At Last, My Election Predictions, The Truth About Obamacare, Two "Must Read" Articles for Republicans and Others, Media Bias, What's With Those Emails and a New Pledge of Allegiance

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What's the Deal With Obamacare?

So “Obamacare” premiums are going up.  Who’s to blame? Not Obama! Not the Government!  The Affordable Care Act was made palatable to the Republicans by patterning it after their original proposal for health care, one in which coverages were provided by private insurance companies, whose actuaries figured out how much it would cost to provide the kinds of plans “Obamacare” was to offer, and still make a profit for those companies.  They initially low-balled their numbers, but when that resulted in losses, they have now raised them or retreated from the marketplace.  So don’t blame Obamacare. Blame the private insurance companies which the Affordable Care Act uses, through the free enterprise system, to both price, and provide coverage.

Hey, the Democrats originally wanted a “public option” included in the Affordable Care Act whereby the private insurance industry could be bypassed and the coverage provided by a “public” (i.e. government) entity as is the case with Medicare.  But with such a provision, there was no chance of the Affordable Care Act being passed, so the Democrats bit the bullet and dropped it.

Bernie Sanders, fully aware of all of this, wanted Obamacare scrapped for a total “public option” approach where everyone would be covered in the same way as seniors are in traditional Medicare.  He claimed the cost of that to the government, via the taxpayers, would be less than the total amount all Americans are now paying for their health care through direct payments and private insurers’ payments to health care providers.  Heck, he was right!

Actually, I had a “Bernie” sticker on my car until his too tolerant position on gun control resulted in my giving up on him.   Sooner or later, in some guise or other, we will have a “single payer” system, with the government being the insurer, as in Medicare, with coverage gaps being filled by private supplementary policies for those who want them.

 

Donald Trump claims that he would replace Obamacare with a less expensive plan, using private insurers, which would provide even better coverages than the Affordable Care Act does.  This would be impossible unless he is holding the families of the CEOs and actuaries of the health insurance companies as hostages somewhere.

He claims his plan would allow insurance companies to sell their products across state lines and this would juice up competition, lowering prices.  Poor Donald doesn’t know that since 1945, when the McCarran-Ferguson Act was passed, regulation of insurance has been restricted to the States. The Federal government doesn’t get involved.   The closest we come to Federal regulation of insurance is inter-state cooperation through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, but there is no authority in existence today which could bring about health insurance sales crossing state lines without McCarran-Ferguson repeal.  Insurance companies would not support that.  But Donald doesn’t care about the details of things of which he is ignorant, specifically how government functions.  And this is but one example.

Jack Lippman

                                       

Note:  My letter published in the South Florida Sun Sentinel recently, reproduced in the last posting on this blog, has also been published by the Palm Beach Post.  Go back and read it!  It questions where next the frustrated and gullible supporters of Donald Trump will turn.  

JL

                                                 

To Whom Do They Pledge Allegiance?

Word reaches me that three Republican Senators have said they would block any Supreme Court nominations made by Hillary Clinton if she is elected to the Presidency.  This is the same treatment afforded to President Obama’s nomination of the very moderate Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court over six months ago when Justice Scalia died.  Since then, the Court has been hampered by the fact that with only eight members, a tie-breaking vote on important cases is missing.  This shortcoming cuts to the core of the function of the Supreme Court throughout our history.  But Republicans don't seem to care.

Clearly, the Republican Senators taking this position are putting partisan politics ahead of the welfare of the nation.  They put party over country, a bad choice for America.

Many Republican Senators, probably including these three, walk around with American flag pins in their lapels.  Some of them should be discouraged from doing so, and encouraged to wear pins depicting the G.O.P. elephant instead.  That is clearly their first loyalty.

This     Or This?       

And if ever they are at a gathering where the Pledge of Allegiance is included in the program, they should recite the following modified version which well suits individuals who put their Party over their Nation:

“I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag
Of the Republican Party that I Love,

And to the Republic for which it Stands,

One Party, under God, Quite Divisible,

With Liberty and Justice for Some.”

JL

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David Frum and Thomas Friedman Lay it on the Line for Republicans

And now, it's "reading assignment time."  These two articles should be read by anyone even considering voting for Donald Trump. One is "from the right" and the other is "from the left."  Oh well, even those planning on voting for Hillary Clinton should read them.  Read them and pass them on!  Please.

Conservative icon David Frum, former speechwriter for George Bush, wrote a column this week in the Atlantic Magazine (of which he is Editor) urging conservatives to vote for Hillary Clinton. Frum has impeccable Repubican credentials.   Read it by clicking right here.  

It is a well-reasoned, thoughtful piece aimed at voters who, like Frum, abhor everything Hillary Clinton stands for, yet it comes to the conclusion that a vote for her is preferable to a vote for Donald Trump.  To quote from the article, “To vote for Trump as a protest against Clinton’s faults would be like amputating a leg because of a sliver in the toe; cutting one’s throat to lower one’s blood pressure.”  And this is from an ultra-conservative Republican. Wow!  Take the time to read the article, even if in doing so you run the risk of being labelled  as an “elitist.”  

