I'VE GOT ANOTHER SET OF HORROR STORIES ABOUT THE NHS IN THE UK And this is part of my ongoing series of real stories of socialized medicine. As young (and healthy) people clamor for socialized medicine, I'm tracking down real stories from real people who have enjoyed the "free" services of the British health care system. Today I am speaking with a lovely woman called Samantha, who was born and reared in the UK and moved to the US several years ago. Since then she has experienced our healthcare system and has some contrasts between what she got here in our "broken" system and what she got there. She's on at 1 to discuss.
SPEAKING OF THE NHS, HAVE YOU DONATED TO MY FRIEND TRYING TO GET HER GALLBLADDER OUT IN IRELAND? She's trapped in the "free" system in pain (she was in bed ALL day yesterday from pain) still waiting for a surgical consult that MAY get her surgery scheduled in the next year...or several years. She can go private and get it removed quickly, but that costs money. I'd sure appreciate you throwing some cash at her so she can get back to living. Here is the link.
HEY ABOUT THAT TEXAS POWER OUTAGE, THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY IS TO BLAME AFTER ALL And this isn't what you're hearing on the news, but you need to read this entire Twitter thread:
The story is that BEFORE the storm hit Texas, ERCOT, the power commission that oversees power generation in Texas, asked the Department of Energy for a waiver so they could bring oil and gas power generation plants up to 115% capacity to cover for the plants offline because of scheduled maintenance. They have to ask for waivers because they are limited by the Feds on how much of their energy they can get from fossil fuels. The DOE replied that yes, they could, as long as they charged $1500 per Mwh for the energy they created. This is a financial non-starter because normally they charge about $500 per Mwh. The power companies knew they couldn't jack up the prices like that, so they went with a rolling blackout strategy that failed badly. Additionally, President Biden REFUSED to declare an emergency for a vast majority of the counties in Texas, even if the Governor asked for it. Why? Because Democrats think Texans suffering helps them. What other reason is there? If Texas had ramped up it's production at it's oil and gas facilities, they would have had MORE than enough capacity to meet demand. So the next time someone tells you this is a failure of regulation, please correct the record. It's the EXACT opposite.
A STATE RUN OPTION WOULD SIMPLE REQUIRE TAX PAYERS TO BE ON THE HOOK FOR PEOPLE'S HEALTH Krista Kafer writes about Colorado's latest attempt to create a state-run insurance option. She is absolutely right in that a public option will artificially drive up the costs for other health insurers as they offer lower reimbursements to hospitals to keep prices down. This creates cost-shifting, a scourge we already deal with from Medicare, that forces hospitals to negotiate HIGHER reimbursements with private insurers, thus driving those costs UP. We have an example of this in the property insurance market in Florida already. Two massive hurricanes can easily bankrupt it, as it doesn't charge enough in premiums to keep up with claims, but because it's state run, they get away with it. They are actively trying to get people OFF Citizen's Insurance in Florida but CAN'T because they aren't allowed to raise premiums to market rates. This hopelessly distorts the market and it will happen here too. Read the whole thing here for great information!
AURORA PD IS SHEDDING POLICE OFFICERS LIKE CRAZY To retirement and just plain leaving. This article speculates about why they are leaving, but I sure wish the officers who are headed out the door would give an honest assessment of what led them to do so. If no one says the words, it lets the powers-that-be off the hook when they may not deserve it.
HOW MANY PREPPERS WERE BORN LAST WEEK IN TEXAS? Not for nothing, I was shocked by how many Texans were completely unprepared for this winter storm that blew through. Isn't Texas the land of rugged individualism? Must be all those Californian immigrants. Ari Armstrong writes here about the need to be ready to take care of your family in a storm, political or otherwise. Maybe it's because I'm from Florida and we have hurricane preparations drilled into from birth, but you have to have some basics on hand always in case of stuff like this. It's why I have a wood burning fireplace and gas stove, tbh.
OUR POTENTIAL ATTORNEY GENERAL ONLY BELIEVES ACTS OF DOMESTIC TERROR HAPPEN DURING THE DAY And you don't have to take my word for it, watch this:
BIDEN HAS KIDS IN CAGES AT THE BORDER BUT WHEN HE DOES IT IT'S NBD From the Washington Post:
The emergency facility — a vestige of the Trump administration that was open for only a month in summer 2019 — is being reactivated to hold up to 700 children ages 13 to 17.
Government officials say the camp is needed because facilities for migrant children have had to cut capacity by nearly half because of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border has been inching up, with January reporting the highest total — more than 5,700 apprehensions — for that month in recent years.
Hmmmm, so you're telling me that when President Biden sent the message that he was going to do another amnesty, especially for children, there was a surge of such children at the border? NO WAY. Who could have seen THAT coming??? Our President is creating a humanitarian crisis at our border RIGHT NOW and the same progressives who were apoplectic about this SAME EXACT THING (paging AOC, paging AOC) when Trump did it are oddly quiet. I wonder why. Not really, we all know. What's interesting is the way they describe the center now:
The most colorful trailer is at the entryway, where flowers, butterflies and handmade posters still hang on its walls from Carrizo’s first opening in 2019.
So weird they didn't mention the colorful entryway when Trump was President. So weird.
MEDIA BIAS IN FULL DISPLAY WITH THE COVERAGE OF FLORIDA'S REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR Governor Ron DeSantis has been portrayed as some kind of monster for refusing to destroy his state's economy over covid. He has resisted Dr. Fauci's (ever changing) orders for a draconian lockdown and yet Florida has far fewer deaths than New Jersey and New York, where the venerate by the press Governor Cuomo is running things and killing old people. Read this for more.
THE DIGITAL BOOK BURNINGS HAVE BEGUN And it started with a simple removal of a three year old book about the current state of transgender politics and medicine. Sure it's not complimentary of the transgender mania pushing children into health-destroying hormone therapy and mutilating surgery, but it's not FACTUALLY inaccurate and it's not a book urging violence or anything but compassion for people suffering with gender dysphoria. But it went against the current accepted dogma so Amazon just removed it from their store. Just removed it. Just, like, that.
NERDS WITH GLASSES ARE LESS LIKELY TO CATCH COVID At least one study says so. Read it here.
WELL DONKEY IS A FUNNY WORD And this little boy found it extremely amusing.