Mr. Sanders Wild Pony Ride

Bernie Sanders made a splash by promising free stuff to kids and now with his "Medicare for All" proposal he is promising free stuff to everyone. OK, "free-ish" in the sense that no one knows who is paying for it but Democrats assume it will be Somebody Else, presumably Mitt Romney and his kids. Or other sinister rich people. Whomever.

Rebuttals and objections from the right will inevitably fall on deaf progressive ears but Margot Sanger-Katz of the NY Times Upshot provides a splash of reality:

The Sanders plan envisions changing Medicare in two important ways. First, it would make it more generous than it has ever been, expanding it to cover new types of benefits and to erase most direct health care costs for consumers. Those changes would tend to make it more expensive.

But it also would put the Medicare program on the sort of diet it has never attempted. Those changes, still in sketch form in the legislation, are in many ways the heart of its long-term overhaul plan. The changes are intended to make the health care system more affordable, but the details could have big effects on what sorts of care might be developed and made available.

Let me just pause there for emphasis. Dems hate it when Greedy Insurers deny treatment for cost or other reasons, but they will be fine when the government does just that? How do they think this will work - that the government will just say yes to everything?

 

Whether it can achieve that third goal [of saving the country money] depends a great deal on how the new Medicare-for-all system would be managed, and the Sanders plan leaves a lot of those details unclear for now. Covering everyone would not, by itself, make the health care system in the United States as inexpensive as those of other nations with universal health care systems. That sort of cost control would require its own set of policies and difficult choices.

Difficult choices. However those choices are elided by Sanders, who prefers a fantasy world inhabited by many of his fans:

In his news conference introducing the bill on Wednesday, Mr. Sanders focused his ire on insurance and drug companies, two profitable sectors of the health care system. But insurance and drug company profits don’t make up the bulk of America’s health care spending. Single-payer advocates argue that the simplicity of a single, government payer would reduce paperwork and office staff, and that is almost certainly true. But most spending in the health care system is on medical care from doctors and hospitals — and squeezing savings there may be harder.

To get savings from those areas might require reducing doctors’ pay or hospitals’ numbers of medical professionals. It could require eliminating some medical treatments that are currently offered. Even cutting spending on pharmaceuticals would have ripple effects, potentially limiting access to new or expensive treatments, or reducing investment in new technologies.

New treatments and technologies? You mean the stuff provided by Greedy Big Pharma? Who needs it? I want Alzheimers drugs and I want someone else to pay for it, dammit.

The bill specifies that Medicare would be run with an annual budget, leaving government officials to decide how to make the country’s medical spending conform to such totals every year. It also says that the government should evaluate the effectiveness of different medical treatments. Such a system has precedent: Several countries, including Canada and Britain, establish health care budgets that must be met and assess the value of medical services to determine what should be covered.

But such budgets and limits have been politically toxic in the United States, where politicians have been reluctant to say that the government should restrict care. The Affordable Care Act established a theoretical limit on spending per Medicare beneficiary, establishing a board that would reduce costs if a cap were met. But that board, assailed as a “death panel,” has never been called upon to make such choices, for no members have ever been nominated to it.

Democrats are not interested in budgets or managing care. Their goal, as with Social Security, is to be the party of More, casting the Republicans as the green-eye shaded accountants mumbling about the expense and saying no. Who do people want to vote for, Santa Claus or the Grinch? 

I should say, even Paul Krugman has reservations. After a lot of de rigeur bonding with his base about deplorable Republicans and deceitful Trump (and vice versa) he puts his toe in the water on "Medicare for All (with a pony!):

Unlike just about everything Trump and company are proposing, Medicare for all is a substantively good idea. Yet actually making it happen would probably mean facing down a serious political backlash. For one thing, it would require a substantial increase in taxes. For another, it would mean telling scores of millions of Americans who get health coverage though their employers, and are generally satisfied with their coverage, that they need to give it up and accept something different. You can say that the new system would be better — but will they believe it?

