TrickstaPriest

Sad thing is, Bloomberg appears to be quite popular with the older generation of Democrats, y'know, the ones that VOTE the most. They're the most likely to be watching TV and bombarded by Bloomberg's ads (Though he swarms other media too) and most likely to buy the 'Democratic Socialist means Communist" angle

Well, like I said, dementia is something I really don't want to make fun of.
 
But, at the same time, given what is at stake, it is hard not to go at Biden, because he could potentially do harm, and just needs to retire for good, and live out what is left.

Unfortunately, Trump has proven to be fact proof.

Hillary handily won all three debates with Trump and it didn't matter.  As much as I'd like to see Warren or Bernie debate Trump, it isn't going to happen simply because Trump won't show up.

Found the full debate for those like me who missed it the first time
 
 

I live in a rural area, we got only one hospital to go within a 45 minutes drive.   Not so easy to just go to another hospital in even the best of circumstances.  My former company even filed several lawsuits against the hospital over price gouging our insurance company.   (also the neighboring county's hospital closed down 3-4 years ago, so we got one hospital servicing the greater part of 2 counties essentially).  That bargaining power is mostly theoretical for the insurance company.

Timely:
 

fair enough,  I do think only one insurer will give hospitals an excuse to charge what they please for example.  But, at least that is some explanations, on the matter.  Thanks.

I didn't pay for the article, either, but we know that we pay more per capita for healthcare than any other nation, yet our outcomes aren't better. We know that other advanced nations handle healthcare in their own, individual ways. Yet they all pay less and have outcomes at least as good as ours. So there appear to be many paths to lower costs that do not sacrifice health.
 
We also know that congress barred Medicare and Medicaid from negotiating for lower drug prices, and we know that the VA is allowed to negotiate for lower drug prices, and that the VA therefore pays less for drugs. It would seem a simple matter of will to allow Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate on drug prices, saving the nation substantially.
 
In short, we know there are a lot of ways we could be saving money and getting at least as good of outcomes as we have now.
 
So to the extent that any given program does things that are shown to result in lower costs with health outcomes that are at least as good as we have now, I think we should at least consider it.
 
Medicare for All is one such. It appears to be a reasonable path to what we want: more coverage, less expenditure. Part of that is done through negotiating for lower drug costs. Part is done through eliminating the administrative overhead (we know that the overhead of Medicaid is much lower than that of any private health insurer, for example, and we know that dealing with one insurer is less costly for hospitals and doctors than dealing with many different insurers each with their own procedures and requirements). Those things seem like they're reasonable ways to reduce costs and get good outcomes.
 
Whether they're philosophically in line with American values is a different debate. How we should handle what to cover and what not to cover is yet another debate.
 
But they do seem to be ways to get where we keep saying we want to go.
 
 

Best comment I have seen this week on Bloomberg:  "He's Trump with a hatred of soda"

Thanks for sharing this.  I find knowing 'playbooks' and 'tactics' in particular to be highly insightful.  I always encourage everyone to 'learn the rules', because that's the only way to actually understand what goes on sometimes. 
 
That and stats/science.

I'm an avid environmentalist, so... yep.
 
Even outside of our government.  Scientists are treated as enemies (or at least foolish) in our very media because of a very heavy religious bias.
 
I can tell you that I worked at places connected to government research (particularly environmental), and its not nearly so strange or suspicious as people like to make it out to be.  The real stories behind a lot of sites / work is a lot more banal and less interesting.
 
Lastly, if you want a pretty depressing example of deflection (of responsibility and guilt), watch what's happened to Australia over the last 20 years.  A huge concerted effort to propagandize against climate change, followed by what is now a general deflection - 'well we the government can't do anything about it so lets be ready to adapt'. 
 
No one mentions that they (the government, the coal lobby) fought to create this situation to begin with.

This reminds me of when Mayor Quimby introduced Leonard Nimoy at the opening of the Springfield Monorail.  
 
"It looks like it could do warp seven,"  Nimoy said about the monorail.
 
"And may the Force be with you!"  Quimby added.
 
"Do you even know who I am?"  Nimoy asked.
 
"I think so.  Weren't you one of the Little Rascals?"  Quimby replied.

Suicide Squad: we're gonna toss all theses characters together with no development, toss in a bunch of unkillable zombie-types (because who doesn't love zombies), we're not going to give any of the characters ANY amount of development (except Smith [on account of how much we're gonna have to pay him] and Robbie [because she's hot and Harley is a big thing]), oh, and we'll have Affleck cameo his Batman (to generate interest in his solo outing) and toss them in the shake-n-bake and see what we can make of it...

I am at least vaguely aware of what has occurred with her character in recent comics.  Let's leave at decent concept*, horrible execution.
 
*Joker is an abusive pile of crap, let's be honest.  So, I definitely like the idea of her getting away from him.

If I could give a shout out to a more recent character who was compelling and strong...and female? 
 Mako Mori from Pacific Rim.  She had a back story of her own separate from the male protagonist, she had her own hopes and ambitions, she was polite but firm. She loved her adoptive dad, and was as dedicated to the mission as any other in the program- a true professional without being a jerk to people. She was interesting in and of herself, and yet, and I can't stress this enough, the writers didn't have her throw other characters in a pit just so she could stand taller. Even her reasons for  sparring with Raleigh was clear, professional, and damn he did ask her opinion.  She wasn't perfect, she had flaws, but she overcame them with determination.
 
