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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Open Thread


So, what's on your mind?

Please opine on the topic of your choice according to the parameters below:

We welcome civil dialogue at Always on Watch. Comments that include any of the following are subject to deletion:
1. Any use of profanity or abusive language
2. Off topic comments and spam
3. Use of personal invective

Note: comments consisting of blog gossip will be deleted as soon as an administrator of this blog becomes aware of such comments.

61 comments:

  1. It's not just Trump

    "Here they have a clean shot to take the White House in 2012 and they troop out this Gong Show* cast of contestants, most of whom couldn’t find their ass on a map and speak entirely in re-masticated phrases and sentiments tossed into their mouths by Rush Limbaugh, Grover Norquist, and Frank Luntz for years. The Republican field reflects the weak-minded, strong-willed prejudices of its base, hooked up to Fox News as if it were an IV drip."

    It's pretty clear that not much has changed.
    It's time for the Republican party to take a good look at itself and where all the hate media has brought it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Duck,
      Ahem.

      Let's be realistic.

      The Left is just as tied to their own hate media. They are hooked up to [their media and mouthpieces] as if it were an IV drip.

      And you know that it is true that Leftist often speak entirely in re-masticated phrases and sentiments.

      Both sides do a great deal of parroting.

      Delete
    2. No AOW, after these many years of "libtards" and "liberalism is a mental disease" it's time to look at just what the right has wrought over last few decades.

      None of this "both sides" stuff.

      Listen to "Democracy Now!" and then listen to Limbaugh.
      Just today we have a blog pining for Andrew Breitbart and how much we need that agitprop.

      It is now time for the right to look at what they have created.

      Delete
    3. Reaction duck. PURE reaction to the LEFT FREAKSHOW.

      Delete
    4. ps - Amy Goodman is nothing but a Baptist Preacher gone Atheist.

      Delete
    5. No, I don't have blinders on. I try to be critical.
      Let's try another example, Citizens United .

      Now we are going through an election that is an absolute travesty. The major media outlets are very open about how much money they are making and we are being bombarded by pithy sound bites and so called debates that degenerate to pee-pee jokes.

      Remember when the debates were moderated by The League of Women Voters ? There was a much more adult tone.
      Now, I suspect the average conservative dislikes this state of affairs as much as I do and one of the more productive things we could do is get that ruling repealed and also demand that our elections not be run as a for profit sideshow.

      But there is no way to form an alliance on this matter. If the right started to complain you'd have The Vulgar Gasbag spewing all over Elizabeth Warren and anyone else who tried to broach the issue.
      Bad situation and I assure you my eyes are wide open.

      Delete
    6. Canardo is just a typical Assachewschitsian Commie Loon.

      

He really thinks he means quite well,
      
Although he serves the Lord of Hell.

      Disaster his forebears befell

      The day they cracked the Liberty Bell.

      He can't admit his stock is poor,
      
So he's become a crashing bore.
      Spewing poison in the air
      In vain pretense of being fair.


      ~ Anne Animus

      Delete
    7. Ducky,

      I share your alarm at the amount of corporate money in politics, but what is the alternative? Citizens United clamps down on free speech. It was over an anti-Hillary book (if I remember) and her peeps tried to brand it electioneering or some such.

      If you get some dangerous rightwinger blasting away at green energy companies from the stump, they can't fire back?

      It is simple-minded to simply call for overturning CU.

      and btw, it is "Liberalism is a mental disorder"

      Delete
    8. Anyone who screams about the dangers of Christianity but defends Islam and supports mass immigration from muslim lands is mentally-disordered.

      Anyone who rightly stands up for free speech, freedom from religion, the rights of women and gays, but turns a blind eye to daily Muslim violations of all those beautiful ideals is mentally disordered.

      Anyone who shrieks about Wall Street and global corporations, but refuses to see the Democrat hogs have their snouts in the trough just as deeply, is mentally-disordered.

      Anyone who thinks shutting down whole chunks of our economies and mandating expensive green energy--making marginal societies even more miserable--all for the foolish attempt to turn down the earth's thermostat 2.3 degrees celsius, is mentally-disordered.

      Anyone who--in the bald-faced absence of any evidence-- think Democrats are "for the working man," or "looking out for the little guy," is mentally-disordered.

      This is not liberal bashing. cons suffer disorders of their own...

