Medicare For All May 29, 2017May 29, 2017 I understand (sort of) why Putin would want to weaken the bonds between America and Europe, weaken NATO, and destabilize Europe. But why would we? This was a good week for the KGB. Angela Merkel (via CNN): “The times when we could completely rely on others are, to an extent, over,” Merkel said at a campaign event in Munich. She didn’t mention Trump by name in the speech but alluded to the US President’s first foreign trip, where he lambasted NATO allies for their defense expenditure and also labeled Germany “very bad” on trade. “I experienced that in the last a few days, and therefore I can only say that we Europeans must really take our fate into our own hands, of course in friendship with the United States and in friendship with Great Britain and as good neighbors wherever it is possible, also with Russia and also with all the other countries,” Merkel said. “But we need to know that we have to fight for our own future and destiny as Europeans.” Readers of a certain age will remember 1958 multi-million copy bestseller The Ugly American. Just who we don’t want to be. Check out “Donald Trump sparks fury in Montenegro after ‘humiliating’ country’s prime minster by shoving him out of his way at G7 summit.” Newsweek: White House Excludes Gay First Spouse of Luxembourg From Photo Caption The White House Facebook page failed to acknowledge First Gentleman of Luxembourg Gauthier Destenay, married to Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, in a post featuring the spouses of world leaders attending this week’s G7 summit in Sicily. The photo caption included the names of every other spouse, all of them wives, beginning with: “First Lady Melania Trump poses with Belgium’s Queen Mathilde, center, and other spouses of NATO leaders.” Could we please not make gay people invisible again? Here’s a cartoon that lays out our four health care options. The best — that all the other advanced nations of the world have settled on, basically: Medicare For All. John Kasley: “Medicare For All won’t happen in 2018 or 2020, but the name or term should be appearing in hashtags and occasional footnotes so the public becomes accustomed to hearing it. Democrats need to toss it into a paragraph here and there without any accents, as in, ” . . . unlike Medicare For All, or any other plan that was suggested.” Or, “The ACA is not all things to all people, and it is certainly not Medicare for All.” Or, “National Health Service, or Medicare for All, is hardly a new concept.” It doesn’t have to appear everywhere, everyday, but I had suggested quite a few years back that we name the recession The Bush Recession, and the Dems missed that branding opportunity. It cost us dearly. Donna Brazile tried to use it, but it needed more widespread implementation, and she was fighting against George Will. Medicare For All gives us a countercurrent to the GOP plans for sacking the Treasury to benefit the very few and stripping protection from the rest of us.