If You Like Your High Prices, You Can Keep Your High Prices: Ailing ObamaCare

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Either Donald or Hillary will face many challenges come January. (One wonders why any sane person would want such a job.) Among them is the rapid deterioration of ObamaCare. The program is in very real danger of failing at least one of its primary goals, insurance company profits.

The Obama administration has struggled for several years to bring young, healthy people into the marketplaces, which is needed to offset the medical costs of older and sicker customers.

These problems are coming to light this year, as insurers get their first full look at ObamaCare customer data. Some, like UnitedHealth Group, say they’ve seen enough and are already vowing to leave the exchanges.

Levitt and other experts warn that if the numbers don’t improve this year, more insurers could bolt. That would deal a major blow to marketplace competition while also driving up rates and keeping even more people out of the exchanges.

The answer is going to be higher (much higher) health insurance premiums for all who currently pay. Rates in some states are set to rise another 40-60% immediately and on top of other recent increases. How’s that for “affordable”? A few of the con-men say this will be a mere one-time offset. Aside from previous increases and those sure to follow, it will be.

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ObamaCare was legally justified by the Nine of Minas Morgul as just another tax. I wrote about that in my first substantive column here, over four years ago. Taxes don’t just steal money of their own accord. They also bring higher regulatory costs, inflation, and higher prices to boot. Thus, their destructive nature. Insurance companies were designed for one thing – to make money for themselves. They will keep doing so at your expense. If you like your money, you will lose your money.

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Show us Your Paw

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Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm once told a fable about a wolf who tricked his way into an old goat’s house in order to get at her children. Upon leaving the family home the mother goat warned her kids not to open the door to strangers. The wolf used chalk to sooth his husky voice and dough and flour to make his black paw more goat-like. The miller from whom he procured the flour was onto him but, cowed by threats, gave in any way. The kids requested to see the wolf’s paw at the window. Thanks to the miller’s work it appeared white and goat-ish. The disguise and the ruse worked. The kids let the wolf inside their home and he ate them.

Photo: wikia.com.

Earlier today I wrote a short piece about the rising attacks on Christians in Europe by immigrant “refugees” of Islamic persuasion. I once again called out the nefarious political thugs running Europe into the ground, into the grave.

Then, I read a most remarkable story, a story of pure evil. Worse than the tale of The Wolf and the Seven Kids.

As more and more invaders pour into France and Europe, the “refugee” housing centers are all overwhelmed. Little thought is given to the terror and the devastating changes these marauders bring with them. Room must be found for them! Incredibly, Housing minister Emmanuelle Cosse is begging the French people to take their future conquerors into their homes.

Some people are actually letting in the invaders. Perhaps Cosse is like the miller, being threatened into betraying his people for the sake of villainy. Has no mother warned against opening the door to predators? Or, did the warning fall on deaf ears?

These wolves don’t even bother with a disguise. And this is no fairy tale.

Europe’s Other Refugee Crisis: The Rise of Anti-Christian Hate

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The Roman Empire persecuted early Christians. In Addition to killing Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle, the Empire killed, tortured, and abused countless others of the faith. Early followers of Christ were forced to live and worship underground (literally in some cases). Still, they persisted and in 312 A.D. Emperor Constantine himself converted. Today Rome is the center of Christianity; Europe is also known as Christendom.

Yet today, nineteen and a half centuries after Peter’s crucifixion, European Christians are once again being forced underground.

Hussein Obama does not admit Christian or non-muslim refugees into the United States. Of the thousands and thousands that come, virtually all are Islamic. Germany, which allows in far more refugees per capita than the U.S., apparently accepts at least a few Christians into its camps and migrant centers.

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Photo courtesy of James Chan.

In those centers Christians are treated like animals by their Muslim fellows. The conditions they endure at the hands of the Mohammedans are deplorable:

Many Muslim asylum seekers call all Christians unclean. Church services are held in secret, bibles and crucifixes have to be hidden,” she explained.

Ms Mousapour, pastor of the Evangelical Free Church, disclosed that even converts who no longer live in migrant housing attract Muslims’ ire, and recounted her experience of being threatened at knifepoint on the street.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician called the anti-Christian hate crimes “horrific attacks on our fundamental values and our Constitution.

This treatment mirrors the general disdain the invaders have for their host countries, not just Germany, but France, Holland, Britain, and the rest of Europe. Christians at large are in danger; Priests are murdered during Mass. Crime is rampant. The invaders have no regard for European women. They do not want to assimilate into Western society. They want to replace it with their own (while, of course, still accepting the generous benefits offered by the natives). This collective refusal of civilization is in addition to the near-constant terrorist attacks the savages have unleashed: bombing people; shooting people; stabbing people; beheading people; running over people with trucks; etc.

