Get your politics now from left field

BRIEF ENCOUNTERS FROM THE LEFT

The NRA's self-dealing and non-profit status are two recent moves that will hopefully bring this organization of thugs down.

Keep the Electoral College? Here's how one person sees a way to compromise.

Donald Trump complains about the finish of the Kentucky Derby, a senseless statement that clearly shows his mind is not on the running of the country. Just another reason pundits are calling for Democrats to impeach or shut up.

12-year-old shoots and kills his 10-year-old brother in Texas; he is charged with murder. Where the hell did a 12-year-old get his hand on a gun? Irresponsible gun nut parents, perhaps?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi worried Donald Trump will not leave office willingly when he loses the election in 2020. Send in Alec Baldwin.

Please give me your comments on these issues.

Trump is now officially CLOWN for 2020 campaign

Just in from the circus

I have been calling Donald Trump a clown (here and here) for some time, as have several in the media. Now Joe Biden, the leading contender in the Democratic presidential primary has given T-rump his official campaign name...CLOWN. Biden, who has said recently he doesn't want to get into a "mud wrestlising (sp) match," then commented...

"There's so many nicknames I'm inclined to give this guy. You can just start with clown."

Should Biden be nominated by the Dems in the Primary, he no doubt wants to keep the campaign on the issues rather than the trashing strategy that Trump regularly uses on his opponents. Here's how Biden expressed his feelings...

"On every single issue and on every demeaning thing he says about other people, I have no problem responding directly. What I'm not going to do is get into what he wants me to do. He wants this to be a mud wrestling match."

Donald Trump graciously welcomed Joe Biden to the 2020 presidential race with this most "eloquent" comment...

"Welcome to the race Sleepy Joe. I only hope you have the intelligence, long in doubt, to wage a successful primary campaign. It will be nasty — you will be dealing with people who truly have some very sick & demented ideas. But if you make it, I will see you at the Starting Gate!"

Biden has recently exclaimed that he thinks Trump is the problem, not Republicans, but many Democrats disagree. So do I! And if Biden continues to sidle up to the right (citing his relationships with “my Republican friends in the House and Senate.”) voters may interpret this as a weakness that could lose to Trump, resulting in Bernie Sanders surging in the polls. Here's how the New York Times views the situation...

"There is no disagreement among Democrats about the urgency of defeating Mr. Trump. But Mr. Biden’s singular focus on the president as the source of the nation’s ills, while extending an olive branch to Republicans, has exposed a significant fault line in the Democratic primary."

That (the Oval Office lunatic) is the reason this is perhaps the most important Democratic Primary in the history of voting. Never before has it been so necessary to remove a despotic dictator from office.

Please let me have your comments.

Brit convinced anti-vaxxers have blood on their hands

Rather harsh but pointed

"The UK's health secretary Matt Hancock said anti-vaccination campaigners were 'morally reprehensible, deeply irresponsible' and had 'blood on their hands,'" according to CNN. His comments are based on a UNICEF study that amplifies the measles outbreak issue...

"It takes two doses of measles vaccine to protect children from the disease. A troubling new report from UNICEF finds that 2.5 million children in the United States and 169 million children worldwide missed out on their first dose between 2010 and 2017. That's roughly 20 million children a year, on average."

And it has become sufficiently confirmed now that the measles epidemic that is sweeping the U.S. is solely the fault of parents so stupid they believe the only way to become immune from the disease is to let your children catch it and build immunity. As an example, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, exposed his children to chickenpox so they would get the disease and become immune. Different disease, same stupidity.

But here's the shocker, UNICEF also found...

"that measles deaths were up globally by 22% in 2017, and complacency and fear of vaccines were among the factors leading to less vaccinations."

Many of the uninformed have been influenced by fraudulent social media that has aggressively promoted the anti-vaxxer movement, much of which has been removed by these sites. And here's another excellent point by Hancock...

"If you don't vaccinate your child, it's not only your child that is at risk. It's also other children, including those children who, for medical reasons, can't be vaccinated."

Some have even suggested that anti-vaxxers should be prosecuted for this very reason. Why not? They have intentionally not taken advantage of something that is guaranteed to protect their child's health, and then have sent them off to school to infect other children. So here's something for you anti-vaxxers to think about and act on today...

