Thank you to my readers. US Person leaves you with this thought: there is no copyright on the Truth, and unless you exercise your right of free speech, you will lose it. Read the Special Counsel report on Trump's election interference.
--30--
Saturday, January 11, 2025
The Last Post
Given the current perverse political climate in the United States, and after eighteen years of regular posting since 2006, US Person has decided to suspend Persona Non Grata blog. The felon's triumph in the 2024 election is the culmination of a 50 year conservative plan to replace democracy with plutocracy. (see Lewis Powell in his 1971 Chamber of Commerce memo "Attack on the Free Enterprise System") Alienated nativist voters have fallen for the biggest con-job in US history. Climate change a hoax? 2024 was the hottest year on Earth in recorded history.
Thursday, January 09, 2025
TWIT: Trump Fought the Law and Won!
 |
| credit: D. Wright BC Idonwanna sez: The biggest monster in the Swamp! |
Latest: By a 5-4 vote, and after a personal Trump call with Justice Alito, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to intervene in Trump's sentencing by New York Justice Merchan in the false financial statements case. Justice Amy Coney Barrett and Chief Justice John Roberts voted with the majority. So defendant Trump will officially be the first felon to occupy the White House in American history. His former fixer Michael Cohen served three years in prison for his participation in the scheme to payoff porn star 'Stormy' Daniels. Don the Con will not serve a day for his crimes. He will not appear in the New York courtroom on Friday for sentencing, but will appear virtually by device. Equal justice under law? US Person laughs in your face when you say that!
On another legal front, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decided on Friday that Meritt Garland can release the Special Counsel's report. Garland has indicated he will make the January 6th report volume public, but because two co-conspirators in the Espionage Act case are still facing trial he will only make Volume 2 available to certain members of Congress. This is significant because there is speculation that Volume 2 contains classified information that relates to others--Kash Patel currently nominated to head the Department of Justice is one--involved in the illegal retention of secret documents by Trump. It also may shed light on the motives for retaining the secret papers after he left the White House. US Person, aka the Khan, maintains Don the Con was not merely keeping memorabilia of his time in office, but intended to use the information for negotiation leverage or even for their pecuniary value. Color US cynical.
{09/01/2025}After repeatedly not complying with a bankruptcy court's orders, Judge Lyman has finally found Rudy Giuliani in contempt twice after taking the stand in his show cause hearing, which concluded Tuesday. As a result of the civil contempt finding, Judge Lyman will apply a negative inference in on the issue of whether his last remaining major asset, the Palm Beach condominium, is protected by Florida's homestead law. That issue is a question of fact that will be tried before Judge Lyman. America's former mayor is paying a high price for his abject loyalty to Don the Con.
It took the DOJ four years to prosecute Don for his crimes. Mostly because the Attorney General delayed prosecution. Now, his attorneys are attempting to bury the two volume investigative report by Special Counsel Jack Smith. If Merritt Garland allows this revisionist attack on the evidence of his crimes, he will be completely derelict in his public duty and oath of office. Once in power, Trump will direct his minions at DOJ, who where his defense attorneys--to erase the record of his indictment for filing false financial records related to the payoff of porn star 'Stormy' Daniels.
In a separate action, Trumpilini's "pocket" judge Aileen Cannon enjoined Jack Smith to temporarily hold the two volume report from being released while a federal appellate court in Atlanta reviews her decision to dismiss the Espionage Act case against him. How she did this is causing observers to scratch their heads since she never had jurisdiction over the January 6th case (Vol. 1), and she dismissed the Mar-a-Lago case (Vol. 2) against her benefactor. The case against his co-conspirators remains viable. Trump's co-conspirators Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira will be prosecuted by the federal attorneys in the southern district of Florida after the Special Counsel steps down. They will undoubtably be pardoned by Trump after he takes office. Being flat out wrong never stopped Cannon in her audition for a Supreme Court seat. It is all legal hands on deck for the criminal President-elect to remove any trace of criminal conviction. His attorneys have asked the US Supreme Court to stop the sentencing on Friday in an unprecedented request circumventing his state court remedies based on a claim of non-existent presidential immunity for someone not yet president. One prominent professor of constitutional law called the extraordinary petition, "ludicrous if it were not so tragic."
