Trump Mar-a-Lago Conflict of Interest

 

The conflict over Mar-a-Lago and President Trump spending most weekends and even (gasp) having Cabinet officers meet with him at this private club which Trump continues to (gasp) own and (gasp) make money from the paying guests who he has even been seen meeting and enjoying time joking and (gasp) they pay to belong to Mar-a-Lago some two-hundred-thousand-dollars per year and these rich members have an easy path to reach, talk and socialize with the President. This is influence by the rich members of this club. There has never been such access for the rich to have like (gasp) Mar-a-Lago (gasp) and President Obama would never have had such exclusive only access to where he spent time. Perhaps we should breathe a little easier and take a step back and look at the reality and not the hyperventilating hyperbole. I guess it was all common people who were not wealthy who had access to other Presidents who spent time at Martha’s Vineyard amongst the luxury resorts and privately owned cabins and estates or amongst all those yachts all which honestly just reek of high wealth and snobbery at the least equal if not more-so than Mar-a-Lago. The difference is the Presidents staying at Martha’s Vineyard often stayed at the mansion of some paltry multi-millionaire which could never have been as bad as staying at one’s own resort. But what actually galls the leftists is that President Trump also makes money off owning the resort where he also owns his own luxury suite and that he actually has Cabinet members meet with him at the resort he owns though he likely allows the Cabinet members stay for free, and that probably also upsets these currently perpetually upset. But let us look a little closer at some more reality which the left will contest the validity, but we checked and these are actual truths that follow.

 

Martha’s Vineyard

 

The problem is that President Trump did not force everything using his name to change the name on the building such as the Trump Towers around the world or that he did not divest himself of his entire and total wealth and investments. This, they claim, is tantamount to the selling of the Presidency. Well, let us look at the actual requirements for a President to do in order to assume the office. Actually let’s concentrate on one thing which is not a requirement. When a person assumes the Presidency there is no requirement for them to divest themselves from any properties, companies they own or investments. They are not required to surrender their control over their investments. The reason most Presidents have placed their investments under the control of a neutral blind trust with an investment company simply was to avoid any temptation to use their knowledge from the office to influence their investments. The removing their connection to their investing is probably wise but a President is not required to completely distance themselves from all business and other financial interests. Does anybody honestly believe that George Washington allowed Mount Vernon to stop raising crops, released all the people working at Mount Vernon and divested himself from all investments? How about John Adams? Do you think he closed all of his business interests in Boston and stopped all actions at his estate? How about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wealth and business interests? If you have a sneaky feeling that these Presidents continued to allow their business interests and investments to make profits, then you are correct and that is because the President is not required to sacrifice their wealth just because they assumed the office of President. Imagine that, just becoming President does not mean that one must sacrifice everything when taking office, wow!

 

Why don’t we get down to the real crime which President Trump has committed. He is not a political leftist and he defeated the left’s candidate, the squeaky clean Hillary Clinton who has never committed a shady or compromising act in her entire life and has led an exemplary life with unprecedented accomplishments during her political career (gag). Benghazi had nothing to do with Clinton and the foreign contributions to the Clinton Foundation had no connection to the fact that it appeared like Hillary Clinton was in line to be the next President of the United States. The fact that the contributions came to a crashing halt when she lost the election was simply coincidence. All the revelations from the leaked e-mails from the Democrat Central Committee (that was leaked, not hacked) of corruption and coercion which denied Bernie Sanders any hope of becoming the Democrat candidate for President did not tarnish Hillary Clinton’s nomination. We could go on to the leaks and hacks from Wikileaks, not the Russians, which added so much fuel to the fire already burning down the Clinton campaign and the fact that Hillary Clinton campaigned predominantly in states where she was already guaranteed to win including spending most of the final three weeks campaigning in California and almost totally ignored Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania which were the states which determined the election. Further, the fact that Donald Trump campaigned largely on issues while Hillary Clinton campaigned on personal attacks on Trump could not have had anything to do with her loss. And lastly, where Donald Trump defined the fundamental issues which many Americans in the general population across a broader spectrum which included ending illegal immigration, boosting the economy, increasing jobs and actually identified Islamist Extremist Terrorism as a threat to the United States; Hillary Clinton mostly accused Donald Trump as the biggest threat to the United States and promised to continue the economic programs of President Barack Obama, an economic policy most claimed had failed.

