U.S. Politics

Anyone who doesn't think it wasn't worth sending Ukraine our military equipment we were about to decommission anyway and then they use it to nearly collapse the Russian military is an idiot.
 
Damien said:
You mean lost -in- Ukraine, right? He can't lose Ukraine because he doesn't own Ukraine. Just for clarity.
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yeah. I should have said 'lost [the war with] Ukraine'.

and yeah like you all are saying, I imagine most people wouldn't mind if we were spending money on Ukraine as long as we were also spending enough on 'our own'. BUT if we did that, it would be 'gov't hand-outs' and we'd have a gazillion op-eds about moral hazards in the Wall Street Journal and yadda yadda yadda. again, it's frustrating. one of my family members said that the reason she does not want universal healthcare is because she doesn't want her money to go to other people's healthcare and honestly I don't have the energy to engage a debate with that. :-/
 
The first Trump person I ever knew, back when Trump was first about to announce his candidacy, was talking that. He told me how Trump was going to fix everything and I literally laughed at him before realizing he was serious. I had no idea how serious any of it would be. But yeah we later had a big argument about universal healthcare and not wanting to pay for others etc. he was also antivax etc, he got the full subscription to all that stuff. When he got COVID, he was hospitalized and came very close to dying, and I've seen him since a few times but don't have the heart to ask if he's still a believer.
 
TheSameIdiot said:
I've heard similar. Do these people know how insurance works?
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it's a very poor-faith assumption to make but maybe having a system where people are excluded means the insured can take comfort in the thought that their care was 'deserved'. i.e. "at least we don't live in a country where our tax money is being used to pay for the unemployed's medical treatment" or something like that I dunno
 
Wicker_Basket said:
it's a very poor-faith assumption to make but maybe having a system where people are excluded means the insured can take comfort in the thought that their care was 'deserved'. i.e. "at least we don't live in a country where our tax money is being used to pay for the unemployed's medical treatment" or something like that I dunno
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It's dangerous to try to logic it out.

I live in Canada, a place with free (albeit arguably the worst among countries where it's free) healthcare. But we do have private car insurance, of course. Within the same breath people will complain here about how we need private healthcare because they're tired of their taxes paying for whomever with bad health, but will also complain that the private car insurance is bullshit because we're stuck paying higher rates because of bad drivers we have no control over.

I keep saying it because it's true; these people are just fucking idiots. You cannot reason or logic your way around how they think, because there is no reason or logic to how they think. And even the word 'think' is pretty strong language here.
 
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There was an interview I saw during the initial push for the ACA where they were interviewing an older couple - one of those "might be 50, look like they're 70" struggling folks, and the husband was dying slowly of poorly managed diabetes. Wife looks at the interviewer and says, no hesitation, "I would rather my Bobby DIE than pay for someone else's healthcare."

I knew we were doomed before that, but I think about that interview all the time, because that woman is very much not alone. (I moonlight as a healthcare writer and I swear every new cool thing that could save lives, I end every conversation with "how do we get this to the public?" and the answer is always "well we gotta get someone to pay for it." Oof.)

One of my dark humor forms of entertainment when I was living in Galway was explaining the US healthcare system to people (my partner at the time was a public health physician; a huge part of our friendship circle were European doctors and the occasional nurse).

"So if someone doesn't have insurance, you just let them DIE?"
"Well, legally no, but for all intents and purposes... "

I asked them how much it'd cost me without citizenship if I got hurt and ended up in the ER and they were like: well, you have to pay for it out of pocket. How much? Oh what, stitches, broken arm, something like that? 150 Euro maybe? Fifteen years later I STILL laugh at that.