Don the Con is up to his old tricks of distracting and baiting the CMM (Corporate Mass Media). This week in response to reporters' questioning, he would not rule out using the military to take back the Panama Canal and annex Greenland. This guy is a complete madman , but expert at gaining attention from the press. The US has treaties with both Panama and Denmark. President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty with Panama to return the canal. Denmark controls Greenland as an autonomous territory. Denmark is a member of NATO. Attacking Greenland would trigger Article Five of the NATO charter which requires members to come to the defense of another member nation if attacked. Both France and Germany's governments have warned against attempting to take Greenland by military force.* Panamanian President Mulino said in a video Sunday that “every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to.” He added that, while his country’s people are divided on some key issues, “when it comes to our canal, and our sovereignty, we will all unite under our Panamanian flag.” If America has another imperial war in the next four years, it will be because this lunatic starts it.
*Besides being rich in minerals, Greenland is strategically located. It boarders both the North Atlantic "GIUK" gap and the Northwest Passage. Ownership of the island is not necessary to maintain a robust military presence in the Arctic. The US already has an airbase there, formerly known as Thule. A submarine base on the eastern coast would complement Thule. Denmark is open to discussions for additional security measures. It boggles the mind that the US under the irrational Trump would ignore national sovereignty of a US ally that it has guaranteed to protect,
COTW: Hydrogen Economy Fizzels
Hydrogen was once thought to be the answer to future energy needs. But the numbers are in and it is not looking good for hydrogen as a fuel. Investors are catching on to the problems of hydrogen, and projects to produce H₂ with green energy are being cancelled. Look at this chart from Europe:
One-fifth of the proposed projects have been suspended or cancelled. Europe is not alone. Air Products in Texas pulled out of a joint venture, $4.5 billon hydrogen project citing the lack of an anchor customer. Origin Energy of Australia cancelled its participation in the NSW Hunter Valley hydrogen hub, Hydrogen company stock prices have dropped 30-50% over the past year.
The problems are mostly physical. Since H₂ is such a small gas molecule, it penetrates most substances used to contain it, which leads to embrittlement. It is highly explosive when mixed with air. Fuel cells using hydrogen as fuel require expensive rare metals (Iridium and Platinum) to catalyze the energy producing reactions. The bottom line is that producing energy from making hydrogen is inefficient--around 40% or less. So-called "blue hydrogen" produced from cracking methane is even less efficient, and produces CO₂ as a waste product. Oil & gas companies do not really care about that inconvenient fact. Price-Waterhouse in its study concluded that expectations for hydrogen do not meet economic reality. The International Energy Agency reached a similar conclusion this summer. EU planned to have installed 120 GW of hydrogen energy by 2030, currently there is 0.2 GW operational. Whether the hydrogen bubble was created by lobbyists or simply wishful thinking is open to debate. This is what happens when reality catches up to hype. AI anyone?
Tuesday, January 07, 2025
Biden Bans Offshore Drilling
In a move to protect America's coast lines from the 'drill baby drill' mob entering official power, Joe Biden banned new offshore drilling in most coast zones except for the Gulf of Mexico already sacrificed to the oil and gas industry. He acted under his authority in the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act passed in 1953. It may be difficult for Trump to reverse his official action without an act of Congress despite his expressed support for, "American energy dominance". Trump himself approved a ban on drilling off the Florida, Georgia and South Carolina until 2032 when he was last in power.
 |
| Deepwater Horizon spill 2010 |
Biden's action protects some 625 million acres of federal waters including the environmentally sensitive Bering Sea. Conservationists hailed his action as, "an epic ocean victory". Industrialists attacked it as a "strategic error driven by political motives." In his announcement Biden said, “As the climate crisis continues to threaten communities across the country and we are transitioning to a clean energy economy, now is the time to protect these coasts for our children and grandchildren.” Joe Biden will go down in history as one of the most consequential modern Presidents since FDR.
