December 12, 2024 • 40 mins
Luigi Mangione, the man charged for the murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson is being dubbed a “hero” by some in American society. Social media has erupted with hashtags like #FreeLuigi and comments lionizing Mangione for what they claim is him standing up to corporate greed within the healthcare industry. How can so many align themselves with a killer like Mangione?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray, WBZ, Constance New Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Right, that was an interesting sound we did that? Or
I have no problem. Yeah, sometimes the system misfires or
whatever hates Rob and I have yet to do a
perfect show. We're still working on it. Rob. We're getting
close to four thousand programs, the vast majority of which
you had, fast majority of which you have produced, and
I thank you for that. Rob Brooks. He's the guy
(00:27):
who picks up the phone when you call. Okay. Gonna
start off tonight with something that has troubled me for
a few days, and that is the lack of empathy
some people have displayed to the shooting of the United
Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson a week ago yesterday at six
(00:50):
forty five in the morning, A cowardly act by this
Luigi Mangioni. Now there's a lot more coming out on
lou me Andoni. As a matter of fact, I talked
briefly tonight with a friend of mine who referred me
to a piece that was on CNN today. And the
(01:13):
piece on CNN talked about and again, I don't want
to make it sound like it's an excuse, but it's
it's interesting the piece said, uh that this individual may
have had issues that were related to lime disease, severe
(01:39):
brain fog, and which he said started after losing sleep
during his fraternity's hell week and caused his college grades
to start tanking. I'm not exactly sure if this is
someone talking about about me and Gione, but the question
that this doctor raised for me is whether or not
(02:02):
this guy was affected by lyme disease. However, as interesting
a point as that is, and we might talk about
that more tomorrow night, whatever, maybe this guy was schizophrenic.
I don't know. I have certainly come to understand that.
I think most of you have come to understand that.
Physical problems. You see someone who's a broken arm, their
(02:28):
arms in a sling, everybody's very sympathetic. How'd you break
your arms? Someone has a broken leg, they got a
cast in their leg. How'd you break your leg? Okay?
And there are other issues that are not so evident.
But when someone says, oh, you know, a friend of mine,
you know, passed away of whatever, you understand that. But
mental illness is sometimes even more serious than physical illness.
(02:54):
So I will let I will let all of that
in in terms of conversations but this guy was smart enough,
this guy being Mangioni, he was smart enough. He was
shrewd enough to basically attract his target. He picked this
(03:17):
guy as his target. I think that's going to come
out clearly. This was not a random Let me shoot
the first guy who was walking into this conference, who
looks like he might be an executive. No, no, no, no,
no no. He knew exactly who he was killing. He
didn't have the courage to face him front on. He
didn't have the courage to go up to him and
punch him in the nose. He was a coward. He
(03:39):
sat across the streets, stood across the street. He knew
what this guy looked like. He obviously had done his homework.
He had been in New York City for ten days
from Thanksgiving on. He planned his escape. Didn't really work
because he was found out and arrested for the alleged murder,
cold blood, cowardly murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Now,
(04:05):
I don't have any great sympathy for people who are
making millions of dollars in whatever field, But I mean,
if all of a sudden, you know someone who all
of us would know I mean Kobe Bryant, for example,
how can you not feel horrific about Kobe Bryant's plane
(04:28):
crash in his death. And there have been other you know, figures, celebrities, entertainers.
So this guy had a different form of work. He
was a healthcare executive. Uh and if if he did
something illegal as a healthcare executive, should have been punished
(04:48):
for it. I have no indication that he did. Whatever
the rules for healthcare reimbursing. I'm as frustrated with healthcare
companies as anyone is. We all want everything to be
covered of. That's not the time to discuss that, Nor
is it the time to do what Elizabeth Warren did yesterday,
(05:12):
our senior senator, who is, as she certainly has tried
to suggest to all of us for many years, amongst
one of the smartest people in the world. She released
a statement which she then had to retract. The statement
was and again this is a combination of out of
(05:34):
the Herald and The Globe. The Globe's headline with Senator
Warren says, visceral response to killing of insurance CEO should
be warning to healthcare system. I mean, you know, assassination
attempt on the life of President Trump should be warning
(05:55):
to all politicians. I don't think so how do you
make that connection. I mean, there are people, there are
wacky people on both ends of the political spectrum who
would engage in that sort of behavior if, particularly if
they thought that somehow they could become foll heroes. So
Warren wrote, the visceral response from people across the country
(06:18):
who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile
practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to
everyone in the healthcare system. People can only be pushed
so far now. She amended the statement and said yesterday,
(06:42):
violence is never the answer, period. She said, I should
have been much clearer that there is never a justification
for murder. Okay. Bernie Sanders phrased it a little differently.
Senator Sanders from Vermont said, I think that the outpouring
of anger at the healthcare industry tells us that millions
(07:03):
of people understand the healthcare understand that healthcare is a
human right, and that you cannot have people in the
insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make
billions of dollars. This looks like a misprint here and
I assume it means profit. But Republican senators reacted pretty quickly,
(07:30):
and as they say, Warrant amended her statement. But I
don't know if she would have amended her statement now.
Seth Moulton, another Democrat who who has come out under
fire recently for a different issue, said, I know, Senator Warren,
she's not condoning murder. She's against murders, just like all
the rest of us. That's not what she's saying. What
she's saying is that we have a problem, we have
problems in our health care industry that needs to be addressed. Well,
(07:55):
you know that's fine, But to link the shooting with
the problems, it almost provides a quasi justification for the shooting. Now,
we don't know what this guy went through. We don't know,
and it probably come out that he lost a friend
or but but maybe his his grief, his his gripe
(08:17):
should have been with the medical community, not the healthcare system.
So if your family goes to a doctor, a family
member goes to a doctor. And we've had doctors shot
and killed here in Boston. We had a doctor at
MGH ten years ago shot and killed in the middle
of the day. I mean this, this stuff has to end.
And I know that we can get into a whole
(08:38):
conversation about guns, ghost guns and all of that. No,
I don't. We don't need to go that far tonight.
The fact of the matter is that we have people
in this country who are imbalanced, whether it's Ted Kazinski,
the late Ted Kazinski, or this guy Luigi Manginoni. Uh
Mangioni uh, both Ivy League college graduates and for them self,
(09:04):
help was the answer. I want to open up the
phone lines. Maybe someone can explain it to me. But
you just cannot in any way, shape or form, rationalize
or have empathy for this guy. Now this is Warren.
I think it's Warren yesterday. So let me have Rob
(09:27):
play it so you can hear in her own words
what she said. And then well, here it is. This
has cut number twenty. Rob, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
So look terrible for individuals, but stop and think overall
about the social contract.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Get a part.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Of the deal in how we've kept this democracy, this economy,
this country on a fairly steady path for more than
two hundred years has been that those at the top
pay a little more in taxes, are a little less
rich than they otherwise might be, and everybody else at
least gets a chance. And what happens when you turn
(10:05):
this into the billionaires run at all is they get
the opportunity to squeeze every last penny. And look, we'll
say it over and over, violence is never the answer
of This guy gets a trial who's allegedly killed the
CEO of United Health. But you can only push people
so far and then they start to take matters into
(10:27):
their own hands. Yeah, we need regulation in part to
wring those guys in.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
This is total rationalization, justification. It's like saying, I'm a
Red Sox fan, I hate the Yankees and that's why
I decided that I had to shoot the Yankee player.
I mean, where does it stop? Where does it stop?