"Vaccination is good for you, good for your child, and good for your neighbor and your community, said Matt Hancock."

Please give me your comments on this issue. 

Trump still the ugly white supremacist

"Two men accused of being members of a white supremacist group and arrested after the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to federal charges Friday," reported NBC. Joe Biden in his recent announcement for running in 2020, quoted Trump as saying, “very fine people on both sides” about the 2017 white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville. T-rump tried to spin it another way but his support of this hate group is obvious.

Well, the Oval Office lunatic has made his latest move in backing the white supremacists movement by tweeting his defense for far-right figures banned by Facebook, Louis Farrakhan, Paul Nehlen, and Alex Jones. Farrakhan is notorious for using anti-Semitic language, Nehlen is anti-Semite and ran for Congress in 2016 and Alex Jones is a far-right conspiracy theorist. No matter what else you think of Trump, he is clearly a rabid racist.

On the banning of the above, which Trump was reacting to, Facebook said...

"We've always banned individuals or organizations that promote or engage in violence and hate, regardless of ideology."

Facebook claims their move is for purposes of safety, and they have also banned others in the past like fringe right-wing media personalities Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopoulos and Laura Loomer. What bothers me most is that if the Oval Office lunatic is blatantly supporting a host of white supremacists, doesn't that mean that the loyal gang who aggressively backs him is also white supremacists? Now this is scary since T-rump's base is supposedly in the 30 percent range.

Republican strategist Ryan Williams said...

"The president’s handling of Charlottesville was not one of the finer moments of his time in office. He shouldn’t take Joe Biden’s bait and re-litigate this controversy.”

But we know that Donald Trump can't stand criticism, especially now from his potential competition in the 2020 election. "Trump advisers maintain that the president’s comments about Charlottesville were — in the words of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Sunday — 'darn near perfection.'” With no constraints on this White House, it is obvious this moron will run amok and what is even more frightening is the fact that his followers love it.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

GOP gerrymandering going down the tube

"A federal court has ruled that Ohio's congressional map is an 'unconstitutional partisan gerrymander' and must be redrawn by the 2020 election, reports National Public Radio. The Republican unethical ploy for keeping Democrats out of the voting booth is being axed all around the country. It is a result of the Dems allowing the GOP to establish strongholds on local and state levels while the dimwit Debbie Wasserman Schultz ran the Democratic National Committee.

States continuing the action are Texas as the fifth-most gerrymandered state, behind North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New York. As I recall, this all started during George W. Bush's administration with Karl Rove as the head perpetrator. Now Ohio judges...

"agree with voting rights groups in their argument that Ohio's districts were 'intended to burden Plaintiffs' constitutional rights, had that effect, and the effect is not explained by other legitimate justifications.'"

In other words, Republicans were caught with their hands in the voting box. Which means that the Grand Old Party will stoop to just about anything to get its way. And we can thank this gerrymandering for many of the Republicans now in Congress. That is the reason to get all these cases through the courts as soon as possible so Democrats will have a fair shot in 2020. Of course that won't prevent Donald Trump with coming up with more bogus voting fraud.

Every ten years following a census the "boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn, in what’s known as the redistricting process," according to Vox. The process explained...

"In most states, the new maps are drawn by the state legislature and then approved by the governor. So partisan control of each of those three political entities is crucial. If a single party controls all three, that party can usually draw whichever maps they want without giving the opposition party any say. If control is split, a compromise will usually result."

Based on the above, you can understand how the Democrats fell behind and are now playing catch up. Can't say the Dems are the brightest bunch yet but trust they won't let this happen again.

More news from left field

LATE BREAKING NEWS ITEMS

Southern Poverty Law Center troubles continue...Excellent example of greed and arrogance of the wealthy on college admissions...How can we stop robocalls?...So many guns in America, now they are going to Mexico...Bernie must come on strong for gun control to coincide with latest interest in this issue...First example conservative SCOTUS will turn against gun control

Have we just witnessed the Trump laugh of the century?

Here's the headline: "Trump urges Republicans, Democrats to ‘come together for the good of the American people.'" And it is the source of 99% of Washington bedlam that is speaking those words. Just look at the recent turnovers in the administration, described by CNN as constant chaos. The conservative Washington Examiner is mentioning none of the above as it quotes the absurd tweets of T-rump in trying to play down the results of the Mueller Report.

