Thread: UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson fatally shot in New York

Originally Posted by taxexile

a man was shot and killed. if that man and his insurance company were so out of order then there are laws in place to challenge that, and no shortage of lawyers to both prosecute and defend.

Sure tax, people who's claims have been denied thus forcing them into bankruptcy have lots of cash left over to hire lawyers to challenge a multi billion dollar company with an army of lawyers.

To me the most interesting thing about this whole affair is how the MAGAs are trying desperately to spin this as 'good guy gunned down by an antifa lib'. It really just shows how most MAGAs have drunk the koolaid and believe that slavishly obeying our billionaire masters is really what's best for us all!

Originally Posted by pickel

Sure tax, people who's claims have been denied thus forcing them into bankruptcy have lots of cash left over to hire lawyers to challenge a multi billion dollar company with an army of lawyers.

Yeah, he's a typical tory, I'm afraid.

tending more towards reform these days cyrille.

Originally Posted by pickel

Sure tax, people who's claims have been denied thus forcing them into bankruptcy have lots of cash left over to hire lawyers to challenge a multi billion dollar company with an army of lawyers.

fair point, i agree. however, murder will not solve the problems of claim denial, and neither will outpourings of misplaced sympathy for the murderer, who apparently was not denied a claim and did not even have insurance with the united health group.

Originally Posted by taxexile

tending more towards reform these days cyrille.

Along With the majority of the population.
The only party talking sense nowadays, plus the others can't be trusted.

^

indeed.

but that's cyrille, the champagne socialist tefler who jumped ship to live in the human rights tax free public execution heaven of the gulf, before moving to retire in a corrupt military dictatorship whose main exports are pomelos and prostitutes, and who has the gall to slag off hard working decent conservatives for wanting lower taxes, fewer benefit cheats, and no more untouchable islamic rape gangs, bearded trans freaks in womens spaces or foreign criminals washing up on dover beach. what is your problem cyrille?

Cyrille is a typical Cheers Beer Commie.

"Do as I say, not as I do"

Hypocritical and full of angry Red Mist.

quite so.

he has topped many polls as the forums cockwomble / bore champion, and it is hard to take anything he says seriously, his presence here i feel is tolerated purely out of sympathy and kindness, much like the chimp.

at the end of the day he is just another of the many varieties of ingredients that make up the human soup, although he is more the gristly bit of rancid fat at the bottom than one of the tasty well seasoned meaty chunks.

Originally Posted by Joe 90

Along With the majority of the population.
The only party talking sense nowadays, plus the others can't be trusted.

Well, no.

They had 5 seats at the last election.

Labour had 412.

You right wingers can whinge as much as you want, but this is a Labour government and will be well beyond the next election.

Continue taking votes from the Tories though cos it suits us just perfectly.

Originally Posted by qwerty

To me the most interesting thing about this whole affair is how the MAGAs are trying desperately to spin this as 'good guy gunned down by an antifa lib'. It really just shows how most MAGAs have drunk the koolaid and believe that slavishly obeying our billionaire masters is really what's best for us all!

Yes, I listened to an interesting point last night.

Fox on Kyle Rittenhouse:

"He's a hero"

Fox on Mangione:

"There's no place in our country for vigilantism".

Originally Posted by Joe 90

Along With the majority of the population.

Oh dear.

You seem to have forgotten what actually happened in the election five months ago.

Not really surprising considering the amount of brain rot brandy you get through.

An interesting opinion piece from The Daily Beast.


Donald Trump, Luigi Mangione and the Political Power of Raging Against the Machine

A sharp shift in culture has led many to misinterpret the political moment, mistaking a wholesale rejection of entrenched power for a clash of ideologies.

The outpouring of gleeful public support for Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been as striking as it has been polarizing—but not along the familiar left/right fault lines. Rather, it’s highlighted a divide between those perceived as cultural insiders—politicians, media figures, and pundits—and the rest of the public.


As politicians and commentators across the political spectrum moved to condemn the shooting and chastised those celebrating it, the response has been equally ferocious, directed not only at mainstream Democrats but also at conservative pundits like Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh, who found themselves skewered by their own audiences for failing to read the room.

In their respective podcasts—with episodes titled “The EVIL Revolutionary Left Cheers Murder!” and “Why The Left Is Really Celebrating The Murder Of A CEO”—Shapiro and Walsh this past week accused liberals of glorifying vigilante violence—only to find out that out their followers seemed to feel similarly. Shapiro was derided as “out of touch,” with one commenter unsubscribing in disgust: “I’m a Republican. I voted for Trump. I am unsubscribing from Ben. They not like us.”

The bipartisan outrage reveals a deeper truth: what has often been framed as a backlash to the ‘radical left’—and ruthlessly exploited by figures like Shapiro and Walsh—is, in reality, a much broader rejection of the status quo. The reason this anger appears partisan is not because it targets left-wing ideology, but because Democrats appear to be the only party still rhetorically committed to defending the existing social (and political) order. This perception endures even in the face of real policy differences between the two parties on issues like healthcare. In the public imagination, the symbolic fight against the status quo matters more than the substance of governance.


Donald Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party in 2016 severed its rhetorical ties to establishment politics, allowing Republicans to position themselves as the party of populist rage. From the moment he descended the gilded escalator at Trump Tower in 2015, Trump positioned himself as a wrecking ball aimed at the system.

His appeal wasn’t rooted in ideology but in rage—rage at institutions that, in the eyes of a significant portion of the electorate, promised hope and prosperity but seemed to deliver only corruption and dysfunction. His campaign wasn’t about conservatism. It was about contempt for everything Washington represents. And this anti-establishment stance, more than any policy position, is what resonated with millions of Americans across traditional party lines.


This scorched-earth approach to politics forced Democrats into an uneasy defensive crouch—and a rhetorical trap. By shielding the system from Trump’s onslaught, they unwittingly cast themselves as its champions, tethering their credibility to institutions many Americans had long since deemed hopelessly broken and corrupt.


The credibility gap was on full display in the 2024 election, as the party rallied around its familiar “save democracy” pitch. But for millions of voters, the notion that there’s even a functioning democracy worth saving was laughable. In a country where the preferences of the bottom 90% of Americans have a near-zero impact on public policy, until Democrats shake their image as defenders of the status quo, they risk becoming a marginalized political force.

The tragic irony, of course, is that Trump’s movement offers no solutions to the problems it claims to address. His administration will not alleviate the struggles of ordinary Americans. It will only further entrench the plutocratic status quo. Similarly, nothing is likely to come of the morbid fandom surrounding Luigi Mangione. He is a meme, not a movement.


But both Trump’s re-election, then, and public’s reaction to Mangione’s actions reveal a harsh truth about the political moment we are living through: Americans are increasingly fueled by rage at society’s failure to address the everyday problems they face, but are not seeking solutions. The public’s contempt for the establishment is not a controlled fire, it is a consuming blaze; what they want, above all, are personalities who can channel that.


And in harnessing that rage, both Trump and Mangione reveal a culture willing to tolerate—and even celebrate—vile acts, so long as they are inflicted on those who symbolize what we have come to collectively despise.

Donald Trump, Luigi Mangione and the Political Power of Raging Against the Machine

Originally Posted by Joe 90

Not rocket science is it?

Splendid it is so rare we receive input from any qualified to comment , banging, you might like to hook up with my old colleague Catherine W Eel , as slippery as one that dwindling band the Manchester United fan dipped in Swarfega.

Originally Posted by Joe 90

^Labour was a protest vote, everyone wanted the Tories out.
It will be a different story at the next GE and would have been in the last if we had proportional representation.
Everyone will want Labour out but still have the bad aftertaste of the Tories still in their memory.