This is insanity for Elizabeth Warren to even link the
(11:01):
for political reasons. Basically, allegedly, Luigi MENGIONI shot and killed
Brian Thompson, and he maybe with schizophrenic, maybe he was
just totally nuts, maybe he was blinded by his rage.
I don't know. We'll figure that out, the courts will
figure that out. But to link this murder, this cold
(11:22):
blooded shoot him in the back murder, by Elizabeth Warren
or any politician is unconscionable, absolutely unconscionable. And she should
apologize profusely to the Thompson family, and she should apologize
profusely to her constituents because she doesn't represent me, and
(11:43):
she doesn't represent most people in Massachusetts who were appalled
by that. And she could have emphasized anything she wanted to.
She's not stupid, but she has some pretty stupid ideas.
We'll be back on Nightside. Only couple of lines open
right now, and of course when the line start to
drop off, six, one, seven, two, ten, thirty Nights Out
(12:04):
with Dan Ray. We got a lot to talk about tonight.
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Let's go to the phone. It's gonna start off with
Steve in Delaware. Steve, you were next, are your first
tonight on night Side? Welcome?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Are you doing?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Welcome?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Sir.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
I'll trace it back to.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
George Bush nineteen ninety and you guests.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Did we loose in here? I'm listening.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I'm here.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Well that's I just keep talking until I can figure
out what you're saying, right, ahead.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Okay, I traced it back to George Bush nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
What do you trace back the shooting of Brian Thompson, No. No.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Nineteen ninety the American with Disabilities Act.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Feel need to expand in your thoughts ahead.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
The American Disabilities Act was signed UH three seventy seven
to twenty eight in the House ninety one to six
by the Senate, and it was signed by George Bush.
And it included under the Equal Opportunity RAS schizophrenia, PTSD, OCD,
major depressive disorder UH, intellectual disability, bipolar disorder, add all
(13:28):
the autism, all these things you cannot discriminate. So these
people will We were taken out of mental institutions, put
in society and reproduce that gene. All those are genes,
Those are hereditary things. They they continued and that, and
we're gonna have this forever. It's the cost of doing business.
(13:51):
It's just gonna be accepted. It's no different. Every day
in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia. Mental patients are killing
people on subways anywhere. So it's directly related to Disabilities Act.
They did not take in consideration mental disabilities.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Robert, here's the thing where I disagree.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
With you, okay, not to disagreement.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I can always find something to disagree with you. Stay
feel for my job is okay That the Americans with
Disabilities Act I do not believe had anything to do
with releasing people from institutions. There was a push in
the late in the mid to late nineteen eighties before
(14:33):
the ADA passed to basically deinstitutionalize people. We had that
push here in Massachusetts when Microconstius was governor. I covered
it very well. The ADA dealt with removing barriers to
individuals to make sure that there were curve cuts so
people with wheelchairs could easily cross the street. That's what
(14:56):
the ADA Act was about. The ADA Act had nothing
to do with leasting people who suffered from severe mental illness,
no schizophrenica, et cetera, from from institutions.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
No, but it made it so that they will not
go in institutions. Nobody is forced in the institutions. There's
tons of documentaries on this.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
True. So they huh, that's not true. There we have
people who are look who are who are forced into
people who are found not guilty by reason of insanity.
What do you think? At least I don't know the
laws in Delaware, I know him pretty well. In Massachusetts, yeah,
you go to you go. You you have found not
guilty of a horrific crime by reason of insanity. You
(15:42):
then are incarcerated, not in a prison, but in the
mental health institutions. I don't know what it's like in Delaware.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
If there's okay, sir, if there's a if there's a
person out there listening and they work in a mental
institution or mental health person professional, please call in and
tell him how easily they released these people. They hand
them a bag of pills and they release them.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
If there's a profession out there, please call in and
you'll get a completely different opinion.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, we'll see if people want to call in. I'm
always happy to I know a little bit about the
legal system in Massachusetts, probably more than and you've you've
hit me with. This goes back to George Bush and
the American with Disabilities Act, which has nothing to do
with with with what happened in New York. Now, whether
or not this guy MINNGIONI was schizophrenic. Have you ever
(16:32):
been in a mental institutions?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
If I could ask you that season, No, I've never
been in a mental institution, but had to be something
wrong with him mentally to do that. Okay, you're not
on the same wavelength for whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Do I look, wait a second, if we can have
a note of agreement. Yeah, I think that anybody who
would do that was was, you know, in the in
the word of street parlance, insane. But he's not insane
legally because he The definition of insanity legally is not
(17:05):
being able to separate or distinguish right from wrong. He
knew what he was doing was wrong, but he had
in his mind a justification for it. So he's he
I believe will be found guilty because the evidence is overwhelming,
and I do believe that he will not be able
to plead schizophrenia. Maybe his lawyers will try, but he
had he understood what he was doing. Go ahead, Steve,
(17:28):
I'll give you a final word.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Well, the thing is just because you're not dying. This
is because you haven't been diagnosed, but you can. I
could be walking around with the brain cancer and as
someone asked me, do you have a brain in it?
They're like no, because I'm not diagnosed with it. But
I do, but I can still have it. You better
watch out if it goes to trial. They got one
sympathetic person out there, and they might find him not
guilty for whatever reason. I don't know. I don't know
(17:50):
what's gonna happen.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
But the men.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
First of all, Steve, you're wrong, You're wrong. You know.
I hate to tell you this, But in order to
find him not guilty by reason of insaneity, it's just
not one. He's gonna need twelve, Okay, And I don't
think you'll be able to find twelve jurors in my opinion,
but we'll see how the trial goes through. What do
you do in Delaware? I'm always interested in callers, what
their background is, what what type of work do you do,
(18:14):
What's what's your professional in social work? Okay, I would
respect that. I respect that, And I think that people
who have degrees in sociology social work have a different
set of life experiences. And I'm not trying to any
way shape of one diminish yours. But thank you for
answering that question. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
It's like it's like prison guards. It's like prison guards.
You don't know what really goes on into prison.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I've got I've had experience in prisons. Okay, I'm not
a prison guard, but I know lots of prison guards,
and I've had experience in prison with prison inmates, including
four men who were wrongfully convicted for a murder they
had nothing to do with, and I work very hard
to get them released. So I know a little bit
of I may know a little more about some of this.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Then you realize, no, nobody knows what really goes on
in any anything until you've really seen it. Okay, and
it's like it's like anything. All right, Well, all let's
go right. Thanks for hearing me, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
You're welcome, Thanks very much. Okay, I can find out
as a reporter what goes on in a lot of
different places when I have when I have trust in
the person with whom i'm speaking. So yeah, I enjoyed
that conversation. We'll be back on Night's side if you'd
like to join the conversation and back them up, or
(19:33):
if you'd like to disagree with him. That's what this
show is all about. This is North America's back porch.
All points of view are welcome. As you can see,
he was a good caller. He actually engaged in a
conversation with me. I hope you'll do the same coming
back on Nightside six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six one seven, nine, ten thirty Back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
It's night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
All right, let's keep rolling here. Let's go next to
Louis in Shrewsbury, a little closer to home. Lou welcome
to night Side. How are you?
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Thank you, Dan. It's been a while since I've called,
and we've engaged in a few great, great brief conversations.
I just want to put one idea forward, Yeah, thank you.
I just want to put one simple idea forward. I've
been thinking about this quite a bit, uh, and I
think there's two issues here that have kind of gotten
(20:29):
blurred together. And and the first is the you know,
and it's in conscionable, if that's the right word. It's
just we can't have people shooting people in the street,
you know, because of you know, a sense of vigilanteism.
