Repel Obamacare Cartoons

Democrats plan to slow GOP effort to have ObamaCare vote by July 4

Senate Republicans must make significant headway this week on efforts to repeal ObamaCare before their self-imposed July 4 deadline -- as Democrats plot ways to grind the chamber’s daily business to a halt to protest the GOP plan and closed-door process.
“Doing this behind closed doors is actually not what we did,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a member of the Democratic Party that in 2009 passed ObamaCare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act.
Democrats are upset that the GOP replacement bill is being drafted by 13 Republican senators and that leaders of the GOP-controlled Senate won’t allow Democrats to participate in the process.
The GOP-House passed its repeal bill in May. And the Senate intends to pass its version without a single Democratic vote -- by using a parliamentary process known as budget reconciliation.
How far Senate Democrats will go to slow the chamber’s day-to-day business, particularly hearings, remains unclear. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and other members of his leadership team have declined to talk to Fox News about such plans.
However, Fox has confirmed that they intend to at least slow the process with extended speeches on the chamber floor, as first reported by Politico.
The pressure is on Republicans to repeal or at least fix ObamaCare.
President Trump and essentially every congressional Republican campaigned on a promise to replace the 2010 health care law, struggling under increasing premium costs while offering Americans fewer policy choices.
Republicans need 51 votes to pass the legislation and put the bill on Trump’s desk to sign.
However, they have only 52 senators, with several expressing concerns -- particularly those in poorer states -- about supporting a bill that could increase premium costs for tens-of-millions of Americans, as the House bill is projected to do.
Among them is Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, who last week raised the issue of the emerging Senate bill including “new entitlement, like the House version, according to The Hill newspaper. One is a refundable tax credit to help Americans pay for their premiums. And the other is a so-called “stabilization fund” that would lower the cost of premiums.
Trump celebrated the House passing its version. And he appears encouraged by the Senate’s progress.
However, during a meeting with senators last week the president reportedly called the House version “mean” and suggested the upper chamber add more money to the bill, apparently to lower premium costs and cover more people.
But the Senate must also craft a bill that saves $113 billion to pass the measure by a simple majority, which gives them little room for such improvements.  

Trump lawyer Sekulow: President has no knowledge of being investigated

Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trump’s legal team, said Sunday he has no knowledge of the president being the target of a federal probe, following Trump's recent statement suggesting that he is being investigated.
“The president has not been notified by anyone that he is under investigation,” Sekulow told “Fox News Sunday,” in a heated exchange with host Chris Wallace about whether Trump could be under investigation without knowing.
“You don’t know that he's not under investigation,” Wallace said.
Sekulow responded: “I can’t read minds.”
Sekulow also said that Trump’s tweet that led people to believe he was under investigation was in response to a Washington Post story in which unnamed sources said the president was being investigated.
The FBI and two congressional panels are investigating whether the Trump campaign or presidential transition team colluded with Russia during or after the 2016 White House race.
Before Trump fired James Comey as the FBI director, Comey told the president he was not a target in the agency investigation. The Post story suggests the FBI probe, now being led by special counsel Robert Mueller, includes whether Trump obstructed justice by firing Comey.
“Nothing has changed since Comey said the president is not a target,” Sekulow also said Sunday.
Sekulow said Trump has never accused Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein of “doing anything wrong,”  and has expressed no opinion about him.

'Nothing has changed since Comey said the president is not a target.'

Rosenstein wrote a letter that seemed to support Trump firing Comey.
He told Congress last week that he would not fire Mueller “without good cause,” amid speculation Trump wanted to get rid of Mueller.
He also said he couldn't say whether Trump has discussed Mueller, citing attorney-client privileges.

Deputy AG Rosenstein May Recuse Himself from Russia Investigation

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein may be recusing himself from the DOJ’s Russia investigation.
Recent reports say that Rosenstein has told colleagues he might have to step away from the probe, but it is unclear why.
President Trump recently sent a tweet seemingly aimed at the Deputy AG, saying he is being investigated by the man who told him to fire the FBI Director.
Rosenstein drafted the letter for the basis of Comey’s firing and many believe he is now caught in the President’s cross-hairs because he appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Many say if Rosenstein recuses himself, then maybe Mueller should recuse himself as well.

Polls: Nominees Tied in Georgia’s Special Election

Republican Karen Handel campaigns at a restaurant in Johns Creek, Ga., Friday, June 16, 2017, ahead of runoff election to replace former Rep. Tom Price. Democrat Jon Ossoff is trying for an upset over Handel in the GOP-leaning 6th Congressional District that stretches across greater Atlanta’s northern suburbs. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz)

What’s being called the most expensive election in U.S. history is heating up in Georgia.
Republican Karen Handel and 30-year-old Democrat Jon Ossoff have spent a record $40 million on campaign ads.
Recent polls show they are neck-and-neck in the race to fill Health Secretary Tom Price’s old house seat.
Ossoff may have raised more money than Handel, but she has the support of President Trump, as well as Price and Agriculture Secretary and former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue.
Early voting is over, with election day on Tuesday.

