This should be of interest to every person concerned about medial bills mounting regardless if they have insurance—the cheaper policies will certainly bankrupt anyone with a life threatening illness or injury.
Conservatives believe that the health of all citizens-even that of children–should be a marketable commodity on Wall Street. Do you?
And, by the way, I recently had a colonoscopy right here in the U.S.A. I had to wait two months. Good thing that it turned out well. So, U.S. citizens have to wait for non emergency health concerns as well. I certainly don’t mind that. Take a close listen to this video and think about it.
It cannot be stressed enough. Robert Reich’s message in this video needs to be shared by all who understand, or are seeking to understand, that the root cause of government dysfunction—the root cause of virtually all hot button issues setting Americans at loggerheads—is money in politics. For those who might be blaming the left or the right, it must be understood why BOTH are at fault, with few, individual exceptions.
This IS the number one issue. Listen to this video and share it. Tweet it. Post it where ever you can.
I don’t care if you are conservative, liberal, progressive or far, far right evangelical, this message is for everyone.
Why can’t we ever learn? FOLLOW THE FRIGGIN’ MONEY!
I’ve been making MONEY IN POLITICS my major argument for the ROOT CAUSE of virtually all that is wrong in our Government–in economics, the healthcare “debate,” gun violence control, poverty, etc, etc. .
“Our government?” NAY, our corporate government (we continue to let it happen)!
The ONLY candidate who wanted to stop it was Bernie Sanders. But all corporate America had to do was to keep their elected congressional representatives and Senators in Washington (otherwise called conservatives and blue dogs) repeating (without qualification) to the public that Sanders is a Socialist, and since most of the public has never had an education in civics or in the argumentative fallacies (critical thinking), and because we’ve been nurtured for the past century to belive that socialism is equivalent to old Soviet style communism, they run from him no matter what he says, and into the arms of our corporate congress.
But, you say, conservatives passed a bipartisan bill in 2016 that would severely cut back on the ability of corporations to keep pumping the nation full of opioids?
Yep. sure did. McConnell helped it pass. But that was only FOR SHOW to their voters. They then refused to fund the program. It’s all a dance. It’s the dance called the Side Step. Now you see me doing the right thing, but then you don’t see me refusing to let the right thing happen–tah ta tah ta tah dance dance dance, money money money!
Trump and many politicians have said a lot in favor of curbing corporate power, but how many times does Trump softly say the right things–what people WANT to hear, but then turn around and do the opposite? He is the consummate con man liar as are all who blocked the funding (probably by poison pill clauses or amendments). It would take some digging to find out, so they know they are safe and will be reelected with the financial help of the pharmaceutical corporations–otherwise called legal bribery.
And many wonder why conservatives and almost all liberals refuse to make higher education tuition free for all, as Sanders was advocating, and have the super wealthy (those who benefit from money in politics) pay for it. An educated public (in the humanities) would see these self-serving rats for who they are and could not be propagandized nearly as easily as they are now.
Donald Trump was not wrong. Hours before his nominee for “drug czar” withdrew from consideration over his part in a law limiting the Drug Enforcement Administration’s ability to crack down on pharmaceutical distributors feeding the US’s opioid epidemic, the president took a shot at the influence of drug companies over Congress.
Read more at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/19/big-pharma-money-lobbying-us-opioid-crisis
— Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a philosophical novel exploring the nature justice and religious belief.
Was Descartes wrong and God was a deceiver, after all?
Consider that if the Christian Bible were true (sans contradictions), then what would that say of objective science, such as astronomy, biological evolution and medical research? Indeed, what would it say about logic and the Creator, Itself?
What would the world be like had it been created by a truly benevolent god and our primary motivating force was empathy, not self interest? How, indeed, with the human condition as it is, could we achieve such a world either via a god or by humanism?
Join humanist Professor M. Jefferson Hale as, in part II, he puts God on the witness stand in an ethereal court to answer for Its malfeasance and terrorism.
NOTE: I have vetted the claims put forth in John Oliver’s segment on Sinclair Broadcasting’s greasing of the slope upon which the United States is sliding toward permanent one party rule by the wealthy and the privileged. While Oliver’s segment is presented in a humorous setting, his facts are all too true.
The following is only one part of the ongoing effort of the political, corporatist and quasi religious, conservative right to gain permanent and exclusive power, and it is likely the most frightening one. It is one that, under the guise of free speech and the ongoing deregulation of the broadcast industry, is psychologically nurturing the nation’s public to unwittingly support their efforts.
