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Terry

Hey, corrupt Dems. Can you say "Duck and cover?"

SCOTUS (Yeah, I know that's not a cabinet position): Mike Lee and Ted Cruz for the current opening and then the next one.

Sec. Treasury: Kyle Meintzer, aka, NvaGvUp. Limited government, balanced budgets and lay off a few hundred thousand redundant and non-essential employees across the spectrum. Take no prisoners.

HHS?

Surgeon General.....Ben Carson

We have ourselves a "convoy".

On his transition website GreatAgain.gov, the Trump team has laid out the framework of his initial policies with policies focused i) on American Security including as Defense and National security, Immigration Reform and Building That Wall, and Energy Independence; ii) Getting America Back to Work Again including Tax Reform; Regulatory Reform; Trade Reform; Education; Transportation & Infrastructure and Financial Services Reform; and iii) Government for the people including Healthcare Reform (Obamacare), Veterans Administration Reform and Protecting Americans' Constitutional Rights.

The key highlights include:

•overhaul in immigration policies, including "Building that Wall" , the Trump transition team will "execute on the following ten-point plan to restore integrity to our immigration system, protect our communities, and put America first" - i) Build a Wall on the Southern Border; ii) End Catch-and-Release; iii) Zero Tolerance for Criminal Aliens; iv) Block Funding for Sanctuary Cities; v) Cancel Unconstitutional Executive Orders & Enforce All Immigration Laws; vi) Suspend the Issuance of Visas to Any Place Where Adequate Screening Cannot Occur; vii) Ensure that Other Countries Take Their People Back When We Order Them Deported; viii) Finally Complete the Biometric Entry-Exit Visa Tracking System; ix) Turn Off the Jobs and Benefits Magnet

•promoting a strong, robust military force to defend against the "threat posed to our nation and our allies by radical ideologies that direct and inspire terrorism." The administration will push for immediate and sustainable actions to counter the threats posed by radical ideologies; will address the "catastrophic threats posed by nuclear weapons and cyber attacks" and will "ensure our strategic nuclear triad is modernized to ensure it continues to be an effective deterrent, and his Administration will review and minimize our nation’s infrastructure vulnerabilities to cyber threats."

•dismantling and replacing of the Dodd-Frank Act financial-sector law with pro-growth policies. This means that banks will be allowed to not only engage in prop trading again, but to invest directly in hedge funds. “The Dodd-Frank economy does not work for working people. Bureaucratic red tape and Washington mandates are not the answer,” says statement on Trump’s official transition website.

•changing the tax code: policies since President Obama took office “have been blocked in one way or another” by Democratic opposition, the transition website says in section outlining “tax reform/economic vision.” It adds that “a Trump administration tax plan can be summarized as lower, simpler, fairer, and pro-growth.” as the website summarizes "a Trump Administration tax plan can be summarized as lower, simpler, fairer, and pro-growth."

•addressing the millions of American jobs that have been lost over the last decade "because of trade deals that do not put Americans first." The administration will "reverse decades of policies that have pushed jobs out of our country" by making it more desirable for companies to stay, create jobs here, pay taxes here, and rebuild the economy. The new Administration will make it more desirable for companies to stay, create jobs here, pay taxes here, and rebuild our economy. Our workers and the communities that support them will thrive again, as more and more companies compete to set up manufacturing in the U.S., to hire our young people and give them hope and a real shot at prosperity again. America will become, once more, a destination for jobs, production and innovation and will once more show economic leadership in the world.

• fixing education: Trump will advance policies to support learning-and-earning opportunities at the state and local levels for approximately 70 million school-age students, 20 million post-secondary students, and 150 million working adults, To achieve this, Trump will promote high-quality early childhood, magnet, STEAM or theme-based programs; expansion of choice through charters, vouchers, and teacher-driven learning models; and relief from U.S. Department of Education regulations that inhibit innovation.

