Saturday, December 31, 2016

Eight Facts on the “Russian Hacks”

Sharyl Attkisson:
There’s no standing allegation by U.S. officials that the Russians (or anyone else) “hacked” into our elections system or altered vote counts.

So what are the allegations and facts as we know them?
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Sunday, December 25, 2016

Israeli Housing Developments in Judea and Samaria -- West Bank -- are legal. Here is why.

As President Obama recently betrayed Israel at the UN in a marked departure from conventional US foreign policy, now appears a fitting time to highlight why Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory are both legitimate and legal.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The election of Donald Trump marks the third great effort to break free from Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal system that has dominated American government for more than 80 years.

Newt Gingrich:
The election of Donald Trump marks the third great effort to break free from Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal system that has dominated American government for more than 80 years.

The first effort to overturn this bureaucratic establishment was Ronald Reagan in 1980.

The second was the Contract with America in 1994, which resulted in the first Republican majority in the House in 40 years.
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Thursday, December 15, 2016

The most risky thing Trump will do and it's replacing Obamacare

Please take particular note of the last paragragh!

I've been following Robert Laszewski for several years. Many of his Health Care Policy & Marketplace Review posts are also cross-posted at Forbes.
I've posted his resume below first in order to show how important his qualifications are and then excerpted two things from his two most recent posts regarding the "replace" part of "repeal & replace" which includes the transition period...a VERY risky period for Trump, Republicans, and America and everything hangs on "us" getting this right!!!
I made this as short and clear as I could--read the full articles if you want. Obamacare was a "first" and getting us out of this mess will be a "first"--it's all uncharted territory. The fines, the rising monthly premiums, the soaring deductibles, and the damage to our healthcare system (shortages of doctors, unmanageable loads of regulations and paperwork, etc.) might not seem as bad to people as a collapse of the entire system would if all this goes South!
Robert Laszewski - Health Care Policy & Marketplace Review
I am one of a kind having spent 20 years in the health insurance marketplace and 20 years inside the Beltway. I ran two health insurance businesses before coming to Washington, DC to start my own health care policy and market consulting business. Over the last 20 years my clients have been the people who run insurance companies, hospitals, and physician practices. A long time ago, I made all of the money I will ever need and I keep doing this because I want America’s health care system to work for everyone.
But will there be any insurance companies in the exchanges come 2018?
The Obamacare individual insurance market was an unsustainable place for health plans before the Republicans won the 2016 election and reiterated their promise to end it.
Most carriers are now losing their shirts on their Obamacare exchange business. Some of the biggest carriers are exiting in 2017. Others decided to hang in for at least another year hoping the new Congress and President would fix it in 2017. Now, with the Republicans promising to kill Obamacare, there is little hope Obamacare will get better for the carriers in 2017 or 2018. Most in the insurance industry believe their losses will only increase as the sick stay in the pool and fewer healthy people, having been promised something better by Republicans, hold off on paying the big premiums and having to face the big deductibles in the current plan.
The health plans are committed for 2017. But no health plan is committed for 2018.
Faced with an expected worsening bottom line going into 2018 we cannot assume the insurers won't bail. What insurance company CEO will be willing to sustain the tens of millions, or in some cases hundreds of millions, of dollars in losses they now face, and expect to continue to face, to keep the dying Obamacare program afloat as a favor to Republicans?
And remember, about half of the current Obamacare compliant market does not get a subsidy and these folks are also at risk of not finding a carrier in 2018. If the health plans get out of the health insurance exchanges they will likely either get out of the entire individual market or dramatically increase the premiums for the off-exchange market. It would appear that many of these often self-employed folks outside the exchanges voted for Republicans over their anger at Obamacare's big premiums and deductibles and could be faced with fewer or even worse individual health insurance choices in 2018.
[The following are responses to an interviewer's questions.]
What they have to do, and I don’t think they’ll do, is take the defunding bill they use to repeal Obamacare and reestablish the risk corridors and reinsurance fund. They have to do it inside the budget bill; otherwise they’ll need 60 votes.

I think what they have do is reestablish one of the parts of Obamacare that Republicans have hated the most, the so-called insurance company bailout, because if they don’t, they’re going to have a catastrophic result come 2018.

To have an orderly transition, I think Republicans need to reimplement the risk corridors by February or March. That is the only chance they have. I don’t think there is a single Republican member of Congress who has thought about this. I’m reading all these quotes and they’re completely blind to the fiasco on the individual market that they’re about to create.