Monday, January 06, 2025
A Radical Proposal: The 29th Amendment
Presumably the ERA will become the 28th, since 38 states have approved the amendment**, but here is US Person's (aka, The Cur's) idea for the 29th:
Wherever used in this Constitution the term "person" shall mean a natural person. Nothing in this amendment shall deprive a corporation or other legal entity their rights in property without due process of law.
As PNG readers may understand, this proposed intends to counteract the long line of decisions* from the US Supreme Court culminating in Citizens United v. FCC, 558 U.S. 310 (2010) that recognizes the "personhood" in law of corporations and other associations (e.g. PACs) which have come to dominate our system of government in the United States. Only a fundamental change in jurisprudence enshrined in the Constitution can alter the further decline of our democracy into corporatocracy, or oligarchy, if not outright fascism.
*The United States. Supreme Court first declared in dicta a corporation is a "person" under the law in the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 118 U.S. 394 (1886) .Justice William O. Douglas wrote in the Columbia Law Review for 1948, "the Santa Clara case becomes one of the most momentous of all our decisions.[...]Corporations were now armed with constitutional prerogatives."
Since US Person is talking about "radical" proposals, here is another one for readers to consider. The economic importance of the United State's private central bank, known as the Federal Reserve, cannot be ignored . Its monetary policies affect every American. So it is appropriate that the instituion be public and not private in a country that still claims to be a democracy and not an oligarchy. US Person, alleged by pseudo-populist extremists to be a seething Marxist radical, suggests replacing the current federal reserve system with a system of publicly owned state banks organized into regions with each region sending a representative elected by bank shareholders to a US National Bank Open Market Committee, which would set national interests rates. The chair of the US National Bank would be selected by the President. State residents would be allowed to purchase shares in their state bank. North Dakota's state-owned bank is a successful example of public state bank. It has made a profit every year since its opening in 1919. This proposed system is more accountable to the public, and insures monetary policy coincides with the public's policy choices and not the billionaire boys' choices. US still thinks central banks are a good idea, just like Marx did in his Communist Manifesto, so go ahead color him red.
**The ERA is in legal limbo right now. The amendment did not receive the necessary state ratifications within the stated seven year deadline. The US Department of Justice issued a memo concluding the deadline provision is constitutional, and the US Archivist has said in a letter that more action by the courts or Congress is needed before the amendment is enacted into law.
Friday, January 03, 2025
TWIT: "Unrepentant Racists"
 |
| credit: N. Anderson BC Idonwanna sez: Note two-tone face makeup! |
Latest: Speaker Mike Johnson lost his first bid to become the Speaker of the 119th Congress despite endorsement from 'Der Führer'. The Repugnant majority in the House is razor-thin. The party lost three votes on the first ballot, enough to result in a 215-215 tie between Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader. He is expected to squeeze out a victory in subsequent ballots. But it is becoming increasingly clear that Repugnants cannot govern without Democratic support. Probably in an attempt to gain MAGA support, Johnson announced the House will investigate the Select Committee that investigated January 6th. Biden should offer members of that committee pardons before leaving office in order to insulate them against future prosecution by Trump's DOJ.
In what may be the final capitulation to the political circumstances surrounding Trump's convictions for fraud, Judge Merchan upheld his convictions, but indicated he would not imposed a jail term on the President-elect, but instead allow an "unconditional discharge" of his felony convictions. He has scheduled January 10th for a sentencing hearing. Trump, with nearly unlimited funding, will appeal the decision despite evading incarceration for his crimes.
Musk labeled some of Don the Con's supporters "unrepentant racists". The only thing surprising about his outburst is how long the billionaire to realize the economic conflict of interests operating beneath the surface. For his part, Musk's partner at the non-existent "Department of Government Efficiency", Viveck Ramaswamy, called American workers, "mediocre"--a result of a culture, “that celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers”. This statement may have some truth to it, but calling resentful nativist supporters mediocre will not win Ramaswamy, the son of immigrants, any friends in MAGA world.
