No One Cares Because Nothing Matters Anymore

[Shirley]

NPR story reports roughly 100 million Americans are in medical debt

Among those, 61% were insured.

Only "100,000,000"? Well, they were probably going to be in debt, anyway!

Oh, and

Take it to the:

No, really, just because we tried for a decade to repeal the Affordable Care Act and end health care for millions of Americans and promised to replace it with something "better' but never did;

and just because republicans have tried to slash funding for Medicaid;

and just because millions of Americans go without health care because they live in states where republican governors have chosen not to make Medicaid available, resulting in the closure of many rural hospitals with many more to come, forcing residents to travel many more miles for health care than they wouldn't have had to otherwise;

and just because

3/24/2017 The Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of maternity benefits in the insurance marketplace appears in doubt after a group of hardline conservatives demanded that the Republican repeal plan do away with mandated essential benefits...

and just because

Mar 28, 2023 193 House Republicans voted against the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which provides over $2.35 billion to expand vital school mental health services and improve learning... environments.


that doesn't mean republicans want Americans to have to pay for their own health care or go without it!

Really!

Thread.


#bothsidedoitdammit

[ousdahl]

Yea!

Cuz the moment dems get in control they’ll like totally get us universal healthcare like the rest of the developed world, right!



…right?

[Shirley]

Yea!

Cuz the moment dems get in control they’ll like totally get us universal healthcare like the rest of the developed world, right!



…right?

You can't help but say stupid shit, can you?

#sad

[ousdahl]

Jesus

Actually, the stupid shit is, thinking issues like this are simply partisan.

But keep boogeymanning pubs and acting like dems are any solution at all.

#reallysad

[Shirley]

Senator Bob Menendez indicted.

As much smoke as there has been, it would be amazing if there wasn't a whole lot of fire there.

And if he's guilty, off with his head.

[Shirley]

If true, and it's hard to believe it isn't, what a scum bag:

Sen. Bob Menendez and wife indicted on bribery charges; DOJ seizes gold bars and $500,000

(Disclaimer: We aren’t going to have rallies, protests and GoFundMe legal defense fund pages for Bob Menendez. We aren’t going to sell ‘Free Bob’ hats and shirts. We aren’t going to make rap videos for him. We aren’t going to try and defund the prosecutor.

Because, we aren’t Republicans.)



New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was charged on Friday with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment.

Prosecutors allege the bribes included gold, cash, home mortgage payments, compensation for a “low-or-no-show job” and a luxury vehicle.

This is the second set of corruption charges levied against Menendez by the Justice Department in a decade. He previously fought off conspiracy, bribery and honest services fraud related to alleged personal favors.

Menendez is up for reelection next year. He has been in the Senate since 2006.

Senate Democratic Caucus rules will force Menendez to step aside as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but he can still serve on the panel.

Menendez slammed the indictment in a statement.

...In the indictment, prosecutors accuse Menendez of trying to sway the president’s choice of the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey to benefit one of the business associates and to pressure the Department of Agriculture to protect a business monopoly another contact had from Egypt.

The Department of Agriculture in 2019 had contacted Egypt to object to it giving Menendez’s contact, Hana, monopoly rights related to supplying halal meat to the US.

Yet Hana met Menendez in his office along with others, including an Egyptian intelligence official, in May 2019, asking for help fending off the US agency’s opposition. The group went to a Washington, DC, steakhouse for dinner that evening, the indictment said.

Two days later, Menendez allegedly called an Agriculture Department official, asking them to stop opposing Hana’s venture.

“When Official-1 attempted to explain why the monopoly was detrimental to U.S. interests, MENENDEZ reiterated his demand, in sum and substance, that the USDA stop interfering with IS EG Halal’s monopoly. Official-1 did not accede to MENENDEZ’s demand, but IS EG Halal nevertheless kept its monopoly,” the indictment said.

Searches turned up $500,000 in cash and more

According to the indictment, searches of Menendez’ home and safe deposit box that federal agents conducted in 2022 turned up nearly $500,000 in cash, including in envelopes inside jackets emblazoned with Menendez’s name.

Prosecutors say some of the envelopes had the fingerprints or DNA of one of the business contacts from whom the senator is accused of taking bribes.

The federal investigators who searched Menendez’s home also found a “luxury vehicle paid for by [Jose] Uribe parked in the garage,” as well as home furnishings from other business contacts and gold bars.

[...]

[Shirley]

BTW, changing the dress code in the senate is beyond dum. smh

That being said, seeing some senators get worked up about that but not losing a minutes sleep about plunging millions of kids into poverty by not extending the child tax credit recently is many orders of magnitude worse.

[mjl2]

The fact that they are wasting time debating it is dumb. But I am all for getting with the times and getting rid of it. I say this while sitting in an office in shorts, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap. And it's not just Fridays.

If anything, the suits are unbefitting of their behavior.

[Shirley]

The fact that they are wasting time debating it is dumb. But I am all for getting with the times and getting rid of it. I say this while sitting in an office in shorts, a T-shirt, and a baseball cap. And it's not just Fridays.

If anything, the suits are unbefitting of their behavior.

Sadly, if they weren't wearing "suits", it would be foolish not to expect their "behavior" to worsen.

And, if what you wear doesn't matter, why is the relaxing of the dress code causing the reaction it is?

If what we wear doesn't matter, why do our republican friends get so upset when "Drag Queens" dress up as women?

Deny it if you want, but people act better, when they dress better.

The psychology of clothing taps into culture, symbolism, neuroscience, sexuality and many more aspects of the human experience. Fashion and clothing influences behavior in multiple ways; our perception of ourselves, how others react to us, our confidence and self-esteem.

