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Comments Posted By kesmarn

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Is the Insistence of Moderate Dems to Win Back Trump Voters…a Racial Thing?

Nate Silver predicted a Hillary victory in 2016.

» Posted By kesmarn On August 9, 2019 @ 6:43 pm

A very gracious reply, NoManIsAnIsland. Thank you.

» Posted By kesmarn On August 9, 2019 @ 5:50 pm

Thanks so much for sharing the experiences of both your family and yourself, NoManIsAnIsland. There’s nothing quite like first person narratives when it comes to understanding history. Your family endured through some truly horrifying parts of 20th century events. We’re grateful to have you here.

» Posted By kesmarn On August 8, 2019 @ 7:26 pm

To this point, the only statement of opinion I’ve been able to distill from thousands of words written by the duck-walking gentleman is: “I support Biden until I don’t.” I don’t think Winston Churchill would have wept bitter tears of envy over the wit, courage and eloquence of that declaration. On the other hand, the Russians are probably getting a few giggles. So there’s that.

» Posted By kesmarn On August 7, 2019 @ 8:15 pm

I lived in New England for a long time, and a “New Yorker” you ain’t. (But then Trump thinks he’s a real New Yorker too — not that anyone said anything about New Yorkers in the first place. Imaginary “enemies.” They make it so much fun to play the martyr, don’t they? And they’re a great way to distract from the fact that the conversation is going in a direction that might remove the troll from center stage. Can’t have that now, can we?)

» Posted By kesmarn On August 6, 2019 @ 8:51 pm

At the risk of providing “supply” to someone who — if he’s not actively trolling — is apparently attention-seeking, I just have to say that in the ten years I’ve been a member of the Planet, I have yet to see AdLib make a point of going after a commenter because he/she is new to the site. In fact I’ve never seen him “go after” anyone personally for any reason. Will he address issues in a candid way? Of course. But get personal? I’ve never seen it. And he most definitely has the ego strength to be able to handle someone’s dissenting opinion without becoming snarky or sarcastic. In some circles, it may be considered a winning tactic to indulge in name calling (“you’re arrogant”) or insults (“can’t you read?”) or baiting tactics (“when have you ever admitted being wrong?”), but for most of the rest of us, the ninth grade ended a long time ago. So those tactics just get a very large yawn from the majority of readers who were wise to those tricks back when Arianna Huffington was only on her second face lift.

» Posted By kesmarn On August 6, 2019 @ 6:02 pm

Trump Claims The Women in The Squad Are “The Real Male Chauvinists”

Oh yes, AdLib… not only did The Squad pay hush money to Stormy Daniels and collude with Russia to influence the 2016 elections, I hear they also severely scolded Elijah Cummings for objecting to the brutal treatment of children on the southern border and let PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor know that they were on to her — and her tendency to ask “racist questions” in presidential press conferences.

That Squad… they’re a dangerous bunch.

[Little does he know…]

» Posted By kesmarn On July 28, 2019 @ 3:12 pm

They Say The Economy Is Booming, But For Who?

Steppenwolf, I agree that a hefty percentage of the American population is no better off than they were immediately after the Crash of ’08. In fact, many are in worse shape now than ever.

My feeling these days is that if we keep on doing what we’ve always done, we’re going to keep on getting what we’ve always had. I think it’s time to vote for candidates who are not in any way acceptable to the establishment Corporados and to the government hacks who serve them. So far, Bernie Sanders is the only Dem candidate who’s had the brass to post a list of “anti-endorsements.” In other words, a list of people — which includes Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan-Chase and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, along with a lot of others — who really hate him. And for all the right reasons.

I’m not saying Sanders has to be the candidate, but if he isn’t, the country needs someone a lot like him. Someone who is almost ridiculously dedicated to a set of real moral principles (which is not demonstrated by spouting some phony pseudo-Christian prosperity gospel).

Because, at this point, the people in both parties who are more dedicated to protecting America’s “interests” than in defending her principles have gotten us into a helluva mess.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 16, 2019 @ 7:10 pm

Is Appealing To The White Working Class Identity Politics?