Such concerns may not seem very salient right now: Given Republican control of the White House, single-payer is going to be at best an aspiration for the next three-plus years. But what if rigid support for single-payer — as opposed to somewhat flexible support for universal coverage, however achieved — becomes a litmus test? In that case, Democrats could eventually find themselves facing a Trumpcare-type debacle, unable either to implement their unrealistic vision or to let it go.

The point is that while unrealistic promises may not hurt you in elections, they can become a big problem when you try to govern. Having a vision for the future is good, but being real about the difficulties is also good. Democrats, take heed.

Hmm, that reminds me - I want to set up a Next To Die pool for the major characters on Game of Thrones. And now I want to keep a list of "Sell By" predictions for how long it will take for Krugman to endorse whatever hazy Medicare-for-All scheme Dems offer when they might have enough clout to pass something. I am confident Krugman will not be heard from again expressing objections of reservations about this ongoing progressive fantasy.

ERRATA: Way back in 2009 (and 2003, with dead links) I mentioned a switching to a prize or contract model for Big Pharma, rather than our current approach of granting them temporary patent-protected monopolies and then griping about price gouging.

Back in the day when my internet connection was working I would include some links, but - way back when, the British Navy was desperately interested in developing a method of accurately determining longitude (latitude, i.e. North/South, is pretty easy using the stars or the sun; the rotation of the earth makes East/West tricky).  The Royal Society spurred innovation by offering a prize for a workable technique, rather than providing patent or copyright protection and allowing the inventor a monopoly.

Even today examples of science competitions and prizes abound.  A similar model could be applied to drug development - the US could agree to pay some suitable amount (Half a billion?  Yikes!) for an Alzheimer's drug that met certain measures of efficacy.  Specifying performance is a lot trickier, but, as I belabored in this old post, we already employ a similar business model with the defense industry (and we know libs who hate Big Pharma love Big Defense!).

Comments

[JM Hanes]

Love how you slipped Krugman in there! He rarely disappoints, does he?

[Captain Hate]

Is that dickweed Ronald Sanders related to Teh Bern?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Socialism: when you care enough to send your very worst.

"It will be different this time" until red giant Sol envelops ancient earth.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

The Week in Pictures

[Clarice Feldman]

Now, I know Tom's on speed. I', oohing and aahing over pics of last night's meet up ans return to find this thoughtful, researched post. How else could he do this?

[-peter]

Jmh wrote on the last thread: quote:
What a wonderful get-together! If you ever have a chance to meet-up with other JOMers, you should definitely do it. Afraid I'm going to have to beg off commenting in full, till tomorrow, in favor of crashing tonight, but I just wanted to say thanks to all for a great evening, with a special shout out to TM. It was such a pleasure to get to meet you, after all these years of making myself at home on your terrific blog. Thanks so much for joining us.end quote
Not much that I can add to that except that Jmh is an absolutely lovely person and it was such an honor to meet all of you. I have to confess I was nervous as I headed to the meet-up; I felt as if I was going to meet a celebrity and wondered if I would accidentally drool on my collar. Great time. End of my blathering

[Buford Gooch]

Love the headline reference to Mr. Toad.

[joan]

Krugman: "You can say that the new system would be better — but will they believe it?"

I actually chuckled. :)

If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

[joan]

lol'd again at -peter's comment, 10:40.

[Mantis Toboggen]

Why is the Federal Government in the business of healthcare? Now if a state wants to provide their citizens with "free" healthcare they can do that now by putting plans in place and having the state taxpayers pay for it. If a citizen doesn't like it they can move to another state. And if free healthcare is so great than a "freebie" state should have a huge inflow of people and businesses. The tech billionaires should be happy to pay for California's health cost. And maybe they can pay for that free money for all plan they are touting as well. Just keep their hands out of the Fed pocketbook.

[joan]

Speaking of 'Big Pharma', I saw some footage of that Shkreli before or during or after his latest hearings, and I do believe the man is insane. Certifiably. The expressions that flitted across his face were bizarre. Creepy.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Hey Mantis; that constitution thingy is like a hunnerd years old or somethin. Woke up.

