Thursday, October 30, 2025. Politics, politics, the candidate who
needs to drop out (and take the liars who are pimping him with him), a
dubious attack on Zohran, the need to understand that constituents
consume information in a multitude of ways, Chump's shutdown continues
and continues to harm the country, a look at some of the many attacks
ICE is carrying out as they break the law, and much more.
Let's
start with campaign politics. Specifically the trash that is Graham
Platner -- a liar, a racist, a homophobe, a denier of rape, a sexist, a
mercenary who worked for Blackwater and so much more -- we noted him yesterday but there's still more to cover..
He' got an army of whores on his side. Including Krystal and Kyle.
When
you want to know what Democrat to back, do you go to Krystal and Kyle?
I mean, in the summer of 2024, who were they endorsing? O, that's
right . . . Democratic Party candidate Jill Stein.
What's
that? She was the Green Party candidate. Then Joe dropped out and
they walked away from Jill. But if Joe hadn't dropped out, these good'
Democrats (Socialists, not Democrats) were going to vote for Jill
Stein.
Kyle has a tendency to lie off his YOUTUBE channel, he's
pick some criticism online and he'll shoot these e-mails out to everyone
he knows denying the criticism and calling the person a liar. So you can click here to see the endorsement. Or you can click here.
Kyle
is a DSA-er, not a Democrat. His Justice Democrats were all Socialists
with DSA. They couldn't run as socialsits because they were cowards.
Rashida Tlaib, to her credit, stopped her double life when she endorsed
Zohran early on this year (endorsed him for NYC mayor). I don't like
tricksters. I don't like people who lie to you and try to manipulate
you to get you to vote the way they want you to.
That's
all Kyle and Krystal have ever been. When they were pimping Marianne
Williamson for the 2024 presidential nominee, they got all bent out of
shape when people started pointing out that she wasn't just an author
and guest on their show, she had also just attended their wedding. It
was like when Chris Hedges tried to pose as 'just a journalist' when he
wrote about Cornel West 'getting' the People's Party's presidential
nomination -- and he left out the part about the deal was negotiated by
him (Hedges) and he was supposed to be the running mate until the last
minute when Chris' wife said no. You didn't get that in the pieces
Chris wrote, nor in all the YOUTUBE echo chamber programs he went on --
programs like Krystal and Kyle's. Poor Cornel. He wasn't ready for
that run to put it mildly. And the reason we covered Chris' lies to
readers and viewers, his attempts to manipulate them, was because they
hadn't clued Cornel in. Cornel went on a live program and started
answering questions and answering with the truth. Yeah, it was new, but
Chris came to him and told him that he could be the People's Party's
presidential nominee and he said he'd be Cornel's running mate and that
was their plan but then Chris' wife . . .
We covered it
here and we covered it at THIRD. You didn't see THE NATION cover it,
did you? Or Krystal and Kyle. Or anyone in the Circle Jerk. That's
because it wasn't news to them. They'd known about it from the start
and they'd chosen to ignore it so they manipulate you.
And they lie like that all the time.
Good
for Rashida for coming out. You can't run AOC for president if you all
hide in a political closet. AOC is a Socialist and Kyle and Krystal
may be able to team with Sam Seder and others to lie but that's not
going to hold in the real world. And not during a real national
campaign.
DSA is a joke. It's become a bigger joke as
years have gone by. I've never had respect for it because 'the plan'
was always that they'd take over the Democratic Party from within. Why
did you have to lie to do that?
SEP? They're
Socialists. They don't lie about being Socialists. They run a
candidate for president every four years without hiding or insisting
that the candidate isn't a Socialist. They've never done -- as Kyle did
with TYT's Cenk -- come up with a group of Socialists and dub that
group "Justice Democrats" in order to fool voters.
