Coincidence? Ukraine/Trump Whistle Blower Happened BEFORE Saudi Oil Fields Attacked

Chronologically, it seems as if Saudi oil fields were attacked by anonymous drones first and then the Trump Bribes Ukraine whistle blower scandal broke second. However if you look at the timeline, the impeachable scandal was already emerging behind the scenes when someone blew up Saudi oil fields.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/politics/whistleblower-timeline-ukraine-team-trump/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-refineries-drone-attack.html

I have to ask--did Putin launch drones in an effort to jump start a showy war between Iran and the US that would shield his puppet?

Talking Points for Medicare 4 All from a Public Health Physician

Hi. You may or may not remember that in addition to being a primary care physician working in a not for profit publicly funded health care system (not saying which one), I also have a Master's Public Health. So, here are some talking points to help sell Medicare 4 All.

Talking Points for the General Public:

1. Number one--it will save money in the long run. How? Because once Americans have cradle to grave coverage with the same insurer, that insurer (Medicare) will have a tremendous financial incentive to invest in disease prevention. Current Medicare, which only covers you once you are old and sick, gains nothing by investing in disease prevention. Medicare is too busy scrambling like crazy to pay for the consequences of decades of health neglect to take time to invest in disease prevention. And your private insurance, which only covers you until you are old/sick (and get on Medicare), also gains nothing from disease prevention.

2. All this investment in disease prevention to save money down the road (and we are not talking next century here, we are talking in the next two to three decades) will also make Americans healthier. And healthier means less pain, more happiness, longer lives, better quality of life.

Right now the only "cradle to grave" single payer in this country is the VHA--the Veterans Health Administration. And it is not really cradle to grave. It is honorable discharge to grave. But that is close enough for the purposes of this essay. Because the VA promises to take care of veterans health forever, it invests in disease prevention. The VA studied aspirin's effects in preventing heart attack. No Big Pharm would have done that--aspirin is a cheap generic. The VA developed the shingles vaccine. It developed the new injectable alternative to statins for those who can not take statins. It supplies diabetic socks because it would rather prevent the diabetic foot ulcer than amputate your foot. It pays for vitamins and nutritional supplements, because it would rather keep you well nourished than try to put you back together once malnutrition wrecks your health. When the VA comes up with a cheap and easy way to prevent disease( and suffering), the VA reaps a direct economic benefit which allows it to stay solvent.

Ever wonder why West Europeans/Canadians pay half per year of what we do in this country for health care and yet are so much healthier? It is because their cradle to grave single payer health plans have an economic incentive to invest pennies in disease prevention now to avoid paying gazillions of dollars down the line to treat horrible disease like heart failure and cancer.

Ever wonder why the VA is under attack? Because the VA model, even more than Medicare is the winning health care model. The one that gives the greatest benefits for the least cost. But Big Pharm all over the world makes a killing in the US. The manufacturers of durable medical goods including artificial joints all over the world make a killing in the US. Hospitals make a killing in the US. Literally. They are killing us with preventable disease so they can make money.

This is the same reason that the UK's National Health is under attack. These are the world's two biggest single payer __to grave plans. Don't be fooled by Twitter trolls. People in the UK love their guaranteed health care. Veterans love their guaranteed health care. Why? If a veteran is told that he has heart disease and needs surgery or cancer and needs chemotherapy, the first words out of his mouth are not "Will I have to put a second mortgage on my house to pay for this?" For the veteran, sickness does not equal bankruptcy and poverty.

So, when talking M4A, remember these two key points 1) It will keep you healthier and 2) After an initial start up investment, it will save this country about 1-2 trillion dollars a year once it is up and running. (Based upon current annual US health care spending) And this is not even factoring in increase worker productivity.

Talking Points for Targeted Audiences:

For 20 somethings who think that they are immortal and invincible, selling disease prevention is not easy. However, there is actually an easy way to get their attention. Point out how overweight and unhealthy their parents and grandparents are. Ask them "Do you want to end up like them? Wouldn't you rather be better than your parents and grandparents?" (Young people always want to believe that they can change the world for the better) Sell the 20 somethings on better health.

For seniors who love their Medicare to death and who are afraid that if they have to share it with younger folks there will not be enough Medicare left over for them remind them that this will keep Medicare solvent. Everyone will pay (small compared to traditional insurance) premiums. People coming into the system will be healthier and stay healthier. More people in the system means that the system will be self sustaining. Old folks ought to be worried as hell that if something is not done now to increase Medicare enrollment, eventually Medicare will be so crowded with high utilizers that it will collapse. Sell the seniors on Medicare solvency.

For middle aged people who have fairly decent private insurance through their jobs or that they purchase for themselves, remind them that their out of pocket on Medicare will be lower than even the most platinum plated private insurance. Including the monthly premiums, the average Medicare patients pays around $7000 a year out of pocket (not counting medications that is a whole other issue). (For comparison, I have platinum plated federal health insurance and for two folks it averages to around $8000 per year per person out of pocket.) M4A means every American will have out of pocket that is actually less than Congressional Insurance! Yippee!

