Medicare Shock: Trump Administration Plans to Ration Healthcare

Like millions of older adults, Frances L. Ayres faced a choice when picking health insurance: Pay more for traditional Medicare, or opt for a plan offered by a private insurer and risk drawn-out fights over coverage.

Private insurers often require a cumbersome review process that frequently results in the denial or delay of essential treatments that are readily covered by traditional Medicare. This practice, known as prior authorization, has drawn public scrutiny, which intensified after the murder of a UnitedHealthcare executive last December.

Ms. Ayres, a 74-year-old retired accounting professor, said she wanted to avoid the hassle that has been associated with such practices under Medicare Advantage, which are private plans financed by the U.S. government. Now, she is concerned she will face those denials anyway.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services plans to begin a pilot program that would involve a similar review process for traditional Medicare, the federal insurance program for people 65 and older as well as for many younger people with disabilities. The pilot would start in six states next year, including Oklahoma, where Ms. Ayres lives.  Even worse, the new Trump plan would use artificial intelligence to decide who gets medical treatment and who doesn't.

Mutant "Blobs" in Waterways Sparking Fear and Panic

A wave of floating blobs has appeared throughout waterways in the U.S., leaving some swimmers and boaters fearful that these could be giant marine parasites. The gelatinous objects have been called "cursed gummy bears," "mutant brains," and even "sci-fi nightmares," as more and more people came across them in freshwater ponds, lakes, and rivers this summer. 

They've been spotted in places like the Pacific Northwest, including the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Washington, but they're common in many other areas, including the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, and the Great Lakes region.  USFWS  recently shared a close-up picture of a large bryozoan discovered in Lake Huron near Michigan. 

Tim McGraw - King Rodeo

Chaos at RFK's HHS as Top CDC Leaders Resign

The US’s top public health agency has been plunged into chaos after the Trump administration moved to oust its leader Susan Monarez, sworn in less than a month ago, as her lawyers said she would not resign and that she was being “targeted” for her pro-science stance.

Monarez, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was ousted on Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that offered no explanation its decision.  “Susan Monarez is no longer director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We thank her for her dedicated service to the American people,” HHS said in an unsigned statement posted to social media. Her lawyers pushed back in a statement, saying she had “neither resigned nor received notification” from the White House of her termination.

Monarez appears to have run afoul of HHS secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., after she declined to support sweeping changes to vaccine policies, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.

“First it was independent advisory committees and career experts. Then it was the dismissal of seasoned scientists. Now, Secretary Kennedy and HHS have set their sights on weaponizing public health for political gain and putting millions of American lives at risk,” her lawyers, Mark Zaid and Abbe David Lowell, said in a statement. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted.”

Keeping DC Safe From Subway Sandwiches

Federal prosecutors have been unable to persuade a grand jury to approve a felony indictment against a man who threw a sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington this month.

The grand jury’s rejection of the felony charge was a remarkable failure by the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington and the second time in recent days that a majority of grand jurors refused to vote to indict a person accused of felony assault on a federal agent. It also amounted to a sharp rebuke by a panel of ordinary citizens against the prosecutors assigned to bring charges against people arrested after President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops and federal agents to fight crime and patrol the city’s streets.

Trump's Attempt to Re-Write History

Socialist Trump Now Interfering in the Free Market Economy

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, not only defended the Trump administration’s move to use taxpayer money to buy a 10% stake in U.S. chip maker Intel—but also said more could follow.  "Okay, so we should expect the U.S. government to be taking more equity stakes in businesses around the country?" CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Hassett.  "It's possible. Yeah. That's absolutely right,” Hassett replied. 

The action was met with immediate criticism, with some on the right accusing the Republican-run White House of abandoning its values. Conservative radio host Erick Erickson called the plan “terrible” and said it was “actual socialism happening by a Republican administration.” 

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky also attacked the administration over the proposal, which he called a “Terrible idea” in a post on X on Wednesday: “If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn’t the government owning part of Intel be a step toward socialism?”

 

Tiny Sea Slug Packs a Mighty Punch

A small venomous creature has caused the closure of tourist beaches in Spain for a second time in the past week after they were discovered in the water, local authorities announced.  The Glaucus atlanticus is colloquially named the “blue dragon sea slug” for its resemblance to the mythical dragon, and several more of them were found in the water off the beaches of Guardamar del Segura, in Alicante, Spain.

