Politics 2016

[Wrath of Dagon]

Problem with optional is you could wait until you get sick, then buy insurance.

[Guard Dog]

No the problem with optional is without the un-subsidized members paying the premium price there is no money to cover the cost of the subsidized members.

[Chilloutman]

No the problem with optional is without the un-subsidized members paying the premium price there is no money to cover the cost of the subsidized members.

yup, that is called solidarity

[Wrath of Dagon]

No the problem with optional is without the un-subsidized members paying the premium price there is no money to cover the cost of the subsidized members.

Meh, just a couple of turns of the rack for the tax payer, and voila!

[Hurlshort]

The problem would be a lot less of a problem if we just had reasonable prices for medical care instead of $8,000 ambulance rides.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

The problem would be a lot less of a problem if we just had reasonable prices for medical care instead of $8,000 ambulance rides.

And tax-free medical savings accounts will empty fast (assuming people have any money to put in them at all). The entire system is broken and while the Affordable Care Act was needed at the time, and still is, we need more fundamental changes or else the healthcare system is going to collapse.

[Wrath of Dagon]

The problem would be a lot less of a problem if we just had reasonable prices for medical care instead of $8,000 ambulance rides.

Good idea, how do we get there though? ACA wasn't a solution, prices still went up. They had a law which said provider compensation for Medicare could only increase at the rate the economy grew, but every year Congress doing the work of the medical lobby would override that, even though the 10 year budget projection always assumed the provision was still in place for future years. Finally they simply repealed that law altogether. Edit: And then the medical lobbyists were running ads thanking my Congressman for being instrumental in repealing the hated law. And then he outspent his primary opponent by at least 50 to 1. Edited January 5, 2017 by Wrath of Dagon

[Deadly_Nightshade]

One of the easiest fixes would be a single payer system although that has its own issues. Another possible fix would be more regulation of prices but that's hard as treatment at hospital X might be vastly different than hospital Y.

 

In the meantime ensuring everyone has insurance is a good stop-gap measure. Plus I prefer the idea of insurance that I buy and can take with me if I switch kind than one that ties me down with a particular employer.

[Guard Dog]

 

The problem would be a lot less of a problem if we just had reasonable prices for medical care instead of $8,000 ambulance rides.

And tax-free medical savings accounts will empty fast (assuming people have any money to put in them at all). The entire system is broken and while the Affordable Care Act was needed at the time, and still is, we need more fundamental changes or else the healthcare system is going to collapse.

 

It doesn't happen often but we are in agreement here. The cost of this commodity has by light years exceeded it's actual value and rather than doing something about the costs the government has been subsidizing the ability of the consumer's to pay. That is NOT sustainable.

[Guard Dog]

One of the easiest fixes would be a single payer system although that has its own issues. Another possible fix would be more regulation of prices but that's hard as treatment at hospital X might be vastly different than hospital Y.

 

In the meantime ensuring everyone has insurance is a good stop-gap measure. Plus I prefer the idea of insurance that I buy and can take with me if I switch kind than one that ties me down with a particular employer.

Wow, the moment of agreement between us sure didn't last long!

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Wow, the moment of agreement between us sure didn't last long!

I suspect that we're actually more in agreement than not, I think that you're right and Medicaid and Medicare have contributed to the rise in costs - and TriCare is just awful from what I've seen/experienced. Likewise insurance itself has been driving up costs.

 

But, at that same time, I don't like the idea of people forgoing insurance until the system is changed as I think that everyone being able to receive affordable medical care is important to maintaining good public health (vaccinations come to mind, but then I'd also make those mandatory).

Edited January 7, 2017 by Deadly_Nightshade

[redneckdevil]

It's time to do away with hate crime laws. Spit on them, toss them in the trash with a huge pile of ****, set it on fire, and just ****ing do away with them.

They don't work and won't work unless ur black/homosexual.

Just ****ING get rid of hate crime laws since they aren't gonna be used for everybody.

 

A white guy can call a black guy a **** and punch him and he's charged with a hate crime.

4 ****ing teenagers can kidnap and torture a white mentally handicap teenager and beat him, spit on him, torture him and record it all on video while saying multiple times "**** white people", " I hate white people", etc etc and they are not being charged with a hate crime because they black.

Just like how last year a ****ing soldier just got back and some black people drove by him and his friends screaming cracker ass honky, **** white people, etc and stab him and kill him.....but it's not a hate crime.

 

**** the hate crime policy's if they ain't gonna do their damn job

[Gfted1]

~snip~

 

Chicago torture video: 4 charged with hate crime, kidnapping.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

4 ****ing teenagers can kidnap and torture a white mentally handicap teenager and beat him, spit on him, torture him and record it all on video while saying multiple times "**** white people", " I hate white people", etc etc and they are not being charged with a hate crime because they black.

 

Do you mean the for that were just charged with a hate crime among other things? Edited January 5, 2017 by Deadly_Nightshade

[Volourn]

They can deny it all they want but this is definitely BLM and Obama's fault. Just like the mass murder of white cops. This is blm, Obama, and the perpetrators' fault. It is BLM who goes around marching and  chanting 'death to whitey' so it should be not surprising that BLMers would do this sort of stuff.

