Progressives (Liberals)

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/423874-minnesota-mom-says-26-year-old-son-died-because-he-couldnt?amp&__twitter_impression=true

BY ARIS FOLLEY

A Minnesota mother is advocating for lower insulin prices after she said her 26-year-old son died because he couldn't afford the cost.

Nicole Smith-Holt told CBS News in a report published on Friday that her son, Alec, was a Type 1 diabetic, which meant he needed to take daily doses of insulin in order to survive.

But when he turned 26, his monthly payment reportedly skyrocketed to $1,300 because the drug could no longer be covered by his parents' insurance.

That's when Smith-Holt said her son, without her knowledge, began to ration his insulin to get by.

Shortly after, she said, her son fell into a diabetic coma while he was alone in his apartment and later died.

"My son died because he could not afford his insulin," Smith-Holt told the publication.

"Nobody to be there with him, to hold his hand or to call for help ... and then I think about if he had never moved out, if he had lived at home, somebody would've, you know, seen the signs," Smith-Holt continued. "And I'll probably feel guilty every day for the rest of my life."

Now, Smith-Holt said she is turning her grief for her son into action by "fighting for the lives of others."

The cost for insulin has reportedly tripled from 2002 and 2013, and three of the country's drugmakers have raised its price at least 10 times since 2008.

Last October, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson (D) filed a lawsuit against three top insulin manufacturers - Sanofi-Aventis, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Co. - for what she called "deceptive and misleading" price increases for insulin.

"Insulin is a life-or-death drug for people with diabetes," Swanson said in a statement at the time. "Many people can't afford the price hikes but can't afford to stop taking the medication either."

However, despite pressure from President Trump and other lawmakers to reduce drug prices, drugmakers also kicked off 2019 with a string of price hikes on New Year's Day that reportedly affected more 1,000 medications

So, I’m glad to know racism in America is in the past, according to Nancy Pelosi. All we have to do is address how we redress how we addressed African Americans in the past. Yay!

That convoluted vomitus demonstrates real political skill.

100% tax on misogyny. We’ll be rolling in Republican money.

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c3154e9e4b0733528336e49/amp?__twitter_impression=true


GOP Strategist Calls Ocasio-Cortez 'The Little Girl.' She Lets Him Have It.

Congresswoman calls Ed Rollins a "walking argument" for a 100 percent tax on misogyny.
By Mary Papenfuss
01/05/2019 10:10 PM ET
|
Updated 4 hours ago

Republican political strategist and campaign consultant Ed Rollins dismissively referred to 29-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as “the little girl” with a big “mouth.”

That triggered a trademark zinger from the congresswoman, who called Rollins a “walking argument” for a 100 percent tax on misogyny.

Rollins told Fox News’ Lou Dobbs on Friday: “If you’re going to put her out front with her mouth ... the little girl who wants pre-Reagan economics of 70 percent taxes, the Democratic women are basically going to be damaged.”

Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet that such attacks on women are apparently the best argument Republicans have in policy debates.



Ocasio-Cortez has suggested a 70 percent marginal tax rate for income above a certain level for the ultra wealthy in order to fund programs to battle climate change. The Trump administration, backed by Republicans, gave corporations a 40 percent tax cut from 35 percent to 21 percent in 2017, rocketing the nation’s debt by $2 trillion to a total of $21.974 trillion.

But what does Ocasio-Cortez know about tax policy? “A lot,” said the headline of an opinion piece Saturday in The New York Times by Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman. A similar tax rate was imposed in the U.S. for 35 years after World War II, which included some of the “most successful periods of economic growth in history,” Krugman wrote.

Tax cuts for the ultra wealthy mean far less to them than cuts for people with modest incomes, Krugman noted. And extra money in millions of hands boosts spending.

I don't think Pelosi's statement was meant to suggest that "racism in America is in the past".

Nothing suggests that this represents the sum total of her policy with regards to minority rights or that she has no interest in addressing current and future problems as they arise. It was a Twitter response!

Actually is really does.

B.L.M. is a loosely organized group which arose in response to a poisonous relationship between black communities and the local police. The situation itself is not new but has been given much more prominence because of dash cams and instant coverage from people on the scene with mobile devices. As a "blacktivist" organization it doesn't need to court the approval of big shot white politicians. Nor do white politicians need to patronize the organization. There's nothing wrong about working to help all people while encouraging grass roots activism among particular communities.

The comment has destroyed an enormous amount of black goodwill toward the Ds.

