I doubt this sideshow-to-a-sideshow warrants the ongoing hijack, but what the heck.
I was mostly working from this part:
Which looks to me to be pure non sequitur. I really don’t have much deeper analysis.
As I said in post #1665 (!) the *non sequitur *may be between my ears and the real truth is that most causcuses have large numbers of first time participants.
My personal experience and hence assumptions about more normal primaries is that any given person either votes every time or never; there’s not much in-between behavior. So other than voters aging into or out of the electorate or moving interstate, we should see almost the exact same electorate from one year to the next. Newbies should be a tiny minority, not ~40%.
For sure if I was writing or editing the *Register *piece I would have addressed this apparent contradiction more fully.
My perception is the Bloomberg article appears more internally consistent. And hence more believable and better-written.
Which one is actually closer to the actual facts on the ground or makes better predictions about the future is a whole 'nuther question. And not one I’m competent to opine on; I simply haven’t dug into it enough, nor do I care enough. This time tomorrow we’ll know what happened.
Then the debate will shift to “why?” and “what does this predict for NH & beyond?” As intellectual & sociological chewing gum this election cycle is really the super bonus multi-flavor multi-pack! Makes for strong jaws and no nutrition.
If I may continue this slight hijack, I actually performed stand-up comedy on a professional-to-semi-professional basis for about 6 years, and wile I’ve never attained the popularity that Cook has, comedians DO talk. Cook, among the different people “in the know,” has a reputation for stealing jokes from other artists, which is the BIG BAD in stand-up. A lot of people dislike him for that reason. The rest of my dislike for him is just that I don’t find him funny. But more than one comic has accused him of stealing their material. I have no respect for him, and part of me wants to say that, if you enjoyed some of his jokes, it’s because he didn’t write them.
Yes. I’m aware of that. Is Trump? What is he proposing, exactly? Something that looks like the Japanese system? The Canadian system? The UK system? I mean, it will definitely be a Great System. That much goes without saying. But how great? Canada great? France great? Cuba great? Has he published a proposal?
Maybe he’s laid out a proposal. If so, I’ll retract my snark. But as far as I can tell, his statement is just another example of Trump’s idea-free ranting.
“Presented”? You mean the cool and unemotional style, like a Vulcan doing stand-up? The ultra-hip demeanor, the post-modernist irony? Or is it the hair?
Presented, as in full of bumper sticker phrases and unrealistic and unreachable entitlements. “Health care is a right”, “Medicare for all” except not really, because Medicare has co-pays and coverage denials and he also promises no co-pays, and even implies no denial of coverage.
Trump just said we shouldn’t let people die in the street for lack of health care, and that he was going to get with docs and hospitals and work a deal to figure out how to do it. Don’t you think it’s a good idea to not let people die in the street for lack of coverage? Don’t you want to make America great again?
I guess the more obvious bullshit from Trump is a little less annoying, for some reason.
Aw goldurn contraire! Its not “Necessity is the mother in invention”, its laziness! First paleo farm guy, trudging to grind his wheat into flour, felt the wind on his face and thought “There’s gotta be some way to make the wind do this shit!”. The will to get more from less effort is a fundamental force in civilization and technology. The list of our advances founded entirely on laziness is long, but I could surely list them! Except, well, you know…
Have we discussed this picture of Donald and and his then-14 or 15 year old daughter yet? There’s a lot to unpack. I was so distracted by the pose of father and daughter that it was a while before I noticed what they were posing on.
I thought Trump sounded sincere, even! I wonder if ultimately he would push for every state to just take the Medicaid expansion and sort of leave it at that.
And I agree with you about Bernie’s “plan”. My sister and mother are Canadian citizens, and I was telling my son (a huge Bernhead) tonight as we drove back from the caucuses that the dirty little secret of single-payer in the industrialized world is that for the U.S. to convert to it would require that the middle class accept health care that’s not quite as convenient and expansive as what they have now, with more waiting and cost controls, and that low income people would be much better off. I said that’s a tradeoff I would take in a heartbeat, but that people are selfish and the people who would lose out a little bit would not be so jazzed, in the main. Instead, Bernie’s claiming it’s a free lunch for everyone: total BS.
Thats not necessarily true, in all countries with single payer health care you also have the option to take out additional private insurance which gives you access to better private hospitals with no waiting lists. In Australia if you opt for private insurance you get a discount from your taxed medicare levy (which is based on income). At a certain income level around $100,000 AUD a year, I believe its cheaper to have private insurance than to rely on our government single payer medicare. Thats the way the system was designed to work.
Interesting. My sister came down to the States to get knee surgery after being told she was going to have something like an eighteen month wait. I guess maybe she didn’t have that sort of insurance?
But having those two tiers seems like it would tend to make the lower tier worse and worse if everyone didn’t have to use it. You sure this is available in *all *such countries?
