TO COMMENT CLICK HERE
welcome to reality trivia
reality is the state of things as they actually exist
MARCH 26, 2023
Real News Today
*LAWMAKER CONFIRMS ‘OCTOBER SURPRISE’ PLOT TO SABOTAGE JIMMY CARTER’S REELECTION
History
(for previous day's articles see "what's inside" below)
comment/tweet of the day
stupid attracts stupid
lex: republicans are banning books they consider sexually explicit, those supposedly portraying extreme violence, homosexuality, or equality etc. MAYBE they should focus on the bible (IF THEY TRULY CAN READ) but I guess there is not limit to hypocrisy.
---
Why are So Many Republicans Embracing Quack Science?
Instead of being in Congress or on TV, they should be in a court of law answering for the deaths and destroyed families they’ve caused in their quest for political power and advertising dollars...
---
LiberalArkie - DU
A man goes into a bar.
A guy goes into a bar, there's a robot bartender. The robot says, "What will you have?"
The guy says, "Martini."
The robot brings back the best martini ever and says to the man, "What's your IQ?"
The guy says, "168."
The robot then proceeds to talk about physics, space exploration, and medical technology.
The guy leaves, but he is curious.
So he goes back into the bar.
The robot bartender says, "What will you have?"
The guy says, "Martini."
Again, the robot makes a great martini, gives it to the man and says, "What's your IQ?"
The guy says, "100."
The robot then starts to talk about NASCAR, Budweiser, and John Deere tractors.
The guy leaves but finds it very interesting, so he thinks he will try it one more time.
He goes back into the bar.
The robot says, "What will you have?"
The guy says, "Martini," and the robot brings him another great martini.
The robot then says, "What's your IQ?"
The guy says, "Uh, about 50."
The robot leans in real close and says,
"Isn’t it terrible the way Biden stole the election?"
america: land of the free!!!
New Survey Reveals 25 Percent Of Black Women Were Denied Job Interviews Because Of Their Hair
Another disturbing amount of Black women said they were sent home because of their hair.
By Candace McDuffie - the root
3/24/2023
According to a new survey commissioned by LinkedIn and Dove, a shocking amount of Black women revealed that hair discrimination has prevented them from obtaining professional opportunities. Exactly 1,000 Black women, ages 25 to 64, participated in the CROWN Research Study.
Nearly 66% of the women polled claimed they changed their hair for a job interview to decrease the chances of being turned down because of hair discrimination. In addition, 25% percent of Black women said their hairstyle was the reason they were passed over for a job interview.
However, the women from the survey said that even if they did receive the job they still were treated differently because of their hair. Those with textured hair are twice as likely to deal with microaggressions in their place of employment compared to Black women who wore straight hair.
It doesn’t stop there. An astounding 25% of the Black women surveyed, ages 25 to 34, said they were forced to go home from work because of their hair. Senior Director of Global Communications and career expert for LinkedIn, Andrew McCaskill, told NBC News how detrimental this kind of bias can be for Black women who are at the start of their career.
“What we know is that, as you get more mature in your career, you’re typically also more confident in your skills that you have and what you bring to the table,” McCaskill explained. “For younger folks, these types of aggressions and microaggressions can cause real angst for them in terms of even to the point of doubting their skills and saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”
Last March, the House passed the Crown Act to ban hair discrimination. In 2019, California became the first state to ban hair discrimination in 2019. Soon other states took their lead, like Massachusetts, which passed an anti hair discrimination law last July.
RELATED: INDIGENOUS VOICES This 1st Grader’s Hairstyle Represents His Native American Roots. His School Isn’t Having It.
Nearly 66% of the women polled claimed they changed their hair for a job interview to decrease the chances of being turned down because of hair discrimination. In addition, 25% percent of Black women said their hairstyle was the reason they were passed over for a job interview.
However, the women from the survey said that even if they did receive the job they still were treated differently because of their hair. Those with textured hair are twice as likely to deal with microaggressions in their place of employment compared to Black women who wore straight hair.
It doesn’t stop there. An astounding 25% of the Black women surveyed, ages 25 to 34, said they were forced to go home from work because of their hair. Senior Director of Global Communications and career expert for LinkedIn, Andrew McCaskill, told NBC News how detrimental this kind of bias can be for Black women who are at the start of their career.
“What we know is that, as you get more mature in your career, you’re typically also more confident in your skills that you have and what you bring to the table,” McCaskill explained. “For younger folks, these types of aggressions and microaggressions can cause real angst for them in terms of even to the point of doubting their skills and saying, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”
Last March, the House passed the Crown Act to ban hair discrimination. In 2019, California became the first state to ban hair discrimination in 2019. Soon other states took their lead, like Massachusetts, which passed an anti hair discrimination law last July.
RELATED: INDIGENOUS VOICES This 1st Grader’s Hairstyle Represents His Native American Roots. His School Isn’t Having It.
And 70 million stupid people vote for this party!!!
Large asteroid to zoom between Earth and Moon
Agence France-Presse
March 25, 2023
A large asteroid will safely zoom between Earth and the Moon on Saturday, a once-in-a-decade event that will be used as a training exercise for planetary defense efforts, according to the European Space Agency.
The asteroid, named 2023 DZ2, is estimated to be 40 to 70 meters (130 to 230 feet) wide, roughly the size of the Parthenon, and big enough to wipe out a large city if it hit our planet.
At 19:49 GMT on Saturday it will come within a third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon, said Richard Moissl, the head of the ESA's planetary defense office.
Though that is "very close", there is nothing to worry about, he told AFP.
