Politics

[Scott CWO]

No doubt that the consumption of processed foods, lack of activity and so forth is to blame for America's poor life expectancy. Those are all issues that should be addressed via preventative care.

However, those same criticisms apply to Canada as well. Canadians probably eat just as much processed food and are as inactive as Americans are. However, the American life expectancy pre-Covid was 77 years. Post- Covid it is 76 years. This is according to the CDC. Canada's life expectancy is 82 years. That's a pretty big gap considering the Canadian diet and lack of physical exercise is just as bad.

There are a lot fewer minorities in Canada. Demographics are different. Minorities in the USA pull our life expectancy numbers down.

 

[Ray B]

according to the CDC.

There's your first mistake- or if you vote Demonrat, your second.

 

[Pheroze]

No doubt that the consumption of processed foods, lack of activity and so forth is to blame for America's poor life expectancy. Those are all issues that should be addressed via preventative care.

However, those same criticisms apply to Canada as well. Canadians probably eat just as much processed food and are as inactive as Americans are. However, the American life expectancy pre-Covid was 77 years. Post- Covid it is 76 years. This is according to the CDC. Canada's life expectancy is 82 years. That's a pretty big gap considering the Canadian diet and lack of physical exercise is just as bad.

This is a good analysis of a very complex issue. The Candian health management regime is a terrible example of a health care system. However, the outcome data is multi-factoral and not directly tied to a system of Healthcare per se.
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/pu...mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly#outcomes

 

[steve white]

I think the food desert problem ain't talked about enough anywhere near as much as it currently is.

The food desert in terms of few grocery stores in minority areas is self-inflicted! Stores cannot long absorb losses due to theft. And in some cases I know of, BLATANT theft, as in walking out with armloads of food while giving sullen threatening stares to the store employees. In terms of convenience stores it usually goes like this: first a 7-Eleven, then when they move out, a no-name shop run by immigrants, and when they get out, nothing...a desert. Seen it for years in SE Dallas Tx.

 

[mdwest]

The food desert in terms of few grocery stores in minority areas is self-inflicted! Stores cannot long absorb losses due to theft. And in some cases I know of, BLATANT theft, as in walking out with armloads of food while giving sullen threatening stares to the store employees. In terms of convenience stores it usually goes like this: first a 7-Eleven, then when they move out, a no-name shop run by immigrants, and when they get out, nothing...a desert. Seen it for years in SE Dallas Tx.

My brother in law was a regional manager for Kroger for several years… he absolutely confirmed this on several occasions…

“Shrink” (theft) was a huge problem in minority areas in major metro areas.. and Kroger intentionally maintained less presence in those areas because of it…

The margins simply weren’t high enough due to the high volume of goods walking out both the front and back doors in certain neighborhoods.. and the cost to mitigate those losses were too high and too risky to make the investment… so they just close stores and avoid the problem all together…

 

[ruffnready]

The food desert in terms of few grocery stores in minority areas is self-inflicted! Stores cannot long absorb losses due to theft. And in some cases I know of, BLATANT theft, as in walking out with armloads of food while giving sullen threatening stares to the store employees. In terms of convenience stores it usually goes like this: first a 7-Eleven, then when they move out, a no-name shop run by immigrants, and when they get out, nothing...a desert. Seen it for years in SE Dallas Tx.

WalMart stores in Chicongo recently closing their doors. If they can shoplift a WalMart out of business, there's some serious thievery going on, and that's on both sides of the check out. Gotta get those reparations, ya know.

 

[ruffnready]

Very interesting video on illegal immigration.

 

[ruffnready]

The food desert in terms of few grocery stores in minority areas is self-inflicted! Stores cannot long absorb losses due to theft. And in some cases I know of, BLATANT theft, as in walking out with armloads of food while giving sullen threatening stares to the store employees. In terms of convenience stores it usually goes like this: first a 7-Eleven, then when they move out, a no-name shop run by immigrants, and when they get out, nothing...a desert. Seen it for years in SE Dallas Tx.

Let them eat cake... or each other.

 

[ruffnready]

So there was a conspiracy of every judge in the country to include the supreme court to not hear any evidence of voter fraud?

You may remember Sidney Powell vowed to "release the Kraken" with respect to Dominion. She didn't even have evidence of an angry crustacean, and is deservedly facing a very real Kraken-level lawsuit. Fox has already settled one and is facing others. The poor pillow guy is in equally bad shape.

We were indeed played by the democrat party. They did it in key states by taking advantage of the Covid voting rules. Fortunately, a number of states have tightened their voting practices. Others have not, and will not until legislative majorities change. They won't ever change if we believe the system is rigged by the swamp or whatever is the current nonsense over on Revolver.

If 2020 is any guide, it is useful for us to remember that at least half of the population likely will not vote for Donald Trump. If he wants to have a prayer, he had best figure out how to peel off an additional 15% of the female suburban voter. Bitching about the last election, one in which his own contracted consultants found no meaningful fraud, is probably not a way to sway those votes.

And Lancepeckerwood in the article above - how apropos - along with the doom and gloom populist crowd really ought to spend their time studying Florida. Six years ago it was considered a swing state. I'll simply note again that the current governor won by nearly 20% of the vote, a majority of Hispanics, and carried Miami Dade. That is the same state that Donald Trump carried by around 4%. Candidates, not demons in the machine, are what matters.