 

What is interesting is that the central idea behind Hillary Clinton’s campaign, namely that Donald Trump posed the greatest threat to the people of the United States and that Trump did not deserve to be President, was unfit for the office, was basically a racist hateful person who was a fascist and finally that the idea of a President Trump should be such an anathema to the citizens of the United States that anything and everything should be considered allowable in order to prevent such an eventuality. That Hillary Clinton was the nation’s savior from Donald Trump and was why she should be elected, is also the basic tone of the leftist continuous tantrum which we have witnessed since the election. The outrage started immediately after the election results were announced and the predictions of his being a complete failure and his administration being in disarray actually began before the Inauguration. Since the Inauguration we have heard a constant drumbeat demanding President Trump be impeached and that Vice President Pence needs to go at the same time as well as Speaker of the House Ryan and the list would probably continue on down the rest of the order of succession until they reached an acceptable individual which would be the first Democrat. Then if that Democrat proved not to be sufficiently to the left they would come under attack as well with demands they be impeached and this would continue until they either got a verifiable leftist or Hillary Clinton, which would be impossible as she is nowhere to be found on the order of succession. The reasoning behind the full bore rejection of President Trump is partially manufactured and based in the idea that if sufficient disruption can be brought to bear on the American public, that come the next election they will do the correct thing, elect the media and establishment candidate, also known as the leftist, socialist candidate. This has been the leftist tactic throughout the ages and usually leads to fascist governance where there is one final election that the leftists win and then they form a dictatorship. Should these riots and other tactics succeed, then what we are currently witnessing is the downfall and end of the American experiment and it will die as was predicted by political scientists where they have seen that historically democracies, including republics, die between two and four hundred years after they rise from the tyranny they defeated. This is called the Tytler Cycle of Power in Governance talked about here. Let us hope that this is not the signal that we are reaching the end of civility and the end of what has been called the Great American Experiment in Self Government. When the United States was first formed the monarchies of Europe claimed that it would fail and they would crawl back to Europe pleading for guidance because the common man was incapable of ruling themselves for long. It would be a shame to find out they were correct but simply got the time frame wrong.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Hating From the Word Go!

 

Right from the start let us set the record straight, the Republicans who refused publically to attend the Inauguration of Barack Obama were wrong to make it public, especially if they made a big show of such in the mainstream media, social media, alternative media and elsewhere. The current identical actions by those boycotting the Inauguration of Donald Trump are equally wrong. The big difference is the mainstream media and their joyous celebration of the boycotts being performed as a grand show now and the critical coverage they gave such in 2008. I will grant everybody a miniscule but infinitely important morsel of credit; at least nobody tried to make a mockery of the President elect and Vice President elect laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, well, except the most petty. Such mockery would have been so below the belt and uncouth beyond measure and as unacceptable as anything possible. Do not get me wrong, I respect these people’s right to do exactly what they are committing to do. My admonition goes to those from his party, the Republicans, the “Never Trump” Republicans, the Republicans who used every piece of rumor, dirt, suspicion of evil deeds and anything found against Trump even to repeating charges made by the Democrats amplifying their voices, the Republicans who used everything in the Republican National Committee computers such that the Russians found nothing new there to throw at Trump as they found with Hillary Clinton. News to everybody, News Flash, important news; Donald Trump is President and the United States is really in crisis with a government far too huge and cumbersome which is the exact swamp which needs draining. The problem which Trump will run up against first is that he cannot under the law just tell people in government, “You’re Fired,” and make it stick because the rules forbid exactly that. That is the reality, the swamp is protected by law and Trump and his administration will need to find some way of removing the dead wood sitting smug and comfortable pretending nothing can touch them. Well, there are other means of forcing one to depart the government such as making their working conditions too demanding and uncomforting. Force them to perform acts under their definition of office which are against their very principles and finally simply transfer them somewhere that does not permit family to also be allowed and repeat transfers until they decide it really is not worth the aggravation just to oppose the President. Should the President require somebody with experience and knowledge on how to make a workplace support only that which is the President’s promises, we are available.

