With Opioid Abuse, Dems Gin Up Support for Not Repealing ObamaCare

Former Obama White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, once famously said:

"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

Well, apparently the Democrats have seized on that concept in light of the current opioid "crisis".  A Harvard study has claimed that the "repeal of ObamaCare would gut opioid treatment gains". By publicly backing the study, the Democrats have now hit the early 2018 campaign trail with that message.

However, opioid abuse and deaths have only gotten worse since ObamaCare went into effect in 2014 and as noted by this graph from Wikipedia:

 The fact that opioid deaths spiked in 2014 along with the commencement of ObamaCare and the expansion is no coincidence.  More healthcare means more abuse because of the over prescribing of opioid drugs by doctors.  Doctors who prescribe opioids for just more than 3 days are putting their patients at a high risk of addiction.  Six percent of the cases of opioid addiction began when patients were given only a one-day supply of the drug.  When the prescription runs out, addicted patients turn to the streets.  When that happens, death is highly likely to follow.

This is not to say that the lack of healthcare would be the better treatment for opioid abuse, but it is not the reason that ObamaCare shouldn't be repealed.  The rise in addictions began before ObamaCare and has only continued to escalate since its inception.  As a country, we need the medical community to show restraint with opioid use.  However, using the crisis as a reason to maintain ObamaCare is political nonsense.

References:

Rahm Emanuel Quotes: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/rahmemanue409199.html

Obamacare repeal would gut opioid treatment gains, study finds: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article132643424.html


Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM): Medicaid Plays Key Role in Fight against Opioid and Heroin Epidemic: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/2017/3/medicaid-plays-key-role-in-fight-against-opioid-and-heroin-epidemic


Senators Shaheen, Hassan Highlight Harmful Impact of Trumpcare on Efforts to Combat Substance Misuse Crisis: https://www.hassan.senate.gov/content/icymi-senators-shaheen-hassan-highlight-harmful-impact-trumpcare-efforts-combat-substance

Opioid dependence can start within just a few days: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/opioid-painkiller-addiction-dependence-can-start-in-days/

The opioid abuse epidemic: How healthcare helped create a crisis: http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160213/MAGAZINE/302139966

Deaths from opioid overdoses have jumped — and one age group is being affected at stark rates: http://www.businessinsider.com/opioid-overdose-death-statistics-2017-2016

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55% of Democrats Believe Vote Totals Were Tampered With

It appears that we have now moved on from the Russian connection with the Wikileaks dump of DNC emails, to the science fiction that the Russians actually tampered with vote totals in order to give Trump the win.  In a recent poll, 55% of Democrats believed that to be either definitely or probably true.

The sheer stupidity of this is that it would be literally impossible for the Russians to accomplish this.  The reason?  The scope of this country's massive voting system and all of the variables in the types of balloting would make it impossible for Russians to infiltrate our vote tallying.

First, 70% of all ballots cast are still paper ballots that are either hand tallied or optically scanned.  Secondly, the remaining 30% are voting machines of all kinds with different manufacturing years.    Additionally, very few ballots are the same because of mayoral candidates, state and local representation, judge-ships, federal representation, school board members, ballot initiatives, sheriffs and police chiefs (where applicable), and the list goes on and on.  And..let's not forget those dog catchers!

With none of the voting machines or scanners attached to the internet, the Russians would literally have to have had an army of saboteurs "rigging" each individual  optical scanner or voting machine at each of the more than 9,000 polling places in this country.  Breaking the security seals in the process. Of course, to do so, they would also have to have an intimate knowledge of how each optical scanner and voting machine is programmed and what software version t was running.

It appears that Democrat politicians and pundits have done a job on their political base, convincing them that the Russians were capable of doing more than even the Russians think they are capable of.  So much for an enlightened electorate.

References:

Poll: 55% of Democrats think it’s probably or definitely true that Russia tampered with vote totals to get Trump elected: http://hotair.com/archives/2017/05/23/poll-55-democrats-think-probably-definitely-true-russia-tampered-vote-totals-get-trump-elected/

Alternative Reality: 55 Percent of Democrats Think Russia Manipulated Vote Totals to Help Trump Win: https://heatst.com/politics/fake-news-55-percent-of-democrats-think-russia-manipulated-vote-totals-to-help-trump-win/

Time.com: It's Almost Impossible for the Russians to Hack the U.S. Election. Here's Why: http://time.com/4500216/election-voting-machines-hackers-security/

Comments About the Torrent of Leaks And Trump's Administration

I get it.  Some people have become unhinged with the idea that Hillary Clinton isn't in the White House.  And, some or many are so unhinged within our government that they would leak information designed to undermine Trump's legitimacy as President and his supporting cast of people in the administration.

