Muth’s Truths: March 25, 2017

Don’t…panic.

The failure of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to pass an ObamaCare repeal bill on Friday was not a failure of President Donald Trump.  It was a failure of House Speaker Paul Ryan, a policy “wonk” who’s been working on this repeal effort for seven years now.

Granted, it’s a tough balancing act.

Just like 1995, Republicans have the majority in the House, not conservatives.  But there are enough conservatives in the caucus now that conservatives need not settle for table scraps as they’ve been forced to accept in the past.

Like it or not, for better or worse, conservatives aren’t a problem for House leaders so much as a reality.  Ryan needs to deal with them.  And in the minds of enough conservatives, no deal was better than a bad deal.

So House Republicans went three-up and three-down in the first inning.  But it’s a nine-inning game.

Frankly, I could have lived with the strategy to take what we could get now and continue pressing for more in the months to come.  But others actually on the playing field determined that hoping for more tomorrow was too big of a risk.  It’s a valid concern.

In the end, it won’t be whether or not Republicans failed on March 24, 2017. It will be whether Republicans ultimately fail to honor their campaign promise to repeal this horrid law before the 2018 elections.

I wish I could say I was optimistic.  I’m not.  Republicans never seem to blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity.  And Democrats will continue to dig in their heels and obstruct the GOP and President Trump at every turn.

But it ain’t over.  Don’t panic.  Yet.  Trust…but verify.

Cheers.

Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
Professor of Psephology (homeschooled)
Nevada’s #1 Irritator of Liberals and RINOs

HEADLINES

• Next Up for Trump: ‘Big Tax Cuts, Tax Reform’
• Gizzi: Freedom Caucus, Moderates Killed Obamacare Repeal
• Laura Ingraham to Paul Ryan: Get to Know Your Own Party
• Eric Bolling: Vote Delay ‘Best Thing’ for GOP
• House Freedom Caucus Pledges to Work With Trump on AHCA
• Jonathan Turley: Trump May Have Been Right With Wiretap Tweets
• US Immigration Judge Grants Asylum to Singapore Teen Blogger
• WSJ: Mike Flynn Discussed Forcibly Sending Cleric Gulen Back to Turkey Without Extradition
• Double-Amputee Marine Vet Joins New York Police Department
• Chuck Schumer Blames GOP, Trump on AHCA: No ‘Art of the Deal’
• Hillary Clinton: No AHCA Vote ‘Victory For All Americans’

NEVADA NEWS & VIEWS

Beware the Greenies!

A new bill has been dropped in Carson City: SB315.  Among the good things the bill does to open the trash biz to competition is a poison pill provision that changes the recycling “goal” of 25% that’s been in place since 1991 to a minimum “unfunded mandate” of at least 35%.

If this provision is enacted, recycling will eventually become mandatory for residents, not optional.

And once it becomes mandatory, it’s only a short hop-skip-and-a-jump before monetary (or worse!) penalties are imposed should you not want to go through the messy, gooey, yucky and generally useless process of separating your cans, bottles and plastics in your garbage pail.

And for a two-minute tutorial about just how insane the “recycling” craze can get, dial up this video from Penn & Teller’s “Bullsh*t” program from a few years ago.  WARNING: The expletives are NOT deleted.

There’s some work to be done before legislators and the citizens of Nevada should support this bill.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Why would you schedule a vote on a bill that is at 17% approval? Have we forgotten everything Reagan taught us?” – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich