Month: January 2025

The Greenland Thing Is No Big Deal, Right?

Awhile ago Trump went back onto his claim that US should own Greenland and many people thought it was just him being a blowhard and that it was nothing to care about….that may not be true….

President Trump wants Greenland, and he’s reportedly making that very clear to its current ownership. The Hill reports that Trump had a “fiery” 45-minute phone call with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Jan. 15, five days before his inauguration. According to the Daily Mail, the call descended into an “unprecedented diplomatic clash” over Trump’s insistence that US gain control of Greenland—which is autonomous but part of Denmark—is necessary to ensure America’s national security.

When Frederiksen said that the island isn’t for sale and that Greenland has a choice in its own independence, Trump reportedly became enraged and threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark if it didn’t give up the territory. National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes didn’t comment on the tone of the call, but he did say Trump is focused on Greenland as part of a global competition between China and Russia. “President Trump has been clear that the safety and security of Greenland is important to the United States as China and Russia make significant investments throughout the Arctic region,” he said in a statement.

Trump first mentioned buying Greenland during his first term as president, and the plan resurfaced prior to his second inauguration this week. A source told the Financial Times that Trump was “very firm” during the phone call with Frederiksen. “It was a cold shower. Before, it was hard to take it seriously. But I do think it is serious, and potentially very dangerous.” Another Danish official said the call “utterly freaked out” the Danes. “The intent was very clear,” they said. “They want it. The Danes are now in crisis mode.” Frederiksen’s office countered that it “not recognize the interpretation of the conversation given by anonymous sources.”

Apparently it is just not something he mindlessly blurted out but rather a real thing that he will throw a tantrum if he does not get his way.

And what will this divide do to NATO allies?

Will we see a 25% tariff on Danish imports because Trump is pissed at Denmark?

If so, there goes my cheese danish…..to be eaten no more.

I am still waiting for the promise of ending daylight savings to be implemented.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ladies And Gentlemen: Welcome To Amateur Hour

After a hard fought battle the Senate has confirmed the most unqualified person to run the War Department…..

The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth as the nation’s defense secretary Friday in a dramatic late-night vote, swatting back questions about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and aggressive behavior toward women, per the AP. Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote, making the final tally 51-50, reports the New York Times. Hegseth himself was at the Capitol with his family.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Hegseth, as a veteran of the Army National Guard who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, “will bring a warrior’s perspective” to the top military job. “Gone will be the days of woke distractions,” Thune said, referring to the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives being slashed across the federal government. “The Pentagon’s focus will be on war fighting.”

Rarely has a Cabinet nominee faced such wide-ranging concerns about his experience and behavior as Hegseth, particularly for such a high-profile role atop the US military. But the Republican-led Senate was determined to confirm Hegseth, a former Fox News host, rounding out President Trump’s top national security Cabinet officials.

I am no friend of the War Department but at least we should have a qualified person in charge….not some bootlicker that will be overwhelmed from day one.

“The Pentagon’s focus will be on war fighting.”…..with a statement like that can you now see why I think it should be renamed the War Department?

Hegseth will lead 1.3 million active-duty service members and almost one million civilians who work for the US military, which has a near $1 trillion annual budget.

Hegseth told lawmakers that, until this point, the largest group he had managed was 100 people and the largest budget was $16m.

he three Republican senators who voted against Hegseth were Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell, the party’s leader in the chamber until this month.

McConnell said Hegseth had failed to demonstrate that he had the ability to effectively manage an organisation as large and complex as the military.

“Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes,” McConnell said in a statement.

The kakistocracy is almost fully in place….let the destruction begin.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those On-Line Pharmacies

Another winter’s Sunday and yet another of my attempts to depart some information that may be helpful to my readers…..yes another FYI Sunday.

I know most of us have seen the ads for those drugs that we can order direct…..those drugs for ED, weight loss, etc……personally I think they are a scam and should not be selling their stuff without a doctor’s visit to see if they are needed…..but we Americans want everything to be quick and easy….like those shoes that you need not touch.

But what is being said about these rip-offs?

