If there are no decent jobs, or you have no employable skill set, you will just end up with people in more squalor than they were on welfare. 

Decent jobs are out there - but not enough.  We need increased economic activity.  An "America first" policy will help too. 

Both of these will be reversals of Obama's policies. 

After thinking about this a while, I realized that it's similar to the time I wrote "Moochelle" and you challenged me on it.  I thought about that, too, and realized it is because I don't respect her, and it's hard for me to use the real name of someone who, in my opinion, is neither worthy (of a position, say) or respectable (because of their behavior).  I concluded then that I supposed I should consider a person's name sacrosanct, despite my feelings about them.  I could skip titles, though, as I often do with the current person residing in the White House.

On this issue of Obama's birthplace, here is the deal.  I simply do not trust him, or any of his minions, handlers, cohorts, and cadre.  I don't trust him, or them, asechrest, sir.  Really, AT ALL.  And why should I? Look what he has done to our country!  His only memorable quote in office was a lie!

One can pontificate about this and that, that he has done, and how wonderful he is, but the fact is that his tenure has been painfully disastrous for our country.  Fareed Zakaria did a CNN special on Obama's second term, admitting that it was a disaster, but claimed that "America has failed its President.  It was not ready for his ideas." 

Well, thank God we weren't ready for the compost heap he shoved down our throats and the cloak of despair he threw over our country!  Those who TRUSTED him, and voted for him, brought it all down upon us.  I. Do. Not. Trust. Obama.

I don't trust Trump, either.  My trust has to be earned.  I am watching.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, and don't think I deserve to be called "wildly partisan" and "inconsistent."  I am not a birther.  I didn't care when it was issue, and I don't care about it now.  There were much more important reasons to be concerned about him than where he was born. 

My lack of trust in the whole leftist machine, as we saw exercised in such a WILDLY PARTISAN manner in this election, causes me to trust NOTHING that they do or say.  They have brought it on themselves, and I am not alone amongst thinking, rational people in seeing the horrific tearing away of the mask of civility the leftists managed to hide behind, before they began rioting, blaming everything but themselves, and gnashing their teeth at November 8th's REAL NEWS that there was a large swath of American citizenry who didn't trust them, either.

We need to weaken the Federal government so state's rights matter again. That was the concept of the U.S. in the first place.  United States not one big Oligarchy.  Still, people can vote with their feet. If you want to live in La La land, move to CA, OR, WA, MA, CT, RI, HI, MD, NY, VT, IL, MN, etc.  There are many ultra progressive states in which to choose.  But, stay in the metro areas, as if you wander out, you are fair game, even in the Progressive states. 

These are key points.
It wouldn't immediately divide the country, but neither would it rip it apart.  Allow States to tax or subsidize that which they feel is important.  Allow States to regulate businesses and our lives as much as their residents feel prudent.  States that choose wisely will grow and prosper and more people will move there.

We still need a Federal Government for inter-state policies and for national defense, but the function of the Federal Government should be more of an enabler for the various States and less of a controlling authority for them.  As for financing the Federal Government, rather than taxing all individuals the Federal Government should collect fees from each State, but the States should be responsible for the method they choose to raise those funds.

We would see some States go the Socialist route, and some States go the Capitalist route, but most would choose policies somewhere in between (ie, the Bell Curve).  Each system would be given teh chance to succeed or fail on it's merits and as a Citizen of this Union of States, I could choose to live and work under the system I prefer.

I disagree because the two aren't joined at the hip.
Paul Ryan has been a monumental failure at leading based on conservative principles.
What Donald Trump thinks or does has no bearing on what Paul Ryan did and does.

Don't try and use facts or logic with Jihad Jeff, he is so broken record on that I still have him on ignore as a total no-value-added waste of time and wouldn't have even seen what he said had you not quoted it - but I already knew what it would be anyway.

Conservatism is not on the Presidential ballot this year (or any year really but that is another story) - what is on the ballot this year is a continuation and expansion of the disastrous policies of the last 8 years, or something else. 