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

Thanks for all your car input on the prior thread. My Mercedes is a 2013, paid for, with only 30k miles on it, because I travel by golf cart. It sounds like I should keep it. Hell when I got the oil changed last month, it was so few miles they didn't even charge me for it.

I dunno.

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

Loving the JOM pix!

[Jim Eagle]

Laugh of the day:

Over on FB, I saw a post from ChaCo forwarding another post that quoted someone (was it reddit?) [that] "they should start a KickStarter fund to see if they can get Gilbert Gottfried to do an audio book of 'What Happened'!"

I'd pay premium money to help and even more for the book.

[sbw]

Democrats are not interested in budgets or managing care. Their goal, as with Social Security, is to be the party of More

That observation deserves to be repeated. And repeated.

[GUS]

Bernie Sanders has ALWAYS been an ECONOMIC GENIUS. And his "fetching" Heh heh wife, is as well.
I'm going with Bernie on this one. What could go wrong!!!

Jane, keep the car it's paid and it's still worth a lot. 30k on a 2013?? It's certainly worth a ton.

[hoyden]

"Budget??!!! We don't need no stinking budget!"

I've too requested FB JOM.

[Clarice Feldman]

Math is patriarchal. Stamp it out now!!

[Clarice Feldman]

Daddy--https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-working-toward-renewed-drilling-in-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge/2017/09/15/bfa5765e-97ea-11e7-87fc-c3f7ee4035c9_story.html?utm_term=.7b2158805db8

[JimNorCal]

peter: "that was the beauty of having a drink with Tom Maguire. While he had a drink in his hand, we did not have to worry that there would be a new thread. You're welcome."

Heh

[Porchlight]

Hi all! Wonderful time last night. Too short! But thank you so much to everyone, especially TM. I'm being rushed out the door - more later!

[Captain Hate]

Jane, keep the car it's paid and it's still worth a lot. 30k on a 2013?? It's certainly worth a ton.

Yes to this. You're putting the right amount of miles on it to keep it in good running shape (cars, after all, were made to be driven and you can put too few miles on them) without depreciating this.

Have any of you been added by someone on Zuckerberg to a group (I'm not talking about JOM here; rather some clowns who used to program for Crewe's radio station) that includes some annoying idiots who just won't STFU about stupid minutiae? First of all, you have to go into the preferences and just terminate the notifications for that group. Second, I'm just gonna send out a general blast to put everyone on notice to stop being bugfucking idiots and learn some sense of restraint.

[Stephanie Nene Not your normal Grandma]

All requests have been approved. Hope no trolls rolled in - it is kinda hard to match names to JOM ids. If they did, we can always boot em.

Off for a day of shopping with my filthy lucre from the casino.

[JM Hanes]

My original comment will probably show up as soon as I post the repeat, but I think TPad is doing its link rejection dance. In fact, I'm kind of hoping that's the case, because I've been wondering if creating a tiny url could solve that problem when it arises.

sbw:

Enjoyed the extra time over a terrific dinner! In case it wasn't already obvious to everybody here, sbw is definitely a big picture thinker. And an optimist.

Further to the discussion of historiography, here's the piece on accuracy in the historical dramas (sageuks) which are immensely popular in Korea, I mentioned last night. It's a 'splainer for non-native "Kdrama" fans, so it's more saguek-for-dummies than academics, but along the way, the author makes a couple of fascinating points about what happens in the absence of broadly agreed upon historical narratives:

What's Up with Historial Kdramas?

Such a consensus could be something as simple as "American independence was good," or "Slavery is bad."

Sometimes a consensus may be in need of correction, of course, but it seems to me that here in the States we've been seeing a deliberate, sustained assault on the consensus from the left.

[maryrose]

I don't do Facebook but would love to see the NYC meet up photo.
Since my other request was rejected,I hope this one will be a go.

[JM Hanes]

Ha, it worked! Take that TypePad! Keep tiny urls in mind next time you can't seem to post a link.

[rse]

Jane-

For the next 6-9 months at least the used car market will be playing the game of how do we obscure the reality of a flood damaged car and try to sell it in after market, usually in another state. Unless you were going new for the infinity, why trade a car with a known repair history for a car that may have a history someone has been trying to hide.