Props to Raleigh too by the way. He didn't want her as co pilot because she was cute, he wanted her there because she was the right person for the job and it was a waste to have her benched!  This was a male character who could have been written as profoundly insecure about having a woman who was his equal (or better in some areas), instead he was impressed and supported her own desire to be a pilot because he saw she had every right to it and they need good pilots. 
 
Mako Mori was an action girl, and a rather quiet dignified example of Girl Power done right imo.
 
 

I'm an avid environmentalist, so... yep.
 
Even outside of our government.  Scientists are treated as enemies (or at least foolish) in our very media because of a very heavy religious bias.
 
I can tell you that I worked at places connected to government research (particularly environmental), and its not nearly so strange or suspicious as people like to make it out to be.  The real stories behind a lot of sites / work is a lot more banal and less interesting.
 
Lastly, if you want a pretty depressing example of deflection (of responsibility and guilt), watch what's happened to Australia over the last 20 years.  A huge concerted effort to propagandize against climate change, followed by what is now a general deflection - 'well we the government can't do anything about it so lets be ready to adapt'. 
 
No one mentions that they (the government, the coal lobby) fought to create this situation to begin with.

Is it just me, or is Harley Quin rapidly going the way of Wolverine, Gambit, and Deadpool before her: Overhyped, overexposed, and when it comes right down to it, frankly not that interesting a character?
 
Oh, and we can throw Batman himself in what that lot too, as far as I'm concerned.

I think it's way too early to count out any of the Big Five (Sanders, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg, Klobuchar). And we haven't seen how voters respond to Bloomberg. One thing for sure, this race isn't going to be a coronation.
 
I would like to like Biden more than I do. I value his experience. I don't hold his past compromises against him; I don't trust ideological rigidity. But his mind seems fraying, beyond his usual fumblemouth. And the argument for him to be front-runner never reached much beyond, "It's his turn now."
 
Buttigieg talks a good game, and clearly he is very intelligent, but he just doesn't have the experience or the coattails to carry other candidates in other races. Sanders has the movement; Biden has the Establishment cred. Buttigieg has just himself.
 
Bloomberg... I just don't know. The picture of a billionaire trying to buy his way in offends me, but at least he has real experience: Mayor of New York City is nearly as good as head of state for most countries. I hear he's racked up a lot of endorsements from other mayors, which means that as president he'd have a cadre of allies to help him implement policies and pressure others to go along. I wish I'd seen him on the debate stage, to get a sense of his mind.
 
Not a fan of Warren. Kind of liking Klobuchar. Steyer should go away (but leaqve his checkbook, esp. to fund down-ballot races). I too would like to see Yang in some sort of cabinet post, along with many of the other early droppers-out, to help build the Democratic field for future races.
 
Dean Shomshak

See, I would suggest if Sanders wins it, he see if he and Yang can hit it off enough to have  Yang be his VP pick.
Yang has dropped out, but still has a lot of support, not just among democrats. Yang offsets the 'Bernie is old' thing, relatively, almost as much as Pete does. Yang is tech savvy, and has a lot of fresh ideas on how to help Americans deal with the economic ramifications of our evolving technology. And yes, Yang is a minority, which to some folks will be an appeal as well.
 
Honestly, re: Biden, I've been saying I don't think folks are excited about him enough for a while now, but even I didn't expect this nosedive. Mind you, SC could turn be a safety net- but I have to wonder if Biden's seeming rudeness to voters hasn't rankled some folks. He's said more than once "Go vote for someone else" to individuals, but it sounds like whole crowds have said in response "you got it"
 
I think Warren is going to have to drop out. I hope she and Bernie have resolved issues, because if she takes her ball AND voters and goes home, it may really hurt the progressive unity that that branch needs if they want to seal the deal. She might surprise me, and if she turned around and Allied with Klobuchar, it would be quite a coup for the latter.
Then again, the tides might yet turn again. Bernie is playing in areas where he is loved so far. If 2016's trends repeat (And they can't exactly obviously) the South won't be friendly to him. I'm embarrassed to say it, but the word 'socialist' even democratic socialist, still has some resistance in the South. If Bernie can take the Great Lakes and West, while at least getting a strong second in the Southern States, we maybe onto something.
 
And honestly, I just wish Bloomberg would go away now.
 
Buttigieg might take it all, but like Bernie I expect he'll have some trouble in the South esp if the statements that has trouble with African American voters are true. That's a large population in the deep south.
 
 
 
 
 

He's been playing the victim since literally Day One, when he claimed the media and the National Park Service were deliberately using photos that made his inauguration crowd look small.

This is where it starts -- revenge against "political enemies" whose commitment to duty was greater than loyalty to the current regime. Message: if you're not one of mine, you have reason to fear.

Bloomberg is a head scratcher for me.
 
Note: The following is my opinion.
 
"we're tired of having New York billionaire with tyrannical tendencies as President, so let's go get our own New York billionaire with tyrannical tendencies"
 
He just doesn't seem to fit, to me.

*sees 80th Bloomberg ad of the day*
 
*waves white flag*