All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Gray Lensman]

Wasn't King George's brother also one too?

To the level that Hitler reportedly cried when he abdicated. While that is likely just a story, it does illustrate how much of a sympathizer he was. During the war he was shipped to the Caribbean to prevent him from being able to access anything sensitive.

And for Lindbergh, there is a famous Suess cartoon from his political comic days showing Charles as one half of the 'Siamese beard' and a certain German house painter as the other half. His sympathies were well known at the time.

[Tendrin]

Lindbergh was definitely a nazi sympathizer and anti-semite.

[TheDarman]

Is Nancy Pelosi Lying or Just Plain Stupid?

I always thought the argument against single payer because it was “too expensive” was ludicrous. We already pay for it and don’t get nearly the amount of benefits as states that spend less than half of what we do. I just thought a more conservative critique of the motion, that actually works, is what about the extra amount Americans pay in those administrative costs? The approximation is that could account for 30-40% of all the money spent on health care. Thus, the publicization, if you will, will eliminate 5-6% of our total GDP. One could think: “Good. I’m paying less now.” Except if you eliminate one-twentieth of our nation’s economy in one fell swoop that’s called a recession. Yeah, Americans would be getting that five percent back but, for many, they’ll be saving it or using it on necessities like rent. Very few will be putting it back into alternative markets, especially right away, given there will be economic hysteria, especially in the short term, to such a move. This isn’t to say anything of how the rest of the economy could tumble out of control as that is just the damage that could occur from one sector bottoming out—we know these things aren’t isolated from other sectors.

Of course, a responsible individual might decide to add a public option to the ACA exchanges, allowing for cost controls and an alternative plan to private plans that Americans already like. Removing high deductible plans, effectively, from the market can also lead to lower premiums if we make another one of the moves that we initially had in the ACA: lower the Medicare age requirement to fifty. We make the pool of people being insured by private insurers a younger, healthier pool and continue to give tax credits to those just outside of the expanded Medicaid coverage. After a while, basic market economics will work itself out and if private insurance is truly better, it’ll win a larger amount of support from the public. Otherwise, we’ve effectively moved towards a single-payer in time and you can just finalize it at that point.

But what do I know? I’ve just thoroughly studied this crap for years.

[PaulBullion]

Wasn't King George's brother also one too?

Yes, that epidsode of The Crown was quite stirring. And Prince Philips's sister was married to a Nazi.

[PaulBullion]

Is Nancy Pelosi Lying or Just Plain Stupid?

Is Tazirai a propaganda bot or just a misogynist?

[worstblogever]

Oh WBE-eeeee....

Anti-Vaccination nut, eh?

I had her in the queue for her other voting record and the time she had to be educated about what Furries were online. (It's a great story.)

[jetengine]

Is Tazirai a propaganda bot or just a misogynist?

If it wasnt for the actual discussions he's had I would legitimately think he's a Russian Bot since its just "Links + Videos shitting on Democrats but pushing Sanders whom wont be divisive at all comrade no sireee"

[PaulBullion]

(Folks complain that Sanders' "Income Inequality" approach won't really fix the issues that many minorities face...)

(Same folks also complain when Sanders says that fixing some of those specific minority group's issues might be more complicated than just cutting a check...)

Sanders: More money will make the world better!
Also Sanders: More money for black people won't help!

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of Washington State Senator Michael Baumgartner, who has policy stances like putting an end to no-fault divorce, a return to the gold standard (which economists say would tank not just the American economy, but the global economy), U.S. withdrawal from the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (based off of Agenda 21 conspiracy theory fervor), and privatizing Social Security. He has not only voted against the legalization of gay marriage, but also would like gay couples to be prevented from adopting children. He also showed himself to be bizarre on the campaign trail in 2012, running attack ads against Maria Cantwell for being “unmarried” and undermining the role of the mother in child rearing, as well as responding to a reporter’s question about his thoughts on Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comments by later e-mailing that reporter a picture of a Navy SEAL who died in Afghanistan and a note telling him to “go f*** himself”. He apologized for the latter unprofessional reaction, only to later say his apology was only sent on behalf of his staff, and retract even that apology. The 2018 Blue Wave scared Baumgartner enough that he didn’t run for re-election. We’ll go ahead and set aside his profile at this time to take a look at a different kooky Republican on this date instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 736-30, since this was established in July 2014.)

Nicholas Kettle

Welcome to the 736th original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Rhode Island State Senator Nicholas Kettle, who first stumbled his way into office to represent District 21 at the age of but twenty in the 2010 Tea Party Wave, after winning the GOP Primary by only 23 votes, and then the general election with only 51% of the vote. He became the youngest person elected to the State Senate at the time. That historic milestone will not, however, be what is remembered about Kettle, who kept narrowly hanging on for four terms in office.