The Guardamar police prohibited beachgoers from swimming on Friday. In a post translated via Facebook, police wrote: “The red flag is raised again on our beaches due to the presence of [what’s] known as “blue dragon” (Glaucus atlanticus). It’s a small sea clam whose sting can cause intense pain, vomiting and adverse reactions.”

Goodbye Gator Gitmo?

Much of convicted felon Donald Trump's controversial migrant detention center in Florida must be dismantled, and no more migrants should be taken there, a judge has ruled.  The ruling stated that the facility was causing severe environmental damage to the Florida Everglades - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - and gave the Trump administration 60 days to wind down its operations.  The judge issued a preliminary injunction, which temporarily restricts operations at the facility while a lawsuit brought by environmental groups against it is heard.  The state of Florida, which is partnering with the Trump administration in the building of the site, has already filed an appeal.

Mark Ronson & Raye - Suzanne

Trump's Supreme Failure in Brazil

This week, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that foreign legislation does not apply in the country. While that may seem like a bit of a “well, duh” kind of statement, the ruling invalidated the Magnitsky Act, a United States law allowing the president to impose sanctions on foreigners engaging in human rights abuses or corruption.  Why was the Brazil’s highest court concerned about the Magnitsky Act?  Because the Magnitsky Act is what Trump used to impose sanctions on Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.   So now that the Brazilian Supreme Court has ruled that no one in Brazil can carry out sanctions again Moraes, the question is why does Trump have such a grudge against this dude?

Per the Trump administration, Moraes was authorizing “arbitrary pre-trial detentions” and suppressing freedom of expression. Sounds serious! So who exactly was being arbitrarily detained?  Let's see . . . Moraes has been overseeing the trial of Brazil's former president (and Trump wannabe) Jair Bolsonaro.  Maybe that has something to do with it.  So who exactly is Bolsonaro and why would Trump care about him?  Well, Bolsonaro was the Trump wannabe who is currently on trial for organizing a coup d'état and plotting to assassinate Lula da Silva and Supreme Court Justice Moraes.  No matter how much Trump might think otherwise, prosecuting a politician for attempting a violent coup is not a human rights abuse. 

No wonder Trump feels like Bolsonaro is a kindred spirit who must be protected at all costs. But the Trump administration isn’t just mad about Bolsonaro. Moraes has also proven entirely immune to the allure and threats of Big Tech, having at one point banned both X and Rumble in Brazil when they failed to follow local laws and comply with court orders.

But where Trump could just drop an existing prosecution or pardon Bolsonaro if he was in the United States, the U.S. president doesn’t have that power in Brazil. So, he has to try to attack the judge who is handling the case. Trump’s a bit stymied there as well, though, as the Brazilian court system is not stuffed with Trump appointees willing to do his bidding. The only thing he can really do to Moraes personally is try to sanction him.  But Trump is also trying to punish the whole country-- which is why he’s slapped enormous tariffs on the entire country to try to spring Bolsonaro, but thus far it isn’t working. 

 

The Epstein Affair is Not Going Away

Scientists Discover Spiders with Big Dick Energy

A new genus of tarantula has been announced, whose males are so well-endowed that scientists essentially named them the 'genital king.'  The new genus, Satyrex, is named after Satyrs (male nature spirits from ancient Greek mythology known for their bawdy behavior and prominent packages) and Rex, which is Latin for "king."

Spiders don't really have penises, in the traditional sense. Instead, they use arm-like structures called palps to grab sperm from ducts in their abdomen, which is then inserted into the genital opening of a female. It doesn't sounds very romantic, but it gets the job done.  And given the fact that many females spiders attempt to kill (and eat) their male suitors after sex, it's quite understandable that the males would want to keep their distance.

Males of the newly described species boast the longest "penises" of all known tarantulas. The largest gets up to 2 inches long – almost as long as its legs, and nearly 4 times longer than its torso/carapace. By comparison, most tarantula species sport penises merely twice as long as their carapace. Finnish arachnologist Alireza Zamani explained that the reason the spiders are proudly packing might be a matter of self-preservation.  "We have tentatively suggested that the long palps might allow the male to keep a safer distance during mating and help him avoid being attacked and devoured by the highly aggressive female," says Zamani.