(Same time frame when an old timer was complaining about how Limerick was "Stab City" because of all the knife crime and I was like sir, I don't mean to come across as crass, but I can outrun a knife, it's bullets I worry about. Looked at me like I was a savage. Which, I suppose, we are.)
 
docsilence said:
(Same time frame when an old timer was complaining about how Limerick was "Stab City" because of all the knife crime and I was like sir, I don't mean to come across as crass, but I can outrun a knife, it's bullets I worry about. Looked at me like I was a savage. Which, I suppose, we are.)
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I also live in a place that used to be known for stabbings on occasion (99% is literally drug dealers and drug buyers stabbing each other, so completely irrelevant to most people anyway). I still remember laughing when I moved out here and someone told me to be careful because of 'gangs and knife crime.' Like dude.. CANADIAN gangs? What are they gonna do, cover me in syrup and then apologize an inappropriate amount? I'm from fuckin' Boston. Fuck off with that.
 
Damien said:
I also live in a place that used to be known for stabbings on occasion (99% is literally drug dealers and drug buyers stabbing each other, so completely irrelevant to most people anyway). I still remember laughing when I moved out here and someone told me to be careful because of 'gangs and knife crime.' Like dude.. CANADIAN gangs? What are they gonna do, cover me in syrup and then apologize an inappropriate amount? I'm from fuckin' Boston. Fuck off with that.
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Hey, another Mass guy? I'm from just north of Boston. I ACTIVELY have to dull the edges on my personality from being born in a city people used to change the name of to include the word slum in it. I got mugged for my He-Man toys when I was five years old. When my Limerick friends talked about knife crime I told them how I was with a buddy when he was targeted in a drive-by shooting and how that was how I learned I could retain bladder control when shot at in a parking lot and... yeah, we're savages here. Absolute monsters. I should've stayed in Galway. (And FWIW my friend REALLY asked to be shot at, he was the dumbest career criminal I ever met.)
 
Damien said:
The next mid-terms are about a year-and-a-half away. I think people would have to be incredibly naive to think there's zero chance the US could forfeit (legitimate) elections by then. The amount of damage Trump has done to the rule of law in 3 months is unprecedented, and very little is actually being done to stop him. We're already at a point where the administration is flouting direct rulings from the courts and, essentially, daring them to do something about it (they can't).

I'm not saying the US has already completely fallen to a fascist dictatorship and all hope is lost. But I do think we're a lot closer to that than many people want to allow themselves to admit/believe.

We're way past cheating, at any rate. Republicans have been cheating to win elections for as long as I've been alive. And they get away with it pretty damn often, actually. The more brazen cheating they just attempted in NC -almost- worked. That's also important to remember. Republicans just said 'we don't like these results, so we're going to toss 60k votes and count again.' And they nearly got away with it.

They're getting push-back from some areas (not nearly enough). But them being desperate also doesn't mean them losing is a foregone conclusion. I appreciate the need to hold onto that level of positive thinking, but it's, to my mind, not pessimistic enough for the times we're living in and what history and current events have taught us.
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Just to be clear about what I was (trying) to say: I completely agree with those who are warning that the elections are likely to be futzed with - I think it would be incredibly naive to think that's beyond the pale at this point, and preparing for that is absolutely necessary. I'm sick of the glib, defeatist, throw-your-hands-up and say to hell with it attitude of those who throw it out there like it's a foregone conclusion and we might as well wallow in our defeat now. I see a lot of that latter sentiment out there, and it's not helping anyone.

A lot of damage has been done, but a lot of it is also being fought - slowly and painfully, especially where the courts are concerned. They did all this through shock-and-awe to cram as much through as they could, but the fallout - and the pushback - is starting to show. Obviously they've done a ton of damage in the meantime - I've been personally impacted as I work for an organization that had to lay off a third of our staff due to the (likely illegal) grant cancellations in the DOL. But the chaos around the administration is almost encouraging to me - there are too many ghouls running there own schemes and scams for the center to hold.
 