The WE did mention that "no Americans participated in collusion with Russia, but did not clear Trump of obstruction of justice." What it didn't say was that Mueller laid the groundwork that basically showed Trump's obstruction of justice, some that could be addressed by the U.S. Congress, and is being pursued by the New York Attorney General. Wm. Barr's blockade on the Mueller Report can be thanked for Trump's recent aggression on the issue.

Politifact published a scorecard on the Oval Office lunatic recently showing that Trump's statements are true only 5% of the time and are false 34% of the time, mostly false 21% of the time. That's a total of 55% and a disgrace when it is the person who runs our country. In all fairness, the Washington Post published an article recently of the 10 best things Trump did in 2018, some of which are questionable. But none of this would constitute a peace offering.

I'll believe this man really wants accord between parties when he hands in his resignation. Until then...just more chaos.

News to use

LATE BREAKING NEWS ITEMS

Why does Amazon pay no taxes?...More states are passing "Red Flag Laws"...Trump's "Anti-Woman" attacks blocked again...Health insurance deductibles soar-are employers to blame?...Democrats are obsessed with electability...Franklin Graham is a schmuck-certainly not like his dad

Even GOP says Trump not exonerated by Mueller Report

What can I say...and I didn't

It was Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse who best explained why the Mueller Report does not exonerate Donald Trump's antics. During the Barr hearing in the Senate, and following a long haul of frustration with Trump's bizarre behavior, Sasse made his point using Paul Manafort...

"Paul Manafort is hired by Deripaska for things related to the Ukraine. … He is on the payroll of a Russian oligarch that has interests completely disaligned with the American people. He is on his payroll. Is it permissible for [an American campaign official] to be paid by someone who is basically an enemy of the United States?"

Manafort was Donald Trump's campaign manager after Trump fired Corey Lewandowski in the 2016 election. The former will serve 47 months in prison "for financial fraud convictions obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigated Manafort's alleged collusion with the Russian government in 2016." Manafort is reported to have given up plenty in Robert Mueller's investigation that clearly points to obstruction of justice by Donald Trump.

Then Delaware's Democratic Sen. Chris Coons chimed in...

"he targeted Barr with a question based on the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting attended by three top Trump advisers and several Russians. The Russians had high-level government and intelligence connections and had conveyed through an intermediary that they were interested in providing the Trump campaign incriminating material about Clinton in the context of 'Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.'”

Mueller didn't pursue this due to the fact it would be difficult to prove, which Barr has picked up on in his all-out defense of Donald Trump. This has apparently given T-rump the will to defy Democrats at every turn in their investigation of the Oval Office lunatic, primarily in the release of his personal taxes. Apparently, Barr has found more confidence through his boss and has completely refused to appear before Democrats in the House.

Trump ran as the CEO president. But any corporate board would have fired him without ceremony or hesitation, reported The Hill. It also said...

"A corporate board would never tolerate even a fraction of Trump’s 1,400 conflicts of interests; A corporate CEO wouldn’t survive even one serious investigation of wrongdoing; A board would not keep a CEO who publicly lied as much as Trump; Any corporate board would be alarmed by the turnover in Trump’s administration, the number of unfilled leadership positions and temporary/acting replacements."

And if it weren't for the lowlife Senate head, Mitch McConnell, a "federal board of directors" could have done away with Donald Trump a long time ago. 

World asking why so many U.S. mass shootings?

The U.S. has 4.4 percent of the global population but owns 42 percent of the world’s guns. According to a 2015 study by Adam Lankford, professor at the University of Alabama...

Dianne Feinstein-Here's the culprit

"Worldwide, a country’s rate of gun ownership correlated with the odds it would experience a mass shooting. This relationship held even when he excluded the United States, indicating that it could not be explained by some other factor particular to his home country."

In another Lankford study of the same year, "only 4 percent of American gun deaths could be attributed to mental health issues." And re. suicides...

"countries with high suicide rates tended to have low rates of mass shootings — the opposite of what you would expect if mental health problems correlated with mass shootings."

That pretty much puts a damper on the NRA's perpetual and tiring comment that mass shootings are a mental health issue. The Washington Post Editorial Board said "there have been more than 100 mass shootings, more than 4,500 gun deaths (not counting suicides) and more than 8,400 gun injuries. Here's a comparison with down under...

