President Trump Must Move at the Speed of Technology, not Bureaucracy

by Newt Gingrich: Changing the direction of the Washington system from liberal to conservative was the key to President Trump’s remarkably successful first year. Changing the speed of government from the routine, slow, change-avoiding pace of bureaucracy to the high tempo, innovative, constantly accelerating pace of technology will be the key to success in the next three years.

The Trump-led directional shift is unquestionable. He appointed and placed a conservative justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, seated a record number of appellate court judges in his first year, and achieved an all-time record for repealing regulations. At the National Space Council meeting on Wednesday, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Director Neomi Rao said the Trump Administration has cut 22 regulations for each one it created.

Trump also worked with Republicans to deliver a dramatically pro-growth tax cut, which generated immediate proof of its power through the reaction of the business community. Again and again, President Trump has moved the Washington system away from a liberal direction toward a more conservative direction.

Now comes the real test – changing the deeply entrenched traditional system of bureaucratic processes and procedures into one that is entrepreneurial, dynamic, adaptive, and flexible.

Think of this as moving from the speed of bureaucracy to the speed of technology.

The two systems are mutually exclusive.

The current vast system of government is inherently bureaucratic, change-resistant, and closed to new ideas. Entrenched bureaucracies get used to what they are doing and the routine habits and rhythms at which they operate. They are process rather than product-oriented. They are activity rather than achievement-oriented. They measure inputs (although never enough) and reject the concept of measuring outputs. They regard metrics as arbitrary measures that prove they are busy, rather than benchmarks that demonstrate their progress.

Bureaucracies also have an enormous capacity to absorb and retrain political appointees. Every Trump political appointee should watch a season of the British television series “Yes Minister” or its sequel “Yes Prime Minister.” After watching just a few episodes of this sitcom, in which senior British civil servants surround their civilian leaders with misleading information and false assumptions, Trump’s political appointees will better understand how their ability to enact real change is being limited by those who make avoiding change their number one priority.

The only way to dramatically change bureaucracies is to change the outcomes expected from them. You will never win an internal fight over the processes bureaucrats are using or the traditions they are following. The bureaucrats will simply slow walk you with more and more arguments and information.

The key is to instead figure out the positive, measurable outcomes you want and insist on the bureaucrats changing their system until it can produce to your expectations.

One of the key change principles is to insist that government learn to move at the speed of technology instead of the speed of bureaucracy. The iPhone 4 has roughly the same computing power as the Cray-2, which was the fastest supercomputer in the world in 1985. And, of course, the iPhone 4 is now obsolete.

Apple has gone from almost bankrupt to the highest-valued company in the world.

The development of the drone as both a commercial and military vehicle has been amazing.

The rise of Amazon from a bold idea to the largest retailer in the world has been astounding.

The breakthroughs in health science and technology are amazing and new discoveries are being made every day. Breakthroughs in health care bureaucracies (public and private, including the health guilds), in contrast, have been astonishingly slow.

The rise of SpaceX’s reusable rockets has received a lot of well-deserved attention. The company’s recent Falcon Heavy launch with its Tesla and “Starman” payload may mark a turning point in space exploration and development.

While NASA and the old, slow-moving big companies have been following a long, expensive process, both Musk and Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos have been developing radically new proposals that will lower the cost of going into space by an enormous amount.

Keeping up with the speed of technology means both NASA and the Department of Defense must rethink their current investment in traditional, expensive, single-use rocket systems – from the ground up.

The same rate of development is about to hit education. Pioneers such as Sebastian Thrun at Udacity, Mitch Daniels at Purdue University, Dr. Jerry Davis at the College of the Ozarks, and Brandon Busteed at Gallup are developing remarkable insights into dramatically improving education.

In health information technology, new startups focused on helping doctors with a doctor-friendly health information system may break through the giant vendor-hospital-centered model which has crippled the growth of health information for patients and doctors.

Again and again, we see innovators and entrepreneurs starting at the fringes with small, streamlined operations and profound insights into how technology is evolving.

If the Trump team can learn to move at the speed of technology and to take advantage of the astonishing wave of entrepreneurship, which the new tax bill will be encouraging, then the amount of progress in the next few years will be amazing.
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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.

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Four States Form Coalition to Track Guns . . .

NY Gov. Cuomo takes questions from media on March 1, 2017

by Bridget Johnson: Four governors announced a coalition this week to attempt to stop out-of-state guns from coming into their localities with an information-sharing database to trace and intercept firearms.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo call their coalition "States for Gun Safety," and said their quad-state database will supplement the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System and launch the nation's first Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium.

Cuomo charged that the "federal government's continued inaction on this issue has not only allowed the epidemic of gun violence to spread," and "has actually prevented the laws like the SAFE Act from being fully effective." That New York law requires universal background checks on gun purchases, increases penalties for illegal gun use, mandates life in prison without parole for killing a first responder, and bans assault weapons.

Cuomo said the "groundbreaking partnership" to prevent illegal guns from crossing state lines would "be able to better inform policymakers nationwide on how to keep their communities safe."

"We cannot wait for Congress to act," said Murphy. "As states, we must work together to take the steps and enact the measures to protect our residents and our communities. But, even more importantly, a collective of states can take these steps together broaden the reach and impact of commonsense gun safety laws."

The information-sharing agreement will provide state law enforcement agencies with details on gun purchases and permit denials, including gun-owning disqualifications of having an arrest warrant, order of protection, "debilitating" mental health condition, or criminal history.

Cuomo's office said that "despite the passage of gun safety laws restricting the purchase and carry of firearms across the four states, the lack of federal regulations preventing individuals from purchasing guns in other states and transporting them across borders has undermined state legislation."

Separately, Cuomo said he was proud of his "F" rating from the NRA because "you know you're doing something right."

