Politics

[SaintPanzer]

I can speak for the German system: In addition to the provided care, insurance is available for those who wish. So "basic", "simple" things are provided. But if you want to pay, you have that choice, and while it doesn't change the level of care, it does have some benefits.

In Canada, you cannot purchase insurance for things that are already covered by the National Health Care. The wait list is the wait list, Covered is covered on Government terms, and the only hope to get around that is a short trip to the US. Growing up in Buffalo, I've seen a lot of Ontario plates in the hospital lots.

The problematic thing about MAID is it's starting to be provided as an "option" for things that are not life threatening (source, the Atlantic Article, as well as https://www.nationalreview.com/2022/10/maid-in-canada-the-right-to-die/, or https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-atlantic-details-the-horrors-of-canadian-euthanasia/, or here: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/canadas-euthanasia-horrors-are-accelerating/. It's the fifth leading cause of death in the Dominion (https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/euthanasia-fifth-leading-cause-of-death-in-canada/), behind Cancer, Heart Disease, COVID, and Accidents. In 2023, there were 13,341 deaths due to euthanasia. In 2024, that number will be closer to 16,000. (https://theinterim.com/issues/eutha...ata-suggests-16000-euthanasia-deaths-in-2023/). To put that in perspective, if that percentage of population were extrapolated to the US, that would be over 150,000 people.

There are things I really like about Canada. But between MAID and their even closer attachment to the CCP, well, it's kind of like watching your little brother experimenting with some of the harder drugs.

 

[Tanks]

If you make less than median wage, I'd take the UK system in a heartbeat. It won't bankrupt you, it's not going to be a major source of financial stress if you get sick, you aren't going to ignore a minor problem now over fears you can't afford it, which probably does reduce the chances of that developing into a life threatening illness later (e.g cancer screening, basic check ups for heart conditions, etc). That is a mark of a good healthcare system I would argue, and in the US, that's simply not the situation.

For me, personally, I prefer the US system. It's still pretty poor overall, but for my situation, it's a better system. If I was earning less, I prefer the UK. If my health was worse, I might consider the UK.

I went to boarding school in the UK. During that time some 50+ years ago (so, things might be different now) I remember people handcuffing themselves to hospital beds, so they'd get treated now, not months, years later.

The guy pushing Obamacare at the time is on record on a video explaining that public healthcare is rationed healthcare.

I don't want some bureaucrat to decide that I need pain management (pills) instead of a knee or hip replacement surgery.

If one has insurance then healthcare is pretty good. I had a fractured femur, and hip replacement under private insurance. Cost me about a grand I think.

I had a double hernia surgery on Medicare two years ago, cost me nothing.

 

[WAB]

Shouldn’t personal freedoms include the freedom to die as you choose?

At whose expense? Canada is so far gone down the worm hole of socialism that no one seems to connect government activity with taxpayer money anymore.

 

[spike.t]

Don't even know what to say......

 

[Altitude sickness]

I’m guessing the Bolton raid is not because he emailed someone years ago. Im guessing that it is Probable cause for a search.

I’m also guessing he has been illegally receiving and disseminating protected information.

And there are larger fish either outside the net. Or already in the net. And they are chasing down the loose threads.

 

[Red Leg]

The Pentagon has quietly revoked permission for Ukraine to use ATACMS missiles for strikes inside Russia (finally granted by the Biden administration last November). I assume it is because everything is going so swimmingly with the Russian "peace" talks. Ukraine has responded by increasing its strategic targeting using domestic long range drones against Russian oil and gas production and transport infrastructure. This has started to bite, affecting not only military operations, but also the civilian consumer where for the first time during the war, fuel rationing has been instituted.