Nearly all of the world’s 35,000 online pharmacies are being run illegally, and consumers who use them risk getting ineffective or dangerous drugs, per the US Trade Representative’s annual report on “notorious markets.” The report also singled out 19 countries over concerns about counterfeit or pirated products, naming about three dozen online retailers—many of them in China or elsewhere in Asia—that it said are allegedly engaged in selling counterfeit products or other illegal activities. The report says 96% of online pharmacies were found to be violating the law, many operating without a license and selling medicines without prescriptions or safety warnings. Their websites often look like legitimate e-commerce platforms, often with false claims they’re approved by the FDA, said the report released Wednesday.

The FDA and DEA have both issued warnings about risks of buying prescription medicines from such sources. It cited a survey by the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies’ Global Foundation that found nearly 1 in 4 Americans who’ve used online pharmacies reported encountering substandard, fake, or harmful medicines. Last year, federal prosecutors reported a network of illegal drug sellers based in the US, the Dominican Republic, and India had packaged potentially deadly synthetic opioids into pills disguised as common prescription drugs and sold millions of them through fake online drugstores. At least nine people died of narcotics poisoning between August 2023 and June 2024 after consuming the counterfeit pills, the indictment said.

Apart from the risks of using drugs that may contain inert ingredients or those that could cause allergies, the medicines are sometimes made in unsanitary conditions, said the report. The USTR’s annual report cited examples from inside the US, but it also mentioned risks of imported ingredients, including fentanyl from China. Many of the illicit online pharmacies are based outside the US. The “Notorious Markets List” did laud progress in fighting counterfeit and pirated goods. In one case, US authorities, industry groups, and police collaborated in shutting down a Vietnam-based piracy ring, Fmovies, and other related piracy sites, in July and August.

More here.

Always check with your family medical professional before venturing into the world of quick and easy drugs.

Buyer beware!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Saturday News Dump–25Jan25

That time again when I bring all the news that was unfit to report to light.

Locally–we have had 3 weeks of actually winter weather and even had snow this past week (it has been 20 years since we had any snow much less snow that stuck for a couple of days) a total of about 7 inches which is more snow than I can ever remember.  We have had temps from 9 degrees to 31 for about 5 days straight…..made it interesting.

Personal–my treatments continue and it is wearing me down…mental clarity is lacking at times, constant fatigue and short tempered…..Sue has her hands full.

Enough about me let’s jump right in to the Dump of the week….

I drink coffee and I like coffee….some good things are said and even some bad…..but I keep drinking no matter what is said….

In the never-ending debate of whether coffee is good or bad for you, the latest study lands squarely in the pro-coffee camp. The new research suggests it may boost chances for a longer life, even for those who down at least eight cups daily, reports the AP. In a study of nearly half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers had a slightly lower risk of death over 10 years than abstainers. The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground, and decaffeinated. It’s the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches that affect how their bodies use caffeine. Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10% to 15% less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal.

The results don’t prove your coffee pot is a fountain of youth, nor are they a reason for abstainers to start drinking coffee, says Alice Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutrition expert who was not involved in the research. But she says the results reinforce previous research and add additional reassurance for coffee drinkers. “It’s hard to believe that something we enjoy so much could be good for us. Or at least not be bad,” Lichtenstein said. The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. It’s not clear exactly how drinking coffee might affect longevity. But lead author Erikka Loftfield, a researcher at the US National Cancer Institute, said coffee contains more than 1,000 chemical compounds including antioxidants, which help protect cells from damage.

Keeping with the consumable stuff…..ultra-processed food….

UPF products are everywhere and they’re slowly killing us. “To me, this all seemed overly dramatized and incredibly reductive,” writes Wilson. For one thing, “ultra-processed food” might sound like an authoritative term, but the definition is a little squishy. For example, the aforementioned Times quiz declared that Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice is not ultraprocessed because of its simple ingredients, while the NOVA Food Classification System declares that ice cream is always ultraprocessed. Often, determining what takes a food from minimally processed to ultraprocessed is a “judgment call,” writes Wilson.

The dietitian didn’t just pontificate, though. She went to Trader Joe’s and loaded up on ultraprocessed foods and made them the center of her diet for a month. At the end of which, she felt … better than she did at the start. She didn’t skip meals or have “decision fatigue” on what to make because it was all so easy—and tasty. It’s a tradeoff, she writes. Yes, it would be lovely to come and cook veggies from the garden every evening, but is that realistic for most people? Her advice would be to supplement UPF dishes with veggies and such as much as possible, and go easy on fast food, chips, and cookies. “I look forward to a society that supports us all affording and eating minimally processed food, and in the meantime, I will eat my Trader Joe’s Eggwich in peace.”