"As a father and a gun owner, I think it would be nice if the NRA listened to the millions of children across this country who are asking the President and the GOP Congress to stop this senseless gun violence. Too many lives have already been lost because the NRA and people like Wayne LaPierre want to sell more guns," the governor said Thursday. "While the NRA is busy peddling lies to the American people, New York and a coalition of states are saying enough is enough. The American people won't be played for fools. There is a way to pass common sense gun safety legislation — we know because we did it in New York. It isn't either/or — it can and must be both."
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Bridget Johnson is a veteran journalist whose news articles and opinion columns have run in dozens of news outlets across the globe. Bridget first came to Washington to be online editor at The Hill. She is the Washington Editor for PJ Media.

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Brexit Offers Arkansas Opportunity For U.S.-U.K. Growth

Tim Giffin, Lt Gov., AR

by Tim Griffin: As [Arkansas] lieutenant governor, I advocate for policies that will grow jobs and help Arkansas compete in a global economy. So when a constituent asked if I would discuss trade with Daniel Hannan, a British Member of the European Parliament, I jumped at the opportunity.

Hannan, an advocate for British withdrawal from the European Union, also known as Brexit, asked what I thought about a potential trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom once the Brexit process is complete. As I told him, while many observers focus on the challenges facing the U.K., I believe Brexit provides economic and strategic opportunities for the U.S. and Arkansas.

Among the many areas of cooperation between the U.S. and U.K., our strong economic ties are a key benefit of our relationship. We are each other’s single largest foreign investor, and the U.K.’s investment in America supports nearly one million jobs across the country. While self-interest is certainly at the heart of cooperation between many countries, there is more to the U.S.-U.K. relationship than simply Realpolitik. The U.S. and the U.K. share a common history, language (sort of), and culture. The American and British people hold a deep collective affection for each other. These commonalities have served as the foundation for what Winston Churchill called the “special relationship” and, as practical matter, make cooperation easier.

Arkansas’s economic connection to the U.K. is already particularly strong. According to data from the British Embassy in Washington, Arkansas exported $149 million in goods to the U.K. in 2016. We also exported $156 million in services in 2015, an increase in 20 percent since 2009. In total, the U.K. was Arkansas’s 6th largest export market in 2015. Arkansas exports food, aircraft, machinery, and much more to the U.K.

Thousands of Arkansas jobs are directly attributable to U.S.-U.K. trade. Specifically, 2,200 jobs are supported by Arkansas’s exports to the U.K. An estimated sixty U.K. subsidiaries do businesses in Arkansas, including brand names like Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites among others, which employ approximately 7,100 workers. I see great possibilities for increased trade between Arkansas and the U.K., especially in agriculture as well as the defense and aerospace industries.

I have had numerous discussions with Karen Bell, the Consul General of Great Britain, who is based in Houston and is responsible for leading the U.K.’s engagement in Arkansas. I have communicated to Karen that Arkansas’s world-class workers are ready to work, and Arkansas is open for business.

In addition to the economic benefit, having closer economic ties with the U.K. is a strategic benefit. The U.K. is a key diplomatic and military partner, and in the same way that we need strong, reliable allies in other parts of the world, we need a strong U.K. Our armed forces work together not only on the battlefield but also at key strategic military bases in the U.K., and we develop weapons hand-in-hand. For example, 15% of the Joint Strike Fighter is made by BAE, a British Aerospace company.

The close degree of cooperation between our militaries and political leaders has endured, and we are better because of it. In times of war, the U.S. and the U.K. have been strong allies dating back to World Wars I and II. That alliance continues today in the War on Terror. Even our level of cooperation in military intelligence sharing is without equal. Increased trade with the U.K. not only means more Arkansas, but a safer and more secure world.

I am not the only one that sees an opportunity post-Brexit. During the 2016 election, then- candidate Donald Trump stated, “We are going to make a deal with U.K. that’ll be great. As you know you’re somewhat restricted because of Brexit, but when that restriction is up we’re going to be your great trading partner.” Even as recently as January 2018, President Trump reiterated that trade with the U.K. would “increase many times” after Brexit.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and others on Capitol Hill agree. Speaker Ryan has referred to the U.K. as “our indispensable ally” and indicated that “We have a special relationship, and I think that does mean we should have a trade agreement with … Great Britain.” And our own Senator Tom Cotton has called for increased trade after Brexit.

The U.K. is the world’s fifth largest economy and our most trusted ally. Whether to consider a formal trade agreement with the U.K. is a win-win. The trade relationship between the U.S. and the U.K. is a natural fit. The time could not be better. With the U.K.’s withdrawal from the E.U., the door is open for increased trade, engagement, prosperity and security for all of us.

Members of Congress, particularly my former colleagues on the Trade Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, should give this idea serious thought and consideration. Let’s not let this opportunity pass us by.
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Tim Griffin is Arkansas Lieutenant Governor. He has also served as U.S. Representative for the Second District of Arkansas. The opinions expressed are those of the author. His staff shared the article with the ARRA News Service which was first shared at Talk Business & Politics

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Dereliction of Duty, Attacking Billy Graham, Don't Be Complacent

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:  Dereliction Of Duty - There was shocking news overnight that it wasn't the NRA that failed to protect students in Parkland, Florida. Government at all levels failed in its primary obligation -- to keep citizens safe.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said during a press conference yesterday that video surveillance showed a member of his team, a 6-foot 5-inch, armed deputy sheriff assigned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as a resource officer, took up a position outside the building "and he never went in" for at least four minutes.

Asked what the officer should have done, Sheriff Israel responded by saying that he should have "went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer."

Add that failure to the guidelines local liberals created when they changed rules regarding school discipline. (Here and here.)

Sheriff Israel also said that his department is investigating how it handled numerous calls involving Nikolas Cruz, including at least one threat that he "planned to shoot up the school."

And, as we know, the FBI also failed to follow its own protocols regarding warnings it received about Cruz.

Government at every level failed, yet there is a growing mob mentality on the left seeking a scapegoat. The mob has set its sights on the NRA, even though the NRA had nothing to do with the Parkland shooting.