(20:50):
So that that's that's a given. But I think what
we're seeing is a blurring and overlap of an issue
that many any people can relate to, which is this
the I think at this point, I think very real,
very real observation that we've got a health insurance business
(21:13):
that's gone beyond being broke, and it really is lapsed
into corruption. And I think that's when we see some sympathy.
I think it's a misguided sympathy or.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Use the word corruption. What proof do you.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Have of that?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Well, that's a strong word.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's that's that's a strong word.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Well that's what I'm saying. Yeah, it is a strong word, exactly.
And it is a strong word. And and I've been
making the jump looking at the looking at the number
number of insurance denials that particularly United Health has, which
I believe is thirty two or thirty three percent denials,
(21:56):
most of which are coming through artificial intelligence searching programs
to search for reasons to say no. And we have
so many people that just about anybody you talk to
as a family member, close friend who has been denied
or hassled so badly to the point of desperation. And
(22:17):
people who are younger who are able to make the
phone calls fight really hard. I don't want to bore
you with my own personal story, but we've had situations
where emergency visits were turned around and denied and to
the you know, to the big amounts of money in
my books. But there's just too much going on with denials,
(22:40):
with you know, with with a failure of an equitable
business relationship between the purchaser of insurance and the companies
that are that are providing it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Without getting into no but just let me jump in
for a second here, without getting into the level of
frustrations and problems that you have, which are probably legitimate. Okay, okay,
but I said legitimate. I didn't say they were major.
I said legitimate. The point is that nothing justifies what
(23:17):
this guy did. Number one exact number two. You agree,
I understand that. I just want to emphasize that because
someone like Elizabeth Warren didn't emphasize that initially. Secondly, Secondly,
what we should do. This problem hasn't occurred overnight. It
has developed over time. Now, if the pattern and practice
(23:38):
in the industry has changed, then we need to address
that legislatively. And the way to do it is to
do it at Congress. Because insurance companies are national companies,
they're not local companies. So what has Congress done or
what has Congress not done to address this issue? I mean,
one of the things they could do is say, you know, basically,
(24:01):
uh set up and uh an action in federal court
where some of these companies could be called to task.
You could have these these cases litigated. Most of us
get our insurance through UH, the company we work for,
and maybe the companies that we work for have to
be more aggressive when they negotiate the contracts with these
(24:23):
insurance companies. If the insurance companies have become too big,
we have anti trust laws. Why haven't those anti trust
laws been invoked?
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Well, I mean the yeah, and again when when? When?
And I am I'll tell you why I start.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But I'll tell you why. And you know why because
the big insurance companies have lobbyists on K Street in Washington.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
You took the words out of my mouth. You took
out of my mouth. And I think, and I think
this frustration that people are feeling and they and they
know it's reality. It's it's it's overshadowed this murder. And
that's what I mean. This is a murder. And and
you know and your characterize it's.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Worse than I mean. It's a murder, but it's also
it's a cold blooded, premeditated shoot him in the back
at six forty five in the morning.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Coward, coward, It's appalling. But this Robinhood sort of thing
has come about because so many people are just at
you know, they they are just out there with end.
So I don't want to take up too much of
your time, but you understand what I'm saying. I think
there's a blurring. I think there's almost a benefit that
the murderer has received.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Because of Oh yeah, I've seen some stuff on the internet,
and I'm sure some of our listeners have seen stuff
on the internet, which, again, in a free society, people
can say that. At the same time, I think that
I have an obligation, and I would hope so my
callers have an obligation. If not to condemn it, then
challenge me and tell me why it's why it's legitimate.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
We have an option to spend.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
We have options in this society, Okay, I had. I
will tell you, you know, I'm going to be very
honest with you. I have at what they call a
health savings account. Okay, and I've had trouble with the
insurance with that that company. All it was for me
was to recover the money that I had spent on
(26:17):
medical for my myself and my and my wife.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Okay, and that.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Company made it so difficult for me to recover legitimate expenditures.
I wasn't using my HSA card, by the way, which
I'm sure you know and others know. It's money that
I contributed. It's my money. Okay, I'm not using the
HSA card to spend dinners at four seasons, Okay. They're
(26:45):
all medical expenditures, legitimate meling expenditures. And this HSA company
was basically questioning twenty dollars coll pays to doctors' offices,
and I had to go to the doctor's office and
get a letter that what was the COD paid for?
(27:06):
And then you get a thing that would say, well,
you got to have the code. And whenever you tried
to talk to a human being with that company, absolutely frustration.
Most of the time you got someone in the Philippines.
I have nothing against people in the Philippines, but I
would always ask give me an Onshore representative. It was
a way of saying, I want to speak to an American.
(27:27):
Bottom line was I have decided that I would prefer
to lose the tax benefit because that's one of the
things you get you put away a certain amount of money,
and that is pre tax income and then you can
use that as a legitimate deduction. I now am prepared
to give more money in federal taxes to the federal
(27:50):
government as opposed to fighting with this company.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
I got a pair of I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Telling you that I am totally empathetic and understand what
you're talking about. Let me tell you one final story.
I bought relatively inexpensive prescription dark glasses for a trip
I took to Italy last summer with nightside listeners. They
covered everything but ninety eight cents. You know how much
(28:22):
the glasses cost eighty two dollars in ninety eight cents.
They paid for eighty two dollars, but I had to
write a check to them for ninety eight cents to
clear my account.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Okay, so you need.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
What I'm saying is that I know the frustrations of
dealings with this company, and I had a conversation I'm
not going to give to that with my doctor and
basically he said to me, he says it's not worth
the money, and it isn't. I was spending more time
trying to recover my own money, my own money. So
I'm totally with you, But guess what I want. Elizabeth
(29:01):
Warren as opposed to going out and trying to score
political points to turn us into socialized medicine in America.
Bring these countries, these companies to toe. That's my problem
with Elizabeth Warren.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
And I think that that that makes complete sense, and
it and it points in the right direction. And I'll
just make one final statement and I'll let you get
back to your other callers. I think that in my work,
I interact over the years with a number of different
companies and you know, God bless them, but you cannot
count on companies to police themselves. They just won't. There's
(29:37):
too many factors involved. That's a subject for another night.
But you raise a really good look.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
There are there are great there were great companies out there.
There are good companies, of course there are. Okay, what
we have to do, just like most people are good people.
What do we do with the bad people? We prosecute them.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Okay, well, this is it.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I mean we you know, there are great companies. The
majority are wonderful, benevolent company. There are some that are
disappointing to me. But having said that, the you know,
the speed limits have to be set by the government,
and you know, your point is a good one. Who
do we look to? You know, you have to look
(30:17):
to the institutions, the government institutions that have been put
in place to monitor and do their work, whether they're influenced.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
You know, who's been in the US Senates, who's been
in the US Senate here from Massachusetts twenty thirteen.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Please Dan, right, okay, you know, all right, I gotta go,
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I gotta go. Thanks man, appreciate the call. Okay. I
didn't intend to bring my own personal experiences, but those
are true, okay, and I feel I have an obligation
to share them with you. We'll be back on Nightside.
I want you to share with me. I'll share with
you coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Now back to Dan Ray mine from the Window World
nights Side Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
But back we go to the phone. It's gonna go
to John in Dedham. John, you were next on night Side.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
Welcome they did. There's so so many topics to discuss, said,
but I ain't be called for Elizabeth Warren. She needs
to resign immediately. That that you know, these politicians that
just get to, like you said, score up with political points.
