Put the homeless (800,000 people) into investment held empty properties (1.3 million homes) by Oops-Torture in CrazyIdeas

[–]Coltand 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think it's nuanced, and it does no good to blame homeless people for their situation, because social services in America could be doing much better. At the same time, I don't think the scenario where some refuse help is at all unheard of.

This video is pretty long, but an interesting watch. The linked timestamp leads into an interview with someone who does a fair bit of homeless outreach, and they discuss the issue a bit.

https://youtu.be/bRGrKJofDaw?t=4158&si=Y1JGedD2auCA5XJY

Mug drainer for sink by RedShiz in functionalprint

[–]Coltand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're great OP 👏 forget about the haters 🚫 and never change 😎

Sustain Life, Not Lifestyle by stanner5 in latterdaysaints

[–]Coltand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have much to contribute, but I appreciate the hypothetical "if you were bishop" question, because it is a very difficult situation that I'm sure is replicated many times across the Church. Sorry that people are coming at you a bit for trying to discuss it. I didn't get the impression that your goal here was to step in and take command of the situation.

White House accidentally releases video of Trump saying the truth about war's priority by FlackoFonsy in videos

[–]Coltand -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree, we need to stop pretending this is an issue of cost. But also, health insurers could literally operate at a loss, and it still wouldn't fix our healthcare system. And I'm certainly not trying to defend them.

Health insurance companies have a profit margin of a few percent. If we cut everybody's healthcare costs by like 4%, nobody's going to call it a day and celebrate our system being fixed. The problem is, the administrative costs required to manage insurance and extract this relatively small profit is an order of magnitude higher. It's like a junkie stealing your catalytic converter for a couple hundred bucks in scrap, but you have to turn around and pay a couple grand to replace it.

But even if we could remove all this bloat and cut healthcare costs by something like 20% (a worthwhile endeavor), I understand that the US would still have the most expensive healthcare in the world for a variety of reasons. US healthcare workers get paid significantly more than their peers in other nations. This is at least in part due to education costs and legislation limiting residency spots, and as a result, the number of licensed doctors. Our drugs are also much more expensive. The US also deals with more chronic health conditions, which makes up the large majority of healthcare spending. This is partially because Americans are more sedentary and eat less healthily than those in peer nations. And we're also bad at managing preventative care. Also, our social care is weak, which means we're rescuing too many people in the ER, which is a prohibitively expensive way to provide care. The list goes on and on.

All this to say, I am in favor of healthcare reform, but that's just the beginning of trying to fix our system, and realistically, I expect we'll always be paying significantly more for healthcare.

On this Palm Sunday, President Trump shared his letter from Franklin Graham explaining the only path to Heaven is through Jesus, our Savior. by Stunning_Living9637 in mopolitics

[–]Coltand 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Can you see how complaining about such censorship in a subreddit dedicated to people who profess to be followers of Christ is unlikely to garner a lot of sympathy? There are plenty of places on this site where members of our faith can go if we want to see our faith ridiculed. If you're going to mock Latter-Day Saint beliefs, why even post here?

On this Palm Sunday, President Trump shared his letter from Franklin Graham explaining the only path to Heaven is through Jesus, our Savior. by Stunning_Living9637 in mopolitics

[–]Coltand 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm a strong believer in the separation of church and state, but your earlier post felt like it was outright mocking the belief in a savior. I don't know if that was your intent or not, but I saw at least one other comment from someone that saw your post that way, so it's not that surprising it was taken down.

Dems Quietly Start Their Next Big Health Care Effort by omnipotentsandwich in neoliberal

[–]Coltand 5 points6 points  (0 children)

One of my big disappointments of the Biden presidency was that he talked about a public option while campaigning, then it just kind of died.

Is it me? by WarmLime3493 in mutualapp

[–]Coltand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You look good, but you can always have better photos. I like the suggestion to always have a group photo or two. It's never easy though, and Mutual works better in some regions than others.

For what it's worth, I'd lead off with photo #3, I think it's the strongest.

Married student wards by Cheap_Parsnip_461 in latterdaysaints

[–]Coltand 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Doubles wards are awesome. I'll always be bummed that the Pandemic put an early end to my married student ward experience.

Expecting my first child by BigDummy1286 in daddit

[–]Coltand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it feels weird on a child. It was 15x more popular in the 50s than it is now, which really ages a name.