I love driving cars forever and you have something you know is safe. We have been visiting this issue recently as it is not clear red's car can be repaired beyond the cosmetic.

I think the driver's insurance company, having accepted liability, freaked at the idea of structural damage. Instead, we got a car back with a still broken strut and a gashed tire and no one wanting to talk to us.

[lyle]

Never entrust anything important bidness-wise to a music major. Sheesh, everyone knows that!

Envious of the NYC mondo JOM mash. Doubtlessly the collective IQ of the bar went up an order of magnitude with this crew representin'.

Sidebar to Beasts: Jalen will be chillin' on the sidelines early third quarter with a four/five TD lead over CSU.

Didn't I read something here over the years that Krugman's wife ghostwrites his bitter insane screeds?

[JM Hanes]

maryrose:

Alas, I'm afraid you'll have to add another disappointment to your list. When Facebook took over the world, I finally gave up on keeping my face off the web completely, after years of religiously scrubbing everything I did on the net of identifying features. Even though FB is not exactly a secret hideaway, I do still try to limit my exposure to at least nominally private venues, so I asked our photographers not to post the photos here at JOM, itself, and they graciously consented. Perhaps someone could email a photo to you, if they have your address.

[maryrose]

So glad to hear about the Arctic drilling Clarice!

[maryrose]

JMH:
I will have an email address at the end of October and will make my request then.Glad everyone had a great time!

[-peter]

Jane as a life long gear head, my only suggestion about that car is that the mechanicals will be in excellent shape long after the body begins to rust. Hire a car savvy guy to go over all the nooks and crannies with rust preventative once a year--

[JimNorCal]

Maryrose: "I will have an email address at the end of October"

If this private/personal no need to respond. But that's an intriguing statement in this day and age. Why not go to yahoo dot com or hotmail or gmail and get an email address? Use it for photo transfer, only expose the name to a select few and discard it when you get your "real" one?

[-peter]

JMHanes, I know that sbw highly recommended a book called The Virginian. What was the name of the book you recommended?

[rse]

http://www.instyle.com/news/melania-trump-monique-lhuillier-white-house-dinner is for mm.

I had never heard of this designer, but she did a fragrance for a california company that does lovely soaps, distillers, and other lovelies. red had to tell me who she was and why her fragrance went for a further premium. The company is called agraria if anyone wants a little touch of extravagance at a far lighter price.

A Tasselaire--that's the ticket.

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Steph - I just put in a request to join FB page too - my initials are KL (just so you know its me)😀

[JM Hanes]

-peter:

It was actually Captain Hate's recommendation (more on that to follow later CH!) and it was terrific: The Great Upheaval by Jay Winik

OK, One last time-sensitive bit, before TM's Jennifer Lawrence thread disappears in the rearview mirror completely, and then I've got to scoot. Every couple of years my daughter cuts my hair for me, because I just hate going to salons. We somehow never got around to it on our recent Scottish road trip, and in a spate of fed-up-with-it-ness, I put my hair into a ponytail, and just sliced a couple inches of it off — resulting in The Worst Haircut of All Time. Feeling not unlike -peter, I decided to bite the bullet and see if the salon three doors down from my hotel could do a major rehab before Friday night. My daughter texted me a photo, told me to show it to the stylist on my phone and tell her to cut my hair exactly like this (which also explains the entire raison d'etre of this post):

The stylist actually came pretty darn close! All l I need to complete the J Law look is plastic surgery.

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

Thanks Peter, I will rethink.

[lyle]

I'm no mathematician, Jane, but it appears you're only putting ~7500 miles/year on the Benz. At that rate it could outlive a lot of people. No you, of course but a lot...😎

[maryrose]

Jim/Nor/Cal:
This is the only blog I post on.
I really don't want to engage in an email thing because I won't use it.
It is the school one where I can delete immediately I will use.
I am also careful about messages.
The Great Upheaval is my next book
Off to watch some college football.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Daughter texted me from the airport that she had made a mistake and had taken too much cash out of her account for her trip. So, I had to take $50 down to the closest open credit union branch, which is, of course, almost 15 miles away.

