Category Archives: General Cynicism

And Yet Again: Police Shoot the Wrong Man

This is a little like a tragic replay of “Groundhog Day.” Again an innocent person, an active duty airman this time, was brutally killed in his own home by police who didn’t identify themselves as they broke into his home.

“Deputies responding to a disturbance call at a Florida apartment complex burst into the wrong unit and fatally shot a Black US air force airman who was home alone when they saw he was armed with a gun, an attorney for the man’s family said on Wednesday.

Medicynical Note: I can only conclude that our gun crazy country condones the murder of innocents as a cost of doing business—the gun industry’s business. The dead are literally viewed as “collateral” damage. In this case, we allow the police all manner of privilege because perps might have guns that our laws make available to anyone. So the killings of innocents are tragic but of course necessary (sic) accidents. All to justify the phony idea that our founders would have wanted anyone to have access to the most aggressive weapons because we’re a “free society.” Of course the families of Roger Fortson and the innocent victims of other shootings might disagree—A freedom for me and death for you society.

The solution to the problem is well known and accepted in all other industrialized nations i.e. gun control. But our Supreme Court Republican appointed justices huddle in their homes protected by guards with guns, too politicized and merciless to care. They need their armed guards of course, because, you know, there might be a picketer nearby who might carry, you guessed it, a gun. They are pathetic miserable faux devout group of jurists. They are destroying America ruling by ruling.

4 Police Shot Dead: Only in America

I hate writing these posts about gun deaths in the states. But here we go again. This time in Charlotte North Carolina while serving a warrant.

“Four law enforcement officers were shot to death and four others were wounded on Monday in a gun battle that erupted while they were serving a fugitive arrest warrant at a house in Charlotte, North Carolina, authorities said.”

“The fugitive, who opened fire on officers as they arrived at the residence, was himself fatally shot during the gunfight, and two other suspects were arrested after an ensuing standoff, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.”

Medicynical Note: Our Supreme Court in its wisdom interpreted the second amendment written into our constitution in 1791 to mean that almost any type weapon should be available to almost any citizen. As a result we lead the world in mass shootings, shooting of innocents by police, shooting of perps by police, school shootings, accidental shootings, gun suicides, gun murders and shootings of police by perps.

Rather than take the hint that guns in our society are a risk to everyone our courts and segments of our society maintain that bearing weapons even the most deadly types, is our inalienable right. This despite the fact that they so clearly facilitate all the above categories of death by guns. You’d think that police who are rightly terrified of running into a perp with a gun as above would support some form, any form of effective gun control, but for some weird reason they don’t.

So the shootings will continue and sadly, brave officers and others will die and our Supreme Court Justices will sit in their homes protected by armed guards because you know a peaceful picketer might possible be carrying a gun.

WTF America.

Another American Tragedy: Officer Down

A police officer was shot and killed in N.Y. Another funeral for another American killed in part by our gun fetish. Sad for the family, sad for the NYPD, sad for America.

But in America thousands die from gunshot wounds each year. People doing good, people behaving badly, people making a mistake, mass shootings, school shootings. Each a family tragedy. Each in a way preventable. (Compare our gun deaths with other industrialized countries if you doubt this)

Medicynical Note: You would think from the funeral service, the mass mourning of this good man, the attendance of dignitaries that all of these folks would be looking to find a way to decrease gun violence. You would be wrong. That’s America.

Putin’s Russia… Not Our Friends

Putin is the guy Trump likes and wants to emulate. Trump’s surrender of Ukraine would be one of Trump’s first acts as President. Sort of like Chamberlain in the run up to WWII.

He not only attempted to overthrow an election, he’s setting up to do it again and then appease Putin.

It’s a disgrace that this reporter and others have been jailed in Russia.

And:

Medicynical Note: Trump and his top supporters really abhor a free press. That’s a fact.

Our even more Grotesque Love Affair……with Guns

It’s hard to believe that even Wyoming considers this as a possible “freedom.”

Even the delusionary originalists on the Supreme Court could not have thought this a rational idea. Though who knows?

Medicynical note: America’s blind allegiance to what a few Supreme Court Justices invent and interpret as the “founders” intentions is insane. In their hands it has become a dumbed down shortcut to indoctrination. Rather than think and use their brains and consider modern America, some justices/judges mumble something about the founders and then simply apply their financial and political benefactors biases to their judgments. Whether we are talking guns or separation of church and state or women’s rights or racism or opposition to gay rights or money=free speech our conservative justices have distorted America and its values into an unrecognizable mess. That this was even considered is an insult to intelligence. I’m not sure what it implies about Wyoming and it’s lawmakers..

A Lawless Country: The U.S.A.

The attempted US coup of 6 January 2021, never ended, according to a watchdog report, since the same Donald Trump allies behind that insurrection are now leading a sham impeachment effort against Joe Biden.”

Medicynical Note: Congress is the tip of the iceberg. Our political system is influenced by rules that legalize corruption. The notion that money=“free” speech has made bribery legal by giving influence and access to large campaign donors. We also have a politicized radical Supreme Court. It too is compromised by a lack of ethical standards and the will to follow them.

