Monday, August 12
Government Healthcare
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His wife is 76 years old, as is he, as is me... so, we are all keenly aware that we are in the sunsets of our lives here on earth. Where we might go after that is a mystery.
Needless to say, that news, while expected, did not sit well with me mentally because I am now beginning to comfort people that I know fairly well dying from old age and complications due to that old age.
It does not fill one with COMFORT.
The situation also opens the door to government healthcare (healthcare to all) which is what is available up in Canada.
I have heard for years that Canadians come to the USA for their healthcare because the healthcare where they are SUCKS for a variety of reasons, namely if the government is in control, then the healthcare and the doctors are POOR.
Sixteen years ago, stints were put into my heart arteries by a cardiologist at NY Presbyterian Hospital who invented the procedure to clean out arteries and insert stints, avoiding triple bypass surgery. People came from all over the world because this procedure was not available to them where they lived.
This doctor would not have developed this experimental procedure in a government-controlled
healthcare system.
A government-controlled healthcare system is a FORM OF SOCIALISM... and while it sounds good because everybody gets healthcare, it actually is not good BECAUSE OF WHAT IS NOT DONE... like what this doctor discovered with stints.
If you want healthcare for everyone which in my opinion is an admirable objective/goal, then let the private sector develop it and administer it, and LEAVE THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF IT.
Iran-Israel Conflict
Iran recently lifted its frigate IRIS Sahand from the bottom of the sea, nearly two weeks after it capsized and sank.
The ship sank completely in its home port of Bandar Abbas on July 7, 2024, after attempts to stabilize it were unsuccessful due to the breaking of the securing rope. The IRIS Sahand is one of Iran’s more recent indigenous frigates, modeled after the British-designed Vosper Mark 5.
However, its name, Sahand, carries a historical legacy for Iran. It echos an earlier frigate of the same name, which met a dramatic end at the hands of the US Navy in 1988. READ MORE...
The earlier IRIS Sahand, originally Faramarz (F-74), was deployed during the turbulent 1980s, known as the Tanker War, in the Persian Gulf.
Sunday, August 11
In The NEWS
Plane crashes in Brazil, killing all 61 people aboard.
The passenger plane, operated by Brazilian airline VoePass, crashed outside its destination of Sao Paulo. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the incident as of this writing. Video footage captured by a bystander shows a plane spiraling toward the ground in the city of Vinhedo; see footage here (warning—sensitive content).
Sha’Carri Richardson and US women's 4x100 relay team win gold.
The victory is Richardson's first Olympic gold medal and teammate Gabby Thomas's second. The US men's 4x100 relay team was disqualified, extending a 20-year streak without an Olympic medal. Separately, the US women's basketball team beat Australia to advance to the final, marking their eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal game. The US will face France Sunday. See latest medal count here.
Remnants of Debby pummel Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Tornado and flood watches are in place through the weekend from the Carolinas to New England, with the weather service warning of up to 25 inches of rain in some areas. The death toll has risen to at least nine people. Debby made landfall in the US as a Category 1 hurricane on Florida's Gulf Coast Monday and as a tropical storm off South Carolina's coast Wednesday. It was downgraded Friday to a post-tropical storm with winds of 30 mph. Track Debby here.
Third suspect arrested in alleged terror plot at Taylor Swift concert.
An 18-year-old man was taken into custody a day after two other suspects were arrested for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack near the concert venue in Vienna, Austria. Swift canceled her three upcoming Eras Tour shows in the city, where roughly 195,000 people had been expected. At least one of the suspects is believed to be affiliated with ISIS.
Microsoft warns Iran hackers appear to target US election.
Iran is ramping up online activity that appears intended to influence the US election, Microsoft announced Friday. Iran's online activity includes propping up US-based news sites to target voters from opposite political parties to sow division and targeting a presidential campaign with a phishing attack (see 101). Iranian groups were also found to have impersonated US activists. See Microsoft's findings here.
Study finds serotonin changes how people react to adverse outcomes.