KAISER - TABLE 1 - SUMMARY OF RISK AND MARKET STABILIZATION PROGRAMS IN THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT:
The ACA’s risk adjustmentreinsurance, and risk corridors programs were intended to protect against the negative effects of adverse selection and risk selection, and also work to stabilize premiums, particularly during the initial years of ACA implementation:
Table 1: Summary of Risk and Market Stabilization Programs in the Affordable Care Act


Thoughts are welcome and please forward to anyone who can help or is interested!

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Fidel Castro helped train and fund practically every terror group on earth, from the Weathermen to Puerto Rico’s Macheteros, from Argentina’s Montoneros, to Colombia’s FARC, from the Black Panthers to the IRA and from the PLO to AL Fatah.

Fidel Castro jailed and tortured political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin during the Great Terror. He murdered more Cubans in his first three years in power than Hitler murdered Germans during his first six. . .As seen from the quotes below, the propaganda services by much of the mainstream media for the Castro regime continues apace—despite half a century of terror-sponsorship, mass-murder, and mass-torture by the object of their adulation.
Here’s a Handy List of Atrocities for Everyone Glorifying Fidel Castro Today

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Ten Reasons Left-Wingers Cut Trump Voters from Their Lives

By Dennis Prager — November 29, 2016:

I wish none of this were true. But there is a way to prove me wrong: Re-friend your friends and relatives who voted for Trump, and tell everyone who has ended relations with family members — especially with parents — to reach out to them and welcome them back into their lives.

Ten Reasons Left-Wingers Cut Trump Voters from Their Lives


Saturday, December 03, 2016

Here are 5 simple ways to dive into Advent this year

Katie Heller:
...this year, as you put up your tree, decorate your home, buy your presents, and make your meals, remember that your preparation isn’t simply for the coming of a single day; it’s for the coming of a person, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God asks us to step into a season of waiting and joyful anticipation - not to drive us crazy but to draw us nearer to Him. And, when the day comes to approach the manger and gaze on the face of Love in our newborn King, we’ll be fully aware that we have a Father who provides and always keeps his promises.
This is a great read, don't miss it!!

FINDING VIRTURE IN WAITING ON GOD: WHY WE NEED ADVENT

Friday, December 02, 2016

It will surprise consumers of American media to learn this, but every promise Trump made on immigration is already the law.

If Trump betrays voters on immigration, he can have as many rallies as he wants, but Americans will say, Been there, done that – you screwed us. He will never escape the stink of broken campaign promises.

So unless Trump has another 60 million voters hiding someplace, the appointments he makes today – to State, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, even the IRS – will determine whether he is remembered as America’s greatest president, or if the Trump name becomes a cautionary tale in American politics.

At this precise moment – not after his inauguration, not in year two of his administration, but today, as he fills his Cabinet – Trump has to decide if he’s going to be like every other Republican and throw a brick or grab the ball and score.

Whether he’s listening or not, his supporters are screaming: TRUMP! NOW! TAKE THE SHOT!!!
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Thursday, December 01, 2016

Castro's most famous victim warns YOU

Armando Valladares may not have been the first man to challenge the Cuban dictator, but he eventually became the best known:
“I spent eight years locked in a blackout cell, without sunlight or even artificial light. I never left. I was stuck in a cell, ten feet long, four feet wide, with a hole in the corner to take care of my bodily needs. No running water. Naked. Eight years,” Valladares recalled. “All of the torture, all of the violations of human rights, had one goal: break the prisoner’s resistance and make them accept political rehabilitation. That was their only objective.”
The most important advice from someone who's freedom was taken away:
...in his speech last year to the Becket Fund, he stressed that his experience had taught him the need for vigilance in defense of freedom: Just as there is a very short distance between the U.S. and Cuba, there is a very short distance between a democracy and a dictatorship where the government gets to decide what to do, how to think, and how to live. And sometimes your freedom is not taken away at gunpoint but instead it is done one piece of paper at a time, one seemingly meaningless rule at a time, one small silencing at a time. Never allow the government — or anyone else — to tell you what you can or cannot believe or what you can and cannot say or what your conscience tells you to have to do or not do.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Clinton and top Dems proposed Flag Protection Act of 2005

The Flag Protection Act of 2005 was a proposed United States federal law introduced by Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah), with original co-sponsor Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). Additional co-sponsors include Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Thomas Carper (D-Del.). The law would have prohibited burning or otherwise destroying and damaging the US flag with the primary purpose of intimidation or inciting immediate violence or for the act of terrorism. It called for a punishment of no more than one year in prison and a fine of no more than $100,000; unless that flag was property of the United States Government, in which case the penalty would be a fine of not more than $250,000, not more than two years in prison, or both.