For a period of several months, the Trump administration has pressured Ukraine to not strike such targets - I would assume because it makes Putin cranky. Apparently Ukraine has decided it is time to follow its own strategic targeting priorities. It is my understanding JD Vance is now also grumpy.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1957820809315320011

https://twitter.com/x/status/1959392798152794263

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1mysiyo/as_a_result_of_the_attack_the_gazprom_ustluga_gas

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1mypp5f/cctv_footage_of_the_attack_of_ukrainian_uavs_at

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1mvb6yw/russians_wait_in_mileslong_lines_for_gas_as_a

 

[Altitude sickness]

It’s about time. Ukraine needs to be given the ability for deep strikes on Media, Moscow, oil, electric, water, transportation.

 

[bowjijohn]

Out of curiosity I looked up the quals of the UKs deputy prime minster

The equivalent of your VP

Her highest academic achievement is an NVQ level 2 in sign language

A qualification that is quite a long way south of high school graduation

Now lots of folk overcome poor academic achievement to do well in life

She, however, has never done a days work in anything other than local authorities and party politics

Yet she is a leading intellectual light in our current Gov

God help us!

 

[steve white]

Wouldn't blowing up the pipelines in the permafrost areas be an irreparable setback for Russia to bring back online?

 

[Red Leg]

Wouldn't blowing up the pipelines in the permafrost areas be an irreparable setback for Russia to bring back online?

I'll defer to the oil refining experts in our community, but pipelines, regardless of terrain, are easier to replace than cracking units and the like often dependent on western technology. Secondly, domestically produced long range drones can reach into the Volga River basin, but not all the way to the Siberian basin. However that production is vulnerable once it reaches the Western Russian refining distribution centers.

Anton Geraschenko is a respected blogger on the Ukraine war (as opposed to many of the propagandists on both sides). He monitors the Russian Telegram channels and accounts. As noted by Geraschenko, the following was posted by a Russian analyst. It provides a surprisingly thorough review of vulnerabilities.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1959207002766221331

For those who do not access X

I've decided to translate for you a post from the Russian Telegram channel "Nezygar" about the current state of Russian refineries and fuel market:

"Tensions in Russia's fuel market are rising: in Primorye, there are kilometer-long queues at gas stations, and wholesale prices for gasoline and diesel have hit record highs. Officially, the reasons are no longer hidden - refineries are shutting down after Ukrainian strikes. During peak summer days, up to 14% of processing capacity was idle.In 2025, the tactics of Ukrainian strikes have changed. Previously, they were one-time: a unit would be damaged, the plant would reduce output, but recover within a few weeks. Now, attacks are carried out in series and repeated on the same facilities - Ryazan, Novokuibyshevsk, Syzran, Volgograd, Afipsky refineries. This prevents the restoration of primary processing and hydrocracking and catalytic cracking units. For example, after a series of attacks, Ryazan Refinery (5% of Russia's capacity) has half its processing halted, while Novokuibyshevsk Refinery (3%) has its primary processing damaged. The largest refinery in southern Russia, Volgograd's Lukoil, as well as the Samara and Syzran refineries, have stopped receiving crude.Ukraine is widely using drones with a range of 1,000-1,500 km (such as the AQ-400 produced by FirePoint), capable of reaching the Volga region. Simultaneously, drones and maritime drones are targeting export terminals - attacks on Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk have temporarily halted oil product shipments. 'Madyar' reported hitting the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies oil from Russia to its historical homeland....The choice of refineries as targets is explained by their technological vulnerability. Modern Russian refineries were built using equipment from Shell, Axens, UOP, and Haldor Topsoe - hydrocracking, catalytic reforming, isomerization, and Euro-5 component production. After 2022, deliveries of equipment, software, and catalysts ceased. Catalysts are consumables, replaced every 1-3 years; without Western supplies, Russia relies on old stock or Chinese analogs with inferior performance. Hydroprocessing reactors and compressors are manufactured in only a few countries, with delivery times up to a year.China can cover only part of the deficit: pumps, heat exchangers, and simple catalysts. However, for complex processes, its technology lags, and replacing Western components with Chinese ones requires restructuring the entire refinery unit. As a result, every Ukrainian strike on a hydrocracking or reforming unit leads to months of downtime.The map of Russian refineries reveals a key strategic problem: the main processing capacities are concentrated in the European part of the country, while fuel consumption is rising in the Far East. Fuel logistics chains to eastern regions span thousands of kilometers, creating additional costs and risks. Kilometer-long queues in Primorye are a direct consequence of this imbalance between western production and eastern consumption. Large refineries - from Kirishi to Volgograd - are within reach of Ukrainian drones. The Flamingo missile, if its specifications are confirmed, can reach Russia's largest refinery in Omsk.As the range increases, facilities previously considered out of reach are now threatened, creating a scale problem for air defense - protecting all refineries across the territory, from Kaliningrad to the Far East, is practically impossible.Consequently, Russia's oil and gas industry, once a source of economic strength, has become a vulnerable spot."

