On Trump

[highfigh]

Way, less and with much better health care outcome for the general population on many metrics.

The life expectancy of a US male is 73.5 years (from 2021 statistics used by Social Security for 2024), as one example. Quite bad and shows how broken the US health care system is.

You'll never convince him with statistics or rational arguments, though.

As I posted previously, it's not just health care, it's a litany of problems-

- People are lazy, many didn't finish school.
- People can't be bothered to learn about or engage in health, exercise, healthy cooking/eating & drinking.
- Alcohol and drugs contribute heavily to the decreased life expectancy.
- Lobbying members of Congress has caused a lot of this and it could easily have been prevented.
- The education system has failed in teaching kids to think about staying healthy (and many other topics).

 

[highfigh]

It's the elected members' of both political parties who are in the pockets of the Pharma, Health Insurance, Pharmacy Benefit Manager lobbies. Us the American citizens are too uninformed, too lazy to lobby and demand action of our elected members of Congress. We think our responsibility end with voting.

How can citizens compete financially with the interests who have billions of dollars to pay members of Congress? We can't, but not enough voters can bring themselves to pay attention, so they join Instagram, FB, etc and watch TV/movies/play video games for hours on end, eating bad food the whole time.

 

[trochetier]

How can citizens compete financially with the interests who have billions of dollars to pay members of Congress? We can't, but not enough voters can bring themselves to pay attention, so they join Instagram, FB, etc and watch TV/movies/play video games for hours on end, eating bad food the whole time.

It can be done only if we stop complaining and get doing, i.e email our Congressional Representatives. Just visit these two sites where everyone's contact info is listed.

Representatives | house.gov

www.house.gov

U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators

www.senate.gov

I often contact my House and Senate members on current issues of my interest and always get a proper response. They have never solicited me for donation either.

I emailed Trump 1.0 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/write-or-call/ got a response to my exact comments. In contrast Biden sent me a form letter extolling his virtues. I am sure neither POTUS saw my email, but at least someone in Trump WH actually read my comments and took the time to respond.

 

[mtrycrafts]

It can be done only if we stop complaining and get doing, i.e email our Congressional Representatives. Just visit these two sites where everyone's contact info is listed.

Representatives | house.gov

www.house.gov

U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators

www.senate.gov

I often contact my House and Senate members on current issues of my interest and always get a proper response. They have never solicited me for donation either.

I emailed Trump 1.0 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/write-or-call/ got a response to my exact comments. In contrast Biden sent me a form letter extolling his virtues. I am sure neither POTUS saw my email, but at least someone in Trump WH actually read my comments and took the time to respond.

Or, it's all AI now.

 

[Trell]

As I posted previously, it's not just health care, it's a litany of problems-

- People are lazy, many didn't finish school.
- People can't be bothered to learn about or engage in health, exercise, healthy cooking/eating & drinking.
- Alcohol and drugs contribute heavily to the decreased life expectancy.
- Lobbying members of Congress has caused a lot of this and it could easily have been prevented.
- The education system has failed in teaching kids to think about staying healthy (and many other topics).

Your arguments makes no sense as to why you're against universal healthcare at all as those problems you write about are in other countries as well. Still cost less than half, as measured by GDP, and with much better outcome for the general population. Healthcare is not just when you go to a hospital because you're sick but even for preventive purposes.

As for preventive care have a look at the US program SNAP. Republicans hate it, of course. I guess you want to cut that as well?

>>>Putting Healthy Food within Reach for Those in Need

SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.<<<

In your world, would universal health care be able to deny claims for people who drank, drugged, lazied and ate their way to severe illness?

We do treat them, but you would rather let them die, apparently.

 

[Dude#1279435]

Or just have the courage to say you believe for-profit is the best healthcare system cause it will accept more claims with less rationing or something or other. No, lets not answer the question and say 'well because people don't have healthy diets.....' The point being there's no realistic way to get to the root causes on a patient with healthcare denials based on junk food, alcohol, or lack of exercise etc.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Shot...

Chaser...

