East Vs. West: Who’s Better at Fly Fishing? Field and Stream. Readers?
Maine lobsterman catches 5-foot military rocket ABC
Video: Drunken “Idiots” Decide to Touch a Moose. See What Happens FIeld and Stream
How Bears Hibernate without Getting Blood Clots Scientific American
Climate
An Edible Rechargeable Battery Advanced Materials. “Edible electronics is a growing field that aims to produce digestible devices using only food ingredients and additives, thus addressing many of the shortcomings of ingestible electronic devices.” So if your EV fails in the wilderness, you won’t starve!
#COVID19
Pandemic Preparedness and Response: Lessons from COVID-19 (accepted manuscript) Anthony S. Fauci and Gregory K. Folkers., Journal of Infectious Diseases. Handy table:
I don’t want to dunk too much on a player as slow-footed and over-the-hill as Fauci — though readers may disagree, in which case have at it! Obvious question: Why the complete erasure of non-pharmaceutical interventions?
Mucosal vaccines for SARS-CoV-2: scientific gaps and opportunities—workshop report Nature. Paragraph one lists the
usual suspectsworkshop hosts, who are who you would expect:The lack of validated correlates of protection for respiratory mucosal protection has implications for clinical research, as well as regulatory and policy considerations. As discussed during the Regulatory and Policy Considerations workshop session, next-generation COVID-19 vaccines can be approved by comparing systemic neutralizing IgG levels to those induced by approved vaccines, a process known as “immunobridging,” if similar platforms are used22. However, because there are no validated correlates of protection for respiratory mucosal protection, if a vaccine has a unique mode of action that elicits an effective mucosal response but does not induce the same systemic immune markers as current vaccines, it will need to undergo large and expensive Phase 3 trials to show clinical efficacy23. Furthermore, to generate evidence to support a policy recommendation for preferred use as a transmission-blocking vaccine, developers may have to include an infection or transmission endpoint and/or conduct large Phase 4 studies.
Despite these challenges, the growing body of work on SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in both animal models and humans is rapidly expanding our knowledge of the sites where a mucosal immune response is induced, elucidating components of this response that are important for protection.
I am not a vaccine maven at all. Perhaps somebody who remembers the mRNA development and approval process can tell readers whether slow-walking and double standards are at play here. The workshop recommendations:
Notably absent is any mention of Bharat’s iNCOVACC nasal vaccine, already being distributed in India (RCT; link at NC here), which licenses technology developed at Washington University in St Louis. I would expect those developers to be present, but if there’s a list of participants in the workshop, I’m missing it. NIH = Not Invented Here?
Major health systems dropping mask mandates in ‘momentous’ shift of pandemic policy MiBiz. “Patients with COVID-19 now account for less than 3 percent of the people presently hospitalized at Corewell’s hospitals, and about half of those patients are there for different reasons, [Dr. Darryl Elmouchi, president of Corewell Health] said…. ‘It’s hard to take care of people when you can’t see them smile.'” BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!! More:
This is grotesque. @StanfordChild did you talk with any immunocompromised patients and their families before coming up with this? pic.twitter.com/rixThGhjps
— kaleidoscope of mope (@lizkatsuleres) April 11, 2023
It’s rare to see a hospital actually organize a superspreading event….
I say yes, and high time, too:
Is It Time To Hunt Down Anyone Who Doesn’t Want Covid And Forcibly Infect Them? pic.twitter.com/71BalVB93N
— @TheVertlartnic (@TheVertlartnic) April 12, 2023
China?
How China changed the game for countries in default FT
China wants to start using moon soil to build lunar bases as soon as this decade Reuters
The Koreas
South Korea to pay US$490 to encourage reclusive youths to leave their homes; growing issue across East Asia Channel News Asia
Syraqistan
Houthi official says Yemen peace talks made progress, further rounds planned Reuters
The Strategic Consequences of a Kılıçdaroğlu Victory Over Erdoğan Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
11 more US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after attacks in Syria last month CNN. Remind me why we are there?
European Disunion
Hundreds of thousands protest ahead of ruling on constitutionality of French pension reform France24
Spain’s air traffic controllers continue strike in 16 airports Anadolu Agency
Dear Old Blighty
Live news: UK rail union weighs revised offer as hopes rise for end to strikes FT
New Not-So-Cold War
Why Blockading Rather Than Retaking Crimea Might Be Kyiv’s Best Option RAND Corporation. So you’re saying there’s hope?
Ukraine forces pull back as Russia mounts ‘re-energised’ Bakhmut assault, UK says Reuters
* * * Putin cancels Victory Day parades as Ukraine invasion continues to unravel The Atlantic Council
Ukraine’s foreign minister calls for integration of air defense systems with those of NATO allies Anadolu Agency
Vessel inspections resumed in Istanbul within the framework of Grain Initiative Urainska Pravda
Remarks by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo at the U.S.-Ukraine Partnership Forum U.S. Department of Commerce. Raimondo: “To reiterate what President Biden said, we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We also want to make ‘as long as it takes’ be as short as realistically possible.” Oh.
South of the Border
Brazil’s Lula in Shanghai on visit to boost ties with China AP
U.S. courts Ecuador president even as Latin American country’s democracy deteriorates LA Times
Biden Administration
The Biden Administration Tells Agencies to Scale Back Telework Government Executive
TDs and Senators asked to take Covid-19 antigen test if attending Joe Biden’s Oireachtas address Independent.ie. Wow, that’s odd. I thought Covid was over?
Dairy farm explosion injures 1 person, kills 18,000 cattle AP. Texas. This does seem to be one of many incidents.
The Supremes
Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal. ProPublica
The Intelligence Community
Accused document leaker Jack Teixeira comes from a military family WaPo. I used the headline at View Source. The headline as displayed is different: “He’s from a patriotic family — and allegedly leaked U.S. secrets.” And here is the original headline, from the URL: jack-teixeira-discord-document-leak. And the deck: “Online, the suspect in the breach of dozens of classified documents took on a persona seemingly at odds with his military career.”
Jack Teixeira: How did someone so young have access to such sensitive files? Sky News. “The day’s events were very fast moving and began not, as might have been expected, with breakthroughs by the authorities investigating the leak, but instead from a series of investigations by the media.” IOW, the press are spooks (at least the Beltway press). Never talk to the press, for the same reason you Don’t Talk to the Police (video).