Jacob Crosse (WSWS -- the SEP's publication) has a great article on this nonsense that went up last night:
Since it was revealed earlier this month that Graham Platner, the
Bernie Sanders-endorsed Democratic candidate for Maine’s Senate seat,
had a Totenkopf skull and crossbones Nazi tattoo on his chest
for nearly two decades while serving as a soldier/mercenary for US
imperialism, the pseudo-left and self-proclaimed “progressive” Democrats
have lined up in defense of the far-right candidate.
This campaign is being led by Jacobin magazine and joined by figures such as Krystal Ball of Breaking Points.
They have pointed to Platner’s posting history on Reddit to claim that
his comments, which Platner deleted but had written under the handle
“P-Hustle,” show a man with “progressive” and “anti-fascist” views
rather than a “secret Nazi.”
Last week Jacobin’s Branko Marcetic published two articles in defense of Platner.
[. . .]
Likewise in an editorial segment on her program Breaking Points,
Ball, a supporter of Sanders and the 2022 John Fetterman Senate
campaign in Pennsylvania, said the revelation that Platner had a Nazi
tattoo made her “more ride or die for him than ever.” She added that “we actually have access to his edgiest sh*t posts and none of them are far right.”
In
fact, what Platner actually wrote under his “P-Hustle” handle, combined
with his record in service of US imperialism, completely refutes these
claims. Far from revealing a “progressive” outlook, his posts express
open admiration for the most reactionary and murderous episodes in the
history of American imperialism.
Sorry if I look
askance at someone who posts about how he would have glady taken part in
the Native American genocide in this country. Or someone who bragged
about violating orders in order to shoot up Ramadi? I'm sorry, no. No
and never. This site started as another way to try to end the Iraq
War. We don't now pretend that terrorizing Iraqis -- which is what he
did in Ramadi when he shot off mortar rounds that he wasn't supposed to
-- is suddenly okay.
Back to the article:
Platner’s entire public persona—a “working-class veteran” turned
“oyster farmer”—is a political fabrication. As a teenager he attended
two private schools, including the $75,000-a-year Hotchkiss School, an
elite Connecticut prep school whose alumni included CIA Director Porter
Goss, Jonathan Bush (President George H.W. Bush’s brother and investment
banker), William Clay Ford Sr. and Jr., Robert Lehman of Lehman
Brothers Inc., Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and Clinton adviser
Strobe Talbott. His grandfather, Warren Platner, was a world-renowned
architect and designer as his New York Times obituary notes, and Platner’s father, Bronson Platner, is a prominent Maine attorney.
Far
from an economic conscript forced to sign up for the US military out of
desperation, Platner belongs to the upper strata of the American
bourgeoisie—a layer whose sons move effortlessly between elite schools,
the military and corporate or political office. His “populism” is as
phony as his claims to have been unaware that he had a Nazi tattoo on
his chest for over 18 years.
[. . .]
Bernie Sanders, Platner’s most prominent backer, went even further.
Asked about the Nazi tattoo in an interview with Axios last week,
Sanders downplayed the issue entirely, “Between you and me there might
be one or two more important issues.”
This from the
man who supported apartheid. This from the man who all but the White
faux left knows has a long history of racism and, in the midst of one
presidential campaign, had to pay off an employee and get her to sign an
NDA when she filed a complaint about the racist work environment he had
created.
And that's really what it comes down to. The
DSA is pimping racism. They know Platner's history but they think
racism is the answer. They always do this -- it's what Liza
Featherstone was doing in the piece we called out Monday.
Tressie McMillan Cottom covers this reality very well at THE NEW YORK TIMES:
I cannot swear to know the minds of men
like Murphy and Sanders. But, were I a betting person, I’d wager someone
else’s riches that they know racism and xenophobia are inextricably
linked to America’s inchoate understanding of class politics. They know
that “working class” has become a powerful political totem of its own — a
discursive sleight of hand used to separate out white voters’ concerns
as more legitimate, more materially grounded, more important than other voters’ concerns.