The refugee policies of Europe represent suicide by migrants. Worse, this horror has been foisted on the people by their own corrupt leaders. A few politicians and Christian leaders are calling for the deportation of immigrant thugs who commit anti-Christian hate crimes. The problem is: how does one know which of the invaders are prone to such activity. Given that factor and, more importantly, the overall hatred the refugees hold for the West, why not deport them all?

This is the only solution that will ensure a continued civilized, Christian Europe. The same may be said of America.

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Do As We Say, Not As We Do

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This is rich. The Department of Justice [SIC] has issued directives or warnings to the City of Baltimore over the city’s police policies. Baltimore officials are falling in line as fast as they can.

Baltimore’s top law enforcement and political leaders on Wednesday vowed a sweeping overhaul of the city Police Department after a searing rebuke of the agency’s practices, which the Justice Department said regularly discriminated against black residents in poor communities.

This is the same Justice [SIC] Department that refused to formally investigate the Clinton Foundation despite urging from the FBI. The same Department that appears to be doing nothing about the murder of a possible informant in the DNC email hacking scandal. The same DOJ that found that Hillary Clinton had technically violated a criminal statute by carelessly handling classified information but then declined to prosecute her … just because…

I’m sure there is rank corruption in Baltimore. That’s true for most cities and governments. But, a lecture from the DOJ on the same is ridiculous hypocrisy. Pot, kettle. Then again, maybe the story has been misconstrued; maybe the DOJ is giving Baltimore tips, not corrections.

Photo of Loretta E. Lynch at Swearing in Ceremony with Vice President

Justice or “Just us”? justice.gov.

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Those Second Amendment People

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Those murderous, blood-thirsty, psychotic bumpkins. That’s how the left sees you if you happen to own a gun. Well, you have to own a gun and NOT use it to commit crimes or terrorist attacks to earn the ire of the anti-freedom zealots. Criminals and terrorists get a pass. You don’t. I don’t. Now, Donald Trump is on our list.

At a campaign event in North Carolina the Donald was talking about Hillary Clinton’s potential to throw the Supreme Court into a leftist, gun-controlling frenzy if she gets elected. Off the cuff, he said: “By the way if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”

So, what did Trump mean with that remark? People with sense understand what he was saying. If Hillary gets elected and tries to appoint anti-freedom judges, the NRA, the SAF, and GOA could put pressure on the Senate to not confirm her appointments. Remember the powerful gun lobby the leftist always cry about? That.

Of course, the lunatics saw it differently or, at least, claim so. The likes of Elizabeth Warren and the Brady Center for Communism said Trump was calling for murder. Mike Pence immediately clarified what was meant although any such logic is lost in the howling wind of liberal craziness and hate.

Trump says he’s pro-Second Amendment but he hasn’t said it loud enough or demonstrated anything beyond saying to convince me. Reagan was pro-2A and he handed us the GCA modifications of 1986.

A reporter once asked Trump if he owned a gun. He answered that he had a concealed carry permit. He never said if he owned a gun to go along with the permit. He said it was none of the reporter’s business whether he did. That is true but I found it a little wishy-washy. I was reminded of a GOP presidential debate a few years ago. There and then an audience member asked the field if any of them owned a firearm which required a tax stamp. The answer was uniformly “no” and it seemed to go over all their heads.

A better answer from Trump might have been: “Yes. I own many guns. Would you like to see the one I’m carrying right now?” Of course, that wouldn’t be polite or politically correct enough. Imagine how the crazies would have responded to that. Their comments about a judicial appointment discussion were ridiculous enough.

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Christopher Bruno/FreeImages.

Ultimately, it is all about the Second Amendment. The 2A was placed in the Constitution to ensure that there could always be armed resistance to tyranny – like when someone tries to do away with the Second Amendment. Cry about that.

 

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Tombstone/Hollywood Pictures. Meme by Perrin.

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You Don’t Say: Wikileaks Behind DNC Security Breach

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Sayeth the Drudge headlines this morning:

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Matt Drudge, August 10, 2016

Julian Assange strongly suggested that Seth Rich, the DNC staffer mysteriously murdered on his way to see the FBI, was a Wikileaks operative. Thus, Wikileaks, and not Russia or anyone else, was behind the covert investigation into the Clinton crime syndicate.

Where did you read that first? A full week ago I said, “By the way: it wasn’t the Russians.”

