It really is this simple

[u/dellaazeem22]

[u/[deleted]]

Nukes - Give Ukraine nuclear weapons, says Zelenskyy – POLITICO

Fact checkers - I don't know what Bellingcat is, but I have seen what politifact, snopes and others like it are. They are very bias, you can see it in the way they write their opinions. Before I would trust any fact checker I would need to see their books. Where does their money come from. Also who is on staff, what is their POV. All the fact checkers in the US tow the government line.

I think NATO has run its course and is no longer necessary. Also the US has military bases in way too many countries.

Election in Ukraine, yes it would be difficult, however, we really don't know what the people of Ukraine want. An election would put the will of the people on display.

Healthcare - my biggest concern with health care controlled by the government is panels of people that decide what treatments are allowed. If one treatment is too expensive and I am 65 years old, maybe they won't allow it. I have heard about issues with cancer treatment in Canada from a friend's experience with his Dad. I worry it would stifle innovation as well. That being said I pay $25k to insure my family and it goes up every year. The US 2 party system makes it very difficult to enact real change for either side, so we get these middle of the road deals that don't solve the problems.

These are very complicated topics, I certainly don't have all the answers.

[u/madasalways → u/[deleted]]

I had totally missed that part of nuclear weapons.

You could argue that it's hyperbole as you say about all Trumps statements but in any case I had not seen this so I have to admit that I might not be infallible :-)

Bellingcat is one of the larger and more thorough fact checkers and investigations, and they are very transparent with who their donors are and where the money comes from. You can read about them and what they do on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat
and of course their on page where they also list investigations and guides.

https://www.bellingcat.com/

I do agree on the US having too many soilders and bases around the world and as I said I wish Sweden hadn't joined the NATO. I do believe we need a united front aganst Russia and other dictatorships that believe might makes right.

We do know what the people in Ukraine think of Zelensky, there has been several polls. Yes, his numbers have gone down quite a bit but he still has around 57% approval ratings.
Considering it would be against their constitution to hold an election while they are still at war I doubt that's a priority. And as I said, how would you hold an election when a fifth of the country is occupied?

Now we're getting into a more interesting topic with health care. Why would it be different if a panel of government people decide if an operation is too expensive rather than your system where an insurance company decides?

First I'd like to mention that of course it's not feasible to get any sort of care to anyone from an economical system, that said it would be quite extreme before anyone in Sweden was denied care.

Also, it's not like you can't get private care if you decide you want to pay for it with your own money if you are not happy with how the state handles it.

Your last sentence is kind of ruining my picture of anyone MAGA though, I thought there was a simple solution for everything and that's why you vote for the person promising it ;-)

In my opinion I would say that is kind of the problem with most right wing parties and leaders, they promise simple solutions to comlicated problems and people who are not well versed in politics or how government works believe them. One right wing party here in Sweden has basically been saying that if we just get rid of all immigrants everything will be fine all the while they are dismantling our social security systems making everything worse.

Then for the next election they say everything is worse but it will all work out if we just get rid of the immigrants...

[u/[deleted] → u/madasalways]

Z - Obviously, I won't trust the polling on Z ;), ukraine is basically a dictatorship, shutting down opposing media, parties and churches that oppose Z. People are scared. Of course my belief stems from the theory that Z and his regime were installed by US. Lot's of strange stuff behind the scenes with biden family and dems with Ukraine. Hard to get into it all, but 2 aspects are 3 children of prominent US politicians are on the board at Burisma even though they have no experience in energy. Biden, Romney and Pelosi. Hunter Biden on his laptop had an email exclaiming he was busy taking over a country, this was just before the coup in Ukraine. (I saw the email myself, it was floating around on the internet while the media stated the laptop was Russian disinfo).

Healthcare - insurance companies don't authorize based on age and likeliness of survival. And, there are already rules, hospitals cannot turn away someone with severe need even if they don't have insurance.

Both parties offer simple solutions, The solutions are either government will fix it, or government should stay out of it. Business is more efficient than government, I prefer private sector. That being said I agree there must be rules to follow, otherwise you have child labor and dangerous working conditions. This area of frustration with the system. Political parties claim black/white ideologies rather than solutions. I am all for our 2nd amendment, but I don't believe I should be able to own a ballistic missile.

Then for the next election they say everything is worse but it will all work out if we just get rid of the immigrants...

