Penny PressNevada, USA Volume 15 Number 47 JULY 26, 2018

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Credits:Publisher and Editor: Contributing Editors:Fred Weinberg Floyd Brown Al Thomas Doug French Robert Ringer John Getter Pat Choate Ron Knecht Byron Bergeron

The Penny Press is published weekly by Far West Radio LLC All Contents © Penny Press 2018

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THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 2

By MARILYN SINGLETON, MDSpecial to the Penny Press

The days of trusting your legislators to have your best interests at heart are in the rear view mirror. Apparently, their main interest is

parroting the buzzwords of the moment to get elected and then being too busy banking lobbying money to listen to the voters. Our legislators have become spectators who wait for the perfect moment to pounce on their political “enemy” and then go on cable news shows to boast about it.

The “us against them” attitude, punctuated by hyperbolic,

apocalyptic rhetoric closes the door to finding solutions. Our interests would be better served by having town hall meetings where voters could state their concerns, air their differences, and learn what legislators are doing about their issues. Caution: meetings at 9 a.m. on Wednesday when paid activists are guaranteed to outflank the working general public are prohibited.

There are strong differences of opinion on how to attain a healthy citizenry. Educating potential patients about what drives up medical care expenditures can start the conversation. Well-informed patients would demand solutions based not on corporate interests or government or political agendas, but on a fair, competitive market that maximizes choices and

achieves lower costs.Eight years of the Affordable

Care Act have borne out Congressional Budget Office predictions that abandoning basic principles of insurance—which compensates only for events beyond the insured’s control and is priced according to the degree of risk—would lead to higher and higher premiums, fewer participating insurers, and unsustainable government expenditures to subsidize insurance premiums. The data in three recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid reports on ACA exchanges show “individual market erosion and increasing taxpayer liability.” The average monthly premium for coverage purchased through the exchanges rose 27 percent in 2018, and federal premium subsidies increased 39

percent from 2017 to 2018.A less frequently discussed

cost driver is the disturbing trend of private doctors’ offices being scooped up by hospitals, health insurance companies, and venture capital groups. Prices tend to rise when health systems merge, because of decreased competition. And not only do hospitals and health systems generally charge more than private physicians’ offices, the government compounds this problem by paying more to hospitals than independent offices for the same service. A review of 2015 Medicare payments showed that Medicare paid $1.6 billion more for basic visits at hospital outpatient clinics than for visits to private offices. Patients are the biggest losers: they paid $400 million more

Penny PressNEVADA USA 16 PAGES VOLUME 15 NUMBER 47 JULY 26, 2018

Penny WisdomI have not seen one scintilla of evidence that this president colluded, conspired, confeder-ated with Russia. And neither has anyone else, or you may rest assured Adam Schiff would have leaked it. —Trey Gowdy

The Conservative Weekly Voice Of NevadaInside:Security ClearancesAre For Active Workers

See Editorial Page 6

RON KNECHT PAGE 5FRED WEINBERG PAGE 6ROBERT RINGER PAGE 7DOUG FRENCH PAGE 9PAUL SKOUTELAS PAGE 10ROBERT ROMANO PAGE 11CHUCK MUTH PAGE 14

Obamacare Failure Was Predictable

Commentary

Continued on page4

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 4

out of pocket and had their tax dollars wasted. The study also found hospital-employed physicians’ practice patterns in cardiology, orthopedic, and gastroenterology services led to a 27 percent increase in Medicare costs. This translated to a 21 percent increase in out-of-pocket costs for patients.

Similarly, a U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health study of consolidation of California’s hospital, physician, and insurance markets from 2010 to 2016 concluded “highly concentrated markets are associated with higher prices for a number of hospital and physician services and Affordable Care Act (ACA) premiums.” In consolidated markets (defined by the Federal Trade Commission’s Horizontal Merger Guidelines), prices for inpatient procedures were 79 percent higher and outpatient physician prices ranged from 35 percent to 63 percent higher (depending on the physician specialty) than less concentrated markets.

