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Showing posts with label ObamaCare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ObamaCare. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2026

Posat #7618 M: Jon Stewart Invites Panel of Trumps to Debate Iran War; Classic Stossel: Obamacare; An unusual lease agreement leads to government losing a forfeiture case

 Quote of the Day

To the world you may be just one person, 
but to one person you may be the world.
Brandi Snyder  

Jon Stewart Invites Panel of Trumps to Debate Iran War

Classic Stossel: Obamacare

An unusual lease agreement leads to government losing a forfeiture case

Choose Life

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Matt Davies via Politico

Musical Interlude: 1963 Top 100 Hits

Deep Purple - Nino Tempo & April Stevens

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Saturday, October 18, 2025

Post #7404 M: Six Reasons to Not Extend the Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies; Watching Trump Eat McDonald's | Racist Young Republicans | Why Mike Johnson Won't Seat Rep. Grijalva; Introducing Immunity

 Quote of the Day

One of the strongest characteristics of genius is 
the power of lighting its own fire.
John Foster  

Six Reasons to Not Extend the Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies

Watching Trump Eat McDonald's | Racist Young Republicans | Why Mike Johnson Won't Seat Rep. Grijalva

Introducing Immunity™: The Legal Drug That Erases Consequences

Choose Life

Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Nick Anderson via US News

Musical Interlude: 1962 Top 100 Hits

Sealed With A Kiss - Brian Hyland

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Monday, August 26, 2024

Post #6889 M: Stossel on Kamala Harris’s Track Record; Young Americans “Spiraling”; Joe Biden's Speech at The DNC

 Quote of the Day

The gem cannot be polished without friction, 
nor man perfected without trials.
Chinese proverb  

Stossel on Kamala Harris’s Track Record

Young Americans “Spiraling”

Joe Biden's Speech at The DNC

Choose Life

Musical Interlude: Duos

Captain & Tennille, "I'm On My Way"

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Friday, February 12, 2021

Post #5017 M: The Nightmare of ObamaCare and Biden; Did the New Deal End the Depression?; The Opportunity Costs of FDA Vaccination Approvals

 Quote of the Day

Most men talk too much. 
Much of my success has been due to 
keeping my mouth shut.
J. Ogden Armour  

The Nightmare of ObamaCare and Biden

Did the New Deal End the Depression?

The Opportunity Costs of FDA Vaccination Approvals


Choose Life

Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Tom Stiglich via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 1970

/Shocking Blue, "Venus"

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Sunday, November 1, 2020

Post #4866 M: A Child's Cancer and ObamaCare; Milton Friedman's Free to Choose

 Quote of the Day

No matter who says what, 
you should accept it with a smile 
and do your own work.
Mother Teresa

A Child's Cancer and ObamaCare

Political Humor

Milton Friedman's Free to Choose

 

Choose Life 

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Al Goodwyn via Townhall

Musical Interlude: #1 Hits of 1966

Winchester Cathedral/The New Vaudeville Band

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Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Post #4605 M: Ron Paul on COVID-19 Authoritarians; Stossel on the Evil Rich(?)

Quote of the Day

The greatest thrill known to man isn't flying--it's landing.
Author unknown  

Ron Paul on COVID-19 Authoritarians



Stossel on the Evil Rich(?)



The Little Sisters of the Poor



Choose Life





Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Bob Gorrell via Townhall


Musical Interlude: The Beatles

"Twist and Shout"

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Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Post #4058 M: Income Mobility; Stossel on Crony Capitalism; Ron Paul on TrumpCare

Quote of the Day

Do not throw the arrow which will return against you.
Kurdish Proverb  

Income Mobility



Stossel on Crony Capitalism



Ron Paul on Trump's ObamaCare Reform




Choose Life










Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Steve Breen via Townhall


Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Phil Collins, "You Can't Hurry Love". His first top 10 hit is a cover of the Supremes' classic hit.

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Thursday, February 21, 2019

Post #3997 M: Countdown 3 to 4000; Meet a Dreamer; the Blessed Virgin Mary; Medicare For All

Quote of the Day




















Meet a Dreamer



Chief Justice Roberts and the Wrong Kind of Judicial Restraint: ObamaCare




A Senior Lady is Fighting to Keep Her Picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary



Choose Life



Isn't she a cutie?