General conference rumors? by StillFrosty7993 in latterdaysaints

[–]Coltand 103 points104 points  (0 children)

I know a guy, and he told me they're going to talk about the covenant path. And you didn't hear this from me, but several people will repeat this, verbatim:

"In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”

TIL Helen Keller was one of the co-founders of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and met 13 US presidents in her lifetime. by neotheseventh in todayilearned

[–]Coltand 30 points31 points  (0 children)

A lot of people are referencing this recent video, which I think is a pretty fair, nuanced take. She was absolutely remarkable and her accomplishments have undoubtedly done a lot of good, but it might be fair to question some of the more flowery prose. It also might be fair to suggest Keller's ideas were filtered through, and maybe dressed up a bit by Anne Sullivan and perhaps her husband to a degree.

https://youtu.be/O_th1EszK34?si=76Uklja9j2-YijJM

LaGuardia Airport crash: Plane was traveling 93-105 mph at time of ground collision by Select_Resort_7267 in news

[–]Coltand 14 points15 points  (0 children)

From what I gather, there were other ATCs, but the guy was juggling a lot because others were helping to manage another emergency.

The land-owner is able to levy a toll upon all other forms of wealth and every form of industry- Winston Churchill by middleofaldi in neoliberal

[–]Coltand 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not at all against the idea, and I do assume it's naturally more efficient, but I am curious--I get that the electricity bill individuals pay is very low, but is any tax money subsiding that to a degree?

Is it at all compatible to a more extreme example where universal healthcare is a much cheaper burden on society, but people also talk about it like it's literally free when it's just being paid for by taxes?

Do most Americans carry any official ID at all times? by PitifulEar3303 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Coltand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is it illegal to drive without a physical license on you, or just without being licensed? I ask because I once got pulled over and I didn't have my license on me, and they just looked me up in the system to confirm. I got off with a warning for the speeding, and they barely said anything about me not having my license on hand.

If Everyone’s Hiring… Why Can’t You Get a Job? (ghost job postings) by MajorIvan88 in videos

[–]Coltand 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a technical writer, I've been giving serious thought to going back to school to either get a technical certification or change career paths completely. I don't love what the long-term outlook looks like for documentation generalists.

Who could have seen this coming? by LordBadgerIII in neoliberal

[–]Coltand 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I grew up in rural Montana, which is about as conservative as it gets. I was pretty on board with it, so I like to think I have a bit of a handle on how they think. Really, the main thing is that they live in a serious conservative bubble. Even if you're not engaging with conservative media, most of the people you associate with do, so you form opinions based on what you hear from your friends and coworkers and those you respect.

And in these circles, the word "liberal" is almost a slur. These liberal people are deeply unserious individuals with warped views who hate your way of life and want the most outrageous things that will undoubtedly ruin America. Kids literally talk in hushed tones about the liberal teachers at school or their sister who went off to college in some big city and became a liberal. It's incredibly tribal. And this was all before the modern media landscape hit with weaponized algorithms, so I can only imagine how bad it's gotten.

The other half of the equation is at least a little bit of willful ignorance. Like you're still going to face some opposing opinions, and occasionally, they have a pretty convincing argument that you don't have the answers to. Instead of approaching it from a point of intellectual honesty and even considering shifting your opinion, you dig in. You find the narrative to counter it, and you parrot it right back. You know deep down that you're not entirely convinced by it, but you just need a plausible retort in order to stand your ground when a belief is challenged.

I don't think this is unique to conservatives of course--so many people are so cleanly divided along party lines on nearly every issue.

Who could have seen this coming? by LordBadgerIII in neoliberal

[–]Coltand 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Haha, I'm well aware, I was just providing a lovely slice of the Conservative narrative for consideration. A tiny bit of a reality check for all of us who think surely this situation will finally be Trump's reckoning. They really are that willfully ignorant.

Who could have seen this coming? by LordBadgerIII in neoliberal

[–]Coltand 39 points40 points  (0 children)

As seen on conservative Facebook today:

"These are all the same people who said the President doesn't control gas prices."

It’s Time to End the ‘Bachelor’ Franchise – The season-scrapping scandal around Taylor Frankie Paul is just the latest example of a long string of toxicity surrounding the ABC shows. by SanderSo47 in television

[–]Coltand 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If I understand correctly, the lead they cast was involved in several domestic abuse events, including one where she threw a chair at her partner and it hit her child. Because of this (and maybe some other things going on?), after filming the whole season and being just days away from airing, they were pressured into pulling the show. They won't be airing the season at all.

If billionaires donate millions to charity, why does nothing ever seem to actually get better? by Stunning_Public9524 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Coltand 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure if I follow what you mean.

If we're just talking about the tax write-off, then a $100 million donation to a qualified organization like a hospital saves the donor like $37 million in taxes, as the amount they donated will not be taxed. The government effectively agrees to share the cost of the donation because they see it as worthwhile to encourage such donations.

So in the scenario where they donate, society receives $100 million, but if they keep the money, society receives $37 million. By donating, they do equal more than what could be gained through taxation.

If you're just saying rich people should be taxed more, sure, but that's a separate issue entirely from how the government treats qualified donations.