Have you seen Jon Stewart's speech?

I saw it. It brought me to tears.

Link?

Thanks for pointing it out. That was awesome. I wish he had said something about how those people he was talking to have top-of-the-line health insurance, and the insult-to-injury that said Congressional insurance is being paid for by the taxes of those very first responders. Not many Congresspersons up there joined in the applause at the end. I wonder if that was along strictly partisan lines; that would be really sad.

@JLeslie https://www.latimes.com/opinion/enterthefray/la-ol-jon-stewart-911-outrage-congress-20190611-story.html

People like John should be our representatives at all levels of government. Sadly, too few such people are serving there, too many people there are self-serving. Unless this changes, the vision our founding fathers had for the future of our country will never reach fruition. The only way we can reverse this erosion of their dream is to VOTE for those willing to serve us, not the wealthy elite.

^AMEN

It’s a disgrace that we don’t have better healthcare for these men and women. We gave thousands and millions to the families of people who died in 9/11, which I wasn’t even sure how I felt about that at the time to be honest, but then to not take care of the people who went to help others? How are they different than our military when it comes to this attack? That was not an attack on just NYC, it was an attack on our nation. The families received money because the attack was a terrorist attack. Like a war attack. Maybe they can put these men and women into the VA system? Something.

They were told the air was safe. Mind you, the entire time I believed that to be total bullshit. Breathing in a bunch of crap isn’t likely to be safe. I feel the same about MJ, e-cigarettes, whatever pollution going into our lungs. I guess they meant those buildings don’t have asbestos maybe? I don’t see why people didn’t at minimum wear a paper mask much of the time working down there. My sister was working down near the towers and for days and days she said the air was different. It was horrible for her the entire thing. The aftermath.

Money is the corrupting factor in politics. It’s just awful what America has become politically. We used to be proud of our government. We boasted about it compared to the third world. Things have really changed.

If we had socialized medicine this would be a non-issue.

@Bill1939 Jon is wealthy. It’s more than personal income that is the problem. Although, I agree with your overall feelings that something has to change.

@jleslie I think a lot of the workers were unprepared and had no masks with them. Once they got to ground zero, they were there for days. They didn’t go home for a good nights sleep and return the next day. That’s not meant to be snarky to you, it’s meant towards the assholes that think the hero’s don’t need money or insurance any longer.

@chyna The workers who were there for days were told it was safe. That’s where most of my outrage lies. They were told that by the government, and I would guess directly by their superiors. Why did the government think it was safe? Did they even run a test? I doubt it.

Firefighters most certainly have masks! They have sophisticated masks for going into smoke filled rooms. I’m just talking about basic paper masks would probably have helped, like a mask to protect from illness, or masks easily found in Home Depot for people who work with sawdust and chemicals. They do help protect. I don’t know how many people were working at ground zero the week following the attack, but we could have brought them masks if it had been a priority, but it was not made a priority. Obviously, it was not only firefighters helping that day or days following.

A very powerful and emotional speech by Jon Stewart. It sticks in the gullet that politicians should praise the heroes of 9/11 while at the same time denying them healthcare for the medical problems that resulted. It stinks of hypocrisy.

It is a reminder too that countless Americans are in the same position; those who contracted illnesses through their jobs and those who just fell ill through bad luck or old age. They are faced with the same awful choice; to lose their life or lose their place to live.

Stewart has been fighting this fight since the towers fell. And of course he is correct that the treatment of these people is disgraceful. But this fight is but a subset of the abiding fact that ALL of us deserve the healthcare of which THIS society is capable. It isn’t just first responders who are getting screwed.

It was both inspiring and shameful. The hypocrites in Congress need to act like adults.

Another mention about our hero’s who run into danger, it includes healthcare workers. I know I said they should have been wearing masks, but even when you know to wear protective gear sometimes it’s too cumbersome, or there isn’t enough time to don it and these people risk themselves to help others. They risk contagions, chemicals, and clear and present physical danger in that moment, not only long term. Some of the people who helped during 9/11 won’t see effects for another 20 years possibly. We might not even realize that their cancer was caused by exposure while helping at 9/11 and other sights during their career.

We have to provide healthcare for everyone, and I mean everyone. It’s not just government workers like fireman, there are people working all sorts of jobs who get harmed, and there are people who live near plants who get slowly poisoned. We have left it up to law suits, but lawsuits take time, perseverance, and sick people are at a disadvantage with both of those things. People shouldn’t feel like it’s not their problem, because you or someone you live could be next. God forbid. The more I think about it the more I think probably corporations should be helping to pay for healthcare through taxation, I’m not sure about that either.

By the way, I mentioned families received money. That’s families of people who worked in the towers received money from our federal government. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I gave money to my boss, his brother was killed on 9/11, he actually had an appointment in the tower that day, he didn’t usually work there. I gave the money for his nephews, but when I found out they were getting money from our government I might have not been so fast to give as much as I did. I’m sure his brother had life insurance. Plus, he received a lot of money from the fed. No amount of money makes up for the family’s loss. I might have preferred to give some of that money to a different fund related to 9/11 I don’t know. He was young, married, two young children, his parents were still alive, it was horrible.

Jon Stewart’s persistence in this fight is to be admired and encouraged. The fight needs a voice that is respected and has national recognition. I hope he can stick with it.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is blocking the bill. Link

That fucker needs voted out.

It makes no sense to me that the political party most outspoken about supporting police, fireman, our military, and that seems to feel holier than thou at some points on the topic, is against helping our first responders. WTH?

Yes I did. Good for him.

The House passed the bill today. I’m sure Jon Stewart had a lot to do with it.

Thanks to those who provided links.
My phone seems to have final choice in when it will process a link.
I didn’t post this to debate. As I have said, I am loyal to no party or antiparty. So, I won’t be seen arguing any comments made here. I just wanted to provide a place for us to present thoughts here, and inform and share for anyone who missed it.

Thanks to all for airing thoughts here.

John’s trying his best to help and I admire him for that. I think he also stumbled on a cow who escaped from slaughterhouse and he found a nice home for that lucky and gutsy bovine.

The two things I would always remember John the most were his guest appearance in that old CNN news show Crossfire where on the air he put Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson’s feet to the fire by smartly criticizing the show’s antagonistic format masquerading as debate.

Which as we can obviously witness today has been tragically…the new norm.

Second unforgettable thing Stewart did was during the US invasion and occupation of Iraq, he was the first and the only TV personality I saw on the air who asked what about those thousands of Iraqi civilians who got killed?

Americans on the news it seemed to me were just talking about American casualties during that time ignoring the death of Iraqi civilians.

After listening to that speech and his command of the English language, I’d be proud to vote Jon Stewart into office.

^That’s about all that I could add, as well. He has more talent, in any subject, and more heart, than almost any of the other pieces of trash that comprise our government.

The issue, as others have said above, is far larger than the subject of which Jon spoke. Perhaps his eloquence, and passion, will continue to stoke the fire needed to bring about the changes that America is fully capable of rendering…

He also has sense enough not to run for political office. This is unfortunately true for most of the people with the chops to make a difference.