For Hank
 

For the People are Fucking Stupid file (which I imagine may no longer have any room):

75% of this country wants to keep the ACA. And here's where the stupidity comes in (and it's the perfect example of how everyone in this country thinks and votes--i.e., Gimme something for nothing):

"The poll also finds that while the public is split on the law overall, the individual components are largely popular, except for the law’s mandate that everyone get insurance or pay a fine. Provisions like giving financial assistance to help people afford coverage and preventing insurers from denying coverage for preexisting health conditions both have 80 percent support.

The mandate has just 35 percent support, though many health experts say it is necessary to make the rest of the law work and make sure healthy people enroll as well."

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare...acare-repealed

TM

Re: For Hank
 

If one party is dedicated to telling people that you can have your cake and eat it too, it helps make people stupid.

Re: For Hank
 

We are on quite a run of agreement.

TM

Re: For Hank
 

One party?

Re: For Hank
 

Which party passed legislation with an individual mandate, and which party attacked it as a unthinkable infringement on liberty?

Re: For Hank
 

Which party promises jobs will come back, if only we vote them in? As to the mandate, how is that working out?

Re: For Hank
 

The Republicans again! To be fair, they are willing to endorse mainstream Keynesian economics to create jobs, as long as they get to be in charge.

eta: See if you can spot the trend here:

http://images.dailykos.com/images/93...png?1404779256

As a matter of public policy, the ACA has been fairly successful, and the mandate is, of course, critical to making the insurance markets work, because otherwise you have massive free-riding and cream-skimming.

As a political matter, not so much, as we were previously agreeing.

Re: For Hank
 

Actually, the major problem with the mandate right now is that it doesn't hurt enough. Which is one of the contributing reasons that the rates went up this enrollment period and some insurers left some markets. A lot of healthy people opted to take the minor hit than get health insurance.

Frankly, if I were to mess with it, I'd get rid of the "stay on your parents' insurance until 25" to get a hold of those young healthy lives for the ACA risk pools. Probably would see a drop in rates in a lot of markets if the penalties were incentive enough for the 20-24 year old set to buy insurance.

Re: For Hank
 

Okay, this may be a dumb question, but if they're on their parent's insurance, aren't they in the risk pool?

I suppose the answer is that family premiums are less than the sum of a set of individual premiums.

Re: For Hank
 

They're the risk pool of whoever their parents' insurer is not the risk pool of the ACA plans. My employer provides a self funded group health plan for about 100,000 employees and maybe another 25,000 retirees.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

He just needs more mushrooms - https://www.theguardian.com/society/...n-studies-show

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Hey, it could always be worse.

Usa usa usa
 

I forget who here was arguing with me about whether our extreme exceptionalism is an issue or not, I think it was GGG (the argument was something like "no, all countries think they are exceptional in their own way"). Anyway, I'd refer that person the Oliver Stone's series Untold History of the United States (streaming now on Netflix) for a 10-12 hour exposition on what I was trying to say.

And yes, (1) I am rather embarrassed to say the Oliver Stone has my proxy on this and (2) I did get a kick of some of his conspiracy theories which he alluded to tangentially for good measure.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Another addition to the why-Clinton-lost-blame-list: big data.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

On the one hand, Gen. Mattis seems like a competent, experienced individual Trump might actually listen to.

On the other hand, some civilian oversight is a good thing and it sounds like Mattis wants war with Iran.

Otherwise, remember when Hillary was going to be more war-like than Trump??

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Here's a long read, worth your while, without much of a political valence.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

This was fascinating, especially hearing the thoughts of the Trump and Clinton campaign staffs and their (quite obviously adversarial) interactions. Conway v. Palmieri is some good stuff.


I have only listened to the general election panel, listed last, but the rest of it looks interesting as well:

http://iop.harvard.edu/get-inspired/...gers-look-2016

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

do you get a commission if someone signs up to read it?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

As far as I know, the WSJ doesn't roll that way.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Excellent piece on Trump's economics pitch.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Like deer guts on a doorknob.

I was trying to emphasize my view that the pure politics and classism are the most significant of the three elements you cite above. I'm exposed to many flyoverland types on a regular basis and it's rare to hear pure hatred for non-whites. The gripes tend to focus most on dumb beliefs that immigrants are taking jobs, and getting disproportionate benefits.

I'm not saying true white supremacists aren't part of the mix. Thankfully, I'm not exposed to much of that. The racism I see is the polite and hidden forms of it.

That's fair, and I can understand why you'd be frustrated with what I wrote.

I'll admit, I've had a problem with the concept of institutional racism. I've applied a more rigid definition that if a thing isn't racist by design and intent, it isn't racist.

See my last comment above this quoted paragraph. I hear your point.

I think there's an argument of degree here. It needs to be acknowledged, as you did above, that there are three - probably actually more - elements of racism at work in voter suppression. There's classism, racial hatred, and pure politics behind it. Yes, the impact is racist. But I think one of the things that causes causes white resistance to a discussion of voter suppression is that when people bluntly allege "racism," those accusers don't explain it as you have here. "Racist impact" or "result" might be the best way to put it.

