* I am sensing about many middle class Americans beginning to wake up to the fact that the Democratic Party is beholden to an important part of its base which does not believe that “white lives matter.” I don’t know what I found more appalling, the former liberal governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, declaring before that meeting of black activists that “all lives matter and getting hissed by the audience or O’Malley debasing himself before that audience and apologizing for his perfectly sane and sensible remark. Add that to the riots in Ferguson, Mo. and Baltimore, Maryland, which I sense did not play very well to a great majority of non-black Americans, and you have the potential making of a Presidential election that may surprise most of the MSM. So there are a number of factors which give rise to the feeling that it may be 1968 redux. I don’t think that Hillary Clinton, should she be the Democratic nominee, has the political skills to ride that unruly horse. That all assumes the Republicans put up a candidate that can take full advantage of the situation.
* The moderators were obviously out to get Trump, which reveals not only their connections to the RNC, but their stupidity. Most conservative voters have problems with the RNC on immigration, and the FOX crew’s unanimous contempt for Trump sort of made it look like a RNC sponsored hatchet job. How exactly does this endear the Republican party to the disgruntled conservative voter?
The thing is, they didn’t need to do this. Trump isn’t the best candidate, and time will bear this out. I wouldn’t vote for him, but he currently has more of my respect and attention than the other candidates because of his bravery on immigration. Some of the other candidates – like Cruz and (surprisingly) Kasich – recognized the value in not alienating Trump or his supporters. The Jeb Bush variety candidates don’t get it, though. But they’re playing a game of gambling away the support of the staunch anti-immigration voter in hopes of picking up the (relatively) more liberal voter in the final showdown with the Democrats. I don’t believe that strategy will work.
Cruz came off the best, but he’ll have to polish up his VISA immigration policy before he’ll get my vote. After Trump is gone, they’ll go after him.
* My father, who was a surgeon, told me that Dermatology was the best specialty because your patients never die and they never get better.
On the other hand, some doctors might want to do something more challenging than prescribing ointments.
* Optho these days is a feast or famine specialty. Young docs fresh out of residency often struggle to make 200k especially if in popular, major cities. On the other hand, you have older, established guys pulling in 10m+.
Radiology’s best days are over. The field is saturated and starting salaries are in the 200-300k levels, less for academics and desirable locations.
Dentists can make a lot of money because they bill patients directly and don’t have to deal with shit insurance, let alone the federal government. A dentist (rather, oral surgeon) will make you pay 5k for an implant and you can take it or leave it. Cash only, please. A general surgeon on the other hand has to rely on third party payors. Maybe the patient can afford to pay a $500 surgeon’s fee out of pocket, but the average surgery costs 10k+ with the actual surgeon getting the smallest fraction of that bill, so every surgery goes through insurance unless it’s a completely elective procedure such as a gastric bypass. The surgeon will bill insurance $1500 for his services but since it’s man vs monopoly, he’ll be lucky to get $300 if he even gets reimbursed at all. Which is a complete joke, since a dentist gets $1000 for a root canal while even the most routine of surgeries can easily end with a debilitating complication or a dead body on the operating table, and all that responsibility and liability rests on the surgeon’s shoulders for a measly $300 (which includes 90 days of follow up care lmao).
Ortho will get its cuts soon too. Dermatology may be the only specialty that’s safe from Fed/Insurance monopoly ramming, since the payment model is similar to dentistry. It has lucrative, cash only outpatient procedures where all the $$$ goes directly to the physician rather than the Hospital or insurance company CEO.
* What I found strange is that Chris Wallace considered the most important question to be whether Donald could prove that the Mexican government is literally sending us its worst people. It was an example of a journalist playing “gotcha” on a tangential point that’s not really important.
The fact is, we’re getting Mexico’s wretched refuse and the Mexican government is encouraging it. Isn’t that apparent to everyone?
* At some point, Trump should have said, “I reject the notion that Jeb is here due solely to his family name. He’s an accomplished politician in his own right, and I respect the job that he did as governor of Florida. The fact is, here in America, success is earned the hard way; no one gets to rise to prominence based only on the accomplishments of their fathers, right Chris?…Right?…”
* Trump made all the professional politicians on the podium (and not on it as well) look small, weak, fake. Like people who are in the pockets of billionaires…like himself.
What’s interesting is how so many women are passionately taking his side and turning against his debate inquisitor Megyn Kelley:
https://www.facebook.com/MegynKelly
And look at how he insulted anointed war “hero” and previous Republican candidate for President, McCain, and got away with crossing that red line. He is taking on the GOP establishment and rolling over them. Trump holds all the cards. Including the trump card: the threat, or “leverage”, of going third party.
* Did Megyn Kelly accuse Trump of word raping women?
* I am surprised that no Republican candidate has the brains and foresight to knock that “blacklivesmatter” out of the ball park. When former governor Martin O’Malley addressed that group out in Arizona and sensibly said “all lives matter,” he got hissed off the stage and was forced to come back and grovel before that audience and apologize for “misspeaking.” As I recall, blacks comprise about 12-13% of America’s population. That means 87-88% are not black. To argue that lives of the overwhelming majority of America’s population “don’t matter” is a losing issue in my opinion. “All lives matter” is a totally sane and defensible position, and I don’t think anyone other than a demented black could possibly take issue with that color-blind stance. Standing up for “all lives matter” would also have the distinct advantage of tossing a grenade in the direction of Hillary Clinton. It would be interesting to see how she handles that explosive device without blowing up her own coalition.
