As if we needed yet further evidence that what passes for healthcare in the United States is really just a complicated grift to promote profit, here it is. Sadly, the Republican Party promotes this grift, and other than Democrats Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Katie Porter, and maybe AOC I don't really see anyone in Congress fighting to create universal birthright single-payer healthcare really focused on wellbeing. Even worse American voters just don't seem to get why this matters to their own wellbeing.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks during a hearing Credit: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post / Getty
“These companies have built entire businesses around making beneficiaries look as sick as possible,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “And unsurprisingly, government watchdogs have discovered widespread abuse.”
In the wake of numerous studies and investigations detailing the staggering level of fraud in the privately run Medicare Advantage program, the Biden administration proposed a new rule aimed at cracking down on upcoding—a common industry practice whereby plans describe patients as sicker than they actually are to reap larger payments from the federal government.
The rule, finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this year, sparked a furious lobbying blitz that has only intensified in recent weeks, with the for-profit insurance industry’s most powerful players leading the fight against the proposal and other policy changes that they have falsely characterized as Medicare Advantage “cuts.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday that insurance industry executives and lobbyists have been “flooding Capitol Hill” in an effort to protect their
This is a very sad story, and I hope that Americans who live along the route the monarchs fly hear about this and plant milkweed so we do not lose these beautiful beings. And, do I need to say it again, never ever use Roundup on their property.
Credit: Graphic: Center for Biological Diversity
Wildlife conservationists sounded the alarm Wednesday as an annual count of monarch butterflies revealed a sharp decline in the number of the iconic insects hibernating in Mexican forests, stoking renewed fears of their extinction.
The annual survey—led by Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and the Mexican branch of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)—showed a 22% drop in the hibernating monarch population amid accelerating habitat loss driven primarily by deforestation.
“Despite heroic efforts to save monarchs by planting milkweed, we could still lose these extraordinary butterflies by not taking bolder action,” Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in a statement.
“Monarchs were once incredibly common,” she added. “Now they’re the face of the extinction crisis as U.S. populations crash amid habitat loss and the climate meltdown.”
Renowned for its epic annual migrations from the northern U.S. and southern Canada to Florida, California, and Mexico, monarchs have suffered a precipitous plunge in population in North America this century.
Thom Hartmann, I think, echoing what I have been saying in SR for several years now, has nailed it, and this is what worries me more than anything else. Hate, and resentment are crippling the United States and destroying our democracy at a time when unity of intention, and preparation for what climate change is doing have never been more essential. The 2024 election is going to be the turning point. If the Republicans take the majority in the Senate, retain it in the House, and God forbid win the White House I think in four years the United States will be a country we barely recognize.
MAGAt hater Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA) (L) fist-bumps Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) (R) during a hearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. Credit: Alex Wong / Getty
Denver conservative radio host Mandy Connell publicly changed her party affiliation from Republican to independent on her program this Monday, a week after giving a thoughtful and largely apolitical interview to Talkers Magazine publisher Michael Harrison on his podcast. On her own program she was blunt:
“As much as I hold conservative ideals and values in many, many ways, I will not be a part of the cult of Trump anymore. I don’t want people to say, ‘Why is your party doing this?’ I don’t want people to look at me and say, ‘What is wrong with your party?’ It’s not my party. It’s the party of Donald Trump in Colorado.”
Denver’s Channel 9 News, reporting on Connell’s leaving the GOP, noted Monday:
“Connell is one of 133 Republicans that changed their voter affiliation since Saturday. The majority switched to unaffiliated.”
Following the January 6th insurrection and coup […]
While the media speculates endlessly about Trump, basically with little of the actual facts, the secession trend is growing in the United States day by day, without any really serious conversation. My prediction is that the U.S. will survive as single nation, but through a series of conservative Supreme Court decisions, which will continue until two of the MAGA contingent die or retire and a Democratic President can nominates justices that make fostering wellbeing. Dobbs is a first example of what I mean. Policy will shift to the states or groups of states that join together. The Senate needs to be reconfigured, and I think at some point this will happen because the current two senators to a state no matter the population isn't working. Climate change is going to force national action, and that, along with national systems like currency are going to be what holds the country together. I hope this includes universal birthright single-payer healthcare focused on wellbeing. Otherwise, I think states like Washington, Oregon, and California may take it up. It is so much cheaper.
The US Capitol Building Credit: J. David Ake / AP
States, cities and the wealthy are already withdrawing from the idea of a unified America.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, wants a “national divorce.” In her view, another Civil War is inevitable unless red and blue states form separate countries.
The American Civil War was a national trauma precipitated by the secession of 11 Southern states over slavery. It is, therefore, understandable that many pundits and commentators would
This is not good news. Exactly why the IQ of Americans is dropping after a century of rising is unclear but, based on objectively verified data, it is happening. This at a time when MAGAt world is trying to dismantle public education. Already many Americans could not pass the standard 1895 graduation test given 8th graders in a one-room schoolhouse in Kansas. Think I am exaggerating? Try the test and see how you do: 1895 Exam
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS — IQ scores significantly increased from 1932 through the 20th century all over the world, with differences ranging from roughly three to five IQ points per decade. This phenomenon is known as the “Flynn Effect.” Now, however, a new study out Northwestern University suggests a “reverse-Flynn Effect” of sorts may be taking place in the United States.
This reverse-Flynn Effect was present across a large U.S. sample covering between 2006 and 2018 in every category — except one. Still, there were consistent negative slopes among three out of four cognitive domains.
Ability scores pertaining to verbal reasoning (logic, vocabulary), matrix reasoning (visual problem solving, analogies), and letter and number series (computational/mathematical) all dropped over the course of the study period. However, scores of 3D rotation (spatial reasoning) generally increased between 2011 to 2018.
Composite ability scores (single scores derived from multiple pieces of information) were also lower across the more recent samples. These score differences persisted regardless of age, education, or gender.
