She just can't go away!!! [Archive]

gimmethesimplelife

12-11-24, 11:07am

Kari Lake of Arizona, I mean. I just read that DJT is considering her for ambassador of Mexico. I am now further afraid of more US citizen deaths. Kari Lake is a very inflammatory choice and eventually even Mexico will have enough. What's to stop Mexico from retaliating by closing off access to Mexican health care to numerous desperate Americans? To choose Kari Lake as Ambassador to Mexico is to further prove that the United States could care less whether it's citizens live or die. No surprise there but does this ever end? Rob

iris lilies

12-11-24, 11:37am

Iowa Farm girl Keri Lake has movie star bone structure, so that gets her far in life.

Newsweek is reporting that Kari did not get that Mexico job, so Rob try to keep up with your outrage topics.

ToomuchStuff

12-11-24, 11:39am

Does that mean maybe you should move there and establish residency before she does in an embassy?

gimmethesimplelife

12-11-24, 11:48am

Iowa Farm girl Keri Lake has movie star bone structure, so that gets her far in life.

Newsweek is reporting that Kari did not get that Mexico job, so Rob try to keep up with your outrage topics.I just googled and indeed you are right, Kari Lake did NOT get chosen. Thank God. At least that's less to worry about in extremely troubled times. And this is not an outrage topic - it's a big deal and it keeps people from rising up against the system. Rob

Tradd

12-11-24, 1:46pm

Does that mean maybe you should move there and establish residency before she does in an embassy?

Frankly, I think Rob’s politics are more akin to Cuba or Russia, but I know at least Russia doesn’t like gays. Not sure about Cuba.

frugal-one

12-11-24, 11:20pm

Frankly, I think Rob’s politics are more akin to Cuba or Russia, but I know at least Russia doesn’t like gays. Not sure about Cuba.

Nasty.

Based on this last election, we will find out how close our politics will resemble Russia in the foreseeable future.

Tradd

12-11-24, 11:29pm

Nasty.

Based on this last election, we will find out how close our politics will resemble Russia in the foreseeable future.

This is the guy who is celebrating the United Healthcare CEO’s murder. Comrade Rob would seemingly fit in well with the Bolsheviks or Castro.

Alan

12-11-24, 11:47pm

I think the extreme far left hungers for a Che Guevara type figure willing to perform the worst possible atrocities imaginable in support of their adolescent revolutionary romanticism.

Tybee

12-12-24, 9:44am

I remember my Cuban friend telling me about seeing Castro's soldiers kicking his pregnant mother in her stomach.
This line of thinking does not end well for anybody.

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 10:08am

This is the guy who is celebrating the United Healthcare CEO’s murder. Comrade Rob would seemingly fit in well with the Bolsheviks or Castro.I'm not a comrade as I don't believe in Communism overall as there is no real incentive to give a damn vs. Tubo charged capitalism where most actions are underpinned by fear, especially fear of loss of some kind. I'm becomming convinced there is no one way of governance that is fair to all but so far I vote for social democracy - but also fess up to that it's falling apart in Canada as we speak and Australia is right behind. In it's heyday it was the best we could hope for - now likely leaving for a lower priced country is the best most of us can shoot for. Certainly the fact that everything is so expensive does not help. Rob

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 10:11am

I think the extreme far left hungers for a Che Guevara type figure willing to perform the worst possible atrocities imaginable in support of their adolescent revolutionary romanticism.It's too much to ask for to keep AI AND for profit capitalism out of medical care approval decisions? See why I have the take I do on the United States? Can you blame me? Rob

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 10:14am

Iowa Farm girl Keri Lake has movie star bone structure, so that gets her far in life.

