Trash or Treasure: The Girl With Seven Names by Hyeonseo Lee

From the get go, I was hesitant to read this book, not because I thought it was trash, but because I was wondering how to judge it. In the end, I decided to give it a try. I must confess, it is a very interesting autobiography.

Hyeonseo Lee is my kind of person. She's an unabashed patriot, and her autobiography provides a perspective on one of the most repressive regime known to man. North Korean society, she informs us, is divided into 51 different rankings, depending on perceived loyalty to the Kim family. Your ranking can go down, but it's impossible for it to go up. People in the highest rankings get to live in the capital. People in the lowest ranks spend their lives in prison camps or labor camps.

Your ranking is determined by your family's actions during the Korean war.

Given the hellish conditions they live under, why don't they rise up and rebel? I'll let Hyeonseo Lee answer that one:

I thought life in North Korea was normal. Its customs and rulers only became strange with time and distance.

In short, they've been conned into thinking the entire world is shit, too.

What makes the book appealing is that Lee is her self-evident love for her homeland. She finds it painful living abroad and fears that by the time she is able to return to home:

I will probably be a stranger in my own land.

 Aside from detailing her live in North Korea, she spends a third of the book discussing life as an illegal immigrant in China, and a third of her book discussing life in South Korea. I hope someday she can return to her country, and I hope America does its utmost to liberate the North Korean people.

Verdict: Insufficient Evidence
Related books: The Logic of Political Survival and The Dictator's Handbook  

If you want to learn more, watch the video below.

Comment

In Shanghai, I once went to a Korean restaurant, which was a very uncomfortable experience. My wife and her coworkers were conversing in Chinese. The waitresses Chinese had an obvious accent. So they asked, are you Korean? To which the waitress replied, yes. Trouble is, in Chinese when you ask about the ethnicity of a Korean person, you use the word that also refers to North Korean. So I spent the entire meal wondering if she had said she was ethnically Korean or North Korean.

Happily, I latter clarified the issue, but it was a very uncomfortable, thinking you were being served by someone in such a precarious position. If she had been North Korean and found out, the Chinese would have deported her in a heartbeat.

MinnesotaCare Expansion Announced: One Step Closer to Single payer

Governor Dayton and the Democrats (you say DFL, I say Democrats) have announced plans to expand MinnesotaCare, a state program providing health care to individuals making less than 200% of the federal poverty level. The expansion would allow individuals with higher incomes to opt into the system, which will be a state run health plan.

The Democrats claim this will reduce costs. It isn't clear that will be the case. Whatever the merits, this expansion might really happen. Despite it being a terrible idea, I take comfort knowing, the states are the laboratories of democracy. Hopefully, we'll all take note of Minnesota's inevitable failure. But I doubt we will. Indeed, its inevitable failure might be considered a feature, not a bug.

 According to Gerald Kominski, Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the public option only makes sense in states where there are only a few providers in the ACA marketplace. So how big is Minnesota's ACA marketplace, MNsure?

4.

Minnesota started out with 5. But insurers, realizing that savings weren't to be found, have left the markets. This is a nationwide phenomena. Only 5% of counties have more than 5 or more  plans available. The same thing happened to ACOs in Medicare Reform. We started out with 32. Now there are only 8.

This is deliberate. Democrats want the insurance markets to fail so they can introduce a public option. Remember, Obamacare was designed to fail. MinnesotaCare is designed to fail. When it does, Democrats will demand we do something to fix it. Don't be fooled.

Thanks for read.

Law of Unintended Consequences: Will Democrats Steal California from themselves?

In California, the two candidates with the greatest vote totals in the primaries move on to the general election, regardless of party. In the past this has resulted in keeping Republicans out of the general election. But things could change. 

According to Nate Silver's crew, so many Democrats are running in the primary that they could split their vote. They could split their vote so badly that two Republicans end up with the greatest vote totals and moving on to the general.

One can hope. And I'm sure there are ways we can give the Democrats a helping hand. To any Russian troll reading, please provide all available assistance. California, after all, is a common enemy.  

Something similar will happen to the Democrats in 2020. Trump is more than just the Teflon candidate. He's got active armor. People constantly under-estimate him and pay the price. The Democratic primaries are going to be packed. Every Democrat thinks they can defeat Trump. And they will fight each other to the death for the honor, fatally dividing their party in the process.

One can hope.     

 

MPD150: Thoughts on Crime

As mentioned before, there is a group in Minneapolis, called MPD150, that opposes expanding the local police force. You can find that earlier post here.

Here are some of MPD150's thoughts on crime and how to solve it.

