Not united on health care

 Even Fox viewers must be suffering whiplash from the "news" channel's coverage of two vigilante events which happened to take place in New York City.  Largely unnoticed amid the hunt for Brian Thompson's killer, Daniel Penny was acquitted for choking Jordan Neely to death because the homeless man was shouting at passengers in his subway car.  Laura Ingraham hailed the verdict as "very good news."  She also expressed her disgust at the support Luigi Mangione is receiving since his arrest for shooting Thompson.  (A group which calls itself the December 4 Legal Committee has raised more than $20,000 for his legal defense at a Christian fundraising site called GiveSendGo.)  There's just no comparison between killing a Black man with mental health issues and a white executive who was "an incredibly loving husband, son, brother and friend," as his family told the New York Times.  He also loved golf and gosh, was he good at his job, increasing UnitedHealthcare's profits by more than $16 billion last year.  That's a lot of "sorry, out of network" letters.

Jordan Neely's father loved him.  "It hurts.  It really, really hurts," he told reporters.  "I had enough of this.  The system is rigged."  They could have been the words of Luigi Mangione when his insurance company wouldn't pay and his back was still, excuse the expression, killing him.

Let me be clear:  Neither Jordan Neely nor Brian Thompson should be dead.  Our justice system treats crime in the streets and crime in the suites differently.  Neely might have frightened subway passengers, but nothing he did that day caused them physical suffering or drove them into bankruptcy.  Even if he had robbed someone, he didn't deserve to be choked to death.  Violence is the first response of far too many Americans to any sort of inconvenience or even threat.  Why should it be different?  As recently as Sunday Trump was telling Kristen Welker that the mob he unleashed on the Capitol "had no choice" if they were disappointed in the election result.  This, in what passes for his mind, makes them "hostages," although each and every one who went to prison was convicted in a court of law.  As Laura Ingraham could tell you, violence is good or bad depending on who killed whom.

If everyone who was screwed over by an insurance company killed an executive -- well, the homicide rate would be more or less what it is now, almost 25,000 a year.  They'd be better dressed and have nicer funerals.  But why stop there?  How about the people who run hospitals and HMOs?  Personal anecdote:  When I was in the hospital I needed help getting to the bathroom once.  A couple of fit young men appeared and took hold of me on each side, and then walked me back to bed.  When the bill came their assistance took the form of a charge of more than $400 for "physical therapy."  I wanted to kill someone but I just paid it.  Because you do.  This is my manifesto, I guess.  Shooting someone would not have repaired our catastrophic health industry any more than shooting Brian Thompson will.  We have to do it ourselves if we ever want the kind of access to care taken for granted by most Europeans and all Canadians.  It's why they're not eager to become the fifty-first state, though if we're lucky we might become the eleventh province.

Anyway, there's no such thing as homelessness.  So says our unelected ruler, putty-faced South African migrant Elon Musk.  "In most cases the word 'homeless' is a lie," he explains, "It's usually a propaganda word for violent drug addicts with severe mental illness."  But what should we do, sir?  Deport them, kill them, or just let them sleep on heating grates because they think they're homeless?  Please tell us.  You must be aware that even not mentally ill people with jobs can't afford housing; what should we do about them?  You must be the smartest guy on earth as well as the richest -- don't hold back.  

Australia takes gun control seriously, which is why an American woman named Liliana Goodson will be their guest for the next year.  Goodson tried to bring a gold-plated pistol into the country last year, and this week she was sentenced to twelve months for illegally importing a firearm and ammunition.  Goodson insisted she needed the gun for protection as she attended clown school.  It's the last part that makes it special.  That and her jewelry.

Amazon removed "Delay Deny Defend" tchotchkes from its website but the book that inspired them (and presumably Mangione) is not only for sale, it's number two on the non-fiction list.  Delay, Deny, Defend:  Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay and What You Can Do About It by Jay Feinman (2010) probably does not suggest a Second Amendment solution, as Professor Feinman teaches insurance law at Rutgers.  If you don't want to deal with the Big A, bulk orders can be placed on the book's webpage.  

This is how you do it -- people in Seoul demonstrating their disapproval of President Yoon Suk Yeol after his declaration of martial law.  The declaration was rescinded and the police raided his office, but nobody assaulted police or stormed government buildings.  If the courts decide that Yoon's actions amounted to insurrection, he could face the death penalty.  When the time comes, I hope we fight as hard for our democracy.