Newsweek is reporting that Kari did not get that Mexico job, so Rob try to keep up with your outrage topics.As a gay man I find Kari Lake - strictly on the surface, mind you - to be a very attractive woman. Until she starts her rhetoric which shatters the pleasant illusion. I truly wish she'd stayed behind her anchor desk at Fox News 10 Phoenix. For her sake, too. Rob

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 10:18am

Frankly, I think Rob’s politics are more akin to Cuba or Russia, but I know at least Russia doesn’t like gays. Not sure about Cuba.? Wanting universal health care makes me a Communist? Then given the fact that every other developed nation has socialized medicine, the rest of the developed world is Communist? Perplexing. Rob

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 10:24am

Nasty.

Based on this last election, we will find out how close our politics will resemble Russia in the foreseeable future.Here's something about me I don't often mention. Though I go on and on regarding a certain central European country - half my blood is Russian - on my father's side. My grandparents on that side were from Minsk in what is now Belarus. I have a great deal of respect for the endurance of the Russian people and how honestly blunt they tend to be. But their government leaves much to be desired and a hotspot of human rights it is not. I also can not forgive the invasion of Ukraine. Rob

Tradd

12-12-24, 10:35am

? Wanting universal health care makes me a Communist? Then given the fact that every other developed nation has socialized medicine, the rest of the developed world is Communist? Perplexing. Rob

You are positively luxuriating in the death of the insurance CEO. Your politics fit right in with the Bolsheviks and Castro. Down with the elite! Long live the proletariat.

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 10:50am

You are positively luxuriating in the death of the insurance CEO. Your politics fit right in with the Bolsheviks and Castro. Down with the elite! Long live the proletariat.Please point the finger exactly where it belongs - towards the United States of America. YES! For creating a situation in the first place where AI could even be used to deny claims. Let us be grateful for the many spared lives this murder that turbo charged capitalism created yields. One murder, many lives spared from the United States of America - once again, a country that blantantly values human life so little that AI is actually used to deny claims. What happens when YOUR claim is denied????? Rob

LDAHL

12-12-24, 11:32am

Please point the finger exactly where it belongs - towards the United States of America. YES! For creating a situation in the first place where AI could even be used to deny claims. Let us be grateful for the many spared lives this murder that turbo charged capitalism created yields. One murder, many lives spared from the United States of America - once again, a country that blantantly values human life so little that AI is actually used to deny claims. What happens when YOUR claim is denied????? Rob

I don’t think you quite understand how insurance works. Do you honestly believe that murdering a CEO immediately changes a company’s policies and practices? They come and go all the time. One or several criminally insane acts won’t change that, nor should it.

You’re justifying a cowardly murder by blaming “the United States of America”, which in your mind appears to be a sort of combination of neglectful parent and criminal conspiracy. It’s the sort of morally vacuous thinking that sells Che Guevara t-shirts.

Tradd

12-12-24, 11:58am

Please point the finger exactly where it belongs - towards the United States of America. YES! For creating a situation in the first place where AI could even be used to deny claims. Let us be grateful for the many spared lives this murder that turbo charged capitalism created yields. One murder, many lives spared from the United States of America - once again, a country that blantantly values human life so little that AI is actually used to deny claims. What happens when YOUR claim is denied????? Rob

You hate the US so much? THEN LEAVE already and go to some third world shithole you seem to prefer. You love to identify with the downtrodden so much? Sell your house with the rental property and rent some rundown apartment. Give up your cushy supermarket job and go pick veggies or do grass cutting or something.

But the irony of it - you don’t have enough money for another country to let you in, do you?

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 12:23pm

You hate the US so much? THEN LEAVE already and go to some third world shithole you seem to prefer. You love to identify with the downtrodden so much? Sell your house with the rental property and rent some rundown apartment. Give up your cushy supermarket job and go pick veggies or do grass cutting or something.

But the irony of it - you don’t have enough money for another country to let you in, do you?Something you may find interesting here, Tradd, is that SO and I are looking into 10 year visas in India to reclaim our lives faster. India offers life at a significant discount that makes Mexico look expensive. It would mean 180 days in India, two months out, and then 180 days lather, rinse, repeat. India of course is no bastion of gay rights but is, unike Russia and China, moving in a better direction. And no terror of healthcare necessary as it's quite affordable if you come with Western currency. DEFINITELY we would visit first.

I can say that the responses I'm getting here - putting murderous CEO Brian Thompson's life over that of many innocent.policyholders - truly makes me question my presence in this country. I can see and understand not being down with cold blooded murder (which IS what it was) on a NYC street. Granted. Where I depart from you'all and why it's brutally clear I don't belong here morally and ethically - it's not OK to end Brian Thompson's life. But is IS OK to use AI to end many innocent policyholder lives via denying claims in the name of profit. I am better than this. Nor can I look the other way on this one. Rob

Tradd

12-12-24, 12:41pm

gimmethesimplelife

12-12-24, 12:44pm

If india is so nice, then why do so many of their people want to move here? I deal with Indians daily for work and company is owned by them. They dislike women and gays. They think nothing of killing women. It’s a shithole.You gave the United States a free pass by completely accepting patient deaths via AI claim denial. Have you room to knock India? Rob

iris lilies

12-12-24, 12:49pm

Something you may find interesting here, Tradd, is that SO and I are looking into 10 year visas in India to reclaim our lives faster. India offers life at a significant discount that makes Mexico look expensive. It would mean 180 days in India, two months out, and then 180 days lather, rinse, repeat. India of course is no bastion of gay rights but is, unike Russia and China, moving in a better direction. And no terror of healthcare necessary as it's quite affordable if you come with Western currency. DEFINITELY we would visit first.

I can say that the responses I'm getting here - putting murderous CEO Brian Thompson's life over that of many innocent.policyholders - truly makes me question my presence in this country. I can see and understand not being down with cold blooded murder (which IS what it was) on a NYC street. Granted. Where I depart from you'all and why it's brutally clear I don't belong here morally and ethically - it's not OK to end Brian Thompson's life. But is IS OK to use AI to end many innocent policyholder lives via denying claims in the name of profit. I am better than this. Nor can I look the other way on this one. Rob

India!

Now there’s a world of equality, fairness, and social leveling. /sarcasm

Rob do you understand that is a turbo charged capitalistic gestalt there in India? This plan of yours to escape to India looks like a “I got mine, to hell with the rest of you in Daharvi Slum in Mumbai” act. How in the world you consider that a just and fair society (if indeed you do—maybe you don’t) is beyond me.

All of that said, I am intrigued by India but wouldnt want to live there because much of it is so hot. Ugh, the bugs must be a foot long! But the food, the architecture, the fabrics, the music and dance…all fascinate me.

Tradd

12-12-24, 12:53pm

Yes, India is so filthy and bug ridden that most food imports I handle from India require agriculture exams by default.

iris lilies

12-12-24, 12:57pm

You gave the United States a free pass by completely accepting patient deaths via AI claim denial. Have you room to knock India? Rob
Again, such a strange micro-obsession.

I consider the issue of denied insurance claims to be a valid one for discussion.

The mechanics of how those claims are processed isn’t worth discussion by outsiders since we do not have specific knowledge. Whether claims are denied by a digital process or by little drones in cubicles, it doesn’t much matter to me. The policies that determine denied claims are the real deal.

So, I consider the narrowly focused issue of AI claim denial to be a fringe “out there” topic.

LDAHL

12-12-24, 1:49pm

Where I depart from you'all and why it's brutally clear I don't belong here morally and ethically - it's not OK to end Brian Thompson's life. But is IS OK to use AI to end many innocent policyholder lives via denying claims in the name of profit. I am better than this. Nor can I look the other way on this one. Rob

I think you’re pushing a false dichotomy here. Deploring a murder has nothing to do with one’s opinions about the insurance industry. There is no either/or choice between Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson. But over the years, you have created a vicious bogeyman called “America”, and see a nasty piece of work like Mangione as an appropriate solution.