 

[GO-NAD!]

Somebody needs to hide his phone.

Donald Trump says buying Greenland is "absolute necessity"

Donald Trump has said that acquiring Greenland is necessary "for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world."

www.newsweek.com

"For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday.

"Freedom throughout the world depends on US ownership of Greenland?"

 

[Trell]

Somebody needs to hide his phone.

Donald Trump says buying Greenland is "absolute necessity"

Donald Trump has said that acquiring Greenland is necessary "for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world."

www.newsweek.com

"Freedom throughout the world depends on US ownership of Greenland?"

Good grief!

The important part is that Greenland is part of the stable democracy Denmark that is member of NATO and EU, so there will be access to minerals and other natural resources. And, of course, for defence purposes.

Greenland, while part of the Danish Kingdom, has extensive home-rule, but there is a big majority for independence from Denmark. So there are risks with a small population and nefarious enemies of democracy.

What Would Greenland’s Independence Mean for the Arctic?

Climate change is fueling geopolitical competition in the Arctic. An independent Greenland could play an important role in years to come.

www.cfr.org

Now, as for minerals and natural resources Trump should take a look at Ukraine and stop it being occupied by Russia. I saw this op-ed by Marc A. Thiessen, but quite sure of it's validity.

>>>Donald Trump often says that liberating Iraq without getting its oil resources was one of America’s biggest foreign policy blunders. He has a chance to avoid a similar mistake in Ukraine.

Ukraine is not only the breadbasket of Europe; it is also a mineral superpower, with some of the largest reserves of 117 of the 120 most widely used minerals in the world. Of the 50 strategic minerals identified by the United States as critical to its economy and national security, many of which are quite rare yet key to certain high-value applications, Ukraine supplies 22.

Ukraine possesses the largest reserves of uranium in Europe; the second-largest reserves of iron ore, titanium and manganese; and the third-largest reserves of shale gas — as well as large deposits of lithium, graphite and rare earth metals, according to a 2022 report by the Canadian geopolitical risk-analysis firm SecDev. These minerals are essential to the production of vital goods ranging from airplanes, cellphones and electric vehicles to steel and nuclear power.

The question for the president-elect is: Does he want Russia and China to get that treasure trove of natural resources? Or does he want to develop them with Ukraine to the benefit of the American people?

One of the main reasons Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine (aside from his delusional historical fantasies about how Ukrainians and Russians are “one people”) was to seize these natural resources, which are valued at an estimated $26 trillion, according to SecDev. ...<<<

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/12/18/trump-ukraine-gas-mineral-russia-peace-deal/

 

[Trell]

Trump's pick for AG is what GOP has descended into when the vast majority supported him. The only reason this report is now released is that Gaetz is no longer a nominee.

>>>The House Ethics Committee found evidence that former Rep. Matt Gaetz paid tens of thousands of dollars to women for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions, including paying a 17-year-old girl for sex in 2017, according to a final draft of the panel’s report on the Florida Republican, obtained by CNN.

The committee concluded in its bombshell document that Gaetz violated Florida state laws, including the state’s statutory rape law, as the GOP-led panel chose to take the rare step of releasing a report about a former member who resigned from Congress.

“The Committee determined there is substantial evidence that Representative Gaetz violated House Rules and other standards of conduct prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress,” panel investigators wrote.

The panel investigated transactions Gaetz personally made, often using PayPal or Venmo, to more than a dozen women during his time in Congress, according to the report. Investigators also focused on a 2018 trip to the Bahamas – which they said “violated the House gift rule” – during which he “engaged in sexual activity” with multiple women, including one who described the trip itself as “the payment” for sex on the trip. On the same trip, he also took ecstasy, one woman on the trip told the committee. ...<<<

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/23/politics/matt-gaetz-house-ethics-report/index.html

I also read this delicious news that made me laugh:

>>>Shortly after Matt Gaetz filed his emergency motion to stop the House Ethics Committee report from being released, the clerk in Federal District Court in Washington posted a note online telling him he had filed it improperly. He was supposed to submit his complaint and his request for a temporary restraining order separately, which he failed to do. “This case will not proceed any further until all errors are satisfied,” the clerk’s note read. <<<

Ethics Panel Report Accuses Matt Gaetz of ‘Regularly’ Paying for Sex and Using Drugs: Trump Transition Live Updates

www.nytimes.com

 

[highfigh]

It can be done only if we stop complaining and get doing, i.e email our Congressional Representatives. Just visit these two sites where everyone's contact info is listed.