Small asteroids fly past every day, but one of this size coming so close to Earth only happens around once every 10 years, he added.
The asteroid will pass 175,000 kilometers (109,000 miles) from Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,400 miles per hour). The moon is roughly 385,000 kilometers away.
An observatory in La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands, first spotted the asteroid on February 27.
Last week, the UN-endorsed International Asteroid Warning Network decided it would take advantage of the close look, carrying out a "rapid characterization" of 2023 DZ2, Moissl said.
That means astronomers around the world will analyze the asteroid with a range of instruments such as spectrometers and radars.
The goal is to find out just how much we can learn about such an asteroid in only a week, Moissl said.
It will also serve as training for how the network "would react to a threat" possibly heading our way in the future, he added.
'Scientifically interesting'
Moissl said preliminary data suggests 2023 DZ2 is "a scientifically interesting object", indicating it could be a somewhat unusual type of asteroid. But he added that more data was needed to determine the asteroid's composition.
The asteroid will again swing past Earth in 2026, but poses no threat of impact for at least the next 100 years -- which is how far out its trajectory has been calculated.
Earlier this month a similarly sized asteroid, 2023 DW, was briefly given a one-in-432 chance of hitting Earth on Valentine's Day 2046.
But further calculations ruled out any chance of an impact, which is what normally happens with newly discovered asteroids. Moissl said 2023 DW was now expected to miss Earth by some 4.3 million kilometers.
Even if such an asteroid was determined to be heading our way, Earth is no longer defenseless.
Last year, NASA's DART spacecraft deliberately slammed into the pyramid-sized asteroid Dimorphos, significantly knocking it off course in the first such test of our planetary defenses.
The asteroid, named 2023 DZ2, is estimated to be 40 to 70 meters (130 to 230 feet) wide, roughly the size of the Parthenon, and big enough to wipe out a large city if it hit our planet.
At 19:49 GMT on Saturday it will come within a third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon, said Richard Moissl, the head of the ESA's planetary defense office.
Though that is "very close", there is nothing to worry about, he told AFP.
Small asteroids fly past every day, but one of this size coming so close to Earth only happens around once every 10 years, he added.
The asteroid will pass 175,000 kilometers (109,000 miles) from Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometers per hour (17,400 miles per hour). The moon is roughly 385,000 kilometers away.
An observatory in La Palma, one of Spain's Canary Islands, first spotted the asteroid on February 27.
Last week, the UN-endorsed International Asteroid Warning Network decided it would take advantage of the close look, carrying out a "rapid characterization" of 2023 DZ2, Moissl said.
That means astronomers around the world will analyze the asteroid with a range of instruments such as spectrometers and radars.
The goal is to find out just how much we can learn about such an asteroid in only a week, Moissl said.
It will also serve as training for how the network "would react to a threat" possibly heading our way in the future, he added.
'Scientifically interesting'
Moissl said preliminary data suggests 2023 DZ2 is "a scientifically interesting object", indicating it could be a somewhat unusual type of asteroid. But he added that more data was needed to determine the asteroid's composition.
The asteroid will again swing past Earth in 2026, but poses no threat of impact for at least the next 100 years -- which is how far out its trajectory has been calculated.
Earlier this month a similarly sized asteroid, 2023 DW, was briefly given a one-in-432 chance of hitting Earth on Valentine's Day 2046.
But further calculations ruled out any chance of an impact, which is what normally happens with newly discovered asteroids. Moissl said 2023 DW was now expected to miss Earth by some 4.3 million kilometers.
Even if such an asteroid was determined to be heading our way, Earth is no longer defenseless.
Last year, NASA's DART spacecraft deliberately slammed into the pyramid-sized asteroid Dimorphos, significantly knocking it off course in the first such test of our planetary defenses.
Is the GOP "War on Woke" to Keep Racial & Queer Minorities “In Their Place?”
The next two or three election cycles will determine our nation’s fate: a more widespread democracy or the Russian-style fascism promoted by Trump and DeSantis. Stay tuned and stay woke!
Thom Hartmann
3/23/2023
Why are Republicans proudly waging a “War on Woke”? First, some background.
In 1938, Lead Belly sang a song about the “Scottsboro Boys,” a group of young Black men and boys who were falsely charged with rape and sentenced to the death penalty in Alabama in 1931. In the song, he talks about meeting the Scottsboro defendants, saying:
“I made this little song about down there. So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there — best stay woke, keep your eyes open.”
The phrase had a major revival in the Black community, as NBC News notes, in 2014 after Michael Brown was murdered by Ferguson, Missouri white police officer Darren Wilson. “Stay woke” meant “keep an eye out for white cops who want to kill you” and to stay alert to and aware of other aspects of structural racism in American society.
During the Trump administration, white supremacists began trashing the use of the word, eventually including within its scope the queer community as well as Black people. Today, when Republicans use the word as an epithet, they’re specifically referring to these minorities and people who defend their right to live safely and unmolested by bigots and racists.
Which brings us to the GOP “War on Woke.”
When I was growing up as a lower-middle-class white kid in the 1950s, both Black and queer people were either invisible, “bad guys” on TV and in movies, or essentially minstrels.
There was Liberace, Flip Wilson, and Sammy Davis Jr., but if you were white and watched American TV, listened to American radio, or read American newspapers you’d be forgiven if you didn’t even know gay, lesbian, or trans people existed and thought that Black people were content to live in “ghettos” where they’d periodically and for no discernible reason begin burning down their own neighborhoods.
Back then, much of the inability of non-white, non-cis minorities to break into the media was the result of explicit and lawful segregation and discrimination, although demographics were also at work. The country was overwhelmingly white, and that was the result of law and immigration policy.