Aaaand my car is starting to overheat, but not uniformly. It will heat up more going up hill than down, go down to normal if I stop or if I go over bumps, and generally bounces around between normal and "radiator in danger of explosion."

SO, my question is does this sound like I need more coolant or do you guys think I need the radiator flushed? I hadn't noticed it doing this before because I only make short trips to the grocery or drugstore, usually no more than 1 mile.

Thank goodness we didn't take the Jeep to the airport! I might have found myself on the side of I-70 at 6:00 AM!

[-peter]

jmh, I think you look lovely -- and more brains in the last knuckle of your pinkie than J Law could hope to ever have in her entire head

[JM Hanes]

Thank you, peter, you're too kind. I really enjoyed meeting you last night! I'll be back in New York next March, although I suppose it's a little early to start a new countdown....

I seem to be having trouble getting out the door this morning afternoon, but it's another beautiful day in NY, so off I go.

[-peter]

yesterday I thanked our blog host in person for reading the failing New York Times for us on many occasions, but Mrs. -peter does subscribe to the weekender, and I couldn't help picking up the travel section. There is an article that is so unself-consciously self parodying, (IYKWIM) that I at first assumed it was written by David Brooks, but it's not. It's not online yet, but it will be soon: "Portland's Cheap Charms, Altered and Otherwise" in which the author, Lucas Peterson, goes to a medical marijuana dispensary and buys pot and samples it while staying in a cheap place he found on air bnb.

[asw]

Many thanks for the vicarious night on the town! Much fun to hear about and to see some faces too.

[Jane (Stand against the Coup)]

Lyle, I'm actually putting a lot less miles. That number includes 3 trips up north and back and it had 12k on it when I bought it. I doubt I put 2k miles on it last year and don't expect much more this year.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/interiors-ryan-zinke-issues-order-to-boost-hunting-fishing-in-parks-and-monuments/article/2634570

[-peter]

Miss Marple, checking your coolant level should be something you should know how to do, and it is easy. There should be an overflow plastic reservoir, and there should be markers on the side that show full hot and full cold. Check the coolant level when the car has been off for several hours and add coolant up to the level of the full cold level. If you keep driving around with the temperature fluctuating like that you risk major expensive engine damage, as I learned several years ago when I damaged the engine on my MG. Also learn to check your oil level, also easy. Also done when engine has been left shut off for several hours. See LUN

[maryrose]

JMH:
That is a cute hairstyle.

[JimNorCal]

What? Eh? Could you repeat that, didn't hear that clearly ...
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/gop-senators-urge-trump-expel-cuban-diplomats-u-s-threaten-shutter-embassy/

[Jim Eagle]

Jane, we owned 3 BMW X-5's from year to year over a 9 years and when we traded the last one in for our MB SUV the difference was automatic. I have a neighbor here who has a 1975 MB 280C he brought brand new and now has 375K miles on it - same engine, same drive shaft, same transmission, on its 4th battery. Only parts he has had to replace are the battery and the wiper blades.

Amazing car.

[JimNorCal]

Thanks, maryrose!

[narciso]

So a neighbor took us on the moose for lunch, and when I came back I had power.

[maryrose]

MM:
Check fan belt also.
Go to a gas station and they will put more water in or tell you if you need a new radiator.

[maryrose]

Narciso:
That is wonderful!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Thanks, peter!

I used to know how to do this years ago when I had an old Datsun. I got sopiled have a local garage near me where I took the car regularly. Can't do that anymore so need to have info on stuff I can do myself.

I will check it in a few hours, now that I am home. Will check the oil, too.

Much appreciated!

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

maryrose,

I am in the part of the world where gas stations are "fill it yourself." There are no mechanics at any gas stations here.

And if I need a new radiator I will be walking.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://nypost.com/2017/09/16/the-day-that-destroyed-the-working-class-and-sowed-the-seeds-for-trump/

[rich]

sounds like the thermostat is starting to fail (or maybe the water pump).

this looks like a question for Threadkiller though.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://cbs4indy.com/2017/09/16/pence-family-announce-childrens-book-about-their-bunny-marlon-bundo/

[Sue]

MM,

Do you have O'Reilly's in your area? If so, go there, bat your eyelashes, plead ignorance, and some guy working behind the counter will check your coolant and oil. Don't ask me how I know.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Guys, thanks for the advice.

