Just finished “Africa, A Biography of a Continent”” by John Reader. I don’t recall how this book came into my possession. It may have been on my mom’s bookshelf when we stopped by after they moved to take whatever we wanted. Whatever its provenance, I had only read a little African history: “King Leopold’s Ghost” and a book on the Boer War are the only ones I can recall. I also read Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” which is a thinly veiled account of...
Read More »MOHELA Tells Republican States It is Not Involved in Lawsuit
“Major student-loan company (MOHELA) just undermined the GOP-led lawsuit halting Biden’s debt cancellation,” (msn.com), Ayelet Sheffey. Oct 12, 2022, Biden’s Student-Debt Relief Goes to Court Today. Here’s the GOP Argument, (businessinsider.com), Ayelet Sheffey. Republicans representing Arkansas, South Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri all said the states could suffer revenue loss from student-loan forgiveness, even as Biden’s...
Read More »What News Was in My In-Box, November 2, 2022
A lot of good and assorted News topics to be read. I did not include any about the upcoming election. I did include one on polling. The same as 2020, I believe the polling results are tainted. We are not getting a clear picture from polling or news reporting. That is just one of 30-something articles and links here this week. Heavy on healthcare. and the Economy, otherwise an eclectic mix of assorted news topics. Politics “Only the GOP...
Read More »Emissions Gap Report for the United States and Globally
Two posts are at the bottom of this one. Just talking about on-purpose emission of exhaust by pickup trucks which have had the emissions control devices altered. They did this to blow black exhaust out of their exhaust. This report on Treehugger is an update on how well the world is doing. Simple terms, it ain’t. The goal with the implementation of conditional NDCs, plus additional net-zero commitments, was to achieve a 1.8°C rise. The United...
Read More »The idea of “local political leaders” should be participating
October 25, 2022, Heather Cox Richardson, (substack.com). There are quotes, and then there are quotes. Tonight, in the debate between Democratic candidate John Fetterman and Republican candidate Mehmet Oz as part of their campaigns to replace Republican Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey, who is retiring, Oz said he wanted abortion decisions to be made by “women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our...
Read More »What News Was in My In-Box
Quite a few varying articles in healthcare and other topics this week. Pfizer is hoping to make a killing on it mRNA vaccine, shots are approved for 6 months to five-years of age, Medicare Advantage plans, and Novartis is back again with a cancer drug. A COA has blocked student loan relief, lots of talk about housing being blown-up, etc. Is business struggling over the last two years? Read about GM’s spectacular 3rd qtr, 2022. The bottom 50% of...
Read More »A Declining Interest in Boosters
Much of this post is from “Among Seniors, a Declining Interest in Boosters,” (dnyuz.com). This article first appeared in the New York Times as authored by Paula Span, October 22, 2022. I think what is important here is the growing indifference to Covid. They have been inoculated against Covid with the original series of shots. Most went ahead with the two boosters to strengthen the original. Now with the third booster, they are displaying hesitance....
Read More »As Predicted, “Right Wing Opposition to Student Loan Relief”
This just popped up (October 19, 2022) at Scotus Blog. Just as expected the right filed to block student loan relief. Initially filing at the 7th District COA and another filing to SCOTUS just in case they lose at the 7th District. Apparently, they feel it is unfair students get any relief to loans which if they were car loans, etc., they could receive bankruptcy relief. In effect, denial of bankruptcy for these types of loans discriminates against...
Read More »Applying for Student Loan Debt Relief
If you have not seen this application, you will now. I would urge you to quickly apply for loan relief. Apply for it at the link provided before politician asses find some way to block this. The sooner it gets approved, the quicker the relief. It is not much. Once they approve your application, I doubt they will block the relief to you. Use this Link Debt Relief | Application | Federal Student Aid to get to an Application for Debt Relief. What...
Read More »Republicans Plan to Use Debt Limit Leverage to Cut Social Security and Medicare
Introduction: FFS Medicare Overhead costs are ~2%. Medicare Advantage overhead costs are far higher. The same can be said for commercial healthcare costs paid by insurance companies. Neither MA administered healthcare or commercial insurance plans can compete with FFS Medicare for costs and care. I will touch on a few reasons why on Medicare at the end of this article which came by way of Dale Coberly, the resident expert of today’s SS. As...
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