With that sort of perspective, I can’t think of anywhere on earth you could go where you won’t come inevitably to the conclusion that “I am better than this”.

bae

12-12-24, 2:09pm

You gave the United States a free pass by completely accepting patient deaths via AI claim denial.

Show your work:

- Are AIs being used in claims processing? Which AIs? How were they trained? How were they evaluated during the acceptance process?
- In what roles are they used?
- Does this produce poor patient outcomes?
- Compared to other ways the heathcare organization used in the past?
- Etc

I routinely use scoresheets and apps to direct patient care in emergency situations. Sometimes they produce a poor outcome. Generally, they do far better than anyone on our team would do in real time, and are a net positive for us. I expect the models behind the scoresheets and apps were developed in consultation with world-class medical experts and lots of statistical analysis of lots of cases. I expect in the future, AIs will be used to do some of that analysis and scoring, as is increasingly the practice in certain medical specialties.

If I use my app to make a patient decision, and it goes poorly, should I be shot dead in the streets?

Tradd

12-12-24, 2:19pm

India!

Now there’s a world of equality, fairness, and social leveling. /sarcasm

Rob do you understand that is a turbo charged capitalistic gestalt there in India? This plan of yours to escape to India looks like a “I got mine, to hell with the rest of you in Daharvi Slum in Mumbai” act. How in the world you consider that a just and fair society (if indeed you do—maybe you don’t) is beyond me.

All of that said, I am intrigued by India but wouldnt want to live there because much of it is so hot. Ugh, the bugs must be a foot long! But the food, the architecture, the fabrics, the music and dance…all fascinate me.

Comrade Rob loves to identify with the downtrodden, so I wonder if he’s going to take up the cause of the untouchables aka the lowest caste in Indian society. Wonder what the Indians would think about THAT?

ToomuchStuff

12-13-24, 12:17am

Show your work:

- Are AIs being used in claims processing? Which AIs? How were they trained? How were they evaluated during the acceptance process?
- In what roles are they used?
- Does this produce poor patient outcomes?
- Compared to other ways the heathcare organization used in the past?
- Etc

I routinely use scoresheets and apps to direct patient care in emergency situations. Sometimes they produce a poor outcome. Generally, they do far better than anyone on our team would do in real time, and are a net positive for us. I expect the models behind the scoresheets and apps were developed in consultation with world-class medical experts and lots of statistical analysis of lots of cases. I expect in the future, AIs will be used to do some of that analysis and scoring, as is increasingly the practice in certain medical specialties.

If I use my app to make a patient decision, and it goes poorly, should I be shot dead in the streets?

Another question that should be on that list, where and how do they collect their data and is it complete. AI can do millions of calculations a second, but it doesn't help if you have bad data.

Also, Yes to your second question, and Rob would be the one to pull the trigger with his Austrian like moral superiority.>8)

rosarugosa

12-13-24, 7:18am

I think you’re pushing a false dichotomy here. Deploring a murder has nothing to do with one’s opinions about the insurance industry. There is no either/or choice between Luigi Mangione and Brian Thompson. But over the years, you have created a vicious bogeyman called “America”, and see a nasty piece of work like Mangione as an appropriate solution.

With that sort of perspective, I can’t think of anywhere on earth you could go where you won’t come inevitably to the conclusion that “I am better than this”.

Well said, LDAHL.

gimmethesimplelife

12-13-24, 12:21pm

gimmethesimplelife

12-13-24, 12:31pm

Again, such a strange micro-obsession.

I consider the issue of denied insurance claims to be a valid one for discussion.

The mechanics of how those claims are processed isn’t worth discussion by outsiders since we do not have specific knowledge. Whether claims are denied by a digital process or by little drones in cubicles, it doesn’t much matter to me. The policies that determine denied claims are the real deal.