AdLib, thank you so much for clarifying the fact that Kalima and I are two different people (and for clarifying so many other things as well). People are entitled to their own opinions of course, but when they decide that they’re also entitled to decide other peoples’ opinions regarding the country or health care system that they’ve lived in/worked with for decades, that’s when communication breaks down. The commercial about the character who says: “I’m not a neurosurgeon, but I (or one of my relatives) slept at a Holiday Inn last night,” comes to mind.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2019 @ 8:47 pm

“Young folk” (to use the geezerific term for the people who will very shortly be running the show without “help” from their elders) could make a great argument that they’ve been left a stinking mess of a situation to clean up here. They figure that socialism could hardly be any worse than the stunted, poisoned environment they’ve grown up in. One where buying a home, paying for a college education and getting health care that doesn’t bankrupt them are all but impossible — unless they happened to have been born into Koch brothers level wealth.
But, since it’s difficult to have a true dialog with someone who knows more about Japan than someone who has lived there for 40 years, and who knows more about what it’s like to be a registered nurse than an RN does, I’ll be exiting this thread now.
At least one mission was accomplished in the course of the discussion, though. Joe Biden has one less vote in the primary than he might have had a few days ago.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2019 @ 4:06 pm

So I gather that if Bernie does indeed become the Democratic nominee, you plan to vote for Trump?

» Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2019 @ 3:51 pm

Medicaid is a helluva lot better. As is Medicare. To quote one of the physicians I worked with: “They might be a little slower to pay, but at least they pay.” Unlike private insurance companies, whose motto is: “Dispute, Delay, Then Deny.” As a person who has worked in healthcare (which obviously you have not), I can say that the most accurate representation of the way things really are regarding private insurers was Michael Moore’s film “SickO.” Those immoral insurers depicted in the film? They’re for real. I’ve taken care of people who had brain stem infarcts because they couldn’t afford their blood pressure meds. I’ve seen 28 year old women denied coverage for chemotherapy.
Your anti-government attitude seems to come straight from Rush Limbaugh and/or Fox News. I’ve never had a negative experience at the BMV. I’ve asked many people on Social Security whether their payments are deposited every month without fail, and the answer has always been “yes.” And for many other people, government services function perfectly well. So obviously the government isn’t the massive collection of “inept gummint parasites” that you and the rest of the right wing media love to portray.
Unregulated capitalism’s day is over with. And the sooner older people get with the program and recognize that younger voters do not like the system they’re stuck with and plan to change it, the better for all.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2019 @ 7:31 am

If there actually had been “cherry picking” in the link I posted, the uninsured rate would have been in the 25% range — which it is for those making $30000/year or less. But obviously “smart” and “strategic” Dems don’t need to care about “those people,” because they “probably voted for Trump anyway.”
Meanwhile, the much maligned Bernie Sanders spent the weekend going to Canada with patients who need insulin and can purchase it there for 1/10 of what your friends in the capitalist insurance industry charge them.
At least one candidate is able to function in the world of reality for the average working American. But fear not, health care lobbyists, big Pharma (along with Wall Street) will see to it that Bernie is not the candidate. And if they don’t, the “pragmatists” in the Dem Party will.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 29, 2019 @ 7:15 am

Capitalism is vastly overrated. Like cancer, it can only survive by endlessly and increasingly devouring its host. Which in this case happens to be the American people. I’ll take a little humane socialism any day. And most younger people — including younger voters of which there are many — are not the slightest bit averse to hearing and using the word socialism. They’re quite comfortable with it, in fact.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 28, 2019 @ 7:08 pm

Oh believe me, nurses and doctors know all about dealing with insurance companies. They know exactly how obnoxious it is to have to fill out a SIX PAGE mandatory form to justify ordering a given antibiotic to a given patient. All because some ignorant pencil pushing dope with no medical expertise at all thinks that forcing professionals to justify their decisions at ridiculous length will cut down on the use of particular (perhaps more expensive, but more effective) medications and/or procedures. They want everyone to be on cheap generic drugs, treatments and procedures (or better yet, none at all) and they’re happy to make life a total misery for any medical professional who puts patient safety and proper treatment above the almighty bottom line. Capitalism has NO place in medicine. None. Health care should never be a profit-making “industry.” This is one of the many areas (along with for-profit schools, prisons, etc.) where capitalism totally sucks and should be eliminated entirely.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 28, 2019 @ 7:01 pm