Three leading car rental companies -- Alamo (844-357-5138), Enterprise (855-266-9565) and National Car Rental (844-393-9989) -- announced that they are terminating their benefits programs for NRA members. Carol and I use Enterprise often, but they have lost our business unless they quickly reverse this decision.

First National Bank of Omaha (800-642-0014) has cancelled the NRA's Visa card. MetLife (800-638-5433) is ending insurance discounts for NRA members.

If you would like to provide your feedback to any of these companies, please call the customer service numbers provided above. Tell them you support the Second Amendment and won't do business with companies that undermine our constitutional rights.

Attacking Billy Graham - Congressional leaders announced yesterday that the body of Reverend Billy Graham will lie in honor next week in the Capitol Rotunda. While our nation's leaders are honoring the life of Billy Graham, leftists are demonizing him.

When news of Graham's death broke, Teen Vogue columnist Lauren Duca tweeted, "The big news today is that Billy Graham was still alive this whole time. Anyway, have fun in h-ll, b-tch."

She doubled down on her disrespect with this follow up: "'Respecting the dead' only applies to people who weren't evil pieces of sh-t while they were living, thanks."

While Duca may be getting most of the attention, there is plenty of hate on the left. Progressives piled on former President Barack Obama for daring to say something nice about Graham.

The left's intolerance toward men and women of faith is obscene. It is also increasingly morphing into blatant discrimination. For example, an Ohio couple lost custody of their daughter this week because they refused to pay for her transgender hormone therapy.

In her decision, Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon declared that "the child truly may be gender-nonconforming and has a legitimate right to pursue life with a different gender identity than the one assigned at birth."

Metro City Church in Michigan has faced weeks of protests and threats simply for holding a seminar on biblical sexuality. One man has been charged by police after threatening that Antifa would show up at the church "armed and ready." Left-wing state legislators are demanding the attorney general launch an investigation of the church.

Conservatives repeatedly warned that the redefinition of marriage by judicial fiat would inevitably lead to censorship of pastors and churches. The left dismissed those concerns, saying the First Amendment would protect religious liberty. Tell that to the congregation of Metro City Church.

The left doesn't want surveillance of mosques to identify terrorists or find out if anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism is being taught. (And it is.) But it will threaten to shut down a church for teaching biblical and biological truth.

Don't Be Complacent - President Trump addressed the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) today. As Fox News put it, the president's remarks were "fiery and freewheeling," reminiscent of Trump's stump speeches during the 2016 campaign.

President Trump highlighted a litany of accomplishments during his first year, including tax cuts, moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, repealing Obamacare's individual mandate, a record rollback of regulations, a record number of circuit court judges confirmed and even the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. The crowd roared its approval.

And the American people seem to approve as well. The latest Rasmussen poll finds the president's job approval rating at 50%, the highest it has been in seven months. It's also five points higher than Barack Obama's rating at this point in his presidency.

Given the stakes in the weeks and months ahead, I especially appreciated the president's warning to conservative activists. Trump said he understood the "natural instinct" to relax after a big win, and his victory over Hillary Clinton was HUGE.

But Trump added:

"You just won, and now, you're happy and complacent. Don't be complacent! We have to get out there, and we have to fight in '18 like never before."

My friends, President Trump is absolutely right! The battle for the heart and soul of America did not end on November 8, 2016. As you know from reading these reports, it continues every day. And right now, the left is fired up.

We must fight back!

We must elect more conservatives to Congress in 2018, especially to the Senate if we are going to restore balance to the courts.

The left was convinced Hillary Clinton would win in 2016. The left is convinced it is going to make big gains in 2018. Let's prove them wrong again! And let's make America great again!
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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Tags: Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families, Dereliction of Duty, Attacking Billy Graham, Don't Be Complacent To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!

Gas Prices v.Tax Cuts: How Trump Can Protect His Signature Achievement

by Ken Blackwell, Contributing Author: During his short time in office, President Donald Trump has taken several steps that have generated robust economic growth, including signing historic tax cuts that have already led to bigger paychecks for American workers. But to ensure that Americans can keep enjoying the benefits of this popular tax cut, the administration needs to fight rising gas prices.

The challenge is a familiar one. For example, in 2011, Americans’ savings from a payroll tax cut were largely negated by rising gas prices. Similarly, an analysis by the non-partisan organization Securing America’s Future Energy found that although former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts increased household income by $1,900 from 2001 to 2008, Americans spent $2,000 more on gasoline in that same time frame as prices rose.

President Trump needs to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself. One way to do that would be to strengthen and modernize the fuel economy of our vehicles.

Simply put, fuel economy standards help Americans’ pocketbooks. According to Forbes, a 2017 study by David L. Greene at the University of Tennessee found that fuel economy standards have saved American consumers in all income groups an estimated $4 trillion since 1975. Fuel economy standards that encourage innovative ways to further increase our efficiency will continue to help consumers save money.

Securing the gains won by the tax cut isn’t the only reason that President Trump should strengthen and modernize fuel efficiency; it’s also in keeping with his stated desire to realize not just “energy independence,” but “energy dominance.” The administration has said that part of their plan to achieve this goal will be permitting more offshore drilling, which will give Americans access to our own energy resources. This is a laudable goal, but getting more out of the oil we already put in our cars is also a common-sense step towards energy dominance.

Over 92 percent of America’s transportation sector relies on oil, making our economy vulnerable to fluctuations in the oil market. Increasing the efficiency of our cars and trucks would be a good step towards shielding our economy from the potential ramifications of a volatile global oil market.

There’s no free market for oil – that’s why we need policy to protect our interests. At the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Companies (OPEC), state-subsidized oil companies collude with one another to manipulate the global oil supply to their own benefit. Leaving our transportation costs subject to the whims of foreign powers at OPEC creates uncertainty for consumers, weakening the economy. Strengthening these standards will help shield us from the interference of petrostates and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.

The fuel economy of our cars and trucks also has national security implications. These rules were initially adopted to prevent foreign countries from seeking to harm American interests by manipulating the price of oil. Boosting fuel efficiency would further reduce this risk.