      Delete
  2. Only the uninformed would be satisfied with the empty Pant-Suit as their nominee. No poll needed for that.

    Hillary has gotten lots of endorsements from various walks of life as I have listed below. Sybrina Fulton, the Mother of Trayvon Martin; and Gwen Carr, and the Mother of Eric Garner. Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'donnell, and Joy Behar,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Virginia Governor McAulliffe vetoed the "Tebow Bill", which would have allowed homeschooled children, who meet the academic requirements purulent to the Virginia High School League [VHSL], the ability to compete for and on public school sports and other extracurricular activities teams.

    So, while my tax dollars specifically support these very activities, because choose a better education for my children [at my own, non-tax credited expense], my children cannot be afforded any of the 'privileges' of the government school system?

    Nice. I ask again....where have the radical Leftists all gone? They've become the Statist machine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CI,
      I saw that information about the veto of the "Tebow Bill."

      The Statist machine will steamroll over all who do not conform. Student athletes must be indoctrinated -- or else they will not be allowed to participate in the privileges.

      Delete
    2. Terry McAuliffe is stinking leftist turd with a very bad Upper New York State accent. He should NEVER have been able to get himself selected governor of Virginia. Who stuffed the ballot boxes? Who voted from the cemeteries? Who confiscated Republican ballots?

      Delete
    3. FT,
      It stunned many Virginians that McAuliffd got elected.

      Delete
    4. Present company excepted, Virginia now spills over with DC teat-sucklers who know which side their bread is buttered on.

      Virginia, along with Pennsylvania is now solidly in the North-East political camp.

      Delete
    5. SF,
      Northern Virginia, where so many are government employees or employed via government contracts, swept McAuliffe into office.

      Until the heavily populated, "close-in" precincts came in, Virginia wasn't going for McAuliffe.

      Delete
  4. Dr. Ben Carson said Thursday that it wasn't "helpful" for former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to devote an entire speech to criticizing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

    "I don't think it is the proper place for somebody which is the former standard bearer to be criticizing the leading contender at this time in such a negative way," Carson said in a live interview with Yahoo! News. "I don't see how that's helpful."

    ReplyDelete
  5. Speaking of re-masticated, Ducky: Ted Cruz totally blew it for me on the etiquette chart. It was bad enough to see the food debris migrated from his upper to his lower lip and then to watch as he whisked it back into his mouth. Didn't he have a handkerchief on him?

    Regarding the cacophony regarding Trump dominating with the time element, it was handed to him fair and square. Cruz and Rubio tried to knee cap him constantly which allowed him a thirty second rebuttal. Between them, they gave him one-third more time to respond, but he extended that 1/3 advantage to 1/2 by speaking for much longer.

    The GOP is being routed fair and square. They have shown themselves merciless with regard to their constituents and gratuitous with regard to their own self-interest.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 
POSTED for YOUR QUESTIONS, CRiTICAL OBSERVATIONS, and CONSTRUCTIVE EMENDATIONS:

    CONSERVATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS for MEDICAL CARE REFORM


    

1. All Medical Insurance Premiums should 100% tax-deductible.



    2. The cost of all visits to doctors should be 100% tax-deductible.



    3. The cost of all laboratory work should be 100% tax-deductible.

    

4. The cost of all hospital stays should be 100% tax-deductible.

    5. The cost of all surgical procedures, and follow-up visits, whether in-hospital our outpatient, should be 100% tax-deductible.

    


6. The cost of all doctor-recommended Medications, whether prescription drugs or over-the-counter preparations should be 100% tax-deductible.

    


7. The cost of all transportation to and from medical facilities and pharmacies should be 100% tax-deductible.

    8. Contributions to Medical Savings Accounts up to 15% of each person’s gross income should be 100% tax-deductible.

IN ADDITION:

    

9. Medical Insurance in a wide variety of programs tailor-made to suit the specific needs and financial limitations of each individual subscriber at a variety of cost levels –– from deluxe Concierge Services that cover 100% of all costs, down to Major Medical policies with high deductibles designed to cover only Catastrophic conditions –– should be available to all people. 



    10. All Medical Insurance Policies should be portable with no lapse in coverage from job-to-job, job-to unemployment, and state-to-state in every state in the land.



