Short Takes – Unpredictability – And the World Trembles
Opinion March 9, 2018
Donald Trump remains a surprise. He did a first yesterday (03/09/18). He popped his head into the White House briefing room and threw a bone to the assemble goof’s of the main stream media, to wait for a big announced at 3:30pm, He then left while their mouths hung open. At 3:30, the South Korean representative announced that North Korea’s “Rocket Man” has asked to meet face to face with Donald Trump, another first. Kim Jung Un has never yet met with the head of state of any country save probably China. What is going on here and why with Trump?
As expected, the media went wild. By the evening’s news, CNN was crediting Obama’s policies against No. Korea for bringing Kim to the table. Other media nay sayers, from their lofty platforms, were all positing the reasons why any “summit” between Trump and Kim could not possibly work by regurgitating all the failed efforts previous presidents experienced in dealing with the Hermit kingdom. If they couldn’t, how could that awful Trump achieve such a feat?
We have a serious contradiction here right now. All the major players in the world today are unpredictable. Putin is trying to support a collapsing economy with a strategy of provoking his neighbours to keep them off balance so he can create political room for his dreams of renewing an Imperial Russia.
China’s president Xi, who just made himself President for life, is unpredictable too because no-one really has any idea about his character the party;s ideas or his long-term objectives. China needs internal stability but no one can predict how China’s external policies of stirring the pot, may react to the potential of political change on the Korean peninsula.
China is still reeling from Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs when suddenly, here Trump is ready to reunite the Koreas, and Kim asked for it. I don’t believe it will happen, but China must seriously consider it. On top of that, China has its own social problems that threaten its internal stability. So does No. Korea for that matter. Kim fears his military could oust him now that Trumps total embargo on banking and commerce is forcing No. Korea intro bankruptcy. China can’t carry Kim’s economic burdens forever. It’s the unpredictability of it all that makes us think “out of the box.” What’s next?
Trumps “Anaconda Plan” for No. Korea is squeezing Kim’s economy far more then any previous policy any American president or the UN has enacted. Common thinking works on the basis of fear of reigniting the as yet unresolved Korea War. “Rocket man,” who has threatened the US with a hail of nuclear terror raining down from the sky has suddenly and quietly opted for a first meeting with the last unpredictable world leader, Donald Trump.
We live in a world of fear. Two of those three unpredictable but powerful world leaders, Putin and Xi, plus No. Korea’s Kim, could react negatively to a single bad decision possibly plunging the world into a nuclear holocaust. That’s the fear. Since Putin and Xi are both effectively free of any democratic constraints, and Trump probably wished he were, the anticipation and fear of the future lies in the hands of a psychotic despot and an always smiling billionaire negotiator who eschews the title “politician” but revels in getting the job done. Trump has managed to force North Koreas Kim to at least express a willingness to meet with him, and the world trembles.
America does not yet even have an ambassador to South Korea thanks to Chuckie Schumer. Trump is on the cusp of greatness, The democrats will prevent it at all costs. Maybe Trump will actually earn a Nobel Peace Prize.
Remember freedom is the goal, the Constitution is the way. Now, go Get ‘em!
Media Update: Collins Helps Pass Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
Politics, State & National October 4, 2017
Collins Helps Pass Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
WASHINGTON—Today the House passed H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) co-sponsored.
Science has demonstrated that unborn children can feel pain 20 weeks after conception, and the bill would prohibit abortions once the fetus has reached that age. Fifteen states, including Georgia, have passed laws that parallel this federal bill, while many others currently allow providers to perform abortions on older babies.
“When modern medicine leads doctors to administer anesthesia to children at 20 weeks’ gestation, basic integrity gives us no way to ignore their personhood. Science leaves us no room to justify their slaughter, and our founding fathers leave us no path to disregard their right to life,” said Collins.
“Every liberty that my colleagues and I fight for is predicated on our right to life, and this bill ensures that unborn, pain-capable individuals enjoy this most basic of our American freedoms. By passing the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, we recognize and defend humanity at its most vulnerable, and I’m thankful to have the opportunity to help move this bill forward today.”
The bill will now go to the Senate for consideration, and President Trump has said that he will sign the bill into law if given the opportunity.
In addition to voting for the bill, Collins defended it on the House floor.
Media Update: Collins Praises House Passage of Pro-life Survivor Protection Act
State & National January 22, 2018Collins Praises House Passage of Pro-life Survivor Protection Act
WASHINGTON—Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) helped the House of Representatives pass H.R. 4712, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act today. Collins is an original cosponsor of this legislation.