For middle aged people who do not have insurance, M4A sells itself. They are putting off their hysterectomy or mammogram or heart surgery because they cannot afford these things. They lost their jobs because they were too sick to work and now they run a cash register at 7-11 and are praying they live long enough to get Medicare.

Don't Fear the NRA.

The NRA's popularity is taking a nose dive:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/266804/americans-views-nra-become-less-positive.aspx

Americans are fed up with having to worry that they and their loved one will die if they go to school, work, shop. Walmart is scared that its shoppers will start using Amazon instead. Americans want the Democratic Party to promise to make their world safe again.

Gonna go outside the box here. Why do we have automobile safety? Airbags, seat belts, laws against DUI and shit? Because the car insurance industry demands it.

If you really want to make gun ownership safe, you should require that gun owners buy insurance policies Trust me. It would work. The insurance industry would make it work.

"Imagine" a world where Love Trumps Hate

Are Faux News (and Its Corporate Sponsors) Trying to Get Someone to Primary Trump?

The only reason the GOP would do this is if they think that Trump is doomed in the general and the thought of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders in charge is driving them bonkers.

I am betting that they try to get a retired officer to run. Someone who did not draft dodge and who has no controversial opinions. Bland, bland, bland---with lots of metals.

A Long Primary is Good for the Eventual Nominee

As long as the Kremlin does not know who the eventual Democratic nominee will be, they have less time to work on their Big Lies. Big Lies take time to develop. They cannot be launched overnight. The public has to absorb them bit by bit so that they finally develop the ring of truth simply because they have become familiar.

With so many candidates battling it out, Russia will also have to be careful about character smears in the primary---because there are candidates that it believes have less chance of winning the general than others. Right now, Joe Biden is serving a valuable role--he is the lightening rod for all of Russia's smears. Trump is in full "Anyone but Biden!" mode. That allows the other candidates to get by relatively unscathed.

Keep the opposition guessing. Give the Democratic candidates plenty of time to craft their own public images. Pick an eventual nominee known for wit and savvy rather than one known for "purity"--so the inevitable Kompromat will not matter, because the public will be rolling in the aisles at the sassy comeback its nominee will deliver. Joe Biden would actually be good at this. So would several other candidates.

THIS Is What House Democrats Need to Investigate! How Russia Got NSA Malware in 2017

Forget sex. America is bored with sex. The House needs to investigate this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/nsa-hacking-tool-baltimore.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#commentsContainer

This is It!

If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.

Not Sure "White haired elderly man gives hugs" is Having Its Intended Political Effect.

It may just be me, but I think it is making Biden seem friendly, avuncular. You know. Like a regular Joe.



Here is another white haired elderly man who gives hugs:

Health Care Journalism: Who Does It Serve?

There is a code of ethics for Health care Journalists, just as there is for health care providers.

https://healthjournalism.org/principles

However, health care news is a mine field that can cost patients their lives. Two recent examples:

1) Stories about how elderly with no history of heart disease and no risk factors of heart disease should not be started on aspirin for heart disease prevention since their risk of getting an ulcer from the aspirin is higher than their risk of developing the health disease that they obviously are not going to get. These have been presented in such a way that patients have gotten the impression that aspirin is bad for the elderly. I have encountered elderly heart patients with coronary artery disease and stents who have stopped their aspirin because of these stories. This is not good. They are at high risk for platelet clumping followed by acute myocardial infarction followed by congestive heart failure and death without that aspirin 81 mg a day. Note that there are no stories about how Plavix/Eliquis/Brilinta can cause ulcers. I see upper gastrointestinal bleeds in patients on these much more than I see it on people taking aspirin 81 mg.

2) Stories about how a few lots of Losartan were contaminated have turned into rumors that all Losartan causes cancer. I have seen patients who have stopped their Losartan as a result. Note that Losartan not only controls the blood pressure. It also relieves strain on the heart in people with congestive heart failure and prevents kidney damage in people with diabetes. Losartan is the cheapest of its class, the ARBs.

Sensationalism sells copy. But I wonder how many health care journalists print what their corporate masters in Big Pharm and Wall Street tell them to write. And before you accuse me of wearing a tinfoil hate, remember that during the W. Bush administration, the FDA banned ergot for migraines and quinine for leg cramps in the same day, increasing the potential market for Glaxo-Smith-Klines Requip and Imitrex . And the makers of Seldane (at that time the only non-sedating antihistamine) successfully petitioned the FDA to ban Seldane one month before it was due to go generic, meaning there would be no cheap generic competition for their new, patent non-sedating antihistamine, Allegra.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-30-mn-3495-story.html

Meaning that Big Pharm makes big money of they can take away patient's options to use cheap, generic medications.



Maybe we need a Media Matters for health care journalism.