That's the only reason she said it. But you know
what you had. You had a segment of a while
(31:23):
back on customer service. People call and complain that they're
dealing with Comcast ever source utility cell phone. So if
somebody pushes me too far, I can do what that
guy did and say Elizabeth won, Hey, you know, I'm
paying two undred and fifty co pays, but by Orthopedi's appointment,
every time might go. But illegals get free health care.
Our governor is okay with that, My mayor is okay,
(31:46):
okay with that. Can I say, hey, you're pushing me
too far.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, that's that's a road we don't want to go down.
But you're absolutely right, You're absolutely right, and she you congration. People. Look,
people rationalize behavior. Most people rationalize their own behavior. When
I am frustrated at a light and the light has
turned green, in the car in front of me, uh
(32:11):
is still sitting at the green light, It's like, what
color do you want? It's green? Can we go? You know? Uh?
And I'll if someone says to me, my wife might
say to me when I'm well, you know, they maybe
they're thinking about something else and maybe no, you know,
that's fine, Okay, So I'm gonna but no, you're right,
that's Look, she's a phony. Okay, she's been a phone
(32:33):
afforded from day one. But she but she knows how
to how to how to basically b s people. Uh
and and and that's what she did there. She saw
that as an opportunity to try to score some political
points off off the cold blood and murder of of
of a person.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
I'm sorry she didcit thing a couple of years ago,
and it's got exactly how she put it. But she
said law enforcement in this country is racist. And I
want to say that. Show me the report that the
study that says that. Yeah, but but these politicians that
get to say what they want and have no accountability
for it. Enough's enough. She needs to resign, no apology.
(33:12):
You got to go Democrat.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
She won't.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
She won't.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Basically, the voters, the voters of the mass in Massachusetts
get to get a chance to judge her every six years.
Where we're an overwhelmingly democratic state, the Republican Party has
has not produced strong contenders. Uh, they don't have a
deep bench. And and we're suffering as a result of
not having a com you know, most states around the country,
(33:38):
many states around the country have really two strong parties,
and if a Democrat isn't doing the job, they'll be
showing the door. Or if a Republican isn't doing this job,
good job, they'll be shown.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
I just hope at least a reporter or somebody just
what you want to say puts her on the spot,
just holds her accountable for her words, and she has
to fess up to it one way or Another's there's
no there's no right there. She has to say how
wrong she was. At the very least, like I said,
enough's enough, Elizabeth Warren, you've gotta go, you gotta resign.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
That might be a good bumper strip, Liz. Enough is enough.
Wean Hey, John, appreciate the call, Thank you much.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Let me go next to Mike and Danvers if you
want to jump on about to try to get a
couple in here. Six one, seven thirty, Hey Mike, welcome
next on Nightside.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
How are you a dan.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
So?
Speaker 6 (34:28):
I have a question in my own comment, Hi, I
have a question plus my own comment. Where are we
right now with the trial phrase or a pre trial
phrase or what I don't even know? Well, talking about the.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Guy who's in custody in Pennsylvania. All right, yess oh, well,
they're still in the investigation phase of this. I mean
they're trying to gather as much a mindustance watching ABC
night in the news tonight and maybe other networks had
it as well. But apparently a whole bunch of search
warrants have been there executed or of being executed tonight.
They want to get into his computer. I think what
(35:04):
their concern is is was this guy truly a lone
wolf or was he acting with with anyone else in
concert he had I think he had eight thousand dollars
in the American cash on him US dollars, I don't
know what denominations, and he had a couple of thousand
dollars of European cash. There's a lot of money to
be walking around with.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
So I don't know if his attorney's going to try this.
I mean, he could maybe try it for another any defense.
I think no win over near that, I'm sure, But
I think that I think this kid used this guy
as as a scapegoat. He was he was po about something,
maybe something else, and he and he used this.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
I think that's yeah, no, no, no, And you're right.
I think you're right on the money. And obviously when
you talk about this, you talk about means, opportunity and
motive what they call in criminal defense work. What was
his back? You know what the means was it was
a gun that he actually took with him from New York.
Apparently they've been able to link the gun to the
(36:09):
to the bullet casings that were on the ground, so
that's a problem for the kid. Opportunity, Yeah, the opportunity
was he got the guy shot him in the back
from fifteen twenty feet away. Coward that he was, you know,
and motive. Now, the question is what's the motive? Is
he they're saying that he's had all sorts of medical issues.
Does he feel that that the insurance companies didn't cover
(36:32):
some of his bills? I don't know, they'll find out
about that. But then the other thing the investigation is
looking at right now is was there anybody who helped
him in advance or anyone who helped him after it?
Speaker 6 (36:42):
I mean this guy, yeah, yeah, he's.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
He's what he's not immnsa candidate for him to basically,
I guess he was still wearing the same clothes or
or or similar clothes, and.
Speaker 5 (36:59):
That's what.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah, yeah, right, no, no, no, no, you're you're you're
right on that. And the next part that they got
to they have to, you know, extradite him back to
New York. That's not a problem. All you do is
they they develop enough evidence, they have the Governor of
New York sign of governor's warrant that served on the
(37:22):
governor of Pennsylvania, and then he will instruct the district
attorney to turn this guy over physically to He could
have waived his rights and could have gone back on
his own, but he's just making it more more difficult.
I mean, no, the problem is that he's he's nuts.
But when you have someone like Elizabeth Warren, are you
United States senator who either thinks she's so smart that
(37:45):
she somehow can link this and score political points off
of it, and people aren't gonna notice. I mean, that's
what's frustrating. She is our one of our two United
States senators and she's laughing stock tonight across the nation,
as are her voters. That people who voted for her.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
I didn't see her speech, but I've heard her in
the past.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Well, I'll tell you what I can play it for
you right now. I got enough time. Here we go.
Rob just played this, so you know anybody's listening. This
is what she said about this yesterday. And then she
eventually backtracked on her she was on where else MSNBC
cut twenty rub.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
So look terrible for individuals, but stop and think overall
about the social contract. Get a part of the deal
in how we've kept this democracy, this economy, this country
on a fairly steady path for more than two hundred
years has been that those at the top pay a
little more in taxes, are a little less rich than
(38:50):
they otherwise might be, and everybody else at least gets
a chance. And what happens when you turn this into
the billionaires run at all is they get the opportunity
to squeeze every last penny. Yeah, and look, we'll say
it over and over. Violence is never the answer of
this guy gets a trial who's allegedly killed the CEO
(39:12):
of United Health. But you can only push people so
far and then they start to take matters into their
own hands. Yeah, we need regulation in part to win
those guys in.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
And then on Wednesday, basically she walked that back a
little bit.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
And yeah, she did walk them back to lightly.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit. So remember yeah, next time
she's up for reelection.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
Yeah, have a good night.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, Mike, thanks very much, appreciate you call. All right,
we come back. We're going to talk with eight. Thanks Mike.
We're going to talk with a criminologist. He's been a
guest on this show before, the same as doctor Scott Bond.
He focuses on some of the worst serial killers, imagine,
but I wanted to get him to talk about a
little bit about Luigi Mangioni as well. In this case,
(40:06):
we'll talk about both. He's a really interesting guest, and
then later on tonight we'll talk about those drones of
in New Jersey. I wonder why coming back on the Nightside.