So, I consider the narrowly focused issue of AI claim denial to be a fringe “out there” topic.For me the use of AI in this particular context makes the United States irrevocably inhumane and non-viable. This is why the focus on AI here. I grant that were these claims denied by humans all the same would apply - it's just that the use of tech here strikes me as Hitlerian in it's efficiency....I understand that yes, this I'm about to post is a bit of a stretch, but the efficiency of trains in WW2 Europe comes to mind - especially with AI denied claims leading to patient deaths.

Now here's the 64K question - anyone against this cold blooded murder (which IS indeed what it was) - what's your game plan when you yourself are sick and AI denies your claim? The reason you believe you are immune from such again was??? Rob

LDAHL

12-13-24, 1:32pm

Now here's the 64K question - anyone against this cold blooded murder (which IS indeed what it was) - what's your game plan when you yourself are sick and AI denies your claim? The reason you believe you are immune from such again was??? Rob

I like to believe that screaming for blood would not be among the options I would consider.

We can’t always control the situations we find ourselves in, but how we respond to them defines who we are as moral beings.

bae

12-13-24, 1:48pm

Now here's the 64K question - anyone against this cold blooded murder (which IS indeed what it was)

How do you even know it was “cold blooded murder”, at this time? Have you some special knowledge into the mindset and circumstances of the alleged assassin? “Cold blooded murder” is at odds with your “angry with the use of AI for claims denial” narrative, btw. You can’t have both.

- what's your game plan when you yourself are sick and AI denies your claim?

Depends on the circumstances, but gunning down employees of the healthcare system is probably not on my list.

What’s *your* plan when you relocate to a kinder, gentler nation with national healthcare for all, and are denied services? Will you be killing people in response to that rationing?

iris lilies

12-13-24, 3:07pm

For me the use of AI in this particular context makes the United States irrevocably inhumane and non-viable. This is why the focus on AI here. I grant that were these claims denied by humans all the same would apply - it's just that the use of tech here strikes me as Hitlerian in it's efficiency....I understand that yes, this I'm about to post is a bit of a stretch, but the efficiency of trains in WW2 Europe comes to mind - especially with AI denied claims leading to patient deaths.

Now here's the 64K question - anyone against this cold blooded murder (which IS indeed what it was) - what's your game plan when you yourself are sick and AI denies your claim? The reason you believe you are immune from such again was??? Rob

Ah, Ok, I now sorta understand your obsession with AI in processing healthcare claims. You see it as terrifyingly efficient. As usual your illogic is staggering, but at least I can see your feelings. Feelings are not facts but OK, you do you.

As for your “64k question,” when Nanny Government denies any Medicare coverage, I suppose I might challenge that, who knows? I don’t know enough about the challenge process to speak about that.

All kinds of government programs are put into place with standards and strictures, same for insurance claims of any kind. I can think of Social Security disability income applications that are denied at what, nearly 100% of the time out of the gate? The gatekeepers be they privately funded or publicly funded are gonna gatekeep. That is their job and their methodologies may involve machine aids like AI.

rosarugosa

12-14-24, 7:55am

Wow, of all the countries in the world, I wouldn't even want to visit India, let alone contemplate a move there.

gimmethesimplelife

12-15-24, 1:16pm

Wow, of all the countries in the world, I wouldn't even want to visit India, let alone contemplate a move there.Your post reminds me of a recent article I read. A young man who owed over 100K in student loans - his father gave him money to flee the US. He went to India, claims to have found love (?), married an Indian woman and I don't know Indian immigration laws, here - but India allowed him to stay. He said that there was A LOT of adjustment but he loves India and his new life and has no intention of returning to the US ever. Now some background - he's in Chennai and not overwhelming Delhi or Mumbai. He also had some medical issues and quickly found hIgh quality affordable health care with him being in control as it's out of pocket. The lower cost of living overall works for him, too. I will say that I'm sure there's culture shock - lots of it - involved, similar to when I was in Morocco.

