Nov. 14, 2019
Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.
Trump should say ‘no deal’ to Pelosi on attacks on intellectual property in USMCA trade deal
The United
States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement is an important first step in restructuring
the trading system around the world around a capitalist idea — that
intellectual and private property is foundational to fair and honest trade
between willing partners. While it may seem fundamental that an agreement not
to steal private property and the patented ideas of a trading partner’s
citizens would be part of any trade agreement, some Democrats in the U.S. House
of Representatives are seeking to deny this very protection to the
pharmaceutical industry, as former President Barack Obama did in his ill-fated
and poorly conceived Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. While this might seem
like a small thing, as the pharmaceutical companies are a favorite political
punching bag until we, or our loved one’s get sick, in which case we are
grateful for the advances of the past twenty years that have increased cancer
survival rates and brought us closer to cures for evil diseases like
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis where treatment advancements
are extending both the length and quality of patient’s lives.
Video: President Trump provides the 'necessary noise' to resonate with middle America
Americans for Limited
Government President Rick Manning discusses his new book he co-authored with
Star Parker, “Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War and
Why This Is Good News for America.”
Democrats’ star witness Ambassador George Kent admits Ukraine, Burisma are corrupt and needed to be investigated
One of Democrats’ star
witnesses, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George
Kent, admitted in testimony on Nov. 13 that the Ukrainian natural gas firm,
Burisma Holdings the company is corrupt, the head of the company awarded gas
exploration leases to himself when he was in government, is assumed to have
bribed prosecutors and that he favored that Ukraine investigate to “find who …
the corrupt prosecutor was.” But to hear Democrats tell it, Burisma was as
clean as the driven snow. The reason to investigate was not because of
corruption, but because Trump wanted to “get” Biden. That any investigation of
the company was therefore baseless. That’s the only way their claim of abuse of
power works. Under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, President Trump
“shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed…” Remarkably, Democrats want Trump removed from
office for doing precisely that. And that the rule of law should not apply to
the Bidens, because that would interfere in the elections. “No one is above the
law,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ironically shouts as justification.
Does it sound stupid when Democrats say it?
EPA praised for scientific transparency efforts
Americans for Limited
Government President Rick Manning: “We welcome reports that the EPA is finally
moving to advance its long-stalled proposal to ensure that only high-quality,
reliable and, most important, transparent scientific research and evidence is
used by the agency to design and promulgate regulations. But we hope that
action will not end there and urge the President to extend the principles of
the proposed regulation to all departments and agencies of government through
an Executive Order. It is critical to ensuring the accountability of the
regulatory process that all data used by government in designing regulations be
publicly available for review, demonstrated to be reproducible and preferably,
peer-reviewed. The days of using “secret science” to support regulation of
dubious quality and questionable benefit — and in some cases, harm to the
public — must end.”
Trump should say ‘no deal’ to Pelosi on attacks on intellectual property in USMCA trade deal
By Rick Manning
The United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement is an important first step in restructuring the trading system around the world around a capitalist idea — that intellectual and private property is foundational to fair and honest trade between willing partners.
While it may seem fundamental that an agreement not to steal private property and the patented ideas of a trading partner’s citizens would be part of any trade agreement, some Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are seeking to deny this very protection to the pharmaceutical industry, as former President Barack Obama did in his ill-fated and poorly conceived Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
Fortunately, President Trump has stood firm in favor of intellectual property for all U.S. innovators in the version of the USMCA which has been approved by both Canada and Mexico. Yet, Democrats are seeking to weaken property protections of cure and medical treatment innovators as part of the cost of House approval of the treaty.
While this might seem like a small thing, as the pharmaceutical companies are a favorite political punching bag until we, or our loved one’s get sick, in which case we are grateful for the advances of the past twenty years that have increased cancer survival rates and brought us closer to cures for evil diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis where treatment advancements are extending both the length and quality of patient’s lives.
Intellectual property protections for those who are dedicating their lives to finding cures are an essential factor in capitalizing research, particularly with recent studies showing that it costs an incredible $1.3 billion to bring a new drug to market.
Yet, rather than focus on factors in the Food and Drug Administration drug approval process which drive costs of bring a new medicine to market up astronomically, Democrats in the House seek to undermine the very intellectual property protections which accelerate medical advances.
If this were a battle in Congress over the lengths of patent rights and patent reform, it would be one thing, but instead it is an attempt to restructure the trade deal which will be the model for future trade deals around the world. Rewriting that deal in a way which makes medical innovation third class citizens in the research and investment world, as those innovations would enjoy less or no protection against theft. For investors, this research is not philanthropy, it is driven by an expectation that there will be a return on investment. Decoupling this profit expectation from medical research will cause private investment dollars to go to other non-medical research where the successful products cannot be stolen. That is just fact and reality.