Outdated numbers don’t make a person a “numbers guy.” Google is the friend of those who care to take enough time to use it. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-americans-are-going-without-health-insurance/

» Posted By kesmarn On July 28, 2019 @ 6:40 pm

Thank you, AdLib, for injecting a bit of real truth into the discussion!

» Posted By kesmarn On July 27, 2019 @ 8:54 am

Jake321, As an RN with decades of experience, I have to wonder if you’ve ever spent time in the real world American health care system. Private insurers serve absolutely NO useful purpose in American healthcare — unless you count being a paper-shuffling, procedure-delaying, money-grabbing middle man as a “purpose.” The vast majority of physicians HATE insurance companies and view them as time-wasting blood-suckers. The sooner they’re all gone, the better — for both patients and physicians.
The American Nurses Association backed Bernie in 2016 because he was the ONE candidate who got it. And that endorsement was from people who are the “boots on the ground” (not the wonks) of health care in America.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 27, 2019 @ 8:52 am

Thoughts on The Fourth Of July…from an American Transgender Woman’s Perspective

It may be that you just haven’t encountered more open-minded Christians. If your experience has been with conservative evangelicals (in some areas), it will have been different than it would have been with more liberal, left-leaning Christians. It often depends on where you live and work. Free thinking, pacifist and non-xenophobic Christians are definitely out there, though. I know a lot of them. They just tend to move quietly and confront in a more low key, loving way. They’ve seen what can happen with RW fringe groups who get “screechy.” Not good.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2019 @ 8:48 pm

Concern about the next generations(s) is such a good trait. For what it’s worth, I’m also a Christian. But I come from a different place of Christianity — where openness to LGBTQ issues is not considered threatening to some strange definition of “orthodoxy.”

» Posted By kesmarn On July 10, 2019 @ 8:53 am

Angela, thanks so much for writing this article. I have to say that I learned a lot from it. I thought I had a grasp of what trans people go through, but I really had no idea regarding the number of laws that are still on the books that permit discrimination to continue! Activists like you are the folks who produce necessary change. Kudos!

» Posted By kesmarn On July 9, 2019 @ 6:51 am

Am I anti-gay?

I shouldn’t presume to speak for the whole LGBTQ community, but my sense is that the majority of them have no problem with heterosexual sex — if that is the choice of the people involved in the relationship. It’s just not always their personal choice. And the people I know would — if they adopted a child — be quite accepting if that child later chose a partner of the opposite sex as a mate.

» Posted By kesmarn On July 4, 2019 @ 12:01 pm

Open Letter to the New University of Colorado President

Good to see you, e’cat! Your thoughts bring to mind something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. I wouldn’t be surprised if 90% of the American population had already figured this out, but it has struck me more forcefully recently: namely that virtually every racist male I’ve encountered (or even read about) is also a misogynist. Of course, the reasons those two prejudices would go together are obvious. But it serves as a very accurate early warning signal: when you see the one, you’ll inevitably see the other. Forgive me if it seems I’m stating the obvious here, but I’ve been so swamped by family obligations of late, that my time to ponder news issues and draw conclusions is pretty limited! Hope all’s well with you.

» Posted By kesmarn On June 26, 2019 @ 5:49 pm

Michael, it’s so good to see you here. A wonderful, powerful letter you’ve written, and I hope it’s taken very seriously by the new administration at CU. The fact that it comes from a concerned alumnus should add weight to it as well.

Please feel free to decline to answer, but I’m wondering how your undergrad experience at CU was. Do you feel that Black students who are there now are having a better or worse experience than you did in your own years there?