But I can understand where this young man is coming from and I consider him a role model for young men in extreme debt and no real options - though having his father pay his way to India and some extra sure helped. Not everyone has that, you know?

So here is an act of activism also quite powerful in it's timely and realistic message - and no murder involved. Rob

gimmethesimplelife

12-15-24, 1:23pm

Wow, of all the countries in the world, I wouldn't even want to visit India, let alone contemplate a move there.Extreme culture shock, some level of ick, a steep adjustment curve/the good India has to offer vs. tech denying claims, resulting in murders of innocent policyholders in the name of corporate profit? Too bad Alex Trebek has passed. India the better choice of the two for $500, Alex - very appropriate here. Though to be fair, were it not for the Hitlerian AI, I would be hesitant regarding India.

This society irrevocably lost me given AI being used to deny claims in a country where human life us held so cheaply it's not worth socialized medicine. Done deal. Rob

frugal-one

12-15-24, 9:43pm

Your post reminds me of a recent article I read. A young man who owed over 100K in student loans - his father gave him money to flee the US. He went to India, claims to have found love (?), married an Indian woman and I don't know Indian immigration laws, here - but India allowed him to stay. He said that there was A LOT of adjustment but he loves India and his new life and has no intention of returning to the US ever. Now some background - he's in Chennai and not overwhelming Delhi or Mumbai. He also had some medical issues and quickly found hIgh quality affordable health care with him being in control as it's out of pocket. The lower cost of living overall works for him, too. I will say that I'm sure there's culture shock - lots of it - involved, similar to when I was in Morocco.

But I can understand where this young man is coming from and I consider him a role model for young men in extreme debt and no real options - though having his father pay his way to India and some extra sure helped. Not everyone has that, you know?

So here is an act of activism also quite powerful in it's timely and realistic message - and no murder involved. Rob

You need to go to India. You are fantasizing and making it much better than it is. Look around and see how many Indian people are in the US. That is because it is SO MUCH better here. Dream on.
ETA.. I have been to India. It is a place to visit once. It changed my life. It made me realize how lucky we are to live here!

Tradd

12-15-24, 9:55pm

You need to go to India. You are fantasizing and making it much better than it is. Look around and see how many Indian people are in the US. That is because it is SO MUCH better here. Dream on.
ETA.. I have been to India. It is a place to visit once. It changed my life. It made me realize how lucky we are to live here!

I work with Indians daily, who came to the US as adults. Some go back often to visit family, but they won’t live there again.

LDAHL

12-16-24, 12:45am

Is fleeing abroad a reasonable or practical (if unethical) method to stiff your creditors? Apart from not being able to return to the US without being pursued, wouldn’t that be something other countries would look at before granting or extending visas? Why would other countries have an interest in harboring American deadbeats?

bae

12-16-24, 2:04am

rosarugosa

12-16-24, 7:41am

I should add that I am fascinated by Indian food and culture, but it sounds like a horrible place to live. I'm sure it's easier if one is a relatively affluent American, but I still think I would have trouble stepping around desperate beggars in the street (and I can't imagine that you would not also have trouble with this, Rob).
If I were going to leave the US, I would be interested in Canada, Portugal, Colombia or Costa Rica. I also know that these places would not necessarily be interested in having me.

iris lilies

12-16-24, 11:53am

There is another reason I find India compelling. I remember reading YMOYL years ago and one of the options mentioned was volunteer work in a developing country. That to me sounds like a wonderful way to move beyond paid work - by making myself useful in a low cost country - low living and health care costs which enable me to be much more human. I still stand by everything I posted above, I'm just adding another reason I find India interesting. And I'm sure there would be no lack of volunteer work available.

