Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member


For the first time ever in Indiana, you can return your new baby to the proper authorities like a video rental (remember those?). America has "safe haven" laws which makes it legal for people to surrender unwanted children, as long as the baby is unharmed and given to the proper authorities or a hospital.

These climate controlled boxes are meant to allow people to drop off their kid anonymously, knowing that it will be taken care of by emergency services who will arrive within minutes of an automatic alarm.



It's a controversial issue, with some people questioning how safe it would be to leave a baby in a drop box for several minutes alone. Other people are just glad that babies who might otherwise have been left where they wouldn't get help will be able to have a safe spot to wait for a pickup by a medical professional.
(via wncn)
 
Dei

Dei

Yeah, those newborns, definitely can't survive a couple of minutes alone. They must be watched ever vigilantly. [emoji12]
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
I just thought it would be hilarious if the boxes really DID work like the video return boxes, where when you close the box, the floor opens up and your newborn is dropped in a big box full of dozens of discarded babies to await the staff arriving in the morning.
 
Null

Null

GasBandit said:
I just thought it would be hilarious if the boxes really DID work like the video return boxes, where when you close the box, the floor opens up and your newborn is dropped in a big box full of dozens of discarded babies to await the staff arriving in the morning.
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Nah, that's daycare.
 
Null

Null

Every single state that's done this has found out it's a waste of time and money. Welfare recipients test positive at a rate of around 2.6%; the average rate of usage in America is around 9%. It literally costs more to do the testing than you save by removing the positives.
 
Dei

Dei

Oh god, my mom thinks drug testing is a good thing, and when I tried to explain the money thing to her she just immediately went off on me. I just roll my eyes and remember why I don't discuss politics with my family.
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Dei said:
Oh god, my mom thinks drug testing is a good thing, and when I tried to explain the money thing to her she just immediately went off on me. I just roll my eyes and remember why I don't discuss politics with my family.
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Don't go mixing information with my talking points/truthiness.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Null said:
Every single state that's done this has found out it's a waste of time and money. Welfare recipients test positive at a rate of around 2.6%; the average rate of usage in America is around 9%. It literally costs more to do the testing than you save by removing the positives.
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They are also, usually, having a family member owned lab doing the testing. If I remember the Florida episode, it was the Governor's wife's lab doing the work.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Dei said:
I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but Colorado is voting on whether they should institute their own single payer healthcare system in place of ACA. I still don't know how I feel about it. My issue with health care all stem from the inflated costs of the simplest things, which I think should be addressed first, but I know they probably never will be. :(
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Those costs are inflated because insurance companies strong-arm hospitals into giving them massive discounts to stay "in-network", which means they will accept bills from that institution. It's one of the leading reasons why organizations like OhioHealth came into being: medical services are starting to fall under huge umbrellas because it allows them to negotiate with the company as a huge unit instead of as small institutions. They can then charge individual payers less because they aren't constantly trying to make up for lost revenue from the insurance companies.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
FTA:
the doctors call out the "persistent shortcomings of the current health care system." They warn about the risks of continuing along the path laid out by the Affordable Care Act: "down this road, millions of Americans remain uninsured, underinsurance grows, costs rise, and inefficiency and the search for profits are abetted."
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Well yeah, that's by design. The ACA was designed to fail, so that the powers that be could shrug and say "welp we gave the private sector the ol' college try, guess there's nothing left now but to go single payer!"

And 2000 doctors play right along.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
GasBandit said:
FTA:

Well yeah, that's by design. The ACA was designed to fail, so that the powers that be could shrug and say "welp we gave the private sector the ol' college try, guess there's nothing left now but to go single payer!"

And 2000 doctors play right along.
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Because it's the right thing to do and the only real way to make an effective and efficient change to our system.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Dave said:
Because it's the right thing to do and the only real way to make an effective and efficient change to our system.
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Well, NOW it is. The ACA was a barbed arrow. Pulling it out now would do way more damage than pushing it through the rest of the way to SP. I said as much back when it was passed. But let's not pretend there weren't other viable alternatives prior to the ACA's dead of the night/end of the session/passed behind closed doors with dealmaking/we have to pass it so you can learn what's in it chicanery.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
The only real issue with the ACA is the payment structure and the fact that it relies heavily on a group of people who are notorious for not doing shit. Additionally, the fact that states were allowed to opt out hurt the program. Oh, and also the last-minute re-negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry. Had they stuck to their original guns and not tried to cooperate with the right, it would have been a much better - still flawed but much better - law.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Dave said:
The only real issue with the ACA is the payment structure and the fact that it relies heavily on a group of people who are notorious for not doing shit. Additionally, the fact that states were allowed to opt out hurt the program. Oh, and also the last-minute re-negotiations with the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry. Had they stuck to their original guns and not tried to cooperate with the right, it would have been a much better - still flawed but much better - law.
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Well, that and it disguised the fact that it was going to cost hundreds of billions more than it actually was said to cost, because they double dipped on medicaid figures and charted out 7 years of benefits to be paid with 10 years of income. And of course, the fact that the american populace would never have gone along with it if it hadn't been sold by deliberate lies from the get go about "if you like your plan you can keep it" and "if you like your doctor, you can stay with them" and "everybody's premiums will go down."
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Yup. The original law was going to be single payer and they scrapped it for this piece of crap. It started strong but now people are jumping ship and it's becoming unsustainable. We need to move to single payer soon or face an even larger healthcare crisis than we were in before implementing Obamacare.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

I think it's going to be an interesting Supreme Court appointment process, now that Trump is basically the defacto Republican nominee. Are the Republicans going to risk him nominating a more centrist candidate that they can't stomache (something he could very well do, given his previous Democratic leanings) or Hillary going full liberal... or would they accept an Obama nomination that is someone they can live with?

Because really... Trump isn't going to take the party's shit. He's going to want obedience because of his ego. If he doesn't get it, he's not going to have their back when they try to push legislature through.
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Garland is the best thing republicans can hope for. They should be jumping on this with both feet...but then that would mean they'd have to say they were wrong and at this point it's all about trying to look tough regardless of how legal it is or who it hurts.
 
DarkAudit

DarkAudit

Twitter's starting to mutter about a possible coup or Praetorian Guard scenario before Inauguration Day if somehow he does manage to get elected.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
If there's a silver lining to all this, it's listening to Meghan McCain's week-long full-on white girl meltdown on the drive home. She is the most establishment of GOP cheerleaders who basically got her radio show because her father is John McCain. She's done nothing but "liek omg ewwww" about both Trump and Cruz for weeks. Now, her sorority-girl squalling is musical.[DOUBLEPOST=1462497403,1462497161][/DOUBLEPOST]
DarkAudit said:
Twitter's starting to mutter about a possible coup or Praetorian Guard scenario before Inauguration Day if somehow he does manage to get elected.
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Ha ha ha ha... hang on, lemme dig deep into the archives for this old gem....



Just a few short weeks ago, people would call me a scary would-be domestic terrorist for posting that.
 
Denbrought

Denbrought

GasBandit said:
Ha ha ha ha... hang on, lemme dig deep into the archives for this old gem....



Just a few short weeks ago, people would call me a scary would-be domestic terrorist for posting that.
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I still think being pulling to put up with the asshole you elect without much unrest is one of the more laudable aspect of western democracies.

Trump is a huge boon to neo-reactionaries. He's like their wet dream strawman of why democracy isn't worth pursuing.
 
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