According to the study, people with increased serotonin levels were less sensitive to negative information, such as losing money in a game, and were able to control their behaviors better when encountering such moments. The findings shed light on serotonin's role beyond boosting positive moods.
SOURCE: 1440 NEWS
WE, the PEOPLE are to BLAME
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As I have mentioned several times before, I became involved and more acutely aware of politics in the 1960s and in particular 1966 when I was in my first year of college.
We had problems with:
- Racism
- Wages
- Education
- Healthcare
- Global relationships
- National Debt
- Gross Domestic Product
- Prices
- Manage "v" labor
- Vietnam war
- Government intrusion
NOW... almost 60 YEARS later, we are experiencing damn near the same problems with a few new problems added, mainly that revolve around technology and the censorship of conservatives and liberalism pushing hard toward socialism and going green.
While there is nothing wrong with going green, we are moving too quickly in that direction with proper infrastructure and what I think is KEY to our STUPIDITY is that very few other countries are actually planning to go green even though they have stated that they will. When other larger countries like: CHINA, RUSSIA, INDIA, AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA say they are not jumping into going green because of the COST, then that makes us look FOOLISH.
BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY WHY HAS ALL OF THIS SURFACED RIGHT NOW???
BECAUSE.... we the people... voted for these assholes that are pushing for all of this.
We the people... elected these politicians and we are responsible for the way they are voting.
- We the people did this to ourselves.
- We cause the high national debt
- We caused inflation
- We caused racism
- We caused the rest of the world to hate us
If we don't like what is going on in the USA, the only person that we have to blame is ourselves because we VOTED THEM INTO OFFICE.
AND...
WE DID NOT HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE TO VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE.
The other problem is that the USA is divided... one might say 50/50 but we know that cannot be true because we always have winners and losers, so it must be 51/49.
FIFTY-ONE PERCENT of the people here in the USA must want the following:
- Inflation
- An increasing national debt
- A slow growing economy
- A global hatred for the USA
- Illegal Immigration
- Crime and Violence
- CRT & WOKE
- A weakened military
- Minimal law enforcement
- Electric Vehicles
- An end to gasoline
When are we going to realize that if we have something that we don't like in this country, it is here because FIFTY-ONE PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE WANT IT HERE...
WE THE PEOPLE did this to WE THE PEOPLE
Wealthy Asteroid Now Visible
A NASA spacecraft is still on its way to explore an ultra-valuable, metal-rich asteroid. However, you don't have to wait for the space agency to beam back pictures of the so-called "golden asteroid" in a few years to see it. Per Astronomy Magazine,
Asteroid 16 Psyche will reach opposition—opposite to the Sun in our sky—at 1 a.m. CT on Aug. 6. It will be located among the stars in northern Capricornus glowing at a magnitude of 9.6. You can find Psyche in the southwestern sky in the early morning hours leading up to dawn, but you'll need a telescope to do so. READ MORE...
Saturday, August 10
In The NEWS
Sports, Entertainment, & Culture
> Chi Chi Rodriguez, Hall of Fame golfer and eight-time PGA Tour winner born Juan Antonio Rodriguez, dies at age 88 (More)
> Paramount Global to lay off 15% of its US workforce in preparation for merger with Skydance Media (More)
> Colin Jost ends stint as Olympics correspondent in Tahiti after sustaining foot injury resulting in a staph infection (More)
Science & Technology
> Apple reportedly to release its smallest desktop to date, using the company's in-house built M4 chip (More)
> NASA discovers two new "super-Earth" exoplanets located dozens of light years away (More) | Everything you ever needed to know about NASA (More, w/video)
> Chemists discover new reaction to develop polymers for use in drug delivery, electronics, and more (More)
Business & Markets
> US stock markets close higher (S&P 500 +2.3%, Dow +1.8%, Nasdaq +2.9%); S&P 500 notches best day since 2022 following latest labor market data (More) | US weekly jobless claims fall to 233,000 for week ending Aug. 3; figure is lower than estimates and largest drop in 11 months (More)
> Palantir shares close up 11% after announcing partnership with Microsoft; will sell secure cloud, analytics, and AI capabilities to US defense and intelligence agencies (More) | Bumble shares fall to all-time low in intraday trading after slashing annual revenue forecast (More)
> US mortgage rates fall to 15-month low, with average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage at 6.47%; total application volume rises 1% week-over-week (More)
Politics & World Affairs
> Former President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris agree to participate in Sept. 10 presidential debate on ABC; Trump says he has proposed two more debates on Fox and NBC (More) | See latest polls (More)
> Japan issues major earthquake warning after 7.1-magnitude earthquake strikes off eastern coast of southern Japanese island of Kyushu (More) | Tropical Storm Debby makes second US landfall in South Carolina, with flood threat expanding to northeast US; death toll rises to seven as of this writing (More)
> Barcelona police search for former Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont, who returned to Spain despite an outstanding arrest warrant over his failed 2017 independence bid; two officers arrested for allegedly assisting in his getaway (More)
SOUR CE: 1440 NEWS
Am I Better Off?