U.S. intel agencies may change how they monitor social media, chatrooms after missing leaked U.S. documents for weeks NBC. Why, it’s almost as if that was the object of the exercise!
The Crackdown Cometh Matt Taibbi, Racket News. “‘More spooks than straight guys and all pretending they’ve got a secret. Want more?’ ‘How long do you give it?’ ‘A week. Ten years.'” -John LeCarré, The Honorable Schoolboy.
What is Discord, the chatting app tied to classified leaks? AP
Meet the cranky uncle ‘vaccinating’ people against conspiracies Sydney Morning Herald. With a complete absence of transparency and accountability in a putatively democratic yet not notably rational political economy, it’s natural that non-elites would engage in their own sense-making.
Our Famously Free Press
NPR becomes first major news organization to leave Twitter The Verge. The deck: “The decision comes as Elon Musk’s relationship with the press deteriorates at an astonishing rate.” By “the press” is meant the stenographers and spooks of the Acela Corridor. So good. Great!
Twitter to let users offer content subscriptions in monetization push Reuters
The Bezzle
The U.S. Cracked a $3.4 Billion Crypto Heist—and Bitcoin’s Anonymity WSJ
Tech
I haven’t seen a PR push like the PR push for AI since…. well, since the last PR push.
‘Hey, I Am a Human.’ In Sales, the People Are Battling the Chatbots. WSJ
AI is flooding the workplace, and workers love it Vox. That’s because wages are sticky. Not for long. Holy Lord, in the lead: “Brainstorming and planning are prime examples of tasks that can be easily handled by generative AI tools like ChatGPT.” So we could fire the whole administrative layer in the university, awesome. But first they came for the administrators….
Arizona mother describes AI phone scam faking daughter’s kidnapping: ‘It was completely her voice’ FOX
We must slow down the race to God-like AI FT. The deck: “I’ve invested in more than 50 artificial intelligence start-ups. What I’ve seen worries me.” You don’t say.
Supply Chain
G7 environmental ministers to adopt plan on key mineral procurement – Yomiuri Reuters
Healthcare
The red lights are flashing in our health care system Politico
Disability Denied: Unable to Work, COVID Long Haulers Face Barriers to Benefits Capital and Main
Colorado, other states confront medical debt that’s bankrupting millions Colorado Sun. Wait. What about ObamaCare?
Realignment and Legitimacy
The Wonderful Death of a State The Baffler. On Murray Rothbard.
Class Warfare
Opinion: Uber’s “black box” keeps drivers in the dark about their share of the fare Colorado Sun
NASA unveils ‘Mars’ habitat for year-long experiments on Earth Straits Times
Antidote du jour (via):
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
127 comments
Comments are closed.
Working link for “Maine lobsterman catches 5-foot military rocket” at-
https://abcnews.go.com/US/maine-lobsterman-catches-5-foot-military-rocket/story?id=98549886
Not the sort of thing that you would want to find in your nets.
Fauci is simply a rational economic actor protecting his and his peers royalty income stream by suppressing information regarding the use of non-pharma interventions (i.e., competition).
“suppressing information regarding the use of non-pharma interventions (i.e., competition)”
No, he is not a “rational economic actor.” To fit that category he would have had to be operating within the law and not perverting/subverting it. This is not about leveraging one’s occupational position to maximize financial gain, it’s about operating outside the economic/legal system.
BTW, the RFK Jr. announcement of a Presidential candidacy got me off my a** to check out and read his latest book, “The REAL Anthony Fauci….”
We’d be lucky to have a guy like Kennedy in the fray. High intellect, deep and broad experience, hard worker, inquisitive mind, outdoorsman who spends time in ‘the environment’, and has brought countless actions in it’s defence.
Frankly, I fear for his safety, for all sorts of reasons.
I looked at that book and read the first part of it, but RFK Jr lost me when he started talking about masks being useless.
Too true. But “rational” seems to be giving Fauci too much humanity. How about something a little stronger like evil, Faustian, soulless?
Faucian?
Good one!
The logical end point for a “Center for Disease Control” in a capitalist, disease-optimization for profit medical system is to “control” “disease” from a power “center” to maximum profits.
It’s pretty clear this is what we’re seeing.
It’s not a conspiracy, its a confluence of elite interests financially incentivizing them to coordinate a narrow class interest to their own great benefit.
But, you’d need a complicit media, academia & manage to plug leaks, silence contradictory journalists, HCW, epidemiologists social media & whistleblowers, in a truly FREE marketplace of open inquiry?
https://twitter.com/MoriartyLab/status/1645826319635054599
Servitors get paid too!
Not too much.
Just enough for their services, which cost one might hope is promptly obviated by AI.
That ties in neatly with the Baffler piece on Murray Rothbard and the “Unequally Distributed Future.”
Funny they didn’t mention shutting down GOF research, either….
YOUR LYIN EYES
(melody borrowed from Lyin Eyes by the Eagles)
People fool around now with Midjourney
Fakes go out as real once in a while
Like a beer guzzlin’ Pope or horns on Bernie
We’ve stepped into the world of Ray Kurzweil
When Instagram can make you cute not homely
That’s what we call a fool’s paradise
If all you are is what your phone can show me
Are you really worth the effort or the price?
We’re now forced into a state of disbelieving
The AI genie’s loose — can’t shut it down
We cannot trust the things we are perceiving
Any more than we trust what’s written down
You can’t trust your lyin’ eyes
Things you you see out there are lies
Everything’s destabilized
There ain’t no way to trust your lyin’ eyes
The weight of constant lies gets suffocating
It hardly matters now what’s fake or real
The winner is the thing that’s stimulating
And AI bots are just fine with that deal
If you work hard you can cobble together
A version of the truth that is worthwhile
But the hoi polloi are far beyond that tether
Your facts go in the circular file
You can’t trust your lyin’ eyes
Things you you see out there are lies
Everything’s destabilized
There ain’t no way to trust your lyin’ eyes
The hot skill of the future is suggestion
To get AI to try what’s not been tried
There is nothing now that can’t be called to question
And we welcome this mad world with both eyes wide
Forgive me if I say AI is crazy
Science rests on facts and logic rules
But AI treats a fact as something hazy
Garbage in and out its only tools
The world of trans-humans is a pipe dream
We can’t become computers and live free
AI cannot dance inside a sunbeam
It’s just a Morlock born to slavery
You can’t trust your lyin’ eyes
Things you you see out there are lies
Everything’s destabilized
There ain’t no way to trust your lyin’ eyes
There ain’t no way to trust your lyin’ eyes
Honey, you can’t trust your lyin’ eyes
Golly you are so much fun! Love it!