See, it’s kind of hard for us to take exception to Kettle’s voting record, which did included voting for stricter voting ID measures to prevent the statistically non-existent problem of “in-person” voter fraud, and no less than four votes against raising the minimum wage during the greatest period of income equality in our country’s history. Kettle first some made headlines in 2014 for being caught using sock puppet accounts on social media to attack his colleagues, and was fined on two occasions for campaign finance violations.

But the real reason we’re profiling Nicholas Kettle is that in February of 2018, he was arrested after his girlfriend found his iPad lying about, and discovered that on it, Kettle had taken nude photos of her without her consent. What was Kettle’s motive? To trade the nudes for nude photos of a friend’s wife. Kettle’s text message history showed he asked for tips on how to film but be “stealthy”, so he was well aware he was committing a crime. Also, Kettle and his “friend” talked about trying to swap partners, proposing group sex with their girlfriends, and a tendency to share pictures of their own genitalia with each other…

While police were investigating that matter, a second complaint got filed by a former page within the Rhode Island State Senate in 2011, who claimed Kettle tried extorting him for sexual favors when he was a teenager, (yes, it’s another Republican caught chasing boys) threatening he would end his own political aspirations if he did not concede. Kettle had even boasted of the sexual encounter with two friends, who came forward to help investigators.

Nicholas Kettle’s colleagues were ready to vote on his expulsion when he resigned, and in his resignation letter, he whined about not receiving due process. That due process saw him end up pleading guilty to two counts video voyeurism and getting three years of probation to avoid jail time. He’ll likely be on sex offender lists for the rest of his life, which means we aren’t foreseeing him having a political comeback. (Also, what an ***hole.)

[Tendrin]

Anti-Vaccination nut, eh?

I had her in the queue for her other voting record and the time she had to be educated about what Furries were online. (It's a great story.)

Conservatives like her have done more to rehabilitate the image of socialism in younger voters than anything else. "Anything that would remotely make the world a better place is SOCIALISM"

[worstblogever]

Conservatives like her have done more to rehabilitate the image of socialism in younger voters than anything else. "Anything that would remotely make the world a better place is SOCIALISM"

Meanwhile, at conservative think tanks... "Did you see socialism is polling at an all-time high in this country? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?"

[WestPhillyPunisher]

House Panel Demands White House Turn Over Jared Kushner Clearance Records

Requests for documents and witnesses were made by a Democratic-led committee looking into alleged security clearance abuses involving President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Meanwhile....

**********

Fox News’ Chris Wallace: You Gotta Wonder Why The CIA Was So Worried About Kushner

Concerned officials continued to oppose Donald Trump’s wishes to grant his son-in-law top-secret clearance — until the president reportedly overruled them. Maybe the spooks though He Went To Jared wasn't at all worthy of such a clearance.

**********

Roger Stone In More Hot Water With Judge Over New Book — During Gag Order

Attorneys are ordered to explain why they didn’t reveal the “imminent release” of a book by indicted political operative. That judge should just say "Fuck it!", rescind Stone's bail and lock his ass up.

**********

Alex Jones Says Asian People ‘Sync Up And Are Robots’ In Fights, Joe Rogan Agrees

The InfoWars host, who joined the comedian on his podcast this week, also made the racist claim that Native Americans are easier to “mind control.” To quote the immortal Bugs Bunny, wotta maroon!

**********

‘Dinner Plate’-Sized Spider Seen Dragging Off Opossum For Furry Meal

University of Michigan biologists captured a video of a tarantula that’s really freaking some people out. We're not far off from this....

[PwrdOn]

Conservatives like her have done more to rehabilitate the image of socialism in younger voters than anything else. "Anything that would remotely make the world a better place is SOCIALISM"

Of course, most of the stuff that gets labeled as socialism these days is nothing of the sort. I'm sure that most Scandinavians would be perplexed that we keep referring to their countries as socialist, when they would probably just characterize their way of doing things as capitalism with a bit more common sense and less pointless dickery.

If we were ever to sort of venture into true socialism, of the international revolutionary kind, we would have to start by admitting that as bad as we might think inequality within America might seem, it is just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. Even the poorest Americans enjoy a lifestyle that most of the rest of the world can only dream of, largely a result of exploitation of resources and cheap labor in those same countries. I doubt that even the most left-leaning Americans are remotely prepared to start confronting the problem of global inequality, since they would undoubtedly be the greedy 1% in that scenario.

[jetengine]

Of course, most of the stuff that gets labeled as socialism these days is nothing of the sort. I'm sure that most Scandinavians would be perplexed that we keep referring to their countries as socialist, when they would probably just characterize their way of doing things as capitalism with a bit more common sense and less pointless dickery.