The administration should collaborate with car companies and innovators to strengthen fuel economy standards so Americans may enjoy the full benefits of their tax cuts instead of having spending that money on gas. The White House should not risk economic growth from tax reform being stifled by oil price volatility. Strengthening fuel economy standards would benefit both consumers and America’s national security, and would help achieve the administration’s “America first” agenda on both energy and security.
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Ken Blackwell (@kenblackwell) is a former ambassador to the U.N., a former Domestic Policy Advisor to the Trump Presidential Transition Team, and former Ohio State Treasurer and mayor of Cincinnati who currently a senior advisor to Securing America’s Future Energy and is on the board of numerous conservative policy organizations. He is a contributing author to the ARRA News Service

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Bitter Clinger . . .

. . . It’s obvious the Democrats aren’t interested in real solutions to school shootings like at Parkland School but only using them as a 2018 campaign issue.

Editorial Cartoon by AF "Tony" Branco

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Congress Should Make Tax And Regulatory Relief Permanent

Phil Kerpen

by Phil Kerpen, Contributing Author: The first year of the Trump administration saw remarkable accomplishments on both tax and regulatory relief, with fundamental tax reform for the first time in decades and the massive regulatory onslaught of the Obama years stopped and reversed. With wages rising and the economy strengthening, the most important priority for Congress in 2018 should be to lock in these historic accomplishments.

As it stands now, nearly all of the tax relief for individuals is scheduled to expire in 2025; this was done because Senate rules imposed a procedural constraint on the process that was used to avoid a Democratic filibuster. The hope and expectation was that the expiration would never take place – but President Trump will not be president in 2025, and although Obama agreed to make most of the Bush tax cuts permanent, he did so only after a tense showdown and a last minute "fiscal cliff" deal.

Republicans need to make crystal clear to the American people that the tax cut expiration exists only because of Democratic intransigence. A vote on making the tax cuts permanent this year would deny the media and Democrats the criticism of the tax reform bill that the relief is temporary.

Equally important to the improvement in economic sentiment over the past year has been the sea change in the regulatory environment. The biggest, most expensive rules imposed on the U.S. economy by Obama have been or are in the process of being reversed.

President Trump signed an early executive order calling for agencies to eliminate two old rules for every one new one, and in the first year his administration outperformed that by an order of magnitude – eliminating 22 old rules for each new rule. An analysis by the American Action Forum found that a remarkable 81 percent of regulatory costs imposed in calendar year 2017 were imposed during the three weeks of January that Obama was still president.

Unfortunately, just as Trump was able to reverse the regulatory onslaught of the Obama years, there is presently no structural barrier to the next Democratic president putting all the growth-stifling regulations of the Obama era back in place – and worse.

To make regulatory relief permanent, Congress needs to pass the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, which would require economically significant regulations to be sent to Congress and approved by a majority in the House and Senate before they could take effect. That would stop the pendulum swinging sharply back to hyper-regulation, while allowing sensible, beneficial regulations to move forward subject to public accountability through the legitimate legislative process.

REINS has already passed the House and has passed committee in the Senate, but has not been scheduled for a floor vote because of the threat of a Democratic filibuster. It presently has no Democratic cosponsors because Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who used to cosponsor the bill, curiously no longer does. But can Manchin really face West Virginia voters taking the position that the next Democratic president should have a free hand to relaunch Obama's War on Coal?

The House should pass and send to the Senate a new bill – call it the Tax and Regulatory Relief Permanency Act of 2018 – that includes the REINS Act as well as provisions to make all of the Trump tax cuts permanent.

The Senate should bring it to a vote and put Democrats facing reelection in Trump states to the ultimate test: do they lock in the tax and regulatory relief that is crucial to the economic prosperity of their constituents, or side with their obsessively anti-Trump donors and the chattering classes?

The result would be either very good policy or, if Democrats block it, a moment of clarity for voters.
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Phil Kerpen is president of American Commitment. Follow him at (@kerpen) and on Facebook. He is a contributing author at the ARRA News Service.

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Unhappy for Different Reasons

by Kerby Anderson, Contributing Author: If you have ever listened to a Dennis Prager radio program, you know he often talks about the differences between liberals and conservatives. And you would also know that he dedicates one hour to what he calls “the happiness hour” where he explores why people are happy or unhappy.

So it is not surprising that he recently wrote a commentary on the subject: “Liberals and Conservatives Are Unhappy for Different Reasons.” He says that unhappy conservatives generally believe they are unhappy because life is difficult and tragic or because they made some unwise decisions in life. Liberals are unhappy generally because they believe they have been persecuted.

A left-wing woman may attribute her unhappiness to American society’s “patriarchy” or “misogyny.” She therefore feels oppressed. He also argues that the more left-wing blacks will attribute his or her unhappiness to racism. He has noticed that black conservatives have a much happier disposition than left-wing blacks. He has found that a cheerful black caller to his radio program is almost always a conservative.

Near the end of his commentary, he gives a personal example. His father (an Orthodox Jew) wrote his college senior thesis on the subject of anti-Semitism in America. His father was well aware of bigotry in this country but still reminded Dennis Prager and his brother that American Jews are the luckiest Jews in history—because they are Americans. Prager says, “I therefore never knew what it was like to walk around thinking most of the people I met hated me. That alone contributed to my happiness.”

He correctly concludes that, “Unhappy Americans on the right blame the problems inherent to life, and they blame themselves. Unhappy Americans on the left blame America.” This simple formula explains so much.
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Kerby Anderson is a radio talk show host heard on numerous stations via the Point of View Network endorsed by Dr. Bill Smith, Editor, ARRA News Service

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President Donald Trump at CPAC 2018

Right Side Broadcasting Network: Today, President Donald Trump delivers remarks at CPAC in National Harbor, MD. [Video below]

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Protect Kids or Confiscate Guns?

by Patrick Buchanan: In days gone by, a massacre of students like the atrocity at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School would have brought us together.

But like so many atrocities before it, this mass murder is tearing us apart.

