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Why You May Not Like Ted Cruz's Face, According To Science (qz.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Ted Cruz pitches himself as an overcomer, an underdog, an outsider who beats the odds. While the Republic candidate has won four states in this nomination race so far, a neurologist says he still faces a big obstacle with voters: his own face. In an interview with Quartz, George Washington University's Richard E. Cytowic said the unusual movements of Cruz's face may make him seem less sincere to the human brain than other candidates. "The normal way a face moves is what's called the Duchenne smile, named after the 19th century French neurologist. So the mouth goes up, the eyes narrow and the eyes crinkle at the outside, forming crows feet," said Cytowic, a professor of neurology.
"Cruz doesn't give a Duchenne smile. His mouth goes in a tight line across or else it curves down in an anti-Duchenne smile. So he doesn't come across as sincere at all."
Visceral reactions probably drive a lot more of politics than anyone likes to admit; seeming trustworthy isn't the same as being trustworthy, but it sure helps win people over.
He appears insincere because, guess fuckin' what, he *is.*
Cruz is a Dominionist. None of this means anything to him except insofar as he can grab the reins of power and usher in some dystopic nightmare fusion of 1984 and The Handmaiden's Tale. Dominionists have been a scary powerful group since the Nixon years and they went absolutely metastaticwhen Bush II was elected.
If he is not stopped, we're going to end up ruled by the Christian Taliban.
The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.
-- Jean Giraudoux
Cruz has a resemblance to Frank Burns from MASH. #ferretface
may make him seem less sincere than other candidates.
I'm not sure that's possible.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Who couldn't like his face?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Grandpa Munster
i.imgur.com/G8LGrnY.png
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
It's hard for a robot to smile.
#DeleteChrome
Affordable health care has been an issue for most of my adult, working life. Republicans and Democrats alike have proposed solutions, but until six years ago no one delivered.
We had a vote. The majority, the fricken majority chose the winner, and the winner delivered on a campaign promise to deliver affordable health care to everyone.
The fricken majority.
And he and his ilk have spent six years since then trying to over turn what the fricken majority voted for.
Is it any wonder nobody likes him?
It's what comes out of it when he opens his mouth.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
His mother is white, but to most people he appears to be black.
Ted Cruz, by all accounts is a prick. So which came first? Is he just a prick who's neurology makes him smile that way, or did he smile that way, and everyone treated him like a prick so he became a prick?
nobody looks at hillary and thinks: "she looks like the honest people i know in my life". in this regard trump got the edge over both, because he transports a "i don't give a shit, and tell you exactly what i'm thinking at the moment" - vibe. while the content of his messages might contradict himself, depending on the audience and situation or might just be plain stupid, it's still that image of sincerity that sticks.
Well it doesn't take much of a study to show Hillary Clinton is not good at projecting warmth and sincerity on the stump. She's at her best in debates, where she she seems a lot more real. On the stump she seems really phony, and the big smile that doesn't reach to the eyes is a big part of that.
Now does that actually mean anything? Imagine you're a politician giving a campagin speech before a group. This may be the twentieth time you've given this exact speech before a similar group in the last week, but you've got to make it fresh for them, make your response to them seem spontaneous and authentic. It's well nigh impossible, but some people can do it. Bill Clinton can do it.
You know who else can do it? Donald Trump. If you think about what he's saying even a little bit he's clearly en epic bullshitter, but he makes a genuine-seeming emotional connection with crowds. And I think it seems genuine because on a certain level it is genuine. He's morbidly narcissistic and craves the admiration they're giving him.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
What is undisputed is that he was born in Canada. But as you can tell by the way his face looks more like skin slapped over lumpy clay, his weird un-smile, the way that nobody who has ever worked for him likes him - it all points to one conclusion:
Ted Cruz is half Sasquatch!
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
I wrote this for another forum which was focused on trump. But basically only 21% of Ted Cruz's statements are true or mostly true. He lies twice as often as Clinton and Sanders and almost twice as often as Rubio. He's facile at lying. Lying is a tool in his tool box. It has little to do with his face.
From politifact, the Pulitzer prize winning political fact checking site.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
51% of Clinton's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 21% are half true.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
48% of Sander's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 21% are half true.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
35% of Rubio's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 22% are half true.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
21% of Ted Cruz's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 13% are half true.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
8% of Trump's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 14% are half true.
yes.. 8% is yoooge.