“The crowds of people joining the March for Life today remind us that support for pro-life policies remains deep across America. I share those convictions and am pleased to see the Born-Alive Survivor Protection Act pass out of the House. Children born alive during an abortion attempt are particularly vulnerable, and they should be guaranteed the medical treatment due to any other newborn. In passing this legislation, we’ve taken action to ensure that doctors deliver such medical care to these children,” said Collins.
H.R. 4712 would also prohibit medical providers from continuing the abortion procedure post-birth and hold doctors criminally accountable for failing to offer care to infants born alive during an abortion.
The Born-Alive Abortion Survivor Protection Act will proceed to the Senate for consideration.
FYN Interviews Rebbeca Yardley on Georgia’s 2018 Sine Die – Last Day of Legislative Session
Politics, State & National March 29, 2018
It’s Sine Die day, that means it’s the last day of the 2018 Legislative Session! Interviews First Vice Chairman of Georgia Congress 9th District GOP Rebecca Yardley on the experience and what to expect from the Georgia Capitol today!
Gainesville Students to Attend Air Force and Naval Academies
State & National January 9, 2018Gainesville Students to Attend Air Force and Naval Academies
GAINESVILLE, Ga.—Two students from northeast Georgia have been offered admission to a U.S. military academy. Cameron Sturdivant will join the class of 2022 at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and Chase Nufer will attend the U.S. Naval Academy.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) nominated these students to the military academies because of their integrity and track record of accomplishment in the community.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Cameron and Chase, who have dedicated themselves to servant leadership roles early in life. I look forward to their success in Colorado Springs and Annapolis as they reflect the strong character of northeast Georgia,” said Collins.
Sturdivant is the son of Ms. Chere Rucker. He attends Gainesville High School and is following in the footsteps of his brother, Mr. Donovan Moss, who is currently a senior at the Air Force Academy.
Nufer, son of Mr. Peter & Ms. Heidi Nufer, is the captain of the baseball team at Forsyth Central High School and a member of the National Honor Society.
Media Update: Collins Helps House Pass Bill to Protect Medicare Access
News, State & National November 3, 2017
Collins Helps House Pass Bill to Protect Medicare Access
WASHINGTON—Today Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) helped the House of Representatives pass H.R. 849, the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act of 2017, legislation that would repeal an Obamacare provision that threatens seniors’ access to care.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare, established the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), which can be empowered to cut Medicare spending and services without Congressional or administrative oversight. The ACA designed the board to be comprised of fifteen unelected officials, and the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act would repeal the ACA provision that created the IPAB.
“The Obama Administration’s move toward socialized medicine gave the Independent Payment Advisory Board broad power to limit access to Medicare for senior Americans. Concentrating such power in the hands of a few bureaucrats risks our neighbors’ access to care, and the Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act would correct this flaw by repealing the IPAB. This bill would instead protect seniors’ access to health care and encourage meaningful reforms to make Medicare sustainable.
“I am thankful for Congressman Roe’s leadership on this issue and am proud to join my colleagues in voting to repeal this dangerous board,” said Collins.
Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) introduced H.R. 849, and Collins co-sponsored the bill.
Congressman Collins Talks Health Care, Tax Reform and Still Supporting President Trump
Politics May 19, 2017
Georgia’s 9th District Congressman Doug Collins talks with BKP today about the health care bill. Collins also states that he believes and hopes they will be able to start working on the tax reform this year. BKP also asks the Congressman if he is still a supporter of President Donald Trump. Lastly Collins discusses issues that he and his team are working on that are more specifically focused in the 9th District: Dodd Frank Act, the VA – veteran’s health care, police week, and human trafficing week.
A TEAM OF PROGRESSIVES & A CONGRESSMAN WITH TEAM THAT SHOW UP TO TALK
Featured, Politics February 28, 2017
A TEAM OF PROGRESSIVES & A CONGRESSMAN WITH TEAM THAT SHOW UP… to talk
In a time that senators and representatives decline to meet with constituents and constituents march, chant, yell, and raise signs from frustration, the pattern was broken last Saturday morning in Gainesville’s District 9 offices of Representative Doug Collins.
Doug Collins showed up with staff and met with 14 people who did homework with the support of many at home who contributed research. The discussion lasted approximately 90 minutes after introductions were made. There were differences between the point of views expressed. No surprise. Constituents and Congressman were from two very different ways of thinking about the role of government. However, the discussion included both listening and time to deliver points of view. It is not practical, or interesting, to provide a verbatim record here. The key issues discussed were:
1. ACA. The stories of District 9 friends and neighbors, progressive and conservative, who depend on ACA to stay alive as well as avoid bankruptcy from healthcare were reviewed. Collins agreed that continuous coverage and coverage of kids under 26 should be part of the plan. Providing affordable access to healthcare was referred to often, but specific solutions were not committed to. Collins holds the position that free market solutions will offer more choices at a lower cost over time. Current plans published indicate that free market solutions may not be as beneficial to those with lower incomes when compared to those with higher incomes.