 

One ideal example is Columbia Professor of Modern Arab Studies Rashid Khalidi who fears that these people supporting Israel, “And unfortunately, these people infest the Trump transition team, these people are going to infest our government as of January 20.” Professor Khalidi is an Islamic Arab who believes that all of Israel is occupied and that Jews are not entitled to any “Arab lands” and the Zionists are colonizers. Needless to understand is that Professor Khalidi is an atypical Arab spokesperson, American born, pro-Palestinian, reputed but denied being a PLO spokesperson in Beirut in the 1970’s and 1980’s, when Israel and the US considered the group a terrorist organization (see photo below). Obviously Professor Khalidi is among those who are less than exuberant about the new day with President Trump in the White House. Professor Khalidi was welcome at the White House during President Obama’s administration. He was hopeful that President Obama would hinder and possibly lead to the destruction of the Jewish State. The end of Israel and the imposition of Islam on the world making the world safe for the Arab people throughout all the continents, well, possibly except Antarctica as it might be just slightly too chilly during the winter that close to the South Pole. If one has surveyed the lands which were conquered by the Arabs between 620 and 750 and the indigenous peoples in these areas which remain under Arab rule, they would notice they have become an almost unnoticeable minority. The area of Egypt had a large population of Coptic Christians and a very active Jewish society before 625 and by the year 1700 the Jewish population was disappearing and the Christians were relegated to small enclaves and today there is no Jewish community and the Coptic Christians are a threatened group who, if we had lists of endangered human societies, the Coptic Christians would be amongst those on the list.

 

Columbia Professor of Modern Arab Studies Rashid Khalidi

 

Let us return back to the new American President, Donald Trump. If one were to simply search here at BTC entering with quotes “Trump” “failure” one would find this has been a repeated subject as it is rampant and amplified by the mainstream media making it appear to be a pandemic when actually it is only three to four times the size from the people equally infuriated with President Obama being elected and being also equally boisterous. One of our favorites and we think almost amusing was It’s In, Trump’s Failed Presidency. Now that the inauguration is history and we are officially in the start of what will be those fateful first one-hundred days of the Trump Presidency, it is going to be interesting to see what the mainstream media makes of his successes and failures. It can be bet that what they term as a disaster or really terrible for the nation and the world will be the exact items where President Trump delivers upon his campaign promises. One item which will be interesting to read will be how as President Trump, providing the Republican congress actually work with him and not join those opposing everything he does, actually delivers on lowering taxes for the majority of people, deregulates businesses following through on what small businesses and others have noted are worthless busywork regulations and other things which would be approved by many people providing they were presented with these actions as theoretical and not attached to any political party or special interests. What many people do not understand and something I found out about as my Mother ended up working at home filling in forms and checking everything at least twice as errors on these forms were criminally punishable by long prison terms. Imagine having dozens of regulations each month with each averaging two pages of forms all requiring a grasp of basic math, some accounting, understanding poorly and distressfully worded instructions with vague meanings (yes, potentially double meanings) and deadlines for filing and this was way back in ancient history, the 1960’s to the 1980’s just to keep my Father’s tailor shop which employed himself, assistance from my mother and more often than not one tailor as an employee. Now imagine a plumber who has a small one city plumbing service and contracting company with twenty or thirty plumbers and fifteen trucks. Such a small company would require at least one person if not more to handle the required paperwork spawned by regulations. Ever wonder what happened to the neighborhood doctor’s office? When I was a kid, yes, I know I still act like one, we had a lady doctor who we could get treatment and she would assist in cover stories on how we injured ourselves, even when she saw you break your arm car surfing. She closed up the office in her house and joined three other doctors in a clinic which had a receptionist and two people who handled billing and regulation forms and they were considering hiring another. Take a look at the local school and remember back to your school days and there is little comparison if you are over thirty. There are three times the councilors, more than one principal, numerous vice principles (my high school of almost 4500 students had two), and an EEOC advisor (at least one), and a near uncountable number of secretaries spread around the various offices, and positions we never even heard of back in the day all because there are numerous requirements that the schools must fulfill, many having to do with sex education, equal opportunity for students, special education programs, physical education requirements and more and more federally imposed programs which the schools must document that every last one of these additional educational requirements are provided for the students or covered by teachers even to the point of students having to document receiving some required courses. None of these courses have anything to do with reading, writing, arithmetic, math, history, civics or any other educational subject but are usually more along the line of indoctrination.