    11. No one should be excluded, because of pre-existing conditions.



    12. Those who truly can’t afford to buy medical insurance at any level should be subsidized on a sliding scale. A special federal fund should be set aside and used EXCLUSIVELY for this purpose and for no other.



    13. Rich and upper-middle-class individuals should NOT be prohibited from using their wealth to buy better quality medical care.



    14. Generous-spirited individuals who take it upon themselves to help those less fortunate to subsidize their income and help pay their medical costs should be permitted to deduct every single cent they give voluntarily for the benefit of others from their taxable income.



    15. Gay partners in stable, committed relationships who share a household and have taken responsibility for each other’s well-being for at least five years should 



    A) Be able to visit their loved one in hospitals and ICU facilities,

    

B) Should be privy to all Patient Information, 



    C) Should be permitted to consult freely with whatever doctors or nursing staff may be involved as any lawfully-wedded spouse would.

    

D) Should be permitted to make medical decisions for a partner who is unable to do so for him or her self.



    16. Insurance policies for senior citizens with a clause also for victims of tragic, crippling accidents should provide unlimited access to In-Home Health Care Service as long as it may be needed, or the cost of Nursing Home Care should it be should it be absolutely necessary.



    17. Veterans of Foreign Wars should be given full and free access to ALL private doctors and health care facilities free of charge. The federal government should foot the bill. In this way we could phase out the cumbersome, inefficient, cruelly insensitive VA hospitals, which would 



    A) Enable veterans to be treated as well as other citizens, and

    

B) eliminate a large, wasteful, criminally unresponsive federal bureaucracy.


    

18. All citizens should be have access to the services of whatever doctors and medical facilities they prefer. PERIOD!

    ReplyDelete
  7. DONALD TRUMP HAS AN EIGHT-POINT HEALTHCARE PLAN
    Republican front-runner releases policy paper
    Release comes hours before Thursday’s GOP debate
    In recent debate, rivals blasted him for ‘vague’ healthcare plan




    Donald Trump released an eight-point health care policy paper this week ...

    The release comes one day before Thursday’s Republican debate. Trump was needled during last week’s debate, for being vague about his plans to reform health care. The policy paper released Wednesday is Trump’s sixth. ....

    Each of the four remaining Republican candidates have pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

    THE DETAILS of TRUMP’S PLAN

    1. Repeal Obamacare. “Our elected representatives must eliminate the individual mandate. No person should be required to buy insurance unless he or she wants to,” the plan says.

    2.Repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act, and allow the sale of insurance across state lines. “By allowing full competition in this market, insurance costs will go down and consumer satisfaction will go up,” it says.

    3. Allow tax payers to fully deduct health insurance premium payments in their tax returns, as businesses can. The plan asks: “Businesses are allowed to take these deductions so why wouldn’t Congress allow individuals the same exemptions?”

    4. Review basic options for Medicaid and work with states to ensure that those who want healthcare coverage can have it.


    5. Allow all individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and make those contributions tax-free and allow them to accumulate year after year. Make them part of an individual’s estate, able to be passed on to heirs without fear of any death penalty.

    6. Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, including clinics and hospitals.

    7. Block-grant Medicaid to the states. Incentivize the states to seek out and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse to preserve government resources.

    8. Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, generic options. “Congress will need the courage to step away from the special interests and do what is right for America. Though the pharmaceutical industry is in the private sector, drug companies provide a public service,” the plan says.


    Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article63786822.html#storylink=cpy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FT... the problem is with, or without the ACA, we have mandated coverage.

      If someone chooses to forgo insurance, no hospital in the land can say "so sorry" when he, or she cannot pay for coverage. Few families will accept Grandma dying for lack of care due to a paucity of funds. By law, established over the years, and accepted by the American people, if you are sick, you get care, ability to pay notwithstanding.

      The question becomes, who pays? Why should those people not be forced to pay part of their expenses?

      As for Trump's plan, I notice it has no mention of pre-existing conditions. What should someone like AOW do for insurance if her carrier goes out of business and she has to find new coverage for her husband? Should companies be able to deny coverage simply as a business decision and because they do not want to cover her husband?

      Delete
    2. FT... BTW, your plan is much better than Trumps, although you also do not address how we deal with those who choose not to insure and how they access and pay for services.

      Delete
    3. The ACA has serious flaws.