My gawd! “While” rhymed with “Ray Kurzweil”! That’s a classic rock song indeed, updated to the 21st century!
Regarding” Arizona mother describes AI phone scam faking daughter’s kidnapping: ‘It was completely her voice’
Wow, that is terrifying. Good time to make a secret phrase/word that is only known by you and your significant other.
But can you also imagine how this can cause havoc in people’s personal lives? I can make an AI voice of my co-worker saying anything I want about the boss and get them fired!
These AI developments are horrible and they are pushing me more and more on one side of the fence as to whether I want to continue using the internet anymore. I am of sure going to stop using google as I have read that Google is probably using all my emails to train it’s AI.
> as I have read that Google is probably using all my emails to train it’s AI.
Needs a link, but yes they would. Worse, they have entire chains of emails. Lots and lots of context.
https://twitter.com/katecrawford/status/1638238113276346368
But rest assured! Google has said that they do not do this!
I think Elon Musk sums it up well:
https://twitter.com/katecrawford/status/1638307640563359744
Although this link is from a competitor it has some more info:
https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/gmail-trained-bard
There is precedent here: Google will stop scanning content of personal emails
I can’t find any information about Bard really:
Google denies Bard was trained with ChatGPT data
If you trust Google.
So yeah.
It’s a massive data set that’s unique to Google. If they didn’t, that’s some kind of investor-class malpractice, honestly.
A long time ago a bunch of researches proved that Microsoft was snooping into all Hotmail messages in spite of saying that they didn’t. From different email accounts and sites they sent a bunch of emails via Hotmail and in those messages were website addresses – but it was a honey trap. They were brand-new, never-used and totally unlisted websites and when they quickly got traffic, knew that the source of those visits can only have been from Microsoft. Busted!
Well, you can’t totally un-list a web site. There’s still a domain registrar record, and I always thought each search crawler probably had access to those registries to find new domains.
Not saying that Microsoft didn’t parse emails from Hotmail, just that there is another way to achieve this as well.
Ah,the “reasonable doubt” FUD…
Keep the proles off balance.
On a related note, check browser priors. Ownership history can be fluid. All grist.
Will there be a Butlerian Jihad,” ever, then? https://bookanalysis.com/dune/the-butlerian-jihad/
Or is it already game over for us analog meatsacks?
>Hundreds of thousands protest ahead of ruling on constitutionality of French pension reform France24
Curious that France24 does not show any images of police storm troopers attacking protesters. Twitter has been streaming baton-wielding police beating protestors in the streets for week.
The outcome of the constitutionality ruling will be momentous not just for France but on whether millions of people in the street making their voices heard have any influence on policy. If the ruling falls in favor of Macron, then the death knell of Western democracy will sound loud and long for all of us.
You write as if the ruling in favor of Maron is in doubt.
This link was from yesterday’s protest in Paris.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQKi1fOLuHo
The nice thing is, no comments, no propaganda, etc. Of course they (in this case Reuters) choose what to film, but it’s just live streaming and for a few hours. I had it on for quite a while in the background as I up-planted my tomatoes. A handful of times the police would just charge into a group of people and sometimes sling batons. Not baguettes, real batons. There was seemingly no provocation other than some slang I perhaps couldn’t understand. The pigs, my bad, I mean police, are quite good at moving en masse and in coordination – 30-40 people at a time. Do they all have headphones on? My big concern is there are no IDs of any kind on these armed people. Anonymous attacks by anyone, much less someone with serious weapons and riot gear to the hilt – “coming to a theater near you”.
This will surprise no one here:
French top court upholds Macron’s retirement age hike (DW)
Found this on Twitter today (4/14/23):
dana (@dana916) tweeted at 2:13 PM on Fri, Apr 14, 2023:
🇫🇷 The Constitutional Council of France approves the most important part of reforming the retirement system
🇫🇷 French President Emmanuel Macron will sign the reform law to raise the retirement age within 48 hours
🇫🇷 Secretary General of the French Federation of Labor: We call… https://t.co/oK03n9DIMa
(https://twitter.com/dana916/status/1646954808086089731?t=5pncn0tGFpVkptHU6jQQVQ&s=03)
“the death knell of Western democracy”
I think that horse has already left the barn.
One article talks about a shortage of health care workers. The reasons are obvious. They aren’t paid much. Often only a little above minimum wage.It is mentally and physically a difficult job.They have too many patients to attend to. Often they are heavy and hard to move.Being sick means many are cranky. My wife has been in several fortunately for a short time and all operate in the same way. I respect and praise these people for being able to endure all of this and still show up every day with a smile on their face. They are Saints.
How Bears Hibernate without Getting Blood Clots Scientific American
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Interesting article…
I saw 20 black bears last year after having around 10 encounters each of the past 5 or 6 years, an uptick in population that was verified by other friends sightings being along the same numbers.
Every bear less than 3 years old has only known extreme drought, and now is about the time they wake up from the big sleep, where there is 15 to 20 feet of snow above their dens, and worse than that, absolutely nothing to eat aside from flavorless Slurpees.
The smart ones will make their way down to tiny town, and raid AirBnB trash cans.
It may be you are seeing more not so much because the population is larger, but that they have to get closer to humans because food is getting scarce elsewhere.
A similar dynamic hase been playing out with polar bears a the ice sheet melts, limiting their ability to hunt seals.
>Putin cancels Victory Day parades as Ukraine invasion continues to unravel The Atlantic Council
Victory Day itself has become by far the biggest holiday of the year, with the defeat of Nazi Germany elevated above all other events and achievements as the defining moment in Russian history.
This victory cult has long set the tone in Russian politics and public life.
WTF is the matter with these people at the “Atlantic Council?” Do they not appreciate the 27 million people living in the Soviet Union who died during WWII? “Victory cult?” No, if you want to see a victory cult watch the military propaganda airing before a U.S. Superbowl game.
Smart move by Putin as Ukrainian “victories” are mostly of the media sort. I don’t think that Putin wants to put those troops and spectators’s lives at risk of a terrorist bombing or drone bombing just so the Ukrainians can get a coupla cheap media shots.
Victory cult…as in American Independence Day July 4, a similar “victory cult” celebration.
