February 16-18, 2016::End of the day round-up

Trump and Hitler

While I have great difficulty in making such a comparison, it has been done by many. Myself included. Muholland makes an interesting point, "I realized why globalism is such a good thing. A world connected economically and electronically is a much safer place. I’m glad to live in a world where the death of fourteen in San Bernardino is a national tragedy and the words of Trump are scandalous. Perhaps Trump’s biggest mistake is to point us backwards. As long as we can still see the smoke rising from Auschwitz and Dresden, there is little attraction to the past or to people like Donald Trump."

When one asks me whom I will vote for, I can confidently state it won't be for a GOT/P party member or Donald Trump. But it does not mean that I will automatically vote for Hilliary. It does not mean I will automatically vote for Sanders. I really am undecided.

You see this election is mega important for ideological reasons. We have the status quo versus the theocrats. (And there is some argument as to what camp Clinton actually stands in.) We have the one percent versus 99 percenters.
All other issues aside, it boils down to this, a point Morton makes well.

When you ask me to vote for Hillary

If this doesn’t make sense to you — if you think it is reasonable to fear the opposition more than to hope for having a better life — then I’m guessing you live a fairly comfortable life and don’t feel strong motivation to change it. Perhaps it’s been a long time since you had to decide not to take your spouse to the emergency room because you were worried it would wipe out what little savings you have. Maybe you don’t have full-blown anxiety attacks every time you see that your medical insurance company has sent you something in the mail. Do you remember the last time you cried thinking about how you can’t afford to get a job, because it will knock you off of the meager insurance assistance you have and put you even further behind than you started? Would your place of employment and the welfare of hundreds of employees be ensured if only we could sort out the insanity that is private insurance? Has there been a time in your life when nearly all of the stress you experience in life comes, one way or another, from trying to navigate the private medical-industrial complex?

As sad as it may sound, the morass I have had to navigate since my stroke has become the biggest deciding factor in choosing a possible candidate. How either candidate handles this will be a major factor. Right now, the advantage is Sanders, though it is still early and I have a month to decide in regards to primaries.

One point not touched on but still important, insurance issues aside, what about recovery,,,hmmm? You see, I went back to work way sooner than I should. I had to rely on the generosity of others to survive the three months (and then some) I couldn't work. Insurance is nice, but there are other issues not being looked at. 

A financial update for those that have asked,,,

I never was in the best shape financially prior to my stroke, I'll be honest. I lived very simply and as frugally as possible. My job choice due to pre-existing issues forced that decision upon me. I can live with that.

My stroke, on the other hand, has caused major issues. Thanks to the generosity of many I was able to battle through those issues (primarily rent) and seven months out, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My tax refund has helped immensely and if things continue, I will be able to put a wee bit away for a rainy day.

I don't know if I am out of the woods, at minimum wage one never is, but my bills are paid. Right now my focus is off the financial and back on to where it should be - my physical recovery.

I am back to working my "normal" 6 days/week, though reduced hours and responsibility, but still struggle. I have some decisions to make in that regard but from what many have told me, "it's still early". Thursday's eye appt (and possible follow-up) will go a long way in deciding the future; as will my neuro appt in March. [My surgeries have finally  been scheduled - 4/27 and 5/11]

That, in a nut shell, is where I am at!! BTW, post-stroke depression suks donkey dick,,, but that too is lifting!

 
I am well aware that numerous laws and legislation have come forth concerning the Syrian refugee debacle. The constitutionality of which is questionable at best. Florida's 1095 is just another example.

FL Bill Would Give Rick Scott The Right To Use Military Force On ‘Invaders’

Florida Republicans voted to pass HB 1095, the “Prevention of Acts of War,” through a committee on Wednesday and the bill is so outrageous it looks like Donald Trump wrote it. It would allow Governor Rick Scott to use military action on all immigrants or refugees who attempt to seek safe haven in the state:

[People who] are organized or affiliated with armies presently holding and administering territories outside the United States and insurgencies engaged in capturing such territories… the State Constitution and Florida law fully empower the Governor, as commander-in-chief of all military forces in Florida not in active service of the United States Armed Forces, including the general militia, to defend the state against the entry and actions of such persons.

The bill even goes as far as to call refugees “invaders”:

“Restricted person” means a foreign refugee or immigrant for whom there is reasonable cause to believe that he or she originates from, or has been in close proximity to, any location in which invaders or prospective invaders are known to originate or organize or train for violent acts of war.

The bill also states that any person or group helping the “invaders” must turn their infomation [sic] over to the state government so that authorities can monitor them. It also gives Rick Scott the right to sue the federal government if they try to place the refugees in the state. This part is especially interesting because states do not have the right to pass this law and FLORIDA KNOWS IT.

H/T:: Danielle Muscato for this article, well said.

Hillary Clinton Gets $13 Million From Health Industry, Now Says Single-Payer Will “Never, Ever Come To Pass­”

The crux of the matter for me is this point,,,

Only Bernie Sanders supports single-payer, universal health care (and has for a LONG TIME). Hillary used to support it—she even wrote a letter to Bernie Sanders in 1993 praising his efforts fighting for it—but she changed her mind after receiving $13,200,000 in donations from health insurance companies and related organizations. Further, a December '15 scientific poll found that 58 percent of Americans support expanding Medicare to cover everyone. So why aren't we already doing this?

