Your Christmas Round-Up

Attention Deficit
Last week, in a reversal that deserves more attention, Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin announced that Vermont would no longer create America’s first statewide single-payer health system. Vermont was seeking a waiver from the Affordable Care Act to abolish what’s left of the nominally private insurance market by 2017, but Mr. Shumlin’s budget gremlins concluded the plan was too expensive and would damage the state economy.
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Then again, maybe Vermonters are smarter than their politicians. Republican Scott Milne ran for Governor against single payer this fall and lost by 2,095 votes. Had Mr. Shumlin disclosed the true costs before the election, he’d have been turned out. (Wall Street Journal, 12/22/2014)

What about the front page article in the New York Times on the death of single payer in Vermont? Oh wait, that didn't happen!

Of course the Legitimate Media smothered the embarrassing news of the collapse of single payer in Vermont. In a year of disastrous news for Liberal bright ideas about health care there was simply no way to spin it. So they ignored it. 

Good point also that Shumlin would have been defeated if he was honest before the election about what he announced after the election. Has Vermont had a more corrupt governor?


History
At the same time, officials cautioned that the gunman had a history of mental health problems.

Mr. de Blasio took care on Monday to describe the gunman as a “very troubled individual,” urging vigilance among New Yorkers who might encounter threats against officers. (New York Times, 12/22/2014)

Liberals discover the possible connection between shootings and mental illness, but only when a cop is murdered.


Pros and Cons
The demonstrations sparked by the exoneration of the officers who killed Brown and Garner were pro-accountability, not anti-police. As I’ve pointed out many times, no one better appreciates the need for an active, engaged police presence than residents of high-crime neighborhoods. But nobody should be expected to welcome policing that treats whole communities as guilty until proved innocent — or a justice system that considers black and brown lives disposable. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 12/22/2014)

So according to our friend Eugene Robinson, the demonstrations are pro-accountability, not anti-police. Presumably this also includes the demonstrations in which the chant: "What do we want? Dead cops!" was heard. That was pro-accountability. Also, pro-accountability were the demonstrations in which two cops were assaulted. We are sure glad that we have Robinson to clarify things for us.

For yet more news on pro-accountability see below:

A police officer in suburban St. Louis fatally shot a man who pointed a gun at him outside a gas station on Tuesday night, the authorities said..... After the shooting, a large crowd gathered at the station. Chief Belmar said there were three instances of explosives, likely fireworks, being set off, and bricks or rocks that were thrown at police. At least two officers were injured, and four people were arrested on charges of assaulting an officer. (New York Times, 12/23/2014)


Mostly
With his slicked-back hair, Queens accent and entourage of mostly white, male union lieutenants, Patrick J. Lynch moves through New York as the rough-around-the-edges, unapologetic labor leader for more than 22,000 street officers. (New York Times, 12/23/2014)

New York police union chief's biggest sin is not that he drew a line between the mayor's rhetoric and the death of two cops. No, it is that his entourage is not "diverse" enough.....


Scraps
The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it would scrap a decades-old lifetime prohibition on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, a major stride toward ending what many had seen as a national policy of discrimination.

However, the agency will continue to ban men who have had sex with a man in the last year, saying the barrier is necessary to keep the blood supply safe, a move that frustrated rights groups that were pushing for the ban to be removed entirely. (New York Times, 12/23/2014)

So only celibate gay men can donate blood?

Question: Which is more important, safeguarding the nation's blood supply or making gay men feel better about themselves?


Charged
Mr. Bush — who announced this month that he was “actively exploring” a presidential bid — left office in 2007 after two terms. In those eight years, the state government in Tallahassee had been transformed by his hard-charging and driven style.

Jeb Bush's positions on immigration and education won't endear him to the Republican Party's conservative base, but those concerns may be overrated. Mr. Bush supports Common Core standards in education that are unpopular with some Republicans. And while he did not slash the number of state employees by half, he did privatize thousands of public jobs. The email forecasting that move is one of hundreds of thousands from two accounts — one a government address, the other personal — sent during his time in office and obtained by The New York Times through a public records request. (New York Times, 12/24/2014)

There is nothing more important for the New York Times to do over the next six months than soften up Jeb Bush. Hence they begin a massive effort to troll through his e-mails, much as they once did to Sarah Palin. Now if they could only get a hold of Hillary Clinton's e-mails on Benghazi.......


Once and Future
Law and Order Issues, Once G.O.P.’s Strength, Now Divide the Party (New York Times headline, 12/24/2014)

The headline says it all. There is dissension in the Republican party. And that conflict is between law and order Republicans....and Rand Paul. Apparently the New York Times has determined that Rand Paul is the party's leader.