Betcha only heard about Donald Trump's comments on the flag today, though...

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

How Chuck Schumer Caused the Second Largest Bank Failure in US History

During the big New York Times interview with President Elect Donald Trump today (whom I support), political correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted: "Paul Ryan, right now, loves me. Mitch McConnell loves me," Trump says. Then says, "I've liked Chuck Schumer for a long time."

My family had money at IndyMac, and so I have NEVER liked Chuck Schumer!
Federal officials aren’t supposed to cause bank runs. In fact, much of the New Deal bank regulatory apparatus was set up for the purpose of eliminating such panics. When FDR was hit with a massive set of bank runs shortly after taking office, he gave an address in order to calm terrified depositors, assuring them that the banks would reopen shortly, and that everything would be fine. But Chuck Schumer is no FDR. He doesn’t stop bank runs; he starts them. Or, at least, has started one.
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Sunday, November 20, 2016

TO BE REAL CLEAR
















--Linda
PS: Last week a friend mentioned that he passed on a comment (which he rarely does) because it went into the "science" area and he didn't have the resources handy...he didn't know that Real Clear Politics (which we all follow at one time or another for polls, but were most helpful for election results November 8th if you didn't want to stay up two more hours waiting for FOX NEWS) was only one of many "REAL CLEAR" sites that are fascinating!! RCP posts left AND right articles...not sure how this works out on these other sites exactly but probably follows along with that approach I would think.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Steve Bannon -- soon to be Donald Trump's Chief Strategist in the White House -- is NOT an "anti-Semite"!

Stephen Bannon, whose appointment to serve as President-elect Donald Trump’s chief strategist and senior counselor has drawn controversy in recent days over allegations of antisemitism, will attend the Zionist Organization of America’s annual awards gala in New York City on Sunday.

“All administration officials are welcome to come to the ZOA dinner,” ZOA National President Morton A. Klein told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “Any Democrat is welcome, as is any Republican. If you’re a government official and you want to come to the ZOA dinner — unless you’re extremely hostile to Israel or a Jew-hater — you’re welcome to come.”

Furthermore, Klein emphasized, “Bannon is not an antisemite at all. He’s never said or written anything that is antisemitic. If he was an antisemite in any way, shape or form, I’d be screaming.”
Amid Antisemitism Controversy, Senior Trump Adviser Stephen Bannon to Attend Major Pro-Israel Group’s Gala Dinner

I can’t think of anything stupider than the charge coming from all quarters of the left–including a headline in the pathetically wretched Huffington Post–that Bannon is an anti-Semite. The source? A one sentence claim from an angry ex-wife in divorce court no less, that Bannon didn’t want their kids to go to school with Jews. I find that particularly amusing since Bannon wanted to make a film to celebrate this Jew’s life.

Not to be outdone, CNN, which has been particularly vicious, did a nasty attack on Bannon using another of the thinnest reeds available: This was a headline at Breitbart.com calling Bill Kristol a “renegade Jew.” In fact, neither Breitbart nor Bannon is responsible for that statement. A Jew is. I wrote the article, which was neither requested nor commissioned by Breitbart. And I wrote the headline: “Bill Kristol, Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew.”

I wrote the article when Kristol set out to lead the “Never Trump” movement, after Trump had secured the Republican nomination. I would write it again in a heartbeat. I would write it the same way and with the same headline. Bill Kristol and his friends betrayed the Republican Party, betrayed the American people, and betrayed the Jews when he set out to undermine Trump and elect the criminal Hillary Clinton. Obama and Hillary are supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that launched the Arab drive to destroy Israel and push its Jews into the sea (that was their slogan).

