A New Low for America – Until November

The following is taken directly from Wikipedia:

“The presumption of innocence is the principle that one is considered innocent unless proven guilty. It was traditionally expressed by the Latin maxim ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat (“the burden of proof is on the one who declares, not on one who denies”).

In many states, presumption of innocence is a legal right of the accused in a criminal trial, and it is an international human right under the  UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11. Under the presumption of innocence, the legal burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which must collect and present compelling evidence to the trier of fact. The trier of fact (a judge or a jury) is thus restrained and ordered by law to consider only actual evidence and testimony presented in court. “

The assumption of innocence is a core value of America (in fact of all free people across the globe). However, several of our Democrat Senators have denounced this core value as not applicable to the review of Judge Kavanaugh’s qualification to become a justice of the Supreme Court. The Senators claim that the Judicial Committee’s hearings are not a court of law but rather a job interview. This is no excuse to ruin a man’s reputation, bring harm to his family, and disgrace to our entire nation. The issues brought forth are not issues of qualification, they are criminal allegations being tried in public by Senators based on the principles of the #metoo and #ibelievethesurvivers “social justice” movements. It is mob rule being fomented and strengthened by a few of the most powerful people in America – Senators.

A candidate for the Supreme Court must demonstrate that he has the character, intellect, knowledge of law, and the proper demeanor to apply the law in a fair manner. Demonstrating character is done by showing your life’s work, not by proving the negative of anyone that pounces on the confirmation process to have their moment of fame. I am sorry but waiting 36 years to pronounce horrible allegations against another is wrong. Dr. Ford may very well have been accosted. The other two women who have made allegations may also have had horrible experiences. Probably by someone other than Judge Kavanaugh. But, their vague memories of the reported events loudly point the need for the accusers to bear the burden of proof. Furthermore, the probabilities of three woman all having repressed memories regarding the same person that surface at the perfect time to benefit the Democrats is just too much to believe.

The disgrace is that the Democrats are gleefully profiteering on these unproven allegations. The Democrat Senators have proven that they do not have the qualifications of character, intellect, knowledge of the law, and the required demeanor to properly conduct the Constitutional advice and consent. Had they possessed these qualifications, they would have acted sooner and with discretion until and if the allegations had some semblance of credibility. Senator Feinstein sat on the first allegation for at least six weeks before allowing the accusers letter to be leaked. The Senators did not protect the candidate from horrible attacks on his reputation. The Senators failed to perform, or to have performed by a delegate, any investigation into the allegations before making them public for the world to see. This was purposefully done to create a #metoo and #ibelievethesurvivers frenzy that has tried and convicted the Judge based on nothing. A ditty Senator stating that she believes Dr. Ford does not validate anything that Dr. Ford as asserted. A half-dozen Democrat Senators stating that Judge Kavanaugh bears the burden of disproving the allegations is an affront to our core American values. How long do the Democrats want to drag this confirmation process out? Long enough for another dozen or so not-so-credible women to report vague reports? Gather enough maybe-he-did-it stories (but I can’t really remember if it was him or him and 2 other guys or maybe not him at all) and his life will be over. No Supreme Court, no more DC District Court, nothing.

The Democrats are orchestrating this circus to stop a good man from being appointed to the Supreme Court and they think this will help them in the polls in November.

Our Democrat Senators have not demonstrated the character, intellect, knowledge of law and demeanor to privately investigate the horrible allegations? Who will every want to be nominated to be a Justice of the Supreme Court after this disgraceful act of politics. Yes, I believe this is a tactical ploy to energize the far-left wing loony-toons based on “social justice.” I am sick and tired of “social justice” being used as the justification to forgo individual justice. Forgo enough individuals’ justice and pretty soon it scales to the level of social injustice even for a Democrat. Individual and social justice should not be two separate concepts. However, when you view the world from the Democrat’s perspective of identity politics, it seems that sacrificing a good man’s life to sooth a group of man-hating women is the required retribution for past “social injustices.” If that sounds sexists, I do not apologize. The current state of craziness must be called what it is – wrong. The identity politics that all white men are bad is wrong. But as one of our esteemed Senators from Hawaii has stated, white men should shut up and step up. Isn’t that lovely? Yes, since I am a man, I really have no right to an opinion here.

To my dear Democrat Senators: Americans will be more stirred up to oppose the political tactics of hate that you are enacting than will be stirred to promote more hate. More Americans will vote to bring America back the common sense that we are all (regardless of our sex or race) innocent until proven guilty. That means, come November, you lose.

