Drive bys for starting the week:
* Oh well. Mayor Pete is merely giving his staff "access" to health insurance, I suppose. LOL. Mayor Pete is such a phony, it is getting beyond ridiculous. I wish Mayor Pete's Dad, the leading English translator of the Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, was still around, as I'm sure Dad would be probably endorsing Sanders by now.
*I am so tired of those who oppose Bernie's Medicare for All plan but never tell us how a public option lowers doctors' and hospitals' insurance administration costs. Those who oppose Bernie's plan never tell us how a public option or expanding ACA/Obamacare saves costs to any significant degree compared to a single payer system.
If the corporate media discourse was honest, that is where the questioning should be, not just to Bernie or Warren about costs. The costs of adding another layer to the same type of system we have is far more expensive if one ever looks at the numbers. And why not begin a discussion noting 50% of the American system is already in the hands of government, but one where private interests are subsidized? See here for a review of the posthumous book the late, great Princeton health economics prof Uwe Reinhardt wrote.
Finally, if we could get the discourse to something approaching integrity, we should focus on how to protect doctors from the ridiculous threats of medical malpractice suits. I have long championed taking med mal out of the jury system, putting it in arbitration, and limiting awards in return for a true national health insurance system. Too often, our adversarial medical malpractice tort system helps trial lawyers more than patients, and is a recipe for covering up bad information, not taking care of those truly injured, and undermining morale among doctors and staff. Europe and particularly Denmark, as well as New Zealand, have done more than anyone to not punish doctors just because a mistake is made, and ensure people who are injured in a medical procedure or in the course of treatment have some protection and redress.
Doctors, nurses, and hospitals save so many lives every single day. Yes, there are mistakes, and I have lived through both the miracles and mistakes. But we should not ruin professionals' lives for an error in either procedure, judgment, or a slip of the hand. We have to have a holistic approach, not an adversarial based approach. For we find the system we have tends to overreward those less injured than those injured by a luck of the draw in a courtroom or a settlement.
* Fellow Lakers' fans, what is up with Dwight Howard? The second coming of Dwight is perhaps upon us, and this time, it is with the Lakers. I always thought he had a bad rap the first time around, to the extent he was second in the league in rebounds, that 2012-2013 season--and he was fighting an injury far more serious than Kobe Bryant ever understood. I also agreed with Dwight that Mike D'Antoni refused to understand how to coach Howard. But I understood Kobe's anger at Howard for not playing with a level of seriousness and Howard's refusal to work on free throw shooting. Kobe has been insightful again about this version of Dwight Howard in 2019.
This time around, Howard has had near perfect or perfect field goal percentages and strong rebounding. Last night, against San Antonio, he had 14 points on 7-7 shooting and 13 rebounds.
Howard may end up starting over McGee soon at center. Then, with Kuzma fully back (he is still limping along, though playing), it will be a strong starting lineup, with LeBron, Davis, Kuzma, Howard, and Green/Bradley.
Lakes are playing well, but it is still so, so early in the season.
* Rock and roll did more to liberate Eastern Europe than the CIA and NATO ever did. Here is more support for that proposition, particularly in East Germany. Here and here are part of the wild story about rock and roll and Czechoslovakia. I have long said the way to the hearts and minds of Muslim peasants in Afghanistan and elsewhere is to stop bombing them, and maybe dropping cellphones/iPods/CD players, etc. and including American pop music and rock music. It will help the young people stand up to the mullahs who hate rock and roll, just as, so often, right wing religious people and dictators hate rock and roll.
* The Los Angeles Times has an amusing article this morning about Trump needing a different strategy to fight back against the growing impeachment movement. However, the reason Trump can't rely on his "agenda," as Clinton was able to do (Clinton suddenly veered left, which I found at the time cynical, but somewhat welcome) is Trump's agenda is not one a majority of Americans support. His only real agenda is about racism and xenophobia. Otherwise, why would he want more Americans to know he is gutting health insurance protections for pre-existing conditions? Or that he is gutting regulations that protect against more pollution? Or that his education cabinet secretary is making students pay loans to defunct and bankrupt for-profit universities, which universities were shown to be fraudulent? Or maybe how his tax cuts program ended up mostly benefiting the rich and powerful? Or maybe his latest proposal to privatize national parks and end senior discounts at parks?
Not much of an agenda to run on. Thus, Trump stays with the incessant delusional tweets about impeachment and Adam Schiff.
* Oh, and this looks great! Kudos to Eleanor Davis, cartoonist-writer extraordinaire.
