***Official Political Discussion Thread***

Sanders says the right to vote should be extended 'even for terrible people' like Boston Marathon bomber

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/politics/bernie-sanders-voting-rights/index.html

Interesting discussion about the right to vote. I think it is a worthy discussion and it is good that Bernie is starting the conversation.
It's not my place to comment on this with respect to what rights an American should have, but as a general principle I am in favor of this.
In Belgium we have mandatory voting duty. Convicts can lose their right to vote in certain circumstances but the judge must decide on whether to remove the convict's right to vote and if so, decide on the duration of the suspension of that convict's right to vote. In some cases the judge can impose permanent loss of that right.
The judge has a lot of discredtion when it comes to deciding on a convict's right to vote. The upper range of a voting rights suspension would be around 10 years.

In cases where the convict's right to vote is permanently removed, it is generally accompanied with a very severe prison sentence anyway.
Many inmates thus have voting duty just like the rest of us, though they need to take a lot more steps to meet their legal duty. Obviously they can't go to a voting booth from a prison cell, unless the prison organizes one themselves, so their voting process generally comes down to a process of authorizing a trusted contact person to vote in your name.


The fines for not honoring your legal duty to vote are no joke, especially for the poor.
Repeated violations is definitely something you want to avoid at all costs.
 
Man am I glad we don't have such a ridiculous high cost for higher education. Personally I paid between €125 and €200 in tuition for my higher education (nursing school).
Overall I'd say I paid around €400 in tuition and books/course material for the roughly 1,5 to 2 years I was there, until the onset of my chronic illness forced me to quit. I did not have a scholarship but did get a student grant of around €1000 due to my financial situation at the time.

Example from our world renowned Ghent University:
Studiegeld = Tuition
Boeken/cursussen
= Study books/course material

Beurs
= Scholarship
Bijna-beurs
= Partial scholarship
Niet-beurs = No scholarship
4a930dbfc13432898ba3fe5d07016766.png
 
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Man am I glad we don't have such a ridiculous high cost for higher education. Personally I paid between €125 and €200 in tuition for my higher education (nursing school).
Overall I'd say I paid around €400 in tuition and books/course material for the roughly 1,5 to 2 years I was there, until the onset of my chronic illness forced me to quit. I did not have a scholarship but did get a student grant of around €1000 due to my financial situation at the time.

Example from our world renowned Ghent University:
Studiegeld = Tuition
Boeken/cursussen
= Study books/course material

Beurs
= Scholarship
Bijna-beurs
= Partial scholarship
Niet-beurs = No scholarship
4a930dbfc13432898ba3fe5d07016766.png
Holy **** this is cheap. I took eight classes to change my career, and each class costs about $1900 each. I'm fortunate that my company covers most of it.
 
My undergrad was 160k plus in just tuition of which I had about 50k in loans as mom, grants, and scholarships covered the rest and my grad school which i self paid was another 70k with about 12k in Loans. Not even counting the commuting costs, food, books, and fees. So yea I know the struggle. Did I forget to mention my mom paid for private high school which was another 40k with all fees and such. I was on aid so let’s say out of that she still paid 32k. Grade school was 8 years of average of 1500 so another 12k plus fees.

Yea **** the way this school system works in this country. While I’m fortunate to do well it’s still crazy how much education costs. Thankful for my mom sacrificing for me like that
 
The Schoal I went to was 100k in rubles for just tuition. Not even counting the candles, rope, helmet w/light, and bag. So yeah I know the struggle.

Luckily the Mine had a program to work-for-loans. Twenty-five years and millions of pounds of coal later, I am now debt-free and have put away enough money for a Ford truck.

THE SYSTEM WORKS.
 
Belgium Belgium you follow American politics enough to know that they don't want everyone to vote :lol:
Oh I'm well aware of that. :lol:
Whereas we have mandatory voting, the US is plagued by the pollar opposite; (Republican) efforts to suppress people from voting. Efforts that often disproportionately target minority groups, sometimes "with almost surgical precision" like the Judge said in North Carolina's voter ID case.
 
Biblethumpers back at it again
https://thehill.com/policy/healthca...d-to-roll-back-transgender-health-protections
Trump poised to roll back transgender health protections
The Trump administration appears ready to roll back health care protections for transgender people, and advocates are gearing up for a fight.

A proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that’s expected in the coming days would make it easier for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to deny care or coverage to transgender patients, as well as women who have had abortions.

Coming on the heels of the military transgender ban, there are fears the administration could go even further and use the proposal as an opportunity to narrow the definition of gender.

The administration hinted in a recent court filing that new health regulations could be published as soon as next week. The rule is expected to weaken or eliminate an anti-discrimination provision enshrined in ObamaCare.
The provision says patients cannot be turned away because they are transgender, nor can they be denied coverage if they need a service that’s related to their transgender status.


Religious providers say they expect the administration’s rule to reinforce their right not to provide treatment that is against their beliefs.
Advocates, meanwhile, say they are concerned that the proposal could jeopardize the gains made in making sure transgender individuals receive equal access to care.

The proposal is “likely to send an even stronger signal that the administration endorses discrimination in health care against transgender people,” said Harper Jean Tobin, director of policy at the National Center for Transgender Equality.

The rule “won’t mean that overnight transgender people can’t get health care, but it will be a steady drip of allowing more discrimination,” Tobin said.

Chase Strangio, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said access to health care can be a life or death circumstance, and the rule could have “catastrophic effects” if it is finalized.