Always knowing which side of his bread is buttered, Don Trumpilini publicly sided with Musk in the dispute saying that skilled worker immigration is needed by America to maintain its competitive edge. But a recent poll revealed that 46% of Repugnant supporters want the US military to round up illegal immigrants and put them in concentration camps! Don Olde exposed his pandering to racist supporters by immediately categorizing the New Orleans New Year's attack after it occurred an example of the danger posed by illegal immigration over the southern border. What he failed to mention in his twit on the subject is that the perpetrator was an American citizen and an Army veteran. So was the terrorist in Las Vegas who parked his rented Tesla truck in front of the Trump International hotel, blew his vehicle up, and committed suicide. This resident of Colorado Springs was on active duty with the Special Forces. Once again the corrupt, fundamentally fraudulent character of the 'MAGA movement' is exposed for all who care to look objectively.
Thursday, January 02, 2025
Saturday, December 28, 2024
Monday, December 23, 2024
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Weekend Music: Little Feat
Thanks Norah, for reminding me! One of US Person's (aka Elf-on-a-Shelf) favorite music shows from the 70s was "Midnight Special". Little Feat was not a hugely popular band, but it cut some classics like this one from '74 before it was disbanded by guitarist and lead vocalist Lowell George in 1979. He died of a heart attack in Arlington, VA hotel room while on tour. George was an original member of Frank Zappa's group Mothers of Invention. He wrote the folk-rock standard Willin', which was popularized by Linda Ronstadt on her hit album, Heart Like a Wheel. George claimed that the song's reference to drugs got him fired by Zappa. Surviving menbers reformed the group in 1987. The band continues to perform to this day--still Willin':
Friday, December 20, 2024
Syphyilis Found in Ancient American Bones
New DNA evidence may help lay the argument to rest. Ancient human bones from the Americas that predate Columbus contain genomes of bacteria from the syphilis disease family say researchers. Three diseases including syphillis are caused by strains of the bacteria Treponema pallidum While syphilis disease is widespread, the others are restricted to the tropics (yaws and bejel) Molecular paleopathology researchers from Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology were able to reconstruct five genomes from a hip bone from Argentina, a lower leg bone from Chile, upper and lower leg bones from Mexico, and a tooth from Peru. Their results were published in the respected journal Nature. They traced back the bacteria genomes to a common ancestor that existed 9,000 years ago. Then, the New World was already widely populated by humans who had not yet interacted with European cultures. While the debate may continue in the light of this new evidence, it does explain a great deal about how the disease originated and spread to other parts of the world.
Thursday, December 19, 2024
TWIT: No Immunity For You!
Still More: In one of the remaining criminal cases against the conspirators of the January. 6th Insurrection, the Arizona Attorney General's office has obtained a large cache of communications by the perpetrators and Trump allies. They cannot be released yet because the judge overseeing the case gave defense attorney an opportunity to filter extraneous information before it becomes public. The evidence may contain yet unknown details of the plot to overthrow the democratic transfer of power,
The Arizona case focuses on the "fake elector" scheme in that state. Don the Con is not among the defendants, but is a co-conspirator. Former chief of staff Mark Meadows is a named defendant. Prosecutors obtained the cooperation of one of the Trump electors earlier this year.
More: The Georgia Appeals Court has effectively ended the RICO case against Don Trumpilini by deciding Thursday that Fani Willis would be removed from the case for improper conduct. Although it allowed the indictments to stand, it is unlikely that a special prosecutor will be appointed anytime soon to replace Willis and her office. Willis' problems began when the defense unearthed a romantic relationship between her and one of her subordinates working on the case, The appeals court found that situation constituted a substantial conflict of interest. How that relationship conflicted with her decisions in the RICO can is not clear to US Person, who is allegedly out-of-bounds, but the appearance of impropriety was enough to taint the case according to the court. The Fulton County DA's office has filed a notice of appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Update: In their desperate effort to defeat the conviction of the their client of 34 felonies in the hush-money case, Trump's lawyers are now alleging juror misconduct. Justice Merchan has responded to their letter saying the allegation should be investigated, but he cannot rely on hearsay and unsworn allegations in deciding whether the case against Don the Con should be vacated. Manhattan prosecutors argued that Trump’s lawyers were trying to immune the verdict by airing their claims in a letter to the judge rather than a formal motion to dismiss the case. Prosecutors also questioned the defense’s resistance to having Merchan hold a court hearing where their juror misconduct claims could be examined more thoroughly. The defense strategy is to prevent sentencing before his inauguration as the first convicted felon in history to become president of the United States. The attorneys' heavily redacted letter of December 3rd was released to the public Tuesday.
