FirstCircle

FirstCircle , 2 days ago

Welp, I can see it's time to re-up as a member with the ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and maybe a few more. I haven't been active in the Church:State fight since the early 2000s when GWB was kissing-up to Christofascists but the latter are really gaining momentum of late now that they have Their People in power from the SCOTUS on down to the lowliest municipal admin spot. We as a country are truly f*cked if we don't neutralize these people. I'll probably join TST too because I agree with them ideologically, they're doing some great women's health care work, and I want to make sure that I get on all the Christofascist's Lists as a certified Demonic influencer.

FirstCircle , 6 days ago

I swear he comes across as even more senile each and every day. But ...

The rich would support this - they can only consume so much after all, and most of that would be discretionary. No more income taxes on vast incomes, stop buying imported shit, huge win for them. The chowderheads supporting Drumpf would probably be enthusiastic about such an idea too - imagining their small paychecks without that hated tax deduction box and imagining no more paying every year for that scary tax return software. And then, they lose their jobs because countries that we export to retaliate with their own tariffs. Prices on pretty much everything goes through the roof (because even domestic products have foreign supply chains), and most of the cheap shit they used to be able to afford (like electronics from China, bulk foods from overseas and (fast-)foods made with it) they can't afford now.

Meanwhile, with the economy crashing, federal receipts (both tax and tariffs) dry up and it's Government Shutdown time. All working according to the Plan. Grandma and Grandpa lose their incomes and health care and have to move in with unemployed, impoverished JimBob and the wife, which is darn near intolerable what with all the hillbilly kids being home all the time now that the schools have been shut down. Kids that are wailing about being hungry all the time just like the oldsters.

It would be fun to see what carve-outs to the tax/tariff policy they'd have, to try to keep the MIC funded. Borrowing is of course the preferred way to fund it, but nobody's going to be touching the bonds issued by an actively collapsing national government.

FirstCircle , 6 days ago

"Bloomberg reported the memo indicated a “newer” first officer was flying at the time and inadvertently pushed forward on the control column."

So, is this another "pilot tries to crash the plane" incident? It's hard to imagine how a pilot could "inadvertently" shove the controls forward, especially at that altitude when both would totally dialed-in to flying the plane and doing their checklists and whatnot (vs. say, getting up to go to the toilet or something). Fortunately, "the event was addressed appropriately as we always strive for continuous improvement" said SW, so now I feel better.

FirstCircle , 7 days ago

It's right there in the paragraph about nuclear weapons.

FirstCircle , 25 days ago

More here:
After ‘whites only’ job posting, tech staffing firm settles with DOJ, Labor [npr.org]

FirstCircle , 1 month ago

The California-based Raw Milk Institute called the warnings "clearly fearmongering." The institute's founder, Mark McAfee, told the Los Angeles Times this weekend that his customers are, in fact, specifically requesting raw milk from H5N1-infected cows. According to McAfee, his customers believe, without evidence, that directly drinking high levels of the avian influenza virus will give them immunity to the deadly pathogen.

By all means, drink up, morons, get the hell out of our gene pool, we've got enough troubles without your Dimwit DNA.

FirstCircle , 1 month ago

Just stay tuned for the show when/if the Orange Fascist gets into office again. Cuts to Medicare, SS, and a dismantling of the ACA will be top priorities, and then you're going to see huge increases in the numbers of homeless old folks. Grandpa and Grandma trudging their carts down the road, loaded with the sum or their earthly possessions, heading for the next place to sit next to traffic with a cardboard sign or heading for the nearest tent-city that hasn't been ripped apart by the cops. These income/benefits cuts (and similar - think Medicaid) will be savage for younger people too, but younger people can at least, usually, at minimum, get some kind of crappy job whereas older people, the vast majority of whom are on small, fixed incomes, will very often be unemployable due to illness or injury or (as should be obvious to anyone who pays attention) age discrimination. If that sub-minimum-wage job office job can be done by 20yo Sally or 70yo Sam, if that house-painting job can be done by 20yo Chad or 60yo Cindy, guess who's going to get the job and who's going to be unable to rent even a single-room flat because of no job, no income.