Just wanted to give the other side of this story…..

Beware of the ‘bacon curse’….

If you could see inside your brain after eating processed meats, you might think twice about that morning bacon ritual. An eye-opening new study has revealed that even modest consumption of processed red meat could be aging your brain faster than normal.

Health followed over 133,000 healthcare professionals for up to 43 years, finding that people who ate just a quarter serving or more of processed red meat per day had a 13% higher risk of developing dementia compared to those who consumed minimal amounts. For perspective, a serving of red meat is about three ounces – roughly the size of a deck of cards.

Most previous studies exploring the connection between red meat consumption and brain health have been relatively small or short-term, making this extensive research particularly noteworthy. The study, published in Neurology, carefully defined its terms: processed red meat included products like bacon, hot dogs, sausages, salami and bologna, while unprocessed red meat encompassed beef, pork, lamb and hamburger.

https://studyfinds.org/love-bacon-just-one-slice-dementia-risk/

I still will eat my bacon and take my chances.

There is a new painkiller waiting in the wings….

The FDA is expected to grant approval to a new pain medication with big potential—mainly because it’s a non-opioid and is billed as non-addictive. Details:

  • The drug: It’s called suzetrigine and is made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals of Boston, reports the Washington Post. The FDA may approve its application before the end of the month to treat short-term, or acute, pain.
  • Addiction: If the drug, known as a “selective sodium channel inhibitor,” can indeed stop pain without posing a risk of addiction, it would be “landmark development in a space that hasn’t seen innovation in decades,” per Politico. A post at Fierce Pharma cites “blockbuster expectations.”
  • Big question: The drug would likely be a big player in the industry if approved for short-term pain, but its impact would be much greater if it is eventually approved to treat long-term, or chronic, pain. The jury is very much out on that. Last month, suzetrigine failed a big test on that front when it did not outperform a placebo in patients with sciatica, per the Post and Fierce Pharma.
  • Skepticism: The coverage of the drug notes that opioids were similarly marketed as non-addictive when they first emerged, and testing of suzetrigine has been relatively short-term so far. The Post notes “that harmful side effects from a first-of-its-kind drug can emerge even after rigorous review by the FDA.”

Will the new head of HHS challenge this?

Start-up playing god again…..

The startup behind a Harvard geneticist’s quest to revive the woolly mammoth just received a big boost. Colossal Biosciences, co-founded by Harvard’s George Church, raised $200 million in Series C funding from TWG Global, the investment vehicle of Los Angeles Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter and billionaire Thomas Tull, reports the Houston Chronicle. The Dallas-based company, which has raised $435 million since its launch in September 2021, is now Texas’ first “decacorn,” valued at $10.2 billion. It aims to “de-extinct” the woolly mammoth, the dodo bird, and the Tasmanian tiger, also known as thylacine, per TechCrunch

The funding is “truly game changing for us,” co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm tells Quartz. Though Colossal has yet to generate any revenue, Lamm says “the investor base has been very impressed with the speed at which we’ve created new technologies,” including artificial wombs, which could be used in fertility treatment, per TechCrunch. The funding also suggests “potential intersections between biotech innovation and athletic performance,” Sports Illustrated reports, highlighting Walter’s stakes in sports franchises, including the Los Angeles Lakers and England’s Chelsea soccer club. Lamm said some of Colossal’s technologies are also “world-changing” for human healthcare and agriculture.

As for resurrecting extinct beasts, the company says it has mapped the genome of the mammoth and the thylacine and is in the process of using the gene-editing tool CRISPR to edit the cells of the Asian elephant, the closest living relative to a mammoth, with plans to implant them into an egg cell. The embryo will then be implanted into an elephant, who will birth a living mammoth, or so is the hope. Its latest funding “gives the pre-revenue company more runway to sign contracts with governments that are seeking to protect or replenish their biodiversity, while also letting it expand its de-extinction efforts into more species,” Axios reports.

Can you read cursive?

If you can then there is a gig for you.

