R.I.P.

Charles Krauthammer

The only psychiatrist whom I have ever respected.

Headlines

Trump calls for Russia to be brought back into the G-7

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain has died at 61 in a suicide, CNN says

Krauthammer: Weeks to live ...

Trump floats idea of end to federal marajuana ban

Trump: First lady 'great' but cannot fly again for a month

Scientists at a company part owned by Bill Gates gave found a cheap way of converting CO2 into gasoline

Chinese hackers stole sensitive Navy underseas warfare plans ...

Google says will refuse to use A.I.  to help U.S. military

Trump says he's considering pardoning Muhammad Ali

Trump says EPA chief Scott Pruitt not blameless: 'We'll see what happens'

Australia to expel up to 60 imams, close 7 mosques

Tijuana 2018: Six murders per day

Headlines

All from Internet news sites. Guess which ones from Politico?

[Gen.] Kelly gives [Gen.] McMaster cover in West Wing battles

Exclusive: Former NSC officials decry McMaster's shutdown of Trump's foreign policy

Greenspan: It's about to burst

Report: McMaster feels the heat ... 'Increasingly volatile,' 'frequently blows his top'

West Virginia Democratic governor switches to GOP

Wasserman Schultz says laptop she wanted to keep from police was Awan's, not hers

Bookmaker slashes odds on Zuckerburg being president ...

Poll: Majority have negative view of Black Lives Matter

Trump (finally!) reaches million-jobs mark

Krauthammer warns: Some Republicans want Trump taken out of office

California kicks ICE out of state offices ...

Michael Moore: 'Who wouldn't want Tom Hanks for president?'

Headlines

All theses headlines have been found on Internet new sites. Guess which ones came from Politico.

U.S. shoots down mock warhead ...

Trump will exit the Paris Climate Change Agreement

Russia probe scares potential [Trump] appointees

Kushner tries to pretend everything's normal

Franken: I stand with Kathy ...

POTUS: Griffin should be ashamed of herself ...

Krauthammer: D-list comedian trying to get attention

Evergreen State protesters demand no homework. College president hurries to oblige

Exclusive: Attorney to file lawsuit in Seth Rich murder mystery

Portland stabbing suspect: 'You call it terrorism. I call it patriotism.'

Hillary Clinton: 'I take responsibility for every decision I made, but that's not why I lost'

Newborn 'starts walking minutes after being born' ...

Confusopolies

Scott Adams is right again ... nobody really understands all the ins and outs of Obamacare or Trumpcare ... "confusopolies" -- laws designed to confound voters with complexity ... see: Dilbert Blog. However, there are some Occam's razors that can cut through some of this complexity. Let me offer a few that I think clarifies things a mite:

- In 1980, healthcare costs consumed 10% of the US economy. Today, after over 36 years of "solutions" this sector has grown to almost 18% ... see:  Commonwealth Fund. So, none of these schemes, including Obamacare, has bent down the cost curve. And, it seems problematic that Trumpcare will succeed where other confusopolies have failed.

- One reason for such a large share of our GNP, that healthcare consumes, is the false notion that healthcare insurance (including Medicaid and Medicare) equals healthcare. For years every American, including immigrants ... legal and illegal ...have been guaranteed healthcare. When you insert a middleman between a patient and a doctor, you by definition increase costs. The bill of goods that liberals have sold to Americans is that everyone needs healthcare insurance (i.e., a middleman). Why? Since this is one major reason for our inflation in healthcare costs?

- Flash ... the liberals ultimate solution to this confusopoly, single-payer healthcare (i.e. socialized medicine), does not eliminate these insurance middlemen ... it just replaces them with government bureaucrats. When was the last time that government was more efficient and effective than private industry? Conservative Charles Krauthammer believes that, within 7 years years, we will be forced into having a single payer system ... the sotto voce goal of Obamacare. This will mean the ultimate distruction of what was once the world's  premier healthcare system.

- Another reason that U.S. healthcare costs are so high is that, because of the insertion of insurance companies between patients and doctors, free-market forces have disappeared. A patient who gets a knee replacement does not know (nor care) if it costs $2,000 or $20,000 ... and, in fact, seldom actually sees the ultimate bill? So, what do you think the cost turns out to be?

- To make matters even worse, liberals have sold Americans on the notion that, even without mandated healthcare insurance, people can wait until they are sick to buy such insurance ... or what has been known as "no denial for pre-existing conditions." This is like allowing you to buy home fire insurance just when the fire engines are on their way ... clearly fiscal insanity.

The real resolution for run-away healthcare costs, if the American people want a solution, would be disintermediation ... the elimination of the healthcare middlemen ... and the unleashing of free-market forces. Trumpcare takes baby steps in this direction. Will it, or its Senate remake, continue on this path? The 2018 midterm elections will be determinative. Let's hope Krauthammer is wrong for a change.

An easy way to tell whether the American consumer will be the winner when the Obamacare fix is finished ... watch to see if the stock prices of the healthcare insurers tank. If so, we win.