I point this out mainly because one seldom encounters articles that are sympathetic to the financial plights of older people - they're assumed to be all out playing golf at The Club all day, eating restaurant meals afterwards, taking long vacations whenever, just because, and living in comfortable, fully-owned houses with incomes that support their upkeep as well as the upkeep+use of that brand new gigantic RV parked outside. Oldster unemployment and poverty and medical debt and, ultimately Oldster homelessness, is just outside of the narrative.

FirstCircle , 1 month ago

I agree that such arrests are just a fear-inducing (i.e. "state terror") tactic. It sounds like the final decision to pursue/not-pursue charges was up to a judge, at least in this case. It would be interesting to know if the cops knew or cared about what (and what quality) evidence they had or didn't have.

Police arrested 57 people for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor akin to loitering. Travis County Attorney Delia Garza's office said Friday all those charges have been dismissed after a county judge found insufficient evidence to proceed.

FirstCircle , 2 months ago

Cowart was held on a $37,000 bond before being released from jail the same night.
TF, she walked free and presumably is free currently? I guess this behavior is no big deal in TN.

FirstCircle , 2 months ago

You can be sure that these jailed homeless people will end up being forced into labor - enslaved - because you can't let dirt-cheap labor go to waste, and you can't let a poor person look like they're getting something for nothing - mooching, free-riding - even if it's not their choice. Handouts are legitimately only for the rich and their corporations after all. If someone's fined+jailed and won't work for some capitalist exploiter, what will be done? I would guess some kind of torture will be employed to change their minds, but wouldn't be surprised if they're simply executed, especially if they're non-white.

FirstCircle , 2 months ago

That is annoying as hell.

Bad site, no clicks.

NPR is steaming down the "condescending" path now too, with their daily headlines of the form "XYZ, what you need to know" and "what to know about ABC" .... as in (today) "What to know as jury selection begins ..." . I'm just like, "FU NPR, I don't need you to dictate to me the things that are important or not important to me, I'll make that call, your job is simply to fill in the blanks when and if asked, no more and no less."

FirstCircle , 2 months ago

Archive link: https://archive.is/Qsioy

FirstCircle , 2 months ago

Northern ID is a cultural shit-hole. The original home of the American Nazi, now occupied by racists, Jew-haters, Xian nationalists, and other hate-cults, and of course by American Nazis still. Oh and it's been discovered by the wealthy elite and sold to them as a get-away where they can sit by the lake, recuperate from their hard labors of screwing the masses, network, and write checks to the Fascist orgs that exist to serve them (ex. Trump cult). N. ID can't even keep their local state colleges functioning and accredited, but don't worry, the CdA-area airports are in good shape and bustling with corpo jets, you'll have no problems landing yours there.

FirstCircle OP , 2 months ago

Insurance companies still do many versions of this with a byzantine coding system, complex “out of network” exclusions, etc. Anything to deny a claim.

Yep. My criminal insurance company (CIC) marketing docs trumpeted how my ER costs were "fully covered" (which they're required to be by law, I think). That's obviously bad for profits, so the solution? Well just interpret any ER line-item (pick some expensive ones) as non-ER, even when they pertain to an ER visit, then charge the whole slew of separate copays/deductibles that go with the new interpretation. Profit! The hospital, which has a contract with the insurer, will cooperate and code all these line-item services with ambiguous language and codes, making them ripe for the picking by the screw-you insurance dweebs.

Oh, I can appeal the insurance decisions? Great. Appeal #1 is decided by the insurance company itself! 100% internal. Appeal #2 is done by a third party company, selected by the insurance company and paid by the insurance company. Think your state insurance commissioner is going to step in when foul play occurs? Think again. If they pay attention to you at all, they'll claim to have no "authority" to make "medical decisions" about the abuse the insurance companies subject you to, and if they do anything at all, it might be to write a mildly-stern email to the insurance company reminding it of your complaint and their supposed obligations. That's it, the commissioner's office is not on "your side" and even if it were to some extent, they'll claim to be "too overloaded" to do anything, anything like actually regulate the insurance companies, on your behalf or on behalf of the other millions of insurance customers.