2. ENVIRONMENT. The constituent group expressed concern about the dilution and reduction of EPA controls. The thought of pipelines running under District 9 streams, of gouged deforested mountain tops, of Copper Hill type of consequences illustrated the concern of loss of control of regulations and oversight. Collins believes state control is, and would continue to be more effective than national controls. Constituents reminded the Congressman that the air is national, that the flow of water is national, that oils spills in the ocean cannot be governed by any one state. We agreed to disagree and learn more.
3. THE RUSSIANS AND TAXES. Collins, a member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, was asked to support the appointment of a Special Prosecutor for an unbiased investigation of the President’s and executive branch staff Russian connections as well as the disclosure of the President’s tax returns. The objective is to clear the air and move on. Collins believes this can be accomplished with a Congressional committee.
4. A WALL VS. PEOPLE OF DISTRICT 9. Time ran out but this topic was the closing line in a leave behind letter signed by participants. Spending $12-15 billion for a wall on the southern border at the expense of
heath care coverage for the people of District 9 is a bad choice. The team clearly supports using tight budget to take care of people first.
ICYMI: Liberals Shun Science, Defy Obama in Poultry Production
Politics, State & National September 29, 2017
Liberals shun science, defy Obama in poultry production
WASHINGTON—This op ed by Congressman Doug Collins (R-Ga.) first appeared in The Hill on September 27, 2017.
Not much has changed since 1906, when Upton Sinclair dropped his magnum opus on a world in the throes of industrialization.
At least, that’s the picture that liberals like Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are propagating: Big business is forcing poultry workers to brave conditions straight out of “The Jungle,” and “any attempt to increase lines speeds” at poultry plants would erode food and worker safety.
If these claims were rooted in reality, allowing producers to increase the speeds of certain processing lines might be inappropriate, especially since my northeast Georgia home is the poultry capital of the world. My neighbors have made their careers in this industry. We see each other at church and at the grocery store, and I want only their safety and success.
If we’re being honest, though, we admit that a lot has changed since 1906, and scientific advances have transformed the industrial landscape and equipped us to evaluate accusations leveled by my friends across the aisle.
Unfortunately, opponents of increasing line speeds have scuttled a broad range of scientific disciplines in order to advance their anti-poultry position. They walk a road so extreme and so hostile to empirical evidence that it requires them to break with President Obama himself, whose administration introduced a rule that would have allowed processors to increase their line speeds safely (and, in so doing, to benefit American workers and consumers).
The first casualty of their argument is geography. These critics say that faster line speeds would force workers on those lines to dismember chickens at dangerous rates. The geography of the production process, however, makes their claim disingenuous.
Poultry plants exist in two distinct sections—one for first processing and one for second processing. Every petition to raise line speeds that I’m familiar with applies strictly to the first-processing zone, where birds enter the plant and undergo cleaning to make the food safer before ending this journey in chillers. The primary duty of workers on these lines is inspection. They wield cotton swabs, not paring knives.
Workers who debone the birds operate only in second-processing areas, physically separate from the largely-automated first-processing lines. The chillers represent a full stop in the process and physical division between these sections of a plant, so raising line speeds in the first area doesn’t require work speeds in the second area to increase. The geography lesson here is simple: The layout of these plants means that increases in line speeds in the first-processing zones would, by design, not jeopardize worker safety.
Line-speed skeptics also ignore biology. Since 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has overseen a pilot program for plants operating at speeds of up to 175 birds per minute (bpm). These plants had implemented new safety models that shifted focus from low-value activities—like checking birds for bruises or remaining feathers—to high-value food safety tasks like microbial testing.
A landmark study demonstrated that plants with higher line speeds met or exceeded FSIS food safety standards. Among other successes, FSIS (that is, the government inspectors) saw the percentages of unacceptable samples for E. coli fall from 3.9 percent to 0.7 percent while the plants were able to operate at increased speeds. The rates of Salmonella and Campylobacte
Why would anyone shun innovation that improves both efficiencies and product quality while guarding employee welfare?