It's Night Side with Dan Ray, WBZ, Constance New Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Right, that was an interesting sound we did that? Or
I have no problem. Yeah, sometimes the system misfires or
whatever hates Rob and I have yet to do a
perfect show. We're still working on it. Rob. We're getting
close to four thousand programs, the vast majority of which
you had, fast majority of which you have produced, and
I thank you for that. Rob Brooks. He's the guy
(00:27):
who picks up the phone when you call. Okay. Gonna
start off tonight with something that has troubled me for
a few days, and that is the lack of empathy
some people have displayed to the shooting of the United
Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson a week ago yesterday at six
(00:50):
forty five in the morning, A cowardly act by this
Luigi Mangioni. Now there's a lot more coming out on
lou me Andoni. As a matter of fact, I talked
briefly tonight with a friend of mine who referred me
to a piece that was on CNN today. And the
(01:13):
piece on CNN talked about and again, I don't want
to make it sound like it's an excuse, but it's
it's interesting the piece said, uh that this individual may
have had issues that were related to lime disease, severe
(01:39):
brain fog, and which he said started after losing sleep
during his fraternity's hell week and caused his college grades
to start tanking. I'm not exactly sure if this is
someone talking about about me and Gione, but the question
that this doctor raised for me is whether or not
(02:02):
this guy was affected by lyme disease. However, as interesting
a point as that is, and we might talk about
that more tomorrow night, whatever, maybe this guy was schizophrenic.
I don't know. I have certainly come to understand that.
I think most of you have come to understand that.
Physical problems. You see someone who's a broken arm, their
(02:28):
arms in a sling, everybody's very sympathetic. How'd you break
your arms? Someone has a broken leg, they got a
cast in their leg. How'd you break your leg? Okay?
And there are other issues that are not so evident.
But when someone says, oh, you know, a friend of mine,
you know, passed away of whatever, you understand that. But
mental illness is sometimes even more serious than physical illness.
(02:54):
So I will let I will let all of that
in in terms of conversations but this guy was smart enough,
this guy being Mangioni, he was smart enough. He was
shrewd enough to basically attract his target. He picked this
(03:17):
guy as his target. I think that's going to come
out clearly. This was not a random Let me shoot
the first guy who was walking into this conference, who
looks like he might be an executive. No, no, no, no,
no no. He knew exactly who he was killing. He
didn't have the courage to face him front on. He
didn't have the courage to go up to him and
punch him in the nose. He was a coward. He
(03:39):
sat across the streets, stood across the street. He knew
what this guy looked like. He obviously had done his homework.
He had been in New York City for ten days
from Thanksgiving on. He planned his escape. Didn't really work
because he was found out and arrested for the alleged murder,
cold blood, cowardly murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Now,
(04:05):
I don't have any great sympathy for people who are
making millions of dollars in whatever field, But I mean,
if all of a sudden, you know someone who all
of us would know I mean Kobe Bryant, for example,
how can you not feel horrific about Kobe Bryant's plane
(04:28):
crash in his death. And there have been other you know, figures, celebrities, entertainers.
So this guy had a different form of work. He
was a healthcare executive. Uh and if if he did
something illegal as a healthcare executive, should have been punished
(04:48):
for it. I have no indication that he did. Whatever
the rules for healthcare reimbursing. I'm as frustrated with healthcare
companies as anyone is. We all want everything to be
covered of. That's not the time to discuss that, Nor
is it the time to do what Elizabeth Warren did yesterday,
(05:12):
our senior senator, who is, as she certainly has tried
to suggest to all of us for many years, amongst
one of the smartest people in the world. She released
a statement which she then had to retract. The statement
was and again this is a combination of out of
(05:34):
the Herald and The Globe. The Globe's headline with Senator
Warren says, visceral response to killing of insurance CEO should
be warning to healthcare system. I mean, you know, assassination
attempt on the life of President Trump should be warning
(05:55):
to all politicians. I don't think so how do you
make that connection. I mean, there are people, there are
wacky people on both ends of the political spectrum who
would engage in that sort of behavior if, particularly if
they thought that somehow they could become foll heroes. So
Warren wrote, the visceral response from people across the country
(06:18):
who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile
practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to
everyone in the healthcare system. People can only be pushed
so far now. She amended the statement and said yesterday,
(06:42):
violence is never the answer, period. She said, I should
have been much clearer that there is never a justification
for murder. Okay. Bernie Sanders phrased it a little differently.
Senator Sanders from Vermont said, I think that the outpouring
of anger at the healthcare industry tells us that millions
(07:03):
of people understand the healthcare understand that healthcare is a
human right, and that you cannot have people in the
insurance industry rejecting needed healthcare for people while they make
billions of dollars. This looks like a misprint here and
I assume it means profit. But Republican senators reacted pretty quickly,
(07:30):
and as they say, Warrant amended her statement. But I
don't know if she would have amended her statement now.
Seth Moulton, another Democrat who who has come out under
fire recently for a different issue, said, I know, Senator Warren,
she's not condoning murder. She's against murders, just like all
the rest of us. That's not what she's saying. What
she's saying is that we have a problem, we have
problems in our health care industry that needs to be addressed. Well,
(07:55):
you know that's fine, But to link the shooting with
the problems, it almost provides a quasi justification for the shooting. Now,
we don't know what this guy went through. We don't know,
and it probably come out that he lost a friend
or but but maybe his his grief, his his gripe
(08:17):
should have been with the medical community, not the healthcare system.
So if your family goes to a doctor, a family
member goes to a doctor. And we've had doctors shot
and killed here in Boston. We had a doctor at
MGH ten years ago shot and killed in the middle
of the day. I mean this, this stuff has to end.
And I know that we can get into a whole
(08:38):
conversation about guns, ghost guns and all of that. No,
I don't. We don't need to go that far tonight.
The fact of the matter is that we have people
in this country who are imbalanced, whether it's Ted Kazinski,
the late Ted Kazinski, or this guy Luigi Manginoni. Uh
Mangioni uh, both Ivy League college graduates and for them self,
(09:04):
help was the answer. I want to open up the
phone lines. Maybe someone can explain it to me. But
you just cannot in any way, shape or form, rationalize
or have empathy for this guy. Now this is Warren.
I think it's Warren yesterday. So let me have Rob
(09:27):
play it so you can hear in her own words
what she said. And then well, here it is. This
has cut number twenty. Rob, go right ahead.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
So look terrible for individuals, but stop and think overall
about the social contract.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Get a part.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Of the deal in how we've kept this democracy, this economy,
this country on a fairly steady path for more than
two hundred years has been that those at the top
pay a little more in taxes, are a little less
rich than they otherwise might be, and everybody else at
least gets a chance. And what happens when you turn
(10:05):
this into the billionaires run at all is they get
the opportunity to squeeze every last penny. And look, we'll
say it over and over, violence is never the answer
of This guy gets a trial who's allegedly killed the
CEO of United Health. But you can only push people
so far and then they start to take matters into
(10:27):
their own hands. Yeah, we need regulation in part to
wring those guys in.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
This is total rationalization, justification. It's like saying, I'm a
Red Sox fan, I hate the Yankees and that's why
I decided that I had to shoot the Yankee player.
I mean, where does it stop? Where does it stop?
This is insanity for Elizabeth Warren to even link the
(11:01):
for political reasons. Basically, allegedly, Luigi MENGIONI shot and killed
Brian Thompson, and he maybe with schizophrenic, maybe he was
just totally nuts, maybe he was blinded by his rage.