The naturalization act of 1790 only allowed “white people” who had lived in this country two years to qualify for citizenship. In 1924 we began to allow immigration of non-whites as a result of the Johnson-Reed Act (which also created the Border Patrol), but at a rate that couldn’t exceed 2% of their ethnic population in this country as of the 1890 census.
It wasn’t until 1965, with a heavy push from Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, that Congress officially changed the law to make our immigration policy colorblind.
That law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, is one that many Republicans and virtually the entire white supremacist movement in this country assert must be reversed, because it’s allowed people of color into America as immigrants.
The last thing Trump and his Bois want is racial or religious harmony in America. They thrive on hate and division, which the morbidly rich billionaires and big corporations behind them also appreciate because it takes the focus off issues of economic justice and the destruction of the middle class.
From 1965 to 2016, America rejected ethnonationalism and explicitly worked to become a truly multiracial, multi-religious society in which all persons are considered equal under the law. (Trump stopped pretty much all immigration from what he called “shithole countries” during his 4 years.)
The “browning of America” was led by that 1965 immigration law and bumped by Reagan’s “legalizing” around 4 million Hispanic immigrants; today more than half of the children born in America and those entering the earliest grades of elementary school are non-white.
As Jennifer Rubin pointed out this past weekend in The Washington Post, when Obama was elected in 2008 white Christians made up 54% of all Americans. Today they’re a mere 42%: the browning — and agnosticizing — of America is happening rapidly.
And Trump’s followers know it: it’s the main source of their angst. Of the people arrested for attacking our Capitol on January 6th, the vast majority mostly came from counties where white populations are decreasing relative to non-white populations.
Thus, when Josh Hawley, Donald Trump, or Ron DeSantis go off on “woke,” what they’re really complaining about is that America is in the midst of a relatively rapid transition from a white ethno-state (both in practice and in law) into a truly integrated, pluralistic society.
This is a challenging transition for any nation to make, as necessary as it is. Change at the rate of 2 or 3 percent a decade is hardly noticed, but the speed with which Black and queer faces are appearing in media and in power/influence positions in society today has shocked those white bigots who grew up on pre-2000 TV.
In reaction, they’re passing laws criminalizing drag or discussions of race or gender identity.
---
Other nations are grappling with racial and gender identity-based hate, particularly the previously nearly-all-white countries of Europe. Putin’s brutal war on Syrian rebels sent literally millions of brown-skinned Muslim refugees into European countries, causing a backlash that has reshaped politics in virtually every nation on the continent and elsewhere.
Victor Orbán has made straight white Christian ethnonationalism the cornerstone of his party’s rule in Hungary; Modi is promoting a Hindu state in India while clamping down on journalists and dissent; Bolsonaro had all but declared war on indigenous people in Brazil; both Sweden and Italy are now led by hard-right or near-fascist leaders entirely because of this issue of the speed of non-white immigration into their nations.
At least a dozen other democracies are on the verge of failing into ethnonationalism, with Russia daily stirring the pot via bots and trolls on social media in those nations’ languages.
This is one of the greatest political and philosophical challenges of our day: can humans rise above racism and religious intolerance to embrace a higher vision of our common humanity?
The GOP’s answer, much like Marine Le Pen’s in France and Putin’s in Russia, is, “No!”
They’re trying to use the power of the law — things like DeSantis’ “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” and “STOP WOKE” laws — to turn back the clock or at least keep racial and gender minorities “in their place.” The Florida governor, anxious to display his fascist chops, is now pushing for his “Don’t Say Gay” law to extend all the way through high school.
The only way they can succeed here in America — where white cis Christians still control the majority of economic and political power — is to turn our democracy into the same kind of “show of democracy” as in Russia and Hungary: a soft fascism ruled by a wealthy, white autocratic class.
Red states, particularly Georgia, Florida, and Texas, are moving rapidly in that direction.
Will Americans let this happen to our entire nation?
Dozens of states have already gone down this road, and multiple Republican-controlled states are right now withdrawing from the national ERIC voter database so they can engage in surreptitious purging of minorities from their voting rolls (since five Republicans on the Supreme Court legalized the practice in 2018).
On the other hand, people in these Red States are starting to wake up and push back, particularly in response to the GOP’s efforts to include white women among the groups they intend to tightly control by law.
For example, Disney just announced they’re explicitly defying DeSantis and his hatred of LGBTQ+ people by hosting the Out And Equal conference this September.
Over 5,000 people — including representatives of sponsors Apple, McDonald’s, Uber, Walmart, Hilton, Amazon, Boeing, Cracker Barrel, and John Deere — will show up to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and workplace sensitivity training.
In all probability, the next two or three election cycles will determine our nation’s fate: a more widespread democracy or the Russian-style fascism promoted by Donald Trump. Stay tuned, stay active, and stay woke!
In 1938, Lead Belly sang a song about the “Scottsboro Boys,” a group of young Black men and boys who were falsely charged with rape and sentenced to the death penalty in Alabama in 1931. In the song, he talks about meeting the Scottsboro defendants, saying:
“I made this little song about down there. So I advise everybody, be a little careful when they go along through there — best stay woke, keep your eyes open.”
The phrase had a major revival in the Black community, as NBC News notes, in 2014 after Michael Brown was murdered by Ferguson, Missouri white police officer Darren Wilson. “Stay woke” meant “keep an eye out for white cops who want to kill you” and to stay alert to and aware of other aspects of structural racism in American society.