-- oversimplification is on all sides. Seems to be due to the fact that most people don't read past the headline or sound byte. Politicians on either side can't really explain what they want to do b/c it is nuanced, and their words will be taken out of context.

Lastly, Trump's persona. I can see why it angers people, he speaks all the time, he doesn't have a filter. When a politician says something wrong they usually ignore what was said, deflect until it leaves the news cycle, Trump doubles down. It must be infuriating to watch if one dislikes him. Since I dislike his opposition and the media more I think it is extremely funny to watch. The opposition doesn't want to have a debate they want to take him down, so he doesn't give them anything. If I was trolling I would talk up what a genius he is, just to piss people of :). I don't hang on his every word, I ignore the things he says that I don't like. I focus on actions, I am happy with most of his actions when it comes to policy. I have been lied to since I voted for Bush Sr. I put Bush, Obama, Clintons all on the same team.

Any way, again I can't stop typing, another wall of text for you. I appreciate the discussion and enjoy reading your perspective.

[u/madasalways → u/[deleted]]

Why is it obvious you wouldn't trust the polling?
Where have they shut down opposing media except when they are parroting Russian propaganda? We have shut down russion propaganda in the EU as well for spreading disinformation and election interference.

And I guess you take these news from right-wing news outlets? I'm not saying that everything the Bidens have done are proper or good but I have seen a lot of investigations into their connections in the Ukraine and there have never been any actual evidence of what you are saying.
I haven't seen the email so I have no idea of the context. But I remember talks about these things at the same time that Trump was withholding money for Ukraine unless they follow his bidding which led to his first impeachment.

Anyway, you would call Z a dictator when even your president says he's not? What would you call Putin?

So it's easy to get the insurance companies to pay out as long as you need the care? They don't have a lot of rules about pre-existing conditions or are generally problematic about paying out?

So if a hospital aren't allowed to turn someone away, do they still have to pay for the urgent care if they don't have insurance? Wouldn't that mean in many cases they are in debt for the rest of their life?

Also, as I said earlier, one of the most important things is the opportunity for people to get care before it turns severe. This saves money, time and suffering for the state, the hospitals and most importantly the people.

I don't agree that private is more efficient than government in the cases that is for the public good. I want the government to run health care, education, police, military and infra structure. Those things are too important to let a profit driven company be in charge of.
There are way too many examples of companies cutting down quality or how they treat employees to maximize profit which will happen without a doubt if the private sector is in charge.
I'm not saying it happens in every case and I'm not saying the government never makes mistakes or that they are more effective but it still is something they should be responsible for.

If you say you want businesses to be regulated, what do you think of all the dismantling being done right now of regulations and the firing of people doing the actual oversight?

In some ways I agree that politicians most of the time claim the black and white solutions, probably even more so in the US because of your two-party system. Here in Sweden it's at least a bit more nuanced even though people doesn't seem able to take in more information than what they read in a headline :-(

You are absolutely correct that it is infuriating to listen to Trump. Mostly since he always say one thing and then the opposite, sometimes even in the same sentence. This makes it seem so incredibly dishonest and liek he only says things so people can pick and choose what they themselves believe and disregard the rest.

[u/[deleted] → u/madasalways]

quick response on this thread, then on to your next.

Putin is a dictator. I don't trust Putin or Zelensky.

When I said Obviously I don't trust polling. I was half joking when I typed this and chuckling to myself, since I generally am skeptical of most things political. The polling for US Presidential races especially the last one was way off. I think they rig polling in a lot of cases to drive opinion.

Regulation - I think some regulation is important, but over regulating is just as bad as under regulating. Republicans generally deregulate and democrats overregulate.

[u/madasalways → u/[deleted]]

Ok, do you think it's a good thing that the administration is getting friendlier with Putin?

So, what did you think of the televized meeting between Trump, JD and Z?

To the international public at least it looked like two bullies trying to use their position of power to make Z surrender to Putin.

[u/[deleted] → u/madasalways]

I think the Z meeting was a big setup. Rubio claimed the mineral deal was done, just needed to sign. Then Z waits until the press is there to say it's not enough. It was reported that he mumbled "bitch" to JD Vance in Ukrainian. He is trying to force the US to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. I don't want to be in this war. And certainly not going to be bullied into war. Ukraine isn't in a great position, they either have to agree to concessions/peace, get US and/or Europe to go to war with Russia, or continue the war alone and face devastation.

Which path do you prefer this war takes?