Political Cartoon Medicare For All



Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Paul Simon (with Phoebe Snow), "Gone At Last"


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Sunday, June 10, 2018

Post #3699 M: ObamaCare is Dying, the Folly of the Minimum Wage and More

Quote of the Day

The family is the nucleus of civilization.
Will Durant  

The Folly of the Minimum Wage




Trump Administration v ObamaCare




EU/US Differences on the G-7 and Tariffs


This is where I hold a split verdict. I support Trump's position to restore Russia to the G-7(8). I consider things like economic sanctions and isolation of Russia as unnecessary and counterproductive, but I see Trump's unilateral assault on trade as morally unjustifiable and economically illiterate.



Trump's Tariffs Are Taxes on American Consumers




Political Cartoon



Courtesy of Chip Bok via Townhall


Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Elton John, "Crocodile Rock". His first #1 hit.

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Sunday, October 15, 2017

Post #3400 M

Quote of the Day

The future is uncertain... 
but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity.
Ilya Prigogine 


Tweet of the Day
















Cato Institute/Libertarianism.org: Encyclopedia of Libertarianism


Che Guevara: Not As Cool As "Progressive" T Shirts Would Have You Think

I thought I had clipped an English-speaking clip, but you should be able to follow from context (exhibits, etc.) My rusty high school Spanish easily followed along. I want to buy one of those even cooler "No Che" T shirts.



REAL Healthcare Reform




The Magic of a 4YO On a Lonely Old Man Grocery Shopping




This Hit Is a Year Old But I First Heard It This Weekend. WOW!




My Greatest Hits: Oct 2017

Interesting. The top read post is just over the weekend and could be one of my most popular ever. There were some personal stories in that one, and I think there is an appeal to integrate actual life experiences in posts. In fact, my top 4 posts were journal or one-off posts.

Facebook Corner and Clips

I am a clipper of various potential sources of potential blog segments. (Shout out to CintaNotes.) In these cases I didn't follow up the clips and/or retain precise post links. As usual, blue signifies the original poster, purple a different commenter, and red my own response.

Anything Left-Handed
13 hrs ·
We want to know... is your left hand always the dominant one, or do you use your right hand for certain activities? 🤔💭
Very few people who consider themselves left-handed do absolutely everything with their left hand. Comment below with the main thing you do with your RIGHT hand.
We ran a survey to find out which hand left-handers use in different situations and you can see the results here.
http://www.lefthandersday.com/surveys/lh-test-results…
I haven't thrown much since college intramural softball. I throw with both arms (prefer left, more of a natural sidearm with my left, overhead, actually harder with my right. I mostly threw footballs with my right, batted right handed. I prefer left but I have eaten (with a utensil) using my right hand.

 (separate)
It seems that former Republicans navigate to the LP nomination. That being said, I wouldn't mind seeing Rand Paul, Justin Amash, or Thomas Massie going for it.

Andrew James Diseker Or you're sarcastically repeating the stupidity that's going around the Reason offices so as to make a point about the contradiction between "Trump is an evil idiot who doesn't know what he's doing" and "Trump is an evil mastermind who will succeed in destroying the nation if he's not stopped."
Ronald A Guillemette Andrew James Diseker No, nobody at Reason thinks Trump has a brain or is a mastermind. Trump is a self-serving moron who doesn't understand the implications of his ignorance and neither do his equally economically illiterate cultists.

These same union leaders who criticize the salaries of CEOs earned on average $252,370 in 2016 — nearly $60,000 more than their private-sector counterparts.

"Take Jason Greenslate, the 28-year-old resident of San Diego, whom Fox News profiled in 2013. Video clips, which went viral, showed Greenslate buying sushi and lobster with a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit card issued by the government."

Catholic Libertarians
1 hr ·
From a protestant libertarian: «...The Pope’s explanation of libertarianism is incredibly flawed. Libertarianism is none of these things, it is simply the belief that government coercion on personal actions should be as limited as possible. It is not a rejection of social bonds, or a denial of the common good. It is, to most, the opposite. Most libertarians believe wholeheartedly that by lifting the threat of force and letting people interact freely, we will have a more prosperous and more pro-social society.
Notice, however, that I said most.
This is where Pope Francis finds an element of truth. There is a very sizable minority of libertarians who are not pro-social. This minority does not care about the freedom and well-being of all people. They are simply libertarians because they believe that they should be able to do what the Pope has described. They actually want to ‘expand their power’ at the expense of the majority. These are Brutalists. This is, however, where the truth of the Pope’s statement ends.
The Pope does not seem to understand libertarian philosophy, and this statement shows his ignorance. He has associated the simple desire for less coercion to good deeds, to be a rejection of doing good deeds...»

 (Pro-Life Libertarians). PRO-LIFE: According to embryology, human life begins at conception.