USA seem able to turn even defeat into a victory cult…
Wikipedia says that Victory in Europe day, or a similar “Liberation Day” is “celebrated across European nations as public holidays and national observances”. It is also recognised in Asian countries (ex-USSR) and in Israel.
Only in Russia, of course, is it a victory cult, and only the Russians think the defeat of Nazi Germany was a defining moment in history.
not just 27 million, but 25% of the population.
Imagine today if 110 million Americans died over the past 4 years, and practically every family seeing at least one family member dead.
A bit of an exaggeration. The range of Soviet citizens dying during WWII is in a range of 20-27 million. The 1941 population was about 200 million. So more like 12%. Still an enormous, unimaginable number to Americans. The US military deaths in WWII were about 400,000–both European and Pacific Theatres. Almost no civilian deaths, as were most in the USSR. When in Petersburg a few years ago, we were told that one out of three persons perished. Mostly from starvation.
To get a very intimate view of the postwar trauma, I recommend the fairly recent Russian movie, Beanpole. Warning: not for the faint-hearted.
And when you look up the personal history of Putin, his dad was severely wounded during the war, a grandma was killed by Germans, and an uncle vanished on the front.
“Victory Day itself has become by far the biggest holiday of the year…..”
Nonsense. New Year’s is Russia’s biggest holiday by a long shot. The whole country shuts down from (roughly, depending on the calendar) 31 December till 14 January (when Russians celebrate the “old” new year, as per the Julian calendar). The second biggest holiday is 8 March (International Women’s Day), which usually stretches out to a 3-day weekend. Victory Day (9 May) is one of several holidays starting on 1 May and usually shutting Russia down till roughly 11 May. And I think it’s a very good thing that Russians honor and remember the sacrifices of past generations. But it’s not the biggest holiday of the year.
Whoever wrote this article needs to get outside into the open air more often. And yes, a USA superbowl is the pinnacle of patriotic propaganda these days. Goebbels himself would approve.
Craig Murray on the 4th anniversary of Julian Assange’s kidnapping from the Ecuadorian Embassy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZF1HMUx_Js
Not many journos there to hear his short speech. Wonder why not.
For the same reason that no journalist were there when they pulled Julian Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy. Well, except for RT I believe.
Oh, Fauci, the dude that lied about “herd immunity” and kept moving that goal post (when it was unreachable) for a year, before dropping it, and openly admitting he was lying for our own good. A truly distinguished member of our genocidal public health establishment.
“Misinformation and disinformation are the enemy of public health and pandemic control.” This is true, and a major reason why public health is *family blog*ed.
Also, Fauci may be “slow-footed and over-the-hill” now, but he was not when he *family blog*ed the response to the AIDS epidemic.
“Vessel inspections resumed in Istanbul within the framework of Grain Initiative’
That initiative is already falling apart because of rampant corruption and abse. Yes, I was as surprised to learn this as you. Slovakia has discovered a 1,500-ton shipment of Ukrainian grain containing chlorpyrifos – a substance banned in the EU – and are now going to have to destroy all 1,500 tons. Slovak authorities have now banned the processing and sale of Ukrainian grain and flour made from it that is currently stored in the country. Meanwhile, cheap Ukrainian grain has been flooding the eastern market causing major protests by Polish and Bulgarian farmers to ban it and they have been blocking roads to let their governments know that they are not happy. Poland has now temporarily banned the import of Ukrainian grain – as there is an upcoming election – and will only allow transit of this grain through the country. Farmers in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria have all suffered heavy losses in spite of the fact that all that grain was suppose to be going to places like Africa so the internal pressures may see this deal fall apart.
Re: Taibbi’s Crackdown Cometh
«The Leaker tale will also surely be framed as reason to pass the RESTRICT Act, the wet dream of creepazoid Virginia Senator Mark Warner,…»
At last, an apt honorific for Sen. Warner!
A manifest evil:
and
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/business/bitcoin-mining-electricity-pollution.html
Maybe someone can make the case that we’re wasting resources at a time of war? lol
With profitable downstream effects!
It’s almost as if, the only losers here, are American citizens.
We have met the paperclip maximizer, and it is us.
Colorado, other states confront medical bankruptcies.. what about Obamacare…
1) What evidence do you have that AHC enrollment was available, or that those filing for bankruptcy enrolled? I’ve found most people uninformed about their coverage options and about AHC. Many youngs and gig crowd I know decide to take their chances, despite offers of help to pay for coverage.
2) There is the issue of balance billing. A friend received a $100k surprise related to hospitalization for Covid-19, despite her supposedly rolls-royce insurance.
3) P/E is taking over and consolidating healthcare entities and certain types of medical practices. They’re going to pursue every dollar, no matter what coverage you have. (see 2) above)
4) Health providers are strapped. They’re going to pursue every dollar.
Many proposals have been forwarded to ease the problems. What do you suggest?
Medicare for all.
Medicare is so crapified, what we need is universal, single payor health care. But not Medicare. No co-pays, no deductibles. Medicare is actually complicated as heck. The target model must be simple: show up, get care, period.
I can remember when it was called “Improved-Medicare-for-All”. Wonder what happened to the “Improved” part? As someone who’s getting ready to retire, I can only say that Medicare is an overly complicated mess, Parts A, B, C, D and Medigap. Can’t imagine how much money they’re wasting on administration of that mess.
With differing penalties if you do or don’t do things at the right/wrong times. It’s almost as if it has been designed to confuse citizens. A disaster indeed. Throw in privatization with Medicare “advantage” plans.
Government provided health insurance, free at the point of service, from the moment that you are a citizen. Better than Medicare, no paperwork or Medicare Advantage to fight. Remove the 18% of GDP drain on our economy.
Yes, indeed, Charger. However,
“Single payer will never, ever come to pass.” Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2016
https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/29/politics/hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-health-care/index.html
“We’re capitalist; that’s just the way it is.” Nancy Pelosi, 2017
https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/socialism/were-capitalist-doesnt-cut-it
Now I will get back to work helping disabled adult offspring with Medicare paperwork. I should add that I am very grateful for Medicare, as opposed to the “go die” alternative.
How about single payor, with heavy regulation on charges/profits, relative to costs?
Medicare is not so great, either.
Simplify the tax code, and loose all of the underemployed accounts to get to full life cycle/cost accounting in Medicine and Military contracting.
