Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans in disarray!

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Bark louder, little dog.

Keep the Immigrants and deport the fascists!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Find someone who loves you the way trump and maga love traitors.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Elections / I'm With Her 2016 / Monday Morning Open Thread: Speaking Truth

Monday Morning Open Thread: Speaking Truth

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  1. 1.

    JPL

    Rather than ask Tulsi why Russian bots are supporting her, they ask if she’s a Russian asset Democratic candidates who fell for that bullshit should not earn our respect.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    You know why so many people want Hillary to just shut up and go away? Because she was right then, and she’s right now.

  5. 5.

    JDM

    Two thoughts:

    Hillary Clinton is the personification of Cassandra

    Every headline about something Hillary says should say, if accuracy were desired*, “Hillary Clinton is smarter and better informed than you and I”

    * it’s not

  8. 8.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    Remember how media/pundits treated Gore? They hated and resented him because he was so clearly smarter and more competent than they were.

    They were so much happier just shmoozin’ and jokin’ around and havin’ a beer with their good ol’ buddy Dubya down on the brush farm!

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    @Ladyraxterinok: Remember how media/pundits treated Gore? They hated and resented him because he was so clearly smarter and more competent than they were.

    Which is inevitable when they fish from the low-rent dock, and yet, that’s the Right Wing’s favorite.

  12. 12.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    This is just to say that I haven’t even watched the show, and “smells like bleach” has already entered my vocabulary.

    Also, nominating the phrase for a rotating tag.

  15. 15.

    bjacques

    I’m loving this. From the sidelines, she’s causing almost as much discomfort to the GOP and principled progressives than she could have as President. I’m even spreading it around for the benefit of my Hillary-hating friends on both sides of the aisle. (The ones in safe blue states should be grateful for the Electoral College for shielding them from the consequence, however slight, their principled abstention could have.)

    I like that she also casually dropped the point that China’s One Belt One Road policy is binding countries through debt more tightly than the US could by dollars and the CIA or the USSR by tanks and the KGB (which, come to think of it, would make an even bigger mess in an economic collapse).

  18. 18.

    JoyceH

    I’ve been away from home for most of October dealing with a family medical emergency, so I’m a couple weeks past my self imposed deadline, but I finally got a couple days back home before hitting the road again, and managed to get my book published. So here it is – Regency Mage, Book 3 – Mary Bennet and the Beast of Rosings Park

  19. 19.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Why is Elizabeth Warren vague on healthcare? To allow herself wiggle room

    A lot of people are gunning for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as she runs the gauntlet to the top of the Democratic presidential field. So many wonder why Warren is “vague” on healthcare financing, as Senator Amy Klobuchar enunciated emphatically during the last TV debate. It’s simple. Warren left herself enough wiggle room on healthcare to drive a Mack truck through so she can tack to the center for the general election. She supports single-payer insurance, no question. But what does she think in detail about private health insurance, or how her version of Medicare for All will be financed?

    “Understand,” the teacher repeats like a mantra. Costs will go down for average folk but up for the mega-wealthy and “big corporations”. Warren toes that line with great discipline and balance. Nothing on taxes.

    Does she really want to abolish Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield, my insurance provider with the $5,000 deductible? Warren wants to wipe out that deductible, for sure. Wellmark I am not so certain about. She senses the guide rails of electoral politics. Bernie Sanders she is not.

    ……………………

    Her strategy is familiar. I tried to pin down Barack Obama in Storm Lake on his healthcare plans when he was campaigning in 2007 against Hillary Clinton, who had very detailed plans hashed out over years. Obama said businesses would pay for his universal health coverage plan and then begged off for the next reporter’s question. Of course, the Affordable Care Act did not resemble what the Illinois senator was describing that sunny day in the lakeshore park. He wanted a public option (Medicare for All, if you will) back then. It got shot down in the Senate by the insurance industry.

    The entire Democratic field supports a public option now, including Warren. Sanders certainly would take it. Warren will not be buttonholed on healthcare tax questions to feed the attack-ad machine currently targeting Joe Biden with outright slander. That’s just smart politics.

    Warren clearly is an existential threat to a gilded class vested in a system that drives working people bankrupt, or at least keeps them struggling and grateful just to have a $16-an-hour job that has a lousy health insurance plan.

    She keeps climbing in the polls, and raising more money every day, while embracing with cheer the contempt of the malefactors of great wealth. People who never worked for their supper but spent a career clipping coupons should be freaking out. The rest of us can wait to see where she settles.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    Clinton might want to point to this book from the VA Secretary who Trump fired in 2017.

    The book, being released next week amid the ongoing House impeachment investigation into Trump, has already drawn attention for Shulkin’s revelations that top administration officials considered closing down some poor-performing VA facilities and for Shulkin’s own account of his surprise nomination to the top VA post.

    But the volume also contains hundreds of pages detailing infighting among Shulkin’s leadership team and White House political appointees, many of whom the former secretary said were allowed to operate unchecked and sabotaged his work to advance their own policy agendas.

    For months before his firing over Twitter, Shulkin was besieged by accusations he improperly used his position to take his wife on an overseas business trip and improperly accepted free tickets to a Wimbledon tennis match. An internal investigation also criticized how his personal security detail was managed, including performing some personal errands for Shulkin.

  30. 30.

    John S.

    @JPL:

    We can add Mayor Pete to the list along with Beto of people who thought it was smarter to defend Tulsi and attack Clinton.

  35. 35.

    Fair Economist

    @germy: Of course the Republicans have secret Twitter accounts. The question is why Romney – and only Romney – gets outed right after Romney – and only Romney – starts some half-serious opposition to Trump.

    Edit: and yes I know Slate is supposed to be left-leaning. So is the FTNYT.

  37. 37.

    chris

    @Just One More Canuck:

    it’s going to be a long day

    Ayuh. Off to vote now and spend the rest of the day and most of the night obsessively clicking “reload” with one hand and texting with the other. Damn time zones :-(

  38. 38.

    Kay

    There is no work being done in this administration.

    This is a good attack. You can talk forever about ethical/character issues and Republicans won’t care but go to laziness and incompetence and they get angry. They all see themselves as incredibly hard working and excellent managers.

