Divemedic

Healthcare

As I have said before, since there are only so many doctors and other medical professionals, there are only a couple of ways to manage a healthcare system:

  • You can tinker with supply. That is, you can increase supply by making it easier to be a doctor, which carries its own liabilities, like lowering the skill level of the professionals performing brain surgery and the like; or
  • You can tinker with demand. There are two ways to do this, as far as I can see. You can either allow price to control demand, or you can let a government official set quotas and a waiting list.

The US has chosen to (mostly) control demand by allowing prices to dictate what people can afford. Canada has gone the route of price controls and government setting quotas with waiting lists. Let’s check to see how that is going:

Meanwhile, patients who need an ultrasound get one at my hospital within 30 minutes of it being ordered. An MRI takes a bit longer- we usually can get someone in within a day or two.

By Divemedic, ago

In Case You Missed It

Justice Jackson, in a recent dissent, complained that SCOTUS is favoring only rich litigants. That’s especially ironic, considering that she has received $3 million for writing her autobiography. Does anyone really think that the publisher will sell enough copies to pay that? Of course not, this is how payoffs are done:

An investor wants to pay off a high-ranking political figure. They make a deal that, on its face, looks like a legitimate business deal. That’s how the Cattle Futures market worked for the Clintons, it’s how the paintings for Hunter Biden sold for so much, it’s how Chelsea Clinton was being paid $300,000 a year by NBC while she was still in college, and how she had a net worth of $30 million before she was 40 years old.

Both parties are corrupt. They are stealing us blind.

By Divemedic, ago

The Feds and Terrorism

I just finished reading the book Blowback: The Untold Story of the FBI and the Oklahoma City Bombing. The book is filled with documented links between the FBI, the CIA, Secret Service, and the ATF. The entire story of the OKC bombing is filled with witnesses who committed suicide in front of malfunctioning video cameras, witnesses disappearing so completely that their SSN was deleted, missing documents, and other odd “coincidences” that it seems almost incredible.

There is missing video, supposedly hidden because it is classified, of multiple people exiting the Ryder truck just before the bomb went off. Body parts that don’t match any DNA of any known victim. Mystery fingerprints that couldn’t be matched to any known suspect. A second Ryder truck. FBI agents seen trying to use radio direction finders in the OKC area in the lead up to the explosion- the author alleges that they had a tracking device on the truck, but couldn’t locate it.

The names that are part of the investigation come up again and again- Larry Potts, Merrick Garland, and other familiar names. At least 6 witnesses either disappeared or were killed. There were explosives experts in town on mysterious orders, including Air Force EOD, but the logbooks are unexpectedly missing. At least one alleged CIA operative fled to Germany. It’s hinted in the book that the Southern Poverty Law center is an FBI front operation for hiding the sources of illegally obtained evidence and intelligence.

After reading it, I am firmly convinced that McVeigh was up to his ears in this bombing. However, I also think that there were numerous other players, and some of those players were government assets. If even half of this book is true, the OKC bombing is proof that the Federal Intelligence community has been pulling the strings of all sorts of lone wolf attacks.

As I read the book, I thought about the mysterious ties to the Vegas shooting, COVID, Antifa, the 2020 election, and the Epstein “suicide.” It’s enough to make you question everything and begin to feel paranoid.

The book could stand to be better organized, and you almost need to take notes in order to follow all of the details, and this makes it a long, difficult read. There are enough ties and names that are named that it is difficult to follow and connect the dots. Even with that, this is a story that would read like a cheap novel with an implausible plot if it weren’t for the events that have happened since 2019, and I still recommend reading this book.

The disclaimer: I don’t advertise, and receive nothing for my reviews or articles. I don’t think that I ever will. I have no relationship with any products, companies, or vendors that I review here, other than being a customer. If I ever *DO* have a financial interest, I will disclose it. Otherwise, I pay what you would pay. No discounts or other incentives here. I only post these things because I think that my readers would be interested.

By Divemedic, ago

Crashed

It looks like Big Country crashed my server. My server usually runs pretty well, using no more than 30% or so of resources. However, his posting of the recent shooter’s manifesto went viral, and he received 30,000 hits that each downloaded the file in less than an hour. The server just isn’t set up for that kind of bandwidth- more than 3.5 gb worth of downloads in less than 30 minutes.