      For example, the Bronze Plan has a deductible over $6000. Do we really believe that those who choose that plan's premium, often subsidized, can afford a deductible that high? Those who opt for the Bronze Plan are typically low income -- and with little or no savings.

      If the deductible cannot be met by the patient, the provider eats the cost. There are very real limits as to how many such cases any provider can afford.

      Delete
    4. 12. Those who truly can’t afford to buy medical insurance at any level should be subsidized on a sliding scale. A special federal fund should be set aside and used EXCLUSIVELY for this purpose and for no other.



      Delete
    5. The above (#12) was meant for Dave Miller.

      As to your question, AOW: I will be 75 years old in less than a month. I lived in "statistical poverty" most of my adult life.

      Nevertheless, despite a very low income, I ALWAYS managed to purchase health insurance for myself, because I learned early on to BUDGET REALISTICALLY and always to PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST.

      My father died virtually bankrupt, because he had suffered a severe, paralytic stroke at age 44. Our family had been as upwardly mobile as a rocket, and considered ourselves "well to do" before that catastrophic, life altering event.

      Against all odds and dire medical prognoses my father recovered well enough to go back to work, albeit in a diminished capacity, and lived for another twenty-five years.

      During that lengthy period, he suffered THIRTEEN cardiovascular "events," including two heart attacks, additional strokes, and eventual kidney failure.

      After that he spent nearly two-months in a COMA in the dialysis ward of Lenox Hill Hospital. This happened when he was 58 years old.

      AGAIN against all odds he recovered and returned to work once again, even though he was mere shadow of his former self.

      Then, all of a sudden one day he went BLIND while he was driving to work. Fortunately, he enough presence of Mind to pull over before he had an accident . I'm sure you can imagine the repercussions from that.

      Eventually, at age 69 his poor, battered body began to shut down, and after nearly THREE MONTHS in hospital he finally left us. In the last six weeks of his life, he was blind, incontinent, with many tubes hanging out of him, and unable to recognize us.

      He had been a big handsome man –– 6' tall, 185 pounds –– with a very hearty, commanding personality, and great charm.

      At this critical, juncture the hospital EVICTED him, because Medicare would no longer pay for his care. We had no real money by then, so he was basically DUMPED into a hospital bed we had to rent that filled out dining room. Mother and I had no choice but to take turns caring for him.

      Three days later, he slipped back into a coma, and was readmitted to the hospital where, mercifully, he died the next day.

      By the time he died, he weighed SIXTY-FIVE pounds, and looked like a refugee from Hogarth's Bedlam.

      I tell you this not to evoke sympathy but to assure you that despite challenges, our family survived, because we had religious faith, and because we KNEW –– positively –– that "Where there's a will, there's way."

      Why ANYONE should dare to EXPECT Life to be Easy, I can't imagine. Life is NEVER easy, nor SHOULD it be.

      Character is formed by the way we choose to handle adversity. Having an active faith in our Triune God helps immeasurably, BUT as the saying goes, "The Lord helps those who help themselves."

      The notions espoused by Hegel, Marx, Fabian, the Frankfurt School, the Progressives, Alinsky, et al. Have a WEAKENING EFFECT on Character and Conscience both. The Communist-Socialist model has reduced a huge segment of the population to whining, whimpering, ARROGANT predatory BEGGARS who've very stupidly been led to believe "The World Owes Them a Living."

      Sorry, but it just ain't so.

      If anyone expects life to be "fair," he's a goddam fool, and deserves whatever ill befalls him.

      Should we help each other?

      OF COURSE, but as natural, consequence of the basic decency and good character that develops with a good upbringing, not because some Jack-booted Government THUGS hold a GUN to our heads, and says, "Stand and deliver, or we'll blow your head off."

      Illness is horrible. Death is inevitable, and must be accepted.


      But far worse than either of those is TYRANNY pompously masquerading as CHARITY.

      Delete
    6. Dave,
      What should someone like AOW do for insurance if her carrier goes out of business and she has to find new coverage for her husband?

      Would not HIPAA apply?

      Delete
    7. FT,
      Those who truly can’t afford to buy medical insurance at any level should be subsidized on a sliding scale.

      The problem with that is that subsidies come out of our pockets.

      If I subsidize others' health insurance, there comes a point that I cannot afford my own health insurance because more and more tax dollars are extracted from my pockets.

      Look. As a patient, I like the ideas you proposed earlier in this thread. But we must not overlook the realities of the health providers.