1). “Most are uniformed about their AHC benefits.” IMO, they shouldn’t have to need to be informed of a rather complex and varying benefits program. I’m somewhat informed, and it’s expensive especially for those with illness that can lead to bankruptcy. 2). The Youngs and gig crowd might be the least/less likely to face bankruptcy from Healthcare issues. 3). AHC intensified a failing overpriced system of for profi t Healthcare. Seems inescapable to conclude AHC is super huge contributor to bankruptcy. And 4). The AHC cultists many of them predicted (falsely) the AHC would in fact reduce Healthcare related bankruptcy.
The amount that could be done could not adequately be covered in a comment. I’d suggest here if your interested:
https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/how-obamacare-created-big-medicine
I would love for you to spend just one afternoon following me around with my patients.
Yes, it is Obamacare. The majority of the issues in the “covered” are the ridiculous deductibles that are now part and parcel of most of these plans. When a young couple have a deductible of 12K every year, they often do not eat well until August when they have spent that money. The entire system is evil.
This happens all day and every day.
I have another young man right now with a wife and two kids. Doing all he can to make things work. He and the family have Obamacare. He has early multiple sclerosis. The drug his neurologist chose is Ocrevus, about 150K yearly. His Obamacare care “coverage” has indicated they will pay around 30K of this. What a joke.
I am going to the mat with the insurance company, but this takes it out of me every time. Multiple bad encounter after the other with “peer to peer” communication. Of course the “peer” I am dealing with in this case is an early retirement pediatric oncologist who has not one clue what is going on or even what the issues are in multiple sclerosis.
All brought to you by the insane deductible scheme of Obamacare on top of the emboldening of the Insurance and Hospital corporations to make a pretty penny for their C suites and shareholders.
It is truly a complete ongoing joke. There are thousands of doctors dealing with this crap every day. It is why the burnout and suicide rate is so high. There are many more thousands who have just given up and do not lifetime a finger to help their patients out of total exhaustion.
I have been in practice long before Obamacare started. This crap just was not even remotely part of the landscape before then.
Please do not make excuses for this disaster. It is not a good look for you. The toll of human suffering among the “covered”, especially the young, is just overwhelming and a stain on this country.
I truly feel for you- and appreciate so much your insights over the years in this forum. Our daughter became a nurse two years before Covid, and it has been nothing but disheartening infuriating disappointment after disappointment.
I feel very guilty, because our Senator Baucus shepherded Obamacare in, had two Nurses forcibly removed from public hearings.
That Obama allowed his name to be attached to such a system affirms so much that is wrong with leadership and power in America. Heck, the Whole World.
Human failings are universal and not so exceptional.
We really need to rise up and Do Better- for all.
IM Doc: It was obvious from the beginning of Obamacare that the deductibles would wreck everything. Yet no one protested because of all of the celebrating–and the rightwing went after the mandate, with the usual appeals to some kind of iffy freedom instead of after the horrible structure of plans as Obamacare went into effect.
I was covered for years by Blue of California, even though I lived in Illinois. I was a free lance, paying my own insurance premiums. Some neighbors of mine of Japanese descent told me to join the Japanese American Citizens League. I’m not even hapa.
But they graciously took me–till Obamacare knocked anyone buying insurance across state lines off the rolls.
The JACL plan had a $500 yearly deductible, eye-care benefits, dental, and a whole lot more.
That all went out the window. When I got an offer of a job, I took it, one factor being the need to avoid Obamacare and Blue of Illinois.
New plan at the employer? Deductible? $2,700. (And, suddenly, my chiropractor was “out of network.”)
Everyone else who I know who was free-lancing went through the same experience.
The whole “reform” was a wicked wreck from its very design.
The entire system is evil…this happens all day and every day…a stain on this country…insane deductible…complete ongoing joke…disaster…toll of human suffering
Most would agree, and yet it persist year after year, decade after decade, getting worse and worse with little hope of anything substantially changing for the better.
Remember this guy? Jonathan Gruber? utube. 8 years ago. (not a fan of Inhofe but in this case he was correct.)
Obamacare architect calls average voter ‘stupid’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEjr9WchNkg
and 3 in a row of Gruber speaking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adrdmmh7bMo
(I feel my bp going up just watching this guy.)
Just helped my son pick an Obama care plan for himself and his wife. (They live in the Chicago suburbs.) The premium per month was shocking along with an insane deductible. They want to have a child but I have no idea how they could even afford the pregnancy.
How can they afford the pregnancy?
As is now universally commonplace among the “covered” with their outstanding insurance….
Open a GoFund Me page. That will do it. Or put baskets with their pictures on it in every grocery check out line in the town……And just be glad you are talking about something optional like pregnancy and not cancer.
I am certainly not trying to be mean to you – I completely understand your concerns.
But I just wish Americans would step back and think. MSNBC and the NYT tells us every day “THANK GOODNESS FOR OBAMACARE, we now have universal coverage” But a thinking person should really do an honest appraisal – and ask themselves if the “covered” had to depend on GoFundMe and grocery store baskets 7 years ago like what is going on now? I just did a quick mind inventory – I have at this very moment 6 “covered” patients using GoFundMe to do whatever they can to get funds to pay for chemo, procedures, or other needs. I know this because their care is on hold until they can pay for things. One of the tasks I now have that was never an issue before is shepherding often very sick patients through this “on hold” time. It can be very harrowing, especially when there are little 6 year old kids brought to the appointments with sick moms or dads. Before the past decade or so – insured putting their care “on hold” was just non-existent.
Ask your congressman how their personal Obamacare coverage is working for their family…..Oh, I forgot, they have Cadillac insurance.
“Ask your congressman how their personal Obamacare coverage is working for their family…..Oh, I forgot, they have Cadillac insurance.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/12/523335954/what-happens-to-a-congressmans-health-insurance-if-obamacare-goes-down
What the above does NOT talk about is the Office of the Attending Physician.
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/congress-health-care-clinic/story?id=8706655
Special Health Care for Congress: Lawmakers’ Health Care Perks
A little known office on Capitol Hill provides quality care at a low price.
The History of ObamaCare, 2013-2016
DO NOT get me started on Obamacare.
I have been helping a family member navigate this minefield since February.
Healthcare.gov said specialist was in network.
Insurance company website said specialist was in network for the plan purchased.
PCP submitted referral to said specialist.
Insurance company denies referral. Reason: NOT IN NETWORK
Family member talks to insurance company for about an hour (one of many phone calls). Insurance company says specialist is in network, but they can’t fix it, PCP has to re-submit the referral.