I don't know. We'll figure that out, the courts will
figure that out. But to link this murder, this cold
(11:22):
blooded shoot him in the back murder, by Elizabeth Warren
or any politician is unconscionable, absolutely unconscionable. And she should
apologize profusely to the Thompson family, and she should apologize
profusely to her constituents because she doesn't represent me, and
(11:43):
she doesn't represent most people in Massachusetts who were appalled
by that. And she could have emphasized anything she wanted to.
She's not stupid, but she has some pretty stupid ideas.
We'll be back on Nightside. Only couple of lines open
right now, and of course when the line start to
drop off, six, one, seven, two, ten, thirty Nights Out
(12:04):
with Dan Ray. We got a lot to talk about tonight.
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Now, back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
to night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Let's go to the phone. It's gonna start off with
Steve in Delaware. Steve, you were next, are your first
tonight on night Side? Welcome?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Are you doing?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Welcome?
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Sir.
Speaker 5 (12:26):
I'll trace it back to.
Speaker 4 (12:28):
George Bush nineteen ninety and you guests.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Did we loose in here? I'm listening.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
I'm here.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Well that's I just keep talking until I can figure
out what you're saying, right, ahead.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Okay, I traced it back to George Bush nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
What do you trace back the shooting of Brian Thompson, No. No.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Nineteen ninety the American with Disabilities Act.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Feel need to expand in your thoughts ahead.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
The American Disabilities Act was signed UH three seventy seven
to twenty eight in the House ninety one to six
by the Senate, and it was signed by George Bush.
And it included under the Equal Opportunity RAS schizophrenia, PTSD, OCD,
major depressive disorder UH, intellectual disability, bipolar disorder, add all
(13:28):
the autism, all these things you cannot discriminate. So these
people will We were taken out of mental institutions, put
in society and reproduce that gene. All those are genes,
Those are hereditary things. They they continued and that, and
we're gonna have this forever. It's the cost of doing business.
(13:51):
It's just gonna be accepted. It's no different. Every day
in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia. Mental patients are killing
people on subways anywhere. So it's directly related to Disabilities Act.
They did not take in consideration mental disabilities.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Robert, here's the thing where I disagree.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
With you, okay, not to disagreement.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
I can always find something to disagree with you. Stay
feel for my job is okay That the Americans with
Disabilities Act I do not believe had anything to do
with releasing people from institutions. There was a push in
the late in the mid to late nineteen eighties before
(14:33):
the ADA passed to basically deinstitutionalize people. We had that
push here in Massachusetts when Microconstius was governor. I covered
it very well. The ADA dealt with removing barriers to
individuals to make sure that there were curve cuts so
people with wheelchairs could easily cross the street. That's what
(14:56):
the ADA Act was about. The ADA Act had nothing
to do with leasting people who suffered from severe mental illness,
no schizophrenica, et cetera, from from institutions.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
No, but it made it so that they will not
go in institutions. Nobody is forced in the institutions. There's
tons of documentaries on this.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
True. So they huh, that's not true. There we have
people who are look who are who are forced into
people who are found not guilty by reason of insanity.
What do you think? At least I don't know the
laws in Delaware, I know him pretty well. In Massachusetts, yeah,
you go to you go. You you have found not
guilty of a horrific crime by reason of insanity. You
(15:42):
then are incarcerated, not in a prison, but in the
mental health institutions. I don't know what it's like in Delaware.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
If there's okay, sir, if there's a if there's a
person out there listening and they work in a mental
institution or mental health person professional, please call in and
tell him how easily they released these people. They hand
them a bag of pills and they release them.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
If there's a profession out there, please call in and
you'll get a completely different opinion.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Well, we'll see if people want to call in. I'm
always happy to I know a little bit about the
legal system in Massachusetts, probably more than and you've you've
hit me with. This goes back to George Bush and
the American with Disabilities Act, which has nothing to do
with with with what happened in New York. Now, whether
or not this guy MINNGIONI was schizophrenic. Have you ever
(16:32):
been in a mental institutions?
Speaker 4 (16:33):
If I could ask you that season, No, I've never
been in a mental institution, but had to be something
wrong with him mentally to do that. Okay, you're not
on the same wavelength for whatever reason.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Do I look, wait a second, if we can have
a note of agreement. Yeah, I think that anybody who
would do that was was, you know, in the in
the word of street parlance, insane. But he's not insane
legally because he The definition of insanity legally is not
(17:05):
being able to separate or distinguish right from wrong. He
knew what he was doing was wrong, but he had
in his mind a justification for it. So he's he
I believe will be found guilty because the evidence is overwhelming,
and I do believe that he will not be able
to plead schizophrenia. Maybe his lawyers will try, but he
had he understood what he was doing. Go ahead, Steve,
(17:28):
I'll give you a final word.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Well, the thing is just because you're not dying. This
is because you haven't been diagnosed, but you can. I
could be walking around with the brain cancer and as
someone asked me, do you have a brain in it?
They're like no, because I'm not diagnosed with it. But
I do, but I can still have it. You better
watch out if it goes to trial. They got one
sympathetic person out there, and they might find him not
guilty for whatever reason. I don't know. I don't know
(17:50):
what's gonna happen.
Speaker 5 (17:51):
But the men.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
First of all, Steve, you're wrong, You're wrong. You know.
I hate to tell you this, But in order to
find him not guilty by reason of insaneity, it's just
not one. He's gonna need twelve, Okay, And I don't
think you'll be able to find twelve jurors in my opinion,
but we'll see how the trial goes through. What do
you do in Delaware? I'm always interested in callers, what
their background is, what what type of work do you do,
(18:14):
What's what's your professional in social work? Okay, I would
respect that. I respect that, And I think that people
who have degrees in sociology social work have a different
set of life experiences. And I'm not trying to any
way shape of one diminish yours. But thank you for
answering that question. Thank you.
Speaker 4 (18:33):
It's like it's like prison guards. It's like prison guards.
You don't know what really goes on into prison.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
I've got I've had experience in prisons. Okay, I'm not
a prison guard, but I know lots of prison guards,
and I've had experience in prison with prison inmates, including
four men who were wrongfully convicted for a murder they
had nothing to do with, and I work very hard
to get them released. So I know a little bit
of I may know a little more about some of this.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Then you realize, no, nobody knows what really goes on
in any anything until you've really seen it. Okay, and
it's like it's like anything. All right, Well, all let's
go right. Thanks for hearing me, appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
You're welcome, Thanks very much. Okay, I can find out
as a reporter what goes on in a lot of
different places when I have when I have trust in
the person with whom i'm speaking. So yeah, I enjoyed
that conversation. We'll be back on Night's side if you'd
like to join the conversation and back them up, or
(19:33):
if you'd like to disagree with him. That's what this
show is all about. This is North America's back porch.
All points of view are welcome. As you can see,
he was a good caller. He actually engaged in a
conversation with me. I hope you'll do the same coming
back on Nightside six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six one seven, nine, ten thirty Back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
It's night Side with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
All right, let's keep rolling here. Let's go next to
Louis in Shrewsbury, a little closer to home. Lou welcome
to night Side. How are you?
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Thank you, Dan. It's been a while since I've called,
and we've engaged in a few great, great brief conversations.
I just want to put one idea forward, Yeah, thank you.
I just want to put one simple idea forward. I've
been thinking about this quite a bit, uh, and I
think there's two issues here that have kind of gotten
(20:29):
blurred together. And and the first is the you know,
and it's in conscionable, if that's the right word. It's
just we can't have people shooting people in the street,
you know, because of you know, a sense of vigilanteism.