 PRO-CHOICE: Jesus never said anything about abortion! Keep your theology off my biology, you misogynist!

 # ProLife # MarchforScience

It's disingenuous when the pro-aborts ignore the fact that the Ten Commandments prohibit murder, lying, and stealing, but none of these ideologues argue that laws against them involve imposing Jewish/Christian ethics on others.

 Abortion was clearly seen as sinful in the context of the Old Testament, and there can be no serious doubt where Jesus stood on the practice: Jesus loved the little children (e.g., Mt 19:14) and even opposed the use of sanctioned violence against sinful women. (Rome practiced abortion and infanticide, but it was not an acceptable practice in Israel, so it's hardly surprising that Jesus' opposition is not recorded in the Gospel.) But the fact is that the Didache, one of the earliest Christian writings which experts have dated from the first century, explicitly condemned abortion. One would expect the early Christians, evangelizing beyond Israel in the Roman Empire even to Rome, would confront the issue. And the Didache expresses no ambiguity about abortion and sexual promiscuity tolerated in Roman society.
Abortion is not a religious issue but a moral one. I think the reason I've addressed the point is that pro-abort Christians in Name Only are trying to rationalize subordinating their faith to their political ideology. (They've also distorted Scriptures to portray Christ as anti-market, which is a flat out lie. Christ never condemned wealth but an obsession with it.)

 NR http://www.nationalreview.com/article/443415/angry-white-men-trump?utm_source=nr&utm_campaign=angry-men&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=murdock

 Donald J. Trump won by appealing to all races, genders, and education levels -- as shown by exit polls and data after the election.

Sorry liberals, your theories are pure fiction.
I believe that Romney actually won a higher percentage of white males.


Choose Life: Babies and Their Hero Daddies






Political Cartoon


Courtesy of the original artist via Conservative Review on FB


Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists


Dolly Parton, "Love is Like a Butterfly"


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Monday, September 4, 2017

Post #3350 M Happy Capital Day!


Quote of the Day

To the world you may be just one person, 
but to one person you may be the world.
Brandi Snyder  


Tweet of the Day


































A Good Analysis of Why ObamaCare Failed




Available Jobs Not Requiring a College Degree





Wasteful Government Spending




Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Lisa Benson via Townhall



Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists


Michael Bolton, "That's What Love Is All About"

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Thursday, July 20, 2017

Post #3293 J

I Feel A Rant Coming On

I've posted profusely on Twitter and/or Facebook. I used to be much more visible on Facebook, but part of the problem was I would write these long beautiful comments no one would read and/or I would find trolls just crapping all over it with ad hominem attacks. It's not that I have a thin skin--I really don't really need or want the approval of these trolls. I once posted a sweet photo of my beautiful redhead niece hugging me. What people didn't know was this photo was taken by my middle brother at the post-funeral reception in honor of my father. I really didn't feel well, over and beyond the recent loss of my Dad. I did have something to eat but my stomach was churning. My grandniece noticed me sitting alone and spontaneously came over to me and give me a gentle sweet hug, a bright ray of sunshine on a very bad day.

So a lot of trolls were speaking nonsensical trash, like how she better watch out, or I would eat her, too, or speculating she was my daughter (not in a complimentary way). I didn't mind it when they were calling me fat, but lay off the little girl with a heart of gold, who is not responsible for her uncle's "crackpot views". I pulled the photo from my profile.

And I've had my share of battles with fellow libertarians. Many libertarian portals, like Reason and Cato Institute, were positively giddy over the legalization of "gay marriage"; I was appalled by a central court trumping traditionally locally enforced marriage law, which violates the localization principle. I felt the more principled position was one of privatizing marriage.

And if and when Cato Institute posts pro-immigration pieces, the Trumpkins and alt-rightist trolls crawl out of the woodwork to hit and run anyone posting a favorable comment. As a libertarian, I'm rather used to being a lone wolf, but few of us apparently have the stomach for taking them on. Well, I do, but I don't have the time or patience to ward off hundreds of brain-dead alt-righters.