 

ASlso, chances are they being charged for a 'hate crime' not because the victim is white but because of his being 'special needs'. Hate crime legsitation should  be handled  fairly and unbiasedly because that is the whole point right - to stop crimes based on race/gender/whatever reasons.

 

That said, the whole diea of a 'hate crime' being worse than other crimes is silly. I do0n't care if you murdered someone because they were white or black or if you murdered them for their money. It is wrong and both should be punished the same. PERIOD.

 

 

"Another police spokesman said earlier that the four black suspects had made "terrible racist statements" during the assault.

But he said investigators suspect the victim was targeted because he has "special needs", not because he is white."

 

Read the 2nd link. 'Nough said.

Edited January 5, 2017 by Volourn

[Malcador]

So you lot are upset that the police suspect it's a hate crime for reasons other than you think?

[Volourn]

Not upset. TRIGGERED. Get it right.

 

I expect EVERYONE to be treated equally. This isn't happened so damn straight I'm TRIGGERED.

[Gromnir]

race issues, real o' perceived, becomes national/international news and sudden 1/3 o' the population suffers a temporary drop o' +30 iq points.  

 

on the positive side, the pandemic foolishness is not limited to any one race/culture.  the ubiquitous wacky is nondenominational and is as prevalent 'mongst  the disenfranchised as it is 'mongst the privileged.  so give three cheers for successful achieving some kinda equality. 

 

...

 

no cheers? 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Duffin said the department sought hate crime charges because of the victim's diminished mental capacity, the fact that the four suspects tied him up and the racial epithets heard on the video.

Cdr Duffin said the racial slurs and references to the victim's mental capacity, depicted in the video, led to the hate crime charges.

Looks to me they're considering it a hate crime because he was white as well. I'm more upset a kid got tortured than what specific reason his torturers got charged with a hate crime for, but I guess that makes me a nazi sjw or something.

[Orogun01]

 

Duffin said the department sought hate crime charges because of the victim's diminished mental capacity, the fact that the four suspects tied him up and the racial epithets heard on the video.

Cdr Duffin said the racial slurs and references to the victim's mental capacity, depicted in the video, led to the hate crime charges.

Looks to me they're considering it a hate crime because he was white as well. I'm more upset a kid got tortured than what specific reason his torturers got charged with a hate crime for, but I guess that makes me a nazi sjw or something.

 

No it just makes you a regular human being, one day you will join the rest of us in CrazyTown USA.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Well Sportacus turned Lazy Town into **** so I might as well move.

[Agiel]

Welp, Trump is getting an intelligence briefing tomorrow in Trump Tower. I half expect him to accidentally expose a CIA asset or some such from a tweet.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Agiel

[licketysplit]

So, following in the footsteps of Stalin, Pinochet, and Kim Jong Il Barack Obama had himself awarded a medal yesterday. The Department of Defense Public Service. So Congrats to him for doing.... well nothing I guess, to earn such a prestigious honor. But hey, GWB & Bill Clinton did the same thing for no good reasons so why not. After all a politician needs no help patting themselves on the back. Especially one as narcissistic as Obama.

 

 

Most overrated shill of our time. 

[Gromnir]

Welp, Trump is getting an intelligence briefing tomorrow in Trump Tower. I half expect him to accidentally expose a CIA asset or some such from a tweet.

trump Presidency in 2:07

 

 

Congressional impotence is partial to blame for the possibility of trump.  even so, is only so much trump can screw up domestic w/o Congress adopting a Three Wise Monkeys posture.  am hopeful trump scares Congress outta their indolence. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited January 6, 2017 by Gromnir

[Agiel]

 

Welp, Trump is getting an intelligence briefing tomorrow in Trump Tower. I half expect him to accidentally expose a CIA asset or some such from a tweet.

trump Presidency in 2:07

 

 

Congressional impotence is partial to blame for the possibility of trump.  even so, is only so much trump can screw up domestic w/o Congress adopting a Three Wise Monkeys posture.  am hopeful trump scares Congress outta their indolence. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

Was speaking more to the possibility of a mixture of carelessness, lack of experience, and attention-seeking that could lead to an unintentional security breach, I'm reminded of this passage from David E. Hoffman's "The Billion Dollar Spy":

 

 

 

In March, a crisis erupted involving Alexei Kulak, the overweight KGB officer who had been abandoned because of the stand-down. A message from headquarters informed Hathaway that Kulak, then living in Moscow, might face arrest and could be exposed as a spy for the United States. Hathaway felt a special obligation to Kulak, whom he had personally recruited in a New York hotel room. The problem, headquarters reported, was that a new book, just published by the author Edward Jay Epstein, contained enough details to pinpoint Kulak as an American agent. If the KGB followed up on details in the book and arrested him, Kulak would certainly face charges of treason, punishable by death.

 

In the same book, Adolf Tolkachev AKA CKSPHERE was compromised by an agent-in-training, Edward Lee Howard who was fired. He did not know his name but nonetheless knew enough about the case that the information he offered to the KGB put them on the right track to identifying and arresting him.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Agiel