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John Livingston

The Woke Virus

My Quaker grandmother told me to always be careful of ones’ thoughts. There is a cycle from thoughts to words to actions and finally habits develop, and habits can be hard to break and can define a life. The chain from words to habits can be good or bad. Sometimes we have bad habits that […]

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John Livingston

Disclose, Declare, Recuse — Play By The Rules

It seems to me as a non-lawyer that two very important issues are misunderstood by citizens but also by our elected and appointed officials in government. The open meeting laws and requirements for disclosure prior to discussing business between several members of a committee or council even though the meeting was spontaneous and not about […]

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John Livingston

A True Feminist

Helen B. Taussig was one of the greatest individuals I have ever met. She was a pioneer in her field of pediatric cardiology and was one of the founders of the Taussig—Blalock—Thompson shunt. She was a true classical feminist. We had a relationship that traversed two generations within my family. My father was a family […]

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John Livingston

Modern Day Lafayettes

I would like to offer a “tip of the hat” to my friends at The Idaho Freedom Foundation. In an article published two days ago, the authors Fred Birnbaum, Ronald Nate PhD., and Niklas Kleinworth outline in a policy paper entitled MEDCAID IN IDAHO: A POLICY PRIMER the predicate, the unfulfilled promise, the financial house […]

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John Livingston

Today’s Hospital Quagmire of Ethics vs Profits

Conflicts occur when medical practices are balanced against profitability. Our two major non-profit hospitals in Idaho are in the middle of a cultural war that they have no idea how to extricate themselves from. It comes at a time when some very bad business decisions were made long before Covid arrived on the scene and […]

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John Livingston

Shake ‘Em Up

This quote that several weeks ago went viral on the internet appears to have been inspired by a passage from author Kurt Vonnegut’s 1963 Novel CAT’S CRADDLE: The quote that came across my e-mail two weeks ago was wrongly attributed to naturalist writer David Attenborough. I just couldn’t imagine a naturalist designing such an experiment. […]

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John Livingston

Medicaid is the Ticking Economic Time Bomb

In light of the Idaho Republican House of Representatives “kicking the can down the road” regarding our State’s ever-increasing Medicaid budget and recognizing that when the Federal match for the expansion program will most likely drop from 90/10 to 80/20 and the regular Medicaid match will drop even more when the Republicans in Washington regain […]

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John Livingston

A Wise and Educated Man

DON’T TAKE EDUCATED PEOPLE TOO SERIOUSLY There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. I listened on the radio to the Idaho PBS broadcast of the testimony of a President of an Idaho University before the Idaho legislature (JFAC) committee. The testimony started out with a flattering discussion that 91% of the legislators had attended […]

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John Livingston

Proven Science can’t be changed by Legislation

I am always surprised when a ruling coming from the Eastern District of California in the IX US District Court is one that I agree with. Wisdom and fidelity to the Founding Principles and our Constitution seem to be in short supply in our country, but especially in California. There does appear to be a […]

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John Livingston

There is Always Work to be Done

Fay Vincent is best known for having been The Commissioner of Baseball from 1989-1991. I find little to agree with Mr. Vincent politically and growing up in Ohio watching “The Big Red Machine” and Pete Rose, I felt that he should have shown some mercy and allowed Mr. Rose to be reinstated into baseball and […]

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John Livingston

Gratitude

For the past 23 years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to swim on early summer mornings at an outdoor pool. Occasionally I am joined by a delightful lady who taught high school senior English at an elite high school for over thirty years. She is now retired but occasionally does substitute teaching. […]

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John Livingston

Why are Davos Speakers so Angry?

“Could it be the cost of jet fuel or because no one believes their lies?” I am still thinking about how angry the speakers at Davos this past week were. I watched elitist “experts” without any scientific credentials opine about CO2, methane, and greenhouse gasses. With a religious zeal they homolyzed a homogenized environmental Armageddon. […]

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