Trump is saying mostly false statements to outright lies 78% of the time. When caught in a lie, he just lies again.
I was suprised to see Cruz had such a high lie rating given that he's christian and christians are against the lord of lies but his particular sect does approve of lying in the service of the lord so that may be playing a factor here.
Trump is almost a full order of magnitude more dishonest however.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I don't like him because he's religious crazy...
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/03/23/ted-cruz-launches-2016-campaign-proclaiming-god-healthcare.html
>God wants a massive tax cut for the rich
Really damm crazy.
It's not his smile that makes him untrustworthy. The "hints" his campaign emailed about Ben Carson on the other hand..
All that really proves is what we already know: Politifact is heavily biased in favor of Democrats.
and a zealot to boot. now who can trump that!?
When it comes to facial expressions,just ask Hillary - Botox is a bitch.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
When I think about it, this makes Hillary seem more trustworthy. I'm much more willing to trust someone who can't fake sincerity than I am to trust someone who can looks sincere no matter what they're saying.
But based on their positions and history I'm voting for Cruz.
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Because he's a fuckin' scumbag, that's why. As bad as it is, his smile is the least of his worries.
He's aggressive, aloof, arrogant, belligerent, big-headed, bitchy, boastful, bone-idle, boring, bossy, callous, cantankerous, careless, changeable, clinging, compulsive, conservative, cowardly, cruel, cunning, cynical, deceitful, detached, dishonest, dogmatic, domineering, finicky, flirtatious, foolish, foolhardy, fussy, greedy, grumpy, gullible, harsh , impatient, impolite, impulsive, inconsiderate, inconsistent, indecisive, indiscreet, inflexible, interfering, intolerant, irresponsible, jealous, lazy, Machiavellian, materialistic, mean, miserly, moody, narrow-minded, nasty, naughty, nervous, obsessive, obstinate, overcritical, overemotional, parsimonious, patronizing, perverse, pessimistic, pompous, possessive, pusillanimous, quarrelsome, quick-tempered, resentful, rude, ruthless, sarcastic, secretive, selfish, self-centred, self-indulgent, silly, sneaky, stingy, stubborn, stupid, superficial, tactless, timid, touchy, thoughtless, truculent, unkind, unpredictable, unreliable, untidy, untrustworthy, vague, vain, vengeful, and vulgar.
And those are his good qualities.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Politifact has, in fact, covered Clinton's emails. They said they're no big deal.
Which is really all you need to know about how well Politifact covers "truth."
Is there a Politifactfact that fact checks their supposed "fact checkers?"
Every time he says something, I want to bop his nose like it's an old-school reset button on a 1990's era computer. Maybe he'll work better after a reboot.
Don't worry, Slashdot. I already did :)
Yep I decided to research some of their rulings. Turns out if a site did exist to call out websites for lies, politifact would get a nice "pants on fire" rating.
The only important thing is: HOW BIG ARE HIS HANDS?
I've already seen the video where Cruz eats his booger on stage and I won't risk seeing it again.
This program was made possible by a grant from the Ultra-Humanite, and viewers like you.
I suspect people don't like his face because it is attached to a reprehensible person ...
Oh yea...
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
48% of Bush's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 22% are half true.
1% better than Sanders.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
39% of Christie's statements are all true or mostly true. Another 26% are half true.
The site gives perfectly good ratings to honest republican candidates.
I think most of expect politicians to shade the truth a quarter of the time and lie a quarter of the time while being honest the rest of the time. that's the stardard for politicians.
Cruz and Trump are something exceptional and their low ratings were due to their own statements (which you can check by following the links).
If any would care to show that "pants on fire" lies were actually true or "mostly false statements" were actually true, then I'll cede that politifact is biased.
However, when I've checked it- it has been as reliable as snopes.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I don't trust Hillary's face.
That's crazy. Are you a creationist?
"The site gives perfectly good ratings to honest republican candidates."
Bush is honest LMAO. Now I know you have got to be trolling with this shit.
http://www.politifactbias.com/?m=1
As the name implies this website points out much BS. I wouldn't even search for that website if 1.politifacts actually didn't confront me with utter lies on the first questions I looked at. And 2. If Google didn't auto add bias after I typed in politifacts.
That creates an interesting question assuming you agree with the empirical evidence that Ted Cruz is very dishonest.