History nerds, have we got a volunteer gig for you—especially if you’re well versed in cursive writing. The National Archives is on the hunt for citizen archivists to review and transcribe at least two centuries’ worth of historical US documents that are handwritten in the fading art of longhand script—a task more challenging than it might appear, as reading cursive these days has become a “rare skill,” reports USA Today. “Reading cursive is a superpower,” asserts Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives Catalog.

  • Details: Documents reviewed by volunteer archivists run the gamut. Records “range from Revolutionary War pension records to the field notes of Charles Mason of the Mason-Dixon Line to immigration documents from the 1890s to Japanese evacuation records to the 1950 census,” per USA Today.
  • Challenges: It’s not always an easy task, per USA Today: “There are cross-outs, things written on the other side that bleed through, strange and inventive spellings, old forms of letters (a double ‘S’ was sometimes written as a ‘long s’ and looked like an ‘F’), and even children’s doodles,” as well as “many obsolete terms and legal words that can flummox even the most erudite readers.”
  • Cursive conundrum: Only 24 states mandate that public schools teach script to students in grades K-12, per Education Week. People notes that’s “less than half of what was required 25 to 30 years ago,” largely due to the rise of computers and text messaging.
  • Interested? There’s not even a need to apply if you’re keen on diving into the archiving pool. After signing up and going through the tutorials, “just pick a record that hasn’t been done and read the instructions,” Isaacs tells USA Today. “It’s easy to do for a half hour a day or a week.”
  • Non-cursive work: It’s also OK if you’re not an expert in the old way of writing—volunteers who can’t read cursive can help add tags to already transcribed records, or they can simply learn as they go. “When they first sent me a document I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t read this,” volunteer Christine Ritter tells USA Today. “But the longer you do them the easier it gets.”
  • Get started here.

That is all I have for this Saturday…..go out and have some fun and as always….B Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

For All Those Conspiracy Theorists

For decades there has been some wild speculation on the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK and only small amounts of info has been released to the public…..and the whining went on and it finally fell on the ears of the new Lord High Monarch……

There will be a release of more information on these killings….

An executive order signed by President Trump on Thursday calls for making thousands of documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. public. “Lot of people are waiting for this a long, for years, for decades,” Trump said, per CNN. “Give that to RFK Jr.,” his pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, the president said when he finished with one pen. Another Kennedy descendant immediately criticized Trump’s decision. “There’s nothing heroic about it,” Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, posted on X.

Many of the documents connected to the JFK assassination have already been declassified, including 13,000 released during the Biden administration, though plenty have been redacted. Trump’s order gives the director of national intelligence and the attorney general 45 days to come up with a plan for releasing all RFK and King files, per CBS News. They’re given 15 days on the JFK files, though neither office has been filled yet. President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and RFK and King in 1968. “Everything will be revealed,” Trump told reporters at the signing, the Guardian reports.

Trump promised to release the files during the campaign. He said that in his first campaign but reversed once in office. The CIA, Pentagon, and State Department have held back files, saying it’s mostly to protect the identities of confidential sources who are still alive and safeguard the agencies’ methods, per CNN. Schlossberg suggested Thursday that people looking for evidence of conspiracy theories will be disappointed. “The truth is a lot sadder than the myth—a tragedy that didn’t need to happen. Not part of an inevitable grand scheme,” Schlossberg posted, saying that “declassification is using JFK as a political prop, when he’s not here to punch back.”

Will the public learn anything they already do not know about these assassinations?

This should keep those conspiracist busy trying to glean more info out of the documents.

Whatcha think?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What Happened To The Democratic Party?

This is a common theme since the party was handed their butts to them in the election of 2024…..many theories are being floated and many answers on how to correct the situation…..but the key is will any of the ‘power brokers’ listen.

I have my thoughts on what happened and it was not overnight.

It began with the loss of Carter to Reagan and the Dems kept finding the most useless and weak candidates they possibly could but the straw that broke the party was the candidacy of Bubba Clinton and the party’s embracing of big money and special interests….and the party has been sliding down this path for many elections and their greed and embrace has brought them to this spot in our history.

Like I said there are many explanations and this is just one…..