docsilence said:
Hey, another Mass guy? I'm from just north of Boston. I ACTIVELY have to dull the edges on my personality from being born in a city people used to change the name of to include the word slum in it. I got mugged for my He-Man toys when I was five years old. When my Limerick friends talked about knife crime I told them how I was with a buddy when he was targeted in a drive-by shooting and how that was how I learned I could retain bladder control when shot at in a parking lot and... yeah, we're savages here. Absolute monsters. I should've stayed in Galway. (And FWIW my friend REALLY asked to be shot at, he was the dumbest career criminal I ever met.)
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Not a Mass guy originally but I lived in Boston for a few years for school - and I'm actually going back up there next week to visit for the first time in years! Absolutely loved my time there - Boston is a real gem. I also coincidentally traveled to Galway during the years I was living in Boston. Would have loved to have spent more time there.
 
docsilence said:
Hey, another Mass guy? I'm from just north of Boston. I ACTIVELY have to dull the edges on my personality from being born in a city people used to change the name of to include the word slum in it. I got mugged for my He-Man toys when I was five years old. When my Limerick friends talked about knife crime I told them how I was with a buddy when he was targeted in a drive-by shooting and how that was how I learned I could retain bladder control when shot at in a parking lot and... yeah, we're savages here. Absolute monsters. I should've stayed in Galway. (And FWIW my friend REALLY asked to be shot at, he was the dumbest career criminal I ever met.)
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Haha. Wait.. Somerville? I remember people calling it Slumville when I was growing up. But if you asked me 'what's the shittiest town in MA' I probably would have said Fall River. I spent a fair bit of time there.

I was raised in Whitman - mostly on Auburn Street right on the Brockton line. Brockton was pretty rough back in the mid-to-late 80s. Whitman itself wasn't bad. Also spent a lot of time in Quincy, which was a right shithole for my entire childhood. And, like any good Goth kid near Boston, I spent a lot of my late teens going into the city. Or over to the Manray in Cambridge.

Totally get you about having to dull your edges. My wife has informed me that, to people that aren't from MA, I come off as extremely abrasive and impatient, and that no one around here is blunt in a matter-of-fact way like I am. Once she got to know (via phone) my mom and dad and watched a few things about people from MA, she said she started to understand me better. I didn't know we were so different!
Although, I should have guessed. I definitely rubbed people the wrong way in northern Florida when I lived there for a few years.
 
Damien said:
Haha. Wait.. Somerville? I remember people calling it Slumville when I was growing up. But if you asked me 'what's the shittiest town in MA' I probably would have said Fall River. I spent a fair bit of time there.

I was raised in Whitman - mostly on Auburn Street right on the Brockton line. Brockton was pretty rough back in the mid-to-late 80s. Whitman itself wasn't bad. Also spent a lot of time in Quincy, which was a right shithole for my entire childhood. And, like any good Goth kid near Boston, I spent a lot of my late teens going into the city. Or over to the Manray in Cambridge.

Totally get you about having to dull your edges. My wife has informed me that, to people that aren't from MA, I come off as extremely abrasive and impatient, and that no one around here is blunt in a matter-of-fact way like I am. Once she got to know (via phone) my mom and dad and watched a few things about people from MA, she said she started to understand me better. I didn't know we were so different!
Although, I should have guessed. I definitely rubbed people the wrong way in northern Florida when I lived there for a few years.
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Yep, born in Somerville, though I live up in Salem now. Of course after we moved out of Slumerville it gentrified like wild and now someone called it the Paris of the Northeast. I can't afford to move home again. But honestly, it's a sanctuary city and doing wonders for its own community, so more power to it.

But yeah, Fall River is... oof. And now I wonder if we ran into each other back in the day - I was just talking with someone and we figured out we were Harvard Square pit rats in our misspent youth.

I'm mild for Boston in terms of abrasive (my billion cousins call me the "literate one") but man, having to just watch my overall behavior living in a country known for its charm... I came back like I'd been to therapy. Which I reckon living in Ireland was for me. Not a day goes by lately I don't regret moving home.

But if I had to move home at least I'm still in a place fighting the good fight. Seeing 25 people swarm ICE in Worcester this weekend... I can't say it warmed my heart because the scene was nightmarish, but seeing people actively get in the way was something.
 
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