On another front, the House Ethics Committee voted to release the ethics report on Matt Gaetz after the 118th House concludes its business at the end of the year. Read the released report here.
{17.12.2024} Justice Juan Merchan of New York's Supreme Court issued his ruling on Don the Con's immunity claim on Monday. It was not good news for the Boss. Merchan found that the 34 criminal acts for which he was convicted by a jury occurred before he became president, and communications by White House personnel during his presidency about the illegal payments to 'Stormy' Daniels presented in evidence were not consequential, i.e. harmless error. Don Olde reacted on-line with predictable fury calling Merchan's ruling "psychotic".
The case is still alive for now, but the trial judge has yet to rule on the motion for dismissal in "the interests of justice" because Trump won the election. His lawyers did not address the required factors for such a dismissal established under New York law in their motion. Their client hardly has "clean hands" to demand such extraordinary equitable relief; calling the trial judge, "corrupt" and "psychotic" is not a good thing. Sentencing is also still pending after Merchan postponed it twice in consideration of political events. Merchan's rulings will be appealed through the two levels of state judicial review, and if necessary to the US Supreme Court where a MAGA majority awaits.
Popock agrees!--suspend his sentence, which should include some jail time, pending his return to private life. Meanwhile™the appeals can go forth.
 |
| credit: M. Ramirez Wackydoodle sez: He does tricks too! |
Jungle Airstrips Hide in Logging Concessions
Mongabay.com in conjunction with Latam and Earth Genome has conducted a survey of Peruvian rain forest in Ucayali Department, Peru. Assisted by AI the survey found 45 clandestine airstrips in the forest. Nine of these are located in logging concessions and some within native reserves; six are located in the middle of cocoa fields. Analysis of the data shows 67 acres of illicit crops within a 1.2 mile radius of an airstrip. Undoubtably the reason for these airstrips existence is narco-trafficking. Law enforcement officials also found labs associated with landing strips and think that the installations are part of the drug cartels' modus operandi. Some logging concessionaires have reported the installations, but their complaints have been ignored.
In one case from nine years ago, the concession owned by Ucayali Wood, reported existence of an illegal airstrip to the Peruvian criminal investigation division. Evidence was provided to authorities including pictures of an airplane and the landing strip. Nothing was done about the report. The company owns a 22,000 acre concession in Atalaya Province, an area ravaged by drug trafficking. Despite being virtual no-man's land, the landscape is littered with evidence of drug manufacturing. Ucayali Wood made repeated complaints through its agent in Atalaya, but a preliminary investigation was not launched until this year. It was shelved after authorities could not identify the perpetrators. The agent told Mongabay he will continue to make reports about illegal cocoa crops and other drug activities so not to lose his license to log which is valid until 2042.
Drug traffickers managed to build these strip during the pandemic years when officials were absent from the remote area. A leader of Ucayali indigneous people told Mongabay interviewers that they no longer report drug trafficking activity because local authorities, "don’t listen to us and can’t be trusted.” Neither the national police anti-narcotics unit (DIRANDRO) or the Ucayali Special Prosecutor's Office are currently investigating the establishment of illegal landing strips in forest concessions. Often the strips appear on land for which there is no registered owner.They can be destroyed, but that is about all that can be done in the circumstances of official corruption. All nations have their own problems.