I only say 'something else' because the details are actually not that important - on any of the issues I could be a single issue voter on, Trump's official platform positions (and the history of his public life, on balance) far more closely align with my own than do Clinton's.  SCOTUS, Gun Control, Abortion, the Political-Media-Complex, Immigration, Trade, Radical Muslim Terrorism, the UN, the Republican Elite/Establishment, DC vs the rest of the country, the rigged system - I could go on but he is far closer to my own positions than Hillary could ever believably pretend to be.

Is he an ideal candidate, no - never said that.

Is he a rock-ribbed conservative, no - never said that.

Is he a paragon of moral virtue and propriety, no - never said that.

Borrowing from a good friend of mine, we are minimizing the election by calling this one a choice between 'the lesser of two evils' - simply put:

• One is for the murder of unborn children one is not - that is not the lesser of two evils, that is for the greater good and is for me an easy choice.
• One is for the elimination of the foundation of our Bill of Rights (2nd Amdt) and one is not - that is not the lesser of two evils, that is for the greater good and is for me an easy choice.
• One is for appointing radical left wing idealogues to SCOTUS (and every other court in the land) and one is not - that is not the lesser of two evils, that is for the greater good and is for me an easy choice.
• One is for allowing unvetted refugees from dangerous areas of the world (and anywhere else frankly) into our country without a single thought as how to support them and one is not - that is not the lesser of two evils, that is for the greater good and is for me an easy choice.
• One refuses to name or even try to truly quantify the danger we face from Radical Islam and one is not - that is not the lesser of two evils, that is for the greater good and is for me an easy choice.

 

'Gimp

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-apologizes-for-vulgar-comments-my-travels-around-the-country-have-changed-me/article/2603992

Donald Trump offered an apology to Americans early Saturday morning after comments he made in 2005 degrading women were made public.

"I've never said that I'm a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I'm not. I've said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologize," Trump said.

"I've traveled the country talking about change for America but my travels have also changed me. I've spent time with grieving mothers who have spent lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country and I've been humbled by the faith they've placed in me.

"I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down. Let's be honest. We're living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we're facing today. We are losing our jobs, we're less safe than we were eight years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground. I've said some foolish things but there's a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday," Trump concluded.

 Trump has come out and apologized.   He has taken responsibility for his actions.

 And the Clintons?  Has Hillary apologized for her remarks calling Americans "deplorables" and bad mouthing the Sanders supporters?  Has Hillary apologized for lying to Americans about her role in Benghazi and letting Americans die for political expediency?  Has Hillary apologized for lying to Americans about her mishandling of information and how she and her staff destroyed evidence in a criminal investigation?   Has Hillary apologized for her treatment of the victims of Bill Clinton's rapes?  Has Hillary apologized to Monica Lewinsky for her remarks made about her?  Has Hillary apologized to the mothers of the Benghazi victims that she called liars and other cruel names?

 If you think things are bad now, with a rogue president and his party using the government and the media to accomplish their punishments of anyone daring to disagree or stand up to them, this should be a wake up call.  Once Hillary gets into office she will be BHO on steroids in using her position to punish anyone who dares hold her or her criminal foundation accountable.  You are witnessing the lengths the democrats and the media will go to destroy anyone who stands in their way.  They are desperate to hold and increase their power base.

And how is anyone going to fix that?

What are the causes of high healthcare costs?

Notice I said "healthcare", not "health insurance."

My 12k doesn't include the cost of my insurance.  That's an additional $4,000 because my company pays most of my insurance cost.

Before you can fix it, you need to understand it.  Wanting to understand and not just jump straight to fixing is a major step forward.

Outsourcing is a/the major cause of cost.  Outsourcing creates many levels of companies in the ecosystem, every one of which needs to tack on their profit to the equation.  I once counted 18 levels of depth to a medical transaction.  If we say that each company was only looking for a 7% profit then the price goes up 337% in order to account for everyone's 7% profit.  And we know there are companies that are looking for much more than just 7%.

