Microsoft Sues the DOJ

Microsoft is currently suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the wake of the Apple lawsuit against the government.  The reason being is that they want to inform people that they were spied upon by the federal government.  And now some of you are saying "what the hell is this about?"  Well, allow me to explain.

As stated, Microsoft is suing the DOJ due to them wanting to inform people who were spied upon that they, were, well, spied upon.  Basically when the government gets a warrant to spy on a Microsoft customers computer, Microsoft will not say no, but instead tell their customer that "hey, the government is watching".  Now is this bad?  Well, yea it is especially if the customer happens to be a terrorist, an enemy spy, a murderer, or person who deals in sex slaves in general. As such the person may take steps to get away or to carry out their plot all that much faster with suitable precautions. Basically, this surveillance is crucial to the government forming a case to getting a warrant for arrest against the suspect and ultimately stopping them. 

Conclusion:   Know I can understand that telling a person that they were spied on after the case is shut or it no longer poses a threat to the case as a whole, but the news report I heard ("Outnumbered" on Fox) made it out like Microsoft wants to do this out right once the warrant has been issued.  If so then this is a dangerous situation that I hope the courts can bring sanity too.

Bernie Sander's: Feasibility

Bernie Sander's has promised to do two things that probably will not happen.  Those two things are the breakup of the Big Banks and the tax increases that would be imposed to cover universal health care amongst other things.  Here are the reasons why.

Big Bank Breakup:  Under the law a bank or even a business for that matter cannot be broken up unless it is either a monopoly or it poses a severe threat to the economy.  However our banks like Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and the other banks on Wall Street pose no such threat and they are not a monopoly.  Therefore the courts that oversea bank breakups would deny a president Sander's the ability to do anything to the Wall Street banks.

Tax increases:  Here the Republicans, as long as they hold a majority, and some Democrats would block the tax increases that would be used to cover the costs of a universal health care system.  Basically, Bernie would have to have a Democrat controlled House of Representatives and Senate to even hope to get any tax increases passed and even then I am skeptical about how those tax increases would pay for a new universal health system as our population is significantly larger than any other countries in the world that already has the single payer model.

Conclusion:  Like Trump, Bernie Sander's will not get what he wants passed assuming he wins.  As such people should not be surprised when his promises fall short.

Post New York Primaries

So as a poll inspector I will say I am pleasantly surprised at the turn out.  Usually I sit there at the polls and can read three books the size of Le Miserables on the taxpayers’ dime, but thanks to the Bernie and Trump supporters people actually came to vote.  So pat yourselves on the back lads and ladies.

Now as to results.  I personally thought Bernie would have won in New York, but Hillary beat him out.  I heard a rumor that something like 16,000 to 25,000 people were ineligible to vote in one particular area, but that seems to be just that.  A rumor.  Needless to say, it was a fight that was well won by Hillary (even though I wanted Bernie to beat the pants off of her).

I knew Cruz would lose New York.  He is a very conservative guy running in a liberal State and people still have that comment on New York "values" on their minds.  Kasich of course, with Cruz being unpopular in New York, became the anybody but Trump vote candidate.  So his coming in second really means nothing in my opinion and the news really said nothing about him.  Trump overall is the big winner obviously as he took nearly all the delegates and is another step closer to the nomination.  The people who are running his campaign and helping him to be more Presidential really are doing a good job with respect to overall image, and he deserved to win (especially as New York is his home State which certainly helped).

Conclusion:  The fight unfortunately is not over.  Bernie Sanders will fight all the way to the end which may split his party and Trump, Cruz and Kasich look set to eventually go to the Convention where Kasich will likely, if things stay the same, be pushed out of the running completely.  This is going to be a very interesting election year and I look forward to an exhausting November election where I earn my pay check making sure each and every voter in my election district gets their votes counted.  I may not agree with the turn out, but hell, your vote is your voice and I will defend it with glee.

New York Primaries

I cannot stress enough that everyone in New York should come out and vote today in the Primaries.   We have a decision to make that could affect the future of this country.  Democrats have to choose between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, while Republicans must choose between John Kasich, Ted Cruz and of course Donald Trump.  

This will not be an easy election and from my standpoint as it is the most drawn out and most complicated election with respect to people figuring out who they want and why.  But again, as many people save the diehard party members and senior citizens typically forget how important a political primary vote is. 

If you are not satisfied with the current election situation or want a particular candidate to have a better chance since you feel they would make a better President, then please vote.  So many people do not vote in these Primaries (like over half the people in my area who are eligible at minimum), and I have seen that first hand as someone who works the polls every election season.   

So come out and vote as New York, we got a decision to make.  

(Note: The Bernie Sanders issue on his policy feasibility will be delayed till Thursday).

Trump policy's:feasibility

We have all been questioning the feasibility of some of Donald Trump's plans/promises.  Primarily the having Mexico build the American version of the Great wall of China, mass deportation of illegal migrants and a ban on Muslims coming into the United States.  (My analysis is based on Bill O'reilly's comments on the "O'reilly Factor").  