Big medicine and third-party financing are taking the cost curve in the wrong direction. This speaks to the urgency of encouraging cash friendly practices that bypass insurance and direct primary care (DPC) practices. With DPC, all primary care services and access to low-priced commonly used medications are included in an affordable upfront price. Importantly, DPC’s time-intensive and individualized management of chronic diseases

decreases hospital admissions, paring down Medicare’s $17 billion spent on avoidable readmissions.

Why corporations want to marginalize private practice seems clear; the government’s motive is open to debate. Surveys consistently find that patients overwhelmingly want “personalized provider interactions.” Thus, herding patients into government-directed programs is not the solution. One core problem with government systems is their reliance on the goodwill of politicians. As President Ford said, “a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take everything you have.”

It’s time for Congress to scrutinize anti-competitive health system mergers. It’s time to bring to the floor over a dozen bills to expand and improve Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to give patients more control over all facets of their medical care.

Congress, the clock is ticking on this legislative session. Stand up for patients. Or did the dog eat your courage?

Dr. Singleton is a board-certified anesthesiologist. She is also a Board-of-Directors member and President-elect of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).

Herding Patients Into Government Directed Programs...Continued from page 3

Speculations about the National Senate Races

There’s been plenty of chatter recently in the liberal media, leading some to believe that control of the U.S. Senate really is in play during the 2018 election.

As a former Republican national committeeman, James keeps up closely with these things. As Nevada’s chief nerd (controller), Ron tends to numbers and policy. So, James wrote the following and Ron knows when to lightly edit his analysis and sign on.

Democrats and their media

amen corner think they may control both the House and Senate after the election. We doubt it, especially in the case of the Senate.

It’s easy to see that if – and it’s a big if – a big blue wave rolls in, the House could be back in Democrat hands. Every House seat is up for election, and there are enough swing districts in states like New York, New Jersey and California that could change from the Rs to the Ds.

The Senate, however, is very different. There are 35 seats out of 100 up for election. Of those, only nine are held by Republicans, with 26 held by Democrats or Independents who caucus with the Democrats.

Among the nine seats held by Republicans, there are only three seats really in play. The biggest

challenge is right here in Nevada, with incumbent Dean Heller being challenged by Jacky Rosen, who has served less than one congressional term as a back-bencher. Most pollsters, plus Heller’s internal polling, have this race as a tossup.

The second biggest challenge is Arizona, where Democrats had one of the best showings in the 2016 presidential race and the incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Flake is retiring. This race will be close, but leans toward Republicans in most national polls.

The last possibility for a Democrat pickup? Tennessee. Although it will be a tall order for a Democrat to win this, it is an open seat with the retirement of Senator Bob Corker, and both Republicans and Democrats will field viable candidates. Most national polls have this state also leaning Republican.

The other six races involving Republican controlled seats? Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming, two in Mississippi, and Utah. There’s no chance the Democrats will win any of these races, despite noise in the liberal media about Beto O’Rourke’s race against Senator Ted Cruz in Texas. Cruz will cruise to victory.

So, if Democrats can win all three currently Republican seats for which they stand a chance and can defend all 26 of their incumbents, they will control the senate.

The chances of that happening? Nearly none.

Why? Because of races with a Democrat incumbent senator in states won by President Trump.

There are competitive races Republicans can win in West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota, Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Montana,

Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In those states, Democrat efforts and all the soft liberal money will be used on defense more than offense.

The chances that the Democrats can hold onto all of these states in November? None.

Republicans will almost certainly pick up at least three victories in those nine states. The most likely pickups will be North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri, with Montana, Wisconsin and Florida also in play. None of these races rate anything better than a “leans Democrat” in the majority of national polls, and most are rated toss ups.

What does this mean?Even if the Democrats can pick

up seats in Nevada, Arizona and Tennessee – a slim chance – the likelihood that they will lose seats in three other races is so high that it will offset the wins and the Republicans will remain in control of the chamber.

What can we do here in Nevada?Heller may be in a tight race, but

President Trump and the Republican caucus strongly support him. So, if you support limited government, vote for Heller. Forget about the “Never Trump” noise Heller made prior to the 2016 election. He’s been on board, especially in the past several months, with the key points of the Trump agenda.

