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Ricardus said:
It's true some people have issues with NHS, but there has YET to be a poll among canadiens where there was nothing but overwhelming support for their healthcare system.
Here is a seemingly objective comparison of performance of different universal healthcare systems ..  They are a canadian think tank (probably a joke there somewhere) so report is pointing out areas that need improvement in the Canadian system (kind of their gig. )
https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/comparing-performance-of-universal-health-care-countries-2018.pdf
Check Finland and Norway, too.
I have been looking at this for a pretty long time and it is hard to get apples to apples comparisons as different nations have different age mixes, and more.
I don't mean to be condescending, but every point you made is a canard put out by the establishment who wants to continue gouging people with our awful for-profit HC system. I mean seriously.
seriously?
Whats the matter? You never got around to mentioning Venezuela.
What could be wrong there? They have fine Cuban doctors.... Just no medical supplies, no medicine, no electricity, no food, no water....  It appears they finally allowed in the humanitarian aid that was sitting across the border in Columbia, blocked by the Maduro government for months. Everybody wants a better outcome for the Venezuelan people but Maduro is not being propped up by China and Russia, to stay in power for the good of the people. This is geopolitical chess and the pawns are expendable to authoritarian regimes.

JR
 
Funny you can't see the reason that Venezuela has nothing that needs to be imported...

Their international funds have been blocked by the USA. Well, effectively by the UK, but that was on demand from the USA.

And the electricity failed because of malware that seems awfully close to DuQu (Stuxnet for the Americans). Remember DuQu? It took out the nuclear facilities of Iran. Probably made by Israeli and recently tested on some chemical plant in Saudi Arabia. I think Israel is a bit worried about the nuclear plants Westinghouse will be selling to Saudi Arabia. These were probably both test runs.

Open you eyes, John. Yes, Maduro is a dictator. But what's happening to Venezuela (and Ecuador, recently) all leads back to US meddling.
 
There's no doubt the people of Venezuela are suffering. And that is caused by Maduro, primarily. But you don't alleviate that suffering by imposing all kinds of sanctions. Nor by destroying the infrastructure. The lack of electrical power caused the lack of drinking water, for instance. And the malware used in the attack, has Israeli fingerprints all over it. Again.

According to the Wall Street Journal, new 2019 sanctions—aimed at depriving the Maduro government of petroleum revenues—are the most significant sanctions to date, and are likely to affect the Venezuelan people.

In 2019, former UN rapporteur Alfred de Zayas asserted that US sanctions on Venezuela were illegal as they constituted economic warfare and "could amount to 'crimes against humanity' under international law".

Alfred de Zayas is a professor at the Geneva School of International Law. he studied at Yale, I believe...

Besides, Yemen is in the same boat. Yet the USA still provides assistance and weapons to the invader, Saudi Arabia. And we all know about human rights in Saudi Arabia, don't we? Even murdering US journalists is on the menu in that country. With some aid from US and Israel security companies (Black Cube, ex NSA personnel and FSO group, ex Mossad)

And the five person study group, sent out by the UN to "correct" Alfred de Zayas' report, stated that "the sanctions could worsen the situation". Let's call that a very diplomatic way to say that de Zayas was right.

It is true, of course that human suffering means nothing to totalitarian states. Does that include the USA?
 
CNN did a Town Hall with 5 Dem candidates: Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg.

I thought most did well with the exception of Klobuchar,  who seemed to be decidedly in the camp of 'I'm not sure what I beliefs are right now as I haven't been poll tested' and tried to be all things to all people.  Warren gave some outstanding answers, Bernie was...Bernie (at least he's been remarkably consistent).  Harris and Buttigieg came across as both and knowledgeable, personable, and well informed.

What was very promising was that there weren't a lot of inter-camp attacks or sniping that I saw.
 
I don't know the solution either. But I consider it not to be my problem.

I know about the malware because that's my job. I maintain servers. And these things do not get into mainstream media because the press considers them too complicated for their readers.

Another one I've been following for over 20 years, is the state of the computers used for voting. Not only in the USA. Most countries that employ computers for elections, follow a very common recipe. They develop their own software and publish the code, followed by an audit, usually by universities. Since the code is open, it's very hard to hide tricks. Still, recently, Switzerland almost ended up with a trojan horse in their software.

In the USA, however, it's always been a case of private enterprise. It was Venezuela that noticed that in the Diebold voting machines a system for "corrections" was present. They didn't buy these, as no sensible explanation was given. That never worried Americans, probably because they didn't know. It wasn't until very recently, that 1 senator got slightly worried. And even that wasn't because these machines have been proven to be insecure over and over*. No, it was because the biggest manufacturer is... Russian.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/22/us-voting-machine-private-companies-voter-registration

The reason the US is in a pickle (more homeless people, no care for a lot of psychiatric patients, no universal health care) is that democracy has been kidnapped by the corporate world, IMHO. And it's only getting worse...