    This was actually Trump’s pitch- that he was a super-good manager. Guffaw.

  40. 40.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @John S.: I don’t understand the political calculation here. These people do know Clinton got most D votes in the primaries, right? They need a big chunk of her supporters if they want to win anything. Tulsi, OTOH, has demonstrably failed to gather much D support.

  42. 42.

    randy khan

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It is a funny kind of frustration to see Democratic candidates demand of each other specificity on things like how health care programs and other policy initiatives will be funded. I want to know, too, but the Dems are holding each other to a standard that no Republican would dream of imposing on another Republican.

  43. 43.

    randy khan

    @Fair Economist:

    Well, because Romney (a) mentioned the account; and (b) dropped enough clues about it to make it relatively easy to find. I don’t think it was anything else.

  45. 45.

    Chyron HR

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    They legitimately believe that 15 million people voted for Clinton in the primary and 66 million people voted for her in the general election “by default”.

  46. 46.

    TS (the original)

    Maggie Haberman is all over this Wapo report. I assume access is everything to the nyt

    Mulvaney, a former South Carolina congressman, hosted moderate Republican lawmakers at Camp David over the weekend, according to the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman, Eric Lipton and Katie Rogers, where members said that the president needed to reverse his decision to host the G-7 at one of his own properties

    So did she have a weekend at Camp David, courtesy of Mulvaney? The latter obviously needs some good press after his recent disasters.

    “Trump is leaning in favor of a new Pentagon plan to keep a small contingent of American troops in eastern Syria, perhaps numbering about 200, to combat the Islamic State and block the advance of Syrian government and Russian forces into the region’s coveted oil fields, a senior administration official said,” the New York Times’s Eric Schmitt and Maggie Haberman report.

    So how do 200 troops combat the Islamic State, Russia and the Syrian Government?

    Washington Post

  47. 47.

    Ken

    @JPL: I have to think “Esperanto” was auto-complete and Trump is too lazy to proofread his own tweets. Which is of course just great for the only medium in which he makes a pretense of governing.

  48. 48.

    Butter emails!!!

    @John S.:
    I thought our candidates were smarter than this. Tulsi is polling right around 1% and she’s obviously being utilized as an asset by the Russians. Doesn’t mean she’s on Vlad’s payroll, or being blackmailed by him, but she’s a not unwilling tool who espouses Russia friendly talking points and gets a heavy signal boost from them.

  49. 49.

    Ken

    @TS (the original): The Pentagon’s thinking might be that behind stationing US troops in Germany or South Korea. The numbers aren’t enough to hold off a full-scale invasion, but the prospect of getting the US involved is a deterrent. Of course that plan relies on the parties involve respecting the US, and we’ve seen how that works with Erdogan and Putin.

  52. 52.

    JR

    @Butter emails!!!: They are (by default) insurgent candidates. They can’t win unless there’s an opening. So toe-ing the line doesn’t do it for them. This is why the field needs to winnow pretty soon.

  53. 53.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Politico, so take it for that: Mick Mulvaney’s bad week just got worse This however gave me a chuckle:

    A senior administration official said Kushner is supportive of Mulvaney as the acting chief of staff and that when there have been complications in the White House, Mulvaney and Kushner have a close enough relationship to “hash it out.”

    The White House press office declined to comment on the record Sunday. Later, it did not respond when asked whether White House aides or allies were drawing up lists for Mulvaney’s replacement.

    The kiss of death?

  54. 54.

    gvg

    @randy khan: It also was a pretty boring reveal. Not at all shocking. He follows all his family, former aides, most reporters that ever covered him and the late night comedians.
    First comment was 4 years after he created the account. For republicans who want an anti Trump in a future election, this actually looks good.

  55. 55.

    Butter emails!!!

    @Ken:
    That was my thought as well, except I think it might go a bit further. Ultimately, the troops in Germany and South Korea serve as a tripwire with the purpose of deterring an attack and never being used. I suspect the 200 troops in Syria are a tripwire that the Pentagon is hoping will ultimately be triggered.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    @johnnybuck:
    At least part of what makes the Democratic party better than the Republican is that most Democrats hold themselves, and each other, to higher standards than Republicans do. Do Democrats do that to a fault? Generally, I don’t think so. Even when tactically disadvantageus, as it is sometimes, it is the right thing to do.

  59. 59.

    TS (the original)

    @OzarkHillbilly: Wapo report doesn’t see Kushner supporting Mulvaney

    CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Dana Bash, Jim Acosta, and Gloria Borger first reported on Mulvaney’s tenuous standing: “Top aides including Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner were in the process of reaching out to at least two potential replacements for the top West Wing job” even before the House impeachment inquiry began.

    Link

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    Good luck, Canadians! Let the basket case to your south be a cautionary tale.

    @OzarkHillbilly: Warren said over the weekend she’s been working on specifics of a healthcare plan and that she’ll release it soon. I’m apprehensive about that because putting out a detailed plan will allow opponents and the media to pick every detail apart while Republicans get a free pass. But Warren has good political instincts, IMO, so hopefully she knows what she’s doing.

    One thing I hope Warren emphasizes on healthcare, no matter what the specifics of her plan, is the cost the “free market” imposes on consumers and how little the political media focuses on that. I read something about that the other day (can’t remember where) and it really struck me as true: every dime of proposed public spending is scrutinized to death, but candidates who advocate keeping the private insurance system in place don’t get hammered on the redundant insurance bureaucracies, obscene executive compensation, decades of rising premiums and out of pocket costs that keep millions uninsured, hamstring families with shitty, expensive coverage, etc. We’re just supposed to accept that “the market” does what it does, as if it were a force of nature, which it’s not.

  61. 61.

    TS (the original)

    @Ken: At this point in time it would be preferable to be in Germany or South Korea than in Syria. At least you would know that the country you are in is supporting your presence.

  62. 62.

    Tony Jay

    +++++++++BREXIT ADDENDUM+++++++++++++++

    WHILE YOU’RE DOWN THERE, DO AN OLD ETONIAN A FAVOUR?

    Short addition to the Brexit Follies, just to keep you good people up to date with the ongoing farce that is British politics.

