost concern. This is in comparison to 19 percent for hospital or emergency room visits, 17 percent for the care of a sick or aging loved one, and 16 percent for doctor bills. Just 11 percent said drug costs, the lowest of any health care component.

The Democratic political talking points were a little bit more connected to reality two years ago, when drug spending rose by 12.4 percent. But that jump also corresponded to an environment in which more medicines were placed in development than at any time in our history, and many new, innovative drugs arrived on the market. This includes a milestone, and yes, expensive, new drug that cured patients suffering from Hepatitis C. This breakthrough was quickly followed by similar drugs from other research companies that achieved the same miraculous results and lowered the costs of these treatments.

As Bill Gates, the world's most prodigious philanthropist, recently explained:
“I think the current system is better than most other systems one can imagine. I mean curing hepatitis C. This is a phenomenal thing and now you have multiple drug companies competing in terms of the quality and the price of that offering.”Contrast that with what we have witnessed from health insurers of late: higher premiums, skyrocketing co-pays and deductibles, and less and less access to needed treatments. And make no mistake, with the pending insurance premium increases anticipated in 2017 families will face even more costly challenges. As a result, proponents of Obamacare are already falling back on their old tactics of promising to solve problems through arbitrary price controls and more government regulation over prescription drugs. Doing so would have the opposite effect on drug costs and continue to give insurers a pass.

“The drug companies are turning out miracles and we need their R&D budgets to stay strong. They need to see that opportunity,” Gates correctly observed. “For things like Alzheimer’s, they can reduce medical costs so dramatically and improve the human condition, and the pharmaceutical companies have been great partners of our foundation. When we need help in doing science they are unique in what they can do.”

The total cost and time of bringing a single new drug to market is now $2.6 billion, per the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, and averages 10 years of development.

Capital markets are intensely competitive, and the prospects of large returns on truly significant breakthroughs are necessary to drive investment, cure diseases and allow people to live longer, healthier, happier lives.

So let’s keep the focus for fixing the problem of skyrocketing costs where it belongs – on Obamacare – and not allow its supporters to use their own law’s failures as a pretext for even more government regulations that could stall the search for new cures.
------------------
Phil Kerpen is president of Phil Kerpen, American Commitment, . Follow him at (@kerpen) and on Facebook. He is a contributing author at the ARRA News Service.

---

Tags: Phil Kerpen, American Commitment, Obamacare, Not Drug Prices, To Blame For Record, High Health Costs To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Trump Picking Up Support Among Jewish And Catholic New Yorkers

by Daniel Greenfield: Interesting numbers, though New York is demographically unworkable. The latest Siena numbers show Trump tying Hillary among white New Yorkers within the margin of error. But that doesn't much matter due to the demographics. Some other numbers are interesting as well.
A new poll shows Clinton’s favorability has recently dipped among Jewish voters in New York, although she still has an overall lead in the community and in the state. The study conducted last week by Siena College Research Institute showed Clinton’s lead sliding from 51 percent in August to 45 percent, while Trump’s support grew from 25 percent to 31 percent among Jewish voters.

Overall, the Siena poll shows Clinton has a significant lead, especially among the African and Latino communities, where she has over 80 percent in favor of her.The numbers show Hillary with 45 to 31 percent among Jews and 44 percent to 36 percent among Catholics. Those are very shaky numbers and they highlight just how dependent she has become on a minority firewall. That was the case in her desperate campaign against Bernie Sanders where she was bailed out by minority voters. But it's largely becoming her only hope.
-------------
Daniel Greenfield is Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. David Horowitz is a Contributing Author of the ARRA News Service

---

Tags: Donald Trump, Picking Up Support, Among Jewish, Catholic, New Yorkers, Daniel Greenfield, FrontPag Mag To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Fantasyland . . .

. . . To liberals a Gun could be a book in Charlotte North Carolina, then again they think a suitcase bomb could be a clock.

Editorial Cartoon by AF Branco

---

Tags: Fantasyland, liberal's Gun, Charlotte, North Carolina, suitcase bomb, a clock To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Obama Rushes To Admit 110,000 Refugees By Year’s End

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

by Natalia Castro: President Obama once pledged to admit 100,000 refugees from around the world into the country by the end of 2016. Recently, he has decided that number was simply not enough, he has rushed the vetting process in order to admit another 10,000 refugees by the end of the year, with a majority of the new additions coming from Middle East nations. However, with an already inadequate vetting process now being accelerated, the chance of another terror attack on our soil due to President Obama’s reckless actions is higher than ever.