*The early Diebold voting computer that initially sparked my interest, was running Windows XP and using MS Access as a database. The database had a row for corrections. Things only got worse. Researchers who bought voting machines on ebay, found serious security problems with each and every one of them. This has been reported to various institutions and politicians over the years, without any result. Several of the researchers were from major US universities. None of it was reported in MSM.

Just a few links:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/29/us_voting_machines_hacking/

https://grondamorin.com/2019/04/21/us-voting-machines-are-still-vulnerable-to-manipulations-by-nefarious-actors-as-in-2016/

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/americas-voting-machines-arent-ready-election/

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/04/17/tampering-with-us-voting-machine-as-easy-as-abcde-says-virginia-report/

This is just a fairly random selection, showing it isn't a new problem and it sure as hell hasn't been solved.
 
cyrano said:
There's no doubt the people of Venezuela are suffering. And that is caused by Maduro, primarily. But you don't alleviate that suffering by imposing all kinds of sanctions. Nor by destroying the infrastructure. The lack of electrical power caused the lack of drinking water, for instance. And the malware used in the attack, has Israeli fingerprints all over it. Again.

Alfred de Zayas is a professor at the Geneva School of International Law. he studied at Yale, I believe...

Besides, Yemen is in the same boat. Yet the USA still provides assistance and weapons to the invader, Saudi Arabia. And we all know about human rights in Saudi Arabia, don't we? Even murdering US journalists is on the menu in that country. With some aid from US and Israel security companies (Black Cube, ex NSA personnel and FSO group, ex Mossad)

And the five person study group, sent out by the UN to "correct" Alfred de Zayas' report, stated that "the sanctions could worsen the situation". Let's call that a very diplomatic way to say that de Zayas was right.

It is true, of course that human suffering means nothing to totalitarian states. Does that include the USA?
I will not bother to correct several points of misinformation but will diagram this out for you...

Maduro is not the legal leader of Venezuela, the legislative assembly declared Juan Guaidó the official leader... but Maduro still controls the military so refuses to honor the democratic process and step down. The oil sanctions are not to hurt the Venezuelan people but deprive Maduro of the dollars he uses to bribe his generals to keep supporting him.  Maduro would be gone already if Russia and China stopped propping him up. If you believe Russia and China are doing it for humanitarian reasons, I have some swampland to sell you in MS...  :eek:

JR 
 
I don't believe anything, John. I tend to go by facts and expert opinions. Things you seem to ignore...

In this case, I've talked to all the Venezuelans I know. Admittedly, that's not a lot of people. But some of them are rich, some are poor. They all agree that US sanctions are making things a lot worse for the people of Venezuela.

Maduro was elected. If that is legal, or not, is not for us to decide. Nor is it for the USA. That is for the courts and people of the country.
 
After the first round of debates, Warren continues to look stronger and stronger.  I'm hoping the shine starts to wear off Biden because the party can do a lot better than same-old-same-old.

There's no way Trump can stand toe to toe with Warren in a debate, and that's something l'de love to witness.  ;D
 
Matador said:
After the first round of debates, Warren continues to look stronger and stronger.  I'm hoping the shine starts to wear off Biden because the party can do a lot better than same-old-same-old.

There's no way Trump can stand toe to toe with Warren in a debate, and that's something l'de love to witness.  ;D
Her policy while one of the few candidates to actually articulate a fleshed out policy, will not play well in fly over states. I don't think the entire democratic party is ready to move that far left but again I can't predict political outcomes very accurately.  ::) 

Biden seems the obvious candidate if he doesn't fall asleep on stage (for his appeal to moderates and those resistant to recent radical shift).

She got chewed up pretty good early on with her claims of native American heritage. I suspect that could get amusing (again) in a general election. 

It is still early.

JR

@cyrano speaking of Venezuela an interesting recent development a US court has approved claiming Venezuela owned CITGO assets inside the US (for debt won by a Canadian Gold mining company in a lawsuit IIRC).  Sadly  Juan Guaidó  (the actual leader) has already gained control of CITGO, so turning over CITGO assets to settle a lawsuit claim will not weaken Maduro but Guaido...I don't think the US government has approved the CITGO assets transfer and may not.  Interesting times not in a good way for the Venezuelan people who continue to suffer. 
 
A president Warren (and a congress to actually pass legislation) would be a dream come true.