    You may recall that on Saturday Flobalob Johnson went about trying to win a vote on his lazy arsed rebranding of Theresa May’s Withdrawal Deal, but being an incompetent buffoon he faceplanted in Failure Gulch once again after an Amendment was put forward by one of his own MPs (the temporally-displaced Georgian dandy and long-term Tory racist Oliver Letwin) that delayed any final vote until after Parliament had actually seen all of the constituent parts of the legislation underpinning Withdrawal Deal Mark 5 and voted on them individually. This passed 320 votes to 306 and stuck Scruffy Malfoy with the onerous task of obeying the recently passed Benn Act, which meant him writing to the EU to ask for a new extension from October to January next year, a legal obligation he carried out with all the maturity and dignity you’d expect from a man who can’t even fully account for how many illegitimate children he’s fathered and abandoned. I mean, really? Not signing the actual letter (or rather a photocopy of one) and then accompanying it with a signed letter saying he didn’t really mean it anyway? That’s contempt of court, sunbeam, and I hope (but don’t expect) the judges you pinky-swore to that you’d never do anything to violate the letter or the spirit of the Benn Act come down on you with the full weight of legal fulmination.

    Well, despite this latest humiliating defeat he’s come back today demanding that Parliament hold a ‘meaningful vote’ on his proposed Deal. Simple Up or Down, signalling Parliament’s intention to pass the Deal even though it would still have to go through the other votes described in the Letwin Amendment in order for it legally progress. Why? Well, it’s what passes for complicated Brexity-politics bollocks but the main points are:

    1) If he won the vote, he could take this blank cheque and use it as an excuse to withdraw his extension request to the EU, therefore bringing the possibility of a No Deal Brexit on 31st of October back from the dead. (Unlikely, because of 2)

    2) If the Speaker of the House of Commons refuses to let him have his vote, on the well-known procedural grounds that the House cannot be asked to vote on the exact same measure twice in one Parliamentary sitting, he can go wailing to the Tory Press that the Remoaners are denying democracy and stamping on the face of the Will of the People, blah blah, flippleflappleflapflap.

    3) Trying and failing to resurrect No Deal now is a deniable wink to the Brextremists in his Party that it’s safe to vote for his version of May’s Deal as a stopgap they can ditch in order to get No Deal forced through in December 2020 by the simple expedient of not voting through a Free Trade Agreement between the UK and EU. Without the Brextremists he’s got no majority, but without the masses of not-that-extreme MPs he’s got absolutely nothing, so doing it with deniability is imperative.

    But it appears he’s been safely out-maneuvered once again, this time by the mere possibility that the Speaker might only allow him his new vote as long as Amendments were allowed. Rather than risk having legislation for a new Referendum or a Customs Union with the EU strapped to his Withdrawal Deal his spokes-people have announced (huffily and with a full cheeseboard of white whining) that this would render the whole vote meaningless and if it happens they’ll pull it.

    Profiles in courage, every one of them.

    Oh, and those Judges up in Scotland, the ones due to rule on whether or not Johnson has broken the law by defying the Benn Act? They’ve refused a Government request to have the case thrown out (because Johnson has sent the letter) on the grounds that they don’t trust him enough to see out the rest of the process (actually accepting an extension if the EU offers one and then putting the legislation for one through Parliament). It’s really nice having a Prime Minister that inspires such faith in the finest legal minds of their generation. Makes one so very proud to be British and all that soppy shite.

    Every single MP who voted for the Benn Act and Letwin Amendment should be carpet bombing every TV camera and microphone within a 50-mile radius of Parliament asking the same obvious questions over and over again.

    Why doesn’t Johnson want anyone to see what’s in his Deal before voting on it?

    What’s he hiding?

    Why won’t he follow the law?

    It’s set to be an ‘interesting’ week or so. /s

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: +1

    I think Warren knows what she’s doing. She’ll state her principles, give examples of how to pay for it, but won’t try to write a my-way-or-the-highway bill on her own. And the political press won’t care about the details for more than a Twitter cycle, and they’ll move on to some other shiny object (for a while).

    There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from the Obamacare debates of 2007-2012 (including the SCOTUS decision in NFIB v Sebelius). It could be an easier path than then if we learn the correct lessons, but there still be dragons out there…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    Citizen_X

    @Butter emails!!!: But the tripwire idea only works if, like any deterrent, your potential enemies are sure you’re going to use it. And we just pulled our tripwire on the Turkish border (it was only 50 troops!) out, telling Erdogan “Do what you want” to the Kurds. So now Donnie’s going to stand up to Syria and his buddy Putin, if they want to move in? Don’t put any money on it.

  65. 65.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah, I thought of that as I was commenting on the lack of wisdom in attacking HRC. Maybe they’re supporting Gabbard out of principle. OTOH, what she said about Clinton is beyond the pale, far enough beyond that it sounded deranged.

  66. 66.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tony Jay: Seems like this will be a consequential week for democracy. Canada is voting, BoJo is flailing, and Trump seems to have entered the Downfall stage. Interesting times indeed.

  68. 68.

    Uncle Jeffy

    @Amir Khalid: I wouldn’t mind if Democratic candidates keep asking for things like funding details, as long as they preface their comments with “Of course Rethuglikkkans never asked Donald Tinyhands how he was going to pay for his tax cut, but we’re more honest than that, so let me ask you….”

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I just don’t buy the media argument that the American PEE-pul were insisting Warren announce she would raise taxes to pay for Medicare. They were insisting she do it, and then some of the other candidates piled on.

    This insane idea they have that they are somehow proxy for the masses is just bullshit. These are the same people who smugly assumed Trump’s tax cut would be a huge political winner, until it wasn’t. There’s no rule that says she has to lead with the pay-for. That’s their rule. I haven’t seen the slightest bit of evidence “voters” care if candidates announce specific funding mechanisms and there’s actually plenty of evidence they don’t.

  71. 71.

    Tony Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    At some point I’m expecting a klaxon to go off and the moon to swing open so Jim Carrey can lean out and scream “I’m playing my joker!!” upon which we all have to swap leaders and see how we cope for the next six months.

    And the answer to the obvious question is yes, we’ll take him, but only if we get to give him back when we’ve rubbed all of the Tories’ noses in him.

  72. 72.