Another issue is that the house I co own has appreciated to a level where such is possible, provided that the country I go to is low cost. And it would be heaven to not live in fear of health care - though India comes with many issues of it's own, true that. Definitely would need to visit first. And SO is on board - maybe not so much with India per se, but with exchanging countries to reclaim our lives. Rob

We are taught by pop psychology that “ all feelings including fears are valid.” So ok, feel your fear, whatever. But let it guide your behavior? Perhaps think again about that.

For those who may be joining us late, or may need a reminder, Rob has exhibited many frantic spells of illogic concerning healthcare.

One I remember specifically was his near-hysteric meltdown about signing on to a publicly funded health insurance plan, maybe it was Medicare or maybe an ACA plan, I don’t remember which. He was convinced he was getting screwed in the sign up process. Of course it worked out just fine.

Another incident I remember was when Rob had a serious health problem that landed him in the hospital and lo, his bills were covered by insurance. That must have been a couple hundred thousand dollars of medical care, covered by insurance. Imagine that! A system that did not fail Rob here in the U.S. of A.

But it is great that our free market system of capitalism has raised Rob’s net worth via real estate appreciation to a point where he can cash out his house and flee to a better country with better citizenship. We can all applaud the fact that Rob pays no heed to the source of his wealth, a free market that penalizes home buyers today now priced out of the housing market.

Rob thinks healthcare is a human right. What about housing, is that a human right? He is a contributor to NOT keeping housing safe and affordable in his community by participating in the spoils of capitalism. A real activist would sell that house to a deserving poor person, sell at half the market value or below.

LDAHL

12-16-24, 12:45pm

I think the Indian people have already had their fill of white saviors.

I never understood the eagerness you often see to whitewash the British Empire. Sure, the Sahibs fomented wars and looted the subcontinent for a few centuries, but look at those trains they built. They ran West Indian plantations that prefigured Nazi concentration camps, and in fact coined the term when they penned up Boer civilians. They pioneered the concept of the drug cartel in China. They essentially legalized piracy during many wars, and bought slaves off the boat to serve in Caribbean regiments. They succeeded in Malaya where the French and Americans failed in Vietnam because they were prepared to act more ruthlessly. The contemporary Middle East is in the shape it’s in largely due to their colonial policies.

We don’t make excuses for the Portuguese or French empires like we do for the British. Virtually all the “reforms” they boast of only occurred after doing the wrong thing ceased to be profitable.

iris lilies

12-16-24, 2:21pm

I never understood the eagerness you often see to whitewash the British Empire. Sure, the Sahibs fomented wars and looted the subcontinent for a few centuries, but look at those trains they built. They ran West Indian plantations that prefigured Nazi concentration camps, and in fact coined the term when they penned up Boer civilians. They pioneered the concept of the drug cartel in China. They essentially legalized piracy during many wars, and bought slaves off the boat to serve in Caribbean regiments. They succeeded in Malaya where the French and Americans failed in Vietnam because they were prepared to act more ruthlessly. The contemporary Middle East is in the shape it’s in largely due to their colonial policies.

We don’t make excuses for the Portuguese or French empires like we do for the British. Virtually all the “reforms” they boast of only occurred after doing the wrong thing ceased to be profitable.

I still remember something Jonah Goldberg said when I saw him speak in person at St. Louis University. He pointed out, in defense of the British rule, that the reason why Ghandi and his team were successful is because of the Western values the Brits lived and carried out in India. When Ghandi protested peacefully, ruling British respected that freedom and valued human life and did not mow them down to obliterate the uprising.

That is a level of civility we can aspire to.

But ok, maybe the profit aspect was gone. :~)

catherine

12-16-24, 2:30pm

I still remember something Jonah Goldberg said when I saw him speak in person at St. Louis University. He pointed out, in defense of the British rule, that the reason why Ghandi and his team were successful is because of the Western values the Brits lived and carried out in India. When Ghandi protested peacefully, ruling British respected that freedom and valued human life and did not mow them down to obliterate the uprising.

