Grace Under Pressure

So MAGA supports Chinese kids taking college spots away from American kids because their cult leader can never be criticized. That’s surprising.

Zero Republicans will “defect”. That’s an absolute pipe dream.

Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were best friends. For decades. Trump raped underage girls. MAGA supports this piece of garbage.

“Liberalz!!” derp derp Cult follower behavior. Seek de-programming therapy.

I would certainly vote for a conservative. What I want is a good decision maker. That means stacking good policy decisions one after another. Not just what's good for one guy. If anyone thinks Trump is conservative, that's a joke. Trump is pro-Trump. He's not a conservative, not a liberal, not a libertarian, not any of those. He's a cult leader who makes decisions based on what's good for him, or generously speaking, for him, his family, and "his people". Don't be in a cult. He doesn't care about you, or how you're doing financially, or if you have to pay a lot for health insurance, or if air travel sucks for you. He has all of those things, usually paid for by the U.S citizens. You don't. Wake up.

Trump said on Truth Social that the insurance companies are evil and that the government shouldn't be giving them money. Does he know what Medicare is lol? What's even more ridiculous about that is that statement is that Medicare Advantage (MA) is essentially the same exact program as the ACA, the only difference is that MA is for people 65+. A government program, run by insurance companies. They should introduce a younger, healthier cohort to Medicare Advantage. Say ages 50-64. That population has a much better loss ratio, i.e. they pay more in premiums than they take away in claims, vs. the group already covered, 65+. (There's also a 5% or so Admin fee that the insurance companies use to operate, including salaries.) Insurance companies would like to have that 50-64 population no matter what, they mostly have them captured under commercial plans and the ACA currently, but it's messy. They're losing out on gaps in that population. Here's the thing for this year. If Trump wanted to help consumers at the expense of the "evil insurance companies" that he called them, he would cap the premium and deductible increases on the ACA that the insurance companies are offering for 2026, raising them by 250% or whatever the number is exactly. Tell the insurance companies, they are regulated after all, that the maximum premium increase overall is capped at 10%. Then offer to make them whole in January 2027 if they report a negative loss ratio (they won't need to, it will still be profitable). Did anyone ask Trump why he's not doing that, but instead he is allowing the insurance companies to enact these premium increases to consumers? If the insurance companies are so "evil" like he says? No, they didn't. Because the people that would ask Trump that question don't even know how it works.

Aaron Rodgers looked bad in that game.

This was the correct call. Good.

Republicans do exactly what Trump tells them to do. That’s not news to anyone. If Schumer thought there was room between Trump and GOPs in Congress, he was sorely mistaken. That’s wild to think Republicans would have bucked against Trump, even a little.

They allowed for a lot of chaos, some of which won’t get fixed. Don’t be surprised when air travel isn’t put back to normal. Dumb strategy. Backfired.

Schumer is a dope if he thought Trump would give a crap about any Americans suffering. Trump has Walter Reed for healthcare and flies on AF1. What a dumb calculation by Dems. Know better jeez.

So Dems are just gonna cave. So what was the shutdown for lmao? Cowards. That “vote in the future” is a Lucy, Charlie Brown and football moment waiting to happen.

Trump and the MAGA inner circle republicans ruining air travel for Americans while allowing private jets to operate unfettered isn’t even about the shutdown. Trump and the Mar-a-lago crowd fly private. They don’t want you, MAGA rally goers included, but really just anyone besides them, to fly safely and orderly. That’s for them. In their opinion, they pay for you to fly safely. And they don’t want to do that for you anymore.

Only Fans is a wild concept. Fools and their money easily parted and all.

First one. For the illness that cost them $5000, the hospital or provider puts them on a payment plan. That’s how it goes. So I guess that means they “go after them”. Maybe it takes them 4 years to pay it off. $100 a month or so. Second one. The costs of $500 for me is cash. I pay the doctor $250 for my annual visit, $20 a month for my prescription. If I didn’t have an insurance plan, I’d be on the hook. That’s the risk. I’m in favor of catastrophic plans for this scenario. I worked for a large healthcare company in the Medicare Part D space for two decades. I have no problem saying this country is fked when it comes to health insurance. It’s absolutely anti-human.