It is also why it would be dangerous and foolhardy for the President’s trade team to acquiesce on limiting intellectual property protections for any product, because the standard set in USMCA will in very short order become the standard for the world.
Rumors always swirl in Washington, D.C., and the latest non-impeachment rumor is that the President is considering a deal which undermines intellectual property in exchange for the votes on the USMCA. President Trump should just say no to Nancy. Stable, dependable intellectual property laws for all innovators are the key to using USMCA as the cornerstone for building a worldwide capitalist consensus, and any acceptance of theft of one type of intellectual property can only lead to the eventual theft of the rest.
It is as simple as the choice between the free enterprise, capitalist system which promotes private property rights and the communist/government ownership of the means of production system. When it comes to Pelosi’s demands on intellectual property, America is better with no deal, than with one which undermines the fundamental tenets that our nation has been built upon.
Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government and the co-author of the new book, “Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War, and why this is good for America.”
Video: President Trump provides the 'necessary noise' to resonate with middle America
To view online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2PFNtKg7eg
Democrats’ star witness Ambassador George Kent admits Ukraine, Burisma are corrupt and needed to be investigated
By Robert Romano
One of Democrats’ star witnesses, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs George Kent, admitted in testimony on Nov. 13 that the Ukrainian natural gas firm, Burisma Holdings, is corrupt, the head of the company awarded gas exploration leases to himself when he was in government, is assumed to have bribed prosecutors to make the case go away and that he favored that Ukraine investigate to “find who … the corrupt prosecutor was.”
This is the same company President Donald Trump sought to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “look into” on July 25, and now House Democrats want to have him impeached because of it. Why?
Hunter Biden, former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, served on the Board of Directors from 2014 to 2019.
And Joe Biden brags he had the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, Viktor Shokin, who says he was investigating Burisma and wanted Hunter Biden questioned, fired by threatening $1.2 billion of loan guarantees to Ukraine. In the phone call with Zelensky, Trump said, “It sounds horrible to me.”
After the owner of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky, had his home raided by Ukrainian prosecutors in 2016, Burisma reached out via a lobbyist to the State Department demanding to know why Washington, D.C. thought it was corrupt, using the fact that Hunter Biden served on the board, according to a response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by John Solomon.
“Per our conversation, Karen Tramontano of Blue Star Strategies requested a meeting to discuss with U/S Novelli USG remarks alleging Burisma (Ukrainian energy company) of corruption,” a Feb. 24, 2016, email states. “She noted that two high profile U.S. citizens are affiliated with the company (including Hunter Biden as a board member).” That was shortly before Biden had Shokin fired.
In an affidavit in a European court, Shokin testified, “The truth is that I was forced out because I was leading a wide-ranging corruption probe into Burisma Holdings, a natural gas firm active in Ukraine and Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was a member of the Board of Directors… On several occasions President Poroshenko asked me to have a look at the case against Burisma and consider the possibility of winding down the investigative actions in respect of this company but I refused to close this investigation.”
Shokin’s application for a travel visa to the U.S. was denied by the State Department after Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani pushed to get it approved in January so Shokin could share his story about being fired by Biden.
That’s all in the public record. Burisma is corrupt, had prominent Americans serving on the board to try to get the U.S. on its side and is suspected of previously bribing prosecutors. Trump is right, it does look horrible.
But to hear Democrats tell it, Burisma was as clean as the driven snow. The reason to investigate was not because of corruption, but because Trump wanted to “get” Biden. Any investigation of Burisma makes Biden look bad, and Trump look good. That any investigation was therefore baseless. That’s the only way their claim of abuse of power works.
The anonymous CIA so-called whistleblower in his Aug. 12 complaint wrote that the purpose of Trump’s call was to “initiate or continue an investigation into the activities of former Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter Biden” to “solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 U.S. election.”
But Kent’s own testimony rips that idea to pieces. According to him, there was very good reason to look at Burisma for reasons unrelated to the election. The owner of the company, “Mr. [Mykola] Zlochevsky was Minister of Energy from 2010 to 2012 under the pro-Russian government,” said Kent, adding, “And he used the regulatory authority to award gas exploration licenses to companies that he himself, controlled. That would be considered an act of corruption in my view, yes… Certainly self-dealing and self-enriching.”
Steve Castor, who is handling Republican questioning in the House impeachment, asked, “He [Zlochevsky] essentially paid a bribe to make the case go away?”