What causes outsourcing?  I can easily see 4 areas
1) billing requirements.  Medical billing is out of control with codes, procedures and data interfaces.  It's great for the IT industry, not so good for doctors and patients.
2) medicare/medicaid.  The government is limiting payments more than insurance companies do, so doctors have to make it up somewhere. 
3) Tort.  Malpractice insurance companies limit what a doctor can do so they must outsource even basic medical things.  And every time you outsource, you're adding not just the new company's profit, but their suppliers, IT systems and billing support companies' profit too.
4) Electronic record keeping - this falls under the "not a bad idea", but when made a requirement, it introduced another big cost to doctors. 

Let doctors practice medicine, not business, not defensive law and certainly not government interaction.

He asked how voter ID prevents this fraud. Our voter rolls are a total clusterfuck. Time to change the system.

Because voter ID raises the bar on what is necessary to commit fraud.  Today, you need to memorize a name and address.  With voter ID, you need to synthesize enough identification to convince the Dept of Motor Vehicles (in NC) that you are who you say you are and that you're entitled to get an ID with your name on it.  That's a huge step up in protecting voting integrity.

It feels like Dems don't want voter ID because they're the ones doing the fraud. 

My point was that racism is being imputed for political gain upon those who are not racist (Islamaphobe, homophobe, on and on as per HRC's revealing yet typical quote). Such accusations are merely vote farming, as are many practices of the left.

It is a leftist strategy to pick out the most dysfunctional if not literally just AWFUL person they can find who holds an ideology the left wants to attack, be it religion, political party, gender, anything, and then hold that person or tiny group up as an example of the MAJORITY of that group. 

In the same convoluted way, as PaulS said in another post, they lift up and even reward those who make dysfunctional decisions.  I have also noted that the left tries to skew laws toward the few, bringing havoc and dysfunction upon the many!  In the name of compassion!  On and on we could go.  The left has created and is still creating a parasitic society that the producers ultimately cannot bear. 

All this and more is what I am tired of, and that is what I will not be silent about.

Here is Dr. Ben Carson's response to HRC:

“In a very telling moment, Hillary Clinton maligned me and millions of other Americans as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic ‘deplorables."

“I’m so tired of this line of attack that normally taunts conservatives. Well, let me be very specific in my response. I believe in expanding opportunity, not welfare; that’s not racist."

“I believe every life is worth protecting, particularly the unborn; that doesn’t make me sexist."

“I believe marriage is between one man and one woman; that’s not homophobic."

“I believe in borders, the rule of law and our sovereign right to decide who to let into our country; that’s not xenophobic."

“I believe radical Islam is a mortal threat to America and Western civilization; that is common sense, not Islamophobia.”

You say my link is a rant against Obama.  It is not.  But he must take some responsibility for worsening race relations on his watch, promising much in that regard and delivering little.  Remember "all states should be purple?"  The vote farming continues.  "Are you Latino/Hispanic or non-Latino/Hispanic" is now firmly on medical forms, and my doctor says it does one thing only:  Gives more benefits to those who say that are Latino/Hispanic.  I declined to check those boxes and told the receptionist I thought we were supposed to have a colorblind society?  I can see "race," because it can affect medical decisions.  But not blatant vote farming. "Latino/Hispanic" is not a race.

Finally, from my link:

"And speaking of foreign lands, I've spent time abroad and speak Spanish and French and if Mr. Obama thinks the U.S. is a racist country, he ought to do a little bit of traveling not on Air Force One.  Try sitting at a French dinner table for twenty minutes and listening to the casual conversation if you think America is racist.

The truth is the USA is remarkably un-racist for a country its size.  We weren't always that way, obviously, but we walked the walk and we are now.  Or were.  The Democrat Party and its assorted media hacks are trying to take us backwards.  They suffer from nostalgia for racism for the glorious days when they could assert their moral superiority.  Sorry, those days are over.  The only way to stop remaining racism is to stop it, not talk about it, impute racism to people who don't have it and generally do everything possible to divide the American people from themselves.

And, Democrats, above all if you care about black people, stop it.  All you're doing is making their lives worse."