With all eyes on the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, it’s been easy to overlook or downplay the many signs of acute decline in American politics. Donald Trump’s victory is still sending shockwaves through the established political system, so it’s tempting to dismiss his deranged decade-long reign on the right as an aberration, born of incoherent moral panics, misplaced economic anxiety, and declining media literacy. But in reality, the Trump distemper never existed in isolation. It was a fundamental expression of a host of unresolved pathologies—many within the Democratic Party, too—and not an inexplicable detour from a serenely ordered status quo.

The final count shows that Trump again came up short of a majority of the popular vote. Still, it never should have been this close. Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump and the Republicans told us exactly who they are. They pledged to wreak vengeance on their political enemies, to create a new counter-federalist brigade of brownshirts to initiate mass deportations, to bomb Iran to smithereens, and to establish an interstate menstrual surveillance regime. Trump barked out random non sequiturs about windmills and Hannibal Lecter and bobbed silently to schlock-heavy playlists. He dogmatically asserted his faith in tariffs and their ability to magically eliminate inequality and create mass prosperity, even if they would do the opposite. And yet Kamala Harris and the Democrats struggled to mount a successful opposition. Harris refused to separate herself from Joe Biden’s unconscionable support for genocide in Gaza, and she put forward an economic platform that often devolved into a standard litany of milquetoast measures to uphold a starkly unequal status quo—from her squishiness on antitrust enforcement to her pandering to the crypto industry.

Where did the national political machine (and its operators and strategists) that was once called the Democratic Party go? How did it become so fangless in the face of a presidential candidate so clearly ill-equipped for the presidency? For that matter, where was the Republican Party that might have prevented Trump’s third run for the White House? Even as some of its name-brand leaders have broken from Trump, the party remained wedded to a MAGA path to power.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/democratic-party-dealignment-left-adrift-hollow-parties/

So what has happened to the DNC?  One answer….MONEY.

The American Prospect‘s Micah Sifry reported that he obtained the closely guarded list from a “trusted source with long experience with the national party.”

“This person thinks it’s absurd that the party’s roster of voting members is secret,” Sifry wrote. “Indeed, since there is no official public list, each of the candidates running for chair and other positions has undoubtedly had to create their own tallies from scratch—making it very likely our list comes from a candidate’s whip operation.”

Based on the DNC’s public statements, it was known that the DNC has 448 active members who will decide on key leadership posts in the coming weeks. But the identities of the individuals were, until Friday, kept under wraps.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/dnc-membership-list

Then most recently there is the complete ignorance on the use of social media…..

None of these problems will be corrected in the near future…..or if ever.

The Dems have given lip service to many issues and delivered on very few….hence the voter has lost all confidence in the party and the next year or so will be very telling.

You tell me what happened to the Democratic Party.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

CNN Is Changing

I have noticed that a few of my visitors and commenters use CNN as one of their primary sources…..I use them occasionally but not a major contributor to my posts…

I saw a report that I thought might interests those that like CNN and their coverage of the news….

CNN is making some big changes as President Trump’s second term begins. In a memo to staffers Thursday morning, CEO Mark Thompson outlined the “next phase of change” at the news organization, which will include laying off around 200 people, 6% of its staff. Thompson described the layoffs as an “unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process.” He said the company’s headcount would remain around the same, with people involved in traditional TV operations laid off and new employees, including data scientists, hired with the $70 million it is investing in plans to grow its digital business. Thompson said the company is responding to “profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news.”

  • New streaming service. A new streaming service will be introduced as part of plans “to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose,” Thompson wrote, per the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s early days but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America, but across much of the world.” CNN also plans to introduce its first “lifestyle-oriented digital product,” Thompson wrote.
  • Vertical videos. CNN has been focusing on vertical videos, which can be viewed easily on phones. The company plans to publish up to 100 of the videos per day, and it is working on a TikTok-style video news service that lets users swipe through the videos easily, reports the New York Times. “You can use your thumb to flick from a CNN news story to a CNN anchor to a reporter,” Thompson tells the Times. “That’s a really interesting experiment.”
  • Viewership is way down. The focus on digital comes as cable TV viewer numbers are sagging. CNN averaged “578,000 prime-time viewers in the three months through December, down by 74% from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2020,” according to the Wall Street Journal. During the same period, viewer numbers fell 62% at MSNBC and 27% at Fox News.
  • Jim Acosta. A CNN spokesperson said they are in “active discussions” about a new time slot for Acosta. Sources tell the Independent that Thompson spoke to Acosta, an outspoken Trump critic, last week about potentially moving his show to the midnight slot.

