The TRUMP POTUS "Tribute" & "Tribulations" of the Politically Incorrect....!

Jack: keep em comin' - wonderfully unique and so refreshingly honesty!!

I'm thinking of putting together a small book of your sayings (with attribution of the original author - of course). Probably won't sell many - only of interest to a select few, I would think.
Don

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DV52 said:

I'm thinking of putting together a small book of your sayings (with attribution of the original author - of course). Probably won't sell many - only of interest to a select few, I would think.

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The Obamacare Replacement Act (S. 222)
Sen. Rand Paul, M.D.
Repealing Obamacare
Ø Effective as of the date of enactment of this bill, the following provisions of Obamacare are
repealed:
o Individual and employer mandates, community rating restrictions, rate review, essential
health benefits requirement, medical loss ratio, and other insurance mandates.
Protecting Individuals with Pre-Existing Conditions
Ø Provides a two-year open-enrollment period under which individuals with pre-existing
conditions can obtain coverage.
Ø Restores HIPAA pre-existing conditions protections. Prior to Obamacare, HIPAA guaranteed
those within the group market could obtain continuous health coverage regardless of preexisting
conditions.
Equalize the Tax Treatment of Health Insurance
Ø Individuals who receive health insurance through an employer are able to exclude the premium
amount from their taxable income. However, this subsidy is unavailable for those that do not
receive their insurance through an employer but instead shop for insurance on the individual
market.
Ø Equalizes the tax treatment of the purchase of health insurance for individuals and employers. By
providing a universal deduction on both income and payroll taxes regardless of how an
individual obtains their health insurance, Americans will be empowered to purchase insurance
independent of employment. Furthermore, this provision does not interfere with employerprovided
coverage for Americans who prefer those plans.
Expansion of Health Savings Accounts
Ø Tax Credit for HSA Contributions
o Provides individuals the option of a tax credit of up to $5,000 per taxpayer for
contributions to an HSA. If an individual chooses not to accept the tax credit or
contributes in excess of $5,000, those contributions are still tax-preferred.
Ø Maximum Contribution Limit to HSA
o Removes the maximum allowable annual contribution, so that individuals may make
unlimited contributions to an HSA.
Ø Eliminates the requirement that a participant in an HSA be enrolled in a high deductible
health care plan
o Currently, in order to be eligible to establish and use an HSA, an individual must be
enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. This section removes the HSA plan type
requirement to allow individuals with all types of insurance to establish and use an HSA.
o This would also enable individuals who are eligible for Medicare, VA benefits,
TRICARE, IHS, and members of health care sharing ministries to be eligible to establish
an HSA.
Ø Allowance of Distributions for Prescription and OTC Drugs
o Allows prescription and OTC drug costs to be treated as allowable expenses of HSAs.
Ø Purchase of Health Insurance from HSA Account
o Currently, HSA funds may not be used to purchase insurance or cover the cost of
premiums. Allowing the use of HSA funds for insurance premiums will help make health
coverage more affordable for American families.
Ø Medical Expenses Incurred Prior to Account Establishment
o Allows qualified expenses incurred prior to HSA establishment to be reimbursed from an
HSA as long as the account is established prior to tax filing.
Ø Administrative Error Correction Before Due Date of Return
o Amends current law by allowing for administrative or clerical error corrections on filings.
Ø Allowing HSA Rollover to Child or Parent of Account Holder
o Allows an account holder’s HSA to rollover to a child, parent, or grandparent, in addition
to a spouse.
Ø Equivalent Bankruptcy Protections for HSAs as Retirement Funds
o Most tax-exempt retirement accounts are also fully exempt from bankruptcy by federal
law. While some states have passed laws that exempt HSA funds from being seized in
bankruptcy, there is no federal protection for HSA funds in bankruptcy.
Ø Certain Exercise Equipment and Physical Fitness Programs to be Treated as Medical Care
o Expands allowable HSA expenses to include equipment for physical exercise or health
coaching, including weight loss programs.
Ø Nutritional and Dietary Supplements to be Treated as Medical Care
o Amends the definition of “medical care” to include dietary and nutritional supplements
for the purposes of HSA expenditures.
Ø Certain Providers Fees to be Treated as Medical Care
o Allows HSA funds to be used for periodic fees paid to medical practitioners for access to
medical care.
Ø Capitated Primary Care Payments
o HSAs can be used for pre-paid physician fees, which includes payments associated with
“concierge” or “direct practice” medicine.
Ø Provisions Relating to Medicare
o Allows Medicare enrollees to contribute their own money to the Medicare Medical
Savings Accounts (MSAs).
Charity Care and Bad Debt Deduction for Physicians
Ø Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow a physician a tax deduction equal to the amount
such physician would otherwise charge for charity medical care or uncompensated care due to