Hillary's Woes

I was on top of the world

Unbeatable, unquestionable, ferocious and caring

I had a team for the dirty work

Cheating, lying, hiding and being the jerk

I stayed above the fray

I stayed away from everything

Then it happened

What happened?

He won, how could it be?

I had more votes the president should be me

He had the Russians, the racists and the deplorables

I had the left-wingers

Yet he was the winner

I had the socialist, he the middle-class

Everyone knew that he was the ass

It wasn’t my fault I was the perfect candidate

It was Comey and the deplorables wasn’t that great

Misogyny, sexism, racism, and white supremacy

Let’s not forget voter suppression

I could go on and on but you’d cry for mercy

Throw in Bernie and you can see it’s not my fault

I did nothing, I stayed away from everything

Let me repeat, I did nothing I stayed away from everyting

Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania too

I had no message to be used against me

He had a message that people could see

Did they forget that I am a Clinton?

It was my time

I had served and I was due

After all I’m likable enough

Aren’t I?

Well at least I have a book and a whiny voice too

I may not be president but I won’t be a pawn

I’ll sabotage the man that should not have won

He’s a clear and present danger and believe me I know

I’ve spent years next to one while wearing a bow

When will it end?

When the media stops helping me sell my books

The family business has been crushed and I need the bucks

Trump is Inelegant, Media is Culpable

Is there a contradiction in the media criticizing the President for agitating North Korea while also criticizing him for calling out the Charlottesville counter demonstrators’ culpability in violence? And, do not twist that to mean the President is wrong on North Korea.

President Trump is not a statesman. He does not understand that the whole truth sometimes needs to be held for another day so that one, clear, more important message can ring forth. This is how he mismanaged his communications regarding the horrible episode at Charlottesville this week. But after watching President Trump for the past two years, does anyone expect him to be savvy about striking the correct chord? If so, reset your expectations. President Trump has demonstrated that he is not “presidential” in the historical view of “presidential.”

The vast majority of Americans despise neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the Klu Klux Klan. America is no longer living in the 1950s. However, to respect all those who have suffered, we must continue to be clear about the condemnation of racist hate groups. President Trump emphatically stated that he condemns these groups. Then, unfortunately, he said that the counter demonstrators also acted badly.

President Trump was correct in condemning the hate groups and correct in noting the horrific acts of the counter demonstrators. But, he should have held off on criticizing the counter demonstrators. He was not wrong, he just had bad timing. Most Americans see it this way, bad timing not supporting hate groups. Most Americans understand that President Trump is not elegant, but he does put forth common sense policies that Americans support. That is why America made him our President. He is unorthodox and at times even unwise, but he has the right plan. Americans realize this and realize that the media seizes any opportunity to create the image that our President is evil. He is not.

It is still bad timing but because the President put the issue out there, it needs analysis. Counter demonstrations, no matter what is being demonstrated against, need to lawful. Clearly, the Charlottesville counter demonstrators were not lawful. They contributed to the violence. They felt justified in doing so because the groups they were protesting are so repulsive that they even support President Trump and anyone associated with President Trump is so abhorrent that violence is justified. To this point, a state representative in Maine stated that if he gets within ten feet of the President, “he will be a half-term President.” We have become an irrational society thanks to the news media convincing the public that hatred of the President, and even violence, is acceptable. In fact, it is a virtue.

Watching the political debate in our society is akin to watching the gladiators spar in the Colosseum. The media is so hateful of our President that they foment hatred of anyone with an open mind toward our President. The media seek out any Republican making a negative comment about the President as validation of their foregone conclusion that the President is evil. And, they present it in that fashion.

The President is not a great communicator. But he does have great ideas to improve America. It was these ideas/policies that won him the election. All the President’s policies are vehemently opposed by the left-leaning news media but supported by most Americans. Because the media cannot win the debate on ideas, they engage in smear campaigns and foment hate. This hate was evident in the counter demonstrators at Charlottesville and the violence it caused is the media’s responsibility.

Like all other false attacks on President Trump, this too shall pass. Hopefully, the media’s penchant for fomenting hate and violence shall also pass.