•restructuring US energy policies including ending the "war on coal": "make full use" of both renewable and tradition energy sources. "America will unleash an energy revolution that will transform us into a net energy exporter, leading to the creation of millions of new jobs, while protecting the country’s most valuable resources –- our clean air, clean water, and natural habitats,” the website says. “The Trump administration is firmly committed to conserving our wonderful natural resources and beautiful natural habitats." The transition team also vows to open onshore and offshore leasing for federal land and waters for fossil fuel producers, streamline energy permitting, end “war on coal.” The site also pledges “top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the Obama administration.”

•"Repeal Obamacare" - the Trump administration will work with Congress to repeal Affordable Care Act with replacement that "returns the historic role in regulating health insurance to the states," according to transition plan released Thursday. Replacement would include promotion of Health Savings Accounts and option to buy insurance across states lines. The transition team also says it will act to “protect innocent human life from conception to natural death, including the most defenseless and those Americans with disabilities” and "modernize Medicare, so that it will be ready for the challenges with the coming retirement of the Baby Boom generation – and beyond."

•protect Americans' constitutional rights: the Trump administration will veto legislation that exceeds Congressional authority, take actions as Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief that are consistent with his constitutional role, and nominate Judges and Supreme Court Justices who are committed to interpreting the Constitution and laws according to their original public meaning. Trump says "he will defend Americans' fundamental rights to free speech, religious liberty, keeping and bearing arms, and all other rights guaranteed to them in the Bill of Rights and other constitutional provisions." He hopes to minimize the role of government including the "Tenth Amendment guarantee that many areas of governance are left to the people and the States, and are not the role of the federal government to fulfill."

The full breakdown can be found here.

The Rock

The second is to have the option of getting insurance, an HSA (or both), or nothing at all. Let insurance be exactly what it is, in case something big and unplanned happens. Your car insurance does not cover an oil change or tune up. And pre-existing conditions are not a problem, ever.

Now the price of a doctor's office visit for a fever of 101, how do you get a handle on that without gov't interference of free market enterprise...?

Free market competition, that's how.

1. In WW II there was a labor shortage. So to keep wages from rising, the feds instituted a wage freeze. To get around that, employers started offering their employees employer paid health insurance. That was a big step which caused employees to care little about what the cost of their healthcare was because they were no longer paying for it.

2. Medicare! When Medicare came about, the feds limited the amount providers could be reimbursed for when providing services. Those reimbursements were at below market rates and often even below what it cost the provider to provide various medical services. To make up for that loss, providers had to raise their rates for non-Medicare patients, which is otherwise known as cost-shifting. An example: My ex was a primary care physician. It got to where she paid her nurse more to help treat Medicare patients than she got reimbursed from Medicare for treating them. Of course her costs included far more things than just what she paid her nurse.

3. Modern advancements for treatments, drugs, surgeries and medical devices have helped people live much longer and healthier. Those innovations, of course, come at a price.

Case in point........

I have to get 2 tests done once a year for my cholesterol and such. My cardiologist's office used to do the tests for $160.00. Then they were taken over by a conglomerate and could no longer do them. I then went to the hospital lab (IN THE SAME BUILDING AS MY DOCTOR'S OFFICE) and they wanted $450.0 for the same tests!!! I then went lab shopping. I had prices from the $400+ range, to $300 and $200, and then finally found a lab about 15 minutes from my house that would do it for $144.00, so I chose them. When I went there they asked me for my insurance and I told them I had none. They then asked for my credit card and I told them I would pay cash. They processed the lab order and they handed me a bill for $78.50. I was puzzled and concerned and asked if that was correct because I had to have 2 tests done. They told me that it WAS correct and that they give a DISCOUNT FOR CASH!!! 45%!!!

When people don't care what it costs, then it will cost a LOT.

Free market is a good thing, but with healthcare, can be a double edge sword.

John Robert Bolton is the right person to take the helm of the State Department. Donald Trump himself has praised Bolton and suggested him for the post. Here I am going to tell you why his hunch was right, and why he must stay on that track.

