Generally, my column focuses on one topic. But today, I offer you a..."triple threat."
Sixteen years ago, the United States of America suffered a monumental catastrophe that must be etched in our minds forever. On Monday, September 11th, 2017, we remembered the day of September 11th, 2001 with sadness and with anger. The horror of 9/11 must never be forgotten. The vivid memory of the hijacked aircraft...United Airlines Flight 175...crashing in to the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 9:03 a.m....will haunt me through eternity. But what was not viewed on live television...was the first attack...the jet plane strike on the North Tower when hijackers forced American Airlines Flight 11 to smash into that structure. Within one-hour and forty-two minutes, both 110-story towers had crumbled and collapsed to the ground. It was heart-wrenching to watch and it is heartbreaking to remember. But we must.
As we all know...the disasters of 9/11 were orchestrated by Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Bin Laden is dead now - thanks to SEAL Team Six of the United States Navy - who killed him in Pakistan on May 2nd, 2011 on orders by their Commander-In-Chief, President Barack Obama. But nearly ten years before - in addition to the assault on the World Trade Center towers in New York City - the al-Qaeda terrorists used American Airlines Flight 77, which they had also hijacked, to crash in to The Pentagon - America's military headquarters outside Washington, DC in Arlington, Virginia - which destroyed part of the west side of the world's largest office building. Bin Laden's suicide henchmen had hijacked a fourth aircraft, which presumably was intended to target The White House, but our presidential mansion and people there were fortunately spared, thanks to some courageous passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 who gave their lives in a fight for control of the plane before it went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. America senselessly lost 2,996 souls on 9/11...and we must honor them forever. We should also pray that such a tragedy never happens again.
From the tragedy of death - as we memorialize the nearly three-thousand victims of 9/11 - I now highlight the tragedy of American healthcare and the fact that millions of Americans still cannot afford to purchase health insurance. If Republicans had their way, they would "repeal and replace" the Affordable Care Act...and through such ruinous dismantling...30-million Americans - if not many millions more - would likely die from not being able to afford healthcare. Therefore, the best way to go...that would benefit ALL Americans...is with a national single-payer health insurance program, more commonly known as Medicare For All. It is what Senator Bernie Sanders wants...it's what former President Obama wanted when he was in Office...and it's what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton campaigned to support when she ran for President in 2016.
Under a Medicare For All program, each and every American would receive healthcare coverage for all medically necessary services. Such coverage would include the costs for doctors, hospitals, prescription drugs, medical supplies, preventive care, long-term care, mental healthcare, reproductive healthcare...and yes...even dental and vision care.
A Medicare For All program would be funded by the savings received by replacing today’s inefficient, profit-making multiple insurance companies with a single streamlined, nonprofit, public payer...and by modest new taxes based on a person's ability to pay. Health insurance premiums would go away and 95 percent of all U.S. households would save money. Americans would no longer struggle with having to meet deductibles and having to come up with money for co-pays. All patients would be able to choose their own doctors and hospitals, as all healthcare providers and facilities would participate with this system. I encourage you...I urge you...and I implore you...to advise your United States Senator and the Member of the U.S. House of Representatives who serves your district...that they must support Medicare For All. Congress has got to pass this law...and you need to tell them today.
To quote Senator Sanders..."Healthcare must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. Every man, woman and child in our country should be able to access the healthcare they need regardless of their income. The only long-term solution to America's healthcare crisis is a single-payer national healthcare program."
Medicare For All is what America needs...and what Americans must have. It's up to YOU...to help make it happen.
The final tragedy in this trifecta is that the person sitting behind The Oval Office desk is Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton.
Mrs. Clinton's new memoir - WHAT HAPPENED - hit the bookstores on Tuesday, September 12th, 2017...and it promises to be a bestseller. In recent days, Secretary Clinton has been making the rounds on the television talk show circuit. From NBC's The Today Show to ABC's The View...from CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 to MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show...Mrs. Clinton has promoted her book and has made news doing it. But I'll leave it up to the newspapers and the broadcast and cable news programs to provide you with those headlines and stories. I, though, will reiterate thoughts that I have expressed over the course of the last year-and-a-half. And although I support Bernie Sanders' Medicare For All plan...I'm still disappointed...upset...and even angry with him...for being part of the cause...part of the reason...that Hillary Clinton is not President today.
