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John Livingston

Feeling Young

I am 71 years old, but today I am feeling rather young and spritely. When I look at the lists of fifty Idaho Republicans (there has been more than one list published), who are supporting Raul Labrador’s opponent in the State of Idaho Attorney General election, I would be remiss in not pointing out that […]

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John Livingston

Follow The Money — Remember The Names

If Mitt Romney ran against Donald Trump in Idaho, Trump would receive upward of 60% of the vote from Idahoans in a one-on-one election—UNLESS—the vote was taken in the Idaho legislature where the results would be reversed. This is just another way of saying that the elected Republican majority in our State is very much […]

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John Livingston

Corporatism and Gesellschaft

I remain an unapologetic Anglophile. The library in my home has a section where we begin with the “merging of “Athens and Jerusalem” the Bible and St.’s Aquinas and Augustine and the works of Aristotle and Plato, a copy of The Magna Carta, works of the Enlightenment including Adam Smith, Burke, Wilberforce, Locke, Jefferson, and […]

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John Livingston

Connections

Great people think differently than the average person. It doesn’t matter what line of work they are in. My life has been touched by great men and women who all thought differently. My father, my Quaker grandmother, a coach, a college professor, a Navy Captain, and pilot, all gave me glimpses into their lives and […]

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John Livingston

Does Government Money Trump the Beliefs of Catholic Hospitals?

Twenty to thirty percent of patients in our country receive their acute health care in hospitals that either have remained Catholic, or that continue to fly the “Catholic” banner. One hundred and fifty million people will be treated in a Catholic hospital in the USA this year. The history of modern-day health care throughout the […]

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John Livingston

Climate Change and Government Credibility

Two articles hit my e-mail inbox at about the same time this morning. The first was from MEDSCAP that compiles news stories from around the world about important medical (clinical, administrative, and public health) issues. The article was about a New Jersey doctor and his wife who were defendants in a medical mal-practice case. The […]

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John Livingston

Has America Lost its Roots?

Our apple trees are not doing well so I called a “tree doctor” to attend to our problem. He came to the front door wearing a white lab coat—medical doctors don’t even wear lab coats anymore, do they? Each of our trees only produced about a dozen apples this year, when in years past, we […]

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John Livingston

Look Before You Leap – Some Decisions are Irreversible

When I was six years old, I knew that I could fly if I had a red cape. I made such a cape out of a piece of a red curtain in my room. I made a cape for myself and my three-year-old brother who would follow me everywhere, and I set out to FLY. […]

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John Livingston

A Real Leader is Not Afraid to Debate

When I read yesterday that Governor Little was not going to debate prior to the November election for Idaho Governor, I was not surprised, but I was very disappointed. Before I proceed let me say that I have met Governor Little three times and on each occasion for only a few moments. He acts like […]

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John Livingston

Adjusting for the Failures of Management

There is much to learn about our world when we examine different businesses and how basic economic principles apply to situations outside of the world of politics. Any person who has planned for a family budget, or run a business or a farm or ranch, understands that future unintended consequences and opportunity costs need to […]

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John Livingston

Assessing Medical Risk

For the last several weeks I have been reviewing cancer survival statistics from patients that were treated for their disease during the pandemic. My eyes are glossing over from reading Meier-Kaplan curves. The Meier-Kaplan curve is a graphical representation of the survival function. It shows the probability that a subject will survive up to time […]

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John Livingston

Critical Thinking & Moral Leadership

Every week I receive many e-mails about my Gem State Patriot Posts. I don’t even know how people got my e-mail address, but I very much appreciate the instructive, constructive, and even destructive criticisms. One of my best critics is a cross country truck driver named Bill and he said I was getting too negative […]

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