“To have the government take a stand in favor of discrimination is deeply upsetting, ” Strangio said.

Once the proposal is released, a public comment period will follow. After that, a final rule will be issued.

As for what comes next, Strangio said the ACLU has had two years to prepare for that.

“If the final rule looks like the proposal we are anticipating, we and our partners will file suit as soon as possible,” Strangio said. “We can expect many legal challenges to any final rule.”

President Trump repeatedly pledged support for the LGBTQ community on the campaign trail in 2016. But advocates say the president’s words increasingly ring hollow, and his administration has been steadily eroding protections for transgender individuals.

For example, the military’s transgender ban took effect earlier this month, despite objections from advocacy groups and medical experts. And the Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear arguments this year on three cases concerning whether federal law applies to transgender identity.

Additionally, the Justice Department has argued that the main federal civil rights law doesn’t protect employees from discrimination based on gender identity. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017 wrote a memo saying the law “does not encompass discrimination based on gender identity per se.”

The existing health care rule was first issued in 2016, six years after the 2010 Affordable Care Act was signed into law. The rule prohibited providers and insurers who receive federal money from denying treatment or coverage to anyone based on sex, gender identity or termination of pregnancy.

It also required doctors and hospitals to provide “medically necessary” services to transgender individuals, as long as those services were the same ones provided to other patients.

That rule was challenged in court by a group of Christian providers called the Franciscan Alliance. They argued the rule forces insurers to pay for abortions and compels doctors to perform gender transition services, even if they disagree with those services on moral or medical grounds.

A federal judge in Texas agreed with that argument, issuing a nationwide injunction in late 2016 that is still in effect. The ruling said Congress had outlawed discrimination based on “the biological differences between males and females” but not transgender status.

The new proposed rule has been under review at the White House Office of Management and Budget for more than a year, something that experts say is highly unusual.

That delay is causing confusion in the health care industry: ObamaCare’s nondiscrimination statute is the law, even if a rule implementing it has been put on hold.

In a court filing earlier this month, the administration said it would be publishing the proposal soon, a move that would likely affect the lawsuit in Texas.

Luke Goodrich, senior counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said providers would be better served by a ruling from the judge. He said they just want to make sure their religious protections are upheld.

Katie Keith, a health care consultant and professor at Georgetown Law, said, “It’s going to be really hard for people to understand their rights in health care" while the confusion continues.

Tobin, of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said the uncertainty is having a harmful effect.

“At a time when the administration is trying to overturn the entire Affordable Care Act, at a time when the transgender ban in military is taking effect, transgender people are scared for their ability to get the health care they need, and that their providers know they need,” Tobin said.

Goodrich argues that providers won’t turn away patients just because they are transgender, so long as the doctors aren’t giving transition-related care or "being pressured to perform abortions."

He said the plaintiffs have been treating transgender people for years and “won’t stop doing that, because they provide care for everyone. That’s not what the lawsuit is about in our view.”

Transgender advocates are concerned the administration will use the lawsuit as an excuse to redefine gender.

The New York Times last year reported that HHS proposed in a memo that government agencies adopt a narrower definition of gender in a way that would essentially end federal recognition of transgender individuals.

No rules have been issued, but advocates say administration officials have been telegraphing their views.

The HHS memo is a “blueprint” for discrimination, and the nondiscrimination proposal is a major part of it, Tobin said.
Excerpts:
efd3f6a88e6bd42f0cd37bf3b0c5001d.png

38551ae3b6ded158b05b6eefac4cab0f.png
 
Biblethumpers back at it again
https://thehill.com/policy/healthca...d-to-roll-back-transgender-health-protections
Trump poised to roll back transgender health protections
The Trump administration appears ready to roll back health care protections for transgender people, and advocates are gearing up for a fight.

A proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that’s expected in the coming days would make it easier for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to deny care or coverage to transgender patients, as well as women who have had abortions.

Coming on the heels of the military transgender ban, there are fears the administration could go even further and use the proposal as an opportunity to narrow the definition of gender.

The administration hinted in a recent court filing that new health regulations could be published as soon as next week. The rule is expected to weaken or eliminate an anti-discrimination provision enshrined in ObamaCare.
The provision says patients cannot be turned away because they are transgender, nor can they be denied coverage if they need a service that’s related to their transgender status.


Religious providers say they expect the administration’s rule to reinforce their right not to provide treatment that is against their beliefs.

Excerpts:
efd3f6a88e6bd42f0cd37bf3b0c5001d.png

38551ae3b6ded158b05b6eefac4cab0f.png
giphy.gif
 
Man am I glad we don't have such a ridiculous high cost for higher education. Personally I paid between €125 and €200 in tuition for my higher education (nursing school).
Overall I'd say I paid around €400 in tuition and books/course material for the roughly 1,5 to 2 years I was there, until the onset of my chronic illness forced me to quit. I did not have a scholarship but did get a student grant of around €1000 due to my financial situation at the time.

Example from our world renowned Ghent University:
Studiegeld = Tuition
Boeken/cursussen
= Study books/course material

Beurs
= Scholarship
Bijna-beurs
= Partial scholarship
Niet-beurs = No scholarship
4a930dbfc13432898ba3fe5d07016766.png


Exactly
Americans on the right dont want to help americans with tuition but then they complain when an educated foreign born person comes to america and gets a professional job.
Republicans and Non-progressives are hurting their own people when they fail to address the rising costs of education and tuition debt.
 
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