bad debt. This deduction is limited to 10% of a physician’s gross income for the taxable year.
Pool Reform for the Individual Market
Ø Establishes Independent Health Pools (IHPs) in order to allow individuals to pool together for
the purposes of purchasing insurance.
Ø Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to allow individuals to pool together to provide
for health benefits coverage through Individual Health Pools (IHPs). These can include nonprofit
organizations (including churches, alumni associations, trade associations, other civic
groups, or entities formed strictly for establishing an IHP) so long as the organization does not
condition membership on any health status-related factor.
Ø Requires that the IHP will provide insurance through contracts with health insurance issuers in
fully insured plans and not assume insurance risk with respect to such coverage. Allows the IHP
to provide administrative services to members, including accounting, billings, and enrollment
information.
Interstate Market for Health Insurance
Cooperative Governing of Individual Health Insurance Coverage
Ø Increases access to individual health coverage by allowing insurers licensed to sell policies in
one state to offer them to residents of any other state.
Ø Exempts issuers from secondary state laws that would prohibit or regulate their operation in the
secondary state. However, states may impose requirements such as consumer protections and
applicable taxes, among others.
Ø Prohibits an issuer from offering, selling, or issuing individual health insurance coverage in a
secondary state:
o If the state insurance commissioner does not use a risk-based capital formula for the
determination of capital and surplus requirements for all issuers.
o Unless both the secondary and primary states have legislation or regulations in place
establishing an independent review process for individuals who have individual health
insurance coverage; or
o The issuer provides an acceptable mechanism under which the review is conducted by an
independent medical reviewer or panel.
Ø Gives sole jurisdiction to the primary state to enforce the primary state’s covered laws in the
primary state and any secondary state.
Ø Allows the secondary state to notify the primary state if the coverage offered in the secondary
state fails to comply with the covered laws in the primary state.
Association Health Plans
Ø Association Health Plans (AHPs) allow small businesses to pool together across state lines
through their membership in a trade or professional association to purchase health coverage for
their employees and their families. AHPs increase the bargaining power, leverage discounts, and
provide administrative efficiencies to small businesses while freeing them from state benefit
mandates.
Ø While AHPs currently exist, strict Department of Labor standards exist regarding the types of
organizations that may qualify as a single large-group health plan under ERISA. The standard
stipulates that the association must be a group of employers bound together by a commonality of
interest (aside from providing a health plan) with vested control of the association to such an
extent that they effectively operate as one employer. This is considered a difficult standard for
most associations to meet.
Ø Amends ERISA to define AHPs and allow for their treatment as if they were large group single
employer health plans. This definition would allow a dues-collecting organization maintained in
good faith for a purpose other than providing health insurance to benefit from the insurance
regulation exclusions currently afforded to large-group health plans under ERISA.
Ø Requires solvency standards to protect patients’ rights and ensure benefits are paid.
o Requires AHPs to have an indemnified back-up plan in order to prevent unpaid claims in
the event of plan termination.
o AHPs must undergo independent actuarial certification for financial viability on a regular
basis.
o Requires AHPs to maintain surplus reserves of at least $500,000 in addition to normal
claims reserves, stop loss insurance, or indemnification insurance.
Anti-Trust Reform for Healthcare
Ø Provides an exemption from Federal antitrust laws for health care professionals engaged in
negotiations with a health plan regarding the terms of a contract under which the professionals
provide health care items or services.
Ø This section applies only to health care professionals excluded from the National Labor
Relations Act. It would also not apply to contracts or care provided under Medicare, Medicaid,
SCHIP, the FEHBP, or the IHS as well as medical and dental care provided to members of the
uniformed services and veterans.
Increasing State Flexibility to Conduct Medicaid Waivers
Ø Provides new flexibilities to states in their Medicaid plan design, through existing waiver
authority in current law.
Ø For many years, including under Obamacare, States have had the option to request a waiver from
HHS to allow states to test new coverage rules under Medicaid and other programs. This
provision would allow states to make changes to their Medicaid plans without interference from
Washington.
Self-Insurance Protections
Ø Amends the definition of “health insurance coverage” under the Public Health Service Act
(PHSA), and parallel sections of ERISA and the Tax Code, to clarify that stop-loss insurance is
not health insurance.
Ø This provision is designed to prevent the federal government from using rule-making to restrict
the availability of stop-loss insurance used by self-insured plans.