In October, FBI director James Comes admitted during a <House Committee on Homeland Security hearing that “if someone has never made a ripple in the pond in Syria in a way that would get their identity or their interest reflected in our database, we can query our database until the cows come home, but there will be nothing show up because we have no record of them.”

Meaning that with ease, an individual eager to commit their first terror attack can move into the U.S. without any knowledge from government officials. Unfortunately, this is not a speculation or a far reaching theory of an action that might occur. One of the suicide bombers killing himself just outside of France’s national sports stadium in November, was posing as a Syrian refugee to gain access into Europe.

With President Obama’s increase in refugee admittances, this process is being sped up to even further submit our nation’s people to even more terrorist attacks. The Associated Press report of April 2016 cited Gina Kassem, the regional refugee coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan who noted that “while the resettlement process usually takes 18 to 24 months, the surge operation will reduce the time to three months.”

Making it even more difficult to properly vet the refugees entering the country.

Congress has attempted to combat this growing problem, however with pushback from Democrats and a constant veto threat from President Obama legislation has been weak at best. The House overwhelmingly passed the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act of 2015 aimed at improving the vetting system, but the bill still neglects key security risks.

For example, the bill grants further screening for individuals coming from Iraq and Syria; ignoring U.S. Department of State data which also shows 3,858 visas come from Jordan, 2,008 visas come from Lebanon, 7,049 visas come from Iran, and many more nations known for having a presence of terror.

With an uncooperative White House, there is little possibility for a successful and adequate piece of legislation being produced.

Until Congress is able to negotiate legitimate vetting policy dealing with refugees, allowing them to enter the country uninhibited places substantial risk on all of the American people. It is not a matter of refusing to allow them to enter, it is a matter of ensuring that the individuals who do enter are coming to integrate into American culture not destroy it. Until then, what’s the rush?

As long as we have a President who believes in his sole ability to make this critical decision to admit tens of thousands of refugees despite backlash from both Congress and the FBI that admits the current screening process is flawed, the American people are not safe. We need a leader who will focus on our safety above all others.
--------------------
Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.

---

Tags: Natalia Castro, Americans for Limited Government, Barack Obama, Rushes, Admit 110,000 Refugees, by Year’s End To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Crime and Terror and Panic

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: Many people think crime is going up. But it’s going down.

Similarly, many people think terrorism is “an existential threat” to our very civilization.

Could the latter folks be wrong for the same reason the former folks are?

Because news reporting concentrates on crime, covering it intensely, incessantly — if it bleeds, it leads — we get the wrong perspective on crime. The long-term trend-line shows crime going down since the early 1990s. Though we’re now seeing upticks in certain big cities, it’s simply not all getting worse.

This is not a reason to slack off. It is a reason not to panic.

How is terrorism different?

In 15 years, there has been no repeat of 9/11/01, or anything close to it. Granted, there have been horrific homegrown terror incidents. That threat remains. Though, thankfully, last weekend’s terrorist spree wasn’t more effective: One bomb fizzled, another killed no one, and the mad jihadist knifer was himself put down before anyone was killed.

Some might note that the number of deaths as a result of automobile crashes* is far, far higher than from terrorism. Why worry more about the very small number of terrorist outbreaks in a huge country like ours?

Here’s why: the terrorism is intentional, and could become worse for whatever reasons flip normal Muslim men and women into jihadist radicals. So our vigilance must not abate.

But there’s another difference. Terrorists, unlike normal criminals, want to be noticed. The more we panic, the more they are tempted to seek to cause us to panic.

Terrorism, whether going up or down, requires, along with vigilance, a certain resolute calmness.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* Deaths from automobile accidents have been decreasing for decades, a 35 percent drop from 1979 to 2005. However, last year the U.S. had the “highest one-year percentage increase in traffic deaths in half a century.”
------------------
Paul Jacobs is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacobs is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.

---

Tags: Crime, Terror, Panic, Paul Jaob, Common Sense To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

No More Immigration Until We Fix Anacostia

by Tom Balek, Contributing Author: It was a short drive from my hotel in Washington, DC’s toney National Harbor district to the Capitol. But we were stuck in heavy traffic on I-295 into downtown. My Uber driver slid to the outside lane and hit the exit. “I have a quicker way to get downtown,” he said. That was fine with me, although I really wasn’t in a hurry.