It crashed my server, but everything looks to be OK again, at least for now.

By Divemedic, ago

Not Compassionate

The left was busy mocking Republicans all week, but in the process demonstrated that if it weren’t for double standards, the left would have no standards at all. The mayor of Minneapolis had this to say:

Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community, or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity.

But proving that they are true assholes, he went on to say this:

Don’t just say that this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying.

Mocking prayer by saying that it does nothing as children are being shot while praying? That’s a new low.

I have made no secret of the fact that I am an atheist, but I understand the sentiment of “thoughts and prayers.” When someone says that, it’s a statement that you are in their thoughts, and they are wishing you well as they grieve with you. To turn that into an attack on the person’s religion makes you an asshole. To do that almost immediately after demanding that people ignore the shooter and his fucked up mental state is beyond the pale. This is proof that there is just no coexisting with the left. They are simply evil. There is no other way to phrase it.

Isn’t it odd that the left is heaping scorn upon the religions of the world and mocking them, all while calling the other side the “party of hate?”

By Divemedic, ago

NY and GOA: A Larger Issue?

There is a case in NY that is important, where the U.S. Northern District Court ruled in Higbie v. James that New York’s concealed carry laws are violating the Second Amendment rights of nonresidents by making it nearly impossible for nonresidents to obtain a concealed carry license. It was sponsored by Gun Owners of America.

The plaintiffs in this case argued that they each have firearms licenses which permit them to bear arms in public in their respective states “and across most of the country.” They also claimed that New York does not permit them to carry their firearms while they are in New York solely because they are not residents or employees of the State. They argued that New York’s licensing scheme is an extreme outlier among the states because at least 27 states do not even require a permit to carry a concealed firearm in public, while the vast majority that do require permits will issue permits to out-of-state residents. The US District Court agreed, and struck down NY’s complicated and overly onerous regulations as being unconstitutionally designed to deny nonresidents their constitutional rights under the Second Amendment. The court ruled that state lawmakers can not restrict concealed carry licenses to maintaining residency, property ownership, or business interests in the state.

The tyrants of NY government attempted to make the argument that their licensing measures were not entirely prohibitive for non-residential applicants, saying certain guidelines allowed for those who owned habitable property or a business stake in the state to apply for such a license. In essence, they claimed that, because they allowed one nonresident to have a permit, this excused violating the rights of the rest of them. In essence, they are relying on the “token negro” defense. The court rightly called them out on this. 

Look, this case will have no direct impact upon the reality of CCW for nonresidents in New York. We all know that, because those ass clowns will simply find another way to violate the rights of US citizens while bleating loudly about the rights of illegal immigrants to take a dump on New York city streets. Even those residents who have permits nominally have to have criminal background checks, a mental health professional sign off on the permit, and multiple references.

The reality is that New York’s scheme is all about who you know and political payoffs when deciding who gets a permit. I know someone who has a New York carry permit. He also has a state police license plate, which starts with 1SP. He began telling me that the state police union had a series of special plates made, and they are only available through Hamilton county in New York. He claimed that this plate was given to “friends” of the police union, and the lower the number was that followed the 1SP, the more important you were to the cops. He said that this plate routinely gets him out of traffic and parking tickets. Not because he paid for it, nor did he jump through hoops. It’s because he knows someone, or as he puts it, “I’ve got a guy.”

This sounded like a lload of BS to me, so I activated my Google skills. What I found was that handing out special plate numbers is a common practice in New York. and I quote:

To some recipients, special license plates issued by the Saratoga County clerk are a symbol of county pride. For others, they are an inherited treasure passed on by a family member or loved one.
For many who have them — a list that ranges from county workers to state Supreme Court judges — an unwritten rule is that a lower number may indicate a special driver.
Indeed, an examination of the recipients of the special plates, which carry an “SP” prefix, shows they are coveted by a select group of government employees and elected officials, including judges, prosecutors, town supervisors, attorneys and political party leaders. The spouses and children of those people are also among those, estimated to be in the hundreds, who have the plates.

Now the SP prefix goes to Saratoga County. The 1SP prefix, which I can find little about, belongs to the State Police. This is how things are done there, from Concealed Weapons Permits to License plates, corruption and special favors rule the day.