The perpetrator, the sick and evil 19-year-old who killed 17 innocents with a gun is said to be contrite.

Having confessed, he faces life in prison. For the next half-century, Nikolas Cruz will be fed, clothed, sheltered and medicated at the expense of Florida taxpayers, including the families of those he murdered.

Cruz’s punishment seems neither commensurate with his crimes nor a deterrent for sick and evil minds contemplating another Columbine.

It didn’t use to be this way.

On Feb 15, 1933, anarchist Giuseppe Zangara tried to assassinate President-elect Franklin Roosevelt in Miami. His arm jostled, he killed instead Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. Five weeks later, on March 20, 1933, Zangara died in the electric chair.

Swift, sure and pitiless, but that legal justice system worked.

With Cruz, the system failed up and down the line.

Cruz should never have been allowed to purchase or possess a gun. He was angry, alienated, isolated. Police had been to his family home to deal with complaints 39 times. Yet he had no arrest record when he purchased his AR-15.

Classmates at Douglas High had speculated that if there ever were a school shooting, Cruz would be the one to do it. The FBI was alerted a month before that Nikolas Cruz was a time bomb ready to explode.

The NRA was not responsible for the system-wide failure from Douglas High to the FBI. As the NRA’s Dana Loesch told CPAC Thursday:

“The government can’t keep you safe and some people want us to give up our firearms and rely solely upon the protection of the same government that’s already failed us numerous times to keep us safe.”

As for the AR-15, it is the most popular rifle sold. Five million to 8 million are in circulation. Veterans since Vietnam have trained with, and many fought with, the M16, which is first cousin to the AR-15. Veterans are among the millions who own them.

While all agree AR-15s should be kept out of the hands of crazies like Cruz, the establishment insists that it is the gun that is the problem.

We hear demands that AR-15s be banned and confiscated.

Proponents should put that proposition to a vote. But a prediction: The moment it is brought up for a vote, sales of AR-15s will explode, as they have before. If the weapon is banned, as alcohol was banned in Prohibition, millions of law-abiding Americans will become law-breakers.

And who will barge into America’s homes to seize and collect the rifles?

Moreover, if people have decided to mass murder classmates or co-workers, inviting “suicide by cop,” are they going to be stopped from acquiring a semiautomatic by a congressional law?

Have our drug laws halted drug use?

Many of the guns confiscated by police are in the possession of thugs, criminals and ex-cons who have no legal right to own them. Yet, if we are going to prosecute the illegal sale or transfer of weapons severely, we will have hundreds of thousands more in prisons, at a time when we are instructed to empty them of nonviolent offenders.

As for mental illness, it seems more prevalent than it used to be, and the numbers of those on medication seems a greater share of the population.

Do doctors decide which of their patients are fit to own a gun, and which are not? Should doctors be held criminally liable if they fail to alert police and one of their patients uses a gun in a violent crime?

Who will maintain the federal registry of the mentally sick unfit to own a firearm?

The anger and anguish of those who lost family or friends in this atrocity is understandable. But passion is not a substitute for thought.

There are twice as many guns in America as there were just decades ago. And a primary reason people acquire them is because they believe they need them to protect themselves and their families, and they no longer trust the government to protect them.

They view the demand for banning and confiscating specific weapons as a first step down the inexorable road that ends in the disarmament of the people.

Most mass shootings take place in gun-free zones, where crazed men of murderous intent know their chances of maximizing the dead and wounded are far better than in attacking a police station.

Our embassies are defended by Marines with M16s. Security guards with guns defend banks and military bases, presidents and politicians.

The best way to protect kids in schools may be to protect schools, and run down and incarcerate the known criminals and crazies who are the primary threats.
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Patrick Buchanan is currently a conservative columnist, political analyst, chairman of The American Cause foundation and an editor of The American Conservative. He has been a senior advisor to three Presidents, a two-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and was the presidential nominee of the Reform Party in 2000. He blogs at the Patrick J. Buchanan.

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He Applied Himself . . .

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: “I need to make this count,” wrote a young man in Everett, Washington.

Unfortunately, it looks like he wasn’t attempting a big career-oriented project. He was planning a mass shooting.

“I need to get the biggest fatality number I possibly can,” is one of many damning journal passages the police have made public. Apparently he had settled on attacking the high school he attended. “I’ve been reviewing many mass shootings/bombings (and attempted bombings) I’m learning from past shooters/bombers mistakes.”

Ambition and rigor: missapplied.

Fortunately, his grandmother read his journal and discovered a rifle in his guitar case. She turned him into the police the Tuesday before the Florida shooting I wrote about last week. And maybe just in time.

Meanwhile, last week’s Parkland, Florida, shooting dominates the headlines. Fellow students and neighbors of the Florida shooting victims have ramped up their condemnations and demands — including at a horrorshow “town hall” on CNN.

Yet the nature of the difficulties in preventing such atrocities has become lost in the rhetoric and anger.*

In a free society, we cannot arrest people before they commit a crime. In the Everett case, officials were “lucky”: despite the young man’s lack of a criminal record, they were able to charge him with a burglary they allege he committed the day before arrest — and his extensive planning notes are being taken as evidence for intent. He’s also been charged with attempted murder.

We should be in inquiry mode, right now. It could be helpful to know the exact motivations for both the Florida shooter and the Everett wannabe — and similar cases.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* Law enforcement is tasked with uncovering spree shooting plots today — and to protect, too. But the armed, uniformed school resource officer at the Parkland high school failed to protect. He heard the gunshots but never entered the building, while the shooter killed 17 innocents.

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Why Do Progressives Believe Attacking American Citizens Is A Winning Strategy?

by Natalia Castro: Democrats did not just lose in 2016 because the party was out of touch with the American people, the party’s leader also insulted and shamed the American people. Hillary Clinton antagonized and dismissed Trump voters, causing her own demise. Yet Democrats do not realize this, and therefore continue belittling and demonizing Republican voters. When will Democrats notice that the American people are listening and want a candidate who knows them, not insults them?