Within minutes we were smack in the middle of the Anacostia ghetto. We might as well have taken the exit to Mars.

I live in South Carolina, in a comfy suburb across the lake from Charlotte (NC). My town seems to me like normal America. My trips to the city can sometimes take me through areas that are not exactly high-rent districts. But they don’t look or feel anything like Anacostia. Over the years I’ve been through the barrio on Figueroa in LA, I have cruised around South Chicago, I’ve seen some of the underbelly of Detroit. I thought I had seen some of the ugliest armpits our nation has to offer. But Anacostia was an eye-opener.

We drove through mile after mile of liquor stores, check-cashers, and raggedy store-fronts, each decorated with young black men (and a few women) leaning against them. It was 10:00 a.m., and clearly none of the Anacostia folks had anywhere to go or anything to do. Some chugged beers, a few shared doobies openly on the street, and here and there were clusters of guys who appeared to be negotiating their next big deal. It was so totally foreign, I gaped out the passenger window in dropped-jaw amazement. I must have looked like a zoo animal to them. A boarded up dilapidated cafe, an elementary school unfit for the rats that live there, a rehab clinic doing brisk business. A muscular young guy jogging and shadow-boxing, Rocky-style. A wheelchair-bound young woman rolling up to a grubby corner drug store.

I’m not one who notices race first, but the segregation was jarring – there was not a single face that was not African-American.

My Vietnamese immigrant driver pretended to be oblivious to the bizarre scene, but his eyes saw what mine did. “It nicer across freeway,” he repeated several times in broken English.

Block after block, my state of mind shifted from shock to amazement to concern. By the time we emerged from Anacostia and re-entered the “normal” world, I was despondent. How the hell did this happen? Why hasn’t anybody done anything about this? We can’t just leave these hopeless people and this God-forsaken mess like it is.

There is no excuse for this kind of scene in the United States of America. Whoever gets elected in November had better take a good hard look at what’s going on in Anacostia, and Detroit, and South Chicago, and LA.

I could bore you with all of the tried-and-failed stock solutions to poverty and blight. But you’ve heard plenty of empty promises over the years, from the left and the right. More welfare is not the answer – it hasn’t worked and it never will. Telling people to get to work isn’t it either – there are no jobs for the totally unskilled and unschooled people of the Anacostia ghetto. This won’t get better until the American people decide it is unacceptable, move in, and get after it.

My trip through the ghetto brought home one message loud and clear. We had better not waste another dollar or another ounce of labor or another drop of compassion on opportunistic foreign immigrants until we bring Anacostia back to normal America.
---------------
Tom Balek is a fellow conservative activist, blogger, musician and contributes to the ARRA News Service. Tom resides in South Carolina and seeks to educate those too busy with their work and families to notice how close to the precipice our economy has come. He blogs at Rockin' On the Right Side

---

Tags: Tom Balek, Rockin' On The Right Side, no more immigration, fix Anacostia To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Air Trump

by Newt Gingrich: I had the great honor of traveling from New York to Fort Myers, Florida with Donald Trump on Monday. It was so interesting that I thought I would share the experience with you.

Callista and I arrived home from Kiev (seven hours ahead of Washington, D.C.) on Sunday evening. So when I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to catch the shuttle to New York it was already 1:00 p.m. in Ukraine.

The 8:00 a.m. shuttle was supposed to land around 9:30 a.m. at the Delta Terminal at LaGuardia and I was planning to go next door to Sheltair Aviation, which is the private plane side of the Marine Air Terminal. The first complication was an air traffic control hold which lasted 45 minutes as we sat on the ground at Reagan National Airport. Then we were told we were going to have to go west, practically to Cleveland, to get around a huge thunderstorm system. I fly so much that I either sleep or read books on my iPad. Frankly, I would rather land later and miss the thunderstorms than try to go through them.

We finally arrived at LaGuardia at 10:55 a.m., a mere one hour and 25 minutes behind schedule. Fortunately, Trump was not leaving until 11:30 a.m. so we were in good shape.

The Trump Airplane is very impressive. It was parked near Vice President Joe Biden’s official Air Force plane (Air Force Two). Both planes are Boeing 757s but Donald Trump’s plane is dramatically more comfortable and spacious.