The apex of our government corruption was the attempted coup on January 6, 2001, which is continuing. A group of Trump’s January 6th supporters, current members of congress, are trying to impeach Biden who is by all accounts only guilty of beating Donald Trump by several million votes in the last presidential election.

Trump refused to accept those results. From November to January of that year he encouraged and it is alleged participated in the scheme to interfere with the electoral vote on January 6th. On that date on TV he encouraged an unruly mob to attack congress and prevent the electoral college vote.

And now three years later Trump remains free while many of the perpetrators with the exception of those who are in congress, are in jail. It is these alleged unindicted congressional co-conspirators who are attempting to impeach Biden.

That’s America today. A shadow of itself with mass shootings everyday; a lawless candidate for president who led a failed coup attempt still running free and a congress (House of Representatives) that allows a fringe group to continue an attempt to overthrow our government. Lawless and ugly, American politics today.

Republicans Aim to Cut Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile:

As a new year and presidential election approach, Americans face a worsening crisis: the affordability of healthcare. More Americans than ever, about 92%, now have health insurance – and simultaneously face enormous bills.”

“Over the last decade, insurers and employers have pushed more cost-sharing onto individuals and families. Now, squeezed by medical costs and inflation, more than 100 million Americans have medical debt and roughly the same proportion report avoiding a prescription because of it.”

Medicynical Note: Americans pay more for healthcare, by a wide margin, than folks in any other industrialized nation. We pay more for doctor visits, hospital stays, medications, medical devices, insurance, everything.

We are also the only industrialized nation where there is medical debt. Why? It’s not rocket science. In a for-profit healthcare system everyone involved wants to make……. a profit.

Why doesn’t the “marketplace” in our for-profit healthcare system work to control prices? Here, for a variety of reasons providers don’t have to compete on price, i.e. efficiency and value. And in any case, prices are not advertised or easily accessed. When you ask a hospital how much an operation or procedure will cost you will get a vague mostly inaccurate estimate or be told it “varies.” You literally can’t get an accurate total price for care. And lastly health care is not descretionary. When you really need it, you don’t have time, ability or motivation to shop for the “best” most economical option.

Adding insult to injury, one political party is planning make things worse and cut the already limited government supported health insurance programs if they win the next presidential election. They literally have no alternative plan for health care. Hint. That political party’s logo is an elephant.

Liberia Makes the U.S. into a Banana Republic

Liberian President George Weah has been hailed for his sportsmanship for conceding to his rival in the presidential race – from across the political divide and the region.

Medicynical Note: Meanwhile in the U.S. our former President and current, oh so very devout, Speaker of the House continue to refuse to say that he lost the last election. This, despite the fact that he lost by several million votes; despite the fact that he also convincingly lost the electoral count; despite the fact that his attempted coup d’etat failed; and despite that fact that he lost over 60 cases in various courts contesting the election.

And that former president despite the fact that a Colorado Court recently ruled that he led an insurrection against the government of the United States is not in jail and is running again for the presidency.

What is more Banana Republic/Third World than that! (Apologies to all Third World nations)

America’s Descent into Chaos: Guilty of Insurrection…….. or Not?

Wikipedia notes that in the United States “Equality before the law, also known as equality under the law, equality in the eyes of the law, legal equality, or legal egalitarianism, is the principle that all people must be equally protected by the law.[1] The principle requires a systematic rule of law that observes due process to provide equal justice, and requires equal protection ensuring that no individual nor group of individuals be privileged over others by the law.”

In reference to the recent Colorado decision on Trump’s participation in the January 6th attempt to overthrow the election the judge “allowed Donald Trump to remain on the ballot in the state’s election next year, but found that he “engaged in insurrection” by sparking the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters.”

The ruling from Judge “rejects a bid by a group of Colorado voters to disqualify Trump under a rarely used amendment to the U.S. Constitution that bars officials who have engaged in “insurrection” from holding federal office.”

“The judge found that, as president, Trump was not “an officer of the United States” that could be disqualified under the amendment.”

Medicynical Noter: This ruling is certain to be appealed but remember Trump is the guy who once said in 2016 “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

On January 6th 2021 he stood in the middle of the Capital Mall and actually did his best to shoot his Vice President (verbally at least) and skewer the constitution. So far he’s getting away with it thanks to a politicized legal system which is paralyzed by money, infinite motions, and biased compromised judges even at the highest level.

One would think that no one is above the law. Maybe, but apparently not now in the United States. Kind of pathetic.

Leading Cause of Accidental Deaths of Children in the US? GUNs

I guess the founders, in their wisdom, as interpreted by Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch and others have achieved their finest hour. We have guns available literally everywhere, for everyone.

Their crowning achievement however is that gun deaths are now the leading cause of childhood accidental deaths in the United States. No other industrialized country can make this claim.

Medicynical Note: I’m sure the writers of the constitution in the era of the flint lock rifle did not anticipate handy little Berettas and Glocks or the world of UZIs and AK47’s. Our Supreme Court in their wisdom believes the founders would approve of easy access by literally everyone to those weapons. And now American children bear the consequences.

Meanwhile those same Supreme Court Justices claim they need more protection from protesters who march near their homes because one might be carrying those same handy murderous weapons that are killing our kids.

America is an amazing place.