On March 1st, 2016, I wrote a column for The Controversy titled...SAY GOODBYE, BERNIE. You can click on the following link to read it. http://www.thecontroversy.net/2016/03/say-goodbye-bernie.html
On November 9th - the day after the presidential election - I stated that If Bernie Sanders had dropped out of the race in March...when he and everybody else knew that there was no probable way he could win the Democratic nomination...then that would have given Hillary Clinton more than three additional months to campaign against the Republican nominee, who turned out to be Donald Trump. But on April 10th, Sanders appeared on NBC's Meet The Press and stated..."In terms of her judgment, something is clearly lacking.” He should never have made such a derogatory and false statement. In reality, Secretary Clinton was still having to fight for the "Bernie Backers" to support her...nearly two months after the primaries had ended...which was throughout a good part of the summer. It wasn't until the Democratic Convention in July when Sanders threw his support behind Mrs. Clinton... something that he should have done - with wholehearted enthusiasm - several months before. After all - in 2008 - Hillary Clinton gave Barack Obama full support once the primaries were over...and as you may remember...Mrs. Clinton had a much better chance of beating the then Senator Obama than Senator Sanders ever did against Secretary Clinton.
On November 9th, 2016, the day after the election, I said that if it wasn't for then F.B.I. Director James Comey's letter to Congress on October 28th - which was filled with unsubstantiated accusations that proved to be false - Secretary Clinton would have handily defeated Donald Trump on November 8th. But, as I noted above, it was also Bernie Sanders' lack of early support for Hillary that harmed her. Without Comey's letter...and with Sanders' endorsement early on...the 45th President of the United States would be Hillary Clinton. And then of course, there's Russia...
Whether there is any definitive proof of collusion between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump (with or without involvement by his staff)...whether there's been corruption among Trump and his inner circle of advisers and family members, through lying to Congress and federal law enforcement officials, not to mention deceiving the country...and whether Trump's firing of James Comey is ever legally determined and ruled to be obstruction of justice...well...I leave all of this to be sorted out by Special Prosecutor Bob Mueller, by the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. However, it just may be a press corps of first-rate journalists...from our nation's top print and television news organizations...who - through persistence...tenacity...and relentless hard work - will accomplish what Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein and The Washington Post achieved in 1974. With irrefutable evidence, they convinced an entire nation - including Congress - that a U.S. President had lied...obstructed justice...and participated in a cover-up conspiracy.
America is moving in a forward direction that will take Donald Trump down the same path of destruction that led Richard Nixon to his resignation. The only question to ponder now is...when?
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a
publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy
is Gary B. Duglin.
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Copyright 2017 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
Now, please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above. And thank you for reading The Controversy.
Copyright 2017 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net. All Rights Reserved.
Two part reply:
ReplyDeletePart one:
Gary, let me first tell you I think it is wrong to use the tragedy of 9/11 in any way as to try and make a political point on health care.