 

Summit Disaster

 

Vance Gleefully Shunned on U.K. Visit

 JD Vance's current visit to the UK hasn’t gone particularly well.  There’s been demonstrations, an outcry over villagers being ‘asked’ for their social media info, headlines about his time fishing with UK foreign secretary David Lammy, a musician pulling out of a gig after realzsing it was for the politician, and a van driving around the Cotswolds showing a ‘cursed’ image of him looking like an egg.

Charlbury, a small town near the 18th-century manor where Vance and his family stayed while in the Cotswolds, was also the scene of a colorful protest against his visit on Tuesday. The “Dance Against Vance” protest was punctuated by placards dubbing him a “war criminal,” and images of a meme that shows a bald and baby-faced Vance with rosy, swollen cheeks.

Residents in Charlbury and the tiny hamlet of Dean, where the manor house is situated, quickly grew weary of Vance and his entourage of vehicles and Secret Service agents. Even the deputy mayor of Chipping Norton, not far from Dean, spoke out against his vacation. “We’ve had a curtailment of our freedoms here, just by his mere presence, in terms of where we can walk and where we can be,” said Steve Akers. “And the American Secret Service knocking on people’s doors and asking about their Facebook profiles.” 

Two Criminals Meet Up in Alaska

Convicted felon Donald Trump literally rolled out the red carpet for a Russian war criminal on American soil, honored him with a flyover of U.S. military jets, invited him into the presidential limousine to share a ride and a laugh and a few hours later, abruptly ended the meeting without Vladimir Putin’s agreement to stop his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

At the start, Trump's obsequiousness was cringe-worthy.  Trump treated  Putin like royalty, starting with the granting of the meeting in the first place. American soldiers were seen kneeling on the tarmac to secure a red carpet at the foot of the stairs of Putin’s plane.  Trump appeared on the red carpet first-- after which Putin embarrassed him by keeping him waiting.   When Putin finally appeared on camera, Trump greeted him warmly, even clapping for him as he approached. As the two walked to an ostentatiously decorated podium for a photo, a B-2 stealth bomber and four fighter jets roared overhead in salute.

Then, Trump invited him into his presidential limousine and Putin agreed, abandoning his own car to ride with Trump for the short drive from the airfield to the meeting room. The two were seen laughing through the window.  While the meeting was anticipated to take about seven hours, it wrapped up in less than three. Trump and Putin appeared afterward before journalists with pre-prepared statements. Neither leader took any questions.

Shockingly, Trump let Putin speak first.  The Russian dictator spewed the usual rhetoric/history lesson, trying to re-frame his Ukraine invasion as a problem whose source is difficult to understand.  Putin said the conflict’s “primary causes” must be eliminated for an agreement to be long-lasting.  Such an admission was ironically obvious, since everyone knows the conflict was started when Russia invaded Ukraine.

When it was his turn, Trump began with his oft-repeated BS claim that Russia's 2016 election interference was a "hoax"-- but ended with the obvious admission: “There’s no deal until there is a deal.”  Trump said the next step was to consult with Ukraine's Zelensky and his European allies.  But more importantly, Trump first sat down with an interview with Sean Hannity.

Russia went from being a pariah on the world stage to a warmly-welcomed global diplomat.  So what's next for the U.S.? The day before the summit, Trump had told reporters that he would not be happy if the summit failed to produce a ceasefire.  Earlier in the week, Trump had also promised secondary sanctions on Moscow if the summit resulted in no action to end the war in Ukraine.  

But in his interview with Hannity,  Trump was asked if he was now considering secondary sanctions on Russia in the absence of a ceasefire. "Well, because of what happened today, I think I don't have to think about that," Trump said.   "Now, I may have to think about it in two weeks or three weeks or something, but we don't have to think about that right now."  Looks like TACO Friday to me!

 

Foo Fighers - Today's Song

Trump & Crew Cracking Down on Crime!

A man who worked for the Department of Justice was charged Wednesday after allegedly throwing a sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer in Washington, DC, amid President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s police and increase in federal law enforcement presence.   “If you touch any law enforcement officer, we will come after you,” Attorney General Blondie Bondi wrote.  

According to police, Sean Charles Dunn confronted a group of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on 14th Street in Northwest DC on Sunday night, calling them “fascists,” adding, “Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”  Dunn then crossed the street and threw a “sub-style sandwich” at the officer’s chest, police said. Dunn then attempted to run away but was arrested.