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Andy said:

Here's Senator Rand Paul's 4 page Obamacare repeal and replace plan:

Ø Provides an exemption from Federal antitrust laws for health care professionals engaged in
negotiations with a health plan regarding the terms of a contract under which the professionals
provide health care items or services.

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They came for the American dream. Now they’re fleeing to Canada.

Updated by Tara Golshan
Mar 14, 2017, 1:13pm EDT

Waist-deep in snow, in remote locations close to the border, migrants have been braving sub-zero temperatures and the danger of being stopped by border patrol agents to find the American dream — in Canada.

Compared to February 2016, the number of asylum seekers crossing into Canada illegally has tripled this year, according to figures obtained by the Washington Post. The trend has been growing rapidly since the United States’ election in November. Reports suggest hundreds of refugees living in the United States have already fled north, hoping to take asylum in Canada — and border patrol only expect the numbers to increase as the weather improves. Most of the migrants are originally from Africa, including Somalia and Ghana. It’s not safe for them to return to their home countries, and now stuck in the middle of the refugee process, they are scared that the United States will send them back. Canada, however, offers more hope.

Photos of families being chased by border patrol agents over snowy fields as they attempt to make the crossing show the harrowing process. To file for asylum in Canada, these refugees have to make it over the border illegally.

In winter, the risks are enormous.

“They are not used the cold weather we experience — traipsing through farmers’ fields, they don’t have a good destination in mind,” Alastair Clarke said in February. “I’m just looking outside right now, it’s 2 feet of snow.”

Clarke is an immigration lawyer in Winnipeg, Canada, about 70 miles north of the border. Many of the migrants try to run under the cover of darkness and aren’t properly dressed for the trip. They’re wearing only hoodies and sneakers.

The exodus to Canada is new. Usually only 40 or 60 cross per year. The shift tells the human story of the Trump administration’s immigration and refugee agenda, which is sowing fears with threats of bans and aggressive deportations. Refugees who do not yet have official standing to live in the United States believe their luck has run out and hope Canada will offer them the safety they seek.

From fear and uncertainty to on the run

There’s a refugee purgatory in the United States. Some are neither granted asylum in America nor expelled from the country. Since the election of Donald Trump last fall, a growing number of these refugees have made what once seemed like an improbable calculation: They have abandoned hope for this country and gambled on a risky crossing into one more welcoming to refugees.

The Trump presidency, and its promised hard lines on immigration, has increased those refugees’ fear of being sent back to their home countries. Many of them consider returning to be a death sentence. So instead of going back, some are attempting the forbidden road to Canada.

It’s part of a broader trend. In the past year, immigration services in Canada have become overwhelmed with refugee applicants, most of whom are African in nationality. In 2016, more than 7,000 refugee applicants came to Canada on land — a 63 percent increase from 2015.

“There is a heightened level of fear from refugee claimants coming from the United States,” Clarke said in a phone interview. “There was a huge increase especially after the election.”

Trump — his rhetoric and his policies — is the source of that fear. Since taking office, he has issued two versions of an executive order banning refugees from coming to the US for 120 days and forbidding migrants from six (originally seven) majority-Muslim nations. His administration also launched a wave of enforcement raids across the country targeting undocumented immigrants. While the number refugees seeking asylum in Canada from the United States is on the rise, fewer people are crossing over into the United States on the southern border.

“Immigrant communities feel the government is waging a war again,” said Camille Mackler, the director of legal initiatives at the New York Immigration Coalition.