Monday, December 16, 2024
Ocean Temperature Rise Killed 4 Million Birds
An estimated 4 million common murres in Alaska were killed by a marine heat wave. That number represents about half of the murres' total population. The catastrophe is thought to be the largest die-off of a single animal species in recorded history. About a decade ago Pacific surface temperatures shot up eleven degrees as a high pressure system stalled over the ocean and circulating currents died down. They called it the "blob", and it convulsed marine ecosystems. The blob lasted for three years, and humans began to see evidence of the damage done as carcasses washed up on beaches. The effect on murres, a black and white seabird that spends most of its life at sea except for breeding, was discussed in a journal article recently published in Science. What scientists learned about the die-off is that it was a lot worse than estimated, and that the birds have not yet begun to rebound [photo courtesy of US Fish & Wildlife] Previous estimates of the death toll ranged from a half to one million murres.
The warming ocean temperatures led to a die-off of the birds' main fish prey. Ocean surface temperatures breached records last year and into this year. Scientist are worried that the high temperatures and its disastrous impacts on marine wildlife may be a harbinger of the future, Murres are normally resilient to changes in their environment, but impact of prolonged ocean heat seems to have overwhelmed the birds. A similar type of disastrous population decline occurred when Atlantic cod off of Newfoundland were overfished. Once thought to be an inexhaustible source of protein, Atlantic cod have failed to recover despite a ban on cod fishing in Newfoundland waters.
COTW: Worth a Thousand Clinical Trials
RFK Jr. is out of bounds when it comes to vaccines--he testified in 2021 that the COVID vaccine was, "the deadly vaccine ever made". He has endorsed an anti-vaccine lawyer, Aron Siri for a top job in the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Siri has filed a petition to pause administration of 13 vaccines pending double blind clinical trials considered to be the "gold standard" of scientific study. He also filed a lawsuit in 2022 to revoke the FDA license for the polio vaccine. Polio was a scourge on this nation until vaccines were developed in 1955 (Salk) and 1960 (Sabin). Science has decades of records concerning the efficacy and safety of polio vaccines. To deny children the protection they afford pending a clinical trail which would take years to complete is unethical and stupid. Here is the chart that says it all:
Friday, December 13, 2024
TWIT: More Charges
 |
| credit: Britt Wackydoodle sez: Laughing all the way! |
According to federal investigators, the fake elector scheme originated in Wisconsin. A majority of these "alternative" electors told investigators that they did not believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be submitted to Congress without a court ruling. Additionally, a majority of the electors said that they did not consent to having their signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court ruling,
The fake elector scheme is central to state racketeering charges brought against Trump and eighteen others in Georgia. Don the Con is fighting the charges on the grounds that the state court has no jurisdiction over him now that he is President-elect under the Constitution's Supremecy Clause
Chesebro was one of four people to plead guilty in the Georgia case in the months following the indictment. He pleaded guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit filing false documents after reaching a deal with Georgia prosecutors. He is now trying to invalidate the plea after the judge in September tossed out the charge to which he had pleaded guilty. The federal Special Prosecutor has abandoned his case against Trump and his co-conspirators based on the Department of Justice policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. FAIL!
Thursday, December 12, 2024
Monarch Butterfly Finally Listed
US wildlife officials announced a proposal to list the iconic Monarch butterfly as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. The butterfly that migrates from Mexico to Canada and back in four generations has suffered severe population declines due to habitat loss. Without immediate conservation action the beautiful black and yellow butterfly could disappear from the North American continent before the end of the century. The eastern migration population is estimated to have declined by 80% since the 1980s, while the western population has declined by a shocking 95%. In their Mexican forest winter habitat the population dropped 22% in just one year, 2021-22 says the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorized the species as endangered in 2022.
As expected, climate change is playing a major role in the declines. Droughts, heat and frosts are killing its major food source, milkweed. Monarchs also lay their eggs on the plant to insure a food source for their catepillars. Pollinators like the Monarch are responsible for 75% of the food consumed by humans. [photo credit: Getty Images]
If the proposed rule is finalized after public comment, it will protect nearly 4400 acres in California vital to the western population. The fate of the rule change is uncertain given the hostility of the incoming regime to conservation efforts. People can help the insect by planting milkweed in their gardens, even in small areas to provide them with sufficient nectar to make their arduous migrations. Despite its fragility, the butterfly is remarkably resilient and could recover if given the opportunity by man.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Arctic Becomes Net Carbon Source
For the first time in recorded history, the Arctic has flipped from being a carbon sink to a carbon source. Carbon dioxide and methane locked for millennium in the frozen tundra is being released by record high temperatures and wildfires. NOAA's 2024 Arctic Report Card shows surface temperatures in the Arctic reaching the warmest since 1900 when accurate record keeping began.