PCP re-submits and referral is denied AGAIN — OUT OF NETWORK.
Family member calls insurance company back, gets bounced around to different people, then transferred to voicemail. Repeated calls go to voicemail. Never gets a call back.
Family member tries to find out about some other coverage. Makes repeated calls. Cannot get anyone to pick up.
This is inhumane.
IM DOC: “The entire system is evil.”
YES, IT IS.
“What do you suggest?”
Nationalized health care.
There is a dog fight over profits among Pharma, Hospitals (now with added PE), and Insurance Cos. Who pays, how much gets paid, who profits? (Patients? Who cares about patients?) I’d start by reining in drug prices, clipping pharma’s wings first. Nationalizing healthcare won’t solve the problem if pharma is left to charge whatever it wants. That will bankrupt any national healthcare system. (And it’s one reason Medicare Part D is separate from regular Medicare.) My 2 cents.
Congressional action to change healthcare to serve people won’t happen until there is a change in Congress. The current system is so stacked against people for a simple reason.
They are up against gigantic mountains and torrents and whatever other visual you need to convey MONEY.
That money pays off Congress, keeps them in office and comes from everywhere. Big Pharma pays, so does Big Insurance and Big Device, along with Big PE.
The people don’t realize that they are pawns to be pushed around and told how much to pay, suffer, how long to remain silent, which is forever. In the meantime, keep paying and suffering and dying.
The message is: You are replaceable, as needed. If the healthcare shackles aren’t enough, then the housing shackles can supplement the control to keep the population subdued.
It’s not just pharma — it’s the pharmacy benefit managers (which are owned by insurance companies).
https://wendellpotter.substack.com/p/unitedhealth-cvsaetna-cigna-pulled
https://wendellpotter.substack.com/p/big-insurance-2022-revenues-reached
BIG INSURANCE 2022: Revenues reached $1.25 trillion thanks to sucking billions out of the pharmacy supply chain – and taxpayers’ pockets
Analysis of the 2022 financial statements of UnitedHealth Group, CVS/Aetna, Cigna, Elevance, Humana, Centene, and Molina
“11 more US troops diagnosed with traumatic brain injury after attacks in Syria last month” CNN.
‘Remind me why we are there?”
Trump: ‘We’re keeping the oil. I’ve always said that — keep the oil. We want to keep the oil, $45 million a month. Keep the oil. We’ve secured the oil.’
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/keeping-oil-syria-trump-considered-war-crime/story?id=66589757
‘Video: Drunken “Idiots” Decide to Touch a Moose. See What Happens’
How do you know when a moose is aggressive? She doesn’t run away. She’s stopped eating, laid her ears back at your approach, and lowered her head. You can see the whites of her eyes. Run!
For the sake of the moose I don’t think it was a good idea to egg those drunks on. All they could hear was some guy challenging their manhood and intelligence (funny how often those two are confused) and so, of course, they had to touch that moose. ‘No one was going to tell them what they could or couldn’t do’… yelled their inebriated egos! It might have ended badly for the moose. Some states kill aggressive wildlife after a stupid human is injured.
Even so, I was rather hoping this was a video where the stupid humans had several bones broken and internal organs squished, as one of those life lessons not easily remedied in the morning with a couple of aspirin.
Laughing Lexx. Oh my golly. I had read the link posted as ‘Video: Drunken “Idiots” Decide to Touch a Mouse. See What Happens”
Until your comment I hadn’t laughed so hard all afternoon. Ha Ha Ha – many thanks!
I moose-ta been using my Evelyn Wood system once too often.
Liquid “courage” in action.
Some days i regret giving it up, most days i don’t.
My soon to be 98 year old mom had troubles breathing @ her assisted living place in LA and was admitted to the ER a few days ago, and had a collapsed lung full of darkish red-brown fluid that they drained out. She was diagnosed with Lymphoma cancer 4 years ago and it’s probably the reason, they reckon. She wanted no part of chemotherapy, and can’t say I blame her nearing 100.
My sisters and I made quick work of being there for her, and it looks as if she’ll recover nicely. She’s a tough bird and will return to her nest in a day or 2.
Good to hear that Wuk and you must be very relieved. But your mum is 98 and still tickin’? Not bad for someone born when Calvin Coolidge was President.
Well, in her defense, William Lyon Mackenzie King was PM, ha ha.
NPR leaves Twitter
From the article, this sounds like it is as much an economic fight as anything. Musk is seeking to extract more revenue but the media providers are not keen to be a cash cow. They bring value to the platform in terms of attracting ads and users but he gives them a distribution channel. Playing around with how they are labeled (and slightly rowing back as with the BBC) feels it is maybe less about equity and more linked to exerting commercial leverage. There is a negotiation going on and Musk is using all the levers he has.
NPR exiting might therefore even be a feature not a bug. The risk of media providers choosing to exit has no doubt been thought about. At the end of the day, he did not become the richest man in the world by operating as a charity.
Not sure if any readers have greater knowledge of the specifics. Would be interesting.
I like the comments on twitter regarding NPR (and others before them) leaving the app: This isn’t an airport, you don’t need to announce departures. A more pilot version of “don’t let the door hit you in the a@@ on the way out.”
Funny how that plays out, given that media is keen on extracting blood from Google etc.
East Coast vs. West Coast. Clearly click bait to drive page views at F&S, but here’s my take. My reference point is growing up fishing in the east (PA mostly, but also NY and ME) all of that public water, I ain’t no millionaires son.
I ended up moving to Montana, mostly because of the fishing. And it’s good. There’s no doubt there is more public water available to fish. But it’s not always easier. Yes there are always the unknown little creeks with willing fish, but the rivers they write about can be moody. And so if you routinely catch fish on Penns Creek or the East Branch of the Delaware, you’ll have a great time out West. But if you can’t, it’s not going to suddenly turn around for you in MT.
My home river is “technical”. You can have some great days catching 20 or more fish over 18″, and then get completely skunked the next day. Current cost for a guided trip is $800 for a full day with two clients. And they’re currently booking 2024. But my brother, who helps manage a fishing club back east, has clients who no longer come out to MT to fish because it’s too tough. They would rather pay 100k per year to fish private water at home.
Lastly, maybe it changed, but 15 years ago NZ was anything but tough. I wasn’t awful at fly fishing, but wasnt great either. I had to borrow a fly rod and reel for my trip because I didn’t own one at the time. I wandered around both islands unguided and with only help from friendly locals caught fish everywhere I went.