So what's the alternative???

A party that got more votes than the LibDems but far fewer seats.

I predict a seismic shift.

Not rocket science is it?

I find it quite ironic that P.R. is now being mentioned. It was given very little media attention when the referendum took place...because the Tories weren't really in favour of it.

Life under Reform would be even worse than Brexit. They have no solutions, just more problems. I'm surprised you need to be told that.

It's good for winding Ciz up though.

Originally Posted by Troy

I'm surprised you need to be told that.

Why?

He's plainly a fkin idiot.

Luigi Mangione Resurfaces As Symbol of Anger Against California Insurers

The name of Luigi Mangione has come up often over the past few days in social media users' discussions of the fires ravaging Southern California.


Many, angered by State Farm's decision last summer to cancel hundreds of homeowners policies in some of the neighborhoods now devastated by the blazes, are looking at the 26-year-old as the type of avenger they wish would punish insurance companies that have cut coverage across the state.


Newsweek contacted State Farm for comment by email on Friday morning.


Why It Matters


The murder of UnitedHealthcare's chief executive Brian Thompson on December 4, and the online adulation of Mangione that followed it revealed the depth of Americans' anger against health insurance companies in the country.

Mangione, whose appearance has been lionized on social media, has been made into something of a questionable folk hero, with people online hailing him as a symbol of justified violence against the perceived predatory behavior of insurance companies operating in the U.S. healthcare system.


His resurfacing now in the context of the widespread outrage that reports of State Farm's and other insurers' cancellations and non-renewals in California have sparked online would suggest that the U.S. property insurance sector might soon become the subject of a heated public debate.


What To Know


Several major insurers operating in California have cut coverages since 2022, especially in the most at-risk zones.


State Farm, the Golden State's largest home insurer, canceled 72,000 policies in the state by the summer, 30,000 of which were homes. In Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood that was devastated by the Palisades fire which started on Tuesday morning and was only 6 percent contained as of Friday morning, State Farm canceled 1,626 policies.

The company cited increasing costs and catastrophe exposure as the main reason behind a decision they were "reluctant" to take, saying it was necessary to maintain claims-paying capacity for their California customers. Last year, State Farm requested a 30 percent rate hike for its homeowners line, a 52 percent rate hike for renters and a 36 percent rate hike for condo owners in the Golden State to match the growing wildfire risk.


Premium increases in the state must be approved by the California Department of Insurance (CDI), a requirement meant to protect homeowners from sudden massive hikes.


But State Farm's decision, though justified by the company's commitment to maintain coverage for some policyholders, left many homeowners in the state scrambling to find insurance at a time when it's become increasingly difficult—and expensive.


In a comment to Newsweek earlier this week, a spokesperson for State Farm said: "Our number one priority right now is the safety of our customers, agents and employees impacted by the fires and assisting our customers in the midst of this tragedy."

Seeking the 'Luigi Mangione Way'


State Farm's move last summer has sparked a lot of anger since the outbreak of the fires this week.


"The fact that State Farm removed their fire policies for certain zip codes in California weeks or months before the fire hit is unbelievable," wrote content creator @stoppfeenin on X, where he has more than 108.5k followers. "People are left without means to rebuild or any access to financial support. I understand Luigi Mangione now."


"Who is the CEO of State Farm?" wrote another user on the social media platform, sharing a photo of Mangione.


"State Farm cancelled thousands of CA insurance policies before the fires?? Palisades and other homeowners must seek the Luigi Mangione way," an X user wrote on the platform, sharing an image of Batman and Mangione's face.

An anti-insurance folk hero


"The fires in the Los Angeles area are devastating. We still do not know the full magnitude of destruction, specifically loss of life and property, and it will be some time before we know the full extent," Dr. Julianna Kirschner, lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, told Newsweek.


"With the understandable confusion and anxiety people are experiencing, many users are spending time on social media to share or gather information and comment on the fires," she added.


