I agree. We discussed this at length at the time. It looks like the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland is causing major problems in the talks. It’s currently open of course, but will have to close following Brexit. Northern Ireland has opposed that from the start. I’m hoping it can be used as an excuse to stop Brexit. Also, Scotland don’t want to leave the EU. England’s population dominates the numbers.

I agree about security, but it’s something that opponents would make a big deal of.

There are other places that have good health systems too. But another reason I suggested those four is they’re English-speaking countries. Opposition would come from conservatives and that would give them one less thing to be suspicious of.

The US right also has a deep suspicion of “socialist Europe,” which is a very inaccurate description of many parts of it, but plays to their fears. The truth is that the more socialist countries in Europe are more politically, economically, and socially successful. NZ and Australia are similar. NZ, for example, is always in the top 5 in the world for ease of doing business – ahead of the US. Countries they eschew like us, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden, come out ahead of the US on pretty much every metric, including many of the business and economic ones. We’re not socialist, but that’s a trope they’re fed by places like Fox News.

I think a Rear Admiral in the US Navy is equivalent to a Major General in the US Army, and to a Vice Marshall in the US Air Force.
It is a pretty high rank, there still is Vice Admiral, Admiral , Admiral of the Fleet, so there are only three levels above it.
I love the Dutch term “Schout-Bij-Nacht”: “guard/observer during the night’.
[Rear Admiral (Schout-bij-nacht) Karel Doorman was the highest ranking Dutch officer during the battle of the Java Sea, in February 1942, where the Imperial Japanese Navy inflicted a crushing defeat on the outgunned and out-torpedoed, hastily organised Allied Fleet. He was in fact commander of the whole Allied fleet, composed of US, Dutch, British and Australian Navy. He chose to go down with his ship, as a gallant commander (well, ‘Schout-bij Nacht’) is supposed to do.]

Fully agree. And, moreover, should a referendum about such an enormous step not at least carry a 2/3rds or 3/4ths majority? A bit like a Constitutional change in other countries? It would have been a different matter if there had been such an overwhelming majority, but there wasn’t.
A very small margin in a non-binding referendum*, I can’t fathom it. But maybe it is not too late? Confronted with reality, I think many Brexit voters have second thoughts (it is anecdotal, but I know a few of them). There are good enough arguments to repeat that referendum (I won’t enumerate them now, but I can think of at least three, four offhand), or at least to put the ‘final package’ to a referendum. I feel that the Brits are being ushered, nay, forced into something a great majority of them does not really want(s). Ms May’s defeat in that snap election but being an illustration.

*[At most it should have led to some minor changes in things like immigration law and contributions, and a call for more power to the (directly elected) European Parliament as opposed to the European Commission, IMMO.]

That is mean suspicion of yours, but it could very well be true. I second your proposal, a good one.
They would not have to limit themselves to the ‘five eyes’ though, most NATO allies could get security clearance , I guess. (Wasn’t it the Dutch Security Service that first alerted their US colleagues about Russian hacking? A sixth eye?).
Moreover, how strict should a security clearance be for a head of the VA? After all, it is big, but not as sensitive as far as security goes compared to, say, the CIA, seals or military high command.

Thanks for that explanation about the ranks! I never learned them properly as a kid because my brother memorized them all at the age of about three, so if I wanted to know I just asked him. I always assumed that a captain in the army was the same as one in the navy, even though the responsibilities seemed higher in the navy. Captain vs lieutenant and colonel vs captain makes much more sense. (Well, sort of.)

In most cased historically they never select a military person to run the VA. That actually makes no sense. You are correct that a CEO from a very large health care organization would be a much better fit. I think the guy they had when Trump was elected use to be the CEO of GE. So at least he ran a very large organization. There is no job in the military that would come close to making a person ready for such a job as running the VA. For Trump to choose this guy is a joke.

If he came into the Navy as a doctor he would have been at the rank Lieutenant in the Navy. Same as Captain in the army or air force. The rank of Captain in the Navy is 06 or same as Colonel in the army or air force. That is what rank he had made after many years in the Navy. Then they gave him another rank just for being in the white house I think.

The Supreme Court is finally addressing gerrymandering, and it may take a while, but the time that Republicans can continue to get away with it is limited. That should, I think, lead to the other issues being dealt with.

Once they can’t get elected by cheating, the GOP is going to have to try appealing to voters if they ever want to get elected again. They actually should get the Black and Hispanic vote. If you look at policy, they views of those demographics are, on average, closer to the Republicans. But no one is ever going to vote for a party they feel hates them. I know one of the reasons I would never vote for the GOP is their attitude towards women.

I agree. The result of the referendum was about, as you said, dissatisfaction with the status quo. That dissatisfaction was fed disinformation that Brexit would solve the problems. It won’t of course. If anything, it will make them worse.

I don’t know for sure, but as a doctor I suspect management ability has little to do with how he got his rank. They enter the ranks quite high up – I doubt being a captain doesn’t mean they can run a ship.

What I think the US should do re the VA, but I’m quite sure they won’t for reasons I won’t elaborate on, is recruit a senior health manager from outside the country. There are managers in Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Canada (5 eyes allies thus safe re security) who know all about managing a public health system similar to the VA. I often think there is a conspiracy within US government for the VA system not to work because then it could be used as an example for public health working. All the solutions that are offered in the US to improve things are around privatising parts of the system. In some cases, those ideas are good, but they don’t change the overall management problem. The US lacks a culture of public health management, so it would be virtually impossible to find the right person there imo. The rest of us offer post-grad degrees in the subject.