Daniel Jones

To say that I was upset when the Giants chose Daniel Jones with the #6 overall pick would be a massive understatement. I was ready to keel haul Dave Gettleman and feed Pat Shurmur to a hungry shark.

Using the #6 pick for Jones while edge rusher Josh Allen was still on the board struck me as an exercise in insanity.

Now we have two pre-season games done and I also saw Jones at a charity softball event where he played 2nd base and hit a home run to boot.

Granted that Jones has played against 2nd and 3rd string defensive players and the pass rush against him has been fairly light, still, I'm going to admit that I may have been wrong.

He has looked pretty impressive. He's throw bullets with a ball placement accuracy that looks pretty darn good.

But the thing that has impressed me most is after a string of disasters against the Bears, including two fumbles and a dropped pass, he came back and put ten points on the board.

Of course pre-season is not the NFL and there is a long ways to go. Josh Allen would have made an immediate impact on an anemic Giants' pass rush and Jones is a future investment. I suppose we'll have to wait and see.

El Paso and Dayton

In a span of 14 hours two mass shootings, both of which involved semi-automatic rifles and extended capacity clips, have resulted in the deaths of 31 people.

I've never been to Dayton but I've been to El Paso many times. It's a nice place with friendly people. I can't imagine why anyone would do this kind of thing.

The El Paso shooter left a manifesto mumbling right wing bullshit about "invasions" and condemning things like inter-racial and inter-ethnic marriage. The guy was clearly a nut. He's in custody so now we get the horror of a trial.

Everyone wants a piece of this guy. Texas says it will seek the death penalty; the federal government is talking about treating it as terrorism and a hate crime which would also carry the death penalty and the Mexicans are demanding extradition because at least six of the victims were Mexican nationals.

There isn't as much information about the Dayton shooter other than he killed his own sister and sounds like he had serious issues. He's dead so we won't have to worry about a trial in Ohio.

This is ridiculous. Crazies like this need to be prevented from getting guns. If the only way to do that is to prevent anyone from getting a gun, then so be it.

Apparently the Equal Rights Amendment is Still Around

Advocates are claiming they are only one state away but that's probably not true.

Right now the problem with the ERA is that if another state ratified it would lead to a flurry of court cases. The legislatures of four states have rescinded ratification. One state had the legislature's proposal to rescind vetoed, which is itself legally questionable, but the other three were approved.

Plus, there are issues as to whether the time limit to ratify has expired. Congress extended the time limit from March of 1979 until June of 1982. A federal district court held that congress had no power to do that. The SCOTUS allowed the date of June 1982 to pass and then declared that the issue was moot.

It is highly unlikely that the current SCOTUS would ignore both the rescinded ratifications and the expiration of the time limit.

Besides, the 14th Amendment extends protections to women. If you need a special amendment for women then why not for race, national origin, ethnicity or being left handed.

It's time to put this dinosaur to bed permanently.

Representative Pramila Jayapal's Medicare for all Bill

There are two parts to any issue. The first part asks is it a good idea or a bad idea? Obviously having everyone with access to good health care is not only a good idea but absolutely imperative.

The second part asks since it’s a good idea, how do we make it happen? I think we have a ways to go on this one.

I read through Representative Jayapal's bill and the first thing that bothers me is why does it have to be a whole new bill rather than an amendment to the current Medicare legislation?

A second thing that bothers me is section 202.

SEC. 202. NO COST-SHARING. (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall ensure that no cost-sharing, including deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, or similar charges, is imposed on an individual for any benefits provided under this Act.

These things exist under current Medicare.

 

The deductible under Medicare Part A (hospitalization) is $1,364 and for Medicare Part B (doctor visits) it’s $185. There is a monthly premium based for Part B upon income that starts at $135.50 per month. There is also a co-pay for Part A when the hospital stay exceeds 60 days. Part B has a copay which is usually $10 but is $0 for preventative care visits such as annual physicals.

Then let’s not forget that Part D premiums are typically paid to a private insurer with Medicare charging a premium for high income retirees. A lot of people also have Medicare advantage plans which take up the slack. My wife gets that for free as part of her retirement package.

There are also may be premiums for Part A depending upon how long you paid payroll taxes into Medicare. Then of course everyone and their employer pay 1.45% of gross salary into Medicare.

In other words, current Medicare is not free. Government health care plans in places like Canada and France are not free. They’re paid for through VAT or sales taxes.

So, how do Jayapal and company intend to pay for this if they eliminate deductibles, copays and premiums? The bill doesn’t specifically say “premiums” but the consensus seems to be that she means no premiums.

The bill calls for coverage of ANYONE who is a resident of the US for free. Yes, Virginia, that might include illegal immigrants depending upon how "resident" is defined. She identifies no way to pay for this legislation. 

Clearly, I'm not going to support something without having the full story. Every single proposal that the Democrats are putting on the table looks like it's going to cost me money and not provide me any benefit.

That doesn't mean I won't vote for them but they're making it really hard.