Bolton is best for three reasons. First, he is well versed in security matters, and we live in volatile times when security issues have come to overwhelmingly dominate U.S. foreign affairs and thus should be adeptly tackled in foreign policy. Bolton is quite familiar with security threats, as he has been studying them and working to neutralize them for the greater part of his career. As under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs (2001-2005), Bolton advised President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell on matters of security policy, especially with regard to international and regional security, defense relations, arms control, and non-proliferation.

Second, Bolton knows very well the proclivities of the Iranian regime. If you remember, one of the momentous electoral promises of candidate Trump was to abrogate the extremely ill conceived and predictably ill going so-called nuclear deal with the regime of the mullahs. The deal was supposed to curb the military nuclear ambitions of the rogue regime and then to neutralize its multiple threats to the region by opening up Iran to the free world. Not only it did not happen that way – as I confidently predicted – but the mullahs augmented their offensive all around the world. As a result, dealing with the deal has become absolutely mandatory.

As it happens, Bolton is the greatest authority on that matter. In the early 2000s, during the first phase of attempted Iranian nuclear development – a significant threat that probably not many would remember today – Bolton was a prime mover in a concerted international effort to contain the Iranian regime. As far as I remember, he was the only Western official to outspokenly state that the regime of the mullahs was intent upon producing warheads. Back then, not many took kindly to Bolton’s candor, but he is now vindicated.

Third, and probably best of all, Bolton is “blunt,” or at least that is what his opponents like to call him. For evidence, these opponents usually cite Bolton’s attack on the then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il amid the Clinton administration’s negotiations with him to obstruct the country’s nuclear ambitions. Bolton had unabashedly dubbed the man a “tyrannical dictator,” which many felt would lead to the North Koreans leaving the table. Bolton would go on to call the Iranian mullahs “liars” a decade later during a similar round of negotiations. As it happens, both are now back on the same track they used to be on when Bolton called them names.

If calling dictators and liars what they are is blunt, then I am for bluntness. Indeed, in an age of trendy relativistic obfuscation and increasingly jargon-ridden, meandering political discourse that never gets off the ground, let alone gets anywhere, the cut-through-the-BS message of Bolton can be a blessing. Simply put, Bolton is a man who speaks his mind in the plainest manner. You might not always like what he says, but you can’t help admiring his forthright attitude. And I don’t need to remind you that it was the very same quality that took Trump to the White House despite punditry’s predictions to the contrary.

"Trump taps former Ohio official Ken Blackwell to lead domestic transition team"

"Ken Blackwell, the Ohio Republican selected by President-Elect Donald Trump to lead his domestic issues transition is an outspoken conservative with a history as a party maverick."

"Blackwell backed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the Republican primaries, but came aboard with Trump after he secured the nomination."

"Blackwell, a former Cincinnati mayor, is on the boards of the National Rifle Association and Club for Growth. He's also a senior fellow at the Family Research Council."

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham is under serious consideration to be Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, according to two sources with direct knowledge.

Trump appreciated Ingraham’s loyalty through the campaign. A former white-collar defense attorney and Supreme Court law clerk, Ingraham helped Trump with debate preparation. She also campaigned on his behalf and offered occasional strategic advice.

With the possible exceptions of Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Breitbart, no media figure or outlet did more to promote Trump’s candidacy than Ingraham.

She used her profile as a Fox News contributor, her nationally syndicated radio show and her website LifeZette.com to advocate on his behalf. Trump also tapped into Ingraham’s years of dirt-digging on the Clintons to sharpen his attacks on the Democratic nominee.

Ingraham would not comment for this article. A source familiar told The Hill that she’s in contact with people in Trump’s inner circle and has expressed interest in the role.

The president-elect and his inner circle hold Ingraham in the highest esteem. They view her as tough, admire her rhetorical skills, and believe she’d powerfully convey Trump’s anti-establishment message.