The American wall:  Trump intends to have Mexico pay by holding hostage money going to and from America to Mexico.  To do this Trump will block remittances by legals and non-legals alike in exchange for a lump sum of money.  Remittances are money transfers from people in one country (usually a family member) to another.  As such, Trump will try to enforce the near impossible by stopping the transfer of money from Mexicans and other ethnic South American peoples from the United States to their families over the border.  The reason why this is neigh impossible is because the Federal Government cannot monitor every money transfer at every Western Union or similar to block it if the account the money being transferred to is in a South American country.  It is like the NSA trying to listen in on everyone's phone calls, it will melt the computers.  So this is an empty threat to say the least, and even if this could be accomplished, banks and other internet based money transfer systems exist or will come into existence that can work around this.

Mass Deportation:  This is never going to happen.  The reason being is that the Supreme Court has stipulated that each and every illegal is entitled to a hearing.  As such, with over 11 million illegals in this country (including non-South American peoples) it will take a very long time.  According to news commentator and Judge, Judge Andrew Napolitano, it would take 40 years to provide hearings to all these illegals and that is assuming no other illegals come in.

Muslim Ban: This is also never going to happen.  It is impossible to ban a specific ethnic and religious group under our discrimination laws.  As such any action of this nature will be blocked by the courts.

Conclusion:  Trump will not be able to pass any of these.  It is impossible due to the courts and due to enforcement.  Tomorrow we will look at Bernie Sander's, so see you then.

Making Universal Health care work!? part 3

In part three we look into the final steps to making the universal health system work.  Here we go.

Step 6 is making nurses do nearly everything.  Basically where a diagnosis is not needed the nurses will do the job.  They could be physical therapists, act as nutritionists, medical lab testers in addition to taking blood, checking blood pressure and the like.  Basically they could do the basics that do not require a doctor and can be taught in certification classes without the need for college.  For instance, all nurses will know first aid and how to do what nurses do, but they too can go into specializations like the aforementioned physical therapist and can even act like an MRI technician in the same way I have seen some trained to do x-rays so long as it only takes a certification class to become proficient.  Other times if the computer can diagnose, such as through disease testing kits and similar, the nurse can use that tests diagnosis and even recommended treatments via reference materials to provide the patients with what they need for treatment.   This means that doctors will only be required for when things are above a simple diagnosis that nurses could provide.  Additionally doctors will be focused at this point on more specialized fields like performing operations or similar like neurosurgery.  (Note: Can be done in our current healthcare system to reduce costs)

Step 7 revolves around technology.  It basically revolves around self-diagnosis technology similar to what WebMD has, but is improved further so as to supplement doctors thanks to an up and coming technology.  The people who organize X-prize sought to create the tricorder and it's already in testing for market use.  For those who don't know, the tricorder is a self-diagnosis tool, and our cell phones will be the center of this new technology.  Basically by downloading an app our cell phones, possibly with a hardware device plugged in via a USB cable, will allow us to monitor our health each day or weekly by testing our stress level, blood pressure, vision, hearing amongst others.  From there based on these readouts, and a series of questions which according to what I have seen on the news and read ("Beyond Tomorrow" documentary, Fox news, economist, X-prize website) will be able to diagnose you if you have any illnesses.  It will even recommend a blood test which can be linked by wireless systems (probably an altered sugar testing kit that diabetics use or similar) that comes as part of the kit or is bought every time you need one to diagnoses diseases beyond the scope of simple monitoring.  It can then tell you to see a doctor or not.  Adding to that the app stores your data so that you can send updates to your doctor on your health or the doctor can use the app as a tool to aid in diagnosis when a person goes to the doctor.  Essentially it allows your medical records to travel with you.  Similarly, things like sonograms and other diagnostic and health monitors can be integrated into smartphones that the doctor can use to figure out what is wrong with their patients and thus provide treatment. (Note: Can be done in our current healthcare system to reduce costs)

Step 8 is the final step.  Here determines what actually should be covered and what should not once steps 1 through 7 are achieved.  The government will have to decide if basic treatment should be covered by a universal health system or just catastrophic care leaving all other cheap and expensive treatments to the people and to health insurance.  I personally think that if universal health is implemented after all this it should focus exclusively on catastrophic care like people in comas and cancer treatments.  Reason being is that these are the main drain on our health industry with respect to hospitals and treatments.  Likewise taking care of the disabled will also factor which is already provided for in part due to Social Security and Medicare.  We can all afford cheap antibiotics and even Percocets' generic with just 30 pills which is $30 tops (I work in a pharmacy remember) not to mention most people don't use health care between the ages of 15 to 50 as they are healthy and thus rarely need to see a doctor.  So many of these drugs are affordable to an extent and that means with other changes all other treatments can be just as cheap too.