The Trump plane has a section for Secret Service (about a dozen Secret Service agents travel with a presidential candidate), a section for staff working on speeches and other campaign business, a very comfortable set of chairs with tables for the candidate, his immediate advisers and friends, a living room for watching TV, two meeting rooms and a private bedroom with a shower for Trump to freshen up before big events.

One of Trump’s great advantages throughout the nominating process was having a plane he liked with the comfortable sense of a traveling living room. When his plane is in the air he has DirecTV so he can keep up with the news 24 hours a day. The plane also has wireless internet so people can work wherever they are.
It is an enormous advantage for Donald Trump to travel with minimum friction and maximum familiarity. He is also helped by a crew on the plane that knows him and enjoys working with him.

On the way to Fort Myers we discussed the upcoming rally. There had been 31,000 acceptances before the campaign cut it off. Now we were on the way to an arena that held only 10,000 people. There was an overflow hall that held thousands more with giant TV screens. Finally, as we drove up, there were even more people stretched along the road for almost a mile.

This was the kind of enthusiastic outpouring Reagan and Obama had when they ran.

By contrast, Hillary Clinton spoke to 300 supporters in Philadelphia that same day.

This 100 to one Trump versus Clinton popular response is part of why her 5:1 advantage in advertising has not been able to knock Trump out.

Donald Trump is gaining in earned media and social media almost as much as Hillary Clinton is buying.

In addition, if 10,000 plus people attend your rally they are each likely to share pictures and updates via email and social media. Dan Scavino is the Trump guru for social media and he reaches an amazing number of people.

We spent a lot of time while flying down to Florida talking about the Minnesota and New York-New Jersey terror attacks and the left’s total confusion.

We also discussed the stunning dishonesty of CNN editing the word bomb out of Hillary’s initial comments so they could attack Trump for using the word. A lot of the elite media attacked Trump for saying the explosion was a bomb.

It was a bomb. Trump was right.

This is a good example of why many Americans increasingly like Trump and dislike the news media.
All the way to Florida, Stephen Miller, a very hard working and extremely competent senior speech writer was editing Trump’s speech to make it hard hitting with the latest facts.

I got to watch Kellyanne Conway, an old friend, work as campaign manager. She and Steve Bannon, assisted by Dave Bossie, have brought new levels of drive and energy to the Trump campaign.

I chatted with Donald off and on throughout the trip. He learns very fast. He was quizzing me about Governor Deal in Georgia, what I had learned in Ukraine over the weekend, and how to handle the debates (I told him he was a better debater than I am and he should follow his instincts).

We had a lengthy discussion regarding how to treat Americans who become terrorists. This is an important topic I will write more about in the next few days.

When we arrived in Fort Myers for the rally, Trump taped a segment for The O’Reilly Factor and I went out as the warm up act. The crowd went wild and we had a great time. You can see my “warm up” talk here.
----------------------
Newt Gingrich is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. The above commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.

---

Tags: Newt Gingrich, 2016, Air trmp, Donald Trump To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Have Environmental Radicals Led The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe To Commit Perjury?

by Seton Motley, Contributing Author: Committing perjury is a serious offense.

Ok, sadly, I do acknowledge that this assertion is less and less true in what is now post-legal America.

Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is well on the way to zero consequence for multiple instances (and multiple other crimes).

And, sadly, this laxity is not just a recent phenomenon. Clinton’s husband, then-President Bill, committed perjury (and multiple other crimes) - and went on to finish his two terms. Twenty years ago.

But we still like to at least keep up appearances. That we have a legal system, that it works - and that adhering to it matters.

So we say things like “committing perjury is a serious offense.” And hope it is occasionally true.

Which brings us to the ridiculous lawsuit filed to block the already-approved-and-started Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's has approved most of the final permits necessary to construct the Dakota Access pipeline project….’We can now move forward with construction in all areas as quickly as possible in order to limit construction activities to one growing season and be in service by the end of this year,’ Lisa Dillinger, a spokeswoman for the project, said in an email.’

“Construction of the DAPL is now underway. So that’s that, right? Of course not.

“Enter the environmental radicals. Specifically global-radical-George-Soros-funded EarthJustice. As if being environmental radicals wasn’t bad enough - EarthJustice consists largely of trial lawyer environmental radicals. Terrorists with Doctorates of Jurisprudence.”

But the environmental radical trial lawyers need a plaintiff. Enter the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Standing Rock Tribe Files Lawsuit over Dakota Access Pipeline: “Represented by EarthJustice, the tribe filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Washington D.C.”