(20:50):
So that that's that's a given. But I think what
we're seeing is a blurring and overlap of an issue
that many any people can relate to, which is this
the I think at this point, I think very real,
very real observation that we've got a health insurance business
(21:13):
that's gone beyond being broke, and it really is lapsed
into corruption. And I think that's when we see some sympathy.
I think it's a misguided sympathy or.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Use the word corruption. What proof do you.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Have of that?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Well, that's a strong word.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
That's that's that's a strong word.
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Well that's what I'm saying. Yeah, it is a strong word, exactly.
And it is a strong word. And and I've been
making the jump looking at the looking at the number
number of insurance denials that particularly United Health has, which
I believe is thirty two or thirty three percent denials,
(21:56):
most of which are coming through artificial intelligence searching programs
to search for reasons to say no. And we have
so many people that just about anybody you talk to
as a family member, close friend who has been denied
or hassled so badly to the point of desperation. And
(22:17):
people who are younger who are able to make the
phone calls fight really hard. I don't want to bore
you with my own personal story, but we've had situations
where emergency visits were turned around and denied and to
the you know, to the big amounts of money in
my books. But there's just too much going on with denials,
(22:40):
with you know, with with a failure of an equitable
business relationship between the purchaser of insurance and the companies
that are that are providing it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Without getting into no but just let me jump in
for a second here, without getting into the level of
frustrations and problems that you have, which are probably legitimate. Okay, okay,
but I said legitimate. I didn't say they were major.
I said legitimate. The point is that nothing justifies what
(23:17):
this guy did. Number one exact number two. You agree,
I understand that. I just want to emphasize that because
someone like Elizabeth Warren didn't emphasize that initially. Secondly, Secondly,
what we should do. This problem hasn't occurred overnight. It
has developed over time. Now, if the pattern and practice
(23:38):
in the industry has changed, then we need to address
that legislatively. And the way to do it is to
do it at Congress. Because insurance companies are national companies,
they're not local companies. So what has Congress done or
what has Congress not done to address this issue? I mean,
one of the things they could do is say, you know, basically,
(24:01):
uh set up and uh an action in federal court
where some of these companies could be called to task.
You could have these these cases litigated. Most of us
get our insurance through UH, the company we work for,
and maybe the companies that we work for have to
be more aggressive when they negotiate the contracts with these
(24:23):
insurance companies. If the insurance companies have become too big,
we have anti trust laws. Why haven't those anti trust
laws been invoked?
Speaker 4 (24:31):
Well, I mean the yeah, and again when when? When?
And I am I'll tell you why I start.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But I'll tell you why. And you know why because
the big insurance companies have lobbyists on K Street in Washington.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
You took the words out of my mouth. You took
out of my mouth. And I think, and I think
this frustration that people are feeling and they and they
know it's reality. It's it's it's overshadowed this murder. And
that's what I mean. This is a murder. And and
you know and your characterize it's.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Worse than I mean. It's a murder, but it's also
it's a cold blooded, premeditated shoot him in the back
at six forty five in the morning.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Coward, coward, It's appalling. But this Robinhood sort of thing
has come about because so many people are just at
you know, they they are just out there with end.
So I don't want to take up too much of
your time, but you understand what I'm saying. I think
there's a blurring. I think there's almost a benefit that
the murderer has received.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
Because of Oh yeah, I've seen some stuff on the internet,
and I'm sure some of our listeners have seen stuff
on the internet, which, again, in a free society, people
can say that. At the same time, I think that
I have an obligation, and I would hope so my
callers have an obligation. If not to condemn it, then
challenge me and tell me why it's why it's legitimate.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
We have an option to spend.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
We have options in this society, Okay, I had. I
will tell you, you know, I'm going to be very
honest with you. I have at what they call a
health savings account. Okay, and I've had trouble with the
insurance with that that company. All it was for me
was to recover the money that I had spent on
(26:17):
medical for my myself and my and my wife.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Okay, and that.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Company made it so difficult for me to recover legitimate expenditures.
I wasn't using my HSA card, by the way, which
I'm sure you know and others know. It's money that
I contributed. It's my money. Okay, I'm not using the
HSA card to spend dinners at four seasons, Okay. They're
(26:45):
all medical expenditures, legitimate meling expenditures. And this HSA company
was basically questioning twenty dollars coll pays to doctors' offices,
and I had to go to the doctor's office and
get a letter that what was the COD paid for?
(27:06):
And then you get a thing that would say, well,
you got to have the code. And whenever you tried
to talk to a human being with that company, absolutely frustration.
Most of the time you got someone in the Philippines.
I have nothing against people in the Philippines, but I
would always ask give me an Onshore representative. It was
a way of saying, I want to speak to an American.
(27:27):
Bottom line was I have decided that I would prefer
to lose the tax benefit because that's one of the
things you get you put away a certain amount of money,
and that is pre tax income and then you can
use that as a legitimate deduction. I now am prepared
to give more money in federal taxes to the federal
(27:50):
government as opposed to fighting with this company.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
I got a pair of I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Telling you that I am totally empathetic and understand what
you're talking about. Let me tell you one final story.
I bought relatively inexpensive prescription dark glasses for a trip
I took to Italy last summer with nightside listeners. They
covered everything but ninety eight cents. You know how much
(28:22):
the glasses cost eighty two dollars in ninety eight cents.
They paid for eighty two dollars, but I had to
write a check to them for ninety eight cents to
clear my account.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Okay, so you need.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
What I'm saying is that I know the frustrations of
dealings with this company, and I had a conversation I'm
not going to give to that with my doctor and
basically he said to me, he says it's not worth
the money, and it isn't. I was spending more time
trying to recover my own money, my own money. So
I'm totally with you, But guess what I want. Elizabeth
(29:01):
Warren as opposed to going out and trying to score
political points to turn us into socialized medicine in America.
Bring these countries, these companies to toe. That's my problem
with Elizabeth Warren.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
And I think that that that makes complete sense, and
it and it points in the right direction. And I'll
just make one final statement and I'll let you get
back to your other callers. I think that in my work,
I interact over the years with a number of different
companies and you know, God bless them, but you cannot
count on companies to police themselves. They just won't. There's
(29:37):
too many factors involved. That's a subject for another night.
But you raise a really good look.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
There are there are great there were great companies out there.
There are good companies, of course there are. Okay, what
we have to do, just like most people are good people.
What do we do with the bad people? We prosecute them.
Speaker 5 (29:53):
Okay, well, this is it.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
I mean we you know, there are great companies. The
majority are wonderful, benevolent company. There are some that are
disappointing to me. But having said that, the you know,
the speed limits have to be set by the government,
and you know, your point is a good one. Who
do we look to? You know, you have to look
(30:17):
to the institutions, the government institutions that have been put
in place to monitor and do their work, whether they're influenced.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
You know, who's been in the US Senates, who's been
in the US Senate here from Massachusetts twenty thirteen.
Speaker 4 (30:31):
Please Dan, right, okay, you know, all right, I gotta go,
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
I gotta go. Thanks man, appreciate the call. Okay. I
didn't intend to bring my own personal experiences, but those
are true, okay, and I feel I have an obligation
to share them with you. We'll be back on Nightside.
I want you to share with me. I'll share with
you coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
Now back to Dan Ray mine from the Window World
nights Side Studios on w b Z News Radio.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
But back we go to the phone. It's gonna go
to John in Dedham. John, you were next on night Side.
Speaker 5 (31:02):
Welcome they did. There's so so many topics to discuss, said,
but I ain't be called for Elizabeth Warren. She needs
to resign immediately. That that you know, these politicians that
just get to, like you said, score up with political points.