But, here's the thing.  Many of these leaks may be false; or as Trump calls it, "Fake News".  The reason being that all the sources are all unnamed and unverifiable.  More importantly, many of these leaks, true or false, are undermining this nation's credibility and its ability to be governed.  Further, some leaks, like those regarding the Manchester attack and laptop bombs/Israel, also hurt our relationship with our allies.

The bottom line is that we have a bunch of people along with a loyal following by liberal media outlets that are so partisan they would put the Democratic Party above our nation and our government.  This is disgusting.  If they wanted Trump to lose, they should have used the ballot box more effectively.  And, don't argue that it was the Russians that gave Trump the win.  On one hand you can't say Hillary got 3 million more votes than Trump, and then somehow the Russian interference was so precise as to specifically target our Electoral College to give Trump the win. That defies logic.

Reference:

List of Leaks:  HERE’S THE COMPLETE AND UPDATED LIST: Deep State ‘Leaks’ to Far Left MSM Outlets – With Analysis: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/05/leaks-still-from-far-left-msm-outlets-only-still-no-sources-and-still-all-out-effort-to-attack-president-trump/

Really? Hillary Claims Trump is an 'Assault on Truth and Reason'

At this year's Wellesley College commencement speech, in a perfect example of the pot calling the kettle black, Hillary Clinton said Trump was an 'assault on truth and reason'.



This woman couldn't tell the truth if it was written out for her ahead of time.

In 1996, the then-writer for the New York Times, Pulitzer Prize winner, and frequent guest on Meet the Press, William Safire, wrote an essay titled "A Blizzard of Lies" (referenced below).  In it, he called Hillary a "congenital liar".  In the 20+ years since, she has never proven him wrong.  Comments made during last year's campaign were literally a new blizzard of lies with Politifact detailing two pages of them.

So, in my opinion, the assault on truth and reason would have been just as virulent if Hillary had won the presidency.  Perhaps she should rerun the audio of her speech while taking a good long look in the mirror.

References:

Essay;Blizzard of Lies - The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/08/opinion/essay-blizzard-of-lies.html

Source of Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfnMCxBXcsg

Politifact: All False statements involving Hillary Clinton:http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/statements/byruling/false/?page=1

The lie that is Hillary: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/19/hillary-clintons-long-list-of-lies/

Hillary's Biggest Lie: Recalling Hillary Clinton's claim of 'landing under sniper fire' in Bosnia: https://www.google.com/search?q=hillary+clinton+lie+about+bosnia&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Will California Become a Climate Change Police State?

Last Fall, Governor Brown of California signed into law SB 32.  Under that law, the "state" is mandated to cut greenhouse gases to a level that is 40% below 1990 levels and achieve that reduction by 2030.  But, when you consider population growth, which is the real driver of the growth in greenhouse gases, the mandate is closer to 60% because, by 2030, the population is projected to be 44 million; up nearly 50% from roughly 30 million in 1990.

So, think about this.  Over the next 13 years Californians will have to reduce their green house gas emissions by 60%.  How does that happen?  Think about how you would personally reduce your own energy consumption by 60% over the next 13 years.  Will 60% of the cars in California have to be electric or extremely fuel efficient? Will people be forced to drive less? Will every Californian have to use 60% less fuel in heating and cooling their homes or in cooking?  And, how will the poor comply? California is already number one in poverty with 20.6% of the population in poverty based on new calculations by the Census Bureau.

What if the population resists becoming 60% more energy efficient?  Does the state then start telling you what you can or cannot do?  Can the state force you to spend thousands for rooftop solar panels to meet the mandate? Will they tell you how often you can cook in your own home?  Or, make it a criminal offense for keeping your thermostat a little too cool in the summer or a little too warm in the winter.

To me, this is complete insanity.  Trying to force 44 million people into compliance over climate change will create nothing short of a police state.  But, they may not have to since millions may just leave the state rather than comply.

References:

Gov. Brown signs sweeping legislation to combat climate change: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-jerry-brown-signs-climate-laws-20160908-snap-story.html

California Governor Brown imposing massive regulations for meaningless climate goals: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/05/19/california-governor-brown-imposing-massive-regulations-for-meaningless-climate-goals/

California's Population Growth 1970 to 2040:  http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_116HJ3R.pdf

Why Does California Have The Nation's Highest Poverty Rate? - Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckdevore/2016/09/28/why-does-california-have-the-nations-highest-poverty-rate/#51a70e1312d9

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Is Google Home Just a Little Too Close To Home?