Okay do any of my viewers see this move as a good one?

Or is CNN caving to Trump pressure?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Now It’s Troops

Ukraine has been bleeding the US for all it can in cash and aid and now with a new president in place in DC Zelensky is wanting thousands of troops for his nation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that US troops must be included in a Western peacekeeping force that he wants deployed to Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal with Russia.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelensky called for 200,000 European troops to be sent to Ukraine to uphold a peace deal, an idea that’s a non-starter for talks with Moscow.

“We need contingents with a very strong number of soldiers,” Zelensky said. “From all the Europeans? Two hundred thousand. It’s a minimum. Otherwise, it’s nothing.”

In an interview with Bloomberg following the remarks, Zelensky said US troops needed to be involved, or the Europeans wouldn’t want to be involved. “It can’t be without the United States. Even if some European friends think it can be, no, it can’t be. Nobody will risk without the United States,” he said.

The Wall Street Journal reported in December that President Trump wanted European troops to deploy to Ukraine to enforce a ceasefire, but the idea was quickly dismissed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who said Moscow was “certainly not satisfied” with the proposal.

One of Russia’s primary motivations for launching its invasion of Ukraine was the country’s alignment with NATO, and Ukrainian neutrality is a key Russian demand for peace, meaning Moscow won’t settle for an agreement that involves a major Western troops presence in Ukraine.

The Trump administration has said its official policy is to end the war in Ukraine, and Trump has tasked his envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellog, to achieve that goal within 100 days. But it remains unclear what sort of deal the US may offer Russia.

(antiwar.com)

“MUST”?  How long will the US allow this self-important tool demand shit from the US?

I say he has gotten enough from the US and time for this a/hole to stand up and do his own thinking and/or fighting.

We were promised to have this crap done in 24 hours after being elected…..so far nothing has happened other than some demands from a minor player.

What will be the answer?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The “DOGE”

That sounds like some creature from D&D….but it is a new term for the Trump admin of a couple of dudes that will suggest where to cut payrolls and what to keep…..a bit much in my opinion.

The group is lead by Musk and the V-Man, who was decided to bow out of DC to run for office….

The Department of Government Efficiency has already cut one position. Co-chief Vivek Ramaswamy has left President Trump’s startup, intended to reduce federal spending, to kick off a campaign next week for governor of Ohio, NBC News reports. A spokesperson for the initiative thanked him for his contribution in its first two months. “Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” Anna Kelly said in a statement Monday. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE.” That leaves Elon Musk alone at the top. Just Monday morning, Ramaswamy had posted a photo of himself and Musk on X with the message, “A new dawn.”

With the V-Man gone that leaves Musk, the nazi saluting d/bag in charge of this office…..

What are the plans of this governmental agency?

While the U.S. Senate on Wednesday held confirmation hearings for several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, the watchdog Public Citizen sounded the alarm about a new commission and its billionaire leaders, who don’t require congressional oversight but could significantly impact federal agencies, regulations, and spending.

Despite being called the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE is not a government department. It is a presidential advisory commission that Trump announced after his November win. He has asked billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead it.

Public Citizen co-presidents Lisa Gilbert and Robert Weissman on Monday wrote to Trump’s transition team, asking to join DOGE. While their group has concerns about the commission’s “structure and mission,” including potential conflicts of interest regarding Musk and Ramaswamy’s financials, the watchdog leaders made the case that they could serve “as voices for the interests of consumers and the public who are the beneficiaries of federal regulatory and spending programs.”

The pair highlighted that their appointment “would be an important step towards compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act,” and outlined some ideas they have “to slash drug prices, end privatized Medicare, reduce the wasteful Pentagon budget.”

Weissman expanded on the group’s recommendations in a Wednesday report titled DOGE Delusions: A Real-World Plan to Reject Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s Misguided Agenda, Crack Down on Corporate Handouts, Tax the Rich, and Invest for the Future.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/doge

While I agree that there is way too much waste in DC….I am not convinced that Musk is the right person to lead the charge to curtail this waste.