My wife and I have more money at our disposal than we have ever had before in our married lives, because we had developed and implemented a savings plan. Therefore, the longer you live, based upon our plan, the more money we are able to save.
Not everyone is in our same situation, so it is really difficult to make a comparison other than to say that SAVING MONEY is the key or at least one of the keys as the other one is NOT SPENDING.
Obviously, couple have to spend money to pay their bills but after bills are paid, what you spend your money on needs to be addressed.
- Is you home bigger than you really need?
- How much debt do you carry or add annually?
- Do you buy the most expensive?
- How much do you spend on:
- clothes?
- vacations?
- birthdays?
- holidays?
- entertainment?
I quit smoking 36 years ago. My wife never smoked. We cut out drinking alcohol except 1-2 cocktails when on vacation sometimes. Our vehicles are purchased when they are a year old (enormous savings there). Our vacations are booked out-of-season. Our home is no bigger than we absolutely need. We don't buy items we want, only what we need, and we save everything we possibly can.
So...
why do we do this?
We don't have company pensions, just social security.
Savings are necessary to supplement social security.
We also need to have enough money saved to account for:
- inflation
- nursing care
- out of pocket medical
My wife is 71 and I am 76. We both have health issues which, for the most part, is covered by Medicare and our supplements. Our health is only going to worsen.
Neither one of us will live longer than 10-12 years past 80 or early 90s if we make it that far.
We have been planning for this eventuality for the last THIRTY YEARS, rather than living like we are never going to get old.
Thirty years is a long time to save.
Whether our country is managed by Democrats or Republicans, it will not matter to us because our lifestyle WILL NEVER CHANGE...
Not many people can say this.
Part of our good fortune is that we are living in EAST TENNESSEE:
- no state income tax
- low cost of living
- excellent healthcare
- no much traffic or crime
- people are laid back
- moderate annual weather
- plenty of recreation
- people here love their second amendment
So...
the bottom line here is that my wife and I are better off but not because of POLITICS. We are better off because we planned to be better off, and we did not expect the government to take care of us.
Nuclear Reactor Breakthrough
The US has set a target to produce 100 percent of its electricity using renewable energy sources by 2035, and nuclear power will play a major role in its clean energy transition.
About 20 percent of all the electricity produced in the US already comes from nuclear power plants. However, this isn’t enough. If the country wants to become a leader in the clean energy space, it needs to boost its nuclear energy program and make its nuclear plants more efficient than ever.
A big issue with nuclear reactors is their dependency on nickel-based alloys, which are expensive and are abundantly found in countries (like Russia, Indonesia, Philippines) that are not always on good terms with the US. Moreover, the high moisture content of nickel ore poses transport challenges as well.
Addressing these issues, a team of researchers from Department of Energy‘s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory (AGL) have developed a framework to find material that could replace these nickel-based alloys. Using their framework, the AGL team identified and tested some promising materials.
In fact, the researchers have identified a new material that can successfully endure intense radiation testing and withstand extreme reactor conditions for extended periods. READ MORE...
Friday, August 9
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