"Before he entered a residential detox facility, Brian Wagner said he tried an outpatient recovery program. But despite treatment, the fact that he had to return to the same environment and community where he used meth every night made recovery nearly impossible."
This is where the "remoteness" of Wapato would be an absolute benefit, not a detriment. Keeping 'services' confined to the same downtown area where there is easy access to drug dealers is an absolute recipe for failure.
This drug/homeless problem has been an issue for A LONG TIME... but, the Mercury has continued to sugarcoat it and has incessantly pushed the narrative that ALL homelessness is caused by high rent. I've always said that this homelessness problem won't be solved unless City Hall, the homeless advocate extremists, and Left-wing media acknowledge the reality of the situation.
It's nice to finally see a story from the Mercury that is somewhat based in reality, but not so nice that they're still trying to sugarcoat the severity of the problem.
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: The Mercury is now the Left's version of Breitbart News: Extremists.
"... the Mercury has continued to sugarcoat it and has incessantly pushed the narrative that ALL homelessness is caused by high rent."
Why, that's just Silly, Mercury!
Everyone knows it's caused by bankruptcies that are due to overwhelming medical expenses. Until we have what every other first world country has -- Medicare for ALL -- homelessness isn't gonna get a whole lot better.
But we could actually join the First World (didja know, WE are the Richest Country on the Planet? It's True!) and take Employers OUT of the having to provide healthcare business.
It's what they call a Win Win.
I gotta say, I'm surprised The Mercury did not know this....
Despite our differences on many frequent other issues, kristofarian, you and I are in agreement that universal health care divorced from employment is way better, and will be way cheaper, than the crappy system we have now. I have platinum level insurance, and I'm an attorney who knows how to navigate bureaucracy, and dealing with this private insurance shit still makes me want to drink bleach.
I still fail to understand the right-wing opposition to a system that is cheaper and more efficient, and would also have the benefit of boosting the overall economy and allowing more people to be entrepreneurial rather than tied to a job they don't want to do simply because they and/or their family members need employer-sponsored insurance.
"I still fail to understand the right-wing opposition to a system that is cheaper and more efficient... "
Perhaps it's about Owning the Libs and then having to eat shit, too, but, hey if ya can piss 'em off, it's all Good.
And yeah, it is amazing how close we are on Policy ... MUST we hate each other? It's kinda like Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trgKeCFmi3M
If you want to understand the true resistance to universal/single-payer health care, tally up the profit made by all the "health insurance" and big pharma companies. Then add to that the salaries and bonuses of the thousands of execs in those companies, who'll have to come up with a legitimate way to make a buck when Medicare for All comes to pass. How do you take the current high-cost, low-access/quality clusterfuck we currently have into a system that provides care for all for lots less cost? Remove the profit.
There are certain areas where profit can serve as a motivator to make things better and more efficient. But in the health insurance world, profit is made by taking as much premium payment as possible while paying out as little as possible for services. This is skimming, not value-add, and contrary to what the entire purpose of health care should be. There should similarly be no profit factor in our justice/incarceration system, as that skews the incentives involved in law making and prosecution, where the only incentive should be justice and the public good.
The solution to the meth problem is quite simple. Drug production companies in China, India and the Philippines are supplying the Mexican cartel the basic ingredient to make meth by the plane load. We basically need to tell those countries to knock that crap off or face our wrath. Philippines, India and any others should be easy to sway. China, less so, but I think it's doable - pass a law that says any drug sold in the US must show an approved chain of custody for every product created in that lab whether it is in the product being sold in the US or not. Falsified, illegal or missing product drops them from the approved list, thus the US pharma can't bring in their legit products and would drop the labs. Unless the illegal market is worth more than the legal US market, they would comply. Considering our brutish, tough guy president, one would think a few threats (loss of aid, military support, sanctions, etc.) could take care of this more easily.
"Before he entered a residential detox facility, Brian Wagner said he tried an outpatient recovery program. But despite treatment, the fact that he had to return to the same environment and community where he used meth every night made recovery nearly impossible."
This is where the "remoteness" of Wapato would be an absolute benefit, not a detriment. Keeping 'services' confined to the same downtown area where there is easy access to drug dealers is an absolute recipe for failure.
Upvote to FlavioSuave!
This drug/homeless problem has been an issue for A LONG TIME... but, the Mercury has continued to sugarcoat it and has incessantly pushed the narrative that ALL homelessness is caused by high rent. I've always said that this homelessness problem won't be solved unless City Hall, the homeless advocate extremists, and Left-wing media acknowledge the reality of the situation.
It's nice to finally see a story from the Mercury that is somewhat based in reality, but not so nice that they're still trying to sugarcoat the severity of the problem.
If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: The Mercury is now the Left's version of Breitbart News: Extremists.
"... the Mercury has continued to sugarcoat it and has incessantly pushed the narrative that ALL homelessness is caused by high rent."
Why, that's just Silly, Mercury!
Everyone knows it's caused by bankruptcies that are due to overwhelming medical expenses. Until we have what every other first world country has -- Medicare for ALL -- homelessness isn't gonna get a whole lot better.
But we could actually join the First World (didja know, WE are the Richest Country on the Planet? It's True!) and take Employers OUT of the having to provide healthcare business.
It's what they call a Win Win.
I gotta say, I'm surprised The Mercury did not know this....
Despite our differences on many frequent other issues, kristofarian, you and I are in agreement that universal health care divorced from employment is way better, and will be way cheaper, than the crappy system we have now. I have platinum level insurance, and I'm an attorney who knows how to navigate bureaucracy, and dealing with this private insurance shit still makes me want to drink bleach.
I still fail to understand the right-wing opposition to a system that is cheaper and more efficient, and would also have the benefit of boosting the overall economy and allowing more people to be entrepreneurial rather than tied to a job they don't want to do simply because they and/or their family members need employer-sponsored insurance.
"I still fail to understand the right-wing opposition to a system that is cheaper and more efficient... "
Perhaps it's about Owning the Libs and then having to eat shit, too, but, hey if ya can piss 'em off, it's all Good.
And yeah, it is amazing how close we are on Policy ... MUST we hate each other? It's kinda like Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trgKeCFmi3M
If you want to understand the true resistance to universal/single-payer health care, tally up the profit made by all the "health insurance" and big pharma companies. Then add to that the salaries and bonuses of the thousands of execs in those companies, who'll have to come up with a legitimate way to make a buck when Medicare for All comes to pass. How do you take the current high-cost, low-access/quality clusterfuck we currently have into a system that provides care for all for lots less cost? Remove the profit.
There are certain areas where profit can serve as a motivator to make things better and more efficient. But in the health insurance world, profit is made by taking as much premium payment as possible while paying out as little as possible for services. This is skimming, not value-add, and contrary to what the entire purpose of health care should be. There should similarly be no profit factor in our justice/incarceration system, as that skews the incentives involved in law making and prosecution, where the only incentive should be justice and the public good.
The solution to the meth problem is quite simple. Drug production companies in China, India and the Philippines are supplying the Mexican cartel the basic ingredient to make meth by the plane load. We basically need to tell those countries to knock that crap off or face our wrath. Philippines, India and any others should be easy to sway. China, less so, but I think it's doable - pass a law that says any drug sold in the US must show an approved chain of custody for every product created in that lab whether it is in the product being sold in the US or not. Falsified, illegal or missing product drops them from the approved list, thus the US pharma can't bring in their legit products and would drop the labs. Unless the illegal market is worth more than the legal US market, they would comply. Considering our brutish, tough guy president, one would think a few threats (loss of aid, military support, sanctions, etc.) could take care of this more easily.