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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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John Livingston

The Quality of Mercy

My Quaker grandmother protested in front of the American Friends Service Committee on the campus of Swarthmore College early on during the Viet Nam War. Her son was a Navy fighter pilot and because he was flying in Viet Nam—Corsairs, my grandmother was shunned at Quaker meetings and ostracized in the community of mostly pacifists […]

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John Livingston

And Now for the Rest of the Story

There is so much political NOISE in the world today that one of my great fears is that the great majority of people in our State and country will just “turn it off”. What would happen if there was a day where there just wasn’t any news? Would all the news channels just sign off […]

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John Livingston

Experts and Bookies

Last night the college football season ended with an almost silent squeal in the night. They say it was the same sound as when a “Horned Frog” gets its life squeezed out of its’ body. Georgia dominated TCU (Texas Christian University) —I didn’t know that there were any Christian Universities left in the country. It […]

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John Livingston

Let the Games Begin — and Continue

Everyplace in our country from office breakrooms to the halls of Congress there has been much talk following the cardiac arrest of Damar Hamlin that was witnessed by 12 million viewers on Monday Night Football 2 weeks ago. Once again, the dangers of sport are being debated mostly by people who have never played a […]

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