    Joe Falco

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m apprehensive about that because putting out a detailed plan will allow opponents and the media to pick every detail apart while Republicans get a free pass.

    Betty, I agree with you. It doesn’t do Warren any favors however she is the one who made her campaign mantra to be “I’ve got a plan for that.” She made that her tactic, and it can become a matter of “Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword” when called out on it. I hope she can thread the needle though and put out something that’s simple enough for voters to grasp yet comprehensive to protect her policy flank. Those cretins on the Republican side will never be asked to explain half as much as Warren is being demanded to.

  73. 73.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @bjacques: Yes, sort of “so how does it feel assholes when someone sits on the side lines and tells you how much suck all day, except, oh unlike you useless twits, I am right”

    This is just a repeat of what happened with science and the creationists. As long as the scientists were nice and polite the creationist got away with the false equivalency bs. Then the scientists got rude and uncivil and being constantly made to look like an idiot made creationism a whole lot less fun The Democrats are finally learning that lesson.

  74. 74.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Joe Falco: OTOH, if Warren can actually put out a plausible plan, she will prove herself awesome.

    It’s kind of a pipe dream though because “plausible” is in the eye of the beholder, and health insurance is a complicated issue. (See ACA)

  75. 75.

    Kay

    Herb Scribner ?
    @HerbScribner
    ·22m
    Wow. Just under the wire >> Ohio counties, drug firms reach $260 million settlement in opioid epidemic case, averting trial

    I think this is a mistake. They need to start taking white collar cases TO TRIAL. People deserve a hearing on these. Trials aren’t just about money damages. If we allow these people to continue to just pay bribes to escape legal process they will continue to harm others.

    I cannot tell you how damaging this has been in Ohio. You could weep at the extent of the damage and it will be generational- there is an entire group of children who grew up in this. The money isn’t enough.

    They need to be publicly, personally, exposed and punished or this will continue. We have a white collar crime epidemic. They’re out of control. They need to be checked, hard.

  76. 76.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Agreed, and that sum seems woefully inadequate considering the scale of the damage and the enormity of the profits the drug pushers were raking in.

  77. 77.

    rikyrah

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    The White House press office declined to comment on the record Sunday. Later, it did not respond when asked whether White House aides or allies were drawing up lists for Mulvaney’s replacement.

    for which position? Remember, he has several.

  78. 78.

    Joe Falco

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Definitely. No one who’s lived through the ACA legislative process drama and was paying attention should expect a clean bill to go through the sausage-making process without changes and amendments even in the best of times.

  79. 79.

    Immanentize

    Today I am going to speak with Interns and residents at Mt. Auburn Hospital about cancer Care from the patient side. I guess they figure I have successfully completed my probationary period in that regard.

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m hoping she uses it as a teachable moment — that’s her thing, after all, as much as “plans” are a trademark. Maybe she provides specifics about how she’d approach healthcare reform and what she’d try to achieve but also details how much that plan depends on removing lobbyists from the process and having lawmakers in congress who are committed to the people’s interests instead of their own political gain.

  81. 81.

    TS (the original)

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    But on October 12, a federal appeals court ruled that Nixon had to give up official documents and recordings to Cox. Eight days later, on Saturday, October 20, Nixon demanded that his attorney general, Elliot Richardson, fire Cox. Richardson refused to do so and resigned from his position; Nixon then demanded the same of Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. He also refused and resigned. The third in line for the task, Solicitor General Robert Bork, finally complied with Nixon’s order.

    I get the distinct impression that AG Barr would act as did the Solicitor General. That is why he has the job.

  85. 85.

    Betty

    @Betty Cracker: The sad thing is that there are lots of people who understand this very well, but fail to make the case as strongly as they could. It’s as if there is some benefit to keeping people confused. Hmm.

  86. 86.

    Kay

    I’m backing Warren but if must have a centrist – and I will back the nominee, so that’s not at issue- the centrist I prefer is Klobachur because I think she’s the strongest of that lane, including Biden and Mayor Pete. I think she’ll win if she’s the nominee.

  87. 87.

    satby

    @Immanentize: probation and master class. But they will learn a lot from you and it will help others, so that’s a brave thing to offer to do. I’m sure some of your family’s ordeal still feels like a raw wound. You’re a mensch.

  89. 89.

    Betty

    @Kay: Kay, you are so right.The damage will go on and on. The money is nothing compared to what has been done to people.

  90. 90.

    Immanentize

    @JPL:
    The Immp is still on the road to “full normal.”. He has learned some lessons like too much dairy and bread at once is no good. When we went to Miami he had a rough eating time because of restaurant food and timed dining. So he is thinking about what he should pack himself on trips. But all told, he is generally happy and engaged. We bought a high end espresso machine on Craig’s list last night which was super cheap because it was broken. So, he has that puppy stripped down, figured out the issues, and will be rebuilding it better than it was (because he is adding a PID temp. regulator and other hacks). Just an example that he is not being a potato of the couch variety.

  91. 91.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Agreed. I’d love to see her take over that lane. She’s got a strong centrist record but doesn’t carry the loads of baggage Biden does.

  93. 93.

    Gelfling 545

    On the HRC/ Tulsi matter my sister made what I thought was a good point. HRC was the freaking secretary of state. She knows people in high places everywhere. And undoubtedly people still tell her things. Not national secret stuff but the rumors about who’s doing what & why. She should be listened to.

  96. 96.

    rikyrah

    Tulsi Gabbard’s “crisis” consultant worked for lawyer who offered Trump Jr. Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton.

    Late last week, Hawaii Congresswoman and candidate running in the Democratic primary Tulsi Gabbard’s meltdown at Hillary Clinton hinting that “a Democratic primary candidate” was being groomed by the GOP and promoted by Russian trolls and propaganda outlets that one would think she doth protest too much. I observed at the time of the initial Gabbard meltdown that the legitimate winner of the 2016 presidential election no longer has any fucks left to give and all the truth in the world to tell as her spokesperson lit up Gabbard’s dumpster fire, saying “if the nesting doll fits.”