I find it funny that you praise President Obama and the Democrats for Obama Care (ACA) yet you complain that millions of American can’t afford health insurance. The reason that millions can’t afford it is the ACA “Obama Care”. What happened to President Obama’s promises, premiums will drop $2500 per year per household, if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, if you like your plan you can keep your plan, ALL LIES by Obama and the Democrats. How about when Nancy Pelosi said “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." I guess what’s in it wasn’t all that great if millions still can’t afford it. No rates have gone down they are up 50-300% higher under the ACA, millions lost their Doctors and millions more lost their plans. It was all lies. Now you want a full take over by the Federal Government, the group that helped screw it up would be fully in charge so they can totally screw it up and destroy Health Care in America. I do not want the Federal Government deciding what care I need and can have. It is bad enough that they will have that control when I retire, I don’t want them to have it now. CMS/HSS restricts care now for Medicare and Medicaid, try and get a colonoscopy every 5 years as recommended by most doctors, yet Medicare will only cover one every 10 years. Look at Canada which the left always talks about emulating with health care which has wait lists for services deemed non-life threatening, in many areas you can wait over two years for a hernia operation. Try to get a MRI in Canada under their Government health system, they have 4.6 MRI machines per million people the US has over 36 per million. The average wait time in Canada for a MRI that is believed to be non-life threatening is 20 weeks right now in the US about 5 days, what if they are wrong about it being none life threatening , I guess you die waiting. That’s what you get with government control. The big question is who is going to pay for all of this, right now by law insurance companies must pay out 80-85% of premiums collected for medical claims, that leaves 15-20 for overhead and profit. The government can’t do anything for 15% and that is without a profit. Just remember the government in many cases takes as much as 75 cents to collect $1 in tolls on a highway, how much will it cost to collect all the health insurance money. You talk about people will die if the ACA is repealed and replace, my question is how many will die if the government takes it all over, we have an example it is called the VA, our American heroes waiting months for doctors’ appointments. Men and women dying before they get treatment. Patients being pumped up on drugs instead of being given the treatments they need, administrators falsifying records so they get bigger bonuses. Spending more per patient then in the private sector and getting much less for it. That is what America will get if the government takes over healthcare!
End part one.
Once again, you're another Republican who likes to put his own spin on my column with words that simply are not true.
DeleteI was very specific that the point of my column was not to compare, but to note three "tragedies" that were either being commemorated or re-visited in our country last week. Nearly 3-thousand people were killed on 9/11. Thirty-million Americans or more may die without health insurance.
The Affordable Care Act gave some 20 to 30 million Americans health insurance who did not have it. There's always a debate on what the true number is. President Obama's original plan would have provided ALL Americans with AFFORDABLE health insurance. Unfortunately, that plan was not what was passed by Congress. There were NO LIES by President Obama. You and other Republicans want to continue with your bullying and falsehoods, so I refuse to debate them all again here. However, in order to do EVERYTHING the way President Obama wanted it done...and the way Hillary Clinton campaigned to support...is for Congress to pass a Medicare For All law. EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS COUNTRY would then have AFFORDABLE healthcare. I do NOT blame President Obama for anything bad regarding the ACA. He would be the first person to say that the Affordable Care Act is not perfect. It needs improving...and a Medicare For All, single-payer system is the ONLY way to go. Your lies in your comments above are not only bold-face and blatant, but disgusting. Your remarks about Medicare are not true either. The American Cancer Society says that frequency of colonoscopies depend on a person's "risk factors for colon cancer." The ACS says that "without any family history" a person should have a colonoscopy "every 10 years after the age of 50" and the same applies for "after the age of 60." Thus a person on Medicare - at 65 or older - would not need a colonoscopy more than every 10 years. So your remarks above are totally false again. Your comment that "most doctors" "recommend" "a colonoscopy every 5 years" is not correct. However, the ACS says that "with family history" or with "any other gastrointestinal conditions" including "polyps," "Crohn's Disease," "ulcerative colitis," "irritable bowel syndrome" and other such conditions then "a colonoscopy should be scheduled more frequently." And with a doctor's recommendation to Medicare, Medicare WILL pay for the colonoscopy. Canadians, nationwide - in survey after survey - say their healthcare system is excellent and they love it. So again, your words above are FALSE. You are simply spewing the Republican rhetoric of lies.
Our Veterans Administration does need an overhaul so that those Americans who have ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces must be treated much, much better. There is no excuse for anyone - be him or her a military veteran or not - having to wait months to see a doctor or to get medical treatment.
We need to get rid of the private health insurance companies...go to a single-payer, Medicare For All system where everything is based on a person's income. This way the very rich and the rich - those in the top 2 percent of our country - help to pay for the other 98 percent. If you make $200,000 or more a year, then you need to help pay for others. It's the way it should be...it's the way it needs to be...it's the way it has to be.
GBD
Part two:
ReplyDeleteAs for Hillary Clinton she needs to stop blaming everyone else for her losing in November , she is why she lost, not the Russians, not Sanders, not James Comey who is going to be investigated for his possible crimes, not the press, who tried their best to get her elected, not Matt Lauer the list goes on. She was a bad candidate in a time that a lot of America wanted someone from the outside.