The psychology of clothing also touches upon notions of self and identity including;

conformity: do you dress to fit in with social norms or to resist and challenge the status quo?

self-expression: are your clothes a signal to others about your values and beliefs?

cultural identity: do you choose what to wear as an expression of your cultural identity?

gender roles: do your clothes reinforce traditional gender roles and expectations, or do they challenge and subvert them?

Science even has a name for these phenomena. It’s called “enclothed cognition” and it describes how the clothes we wear affect our behavior, attitudes, personality, mood, confidence, and even the way we interact with others.

[mjl2]

Whatever they're doing now isn't working that great. I'm all for trying something different.

[DCHawk1]

LOL.

It's absolutely NOT about the dress code.

It's about the lengths "they" (Ds, in this case, but Rs in other cases, I'm sure) will go to avoid admitting that they were dishonest and deceptive.

[JKLivin]

Whatever they're doing now isn't working that great. I'm all for trying something different.

I say fire them all and start over again with honest men and women.

[mjl2]

I'm speaking less to the reasons being given and the onus of this than I am my personal distaste for dress codes.

[DCHawk1]

I'm speaking less to the reasons being given and the onus of this than I am my personal distaste for dress codes.

But then...you've had the good sense not to degrade yourself by serving in the Senate.

[dolomite]

If true, and it's hard to believe it isn't, what a scum bag:

Sen. Bob Menendez and wife indicted on bribery charges; DOJ seizes gold bars and $500,000

(Disclaimer: We aren’t going to have rallies, protests and GoFundMe legal defense fund pages for Bob Menendez. We aren’t going to sell ‘Free Bob’ hats and shirts. We aren’t going to make rap videos for him. We aren’t going to try and defund the prosecutor.

Because, we aren’t Republicans.)



New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez was charged on Friday with corruption-related offenses for the second time in 10 years.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence, according to the newly unsealed federal indictment.

Prosecutors allege the bribes included gold, cash, home mortgage payments, compensation for a “low-or-no-show job” and a luxury vehicle.

This is the second set of corruption charges levied against Menendez by the Justice Department in a decade. He previously fought off conspiracy, bribery and honest services fraud related to alleged personal favors.

Menendez is up for reelection next year. He has been in the Senate since 2006.

Senate Democratic Caucus rules will force Menendez to step aside as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, but he can still serve on the panel.

Menendez slammed the indictment in a statement.

...In the indictment, prosecutors accuse Menendez of trying to sway the president’s choice of the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey to benefit one of the business associates and to pressure the Department of Agriculture to protect a business monopoly another contact had from Egypt.

The Department of Agriculture in 2019 had contacted Egypt to object to it giving Menendez’s contact, Hana, monopoly rights related to supplying halal meat to the US.

Yet Hana met Menendez in his office along with others, including an Egyptian intelligence official, in May 2019, asking for help fending off the US agency’s opposition. The group went to a Washington, DC, steakhouse for dinner that evening, the indictment said.

Two days later, Menendez allegedly called an Agriculture Department official, asking them to stop opposing Hana’s venture.

“When Official-1 attempted to explain why the monopoly was detrimental to U.S. interests, MENENDEZ reiterated his demand, in sum and substance, that the USDA stop interfering with IS EG Halal’s monopoly. Official-1 did not accede to MENENDEZ’s demand, but IS EG Halal nevertheless kept its monopoly,” the indictment said.

Searches turned up $500,000 in cash and more

According to the indictment, searches of Menendez’ home and safe deposit box that federal agents conducted in 2022 turned up nearly $500,000 in cash, including in envelopes inside jackets emblazoned with Menendez’s name.

Prosecutors say some of the envelopes had the fingerprints or DNA of one of the business contacts from whom the senator is accused of taking bribes.

The federal investigators who searched Menendez’s home also found a “luxury vehicle paid for by [Jose] Uribe parked in the garage,” as well as home furnishings from other business contacts and gold bars.

[...]

Mendez saying he’s being prosecuted because he’s Latino. Lame

[Shirley]

I'm speaking less to the reasons being given and the onus of this than I am my personal distaste for dress codes.

I'm definitely on the casual side of the spectrum too, but...

As a freshman med student I once asked an MD, a professor of medical history at KU, if it wouldn't be better if we dressed more casually so our patients could relate to us more easily than if we wore sport coats and ties, &/or long white lab coats. This was 40 years ago, which means he trained in the '50s, I think. Times were definitely different, but I think it still applies. I never forgot his answer, because it informed me in ways much broader than attire.

Paraphrasing:

When patients come to see us, it's because they have a problem, and they want our help. They are also likely scared, and vulnerable. They're coming to see us for something they can't find anywhere else, and it's our responsibility to help them as much as possible. There's no question that a patient who has confidence in their physician and treatment is much more likely to do well than a patient who doesn't. So, it helps them feel more confidant in us if they look up to us. And, like it or not, if we look just like them, we miss the opportunity to set ourselves apart, which means we've missed an opportunity for them to feel more confident in us, and ultimately get better.

It convinced me. But I couldn't and can't stand to wear ties, so I tended towards scrubs and a long white lab coat, because I'm too cheap to want to pay dry cleaning bills if I don't have to.

[mjl2]

Ok, I get it in that case.
Senators - they should dress like parents watching a little league game. It fits what we expect, and how they behave.

[ousdahl]

[ousdahl]

and the interesting thing about that image is, that's the exact same face Mitch made when asked if he'd run for reelection.

[Shirley]

Ok, I get it in that case.
Senators - they should dress like parents watching a little league game. It fits what we expect, and how they behave.

Except, if they dress more casually, we can expect their behavior to degrade.