Nutso

There is a recurring theme in the media and within and among liberal cliques -- Trump is "batshit crazy." This conclusion seems to assuage the cognitive dissonance that this man's performance seems to cause in people. Even many of his policies have people leaping into this psycho pool ... see: Breitbart Article.

But is he nutso? The former psychiatrist now news commentator, Charles Krauthammer, hasn't rendered this diagnosis. In fact, Krauthammer has warmed considerably to this man since his earlier frequent negative utterances. And why might that be? I think that it is due to what Trump has been doing since he assumed the presidency. Today is the traditional end of the first grading period for this office. I have already given Trump a B- ... see: Report Card. I have heard grades from C to A+ ... but no Ds ot Fs. Even former foes, like Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan, have warmed considerably to the man.

So, this supposed lunatic has not yet steered the ship of state onto the rocks. Matter of fact he is a man of action ... in stark contrast to our previous president who was a man of inaction ... particularly on the international front. Yes, he sporadically did things like the Iran nuclear deal which were better not done ... but, in general, the world ignored the US as much as they could.

They ... North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Mexico, Syria, Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain, Iraq, Australia, Taiwan, Egypt ... no longer can ignore our president.

Yes, Trump is eccentric and unpredictable ... but he is becoming less so as we have learned to decipher his unusual personality. What is that term? The "new normal" ... is nutso. Get used to it.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Scientist who predicted Trump, Brexit: Math adds up to Le Pen victory

Krauthammer: 'Fascist gangs' shutting down free speech

Trump spurns Taiwan president's suggestion of another phone call ...

Warren: I was 'troubled' by Obama's Wall Street speaking fee

Israel strikes Iran supplied arms depot near Damascus airport ...

[US] will not spray [Afghan] opium fields because crops 'might be too close to a mosque'

Tillerson: Kim Jong Un is not crazy

Yale students have symbolic hunger strike, eat when hungry

'Overly obese' body sets crematorium on fire ...

Trump: I'll withdraw from NAFTA if We don't get a 'fair deal for all'

College speaker tortured and killed a man, now complains how bad prison is

The House delays Obamacare bill, denies Trump 100-day win

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Israel to build more settlements in defiance of UN ...

Christmas in Chicago, 43 shot ...

China's 1st aircraft carrier sails into South [China] Sea ...

Space Mining: the intergalactic gold rush is already on

Obama blames the media for not telling rural America how awesome he is

Senate Dems condemn Obama ...

Krauthammer: Israeli settlement [UN] vote, 'a US operation all the way'

50th Anniversary of Kwanzaa kicks off in L.A.

Consumer confidence highest since '01

Buffet, biggest gainer in '16 ...fortune swells $12.3 billion

Gun-controlled Chicago fast approaching 800 homicides for 2016

Kitten survives 600 mile trip under hood of truck

Caught My Eye

Four tidbits on the Internet that have recently caught my eye:

1. According to the Congressional Budget Office the cost of Obamacare is now estimated at $1.76 trillion over ten years (and well over $2.5 trillion if you count other implementation costs according to Charles Krauthammer on Fox News last night) as opposed to the "around $900 billion" that Obama promised in order to get this monstrosity "passed" through Congress ... see: Washington Examiner Piece).

2. Relatively unnoticed, President Obama's Pentagon is also proposing to save $13 billion by 2017 by upping the premiums on military health care benefits ... see: NY Post Article.  Shame on them!

3. A relatively obscure Bureau of Labor Statistics table is now getting some media attention.  It is called "U-6" and it highlights the structural unemployment in the United States.  Are you ready for the (more) realistic number?  It's 14.9% ... see BLS Release.  Yes, it has come down too, but it is still quite a bite higher than the 8.3% figure ballyhooed by the national media.

4. As part of its fire-hose crony-capitalism spending,  the Department of Energy provided a loan guarantee to a car company of $529 million to build cars in Finland ... see: ABC News Report.  Here is a quote from Consumer Reports when it tried to check out this new "green" car (the electric Fisker Karma): “We buy about 80 cars a year and this is the first time in memory that we have had a car that is undriveable before it has finished our check-in process.”

Oh yes, and one more ... yesterday U.S. Marines were disarmed when our Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, spoke to them in Afghanistan ... a clear affront to our proud soldiers by our lily-livered empty suits.   See: The Telegraph Article.

And so, to bed ...

Pond Scum

Pond Scum

TV and radio personality, Dom Imus has a favorite slur.  He often calls those people he doesn't like "pond scum."  (If you have ever watched or heard Imus, he likes very few people.)  Recently the price of gasoline in the U.S. is sky-rocketing ... which presents a headwind for Barack Obama's re-election in the fall.  But President Obama is not fazed.  He is now pontificating about turning this sow's ear into a silk purse ... he feels that algae (pond scum) will be America's next source of renewable energy (@ $26 per gallon).  For those who don't understand politics, The Barry's new pronouncement is a way of changing the subject and showing future voters that he "feels their pain" (and shame on Republicans for now licking their lips over high gasoline prices.)

Charles Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and Fox New commentator, has his own mocking assessment of this new energy initiative on Obama's part ... see: Fox News Report.   I anxiously await Don Imus's next assessment of Obama.