To which, Kent replied, “That is our strong assumption. Yes, sir.”
Castor asked, “Are you in favor of that matter being fully investigated and prosecuted?”
Kent replied, “I think that since the U.S. taxpayer dollars were wasted, I would love to see the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office find who … the corrupt prosecutor was, that took the bribe, and how much it was paid and that is what I said on July 23rd, 2015.”
Which is precisely what Ukrainian prosecutors told Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani were looking into. They wanted to provide information to U.S. Attorney General William Barr of potential violations of U.S. laws.
Kent even expressed concerns about Hunter Biden’s role at Burisma, saying, “Later, I became aware that Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma. Soon after that, in a briefing call with the national security staff in the Office of the Vice President, in February 2015, I raised my concern that Hunter Biden’s status as board member could create the perception of a conflict of interest.”
Maybe Kent should be impeached, too, for demanding accountability for corruption in Ukraine and expressing concerns about Biden’s role in the company, which is all Trump did.
On Sept. 26, John Solomon also reported at the Hill that Ukrainian prosecutors had been attempting to get the information about Burisma and Biden to the Justice Department since 2018, worried U.S. laws had been violated: “Ukrainian prosecutors say they have tried to get this information to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) since the summer of 2018, fearing it might be evidence of possible violations of U.S. ethics laws.”
Former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko in a Sept. 29 BBC interview confirmed concerns about Burisma and the Bidens that prosecutors wished to convey to the Justice Department were that they possibly violated U.S. laws, not Ukrainian laws, saying he told that to Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani: “I told him the same I told you — it is not my jurisdiction… It is likely to be the jurisdiction of the U.S. If you will send me a request, yes, I will give you all official information, but it is not Ukrainian jurisdiction — that was my answer.” As for Burisma, Lutsenko said, any “possible embezzlement” at Burisma “happened two or three years before Hunter Biden became a member of the board.”
Most importantly, Ukrainian President Zelensky said on Sept. 25 in a joint press conference with President Trump that “Nobody pushed me,” and that there was no pressure put upon him, and that he was not even aware that U.S. military assistance to Ukraine had been paused.
In the July 25 conversation, he told President Trump he thought the investigation was legitimate and essential to his administration. After Trump brought up Burisma and Biden’s role in getting Ukraine’s own prosecutor fired, Zelensky replied confirming the investigation, “I understand and I’m knowledgeable about the situation… Since we have won the absolute majority in our Parliament, the next prosecutor general will be 100 percent my person, my candidate, who will be approved by the parliament and will start as new prosecutor in September. He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue. The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and work on the investigation of the case.”
So if getting to the bottom of Burisma corruption and concerns about Shokin being removed by Biden were shared in the U.S. and Ukraine, Trump is perfectly within the scope of his powers to raise the issue in a phone call. Coupled together with revelations that the false allegations by intelligence agencies and the Justice Department that Trump and his campaign were Russian agents in 2016 originated in part in Ukraine, leading to 3-year investigation that tore this country in half, Trump has a duty to reexamine the U.S. relationship with Ukraine.
Are they a reliable ally or not? As the President, Trump has the power to decide that. The President also can make or not make treaties or executive agreements with foreign countries. He can pause military assistance when considering rescinding those funds. Don’t like it? Win an election, but exercising legitimate executive powers under Article II is not an impeachable offense, and neither is a disagreement over U.S. policy with Ukraine.
Under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, President Trump “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed…”
Remarkably, Democrats want Trump removed from office for doing precisely that. And that the rule of law should not apply to the Bidens, because they say that would interfere in the elections. “No one is above the law,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ironically shouts as justification. Does it sound stupid when Democrats say it?
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.
EPA praised for scientific transparency efforts
Nov. 13, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement praising the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to end secret science in regulation by requiring publicly available data in any rulemaking:
“We welcome reports that the EPA is finally moving to advance its long-stalled proposal to ensure that only high-quality, reliable and, most important, transparent scientific research and evidence is used by the agency to design and promulgate regulations. But we hope that action will not end there and urge the President to extend the principles of the proposed regulation to all departments and agencies of government through an Executive Order.
“It is critical to ensuring the accountability of the regulatory process that all data used by government in designing regulations be publicly available for review, demonstrated to be reproducible and preferably, peer-reviewed. The days of using “secret science” to support regulation of dubious quality and questionable benefit — and in some cases, harm to the public — must end.”
To view online: https://getliberty.org/2019/11/epa-praised-for-scientific-transparency-efforts/
