things i saw...

[Magoo]

lillith
I don't know that either Americans accept school shootings or Kiwis accept baby killings; they happen despite most of us being horrified by them.

yes, shock horror at the abomination
angst and anger, another one, and another
but what do WE do about it?. what do we do between babies deaths to prevent the next?
for a start i would have thought as with an taking of any life, infanticide deserves the full force of the law, with the extreme end of sentences being applied by the justice system 
id call for capital punishment but id settle for a conviction at his point.
the deaths of these children go unanswered, their killers walk among us, unpunished and impervious 
very little is done, same as america with gun control.
lip service at best, posturing at most, while tragedy after tragedy not only occurs but at an increasing rate.
they accept it.
 do you see any evidence of the perpetrators being bought to justice here for murdering children? i dont.
they act with impunity, closing ranks and shutting down investigations.
we accept this.
hard decisions need to be made, rights need to be infringed upon, with a policy of prosecuting all if none presented.
as a society we need stronger, unequivocal, relentless leadership.
there is no place for empaths or yogurt knitting, woolly mindsets and wishy washy wellness outcomes if we
are to make change.
academia and any university of waikato subversives need not apply, oranga tamariki sit down. do nothing. it could only help at this point.

id do it but it all sounds too hard.

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Their cost of living is reflective of the defects in their society in many ways. A friend ran a plumbing and gasfitting business in the LA area for just under 20 years and returned to NZ in the early 2,000s. He imported one of his F250 work trucks when he came back home and when told the insurance premium for it here was ready to set up a monthly AP to cover it until he was corrected that the premium was annually rather than monthly. That is an indication of the expected insurance costs in America due to the user pays health system and their litigious legal system. He also recounted a visit to an ED for a minor finger injury that resulted in a bill of close to $1,000, by an associate without health cover, which is something that my friend considered essential.

The labour unions also have a lot to answer for in respect of the strangle hold they have on supply chains there. This video is interesting in its portrayal of the American distribution system and how it is on the brink of failing due to current events:

the numbers are obscene, they are profane.
the greed and avarice of corporate america and the slavish adherence to a deeply flawed, inequitable system of employers paying medical insurance, binding the employees to the company like indentured servants, and leaving those not employed high and dry. this includes the aged, ill and disadvantaged demographics that make up a good portion of society.
my wife had good medical insurance. i saw the bill for delivering our baby.
less than 24 hours in the hosp, $34,680 cha ching. (type i diabetic high risk birth, but still) this was 25 years ago
we paid zip. nada.
$30 grand. whatever happened to the womenfolk gathering around with hot compresses and camomile tea and a magically clean healthy baby is presented to the glowing father next morning, for the price of the tea?
$30 grand, its like buying a new pick up or renovating the bathroom, its a cost like everything else it needs a number attached. i might have shopped around, gotten a couple of quotes but wth.
$30 k, wtf i slept on the floor. the lifts didnt work, maternity was on 8th floor.
i had to pay $31 for parking.
folks are being fucked over sans grease everywhere,  teeth clenched eye watering financial sodomy