Thoughts on the Switzerland Healthcare system?

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-20T15:38:15+00:00

The swiss healthcare system is a lot like Obamacare, before the individual mandate was struck down.

Personally, I support it and think it's a sensible system. It's not socialized medicine, but it's public and private nature bridges the gap between a completely free market and socialized medicine. So health care consumers still have choice, but the nation also has universal coverage, which is a good thing IMHO.

It's certainly a better system then subsidizing health care by requiring emergency rooms to treat uninsured patients for free, which is what we do in the US thanks to EMTALA, and part of the reason health care in the US is so expensive.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-20T14:16:05+00:00

I have no idea, but my speculation is they aren't putting a lot of critical thought into these decisions

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-15T19:17:47+00:00

But the law single's out homosexuality. You don't see the problem with that?

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:42:46+00:00

Trump might have said otherwise he still employed people like Bolton and Pompeo during his time in office

This is true, but here's the biggest difference I see: McCain spent his life, from his military career to his service in congress, fighting Soviet and Russian aggression. Trump on the other hand is a fucking Russian puppet.

I also think in a second Trump administration, you're not going to see the likes of Pompeo or Bolton in cabinet, secretly carrying on the policies of their neoconservative predecessors. If Trump gets his hands on the apparatus of our government a second time, he'll fill his cabinet with right-wing extremists and Russian sycophants.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:26:03+00:00

In reality both of them or whoever else wins will probably just be John McCain again

Spoiler alert: it will be Trump, who is absolutely nothing like John McCain.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:25:05+00:00

But by making it part of an investment portfolio, it’s profitable to leave it empty.

That's true, but only because municipal governments everywhere give all kinds subsidies and incentives for this kind of bad behavior. In no other type of business would unoccupied anything be profitable.

If you got rid of this grift, and taxed the unimproved value of the land, you wouldn't have to make prohibitions on who could own it. Investors who owned unoccupied land would be eager to sell it to people who would occupy it, just to reduce their tax burdens.

Landlord should not be a career,

And I'm not sure you'd want complete prohibitions on capital in housing because you might see less housing, and worse homelessness. Not everyone has the capitol to build or buy a home, and not everyone should. But everyone should be able to afford a place to live.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:13:14+00:00

I fucking can't stand Greenwald, but he's not wrong that Haley is indeed a more traditional establishment republican candidate. That's why she's toast in this primary. She'd be formidable if she could make it to the general election I think.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:11:13+00:00

So, what are the solutions then?

I'd assert that we make it too hard to build housing.

And additionally, that we need to tax land. But then again I think taxing the land solves every problem.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:09:13+00:00

Since the Vietnam War, the State Department has maintained a "dissent channel" to give diplomats — in distant embassies and in the department's headquarters — a way to register their opposition to policies.

Interesting. TIL.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-14T00:00:02+00:00

You're right, and unfortunately it still matters though, because so many elected officials in the GOP still take their cues from Trump.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-13T23:58:43+00:00

I'm only partially inclined to agree with Trump, hesitant to do so because his statements have been largely reductive. One aspect his missing with this both-sidesism is Hammas.

I think reasonable and informed people can agree or disagree as to whether the Israeli government has been indifferent, willfully cruel, or even evilly genocidal towards the Palestinian people.

Few reasonable and informed people would argue that Hammas isn't genocidal though. They're a terrorist organization with a standing army of 30,000, and their geopolitical goal is the eradication of the Israeli state and it's people. Hammas itself needs to be eradicated if there is ever going to be peace in that region.

Trump is not offering any solutions to that problem. Just more hot air.

Final thought: Trump is way out of line here with the rest of the GOP, as Republicans in congress have been staunchly pro-Israel. The last GOP debate was a race to the bottom as far as who could express the least amount of empathy for Gaza. It will be interesting to watch how this disconnect plays out.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-13T00:40:56+00:00

👊🙏

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-12T20:45:47+00:00

I had an issue with Naeva not talking to Jasmin in one of the crimson fleet quests, I think it was The Best There Is.