Michael Lerner, a principal investigator for the National Institute of Mental Health, explained to the New York Times, “Instead of challenging [the] ideology of shame, the left has buttressed it by blaming white people as a whole for slavery, genocide of the Native Americans and a host of other sins, as though whiteness itself was something about which people ought to be ashamed. The rage many white working-class people feel in response is rooted in the sense that once again, as has happened to them throughout their lives, they are being misunderstood.”

From the moment Clinton called Trump voters “deplorables” she ostracized an entire voting base and energized them to go to the polls and vote for the candidate who actually respected them. Clinton has even since admitted in her book What Happened, that calling Trump supporters “deplorables” was more of a political gift than a curse.

Trump was speaking to a constituency of economically stagnant and frustrated Americans who felt unrepresented during the Obama presidency. Clinton chose to demonize this group, essentially rejecting their right to the American dream and costing her the election.

But none the less, this behavior has persisted.

Following the election former First Lady Michelle Obama lashed out against female Trump supporters. According to the BBC of Sept. 2017, Obama claimed, “As far as I’m concerned, any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against their own voice.”

Yet one year into Trump’s presidency women across the country still defend their decision.

Belinda Miller, a 50-year-old emergency room nurse from Audubon, Pennsylvania, told Reuters on Jan. 2018, “My 401(k) and my 403 have soared, and if anybody doesn’t realize that, they’ve been asleep for a year. I look overall not at what he says but what he does. All that other stuff is just rhetoric, smoke and mirrors.”

Similarly, Carol Markowicz told Reuters she voted for former President Barack Obama in 2012 but switched to Trump in hopes that his business background and immigration stance would help bring jobs back to Pennsylvania.

It is these hardworking women that Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton attacked as anti-feminist for voting for a candidate that suited their needs.

This past year when NFL players refused to stand for the national anthem, Trump criticized the players via Twitter “total disrespect for our great country” and encouraged them to stand. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell slammed Trump, calling his remarks “divisive,” San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York called Trump’s remarks “callous,” while NBA player Lebron James called the President a “bum.”

As a result of the war that ensued between the players, teams, and the President, the NFL saw its worse season in years. The American people spoke up once again and launched nationwide boycotts of the sport, causing the NFL 2017 season to lose 10 percent in TV rating, a loss which caused a $30 million drop in ad revenue, according to Breitbart News of Jan. 28,2018.

Just like with Clinton, the NFL hurled insults at Trump and received the backlash of Americans who respect their country and respect the national anthem.

However, the Democrats have not learned from these patterns.

Following the passage of a Republican tax plan which cuts taxes for a majority of Americans, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 18th district Conor Lamb asserted that the law’s benefits were “crumbs” to most taxpayers, prompting a pro-Paul Ryan super PAC to release an ad highlighting how out of touch Democratic leaders are.

The ad features Mary Beth Cirucci, a widowed mother of two sons, explaining how the tax cut is impacting her life. Cirucci explains, “Being a widow is tough. Raising two teenage sons by myself is even harder. That’s why I really appreciated the middle-class tax cut. Conor Lamb and Nancy Pelosi called it crumbs. Here’s the truth, Mr. Lamb, when you’re a single mom and everything falls on your shoulders, every dollar counts.”

The left’s attack on average, hardworking American people who are making informed decisions about how represents them has only encouraged voters to head to the polls against these attacks. It is no surprise the most recent Rasmussen Reports poll puts the President’s approval rating at 48 percent, despite constant character assassination attempts. When will the left learn they cannot bully the American people into voting for them? For Republicans seeking reelection it may be best they don’t learn, but for the unity of the American people, they must.
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Natalia Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.

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5 Record Breaking Gemstones Even Billionaires Can’t Buy

by Charles Kennedy:   As Elizabeth Taylor once said: "I adore wearing gems, but not because they are mine. You can't possess radiance, you can only admire it."

It's a good philosophy, because when it comes to the world's biggest, rarest and most extraordinary gemstone discoveries, no one—not even billionaire President Donald Trump—could afford the possession.

We're not talking about the average diamond engagement ring that sets you back $4,000 and was probably grown in a lab. And we're not talking about the $3,000 ruby that was probably treated.

We're talking about the rarest gemstones in the world, like the ‘Guinness Emerald' that came out of Fura Gems' Coscuez emerald mine in Colombia, where excavation has only reached 10% and the next gem of the century is just waiting to be discovered.

Every year, the mining industry grows by hundreds of billions of dollars. The global economy is booming and demand for precious jewels, particularly colored gemstones, has never been higher.

That means that the greatest discoveries have yet to be made.

Here are just five examples of stones that broke all the records:

#1 "Star of Adam" Blue Star Sapphire—$100-300 Million
The world's largest blue sapphire was discovered in Sri Lanka in early 2016. Named the "Star of Adam," the massive stone weighs an incredible 1,404 carats.

The stone is a blue "star" sapphire, so named due to the bright six-pointed star that appears whenever light is reflected on the stone's surface.

Estimates of the stone's value range from the $100-$175 million range to as much as $300 million.

This single stone is worth the annual gem industry of Sri Lanka, which averages $103 million per year in exports.

Interest in blue stones increased worldwide after the royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2011. Middleton wore a 12-carat blue sapphire engagement ring, piquing interest in the stones and sending demand upwards.

But the royal stone has nothing on the massive Star of Adam.

This single stone is worth the annual gem industry of Sri Lanka, which averages $103 million per year in exports.

Interest in blue stones increased worldwide after the royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William in 2011. Middleton wore a 12-carat blue sapphire engagement ring, piquing interest in the stones and sending demand upwards.

But the royal stone has nothing on the massive Star of Adam.

#2 Guinness Emerald—$500 million
Here's a stone so grand, it made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The 1759-carat emerald was discovered at the Coscuez mine, owned by Fura Gems. It was for several years the largest un-cut emerald on earth.

Only 10 percent of the Coscuez mine has been explored, which means there could be several stones like the Guinness Record emerald locked underground.