These
senators are demonstrating a willful blindness that has become endemic
in the Democratic Party. Their rhetoric — and the conventional wisdom
that flows from it — suggests that we cannot talk about economic
solutions without abandoning our commitment to the Black, Latino, gay,
transgender and female poor that are the lifeblood of the Democratic
Party’s base. The conceit at the heart of that belief is that poor white
people are too racist, and too uniquely ignorant of their racism, to
vote in their best interests. Therefore, Democrats have to accept a
little racism to win the working class.
It is an old argument. History will tell you that negotiating with racism or fascism or authoritarianism never ends well.
Exactly.
We're going to have to stop there because we have so much more to
cover. I'll work Zohran in later on but let's move to a different
topic. Back when Chump was spacing out during campaign speeches
ahead of the election, some swore that he would only deport the worst of
the worst. Those with criminal records, they insisted. But he now
uses his gestapo force to not only attack non-criminals but also to
attack non-immigrants.
Shocking
video shows a chaotic scene on a quiet Chicago street as Border Patrol
agents in tactical gear drag a 67-year-old man from his car while
children in Halloween costumes look on in horror.
According
to his running club, the man, who is a U.S. citizen, was returning from
a team run when agents pulled him out of his vehicle, tackled him to
the ground and kneeled on top of him, allegedly breaking six ribs and
causing internal bleeding.
The incident unfolded
Saturday in the city’s Old Irving Park neighborhood, where residents say
the agents disrupted a children’s Halloween parade amid an immigration
enforcement operation.
In a statement shared on
Instagram, the Chicago-based DWRunning club identified the victim as
one of their athletes, although it did not name him.
“One
of our athletes was on his way home from a team long run yesterday and
as he turned onto his block, found that Border Control had the road
blocked,” the club wrote.
“The agents
threatened to break his window if he didn’t move his car. Before he
could act, they pulled him out of his car, knelt on his back, and
subdued him, though he never resisted. They broke six of his ribs and
caused internal bleeding.”
White
House creep and erectile dysfunction spokesperson Stephen Miller
insists that ICE can do this. The law, of course, says otherwise and
always has. Need another example of the gestapo in action? Maria Villarroel
(THE MIRROR) reports:
A
Houston teenager said a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent
choked him, beat him, and yelled racial slurs at him when he was on his
way to school. He is a U.S. citizen.
The incident occurred on Thursday, Oct. 23, when Arnoldo Bazan, 16, was being driven to school by his father, Arnulfo Bazan.
As
they were on their way, an unmarked vehicle pulled over their car,
Bazan recalled during a press conference. When they stopped, officers
who were dressed in plainclothes and wore no insignias approached their
car, but did not identify themselves as law enforcement.
“Their
vests, they didn’t say ‘police’ (Immigration and Customs Enforcement),
nothing. And that’s when me and my dad got scared because they started
hitting our window, tried to open the door,” the younger Bazan said. “Me
and my dad went to fight-or-flight mode, and we just backed away.”
The
dad drove away in fear, but they were chased by the agents and rammed
into their car several times. Eventually, the two stopped their car and
tried to flee the situation, but were instead tackled and choked by the
agents in a restaurant supply store.
“I
saw they started choking him, kicking him, punching him,” Barzan said.
“It’s when I reacted, I just ran to my dad, and (another agent) grabbed
my shirt. I didn’t hit nobody. I didn’t do nothing to nobody. I was just
standing there recording on my phone. And they took my phone. Then
that’s when they tackled me. I said I was underage, the dude started
choking me more.”
In
America, I believe those of us alive in the 90s and after are all
familiar with car chases. The most famous, of course, being the Bronco
car chase. Help me out on this, when did the police begin ramming OJ's
Bronco? Oh, that's right, never. Because you're not supposed to do
that. Stephen Miller makes excuses and lies and, yes, encourages people
to break the law. ICE is public lice. They have given themselves a
bad name. They are poorly trained and they are poorly supervised.