In sum, the hope for a blue wave that will put the Senate under Democrat control is one we want Democrats to waste their money and resources trying to achieve. We should let them continue to believe it is possible.

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 5

The Penny Press Tips Its Cap To:

President Trump who addressed the VFW National Convention in Kansas City and brought 94-year-old WW2 veteran Sgt. Allen Jones on the state to say a few words. Jones called it the “highlight of his 94 years”. If Trump is a traitor as was said by Obama’s CIA director, he’s our traitor.

United States UN Ambassador Nikki Haley who has proposed to the UN Security Council that other states pick up the foreign aid slack because the United States has given millions of dollars to the so-called Palestinians and the rest of the region has given none. Shades of NATO.

The Penny Press Sends A Bronx Cheer And A Bouquet of Weeds To:The sleazoids associated with so-called “special” counsel Robert Mueller who, so far, in their witch hunt have done nothing to give the average American any confidence whatsoever that they are doing a credible job and attorney General Jeff Sessions for allowing it to continue. It is unfathomable that the disgraced leadership of the FBI won’t go to prison for their malfeasance. And they cannot hear Middle America telling them to go to hell because their heads are stuffed full of themselves.

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Tips Of Our Capand

Bronx Cheers

RON KNECHT and JAMES SMACK

Commentary: Ron Knecht & James Smack

The other day, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul came up with a great idea for the President which should probably be applied across the board.

In the wake of former CIA director John Brennan’s tweet calling the President a traitor (Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???) Paul suggested that former officials who have security clearances—like Brennan—should lose them when they leave government “service”.

It’s so simple I’m left wondering why I didn’t think of it.

Clowns like Brennan do indeed use and monetize those clearances. In 2005, as an example, after leaving government service, Brennan became CEO of The Analysis Corporation, a security consulting business, and served as chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, an association of intelligence professionals. Today, he is a senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.

That security clearance was certainly a factor in those hiring decisions.

Brennan isn’t the only one.

And there are people on both sides of the aisle.

But when you call a sitting President a traitor in public—any President—I have a problem. Brennan, as long as we’re on the subject of traitors, acknowledged that in 1976, he voted for the candidate of the Communist Party of America.

And this is the clown we want having a high security clearance?

The deep staters are calling idea of canceling security clearances “petty”.

These are the same people who make a living badmouthing

the President in the media.

OK, let’s not be petty.

Let’s just make it a rule that once you have helped the government through a transition and left government service, you automatically lose whatever security clearance you have.

If the government wants to hire you again, you can get a new one.

What’s the problem with that?

This way, you don’t have some overstuffed talking head like Brennan—or anyone else—with a security clearance calling the President a traitor.

If Brennan’s charge is true, there’s certainly no empirical evidence. In fact, I watched the President address the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention and bring a 94-year old WWII vet, Sgt. Allen Jones to the stage.

The President sure didn’t look like a traitor to me.

Or to anybody else in the Kansas City Convention Center.

Frankly, I’ll take the word of a man who served in WWII and has devoted 70 years of his life to the VFW before I’ll listen to a man who voted for the Communist candidate for President in 1976.

It seems to me that folks in the CIA, the FBI, the NSA are far more worried about how their organizations are perceived by the public than what they actually do in a day.

We’ve seen the worst those organizations have to offer in Brennan, Peter Strozk, the FISA application to spy on Carter Page and a few other parts of what the President rightly calls the Mueller witch hunt.

Enough already. America has had enough.

FRED WEINBERG

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 6

OPINIONFrom The Publisher...

Brennan Voted For A Communist AND Has A Security Clearance

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 7

The One Fear That Can Kill YouThe phony fear-mongering that has gripped the country since the

election of the evil Donald Trump is a reminder to keep your head while those around you are losing theirs. There’s no question that life is fraught with dangers, but most are grossly overplayed.

Take flying, for example. A large percentage of the population fears getting on an airplane, but statistics belie those fears. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that you will not die in a commercial plane crash. Trust me, I’m not omniscient. My guarantee is based on facts — data that tell me that your odds of dying in a commercial plane crash are about one in 11 million.