That's the only reason she said it. But you know
what you had. You had a segment of a while
(31:23):
back on customer service. People call and complain that they're
dealing with Comcast ever source utility cell phone. So if
somebody pushes me too far, I can do what that
guy did and say Elizabeth won, Hey, you know, I'm
paying two undred and fifty co pays, but by Orthopedi's appointment,
every time might go. But illegals get free health care.
Our governor is okay with that, My mayor is okay,
(31:46):
okay with that. Can I say, hey, you're pushing me
too far.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
Yeah, that's that's a road we don't want to go down.
But you're absolutely right, You're absolutely right, and she you congration. People. Look,
people rationalize behavior. Most people rationalize their own behavior. When
I am frustrated at a light and the light has
turned green, in the car in front of me, uh
(32:11):
is still sitting at the green light, It's like, what
color do you want? It's green? Can we go? You know? Uh?
And I'll if someone says to me, my wife might
say to me when I'm well, you know, they maybe
they're thinking about something else and maybe no, you know,
that's fine, Okay, So I'm gonna but no, you're right,
that's Look, she's a phony. Okay, she's been a phone
(32:33):
afforded from day one. But she but she knows how
to how to how to basically b s people. Uh
and and and that's what she did there. She saw
that as an opportunity to try to score some political
points off off the cold blood and murder of of
of a person.
Speaker 5 (32:51):
I'm sorry she didcit thing a couple of years ago,
and it's got exactly how she put it. But she
said law enforcement in this country is racist. And I
want to say that. Show me the report that the
study that says that. Yeah, but but these politicians that
get to say what they want and have no accountability
for it. Enough's enough. She needs to resign, no apology.
(33:12):
You got to go Democrat.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
She won't.
Speaker 5 (33:16):
She won't.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Basically, the voters, the voters of the mass in Massachusetts
get to get a chance to judge her every six years.
Where we're an overwhelmingly democratic state, the Republican Party has
has not produced strong contenders. Uh, they don't have a
deep bench. And and we're suffering as a result of
not having a com you know, most states around the country,
(33:38):
many states around the country have really two strong parties,
and if a Democrat isn't doing the job, they'll be
showing the door. Or if a Republican isn't doing this job,
good job, they'll be shown.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
I just hope at least a reporter or somebody just
what you want to say puts her on the spot,
just holds her accountable for her words, and she has
to fess up to it one way or Another's there's
no there's no right there. She has to say how
wrong she was. At the very least, like I said,
enough's enough, Elizabeth Warren, you've gotta go, you gotta resign.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
That might be a good bumper strip, Liz. Enough is enough.
Wean Hey, John, appreciate the call, Thank you much.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
Let me go next to Mike and Danvers if you
want to jump on about to try to get a
couple in here. Six one, seven thirty, Hey Mike, welcome
next on Nightside.
Speaker 6 (34:23):
How are you a dan.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
So?
Speaker 6 (34:28):
I have a question in my own comment, Hi, I
have a question plus my own comment. Where are we
right now with the trial phrase or a pre trial
phrase or what I don't even know? Well, talking about the.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
Guy who's in custody in Pennsylvania. All right, yess oh, well,
they're still in the investigation phase of this. I mean
they're trying to gather as much a mindustance watching ABC
night in the news tonight and maybe other networks had
it as well. But apparently a whole bunch of search
warrants have been there executed or of being executed tonight.
They want to get into his computer. I think what
(35:04):
their concern is is was this guy truly a lone
wolf or was he acting with with anyone else in
concert he had I think he had eight thousand dollars
in the American cash on him US dollars, I don't
know what denominations, and he had a couple of thousand
dollars of European cash. There's a lot of money to
be walking around with.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
So I don't know if his attorney's going to try this.
I mean, he could maybe try it for another any defense.
I think no win over near that, I'm sure, But
I think that I think this kid used this guy
as as a scapegoat. He was he was po about something,
maybe something else, and he and he used this.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
I think that's yeah, no, no, no, And you're right.
I think you're right on the money. And obviously when
you talk about this, you talk about means, opportunity and
motive what they call in criminal defense work. What was
his back? You know what the means was it was
a gun that he actually took with him from New York.
Apparently they've been able to link the gun to the
(36:09):
to the bullet casings that were on the ground, so
that's a problem for the kid. Opportunity, Yeah, the opportunity
was he got the guy shot him in the back
from fifteen twenty feet away. Coward that he was, you know,
and motive. Now, the question is what's the motive? Is
he they're saying that he's had all sorts of medical issues.
Does he feel that that the insurance companies didn't cover
(36:32):
some of his bills? I don't know, they'll find out
about that. But then the other thing the investigation is
looking at right now is was there anybody who helped
him in advance or anyone who helped him after it?
Speaker 6 (36:42):
I mean this guy, yeah, yeah, he's.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
He's what he's not immnsa candidate for him to basically,
I guess he was still wearing the same clothes or
or or similar clothes, and.
Speaker 5 (36:59):
That's what.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah, yeah, right, no, no, no, no, you're you're you're
right on that. And the next part that they got
to they have to, you know, extradite him back to
New York. That's not a problem. All you do is
they they develop enough evidence, they have the Governor of
New York sign of governor's warrant that served on the
(37:22):
governor of Pennsylvania, and then he will instruct the district
attorney to turn this guy over physically to He could
have waived his rights and could have gone back on
his own, but he's just making it more more difficult.
I mean, no, the problem is that he's he's nuts.
But when you have someone like Elizabeth Warren, are you
United States senator who either thinks she's so smart that
(37:45):
she somehow can link this and score political points off
of it, and people aren't gonna notice. I mean, that's
what's frustrating. She is our one of our two United
States senators and she's laughing stock tonight across the nation,
as are her voters. That people who voted for her.
Speaker 6 (38:08):
I didn't see her speech, but I've heard her in
the past.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
Well, I'll tell you what I can play it for
you right now. I got enough time. Here we go.
Rob just played this, so you know anybody's listening. This
is what she said about this yesterday. And then she
eventually backtracked on her she was on where else MSNBC
cut twenty rub.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
So look terrible for individuals, but stop and think overall
about the social contract. Get a part of the deal
in how we've kept this democracy, this economy, this country
on a fairly steady path for more than two hundred
years has been that those at the top pay a
little more in taxes, are a little less rich than
(38:50):
they otherwise might be, and everybody else at least gets
a chance. And what happens when you turn this into
the billionaires run at all is they get the opportunity
to squeeze every last penny. Yeah, and look, we'll say
it over and over. Violence is never the answer of
this guy gets a trial who's allegedly killed the CEO
(39:12):
of United Health. But you can only push people so
far and then they start to take matters into their
own hands. Yeah, we need regulation in part to win
those guys in.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
And then on Wednesday, basically she walked that back a
little bit.
Speaker 6 (39:31):
And yeah, she did walk them back to lightly.
Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, yeah, a little bit. So remember yeah, next time
she's up for reelection.
Speaker 6 (39:41):
Yeah, have a good night.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Yeah, Mike, thanks very much, appreciate you call. All right,
we come back. We're going to talk with eight. Thanks Mike.
We're going to talk with a criminologist. He's been a
guest on this show before, the same as doctor Scott Bond.
He focuses on some of the worst serial killers, imagine,
but I wanted to get him to talk about a
little bit about Luigi Mangioni as well. In this case,
(40:06):
we'll talk about both. He's a really interesting guest, and
then later on tonight we'll talk about those drones of
in New Jersey. I wonder why coming back on the Nightside.
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