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I am sometimes (not always) ahead of the game. I know many dark things and others aren’t so hard to guess.

In this matter, Wikileaks did what the FBI refused to do. If Rich had made it to his meeting, if is likely nothing would have come out of it. Still, Americans who value freedom owe Assange and Co. a little gratitude.

I am surprised by one thing: Rich’s murder was ruled a murder. Given who is involved one would have thought it a “suicide”.

Back to School

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I’m more confused than Rodney Dangerfield.

This afternoon I checked my voice mail and discovered a message from my daughter’s school. It was a kindly robo-call to remind me that my little girl starts school tomorrow morning. I knew that! It’s in my calendar … I checked to make sure… I forget a lot. I forget a lot.

The calendar reminded me of something. Yes, tomorrow is August the 10th. That seems so early for the school year to begin. Some schools have already started this week or even last week. A little sleuthing on the inter-webs taught me that a few systems even started in July! What’s going on? I remember the days when summer lasted until after Labor Day or at least until the end of August. It just seems to me the children are getting shafted out of big chunks of summer – a month or more in some places.

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Photo by Piotr Lewandowski/FreeImages.

I checked on a historical hunch to confirm my own fading memory. I forget a lot. Ancient school calendars are somewhat rare so I couldn’t be picky with sources. I did find that, sure enough, in 1980 the Orange County (I didn’t bother with which Orange County) Public Schools started back the Tuesday after Labor Day – just like I remembered.

Further research revealed that there are still a number of systems that allow students to enjoy summer. These are mostly in the Northeast. I suppose there summers are shorter than most and so they let the kids enjoy it while they can. If I know anything about school calendar trends (and I don’t), then I suspect that more and more schools are starting earlier and earlier. At this rate, at some unspecified time in the future, American schools may only break for a summer weekend or maybe summer week.

Out of desperation I searched internationally. Scotland, England and Wales still start later in August (not sure about their calendar histories). Desperation turned to folly when I was forced to accept hemispherical adjustments. Due to the reverse of seasons down under, schools in Australia and New Zealand start back in January or February. Mind blown I returned to reality.

My little sweetie starts middle school (which used to be called JR. HIGH school!) tomorrow. I’m a little nervous for her or maybe for me. Maybe it’s a dad thing. Or a forgetful thing. I do know she’s looking forward to it all. Some of her old friends will be going to school with her, some won’t. She makes new friends easily; I know she’ll be happy. She’s also super-bright. We’ve never encountered any grade level changes that presented unexpected challenges (any challenges really); I suspect she could just as easily skip into high school (if it’s still called that).

She went to a terrific elementary school and this middle is top-ranked. It’s going to be a great experience.

I have been down on modern education on this site previously. However, there are decent schools out there. I just wished they started later than they do now. In my humble opinion school shouldn’t start until after Labor Day and should let out no later than just before Memorial Day. They should have a lot of breaks too. And shorter hours. Less homework. I’m a rebel.

Maybe a rebel without a cause. Maybe even a budding curmudgeon. Times have changed but I have not. Short summers. Four-cylinder engines. Remote controls. Mmmmmm. I hope my daughter has a blog some day so she can tell us why “daddy is wrong”. Unless, she turns rebel. One can only hope.

I realize I’m leaving off the entire subject of when schools are dismissed for summer break, now versus then. That will give me something to ramble about next year at the end of May … or is it the end of June?

He’s With Her…

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This story really kind of speaks for itself: Orlando shooter’s father attends Hillary Clinton rally in Kissimmee, Seddique Mateen seen sitting right behind Clinton, WPTV, West Palm Beach.

He’s not just in attendance, he’s with her. “Hillary Clinton is good for United States versus Donald Trump, who has no solutions,” Mateen told the reporter.

I’m not implying that this Mateen is a terrorist, there’s no indication he is. It’s just a little uncanny. That makes two such sharia-esque Hillary supporters in the past few weeks. Odd.

This is also not a Trump endorsement. This is just news of the strange but true.

Peak Performance, a Fitness Field Trip

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Yesterday morning I had the privilege of visiting the headquarters of Peak Performance Fitness International. There and online, under the tutelage of my friend Craig Bryan, ordinary people becomes athletes and athletes become superstars.

The process starts with clients receiving an assessment of their overall health and physical state. With a clear picture of where they are at present, they forge individual plans for transformative fitness. These plans vary depending on individual goals. Those goals will invariably include both cardio-vascular work and anaerobic exercises (weight training). Peak places a special emphasis on stretching in order to achieve optimal results.