Jim Hoft Nov 14th, 2016 7:57 am 253 Comments

Guest post by John Binder at American Lookout:

trump-immigration-leader President-Elect Donald Trump knows what he promised to the American people and he’s keeping those promises.

Trump just tapped the country’s biggest hard-liner on illegal immigration, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, to run his immigration team.

Washington Post reports:

One of the nation’s leading immigration hard-liners is working with Donald Trump’s presidential transition team.

Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state, told a Wichita-based television station he was consulting with Trump insiders on the future of U.S. immigration policy.

“I’m a member of the immigration policy transition team, and there’s going to be a lot to do there, in part because Mr. Trump and Mr. Obama are diametrical opposites when it comes to immigration policy, so there will be a lot of changes,” Kobach told KWCH.

Rather than coming to Washington for meetings in the official transition offices, Kobach said he was conducting most of his work remotely. An email to Kobach seeking further detail was not returned.

“The work I do with the transition team is just conference calls and email, so it’s actually people all over the country who are experts in immigration policy and immigration law just working together and talking on the phone,” he said.

"An email to Kobach seeking further detail was not returned".

Something tells me that President elect Trump has read everyone on his team the riot act concerning emails. What do you think? ;-)

The Rock

Terry

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), a military combat veteran, met with President-elect Donald Trump to discuss foreign policy issues, including President Barack Obama’s war against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria, which she considers illegal. Breaking with leaders of her own party, the Democrat congresswoman, one of the first two female combat veterans to serve as a U.S. lawmaker, has been a vocal critic of Obama’s efforts against ISIS, echoing many GOP members of Congress.

President-elect Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, arranged the meeting, which comes amid disarray within the Democrat party, as described by its own members.

“While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives,” the congresswoman said in a statement after the meeting Monday.

“Let me be clear, I will never allow partisanship to undermine our national security when the lives of countless people lay in the balance,” Gabbard concluded, after noting, “I will continue to seek common ground to deliver results that best serve all Americans, as I have tried to do during my time in Congress.”

Gabbard, a member of the House committees on armed services and foreign affairs, is under consideration by the incoming Republican Trump administration for United Nations ambassador, as well as positions within the Pentagon and the Department of State, reports CNN, citing an unnamed source.

Gabbard, who continues her service in the U.S. military as a major in the Army National Guard, noted that she would not hesitate to voice disagreement with the next commander-in-chief on certain issues.

“Where I disagree with President-elect Trump on issues, I will not hesitate to express that disagreement,” she declared. “However, I believe we can disagree, even strongly, but still come together on issues that matter to the American people and affect their daily lives. We cannot allow continued divisiveness to destroy our country.”

“President-elect Trump and I had a frank and positive conversation in which we discussed a variety of foreign policy issues in depth,” Maj. Gabbard continued.

On Monday, Kellyanne Conway told reporters that Trump and Gabbard have “a lot of common ground” and both understand “the country very well.”

“There’s a recognition that there’s a big country out there with lots of voters that feel disaffected from their party, the Democrats,” added Conway.

Besides America’s ongoing efforts against ISIS, Gabbard also discussed al Qaeda, which has continued to grow, primarily in Syria and Yemen, while the Obama administration has primarily focused on the Islamic State.

I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world

…

We discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government, and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a threat to the American people.

The Democrat congresswoman is under consideration by the incoming Republican Trump administration for United Nations ambassador as well as positions within the Pentagon and the Department of State, reports CNN.

In February, she resigned from her post in the Democratic National Committee to endorse Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in his bid against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

She supported Sanders through the Democratic convention, only announcing her support for Clinton days after her party gave her the nomination.

Rep. Gabbard did not mention the alleged appointment considerations by the Trump administration in the statement issued after she met with the president-elect.

She did note that the meeting came at Trump’s request.

“President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face,” she said.

Gabbard added, “I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government…”

That’s according to a person familiar with the offer who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the deliberations publicly.