Sue, no O'Reilly's here, as far as I know.

I have been up since 4 AM. Going to take a short nap.

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of cars, a member of my book group picked up a '99 Vette with 30k miles for $17k. That sounded unpossible to me unless that was a real dog year for Corvettes. Looking at internet pictures that's a lot nicer model than some of those late 70s/early 80s low compression hogs that were, admittedly, still fun to drive. Anybody got a clue on that?

JMH, I anxiously await further word on the book and am very happy it clicked with you and others.

[Sue]

Seriously, I have no idea why their ratings might be slipping...

Fox, CBS and Comcast signed a $27 billion deal with the NFL for the right to broadcast games through 2022. ESPN reportedly pays $1.9 billion per year for the rights to "Monday Night Football," a 73 percent increase over the previous contract. NBC and CBS signed a $900 million deal in 2016 for the rights to broadcast Thursday night games.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sliding-nfl-ratings-could-throw-networks-for-a-loss/

[Captain Hate]

Too bad some of the Goodell defenders are no longer here. The enneffell is what you'd have for the country with a Curb Dive presidency.

[-peter]

Auto Zone also very good at helping out the non- mechanical

[Clarice Feldman]

rse--that designer did my DiL's wedding dress--it was gorgeous but so is she.

[Tonto]

Finally reunited with my computer in East Hampton and want to say the meet up was tremendous fun! Just a terrific group -- everyone as good in person as on the page. And that's saying a bunch. So sorry we had to leave early, but as it is we didn't reach EH until 11:00.

Thank you all -- especially, of course, TM for making us possible.

[narciso.]

And events serum to be churning in bRcelona

[Sue]

OMG, I speak Narciso. ::grin:: I'm so glad you weathered Irma and have power.

[Jim Eagle]

I second -peter on Auto Zone.

Selena Zito is single handedly reminding me of what real journalism is and is a fabulous word smith. Her articles about the people of Trumpland have been full of insight into his attraction. She called his election way before anyone else. She knew.

[narciso.]

Exactly job there isn't a reporter like a teddy white worth their salt at a major outlet, who had some sense of the underlying conditions.

[Ralph L]

I want to know how to eat on the moose, too.

I thought J Law was Jude Law, didn't realize we were talking about boobs.

Yuge depreciation on luxury cars in the first two years. That's why people lease, but if you seldom drive, that's way too expensive, just maintain what you have.

Drive your car enough around town so you know it'll handle long trips. Sitting for long periods isn't good for the mechanicals or the tires.

[Captain Hate]

I thought J Law was Jude Law

I was confused that way too until I clicked the link.

[Catsmeat]

Thanks, Steph re Facebook--and I got your notice so you can know that really was the real McCoy Catsmeat. I won't post but I'll enjoy the pictures/notices etc.

sbw is right that The Virginian is a wonderful book--though it isn't very nice about Mormons (treats them about as well as Conan Doyle does in A Study in Scarlet).

[daddy]

Good Morning!

Don Surber: End nears for Hillary's Russian excuse

In short, the president will pardon Assange if Assange names the DNC staffer who leaked the emails that showed the Democrats were in cahoots with the media -- or produces the thumbnail drive used to leak the emails.

This is where Bradley (aka Chelsea) Manning comes into play.

In granting clemency to a spy who leaked military secrets, Barack Obama enabled President Trump to pardon a man who leaked political information.

You see how that works?

Assange for Harvard Fellow!

[Captain Hate]

Even the Restraining Order is slamming Equifax while begging for money.

[narciso.]

Things we already knew but others were not informed:

https://mobile.twitter.com/Debradelai/status/909012505753767937?p=v

[Jim Eagle]

I think naricso's use of "moose" was the Moose Family Club where he lives in Florida.

