The Rest of the News for June 14th (Part 2)

USA Today:

Trump told senators the Obamacare repeal bill he once celebrated is 'mean'

President Trump told Republican senators Tuesday that he thinks the bill that House Republicans passed in May to repeal and replace Obamacare was “mean" — even though the president celebrated passage of the legislation with a pep-rally style event with House leaders in the Rose Garden.

Trump said at the time that he brought the lawmakers over — on buses from Capitol Hill, no less — after the bill narrowly passed through the House because “we want to brag about the plan.”

"Welcome to the beginning of the end of Obamacare,” Vice President Pence proclaimed as roughly four dozen Republican lawmakers whooped it up in the Rose Garden.

But according to a GOP Senate aide, who was granted anonymity to be able to speak freely about private conversations, the president told senators he met with Tuesday that the House’s version of the health care bill is “mean” and he wants the Senate to generate a more generous package with more “heart.” AP first reported the comments and the aide confirmed them to USA TODAY.

So it doesn't matter whether "Trumpcare" actually works, or is even feasible? It has to have "heart"!

Trump earns himself a bear for this;

In other news...

The National:

US is losing in Afghanistan, says Pentagon chief

The United States is not winning in Afghanistan, defence secretary Jim Mattis told Congress on Tuesday, saying he was crafting a new strategy to present to legislators by mid-July.

"We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. And we will correct this as soon as possible," he said in testimony to the Senate armed services committee.

Mr Mattis said he would present options on Afghanistan to president Donald Trump "very soon", adding that the strategy will take a regional approach rather than looking at Afghanistan in isolation.

American military officials acknowledge the situation in Afghanistan is at stalemate almost 16 years after the war started, and it has deteriorated in recent months. A lorry bomb explosion in Kabul last month killed more than 150 people, making it the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001.

In some cases, Afghan security forces have been forced to abandon the more scattered and rural bases, and the government can claim to control or influence only 57 per cent of the country, according to US military estimates made earlier this year.

Sun Tzu once said:

"There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare." 

I would expect defense secretary Mattis to be familiar with Sun Tzu's "Art of War". But he clearly hasn't learned anything from it, since we aren't winning a 16 year old war.