      And you also typed in the following:

      despite a very low income, I ALWAYS managed to purchase health insurance for myself, because I learned early on to BUDGET REALISTICALLY and always to PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

      Same thing here in this household. Mr. AOW and I always carried health insurance. We -- and our employers -- have paid in to the tune of $1 million. I'm not kidding. I calculated that one day. We have paid our dues, and others who have paid their dues should not be punished by being rated higher for pre-existing conditions (as was the case before the ACA).

      I'm convinced that the ACA will fail. Too many high-risk insureds in the pool -- high-risk insureds who never paid their dues.

      Delete
    8. Piss off Dave Miller, haven't you figured it out yet, you are dispised here and in every other Republican - conservative blog.

      Delete
    9. FT,
      The story you related about your father is played on in a similar fashion all over the United States.

      Fact: the majority of families who go medically bankrupt actually do have insurance. So, having health insurance -- no matter what type -- will not avert medical bankruptcy, not only for the patient but for the entire household.

      Delete
    10. Unlike this place, Dave is respected at Western Hero, a conservative blog. Anonymous's wretched comment about a decent man is a perfect example of the hateful Trumpism that's consuming the GOP.

      Delete
    11. Hey, Clearwater.

      Blog administrators don't delete all objectionable comments.

      Delete
  8. http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/271130-poll-majority-of-americans-feel-unaffected-by-obamacare

    Poll: Only 15 percent say they have benefited from ObamaCare

    By Sarah Ferris - 02/29/16

    Just 15 percent of people say they have personally benefited from ObamaCare, although more than one-third believe it has helped the people of their state, according to a poll released Monday.

    Most Americans — a total of 56 percent — say they haven’t felt directly affected by the Affordable Care Act. Among those who have felt affected, more people say the law has hurt them than helped them, according to polling by National Public Radio and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.


    Twenty-six percent of U.S. adults say they have been personally harmed by the healthcare law since its passage — a fraction that likely reflects those in the poll who said they have noticed rising healthcare costs in the last several years.

    And while the majority of adults said they believed their healthcare costs were “reasonable,” [BEFORE Obamacare kicked in!] many said those costs were becoming less affordable over time.

    The mixed views, found by polling 1,002 people nationally, reflects the polarization in the country on ObamaCare and healthcare generally.

    Twenty-six percent of Americans say the cost of healthcare has been a serious strain on their finances in the last two years. About 40 percent of those facing financial struggles because of their medical bills said they have spent all or most of their savings accounts on large bills. About one in five people said they’ve been forced to forego prescriptions because they can’t afford them.

    Still, nearly three-quarters of adults say they get “good value for what they pay toward the cost” of their health care. [It would be intensely interesting to see what those same people have to say in another five years, if the ACA is not repealed and replaced with something far better like the Conservative Healthcare Agendas outlined above]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FT,
      I've noticed this year that health providers are now demanding payment for at least 1/2 of the insurance policy's deductible. Up front! I'm sure that many people with ACA policies are foregoing treatment.

      But what else can providers do? Providers cannot afford to absorb every charity case that comes along and keep the doors open.

      Delete
    2. FT,
      About one in five people said they’ve been forced to forego prescriptions because they can’t afford them.

      That's true for one of Mr. AOW's prescriptions. Even with Medicare, that particular medications costs nearly $1000 for a three-month supply. And this is not a "donut hole" price, either.

      Not so long ago, the copay for that medication was $30. What happened?

      Delete
    3. I frankly do not know what the solution is for health care and health insurance.

      Delete
    4. If you're searching for perfection, AOW, you will not find it "'this side of heaven." There just ain't no such animal. Utopianism is, and always has been, doomed to suffer ignominious defeat.

      What I have offered –– and Mr. Trump too –– are a set of alternatives to Obamacare that would be far superior to those we have now, AND what we had before.

      Freeing ALL medical expenses from insurance premiums down to the last ASPIRIN table from TAXATION would greatly ease the burden on the middle class, who could then AFFORD to subsidize the very poor and truly helpless.

      The poor don't need tax breaks, and neither do the rich –– depending on how one defines "rich," of course. ;-)

      What I've proposed is a PRIVATIZATION of the Medical Care System where everyone participates but contributes only what he can afford. Public funds would kick in ONLY in cases where a deathly ill person has NO money at all, is too sick to work, and would likely die without receiving critical care.