I basically see three main possibilities:
1) It's just a coincidence that a very insincere face is coupled with a very insincere man. The researcher suggests this though he's basically just repeating the null hypothesis.
2) Cruz's face behaves the way it does because he's so dishonest. The brain uses different circuits when lying or manipulating (ie fake smile vs genuine smile). If he's spent years being highly manipulative the circuits that control how his face move might work subtly different.
3) Finally he might be lying so much because he realizes he looks dishonest and has come to identify as such (or he's learned people won't believe him regardless).
I suspect it's one of the latter two, our brains don't do perfect heuristics but they're often based on something real.
This reminds me of the study that found hockey players with rounder faces were more aggressive. Of course that doesn't tell you if the aggression and round face were both caused by the same underlying factor (ie testosterone) or if the players were acting more aggressive because they looked more aggressive.
I stole this Sig
Do you hve ANY idea who "Politifact" is run by, you naive lemming? "it has the word "fact" in it, so it must be legit!" you say to yourself, without even considering that it is a propaganda site put up by far left liberal activists.
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
"delivered on a campaign promise to deliver affordable health care to everyone"
After my last company meeting on healthcare benefits, 6 years into the affordable care act, I can say for certain that "affordable" healthcare has not been delivered to "everyone".
Every single person I know is paying significantly more for healthcare than they were 6 years ago. Even worse, many are paying for plans with such high deductibles, that their so-called health insurance is never used.
The ACA did absolutely nothing to contain cost increases that have been outstripping inflation and wages by many many times. At best the ACA can be credited with bringing catastrophic coverage to some folks who never had any coverage at all - at a significant cost to everyone else.
The ACA needs to be put in the trash and replaced with something that actually controls cost increases.
Maybe she's faking not being able to fake sincerity?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
It's not just the motherfucker's face, it is his entire BEING.
Fuck him, and fuck anyone who thinks he should be president.
who cares Cruz is out
Some said that Gore's Botox treatment of his aging forehead and crowsfeet wrinkles made his facial expressions look fake on TV, and lost him many thousands of votes in the presidential election.
I didn't say honest as a priest.
All politicians lie. My point was that cruz and trump lie much more than the standard for politicians.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
because I associate it with pointless wars, fearmongering, tax cuts for the 1% while my taxes go up and a nonstop assault on the working class. But I guess the article's explanation works too.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Rising health care premiums:
http://www.politico.com/story/...
Anyone who actually pays the bill for their healthcare is reporting the same thing - higher premiums and even higher deductibles. Our company has multiple insurance brokers competing for our healthcare policies - every single one, every year, has come back with significant cost increases.
This issue is going to hurt the Democrats during this election cycle. They pushed for the ACA, and told everyone that it would control costs and increase coverage. They can't blame Republicans for this as not a single Republican voted for this mess.
I'm not sure how Politifact decides which statements to rate, but I'm pretty sure Trump has told the truth more than that one time.
I rate their "All True statements involving Donald Trump == 1" to be "pants on fire".
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
He's got that big ol' ten gallon Texan nose and everything. Clearly he's a liar worthy of an olympic gold medal.
Cruz's religious beliefs beliefs are unlikely to cause significant harm. Remember, Carter was also a religious loon, and the damage he did came from his political beliefs, not his religion.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
I know a few young people who have bailed out of the health insurance system entirely. They simply can not afford the premiums - even with the subsidies.
So they go without insurance at all.
Guess what happens to them this April? That's right - they will have to pay a tax penalty. The people falling into this pit are primarily young, low-income earners.
Exactly who the Democrats need to vote if their candidate is going to win.
This is going to be a massive problem for them.
First time I saw a photo of Ted Cruz I thought that he looked like Richard Nixon for some reason, go figure...
--- Reality doesn't care about your opinions, it happens anyway and if you are in the way you'll get squished.
Standup comedians make a living doing exactly that...
It's also the malignant brain controlling it.
Politifact lies much more often than Cruz.
I don't care about politicians' faces. Really.
I don't dislike Cruz because of his smile; I dislike Cruz because he's an asshole.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
You should probably dig deeper into politifact's system before relying on it in a heavy way......
At the very least, politifact doesn't even attempt to get 100% coverage of every statement of the candidates, so using it to determine who lies a higher percentage of the time is questionable
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Sitting Senators are not outsides not even in the land of fairy dust and unicorns.