And if you still have a moment, then read    Thomas Friedman’s last New York Times column before the election, aimed at those same Republican voters whom David Frum’s article addressed.  You can find it by clicking right here.   Here a bit of what he writes: "But there is an even more important reason Trump supporters, particularly less-educated white males, should be wary of his bluster: His policies won’t help them. Trump promises to bring their jobs back. But most of their jobs didn’t go to a Mexican. They went to a microchip."  Read the article.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Trump supporters do not read the Atlantic Magazine, the New York Times nor other publications which might carry their columnists.   (See the following item concerning the New York Post.)  So they will never have the benefit of the advice of either Frum or Friedman.

JL

                                  

Media Bias ... The Queen of Hearts

The other day I was visiting at a friend’s house.  Initially a Republican Trump supporter, I suspect he is now going to vote for Clinton, having become aware during the campaign of his party’s nominee’s lack of qualifications for the Presidency. 

While there, I saw a copy of the New York Post, a newspaper to which my friend apparently subscribes.  I thumbed through it and was shocked .  If the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal can be considered to be “real” newspapers, this supposed "newspaper" was “something else,” merely a propaganda sheet, with little actual news in it but loaded with article after article attacking the Democratic administration, the Democratic candidate and making Donald Trump look like the greatest thing to arrive on the political scene since Abraham Lincoln.  

   
     
I thought for a moment of how so many of Trump’s gullible voters depend on newspapers like the Post for information.  Yes, they are angry about "something," be it job disappearance, immigration or whatever.  Media like the Post stoke that anger; when you're angry, you can't think clearly ... and that's why they end up believing the scary articles justifying their support of the least qualified man to run for President in the history of the Republic.  Paired with Fox News, another source of misinformation, it is no wonder that so many supporters of Donald Trump haven’t got the slightest idea of for whom and for what they are planning to vote.  It is true that these voters "want to send a message," but their anger blinds them to the nature of the messenger they are supporting.  And the Post  is the cheerleader leading them on.  And "they" complain of media bias!  Whew!

But this is what democracy is all about.  Unfortunately, it should be accompanied by knowledge and intelligence.  In the case of many supporters of Donald Trump, it is not.  And those who point this out, Democrats or Republicans, are accused of being “elitists”  by Trump supporters who, like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, can only shout out “Off with their heads!”  (Figuratively, not literally.)

JL

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Those Newly Discovered Emails

This posting would be incomplete without a few words about the "new" Emails discovered by the FBI.  Well, to explain what is going on will take more than just a few words.  Here goes.

We all know that the FBI concluded this past July that none of the Emails checked out on Hillary Clinton’s “private” server (which she has readily and repeatedly acknowledged she was wrong to use for her Emails) contained information which would justify indicting her.  Her extreme carelessness, while criticized, was not sufficient for it to be considered a crime.

The new Emails, about which we know nothing, were found on the devices of her assistant’s (Huma Abedin) estranged husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is being investigated by the FBI in an entirely separate case. At this point, there is no reason to believe that these Emails, some copies of which were possibly sent to Secretary Clinton, as Abedin’s boss, either did or did not involve any breaches of security. Since there are over 200,000 of these Emails, determining which ones involved Clinton, whether they had already been reviewed and whether they included any new information, will take weeks if not months to resolve, certainly not before the Presidential election.

In view of this, FBI Director Comey was faced with a dilemma.  Department of Justice rules, and the Hatch Act, both designed to keep government employees and agencies from become involved in elections, suggested that his telling Congress that the investigation was being reopened in view of the Weiner Emails was improper because of the proximity of the Presidential election.  On the other hand, Comey felt that he was indeed obligated to tell this to the Congress.  His dilemma centered on the question of “when” to do this.   

If he waited until after the election to do this, as Department of Justice practice required, Congress might have accused him of withholding information for political reasons.  Literally, this put him between a rock and a hard place.  Also to be factored into his decision is the extent to which Comey felt it necessary to respect the hard work being done by the Bureau’s dedicated employees.

Bear in mind that while the FBI is part of the Department of Justice, it has always had a great degree of independence in its operation. Faced with making this decision, and knowing his direct superior, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, was sticking to the position that the information should not be released, Comey knew he was treading on dangerous ground

I suspect that Comey decided to release the information because he felt that if the information were not released, it most certainly would have come out anyway, either from the Bureau or in the media, after the election, but before the Inauguration of the new President.  Regardless of the results of the election, this would have exposed both the Bureau and the Administration to charges that it withheld information to which the Congress and the public were entitled at a very crucial point in time during the electoral process, harming the integrity of that electoral process in addition to challenging the credibility of both the Bureau and the Administration.  Announcing that the Emails existed, but not providing any further details regarding them, which is what he did, would prevent these undesirable things from happening.  Imagine the turmoil which would ensue if the existence of new Emails, and the fact that the FBI had been aware of them before the election, came to light in the days before the new President were to be inaugurated.