"Australian physician. Nikki Stamp, a heart and lung surgeon in Perth, Australia, said in a Wednesday Post op-ed that in more than 16 years of practice, she has had to deal with only two instances of gunshot wounds. One was a man who had accidentally shot himself and the other an attempted suicide."

And if you look at the Aussie's gun laws you can understand Stamp's comment. This is "because of the gun-control measures the country put in place after a mass shooting in 1996, in which 35 people were killed." Sheer common sense which neither the U.S. Congress nor the American public has. Australia wonders why we haven't tried the same thing here. So do American gun advocates. And speaking of the U.S. Congress...

"Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is introducing legislation to increase the minimum age to buy assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in the wake of a shooting in that state."

This is sheer nonsense considering the magnitude of the gun violence issue, especially since it was Feinstein who proposed banning assault weapons entirely just a few years ago. It is dumb moves like this the rest of the world will look at and marvel that the U.S. population hasn't self-destructed using its 393-million guns. Come to think of it, it is a wonder we haven't.

Wm. Barr on a par with Mitch McConnell as lowlife

Barr and Trump

CNN's analysis by Stephen Collinson is frightening, to say the least, and predicts months of "unchained presidency" by Donald Trump. Collinson says Trump was right when he remarked that he could get away with anything. He continues...

"The drama also showed that in the short span of a White House term, given certain partisan conditions, the modern political system will find it almost impossible to constrain a President -- especially one who poses such an overwhelming challenge to congressional custom as Trump."

He has accomplished all this with the help of Attorney General Wm. Barr, "a human block of granite, who sees few limits on presidential power and is willing to obfuscate and execute blocking movements on his behalf." But Collinson's most alarming statement is...

"There's probably never going to be a price to pay."

Which means Stephen Collinson believes that the Oval Office lunatic will never be held accountable for the bizarre antics of his administration. He doesn't believe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will act on impeachment and the House investigations will continue until they have run their course. In other words, we must live with T-rump until he is voted out of office, because with his enormous ego exceeding all limits, he won't resign. A dismal outlook for sane voters.

Barr has completely obfuscated the Mueller Report getting harsh criticism that comes from both sides of Congress and the general public. Benjamin Wittes of The Atlantic says, "The attorney general misled the public in seven key ways." And although in the beginning he said he was willing to give Barr a chance, finally concluded that "he [Barr] is likely as good as we’re going to get," [from Donald Trump] 20 more months to put up with this monumental nuisance.

Wittes on Barr's failures...

"Where Barr has utterly failed, by contrast, is in providing 'honest leadership that insulates [the department] from the predations of the president.' I confess I am surprised by this. I have never known Barr well, but I thought better of him than that.'

Benjamin Wittes is Editor in chief of Lawfare and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

Latest on the Democratic Primary for 2020

2020 Democratic candidates

To begin, it should be noted that after Joe Biden announced his candidacy recently, he shot up to a 26-point lead over other candidates, Elizabeth Warren second, Bernie Sanders third. Don't know about Warren's campaign, but I'll bet that Bernie's camp expected the surge; the question is what will he do about it? One thing he is doing is out-raising his competitors in contributions bringing in $18.2million in first-quarter fundraising.

On the other hand, Biden raised $6.3 million on his first day out of the gate. Kamala Harris is second to Bernie and Elizabeth Warren is a distant fifth at $6 million in total returns. The BBC says...

"Her [Warren] campaign is far from scraping the bottom, however, as she transferred $10.4m from her Senate campaign coffers to her presidential account, giving her some financial breathing room in the months ahead."

But here's the game changer...

"64 percent of Democrats and likely Democrats who had selected a favorite presidential candidate said it is possible they might change their mind. Thirty-six percent said they 'definitely support' their top choice."

Which means Joe Biden's 26% lead could go up in smoke and any of the other challengers could become the favorite. Money is the thing and Bernie Sanders is one of the best at fundraising, depending on small donations in the range of around $27.00 each that are loyal donors who give over and over.  But "Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) topped the list, with 23 percent of respondents putting her in the top three candidates they were most curious about."