I bet his family were wet backs the went to Canada instead of America.
Will only do what establishment tells him bought lock stock and barrel.
Trump owed no one in money or deed this creep owes everyone everything.
Another lost decade for America.
Right on. This site is $hit. They do this all the time. Keep on educating the $hithead idiot that (R) is BAD.
Not only does he appear insincere, his positions are truly awful. The man is a dominionist, that's basically the US version of the taliban.
I am probably the same but normal people don't work like that. People expect certain feedback, where some expectations are learnt, and when you don't deliver it's a demonstration of your flaws. That's hardwired in all animals: It's why autistic/asperger's afflicted are social failures. People don't look for consistency in failure but for success and consistency in success. (Remember when Romney was caught flip-flopping.)
I don't know if a certain mindset is required, or just practice to accept that no feedback is better than fake feedback (lying). As someone who doesn't respond to, or recognize many emotions naturally, I do recognize when someone is forcibly expressing their emotions. Such people also tend to advertise their successes in life, however insignificant.
While his face is eminently punchable wait till you see his policies. You'll want to kick him in the nuts.
Time makes more converts than reason
http://dai.ly/x3d7ok2?start=449
They've got Trump at "pants on fire" lieing about this one:
"Don't believe those phony numbers when you hear 4.9 and 5 percent unemployment. The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent."
Politico says he's wrong because "Trump is still wildly off-base".
Here's your labor participation rate: http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet
Tell me it's 100% accurate.
The "unemployment rate" can actually be going down and both pay and the number of jobs in the economy can be contracting over long period of time. The unemployment rate is hogwash just like the stock market, it's a scam and everyone knows it.
The Real WTF is politifact doesn't have anyone above 50% truth, and that means we're all really just deluding ourselves. It's owned by the Tampa Bay Times who are in turn owned by the Times publishing company who's CEO is Paul Tash, who is on the board for the Pulitzer prize (no wonder why his own paper won that one).
They are in turn owned by the "New Media Investment Group Inc. "
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1579684/000119312516478629/d143702d10k.htm
Their ownership is heavily institutional wall street:
http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/newm/ownership-summary
Took me 10 minutes to check the source of the data. You might try doing that some time.
BTW, Cruz is one ugly mother*ucker.
Here are some primers:
Courtesy of Wikipedia:
Courtesy or DailyKos:
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
hes the best liar in politics today.
better even than Slick Willy was ever given credit for being.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist, not a Dominionist. Carter's religion didn't involve trying to take over the nation and then the world and institute Christianity as the sole religion, and it certainly didn't consider non-believers to be "enemies of God" as Cruz does.
He's a Theocratist Shit-Sack. Anyone that even HINTS that the Bible should win out over the Constitution can go get fucked sideways with a bandsaw. Keep your church out of my life you christian taliban motherfucker.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
To clarify: the ten commandments do not actually forbid lying. They forbid bearing false witness against your neighbor, which is a very specific type of lie that is particularly detrimental to society. Anyone who notices that detail may decide that it's perfectly fine to lie in every other circumstance, or God would've said otherwise.
Disclaimer: I'm also of the opinion that most people who loudly proclaim their religious beliefs are using them as a manipulation tool, to get you to trust them, so you'll believe the crap that's spewing out of their mouths, and lying is an integral part of that equation. People generally figure out that Santa is a lie, but then pretend to continue to believe in an invisible, bearded sky daddy, in the same way that they will continue to pretend to believe in Santa, in front of an audience with at least one credulous member in it.
I don't have any prior knowladge in this, but according to Wikipedia Ted is also a Southern Baptist. So, ... Wiki:Ted Cruz
Simply explained by flaws in his human costume.
On the grounds of equal time, Trump ain't exactly being honest.
http://www.politifact.com/pers...
I think you have a valid point. They may be ignoring some truthful statements that he has made.
There is an article here...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12...
They've only fact checked 75 trump statements but close to 140 hillary clinton statement.
OTH, they've fact checked 71 jeb bush statements and he has a much more favorable rating than Trump which would argue against bias.
I don't perceive Politifact as being particularly against Trump so the fact his ratings are terrible and Bush's are good would support the fact that Trump statements which can be fact checked are not true more often. Trump also has a very high "pants on fire" rating which they reserve for statements which are not only untrue but also ridiculous.