With that said, I’m dropping the kids off and going fishing. Have a great weekend y’all.
My longtime backpacking partner is a pretty dedicated fly fisherman in the Sierra, and many times the destination was some off-beat lake with no name and it’s outlet stream, the harder it is to get to, the better the fishing.
I took him to a magnificent lake a few years ago and we were the first people there in the spring, and what makes this lake fabulous for fishing is it has no inlet stream and is spring fed, so the trout don’t look like every other High Sierra lake where it freezes over and the fish systematically starve, and when you catch one in the summer they have giant heads and withering bodies.
We got to Evelyn Lake and I pulled out a paperback to read and a few hours later he comes back to camp and I ask the score?
He caught 49 trout on 50 casts, 42 rainbows and 7 browns-all 10-14 inches. He’s pretty much all catch & release.
If anything he was disappointed a little bit, as he related it was like winning the Kewpie doll with every effort at a carnival, just too easy.
“Hopper/dropper?”, he asked, reclining in the shoreline grass, taking in the breathtaking Cirque
” Naw – Marlboro(tm) filter on a #10…. a Joe Sixpack Chubby.”
East/West. I have fished with Ospreys from both coasts. Some people have both passion and talent, and LOTS of time on the water.
The scariest are not purist fly-only, but the ones who are willing to and do know how to use, with lethal ability, any tackle type. Fish-heads.
Thing is, with the hoards, the 8 billions, I have put up my rods and guns… the wildlife really needs a break in the waxing Anthropocene. I am a lucky duck who had some of the best of it in my mis-spent Ute, 70’s and 80’s.
Now doing little, with less…quietly into the night
Days like that last a long time. It’s great to have a day so good you stop fishing for them and just watch them do fish stuff.
I recently read a book about Norman MacLean (A River Runs Through It). When the successful book and ultimately the Redford movie came out his favorite MT river was soon fished out by fans.
Fly fishing is not my thing but it certainly is “aesthetic.”
East Coast can be tricky with most public access being limited and usually heavily fished. On the other hand many fish are stocked and not exactly all that difficult to fool. I fish a section of the Westfield River that is open to both fly and spin casting. There are difficult to reach holes that my friends will pull 4 or 5 rainbows out with each spin cast. I’m lucky to get 1-2 in a day and have resorted to drowning a worm or two just so I can have dinner. East Coast Native Brook Trout can be hard to entice, they’ve had a lot of things thrown at them. Also, the East Coast smaller streams are not easily fished with vegetation hugging the banks. The big open water I’ve fished in the west saved me lots of time untangling my line from the shrub behind me.
RE: Major health systems dropping mask mandates in ‘momentous’ shift of pandemic policy
Twitter thread by Greg Gonsalves:
https://twitter.com/gregggonsalves/status/1646620668849537025?cxt=HHwWgoC-6cWx_NktAAAA
Excerpts:
There is NO plan. 1/
…
Should, when the next pandemic hits, we are done for. We’ve shown we cannot rise to the occasion. There is no such thing as community, solidarity, it’s dog-eat-dog. 12/
…
But I’ve never been more disgusted, disappointed, saddened in my life as I am now. End/
Walking through cancer center waiting area this morning(day 5), it was 90% unmasked, 10% masked. A female MD passed by and no mask on, same with check-in staff. It disgusts and angers me.
Question they might care about: will this cause a decline in highly profitable elective procedures?
Probably not. Too many people have bought into the narrative that the pandemic is over.
“South Korea to pay US$490 to encourage reclusive youths to leave their homes; growing issue across East Asia’
Say, isn’t South Korea the country that has 52 working hours per week and wanted to raise it to 69 working hours per week? And they want those kids to leave home to sign up for that for less than 500 bucks? It’s like living to work is not an attractive option anymore or something.
It’s partly internet dopamine addiction, and worldwide. It should have its own entry in the DSM manual.
I doubt $490 will work.
OpenAI made a billions dollar deal with Microsoft. That has gotten every single person in the finance press’s attention. In the last week Lex Fridman has done interviews w/ Altman (head of OpenAI / Chat GPT), Yudkowski (the Artificial General (Super) Intelligence = the end of human civilization guy), and Tegmark (the MIT professor who may be the most accomplished fellow calling for an AI development suspension).
The Tegmark discussion of the suspension letter is probably worth a listen. @ the 24-50 minute segment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcVfceTsD0A&ab_channel=LexFridman
One of these interviews is at least two weeks old but he has put them out on his channel in the last week with some lengthy editing work.
“The Strategic Consequences of a Kılıçdaroğlu Victory Over Erdoğan”
If there is a Kılıçdaroğlu win, going by this article I can see what will happen next. Both Blinken and Ursula von der Leyen will fly in to lay down the law to him. They will demand that he sends all of Türkiye’s S-400 to the Ukraine but without any compensation. Better yet, strip their arsenals to send all their weapons to the Ukraine. Blinken will promise to send much more inferior Patriot missiles but will have to explain that it will take a coupla years as there is a shortage right now. They will be expected to give the nod to Sweden to go into NATO unconditionally and will also have to change some of their laws to suit EU standards – the ‘rule-of-law architecture’ mentioned – even though they are not in the EU or ever will be. They will also have to stop all energy cooperation and trade with Russia, even though that will throw the entire country into a major recession. Same with agricultural products, even though they help feed the country. They would also be expected to keep those Syrian refugees and stop them returning to their home country. Probably they would be offered IMF loans but told to reject any from the Chinese and told not to trade with them. And when they jump through all those hoops, they will take pride in having the same sort of economy as the EU.
And block the Black Sea entrance/exit to Russian ships but allow free passage for ‘Nato’ friendly ships, perhaps?
That all works fine until the container ship Ever-Loving has an accident and blocks all passage.