Twitter is a different platform. It's very difficult to get your message across in 140 characters or less. Still some of my tweets have done spectacularly well. For example, over the past month, I've had 7 tweets with over 1000 impressions (2 of them yesterday) and probably dozens of others over 100. I still struggle with maintaining civility when I deal with "progressives" or alt-righters; I still want to lash out with "retard", "idiot", "fascist", etc. I really don't want to obfuscate my message with crude name calling. I'm not trying to defend that use of language, and I don't doubt I've lost Twitter followers over it. But usually I'm pairing it with a point I'm trying to get across. Why use the terms, then? I liken it to something like Cher's slap across the face in "Moonstruck": "Snap out of it!" Also, I get a huge amount of satisfaction when leftists are totally confused over the application to "fascists" to themselves. They consider it a popular pejorative to hurl at right-wingers, think it's self-evident that the Germans and Italians were right-wingers. But if you look at them, they subordinated the individual to the State--and the business/industry to the State. They favored social welfare; consider, for instance, this Wikipedia extract on Mussolini:
By 1925 the Fascist government had “embarked upon an elaborate program” that included food supplementary assistance, infant care, maternity assistance, general healthcare, wage supplements, paid vacations, unemployment benefits, illness insurance, occupational disease insurance, general family assistance, public housing, and old age and disability insurance.[14] As for public works, “the Mussolini’s administration “devoted 400 million lire of public monies” for school construction between 1922 and 1942, compared to only 60 million lire between 1862 and 1922.[15]
It's difficult to argue xenophobia/immigration restrictions are distinctively right-wing; recall that Bernie Sanders claimed that "open borders" was Koch brothers' conspiracy. And government controls of the economy can come from the left or the right in the counterproductive pursuit of economic security or social justice, whether we are talking trade or monetary manipulation, infrastructure investment, etc.

There were a couple of topics yesterday that set me off: (1) voter fraud and (2) people "losing" their healthcare on an ObamaCare repeal. I need to discuss these matters in more than a soundbite. (Yes, I am aware that I could write a passage and then attach it as an image to a tweet.)

I ran into an exchange with a bleeding-heart progressive furious over the Trump Administration's attempts to address voter fraud at the federal level. which he regarded as intentionally discriminatory towards lower-income people, perhaps homeless, not owning a registered car, the whole discussion of disparate impact. Disparate impact is different than disparate treatment. Disparate treatment is what most of us would regard as intrinsically discriminatory, e.g.,  a black child living in the same apartment building as a similar-age white child cannot attend the same public school because of a government-based segregation policy.

Now suppose the same white child attends a private school costing $10,000/year. The school is willing to accept the black child, but his lower middle-income parents don't have $10,000. Is it fair that the black child might be stuck at a lower-rated public school? Perhaps not.  But then life can be "unfair". When luxury car dealers raise prices, they price me out of the market. Trump could probably buy a fleet in different colors without breaking a sweat. I work as hard or harder than Trump. Why is it fair he can buy a fleet and I can't even afford one? The prices have a disparate effect based on one's income. It's not really that the dealer is deliberately trying to prevent me from buying a car; for one thing, he's accruing costs for unsold vehicles on his lot. It's insane for him to sell me the car below his costs just because it's easier for me to finance.

As Chief Justice Roberts pointed out, the answer to discrimination is not to discriminate. For example, most engineers are male. (Let me point out that I have a niece-in-law who is an engineer.) This is not necessarily evidence of discrimination against prospective female engineers. Women are not assigned by the State into professions. There may be gender-based differences in preferences. I know my middle brother had his sights on becoming a chemical engineer because he could make a lot of money. And he was right. I set my sights on being a professor. I could make a comfortable living as a professor, but I had students who would make more 3 years after graduation. So my brother and his wife have always lived in the biggest, best house in the family, they take annual vacations and own a timeshare in Mexico. I think he's vested in two pension systems if and when he decides to retire. Am I jealous? Hell NO! I remember how hard he had to work as an undergrad at Texas. He owned a house in east Texas while I could barely make my rent payments as a UH graduate student. My attitude has always been, good for him! If anyone deserves success, he does; I'm proud of and happy for him. I despise the Politics of Envy. My engineer brother and (our) nephews can't figure out why I didn't do the same; I certainly had the aptitude. The answer is that I had non-financial career goals and preferences. I loved being a professor, despite all the petty politics; I loved lecturing, researching, and service; I was very good at those activities, not that university evaluation schemes recognized my efforts.

The problem here is that statistics are basically sliced and diced to fit the leftists' agenda, and any difference is seen as the result of intentional or subconscious discrimination. Nonsense! If women are disproportionately attracted to lower primary school education, why would it be fair to implement a policy of minimal male representation? It may well be we would shut out more talented women just to enforce an arbitrary quota. It's not up for us to say, "You silly women, instead of going into this low-paying profession, you could make far more as engineers." That's elitist and condescending.