Fura Gems recently announced its total take over of the Coscuez mine. For only $10 million, the company took possession of a mine that could yield hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of emeralds just like the Guinness Emerald.

The stone, in its un-cut form, could be worth $17 million, at a valuation of $9,800 per carat.

But once it’s been cut, it could sell for a whole lot more. An 18-carat emerald ring, for example, sold at auction in June 2017 for $5.5 million.

That means the Guinness Emerald could be worth more than $500 million to the right buyer.

Right now, the stone is resting comfortably in the Banco Nacional in Colombia.

#3 Chaiyo Ruby—$448 million
This mysterious stone has quite the back-story.

The Chaiyo Ruby is an enormous gemstone weighing 109,000 carats: that's roughly the same weight as a seven or eight-year old child.

The stone has been valued at approximately £320 million, or about $448 million.

The ruby came out of a mine in south Asia, though where it was mined exactly is subject to considerable debate: both Myanmar and Thailand dispute ownership.

There have also been accusations that the stone is a fake, that it was manufactured in Myanmar.

In fact, the stone is so mysterious, its current whereabouts are unknown. It vanished in the early 2000s, and may be sitting in a safety-deposit box in Laos. Some rumors speculate that it was stolen from its original owners by members of the Myanmar military.

Whatever the truth is, it's certain that this massive stone is one of the rarest and richest finds of the recent era.

#4 Bahia Emerald—$250-$925 million
The world's largest emerald ever uncovered in a single shard, the Bahia Emerald weighs approximately 1.7 million carats, or 752 lbs. It was discovered in the Bahia region of eastern Brazil.

The huge stone, which currently sits in a vault in Los Angeles, could be worth as much as $925 million.

The incredible stone was stored for a time in New Orleans, and was nearly washed away by the flood waters of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Like the Chaiyo Ruby, the Bahia Emerald is shrouded in mystery. After surviving Katrina, the stone was stolen from a secure vault in South El Monte in Southern California in September 2008.

After the theft, the stone was tracked down and is now in the middle of a bitter legal battle to determine rightful ownership.

Eventually, the Bahia Emerald was awarded to FM Holdings in June 2015. But then the government of Brazil insisted it had been mined illegally, and that it rightfully belong to Brazil. That got the case started all over again.

Today, the world's biggest emerald sits in an evidence vault at the LA sheriff's office. Who knows when it will see the light of day.

#5 Letseng Diamond--$50-$100 million

In the tiny African country of Lesotho, a massive recent discovery was made: a 910-carat colorless, pure diamond.

The 6.4 ounce stone is about the size of two golf balls, but don't let the size fool you: it could easily be worth tens of millions of dollars to the right buyer.

Another stone discovered by the same company sold for $20,000/carat. Analysts say the Letseng diamond could be worth as much as $40 million, and possibly much more.

Colorless diamonds, which have no visible impurities, are very rare. They are also in high demand from jewelers.

The Letseng stone has almost no nitrogen in its composition. Nitrogen can give diamonds a yellow hue, so the stone's colorless look will make it shine much brighter once it's been cut and polished.

And a stone of this size could easily yield a number of smaller stones, cut into various jewelry.

The largest diamond in history, for example, was the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond discovered in 1905. It was later cut into nine large stones and more than 100 smaller ones.

This recent discovery makes it clear that huge value awaits to be unlocked by the world's leading mining firms. Worldwide, mining firms added $141 billion to their value last year.

And with specialized companies like Fura Gems at the forefront, there are sure to be huge, exciting discoveries. The world's largest and most valuable diamonds and gemstones are waiting to be uncovered.

After all, records were made to be broken. should keep Freeport on their radar if gold and copper prices remain steady in 2018.
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Charles Kennedy authored this article contributed by James Stafford the publisher of OilPrice.com, the leading online energy news site, to the ARRA News Service.

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Look Beyond the Olympic Facade: The Real Face of North Korea Is a Prison State

by Olivia Enos & Dan Lee: Millions around the globe gathered around their TVs beginning Feb. 8 to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics, which are taking place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, a mountainous rural village, 110 miles east of Seoul.

As the world turned its gaze to the Korean Peninsula, it witnessed North Korea and South Korea unified, together under one flag, during the opening ceremony.

The symbolic display of unity by the two Koreas has already generated feelings of peace and goodwill on the peninsula. However, the ironic reality is that just 160 miles north of Pyeongchang is Sariwon City Prison, one of the 30 known political prisons in North Korea.

In 2017, the crisis in North Korea was the most underreported humanitarian issue globally. With an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 North Koreans imprisoned as political criminals, the crisis in North Korea demands the world’s attention.

Prisoners are subject to inhumane living conditions and are subject daily to torture, starvation, rape, and execution.

The labeling of these “political camps” as such is woefully inaccurate. They are essentially death camps, where North Koreans are sent for violations such as being critical of the Kim Jong Un regime or for practicing Christianity.

In his State of the Union address on Jan. 30, President Donald Trump condemned North Korea’s recent threats of nuclear attack, but he also focused on the humanitarian atrocities of the regime as well.

Trump cited North Korea’s depraved character as a threat to the U.S. and its allies, and said that he would not repeat the mistakes of previous administrations’ approaches of complacency toward North Korea. The president ended his remarks on North Korea by revealing the regime’s greatest fear; namely, the truth.

It’s time for Congress and the media to follow the president’s lead.

With recent satellite images detailing infrastructure upgrades in North Korea’s prison camps, the reality is that this humanitarian crisis is not going away. Passing legislation, such as S. 1118, the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017, which provides grants to distribute materials necessary for North Koreans to access outside information, is a step in the right direction.

The U.S. can also raise awareness by reporting on the political camps of North Korea as a consistent and horrific reality.

The millions of people globally watching the Winter Olympics have witnessed a unified Korea. But the games will end Feb. 25, and they must look beyond the guise of good will that they present and realize the truth. North Korea is responsible for one of the most hideous humanitarian crimes to date.
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Olivia Enos (@OliviaEnos) is an Asian Studies Center Research Associate within The Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Dan Lee contributed to the article.