Bottom line: The news media is just as culpable for the violence perpetrated in Charlottesville, Virginia this week as the Klu Klux Klan. The false, twisted narrative put forth by the media caused some spineless business leaders to withdraw from serving our country. Therefore, the media is also responsible for delaying President Trump’s plan to make America great again. The largest irony of all is that the news media criticizes our President for not uniting our country after the horrors of Charlottesville. Are there no mirrors in the newsroom?

The Lack of Young and Healthy is Not the Cause of Health Care’s Death-Spiral

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website, 49% of Americans obtain their health insurance as a fringe benefit at their place of work (the employer-provided group), 36% obtain their health insurance through a social program (mostly Medicare and Medicaid), 7% purchase their own health insurance (the self-payer group) and, 8% have no health insurance. Combined, the employer-provided group and the self-payer group represent the entire private-sector health insurance market in America (56% of the population).

When a member of the employer-provided group becomes catastrophically sick and/or injured, they can no longer work and therefore lose their employer-provided health insurance. They fall into the self-payer group just at the time when their health care costs are extremely high. The COBRA law allows them to stay on their employer’s health insurance plan for 18 months. However, they would have to pay the full cost of the employer’s plan. Since they are out of work, they cannot afford this. Instead, they purchase an Affordable Care Act (ACA) plan that is eligible for ACA subsidies.

Falling from the employee-provided group into the self-payer group just when the individual has developed the need for copious quantities of health care is risk dumping. The employer-provided group is saved the cost of the required health care and the self-payer group has no choice but to suck it up. Employers can choose who they hire (healthy), but the self-payers have no choice in who joins their group (unhealthy).

Of course, dependents of an employee (spouses and children) may become catastrophically sick and/or injured and remain on the employer’s health plan. Furthermore, some working couples obtain health coverage from both of their employers. Therefore, the risk that gets dumped may only be 10 to 20% of the employer-group’s overall risk. However, even 10% of the risk from that large group is almost equal to all the risk that is native in the 7% self-payer group. Thus, large annual premium increases for the self-payers will be an on-going occurrence in the current, flawed design of the law.

Prior to the ACA, self-payers purchased health insurance as individuals based on their own level of healthiness. The ACA forced self-payers to purchase health insurance as members of a group and therefore caused the healthy to pay more so that the unhealthy could pay less. This was the “shared responsibility” theme of the ACA. Since the healthy may someday become unhealthy, this seemed fair. However, the ACA created a system where the self-payers shared the responsibility for unhealthy people from both the self-payer group AND the employer-provided group.

The self-payer group has become the high-risk-pool for all private-sector health insurance. Because of this, the little-guy is paying outrageous premiums, and businesses are being shielded from the true cost of health care in America. This has caused the ACA self-payer death-spiral.

Although it makes a small contribution, the lack of the young and healthy purchasing health insurance is not causing the death spiral. The death spiral is caused by risk-dumping.

If the constitution had a uniform premium clause similar to the uniform tax clause, the ACA premiums would be ruled unconstitutional. The little self-payers’ premiums cover the cost of the risk for their co-inhabitants of the self-payer group PLUS for a good portion of the employer-provided groups’ risk.

We are beyond the point where the ACA’s preexisting-condition-safety-net would ever be eliminated. Therefore, we must fairly distribute the ACA’s "shared responsibility" among everyone in the 56% group of the private-sector health insurance market. After all, it is the entire 56% that is realizing the risk-sharing benefits.

The solution is to create a single, private-sector risk-pool where the premium for each individual’s health insurance is based on the average healthiness of that new risk-pool. Employers will still provide health insurance to their employees but they must purchase that insurance through an insurance company. Businesses would no longer be allowed to self-insure their healthy group of employees. Instead, they would pay an insurance company the premiums for their employees as members of the new risk-pool. Insurance companies will be prohibited from offering a plan to a business unless they offer the same plan to self-payers. This will assure fair play and provide health plan choices to the self-payers.

There will still be self-payers and employer-provided groups but they will be in the same risk-pool. This is a single-market, not a single-payer solution.

To demonstrate this proposal with numbers, consider that, per the New York Times, the 2017 nation-wide average premium increase for self-payers was 25%. According to a PricewaterhouceCoopers report, the 2017 nation-wide premium increase for the employer-provided group was 6.5%. The weighted average that results when combining these two groups is 8.8%. There are a lot more people in the combined group with which to share the risks.  8.8% is still too high of an annual increase when inflation has not seen 3% in a long time. More still needs to be done. But, compared to 25%, this is the biggest, single step forward we can make.