My gosh, your odds of being killed by a shark are one in 3.7 million! And your odds of being killed in a car crash are one in 5,000. Some in the airline industry even claim that you are more likely to die in an airport than on a flight.

So, yes, I can say with certainty that you will not die in a plane crash. I can also say with certainty that you will not become a billionaire. And I can say with certainty that you will not win the lottery. Sure, all these things happen to someone, but I’m willing to bet they won’t happen to you. It’s all a matter of odds.

On the other hand, I won’t bet against your dying in an automobile accident. Nor will I bet against your becoming a millionaire. And I also won’t bet against your occasionally winning a lot of money in Las Vegas (though I will bet that you’ll end up losing over the long term). Again, it’s a matter of odds.

That said, fear is a perfectly normal and necessary emotion for survival. Rational fears can keep you alive by motivating you to act with prudence, but irrational fears can destroy your life. If I know a fear is rational, I do what I can to swing the odds in my favor and proceed with caution. Caution is not fear; it’s prudence. But if I know a fear is irrational, I am purposely defiant, because I don’t want it to wield any power over me.

As an example, I have never hesitated to fly on Friday the 13th. To fear being airborne on that “bad luck” day would be irrational, because aviation records covering more than sixty years of commercial flight reveal that there have been no more fatal airline crashes on Friday the 13th than on any other day.

An even better example, and one in which I admit to having been a tad uneasy, occurred on the tenth anniversary (December 3rd) of my survival of a Learjet crash, a crash in which the plane was totaled. I was scheduled to fly from Los Angeles to New York, and there was a lot of talk in the news about how strong the winds were going to be in New York the next day, December 3rd, which is when I would be arriving.

I could have postponed my flight for a day or so in the hopes that the winds would die down, but I purposely did not. You can be certain that it had nothing to do with bravery. I just didn’t want a fear of flying in bad weather on an ominous anniversary date to have the power to dictate my schedule. The rational side of my brain knew that the odds were astronomically in my favor, especially because I had already been in a plane crash on that very date ten years earlier.

Even so, once the plane began approaching the New York area, it was

like being on an ocean liner being tossed about by gale-force winds. But guess what? My plane did not crash, nor did any of the other hundreds of airliners that flew into LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark that evening.

Which brings me to two schools of thought that are diametrically opposed. One is that “you can’t live in a glass bubble,” what will be will be, so a devil-may–care attitude is the most practical way to live your life. This attitude is prevalent among teenagers, who talk and act as though they are absolutely convinced of their immortality.

I speak from firsthand experience, because looking back on my youth I am convinced that I was illegally insane. (Yes, that’s worse than being legally insane.) I can count at least a dozen situations I got myself into that nearly resulted in my death, but, through the grace of God, I’m still here.

Much to everyone’s surprise, however, over time I actually grew up. And, as an adult, I long ago concluded that one of the most important rules of life is that moderation is almost always the best policy. By moderation, I mean living life to the fullest, but being sensible about staying away from situations where the odds in favor of something very bad happening are higher than I’m willing to accept.

With adulthood, I also learned something else even more important, and I learned it through firsthand experience. Earlier, I said that irrational fears can destroy your life. More than physical harm, what I had in mind was the fear of not being accepted — i.e., a preoccupation with status.

Such a preoccupation is not likely to kill you; it will kill you — emotionally and psychologically. And it’s likely to be a slow and painful death, because if you harbor a fear of not being approved by others, you will be motivated to take actions that will destroy your self-respect and dignity. And when you lose your self-respect and dignity, you become a full-fledged member of the walking dead.

An irrational fear like worrying about being on a doomed airliner is not all that hard to overcome. All you need do is look up the statistics and it’s easy to conclude that it’s not worth fretting about.

A much bigger challenge, however, is overcoming the irrational fear of losing ground in the status derby that the late Tom Wolfe wrote about so eloquently. As I said, such a fear is guaranteed to kill you — emotionally and psychologically — so if you insist on clinging to it, you do so at your own peril.