Instead of upping the standards, they're actually lowering them. Law
professor
John Pfaff writes at MSNBC:
And
while the low quality of ICE recruits is making it harder for them to
hit their target, it also means that the ones they do hire are likely to
be less qualified, and thus more likely to do even more harm when
deployed. But it is clear that Trump and his immigration consigliere,
deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, hope to build up ICE as a way to
strike out at Democratic cities, and the ongoing struggles to hire more
people suggest that goal may prove elusive.
They
do not follow the law. They threaten. They bully. They attack.
There are rules in place on how police officers and others can interact
with the public. ICE doesn't believe they're bound by those rules.
Yelena Mandenberg (THE MIRROR) notes:
A
shocking video shows an Immigration and Customs Agent wearing an
American Flag mask break in a woman's car window to arrest her in
Addison, Illinois.
Several people were taken
into custody during the incident. A statement from ICE says two people
taken into custody are being processed to face immigration proceedings.
Community members say several people were arrested, and some
unnecessarily.
The incident took place near the 300
block of West Lake Street, and left the community shaken. “Me, as a U.S.
citizen, even us are afraid of these guys,” said a local business
leader who asked to remain anonymous. “We feel this is something that is
not right, not legal," he said to WGNTV.
There's
so much wrong there. Stephen Miller, can you step up and explain one
thing, who okayed the outfit of the ICE agent. Donald Chump has done an
illegal executive order on flag burning that won't stand up in court;
however, an ICE agent isn't a private citizen. I know Miller is an
uneducated idiot so let's him out:
Using
the American flag as a mask is a violation of the U.S. Flag Code's
guidelines for respecting the flag. However, violating the Flag Code is
not illegal for private citizens and carries no penalties, as the
Supreme Court has ruled that laws prohibiting desecration are
unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment.
The
ICE agent violated the Flag Code guidelines in public and on the
clock. That should result in firing by a president who thinks he can
make it illegal to burn the flag. And look at the wear and tear and
dirt on the flag that is worn by the ICE agent. It's a desecration of
the flag of the United States of America. Study up on that, Stephen
Miller.
There
was an incident in Pasadena, Texas Monday. We're going to ignore
Homeland Security and Liar Trish because they are serial liars and what
people present say happened contradicts the false assertions (yes, they
can be presumed to be false assertions -- you lie on legal paperwork and
in court and after awhile you're seen as a liar).
Ahmed Humble (HOUSTON CHRONICLE) reports:
Family members and neighbors, however, described a chaotic scene.
KHOU
11 spoke with Margarita Barron, who said her husband, brother and
neighbor were taken into custody. The three men, she explained, left for
work around 5 a.m. and were followed by immigration agents after
stopping at a nearby gas station. When they realized they were being
trailed, they returned home near the corner of West Houston Avenue and
Dade Street.
"They told us (to) get out of the
house," she told KHOU 11 in Spanish. "They were going to tear-gas the
house. We have babies inside."
A
neighbor, Gaby Gonzalez, also told the CBS affiliate she was inside her
home at the time when she claimed ICE agents cut her power and tried
breaking into her home through a window, the roof and underneath. She
claims they never presented a warrant and only wanted the three men
inside and threatened to use tear gas if they didn't surrender. After
about seven hours, they turned themselves in to the authorities.
Pasadena
District C Councilman Emmanuel Guerrero, in a statement to Chron, said
he understands ICE has its responsibilities but strongly disagreed with
the methods used by officers.
Stephen
Miller, can we hear you defend that? Explain how warrants aren't
needed and that ICE can cut power to a house and break into a home via a
window, the roof or underneath? What country do you think you're in
right now, Stephen Miller, because this is not America.
Let's
move back over to politics. Zohran Mamdani is in the news. He's the
Democratic Party nominee for Mayor of NYC. A few e-mails asked what I
thought of the "issue" (their term) with his father.
Jerry Dunleavy (JUST THE NEWS) reports:
Zohran
Mamdani's father Mahmood - a prominent leftist in his own right -
penned a book in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 where he
argued that there was a "moral equivalence" between the United States
and al-Qaeda, compared the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to the terrorist
destruction of the World Trade Center, blamed the U.S. for 9/11 and
al-Qaeda, and much more.