Elizabeth warren was second, Joe Biden third. It might be safe to assume, because of Bernie Sanders run in the 2016 election, the public is so familiar with him they don't need to know more. There are 21 Democratic presidential candidates in the race so far with Joe Biden regularly taking the lead and the Bern a close second. However, Elizabeth Warren has seen increased interest in the last few days. In other words, it's still a wide-open Primary.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

Reasons to trash NRA and pass gun control

DUMP THE NRA

Iowa woman shot and killed while driving home from work...2 dead, 4 wounded in U.N.C. Charlotte shooting...2 judges shot in disturbance outside White Castle in Indianapolis...National Review asks will culture war kill NRA?...NY Gov. Cuomo believes the NRA is counterproductive

Please give me your comments on these issues.

Latest on the NRA downfall

DOWN WITH THE NRA

Even gun nut Ted Nugent says NRA Has been "less than accountable...Head gun nut Wayne LaPierre re-elected at NRA...Re-elected NRA head Wayne LaPierre goes forward with internal turmoil and an outside probe...NRA has huge mess on it hands with New York Attorney General investigation of group...NRA's leadership battle is worst in very long time

Please give me your comments on these issues.

Fact Checker: Trump continues lies at "unbelievable pace"

What past president do you know of that made over 10,000 false or misleading comments in the first 2-years of their presidency...and they can be documented? I don't know of any since it is entirely possible that no other president has been flagrant enough in his lying to prompt the media to literally record this action. And that is purely pathetic! For the Oval Office lunatic, that's 12.2 claims per day, or 10,111 total claims in the 828 days of the Trump presidency.

The leading Washington Post Fact Checker, Glenn Kessler, said...

"The President continues to say false or misleading statements at an unbelievable pace."

This said of the moron who leads the most powerful country in the world. Here's more...

"According to The Post, the largest issue area of false or misleading claims has been immigration. The most-repeated claim is that the border wall is currently being built, something that Congress has not allocated funding for or authorized construction of. The Post points out that there are portions of the border wall being repaired."

If this lying dolt spent as much time in the improvement of this country as he does on immigration and other lies, the U.S. would be in much better shape. According to Fact Checker, most of Trump's false or misleading claims--22%--occur at his campaign rallies. There were 61 alone at the rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As an example...

"Trump said he had cut the estate tax to "zero," or that he was one vote away from repealing the Affordable Care Act — both claims are untrue."

Yet, the man's pitiful followers still stand by him with accolades over his stupidity that is apparently inherent in the whole gang of Trumpsters. George Conway, the husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway had this to say on Twitter...

"Congrats, #DerangedDonald!! An amazing accomplishment!! No one but you could have achieved this."

it was retweeted 12,000 times by the time it was published.

Yes, make anti-vaxxers face isolation, fines, arrests.

I couldn't say it better so I will just quote the Washington Post headline...

Anti-vaxxers are dangerous. Make them face isolation, fines, arrests.

 The author of the opinion piece says she loves her children and believes these anti-vaxxers love theirs too. If the latter is the case, then they must be complete idiots with their actions going blatantly in the face of evidence that vaccinations save lives. Juliette Kayyem continues...

"But, I am quite confident in this fact: I love their children much more than they love mine. These anti-vaxxer parents — call them free-riders or even pro-plague — are putting my children and our communities at risk to cater to their erroneous belief that vaccinations would harm their children rather than contribute to the elimination of childhood diseases."

Kayyem wants to switch the focus on the measles epidemic from a public health problem to a public safety crisis, accompanied by arrests, fines and isolation. BINGO! My thoughts exactly, as you can read in past posts. With Trump admitting we have a big problem, it is now up to the U.S. Congress to put these uniformed parents in the position of vaccinate...or else. The patience period has ended and if we don't want a pandemic in this country, we must act now!

As of April 26, there have been 704 measles cases in the U.S. The last closest outbreak was 667 cases in 2014, which originated at the Disney theme park in Los Angeles. As Kayyem indicates, we are in an avoidable crisis that was caused by irresponsible parents, many of which were misguided by social media. She comments further...

"Imagine, instead, that this outbreak is what happens when negligent people do negligent things, such as sending a kid to school with a loaded gun and hoping for the best."

Now there is the best comparison I have seen of this senseless epidemic. Sending your unvaccinated kid to school is like putting a gun in their hand just before getting on the school bus. They both can kill!

PLEASE LET ME HAVE YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS ISSUE.