But yes, she might beharder to get elected than Biden. Compared to Trump, Biden obviously looks great, but a President who actually adresses the long-overdue economic issues is desparately needed, and that means Warren or Sanders.

The right will brand anyone not extreme as them as Socialist, so on this front it doesn't matter. And a candidate with a progressive agenda might be what's needed to get the younger generations to the polls in sufficient numbers.

Still, the "Flyover States" and their outsized influence definitely are a problem for a progressive candidate. At least in the current climate. Back in FDR's day people in the midwest understood that progressive politics will actually help them...
 
Are we sure the 'flyover state' thing is actually a thing?  At least in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, polling on her policies amongst likely voters is well above a majority, especially with the wealth tax and her college plan.  There are a lot of flyover states that aren't going to vote democratic regardless of the candidate or their specific positions, so I'm not sure it's worth any effort fretting about an un-winnable game.

4 more years of Obama isn't what is needed right now, so hopefully Biden continues to lose ground prior to the third round of debates in September.
 
I think it's only a matter of time before Biden shoots himself in the foot. He always does. My money is on Harris. The Wealth Tax is a very elegant idea. Warren has some excellent policy ideas, but not all of them.
 
Not all voters are as smart as the contributors to this forum.  Many go with gut feelings on personality alone, in this respect I don't think people like voting for angry people (whether justified or not).  This will rule out Warren and Sanders.

Many voters like people with a mellow personality that makes them feel looked after, this is why Reagan was successful and why Biden is leading the polls IMHO.  I don't think there are enough radical voters to elect the "angry candidates".

DaveP
 
DaveP said:
Not all voters are as smart as the contributors to this forum.  Many go with gut feelings on personality alone, in this respect I don't think people like voting for angry people (whether justified or not).  This will rule out Warren and Sanders.

Many voters like people with a mellow personality that makes them feel looked after, this is why Reagan was successful and why Biden is leading the polls IMHO.  I don't think there are enough radical voters to elect the "angry candidates".

DaveP
Why are Warren and Sanders 'angry', and why doesn't this also immediately disqualify Trump?
 
Matador said:
Why are Warren and Sanders 'angry', and why doesn't this also immediately disqualify Trump?
;) ;)  Yeah?

People vote their perceived self interest... That's why the primary candidates try to give away more free stuff then the next candidate.

Voters from the other side fear they will have to pay for all the stuff being given away,  ::)  but the reality is,  it's the kids who will end up saddled with the massive sovereign debt. Then maybe they can move to central america to be debt free...  8)

The debt limit budget legislation just passed looks like $1T deficits for a couple years to come... both parties are spending like drunken sailors already, but some of the campaign promises are crazy hundreds of $T crazy... 

As Alfred E Newman used to say "what me worry?

JR
 
If voters were really worried about having to pay for future spending, then why is the encumbancy rate north of 85% between both parties?

There was a whole Tea Party movement in 2010 and what ever happened to the screams of too much deficit spending?  If voters have heartburn about government spending their votes aren't showing it.
 
Matador said:
If voters were really worried about having to pay for future spending, then why is the encumbancy rate north of 85% between both parties?
Most voters aren't and that's the problem...
There was a whole Tea Party movement in 2010 and what ever happened to the screams of too much deficit spending?  If voters have heartburn about government spending their votes aren't showing it.
Actually 2009 . I had high hopes for the tea party and few of them are still in congress but a definite minority of the minority.

Paul Ryan was the last speaker of the house remotely concerned about debt and budgets, but even he could not keep all his puppies in their pen, i.e. control the different factions (and the swamp). Of course Nancy Pelosi has a much harder job with so many loose cannons rolling around, but they may be in Italy right now debating use of private jets to attend a climate change conference.  :eek:

I am sorry to keep saying this but I am glad I am old (and don't have kids), but I still feel empathy for you young pukes who will inherit the debt. I wonder if I could get a 20 year car loan... ::)

Young people IMO have something to be truly angry about, but seem too easily distracted by faux man arguments (like straw man but even less real), not the actual problems. I was young once so remember what it was like being naive... but life fixes that if we live long enough to get burned multiple times. 

JR

PS: I converted my retirement accounts to self directed Roth years ago, because I don't trust the politicians to stay away from my retirement savings. Sure enough, they are working on a new angle forcing distribution after death so they get a slice instead of beneficiaries rolling it over.  The whole deal was supposed to be after I paid taxes on it the first time the government keeps hands off... Now it looks like only for my lifetime. Not that I care what happens after I die but politicians can all rot in hell. Maybe I'll see them there and tell them what I really think, unless they are running that place too.  8)
 
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