Perry Shafran

Our healthcare system can be fixed politically -- murdering people is not necessary. Yes, people voted against reform just last month, but people are far from unpersuadable on this issue.

it is possible that I am in fact wildly out of touch with popular opinion on the left but i continue to believe that murder is bad

Yes, the health care system has failed us.
Yes, the justice system has failed us.

But that does not excuse vigilante justice.

Anger is warranted in these cases. Hoping to see perpetrators suffer is warranted. Put them in prison, take their riches away.

Daniel Penny is guilty of murder. Luigi Mangione is guilty of murder. Justice should be that both murderers be treated as murderers. We can't say "one killed a good guy" and "one killed a bad guy", otherwise we do not have laws.

It would set a bad precedent that any murder can be termed "self defense" if the subject of the murder is terrible enough.

Even if you think that it was a righteous cause, even if you think the justice system is terrible (and it is), it's still not the way we should be doing justice in this nation.

On one hand, the system of health insurance is terrible for the affordability of health care in this nation, and truly needs to be replaced by a gov't run system.

OTOH, I fear that the celebration of Luigi as some sort of folk hero is also terrible.

But they’re THAT color of birthright citizens, so…

TRUMPFLATION!

“Gabbard is worse than unfit. Her public record is as a disinformer and apologist for mass murderers. And there is nothing on the other side of the ledger. There are no positive qualifications.”

It’s also just an absolute logistical nightmare. Most people have some way of proving where they were born. How many people have readily available documentary proof of their parents’ citizenship status?

Abolish health insurance companies. They add no value to health care.

But in no way, shape, or form will I ever justify killing people like this because they are bad. It's basically saying the only way to solve our problems is violence.

I'm not celebrating the guy or shedding any tears. But is denying health insurance claims and causing people to die murder? It's horrible, it's awful, and his death did indeed bring this issue to the forefront.

Sue me, but I am completely bothered by the notion that killing someone is justified if their business practice harms people. After so many years of preaching non violence, we're now celebrating a murder because the person murdered was a bad guy.

Actually going to tonight's contra dance at Glen Echo. Longtime friends caller Beth Molaro and musicians Rachel Eddy to be performing, plus other great musicians. Plus, I really need to get moving more, and contra dancing is just the way to go.

Chip Roy dismisses the Pete Hegseth rape allegation: "We've all had some indiscretions in our past and things like that."

Trump ran his campaign on helping the economy for ordinary Americans. People who went to his rallies felt that Biden wasn't helping the economy.

Trump is stocking his cabinet with billionaires, including Elon Musk, who is tasked with ending all government programs that help ordinary citizens.

Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name to be considered for AG. Good riddance. He claims that he didn't want to be a distraction and wasn't up to a prolonged fight. Which, of course, is bull, considering he was there to basically fight off the Justice Department and reshape it to serve Trump.

The Cabinet selections demonstrate the worst of humanity. Gaetz surely is guilty of ethics violations, including sexual assault, Hegseth also committed his own sexual assault, and Noem shot her own dog just because. Gabbard is a Russian asset, Kennedy has nothing but conspiracy theories to go on.

I don't know why anyone needs to feel guilty for not attending a contra dance - except that that's how those dances are promoted. I do wish people to support contra dances or else we won't have them. Even in my most dance-addicted days, I rarely went to weekends and sometimes skipped a dance.

The real issue I have is contra dancing can and should be a place where people can find the community so desperately needed at this time. The problem is, what people say contra dancing is and what contra dancing really is can diverge greatly, especially if you are rejected by the community.

Venting: I love contra dancing and all and know that a lot of people live their lives by it. But, I dunno, the constant of pushing it as the only thing you should be doing and it being the only place to be on any given night has been kind of obnoxious.

Today's Cabinet picks bring in more of the insane. Dr. Oz at Medicare and Howard Lutnick at Commerce?

And do I have to tell you how unqualified Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth are for the positions they were nominated for? Both are super shady people with unethical backgrounds and in a time when saner politics ruled, their nominations would have been withdrawn by now.

Take, for example, Lee Zeldin of the EPA. The EPA's job is to help protect the environment. Zeldin was put into place to get rid of any environmental protections so businesses can make more money. That's not the EPA's job.

Most regular presidents in the past have nominated Cabinet secretaries to actually run the positions of the agency they are put in charge.

Not the current president-elect. His idea is to put in a Cabinet Secretary for the sole purpose of destroying the agency or doing that agency's opposite.

Those that don't desire "woke" are basically telling you they are afraid of others and don't want the needs of anyone else trampling on their needs. But it's OK to trample on everyone else's.

I wonder if I can talk about things here without anyone coming in and telling us how horrible "woke" is and people don't want that. The truth is, most people really desire people to be "woke" (which is a fancy term for being empathetic to the needs of others).

I most certainly do!!

Question: Is this more of an X replacement or a Facebook replacement? Looks more like X, which I hardly ever used even in the long gone days known as Twitter. Eh, this is my chance to try something new.