      Getting rid of the vast unfeeling, inefficient, oppressive, BUREAUCRACY that currently administers "health care" through the IRS (!) would GREATLY reduce the cost to all individuals.

      If it were up to me most people would have MAJOR MEDICAL coverage ONLY.

      You think SIX-THOUSAND dollars is a lot of money? Believe me it is NOTHING compared to the HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS –– even MILLIONS –– of DOLLARS a catastrophic illness is likely to cost.

      I'm very sorry you've had so many negative experiences. I can't understand why I have not, even though I've dealt with many a medical crisis –– of my own as well as my father's and that of others on whom I took pity. We live in the same country after all. Maybe the problems you've had stem from that infernal AREA in which you live?

      At any rate, so far I have had no distressing changes in the care I receive since the ACA kicked in, but then I've not been seriously ill in all time.

      Doubtless a great deal of unpleasantness awaits me as I proceed towards my eightieth birthday. I don't worry about it, though.

      As the old song says:

      "What's the use of worrying?
      It never was worthwhile,
      SO pack up your troubles
      In the old kit bag
      And smile, smile, SMILE."


      The less we spend on GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE and SUPERVISION the more money –– and TIME –– medical personnel would have to spend on PATIENTS.

      Delete
    5. FT,
      But $6000 IS a lot of money if one does have it!

      BTW, deductibles roll over when the new calendar year begins.

      In Mr. AOW's case, he had a stroke on September 15, and out the door went the maximum out of pocket ($5000) in less than 30 minutes in the hospital's emergency room. January 1, we started all over again and burned through that $5000 in three months. At the same time, I was footing his health insurance premium to the tune of $680/month -- and my own health insurance premium of $259/month. Medical devices such as wheelchairs, etc., were not covered, nor at time, was there any prescription coverage. We burned through my entire annual salary in no time and dipped into our savings as well.

      Private insurances policies, BTW.

      Delete
    6. FT,
      All I'm saying is this...

      Mr. AOW and I had resources and the help of the Merry Widow, who dropped everything to come here so that I could go to work to pay the bills.

      What is we HADN'T had resources and assistance?

      It really has nothing to do with where I live. It has everything to do with the cost of getting state of the art medical care, which will never be cheap because "the best" costs bucks.

      Delete
  9. AFTER READING THIS ARTICLE (below) the QUESTION HANGS HEAVY in the AIR:

    WHY IS THIS MAN NOT BATTLING H-I-L-L-A-R-Y?

    James Comey, the Lawyer Doing Battle with Apple

    by Geoff Dyer

    The FBI chief is a formidable foe for tech companies in rows over privacy ...

    f all the skills a famous lawyer needs, James Comey enjoys the most elusive one: an uncanny knack for being at the centre of the great legal controversies of the day.

    Mr Comey was in the middle of the court battles that followed the bursting of the tech bubble and, as US deputy attorney-general, he was involved in a furious 2004 dispute within the George W Bush administration over electronic surveillance that foreshadowed the revelations made by Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor turned exiled whistleblower.


    Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 2013, Mr Comey is now the main protagonist in another defining legal battle — that over the security technologies used on smartphones, which Mr Snowden has described as “the most important technology case of the decade”. Mr Comey is taking legal action against Apple to get the company to help the FBI break the passcode of the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino killers. However Apple is screaming that the FBI’s suggested technical fix is a slippery slope that will weaken the security of all smartphones.

    Surprisingly for a man of 6ft 8in, Mr Comey exudes a self-effacing eloquence that makes him extremely popular among the members of Congress ...

    The complete article may be found at the following link:

    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/afa3a7b6-e130-11e5-9217-6ae3733a2cd1.html#axzz422vAQP33

    WHY IS THIS MAN NOT BATTLING H-I-L-L-A-R-Y?

    WHY IS THIS MAN NOT BATTLING H-I-L-L-A-R-Y?

    WHY IS THIS MAN NOT BATTLING H-I-L-L-A-R-Y?

    WHY IS THIS MAN NOT BATTLING H-I-L-L-A-R-Y?

    WHY IS THIS MAN NOT BATTLING H-I-L-L-A-R-Y?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Replies
    1. Hillary is a HARPY, aBee-Eye-Tea-Cee-Aitch and a vile, stinking Cee-You-En-Tea with a voice like a vegetable grater!