In fact, it is likely to yield the exact opposite of the results you’re after. A much better idea is to make a commitment to always be true to yourself, especially in this day and age of political intimidation and shaming.

Perhaps the best antidote to unwarranted worriment is to heed the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” I wish I had come up with those words. ROBERT RINGERRobert Ringer (© 2018)is a New York Times #1 bestselling author who has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows, including The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Charlie Rose Show, as well as Fox News and Fox Business. To sign up for a free subscription to his mind-expanding daily insights, visit www.robertringer.com.

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Commentary: Robert Ringer

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 8

Trump Channels Tricky Dick“I’m not thrilled,” President Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen in an

interview that aired on “Squawk Box” friday morning. “Because we go up and every time you go up they want to raise rates again. I don’t really — I am not happy about it. But at the same time I’m letting them do what they feel is best.”

Since becoming POTUS, Trump has changed his tune about rates. When Janet Yellen was running the Fed, Trump said she should be “ashamed” for holding down rates. He endeared himself to libertarians at the time by saying the low rates created a “false stock market.”

Then after his election he mentioned the stock market constantly. “It would be really nice if the Fake News Media would report the virtually unprecedented stock market growth since the election,” Trump tweeted in October 2017. A year before Trump had warned America to beware of a “big fat bubble” in stocks.

Today, he tweeted,“The United States should not be penalized because we are doing so well.

Tightening now hurts all that we have done. The U.S. should be allowed to recapture what was lost due to illegal currency manipulation and BAD Trade Deals. Debt coming due & we are raising rates - Really?”

There’s plenty of blather that Trump is breaking with presidential norms by criticizing Jerome Powell’s rate hikes, but, the Donald is merely channeling Richard Nixon. When Nixon appointed Arthur Burns to be Fed Chair in October of 1969, Burns was soaking up the applause during the announcement of his appointment when Nixon broke in, saying, “You see, Dr. Burns, that is a standing vote of appreciation in advance for lower interest rates and more money.” Later, in private, Nixon told his new Fed Chair, “You see to it: no recession”

In a chapter for the book The Fed at One Hundred entitled “Arthur Burns: The Ph.D. Standard Begins and the End of Independence” I wrote,

“The president didn’t trust the central bank, but with Burns he would have one of his own in charge. At the same time, when Burns took the oath

of office in January 1970, Nixon said, “I have some very strong views on some of these economic matters and I can assure you that I will convey them privately and strongly to Dr. Burns. ...I respect his independence. However, I hope that independently he will conclude that my views are the ones that should be followed.”

Trump’s communication style is different in that he hopes Chairman Powell will be reading his tweets and watching CNBC. However, Trump believes himself an imperial leader just as Nixon did.

“Burns may have been a friend [of Nixon’s], but “he was still the emperor and I should therefore toe the mark—as should every good citizen, especially those that professed to be his friends.” Burns concluded his diary entry with, “now I knew that I would be accepted in the future only if I suppressed my will and yielded completely—even though it was wrong at law and morally—to his authority.”

Perhaps one day Powell will see Trump as Burns viewed his friend the President--as having

“uncontrolled cruelty,” and that he [Burns] “was seized suddenly with fear for the safety of our country which depended so heavily on this insecure man (the thought flashed through my mind of an earlier conversation, when he asked me to inform him when I thought it would be a good time to bring on an international monetary crisis and added, winking privately as he spoke, ‘I don’t mind crisis’—the I being heavily underlined).”

Former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, a candidate for the Fed Chair appointment, said on a Politico podcast this year that during his interview, Trump made clear his opinions on interest rate policy.

“If you think it was a subject upon which he delicately danced around, then you’d be mistaken. It was certainly top of mind to the president,” Mr. Warsh said. Later, he added: “In some sense the broader notion of an independent agency, that’s probably not an obvious feature to the president.”

As Rob Crilly described the Trump Administration in The Telegraph, “Each day brings fresh chaos and an escalating sense of crisis.”

Today, Fed policy is the chaos.

DOUG FRENCH

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 9

Commentary: Doug French

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 10

Want Better Business? Invest in Public Transit

Earlier this year, an Amazon executive called officials in Detroit to explain why the city had fallen out of contention for the retail giant’s new headquarters.