Mahmood
Mamdani is a longtime tenured Columbia University professor, where the
school says he "specializes in the study of colonialism,
anti-colonialism, and decolonization." Raised in Uganda and of Indian
descent, the likely future mayor's father also previously taught at the
University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, Makerere University in Uganda,
and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The leftwing academic
wrote a 2004 book - Good Muslim, Bad Muslim - which may help explain his
son's views on terrorism.
Ten
e-mailing about that are supporting Andrew Cuomo who lost the Democratic Party
nomination and is running as an independent. They're hoping that reading
that will make me endorse Andrew. I don't endorse in elections I can't
vote in. As for what I think of the "issue" (forty-three more people
e-mailed about it without expressing who they would vote for or if they
could vote in the election)?
What's the problem? Are people really that stupid? What's the problem?
Poli
sci major. We would have consumed Mahmood Mamdani's book quickly and
then spent several classes debating its points. Some of us would agree
with it, some of us wouldn't. Some of us would split the difference.
(If this was undergrad and not grad school, I'm sure some of the ones
attacking it the most would be the ones who hadn't read the book.)
College is about brain power. He's taking a stand and he's making an
argument. It's not hate speech. It's a simple political argument being
made. There's nothing wrong with it.
In
terms of Zohran responding? He can respond however he thinks best.
Were I him, I'd probably say something along the lines of, "My father's
written many books. Not sure I remember everything in that one but I'm
proud of my father and I think it's pretty sad when a campaign tries to
make someone insult their own father. Proud of him."
Because
that is what's going on. Zohran didn't take the course. He may or may
not have read the book. But if Cuomo's tactic is to try to shame
Zohran into slamming his own father, that's pretty sad and pretty low.
I'll
add that I find it interesting that right-wing outlets (like JUST THE
NEWS) are working to try to take down Zohran to elect Cuomo. That's the
sort of thing that should honestly make Andrew drop out. Chris is a
joke but Andrew did pay attention to what his father taught him and
there's no way in the world Mario would have approved of this sort of
collusion.
President Donald Trump’s support among young people has hit a new low, according to a poll.
The
survey, conducted by YouGov/The Economist between October 24 and 27,
shows that Trump has a net approval rating of around -50 points among
voters under the age of 30.
Young Americans have
long leaned left and voted for the Democrats. But the 2024 presidential
election saw a major shift, with a much higher proportion of Gen Z
voters backing Trump.
According to AP VoteCast,
voters aged between 18 to 29 supported Kamala Harris over Trump by 51
percent to 47 percent in 2024. This margin was significantly narrower
than in 2020, when former President Joe Biden carried the same age group
by 61 percent to Trump’s 36 percent.
Let's
turn to the Epstein files -- thought we may get lost in politics. US House Rep Robert Garcia has been a
leader on calling for the release of the Epstein Files and he is the
Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee.
Matt Brown (AP) notes:
Garcia
has sought to use his position as the committee’s ranking Democrat to
weave his party’s disparate stances on Trump, affordability, corruption
and democracy into a single message. Oversight Democrats have also
sought information on the treatment of U.S. citizens by the Department
of Homeland Security, gifts and payments to administration officials and
the administration's response to natural disasters.
“I
continue to think this is the most corrupt administration in American
history, and we have a huge responsibility to investigate that
corruption and to also try to make government work better for working
people,” Garcia said.
Garcia has also been a
critic of House Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to delay the swearing in
of Adelita Grijalva, a Democratic congresswoman-elect from Arizona.
Johnson says Grijalva can't be sworn in until the government shutdown
ends and legislative work resumes in the House. But Garcia and other
Democrats say Johnson's real aim is to delay a vote on legislation that
would broaden the subpoena for the Epstein files.
As
Democrats revamp their media strategy, Garcia has encouraged Oversight
Democrats to engage in new digital media to boost the party’s message.