During the Trump administration, white supremacists began trashing the use of the word, eventually including within its scope the queer community as well as Black people. Today, when Republicans use the word as an epithet, they’re specifically referring to these minorities and people who defend their right to live safely and unmolested by bigots and racists.
Which brings us to the GOP “War on Woke.”
When I was growing up as a lower-middle-class white kid in the 1950s, both Black and queer people were either invisible, “bad guys” on TV and in movies, or essentially minstrels.
There was Liberace, Flip Wilson, and Sammy Davis Jr., but if you were white and watched American TV, listened to American radio, or read American newspapers you’d be forgiven if you didn’t even know gay, lesbian, or trans people existed and thought that Black people were content to live in “ghettos” where they’d periodically and for no discernible reason begin burning down their own neighborhoods.
Back then, much of the inability of non-white, non-cis minorities to break into the media was the result of explicit and lawful segregation and discrimination, although demographics were also at work. The country was overwhelmingly white, and that was the result of law and immigration policy.
The naturalization act of 1790 only allowed “white people” who had lived in this country two years to qualify for citizenship. In 1924 we began to allow immigration of non-whites as a result of the Johnson-Reed Act (which also created the Border Patrol), but at a rate that couldn’t exceed 2% of their ethnic population in this country as of the 1890 census.
It wasn’t until 1965, with a heavy push from Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, that Congress officially changed the law to make our immigration policy colorblind.
That law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, is one that many Republicans and virtually the entire white supremacist movement in this country assert must be reversed, because it’s allowed people of color into America as immigrants.
The last thing Trump and his Bois want is racial or religious harmony in America. They thrive on hate and division, which the morbidly rich billionaires and big corporations behind them also appreciate because it takes the focus off issues of economic justice and the destruction of the middle class.
From 1965 to 2016, America rejected ethnonationalism and explicitly worked to become a truly multiracial, multi-religious society in which all persons are considered equal under the law. (Trump stopped pretty much all immigration from what he called “shithole countries” during his 4 years.)
The “browning of America” was led by that 1965 immigration law and bumped by Reagan’s “legalizing” around 4 million Hispanic immigrants; today more than half of the children born in America and those entering the earliest grades of elementary school are non-white.
As Jennifer Rubin pointed out this past weekend in The Washington Post, when Obama was elected in 2008 white Christians made up 54% of all Americans. Today they’re a mere 42%: the browning — and agnosticizing — of America is happening rapidly.
And Trump’s followers know it: it’s the main source of their angst. Of the people arrested for attacking our Capitol on January 6th, the vast majority mostly came from counties where white populations are decreasing relative to non-white populations.
Thus, when Josh Hawley, Donald Trump, or Ron DeSantis go off on “woke,” what they’re really complaining about is that America is in the midst of a relatively rapid transition from a white ethno-state (both in practice and in law) into a truly integrated, pluralistic society.
This is a challenging transition for any nation to make, as necessary as it is. Change at the rate of 2 or 3 percent a decade is hardly noticed, but the speed with which Black and queer faces are appearing in media and in power/influence positions in society today has shocked those white bigots who grew up on pre-2000 TV.
In reaction, they’re passing laws criminalizing drag or discussions of race or gender identity.
---
Other nations are grappling with racial and gender identity-based hate, particularly the previously nearly-all-white countries of Europe. Putin’s brutal war on Syrian rebels sent literally millions of brown-skinned Muslim refugees into European countries, causing a backlash that has reshaped politics in virtually every nation on the continent and elsewhere.
Victor Orbán has made straight white Christian ethnonationalism the cornerstone of his party’s rule in Hungary; Modi is promoting a Hindu state in India while clamping down on journalists and dissent; Bolsonaro had all but declared war on indigenous people in Brazil; both Sweden and Italy are now led by hard-right or near-fascist leaders entirely because of this issue of the speed of non-white immigration into their nations.
At least a dozen other democracies are on the verge of failing into ethnonationalism, with Russia daily stirring the pot via bots and trolls on social media in those nations’ languages.
This is one of the greatest political and philosophical challenges of our day: can humans rise above racism and religious intolerance to embrace a higher vision of our common humanity?
The GOP’s answer, much like Marine Le Pen’s in France and Putin’s in Russia, is, “No!”
They’re trying to use the power of the law — things like DeSantis’ “Don’t Say ‘Gay’” and “STOP WOKE” laws — to turn back the clock or at least keep racial and gender minorities “in their place.” The Florida governor, anxious to display his fascist chops, is now pushing for his “Don’t Say Gay” law to extend all the way through high school.
The only way they can succeed here in America — where white cis Christians still control the majority of economic and political power — is to turn our democracy into the same kind of “show of democracy” as in Russia and Hungary: a soft fascism ruled by a wealthy, white autocratic class.
Red states, particularly Georgia, Florida, and Texas, are moving rapidly in that direction.
Will Americans let this happen to our entire nation?
Dozens of states have already gone down this road, and multiple Republican-controlled states are right now withdrawing from the national ERIC voter database so they can engage in surreptitious purging of minorities from their voting rolls (since five Republicans on the Supreme Court legalized the practice in 2018).
On the other hand, people in these Red States are starting to wake up and push back, particularly in response to the GOP’s efforts to include white women among the groups they intend to tightly control by law.
For example, Disney just announced they’re explicitly defying DeSantis and his hatred of LGBTQ+ people by hosting the Out And Equal conference this September.
Over 5,000 people — including representatives of sponsors Apple, McDonald’s, Uber, Walmart, Hilton, Amazon, Boeing, Cracker Barrel, and John Deere — will show up to celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and workplace sensitivity training.