Currently, I’m working on the major events in our history that have brought us to these darkening, religio-political skies.
Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a novel of political intrigue featuring the factual history of the rise of the modern neoconservatives, their political philosophy and worldview.
While the storyline in part 1 is based on biblical literality, part 2 features a trial of God in The Ethereal Court of Answers.
The overall thrust of the novel is an analysis of religious cognitive dissonance where modern views come into conflict with the Old Testament’s alleged actions of God.
Is the god of the Bible amoral? Do true-believers believe that whatever their god does, he does because it is the moral and right thing to do, or are his actions right and moral because they are his actions? —A paraphrasing of a question originally posited by Socrates.
. . . [T]he Southern Baptist reluctance to condemn white supremacy outright may be egregious but it is not illogical. This Convention came into existence over the defense of slavery. —Daniel José Camacho
I’ve been trying to analyse a perplexing question: Why do ~80% of Christian evangelicals enthusiastically support Donald Trump, who is about as antithetical to their professed belief in, and adherence to, the preachings of Jesus as one can be? Is Trump the very model of the unvarnished, evangelical Christian? Was the failure of writer’s of the Gospels to have Jesus denounce slavery the very germ that infected the doctrine for centuries to come, including our own?
This commentary by Daniel José Camacho lays out the explanation with which I was toying, and it makes perfect sense. But while I agree with the author’s solution, I think it will take at least the better part of another millennium to happen.
Do we want houses of worship to be involved in politics, further dividing the public and religiously engineering outcomes of elections?
While religious worship is something personal and dear to most folks, injecting politics and having to listen to a preacher tell you that you are doomed to hell if you vote for “X” politician is to attack the personal integrity and intelligence of the congregation.
Jefferson was adamant about separating religion and politics for a reason, and that reason he spelled out in A Bill for the Establishment of Religious Freedom. This is the document from which our Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment was crafted. It is a short read.
Although I am not a religious person and frequently engage in debates with fundamentalist Christians, I love this letter and it is why I like Christians who can see through the hypocritical, emotional rhetoric of self-serving preachers and have the courage to call them out publically.
Can I call you Frank? This is just pastor to pastor. Feel free to call me Peter. Anyway, I have to say I was flattered when I learned that your Decision America Tour took a detour off the beaten path to call upon us “small community churches.” We are nothing if not small. We seat 30-40 on a good Sunday. And we are a century old fixture of our small community. Most often we are overlooked and overshadowed by mega-churches and politically influential religious voices like your own. We don’t hold a candle to an auditorium filled with the music of a one hundred voice choir led by professional musicians. We probably will never be recognized in any nationally syndicated media. After all, we don’t do anything really “newsworthy.” We just preach the good news of Jesus Christ; love one another the best we can (which sometimes isn’t…
Once again we see what for-profit private prisons (corporations) are doing to boost profit. Millions of voters and conservative politicians claim that private enterprise, when deregulated and/or allowed to oversee themselves will do what’s best for the people, and do better than the (Federal) government with all its regulations and oversight. Yet study is yet another example of that shows otherwise. It’s the same problem with our private “healthcare” corporations in the U.S.—profit over people, profit over lives.
By and large, corporations are concerned with, not people or reasonable profit, but high profit alone—and as high as they can get it by hook or crook. Deregulate Wall Street? Abolish public schools? Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? Abolish the ACA? Take away healthcare for millions of people? These are the goals of the present administration and Congress. Profit over people, profit over lives.
President Obama was trying to phase out private prisons and detention centers (human warehouses) at least on the federal level, but Trump wants more of them to warehouse more people. More profit! More profit! —Author
This report cites a ‘systemic failure’ to provide adequate medical care to detainees with health issues and warns Trump’s desire to expand capacity would make it worse. . .
Raúl Ernesto Morales-Ramos, detained in California and ravaged by cancer, begged for treatment. He was given ibuprofen.
Tiombe Kimana Carlos, detained in New York with chronic schizophrenia, was held in solitary confinement. She made a noose from a sheet.
Manuel Cota-Domingo, detained in Arizona with untreated diabetes and pneumonia, began to have trouble breathing. Staff dithered over who should call 911.
Some of us, especially women, have the feeling that our nation, in terms of both economic and social justice has taken a 180° turn and is careening headlong into the past.
Take a read and decide for yourselves. Is this what we want for women in our society?
This is an extremely rare but important article not only for understanding the disaster we often bring to the lives of our children, but also it shines a bright light on the sheer depth of society’s ignorance and fear of those we see to be “different.”