S-400… unlikely not now, as Turkey is on the hook for both nuclear and natural gas energy with Russia. A hord of angry unemployed Turkish Construction workers returning home from Russia/Nova Russia to run riot, etc. Frankly, Ukraine is really a basket case so it was possible have a huge kickback stream while keeping the population feed, plus loosing market in the EU as the EU becomes another Ukraine. A failing USD can’t prop up Turkey. Turkey is on a whole different scale,
gee, shocking,
regional banks across the US reported a surge in lending to a group of well-connected people: their own directors, officers and major shareholders
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/insider-loans-surged-ahead-turmoil-040109357.html
Bloomberg
Insider Loans Surged Ahead of Turmoil at US Regional Banks
1/2
Insider Loans Surged Ahead of Turmoil at US Regional Banks
2/2
Insider Loans Surged Ahead of Turmoil at US Regional Banks
Noah Buhayar and Silla Brush
Thu, April 13, 2023, 11:01 PM CDT
(Bloomberg) — Not long before the Federal Reserve began lifting interest rates to tamp down inflation, regional banks across the US reported a surge in lending to a group of well-connected people: their own directors, officers and major shareholders…
Sounds to me like a lot of managers have decided that now is the time to loot their institutions, much like those glorious Reagan years when he deregulated the banks. When he signed the Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 Ronald Reagan said “All in all, I think we hit the jackpot.” That was true for management, not so much for depositors.
ticking time bombs,
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/top-us-banks-proportion-uninsured-120000283.html
“U.S. intel agencies may change how they monitor social media, chatrooms after missing leaked U.S. documents for weeks NBC. Why, it’s almost as if that was the object of the exercise!”
My thoughts exactly, only expressed in a much more concise manner.
Re the Rand Corporation and blockading Crimea. These people are really quite insane. Unless they want every NATO base around the Black Sea to evaporate right about the time we have no weapons to counter, this does not look like a very good idea.
We should get our taxpayer money back.
The Establishment and think tanks needs to wake up and realize that if you can’t win in a no-win scenario, gracefully lose—don’t start WW3.
The problem here is that, from apparent evidence, the Establishment faction presently in the ascendant is completely divorced from objective reality. Major governmental “players” believe that they can “win” a global thermonuclear war. “Dr. Strangelove” and the “mineshaft gap” perfectly describe these Neocon sociopaths.
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybSzoLCCX-Y
What that infamous “we create our own reality” quote from the Arch Neocon a few years ago tells us is that those Elites that imagine that they are capable of “creating reality” are willfully and completely delusional.
If Washington is an asylum, then the patients are now in charge.
That article is hot air and hand-waving. “Combinations of modern technologies could enable Ukraine to blockade and barrage Russian operations” Dude, we’ve got, like, umm… technology!
“[A] concerted swarm of explosive USVs … could break the bridge indefinitely”, “maritime shipping could be targeted by explosive USVs, and possibly by clandestine USV minelaying”, “Ukraine could attenuate this flow by targeting runways and fuel facilities”… it’s full of mays and coulds.
And it’s apparently based on a premise that your opponent won’t do anything, won’t adapt and has no countermeasures or comparable “technologies”. Where do those guys get their ideas from, computer games and superhero movies?
Coffee-spewer of the Day:
Biden is too old and not especially popular, but he is the Trump-slayer. That’s why he is right to run in 2024
Margaret Sullivan
Other Democrats are younger and nimbler, but Biden has been a better president than many expected – and he could be Donald Trump’s nemesis again
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/14/joe-biden-old-popular-donald-trump-run-2024-presidential-election-democrats?CMP=share_btn_link
Well, that settles it. Might as well hang the ol’ gone fishin’ sign in the window until next November.
The Grauniad, oracle of the ink-stained. /s
This paragraph will sear your eyeballs:
“And, to be sure, there are some impressive and capable Democrats out there. Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, has shown her mettle and acumen. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio senator, is downright admirable. Julián Castro, the youngest member of the former president Barack Obama’s cabinet, has significant appeal, as does his brother Joaquin, the Texas congressman. The vice-president, Kamala Harris, certainly has experience and readiness. Elizabeth Warren, always articulate, is on the right side of the messiest questions, from banking improprieties to gun control. Jamie Raskin, the Maryland congressman, is inspiring. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has brains and charisma.”
Laughter, the best medicine!
Dating myself by reference to the old Reader’s Digest column
The writer is pushing Kamala the Khameleon and Goodhair Newsom?
My, I would pay to see Trump take them apart. I truly would. Popcorn and beer watching the takedown on the big screen TV.
My goodness! With “candidates” like these, who needs fascist autocrats? (Oh, yes, that does look suspiciously like a rhetorical question. Sorry.)
The sad thing is, I can picture many Blue MAGA types nodding sapiently as they read this.
Not a one of them fit to empty my car’s litter box.
“Help me Dr. Zaius!”
See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmzUEQxOvA
They have finally made experimental monkeys out of us!
Having breakfast at an LA institution named Norm’s (we never close!) and the drive into the City of Angles yesterday was oh so very Blade Runner, quite overcast with no chance of Sun, and slightly drippy.
I can see why a 1964 3/2 in a marginal neighborhood is a million….
Where to Fish? i’m jaded and love my Michigan streams in both peninsulas –
Robert Traver, Hemingway, McGuane, and Jim Harrison country.
Just wait ’til the busy Virtuous Industrialists purloin your water for SoCal/Deseret.
Thanks Boss Mt, I didn’t know about Robert Traver. From Fantastic Fiction: Robert Traver is the pseudonym of John D. Voelker who served as the Prosecuting Attorney of Marquette County, Michigan and later as the 74th Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. He wrote many books reflecting his two passions, the law and flyfishing, Troubleshooters, Danny and the Boys and Small Town D.A.
Get me to a library. Looks like he wrote Anatomy of a Murder too.
Why Blockading Rather Than Retaking Crimea Might Be Kyiv’s Best Option
Where is Rand finding these people? Their contact with reality seems a bit tenuous. Minh you, two or three recent think-tank pieces have read more like parody than anything else. Baron Munchausen is envious.
They’re keeping the masks on at UCSF.
Do as they say, not as they do, every goddamned time.
i have not heard much out of the french people that their real problems are that they are locked into a free trade zone, where billionaires in the E.U., are macrons paymasters, and those billionaires are inter-connected to every billionaire on this planet under free trade agreements and the W.T.O.
till they figure it out, they may become exhausted getting no where, whilst the man behind the curtain snickers at their ignorance.
i could be wrong, maybe getting out is on the docket, i have not seen or hard that yet.
you can’t have it both ways, either you free trade, or you can have a civil society and environmental protection, you can’t have both.
the article spells it out, its short and sweet,
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11973887/Macrons-bid-raise-retirement-age-approved-constitutional-court-despite-strikes-protests.html
China?
Macron understands this The West vs. the rest?