In all probability, the next two or three election cycles will determine our nation’s fate: a more widespread democracy or the Russian-style fascism promoted by Donald Trump. Stay tuned, stay active, and stay woke!
|
|
Medicare Advantage industry 'scare tactics' and lobbying intensify over efforts to curb fraud
Jake Johnson, Common Dreams - RAW STORY
March 23, 2023
In the wake of numerous studies and investigations detailing the staggering level of fraud in the privately run Medicare Advantage program, the Biden administration proposed a new rule aimed at cracking down on upcoding—a common industry practice whereby plans describe patients as sicker than they actually are to reap larger payments from the federal government.
The rule, finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this year, sparked a furious lobbying blitz that has only intensified in recent weeks, with the for-profit insurance industry's most powerful players leading the fight against the proposal and other policy changes that they have falsely characterized as Medicare Advantage "cuts."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that insurance industry executives and lobbyists have been "flooding Capitol Hill" in an effort to protect their lucrative business model, which often leaves patients without necessary care.
"The largest insurers, including UnitedHealth Group and Humana, are among the most vocal, according to congressional staff, with UnitedHealth's chief executive pressing his company's case in person," the Times reported. "Doctors' groups, including the American Medical Association, have also voiced their opposition."
The insurance industry has also taken to the media, using sponsored content to launch misleading attacks on the Biden administration's reforms.
In addition to the proposed crackdown on Medicare Advantage upcoding and overbilling—an effort that federal health officials estimate will recover $4.7 billion in improper payments over the next decade—the Biden administration is pushing for technical changes to the formula used to calculate Medicare Advantage payments.
Under the proposed changes, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has noted, "CMS estimates that Medicare Advantage plan payments per enrollee will be 1% higher in 2024 than they are this year."
"The proposed payment changes for 2024, taken together, are unlikely to have a meaningful impact on the trajectory of Medicare Advantage spending, which CBO estimates will exceed $7 trillion (cumulative) through the decade that ends in 2032," KFF explained.
Nevertheless, industry groups and insurance giants have reacted with outrage to the Biden administration's proposals, focusing their ire specifically on plans to tweak the risk adjustment model that dictates how much the federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans to cover beneficiaries.
"Since the proposal was tucked deep in a routine document and published with little fanfare in early February, Medicare officials have been inundated with more than 15,000 comment letters for and against the policies, and roughly two-thirds included identical phrases from form letters," the Times reported Wednesday. "Insurers used television commercials and other strategies to urge Medicare Advantage customers to contact their lawmakers. The effort generated about 142,000 calls or letters to protest the changes."
The Medicare Advantage industry and its Republican allies in Congress insist the Biden administration's proposed changes would result in higher premiums for the program's tens of millions of beneficiaries and potentially impact the quality of care—but experts, advocates, and progressive lawmakers are pushing back.
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) defended the administration's proposals against Medicare Advantage industry "scare tactics" and argued that "these companies have built entire businesses around making beneficiaries look as sick as possible."
"The more diagnosis codes that a beneficiary has, the higher the payment, and whatever insurers don't spend on care they actually get to keep," Warren said. "Unsurprisingly, government watchdogs have discovered widespread abuse."
Kaiser Health Newsreported late last year that government audits have uncovered "widespread overcharges and other errors in payments to Medicare Advantage health plans, with some plans overbilling the government more than $1,000 per patient a year on average."
One Cigna executive, according to a lawsuit against the insurance giant, privately described certain diagnoses as "golden nuggets," an apparent reference to larger government payments for patients who are presented as sicker.
A KFF analysis published last month found that "Medicare Advantage plans have far higher per person gross margins—more than double those seen in other markets in 2021."
Advocacy organizations—including groups representing physicians, nurses, and seniors—have attempted to counter the torrent of industry-backed criticism of the Biden administration's proposals via the public comment process.
"The proposed reforms resulting in a limit of 1% increase is still an increase, which we understand is being opposed by the [Medicare Advantage] industry and their associations, and being mischaracterized as a cut. It is a cut only as far as it doesn't replicate the huge 8% increase granted last year," said California State Retirees.
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an advocacy group that supports single-payer healthcare, said earlier this month that "accountability to both Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers instead of to investors and corporate greed is long overdue."
"We encourage CMS not to give in to industry lobbying pressure, and to implement the proposed changes without compromising, and we believe even stronger measures are needed. After all, it is the mission of CMS to protect the integrity of the Medicare program," PNHP added. "The profitability of MA plans has rested heavily on gaming strategies and fraud."
The rule, finalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this year, sparked a furious lobbying blitz that has only intensified in recent weeks, with the for-profit insurance industry's most powerful players leading the fight against the proposal and other policy changes that they have falsely characterized as Medicare Advantage "cuts."
The New York Times reported Wednesday that insurance industry executives and lobbyists have been "flooding Capitol Hill" in an effort to protect their lucrative business model, which often leaves patients without necessary care.
"The largest insurers, including UnitedHealth Group and Humana, are among the most vocal, according to congressional staff, with UnitedHealth's chief executive pressing his company's case in person," the Times reported. "Doctors' groups, including the American Medical Association, have also voiced their opposition."
The insurance industry has also taken to the media, using sponsored content to launch misleading attacks on the Biden administration's reforms.
In addition to the proposed crackdown on Medicare Advantage upcoding and overbilling—an effort that federal health officials estimate will recover $4.7 billion in improper payments over the next decade—the Biden administration is pushing for technical changes to the formula used to calculate Medicare Advantage payments.
Under the proposed changes, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has noted, "CMS estimates that Medicare Advantage plan payments per enrollee will be 1% higher in 2024 than they are this year."