Property Crime

Most property crime is driven not by malice, but by desperation. A capitalist economy forces each of us to fend for ourselves with little social support or aid. In a time of historically high income inequality, it’s no mystery why some people turn to theft, burglary, and other property crime to provide for themselves. The best way to reduce property crime isn’t to jail everyone who is poor, or try to scare community members into obedience: it’s to invest in communities so that people have less of a need to steal from each other in the first place.

Drugs

The war on drugs has been very effective in systematically criminalizing communities of color, locking millions of people up, and making billions of dollars for private prison corporations.

 Domestic Violence 

What do you do when you’re in a relationship that turns violent? People experiencing domestic violence may need someone to step in, may need a safe place to go, may need a loved one to leave, and may need emotional support. Calling the police means they will be met with violent force in a situation where they are already facing violence. They may be putting a loved one’s life in danger, as well as their own life. Police officers are also two to four times more likely to commit domestic violence than other community members, making them a poor choice for survivors seeking help. 

Responding to Violence 

We can’t discuss how to respond to violence in our communities without acknowledging that police cause violence in our communities – directly, through beatings and shootings, and indirectly, through harassment and criminalization. If we want to end violence in our communities, ending police violence is a necessary step. 

I'll leave it at that. If time permits, in the coming weeks, I might revisit this and fact check the statistics.

 

How many Americans are on Government Health Insurance?

How many Americans receive government health care? 40% of the respondents to the Harvard/Harris Poll receive government health care. How does this figure compare with other known figures?

In 2016, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 35% of Americans received health care from either Medicare, Medicaid, or another federal program.

Medicaid.............19%
Medicare.............14%
Other...................2%

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 37.3% of Americans received health care from either Medicare, Medicaid, or another federal program in 2016.

Medicaid.............16.7%
Medicare.............19.4%
Other.....................4.6%

It's interesting. Notice the difference in figures. Kaiser is basing it's data off a different report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, the March Current Population Survey. What I find particularly peculiar is how the ranking changes. According to Kaiser, Medicaid is the larger program. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Medicare is the larger program. A bit strange, isn't it?

Americans obviously care about health care. It is their top priority. But I for one, don't think government health care is the answer. As an avid watch of PMQ, I know how politicized health care can become. I also happen to know a few doctors that work in the NHS. They are constantly posting troubling stories, such as this one.

Government health care isn't cheap. If you want top service, you have to pay top dollars.

Americans Happy with Economy

I've just dipped into the Harvard/Harris, and I'm happy with what I'm seeing.

70% think the U.S. economy is Very or Somewhat strong.
59% think the Russia Investigation is hurting the country.
56% approve of Trump's handling of the economy.
52% approve of Trump's State of the Union
36% say their personal financial situation is improving.

Only 9% strongly oppose ending the defense sequester. 21% somewhat oppose.
Only 11% strongly oppose Guantanamo. 16% somewhat oppose.

The polls asks a series of heard/seen and believe/don't believe question concerning developments in the Russia Investigation. After the questions, respondents are asked, do you think these developments are evidence of significant bias in the Trump-Russia probe or they are not evidence of significant bias. 60% think the developments are evidence of significant bias. 64% want to investigate the FISA Court. 80% think the FBI should had vetted the Steele dossier before using it in the FISA Court.

In terms of priorities, 33% of all respondents think the focus should be stimulating American jobs, which is good, because that's Trump's highest approval rating.

Top Five Most Important Issues
Health care......................................35%
Terrorism/National security............32%
Economy and Jobs..........................32%
Immigration....................................28%
National Debt and Deficit...............23%

56% want to renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal.
53% think Democrats don't want to solve DACA until after the midterms.

Sanders, Sanders and Sanders

According to the Union Leader, Bernie Sanders' son, Levi Sanders is running for New Hampshire's First Congressional District. Interesting tidbit is that Levi Sanders doesn't actually live in that district, and that it's a very crowded field. Eight Democrats are running, or expected to run, in the primary.

Meanwhile in Burlington, Vermont, Bernie Sanders' stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll, is running for mayor. The vote is on March 6. She is challenging a Democrat incumbent.   

In other news, right now the Democrats are winning the Generic Ballot. Democrats are at 46.8%. Republicans are at 38.6%.

According to a the Detroit Free Press, there are three open Congressional seats in Michigan. They have compiled a list of candidates. Republicans are hoping to pick off Senator Stabenow. Democrats are hoping to pick off a few Republican congressmen.

And now for something completely different. In North Las Vegas, I woman was arrested at a local elementary school. She had a pickax and was attempting to scale the school's chain link fence.