Today's hottest tech items are listening devices such as "Google Home" and "Amazon Echo". These  are WiFi/Internet connected and can respond to voice commands and answer them with built in speakers.  For example, if you wanted to know who wrote the Wizard of Oz, and you have an active Google Home device, you would simple say "OK Google" followed by the command "who wrote the "The Wizard of Oz"?  Then it would search the Internet and respond with the answer.

Here's the problem.  These devices respond to anyone's voice.  A fact that resulted in two major problems this year.

The first was during the airing of the Super Bowl.  Google Home ran a 60 second commercial, and the words "OK Google" were repeated over and over again.  As result, any Google Home devices that were within earshot of the commercial literally went nuts trying to comply with multiple commands in such a short period of time.

The second disaster was caused by Burger King, who apparently saw this TV to Google Home relationship as positive.  In a 15 second TV Commercial, the spokesperson leans into the camera and  says "OK Google, What is the Whopper burger".  Immediately every Google Home device within earshot  responded by listing the ingredients of the Whopper from Wikipedia. Here's the commercial and Google Home's response:



I don't know how many Google Home devices were affected by this, but it demonstrates a real problem.  If you have WiFi connected devices/appliances in your home that are compatible with Google Home commands, they can be controlled by anyone's voice.  Those items could include your security system or your garage door opener.

Now, think about that. If someone knows you have Google Home and knows that you have an answering machine within earshot of it, that person could potentially open your garage door or shutdown your security system by simply calling your home.  And, what if your Google Home is hacked and your every conversation is being recorded by an external listener?  After all, Google Home is connected to your network.  A simple phishing attachment to an email that you opened could tell a hacker all the devices that are connected to your WiFi including Google Home, your refrigerator, your security system, or garage door opener.  Google Home is also capable of remotely starting your car or opening its doors; if so connected.

Obviously people should reconsider the convenience of Google Home and the devices that they hook into it.

References:

Google's Home TV ad makes Google Home systems go crazy: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/06/googles-home-tv-ad-makes-google-home-systems-go-crazy.html

Alexa and Google Home Record What You Say. But What Happens to That Data?: https://www.wired.com/2016/12/alexa-and-google-record-your-voice/

Why your next Echo command should be: ‘Disconnect me from the internet’: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article148879664.html

Google Says No Whopper For YOU! Shuts Down Burger King’s Google Home Hack: http://hothardware.com/news/google-shuts-down-burger-kings-google-home-hack

Keeping Your Home Safe With Google Home: https://homealarmreport.com/keeping-home-safe-google-home/

​How to keep your smart TV from spying on you | ZDNet: http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-keep-your-smart-tv-from-spying-on-you/

The Appointment of Mueller Isn't Going to Satisfy Democrats

If any Republican or anyone in the Trump Administration thinks that the appointment of Robert Mueller is going to squelch the ongoing calls by Democrats for a Special Prosecutor to investigate a Trump/Russia collusion, forget-about-it.  For political reasons, the Democrats want this investigation to go on forever, and don't think that if Mueller finds there was "no collusion" the Democrats will  accept it.

Nancy Pelosi has already said as much:

"A special prosecutor is the first step, but it cannot be the last. Director Mueller will still be in the chain of command under the Trump-appointed leadership of the Justice Department. He cannot take the place of a truly independent, outside commission that is completely free from the Trump administration’s meddling."

After the Mueller appointment, Representative Maxine Waters stated this:

"No actual evidence yet, but connecting the dots will lead to Trump impeachment."

There are no dots to connect; but, by making the statement, any listener is lead to believe it is simply a forgone conclusion.  In the case of an impeachment,  "high crimes and misdemeanors" must be proven in a straight line, in a fully connected fashion.  Not merely based on an assumption from a bunch of fictional dots.

Lastly, Nancy Pelosi continues to call Mueller a Special Prosecutor and not his actual title of Special Counsel.  The reason of course, is obvious. "Prosecutor"  implies guilt, and the only thing left to do is to prosecute. If you doubt this, just look at the poster being displayed at a news conference showing "President" Trump happily shaking the hand of the Foreign Minister:

If that isn't political theater then nothing is.  Of course there are plenty of similar pictures of Hillary Clinton doing the same thing.  I especially like this one of eager President Obama being quicker on the handshake draw in his meeting with Putin:

Enough Said!

References:

Dems Laud Special Counsel, But Say It's Not Enough: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/05/18/dems_laud_special_counsel_but_say_its_not_enough.html

Maxine Waters: No Actual Evidence Yet, But Connecting The Dots Will Lead To Trump Impeachment: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/05/18/maxine_waters_no_actual_evidence_yet_but_connecting_the_dots_will_lead_to_trump_impeachment.html

Source of the Obama Photo: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/D2mrMsiiK8f/President+Obama+Holds+Talks+Moscow/UcMh37HL9e7