"The proposed payment changes for 2024, taken together, are unlikely to have a meaningful impact on the trajectory of Medicare Advantage spending, which CBO estimates will exceed $7 trillion (cumulative) through the decade that ends in 2032," KFF explained.
Nevertheless, industry groups and insurance giants have reacted with outrage to the Biden administration's proposals, focusing their ire specifically on plans to tweak the risk adjustment model that dictates how much the federal government pays Medicare Advantage plans to cover beneficiaries.
"Since the proposal was tucked deep in a routine document and published with little fanfare in early February, Medicare officials have been inundated with more than 15,000 comment letters for and against the policies, and roughly two-thirds included identical phrases from form letters," the Times reported Wednesday. "Insurers used television commercials and other strategies to urge Medicare Advantage customers to contact their lawmakers. The effort generated about 142,000 calls or letters to protest the changes."
The Medicare Advantage industry and its Republican allies in Congress insist the Biden administration's proposed changes would result in higher premiums for the program's tens of millions of beneficiaries and potentially impact the quality of care—but experts, advocates, and progressive lawmakers are pushing back.
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) defended the administration's proposals against Medicare Advantage industry "scare tactics" and argued that "these companies have built entire businesses around making beneficiaries look as sick as possible."
"The more diagnosis codes that a beneficiary has, the higher the payment, and whatever insurers don't spend on care they actually get to keep," Warren said. "Unsurprisingly, government watchdogs have discovered widespread abuse."
Kaiser Health Newsreported late last year that government audits have uncovered "widespread overcharges and other errors in payments to Medicare Advantage health plans, with some plans overbilling the government more than $1,000 per patient a year on average."
One Cigna executive, according to a lawsuit against the insurance giant, privately described certain diagnoses as "golden nuggets," an apparent reference to larger government payments for patients who are presented as sicker.
A KFF analysis published last month found that "Medicare Advantage plans have far higher per person gross margins—more than double those seen in other markets in 2021."
Advocacy organizations—including groups representing physicians, nurses, and seniors—have attempted to counter the torrent of industry-backed criticism of the Biden administration's proposals via the public comment process.
"The proposed reforms resulting in a limit of 1% increase is still an increase, which we understand is being opposed by the [Medicare Advantage] industry and their associations, and being mischaracterized as a cut. It is a cut only as far as it doesn't replicate the huge 8% increase granted last year," said California State Retirees.
Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), an advocacy group that supports single-payer healthcare, said earlier this month that "accountability to both Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers instead of to investors and corporate greed is long overdue."
"We encourage CMS not to give in to industry lobbying pressure, and to implement the proposed changes without compromising, and we believe even stronger measures are needed. After all, it is the mission of CMS to protect the integrity of the Medicare program," PNHP added. "The profitability of MA plans has rested heavily on gaming strategies and fraud."
THE DAILY TRASH REPORT featuring today's despicables
thomas jefferson called them "waste people" and benjamin franklin called them "rubbish" we call them "maga people"
WHEN THE STUPID AND THE RACISTS ELECT YOUR POLITICAL LEADERS, THIS IS WHAT YOU GET!!
Mike Lindell celebrates election crusade: 'We have been winning now for quite a while'
GOPER BLAMES 'BOTH SIDES' AFTER TRUMP GLORIFIES JAN. 6 DEFENDANTS AT TEXAS RALLY
Ted Nugent Kicks Off Trump Rally With Homophobic Rant Against Zelensky
Here's how Trump's rally started off this weekend in Waco, Texas.
'I chose to stay away': Woman claims she was invited to join Trump and Stormy in tryst
Tom Boggioni - raw story
March 25, 2023
In a tell-all piece for Rolling Stone, a former adult film star recalls the details of a night when she was invited by Stormy Daniels to join her when she met with Donald Trump which much later led to the alleged hush money payment before the 2016 presidential election now at the center of a Manhattan grand jury investigation.
According to actress Alana Evans, she has "firsthand knowledge of that fateful night in Lake Tahoe," and how she received frantic texts and calls from Daniels and one from the now-former president.
As she wrote for Rolling Stone, she ran into Daniels at a golf tournament along with other adult stars who were on site to hand out promotional materials for the company they worked for.
"The adult film company Stormy is contracted with, Wicked, had a booth there where some of the company’s contract stars handed out merch and posed with the golfers. One of these golfers just so happened to be the Apprentice star himself, Donald Trump," she recalled before adding, "As Stormy and I caught up, she filled me in on the details of her first encounter with Trump, who she said had actually sought her out himself. She described the meeting in detail, acting out his mannerisms while we giggled and enjoyed the idea of Trump wishing to meet her over the other stars in the booth. Stormy mentioned she’d later be joining Trump for a party and said I should accompany her."
Evans then added that she agreed but then had a change of heart which led to a flurry of texts and calls from Daniels looking for her.
"Stormy continued to text. The texts became phone calls, each more pressing than the last. After about five or six calls, one came in that was different from the others. This time at the other end of the line was not just my neighbor and friend, Stormy, but a voice I recognized all too easily: Donald Trump," she wrote. "As Stormy pressed me on when I was coming, Trump interrupted her, beckoning me to join them. At this moment, panic and shock took over. The man I grew up watching on television was saying my name and asking me to join them. I can still hear his voice in my head. It was at that moment I made a choice that would later change my life in ways I never expected: I chose to stay away."
Adding that she later felt guilty, she said that when she next spoke with Daniels, she got the full scoop on what she missed out on.