Finally, ole Lance also ought to study the 2020 runoff in Georgia following the general. Thanks to Sydney Powell, Rudy, conservative AM radio, and above all Donald Trump, more than twice the number of Trump November voters stayed home from the runoff than were necessary to beat both democrat senate candidates. They stayed home because they believed their vote wouldn't count, or because Sydney and others urged them to boycott the runoff. They were the difference in senate control. Think how different the Biden term might have been with a republican senate majority. It could be we are simply to dumb to win elections.

Vote harder?

 

[Dragan N.]

There are a lot fewer minorities in Canada. Demographics are different. Minorities in the USA pull our life expectancy numbers down.

Canada is about 30% non-European/visible minority. But that aside the visible minorities in the US that have a lower life expectancy than White Americans are Black Americans and Natives. Canada has its share of Natives and Blacks too...

Here is the average life expectancy in America by race:

"Provisional data from 2021 show that overall life expectancy across all racial/ethnic groups was 76.1 years (Figure 14). Life expectancy for Black people was only 70.8 years compared to 76.4 years for White people and 77.7 years for Hispanic people."

Key Data on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity | KFF

This analysis examines how people of color fare compared to White people across 64 measures of health, health care, and social determinants of health using the most recent data available from federal surveys and administrative sets as well as the 2023 KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and...

www.kff.org

 

[Dragan N.]

This is a good analysis of a very complex issue. The Candian health management regime is a terrible example of a health care system. However, the outcome data is multi-factoral and not directly tied to a system of Healthcare per se.
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/pu...mirror-mirror-2021-reflecting-poorly#outcomes

Sure I totally agree that the Canadian healthcare system is far from ideal. And indeed looking at those graphs it seems to be second last next to the US. I merely used Canada as an example because of its similar culture, lifestyle habits, dietary habits etc... to the US. But as that report shows the US healthcare system was ranked last in pretty much all categories when compared to the systems of other rich and highly developed countries.

 

[sestoppelman]

Canada has a huge country with only about 40 million people. The US is a slightly smaller country with 330 million people.
The larger the sampling, the more likely the individual life span of the inhabitants will be less on average.

 

[Ray B]

Reviewing the report I note that the life expectancy total is for a baby born today and surviving the transition of birth. The estimated age appears to be a result of obtaining an average age of death for those who died in a designated timespan & location. This is a meaningless average when using it to compare healthcare systems. A significant portion of deaths had nothing to do with the care they were given or deprived of that resulted in the death. An 18 year old killed in a traffic accident is counted the same as an 18 year old who died a a result of illness.
The healthcare systems major problem is attempting to serve too many people with too little facilities. Our local system alots 15 minutes per patient, then the doctor needs to move on to the next. The assembly line works for cars, not so well for people.
The solution is more facilities and more doctors, not healthcare paid for by the government- all that provides is an appointment to see the doctor next year sometime.
As per Covid- I realize a lot of people died from it, but among my friends, relatives and acquaintances, I knew of no one who died from Covid however I knew two people who died from cancer because their treatment was considered non-emergent and was denied. By the time the hospital was reaccepting patients, both had died. Thanks Joe and you F'ing DemonRats.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

@Red Leg , any chance of a summary upon Ukraine/Russia when you have a chance? The NATO conference seemed a mixed bag. It it getting any closer to a conclusion this year?

 

[jpr9954]

With regard to Ukraine joining NATO....

 

[mark-hunter]

Looking fwd to hear red legs valuable input.

 

[Doug3006]

With regard to Ukraine joining NATO....

View attachment 545672

Ok. I’m a Ukraine supporter. But that’s pretty damned funny!

 

[WAB]

Sure I totally agree that the Canadian healthcare system is far from ideal. And indeed looking at those graphs it seems to be second last next to the US. I merely used Canada as an example because of its similar culture, lifestyle habits, dietary habits etc... to the US. But as that report shows the US healthcare system was ranked last in pretty much all categories when compared to the systems of other rich and highly developed countries.

I am a citizen of both the US and Canada, and have lived many years in both countries. I can assure you that the conclusions you are drawing from the data are absolutely wrong. The US has a far superior health care system to Canada. I could bore you with example after example, but suffice to say that the quality and availability of care in the US is in a different league than Canada.

If Harper had remained in office I believe he would have righted the health care ship. However, Trudeau has done his best to ensure that the country is financially unable to do so, even if there was a will to try.

 

[sestoppelman]

I am a citizen of both the US and Canada, and have lived many years in both countries. I can assure you that the conclusions you are drawing from the data are absolutely wrong. The US has a far superior health care system to Canada. I could bore you with example after example, but suffice to say that the quality and availability of care in the US is in a different league than Canada.

If Harper had remained in office I believe he would have righted the health care ship. However, Trudeau has done his best to ensure that the country is financially unable to do so, even if there was a will to try.

I live very near the border of British Columbia in NW Washington, Blaine is the border town. My daughter. husband and grand daughter live in BC, and have plenty of tales of the HC system there.
Not only do Canadians come here for their HC, they come here for everything!
Just go to the nearest border town with a WalMart or other large food store and start checking license plates.

 

[sestoppelman]

Horowitz: Biden pulls troops out of retirement for Ukraine as GOP continues to support the grift | Blaze Media

The White House is making it clear that it’s not just our money on the line for Ukraine, but potentially the lives of our soldiers. And because we have such a recruitment problem, he has to draw upon semi-retired soldiers, placing them back into active duty for potential deployment to Europe...

www.theblaze.com

Worth the read..