      Hillary has all the charm but none of the sweetness of MEDUSA.

      Delete
  11. Hopefully this will be the distruction and the end of Donald Trump
    And hopefully this will be the end of the Republican Party.
    Hopefully we won't make the same mistakes again but there are signs already surfacing that we may be traveling down that destructive oast again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I certainly think that he'll damage the GOP beyond repair, or almost to that point. He's neither a Republican nor a Conservative....but rather, a charlatan who uses the Constitution to gin up his next applause line. With any luck, his vaudville act will encourge Libertarian leaning Republicans to ditch the GOP and vote LP.

      Delete
    2. I'm not so sure of that, CI. You'd almost have to be a New Yorker to understand Trump. I was born and raised there, so what sounds outrageous to much of the nation sounds like "home and mother" to me.

      Things are seldom what they seem anyway. There is a great deal more to Mr. Trump than he has permitted the public to see thus far.

      Mr. Trump may not be a White Knight in Shining armor, but he is the best –– and probably the ONLY –– chance we to beat The Bitch of Benghazi into the ground never to rise again.

      Mr. Trump was not my first choice. I had hoped Dr. Carson and Carly Fiorina would capture the public's heart, but, Alas! it was not permitted to happen –– the enemedia saw to that.

      Mitt Romney is a CYPHER –– a RINO –– the moral equivalent of a Wooden Indian –– and more than a bit of a fool.

      Mr. Trump is NOT "The Enemy." The enemedia is - the GOP establishment is - and most of all the Marxian-Socialist-Statist -Tyrannist Democratic party and H. Rotten Clinton are the forces we need to focus on with laser-like intensity, and STOP harming each other.

      The Circular Firing Squad routine is beyond inane. It is sheer madness.

      Delete
    3. Yes, he is the enemy. He verbalises contempt for the Constitution at every turn. Support for Trump is to load the gun that will finally kill off the Republic.

      Delete
    4. Think what you like. You will anyway, and it 's not going to make a particle of difference. Apparently, you don't yet realize that you –– and all the rest of us –– have been rendered irrelevant. So, you might as well stay home and take a long nap on election day.

      HAIL, HILLARY, QUEEN of the DINGES, RULER of the DUNGHILL!

      Delete
    5. Repuglicons eating their own. Gotta love it! Thanks Donald! Lol!

      Delete
  12. The GOOP Mansion was already in pretty bad shape when Trump arrived...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. TRUMP is a great force capable of bringing about much needed CREATIVE DESTRUCTION, Silver..

      Delete
  13. @AOW: "Not so long ago, the copay for that medication was $30. What happened?" There is horrific price gouging going on in the prescription drug cartel world. It affects name drugs and generics, which used to be a refuge of sorts.

    See more here. The New England Journal of Medicine was a source for this (report published 2014 and picked up by PBS 2015), although Mr. Falloon has been writing about this problem much longer.

    Examples:
    Albuterol sold at an average market price of $11 for a bottle of 100 2 mg tablets in October 2013. By April 2014 the average price for albuterol sulfate jumped to $434! A price increase of over 4,000%.

    Divalproex Sodium ER is used to treat seizures and prevent migraines. This drug had an average market price in October 2013 of around $31 for a bottle of 80 tablets. By April of 2014, the price for the same drug rose to $234…a price increase of 736%.

    Martin Shkreli is under criticism after raising the price of the anti-parasite medication Daraprim® from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Turing Pharmaceutical was founded in February 2015, bought the US marketing rights to the drug in August 2015, and hiked the price 55-fold in September 2015. Some people will now pay over $100,000 per year to stay alive.

    Do read the article. But only if your blood pressure is low.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baysider,
      How do we save ourselves from that gouging?

      Delete
    2. Take up, Christian Science.

      You'll have much better luck with God than you will with the New World Order.

      Delete
    3. FT,
      No doubt about it: the NWO is the path to perdition.

      Delete
    4. Many of these drugs sell for pennies overseas. In essence, just as we U.S. taxpayers fund 25% of the military expense of the 'free world', so does the U.S. citizenry fund a great deal of medical expense for others via huge transfer payments in price gouging.

      Delete
    5. Baysider,
      Because of something called thr Davos Agreement? I seem to remember hearing about something like that.

      Delete

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