The main reason? The lack of investment in Detroit’s regional public transit. The city doesn’t have enough downtown workers to fill all the jobs the headquarters would create. And without reliable public trains and buses, there’s no easy way for suburbanites to commute into Detroit without a car.

The Motor City’s predicament isn’t unique. Inadequate public transportation networks are hampering the economic ambitions of dozens of American cities. Robust funding for public transit can help them get back on track.

A reliable, well-maintained public transportation system is now a requirement for many businesses scouting for new locations. In 2014, for example, State Farm brought 3,000 new jobs — and 8,000 total — to an Atlanta campus served by one of the city’s MARTA rail lines.

Localities that have invested in public transit have seen those investments pay back in spades. In Chicago, home values along the city’s Brown Line — which was reconstructed and modernized a decade ago — shot up 55 percent between 2000 and 2014.

Higher home values and more development aren’t just good for residents — they’re also good for city coffers, as they result in more property tax revenue.

That’s certainly been the case in metropolitan Washington, D.C. Property values are 7 percent to 9 percent higher near Metro rail stations; that property delivers $3.1 billion in tax revenue a year.

Unfortunately, as a nation, we have largely failed to learn from cases like these. Thanks to a lack of funds and resources, public transit officials have

been forced to focus on repairs and maintenance, rather than on expanding economic opportunity with new transit networks. Cities are keeping trains and buses running beyond their normal lifespans.

A 2015 report from the Department of Transportation found that over 30 percent of the tracks, bridges, and tunnels in the United States were in poor condition as of 2012. And the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s public transportation infrastructure a D minus — the lowest grade given to any category of U.S. infrastructure.

That neglect has real consequences for American businesses. In 2015, a record-breaking Boston snowfall buried the nation’s fifth most-used public transit system. As a result, Boston lost $40 million in revenue and recovery costs. Unless the United States clears its public transit project backlog, businesses will lose a collective $340 billion in sales by 2023.

This dim outlook for public transit and the businesses that depend on it can be reversed. But making that happen will take a commitment from Congress.

Congress’s 2018 spending bill was a step in the right direction. Passed in March, the measure included $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants (TIGER) and $2.6 billion in Capital Investment Grants.

But there’s more to be done. Congress must ensure that its 2019 spending bill matches or exceeds those levels of funding. Lawmakers must also replenish the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for surface transportation projects will face a $20 billion funding gap by 2020.

Ignoring these funding needs will cost us. Without the $90 billion needed to modernize our nation’s public transit system, America will forgo $109 billion in household income and 162,000 new jobs.

By committing to rebuilding our nation’s public transportation infrastructure, Congress can make sure cities like Detroit are ready next time Amazon comes calling. PAUL SKOUTELASPaul P. Skoutelas is the American Public Transportation Association’s president and CEO.

Commentary: Paul Skoutelas

Success of Trump-Putin Summit Missed by Establishment

If one did not know any better, he or she might conclude that the single most important function of the President of the United States is to secure the computer email systems of the nation’s privately run major political parties against intrusion by foreign intelligence agencies.

Or, that the only topic of importance that was discussed at the Helsinki, Finland summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16 was charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller against Russia’s GRU for hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta emails and publishing them on Wikileaks on 2016.

Such is the hysterical world that we live in today. Believe it or not, however, the President, whoever occupies the office, really does have even more important issues to contend with. Don’t believe me?

When it comes to U.S.-Russian relations, there are very real geopolitical issues between the two countries, the world’s foremost nuclear powers, where cooperation between the two presidents could bring about better outcomes than conflict.

That is the major reason to have a summit. In short, to prevent war, but more broadly, to address differences and, if possible, to find areas of agreement.

Fortunately for everyone, President Trump did find those areas of agreement.

On nuclear proliferation, current disagreements between the two powers over the implementation of the 1987 Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which banned all nuclear weapons with ranges from 310 and 3,420 miles, were reportedly addressed. Both the U.S. and Russia have said each side is in violation of the treaty with the development of ground-based missile systems banned by the treaty.