 

So as Trump gets rid of regulations we will hear how Trump is releasing the polluters to destroy the air and water, killing endangered animals, allowing for price gouging, releasing restraints on bad things, vague bad things which will be left undefined other than they were bad things being loosed on the people. Imagine the productivity that could be increased if the numbers of regulations and required documentations by businesses. What could be wrong with that? Well, it will allow the people who own these businesses to enjoy larger profits, you know, allowing the rich to get richer. Further, the screams of his making certain jobs no longer necessary are simply outlandish. I doubt Donald Trump could ever get rid of so many regulations and other demands from government to cause widespread unemployment. Honestly, if President Trump can force the revocation of sufficient regulations and required documentation which would require also reducing state regulatory agencies which were initially brought into being by the Federal Government and many even financed initially by the Federal Government and later were just unloaded onto the states. Such a present to the American people would be unprecedented and unbelievably liberating freeing businesses and beyond but the media and special interests would howl and declare foul because they depend on these regulations to enforce their will on the hapless public. So what might result in the most voluminous in quantity and levels of sound could also be the greatest favor President Trump could give the people, regulation depletion allowing people to act with less tethers and restrictions or unnecessary paperwork all because the simple presumed fact that if Trump does something, then it must necessarily be an evil thing and must be denounced. I can hardly wait to hear the squealing from the mainstream media at every turn as President Trump and his administration move forward. The first circus we are already witnessing, the Senate hearings and approval of his Cabinet and other appointments requiring Senate affirmation. Allow us to give you a simple and different way of viewing Trump’s appointments, the Cabinet appointees are not supposed to necessarily be experts in whatever field of their administration, they are to be managers who know how to listen to experts, have an ability to understand even complicated explanations, manage people and use their skills, know how to balance those who work with them and setting up the administrative structure to best advantage to produce the most efficient results. Imagine an efficient government department, any one of them, just imagine. The problem is it would be difficult because doing so would make so many government employees superfluous and imagine how the media would howl if, by fiat, the government let one third of their employees go and have to find real jobs. The screaming would be that President Trump was causing massive unemployment because where would these government employees find work with their skills? We would be led to believe that government employees are unacceptable as employees in the real world, imagine that. Could that be true or is that simply fear mongering, but then again, we are talking about people screaming whose deepest skill is warning of catastrophic disasters should their warnings not be heeded. Oh, by the way, they are, more often than not, simply wrong. So, let the games begin.

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

Things We Need Know for After Inauguration

 

The mainstream media does have some useful information if one can stand reading long enough to glean something useful. What one need remember is the mainstream media is also the playbook, play caller, coach, quarterback, message board, megaphone and the best comical future picture painter imaginable for the extreme left and Democrat Party, though we repeat ourselves. Despite great agony and struggling through as many typos and misspelled words, we would like to think even more than we miss here at BTC; these are a few of the items we found.

 

The most important item which has been made clear in so many ways is that the Presidency of Donald Trump will have been the greatest disaster in American history. Once in office, President Donald Trump will have wasted the talent, what little there may be, of his Cabinet and anybody who is worth a plug nickel will have quit within the first six months, if not weeks or days, because they will find they cannot work with such a megalomaniacal dunce whose brightest ideas will be which club to use when playing miniature golf as he will not even be capable of playing real golf as well a President Barack Obama had. The American people will find that they miss having President Obama in the White House with his steady hand guiding the nation through peril after peril while a President Trump will be have been causing peril after peril. The predictions of disasters continued with the statement that President Trump will have started a war with China, Mexico, most of Europe, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, much of South America, possibly Canada and will be in bed with the Russians serving the demands and at the beck and call of Putin and being led around through Russian hackers feeding him information through Twitter posts. These were some of the highlights but there was far more.

