Understanding The Immigrant And Refugee Problem

What inspired me to write this post was something I watched on CBS's "60 Minutes". CBS news reported a story entitled, Deported man's wife and friends rethink voting for Trump.

The '60 Minutes' Video
So here we have a guy who came here many years ago not to take American jobs away or mooch off the government, but rather to seek a better life. He ended up paying taxes and creating 20 new jobs at the restaurant he owned. His only sin was coming here undocumented. Then marrying and raising three kids (now left behind on their own). Not one of the "bad hombres" Trump spoke of.

Most certainly no nation can survive without the rule of law. However laws alone--without commonsense justice being applied is not safe for anyone. Including it's own people. Germany under Hitler allowed laws making it legal to exterminate anyone not of pure Caucasian decent. Much like radical Islamic fundamentalists' against Christians today. Proving laws alone don't make for humane conditions. Laws alone without individual considerations can be detrimental to the very ideologies they claim to represent. As such those policies need to be scrutinized no matter who's in power.

Donald Trump was right--the "bad hombres" need to go. Unfortunately what I'm seeing carried out is something far different from his words.

No I don't enjoy jobs going to Mexico. But either some of these jobs go there or else some will continue coming here seeking them. Which would you prefer?


Here's Something Else To Think About
Maybe if the U.S. weren't bombing the crap out Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, cities in Iraq and a half dozen other places these people wouldn't be forced to scatter like ants. Same goes with our meddling with South American governments. Seems to me in our attempt to bring so called better lives to these people we made life a living hell for them instead. Can anyone prove we were directly threatened by any one of them?

If we really truly want to end our refugee problems we need to stop producing them.

LVCI Exclusive Podcasts

A Brief One I Did Today About The LVCI Blog

Here's A bunch of others where I'm playing DJ for endless hours. Starting off with two I haven't uploaded before.. Some Country Music Stuff

Another one with "Off The Chart Oldies"

Check Out My 14 Others.These took over 100 hours to complete. A lot more effort then my regular posts--but I'm willing to do more of them if you're interested. Let me know if you want more of them musical in nature or otherwise.

Thanks in advance

Health Insurance Before Obamacare Came Along

Pre-Existing ConditionsFreeAdvice Legal (09/03/2007)
Limitations and Waiting Periods"...there is a reasonably good chance that the insurance company would be successful in denying coverage for treatment of your brain tumor under the pre-existing condition exclusion because the condition first manifested itself in the twelve months immediately preceding the effective date of your coverage."

MedSave (11/04/2005)
Finding Health Insurance to Cover Pre-existing Medical Conditions"Insurance that covers the full cost of pre-existing medical conditions is available but is usually not a financially viable option for individuals who purchase their own coverage... There may be a waiting period, a high deductible, or a high premium cost that is either unmanageable or may outweigh the likely policy benefits over the short term... The best immediate options are to use a lower cost insurance for protection other than the pre-existing medical condition and then manage the immediate medical costs outside of an insurance plan"

Existing Policy Cancellations/ReductionsFreeAdvice Legal (02/01/2001)
Reduction or Elimination of Benefits"A limited form of cancellation can occur involving reduction or elimination of health insurance benefits. Other than a requirement of reasonable notice, insurers and plans may reduce or eliminate benefits, unless the contract or health service plan prohibits it or limits it."

NBC News (08/15/2007)
Protect Yourself From Loopholes & Lapses"A surprising number of patients have been in the middle of costly treatment for a serious disease only to have their policies canceled, sometimes even retroactively, and found themselves responsible for astronomical bills. It’s called rescission.... “Preapproval is often what triggers the rescission review,” says Shernoff. “If it’s for hip surgery, that’s an expensive item that they’ll look at and see if you’re a candidate for rescission."

Cost Of Today's PlanseHealth (10/10/2016)
How Much Does Health Insurance Cost Without A Subsidy?"Premiums for individual coverage averaged $321 per month while premiums for family plans averaged $833 per month.