Despite his criticism of Comey’s action, I cannot believe that President Obama, a lawyer by training, was not aware of the FBI Director’s dilemma and the possible ramifications described above if he were to follow Justice Department procedures (which he chose not to follow) by not announcing the new Emails’ existence. We will never know if the two men discussed this.  In any event, Comey went his own way, and advised Congress of the existence of the additional Emails. 

While this was potentially damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign, it short-circuited the turmoil which might take place after her election but before her inauguration if the information about the Emails' existence were to come out during those final days of the Obama Administration, casting a shadow upon its legacy.

Of interest is the fact that the FBI has not, because of the proximity of the election, mentioned two other investigations, one into the Clinton Foundation and the other into Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort’s relationship to Russian interests.  

  Manafort

This is exactly the way the new Emails were not treated.  Why the difference?

I believe that Comey felt that in view of his earlier statement to Congress that there was no basis in the earlier Emails for Secretary Clinton to be indicted for anything, the new Email discovery, although their contents remain totally unknown, conceivably could change things.  No such report to Congress had been made in regard to the other two investigations and this, it seems, justified Comey treating the new Email discovery differently.

There is no information whatsoever available as to the content of the Weiner Emails.  I suspect that the Emails involved concerned routine office matters between Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton, sent on her husband’s computer only because her computer was perhaps temporarily “down.”  This is what I expect the FBI to eventually confirm.

Nevertheless, this has created a problem for the Clinton campaign since they are now subject to criticism for something which might be entirely innocent and unrelated to security matters, but about which they have no information at this time.  It is like being tried in a “star chamber” court in which the plaintiff might not even be aware of the charges.  It is akin to something out of a Kafka novel.

For years, the Clintons, and particularly Hillary Clinton, have been held to a higher standard of behavior than any other candidates in American history by their opponents.  These opponents have been vicious and unrelenting.  Talk radio has been excoriating the Clintons ever since Rush Limbaugh starting counting down the days of Bill Clinton’s term the day after he was first inaugurated in 1993!  Hillary Clinton has been called on the carpet to defend what would be considered the normal responsibilities of a Secretary of State, and her family’s Foundation has been subject to the kind of scrutiny no similar entity faces.  This is why Director Comey’s announcement has given ammunition to the low-life, under the leadership of Steve Bannon, which now comprises the Trump campaign.  Expect them to exploit this to the maximum, implying that these additional Emails contain evidence of criminal activity on Hillary’s part, just like the earlier Emails were supposed to have, but did not, prove.  The Trump campaign is very short on proof but thrives on innuendo.

If Donald Trump’s business practices, over the years, had been subject to the kind of scrutiny to which Hillary Clinton’s activities in government over thirty years have been exposed, it is possible that he might be languishing in a jail somewhere.

    But with good lawyers and accountants, one can legally get away with far more in the business world than in government.

Donald Trump is not going to be our next President.  Hillary Clinton will win the election.  But it will be much closer than it should be because of the unjustified attacks on her which the actions of FBI Director Comey will cause.  This will, however, spur her campaign to greater efforts to get out the vote in an election about which they were starting to feel a bit over-confident.  Up until Election Day, they will be on the phones, knocking on doors and getting people to the polls in a manner which the Trump organization cannot match. 

 

But sadly, very sadly, the bad guys including Donald Trump and the collection of campaign heads he has chewed through (violence-prone Lewandowski, Russian connection Manafort, Breitbart assassin Bannon and apologist Conway) will still be around to distort the truth and pander to the gullible during the forthcoming years of a Democratic Presidency.   Whether they succeed or not will depend on the make-up of the new Senate and House. 
                             

Finally, My Election Predictions

(And as this posting winds up, here are my predictions as to what will happen on Tuesday, November 8, Election Day.  This is being written on Friday, November 4, four days before Election Day.)

Jackspotpourri's Final Election Predictions:  Hillary Clinton will have 287 electoral votes, making her the next President of the United States.  Donald Trump will have 250.   The number needed to win is 270.   (I may have lost a couple of votes in there somewhere, but my numbers should be close.) Clinton will win California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and the entire Atlantic Coast from North Carolina northward, including Pennsylvania.  Trump will win everywhere else. The Democrats will win a bare majority in the Senate but the Republicans will retain control of the House of Representative.

It should be noted that of the “battleground” states, Clinton will win Colorado, North Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.  Trump will win Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Nevada.

Clinton can afford to lose North Carolina to Trump and still win, but losing Pennsylvania might cause her to lose, if everything else goes as I expect.  But I still expect her to win.

And now ... and this is very important ... if I am wrong, and should Donald Trump win the election, I will join with most Americans in recognizing him as President and urge all of my elected Representatives to attempt to work with him in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.  In view of his clearly questionable qualifications for the office of President, this is all the more important!  He will need a tremendous amount of help from all quarters. That is the American way!

The nation survived eight years of Andrew Jackson and numerous non-entities in the White House during the last half of the 19th Century, so certainly, the nation will be able to survive Donald Trump.   

I would hope that if Hillary Clinton becomes President, as I predict she will, her opposition will similarly attempt to work with her in carrying out their duties and responsibilities.  That is the American way!

JL



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