Along with warmer temperatures, the Arctic is experiencing more rainfall.2024 was a record for rainfall in the Arctic. Warmer temperatures have disrupted wildlife. Caribou have decreased in number by 65% over the last two or three decades. Ice seal populations seem to be holding steady, but are increasingly out of reach of their main predator, polar bears, due to the lack of reliable sea ice they use to hunt seals. Arctic warming, which joins the Amazon in sending a carbon emission signal is not a good sign according to climate experts, and will have consequences for human communities around the world.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Captured--A Sign of the Times
 |
| the widely distributed photo |
There are circumstances that could explain his decision to kill the head executive of the nation's largest health-care company. Luigi suffered from debilitating back problems that interfered with the normal activities of an otherwise healthy, well-conditioned, young man. His father owns a nursing home. So Luigi he got a close-up view of the broken system of health-care-for-profit in this country. No doubt frustrated and angry by the treatment he and other patients experienced, he chose to seek revenge. The glaringly obvious fact Luigi undoubtably came to realize is that the system is designed to deliver maximum profits to health insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Just on Medicare Part D (drugs) alone, the government is expected to spend $137 billion in 2025. The cost for Medicare Part A and B is increasing with the minimum monthly premium set at $185. Even though Medicare Advantage was intended to save costs, the government spends more on it than original Medicare. By 2030 the federal government will be spending 20% of the national budget on health care. According to a Senate subcommittee study, UnitedHealthcare’s prior authorization denial rate for post-acute care surged from 10.9 percent in 2020, to 16.3 percent in 2021, to 22.7 percent in 2022. The company now plans to use AI to review claims and predict appeals, so the denial rate will continue to go up thereby contributing the profit margin. Compared to other advanced countries, Americans pay more and get less because of the insurance industry profit motive.
This deplorable situation has led to a lot of anger and frustration across the country. Luigi became an instant folk-hero on-line, which indicates the depth of emotion surrounding health care. In the words of one industry expert, “people hate the health care insurance industry.” Perhaps some of the same popular resentment is responsible for the election of this nation's first criminal President. Luigi told federal investigators, out of respect for their work, that he acted alone. He has also commented on the misalignment of humanity's biology with modern, urban civilization. Now he will have to endure the extreme misalignment of prison life. He is currently fighting extradition to New York, which no longer has the death penalty. Pennsylvania has a death penalty moratorium in place since 2015.
Friday, December 06, 2024
TWIT: MAGA Cometh
This is the face of MAGA, and it has an enemies list. Their motto: Treueflicht Uber Alles!. Two of Trump's loyal minions nominated for high positions have already failed under an avalanche of negative and salacious press stories*. Patel should no doubt be the third. He publicly stated he wants to shut down the FBI's domestic intelligence operation and the agency's DC headquarters, which he would "turn into a museum of the deep state". The 'Merican electorate will soon find out what happens when you put radical lunatics from hell in charge of federal government. But perhaps they are too busy paying their rent to care.
 |
| credit: J. Ohman BC Idonwanna: He's the Director from Hell! |
*Pete Hegseth has been exposed, prior to any formal background check, as a drunken, serial sex abuser. He is also the subject of a credible allegation of rape by a California woman. He paid money to the accuser in 2017 to obtain a NDA. He is alleged to have mismanaged finances when he served at the head of two veterans' organizations that forced him to step down. Hegseth now says he is "redeemed", and not the same person he was when the incidents occurred. He is Trump's choice to head the largest bureaucracy in the world, the US Department of Defense. When Hegseth appeared on Fox Fake News in March 2016, he said,“It's typical Trump. All bluster. Very little substance, He talks a tough game, but then when pressed on it, he's an armchair tough guy". Which proves debased sycophants like Hegseth will say anything to gain power.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)