***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[Armada]

 Paul Ryan is a complete buffoon. But to be fair, many people don't under this simple principle regarding insurance.

True but Paul Ryan is the speaker of the house ffs he should know better 

 shows how clueless this dude Ryan is especially when it comes to healthcare. Like my man said

 They're more focused on what they believe than what actually works.

This fits Ryan like a glove 

 

[kdawg]

They're more focused on what they believe than what actually works.

That's beautiful.

 

[Belgium]

I hope at some point we move to universal coverage so that we no longer refer to health insurance as "insurance" at all.

The problem is that many in the US don't see universal healthcare as a basic human right. In most of the top European countries, you can go to the most far-right groups and ask them if they see universal healthcare as a basic human right and they'll say of course. Same with low-cost education. Someone like Rico, the "I don't want my taxes to help other people" type, is more of an anomaly here whereas it seems pretty common in the US.

 

[kdawg]

It's amazing too that Ryan thought his example of someone with breast cancer in their 40s was a good one - you could almost argue that an obese diabetic or a smoker with lung cancer should have to pay for their own choices - but breast cancer isn't something I'd choose to maek an example of.

Shows his complete disdain for others.

 

[gry60]

Gotta love the hypocrisy of the right. They love to talk about pushing a narrative, but they are hard at work behind the scenes to maintain the story of the rise of far right populism.

https://qz.com/928684/the-dutch-far-rights-election-donors-are-almost-exclusively-american/

Someone should look into the National Front finances too. Bet they get a lot more American support than just Breitbart coverage.

 

[trueprada]

 

[tokes99]

I hope at some point we move to universal coverage so that we no longer refer to health insurance as "insurance" at all.

The problem is that many in the US don't see universal healthcare as a basic human right. In most of the top European countries, you can go to the most far-right groups and ask them if they see universal healthcare as a basic human right and they'll say of course. Same with low-cost education. Someone like Rico, the "I don't want my taxes to help other people" type, is more of an anomaly here whereas it seems pretty common in the US.

there is a good amount of study that indicates in societies as diverse as the states, creates an 'us' v. 'them' distinction/dynamic, which can cause "i don't want my taxes to help THOSE people" mentality...and to the extent that people are distanced from/ignorant/separate & apart from/unaware of the struggle of the 'other' it only decreases the empathy for those seen as other...you can even see this in the most homogeneous of european countries today...

there are many reasons why a universal healthcare hasn't been widely adopted here in the u.s. (culture, habit, ideology), it isn't that people don't understand it, we have things like medicaid & medicare that essentially operate like a single payer system-although they both don't cover all things for all the people it serves...it is a government structured/subsidized healthcare. it is kinda surprising to me that more employers here are not advocates of a single payer type system, though i guess for large employers, healthcare benefit packages are seen as a competitive advantage...

 

[Belgium]

Turns out da Donald's wife Melania also has an instagram registered to a private email [email protected] but her profile is set on private and her husband's IG doesn't follow her 

 

[whywesteppin]

is she followed by Trudeau?

 

[Belgium]

is she followed by Trudeau?

 Looks like the ig has made over 2000 posts but doesn't follow anybody and didn't accept any followers. Odd.

In other news, Sean Spicer is using a damb yahoo email 

 

[IATT]

ABC News Politics‏Verified account  @ABCPolitics 2m2 minutes ago

Today marks the 50th day of President Donald Trump's administration. http://abcn.ws/2n7f3Mj

 

[gry60]

ABC News Politics‏Verified account @ABCPolitics 2m2 minutes ago

Today marks the 50th day of President Donald Trump's administration. http://abcn.ws/2n7f3Mj
 

First 100 days, lots of golf played

 

[whywesteppin]

we only have to survive 28 more 50-day periods.

 

[frink85]

Feel like it's been 50 years with all the crap that happens on a daily basis

 

[flyeed]

Bruh how has it only been 50 ****** days

R.I.P. all of us

 

[Based Jesus]

Honestly feels more like 50 weeks.

 

[moe fab]

 

[gry60]

Belgium

[–]The Netherlandsnetaddicted 194 points 4 hours ago

Other parties get subsidies to have staff and so on, but he doesn't because his one-man party doesn't comply with the rules for those subsidies (mainly, he doesn't disclose his party's finances).