I can't speak for Trump voters. I'm sure they all have a lot of reasons, many quite bizarre, some quite rational, for supporting him. But as to the people who did so out of desperation, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs explains a lot. They'd have elected that pig Dick Gregory ran years ago if could have oinked, "I'll bring 'yur jobs back." Racism, sexism, xenophobia... these considerations take a back seat when you can't pay the rent.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Those things are racism. Anger that non-whites are getting something. That's it.

Yeah, you don't see/hear a lot of overt hate, but it's not hard to find biased discomfort and prejudiced thinking.

Okay, but things like NC's voter suppression law are racist by design and intent. They thought up ways to keep black people from voting and enacted them.

Which is what they've done elsewhere, just with a bit more finesse to not actually document that as their intent.

See also, the criminal justice system.

I'm sure you've seen this, but:
This isn't impact or result. This is intent.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

So the recounts will cost millions? Wouldn't the money be better kept as a legal fund for immigrants or to fight LGBT issues? Or will there likely be lots of money for that?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Fascinating. I'd love to get to rip into that program and understand some of the guts of its logic. Also love that it is named Ada.

The hardest thing to do in an algorithmic system is figure out new dynamics. If you're in a closed system where the inputs are constant and predictable, sure. But if new stuff is happening that is not directly related to the old trends, the algorithms tend to fight it, and it's just a question of how hard they fight that kind of fundamental change.

Systems will keep getting better. But Foundation-style psycho-history is a long, long way away.

Re: Let's use the money to subsidize Moth performances for the hoi polloi
 

If I could tell fools how to spend their money I'd be very rich indeed.

Re: Let's use the money to subsidize Moth performances for the hoi polloi
 

I assume you mean your soul would be rich after you had the fools spend their cash on the immigrant legal defense fund and other righteous causes. Good for you, man, I would just have the fools buy me scotch. One aspect of the Daily Dose I have enjoyed is exploring all sorts of obscure old funk I had never heard before, or only heard as samples in later hip hop songs. Here's a nice weird old instrumental with a kicking bass line, great drum licks, some tasty horns, and a psychedelic break. The Sad Chicken by Leroy & the Drivers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAHHZkzbP6Y

Re: Let's use the money to subsidize Moth performances for the hoi polloi
 

$5 million on scotch would be hard to do. Unless...maybe Senby can tell us a really expensive rare one?

Re: Let's use the money to subsidize Moth performances for the hoi polloi
 

Isabella's Islay.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Okay, I think we've taken this conversation as far as we can. I appreciate the back-and-forth.

I will say this: It is absolutely infuriating that it is up to minorities to figure out the best way to point out racist shit they experience to fragile white people. White people do racist shit (whether it's intentionally racist or whether it is the more "polite" type of racism--whatever that means) that results in serious problems and minorities have to massage the message in such a way that white people don't feel like they're being accused of being racist for them to even listen. That shit is absolutely infuriating. Especially when we are all trying to figure out the best way to tackle the problems facing uneducated, ignorant, white people who live in areas of the country with dying industries. We need to understand them and cater to them and help them, while they point at blacks and Mexicans and Muslims and gays and accuse us of causing their problems.

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Listen, dude, this type of racism-shaming is totally counter-productive. If you want to raise these issues in a way that makes it clear that, although some forms of racist may exist, I personally am in no way a racist and do not engage in any actions that could even potentially be considered racist, I might be willing to listen. I'm totally open to talking about how OTHER white people might be racist. But all this angry black man stuff that could conceivably suggest that I share some responsibility for racism that exists in the world just makes me shut down. Stop being such a bully and maybe we can have a conversation.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Some of this is about education and culture. High school history and literature classes that focus on white men as the normative, that view diversity as a paste-on afterthought instead of a fundamental truth. Movies and television that have only male heroes, and that depict every lead as white, even in stories coming out of radically different cultures.

Every idiot who insists Santa is white needs to learn that Christ spoken a Afro-Asiatic language and likely had a beautiful bronze sheen to his skin, and have a little tint applied to the images they worship.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I apologize. Please accept this as a peace offering.

http://cookdiary.net/wp-content/uplo...ches_14129.jpg

TM

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

So you're one of those white men angry that black people are angry?

Please don't shoot anyone.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I got served that as a snack on a flight from London to Boston Sunday. WTF?

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Mmmm, if there is some aioli on there, apology accepted! White people like aioli almost as much as they dislike having their self-esteem hurt by black anger. It's like a classy mayo!

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Unpeeled cucumber?? Too spicy for me, but thanks for the gesture.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

Plus, I don't think those are English. Looks more like those swarthy Mediterranean cukes.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

For the full experience, they should be de-seeded too.

Re: I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.
 

I wonder when The Swamp is going to wake up and realize that Hospitals are one of the largest employers in most districts.