Representatives | house.gov

www.house.gov

U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators

www.senate.gov

I often contact my House and Senate members on current issues of my interest and always get a proper response. They have never solicited me for donation either.

I emailed Trump 1.0 at https://www.whitehouse.gov/get-involved/write-or-call/ got a response to my exact comments. In contrast Biden sent me a form letter extolling his virtues. I am sure neither POTUS saw my email, but at least someone in Trump WH actually read my comments and took the time to respond.

Interesting- I haven't really gotten responses that I would call 'proper' and they definitely weren't in a hurry to answer my questions. It also took seven paragraphs for them to get to the point of my question, after the obligatory "That's a great question, thanks for asking" BS.

Considering the amount of the donations they really care about, it's not surprising that they didn't ask.

Contacting Senators and Reps is a double-edged sword- if they get too many letters and e-mails, they'll just pass them off to aids or ignore them because it would take all of their time to answer all of them. As it is, they don't read all of the legislation up for vote, they have their aids read it and provide a condensed version. Does anyone believe they read all of the Porkulus bill, at >2700 pages? I certainly don't. I don't really like this practice, but I understand that there's only 24 hours in a day but it allows aids to offer their own slant on the bills. I don't know how they could be so thorough in application reviews to prevent it.

 

[highfigh]

Or just have the courage to say you believe for-profit is the best healthcare system cause it will accept more claims with less rationing or something or other. No, lets not answer the question and say 'well because people don't have healthy diets.....' The point being there's no realistic way to get to the root causes on a patient with healthcare denials based on junk food, alcohol, or lack of exercise etc.

Sorry for not putting my answer to your question at the top of my list of poop to do- too much other things that were actually important.

Why would you think that for profit health care would approve more claims???????? Have you been living under a rock?

Medicare- if it's deemed medically required, they pay for it but that's only the supplement plans- Advantage plans can send it to underwriting and they may deny payment. That's one of the reasons Supplement plans cost more and many Advantage plans cost nothing, aside from deductibles and some other costs.

The US population has had close to 70 years of conditioning to accept lower quality in favor of convenience and speed of delivery. The rest of the developed world hasn't had the absurd amount of innovation in creating crappy products and service for as long and if other countries don't require better quality in fast food, they'll be as unhealthy as people in the US before too long. But they may tend to live healthier lifestyles, on average.

So, just give up on getting people to try to be more healthy? Yeah, that's a great idea!

 

[Trell]

Contacting Senators and Reps is a double-edged sword- if they get too many letters and e-mails, they'll just pass them off to aids or ignore them because it would take all of their time to answer all of them. As it is, they don't read all of the legislation up for vote, they have their aids read it and provide a condensed version. Does anyone believe they read all of the Porkulus bill, at >2700 pages? I certainly don't. I don't really like this practice, but I understand that there's only 24 hours in a day but it allows aids to offer their own slant on the bills. I don't know how they could be so thorough in application reviews to prevent it.

"Porkulus" like children cancer research as well as permitting multiple treatments for them at the same time? Pork indeed.

Besides, whatever made you think that the legislators could even understand all aspects of that legislation that is complex and difficult to understand in the first place, never mind the amount of text? You quite simply does not understand how difficult it is, so here is a post by @Mr._Clark (that is a lawyer, btw) on a very tiny part of the bipartisan CR that Musk/Trump torpedoed:

Trump GUILTY of Fraud

No. There would have to be a conviction, they won’t hear a charge You mean you cannot appeal an appeals court decision? A Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting the case against President-elect Donald Trump and his alleged...

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