They claim it is for “county pride” but I am sure there are not that many people who believe that. This is a way of announcing to the police that you are politically well connected and should receive special treatment.

The real impact of the Higbie case is that the noose is closing. The era of violating people’s rights to bear arms is closing through the courts. That doesn’t mean the fight os over. Evil, corruption, and man’s quest for power to rule others never ceases. That’s why the fight can’t either.

Donate to the GOA or the FPC. They are doing the work of patriots.

By Divemedic, ago

Making It

My post from the other day surprisingly hit a nerve with some people. Even among the readers of this blog, there appear to be many people who are their own worst financial enemy. They still would rather believe that the deck is stacked against them and scapegoat someone else for their own lack of making it.

The gist of all of this is some sort of excuse about how it is someone else’s fault that they aren’t successful. That person could be faceless judges, the rich who have pulled up the ladder behind them, boomers, your ex-wife, whoever.

It’s all bullshit. There is no evidence that it’s any harder now than it was 50 years ago. For starters, home ownership isn’t as difficult as it seems. In the US, less that half of all US citizens owned their own homes before WW2. After that war, there was a homebuilding boom that saw homeownership rates increase to 55% in 1950, 62% in 1960, then 63% in 1970, when Baby Boomers began buying homes. The 80’s and 90’s had homeownership rates around 64%, and increasing to 66% by the turn of the millennium.

Homeownership rates peaked in 2004 with a 69% rate. It fell with the collapse of the mortgage lenders, bottoming out at 63% in 2016. Even now, homeownership rates are hovering around 65%, which is still higher than it was through most US history.

The only person holding you back is- you. Well, you and the choices that you make. Yes, I am telling you that if I made it, you can, too. Remember that I was bankrupt in 2009. When I left that bankruptcy, I had less than $3,000 in assets, and that included a car I was still making payments on. I lost my house in that bankruptcy and had to move back into an apartment. That was when I took a very real look at what I was doing. I made changes.

I am telling you to take a real look at where your money is going. Don’t buy useless shit. Buy and payoff a house. Save, invest. Get your spouse on board with your effort- it won’t work unless you are both doing it together. You won’t be able to make it if one of you is saving while the other is spending.

This is intended to be motivational. You can do this, but it won’t be easy. It will take spending discipline. It will take some effort. Not everyone is going to be wealthy- but anyone CAN be wealthy.

You can do it. Or you can keep blaming a scapegoat for the fact that you aren’t.

By Divemedic, ago

Monkey

A man enters a bar carrying a monkey. The monkey begins running around the bar, making a general and complete nuisance of itself. Finally, the monkey jumps up on the billiard table, picks up the cue ball, and swallows it whole. The bartender, having had enough, throws the man and his monkey out of the bar.

Several weeks pass, and the man returns with his monkey. He explains to the bartender that the monkey has learned his lesson and asks if they can return. The bartender, being in a generous mood, relents.

After an hour or so, the bartender notes that the monkey has indeed been well behaved and treats him to one of the cherries from the bar. The monkey takes the treat, sticks it up his butt, pulls it out, then eats it.

The bartender, disgusted, looks at the monkey’s owner and asks him, “Why does he do that?”

The monkey’s owner replies: “Ever since the cue ball incident, he won’t eat anything without first checking to make sure it fits.”

By Divemedic, ago

Alimony

A housewife didn’t work for the 15 years she was married. Instead, she supported her husband in his career, following him across the country as his job took him from one city to another. He divorced her and was ordered to pay alimony. Five months later, she won the lottery. Now her husband thinks that he should no longer pay alimony. Men are calling her a deadbeat because she sponged off of him for nearly 20 years.

What would women say about that?

What if the genders were reversed? What if it was the man who was dumped and then won the lottery? Would women still defend the stay at home spouse, or would they call him a sponging free loader?

It turns out that those women are mercenary harpies, because that is exactly what has happened.

By Divemedic, ago

Class Warfare= Envy

There has been a plethora of stories talking about the privilege possessed by the upper middle class as of late. This article is typical of what the left is trying to do– they are saying that young people no longer have a chance at the American dream because they are being kept down by [insert here: “Boomers,” the upper middle class, banks, landlords, Donald Trump] because of privilege.

