Larry Walzer, retired Lt. Col. US Marines, spoke to our group in March. The Marines have a lot to be proud of: today’s Marines are as strong, fast, and dedicated as ever. Today’s Marines join to fight and are doing a great job! Lessons that Larry learned from his 22 year career in the Marines: This isn’t Burger King – you can’t have it your way, right away in the Marines. You also can’t have it your way, right away in the world either. Look at how long US troops have been in Korea – 70 years.
Another lesson learned is: Hope is not a course of action. A lot of effort is put into the military planning process to make the best decisions. The result in Iraq and Afghanistan also depended upon the ability of their people with the variety of culture, religion and ethnic conflict to be successful.
Question the narrative: Comparing to other oxymoronic phrases like “smart tax”, “affordable care act” terms like “responsible withdrawal” was used to describe how we left Iraq. Another one is “extreme vetting” – is this even possible? We fight with one hand and bring the bad guys in with the other hand.
We thank Larry to speaking to us and for his service to keep Americans safe!
Twila Brase, Citizens Council on Health Freedom, addressed the group today. CCHF has a very big national presence now with a “Health Freedom Minute” on 800 stations across the Country. Repeal of the ACA seems to have slowed down so on Feb 15 they are having a second “NATIONAL CALL INTO CONGRESS” to ask “Where’s the Bill? – Repeal it all, repeal it now and do not delay”. Steps are moving forward through the passing of a budget resolution. Tom Price, the new HHS secretary has a 56 word repeal language that could be used.
In the meantime, CCHF is working on ways to get care and freedom (not just coverage). One project is to de-link Medicare and Social Security – because now if an eligible retiree wants to refuse Medicare they lose their social security benefits. Another project is to provide tax equity for those purchasing individual plans – so that insurance would be owned individually and not be tied to an employer (which creates pre-existing conditions when a person changes jobs).
A growing movement is paying for care directly from a provider by check, cash or charge and avoiding the government regulations and interference that is driving doctors out of practice. To find a direct primary care practice or fee for service provider go to JointheWedge.com. You can also encourage your MD to consider opting out by educating them about the Wedge next time you see them.
The New Generation of Sex Trafficking
On Sat. Jan 14 an attentive audience listened to Pete Orput talk about the “Major Crimes Unit” which was established by the Washington County Attorney’s office. This unit began for the purpose of prosecuting economic crimes and was soon overwhelmed by child prostitution and other sex trafficking cases. Orput explained that prostitution isn’t on the street corner anymore. It includes pimps finding 16-17 year old girls for party buses or stag parties via the internet. Because the younger generation is an on-line generation, connections are made via the internet’s various pages like Back Page (recently shut down) Adult Friend Finder, snap-chat etc. where they target vulnerable young girls. There is a working group on Sex Trafficking with Minneapolis and St. Paul which the office coordinates with. Notably, Wash Co is only the 2nd County office in the Country doing major investigations into this type of crime. Pete gave some examples of young girls who were trapped into this complex cycle which can include: rape, kidnapping, narcotics and assault. In 2016 the unit, which includes a team of a prosecutor, law clerk, FT para-legal, law enforcement, program manager and others, had 41 ‘buyers’ arrested, 13 juvenile solicitation charges filed and 14 trafficker (pimps) cases charged. To find out more, you can download their latest informational brochure at: https://www.co.washington.mn.us/2521/Sex-Trafficking