    I also observed at the time that Hillary Clinton was not revealing some great secret as the public record contained a wealth of evidence supporting her charge. Among these:

    Tulsi Gabbard’s budding friendship with Putin’s puppet Syrian dictator Bashaar Al-Assad – which started with Gabbard taking a secret trip with a terrorist organization to meet her new bestie,

    Russian bot and propaganda outlets that invaded our 2016 elections now giving their unequivocal and full backing to Gabbard, and

    Gabbard returning the favor by insisting that American presence to protect Syrian Kurds who were the frontlines to beating ISIS was a “regime change war” and essentially backing Trump’s move to allow a Turkish invasion in the region.

    Since the initial fireworks on Friday, though, the body of evidence continues to grow that Tulsi Gabbard is in fact deeply connected to Putin and the Russians, and Gabbard herself is creating much of that evidence on the public record.

    Gabbard’s “crisis communications” consultant also worked (works?) for Russian lawyer who offered Trump Jr. dirt on Hillary Clinton.

  98. 98.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Life is like the military, it promises it will make you a fighter pilot but then puts a gun in your hand and drops you into a jungle.

  100. 100.

    Zzyzx

    If nothing else, she needs a good answer for that question because it’s not going to go away if she wins the nomination. That’s the main point of primaries, to get practice dealing with election issues in a friendlier environment.

    M4A will involve trade offs. Some people (mostly those who are healthy) will be worse off, so we have to learn how to sell it. “Yes, you might pay a little more, but you’ll never lie awake at night worrying that the 8th doctor that helped you was out of network. You won’t have to see endless gofundme requests and worry if you’ll need one if you get a new diagnosis. You won’t have to spend time deciphering similar proposals, terrified that you’ll choose the wrong one and it will mean coverage is denied,” should be a sellable argument. If it’s not, we’re never getting this anyway.

  101. 101.

    J R in WV

    @JoyceH:

    So sorry for your family medical emergency — my wife broke two ribs in a fall while watering the boulder’s moss about 5 weeks ago and is pretty totally limited in what she can do. Hope her Dr appointment Wednesday isn’t too strenuous. Plus our two new puppies are solely my job, along with everything else…. whoo am I tired. Vet trip today!

    I love your Regency Mage novels, so glad to see another one hit the shelves/database. The fist two were great. I’m not all that fond of Regency British customs and morality, but your stories and characters overcome that stuffy superiority to be interesting. Thanks for writing!

  102. 102.

    Kay

    David Bradford set up a bowl of chips, salsa, and some grapes in the common room of his Center City apartment building.
    He was hosting a presidential debate-watching party for Joe Biden supporters just blocks from the former vice president’s national campaign headquarters. He didn’t expect a big crowd, but in the end only one other person showed up.

    We can pretend this isn’t a problem but it is a problem. Maybe he’ll win anyway! Maybe Trump will tank so much that “generic Democrat” is all they’ll need but that is a risk – it’s just a different kind of risk. The “safe” choice has a lot of very apparent risk factors that I feel people are putting a lot of effort into ignoring.

  104. 104.

    rikyrah

    Already in a ditch, Mick Mulvaney finds a shovel, digs deeper
    10/21/19 08:40 AM—UPDATED 10/21/19 08:52 AM
    By Steve Benen

    On Thursday afternoon, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney appeared before reporters and acknowledged, among other things, the existence of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. The man in charge of running Donald Trump’s West Wing offered what was effectively a very public confession: the U.S. administration withheld vital military aid to a vulnerable ally, he explained, using it as leverage to convince a foreign country to participate in a political scheme for Donald Trump.

    “Get over it,” the South Carolina Republican declared after acknowledging White House wrongdoing.

    A day later, a GOP congressional leadership aide told Politico, “Mulvaney needs to learn when to stop talking.” That was a sensible observation, which the acting chief of staff ignored.

    Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney insisted Sunday that he did not say that President Donald Trump held up military aid for Ukraine for political purposes — despite acknowledging the issue at the heart of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry during a televised press conference.

    “I’m flinching because that’s what people are saying that I said, but I didn’t say that,” Mulvaney told “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace of the comments he made – and then walked back in a contradictory statement – Thursday.

    I’m not sure why Mulvaney thought it’d be a good idea to sit down with Fox News’ Chris Wallace, but whatever his reasoning, the president’s chief of staff was mistaken. Mulvaney was reduced to repeatedly complaining about being quoted accurately.

  107. 107.

    Gin & Tonic

    In other news, spent a wonderful day yesterday with our children+spouses and grandkids, culminating in a lot of good food and two bottles of a nice Nebbiolo. Rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm or conviviality. As my son is about to embark on an overseas assignment, this was the last opportunity for all of us to be together for a year. Thanksgiving/Christmas will be different than what we have become accustomed to – we have much to be thankful for, but we will be largely apart while expressing that.

  108. 108.

    Betty Cracker

    @Cacti: Warren is running a brilliant campaign. She’s fucked up along the way — all politicians do. Maybe she won’t win the nomination, but she’s doing pretty damned well so far. Deny it all you want, but it’s a fact.

  109. 109.

    J R in WV

    @John S.:

    We can add Mayor Pete to the list along with Beto of people who thought it was smarter to defend Tulsi and attack Clinton.

    I didn’t think either of those guys were really smart, but I was a little amazed to discover that they are both also despicable.

  111. 111.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tony Jay: In case you missed it…

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    Uh huh
    Uh huh ??

    Scoop: Mark Zuckerberg quietly made recommendations for hires for the Pete Buttigieg campaign, marking rare involvement in a presidential run t.co/gRMZy2Kr1T fascinating from @tylerpager @KurtWagner8

    — Sarah Frier (@sarahfrier) October 21, 2019

  115. 115.

    TS (the original)

    @Zzyzx:

    Some people (mostly those who are healthy)

    In every health care system those who are young and/or healthy complain about the cost. Whether it is private insurance or medicare for all paid via taxes it is insurance . It is there if you need it. Why on earth would any system allow you to join – “when you get sick” – everyone pays – everyone gets health care. Only people who object want health care for me – but not for you.

  116. 116.

    Fair Economist

    @Betty Cracker: Warren has called for a wealth tax and putting workers on corporate boards. She is no centrist, and can’t pass as one.

    A specific health care plan is a trap. The demand for one is an attempt to split the left over whether to reform or replace Obamacare. Splitting the left is one of the key rightist strategies.