As for your hatred for President Trump, it is not worth discussing it with you; you have charged, tried and convicted him with NO proof or real evidence of any crime committed by him. Get over it. America must move forward, we need to repeal and replace of Obama Care, we need tax reform, tax cuts for all, we need boarder security and the Wall, we need to do something about DACA with the right if they have a clean record to apply for citizenship, we need to do something about the illegals that are here already, if they have a clean record, make them legal permanent residents, no chain, no citizenship.
I don’t believe President Trump will resign or be indicted or be impeached, that is my opinion so ponder that!
Hillary Clinton has accepted fault with certain issues regarding her campaign for President. However, as she wrote in her new book, WHAT HAPPENED, and as I wrote in varioius commentaries since the election...James Comey, Bernie Sanders and the Russians are mostly to blame. The top of that list is indeed Comey. Without his October surprise letter to Congress...those 77-thousand Democrats who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin...they come out to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and those three states go to her in the electoral vote...and Hillary Clinton becomes President. Period, end of story.
DeleteRepublicans like you - who for some strange reason want to hang on to Donald Trump - don't seem to recognize his despicable behavior and his horrendous actions. The majority of Americans wanted Hillary Clinton. Remember...she won the "popular vote." Unfortunately, we live with an 18th century plan that in the 21st century should be tossed in the garbage.
Here you go again. You and my other Republican readers seem to insist that I have a "hatred" for Trump. Let me repeat this one more time. I DO NOT HATE DONALD TRUMP. I hate nobody. I STRONGLY OPPOSE most everything that Donald Trump stands for...and the way he has insulted, offended, demeaned, belittled and - in bigoted ways - showed a hatred for other people. But I do NOT HATE Trump.
You must be the guy or gal who I responded to a few weeks ago in another column. Can you not read? I have not "charged, tried, and convicted (Trump) with no proof or real evidence of any crime committed by him." This is what I wrote in my column above. "Whether there is any definitive proof of collusion between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump (with or without involvement by his staff)...whether there's been corruption among Trump and his inner circle of advisers and family members, through lying to Congress and federal law enforcement officials, not to mention deceiving the country...and whether Trump's firing of James Comey is ever legally determined and ruled to be obstruction of justice...well...I leave all of this to be sorted out by Special Prosecutor Bob Mueller, by the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives."
The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and it will be forever...or until we upgrade it to a Medicare For All system, which we must do.
Tax cuts for the poor and the middle class, but the rich need to pay higher taxes in order to help pay for the poor and the middle class. It's the way America must be.
Stop with the wall. The wall will never be built. I said it in 2015 - when Trump first started his rant - and I said it in 2016 and 2017. There will NEVER be a wall on the U.S./Mexico border.
All undocumented immigrants - most especially the "Dreamers" - must be given full U.S. citizenship. As I wrote to a reader who responded to another of my recent columns, if it was up to me, they'd all be granted citizenship today - unless they committed a felony.
Donald Trump is on a fast track to be impeached. It is going to happen. But as with Richard Nixon - as I wrote above and as I have written in other columns over the last 8 months or more - Trump will not put himself through House impeachment hearings and a Senate trial, conviction and removal from office. Instead, Trump WILL resign the presidency. It is going to happen. Face it. You'll sleep better.
GBD
P.S. to my comment to the reader above. I posted the following on my Facebook page today.
DeleteThe following text is from a story published on the CNN website.
HEADLINE - "Hillary Clinton just floated the possibility of contesting the 2016 election
In an interview Monday (September 18th, 2017) with NPR's Terry Gross, (Hillary) Clinton raised that critique up a notch -- not only questioning the legitimacy of Trump's presidency but refusing to rule out the possibility of contesting the results if Russian collusion is proven by special counsel Bob Mueller.
Here's the full text of the back-and-forth, courtesy of CNN's Dan Merica:
Gross: I want to get back to the question, would you completely rule out questioning the legitimacy of this election if we learn that the Russian interference in the election is even deeper than we know now?
Clinton: No. I would not. I would say --
Gross: You're not going to rule it out?
Clinton: No, I wouldn't rule it out."
This is from me. Hillary...go get 'em!!! GBD