[kreuzberger]

Presumably all those people work for nothing and have never bought a newspaper or cable subscription.

It costs next to nothing to grant further access to content which has already been created.

[Boiler]

I still want to know how the New York Times can offer initial subscriptions to UK readers for 50 cents a month!

It costs them basically nothing and helps with their international reach figures.

It was $2/month until I cancelled my subscription whereupon I was offered the $0.50 sub, which now seems standard.

[Arrowhead]

Trump has just endorsed Viktor Orbán for reelection. I suppose nothing should really surprise us anymore.

[Spoonman]

Meanwhile in Tejas, Governor Abbot suddenly pleads "Help Us, Brandon"...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — who has opposed vaccine mandates — is now asking for federal help with COVID-19 testing and treatment

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, who has opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other preventive measures, said on Friday that his state had requested federal help with testing sites.

Abbott said in a press release that the state requested "resources for federally-supported testing locations and medical personnel and additional federal allocations of monoclonal antibodies."

"Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus," Abbott said.

Abbott said he requested support for testing sites in Bexar, Cameron, Dallas, Harris, Hidalgo, and Tarrant counties because of their high positivity rates and hospitalizations.

Bexar, Dallas, Harris, and Tarrant counties are among the 25 US counties with the most confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

Texas on Thursday reported 10,892 new cases, a 26.5% test-positivity rate, and over 5,500 COVID-19 hospitalizations.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-gov-gr ... 07971.html

[Cyclist]

The author of the piece linked below is a Canadian, described as a novelist, essayist and cultural commentator. I don't know how much weight I should attach to his words, but it's an interesting and frightening article.

A long read

The next US civil war is already here – we just refuse to see it

The right has recognized that the system is in collapse, and it has a plan: violence and solidarity with treasonous far-right factions

Stephen Marche


https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -to-see-it

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I read that earlier.
It has some very worrying angles, for example the white supremacist infiltration not only of law enforcement but also ICE and other agencies. It's a worry when deputies have swastika tattoos.

But I'm not convinced that it will lead to civil war, however much the insane right would like it. I think there is still a substantial core in the US who believe in their national experiment.

[Cyclist]

I think sanity will prevail, but it'll be close.

It's interesting, and not a little scary, to see just how close America is to genuinely becoming a failed state.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

In many ways it already is. Look up Beau of the Fifth Column on Youtube.

[Cyclist]

I'm not sure I want to thanks, Malc. My mental health isn't particularly good and the world is a scary enough place as it is.

While bits of America are breaking down, the country as a whole is still functioning, sort of. But some things really *do* need to change. I have become (almost) addicted to reading /antiwork on Reddit. It's where Americans bitch about their bosses, their jobs, their pay and conditions. What a lot of those poor buggers have to put up with isn't even legal in civilised countries. They have enough to put up with without unaffordable healthcare and fascists infiltrating the police and various arms of government. I do actually feel sorry for them. It must be hell living in the Land of the Free. The American Dream has turned into a nightmare

[MisterMuncher]

I have a few friends over there, and they all mercifully enough have pretty decent jobs now, but a thing from years ago has stuck with me.


My mate R lives in California, and has done for a long time. He finished his PhD at Caltech, and was doing further post-dox research there. He fell pretty gravely ill with a burst ureter (yeah, it can happen. Don't go drinking beer after a day training kids to play football in southern California heat) and had to claim from his medical insurance to get fixed up. Whilst it covered the op, and he's since made a full recovery, it was the post op care, when for no earthly reason, he was pointlessly switched to less effective painkillers (that probably cost a lot more) by his insurer. No medical reason, not even some tenuous "addiction" thing (this predates the opiod "crisis"). Just bumped him down to a couple of panadol a day so he'd have to visit a doctor and pay for it.

That's how academics get treated in the most liberal part of the states. Heaven help you if you're a dishwasher in Alabama

[The Weeping Angel]

Vox ran through some scenarios about where American Democracy might be heading.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics ... n-violence

I'd also like to point out that the term failed state should be used to describe actual failed states. It really pissed me off when people say this country or America is a failed state because it is a a fucking insult to people who come from actual failed states and an example of how cossetted we in the West are.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I'm not sure I want to thanks, Malc. My mental health isn't particularly good and the world is a scary enough place as it is.

While bits of America are breaking down, the country as a whole is still functioning, sort of. But some things really *do* need to change. I have become (almost) addicted to reading /antiwork on Reddit. It's where Americans bitch about their bosses, their jobs, their pay and conditions. What a lot of those poor buggers have to put up with isn't even legal in civilised countries. They have enough to put up with without unaffordable healthcare and fascists infiltrating the police and various arms of government. I do actually feel sorry for them. It must be hell living in the Land of the Free. The American Dream has turned into a nightmare

That tends to be Beau's refrain.

[Cyclist]

There was a post on Reddit a couple of days ago. Some Yank had put up the x-ray photo of his five year old son who had swallowed a dime when demonstrating to his little brother how he managed to swallow a key ( both items visible in the x-ray). The operation to remove the items cost daddy $4,400. When you consider the legal minimum wage in some states is $7.50 per hour.


Over here...

[Cyclist]

@Malcolm Armsteen I might just look him up.

[The Weeping Angel]

There was a post on Reddit a couple of days ago. Some Yank had put up the x-ray photo of his five year old son who had swallowed a dime when demonstrating to his little brother how he managed to swallow a key ( both items visible in the x-ray). The operation to remove the items cost daddy $4,400. When you consider the legal minimum wage in some states is $7.50 per hour.


Over here...

Ever heard of Medicaid?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicaid

[Cyclist]

Yes thanks. Your point being?

[The Weeping Angel]

My point being that people on the legal minimum wage of $7.50 could qualify for Medicaid and get assistance with their medical costs.

[Cyclist]

The operative words in that are " could qualify... and get assistance...

That Wikipedia article doesn't list the hoops people have to jump through to get it, nor does it list the restrictions on use. And it certainly doesn't tell you that severely disabled people who rely on Medicaid for their prescriptions and treatment aren't allowed to have more than $2,000 in assets or they'll lose their Medicaid. Not everyone can qualify for Medicaid, and for those who can it's still nowhere near as good, or as cheap, as having something like the NHS.

[The Weeping Angel]

You also ignored the Affordable Care Act (2010) which expanded eligibility for Medicaid and has made a huge difference to people's lives.

[The Weeping Angel]

I'm not sure I want to thanks, Malc. My mental health isn't particularly good and the world is a scary enough place as it is.

While bits of America are breaking down, the country as a whole is still functioning, sort of. But some things really *do* need to change. I have become (almost) addicted to reading /antiwork on Reddit. It's where Americans bitch about their bosses, their jobs, their pay and conditions. What a lot of those poor buggers have to put up with isn't even legal in civilised countries. They have enough to put up with without unaffordable healthcare and fascists infiltrating the police and various arms of government. I do actually feel sorry for them. It must be hell living in the Land of the Free. The American Dream has turned into a nightmare

Are these the same people who have embraced communism because they think under communism you dont have to do any work?