by Sheela Ranganathan, Maanasa Kona Health Affairs There is a growing interest among policymakers to protect patients from medical debt and its negative downstream effects, in April 2023. Three of the three credit reporting agencies (CRAs)—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion voluntarily agreed to stop reporting any medical debt under $500. In April of this year the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that, despite these changes,...
Read More »Her Recession Indicator Triggers . . .
If you have been keeping up with New Deal democrat’s reports on the economy. He is not yet quite sold on the US slipping into recession. The Establishment Survey numbers are still positive. Numbers He believes and the numbers support his beliefs we are in a slight expansion mode. NDd also believe it is time to turn lose on the FED rates as it is in a slight expansion. Frustration of Claudia Sahm As Her Recession Indicator Triggers From the...
Read More »Large Percentage of Rural Hospitals Are at Risk of Closure
What if you had an accident and the closest Emergency Room was over 30 minutes away or what if you were sick and there were no physicians or hospital beds in your community? Millions of Americans are facing this situation because rural hospitals are being forced to close. Why More Than 30% of Rural Hospitals Are at Risk of Closure, MedCity News As told by CHQPR, more than 700 rural hospitals in the U.S. are at risk of closing due to their...
Read More »August 20, 1986, there was a mass shooting in the Edmond, Oklahoma
by Joyce Vance Civil Discourse Today, these crimes occur with frightening regularity. In 1986, it was still shocking. This shooting and several others around the time led to the use of the phrase “going postal.” After last term at the Supreme Court, we have to worry about whether the next Patrick Sherrill will have a gun equipped with a bump stock, which permits a firearm to function like a fully automatic weapon, a machine gun, even though...
Read More »Here in Mesa Arizona
Mesa’s Mayor John Giles splashed onto the national political scene this week after he crossed party lines and urged Arizona Republicans to vote against former President Donald Trump and support Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. His pitch started with a guest column in The Arizona Republic and a follow-up interview the same day. Giles didn’t stop there, and he’s making waves. He has since made the rounds on national broadcasts,...
Read More »Helping Witnesses in Trials by Providing Financial Benefits
Digsby led me to this article (below) in her recent piece, “More Corruption” Digby’s Hullabaloo. Trump is blatantly tampering with witnesses. Nobody cares. Until now, no presidential candidate could get away with this. But, as we know, Trump is special. He does what he wants. “Trump Witnesses Have Received Financial Benefits From Trump Businesses, Campaign.” ProPublica. Nine witnesses in the criminal cases against former President Donald...
Read More »50 Years Ago, Aug. 9, 1974
“50 Years Ago Today“ by Digsby Digby’s Hullabaloo #OnThisDay Aug. 9, 1974 President Nixon delivers farewell address to staffers: “Always give your best. Never get discouraged. Never be petty. Always remember others may hate you but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them. And then you destroy yourself.” pic.twitter.com/p6pQz1AQ6w— CSPAN (@cspan) August 9, 2024 He was a corrupt monster. But at least he wasn’t an...
Read More »The horizon for the 2024 presidential election suddenly shortened from years to about three months
August 9, 2024 by Heather Cox Richardson AB: Is trump a liar ??? Letters from an American When President Joe Biden announced that he would not accept the Democratic nomination for president and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on July 21 less than three weeks ago, the horizon for the 2024 presidential election suddenly shortened from years to about three months. That shift apparently flummoxed the Republicans, who briefly talked...
Read More »Climate adaptation options
by The one-handed economist Humans are not doing enough mitigation to slow — let alone reverse — climate change chaos. Average global temperature is now +1.2C, far above which is on track to exceed the 2015 Paris Agreement’s target of “holding the increase in the global average temperature… increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels” by 2034.* In this 2011 post (“We’re screwed, now what?”), I wrote: Mitigation-focused investments...
Read More »South Dakota’s Noem Releases Social Study Standards Burnishing American History
Noem releases social study standards to burnish U.S. history, AP News SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Monday released a revised proposal for social studies standards in public schools that lays out a mostly shining vision of American history, after an initial draft of the standards came under heavy criticism last year from conservatives and Native American educators. The Republican governor claimed the new proposed...
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