Btw, you sound a lot like a moderate Republican.

A moderate Republican who believes in confiscatory tax rates for the vulture class, the de-militarization of our economy and foreign policy, universal lifelong access to education and healthcare, and the establishment of an eco-Stalinist global state! Among other things.

I think most African-American voters will know which political party to vote for by the policies espoused and pursued and not make their choice contingent on what particular politician gives or doesn't give BLM a pat on the head. Black USAmericans don't need white approval and shouldn't look for it. That's not solidarity, it's paternalism.

A clue for people removed from black life: If somebody asks you if black lives matter, and you’re unable to simply say yes, the answer is no.

Well, at least I see clearly who you are now.
Being an ally and a partner is in no way paternalism. That reveals a disturbing mindset on your part.

But that's not the same as asking about "BlackLivesMatter". Those are different questions. The ugly truth is that around the world, poor lives don't seem to matter, at least not to the most powerful classes. Hell, Jesus was going on about that 2000 years ago. The poor are useful as a source of cheap labor and as cannon fodder. The poor are exploited when useful and abandoned when possible. From a humanitarian perspective of course, all people matter, the poor included. From the point of view of the exploiting class, not so much.

Allies and partners work together to achieve common goals. Giving lip service to or conferring legitimacy on an independent organization is not required nor should it be sought. Alliances are forged by actively working together not by collecting and bestowing endorsements.

The inability to say to someone ‘your life matters to me and I don’t need to equivocate that fact’ is a prerequisite for giving a real damn about another human being.

You’re an apologist now. Disappointing.

The fix to the problem that spawned BLM is multifaceted, but requires prison / law enforcement reform and a careful solutions-oriented evaluation of institutional racism.

Pelosi focused on giving lip service to the past.

She really fucked up. So sorry to see how conservative you are toward civil rights.

Lash, I don't want to continue this discussion ad nauseum; I believe I know where you stand. I just wish you could acknowledge a distinction between asking someone if the lives of people — either as individuals or as a class — matter and asking someone about "BlackLivesMatter". Honestly, I think even most racists, if asked whether black lives matter, would say "Of course". Only a sociopath would answer in the negative.

I agree. I don't see that Pelosi's statement indicated opposition to these proposed solutions.

It was a tweet, not a policy paper.

We haven't been talking about "civil rights" — we've been discussing Pelosi's comment. If you want to talk about civil rights, great. Any particular policy recommendations you have in mind? Personally I think voting rights are particularly important for groups who experience discrimination. I don't see that this makes me "conservative" toward civil rights.

For clarification: It wasn’t a tweet; it was Pelosi’s answer to a black kid during an interview.

Re civil rights, I’m shocked by your comment. “We haven’t been talking about civil rights”???? BLM is quintessential civil rights, still fighting to achieve the same equality MLK protested for almost 60 years ago - that Lincoln thought he was achieving 160 years ago. I think even pelosi would have known that.

But, yeah. I don’t think anything useful will come from more of this. We can give it a rest.

My apologies. I had only followed the twitter link provided by edgarblythe. Got a link to the whole interview?

This reminds me a bit of the "Women's March" in that distinctions aren't always made between the movement for equality and the organization promoting the cause. So some poor schlub might get asked, "Do you support the Women's March?" and if he answers, "Yes, I sure do," he might be accused of anti-semitism!

I saw a clip of a huge crowd for Elizabeth Warren this morning. She will be a force to be reckoned with.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
‏

@AOC

If the GOP wants a wall so badly, they can try to propose and pass a bill like anybody else.

Instead, they are seizing gov operations + innocent people’s pay until they get what they want.

This is called hostage-taking. And no one can compromise or negotiate with that.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added,

U.S. Senate's first bill, in midst of shutdown, is a bipartisan defense of the Israeli government from boycotts

https://theintercept.com/2019/01/05/u-s-senates-first-bill-in-midst-of-shutdown-is-a-bipartisan-defense-of-the-israeli-government-from-boycotts/

sabrina4bernie

What happened to the Anti-War Movement? Millions were in the streets during the Bush era demanding an end to the Iraq Invasion. Then Obama went into the WH, escalated Bush's Wars and started five NEW Wars taking us into Africa, and the Anti-War 'movement' disappeared. Why?

Do you know our bike enthusiast in DC is not being paid? Yeizo. (Don’t remember his A2K moniker...Failures Art?

It’s really ******* up life right now. I think Congress should miss paychecks, but they’re all millionaires, so moot point, I guess.