For the uninitiated, the INF Treaty is the bedrock of the U.S.-Russian nuclear arms control regime. It was Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev’s crowning diplomatic achievement and signaled the coming end of the Cold War. It set the stage for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) of 1991. These two treaties were the first ever reductions of nuclear weapons.

So, the fact that the agreements are now failing would be a matter of concern for not just the U.S. and Russia, but for the entire world, because they threaten world peace. A new nuclear arms race would be a catastrophe. It would also be an urgent matter for the U.S. and Russian presidents to address, which, thankfully, they did when they met on July 16.

Now, it will be up to the national security councils of both nations to follow up and see about bringing each side into compliance with the INF Treaty. No new agreement is needed. Simply implementation of the existing treaty, which calls for monitors, analysis and demonstrations to test the ranges of the missile systems.

Other areas of agreement came, again on the nuclear front, where Putin was said by Trump to support the President’s agreement with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. Being

a nearby neighbor of North Korea — the two countries share a border of 11 miles — Russia is in a position to apply both pressure and give encouragement to North Korea to make good on its agreement. Russia, a net exporter of petroleum and natural gas, is also in a position to factor into the sanctions regime.

Again, achieving agreement here on Korean denuclearization is better than not having agreement. This is something that both sides can play a role in facilitating, along with China, and keeping everyone on the same page. It’s helpful to have Russia involved as a positive force. It’s certainly better than if they were actively undermining the agreement.

In Ukraine, the Trump and Putin discussed the implementation of the 2014 Minsk Accords, which is a Russian-Ukrainian agreement to help settle the civil war there. Since that is a location where U.S. and Russian forces could realistically and potentially wind up in armed conflict, it is extremely important that the U.S. and Russia be on the same page.

Elsewhere, the U.S. and Russia via Trump and Putin agreed to work towards the security of Israel’s borders. This follows on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent trip to Moscow to discuss Russia helping to keep Iranian forces operating in Syria away from the Syrian-Israeli border.

Obviously, there are many complexities to the situation on the ground in Syria presently, but again, this is an area where Russia could help a lot to defuse the situation and prevent a wider war in the region, which again, could involve the U.S. and Russia at opposite ends. With both U.S. and Russian forces operating in theater, getting deconfliction right is critical. The two sides must be talking.

By the way, there are no guarantees the cooperation between the U.S. and Russia will work out in everyone or even any one of these areas. That really depends a lot on the relationship Trump manages to establish with Putin and how well they can work together.

Scoff if you will, but these talks are utterly necessary. We don’t boycott U.S.-Russian relations just because Hillary Clinton lost an election. Sorry. There’s more at stake than partisan politics.

As President Trump said at the summit, “I would rather take a political risk in pursuit of peace than risk peace in pursuit of politics.”

Yes, the issue of the 2016 hacking was also addressed at the summit by Trump and Putin, but quite honestly, it pales in comparison to the threat of war. Which is more important? Preventing an accidental nuclear war or finding out who sent the spear phishing messages that enabled hackers to access John Podesta’s emails? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.

Now more than ever, we need to have a president who can initiate a direct, one-on-one conversation with Russia to defuse these conflicts and set the world on a path towards peace and security, not take us to the brink. Right now, that is President Trump. And thank goodness he is doing his job. In the nuclear age, every day we wake up is a gift. Never forget it. ROBERT ROMANORobert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government.

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 11

Commentary: Robert Romano

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THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 12

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 13

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The Real Question on Question 3 is Who’s Telling Us the Truth?

Quick: How much are you paying per kilowatt hour for your electricity?Yeah, I have no idea either. One reason is that in Nevada it doesn’t really matter. There’s no

competition for electricity so there’s no reason to really pay that close attention – especially since it means you’d have to learn what the heck a “kilowatt” even is first.

Regardless of what the price is, you have three choices: Buying from the government-imposed electricity monopoly, going 100% with candles, or going 100% with the sun (when it’s out).

Of course, almost no one is going back to the dark ages of no electricity – especially in the dog days of a Las Vegas summer. And few can afford the cost, or are willing to bear the inconvenience, of converting their home to an all-solar-powered castle.