If Obama and Hillary had their way, Egypt’s leader al-Sisi would be overthrown, the Brotherhood would be back in power, and Israel would be facing a threat from the biggest military power in the Middle East and almost certainly at war with Islamic terrorists who openly call for the extermination of the Jews.
DAVID HOROWITZ DENOUNCES ATTACKS ON TRUMP'S NEW CHIEF STRATEGIST

TEL AVIV – Alan Dershowitz, a staunch Democrat and emeritus law professor at Harvard University, is hitting back against the smears claiming White House appointee Steve Bannon is anti-Semitic, arguing it is “not legitimate to call somebody an anti-Semite because you might disagree with their policies.”
EXCLUSIVE – Alan Dershowitz Defends Steve Bannon: ‘Not Legitimate To Call Somebody An Anti-Semite Because You Disagree With Their Policies’

Saturday, November 12, 2016

TO ALL AMERICANS THINKING ABOUT MOVING TO CANADA (TALK ABOUT IRONY!)

Thanks to author Tom Del Beccaro for posting this:
My friend Jennifer Spruce wrote the following . . . I think you should read it:
To anyone who says they will "move to Canada" now, let me show you the beautiful irony of what you are saying.

To move to Canada you have to do a couple things...
  1. Determine if you are eligible. They screen for criminal records, financial situations, health, even check if you have a non-admissible family member.

  2. Determine what type of visa to apply for. If you're just the 'average Joe' you have to have 12 months full time managerial, professional, or skilled trade work. (Sorry whiny college students.)

    If you want to be an entrepreneur or bring your start-up to Canada, better have 10 million Canadian Dollars. Price to entry.

    There's a couple of other types that are rare and restrictive to certain provinces - not likely to happen for you.

  3. Appy. Yes you actually have to go through a process to show your language skills, work skills etc.

  4. Pay a fee. Wait, what?

  5. Wait for your Visa. Even Express can take 6-12 months.
So...anyone see the irony here??

The people who hate Trump because he wants to stop illegal immigration and make sure people follow the process to get in this country want to move to a country where they will have to go through the exact type of process to protest. Can't even make this stuff up!!
Note from lgstarr: "Emmigration" is the act of leaving one's country...we're so used to talking about "immigration" I just wanted to make that point.

Friday, November 11, 2016

God Bless our veterans!



Wednesday, November 09, 2016

And now: The healthcare plan that we should have had in the first place!

Republicans will say to Democrats, "Help us create the new insurance system or be responsible for the consequences." Some are saying the Democrats won't cooperate. Here is why they will. In 2018, there are 23 Democratic and two Independent Senators (who caucus with the Dems) that will be up for reelection––a great many in states that Donald Trump won last night! There is a clear mandate here to replace Obamacare. If these Democrats fight it and that arguably results in millions of people thrown off their coverage they will do so at their peril.

The best news here is that defunding and then replacement of Obamacare could ironically set the table for the first real bipartisan legislative effort in a very long time. The one we should have had in the first place.
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GOD BLESS AMERICA AND OUR NEW PRESIDENT: DONALD J. TRUMP!!!








Wednesday, November 02, 2016

THE QUEEN OF QUID PRO QUO

Hillary, as Secretary of State, would sell terrorist nations large weapons deals only after they gave her a very generous donation to her “foundation.” These weapons, provided by Hillary and her State Department, then filtered down from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Libya, and so on to create, supply, and bolster terrorist groups.

That is exactly how ISIS was created. But instead of blowing them up with an air assault, Hillary and Obama decided to leave ISIS alone. Why? Because ISIS being in the Middle East allows the Obama/Clinton machine to make millions in personal profits from these nations in a repetitive cycle of selling weapons.

They are choosing personal gain over eliminating a terrorist group. Let that sink in. Why else have they not arrested Hillary for all of these crimes? The FBI would arrest you in a heartbeat if you went to Facebook right now to praise Allah and ISIS. It also speaks volumes as to why they are trying so hard to silence Julian Assange.
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Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Don't Be Fooled: Hillarygate Probe Is Now a Formal Federal Criminal Investigation

November 1, 2016:
The NY Times and the Wall Street Journal both reported on Monday morning that an FBI warrant application to a federal judge over the weekend for permission to search Huma Abedin's emails and laptop had been granted. The application was made on the basis of the Clinton email investigation. Necessarily, that application (as required by the Constitution's Fourth Amendment) would have been supported by FBI affidavits.

This new fact is a development of immense potential significance – both for Mrs. Clinton personally and for us as American citizens. It is also unprecedented in American history.

At a minimum, it enables us to pierce the thick cloud of black ink and disinformation released over the weekend by Team Hillary and which is being widely misreported in the current news cycle.
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Sunday, October 30, 2016

BIG HINT: