TheProgressiveLiberal

The only people I met in real life who were excited / inspired by Clinton fell into two groups. Very high IQ female professionals with 0 - .5 kids who kind of hate men. Gay dudes. Those are both pretty low % of the population. Trump excited 95-105 IQ white guys working average jobs and most of the wives of those types. Obama was obviously inspiring to large groups of people. Clinton is just a horrible politician. Words are defined by their meanings to people. Most people would consider personal discrimination without basis because of race or belief that average racial differences arise from biological differences rather than cultural differences to racist. The vast majority do not consider it racist to stereotype foreigners or to restrict immigration. I know lots of people live in a bubble where words have different means, but that doesn't mean the greater society is obligated to share in their delusions.

Don't let them call you racist. They are the ones with odd opinions about what defines racism. Call them out on it. Recent survey data asked people in 18 countries if they thought ethnically motivated immigration restriction should be considered racist. "A (member of the ethnic majority) who identified with her group and its history supports a proposal to reduce immigration. Her motivation is to maintain her group's share of the population for cultural reasons. Is this person a) racist, b) racially self-interested, which is not racist, c) don't know." White American was used for the US, Hindu for India, Xhosa for South Africa, White Briton for the UK, etc. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/antiracism-norms-and-immigration/

Look at the immigration issue. According to Harvard, 96% of the media coverage has a negative tone. Illegal crossings are way down. The vast majority of the country is against illegal immigration. Even his more controversial policies, like the so-called Muslim ban, have solid support. How is it possible that the main media companies have only covered this issue with a positive tone 4% of the time? He's been successful and his policies are broadly popular. The answer of course is that most of the mainstream press views it as their job to oppose Trump. That's fine, but don't claim to be something you're not and don't get on your high horse when he hits back.

https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-donald-trumps-first-100-days/ First image again:

Harvard study of media coverage during Trump's first 100 days.

Well, if this is anywhere near correct and these views hold, multiculturalism is going to end up a long term disaster for democracy. Polling of 14-18 year olds here. I have read a couple articles about the support Trump enjoys among white boys across America. Apparently MAGA hats are great sellers on middle school trips to DC. Tales abound of horrified parents in rich areas of the country watching as a diverse group of kids pour out of the school bus and every single white boy has the red hat on.

Don't disagree, but just so we are clear on how much the US government already spends on health care compared to that $618.8 billion on military: Medicare - $590 billion Medicaid - $385 billion Obamacare subsidies - $51 billion Children's Health Insurance Program - $15 billion This is according to the Congressional Budget Office website. Couldn't find the exact cost of Veteran's health care, but it looks like it's somewhere around $60-70 billion.

Awhile back I read an article in National Review which said that both Obamacare and the Republican plan were trying to copy the Swiss healthcare model. I remember when Obamacare was passed this was a topic often brought up. The Swiss had recently shifted from a non-universal system to a system where everyone was forced by law to purchase approved insurance from private companies, and subsidies would be available for certain income levels. I assume they already had government programs for the elderly, disabled, and poor, like the US. Reports said that everyone there loved their program. Even the conservatives who opposed it were now in agreement that is was great. The NR article said that the reason the Swiss model will never work in the US is that in Switzerland everyone deals personally with their insurance company. The employer based model in the US would have to be removed, which would basically require making it illegal for an employer to directly provide insurance. (The US employer model is an accidental result of companies trying to get around New Deal regulations regarding wage ceilings during the Great Depression.) Realistically, almost no politician on either side is going to go near removing employer based health care. The fact is that while Americans might bitch about our overall system, when asked if they like their personal health care coverage Americans give high marks compared to most other countries. I'm not sure how you go about rationally fixing the health care problems we have, but I do believe that getting rid of employer based care would probably be included. The best we can realistically hope for is probably something like splitting Obamacare in two with one group of healthy people and one group of people with preexisting or chronic conditions who can be subsidized out of general taxes. The problem is that would require raising taxes generally rather than just making insurance companies jack up prices on the healthy group. Not sure the politicians are going to go for that.