The average annual deductible for individual plans was $4,358 and the average deductible for family plans was $7,983."

Healthcare.gov
2017 health insurance plans & prices (Obamacare)I went on that link here's what I came up with. I used Lehigh County as my area. Under one scenario I used a 30 year old couple with 2 kids having an income of $40,000. Obamacare would subsidize whatever plan I picked with $742 a month. I ran the same scenario without the kids. The subsidy in this case was $628 a month.


Further InfoNo wonder Republicans are having such a tough time coming up with a better plan. Obamacare coverage is compatible in costs and deductibles with those you find on the open market. The thing that's makes it so much better there are these subsidies enabling people to afford coverage.

The only argument for eliminating Obamacare are the costs to government--not the policy holders as they'd have you believe. Let's have a look at that.

According to the "Committee For a responsible Federal Budget" (10/19/2016)--"By FY 2026, the latest year that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) makes projections for specific programs, Obamacare would still be sixth at $252 billion, behind Social Security ($1.6 trillion), Medicare ($1.1 trillion), defense ($719 billion), interest ($712 billion), and non-ACA Medicaid ($477 billion). Thus, over the next decade, Obamacare will fall further behind the fifth largest program both in dollar terms and, to a lesser extent, as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."

The thing to keep in mind the budgeted amount is covered by premiums, higher taxes on those earning above $200,000 and penalties on those refusing to buy insurance for themselves.

How much you say will it cost to eliminate Obamacare completely? Well according to CNN Money--"Fully repealing Obamacare will cost $350 billion over the next 10 years. Obamacare was carefully crafted in 2010 so that it didn't add to the federal deficit -- in fact, it boosted revenues slightly. The law affects the federal budget in three ways: coverage provisions, taxes and fees, and Medicare components."


Talking Points(1) If conservatives in congress didn't previously mess with the plan undermining some of it's provisions it would be in better shape.

(2) As you can see from the actual facts Obamacare is not bankrupting the government. In fact it does the opposite. It nearly (if not all) pays for itself.

(3) Opponents point out how high the deductibles are. I provided one link showing they are just as high as those currently in the private sector. I urge readers to do similar research. They will find the same thing I'm certain.

(4) Some miscellaneous downsides in changing Obamacare. Lifetime coverage caps could return. Preexisting conditions could be treated the way they were before Obamacare making them highly unaffordable. Many plans employers were required to provide will cease to exist.

(5) Recall the good old days before Obamacare was enacted on March 23, 2010? Bet everyone has a tale of woe.

Some Alternatives(1) Expand current Medicare.
(2) Tweak the shortcomings in the current plan.
(3) Force the Congress members to take the same plan they wanna give us.


Final ThoughtsMarket competition is a fantasy. Prior to Obamacare nearly every company followed the same policies and costs. If anyone thinks it will be different this time around they're going to be extremely disappointed. Obamacare has it's problems. The alternatives will be far worse.

For every dollar not budgeted for Obamacare each will be shifted somewhere else. Everyone should think long and hard how those redistributions will affect each of us in some way.


Republican Rep. Raul Labrador (Idaho) at a town hall (05/05/2017)

The hell they don't. Take for example someone undergoing cancer treatment. No drug company or hospital is going to give away $35,000-$100,000 a month treatments and services.. PERIOD!

Rainy Friday (05/05/2017)

It's a rainy Friday. Here's a copula' live streams I checked out around 1:00 PM

For some reason Times Square is empty

I also checked out the Ocean City, New Jersey Boardwalk

View NORTH

Personally I'd like to take a stroll on the boardwalk on such a day

View SOUTH

I find it interesting on snowy days people were still walking in both these locations. When it comes to rain people seem to be more squeamish. Why is that?

House Passes Healthcare Bill--SO WHAT!

Take a look at the celebration.

What I see is a bunch of foolish old white men in premature celebration cozying up to Donald.