President Trump’s Obstruction of Justice vs. Sexual Harassment

Mr. Comey, really?

You state that you don’t know whether President Trump’s suggestion of ‘could you let the General Flynn “matter” go?’ raised to the level of obstruction of justice. Whereas at the same hearing you stated that because he was the president that you took his “could you” as a directive. But, did not inform anybody other than your subordinates of your “concerns” that you felt compelled to document immediately thereafter?

If you took it as a directive, why is it not obstruction of justice? Do you ever have the courage to make a decision when there are political considerations involved?

In the same hearing, you stated that maybe you were not strong enough with both the President and former Attorney General Lynch. Let me fill you in – YOU WERE NOT ONLY NOT STRONG ENOUGH, YOU ARE A WIMP. Furthermore, your testimony today convinced me that the President made the correct decision in terminating your employment from my company – the United States of American. Yes, I am a happy shareholder to see you gone.

In my corporate days, I taught a sexual harassment course. One of the principals taught was that if you felt as though you were being harassed by someone that you had the responsibility to inform the offender of the behavior that you found offensive. If the offender continued this behavior after you notified them, you have a basis of filing a sexual harassment claim. This principal did not apply to blatantly offensive behavior. The correlation here is that the President’s behavior was not blatantly illegal and he could have used your expertise to make him a better President for we Americans.

You, a lawyer and government wonk for life, did not think that President Trump could have used some guidance to help him establish his compass as a new president with no political or governmental experience? You could not muster enough courage to do that – not for President Trump, but for me and the rest of the citizens of America that are now watching the second political crises you have created in the past year?

As you stated during your testimony, you are gutless. But you do have a flair for bringing the attention to yourself. Even if it is at the expense of our great country. Now, please go away forever.

Secretary Clinton, not President Trump Aided the Russians

Yesterday, I was surprised to hear Secretary Clinton state that she had no fault in her loss of the presidential election. But what shocked me was that she proclaimed her private server to be a “nothing burger.” It was really the Russians that orchestrated the outcome of our elections.

Well, if it were the Russians that orchestrated the outcome of our election, where did they get the ammunition to perform the orchestration? Oh, it was by being able to hack into the Secretary of State’s private email. Secretary Clinton has stated that the drip, drip, drip of her hacked emails contributed to her losing the election.

On one hand, the private email server was just a mistake for which she “has already apologized.” She also claims that she never intentionally misused her private email server for classified information. But on the other hand, the information stolen from her private email server was so significant that the Russians hacked it to use against her in the election.

While the media are hyper-ventilating over the chance that some of President Trump’s campaign team may have been colluding with the Russians, they still do not consider Secretary Clinton’s handling of her emails as important. Our intelligence community has concluded that the Russians did attempt to interfere in our democratic process, that there is no evidence that the Trump campaign team colluded with the Russians, and that Russians hacked into Secretary Clinton’s private email server. Connect the dots from our intelligence community’s findings to ascertain who helped the Russians.

Is the private email server a nothing burger or the source of the Russian’s trove of negative information about Secretary Clinton that allowed the Russians to subvert our democratic process? That case of “extreme carelessness” looks more and more like gross negligence to me. If the email information was not classified, it was still of national security importance or the Russians would not have used it to interfere in our democratic process.

Accept Trump as Trump

Let Trump be Trump does not work. It requires an individual to proactively grant advance forgiveness to President Trump for any coarseness he may exhibit.  Therefore, for the good of the nation, I ask everyone to please, accept Trump as Trump. Acceptance is passive. It does not require you to condone the coarseness. You can still abhor the coarseness, while acknowledging the good stuff. Acceptance allows our national discourse to focus on the challenges America faces, the ideas to solve those challenges and the compromises needed to make progress.

As you read this article, you will fall into one of two camps: 1) this article will be talking for you, or 2) this article will be talking to you. You will make that determination quickly.

President Trump is not the prototypical president. He is not measured. He can be compulsive. He misuses Twitter. Most of all, he is not Hilary Clinton. Just get over it. Anyone that truly loves America needs to get a grip on this. The torrid of criticism that spews from the mainstream media on an hourly basis is not only ridiculous, it is harmful to America. It is purposefully stopping goodness from happening. The same sentiment applies to the free-speech crushing world of academia and to the government employees that leak America’s secrets out of context – anonymously of course.

The goodness I speak of is lower taxes, affordable health care, better trade agreements, more jobs, a safer America and a safer world. It is also the re-embrace of America Greatness.