But your point is valid- they could be ignoring (thru intentional or unintentional bias) some of trumps truthful verifiable statements.
.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
You may need a refresher on the bible being against lying generally.
https://www.openbible.info/top...
Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 824 helpful votes
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Proverbs 19:9 ESV / 690 helpful votes
A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.
Proverbs 12:22 ESV / 653 helpful votes
Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
Psalm 101:7 ESV / 448 helpful votes
No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.
Colossians 3:9-10 ESV / 406 helpful votes
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Luke 8:17 ESV / 319 helpful votes
For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
Proverbs 12:19 ESV / 253 helpful votes
Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
1 John 2:4 ESV / 233 helpful votes
Whoever says âoeI know himâ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
Ephesians 4:25 ESV / 210 helpful votes
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
John 8:44 ESV / 196 helpful votes
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Revelation 21:8 ESV / 167 helpful votes
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.â
1 John 1:9 ESV / 166 helpful votes
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Exodus 20:16 ESV / 166 helpful votes
âoeYou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Proverbs 24:28 ESV / 165 helpful votes
Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.
Matthew 15:18-20 ESV / 132 helpful votes
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.â
Proverbs 19:5 ESV / 127 helpful votes
A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.
Romans 12:17-21 ESV / 119 helpful votes
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, âoeVengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.â To the contrary, âoeif your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.â Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
John 8:43-47 ESV / 119 helpful votes
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning,
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
When the nation was founded, 12 of the colonies were OFFICIALLY protestant Christian, and the 13th colony was Catholic. The vast majority of the population was far more Christian than your typical modern-day Republican. THAT was the "Christian Taliban" that wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and created a government so small most people had no interactions with it - including there being no federal taxes on the income or property of average people.
Ted Cruz is about as far left politically as John F Kennedy was (JFK was not for gay marriage, opposed Marxism, not for unlimited abortion rights, and for a very muscular foreign policy backed by a massive military and lots of nukes) - He's certainly not even as conservative as Reagan, but secular morons have been so successful at trashing American history and traditions that they now think anybody who could have been elected President by EITHER party in 1970 is going to plunge the nation into some imaginary dark ages of a "Christian Taliban" in America. You probably got that none sense from some idiot like Bill Mahr or Kos who makes a living plucking utter claptrap from his own posterior.
If you had even the slightest clue about protestant Christian beliefs, as opposed to the comic-book view you display, you would know that a Christian Taliban is an oxymoron; the core beliefs of the religion are contrary to the very things you fear and presume they would do as you struggle with your foil hat. The most-fervent Protestant Christians would, if they could get their way, hack the federal government back down to the size it was intended to be when originally designed by protestant Christians, and would be more opposed to some sort of religious police running around enforcing religious edicts than you are.
Try reading a history book. Try reading some of the writings of our founders. Try reading a Bible (NOT a numbered sentence chosen out of context, but the ENTIRE BOOK like any person who pretends to be literate actually does with any other book). You might accidentally learn something you won't otherwise get from Comedy Central or Facebook.
Most people who are not getting a subsidy (money stolen at gunpoint from his neighbor and filtered to him through the government) are getting worse policies and paying more for them. Every one of my immediate relatives lost his/her insurance and doctors as Obamacare kicked-in and ALL of us are paying more for worse policies.
This is bad government "fixing" problems that resulted from an earlier wave of bad government "fixes" to an earlier wave of bad government policies.
Most Americans lived their entire lives without health insurance. Doctors USED to make house calls, and yet most Americans paid their doctors in cash at the time services were rendered. Three things changed this: [1] in WWII President Roosevelt implemented "wage and price controls" and as a result the health insurance industry arose and healthcare became so lucrative that [2] lots of new tech flooded into healthcare and then politicians promising stuff to everybody caused [3] the rise of incredible systems of cost-shifting and delusional pricing.