It’s pretty clear MAGA has zero clue what they’re talking about. “We’re winning liberalz!!” is the extent of their knowledge. Country be damned. It’s gotta hurt being so stupid.

Actually the deductibles are likely 5K or more for plans with low premiums like those plans you listed. Premiums, deductibles, and copays are what patients pay. If your costs at the doctor and pharmacy are 5K per year or less, chances are you’re paying for all of that yourself, and paying for other people. As a 55 year old man, on a statin, who needs to see the doctor once a year. My costs should be around 500 bucks per year. 250 to see the doctor, 20 bucks per month for my prescription. In that scenario, paying more than 50 bucks a month for a monthly premium is crazy. And there’s a 5K deductible? C’mon. They should just lower the Medicare age to 55. Healthy people like me, and your friend, can pay premiums into Medicare and make no claims for 10 years. I probably don’t even need to see a doctor for 10 years. I’ve gone that long before.

They'll end it when Trump is ready to end it. Dems will need to be blamed, and Dems need to figure out a way to give Trump credit for something. But they should just do it already, the air travel thing is a bridge too far IMO.

"They left gays out of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, so too bad for them!! Your fault liberals!!" Follow the Constitution lol? By saying what, "hey, we decided instead the 14th Amendment doesn't apply after all!". It's already been decided. Challenging it, by definition, is saying "no, you don't have these rights after all". Instead of just doing nothing. That's an active vs. passive approach. You think they have the rights? Do nothing. You don't think they have the rights? Challenge. It's not that difficult to follow frankly. People can logic pretzel it all they want.

I do agree that the 14th amendment protection may have been a bit of a stretch. I said as much, but that’s not the point. Here is what I’m clearly saying: There is no good reason to be challenging the ruling. No one should be challenging it. Gays have the protection, given the ruling. So just leave it alone. If someone challenges the ruling, they are attacking gay rights. I’m saying leave it be. Let them have the protection. Challenging the ruling is an attack on gay people, hearing the case is an attack on gay people. Leave them alone.

Constitutionally it's the correct thing to do? Marriage isn't mentioned once in the Constitution. The only stretch is the 14th Amendment providing equal protection, which is a pro gay marriage argument obviously. If they take the case, and the outcome somehow supports gay marriage, or protects it further? I'll show up back here and re-think the discussion. If they don't take the case, I'll give them a pat on the back. When they take the case, and "put the decision back to the states", I'll remember the disingenuous arguments as well.

Yes. The market withstood as much of the stupid decisions by Trump's administration (he's too dumb too make any decisions lol), and this is the outcome. He couldn't just leave things running smoothly, like it was under President Biden. Now everyone is suffering. Poor, middle, and upper classes. Great job rubes.

You think if they take the case, it's because they are going to further affirm gay marriage as a federally protected right under Obergefell? If they take this case, they are going to "put it back to the states". 100%. I understand the contrarian 0.00001% other possibilities. Don't be so naive. Your willingness to defend, in advance, the moral depravity of this court and administration is misplaced. If they don't take the case, I will commend them for being pro gay marriage. If they take the case, it is wholly to strike it down. Book it.

Because denying hearing the case IS ITSELF ruling in favor of gay marriage. There’s no point in accepting the case if they just plan to find in favor of gay marriage: ”If the court accepts the case, oral arguments could be scheduled for the spring, with a possible decision by June. Should the court deny review, the lower court rulings against Davis, and in favor of the marriage-equality plaintiffs, will stand.” Obergefell is already the standing ruling. You realize this, yes?

Opposing 2 people getting married is a bridge too far for 70% of Americans last poll I saw. Including like 50%+ GOP. Abortion is controversial, gays getting married not so much.