Tag Archives: politics

Coronavirus update: mid year 2023  – by New Deal democrat I haven’t done an update on the state of COVID since March or April. As we are halfway through the year, and just past the July 4 holiday get-togethers that sparked summer waves in the past, let’s take a look. Covid isn’t gone, but it is very much in a lull. Almost all case tracking by governments is gone. But Biobot’s wastewater monitoring, which has been very reliable, continues....

A brief essay for July 4, 2023  – by New Deal democrat Selections from Brutus, the anti-federalist who argued against the Constitution’s institution of the Supreme Court: “When great and extraordinary powers are vested in any man, or body of men, which in their exercise, may operate to the oppression of the people, it is of high importance that powerful checks should be formed to prevent the abuse of it. “[T]hose who are to be vested with...

Similar story as what Medicare Advantage does in comparison to Traditional Medicare. Denials in commercial healthcare sound very similar as to what is found in Medicare Advantage plans. Similarities are the same companies sell both types of healthcare insurance. What has come into play with commercial healthcare is the PPACA which can force commercial healthcare to release more information. What is being looked at in this commentary are denials of...

The Constitution does not impose complete separation between the judiciary and the political branches. Instead, it establishes a federal judicial branch that is separate from the legislative and executive branches and benefits from certain important protections3 but also grants the political branches, and especially Congress, substantial power to regulate and otherwise influence the federal courts. Beyond the authority to confirm and impeach...

Pretty self-exclamatory and not needing a comment by me. The Supreme Court’s ban on affirmative action means colleges will struggle to meet goals of diversity and equal opportunity, Economic Policy Institute, Adewale A. Maye After extensive deliberation, the Supreme Court has delivered a landmark ruling that effectively prohibits the use of race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Race-blind admissions processes will further...

As read at Naked Capitalism, Yves Smith writes . . .”This post provides a high-level debunking of the Fed/central bank approach of squeezing wages as the first line of attack against of inflation. It cites the views of James Galbraith. If you’d like to read a fuller discussion, please see his article The Quasi-Inflation of 2021-2022 – A Case of Bad Analysis and Worse Response.” NYT Says More Worker Suffering Needed to Bring Inflation Down...

Some confounding SCOTUS decisions which do not have logical backing and are more partisan than normal. There is no standing on either of these cases. 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis This SCOTUS ruling is puzzling to me in that it brings up the question in my mind of when is harm done? “303” was not asked to make a cake. It did not refuse to make a cake. It assumed the law would be enforced upon them, if they refused to make a cake for a same-sex...

This is a pretty good take on what happened at SCOTUS for 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis and Nebraska (which had no standing) v. Biden. Recently and along similar circumstance, the court rejected complainants’ cases due to not having standing. In this instance, the court changes its tune. Ankush explains the reasoning for the court’s decision being flawed better than I do. I resurrected an older post done by an attorney about Roberts which I will...

This is a long post. Briefly in the beginning, the article discusses what the 340B program is about. It is pretty simple. The government has the pharmaceutical companies provide drugs to low income neighborhood facilities at a much lower price than what they would charge to hospitals in higher income areas. This is based upon the income of patients coming to the hospital. The hospitals are to pass the savings on to the patients. For some reason, the...

History Rhymes Again – Civil Discourse, Joyce Vance, substack.com. Just over 60 years ago, Alabama’s segregationist governor, George Wallace, made his infamous stand in the schoolhouse door, barring the path against court-ordered integration at the state’s flagship university. It was June 11, 1963. Wallace, in his inaugural address, had promised voters “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” But Wallace’s defiance...