This will be interesting to see what DOGE comes up with as policy…..I am not optimistic.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Medicare And Seniors

Since I am an old person I have been keeping a close eye on anything that might help inform my fellow retirees about Medicare…..

It is a new year and some new stuff around Medicare…..new for 2025….

Prescription drug costs for millions of Americans with Medicare coverage are getting a lot cheaper in 2025.

New cost-saving provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act took effect Wednesday for Medicare enrollees. Chief among them: Out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs are now capped at $2,000 through Medicare Part D, the optional prescription plan associated with the federal insurance program for people over 65 and younger Americans with disabilities.

“Before I took office, people with Medicare who took expensive drugs could face a crushing burden, paying $10,000 a year or more in copays for the drugs they need to stay alive,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Tuesday, touting the benefits of one of the largest legislative packages of his presidency. “This week, we take another step closer to an America where everyone can afford the quality health care they need.”

According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), about 66 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, and about 52 million of them have Part D prescription coverage. Most enrollees spend far less than $2,000 a year on their prescriptions, but officials estimate the new cap will help 19 million people save an average of $400 a year.

https://money.com/medicare-prescription-cost-cap/

Let’s talk about the big scam that will get worse…Medicare Advantage….

Trump’s Medicare czar is going to be the quack Dr. Oz, who relishes the idea of everyone having to take out a Medicare Advantage plan….

He has even said the the uninsured do not deserve to live (paraphrase)….

Mehmet Oz, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, once said the uninsured “don’t have a right to health,” only the “right to access a chance to get that health.”

“Because they don’t have the right to health, but they have the right to access a chance to get that health,” he added.

This is the type of douchbags Trump wants in control of your life.

But I digress…..what about those scams , the Medicare Advantage plans?

I have tried to keep my fellow retirees informed about the scams that are targeting them…..

Medicare Advantage Plans

And the news just keeps coming and is as usual under-reported….

Donald Trump promises he will “not cut one penny” of Medicare, but like most elected Republicans he’s a strong proponent of Medicare privatization. During his first administration, Trump issued an executive order that said Medicare Advantage, the privatized version of Medicare, “delivers efficient and value-based care through choice and private competition.” Mehmet Oz, the TV doctor Trump nominated to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, disparages traditional Medicare and has called for massive expansion of Medicare Advantage. By remarkable coincidence, as of 2022 Oz owned a reported stake of $550,000 in UnitedHealth, Medicare Advantage’s largest participant.

There are many things the private sector does better than the federal government, among them enriching shareholders like Oz. But the private sector does not provide health care more efficiently than the public sector. That’s been demonstrated over and over, yet nobody wants to believe it. A report published Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal summarizing a year’s worth of its investigations indicates that where Medicare Advantage really excels is in the filing of fraudulent claims.

Congress created Medicare Advantage in 1997 to demonstrate for good and all, damn it, that the market economy could be more cost-effective at delivering doctor and hospital care. The privatization program succeeded in winning over the public: 54 percent of the Medicare-eligible population chooses Medicare Advantage.

Medicare Advantage looks to people over 65 like a better deal because it covers things traditional Medicare doesn’t, such as visits to the dentist or the eye doctor. Some plans even cover acupuncture! But if you get seriously ill and need to be referred to a specialist, Medicare Advantage isn’t so great. An April 2022 study by the Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general found that 13 percent of the referrals denied under Medicare Advantage would have been approved under traditional Medicare.

https://newrepublic.com/article/189804/privatizing-medicare-advantage-scam-claims-fraudulent

There is so much reporting that does not make the national news on these plans…..senior need to be aware of the pitfalls….

Medicare Advantage plans may seem like a good idea. Most of the time, it seems like you’ll be able to save money and may have additional benefits. However, these plans often come with significant downsides that can hinder you from getting the care you need. This could lead to a negative impact on your health and your finances. Below is a list of Medicare Advantage nightmares, some with real-life stories, to keep you in the know. Being aware of these hidden dangers could save you a lot of heartache.

https://www.savingadvice.com/articles/2025/01/06/10150855_the-dark-side-of-medicare-advantage-5-nightmares-that-could-happen-to-you.html

Please if you are considering one of these plans do some research other than listening to an agent who is only interested in how much he can make off you….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”