1) When FDR did that in WWII he was trying to control a fully-mobilized-for-war economy, but he failed to understand a basic truth: businessmen tend to be craftier than politicians because THEY have to meet a "bottom line", even in wartime. Employers, facing a huge labor shortage with millions of men off fighting a war, needed incentives to lure/keep valuable employees. They offered health insurance. By indirectly paying their employee's medical costs, they were in effect giving them a raise by letting them spend the money they would have spent on health on other things instead, while obeying FDR's wage freeze. By the end of the war, huge numbers of Americans had, and were used to, employer-provided health insurance. This had the additional side effect of shielding the average consumer from the actual prices of healthcare - this is now known as "the third payer problem"
2) With insurers willing to pay the health providers more than an uninsured population previously could, the healthcare field became very lucrative and invited lots of expensive innovation. This is good in many ways, but there was little concern on cost controls as long as the insurers kept paying all the bills. It brought us to where we are now with some amazingly expensive and high-tech stuff and everyone believing they are entitled to have it all. Unlike most markets like computers or cars or clothes, the heath market with their-party-pay lacked a counter-inflationary impulse from the consumer himself with his limited wallet.
3) As politicians promised to give healthcare to the poor and to seniors, but being unwilling to raise the taxes to get the money to have the government (the taxpayers) pay for it, and with the government writing laws ordering the health industry to provide that care, the health industry had little choice but to inflate the prices for everybody who had insurance - effectively indirectly making the health insurance companies provide the cash for a socialized health system. The average American employee with a health policy saw none of this directly, but as insurers tried to cope, they came up with all sorts of ways to ration for their policy holders (like HMO and PPO plans) to free-up the cash needed to cover the inflated costs from the providers of care and drugs who were doing the government-mandated cost shifting. Politicians LOVE this effect because they get the upside of bragging to voters about the benefits they are providing, while they get to blame the downsides of this crypto-socialism on big evil insurance companies - which they never actually punish because their campaigns are funded by those companies (Obama care did NOTHING bad to the health insurers who were invited into the rooms to help write the law, while Republicans were locked out). Obamacare actually is a boon to the insurers who helped fund Obama's election - it forces all Americans by law to buy their products.
liberal Democrats at the Tampa Bay Times.
Their most-common deceptions are:
1. Choosing what to analyze.
2. Choosing what NOT to analyze (often more deceptive and partisan than #1)
3. Cleverly re-interpreting what somebody said and then debunking their imaginary version in a classic strawman fallacy
A good example of #3 was their "Pants-on-Fire" rating of Mitt Romney (a man I personally find repulsive) comments about the Chrysler bailout. Mittens SAID this: "[Obama] sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China at the cost of American jobs". The objective truth was that #1: the Obama administration DID setup the deal for Fiat (an Italian company) to buy Chrysler (the company that makes Jeeps), #2: The new owners of Crysler announced they were going to build 100K to 200K Jeeps per year in China (no Americans in Detroit would be give jobs building THOSE Jeeps). Politifact justified their dishonesty by quoting a Fiat/Chrysler spox saying "Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China." which you will note is NOT what mitt said. As an incompetent politician, "Mitt" (whose name is not actually mitt) totally failed to push back on this and many other things, BUT the "objective" progressives at the Tampa Bay Times (aka Politifact) should never have been so deceptive in the first place.
most of the nation's founders and most of the people who have been Americans.
OK. Got it. Moving to Belgium any time soon?
Are you even SLIGHTLY aware of history? Do you realize that up until very recently American Presidents of BOTH parties have led the nation in public Christian prayer? Democrat hero president Franklin Roosevelt did it numerous times ON GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, and AT GOVERNMENT EXPENSE. Do you know that one of the very first things the founders of the nation bought with taxpayer money was BIBLES for the troops? Those early troops came with their own guns and ammunition since they were ACTUALLY free (and thus, armed) people unlike the sheep who today think of themselves as "free" because government gives them free stuff and has been recently embracing things it used to frown on.
The nation's founders, who sort of knew what they meant when they wrote the Constitution, held Christian church services on Sundays in what was then the the capitol building, and they had "official" "established" churches in each of the colonies (they held that the Constitution THEY WROTE applied to the federal government and each state had its own Constitution governing the relationship between each state and its citizens.
You anti-Christians are extremely ignorant of the US History, and this seems to be intentional given that the information is freely available to any literate person with enough intelligence to be curious.
Judging from your signature, I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative., you must love Obama Care. Somebody finally touched one of those untouchable systems that clearly needed tons of reform. Almost any change is good because it starts the inertia moving towards something better (almost anything would be better).
But...
I'm guessng your a fooling yourself.
Cheap storage VM.
It's not the face. Cruz looks a lot like Colin Mockery. Colin is well liked and a funny guy.
