Read me >>> sharing illuminating journalism

[caleb]

The point is selfish actors will game the system. They always do and always will. The fact ObamaCare did not have a provision allowing for medicare/medicaid negotiate on drug prices.....and now many seniors blame the increases in their drug prices on obamacare. Insiders have a huge advantage here. The public welfare is never the insider.

The Obameter: Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices | PolitiFact

Sure. But the base problem is we've never had the political will to reallocate 5-10% of the economy away from health care because there are vested interests that give and vote and have no ready alternative. It's not some plot from the inside (entirely), it's that 20%-ish of our national economy is going to people who work in and around medicine who mostly couldn't/can't/won't duplicate that income outside of medicine.

So count me as the first person to raise my hand for an NHS-style system that delivers similar outcomes for half the cost, but what I want to know from the Warrens and Sanderses of the world is what they're going to do to address all the pissed off people deeply invested (thought skills and education) in the status quo such a relocation would create. When everyone from the docs through the radiology techs are angry that they're not getting what they were "promised" from this whole health care deal, what's the plan?

We've been through the whole "in aggregate we're all a little better off even if a few people are made much worse off" line once before with NAFTA, and more or less we got Trump as a result. I don't want to repeat that progress/backlash cycle again with health care workers. There needs to be a plan on the front end to address all the unmet exceptions and frustrated entitlement.

[ericpmoss]

Medicare for All (Senate version)

The reporters all act like numbskulls, telling us lies about what's in the bill, repeating rumors, or just taking the word of industry lobbyists.

[guido]

Abandoning Everything You Ever Believed, for Brexit. (Or Trump.) - The New York Times

[thollandpe]

Is it grift or graft?

Here Are The Three Violations By The Trump Organization That Cost Donald Trump $2 Million

Read the stipulation: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbe...==&system=prod

And all this was set in motion by a Pulitzer-winning journalist:
Trump said he raised $6 million for veterans. Now his campaign says it was less.

Democracy dies in darkness. Thankfully, not today.

[guido]

Opinion | How Scientists Got Climate Change So Wrong - The New York Times

[ides1056]

In the category of really good news:

At 88, Agnes Denes Finally Gets the Retrospective She Deserves - The New York Times

[guido]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1193560237061660673

[guido]

From Little Englanders to Brexiteers | The New Yorker

[htwoopup]

Not sure why this hasn’t been in US papers...

Turkish police open investigation after White Helmets co-founder James Le Mesurier found dead - The Globe and Mail

[Dallas Tex]

Not sure why this hasn’t been in US papers...

Turkish police open investigation after White Helmets co-founder James Le Mesurier found dead - The Globe and Mail

Maybe because the US media is too busy reporting on stormy daniels....no make that russian election interference.....no wait make that collusion....no make that Mueller report.....no make that cavanaugh......wait make that a phone call to ukraine......

Yawn. We get it. Media priorities no longer align with the priorities of normal hard working folk. While we get fed endless ‘news’ articles about his orange hair or spelling mistakes in a tweet the media can’t see the forest, or the road, or the sky.....

Which of the following topics do you think deserve more media attention than what today’s news articles will give them: Unemployment at historical lows? Minority unemployment at historical lows? Stock market at historical highs ? Someone finally addressing wildly unfair Chinese trade tactics ? Someone finally doing something to address long jail sentences for low level drug crimes?

[guido]

Opinion | What Trump Is Hiding From the Impeachment Hearings - The New York Times

[theflashunc]

Maybe because the US media is too busy reporting on stormy daniels....no make that russian election interference.....no wait make that collusion....no make that Mueller report.....no make that cavanaugh......wait make that a phone call to ukraine......

Yawn. We get it. Media priorities no longer align with the priorities of normal hard working folk. While we get fed endless ‘news’ articles about his orange hair or spelling mistakes in a tweet the media can’t see the forest, or the road, or the sky.....

Which of the following topics do you think deserve more media attention than what today’s news articles will give them: Unemployment at historical lows? Minority unemployment at historical lows? Stock market at historical highs ? Someone finally addressing wildly unfair Chinese trade tactics ? Someone finally doing something to address long jail sentences for low level drug crimes?

Or a President who obstructed one investigation into a foreign adversary's support of the campaign that got him elected, and what his campaign knew about said assistance, and now has conditioned US aid to a country fighting against same adversary for dirt on a potential future political adversary?

The media ain't perfect, but it also ain't Pravda. Stupid Watergate is the bigger story.

[guido]

The House Republicans’ Impeachment Defense of Trump Is Full of Holes | The New Yorker

[mjbabcock]

Serious question; why can’t the house compel People like Guliani or Mulvaney to testify? If they were to levy fines or imprisonments them, would the president have a veto or pardon option?

I get that these folks might not testify truthfully, but why not drag them in? At the same time, how long do the courts take on issues like this? Does the house have the ability to expedite judicial review?

Serious constitutional questions here.

[Scott G.]

[snip]

The media ain't perfect, but it also ain't Pravda. Stupid Watergate is the bigger story.

As was said in the good old days, "There is no pravda on MSNBC, and no isvestia on FoxNews"

Review of "Hate Inc." by Matt Taibbi (yes, Uncle Noam's favorite interviewer, Noam makes a guest appearance in the book)

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-949017-25-0

[HorsCat]

Maybe because the US media is too busy reporting on stormy daniels....no make that russian election interference.....no wait make that collusion....no make that Mueller report.....no make that cavanaugh......wait make that a phone call to ukraine......

Yawn. We get it. Media priorities no longer align with the priorities of normal hard working folk. While we get fed endless ‘news’ articles about his orange hair or spelling mistakes in a tweet the media can’t see the forest, or the road, or the sky.....

Which of the following topics do you think deserve more media attention than what today’s news articles will give them: Unemployment at historical lows? Minority unemployment at historical lows? Stock market at historical highs ? Someone finally addressing wildly unfair Chinese trade tactics ? Someone finally doing something to address long jail sentences for low level drug crimes?

The Russians did interfere. To Trump's benefit and with the intention of getting him elected. The Trump campaign did collude. Mueller determined the collusion did not rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy. Mueller laid out numerous instances of obstruction but determined he had no authority to take things further and laid out a roadmap for Congress to pursue, consistent with Justice Department guidelines and the requirements of the Constitution. Trump's conduct vis-a-vis Ukraine = bribery + extortion. The unemployment trend lines have been consistent now for a number of years (ie, long predating Trump); so, too, DJIA, GDP. China continues to play the United States (as does North Korea). And, yes, there has been some positive movement on criminal justice reform.

These are all facts.

[Dallas Tex]

These are all facts.

No, they’re not.

[Matthew Strongin]

No, they’re not.

Which ones aren't?

[Dallas Tex]

Which ones aren't?

What factual basis exists for determining Russia’s intentions were to get trump elected?

[BBB]

Maybe because the US media is too busy reporting on stormy daniels....no make that russian election interference.....no wait make that collusion....no make that Mueller report.....no make that cavanaugh......wait make that a phone call to ukraine......

Yawn. We get it. Media priorities no longer align with the priorities of normal hard working folk. While we get fed endless ‘news’ articles about his orange hair or spelling mistakes in a tweet the media can’t see the forest, or the road, or the sky.....

Which of the following topics do you think deserve more media attention than what today’s news articles will give them: Unemployment at historical lows? Minority unemployment at historical lows? Stock market at historical highs ? Someone finally addressing wildly unfair Chinese trade tactics ? Someone finally doing something to address long jail sentences for low level drug crimes?

Yes yawn indeed. Anyone with something between the ears knows the guy is a fucking idiot.