The reasons I held off posting about this drama.
It's totally meaningless until it passes in the Senate. It's too early for a victory celebration. The Senate plans to either make amendments or write one of their own. Which means all this goes back to the house where likely it will collapse yet again. If it does this means Obamacare remains as is.

No matter who says what this bill is far from a done deal. Nobody needs to panic just yet over what's included or not. What will become significant is how Republicans are going to deal with this after there's a failure to pass another bill.

I highly doubt there will come about a change in the current healthcare legislation. With all the misrepresentations coming from both sides... that may be a good thing.

In the unlikely scenario a new healthcare bill should come to pass I will have plenty to say.

As for now--everyone can take a...

You'd Think Cyclist Would Be Full Of Road Rage

You'd Be Wrong!

Hillary Clinton's Blame Game

The Washington Post
Clinton blames Russia, FBI chief for 2016 election loss"If the election had been on October 27, I would be your president,” Clinton told moderator Christiane Amanpour, the CNN anchor, at a Women for Women International event in New York..."

First The Background Story
On October 2016 the FBI was conducting a investigation of Anthony Wiener's laptop when they came across thousands of his wife's (Huma Abedin) emails from Hillary Clinton. Huma was Hillary's campaign vice chair at the time. According to Comey's testimony he said he had no choice but to make this known. The reason he gave was because prior he informed congress the investigation of her emails was complete. With the new discovery of these he felt compelled to notify them the FBI needed to look further into this.

After a huge number investigators poured over them the FBI realized none of these contained any that they haven't read before. Hence on November 6, 2015 he notified congress there was nothing to indicate a further need for investigation. As Comey explained to the senate--had he not reported this information before the election and something was found after he'd be accused of a cover up.

After watching a portion of FBI director James Comey's testimony to the Senate I'd say Hillary had only herself and her team to blame. Here's why. (1) By not storing her emails in one single secure place she put Comey between a rock and a hard place. What did she expect him to do? If the emails were where they were supposed to be the FBI never would have found them on a 3rd party's laptop in the first place.

(2) As for the Wikileaks. Those emails were stolen from John Podesta's (her campaign chair) Gmail account. The IT department at Google forwarded him an email a employee marked as "legitimate" when he meant to type "illegitimate". In the forwarded email Podesta being unaware clicked the link in the email which then went to a phony site where he proceeded to login. Hence hackers where able to take over control of his account. This occurred in March 2016. Anyone--especially he--should know you never click on links in emails no matter how legitimate they appear. Again it could be said this is more their own faults then anybody else's. I'd be kicking myself rather then pointing fingers. That Said...
Yes she lost the election, but not the popular vote. This is something the present administration and congress has to factor in their decision making processes. By no means were Republicans nor Donald Trump given a overwhelming mandate by the voters despite Hillary and her team's screw ups.

Another factor must be considered. It goes by the name of Bernie Sanders. It's almost ironic how the Democratic Party shot itself in the foot by screwing over Bernie supporters. No doubt a number voted for Trump because they were pissed off how they were treated by the party in it's eagerness to get Hillary elected. Conservatives also might want to keep that in the back of their minds as well.

Is she a sore loser? I don't know. But I do know there's a hellva' lot of people who aren't onboard with everything going on. If Republicans want to keep a hold on congress they shouldn't ignore over half of the voters who didn't vote for this President. They aren't going to magically disappear and go away come the November 2018 elections.

Another point worth mentioning
In the 2015 elections there were less then 139 million voters out of a population of over 321 million people. This is about 43% of the entire population The president and congress are suppose to represent all the people. Even the ones who didn't vote--the aged, those too young and yes even those too lazy to vote but somehow turn up shouting in street protests.

No matter whether Hillary or Donald would have won--either would only have 20% of the population behind them. Something none of these politicians or partisans should forget before they get a head of steam on them thinking they have the world on a string.

Hillary not being the only one--there's plenty more sore losers to go around in this and every election.