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    Rooting for injuries ???

    Romney reminds Americans that Trump paid a “porn star” that he cheated on his wife with pic.twitter.com/IkJhtAEh7Z

    — Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) October 20, 2019

  120. 120.

    Barbara

    @Kay: Yes and no. J&J took the first case to trial in Oklahoma, and while the plaintiff counties won, the damages were much lower than anticipated — $500 million versus an ask of $15 billion. That trial is one reason that we are seeing a push to settle. I don’t know which settlement you are talking about specifically, but if it is an “all in” settlement that amount does seem low, given that Ohio is more affected than nearly any other state outside of West Virginia.

    ETA: I think this is a subset of the defendants, and not the major brand name manufacturers, which seem to be reaching settlements one by one.

  121. 121.

    Cacti

    @Betty Cracker:

    She needlessly painted herself into a corner on a huge policy issue, by aligning herself with a crank.

    That’s the kind of mistake that makes winnable elections close enough for the bad guys to steal.

  122. 122.

    schrodingers_cat

    @rikyrah: I got a lot of flak for being critical of Pete B this summer. Was told I was influenced by Russians because I was not charmed by his supposedly knowing 8 or was it 11 languages, among other things . This is so unsurprising. He was back to spouting R talking points against Ds in the last debate.

  123. 123.

    Immanentize

    @Spanky:

    PID stands for proportional integrated derivative, I think and it is shorthand for a temperature control unit that can bypass the original machine’s simple (really binary) water temp control system so that you will express water at the same (chosen usually above boiling like 228f) temp throughout the process. I certainly don’t need that to best enjoy a cappuccino, but who am I to stand in the way of coffee perfection?

  125. 125.

    Zzyzx

    @TS (the original): I’m not arguing. I’m saying that pretending that everyone will be better off is overpromising. If we can’t come up with a way of selling the trade, we’re never going to get the votes.

  126. 126.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: “On entering the building, he stopped to put a four-shilling piece and a small lit candle on the stone shelf above the door, as tradition demanded.”

    (Sorry, your post reminded me of Gormenghast.)

  127. 127.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic:
    No,. Neither I nor the Immp have that kind of disposable right now.

    ETA what was in my head — But the Immp certainly has the brains and wits to get there in the future

  128. 128.

    Gin & Tonic

    @TS (the original): Part of the problem with the health “insurance” market is that it isn’t really just insurance, it is a combination of preventative care (your annual physical, immunizations, screening colonoscopies. etc.) and catastrophic-care insurance (fall off a ladder, get cancer.) It’s as if you auto insurance policy were to pay for oil changes and brake jobs in addition to wrapping your car around a pole. or if your homeowners insurance were to pay for painting your house or re-shingling the roof, in addition to the damage from an electrical fire. I’ve paid my auto insurance premium for years and years and never collected a dime, yet I “consume” health-care services every year even if I don’t get sick or have an accident.

  129. 129.

    Betty Cracker

    @Fair Economist: Sounds like you misunderstood that conversation — neither of us were suggesting Warren is a centrist! We were talking about Klobuchar.

    As far as healthcare being a trap, I agree it often functions that way thanks to shitty media framing, but it’s a top issue for Democratic voters, so the candidates have to discuss it. I’m going to wait to see what Warren comes up with before predicting doom and woe.

  131. 131.

    TS (the original)

    @Zzyzx: Agreed – but you can never convince them all – Almost 50 years after universal health care in Australia – there are still those complaining about their taxes being used for health care & RW governments keep trying (unsuccessfully) to get more people to use the (parallel) private health care system. The latter used to be a good system when it was one price for all (& run by not for profit organisations) – then they tried to emulate the US system and allow different levels of coverage which, of course introduced junk policies and also make the “cover all” options much more expensive.

    Private companies then decided there was money to be made & vast majorities reverted to the “free” public system..My real hate in the private health insurance business are the unholy profits made from the calamity of illness. One of the best ideas in the ACA was putting a limit on this profit.

  133. 133.

    rikyrah

    @Immanentize:

    We bought a high end espresso machine on Craig’s list last night which was super cheap because it was broken. So, he has that puppy stripped down, figured out the issues, and will be rebuilding it better than it was (because he is adding a PID temp. regulator and other hacks).

    Just reading this…I am in awe of Little Imma.

  134. 134.

    Fair Economist

    @Zzyzx: Campaigns don’t have to admit the costs for what they plan beforehand. They actually get punished for it. Obama swore he wouldn’t have a mandate, beat the woman who honestly said we would have to have it, and then signed a plan with a mandate. That’s how politics works.

    Warren “I have a plan” position works not because people expect the specific policies to get implemented (few even read them) but because the detail and care of her plans show she can write good policy.

  135. 135.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: Buttigieg really doesn’t need this, to be seen as the bought and paid for bro’s bro for those who consider Sanders too leftist or too old.

  137. 137.

    Tony Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Heh. Yeah, I did. Honest to Popeye, hands on hearts, I know it’s satire and all but I would have no problem with that scenario.

    “And as the British representative levitates into the Euro-System Assembly Panopticon he is symbolically pelted with pieces of dried synthi-flesh dubbed ‘Farage Gammon’ after the mythical half-man/half-amphibian creature depicted in early murals as a companion to Bojo Liesmith and rival to Rizamai, the Blue Lady of Death“

  139. 139.

    artem1s

    Hillary Clinton hinting that “a Democratic primary candidate” was being groomed by the GOP

    This is what Obama should have done in 2016 instead of asking McConnell’s permission to look into the ongoing Russian interference into our elections. Time to roll over the obstructionists full steam. Biden needs to wake up and pay attention to the correct way to ‘negotiate’ with the GOP leadership.

  141. 141.

    mad citizen

    I also like Hillary pointing out the sheer lack of work and Presidenting by tweet. Many of us continually point out these things in our responses to trumpov tweets.

    As is often noted, the lack of work is double-edged, because who knows how much more crap they could screw up if they actually knew how to govern.

  142. 142.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Immanentize: We joined the Navy to see the world,
    And what did we see? We saw the sea.