The Tribe and their radical cohorts are now committing lots of crimes.

rel="nofollow"target="new">Standing Rock Tribal Members & Allies Block Entrance to Pipeline Construction Site: “Standing Rock members and allies blocking passage to the construction site….”

Arrests Made as Citizens Block Dakota Access Pipeline Construction: “Nearly a dozen arrests have been made as Indigenous tribal members and allies stand firm in their attempt to block the Dakota Access Pipeline from being built.”

and Defenders Storm Construction Site: “(C)onstruction was halted after a group of tribal women led tribal protesters and allies onto the Dakota Access Pipeline site.”

Including, it would appear, perjury. Or the Tribe is on the verge of committing it.

Despite the Facts, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Continues to Spread Falsities: “In a lawsuit filed by the radical environmental group EarthJustice on behalf of the SRST claims that, ‘Neither [Dakota Access] nor the Corps ever consulted with the Tribe…or had invited their participation as the Tribe had repeatedly requested.’ The Chairman of SRST, David Archambault, wrote in the New York Times last week that, ‘permits for the project were approved and construction began without meaningful consultation.’

“While this narrative might play well in the media, it could not be further from the truth. A basic examination of documents provided by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and state utility boards, as well as filings by the Corps of Engineers and Dakota Access in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia shows the SRST and environmental allies met with regulators multiple times, and filed over a hundred comments throughout state and federal review periods. Filings also show that Dakota Access made seven attempts to meet with the tribe directly but were rejected every time.” (Emphasis ours.)

Filing false statements with a court is…highly problematic. Is it perjury…yet? I’m not a lawyer - let's check: “A crime that occurs when an individual willfully makes a false statement during a judicial proceeding, after he or she has taken an oath to speak the truth.”

So perhaps the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe hasn’t yet added perjury to its list of environmental-radical-induced charges. Unless you swear the oath as a precursor to even filing, in which case - hello, perjury. Perhaps. Again, I’m not a lawyer.

But Will Rogers’ timeless wisdom applies here:

"If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging."

The environmental radicals are still using earth movers - digging ever downward.

There’s no reason for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to remain joined at their increasingly-subterranean hip.

They should get out now.
----------------
Seton Motley is the President of Less Government and he contributes to ARRA News Service. Please feel free to follow him him onTwitter   /   Facebook.

---

Tags: Seton Motley, Less Government, Environmental Radicals, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Perjury?  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Candy Roulette . . .

The illegal aliens / terrorist analogy. . . . If in a bowl full of skittles 3 would kill you, would you eat a hand full? Hillary says you will if she’s elected.

Editorial Cartoon by AF Branco

.

---

Tags: Editorial Cartoon, AF Branco, Hillary Clinton, bowl full of skittles, 3 will kill you, would you eat a handfull, candy roulette, illegal aliens analogy To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

The Crooked News Network

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: recent Gallup poll found Americans’ trust in their news media has fallen to the lowest level ever recorded. Only 32 percent expressed either “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence in the press “to report the news fully, accurately and fairly.”

Trust among Republican is down to a mere 14 percent.

Sad statistics . . . but not surprising. Remember Rathergate in 2004?

Over the weekend, CNN earned its “Clinton News Network” nickname by blatantly misreporting Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s responses to the terrorist bombings in New York and New Jersey.

Both candidates initially called these incidents “bombings” — even before government officials had definitively confirmed the obvious. But in its reports, CNN edited out Mrs. Clinton’s remarks to that effect and ran with the angle that Mr. Trump was irresponsible for saying . . . well, what she said.

“The press has since largely slammed Trump for referring to the explosion as a ‘bomb’ too soon,” reported The Hill, adding that major media outlets have somehow “also failed to mention Clinton in focusing on Trump.”

Some blame the public’s low esteem for the media on Mr. Trump’s scathing attacks. The Donald dubbed CNN, for example, “disgusting and disgraceful” over this latest controversy.

He’s right.

Enough. CNN’s desire to propagate stories favorable to one candidate and unfavorable to another has spiraled down to the withholding of relevant information, for no better reason than to mislead the public. As a news junkie with an itchy trigger finger on my TV remote, I’ve stopped clicking over to CNN.

Now, Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown will be even more so.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
-------------
Paul Jacobs is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America — and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.