 

[Brent in Az]

D.C judge lets tbe juveniles loose, with minimal punishment, who beat DOGE's big balls
I bet if those kids would have been wearing MAGA hats, they would be sentenced to juvenile detention until reaching adulthood.
One of the big threats to this country, are these types of judges.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Sometimes this is how our Ukraine and Russia strategy appears to be devised by politicians. And the Afghanistan withdrawal. And, And——-

 

[RLD]

At whose expense? Canada is so far gone down the worm hole of socialism that no one seems to connect government activity with taxpayer money anymore.

In a "Little Sisters" sense you might be right. I get the argument, but in a taxation sense it is kind of impractical. If I as a taxpayer can pick and choose what I want my taxes to go to, the whole system would collapse under its own weight quite quickly.

But in a larger sense, that is probably wrong. MAID is quite inexpensive compared to what the care for most of these people would otherwise cost the taxpayer. One of the factors in the MAID debate is that many people argued that the reason the government was allowing it was to save money, and that was devaluing human life.

 

[Wheels]

I’m guessing the Bolton raid is not because he emailed someone years ago. Im guessing that it is Probable cause for a search.

I’m also guessing he has been illegally receiving and disseminating protected information.

And there are larger fish either outside the net. Or already in the net. And they are chasing down the loose threads.

Agree. Bolton does “consulting” for other countries. How many of those yellow pads he always Carry’s around from meetings were in his house and office, or searches he did on the computer. My guess is that the IC got word of something that precipitated the raid

 

[RLD]

In Canada, you cannot purchase insurance for things that are already covered by the National Health Care. The wait list is the wait list, Covered is covered on Government terms, and the only hope to get around that is a short trip to the US. Growing up in Buffalo, I've seen a lot of Ontario plates in the hospital lots.

This is not entirely true. The system is funded nationally, but managed provincially. In my province, Ontario, there are a number of ways to get private (sometimes insured, sometimes not) medical treatment for all sorts of issues. Personally I have used private health care from time to time, including the Cleveland Clinic's facilities in Toronto. We also have some private hospitals like Shouldice.

Trips to Buffalo are often to get MRI's, or other types of advanced imaging which do have long waiting lists in Ontario.

 

[mdwest]

My wife once worked for a Canadian firm that had offices throughout the US.. she became very close to both their CEO and their COO (both Canadians from the Toronto area) and worked for them for I think 12 years in total..

She had many fierce debates with the CEO in particular, who always touted the superiority of Canadian "free" healthcare vs the US system.. but then had additional private insurance that allowed him to obtain services that other Canadians didnt have ready access to.. he also had his daughter treated in the US for a particular malady that cost him a ton of money (I believe she was hospitalized for a little more than a week, and then stayed in the US for follow on treatments for roughly another month), but she simply wasnt able to obtain the same services in the same time period in Canada..

At the end of the day, while admitting I know very little about the Canadian system, what I see is two systems, both broken.. but for very different reasons..

My biggest concern here in the US right now actually isnt the system itself.. its the underpinning that bothers me..