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[+]malicious_turtle 189 points 4 hours ago (26 children)

[–]EuropeAuckland345 31 points 3 hours ago

Why is Geert Wilders the only member of his party? It seems rather impractical.

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[–]The Netherlandsnetaddicted 69 points 3 hours ago

Because that way he can control it 100%, e.g. there are no other members who could vote him out as leader. The PVV is entirely his personal thing. It's the only party that's structured that way, it's controversial but not explicitly illegal yet.
Actually, legally it needs to have two members, and it does -- Geert Wilders, and "Stichting Geert Wilders", a foundation ("stichting") with one board member, Geert Wilders. This may be considered not all that different from having a single member.

That's funny.

 

[handullz]

Have any reporters asked him about the amount of vacation he's taken?

 

[moe fab]

Have any reporters asked him about the amount of vacation he's taken?

 

[whywesteppin]

Have any reporters asked him about the amount of vacation he's taken?

Such a mean question! Fake news! That's why NYT is failing!

in other news:

Paul Ryan: Obamacare repeal defeat would be 'momentum-killing' for GOP agenda

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/paul-ryan-obamacare-repeal-gop-agenda-235919

“Think of legislation as one train track with a bunch of trains on the track. If you don’t get these trains through the system, it slows everything else down,” he said. “I do agree that this is momentum-killing. If we don’t do this and reduce or get rid of the trillion dollar tax increases in Obamacare, that just puts tax reform a trillion dollars further out of our reach. So there’s a lot that rides on this, not to mention just the schedule. We love Neil Gorsuch. We think he’s a great judge. We want to stay on schedule and get him in there as well. There’s a lot that rides on this with respect to the sequence of things.”

One can only hope!

krugman:

AARP has done the math: a 55-year-old making $25,000 a year would end up paying $3,600 a year more for coverage; that rises to $8,400 for a 64-year-old making $15,000 a year. And that’s before the death spiral.

:x

For the combination of price hikes and weakened penalties would lead many healthy Americans to forgo insurance. This would worsen the risk pool, causing premiums to rise sharply — and remember, subsidies would no longer adjust to offset this rise.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/opinion/a-bill-so-bad-its-awesome.html

 

[gry60]

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/jeff-sessi...r-false-senate-testimony-about-russia-1610923

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...o-sidelined-spending-budget-cut-a7622406.html

Diplomacy? What's that?

But the claim was made on the same day that it emerged that the State Department’s own spokesman had no idea that Mexico’s foreign minister was visiting Washington. This is despite it being established convention for foreign secretaries to be received by their State Department counterpart when visiting the US capital.

Some observers, however, took spokesman Toner’s ignorance as reinforcing the impression given by one State Department official who earlier this month told The Atlantic: “I don’t think this administration thinks the State Department needs to exist. They really want to blow this place up.

“They think Jared [Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law] can do everything.”

“It’s reminiscent of the developing countries where I’ve served,” added the State Department official. “The family rules everything, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows nothing.”

 

[Belgium]

@Colombia
That's funny.

Dutch political parties require at least 1000 members to receive government funding. So Wilders has to rely on donations, which mostly come from US lobbyists. The David Horowitz Freedom Center has donated large amounts of money to his party for example.

Wilders' financial disclosures, and his lack thereof, don't seem to add up properly but the government doesn't appear to find it problematic.

 

[kdawg]

AARP has done the math: a 55-year-old making $25,000 a year would end up paying $3,600 a year more for coverage; that rises to $8,400 for a 64-year-old making $15,000 a year. And that’s before the death spiral.

What stuck out to me there is that it's $3,600 more - not $3,600 total. So what's the total - even if it's $5k then that's 20% of their gross income just invade they get sick - and it only gets worse as you get older.

It's weird how they can justify that but not things like more polluting cars paying more or other optional things. Healthcare should clearly be at the top of the list of priorities for any society - and it is in almost any other country in the world.

 

[IATT]

ya don't say

Slate‏Verified account  @Slate 14h14 hours ago

Ethics Chief to W.H.: Not punishing Conway risks undermining the entire ethics program. http://slate.me/2m61ecc