If we were ever to sort of venture into true socialism, of the international revolutionary kind, we would have to start by admitting that as bad as we might think inequality within America might seem, it is just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. Even the poorest Americans enjoy a lifestyle that most of the rest of the world can only dream of, largely a result of exploitation of resources and cheap labor in those same countries. I doubt that even the most left-leaning Americans are remotely prepared to start confronting the problem of global inequality, since they would undoubtedly be the greedy 1% in that scenario.

Exactly. America wasnt just the USSRs enemy because of Realpolitik but because it was/is/always will be the face of capitalism.

[numberthirty]

I always thought the argument against single payer because it was “too expensive” was ludicrous. We already pay for it and don’t get nearly the amount of benefits as states that spend less than half of what we do. I just thought a more conservative critique of the motion, that actually works, is what about the extra amount Americans pay in those administrative costs? The approximation is that could account for 30-40% of all the money spent on health care. Thus, the publicization, if you will, will eliminate 5-6% of our total GDP. One could think: “Good. I’m paying less now.” Except if you eliminate one-twentieth of our nation’s economy in one fell swoop that’s called a recession. Yeah, Americans would be getting that five percent back but, for many, they’ll be saving it or using it on necessities like rent. Very few will be putting it back into alternative markets, especially right away, given there will be economic hysteria, especially in the short term, to such a move. This isn’t to say anything of how the rest of the economy could tumble out of control as that is just the damage that could occur from one sector bottoming out—we know these things aren’t isolated from other sectors.

Of course, a responsible individual might decide to add a public option to the ACA exchanges, allowing for cost controls and an alternative plan to private plans that Americans already like. Removing high deductible plans, effectively, from the market can also lead to lower premiums if we make another one of the moves that we initially had in the ACA: lower the Medicare age requirement to fifty. We make the pool of people being insured by private insurers a younger, healthier pool and continue to give tax credits to those just outside of the expanded Medicaid coverage. After a while, basic market economics will work itself out and if private insurance is truly better, it’ll win a larger amount of support from the public. Otherwise, we’ve effectively moved towards a single-payer in time and you can just finalize it at that point.

But what do I know? I’ve just thoroughly studied this crap for years.

In addition, this is from the interview in question...

There’s a lot of debate on the question of single-payer, Medicare for All — we’ve heard that expression just recently. What do you think should be done? Where do you want this to go?


This is a very interesting debate, and in any debate, as I start off this conversation, you must define your terms. Let’s stipulate to some facts here: When we passed the Affordable Care Act, for us, it was a pillar of health and economic security for America’s working families — 125 million families got better benefits, more reasonably priced, with no annual or lifetime caps, and with no prohibition if you had pre-existing consumer protections. We were on a good path, and when [Republicans] took over [Congress], they let certain things expire. People say, “Well, it’s not doing this or that.” Well, it did until it expired. Restore the reinsurance. Elect more Democratic governors so that Medicaid can be expanded and millions more people can have access in an affordable way. I myself wanted to have the public option. We couldn’t get that through the Senate, but we enabled states to do a public option if they want. This made as drastic a difference as day and night. Now, of course, everyone isn’t covered because in certain states they didn’t expand Medicaid, so now [people are proposing] Medicare for All.

When they say Medicare for All, people have to understand this: Medicare for All is not as good a benefit as the Affordable Care Act. It doesn’t have catastrophic [coverage] — you have to go buy it. It doesn’t have dental. It’s not as good as the plans that you can buy under the Affordable Care Act. So I say to them, come in with your ideas, but understand that we’re either gonna have to improve Medicare — for all, including seniors — or else people are not gonna get what they think they’re gonna get. And by the way, how’s it gonna be paid for?

Now, single-payer is a different thing. People use the terms interchangeably. Sometimes it could be the same thing, but it’s not always. Single-payer is just about who pays. It’s not about what the benefits are. That is, administratively, the simplest thing to do, but to convert to it? Thirty trillion dollars. Now, how do you pay for that?

So I said, “Look, just put them all on the table, and let’s have the discussion, and let people see what it is. But know what it is that you’re talking about.” All I want is the goal of every American having access to health care. You don’t get there by dismantling the Affordable Care Act. As Californians have said to me, “We get billions and billions of dollars out of the Affordable Care Act coming into California. Now they want to get rid of that.” How are they gonna go to single-payer in California without the money from the Affordable Care Act? Anyway, this is not a bumper-sticker war — this is a complicated issue.

"Medicare for All is not as good a benefit as the Affordable Care Act."

That is a thing that someone who is actually in charge of something more important than a lemonade stand said in the year 2019.