 

The Congress will revolt against President Trump as the legislation he sends them will appear to have been written by one of the beauty queens from his pageant days or one of the fired apprentices. Congress will be forced to be the adult in the government and the Democrats are prepared to prevent President Trump from causing any real or serious damage to the standing of the United States in the world. The Democrats will follow through magnificently in their promise to protect the high standards set by President Obama in his dealing in foreign policy. The Democrats will have found many the Republican allies who also understand the need to protect the United States from President Trump and are prepared to block everything sent to Congress by President Trump (this one almost has a ring of validity even we must admit). There will prove to be many Republican lawmakers who will be adult enough to admit their party sent a man-child to do the grown-up job of president and will work to message this childish egomaniac’s feelings of self-worth by stroking his self-image while rewriting any legislation making it work for the people and help those who require government to assist them in managing their lives rather than giving the rich more wealth taken from the backs of the most needy. The idea that the wealthy can be enriched by taking wealth from the most needy has always baffled us as the most needy do not have sufficient wealth to even make the average American wealthier by any actual measure, let alone the wealthy. Of course we realize they really mean giving largess from the government coffers to the wealthiest rather than giving it to the most needy, though the government does appear to do a great amount of both. This can be seen in the fact that many on welfare have a decent apartment with air-conditioning, at least one television, more often than not at least one computer or game console, a microwave, cable television feed, Internet access and most have at least one vehicle. This is about average for a middle class family back in the 1970’s had with obvious changes due to technological advancements. Let us return to what we found in the media, mostly online versions of print media.

 

By the end of President Trump’s first year even the most stalwart Republicans will have fallen in line with bringing impeachment against the President simply out of abject fear he is on track to force the next world war, had proven dangerously reckless with threats of using nuclear weapons and the Joint Chiefs of Staff will have reportedly had to step into the breach and invalidate Presidential orders to launch nuclear missiles. The similarities of the accusation for President Trump once in office to start wars, infuriate adversaries and allies alike and threaten the future existence of the world through madly wild and careless use of nuclear weapons as a threat and actually attempting to launch nuclear missiles to be similar but even more over the top than the predictions made about Ronald Reagan after he won the election and both before and while he was in office. The madness the mainstream media is predicting can only be found in rare old movie plots where somebody goes off their rocker and orders nuclear weapons use such as in the movies “Failsafe” and “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” The ever more hyped predictions of doom are only exceeded by the forlorn lamentations over the fact that President Obama is not permitted to continue in office and remold the United States as had the nearly four terms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. These discussions almost universally then diverge into discussions of how had President Obama run against Donald Trump how Barack Obama would have won in the largest and most humiliating landslide even beyond President Reagan. Some even add how had Bernie Sanders won the primaries, then he too would have cleaned Donald Trump’s clock easily gliding to victory. And then we get the Russians stole the election for Donald Trump and from there we find ourselves back in the Donald Trump will simply be the puppet of Vladimir Putin and he will be the Manchurian Candidate preprogrammed by Russian hackers to do Putin’s bidding. Those Russian hackers are good if they can reprogram people wirelessly, or is it Donald Trump is a Russian built android sent to run the United States for their needs? That is about the only stories not found in the mainstream media, yet.

 

Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

 

With all this, there will be wild speculation on how the world and the nation of the United States will be dependent upon Congress, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and just about every proper-thinking American working tirelessly to protect the nation from the inevitable debacles which will be coming from the White House and raining ruin everywhere if not checked. This presumed future is then compared with the glory which was President Obama who for eight long and challenging years arduously and tirelessly worked to prevent the economic collapse of the world (or was it universe) and prevent ever more wars and so gloriously earned that Nobel Peace Prize and was worthy of so many more honors. We are forewarned how we will be shell-shocked by the bald faced incompetence of the incoming President and how his Cabinet will resemble a three ring circus after the initial appointees realize that President Trump is merely using them as window dressing and targets on which to place the blame when President Trump’s harebrained ideas explode on contact with reality. I guess that hope that things would return to normal with the United States playing a steadying role in the world are simply pipe-dreams as the media has explained in gruesome details. The United States presumably is about to crash and burn under President Trump as compared to the glorious years under President Obama’s tutelage.