While Mangione "has remained a consistent figure in memes and other viral content" since December, Kirschner said, in recent days, his image has been associated with user messaging about the fires.

"Mangione has become a figurehead in online discourse about insurance companies, which has now extended from the context of healthcare to home and renter insurance," she explained.


"Some California residents have had trouble getting insurance coverage in recent years, and many of those living in fire prone areas have limited to no options. Users on platforms like X have been commenting on this state of affairs, and the most common theme of these posts have expressed anger against insurance companies and their practices in California," Kirschner said.


"Mangione's image has been a consistent visual form of communicating that message."

According to Kirschner, Mangione's image "is so highly intertwined with anti-insurance sentiment that he has become a folk hero on social media platforms, because users align with Mangione's known distaste for insurance companies and their tendency to deny claims."


For certain communities on social media, Kirschner said, Mangione has become a familiar image, "a protector of sorts."

"His face has been photoshopped on religious iconography, so the deification of him online is not a stretch. In fact, Mangione has become so representative of anti-insurance rhetoric that users need not include written commentary anymore when posting a Mangione image or meme. The image communicates the sentiment all on its own, and many users have posted this way in recent days," she explained.

What People Are Saying


Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information and associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Information at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek: "With the Mangione posts, we're seeing a form of publishing related to a broader societal dissatisfaction with the status quo.


"With both increased income inequality and at least a perceived sense of lack of agency around corporate power, people turn to social media expression to vent and engage in a flexible dialog about societal issues. Through darkly humorous posts, expressions of admiration, sarcasm and other forms of rhetoric, people are rebuilding a sense of agency by reacting to their personal audiences."


Susan Campbell, distinguished lecturer in the Department of Communications, Film, and Media Studies at the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of New Haven, told Newsweek: "People like Luigi Mangione become folk heroes when people feel powerless against systems they feel have failed them. The health insurance industry has let so many people down, and then up steps this young man to shoot one of the industry's leaders.

"Life is more complicated than that, but we only seem to see that in retrospect. Bonnie & Clyde reached folk-hero status because they looked like winners at a time when everyone else was losing—at least financially. No amount of slavishly positive media coverage could change that at their heart, they were nothing more than bank robbers who killed people. The same goes with the James gang, other folk heroes from a long-ago."


As of Friday morning, the Palisades fire, which has burned through about 20,000 acres, was 8 percent contained; the Eaton fire, which has expanded across 13,000 acres, was out of control; the Kenneth fire, which has covered 1,000 acres, was 35 percent contained; the Hurst fire, which has moved through 800 acres, was 37 percent contained; and the Lidia fire, which has burned through 400 acres, was 75 percent contained.


Estimates of the economic loss caused by the fire are already in the tens of billions—but the full extent of the damages will only be clear after all fires have been contained.


What's Next


According to Kirschner, the anger users have been communicating on platforms like X by using the image of Mangione or citing his name "will only continue to rise as information about the loss of life and property damage becomes available."

Lampe, on the other hand, thinks that no real action will follow the sharing of Mangione memes online. "One of the issues with this type of online expression is whether it coalesces into any other form of action, either collective or personal," he said.


"Over the past twenty years, we have seen posts like this turn into different types of protests—as seen with Occupy Wall Street 15 years ago, or BLM 5 years ago. However, more often we see the venting never materialize into any other form of action and simply stay as a type of online venting," Lampe explained.


Campbell thinks that, in the end, while angry moments citing Mangione may express the frustration Americans really feel at the way insurance companies work, this is not the way to create change.


"So many of our systems are broken right now, but in the end—not to get preachy here—our energy would better be served working to take power back from the systems we feel have failed us, not holding up people who break the law as some kind of role model or hero," she said.

Luigi Mangione Resurfaces As Symbol of Anger Against California Insurers - Newsweek

As with health, this is what happens when you make insurance a solely profit making venture.

indeed , case of premium content.