Think about it. Why is society so ignorant in matters of its genetic heritage and sexual nature. The root cause, I’m convinced, is hereditary religion. We are taught from tot-hood that everyone is born genetically the same–male and female, and never the twain shall meet. It ain’t so, Joe! —Author
A medieval brutality, a very cancer of the soul, has permeated this society. Not only has it pervaded the hinterland, it has also spread to places where minds are supposed to be enlightened by knowledge and learning.
Each ghastly detail of Mashal Khan’s murder on Thursday illustrates this chilling fact. The 23-year-old student at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was lynched on campus by a mob of fellow students over allegations of blasphemy.
Constance Johnson was a domestic violence prosecutor – and also a battered wife.
She met her husband, Ben, in college and fell in love. They got married and were very happy for three years.
But then he began criticizing her. Everything was her fault. He was always right. And she was too fat — at 110 lbs.
After they moved near her husband’s aging parents to help them – Ben’s idea — the violence began. He didn’t seem happy after the move and one morning he decided he didn’t like his breakfast.
I’ve used various terms to describe our economic system in the U.S.; Corporatocracy (rule by corporations), Kleptocracy (rule by those who have take from those who have little), and even fascism (corporate government merging-militant militarism-extreme nationalism-racism).
Since the Republicans now have gained full power in DC with Donald (Captian Queeg) Trump is president, and seeing what they are saying and doing, we can add another to our little group of descriptive nouns: Idiocracy (rule by the stupid).
“The Republican healthcare plan wants to crack down on ‘high dollar lottery winners’ – how many of those are there?”
In the draft law now known as TrumpCare, Republicans have inserted language relating to “‘high dollar lottery winners’. . . (almost six of the draft law’s 66 pages are spent on these Americans).”
These people, according to Republicans, are apparently still on Medicaid, cheating the taxpayer.
LOL! Tucker Carlson did his best with his constant interruptions designed to unhinge Bill Nye, but became unhinged himself as Nye remained quite calm and provided the answers to what he was asking. But then, Carlson denied Nye was answering the questions because Carlson couldn’t understand the very simple, factual answers.
We humans are still territorial creatures, a legacy of our evolutionary past. Today, we can see our territoriality in political borders, properties and land possessions, supported by law, the police and the military.
We have psychological territories as well (subjective belief that cannot be independently verified as true), such as religion, politics and, yes, even negatives such as global warming science denial.
Many of us cannot allow objective facts (e.g., independently verifiable, human caused, global warming) to encroach on our subjective territories. Tucker’s angry conflict arose when Nye’s objective facts came in contact with his subjective border, and Nye correctly identified it as Tucker’s “cognitive dissonance.”
That Carlson rushed to his border to fight against Nye’s objective facts demonstrates his belief that his territory was threatened, which is why he became angry.
A fascinating take on conservatism v. Trumpism and political integrity on the Right. Maher is well known for telling it like it is and adding a degree of humor even as he is being serious. He nailed this on!
I have vetted the following Dr. Seuss cartoon on Snopes. It is TRUE and a very chilling affirmation that history does, indeed, repeat itself (in varying ways).
— Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a philosophical novel exploring the nature justice and religious belief.
Was Descartes wrong and God was a deceiver, after all?
Consider that if the Christian Bible were true (sans contradictions), then what would that say of objective science, such as astronomy, biological evolution and medical research? Indeed, what would it say about logic and the Creator, Itself?
What would the world be like had it been created by a truly benevolent god and our primary motivating force was empathy, not self interest? How, indeed, with the human condition as it is, could we achieve such a world either via a god or by humanism?
Join Professor M. Jefferson Hale as, in part II, he puts God on the witness stand in an ethereal court to answer for Its malfeasance and terrorism.
AMERICA, MEET DONALD (CAPTAIN QUEEG) TRUMP,” a real-life version of the fictional Captain Philip Francis Queeg of the minesweeper USS Caine. The Caine Mutiny, was the 1951 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Herman Wouk, and subsequently became, in 1954, a five-star movie starring Humphrey Bogart—one of my all-time favorites.
The “Queeg” moniker came to me yesterday after months of observing and listening to Trump’s unstable lashing out at virtually anyone of note (and some not-so-much of note) from whom he perceives an insult and his consistent display of an uber authoritarian persona. It reminded me of Captain Queeg’s monomaniacal obsession with strict discipline—dominating and micromanaging his crew—which easily distracted him from his primary duties in WWII.