After Trump’s first immigration order, Mackler worked in New York’s Kennedy International Airport for nine days straight coordinating volunteer legal counsel. Often she found herself fielding questions from immigrants not at all affected by the policy. “People from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic were asking if they could travel,” she said. “It’s confusion and fear.”

And it’s leading some to risk their lives.

Taking the risk

Seidu Mohammad, 24, and Razak Iyal, 35, both of Ghana, were strangers when they partnered for the journey to Canada in December, they told CBC News. They met at a bus stop in Minneapolis before embarking on a trip that would soon put their names in headlines around the world.

Mohammad and Iyal took a bus to Grand Forks, North Dakota, and then a taxi to a snowy field by the border. Each paid the driver $200.

The night Iyal and Mohammad started walking, it was about 0 degrees Fahrenheit. At that temperature, with wind chill, frostbite can occur in under 30 minutes. The men grew disoriented. They stood in the cold for hours until they were picked up by a driver on the highway. Both have since lost fingers to frostbite. That was Christmas Eve.

Others have followed their path, despite the risks.

On February 10, Canadian police caught 21 asylum seekers crossing the border by foot, some families with toddlers, Rita Chahal, the executive director of the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, told CBC News. One week later on February 18 another eight asylum seekers, including four children, fled US border police only just making it into Canada, Reuters reported. Welcome centers like Chahal’s, which offer temporary shelter for refugees, are nervous that they will run out of resources if the numbers of migrants keep pace.

Iyal and Muhammad’s immigration story has become all too familiar.

Both fled Ghana with eyes on the United States. Muhammad went to San Diego in 2015, where he was detained for one year. His asylum request was rejected.

Iyal tried to get in through Mexico in 2012. He was detained for two years before being released on parole. As long as he followed the law and checked in with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer every three months, he could stay.

The choice to leave was complicated by an obscure deal between neighbors.

Seeking asylum across a friendly border

Sharing the longest undefended border in the world, Canada and the United States have an agreement on refugees that is now being turned on its head.

It operates on the simple premise that both nations are safe — countries where refugees can claim a right to protection.

The Safe Third Country Agreement, which went into effect in 2004, states plainly that refugees are required to request protection in the first safe country they arrive in. In other words, if you arrive in the United States first, you can’t then trek to the Canadian land border to request asylum. (There are exceptions to this rule, like having family across the border.)

Clarke, the Canadian immigration lawyer, is currently fighting for a Burundian woman to be allowed into Canada. Border police said her sister-in-law was not a close enough relative to be an exception to the Safe Third Country Agreement. She could apply for asylum in the United States, but she doesn’t want to.

“She feels that filing a refugee or asylum claim in the United States is not a viable option for her,” Clarke said. “It’s not for me to question.”

The agreement is why migrants are taking dangerous routes to avoid border checkpoints. It’s a gamble: If they are caught, Canadian officers have to send them back to the United States, but if they make it over the border, they can apply for asylum — even if their refugee status claims were rejected in the United States.

The Canadian definition of a refugee is broader and gives applicants alternative options to prove their identity even without official documentation.

While officials are still abiding by the agreement if they catch people on the border, Canada’s leadership is taking a notably different tone with refugees than Trump’s administration is.

When Trump signed the first immigration ban in January, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau followed up with a tweet. “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war,” he wrote, “Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength.”

The declaration of open arms has given refugees another final destination on which to pin their dreams.

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US applications for New Zealand citizenship jump 70 percent

Nick Perry
Associated Press
March 14, 2017

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- It's one thing to talk about changing allegiance to another country when a new president is elected. It's another thing to go ahead and do it.

But that's exactly what seems to be happening, at least in one distant corner of the world.

In New Zealand, the number of Americans who applied for a grant of citizenship rose by 70 percent in the 12 weeks following the election of President Donald Trump when compared to the same period a year earlier, immigration records obtained by The Associated Press show.

Figures also show the number of Americans who obtained a New Zealand work visa in January was up 18 percent from a year earlier, as was the number of Americans who visited the country.

In New Zealand, a grant of citizenship is the pathway for people without a family connection. Among those Americans with a New Zealand parent, citizenship applications after the election were up 11 percent from a year earlier.