Dunn confessed while being processed, saying, “I did it. I threw a sandwich.” Dunn has not entered a plea in the case and faces a felony charge of assaulting an officer.  U.S. Attorney and renowned lush Jeanine Pirro touted Dunn’s arrest, saying in a video shared on X, “We’re going to back the police to the hilt. So there, stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else.”

The incident comes after convicted felon Donald Trump ordered additional federal law enforcement officers to the city late last week, arguing that crime in Washington, DC, is rampant.  This (of course) is an outright lie-- city statistics show violent crime has dropped over the past two years after peaking in 2023.

 

Veterans Are Getting Screwed by Trump

The inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs has released a report revealing staffing shortages across the veterans’ health care system, which will be exacerbated by the Trump administration’s decision to slash staffing.

The audit determined that all 139 of the medical center campuses within the VA system reported that they lack workers and that reports of severe shortages for certain positions are up 50% from the previous fiscal year. It also indicated that 94% of VA facilities report severe staffing shortages for medical officers, while 79% reported a shortage of nurses.  Keep in mind that this only includes data collected through April, meaning that the Trump administration’s cuts are not fully reflected in the assessment. Many workers were pushed to take buyouts triggered by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, costing taxpayers millions.

VA Secretary Doug Collins has pushed for cuts to the system for months, despite the 9 million veterans who rely on the agency.  “The Office of the Inspector General’s report today confirms our fears: VA and veterans are worse off under Doug Collins’s leadership,” Rep. Mark Takano, ranking chair for House Democrats on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement. “Instead of making VA an employer of choice, Secretary Collins continues to vilify the VA workforce and strip them of their rights. Now, VA is facing critical staffing shortages across the country, leading to decreased access and choice for veterans. Veterans deserve and have earned better.”

Recently released data has shown that doctors are choosing not to work in the VA system because of this ongoing crisis. Between January and March of convicted felon Trump’s second term, approximately 2,000 doctors were offered jobs in the VA system, with nearly 40% turning down their offers. This caused the turndown rate to skyrocket to a 400% increase from President Joe Biden’s term.  While he’s repeatedly claimed to support the troops, Trump’s actions prove otherwise—first by referring to deceased veterans as “suckers” and “losers,” and now by stripping living veterans of their health care.

 

Taco Tuesday!

The Swiss were very upset when convicted felon Donald Trump put a 39% tariff on Swiss goods that went into effect on August 7th. The highest tariff on any developed nation.  Well, guess what?  It's Taco Tuesday and Trump has reversed course and TACOed, on gold, which the gold markets loved. 

Donald TACOed again with Chinese tariffs, announcing late last night that China another 90 days.  Last month, Trump stated that there were going to be no extensions-- guess that was another lie. The U.S. tariff on China is 30%, and the Chinese tariff on U.S. goods is 10%, until the new deadline of November 10th. Let's hope things get figured out because the U.S. tariff on China was going to be 145%, and China's tariff on the U.S. was going to be 125%.  

Don TACO is doing it again. He swears off changing his mind, and then does it again. I guess we should take everything he says as an "alternative facts" instead of lies.

Profiles in Coward(ICE)

 

Things Keep Going South

Coming Soon to Your Town: Noise "Cameras"

Noise cameras are the new frontier in automated traffic enforcement. Growing numbers of agencies across the U.S., from New York to Hawaii, see them as a way to combat revving engines, blaring stereos, honking horns and earsplitting mufflers—some illegally altered.

For police, public officials and residents, the machines partially solve a perennial top complaint, particularly during warmer months in spots like Newport, where throngs flock to the Gilded Age mansions, music festivals and the bustling colonial waterfront. “Folks have reached their boiling point,” Newport City Councilor David Carlin III said. 

Local resident Caroline Richards was on her front porch one June evening when she recorded what sounded like a racetrack. “We should be hearing crickets and nice summer sounds,” said Richards, 54 years old, a Realtor who supports the cameras. “I’m not for over-policing what people want to drive or do. But it’s just obnoxious, it just definitely feels like it’s gotten worse.”

To critics (some of whom refuse to pay the tickets) the devices are another step toward a surveillance society and can unfairly ensnare drivers simply going about their routines in street-legal vehicles.  Harley rider James Alves, 56, who lives in a nearby town and received a noise warning, said he hasn’t altered his bike and tries to ride respectfully. “If I see a couple walking a dog on the sidewalk, I pull my clutch in,” he said. Alves, who works at an auto-parts business, views the cameras as “just another way to grab money.”