I recalled Queeg’s paranoia, his turning the Cain inside out in a search to find the thief of a can of strawberries, his demanding that no one may interrupt him while he’s talking, his intolerance of being contradicted and his angry rebuke of a subordinate while his ship steamed over its own tow cable.
Considering this juxtaposition with Trump, his presidency is chilling on many levels, especially that he’s now in possession of the nation’s nuclear missile launch codes (Dr. Strangelove comes to mind), his global-warming denial and his intention to go full bore in opening up more land to drilling for fossil fuels, a bow to the Kochs and which includes rescinding the sanctions on Russia for the sake of huge profits for Exxon Mobile (the corporation of Rex Tillerson—Trump’s nomination for Secretary of State and likely confirmed on Jan. 23rd).
As for Trumps thin skin, in my mind he needs some early conditioning on how to thicken it. Since his subordinates in the White House and most congressional conservatives likely are sycophants (yes men) who would bow to his demands for no other reason than for profit and power (although I hope the military types are not so greedy and demonstrate the integrity his Wall Streeters are not likely to display), his education is left to the public.
I will, henceforth, refer to him as Capt. Queeg, until and unless he proves me wrong. I won’t, however, bet the farm. I hope others adopt this view as well.
I once thought that GW Bush was much like Queeg and suggested as much in my novel, The Empathy Imperative, but at least Bush’s insecurity left him open to manipulation (mainly by Cheney). Trump, however, masks his insecurity in extreme narcissism and hostility, therefore, he is not likely controllable.
Hope you don’t have combustible hair. Rachel Maddow brings a bit of history to what leads up to the reason for Trump’s selection of Tillerson and why they are so friendly with Putin.
The World’s Favorite New Tax Haven Is the United States
Moving money out of the usual offshore secrecy havens and into the U.S. is a brisk new business.
Last September, at a law firm overlooking San Francisco Bay, Andrew Penney, a managing director at Rothschild & Co., gave a talk on how the world’s wealthy elite can avoid paying taxes.
Oligarchs and dictators’ daughters apparently have a penchant for bunkering their assets on the British Virgin Islands. Barons and composers, on the other hand, seem to prefer the Cook Islands. To cheat on taxes, they create bogus firms with imaginative names like Tantris, Moon Crystal or Sequoia.
. . . and conservatives in the U.S. blame the poor and the working poor for being poor.
Can there be a better argument for voting for Bernie Sanders for president and progressive candidates for Congress?
The greatest sin of humankind is indifference to poverty and suffering. Think about it! GET THE MONEY OUT OF POLITICS! VOTE FOR PROGRESSIVES!
Max T. Furr is author of The Empathy Imperative, a philosophical novel featuring a trial of God. A bold story that takes a logical look at the god of the Abrahamic Religions.
Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?–from Plato’s dialogue, Euthyphro–a Socratic dialogue.
Is an act of God just and right because god does it, or does God do only that which is just and right?–Author’s paraphrase
When will America wake up? There appears to be no depth to which congressional conservatives will not sink in their utterly disgraceful attempts to undermine the president at the expense of the lives of thousands, even millions of citizens, including the lives of children. Their complete indifference to suffering is simply without precedent, at least in this nation. It appears, to them, the public is no more than a Machiavellian means to power.
I have to say that, even though I do not tend to favor conspiracy theories, knowing the sheer insensitivity, incivility, and inhumanity of leading conservatives, there isn’t much I wouldn’t put past them.
Thus, I have come to lean toward the theory that the Cheney-Bush Administration knew in advance of the 9/11 attack and let it happen (or even facilitated it) in order to fulfill their Project for the New American Century dream of “reconstructing” the Middle East for American control the oil fields.
Although the original site for this document has been taken down (surprise, suprise), I found it.
The key line in this PDF document is the statement that their designs on the Middle East would take a long time to accomplish “absent some catastrophic catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor” (Italic mine).
Now, this:
Washington (CNN) Frustrated Senate Democrats blocked a bipartisan energy bill Thursday after Republicans refused to allow a vote on an amendment to help the city of Flint, Michigan, respond to its catastrophic water crisis. READ MORE HERE.
How did Republicans become so insensitive, deceitful and belligerent? I researched the rise of the neoconservatives from my novel, The Empathy Imperative. I plan to post the relevant pages on The Benevolent Thou shortly.
Dear Frank
This report cites a ‘systemic failure’ to provide adequate medical care to detainees with health issues and warns Trump’s desire to expand capacity would make it worse. . .
An Evil Demigod in the White House 
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