"When the morning came, so did the guilt. I felt bad that I had bailed on Stormy, knowing I’d have to apologize and own up to my disappearing act the night before," she wrote for Rolling Stone. "As soon as I turned on my phone, I texted Stormy to check in on her and see what had happened. Even though I didn’t want to go, I was still curious about how it all went down. This led to a number of sordid details, including how Trump chased her around his hotel room in his 'tighty-whities.' That is a mental image I will never unsee. Even though Stormy and I remained friends, we never spoke about it again — that is, until Trump was sworn in as president."
You can read more details here.
According to actress Alana Evans, she has "firsthand knowledge of that fateful night in Lake Tahoe," and how she received frantic texts and calls from Daniels and one from the now-former president.
As she wrote for Rolling Stone, she ran into Daniels at a golf tournament along with other adult stars who were on site to hand out promotional materials for the company they worked for.
"The adult film company Stormy is contracted with, Wicked, had a booth there where some of the company’s contract stars handed out merch and posed with the golfers. One of these golfers just so happened to be the Apprentice star himself, Donald Trump," she recalled before adding, "As Stormy and I caught up, she filled me in on the details of her first encounter with Trump, who she said had actually sought her out himself. She described the meeting in detail, acting out his mannerisms while we giggled and enjoyed the idea of Trump wishing to meet her over the other stars in the booth. Stormy mentioned she’d later be joining Trump for a party and said I should accompany her."
Evans then added that she agreed but then had a change of heart which led to a flurry of texts and calls from Daniels looking for her.
"Stormy continued to text. The texts became phone calls, each more pressing than the last. After about five or six calls, one came in that was different from the others. This time at the other end of the line was not just my neighbor and friend, Stormy, but a voice I recognized all too easily: Donald Trump," she wrote. "As Stormy pressed me on when I was coming, Trump interrupted her, beckoning me to join them. At this moment, panic and shock took over. The man I grew up watching on television was saying my name and asking me to join them. I can still hear his voice in my head. It was at that moment I made a choice that would later change my life in ways I never expected: I chose to stay away."
Adding that she later felt guilty, she said that when she next spoke with Daniels, she got the full scoop on what she missed out on.
"When the morning came, so did the guilt. I felt bad that I had bailed on Stormy, knowing I’d have to apologize and own up to my disappearing act the night before," she wrote for Rolling Stone. "As soon as I turned on my phone, I texted Stormy to check in on her and see what had happened. Even though I didn’t want to go, I was still curious about how it all went down. This led to a number of sordid details, including how Trump chased her around his hotel room in his 'tighty-whities.' That is a mental image I will never unsee. Even though Stormy and I remained friends, we never spoke about it again — that is, until Trump was sworn in as president."
You can read more details here.
living next to white trash!!!
North Carolina man put swastikas in his yard after Black businesswoman set up shop next door: report
Matthew Chapman - raw story
March 21, 2023
Angel Pittman had a simple idea: she purchased a simple patch of land in Salisbury, North Carolina for $10,000, three school buses for $14,000, and planned to create a mobile hair salon. Her plan was to live out of one of the buses and use the other two to travel around the community providing her services.
But according to The Guardian, she ran into an immediate problem: an elderly white neighbor who objected to a Black woman setting up a business across the street — and quickly made her life a nightmare.
According to Pittman, the man “had already given me weird vibes” while she was going through closing, and then "About a week after closing, on 23 September, she returned with her mom to drop off the buses. This time, she said, the man approached them and asked, '‘Why are you guys here? Are y’all looking for shade?’'"
And then, things got even worse, as Pittman tells The Guardian that he began to exhibit violent and racist behavior.
"He sat over there and had his gun out the whole time," she said. "He was like, ‘Get the f**k off my lawn. And [that] we need to get them f**king buses off his lawn. So basically saying, my land was his."
He then began displaying swastikas and pro-KKK signs in his yard, which prompted Pittman to call the local police, who dismissed her complaint on the grounds that her neighbor had put up racist signs in the past.
Sheriff Captain Mark McDaniel defended this response, claiming there was no evidence the neighbor committed a hate crime because he had white supremacy signs even before Pittman moved into the neighborhood: “It wasn’t like he put it there overnight.”
As for Pittman, she has fled back home to Charlotte, where she is raising funds to try to cover her losses and restart her business on a patch of land in that area instead. “
I cried for a long time," she told reporters. "For somebody to be hateful because of my skin color makes it even worse. It’s really heartbreaking.”
But according to The Guardian, she ran into an immediate problem: an elderly white neighbor who objected to a Black woman setting up a business across the street — and quickly made her life a nightmare.
According to Pittman, the man “had already given me weird vibes” while she was going through closing, and then "About a week after closing, on 23 September, she returned with her mom to drop off the buses. This time, she said, the man approached them and asked, '‘Why are you guys here? Are y’all looking for shade?’'"
And then, things got even worse, as Pittman tells The Guardian that he began to exhibit violent and racist behavior.
"He sat over there and had his gun out the whole time," she said. "He was like, ‘Get the f**k off my lawn. And [that] we need to get them f**king buses off his lawn. So basically saying, my land was his."
He then began displaying swastikas and pro-KKK signs in his yard, which prompted Pittman to call the local police, who dismissed her complaint on the grounds that her neighbor had put up racist signs in the past.
Sheriff Captain Mark McDaniel defended this response, claiming there was no evidence the neighbor committed a hate crime because he had white supremacy signs even before Pittman moved into the neighborhood: “It wasn’t like he put it there overnight.”