It's how Cruz carries himself. He's not comfortable in his own skin.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
... while hardly endearing, is decidedly less offensive than what comes out of it.
HILARY is Hitler 2.0. In fact, she is worse: Hitler at least did what he did hoping to make his country #1. Hilary leaked sensitive secrets that put the lives of US agents abroad at risk
Surprised no one has ever said it. He looks like the Saturday Night Live character: "Tim Calhoun".
Tracy Johnson
Old fashioned text games hosted below:
http://empire.openmpe.com/
BT
I'm less hostile toward Obamacare than a lot of conservatives - but I would rather have seen smaller reforms first. For example we should end the connection between employment and healthcare. Why do people lose their healthcare when they lose their jobs? Because the government wrote the tax code to make people get healthcare through their employer. One reform Obamacare does that I think could and should have been done separately is the rule that you don't lose your insurance when you get sick. The plan ought to be required to cover the cost of the illness you got when you had the insurance even if the illness outlasts the insurance.
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
A quick google search tells me that he generally evades the question of evolution. That's fine with me. A good politician tries to avoid offending people and anyway the question has little relevance to modern day politics. He says he's a Christian so I assume he believes God created the Universe (and whatever else there may be). HOW God did it doesn't seem to matter that much to modern politics. What matters to me, and what I assume was not asked, was whether he understands the theory of evolution, whether he understands the process of evolution, and whether he can see how such mechanisms happen throughout human history and modern day occurrences. Does he understand why overuse of antibiotics is a problem? Does he understand how societies evolve? Does he understand how market forces, survival of the fittest, and creative destruction create more 'fit' economic behaviors, and how 'fitness' can be both a good thing and a bad thing (that evolution doesn't always lead wo what we would call 'improvement'?
But I don't expect anyone will ask him those questions. Even if the journalists were smart enough to form those questions, the general public wouldn't understand or care and the liberal journalists are more interested in trying to make Cruz look bad than in finding out how intelligent and well-informed he may be.
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Carter's religion didn't involve trying to take over the nation and then the world and institute Christianity as the sole religion
Who are you suggesting wants to do that?
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Posts likes this are the reason I read politically themed Slashdot stories with no filter. Spot on.
That's excellent. Coverage should not be linked to employers. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is a individual mandate or a single payer system. If we're going to force people to have something, why not make it most efficient and easiest by going to single payer? There is plenty of room for private insurance on top of a comprehensive standard policy.
I agree, it should absolutely cover things that are discovered when you have insurance. That should spur research towards cures, not long term treatments.
Cheap storage VM.
When you see this much visceral hatred, you know he's doing something right.
http://www.politifactbias.com/
This is a great site for cross checking / validating for politifact bias.
It's strongly conservative biased so it's only helpful for conservative statements.
Those I checked seemed pretty reasonable. On example being where Obama called Bengazi a terrorist act- Romney later said Obama said Bengazi was a terrorist incident (or an incident of terrorism) and politifact jumped all over it as a false statement by Romney since "act" is different than "incident". Politifact seemed pretty biased in that case (quibbling).
However- It only shows about 7% of politifacts ratings of falsehoods are dubious. So about 93% of the time, politifact gets it right.
More tricky is the failure to rate true statements. Clearly any statement which is true but non-controversial won't be fact checked ("The sky is blue! I'm pro-american!"). And it's proving a negative (They DIDN'T choose to rate this controversial and true statement by my candidate so he looks less truthful!).
Anyway, Politifactbias.com is one way to cross check Politifact.com.
And ironically shows politifact bias is fairly small (7% of statements found to be incorrect/biased by a hostile audience of politifactbias.com users).
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I absolutely hate Cruz's sighing, frowny-face + ironic eyebrows. To me it says "I really hate to do/say/this or I'm sorry about this BUT not really..."
Not a very sincere apearing facial expression.
It's kind've like the way Robert De Niro does the upper crying face while simultaniously doing the lower smiling face.
Which IMHO is an excellent "I'm about to kill you and I'm a little sad about it but think it's funny" at the same time, method acting type face.
At least he's not a politician...
"I posses a sort of sociopathic narcissism," - Clint Webb
Um, Ted Cruz. He's a Dominionist. Go read about Dominionism; that's exactly what they advocate.
This whole thread is too stupid for words, especially when combined with the idiotic Bernie sycophants.