The Democrats have a perfect issue to run on in 2018.

December 12, 2016

By Noam N. Levey

They race to repeal large parts (click here) of the Affordable Care Act, President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are leaving behind nearly everyone but their base voters and a handful of conservative activists.

Not a single major organization representing patients, physicians, hospitals or others who work in the nation’s healthcare system backs the GOP’s Obamacare strategy.

New polls also show far more Americans would like to expand or keep the healthcare law, rather than repeal it.

Even many conservative health policy experts caution that the emerging Republican plan, which calls for a vote in January to roll back insurance coverage followed by a lengthy period to develop a replacement, could be disastrous....

The backers of the ACA are not lightweights.

...“When people get cancer, they have to know that they are going to have insurance,” said Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society’s advocacy arm. “There have been and are problems with the ACA, but we have to make sure that what is done and the way it is done is not going to leave people who have cancer or who may get cancer … in the lurch.”

The organizations backing the ACA are also advocates and reach out to voters. They can help send the message of MILLIONS of Americans.

...The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network last week sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them not to repeal large parts of the healthcare law without first developing replacement legislation that guarantees patients the same protections....

Those that received that letter, now have ads to run using the very letter that might save their constituents lives.

President Obama needs to be more forthcoming with this report.

No one wants to 'out' CIA agents or administration, but, it is a difficult story to support because of the anonymous nature of the sources. It is the nature of the business of journalism; they rely on sources. They also have the right to contain sources and do not have to 'out' any source. It is the privilege of journalists to protect sources, so this entire anonymous issue is a bit silly. 

December 12, 2016
By Jennifer Steinhauer

Washington — Senator Mitch McConnell, (click here) Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, said on Monday that he supported congressional investigations of possible Russian cyberattacks to influence the American election, setting up a potential conflict with President-elect Donald J. Trump in the early days of his administration.

Mr. McConnell’s support for investigations is a major moment for the Republican-controlled Congress given that Mr. Trump has ridiculed and dismissed the findings of the American intelligence community that the Russians hacked the election.

The investigation, which will be driven by Senator Richard M. Burr, of North Carolina, the chairman of the intelligence committee, and by Senator John McCain, of Arizona, the chairman of the armed services committee, could last for months or more at the start of the new Trump administration. Many of the intelligence committee hearings will most likely be behind closed doors, but they will still generate wide interest....

Trump has the world's attention, but, not the world's alliance.

December 12, 2016

By Philip Wen

Beijing: (click here) China has expressed "serious concern" after US president-elect Donald Trump suggested Washington's long-held diplomatic stance of recognising Taiwan as part of "one China" could be used as a bargaining chip with Beijing. 

Speaking at a regular press briefing on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said any deviation from the one China policy risked jeopardising what it considered the very basis of US-China ties.

"The one-China policy is the political foundation for the healthy development of the Sino-US relationship," Mr Geng told reporters in Beijing. 

"If this foundation is disturbed, there are no grounds to talk about further developing the healthy and stable relationship between China and the US."...              

Trump is going to get everyone killed.

He is forcing everyone's hand. No one believes Taiwan will survive a war with China. Unless Mr. Trump wants to bring the entire population of Taiwan to the USA before he confronts China militarily, then he needs to shut up.

It is one thing to be a strong man, such as Putin, it is something quite different to be reckless as Trump is proving to be.

Taiwan has been the focus of Chinese aggression before. I want to say it was during the "W" years, China fired missiles off the north and south coast of Taiwan. After that there was less nonsense and more realization by Bush and Cheney that China is dead serious about a "One China Policy." In all honesty, Taiwan has been a customer to the USA, including military hardware. It is my guess with Trump being a mad dog all the time and unable to shut his trap China will move to end the "One China Policy" of the USA and incorporate Taiwan into it's borders. China is already expanding it's borders into the Pacific and Taiwan will eventually be within the Chinese borders as well.

Donald Trump and his mad dog attitude; I should say junk yard dog attitude; will force the hand of any leader. I am quite sure even NATO is adjusting it's stance and reviewing strategies. Needless to say France won't be disarming from nuclear weapons anytime soon.

In this Sept. 25, 2016 (click here) file photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force Su-30 fighter, right, flies along with a H-6K bomber as they take part in a drill near the East China Sea. China patrolled the waters of a series of hotly contested islands on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2016, a day after staging a flyover of two strategically important waterways near Taiwan and Japan.

December 12, 2016
By Matthew M. Burke and Chiymoi Sumida

Tensions are mounting following (click here) reports that China flew long-range military aircraft near Taiwan and over disputed parts of the South China Sea at a time when President-elect Donald Trump has questioned a longstanding diplomatic agreement between Washington and Beijing.

The flights reportedly came shortly before and after Trump broke decades of U.S. practice earlier this month by accepting a phone call from Taiwan’s president, but before Trump questioned the “One China” policy that has heavily influenced relations between the U.S., Taiwan and China since the 1970s.

Although differing from China’s “One China principle,” the U.S. stance allows arms sales to Taiwan without recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign state.

China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must eventually be reunified with the mainland....

Next time Donald Trump wants to exercise his oral personality, he should take it to China in the ring of the WWF.