I can’t answer that, but we do know this: Such objectors dismiss ergonomic data—even when it comes from federal regulators. They fly the banner of worker safety and efficiency in theory but seem to disregard insight from the Department of Labor, which reports that the poultry industry’s 2015 illness and injury rate was 4.3 cases per 100 full-time workers compared to a rate of 4.7 cases for the food manufacturing sector at large. According to these records, the men and women engaged in poultry processing have found a safer career than those working in the average tortilla manufacturer or bottled water operation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reports that injury and illness rates among poultry employees have fallen 81 percent since 1994. So, as poultry plants have become more efficient, they have also become safer for the individuals operating them. Innovation is not a zero-sum game.
Yet, in the face of scientific data, industry detractors demonize even economics and its positive externalities. They bemoan the news that poultry “profits are soaring” and decry a company that reported its earnings for “bragging.”
Yet successful companies often find themselves in the best position to supply the market with more affordable goods, and that dynamic serves American consumers—especially the middle class, who spend a greater portion of their income on staples like food than higher-earners do.
The economic cost of locking our producers into slower line speeds became clear in 2010, when Brazil outpaced the U.S. as the world’s leading poultry broiler meat exporter. Like operations in Canada, Europe and Asia, Brazilian plants can run at line speeds of over 200 bpm. Handcuffing American consumers and producers to arbitrarily low line-speeds hurts our economy and may even undermine food and worker safety, both of which have improved as line speeds have increased and oversight techniques have advanced.
Liberals appropriate the stories of individual poultry employees without disclosing that they don’t actually work on the lines in question here. They jettison a host of scientific data because it is inconvenient to their narrative of doom, gloom and righteous indignation.
We serve our neighbors best when we allow evidence to mobilize our empathy. Scientific analysis demonstrates that innovation has simultaneously improved worker safety, product quality and operational efficiencies across the poultry industry, which means that they’re protecting and stewarding America’s most valuable resource—our workers.
Rep. Doug Collins has represented Georgia’s 9th District since 2013. He is the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference and a member of the Judiciary and Rules Committees.
#DCCC Holds Fund Raiser for (D) Jon Ossoff, Will Ossoff have to answer to Nancy Pelosi
Politics March 16, 2017
GA 6th Congressional District special election. Out of eighteen candidates, five registered as Democrat. Why has the DNC chosen to support Jon Ossoff? Why pick Ossoff over the other four candidates?
Congressman Doug Collins and Blue Ridge Business Owners Talk Pro-Growth Policies
Politics, State & National February 27, 2018
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Media Update: Collins Hosts Veterans Benefits Fair
State & National January 19, 2018Collins Hosts Veterans Benefits Fair
WASHINGTON—Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) is hosting a benefits fair for veterans residing in Georgia’s Ninth Congressional District on January 24. United States military veterans are invited to attend the event at the University of North Georgia, where they can ask questions and meet caseworkers from Collins’s office.
Representatives from the Atlanta Regional Veterans Affairs Office, Atlanta Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Georgia National Cemetery, Georgia Department of Veterans Service, Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, and Hire Heroes USA will also participate in the event.
Additional details are available below.
Collins Discusses Abedin Email Revelation with Fox News
State & National January 4, 2018
ICYMI: Collins Discusses Abedin Email Revelation with Fox News
WASHINGTON—Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) joined Fox News today to unpack the latest developments surrounding the Russia investigation and the revelation that Secretary Clinton’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin, shared classified information over a private email account.
On whether any evidence shows collusion in the Russia investigation:
“I think what we’ve seen is none at this point. . . . Let the investigation go. If somebody did something wrong, we’ve always said those should be held accountable.”
“The frustration here is ‘What are we actually going for?’ The president has got an agenda to move American forward . . . we need to focus on what really matters, and, look, Democrats are just simply playing politics with this issue again.”
“Let’s see where the facts lead. This is something that’s been investigated. It’s being investigated—not only through the Mueller investigation, if there’s a Russian connection—but it’s also being investigated on Capitol Hill, both in the Senate and in the House.”
On the revelation that Huma Abedin shared State Department information over a private e-mail account:
“Democrats can say it’s partisan, but I’m just simply saying, ‘What is the law?’ and you can’t be in a position that Hillary Clinton was in or Huma Abedin was in and actually be in a position to say, ‘Oops, I just didn’t know—Oops, it was careless.’ No, it was gross negligence.”
#GMFTO #FYNTV #BKP interview with 6th Congressional District Candidate (D) Dr. Rebecca Quigg
Politics March 16, 2017
6th Congressional District of Georgia Special Election to replace new HHS Secretary Tom Price. Interview with candidate (D) Dr. Rebecca Quigg
FetchYourNews.com / FYNTV.COM
Bipartisan Group Introduces CLOUD Act in House
Politics, Press Release February 7, 2018
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