Not the money mind you, it's politics what do you expect, but the fact that Clinton has change her mind. I remember the 1993 battle, the ACA as we have it today is a direct result,,,but, she changed her mind.

Bernie Sanders Asks Fed Chair Whether the US Is an Oligarchy | The Nation

If the US Senate really is the world’s greatest deliberative body, it ought to consider consequential questions. That does not happen often in a Senate where trivia tends too frequently to triumph over issues of substance. But Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, raised what might just be the most substantial issue of all Wednesday, at a Joint Economic Committee hearing where Federal Reserve board chair Janet Yellen was testifying.

The senator began with the facts: “In the US today, the top 1 percent own about 38 percent of the financial wealth of America. The bottom 60 percent own 2.3 percent. One family, the Walton family, is worth over $140 billion; that’s more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of the American people. In recent years, we have seen a huge increase in the number of millionaires and billionaires, while we continue to have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world. Despite, as many of my Republican friends talk about ‘the oppressive Obama economic policies,’ in the last year Charles and David Koch struggled under these policies and their wealth increased by $12 billion in one year. In terms of income, 95 percent of new income generated in this country in the last year went to the top 1 percent.“

Sanders then introduced an academic study, by Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, that concludes, “The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.”

That sounds like an oligarchy.

So Sanders asked Yellen: “In your judgment, given the enormous power held by the billionaire class and their political representatives, are we still a capitalist democracy or have we gone over to an oligarchic form of society in which incredible enormous economic and political power now rests with the billionaire class?”

Bernie Sanders Asks Fed Chair Whether the US Is an Oligarchy | The Nation

Michele Bachmann vs. Bernie Sanders Debate Goes Off the Rails - YouTube

It is no secret that I am not a fan of Michele Bachmann. This is a great example of why but it has nothing to do with her political alignment per se, it's due to the fact that she is very disingenuous and well rude. These thoughts are in no particular order just stuff off he top of my head whilst listening to her screeching.

First thing that comes to mind is she would make a master biblical apologist as she has the famed Gish gallop down to a science. Took Wolfe and Sanders to the 11 minute mark to get her to admit she is not for raising the minimum wage. Never did answer Sanders' question in regards to chained CPI.

In regards to her Australia comments, their minimum wage is NOT $20/hr nor are they "bleeding jobs." In fact it is approximately $16/hr and their unemployment rate is hovering around 6%.

Now bare in mind that in the 80s AU and the US were very similar in some regards but have since gone on divergent economic paths. The differences lay in what occurred during the Reagan years of deregulation, while AU implemented universal healthcare, almost free college education, universal social security and other like programs. In actuality AU has a 30 year head-start.

In the beginning of the clip, there was talk of the income inequality issue which devolved into what Bachmann called "income opportunity." In other words jobs. What she fails to realize (or just plain ignores) is that currently we have 1 job available for every 3 applicants. Her "solution" the same ole policies that have not worked; in her mind, the only way to grow the middle class is to give major corporation more tax breaks. Which is ridiculous given the fact that they already pay low taxes when compared from a decade ago. According to her line of reasoning, we'd have the lowest unemployment since before the Depression.

This goes to show you how republicans still do not understand that their policies have been implemented and used and that extending them is not going to help. They just don't seem to get it.



Michele Bachmann vs. Bernie Sanders Debate Goes Off the Rails - YouTube

Wal-Mart on Wal-Mart - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

A Wal-Mart spokesman on Monday told The Huffington Post that only 5 percent of the discount chain’s workers were on Medicaid. The spokesman was attempting to rebut Sen. Bernie Sanders’ assertion on MSNBC that the Walton family, the Wal-Mart owners, got to be the richest family in America by paying workers so poorly that they need Medicaid and food stamps to survive. What the spokesman may have forgotten to mention was that an internal memo to Wal-Mart’s board of directors (obtained by The New York Times) acknowledged that 46 percent of the children of Wal-Mart's 1.33 million U.S. employees were uninsured or on Medicaid. The 2005 memo by M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, had more to say about how the company treats its workers:

• Wal-Mart's workers are getting sicker than the national population with preventable diseases such as obesity (p. 4). More than half of Wal-Mart's workers (p. 8) are not covered by its health insurance plans, meaning many do not have access to necessary preventative care and doctors' visits. "Our workers are getting sicker than the national population, particularly with obesity-related diseases" (p. 4).
• Wal-Mart's workers aren't using primary care because so many of them lack coverage. Instead, they opt to use taxpayer-subsidized emergency rooms. The Wal-Mart workforce "tends to over utilize emergency room and hospital services and underutilize prescriptions and doctor visits" (p. 4-5).
• In a survey, Wal-Mart workers scored the company "poorly" on the cost of healthcare coverage for employees (p. 6).

Wal-Mart on Wal-Mart - Newsroom: Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Petition - A Petition to Support the Saving American Democracy Amendment : Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont

Bernie Sanders' views as to why Citizens United should be repealed w/ petition,,,

Petition - A Petition to Support the Saving American Democracy Amendment : Bernie Sanders - U.S. Senator for Vermont