Diet plays just as large a role, if not larger, in personal fitness than physical exercise. Thus, Peak assists clients with tailored meal planning to ensure proper weight loss or gain as dictated by the clients’ goals.

Peak specializes in athletic performance. “Here at Peak Performance WE BUILD ATHLETES by building functional strength which translates to better performance on the playing field making the athlete GAME READY. Providing sports specific training, speed, mobility and agility training, core and rotational strength, proper lifting techniques and progressions, injury prevention and quicker recovery as well as pre and post rehab strengthening.” That means they help the athlete perform better, regardless of the game.

It’s an impressive system and a bit more comprehensive than what most might associate with getting in shape.

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Heavy things.

The gym itself is smaller than most. Then again, most fitness clubs are designed for use by dozens or hundreds of people at any given time. Peak’s emphasis is on individuals. Smaller is better in this sense. They have everything one needs without clutter, all of it state-of-the-art. It’s like a cross between an iron gym and a sports medicine clinic.

Of course, this being the 21st century, one need not actually visit the location for benefits. Craig offers on-line training and consulting. I hear he works with people as far away as Australia.

Craig has also blended his own line of meal supplements under the Performance Zone brand. These are available for purchase by telephone and will be offered online (the website is brand new with an operational store “coming soon”).

I tried a Lean Green protein shake for lunch and was impressed. It packs 42 grams of protein with only 200 calories and a low carbohydrate count (low sugar). It easily mixed up in water without a blender and, as promised, it did taste great. I would describe the taste as vanilla spiked with broccoli – tasty and healthy together. It was filling and provided a good deal of energy for several hours.

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As seen with my bag gloves so you know I’m serious. Lean Green, so mean, it’s keen; not obscene but good for the spleen.. I may have found a product to endorse.

 

My visit for part tour, part friendly get-together, and part idea swap. I love to hear and see what other people are up to, to see friends excel. Craig’s been doing this a long time. In his office, there’s a picture of him and Arnold Schwarzenegger, circa the Pumping Iron days. Still, he’s finding new ways to bring fitness to the digital age, faster, better, with more efficiency and accuracy than ever.

Idea trading is more than just shooting the breeze, although that can be fun in its own right. Cross-business exploration provides inspiration on all levels. One can always learn something new and apply it to one’s life – even if the observed subject is outside one’s core field. The there’s the rubbing-off aspect; I left Peak wanting to play football.

 

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I’m With … WordPress: Ad(ed) Value

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So … at the bottom of this post you will probably notice (if you keep scrolling) a small advertisement for something or other. I mentioned a few days ago that I don’t control these ads; WordPress (my awesome hosting platform) places them. The reason for this is that my site is considered a “free” site by WP. That’s not entirely accurate; I pay a small fee to keep “wordpress” out of my link address and to have the “.me”. I was once at “.com” for a while but I forgot to renew (always forgetting something) and a domain pirate swooped in a grabbed it.

They will kindly sell the .com back for about $2,800 – up from $600 or so thanks to the increase in my site’s popularity. (Thanks, all).

Anyway, my next step with WP is to go professional. That comes with a host of neat features but costs a little. I’m planning on stepping up by the end of the year. (Donations will be accepted soon at GoFundMe…..).

Until then, this is how the WP ads work:

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WordPress.

I’ve never intended to burden my readers or slow down my site with a lot of ads. At some point I may run some targeted “affiliate” ads for things I recommend; knowing me, those will probably be cigars and guns. Until then, I am happy to suffer the occasional WP ad in exchange for reasonable pricing.

When I’m not ranting about cigars, guns, or wall rugs, I tend toward political news with an anarchist point of view. I do not endorse politicians unless they are exceptional (Ron Paul) or dead (Leo Ryan) or both (Cicero). However, it has come to my attention that WP has been running political ads lately – this being political ad season.

Like Facebook and Google, there must be a liberal slant at WP because the only ads I see (and readers notice) are Hillary Clinton ads. I recently wrote a short piece about how Hillary is a criminal and, low and behold, it was accompanied by an “I’m with her.” ad. Funny but I don’t even like the appearance that I might be endorsing a candidate, especially Killary.

Since I cannot afford to dispense with the ads yet I have began to counter them with a disclaimer: “*The gag “ad(s)” above this line are endorsed by Perrin Lovett; those below are not.”; and with little “ads” of my own. It looks something like this to readers:

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This process has allowed me to make use of a meme generator for the first time. That’s fun. I hope this serves as sufficient explanation. Until such time as the ads are done away with, please know: I’m with freedom.

 

joe w hill

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