That is a level of civility we can aspire to.

How about this one?
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre

iris lilies

12-16-24, 2:37pm

How about this one?
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre

True, it wasnt without some bloodshed. And then Partition was another period of bloodshed in India. I guess I think of India independence as a war that did NOT go on for decades, their independence was carried out in fairly short order. Now I have to go find out how long exactly that did go on.

And we can’t forget how undemocratic was King Goerge in putting down the rebellions here in yhe U.S.

LDAHL

12-16-24, 5:23pm

How about this one?
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-amritsar-massacre

By the time of Independence, the British had pretty much exhausted their resources and credibility in the region. Their inadequate response to the Bengal famine and the many instances where the Sahibs failed to demonstrate much superiority over the Japanese did much to tarnish the mystique of the Raj. I think they were recognizing the inevitable rather than displaying some great fundamental decency when they pulled out.

If you look at the totality of the British Imperial project, there is no shortage of oppression, exploitation and massacre to consider. It may be the Irish in me, but I don’t see why we’re expected to dwell on every wart and blemish of American history but draw a sort of rosy veil over the wonderful British.

ToomuchStuff

12-16-24, 6:11pm

We are taught by pop psychology that “ all feelings including fears are valid.” So ok, feel your fear, whatever. But let it guide your behavior? Perhaps think again about that.

For those who may be joining us late, or may need a reminder, Rob has exhibited many frantic spells of illogic concerning healthcare.

One I remember specifically was his near-hysteric meltdown about signing on to a publicly funded health insurance plan, maybe it was Medicare or maybe an ACA plan, I don’t remember which. He was convinced he was getting screwed in the sign up process. Of course it worked out just fine.

Another incident I remember was when Rob had a serious health problem that landed him in the hospital and lo, his bills were covered by insurance. That must have been a couple hundred thousand dollars of medical care, covered by insurance. Imagine that! A system that did not fail Rob here in the U.S. of A.

But it is great that our free market system of capitalism has raised Rob’s net worth via real estate appreciation to a point where he can cash out his house and flee to a better country with better citizenship. We can all applaud the fact that Rob pays no heed to the source of his wealth, a free market that penalizes home buyers today now priced out of the housing market.

Rob thinks healthcare is a human right. What about housing, is that a human right? He is a contributor to NOT keeping housing safe and affordable in his community by participating in the spoils of capitalism. A real activist would sell that house to a deserving poor person, sell at half the market value or below.

Say he sold it for less, if he still made money wouldn't he have to be charged for undervaluing his properties like someone else was?

littlebittybobby

12-17-24, 12:19pm

okay----funny you kids would be discussing two o' MY fav'rite countries, 'cause I been thinking about fleeing THIS country(like hollyweird fanaticrats keep saying they will, but don't follow through), due ta too much o' that liberalistic garbage run rampant. Also, the crime perpetrated mainly by bad girls, here. But yeah----I may pack up 'n move ta either Bangladesh OR quite possibly Pakistan. Pakistan would be good, because it's got K2 located there, should I want to hike ta the top. And then---in Bangladesh, they have typhoons and other catastrophies, so that would be fun. Most of all---they praise Allah, quite regularly. But , anyway---I'll keep on posting here, to let you know how I'm enjoying my new home there. Yup.

littlebittybobby

12-18-24, 2:26pm

okay----taking over the world is taking over the world. You should know that those English went on a rampage of Empire-Building and Conquest, just like Adolf and Napoleon and a whole bunch of others throughout history. It's just that the winners write the history books to say it was a "peaceful invasion" and nobody got hurt; we(meaning: they) did it 'cause we're the nice guys. Ha. Plus, we have the advanced weaponry. Yup. Where do you kids get your information? Tee-Vee and what the textbooks said. Then, you recite it as fact. The ability to learn by rote and recite it is not intelligence. Nor common sense. Hope that helps you some. Thankk mee.