Conclusion to part 3:  All together, Steps 3 through 7 (See part 1 and 2 for the details) can be used on our current system to reduce medical costs.  Steps 1,2 and 8 are concerned with universal health care as a whole so as to reduce costs to the overall universal health system for even if we make these changes catastrophic care is the biggest drain on our health system and thus research into curing the worst diseases like cancer becomes all that much more important.  Remember, Medicare, Medicaid, and other forms of socialized medicine will disappear into this system so it will primarily be used to take care of the patients who will be needing health care the most, our seniors who have a higher risk of catastrophic health care events.  As such, the system will never be perfect, but depending on how it is done we may be able to make it work (and that is if it treats catastrophic care only).  I have my doubts though.

Making Universal Health care work!? part 2

Welcome to part two of this little thought experiment.  Yes yesterday's issue was long, but hopefully today's will not be as labor intensive.  Let us start.

Step 3 of making the universal health care system work would mean reducing the amount of things that can be considered a health care profession.  This means things like masseuses, yoga instructors and similar cannot be considered medical professionals.  Even if the techniques they know can be integrated into therapies, the professionals that know them are too specialized in general for them to be worth covering in my opinion and also the universal health care system does not allow for innovation or change which may allow alternate cheaper forms of these techniques like for example the 15 minute street massages that are gaining more popularity.  As such, wherever possible the government should reject any and all professions as much as possible from becoming considered health professions as they will increase costs and thus limit access to these techniques.  At the same time, techniques specific to health care/physical therapy and recovery minus any religious or spiritual aspects (indicative to yoga and tai chi) will be taught to nurses in specialized classes in the same way they are thought to be phlebotomists (people who draw blood) or to administer first aid.  The reason for this is to provide patients with an alternative to getting these therapies once they are discharged by government run hospitals and doctors’ offices or the universal health care system refusing to pay for further treatment.  Having a nurse or doctor perform such techniques let alone treat patients is expensive for the government which is why they will only use it when required to treat the patient.  Taking into consideration the costs to the government and their want to discharge and stop treatment at the first available opportunity it is necessary to provide a non-medical alternative to getting the same treatment on the cheap, especially if the patient is seeking more than just physical treatment, like spiritual health which is sometimes provided by massage and yoga instructors amongst others. (Note:  This can also be done in our current healthcare system to keep costs down).

Step 4 is the legalization of as many pharmaceutical drugs as possible.  In this instance psych drugs and addictive drugs will be restricted to prescription only, and even then some addictive drugs will be able to be OTC's but the age and how much can be sold at any given time will be limited in the same way they do to pseudoephedrine products now which with other ingredients can be turned into meth.  So things like codeine products would be sold behind the register.  Otherwise antibiotics, non-addictive pain relievers, topical burn creams, acne treatments, and others will be over the counter medications unless the side effects are so potentially debilitating or dangerous that they must be provided with a prescription.  Claravis and its sister products come to mind which is to treat acne, but the potential side effect is depression to the point of suicide and birth defects resulting in a test by the patient and questions needing to be answered by the doctor each month just for the drug to be dispensed.  As such, pharmacists will still be needed, but they will be at an info desk to talk to patients and recommend which antibiotics or other products to take to treat what ails the patient based on what a doctor says they have or, if trained to, their own diagnosis of the patient.  Some may be wondering why legalize all these drugs without a prescription in the first place?  Let us use Flonase as an example.  This allergy nasal spray without insurance prior to becoming an OTC was $200 plus dollars, but now that it is an OTC, the cost for the brand is at most $26.  That cost difference is due to the regulatory requirements imposed by the FDA amongst other factors.  Same medication, just as safe to take as it was when it was prescription only.  Likewise, with the change in curriculum mentioned in step one people will have an idea of what to take and when, which saves money by not needing to go to the doctor in the first place.  (Note: This can also be done in our current healthcare system to keep costs down).

Step 5 deals with illegal drugs.  Right now illegal drugs are not allowed to be used to create or be used in experiments to create drugs or even alternative therapies.  This would need to be changed so that more potential treatments can be found.  Also, as many illegal drugs as possible will also be made legally available via the pharmacy or similar.  As such marijuana and similar would be able to be monitored sales wise and even who is taking it to ensure proper medical treatment can be administered.  More serious hard drugs will be in specialized dispensaries run by the government, but the people addicted will have to pay for their drugs to get them as they will be considered over the counter medications, but if they overdose (as they will only be allowed to ingest/inject the drugs there on site), the treatment for saving them in the mini hospital in the back will be free.  The idea here is to monitor these long time patients and new patients so as to gain a better understanding of addiction, keep these people from buying from dealers on the street, protect the addicted person's children by not allowing them to see their parents do drugs and overall provide help to get off these addictive drugs when the person asks/is ready for it. (Note: This can also be done in our current healthcare system to keep costs down).

Conclusion to part 2:  So step 3 is to keep costs down while allowing for alternatives to medical treatments when the doctors and or universal health system no longer wishes to pay for therapies.  In step 4 we eliminate as many prescription drugs as possible by making them OTC or a restricted product like alcohol so as to reduce costs due to regulations, while step 5 ends the drug war allowing for the money used to stop illegal drugs to instead be used to look into new medical treatments and get a better understanding of addition so that we get these poor people out of the shadows and the prisons to give them the health care they deserve.