The things that supposedly prove that you are blind to your privilege are:

  1. Why don’t you move to a less expensive area, or one where jobs are more plentiful?
  2. I worked hard to make it, you can too.
  3. Money isn’t everything.
  4. We all have the same opportunities to succeed.
  5. I don’t worry about money.
  6. Why don’t they save more?
  7. Everyone should travel.

Numbers 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 are all linked in my mind. It isn’t just about hard work, it’s about choices. The choices that we make directly affect the outcomes that we experience. If you pick a troublesome albatross for a mate, you decide to smoke weed all day instead of hustling to improve, or you waste all of your money on OnlyFans, Starbucks, and Door Dash, you are not making good choices. Your outcome will reflect that.

That isn’t to slam having some vices- I like to gamble, and ordering Door Dash when I am at work instead of clocking out for an hour to go eat is actually more cost effective. The thing is, you can’t be doing those things when you are poor. The importance of understanding when you can give up wants in order to afford your needs is something that many young people struggle with. Everyone, when they first move out of their parents’ house, is used to living a better lifestyle than they themselves can afford. My mother used to call it a “caviar and Champaign taste on a beer and bread budget.” Live within your means, save as much as you can, and then you will later enjoy a better life. Learn that sacrifices when you are young will pay off when you are older.

Once you realize that, you won’t have to worry about money and you will be able to travel. There is no secret to making it- so many people think that there is some magic or secret society to becoming wealthy, but it isn’t a secret and it isn’t magic.

The way to wealth is this:

Own your house. Renting just means that you are paying someone else’s mortgage.

Buy a house, preferably with a 15 year mortgage. Pay it off as quickly as you can- don’t just make the minimum payments. Look at four different choices (using West Orlando prices):

  • Rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment. Ten years ago, it was $1200 per month. Same apartments today are $2300 per month. If you did that for 15 or 30 years, it would cost you between $324,000 and $648,000 and you own nothing. The money is gone.
  • Buy a house with the roughly same square footage in the same area for $140,000 in 2002. A 5% down mortgage would mean a $7,000 down payment and monthly payments of $937 for 30 years. Total cost for 30 years: $344,320. A lot, but you also now own a house that is worth $425,000. Not bad. You are now $728,000 more wealthy than if you had rented.
  • Or buy the same house with a 15 year mortgage. Now the payments are $1281 per month, but you pay it off in half the time. Now the total cost is: $237,580. After 15 years, no payment at all. You are now $835,000 more wealthy than if you had rented.
  • Same 15 year mortgage, but make an extra $200 per month payment against your principal: you pay the house off 3.5 years early, and this saves you another $12,000 in interest payments. You are damned near to being a million bucks ahead of renting.

Don’t pick a spouse/significant other that spends you into the poorhouse.

I know that she (he) is fun- after all, spending money is fun and gives you instant gratification, but at the expense of your future well-being.

Know the difference between wants and needs.

Door Dash, Starbucks, and eating out are great, but you don’t NEED to do that, especially when you are poor. Wait until you can afford it before you waste money on these things. If you don’t own a house, are making extra payments on it, and can’t afford to pay all of your bills plus put at least 10% of your income aside as savings, then you can’t afford to any of those “Wants.” Learn to wait until you can.

Education is the key to financial well being.

That doesn’t necessarily mean college. The lack of a college degree doesn’t mean that you won’t get a good job. There are plenty of trades out there that make good money- welders, for example. I was a fire medic and making a pretty good living.

Having a college degree doesn’t guarantee you a good job. Taking out $200,000 in student loans for a degree in 14th Century French poetry is a bad idea.

The trick is to learn a valuable skill, then be good at it. Work hard, make wise choices. Save. Don’t waste money on stupid bullshit. Then be patient. It will take a while. It took me about 12 years to go from bankrupt to a million in net worth.

That’s my advice. I have learned all of these things the hard way. It wasn’t privilege that got me to be successful- remember, I have been poor and even homeless. It was the school of hard knocks. Doing the things I recommend here is hard. It takes discipline and sacrifice.

Or you can just stay poor and blame your landlord or Donald Trump for it.

By Divemedic, ago