Bernie continues to affect the conversation — for us & Sat 10/12 Open Thread
This morning I saw this headline, from CNBC.
‘Our medical bills were 2 feet high’: How families grapple with medical debt
What has that got to do with the man mentioned in the headline? Here are the first two paragraphs:
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is proposing to wipe out an estimated $81 billion in past-due medical debt. Up to 80 million Americans could be impacted.
“People definitely need to have their debt either forgiven or negotiated lower, so they can afford it without a hardship,” said Craig Antico, the co-founder of RIP Medical Debt, which buys and forgives medical debt.
Followed by this tweet:
"In the richest country in the world, it is obscene that millions of people are pushed into poverty and insolvency because they had the bad luck of getting sick and needing to see a doctor." -Astra Taylor #EliminateMedicalDebthttps://t.co/sygLmiSwgf
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 5, 2019
and:
Two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy each year blame their health-care costs, according to one study. “People are one illness or accident away from financial ruin in this country,” Antico said.
Sanders’ announcement on medical debt builds on his Medicare for All plan, and would likely be paid for with a tax on corporations based on their CEO compensation. In a recent town hall, a military veteran from Nevada told Sanders he was considering suicide due to his $139,000 in medical debt.
CNBC spoke to people about how they fell into medical debt and how it shapes their lives.
This family’s store jumped out for me because it profiles a situation in which they are in trouble…even though they had health insurance! Needless to say, for people with no insurance it’s even more devastating.
DIANE DENTON’S husband, Don, woke up one morning in 2008 with a smashing headache that wouldn’t go away.
The Bolivar, Missouri, resident was diagnosed with viral meningitis and spent more than 75 days in different hospitals. He had two brain surgeries. The history and religious studies professor was out of work for more than a year. “We were devastated financially,” Denton, 60, said. “Our medical bills were 2 feet high.”
Even with health insurance, the family was forced to take on more than $30,000 in medical debt, a balance they’ll never be able to pay, she said. That’s in large part because of their ongoing health expenses: Like many American households, they spend more than $20,000 a year on premiums and co-pays.
My main point is, would CNBC interviewing struggling families if not for Bernie? Doubtful, imo.
I haven’t personally benefited from anything Bernie’s done (yet), but it gives me some hope to see the impact he and his proposals influence the conversation.
And, for that – Thank You Bernie!
Perhaps she can tell lies as good as Trump with a straight face!
https://twitter.com/AlytaDeLeon/status/1182675892444770304
“I don’t remember”, sure….
I remember, and I remember that at first I had some resistance to same-sex marriage in relation to forcing it upon religions (I don’t give a crap even about that now, I admit that I have evolved over the decades).
I never had a problem with same-sex marriage in civil ceremonies, didn’t see any reason why not. But I soon realized that why shouldn’t anyone be denied a church ceremony if that was what they wanted? It was another form of discrimination.
You know who NEVER seems to have had one iota of a problem with same-sex marriage? I think you know the answer to that.
p.s. I’m disappointed by Warren’s attempts to downplay her time as a Republican (instead of coming clean about it), and VERY disappointed to see her try to deceive people who don’t know better that that time was only “when she was a little kid”. That’s a bad sign.
Tip jar for Bernie! I so appreciate all of his hard work.
And I also really appreciate The Progressive Wing as a gathering place where I get to see some of you, learn, get caught up on some things, and can express myself a bit. Cheers! ❤️
The Joker
I posted a review of the movie by Michael Moore who saw it as a critique of neo liberalism and our system. Because of his review I went to the movie.
I was not able to square my experience with what he wrote. Leipar saw it and was not so impressed and he commented that the level of violence was about the same as main stream TV.
Here is another view of the movie
‘Joker’ Continues Warner Bros. and DC Comics Attack on Left
Since I don’t follow the right wing press, I was not aware of how they spin this movie nor other DC comics movies
I won’t waste my time on a piece of corporate celluloid trash like that movie. More fancy makeup, special effects and psycho glorification. The best Batman movie IMO was the one where Jack Nicholson played the Joker. Michael Keaton played the title character and it was worth watching.
I’d be interested to hear your own take on the movie Don as I’ll probably never see it (I read a review title that said “The Joker is the movie we deserve right now, but not what we need” and decided that it might be best for me to avoid it, lol), but am somewhat fascinated by the slew of analyses about it.
Here’s another writer, Leslie Lee, who seems to be in the same camp as Michael Moore:
Neoliberalism Is the True Villain of ‘Joker’
Barr none. Barr hanging on to God. Barr something
1 minute of how people like us are destroying decency and the country
For those of us troubled with Obama
The Obamanauts:
What is the defining achievement of Barack Obama?
Corey Robin reviews 4 books by the fan club.
I sent an email to him and he actually replied and thanked me for the information.
I sent him Lambert’s rhetorical review of Obama’s speech at the kickoff of The Hamilton Project, the neo liberal effort at the Brookings institute. Obama thanked Bob Rubin which puts his work with him back to 2005. In what way was he the Manchurian Candidate?
In any case here is Lambert’s rhetorical review of the 2006 speech
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/04/obama-at-the-hamilton-project-2006-this-is-not-a-bloodless-process.html
Like Hillary, globalization is the engine of history and “this is not a bloodless process” to bring about the glorious future.
I was very troubled when I heard, years after he was elected, about Obama’s connection to The Hamilton Project. I think we all know better now, can better recognize clues about candidates for which their elevation would result in ‘business rule as usual’ (per how Paul Street’s article at truthdig referred to the results of Obama’s time as president).
BO also admired Raygun and the Raygun mindset.