So that leaves the government monopoly. Which means the only thing most customers care about is how they’re

going to come up with the money to pay their monthly bill since there’s really nothing they can do about the rate being charged. The government essentially sets the rate for the only game in town.

This is the essence of Question 3 – The Energy Choice Initiative – which will be on the ballot again this November after being overwhelmingly approved in 2016 by 72 percent of Nevadans. Deregulation. No more electricity monopolies.

Question 3 would amend the Nevada Constitution to, in part, “declare that it is the policy of this State that electricity markets be open and competitive so that all electricity customers are afforded meaningful choices among different providers.”

In the official argument against Question 3, Democrat lawyer Bradley Schrager – chairman of the Ballot Question Committee in opposition – declares that “No evidence exists that deregulation provides additional choice.”

This turns out to be one of many false claims being put out by the “No on 3” gang.

I learned that Texas already deregulated its electricity market years ago. So I went to www.powertochoose.org – “the official and unbiased electric choice website of the Public Utility Commission of Texas.”

I picked a Houston, Texas zip code at random – 77010 – and entered it into the search box. And get this: Folks in 77010 have 266 different electricity plans they can choose from with rates for 1,000 kilowatts of usage ranging from 5.7-cents to 20-cents!

For comparative purposes, ElectricityLocal.com reports that “Residential electricity rates in Nevada average 11.83¢/kWh.”

But Texans don’t just have choices in various plans. There are multiple providers to choose from as well, including…

Infinite Energy, Constellation, Express Energy, Gexa Energy, Pennwise Power, Veteran Energy, Green Mountain Energy, 4Change Energy, Discount Power, Think Energy, Our Energy, Power Express, Southwest

Power & Light, YEP Energy, Volterra Energy, Cirro Energy, MidAmerican Energy Services, Stream, Reliant, Champion Energy Services and more.

Sorry, Mr. Schrager, but you’ve put out “fake news.” This Texas PUC website proves beyond doubt that “plenty of evidence exists” that deregulation is, indeed, giving the people of Texas “additional choice.”

Here’s another Schrager whopper: “Deregulation of the energy market means a loss of control by Nevada’s citizens.”

Helloooo? As it stands right now “Nevada’s citizens” have ZERO control of the energy market. Total and complete control rests in the hands of the power company monopoly and political appointees to Nevada’s Public Utility Commission.

Deregulation takes the power to control power AWAY from the powerful and puts it in YOUR hands.

But perhaps the most ridiculous argument put forward by the Schragerites is this one: “We allowed the airlines to be deregulated, and today air travel is a nightmare.”

Now, I won’t argue that air travel today is a nightmare. But it’s not because of deregulation. It’s because we turned over control of airport security to the government. It’s the crotch-grabbing, granny-fondling TSA agents who have turned boarding an airplane into a trip to a Las Vegas nudie bar.

As for flying itself, however, deregulation has resulted in competitive pricing and multiple carrier choices.

For fun, as I wrote this I went to Expedia and searched for options for a round-trip, coach flight from Las Vegas to Orlando departing on Saturday, July 21, 2018. And I found 41 different flights ranging from $292 to $1,203.

Had a wide choice of airlines, too: Frontier, Spirit, American, Delta, United, Jet Blue, Sun Country and Alaska Airlines. Southwest isn’t included on Expedia, though it flies there, as well.

Now, it’s been my experience, over 20 years of full-time political activism in Nevada, that when the opposition has to resort to Chicken Little propaganda and outright falsehoodizations (it’s fun to make up new words!), their position is on shakier ground than the San Andreas fault.

Oh, I’m not done yet. I’m just getting’ warmed up. Stay tuned for more on Question 3 in the coming weeks and months! CHUCK MUTH(Mr. Muth is president of CitizenOutreach.org and publisher of NevadaNewsandViews.com. He blogs at MuthsTruths.com. His opinions are his own.)

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 14

Commentary: Chuck Muth

THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 15

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THE PENNY PRESS,JULY 26, 2018 PAGE 16