Sam Harris should be president. That'd be amazing.
I used to dislike him but I've since come around. His podcast is excellent. I could not stand the Scott Adams one though from a few days back. I always assumed the creator of Dilbert was probably a pretty smart guy. Turns out he's a giant idiot.
This interview is insane. Amongst other things Trump goes insane over:
- He never would have appointed Sessions if he knew he'd recuse on Russia (how does Sessions not resign now?)
- Accuses Comey of attempting to blackmail him
- Warns Mueller he's fired if he looks too much into Trump family finances
- Implies Rosenstein is biased because he's from Baltimore and there are tons of Dems there
The full transcipt is forthcoming. Here's the article
The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. Go Flames Go!
This interview is insane. Amongst other things Trump goes insane over:
- He never would have appointed Sessions if he knew he'd recuse on Russia (how does Sessions not resign now?)
- Accuses Comey of attempting to blackmail him
- Warns Mueller he's fired if he looks too much into Trump family finances
- Implies Rosenstein is biased because he's from Baltimore and there are tons of Dems there
The full transcipt is forthcoming. Here's the article
Trump is dismantling the CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria at the behest of Putin.
Quote:
President Trump has decided to end the CIA’s covert program to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels battling the government of Bashar al-Assad, a move long sought by Russia, according to U.S. officials.
The program was a central plank of a policy begun by the Obama administration in 2013 to put pressure on Assad to step aside, but even its backers have questioned its efficacy since Russia deployed forces in Syria two years later.
Officials said the phasing out of the secret program reflects Trump’s interest in finding ways to work with Russia, which saw the anti-Assad program as an assault on its interests. The shuttering of the program is also an acknowledgment of Washington’s limited leverage and desire to remove Assad from power.
Just three months ago, after the United States accused Assad of using chemical weapons, Trump launched retaliatory airstrikes against a Syrian air base. At the time, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, said that “in no way do we see peace in that area with Assad at the head of the Syrian government.”
Officials said Trump made the decision to scrap the CIA program nearly a month ago, after an Oval Office meeting with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and national security adviser H.R. McMaster ahead of a July 7 meeting in Germany with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
CIA insiders, former WH officials and diplomats are furious about this, one diplomat was quoted as saying
Quote:
“People began thinking about ending the program, but it was not something you’d do for free,” said a former White House official. “To give [the program] away without getting anything in return would be foolish.”
Quote:
Officials said Trump made the decision to scrap the CIA program nearly a month ago, after an Oval Office meeting with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and national security adviser H.R. McMaster ahead of a July 7 meeting in Germany with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Assuming the public sentiment continues to grow for single payer and the (rich, centrist) Dem leadership presumably doesn't really want to take up that fight either, i can't see how it gets resolved.
This is what i'm trying to wrap my head around. If the Democrats don't want to take up the fight for single payer and the republicans have convinced their base that universal healthcare is the devil. Who is representing the growing public sentiment?
Wait what?
First of all, did i miss something? I haven't seen any polls that support a single payer healthcare option, and certainly not one that suggests that sentiment is growing? the popularity of Obamacare not withstanding, that doesn't presume support for single payer as far as i know at least
Second of all, pretty sure the Democrats would support single payer, however, in order to get things passed you have to compromise at point... that was the entire point of forcing people to pay penalties if they didn't buy insurance. Once the GOP revoked the IRS ability to penalize people for not buying in, it basically eliminated those penalties.
the so called death spiral that the GOP talk of is precisely a result of this inequity... Healthy people don't buy insurance, aren't penalized for not buying it, causing the risk pool for each state to go up, causing the cost to go up...finally causing the insurers to say "nope, not worth it"
this underlines the entire debate of pre-existing conditions as well.
There's ONE party that stuck out its necks to try giving universal health care to its citizens, even though they had to drag half the country kicking and screaming into it. Hint: it wasn't the GOP
EDIT - dug a bit further: once upon a time Obama was for single payer, but had to dial it back because of opposition in his own party... There is a louder discussion for single payer, but pretty much because you cannot go further to the right with the current Obamacare without losing people: the argument is that you can only fix it by going to the left...
the expansion of medicare/medicaide has been mentioned as an 'easy' segue to single payer... however, considering those against government expansion and increase of entitlement programs, I just can not see that happening in that single payer form... even with the democrats, they couldn't do it...hard to see a president that will be more popular than he was in his first year.
Last edited by oldschoolcalgary; 07-19-2017 at 08:08 PM.
First of all, did i miss something? I haven't seen any polls that support a single payer healthcare option, and certainly not one that suggests that sentiment is growing? the popularity of Obamacare not withstanding, that doesn't presume support for single payer as far as i know at least
Second of all, pretty sure the Democrats would support single payer, however, in order to get things passed you have to compromise at point... that was the entire point of forcing people to pay penalties if they didn't buy insurance. Once the GOP revoked the IRS ability to penalize people for not buying in, it basically eliminated those penalties.
the so called death spiral that the GOP talk of is precisely a result of this inequity... Healthy people don't buy insurance, aren't penalized for not buying it, causing the risk pool for each state to go up, causing the cost to go up...finally causing the insurers to say "nope, not worth it"
this underlines the entire debate of pre-existing conditions as well.
There's ONE party that stuck out its necks to try giving universal health care to its citizens, even though they had to drag half the country kicking and screaming into it. Hint: it wasn't the GOP
Several recent polls by research firms show significant increases in support for single payer except for hard right leaning Republicans. Trend has been growing since 2013.
I used to dislike him but I've since come around. His podcast is excellent. I could not stand the Scott Adams one though from a few days back. I always assumed the creator of Dilbert was probably a pretty smart guy. Turns out he's a giant idiot.
It was painful. I like the ones most where he is exploring a bit of a new topic for him - the recent one with Geoffrey West is a good example. By now, another 2 hours on Islam with Douglas Murray is a bit tiresome.
^^that's tough... glioblastoma are usually a nasty business... a guy i knew pretty well got diagnosed with one and passed away probably 6 months later... guy was only 32, which made it even more tragic...
Good luck to Senator McCain! While i know i've called him out recently, I hope he gets back to feet soon