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Sons of Guns: Violence Grows in the Void of Faith and Family

by Tony Perkins: While Americans try to cope with the losses in Florida, they're saying goodbye to someone else: America's pastor, Billy Graham. Never has our nation so desperately needed to hear the message of hope and healing that the 99-year-old spent his life sharing. So surely, it's no earthly coincidence that even in Reverend Graham's death, he's forcing us to look in the one place where the answers to this heartbreak lie: up.

Torn apart by grief and rage, Americans are frantic to know why our nation is unraveling in one act of violence after another. "We're done with thoughts and prayers!" an angry man shouted at a Colorado townhall, when Rep. Mike Coffman (R) asked for a moment of silence for Parkland. But isn't that the problem? Too many schools and colleges are done with prayer. They've been so busy kicking God out (and his standards) that they haven't noticed what's coming in. Every moral vacuum is filled with something. And maybe it's time we stepped back as a nation and take a long hard look at what those things are and how they're impacting our culture. Violence, relativism, promiscuity, and suicide didn't get their start when God was expelled from school. But they've certainly been given a culture in which to thrive now that we've removed the Judeo-Christian foundation that anchored the country.

Donald Trump's opponents are scratching their heads over these shootings, saying, "We've got to control the instruments of the violence." No, what we have to do is impact the hearts and minds of children and let them know their lives have meaning. "It had to have broken Billy Graham's heart," Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told me on radio, "to see our nation get to the point where we refuse to teach morality, we refuse to teach right or wrong. The two-parent home has come under attack and been destroyed. And really, I've given this a lot of thought. When you get rid of teaching morality, when you destroy the foundational home that's been the foundation for every civilization, then if you want to stay safe, you're gonna have to give up all of your constitutional rights -- at least most of them."

Even now, I don't think our country has come to a point of serious reflection on the violence that's snuffing out these innocent lives. Sure, we can talk about limiting access to guns, but if we're truly concerned about violence, let's also talk about expanding access to God. Until we're willing to address both -- the instrument and the motivation -- this discussion won't change anything. There has to be a moral component. Gun control, knife control, truck rental control, pressure cooker control -- they're never going to stop evil. Only a repentant and restored people, with hearts turned toward what's right, can do that.

Do I think there are steps we can take to make the nation safer? Absolutely. I think President Trump has a pragmatic approach to filling some holes in our system. More comprehensive background checks, an emphasis on mental health, or banning bump stocks could all help. I think many parents, like myself, empathize with the moms and dads across this nation who've lost their children to senseless acts of violence. We're ready to have a conversation about strengthening America's gun laws -- but not in the absence of a discussion about the moral and spiritual void that's been created by policies that try to appease a few while putting all children at risk.

"The real work of reducing violent crime is the work of rebuilding the family," Dr. Pat Fagan has said. Americans need to carefully consider how an agenda of religious hostility detracts from that. And what about the years of liberal policies pushing America away from the natural family? Or the fact that we've gotten to a point in our "civil" society where people no longer value humans created in the image of God? A God, I might add, that some Americans are punished for even invoking.

Faith has become such an anathema after eight years of Barack Obama that people are furious at the mere expression of it. Just this week, Congressman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) posted a picture on social media with Donald Trump holding a bag of prayer cards he'd collected last year from constituents in his district. "Sickening," followers posted. "What a disgusting stunt." In a torrent of profanity and contempt, others insisted, "F--- your thoughts and prayers. Your children are dying..."

If Congress wants to stop these tragedies, then it has to start by encouraging the two things -- faith and family -- that can address the real problem: the human heart. "'This government,' John Adams said," and Louie Gohmert reminded us, "'was only intended to govern a moral and religious people. It's not fit to govern any other.'"

We can't use laws to do what only God can. We have to get back to a basic understanding of right and wrong. Until then, we're only treating the symptoms.
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Tony Perkins is President of the Family Research Council . This article was on Tony Perkin's Washington Update and written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

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Justice Department Goes After Doctors Profiting From Prescribing Painkillers

by April Kuhlman: A "pill mill" is a clinic where doctors write unnecessary prescriptions for painkillers in exchange for money or other incentives. This practice creates addicts who turn to more dangerous drugs when their prescriptions run out.

As Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced last Friday, the Justice Department is increasingly targeting doctors who profit from opioid prescriptions.

"[Patients] get addicted, and then they move to heroin and fentanyl and die. Our goal is flat out to bring down the number of deaths," said Sessions.

"I've been to 30, 40 United States Attorney offices all over America, and they all have cases on physicians, some on pharmacies, some hospitals have poor control measures, and pills are out there."

The Details
One pill pusher, a Tennessee chiropractor named Matthew Anderson, was busted when a concerned employee filed a civil lawsuit under the False Claims Act.

Anderson had been billing TennCare and Medicare for office visits that should not have been reimbursable.

"In this case, a concerned whistleblower brought a civil suit which ultimately held those responsible for the illicit prescription of opioids and at the same time cheating the taxpayers by causing federal healthcare programs to pay for such highly addictive drugs," said Tennessee attorney David Cochran.

Anderson was fined $1.45 million and banned from billing federal healthcare programs for the next five years. All four of his clinics were shut down.

"If we're going to end this unprecedented drug crisis, which is claiming the lives of 64,000 Americans each year, doctors must stop over-prescribing opioids and law enforcement must aggressively pursue those medical professionals who act in their own financial interests, at the expense of their patients' best interests," said Sessions.

Last month during a speech in Kentucky, Sessions discussed an analytical program that searches for potential opioid-related healthcare fraud by doctors and other medical care providers.

Meanwhile the DOJ is also educating mailmen on how to detect painkillers sent via mail. One source, a Thailand-based website called "Alpha Bay," has already been detected and eliminated.

The individual involved in the case killed himself before the FBI could get to him.
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April Kuhlman writes at The Daily Grind

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