He's also been meeting with government reform groups to craft
legislation around transparency that they hope to put in front of voters
next year.
“I think on oversight we have a
responsibility to gather the information and then to put it out to the
court of public opinion, especially in front of Trump’s voters,” he
said.
And
he's right and he's wrong. And I said in a previous snapshot that after the shutdown was over I'd
talk about how Chuck Schumer screwed up. These snapshots are dictated
and that was actually just a private remark that I didn't realize was
going in the snapshot until I heard about it after it was up. We need to
reach all voters with messaging. And one problem that some people
highlight is that Democrats in office -- especially those of a certain
age -- do not grasp the changing environment. Younger voters are
different and they get information differently. That's true and Garcia
and others are so right to work on that.
But
the country is not just young voters. It is also older voters. I
think at the start of the Chump government shut down, Chuck should have
done a lot more. I would've liked to have seen him speaking to
MEIDASTOUCH NEWS, for example. But he didn't and he's someone who needs
to be skilled on the changing environment. That's work that needs to
be done. And I'll cut him some slack there.
Where I won't and why I think he needs to leave leadership?
He
understands 'the world wide web' [www.] and he damn well knows that
you're online office (website) is now more important than your physical
office. Once upon a time, people actually visited physical offices to
get press releases and updates. They really don't do that now. Older
voters, however, still go to the online offices.
Chump's
shut down started September 30th. Chuck is the Senate Minority
Leader. Where was Chuck. He issued a press release on September 19th.
And then his office didn't issue anything until October 14th (after I
had been yelling about this offline along with many others). He needed
to have something out and should have been up September 30th when the
shutdown started.
That's
not leadership. I can cut him some slack for not grasping the
importance of YOUTUBERS and podcasters. He clearly needs someone to
walk him through that. But when he's not even doing what he knows needs
to be done?
Forget
voters, there are reporters for periodicals whose work consists almost
entirely of pull quoting from press releases. And he provided nothing
to them either.
He failed. It was his job to lead on messaging.
Democratic
Party leadership needs to lead on messaging and that does mean
podcasts, that does mean going on the awful FOX "NEWS" if you -- like
Pete Buttigieg -- are good at that, that does mean doing YOUTUBE
programs and it does mean continuing to do press releases at your online
offices. And some of the younger ones don't grasp that so young and
old and in between Democrats in Congress should be working together to
craft an information delivery system that covers all the bases -- and if
you're not part of that, you shouldn't be part of leadership.
And
we're failing, Democratic voters, if we think everyone needs to be
Jasmine Crockett or AOC -- ready to tackle the new media and do it so
wonderfully. We need people who know the workings of the two chambers,
we need people who are idea people, we need people who are thinkers
(maybe not the best speakers) because everyone can contribute if they're
willing to. And, sorry to stay on this, when Chuck waits 15 days to do
a press release on the shutdown, and then waits nine more days before
doing another one? And then hasn't done one since? What the hell kind
of leadership is that? He's the Minority Leader and that's supposed to
pass for leadership? Senator Patty Murray is a workhorse. She keeps
her head down and focuses on the work and is one of the MVPs the
Democrats have in the Senate. 29. Since the shutdown started, Chuck's
released two press releases on the shutdown. Patty's released 29. And
unlike Chuck, she's also issued press releases on ICE, on Gaza, on
authoritarian movement in this country, on everything imaginable.
Chuck
and his office can only issue two press releases during that same
period of time? It's time for Chuck to step down from leadership. He
lacks the energy for the job.
The
shutdown? Chump caused it and Republicans control both houses of
Congress. Why are the Democrats? They're fighting for the American
people. They're fighting for affordable healthcare. The Republicans
(except for Marjorie Taylor Greene) aren't all concerned about the
American people having affordable healthcare.
Tami Luhby (CNN) reports:
Premiums
for Affordable Care Act coverage will skyrocket 26%, on average, next
year, according to a KFF analysis released Tuesday evening, just days
before open enrollment starts on November 1.