 

All this pessimism demands we give our idea as to what is coming after January 20, 2017. Unfortunately, the initial actions of a Trump Presidency are dependent upon what outgoing President Obama does in the next days leading up to noon of Inauguration Day. We really do mean up until noon on that day and perhaps past if the ceremony takes place minutes late as is usually the case. Should President Obama take a Paris conference accord proposal for the establishment and invention of an Arab state called Palestine carved from the lands legally belonging to Israel and without Israeli consent and signature on a treaty, then President Trump will have a difficult task facing him immediately after taking office. Should President Obama have his co-conspirators bring a Chapter Seven Resolution declaring Palestine a reality with full Statehood recognized by the UNSC with the Green Line (the 1949 Armistice Line between Jordan and Israel demarking the front lines and the Israeli lands illegally occupied by Jordan) then President Trump will need coordinate with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu a response and course of action to overturn the decision. This will be possible and an eventuality as such a resolution, Chapter Seven or any other manner of resolution, is illegal as it breaks the United Nations Charter Article 80 which recognized all the demarcations and wordings of the Mandate System and all other resolutions in effect from the League of Nations. This makes the Jordan River the eastern border of the Jewish State of Israel. That is the international law recognizing the Israeli eastern border and there is no mention whatsoever of any Arab entity or Nation west of the Jordan River. This was also the reason behind an Egyptian Justice who sat on the International Court of Justice when the UNGA requested a ruling on the Security Barrier Israel had erected to prevent further suicide bombers and other terrorism. The barrier accomplished much of what it was intended to accomplish and the ICJ did not demand it be removed. As noted yesterday, the Honorable Justice El Araby warned the UNGA and others that filing further ran some risks, as he stated,

 

“The international legal status of the Palestinian Territory (paras. 70-71 of the Advisory Opinion), in my view, merits more comprehensive treatment. A historical survey is relevant to the question posed by the General Assembly, for it serves as the background to understanding the legal status of the Palestinian Territory on the one hand and underlines the special and continuing responsibility of the General Assembly on the other. This may appear as academic, without relevance to the present events. The present is however determined by the accumulation of past events and no reasonable and fair concern for the future can possibly disregard a firm grasp of past events. In particular, when on more than one occasion, the rule of law was consistently side-stepped. The point of departure, or one can say in legal jargon, the critical date, is the League of Nations Mandate which was entrusted to Great Britain.”

 

Beyond this, President Trump has already indicated he will work towards repeal of UNSC Resolution 2334 recently passed under Chapter Six due to the United States efforts behind the scenes and their blatant determination to injure Israel punishing her because she refused to roll over and die when demanded to do so by President Obama and his team during the Iran farce of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program and their drive for nuclear weapons parity with the United States or, at the least, Israel as well as only complying with most but not every demand for concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA) while the PA simply sent more requests for concessions for the President and State Department to draw out of Israel. This was payback for the lack of subservient compliance with edicts from upon high, or at least the second floor of the White House.

 

Then there are the promises made by candidate Trump which a President Trump will need to deliver. The first and biggest is tax reform. Trump made some bold statements for initiatives for tax reform. His plans realize that all taxes are actually paid by the people and that such taxes as sales tax and taxes on businesses and industry are simply folded into the price of products which serves two counterproductive results, first the increased price makes United States products priced from the world market where if the prices were more competitive with the other nations, especially those which subsidize their industries generously making United States products unaffordable by comparison and second the higher price hurts the middle and low income people the most as they are paying the taxes and fees. Removing taxes on industry and businesses will make for lower prices on products and slower rate of inflation as sales beyond the border will increase simply due to this one tax being eliminated thus allowing for increased production to meet the new demand which will provide more jobs and eventually rising wages as employment reaches higher percentages as there will be increasing demands for workers. Second the simplification of the income tax levels making them generally lower across all salary ranges and the reduction of claimable deductions will make taxes more fair as with fewer deductions the wealthy will have fewer shelters from income taxes and thus will be paying tax on greater percentages of their income though the lower rate will make this reality less painful for most. Finally, lowering Capital Gains taxes will result in more fluidity in the investment business which will allow the movement of investments to more promising industries and will subsidize innovations. The resetting of Capital Gains such that it does not penalize investors moving funds from one investment to another facilitates start-up companies as there will be more funds available from which to get seed monies invested. Hopefully the congress will resist any urges for recalcitrance and the Republican majorities can show spine and certitude of their convictions and enact the changes to the tax codes and systems.