In response to an AP freedom of information request, New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs said that in the two days after the U.S. election in November, the number of Americans who visited its website to find out about citizenship was up more than tenfold from the same two weekdays a month earlier.

To be sure, the total number of Americans applying for New Zealand citizenship remains relatively low. The country is more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles) from the mainland U.S. and is perhaps best known for its majestic landscapes. Farming remains central to the economy, with sheep outnumbering the 4.8 million people by about six to one.

Trump made a brief reference to the country during the election campaign when a New Zealand television reporter asked him what the election would mean for the South Pacific country.

"Say hello to Bob Charles. I love Bob Charles," Trump replied. "Do you know who Bob Charles is? Your greatest golfer." Charles won the British Open in 1963.

Some Americans living in New Zealand say their friends and family have been asking them about moving there since the election.

Alanna Irving, 33, a technology startup entrepreneur from San Francisco, moved to New Zealand six years ago and has since married a kiwi, as the locals are known.

"It's an extremely livable place and you can see and palpably feel the difference in how society is organized, and what people prioritize," she said. "New Zealand is a place that cares about equality, I think more. It's less individualistic, more community-minded."

She said that a friend of a friend was so disturbed by the outcome of the election that he immediately jumped on a plane and flew to New Zealand to check it out as a possible place to live. Irving said his visit exceeded his expectations.

"So that was really symbolic to me that there were people in the United States who feel like things are going in a very different direction than they want for their future, or for their children, and they're looking to New Zealand as perhaps an alternative," she said.

Most Americans who apply for New Zealand citizenship must first live in the country for five years.

Cameron Pritchard, an immigration consultant at Malcolm Pacific Immigration in Wellington, said the increase in citizenship applications could be a result of people wanting to feel more settled in their adopted country, given the uncertain nature of the world.

It's about "getting a bit more security or really making a longer-term decision that New Zealand is the place they want to call home," he said.

He said his company noticed a big spike in inquiries from the U.S. during the election.

"It's been more of a flurry of excitement initially than anything that's translated into a huge avalanche of numbers," he said.

Irving said she plans to apply for New Zealand citizenship this year and doesn't foresee ever returning to live in the U.S. She said she misses the excitement that some U.S. innovators and companies can offer, although technology allows her to stay connected with that world.

But, she added, there's one thing she misses that can't be replicated online: The great Mexican food that's available in the U.S.

____

By the numbers:

Americans applying for New Zealand citizenship by grant:

Nov. 8, 2016, to Jan. 31, 2017: 170

Nov. 8, 2015, to Jan. 31, 2016: 100

Americans applying for New Zealand citizenship by descent:

Nov. 8, 2016, to Jan. 31, 2017: 203

Nov. 8, 2015, to Jan. 31, 2016: 183

Citizenship-related visits to Department of Internal Affairs website from the U.S.:

Nov. 8 to Nov. 10, 2016: 4,146

Oct. 4 to Oct. 6, 2016: 305

Work-visa arrivals from the U.S.:

Jan. 2017: 254

Jan. 2016: 216

Visitor arrivals from the U.S.:

Jan. 2017: 34,240

Jan. 2016: 28,992

Source: Department of Internal Affairs, Statistics New Zealand

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vreihen said:

Bad news for dingle...Trump's wall is working already!!!!!

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Nelson: Hey, look how much Skinner makes--$25,000 a year! (the kids are impressed)
Bart: (typing into a calculator) Let's see, he's 40 years old, times $25 grand...whoa, he's a millionaire!
Children: Wow!
Principal Skinner: I wasn't a principal when I was one!
Nelson: Plus, in the summer he paints houses.
Milhouse: He's a billionaire!
Children: Wow!
Principal Skinner: If I were a billionaire, why would I be living with my mother? (the kids laugh) They don't seem to listen to logic anymore.

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vreihen said:

The Fed just raised the interest rates...and the sky didn't fall.....

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vreihen said:

The Fed just raised the interest rates...and the sky didn't fall.....

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Uwe said:

True. And curiously enough, the 10-year took something of a minor dive this afternoon...

In the end though, we're in an interest rate trap. With $20 Trillion in of government debt, (over 100% of GDP) and a total systemic debt load of ~350% of GDP, interest rates cannot rise very far before it becomes untenable to service all that debt.

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