The
price hike is one of the largest jumps since Obamacare plans debuted
more than a decade ago — and it doesn’t factor in the expiration of the
enhanced premium subsidies.
Premiums for Affordable
Care Act coverage will skyrocket 26%, on average, next year, according
to a KFF analysis released Tuesday evening, just days before open
enrollment starts on November 1.
The price hike
is one of the largest jumps since Obamacare plans debuted more than a
decade ago — and it doesn’t factor in the expiration of the enhanced
premium subsidies.
November
1st, people will be without food assistance. Healthcare is going to go
through the roof and instead of working with Democrats to address these
issues that directly impact We The People, Chump's busying on his
ballroom.
The economy is in the toilet but Chump's focus is his ballroom.
We're
going to wind down with a press release from Senator Elizabeth Warren's
office and -- please note -- Chuck Schumer hasn't issued his own press
release (again, he and his office lack energy, it's time to leave
leadership):
Video of Press Conference (Youtube)
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth
Warren (D-Mass.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senator Cory
Booker (D-N.J.), and Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) hosted a press
conference alongside health care creators in the U.S. Capitol to sound
the alarm on the government shutdown and health care affordability
crisis.
In a first-of-its-kind format, the senators invited content creators
who are also health care professionals to share their stories at the
press conference. The creators include Dr. Anita Patel, Dr. Fran Haydanek, Dr. Heather Irobunda, and Nikki Sapiro Vinckier, PA.
“While Donald Trump builds a fancy new ballroom for himself and his
donors, Americans across the country are getting notices in the mail
telling them their health care premiums are going up by thousands of
dollars a year,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren.
“Democrats are fighting back because we believe that health care isn’t
just for rich people. No one should go bankrupt because they got sick.”
“Every mother deserves to walk into a delivery room without fear of
losing everything—her home, her health insurance coverage, or her
life—just because she dared to have a baby in America. We need to extend
the subsidies that make care affordable,” said Dr. Fran Haydanek, a health care content creator and board-certified OBGYN.
“I became an OBGYN to deliver healthy babies. I never imagined I'd have
to stand here pleading for my patients’ ability to afford the care that
keeps them alive.”
“I have intubated teenagers in diabetic comas because they were
rationing insulin their family couldn’t afford. I have battled
uncontrolled seizures in the ICU, which can cause permanent brain
damage, because parents had to choose between their child’s seizure
medications and paying their rent,” said Dr. Anita Patel, a health care
content creator and Board-certified pediatric critical care physician.
“When health care costs become unbearable, lifesaving EpiPens do not
get refilled, a child’s sinus infection turns into meningitis, and
ruptured appendicitis leads to septic shock from delayed care.”
“A lot of times, my patients can't come to their prenatal
appointments because they can't afford the $2.90 to take the bus or the
train. Let's not make it harder for them,” said Dr. Heather Irobunda, a
health care content creator and board-certified OBGYN. “These folks are
my neighbors. They're my friends. They're our friends, and they're
valued members of our communities.”
“Health care is not a bargaining chip. It's not a luxury. It's the
foundation of all of our lives. And it's time for every lawmaker to
start acting like it,” said Nikki Sapiro Vinckier, a health care content
creator and OBGYN Physician Assistant. “Caring about people shouldn't
be radical. It should be part of their job.”
It doesn't matter if you don't have Medicaid, if you don't have
Affordable Care Act, it's going to affect all of us, because hospitals,
which depend on Medicaid funding, which depend on insured patients
having coverage, are going to go down as well, because they're already
running on negative margins, said Dr. Karen Tang, a health care content creator and board-certified OBGYN.
Senator Warren has led the charge collaborating and working with
influencers in the Senate. Senator Warren was the first member of the
Senate to host a creator briefing on Capitol Hill and has hosted more
than half a dozen virtual creator briefings. She was also the first member of Congress to invite a content creator—not a celebrity—to testify before Congress.
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