Joe Biden holds 26 point lead over all Democrats

What is most astonishing after learning Joe Biden leads the Democratic Primary pack by 26 points is that Elizabeth Warren comes in second with 12 percent, and even more unbelievable to me is that Bernie Sanders is third at 11 percent. This is the highly respected Quinnipiac University Poll whose assistant Director Tim Malloy said...

“The Democratic primary race suddenly gets real with a fast start by former Vice President Joe Biden and a very clear indication from voters that he is the only candidate who can send President Trump packing 18 months from now.”

So how are Progressives supposed to feel about Biden, who appears to be a moderate with further left tendencies. The Hill-HarrisX daily poll, taken last December said voters who have...

"a 'strong liberal' ideology prefer former Vice President Joe Biden to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a hypothetical 2020 matchup against President Trump, according to a new poll."

I would prefer to hear it from the candidate's mouth and will wait until Joe Biden addresses issues like gun control, free healthcare and education and immigration reform to name a few. I would also feel more comfortable if Obama spoke more positively about his former vice president. The results of the Quinnipiac University Poll are similar to survey results that report on Biden's surge in the polls after announcing he was in the race. Almost like they were just waiting.

In Pittsburgh, Biden spoke to a firefighters union the International Association of Fire Fighters, which endorsed him earlier in the day. He called himself a "union man," sounding like the days when unions helped candidates win elections. He talked about gun violence, plant closings and moving out of the country. He also called for a national minimum wage of $15 per hour, mostly sounding like Bernie Sanders. Then he exclaimed he could beat Donald Trump in 2020.

I like the last part best and obviously a lot of people out there agree.

Anti-vaxxers threaten U.S. workplace, economy

Want your kid to look like this?

The National Institute of Health has said ...

"The agenda of anti-vaccination activists may be causing a drag on the U.S. economy as the measles outbreak forces people to stay out of work and seek medical care."

This is the statement by the director for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci. His premise is, “If you wind up getting more infections and diseases that were vaccine-preventable, those are entirely avoidable burdens on the economy.” In other words, it is the anti-vaxxers that are causing this problem, but we knew that already. Here are some numbers re. cost...

"a University of North Carolina study showed vaccine-preventable diseases among adults cost the economy nearly $9 billion in 2015, with unvaccinated individuals responsible for 80% of those costs."

There is a total of 704 measles cases now, the biggest number since the disease was considered controlled in 2000. There is no excuse for this happening other than the fact that these anti-vaxxing parents decided not to vaccinate their children, resulting in the outbreak. An outbreak that could prov fatal for some...

"Dr. Fauci, who helped develop a vaccine against AIDS, warned that measles itself is dangerous and can kill. The disease, before vaccines were available, killed an average of 2 million to 3 million people a year globally. In the United States, there were about 2 million cases [of measles] and about 500 deaths per year.”

If the feds don't take action soon, we could top those figures causing hundreds, maybe thousands of innocent deaths.

Threats required for health insurers to do right thing?

I have never been completely sold on Bernie Sanders' Medicare For All plan, simply because it is so hard to visualize the GOP allowing health insurance companies to be expelled from the marketplace. And I am not sure it would be such a good thing, even though they have been a blight on health care for years. The reason is, I think the government would do a worse job. Perhaps the best approach is a combination of government and private business.

At any rate, health insurers have conveniently decided to add new Medicare benefits. These include...

Anthem added new supplemental benefits including those addressing social determinants of health...Blue Cross and Blue Shield launched a “social determinants of health benefits package” offering healthy meals for seniors

Of course, this doesn't even come close to addressing Bernie's concept that all Americans should be given their medical care free. On the other hand, there are numerous countries that have universal healthcare, which is paid for by the government...

Canada, Austria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

Bernie Sanders argues...

"the single payer version of Medicare For All would eliminate co-payments, deductibles and allow Americans to pick the doctors they want free of insurance company restrictions and provider network rules."

Apparently, the Medicare Advantage plans are popular today for many seniors with supposed increased benefits that I have never thought were worth the increase in cost. But, back to the original question, why did it take threats from Bernie's Medicare For All concept to make the healthcare industry cough up more benefits? The answer is the greed of the health insurance companies for more profits, and that is why the government should be in control.

Please give me your COMMENTS on this issue.