803Fresh - Boots on the Ground

German Zoo Kills Baboons Due to Overcrowding and Feeds the Carcasses to the Lions

After shooting dead twelve Guinea baboons to alleviate overcrowding, Nuremberg Zoo faces fresh controversy as visitors were shocked to see the primates’ carcasses being fed to the lions.

Local media reported that the headless, limbless cadavers were served to the big cats in full view of the public. “They were presented like on a butcher’s bench, it was really awful,” one female visitor told the Nürnberger Nachrichten. The zoo’s management said the feeding times were clearly signposted and visitors could have avoided them. The heads had been removed so that the brains could be examined for research purposes.

More than 300 complaints have been lodged against the cull, which the zoo insisted was inevitable, after it had spent years trying and failing to find alternative accommodation for the primates and to control their population through contraception. 

The zoo said that the cull, in which the animals were anesthetized and then shot, was agreed after consulting veterinary and environmental authorities, as well as the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.  The zoo insisted that the reduction in the size of the group was unavoidable because the 43 baboons had far exceeded the enclosure’s capacity of 25. The overcrowding had led to conflicts between inmates, leaving several injured. 

While other German zoos defended Nuremberg’s course of action, they said they had managed their primate population by sterilizing the animals, or finding alternative accommodation. The German Animal Welfare Association said the killing of supposedly surplus animals has become a common practice in zoos in recent years, but that the killing of primates due to overcrowding was a new development. Anna Ritzinger, an animal rights activist, said: “Primates are very similar to us, which is why it affects so many people.”

 

The (A)Critical Thinker

I Don't Think He's a Real Doctor

Tesla Ordered to Pay $243M in Autopilot Car Crash

A Miami jury decided that Elon Musk’s car company Tesla was partly responsible for a deadly crash in Florida involving its Autopilot driver assist technology and must pay the victims more than $200 million in damages.

The federal jury held that Tesla bore significant responsibility because its technology failed and that not all the blame can be put on a reckless driver, even one who admitted he was distracted by his cell phone before hitting a young couple out gazing at the stars. The decision comes as Musk seeks to convince Americans his cars are safe enough to drive on their own as he plans to roll out a driverless taxi service in several cities in the coming months.

The decision ends a four-year long case remarkable not just in its outcome but that it even made it to trial. Many similar cases against Tesla have been dismissed and, when that didn’t happen, settled by the company to avoid the spotlight of a trial.  

 Tesla has previously faced criticism that it is slow to cough up crucial data by relatives of other victims in Tesla crashes, accusations that the car company has denied. In this case, the plaintiffs showed Tesla had the evidence all along, despite its repeated denials, by hiring a forensic data expert who dug it up. 

“This will open the floodgates,” said Miguel Custodio, a car crash lawyer not involved in the Tesla case. “It will embolden a lot of people to come to court.”

Trump Secretly Planning an Invasion of Mexico?

Mexico has said the U.S. military would not be entering its territory following reports that convicted felon Donald Trump had directed the Pentagon to target Latin American drug cartels.  "The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military," President Claudia Sheinbaum said. "We co-operate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion. That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out."

The New York Times reported that Trump had already secretly signed a directive to begin using military force on foreign soil.  In a statement to the BBC, the White House did not address the directive but said that Trump's "top priority is protecting the homeland".  The reported directive appears to follow an executive order signed by Trump earlier this year formally designating eight drug cartels as terrorist entities - six of which are Mexican.

Speaking to reporters, Sheinbaum said the Mexican government was informed that an order on the cartels was coming, and "that it had nothing to do with the participation of any military personnel".  "It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said 'No'," she said.  Earlier this year, Sheinbaum told reporters that Trump's decision to designate cartels as terrorists "cannot be an opportunity for the US to invade our sovereignty".

The New York Times report says the directive signed by Trump provides "an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations" against cartels, both at sea and on foreign soil.

In recent months, Mexico has worked with the U.S. to curb the illegal flow of both migrants and drugs through the U.S.-Mexico border. June saw the lowest border crossings on record, according to data by the US Customs and Border Protections, and last week, US Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said fentanyl seizures at the border were down by over half.  

 

Keeping it Real

Spinal Tap & Elton John - Stonehenge