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Author: Fuzzy Slippers

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Fuzzy Slippers

I am a constitutional conservative, a writer, and an editor.

Follow me on Twitter @fuzislippers

Appearing this morning on Meet the Press, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) defended the Senate health care bill. Pushing back against the premise that the Senate bill will destroy Medicaid and leave those who qualify for it under ObamaCare out in the cold, Toomey explained that the Senate bill "will codify and make permanent the Medicaid expansion." CBS News reports:
Following the release of Senate Republicans' draft of the House GOP-passed health care bill, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, said the focus remains on Medicaid expansion while noting there are indeed challenges that remain. "It's going to be a challenge, but I have to strongly disagree with the characterization that we are somehow ending the Medicaid expansion. In fact, quite the contrary. The Senate bill will codify and make permanent the Medicaid expansion, and in fact we'll have the federal government pay the lion share of the cost," said Toomey.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has called out Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over his public comments about the president being under investigation. The problem, Grassley states, is that Schumer knew this was untrue because former FBI head James Comey had briefed not only the Senate Judiciary Committee but the Gang of Eight, including Schumer.  During that briefing in March of this year, Comey stated that the president was not under investigation.  This knowledge did not stop Schumer from, only weeks later, making public statements that he knew to be false.

Last month, Kemberlee blogged about Bernie Sanders' wife, Jane, being investigated by the FBI for alleged fraud related to a $10 million loan obtained for the now-defunct Burlington College. The investigation has now expanded to include Bernie himself.  It has been alleged that Bernie used his considerable influence as a United States Senator and former Burlington mayor to encourage the bank to provide the loan. When the issue was raised last month by a local journalist, Sanders dismissed the question and blamed President Trump for the investigation.  The problem, however, is that the investigation began in January, 2016 when Obama was still in office and Loretta Lynch was still at Justice.

The April 2015 Baltimore riots caused a great deal of damage to local businesses.  Former Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is reported to have told police to stand down and insisted that the lawless mobs be given "space" to destroy private property unimpeded. Baltimore businesses are now suing city officials, including the former mayor and local police, for failing to prevent the rampant looting and rioting that resulted in nearly $13 million in damages. The Baltimore Sun reports:
Dozens of Baltimore business owners are suing city officials, including the police department and former Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, saying they mishandled the city's response to the rioting in 2015.

Remember Eric Holder, Obama's Attorney General. He down-played and lied about his and Obama's Fast and Furious fiasco, refused to prosecute Black Panthers for voter intimidation, pursued prosecution of journalists and labeled one a "c0-conspirator," used his taxpayer-financed "slush fund" to funnel money to Obama allies until it was dismantled by AG Jeff Sessions.  Holder also holds the dubious distinction of being the first sitting cabinet member to be held in (both criminal and civil) contempt of Congress.

An estimated 6.7 to 9.2 million Americans who voted for Obama switched to Trump in 2016, and the Democrats have no true understanding of why that happened.  They have largely avoided serious introspection about their loss last November, let alone about the massive losses they accrued during Obama's two terms in office. The result is Party-wide confusion and incomprehension that has manifested as seething anger, lashing out at anyone and everyone, and plowing forward with an agenda that the majority of the American people simply do not want. The New York Times has a dense and richly-sourced article that highlights some key problems for Democrats moving forward.  Here are a few highlights: Busting the narrative that Trump voters who formerly voted for Democrats were mostly white, working class.

A U. S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian Su-22 fighter-bomber following an attack on U. S.-led coalition forces in Syria. This story is just breaking, so we will have more as it becomes known. Fox News reports:
U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian government warplane after it attacked Washington-backed fighters near ISIS' de facto capital of Raqqa, the U.S.-led coalition said Sunday. In a statement, the coalition said its aircraft "conducted a show of force" to turn back an attack by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's forces on the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the town of Ja'Din, south of Tabqah.

The Navy destroyer the USS Fitzgerald collided with a much larger container ship off the coast of Japan.  Seven U. S. sailors are missing, and three sailors were medically evacuated due to injuries sustained in the collision. Reuters reports:
Search and rescue efforts went on after dark for seven U.S. sailors missing after the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged container ship more than three times its size off eastern Japan early on Saturday.

Although Seattle's gun tax was supposed to bring in $300,000 to $500,000, it's brought in less than $200,000.  The money was supposed to be used to "study" gun violence and to somehow lower the cost to taxpayers for gun violence. It didn't turn out that way, and Seattle ended up forking out taxpayer money from the general fund for the "study."  Meanwhile, small business owners have shuttered their Seattle gun shops, causing employees to lose their jobs.  Furthermore, Seattle police report that gun violence has sharply increased.

Shakespeare in the Park's horrific and offensive rendition of Julius Caesar with Caesar as President Trump being killed has created a lot of controversy, and some advertisers have pulled their sponsorship as a result. Last night, Laura Loomer of The Rebel media, opted not to stand outside and protest but instead entered the venue and rushed the stage to decry the "normalization" of violence against the right. Jack Posobiec, also of Rebel Media, was in the audience screaming about Goebbels and the "blood of Steve Scalise" being on their hands.

Identity politics seemed to help Democrats . . . until it didn't.  In the wake of their devastating presidential election loss in 2016, Democrats have steadfastly avoided confronting the myriad flaws in their "divide and conquer" strategy that centers on creating a seemingly endless number of imagined underclasses and then nurturing their outrage, fear, and dissatisfaction all the way to the ballot box. What little meaningful reflection on the devastation of the Democratic Party that has taken place since November has done so on the new fringes created by a seismic shift in the party.  Where once the radical voices screeched about the evils of America, now the more moderate establishment Democrats and pundits are the radicals, advocating moderation and realignment.

Que Twilight Zone theme.  Scott Johnson of the conservative blog Powerline has been served a draft subpoena ordering that he preserve records of items he noted in his blog posts. Judge James Robart, presiding over the Hawaii v. Trump "travel ban" case, authorized the move. Johnson writes:
These are strange days. I seem to have been caught up in the so-called “travel ban” litigation challenging President Trump’s executive orders “Protecting the nation from foreign terrorist entry into the United States.” Yesterday I was served with a letter and draft subpoena from one Tana Lin of the Keller Rohrback law firm’s Seattle office alerting me to my “document preservation obligations with respect to documents that are relevant or potentially relevant to this litigation.” Lin represents plaintiffs in Doe v. Trump, venued in the federal district court for the Western District of Washington.