Ah, Citigroup:
Citigroup chose Obama’s 2008 cabinet, WikiLeaks document reveals
Matt Taibbi is one of those skeptical of the Ukraine whistleblowers.
Real whistleblowers were immediately charged under the espionage act and faced life in prison.
Is this a deep state coup?
We’re in a permanent coup:
Americans might soon wish they just waited to vote their way out of the Trump era
Yes there has been a coup, but not sure yet if this is the main one, or one of several. Or if the CIA is actually behind the whistleblower leak.
Taibbi has taken a lot of flack for this position but I continue to trust him and he lived in Russia for several years.
Taibbi seems credible on Russia/Ukraine matters. Not sure what to think of these whistleblowers. Maybe because of how dramatically different the media’s treatment of them is compared to other whistleblowers.
aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!
there’s a tweeter that periodically screams. their pinned tweet lists reasons. i’ll post it next time I see it.
This is from Newsweek, so beware (their web site really challenges my computer with all the ads running), but I wanted to share a few nuggets:
Elizabeth Warren Has 2020 Momentum. But These Bernie Sanders Supporters Say They’ll Never Vote for Her—Even Against Trump
I don’t know how trustworthy Easley is, but I certainly tend to agree with the idea that Bernie appeals to those who aren’t too fond of the Democratic establishment:
The bolded part is interesting too, and encouraging considering that a lot of potential Sanders supporters may very well not be paying as much ‘close attention’ at this point because they’re too busy trying to survive! And perhaps indicates that there may be some votes to be found in the ‘not yet paying much attention’ demographic. I think we need to reach those people, the disenfranchised- disenfranchised in terms of feeling like they have no real choice.
And I think that there are a lot of people out there like Rhonda:
Those people, who don’t see any real hope in Warren to help relieve some of their burdens, they won’t vote for Trump, but they might find that Warren is just a bridge too far, far enough to not be worth the effort. And I think that’s something many comfortable liberals don’t understand or take seriously enough.
p.s. Warren really outta stay away from Clinton. Seriously. Warren might get some Democratic establishment-type votes by chummying it up with the Clintons, but she would lose far more votes than that in the general. It wouldn’t be worth it in the long run. People not happy about these rumors of her meeting with Hillary. Hillary should just stick to her book tour.
Speaking of which, she and Chelsea were due to be here this morning for a book signing near my grocery store, so I had to delay my Saturday morning grocery run. But I’m thinking they must have all cleared out by now, so off to buy some supplies birdie friends! Making some chili tonight 😀
Its the weather for it in WI today, wind chills in the upper 20s
Whoa, and here I am complaining about mid-40’s at night. Stay warm wi61!
yum! btw. sign holding was fun with a couple of Berners. have to say it seems there is less enthusiasm this time around. we need lots of help. im committing to something most weeks now.
Thanks for your sign holding report. I also see less enthusiasm, people so disenchanted in general. I think people fear that it’s all just too rigged. I’m not giving up yet though.
I hope there are a lot of closet voters who are motivated at least enough to vote in primaries. I hardly see any bumper stickers. Needless to say, though, whenever I see a Bernie one I do my best to wave and give a thumbs up.
But here in CT, with the closed primary, it might be quite a challenge this time around. Most people here call themselves Independent. And it takes a certain level of motivation to convince them to register as a Democrat. And Lamont isn’t helping matters one bit.
Gov. Ned Lamont hosting Joe Biden for fundraiser at his Greenwich home
Lamont has been really showing his 0.1% (0.01%?) colors. This state is SO captured by the elites!
We need decent turnout for the primaries. As always I suppose!
T and R, mags!! 🙂 I was putting back all the stuff stored in the house that we had to take out before termite tenting. Man, that is an expensive and royal PITA. I looked in one of the plastic bags, and there were a bunch of 45s (records) in it. They were so old they didn’t have covers/sleeves. So, hubby ordered sleeves and I pulled out a few and cleaned them. Once they dry, I’ll play them to see what shape they’re in. I hope they are playable as there are some classic tunes in that pile. Wish me luck. 🙂
Done, would be curious as to what you found.
Some classics but a lot of cornball I liked as a kid. LOL.
Huh, my reply to you yesterday didn’t ‘take’.
But thank you orl! That sounds like a lot of work!!
You’re making me want to take out my old 45s….my stash has too many without covers too but, considering I bought my first 45 when I was seven (The Osmonds ‘Down By The Lazy River’ haha) I guess that’s to be expected, so…what let’s see what we’ve got….
I just played a Roy Orbinson 45, ‘You Got It’ and got sad, so I then played Kool & the Gang’s ‘Celebration’ as a pick-me-up, lol.
What have you got? 😉 GOOD LUCK!
p.s. I’m realizing that a lot of mine have the word love in them. Love is the thing, craving it, looking for it, happy to find it, trying to hold on to it, feeling the loss of it. My 80’s stuff takes a bit of a different turn though.
Would Warren care cover this?
I doubt it.
This is a perfect way to differentiate himself from Warren without attacking her. She is proud to be a capitalist.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/465547-sanders-on-difference-with-warren-shes-a-capitalist-im-not
I want to go so badly!!
And this is a good thing,, don’t you know.
Aug. 10. 2013:
yesterday on PBS’ Nevada Week In Review, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) was asked whether his goal was to move Obamacare to a single-payer system. His answer? “Yes, yes. Absolutely, yes.”
He conned us into supporting ACA with that, so have to wonder what the con is now.
Revolting.
https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1183129314885328903?s=20
I just realized – – I don’t think that’s a viable population, so unless there’s something new afoot, let’s hope there are plenty in zoos, for now.
I just found this.
https://twitter.com/Humanbeing1973/status/1183183181727465472?s=20