» Posted By kesmarn On June 26, 2019 @ 5:36 pm

Trump Luncheon With Queen Ruined As Entire Beef Wellington Disappears

AdLib, rumor has it that when Trump went to Ireland the next day to inspect his golf course on the American taxpayer’s dime, there was a prediction of rain. So his staff supplied him with Wellington boots (“Wellies” in the UK) lest his very tiny feet get damp.

Seems he ate those as well. Never knew the difference. Boots Wellington. Beef Wellington. Big Mac Wellington. When you never take time to chew, it makes very little difference. With enough ketchup, they’ll all go down faster than Lindsey Graham on the slippery slope to purgatory.

» Posted By kesmarn On June 8, 2019 @ 7:54 pm

The Cynical Charade of “Pro-Life” Politicians

Kalima, I meant to add as well: thank you! For this excellent article. As the author says: “A life is not saved just by letting it be born.”

It goes far beyond that.

» Posted By kesmarn On June 2, 2019 @ 4:25 pm

Excellent points, Kalima! Especially the idea that making laws based on one sect’s religious beliefs is contrary to the intentions that the Founders express in the Constitution. These SCOTUS “Originalists” are anything but original if they cooperate with this agenda.

» Posted By kesmarn On June 2, 2019 @ 4:13 pm

A few points to consider: The allegedly “pro-life” GOP is quite happy with the death penalty. If “all life is sacred,” that’s inconsistent to say the least. They also haven’t met a war yet that they haven’t fallen in love with.
The GOP is all about keeping the “dam guvmint” out of our lives when it comes to gun control (after 12 more people were killed in Virginia Beach over the weekend). But welcomes government control over women’s reproductive organs. Possibly because women are not viewed as equal citizens?
The role of males in causing pregnancy is completely ignored by the Republican party. Perhaps when there are legal penalties (including heavy fines and mandatory prison time) for males who refuse to use birth control, people on the left will take their “pro-life” rhetoric a little more seriously.
That rhetoric would also be taken more seriously if people on the left EVER saw anti-choice Republicans adopting the handicapped and/or biracial babies they are forcing to be born. Neither I nor anyone I know has ever met a Republican who has adopted one or more of the children who result from their anti-choice policies. Not one.
Those “church-goers” in the GOP base should take a look at the verse in Matthew that states that hypocrites “place heavy burdens on the backs of others that they would not bear themselves.”

» Posted By kesmarn On June 2, 2019 @ 6:46 am

I’ll start off with the superficial. Why do they always have names like “Garlan Gudger” and “Shay Shelnut”? (Yes, those are real names up there in the image.) Is that essential to winning an election in these states? Are these guys even real? Or are they less than successfully programmed bots? I think we need an investigation into their DNA…if they have any. And if morality is hard-wired into us, someone fell asleep on the assembly line.

Years ago, my kids and I were talking about the abortion issue and each of them made a good point. My daughter said: “Even when Republicans who have campaigned heavily on making abortion illegal, once they get elected, never actually then do anything about it. They never follow through on that promise.” My son said: “Of course they don’t. They can’t afford to “solve” the abortion issue once and for all. Because then they’d lose the most valuable tool they have for manipulating lower income voters. Why else would many of these people ever vote GOP?”

This is the point you also made, AdLib. Once the majority of states pass laws like the ones in Ohio, Alabama and elsewhere, they’re screwed. They’ve killed the goose who laid the golden eggs (thus aborting many goslings in the process).

And as you and others have also noted — the fact that they are in love with the death penalty, and with endless war, and with denying babies health care proves that they don’t have the slightest notion of what moral consistency looks like. I think voters are starting to figure this one out already.

Which is one reason why I hope they will stand up to Mitch McTurtle when he tries to ram through another Kavanaugh-like SCOTUS nomination in an election year, even though that was “totally impossible” when Obama was President.

» Posted By kesmarn On May 29, 2019 @ 6:49 pm

For the Planet’s Transgender Columnist: A First Post

Welcome to the Planet, Angela! I’m happy to see that the area of justice for transgender citizens is going to be a regular everyday area of coverage for the Planet. And humor makes it even better. Looking forward to hearing more from your “beat.”

» Posted By kesmarn On May 29, 2019 @ 5:02 pm