I'm not an expert on what the failed Congressional Republican plan would have done. Before Obamacare it was easy for children or the disabled to get on Medicaid. For an able bodied adult you had to be dirt poor. Obamacare gave states the option to extend coverage to able bodied adults up to 138% of the poverty line. My state did this. I personally know of three people who've recently told me they would lose their health insurance if the Republican bill had passed. 1. My girlfriend is on Medicaid because of the expansion. A repeal of Obamacare would not affect her kids. She has a preference to flexible hours which allow her to be a mother first rather than taking a job which would provide health insurance. In addition, when she worked in nursing homes previously she hated it. She prefers working with sick children. She isn't sick and her normal interaction with the medical system is a yearly checkup. She didn't vote and doesn't really care about politics. She'd have voted Trump if forced to choose. 2. I have a coworker delivery driver at the Chinese place. He needs a second part time job with flexible hours because he's a dj and has events around the middle east coast. He's in his early 30s. I'm pretty sure he makes over the Medicaid amount, but lies about his income. I have no idea how much he makes as a dj, but it it's so little that he can't get over the limit based on what I know he makes at his other job then he needs to do something that makes more money with his time. I think he takes prescription meds for mental health issues. He voted for Trump and is a conspiracy theorist type. 3. The girlfriend of a buddy of mine was worried that she'd lose the coverage she gets from her parents. Obamacare extended the time you could stay on your parents insurance to 26. She's 20. She is not in school and works 30 hours per week at a bookstore because that's a job where she can go to work stoned. I have zero insight into her health situation. She likes Bernie and voted for Hillary. I can't say for sure if any of these people are correct in saying they'd lose coverage, but I'm just relaying stories to give you a feel for the type of people I know who think they might be hurt and the positions they are in. I do know that some of the scaremongering facts about people losing coverage are inflated because they include people who would willingly stop purchasing insurance even though they have the money to pay. Whether you think it's ok for people to make this choice is a matter of debate, but I think we should agree that they shouldn't be included in the number that gets thrown around regarding who would be hurt by the Republican plan.

You said you wished there was an American here to answer questions about health care. I'm not an expert, but having seen some of the comments in this thread there seems to be massive confusion. I think I recall Granny saying that the top 1% use a ridiculously high % of our health care spending, but he thought that meant the top 1% of our rich instead of the top 1% of healthcare consumers. Amazing nobody questioned his outlandish numbers. People here keep bringing up child mortality, as if that's an indictment of our healthcare system rather than our culture and poor parents. Existing, pre-Obamacare programs cover the bottom 39% of minors in the US. Almost half of all pregnancies are covered by the government. So who's dying because the government isn't providing care? You mentioned knowing someone who ended up with a large bill because their kid broke an arm. My girlfriend's daughter just broke her arm at school a few months ago. My girlfriend is a home care nurse and doesn't have private health insurance, but her daughter was covered by Medicaid and there were zero bills. I can't remember the exact income levels, but I think she can make up to around $25k before she'd have to pay a dime for her kids health care. Above that there's another program that helps with bills up to an income somewhere in the 40-50k range. That's for a single parent with two kids.

The polls which have been completed show him . . . My sisters are hotter than any of my cousins.

Hey, a British person doesn't think Americans should be able to own guns or vote. And his Dudley Do-Right Canadian sidekick is cheering him own. Shocking set of opinions!

Forgot to bring up the Kid Rock Senate candidacy. Have y'all heard about that? Polling shows him a complete lock for the Republican nomination if he runs, and he's competitive in general election against incumbent Democrat. The polls done show him anywhere from up 2-3% to down 8%. That should be a fun race. The mainstream media is taking it seriously. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/23/kid-rock-run-senate-serious-michigan-analysis-215408 I think it's important to take a step back and look at America's first experience with the guy who's considered a lock for a Senatorial Republican nomination in Trump's America.

Match at 16:50. Stick around to see post fight interview at 23:44.

Also, before the mafia comes for me I wanted to let you know about the best cultural phenomenon to come out of the Trump presidency. https://deadspin.com/the-progressive-liberal-is-maybe-the-perfect-wrestlin-1796426671 The "Progressive Liberal" Is Maybe The Perfect Wrestling Heel http://deadspin.com/no-one-is-pissing-off-local-wrestling-crowds-like-the-1796437497 No One Is Pissing Off Local Wrestling Crowds Like The "Progressive Liberal"

Went to the Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio last week. Fun times. First political event I've attended since my grandpa took me to see Vice President Quail during the 92 campaign. All I remember about it was being annoyed when they told me he was going to fly in on Air Force 2, and then seeing a normal looking plane. Trump is having a rally in Huntington, WV tonight. He's promoting a big announcement. The rumor is that our Democrat governor is going to join the Republican Party at the rally. 7 pm Eastern US time. Tune in to see the love of the peole.