If you read my blog, you will see that I was once in the “never-Trump” camp. However, he won the electoral college and he is my president. He is all of America’s president no matter what some protesters’ signs declare. And if he were not to be the President, Vice President Pence would be president and we would still be working towards goodness. And, at the core of this issue is not President Trump at all. The core issue is whether you agree with the election that resulted in American’s voting for this goodness.

If President Trump is found guilty of collusion with the Russians, of obstructing justice, of assaulting a woman, cheating on his taxes, breaking the espionage act, or any other high-crime or misdemeanor, I will be the first to raise my voice for impeachment (maybe not over taxes). However, we are so far away from that place that it is unjust to the man and to the office to be even muttering the “I” word. Please grow up. Donald J. Trump is the President of the United States of America. Our justice system works. If there is any real issue, it will be dealt with properly. Do not judge and convict the President of the United States on national TV without any substantiated facts. Then again, that behavior does further your true objective of impeding President Trump's agenda to make America great again.

President Trump has shown strong leadership in dealing with the Syrian’s use of chemical weapons, in extracting an American family from an Egyptian jail, in letting North Korea know we are no longer engaged in strategic-patience, in strong-arming American companies into investing in America, in cracking down on illegal-immigrant criminals, in cracking down on gangs, in allowing the dream act to remain in place, and in shepherding the American Health Care Act through Congress. President Trump is doing everything that he said he would do when he asked America to make him the President. And, America made him the President.

The rating-grabbing teasers, headlines and unsourced stories are only causing some delusional Americans to believe that they can stop President Trump from making America great again. This is because they do not share the same view of greatness. The debate of what constitutes greatness was conducted during the campaign. The election decided the outcome. That is why Donald J. Trump is president.

I suggest the following changes in your life: 1) stop watching cable news, especially the Constantly Negative Network (CNN), 2) read only your local newspapers, 3) watch one hour of news per day maximum, 4) spend your extra time with your family, 5) and most importantly, ask yourself these questions every time you watch or read a news story:

·       Is there a real source (somebody’s name, not an anonymous source)?

·       Does the publisher of the story (the network or newspaper involved) have a track record of spewing negative stories for one-side but seems to always protect the other?

·       Can the story be attributed to President Trump being a different type of president (i.e.: not experienced in politics and learning on-the-job)?

·       Does the story seem to make a link to ill or even criminal intent without really establishing any known intent? If the Russians attempted to intervene in our democratic process while candidate Trump was speaking of better relations with Russia, can you really conclude that candidate Trump was colluding with the Russians? Okay, General Flynn was in contact with the Russians. Do you think that the Clinton campaign had no contact with the Russians while preparing to take over the White House? General Flynn has other issues but they do not relate to President Trump.

·       Just to make you ponder over the issue of subverting our democratic process: Why is there not an investigation into Representative Wasserman-Schultz's subversion of the Democratic Primary election? Without the DNC’s direct and admitted intervention into the democratic process, Senator Sanders may be the president today. The mainstream media never thought that to be an issue worthy of a federal investigation. Why not? Why President Trump?

Remember Joe Friday; just the facts Ma’am. When I look at the facts, I see an amazing team running the government. I see strength and leadership. I see the world taking notice that the United States is no longer the impotent sleeping giant. I see a lot of action that can do good things for America but I also see a lot of “resistance” that wants to stop goodness in America. I also see a bunch of talking-heads pretending to be patriots but who are only out to line their own pockets through high ratings. I see the media trying to bully the Trump administration because they view President Trump to be a bully. That makes sense, huh?

You know what else I see? I see the “resistance” as an adolescent child who was once the bully of the class but a new kid came to town. The bully is no longer the end-all-to-be-all. And, I see that little brat telling tales out of school in a vain attempt to undermine the credibility of the new kid on the block. The new kid will be a bully if he must for the good of his classmates but not for his own benefit. And, it is not his preference. He would rather be inclusive and let the whole class achieve great things together. In that regard, despite his coarseness, I see the new kid on the block being very presidential.

If this article was talking for you, send it to your friends and have a chuckle at the water cooler. If the article was talking to you, think about it and follow the recommended changes for a week. Then, re-read the article and see if it then talks for you. If it does, send it to you friends. Then, look for new friends. Close-minded people do not like to have their views challenged.

Bottom line, accept Trump as Trump and give him a chance.