Murphy after Zarif blowup -- Getty Images Connecticut U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, up for reelection this year, had “a secret meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference” in February 2020, according to a posting written by Mollie Hemingway , the Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist. Was Murphy commissioned by proper authorities to participate in the meeting, or was he freelancing? If the former, there is no problem. If the latter, Murphy was courting political disaster. “Such a meeting,” Hemingway wrote at the time, “would mean Murphy had done the type of secret coordination with foreign leaders to potentially undermine the U.S. government that he accused Trump officials of doing as they prepared for Trump’s administration. In February 2017, Murphy demanded investigations of National Security Advisor Mike Flynn because he had a phone call with his counterpart-to-be in Russia. “’Any effort to undermine our nation’s foreign policy – e
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It appears that the Dems, at least in the executive branch, are finally acknowledging that spending must be reduced. However, this general recognition is generally qualified by the claims that the Governor's agreement with the unions last year means there are no savings to be found there and, secondly, that medicaid cuts are difficult because of their being tied to federal dollars. I question the extent that the State can in fact be legally bound by any agreement with its employees if it were in its wisdom to either exempt itself from litigation and/or change the statutory framework that gives public employee unions their right to exist. The promises it has made simply cannot be kept. I also question whether the State can't find savings in Medicaid by rejecting the Obamacare expansion of eligibility, reversing, as I understand it, the decision made by Gov. Rell in 2010 "to provide increased medical benefits for (the near poor) through Medicaid while relieving the burden on state taxpayers.” The dramatic increase in the number of folks on medicaid is allegedly a prime reason for the current "unexpected" budget "shortfalls," and would appear to this inexpert financial analyst to be unsustainable going, as they say,forward.