    We joined the Navy to see the world
    And we were assigned to a submarine…

  143. 143.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @artem1s: This is what Obama should have done in 2016 instead of asking McConnell’s permission to look into the ongoing Russian interference into our elections.

    Yeah, that actually didn’t happen. But let’s keep blaming the only Democrat to win the White House twice with a majority of voters since FDR for the fact that the American people didn’t, and don’t, give a shit about what Russia did in 2016.
    Then, as now, everyone who cared, knew, and a lot of people who knew, didn’t care.

  144. 144.

    Ramalama

    @Betty Cracker:

    Let the basket case to your south be a cautionary tale.

    I have heard it mentioned by a variety of different Canadians (anglophone as well as a coupla francophones) that one of Canada’s nicknames for the US is “Canada’s underpants.’

    No one has been able to adequately explain (ie get through the noise in my head to explain) why they refer to the US as that.

    Ramalama reporting from a mountainous locale in somewheres-ville Quebecistan.

    Back to you, Betty.

  147. 147.

    trollhattan

    @Immanentize:
    Our espresso machine has pressure-stat temp control, an old-school analogue device that yields a sine-wave response far less accurate than newer digital temp controllers. It has soldiered on for more than a decade and is serviceable rather than being a disposable piece of consumer electronics. An investment in quality coffee.

    The next machine, whenever that may be, will have the same E-61 head and a better, rotary pump and digital temp control.

  148. 148.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I suspect that when Obama writes his memoir, he’ll express regret at not doing more to publicize Russian interference and/or putting maximum pressure on Republicans to join Democrats in addressing it. Like almost everyone, he assumed Clinton would win and didn’t want to sandbag her administration with actions that Republicans would decry as partisan.

    Don’t bother to @ me with a list of what the Obama administration DID do to make voters aware of Russian interference; I know. And you’re right, it’s the voters’ fault half of them have the attention span of a fruit fly and 30-40 percent are assholes who’d rather have Trump/Putin in charge than Clinton. But American voters are notoriously uninformed, and Obama knows that as well as anyone on earth.

    He weighed possible outcomes and made a reasonable decision. In retrospect, it was the wrong decision, and stating that isn’t heresy. We aren’t cultists.

  149. 149.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @rikyrah: @schrodingers_cat:Fuckerberg can send “staffing suggestions” to any campaign he cares to. Is there any evidence that Mayor Pete took him up on any of them?

    I mean. do you blame the Nobel Prize Committee for the imbeciles who brag about sending them nominations (unsolicited & routinely ignored) of some POS like Mango Mussolini for the Nobel Peace Prize?

    Evidence or GTFO.

  151. 151.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker:n retrospect, it was the wrong decision, and stating that isn’t heresy.

    all counterfactuals being equal, it is possible that there is, somewhere out there, some platonic ideal of Something Obama could have said or done to make people care.

    What Artemis said is still some stupid, whiny horseshit.

    Meanwhile, one of our two front-runners is, at best, showing us why his previous runs at the presidency flamed out, and the other has chosen to hug an electoral anchor that, I think, will be a drag on down-ticket candidates.

  155. 155.

    Amir Khalid

    @Tony Jay:
    By the way, are you in despair that the once-invincible Reds of Liverpool have dropped points to the feeble Mancunians of United?

  159. 159.

    Kathleen

    @Betty Cracker: I agree with everything you said. If Obama had pressed it the topic would have become so toxic (thank you media) I don’t think there would have been a Mueller investigation

  162. 162.

    rikyrah

    Abandoning summit scheme, Trump presents himself as a victim
    10/21/19 08:00 AM—UPDATED 10/21/19 08:59 AM
    By Steve Benen

    Four days ago, the White House announced that one of Donald Trump’s struggling business would host next year’s G7 summit, creating a legal and political mess. The Constitution prevents U.S. officials from receiving foreign payments, but under this scheme, world leaders who wished to participate in a key international gathering would have no choice but to spend foreign funds at the American president’s golf club in Doral, Florida.

    Two days later, Trump announced via Twitter that he’d abandoned the plan.

    “I thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders. It is big, grand, on hundreds of acres, next to MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, has tremendous ballrooms & meeting rooms, and each delegation would have its own 50 to 70 unit building. Would set up better than other alternatives.

    “I announced that I would be willing to do it at NO PROFIT or, if legally permissible, at ZERO COST to the USA. But, as usual, the Hostile Media & their Democrat Partners went CRAZY!

    “Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!”

    There are, not surprisingly, all kinds of problems with the presidential message. Note, for example, that by Trump’s version of events, he was personally involved in the alleged corruption. He also used a series of first-person pronouns that suggested the president sees little difference between himself and his private-sector enterprise.

  165. 165.

    Fair Economist

    @trollhattan: I feel so inferior with my near-total lack of knowledge about the interior workings of my own automatic espresso machine. It’s still really convenient!

  166. 166.

    satby

    @germy: and in reading that entire link, there’s a great deal less “there” than implied.
    Stop the presses! Guys who are in an industry float names of people from that industry who have expertise in it for open jobs. Shocking, shocking.
    Evidently Twitler has trained us all to jump at tweets on command.

  167. 167.

    catclub

    @rikyrah: at LGM someone suggested a 200% cancellation charge imposed by Doral on the USG, and a contract already signed to that effect. Double the profit, but no costs. Sounds likely.

  169. 169.

    Fair Economist

    @Betty Cracker:

    half of them have the attention span of a fruit fly

    Is that the right metaphor? in my fruit fly infestations I find fruit flies can be distressingly persistent.

  170. 170.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: a lot of people were pointing out that the G7 falls in June, which is Doral’s weakest season because of heat. It’s the same scam he’s pulling in Scotland, using the military to boost bookings and cash flow from IIRC October to May, when I imagine it’s too chilly for golf on the Scottish coast.

  171. 171.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: I don’t know enough to know if this is a sensible agreement or not, but the “Wow” in the Tweet is just wrong. It is my understanding that most civil cases are “resolved” just before the jury is seated and the trial begins. It’s the nature of the process (“Well, do you want to accept this very reasonable offer, or shall we see what the jury says, Hmmm…???”).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  172. 172.

    Fair Economist

    @Amir Khalid:

    The method I swore by in my coffee-drinking days was “pour the hot water on the Nescafe granules”.