While we can attract the best medical talent in the world and continue to provide the best medical facilities and treatment programs in the world (having the biggest economy on the planet and a system that allows medical professionals to get paid exceptionally well will continue to keep that true for a very long time).. what Im seeing is less and less home grown medical professionals... and more and more imports from countries that arent exactly known for great training..

For example, one particular hospital here in Dallas that is very well regarded as a cancer treatment facility, has a nursing staff in its recovery wing that is at least 50% East Africa... mostly Nigerian and Ghanaian from what I can tell..

When asked why, the only response my buddy that was there for months for bone marrow cancer treatments was able to get was simply that there arent enough US nurses available... it wasnt a matter of bringing in "cheap" labor from abroad.. it was simply a matter of not enough people in the US are willing to enter the field to keep up with the demand associated with our aging population base..

 

[RLD]

While we can attract the best medical talent in the world and continue to provide the best medical facilities and treatment programs in the world (having the biggest economy on the planet and a system that allows medical professionals to get paid exceptionally well will continue to keep that true for a very long time).. what Im seeing is less and less home grown medical professionals... and more and more imports from countries that arent exactly known for great training..

For example, on particular hospital here in Dallas that is very well regarded as a cancer treatment facility, has a nursing staff in its recovery wing that is at least 50% East Africa... mostly Nigerian and Ghanaian from what I can tell..

When asked why, the only response my buddy that was there for months for bone marrow cancer treatments was able to get was simply that there arent enough US nurses available... it wasnt a matter of bringing in "cheap" labor from abroad.. it was simply a matter of not enough people in the US are willing to enter the field to keep up with the demand associated with our aging population base..

This is definately the case. U.S. health care facilities hold job fairs up here in Canada and recruit at all of our nursing schools looking to convince our nurses to take on jobs south of the border.

I think the drop off in nursing numbers is very real all across North America. I have many friends in the health care field and they tell me many nurses are just burned out and fed up with being treated like shit by people during the COVID outbreak. Patients have become more and more problematic lately.

Many of them are now slipping off into private care in private homes or nursing homes. They find taking care of very ill people in their own homes, or the elderly in care facilities, much less stressful than traditional clinical care and at least as lucrative.

 

[Scott CWO]

My wife once worked for a Canadian firm that had offices throughout the US.. she became very close to both their CEO and their COO (both Canadians from the Toronto area) and worked for them for I think 12 years in total..

She had many fierce debates with the CEO in particular, who always touted the superiority of Canadian "free" healthcare vs the US system.. but then had additional private insurance that allowed him to obtain services that other Canadians didnt have ready access to.. he also had his daughter treated in the US for a particular malady that cost him a ton of money (I believe she was hospitalized for a little more than a week, and then stayed in the US for follow on treatments for roughly another month), but she simply wasnt able to obtain the same services in the same time period in Canada..

At the end of the day, while admitting I know very little about the Canadian system, what I see is two systems, both broken.. but for very different reasons..

My biggest concern here in the US right now actually isnt the system itself.. its the underpinning that bothers me..

While we can attract the best medical talent in the world and continue to provide the best medical facilities and treatment programs in the world (having the biggest economy on the planet and a system that allows medical professionals to get paid exceptionally well will continue to keep that true for a very long time).. what Im seeing is less and less home grown medical professionals... and more and more imports from countries that arent exactly known for great training..

For example, one particular hospital here in Dallas that is very well regarded as a cancer treatment facility, has a nursing staff in its recovery wing that is at least 50% East Africa... mostly Nigerian and Ghanaian from what I can tell..

When asked why, the only response my buddy that was there for months for bone marrow cancer treatments was able to get was simply that there arent enough US nurses available... it wasnt a matter of bringing in "cheap" labor from abroad.. it was simply a matter of not enough people in the US are willing to enter the field to keep up with the demand associated with our aging population base..