 

Repeal of Obamacare will be another big challenge as there are some vested interests and too many of those sit in congress. Obamacare grants power over healthcare and its being provided to the people and despite the refusal of Democrats to admit there are established committees which will decide when a person is no longer a viable contribution to society and thus will receive only the most marginal of healthcare and will not receive any life prolonging treatments which are expensive as such high priced care is out of the question. These health panels are not referred to as death panels but that is one of the functions they provide. Still, there are some provisions of the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act (ACPPA) such as the provision which makes denial of insurance due to preexisting conditions is liked by most as the provision for retaining children under their parents’ insurance through age twenty-six appeals to young adults as well as parent with children in college or graduate school seeking advanced degrees. On the other hand, insurance companies are finding the ACPPA to be a disaster and many are pulling from providing insurance under the law. What need be is return much of the pricing of insurance and the setting of levels of coverage by different plans instead of a one size out of three or four is all you get. The ACPPA also demands certain items be provided coverage and everyone must include such items in their plans. Prenatal care is no more universally necessary as people over sixty have little use for prenatal care just as people who will be having children usually do not need assisted living coverage. Allowing for the tailoring of insurance plans to fit the individual would allow for greater coverage at reasonable prices. All that is actually required for near universal coverage would be a few simple requirements. First and of great importance is all plans covering hospital care past two or three days of being hospitalized with full coverage costing additionally, what used to be called major medical care while leaving routine care payments the responsibility of the patient, prescription drug minimal plan which would cover the price of medications after a minimum is cleared or a set percentage and priced accordingly, and there have to be other such items which would represent minimal coverage or the base plan. Then insurance companies can offer different plans or even a cafeteria style insuring where you choose exactly the parts you desire with price breaks for say every five items granting a percentage in savings. The final item is portability, the ability to take your health insurance across state lines, from one job to the next and other similar challenges. By having employers provide a healthcare bonus if they desire rather than their providing their idea of a great plan for their employees, this too would bring down the general cost of health insurance and could also slow the increases in healthcare costs.

 

This should be sufficient start of ideas to chew upon. Our final item is about how the atmosphere and entire mood of the media has changed since the election. First we have the panicking over the rise in “fake news stories” which have appeared of late. What is most amazing about the “fake news stories” is that many are carried by the mainstream media and not alternative media as much. Another anomaly is that much of the “fake news stories” come from leftist sources and are amplified as they spread across platforms and blogs take these “fake news stories” as being real news and thus making themselves less credible for using what they thought was actual vetted news as they found it in the New York Times, Salon or other such news sources. The uproar over “fake news stories” coming from the media was confusing until we found that there have been a number of nations, the United States and Germany, which have set in place a Department of Information which is designated the ultimate source for real news and for debunking “fake news stories” printed and placed before the public. We gave this deeper coverage in a recent article titled, “The Emergence of Departments of Official Government Truths”. There has also been a resurgence, a rediscovery even, in the fact that there are homeless people and greater care for our mentally challenged citizens who all too many are left out on the streets. Crime rates have become an issue as has any even hint of hate crimes. The greatest fake news and hate crime combination has been the Great Hijab Crime Wave we discussed where a series of Trump supporters attacking, taunting or otherwise belittling and intimidating young college women on university campuses who were wearing a hijab which apparently caused these white males to turn into vicious and demanding monsters. All of the stories proved to be unsubstantiated and were retracted by the very women who brought them forward. Then there are all manner of societal ills which we have not seen coverage of for the past eight years which are creeping back into the new and we can expect the floodgates to fly open on January 20, 2017 in such ferocity that these reports will seem to be as manufactured as the “fake news stories” have struck. Hold on, it is going to be a wild ride going forward, but let us hope we actually do go forward and not flying off into some dark hidden side track which leads to someplace nobody knows for sure.

 

Beyond the Cusp