    I like fancier coffees, but honestly I think it’s mostly about how fresh the coffee is. Freshly opened instant coffee from the store is generally pretty good (not Starbucks instant though, go figure). But once coffee is opened and starts to oxidize it turns bitter. I think the bad rep of instant coffee is mostly that an opened jar of instant often sits on the shelf for months or years, becoming horrible in the process. Ground coffee is mostly for addicts and gets used up, so is much less likely to have turned into toxic waste.

  173. 173.

    zzyzx

    @Fair Economist:

    Campaigns don’t have to admit the costs for what they plan beforehand. They actually get punished for it. Obama swore he wouldn’t have a mandate, beat the woman who honestly said we would have to have it, and then signed a plan with a mandate. That’s how politics works.

    But the flip is that the mandate was never popular to the point where Republicans were able to regain the House largely running against that. That was $700 a year for a very small population. If we’re talking about European style marginal tax rates, that’s a lot more difficult to sell, and I’d like to at least have the discussion in a primary to decide which direction we’re going to move in to defeat Trump.

    I don’t need every penny defined, just a broad outline to show a proof of concept (and not using Sanders’ bullshit where he defines expenses on an annual basis and revenue based on decades, hopes no one notices, and is all, “See, it’s easy!”

  174. 174.

    Tony Jay

    @Amir Khalid:

    God, we were pants for 80 minutes, weren’t we? Couldn’t pass to each other, constantly hoofing the ball onto their defenders’ heads instead of playing the smart ball sideways to tire them out and move them around. It didn’t help that the referee thought it was 1999 and Fergie was watching his every decision with a hairdrier in hand, but we let that get to us.

    All in all it was a fair result, and it’s nice that we’ve still got a two game buffer on Citeh. Really looking forward to the return bout at Anfield, though.

  176. 176.

    Another Scott

    @Gelfling 545: Yup. It was clear during the campaign that when she talked about Donnie being “Putin’s puppet” and all the rest that she knew specific stuff that enabled her to make that claim. She wasn’t just taunting him.

    I need to finally get around to reading her “What Happened” book…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  177. 177.

    Ruckus

    @randy khan:
    Democrats want programs that actually do what they are supposed to be for. For that you have to know how they get funded.
    Republicans want programs that reduce/eliminate their taxes and if possible allow them to collect payments to “operate” them. For that all you have to know is how much you can steal, and that the money isn’t coming from them.

  178. 178.

    zzyzx

    @Ruckus: yeah that too. One of my pet theories right now is that we have a strategic disadvantage because you can’t use Republican tactics to create in the same way that they can be used to destroy things. It’s easier to take hostages if you don’t give a shit about if they live.

  179. 179.

    Another Scott

    @Immanentize: [More than you want to know] Yes, PID stands for Proportional, Integral, Derivative. It’s a way of controlling a system response to a change in the input signal. It’s very useful for thing like heater temperature control because it lets you (if yoiu adjust the PID parameters correctly) quickly change temperature settings and have the measured temperature change quickly, and stabilize quickly, without large overshoots or undershoots in the measured temperature.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller

    A coffeemaker with a PID controller would be a wonderful thing for those who like coffee just so!

    [/Mtywtk]

    :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  180. 180.

    Ruckus

    @Betty Cracker:
    Company I worked for need more room so looked into the options. Purchasing a property and building seemed the best long term solution so property hunting. They found a place, I think it was 20+ wooded acres, creek running through, 3 story office building for the company and a headquarters building for the museum they ran. The headquarters building had a nice apartment for the previous president, a gym etc. The company that had built all this? A healthcare insurance company that got bought up and whose purchaser had a much fancier place. It was sold relatively cheap since the company that was selling it didn’t give a damn, they just wanted to sell it fast. I understand the company I worked for spent a million getting rid of all the crap and turning it into a useful working environment.

  181. 181.

    PJ

    @Gin & Tonic: Yep. Nobody wants health “insurance” in the sense that they want a homeowner’s policy, or CGL coverage for their business, that is, that they will be compensated for damage relating to an unforeseen occurrence; what they want is health care that they can afford to pay. Unfortunately, at least in the US, the business of health coverage has used the language and law of insurance, so that, for existence, until the ACA, pre-existing conditions were never covered, and the profit incentive leads insurers to deny coverage where possible. I think the old Chinese system, where you paid the doctor regularly to keep you well, until you got sick, when you would stop paying until you got better, has better incentives baked into the system.

  182. 182.

    Ruckus

    @zzyzx:
    Exactly.
    Dems are trying to build a government, a coalition to get things done reasonably.
    Repubs are trying to steal everything they can, they don’t want government or oversight or anything but a bigger bank account.

  183. 183.

    Betty Cracker

    @Ruckus: There are so many stories like that. I worked for insurance companies for several years early in my career and came away from the experience convinced that in no way should those companies have a gatekeeper role in healthcare decisions. They are rent seekers, and the only thing they care about is generating shareholder returns. I suspect we’ll limp along with this kludgey, shitty system for the foreseeable future despite what any Democrat tries to do, and that’s a tragedy.

  184. 184.

    Miss Bianca

    @Ruckus: Wow, very nicely put – succinct and factual, yet biting. I may have to steal this explanation/theory for personal use.

  186. 186.

    J R in WV

    @JoyceH:

    Have bought my third Regency Mage book, can’t wait to get into it after I finish my current delightful magical book.

  187. 187.

    J R in WV

    I have adjusted my security settings, in hope that my Pie Filter list of a troll will be persistent, rather than being deleted every time I shut down my browser… wish me luck!

  189. 189.

    Mnemosyne

    @Immanentize:

    If he’s having issues with both bread and dairy, you guys may want to take a look at the list of high-FODMAP foods. They cause susceptible people to overproduce gas, which leads to unpleasant digestive consequences like IBS. Talk to his doctors as well, of course, but it may be good for him to know the specific foods that might be best to avoid while he’s recovering.

    And just so you know, the list is totally NON-intuitive, so you have to check it a lot, but Monash University has a good app that you can consult.

  190. 190.

    dopey-o

    @trollhattan: this is useless information without names / brands / references. why do you even bother to post, except to prove the ascendancy of entropy?

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