Maxine Waters Cartoons

Sen. Harris’ Campaign Paid Rep. Waters $63K For Endorsements

Kamala Harris Received Endorsement From Rep. Waters for $63K.

Waters

Campaign committees for Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) twice paid tens of thousands to campaign committees for Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.) in exchange for placement on a mailer announcing Waters's endorsement of Harris, according to Federal Election Commission records.
Harris—who has garnered media attention and earned speculation that she is positioning herself to run for president in 2020 following her performance during recent Senate hearings, including that of former FBI Director James Comey—has kicked $63,000 to the campaign of Maxine Waters, the congressional face of the anti-Trump movement, in exchange for placement on the endorsement mailers.
The payments were made from Harris's campaign committee and transferred to Waters's campaign committee through a lucrative "slate mailer" operation run by Waters's daughter, a program that has proved profitable for both her daughter and the campaign.On May 5, 2010, when Harris was a San Francisco district attorney and running for attorney general in the state, her campaign committee, Kamala Harris For AG 2010, paid Waters's campaign committee, Citizens for Waters, $20,000 to appear on her slate mailer announcing the endorsement. Harris made three payments totaling $33,000 to Waters's campaign committees throughout the 2010 election cycle. Harris won her election for attorney general.
During the 2016 election cycle, as Harris was running for U.S. Senate, Harris's campaign committee, Kamala Harris for Senate, made a $30,000 payment in May 2016 to again appear on Waters's endorsement mailer. Harris trounced former Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez in the race to replace Barbara Boxer in the Senate.
Waters's slate mailer operation is unique to Members of Congress but a more common practice in the state of California.
The mailers list the candidates endorsed by Waters and is sent to the more than 200,000 constituents in South Central Los Angeles area, where the congresswoman holds considerable clout. The mailers contain an "official sample ballot" with brief quotes from the congresswoman.
The operation is run by Karen Waters, the daughter of Rep. Waters, who has collected more than $650,000 to date for running the endorsement mailers. Karen is owed another $108,000 from her mother's campaign committee, according to its most recent records. Once Karen is paid, her total payments will reach more than $750,000 since 2006.
The FEC issued an advisory opinion in 2004 allowing Waters to run the slate mailers from her campaign committee. Prior to running the slate mailers from her campaign, the operation was run from a state committee called LA Vote.
The slate mailer operation, which legally allows Waters to bypass campaign contribution limits from other political committees, pulled in more than $300,000 for her campaign during the 2016 election cycle. Harris's $30,000 payment was one of the highest made to Waters throughout the cycle. Waters appears to be the only Member of Congress to run such an operation.
Harris's office did not return a request for comment on the payments by press time.

'Blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands!' Protesters disrupt 'Julius Caesar'

Director Oskar Eustis directs JULIUS CAESAR

IDIOT ACTORS Top (From Left): Tina Benko, Teagle F. Bougere, Yusef Bulos, Eisa Davis, Robert Gilbert
Middle (From Left): Gregg Henry, Edward James Hyland, Nikki M. James, Christopher Livingston, Elizabeth Marvel
Bottom (From Left): Chris Myers ,Corey Stoll, John Douglas Thompson, Natalie Woolams-Torres

Protesters disrupted a New York City stage production of "Julius Caesar" Friday that featured a bloody assassination of a character that resembled President Trump.
One protester, identified as Rebel Media's Laura Loomer, stormed the stage and shouted, "Stop Leftist Violence."
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Another protester, identified as Jack Posobiec, rose to his feet and yelled, "The blood of Steve Scalise is on your hands" and "Goebbels would be proud."
Video of the incident was quickly posted on social media. It showed the crowd booing as an announcement was made that the show was briefly halted.
Loomer was arrested and Posobiec was escorted out of the Shakespeare in the Park theatre complex located in Central Park.
I interviewed Posobiec by phone at the Central Park Police Precinct - where he was waiting for his colleague to be processed on a criminal trespass charge.
"We were protesting what we saw was the normalization of violence," he told me. "I couldn't believe they were going on with the play in light of what happened with the attack on Congressman Scalise."
He said it was infuriating to watch the faux assassination of President Trump.
"This play was savage and brutal. He is stabbed multiple times, running around stage, crawling through blood," he told me. "It made my blood run cold seeing Americans cheering a depiction of their president being stabbed 100 times with 100 blades."
He said it turned his stomach.
"This Manhattan Central Park crowd was on their feet cheering - they were cheering as an actor dressed as the president was stabbed to death," he told me.
Not all conservatives are cheering the disruption.
"This is total, complete horse crap," conservative columnist Ben Shapiro wrote on Twitter. "She invaded a public performance to obstruct it. She has no right to the stage."
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Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary. His latest book is “The Deplorables’ Guide to Making America Great Again.” Follow him on Twitter @ToddStarnes and find him on Facebook.