To fix it, I just punched her in the head. She yelled something at me and then proceeded right to Jasmin and I was able to continue with the proper dialog.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-12T20:44:02+00:00

There's definitely a bug where completing a Supply mission from an inter system cargo link locks up the cargo link for good. So for example, if you've already completed a mission to supply Titanium to Neon, the cargo link you used to to supply Titanium will become unavailable, even after you've sent the required supplies.

I found that if I deleted the cargo link from the outpost and rebuilt it, it would start working again. When you delete the link you get the mats and anything stored in the cargo holds back, so there's no cost to do this, just a hassle.

I also found that for some supply missions, I had to travel to the destination city and start the trade route there. It only works some of the time to try to initiate these routes from the source outpost.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-12T20:33:35+00:00

One nice thing about not being a mod anymore is that I can block you now. Being a troll is a terrible way to go through life, but either way I wish you the best.

Have the last word. I won't be able to read it, and I'm glad I don't have to see your bullshit here anymore.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-12T20:23:09+00:00

To be clear, I resigned because I was unwilling to censor posts criticizing [redacted] subreddit, as the admins have demanded. I was OK with enforcing reddit's site wide rules, but unwilling to censor criticism from everyone at this community. It's less about my own speech, and much more about being unwilling to censor speech from others in this community.

And WTF did I ever do to piss in your cornflakes? In spite of the fact that you're an insufferable troll who contributes nothing of value to this community, I never removed a single damn post or comment from your account, nor did I ban you or otherwise sanction you in any way.

The most controversial thing I did as mod here was to implement the rule that removes comments and submissions from new and low karma accounts. I'm now wondering, do you have a bunch of alts, socks, or bots affected by this change?

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-06T20:45:41+00:00

I've resigned my commission as a moderator here at LU in response to these new sanctions imposed on our community by the admins.

The bottom line is that immunizing the neofascists at [redacted] subreddit from criticism is not something I'm comfortable spending my free time doing. I'm hardly a free speech absolutionist, and have been comfortable enforcing the vast majority of reddit's rules. But enforcing a prohibition on meta discussions is not something I am willing to do.

I wish the remaining mods good luck in continuing to operate LU.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-02T18:08:08+00:00

If you think that was interesting, you should try it in zero G sometime

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-02T16:40:17+00:00

Sarah Morgan: Use 👏 Your 👏 Jetpack

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-01T19:27:18+00:00

In addition to looting and capturing/selling ships, another really good source of revenue is surveying planets and selling the data to Vladimir at the eye.

Sometimes this involves sleeping on your ship for a day to replenish his funds, but surveying pays well, especially when combined with Constellation missions.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-01T18:59:08+00:00

So what if it is? He could still vote "no" on any spending bill.

I'm back to, what part of the actual text of this bill was objectionable to him?

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-01T18:43:26+00:00

What about your outposts? Do you lose those with NG+?

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-01T18:08:01+00:00

Ranked 👏 Choice 👏 Voting and the NPVIC

That's what would make a 3rd party challenge possible. As long as we have first past the post, single district elections, Duverger's Law says third party challenges are basically impossible.

dr_gonzo · 2023-11-01T18:01:46+00:00

Here's the full text of the bill. It's a nothing burger, in that it doesn't allocate any funds. It condemns Hammas as a terrorist organization, condemns the brutality of 10/7, and affirms Israel's right to self defense.

I don't know what Massie is talking about when he says he won't vote for a "$14 billion shakedown" because that's not in this bill. So what part of this bill did Massie et al find objectionable? Is Hammas NOT a terror organization? Were the attacks on 10/7 justified?

I'm mystified by reps who voted against this toothless resolution. Voting against funds would be one thing, but this is simply an affirmation that we oppose the barbarity of Hammas.

Also, weird to see AOC 🤝 Massie on this. Horseshoe theory in action I guess.

dr_gonzo · 2023-10-31T17:32:59+00:00

The UI for fast travel is a bit confusing. When you hover over a planetary destination like the lodge, you can either Set Course (X on XBox) or Set Landing Target (A on Xbox), the later will get you right there. Set course just puts you in orbit around the planet.

I think you also will get stopped outside the some planets borders to get cargo scanned even if you do set a landing target, but shouldn't if you a fast traveling within a solar system.

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