We should have serious safeguards against fraud. And yes, the progressive troll rolled out his predictable tired argument that all these studies "prove" the actual incidents of fraud are negligible. That's just nonsense from an even casual reflection on disputed elections in American history. These purported studies simply don't obtain sufficient data, never mind control for variations in voting laws. Even comparisons before/after voter ID laws shouldn't assume that any difference is due to the voter ID law; for example, blacks didn't turn out as much as when Obama headed the ballot.  And it doesn't make sense that we require more evidence of identity in cashing a check than in ensuring the integrity of our elections.

So the progressive troll is afraid that ensuring the integrity of our elections with more rigorous rules will deprive more marginal residents of their right to vote. It would be one thing, for example, if the homeless were not allowed to vote, but there are ways for the homeless to register. I think these numbers (of missing voters) are grossly exaggerated, not unlike the numbers of people with preexisting conditions denied insurance. Early ObamaCare was actually a test case where those who could document they couldn't get insurance locally qualified for the PCIP program: max enrollment? Less than 115K. In a country of 320M. And THIS is what the Dems are using to try to blackmail the country into this unaffordable monstrosity of ObamaCare?

Which leads us to the final part of my rant. Moderate Republicans are freaking out that voters will punish them if they are seen as throwing people out of healthcare policies. Let's point out that there are already exceptions to the mandate for financial hardship and skyrocketing premiums under ObamaCare. Hospitals already couldn't turn away patients on ability to pay for emergency care (not that turning dying people away is that great for publicity). Catastrophic care would cost a lot less, if it was an option, and people would quickly take to more frugal spending of  (say,) health security account money for goods and services. We could liberalize cross-state insurance pools, self-insuring entities, allow for a more transparent market in terms of prices, etc. The point is if we allowed a more cafeteria style approach than an overengineered plan that confounds insurance with normal expenses, we could see more people insuring or getting health benefits. What the GOP needs to do is improve competition among providers, and there are a ton of ways to get there, including occupational licensing reform, elimination of certificate of need, interstate providers of catastrophic-like health plans. If you free the market, the healthcare providers will come.
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Sunday, June 25, 2017

Post #3266 M

Quote of the Day

The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.
Faye Wattleton  


Tweet of the Day





Image of the Day



Obama: You Built THAT



HSA's




The Free Market Is the Answer




Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall



Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists


 Neil Diamond, "Say Maybe"

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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Post #3264 M

Quote of the Day

Ideas are like rabbits. 
You get a couple and learn how to handle them, 
and pretty soon you have a dozen. 
John Steinbeck  


Tweet of the Day























Image of the Day




The Big Cost of ObamaCare




The Right of Self-Defense





Probably the Best Thing I Have Read Over the Last 20 Years




Porcfest 2017 Just Concluded: Here's Last Year



Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Jerry Holbert via Townhall

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists


Neil Diamond, "Forever in Blue Jeans". On my high-rotation list.

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Thursday, May 4, 2017

Post #3203 M

Quote of the Day

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Abraham Lincoln  

Tweet of the Day




ObamaCare vs. Small Business Jobs





Debunking Scandinavian Socialist Utopia


I stumbled about this clip while playing a Cato Institute podcast backlog. A couple of points that I particularly noted here:

  • The comparative longevity of Scandinavians seems to be more cultural/lifestyle, e.g., more active lifestyle, better diet. Moreover the gap with Americans HAS NARROWED since Scandinavians implemented a larger welfare state.
  • The Milton Friedman point: Scandinavian-Americans tend to have characteristics (e.g., lower poverty) similar to ancestral homeland natives.




Classic Rothbard




Economic History: The Gilded Era: US Becomes Biggest Economy





Facebook Corner


(Catholic Libertarians). This page is critical of Trump, but gives credit where it's due. Thoughts?
« President Donald Trump signed a religious liberty executive order today that would protect Christian organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor from being forced to pay for abortions. “Freedom is not a gift from government. it is a gift from God,” Trump said in signing the order. »
I don't believe in abortion, but I don't think we should push women, to the back allies, and using knitting needles, fish hooks, or there husbands hunting knife, like they did back in the early days, including in the 1970is and even the 90is, or do if they can afford it, like the rich who went out of the Country to Europe to have the abortion
People can abuse freedom by violating the rights of others. Certainly there's nothing that prevents parents from abusing or neglecting a newborn baby; we only have indirect control through criminal law. People often do self-destructive things; they need to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions. We are not the policeman for other people's lives.


Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Robert Ariail via Townhall


Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists


Amy Grant, "That's What Love Is For"

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