For those here who enjoy Royal intrigue, there is a lot of it going on right now between Buckingham Palace and Clarance House (prince chuckles). Looks like Chuckles convinced his mom to fire her private secretary.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/royal-investigation-prince-charles-spoke-to-queen-and-said-your-man-must-go-c6wsbhl76

[narciso.]

Yes that's it, our neighbor treated us.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

-- I doubt I put 2k miles on it last year and don't expect much more this year.--

Sounds like you ought to be looking into an Infiniti or Merc golf cart instead of a car.
Does Bentley make a golf cart?

[narciso.]

Interesting jm, yes Korea was that very feudAL regime before the soviet occupation, a seemingly Poe soil for Marxism, some like Bruce comings are ridiculously enchanted tied to the land reform aspects of juche ideology the late chalmers Johnson was the same way.

[Captain Hate]

The only reason I don't call Chuckles Prince Jarles is that, unlike Bike Boy, the big eared goof has found two Golddiggers members of the opposite sex willing to put up with him, at least temporarily.

[narciso.]

I think he misses the point at the end

www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/245049/bush-obama-trump-foreign-policy-disasters

[Ralph L]

Bike Boy?

[Captain Hate]

Bike Boy?

Charles Johnson, chief lunatic of the Little Green Footballs blog.

[GUS]

Not to be confused with Cahlres Pooterico.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Granddaughter stopped by on a road trip from Depauw, courtesy of two guys who are music education majors. My suspicions are they are not interested in her.

One guy was from Birmingham, England and seemed to be possibly descended from Jamaican or some other island immigrants, based on his accent.

They are going to tour the exotic city of Indianapolis and then go to Jockomo's pizza, which is an all-organic, all local sources pizzeria. (Even the pepperoni is made here locally.)

Granddaughter tells me she is taking a course in how terrorism is treated in movies. Hopefully, this isn't going to be a study about Islamaphobia, since the woman teaching it used to work for the Pentagon. (If it IS, however, I will have a clue on what is wrong with portions of our military.)

[daddy]

In a quirky local story discussing starvation in Venezuela and highlighting Maduro's plan to force his citizens to raise Rabbits for food, a link is provided to a nice quote from Bernie Sanders in 2011:

These days, the American dream is more apt to be realized in South America, in places such as Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina, where incomes are actually more equal today than they are in the land of Horatio Alger. Who's the banana republic now?

I don't know Bernie, you tell us.

The story is interesting in that apparently rabbits have little fat on them and the author describes a few Alaska expeditions in the late 1800's where men tried to survive on rabbits and wound up starving, since rabbits are apparently too lean. Eat more blubber appears to be the solution to staying healthy up here.

[maryrose]

Here I thought you had the house to yourself MM. Go Tennessee!
Sorry RG.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

I hope the Queen lives as long as her mother. The elevation of Chuckles to the throne will unleash political comments on issues like the environment only worse than Pope Che.

[maryrose]

Daddy:
They would be better off growing a vegetable garden.

[maryrose]

Prince Charles will not be King.
He will defer to William

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

maryrose,

Mostly, yes. Actually, she called ahead which was very considerate, since I was sound asleep!

She also is looking to get an internship in political science and said her professors would help her make connections.

I told her that I would be happy to help bu unfortunately, any connections I had would not probably be people she wanted to work for. (She is the very liberal democrat in the family.)

[GUS]

Incomes more EQUAL. Yes NOTHING FROM NOTHING FROM NOTHING LEAVES NOTHING.

Think of the aject STUPIDITY of Bernie Sanders statement. Hard to wrap your brain around it.

[Captain Hate]

Just remember, Teh Bern is the smart one. Well he got a third house from Curb Dive so anytime you're running a positive balance in the net cash account with the Crime Foundation and you're not a family member, you're in exclusive company.

[Jim Eagle]

two guys who are music education majors.

MM,

Do they know they are qualified to be head of security at Equifax?

[Ralph L]

JiB, You'll never read it in the Daily Mail.
(obscure Ronald Colman reference)

[daddy]

JMH,

Really enjoyed your 11:53 on the lack of a unified view by Koreans of Korean History. Fascinating!