The latest on gun control...or not

GUNS KILL...USING PEOPLE

AR-style weapon used in Poway synagogue shooting-legal or illegal?...Appeals court upholds Mass. assault weapons ban...Baltimore shooting at a cookout kills one and injures many...Here's why Democrats aren't saying much about gun control...The latest list on innocent victims kill by guns, just in 2019...Four shot dead in Ohio apartment...

Please give me your COMMENTS on this issue.

Wake up Democrats...Bernie Sanders can win

Bernie has the ball(s)

I cannot believe that major donors, party operatives, senior lawmakers and rival candidate Pete Buttigieg would conspire against another liberal who has shown that he can not only raise big funds but also spark a huge lineup of contributors and loyal volunteers. But they did. Is there jealousy on the part of these lawmakers and fellow candidates, the fact that they may have dismal track records? Or do they simply wish they had the balls to do what Bernie is doing?

I am not completely sold on the Bern yet, and won't be until he gets much more aggressive on gun control. One of his volunteers called me recently since my wife and I had supported him in 2016, and I told him my concern over the gun control issue. So, I have to look at Joe Biden, who, although middle of the road, seems more inclined to get solidly behind the gun violence issue. But let's just assume Bernie does come out solid in this area.

Some say the Vermont Senator isn't electable, but then he didn't get the chance to challenge Trump in 2016 thanks to Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Democratic National Committee. Few can claim the favorability ratings that Sanders has maintained since coming on the presidential scene. Right now he is outperforming Trump in the polling. The Guardian says there's infighting and bad blood left from his run against Hillary Clinton. Here's a point of view...

"social psychology research tells us that people who have different ideas about politics than us are not generally bad people – they’re mostly good people with different convictions."

Bernie Sanders' convictions are definitely different than establishment Democrats, but in my eyes they are also definitely better. That's why I am an Independent.

Please give me your COMMENTS on this issue.

Washington is a 3-ring circus

WITH DONALD TRUMP RINGMASTER OF CHAOS

Two Los Angeles Universities quarantine 700 in measles scare...One dead 3 wounded in synagogue shooting...Trump concocted voter fraud proven another of his fantasies...Just how much worse could the measles outbreak get?...Three children shot by Oklahoma police..."Carrywear," new fashions for women to carry more guns on the street brought to you by none other than Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Assn.

Please give me your COMMENTS on these issues.

NRA going down in flames

LaPierre-North

First, National Rifle Assn. president Oliver North asked head gun nut Wayne LaPierre to resign re. challenges surrounding the organization's fundraising and nonprofit status...

"The organization's 2016 election spending, including $36 million to help Trump, has prompted regulators in its charter base of New York state to threaten to investigate its nonprofit status."

And then Oliver North resigned from the NRA in the midst of what he described “a clear crisis,” all of this during the organization’s annual conference in Indianapolis. In addition, "Maria Butina, the Russian operative who used her NRA activism to illegally infiltrate American conservative circles, was sentenced to 18 months in prison." And, apparently North confronted LaPierre with threatening information about the long-time gun lobby chief.

No matter what the reasons, gun control advocates are having a field day in their celebrations of the demise of a group that has spawned non-stop gun violence during the tenure of Wayne LaPierre. The NRA has been at odds with law enforcement for years over its nonprofit status, and its contributions to lawmakers and presidents. But the gang of gun huggers has been protected by a cowardly Congress afraid of losing the NRA's donations.

It was reported that Oliver North "created a committee to investigate alleged financial improprieties at the NRA." Then another report said...

"that a civil complaint in Virginia filed earlier this month and amended Wednesday claims that North has been receiving income from advertising firm Maria Butina while it has been under contract with NRATV to produce a documentary series."

And then if was discovered that Ackerman McQueen "was sued by the NRA earlier this month over allegations that it was deliberately concealing details about how it was spending millions of dollars received by the group." LaPierre has also claimed that North is just in it for the money, which is interesting considering the head gun nut has made a fortune as CEO of the NRA.

In the meantime, 39,773 Americans were killed by guns in 2017; the NRA spent $9.7 million in 2018 to defend Republicans’ complete control of Washington; there are between 280,000 and 520,000 bump stocks in circulation. Check The Trace for more on gun violence. I rest my case against the NRA and Wayne LaPierre.

Please give me your COMMENTS on this issue.

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