---

Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Crooked News Network, Hillary Clinton  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

A Son's Tribute: Phyllis Schlafly, 1924-2016

Andy Schlafly

by Andy Schlafly: Phyllis Schlafly was with us a glorious 92 years, and active in politics for more than 70 of them. It is difficult to identify any issue that she was not on the right side of, typically years or decades before others rallied beside her.

She wrote or spoke out on nearly every controversial American political matter, and the conservative movement today is based largely on work that she did five, ten, twenty, and even sixty years ago. Though we grieve her passing, she leaves us with a legacy that will take us our own lifetimes to fully appreciate.

Donald Trump, in his remarkable eulogy to Phyllis last Saturday at the beginning of her funeral, observed that Phyllis has shaped American politics for one quarter of its entire existence. He commented that she always put America first, as he does, and the massive crowd of attendees gave a standing ovation to Trump in immense gratitude to him for so honoring Phyllis.

Phyllis wrote a bestselling book in 1964 called A Choice Not An Echo, which foreshadowed Trump’s meteoric rise. The book exposed how the political system is rigged by kingmakers, and she was thrilled by the arrival of Trump as a candidate for president, 52 years after publication of her work, to take on and defeat the kingmakers in the Republican Party.

Phyllis anticipated and led on so many political issues that it would require another book just to list them. Her Phyllis Schlafly Report, now in its 50th year, is probably the longest continuing political newsletter in history, and its inaugural edition discussed the importance of our Panama Canal a full decade before that became a hot issue propelling Ronald Reagan to his successful campaign for president.

In defeating the Equal Rights Amendment, the work for which Phyllis is most famous, she took an initially unpopular stance years before others joined her. Her successful STOP ERA effort did more to define the conservative movement today than any other struggle.

But unlike most political leaders, Phyllis also had a tremendous cultural influence, by establishing respectability for those who stay at home and raise their children. Even many liberal-leaning women who attained adulthood in the 1980s and beyond are grateful to Phyllis for carving out space in our culture for them to spend some time away from the rat race to raise their children, and educate them at home.

Indeed, one of Phyllis’s proudest achievements was that she taught her children how to read at home, which she did for all six of them in the 1950s and 1960s. This was decades before the homeschooling movement blossomed as an expansion on the same concept.

Recently some have called Phyllis the “Iron Lady,” but that term fails to capture the enormous good humor and charm that she always had in the face of intense hostility. Many middle-aged people today had the benefit of attending a debate or presentation by Phyllis on a college campus, where she would invariably withstand a hostile opponent or audience with remarkable grace.

The funeral Mass on September 10th was held at the Cathedral Basilica in St. Louis, the same place where Phyllis was married in 1949 to Fred Schlafly, a blissful union that lasted until his death in 1993. But far from slowing down as a widow, Phyllis continued her work for another 23 years by both building on her prior efforts and expanding into new topics.

For example, she wrote her book on The Supremacists in 2004 to explain the growing problem of judicial supremacy, which foreshadowed the shocking court decisions in recent years and the crisis that we face in this election as the replacement for Justice Scalia hinges on the outcome. Her more recent book on No Higher Power: Obama’s War on Religious Freedom (2012) exposed the anti-Christian agenda of the Obama Administration.

Phyllis attended Republican National Conventions over a span of 64 years, from 1952 to 2016, and I had the joy of being with her for nearly two weeks in Cleveland this summer at her final convention. The party platform now embraces Phyllis’s positions on everything from building a wall to stop illegal immigration, to being strongly pro-life, to attaining military superiority, which were all positions that she staked out decades ago.

Phyllis never stopped writing, speaking, and organizing. The very day after her passing away on September 5th, the anniversary of Mother Teresa’s death, Phyllis’s 27th book was released: The Conservative Case for Trump.

William Shakespeare left this world with a legacy in playwriting that took generations to admire fully. Phyllis Schlafly produced more during her lifetime than the rest of us could keep up with, and it may take us decades simply to realize all the good work that Phyllis, the “conservative hero” in the words of Trump’s eulogy, has left us with.
----------------
Andy Schlafly is a conservative activist and a son of Phyllis Schlafly. He is the General Counsel for the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons, which was founded in 1943 and frequently challenges liberal government regulations and statutes. Andy is the founder of Conservapedia.com, and speaks out often on social issues.

---

Tags: Andy Schlafly, Phyllis Schlafly, 1924-2016 To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!