Some of the problem is capacity of nursing programs, clinicals and schools. My daughter is a Surgical Technologist for one of the best orthopedic treatment and surgery centers in the world, the Steadman Clinic. The ST program she completed beforehand only accepted 12 people per semester and was further delayed by COVID.

After proving herself at Steadman, they offered to pay 100% of her costs to get her full nursing degree while she works three twelve-hour shifts a week in the OR and attends school on the other days. She has completed all the classes and is now starting clinicals. She had to wait an extra term to get into clinicals because they were full. There’s a backlog of nursing students and not enough nursing schools and colleges in this country.

 

[Aaron N]

It all boils down to means. If you have a good job that gives you good insurance in the states, then the private system if going to work swimmingly for you. If you don’t, well you’d best stay healthy.

As a Canadian, part of me supports a two tier public/private healthcare system, but part of me worries how bad the decline of public health would be (I remember being told by our PH’s that you do not go to a public hospital in RSA no matter what). Everyone deserves top notch healthcare regardless of their lot in life.

 

[deewayne2003]

My wife once worked for a Canadian firm that had offices throughout the US.. she became very close to both their CEO and their COO (both Canadians from the Toronto area) and worked for them for I think 12 years in total..

She had many fierce debates with the CEO in particular, who always touted the superiority of Canadian "free" healthcare vs the US system.. but then had additional private insurance that allowed him to obtain services that other Canadians didnt have ready access to.. he also had his daughter treated in the US for a particular malady that cost him a ton of money (I believe she was hospitalized for a little more than a week, and then stayed in the US for follow on treatments for roughly another month), but she simply wasnt able to obtain the same services in the same time period in Canada..

At the end of the day, while admitting I know very little about the Canadian system, what I see is two systems, both broken.. but for very different reasons..

My biggest concern here in the US right now actually isnt the system itself.. its the underpinning that bothers me..

While we can attract the best medical talent in the world and continue to provide the best medical facilities and treatment programs in the world (having the biggest economy on the planet and a system that allows medical professionals to get paid exceptionally well will continue to keep that true for a very long time).. what Im seeing is less and less home grown medical professionals... and more and more imports from countries that arent exactly known for great training..

For example, one particular hospital here in Dallas that is very well regarded as a cancer treatment facility, has a nursing staff in its recovery wing that is at least 50% East Africa... mostly Nigerian and Ghanaian from what I can tell..

When asked why, the only response my buddy that was there for months for bone marrow cancer treatments was able to get was simply that there arent enough US nurses available... it wasnt a matter of bringing in "cheap" labor from abroad.. it was simply a matter of not enough people in the US are willing to enter the field to keep up with the demand associated with our aging population base..

My mother is an RN and left working for hospitals many years ago, she left parkland hospital in Dallas for several reasons but she still complains to this day about how she was constantly asked why she didn't speak Spanish.

Otherwise it was a constant of having to deal with hospital administration that above all put profit over people and would schedule the least amount of staff they legally could for any given shift.

Most recently she was director of a behavioral health center where she would have to deal with homeless people who would check in and have the facility as their address of record for collecting disability and other government aid and on top of dealing with all their drama the administration of the facility handed down a 20% pay cut, which was the final straw..... she semi retired and went to working with disabled people in their homes.

As for my thoughts on the healthcare situation - After 5 years of running my own business I got tired of paying $1,200mo to blue cross blue shield and decided to take a job with a University(in addition to running my company) for health benefits.

I recently had a general practitioner send me a severance letter explaining that I would no longer be in his care; this is because he referred me to a specialist that was not educated in the USA and wanted me to fill out 14 pages of VERY invasive questions so that we could have a "virtual appointment"...... I called the doctors office and requested a specialist that was educated in the USA - severance letter came registered mail in less than a week.

Our healthy care system in the USA seems more like an "exit through the gift shop" situation, I can't go to the doctor without hearing a sales pitch about vitamins, vitality treatments, ect, ect!