As for Pittman, she has fled back home to Charlotte, where she is raising funds to try to cover her losses and restart her business on a patch of land in that area instead. “
I cried for a long time," she told reporters. "For somebody to be hateful because of my skin color makes it even worse. It’s really heartbreaking.”
edhopper
@du
Useless, bloated bag of noxious gas
It's amazing that I can type that description in the title without context, and almost everyone here knows exactly who I am talking about.
ANAL FISSURE!!!
|
|
Another Republican Pleads Guilty To COVID Relief Fraud
Joe 'Don't Say Gay' Harding admitted to federal investigators that he lied on the application and that his company did no business in 2019 or 2020.
Ed Scarce — crooks & liars
March 22, 2023
Harding, co-author of Florida's vile 'Don't Say Gay' bill, took a plea deal for reduced charges. He resigned from the Florida Legislature in December after his federal indictment. Despite the lesser charges, he's still looking at up to 35 years when he's sentenced in July.
And of course he's a Republican, but you knew that already.
Source: Tampa Bay Times
Former state Rep. Joe Harding on Tuesday pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements in a scheme to
obtain pandemic-related business loans.
Harding, R-Ocala, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements and was accused of trying to defraud the Small Business Administration.
Harding resigned from his House seat after pleading not guilty in December to the charges. But in a plea agreement filed Tuesday, Harding admitted to one count each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements.
“In pleading guilty, defendant acknowledges that were this case to go to trial, the government would present evidence to support the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the agreement said.
According to a court document filed Tuesday, Harding made “materially false statements” when he applied for a federal Economic Injury Disaster Loan for The Vak Shak Inc. in December 2020. Harding falsely claimed that the company had four employees and gross revenues of more than $420,000 for a year before submitting the application.
The company did not have any business activity in 2019 or 2020, and “Harding knew that this business had been dormant during that time,” the court filing said.
And of course he's a Republican, but you knew that already.
Source: Tampa Bay Times
Former state Rep. Joe Harding on Tuesday pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements in a scheme to
obtain pandemic-related business loans.
Harding, R-Ocala, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements and was accused of trying to defraud the Small Business Administration.
Harding resigned from his House seat after pleading not guilty in December to the charges. But in a plea agreement filed Tuesday, Harding admitted to one count each of wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements.
“In pleading guilty, defendant acknowledges that were this case to go to trial, the government would present evidence to support the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the agreement said.
According to a court document filed Tuesday, Harding made “materially false statements” when he applied for a federal Economic Injury Disaster Loan for The Vak Shak Inc. in December 2020. Harding falsely claimed that the company had four employees and gross revenues of more than $420,000 for a year before submitting the application.
The company did not have any business activity in 2019 or 2020, and “Harding knew that this business had been dormant during that time,” the court filing said.
Bites from Real News
*3/26/2023*
*How Cigna Saves Millions by Having Its Doctors Reject Claims Without Reading Them Internal documents and former company executives reveal how Cigna doctors reject patients’ claims without opening their files. “We literally click and submit,” one former company doctor said.
*The War on Immigrants: TEXAS GOP WANTS CITIZENS TO STOP MIGRANTS. CRITICS SAY IT’S A “VIGILANTE DEATH SQUADS POLICY.”
Republican lawmakers are making a bid to challenge the federal government’s monopoly on immigration enforcement at the Supreme Court.
*Federal Study Calls U.S. Stillbirth Rate “Unacceptably High” and Recommends Action A National Institutes of Health report decried stillbirths as a “major public health concern” and said the nation needed to do more to address the problem through research and prevention.
*LICENSE PLATE SURVEILLANCE, COURTESY OF YOUR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Flock Safety works with police to market scanners to hundreds of private community groups — which have no privacy safeguards.
Georgia Gee
*Senators Had Questions for the Maker of a Rent-Setting Algorithm. The Answers Were “Alarming.”
After a ProPublica investigation, RealPage answered questions from lawmakers about its product. In response, the senators sent a letter to the Justice Department.
Acclaimed Native American Filmmaker Accused of Faking Her Ancestry
HMM
Alec Karam
Breaking News Intern
Updated Mar. 26, 2023 3:28PM ET /
Published Mar. 26, 2023 2:31PM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
Award-winning filmmaker Heather Rae, who sits on the Academy of Motion Pictures’ Indigenous Alliance, has been accused of faking her Native American ancestry. The Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, which claims to be a Native group exposing “Pretendians,” is demanding Rae revoke her claim that she’s half Cherokee. According to the New York Post, research compiled by the group points to Rae having no ancestors recognized by the three Cherokee nations, and her parents’ divorce certificate reportedly listed them both as white. Census records show her maternal grandfather’s ancestors identified as white, according to the group. Rae, who claims that her mom was Cherokee and whose latest film was partly funded by the Cherokee Nation, helped broker the Academy’s apology last year to Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress who was blacklisted after declining an Oscar on Marlon Brando’s behalf. (Littlefeather was later accused by her sister of faking her Native identity.) Though plenty of activists have sought to call out Littlefeather, and now Rae, many jumped to her defense and decried the “witch-hunt.”
Elon Musk Values Twitter at Less Than Half What He Bought It For
DOWN THE DRAIN
Alec Karam
Breaking News Intern
Published Mar. 26, 2023 4:24PM ET
DAILY BEAST CHEAT SHEET
Elon Musk wrote in a company email on Friday that he values Twitter at about $20 billion, less than half what he paid for it. “Twitter is being reshaped rapidly,” Musk wrote in the email, referring to the company as an “inverse start up” and warning employees of more layoffs and budget cuts. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October following a back-and-forth legal battle after he tried to back out of the deal. In his email, Musk said employees will receive stock in X Corporation, the holding company he used to buy Twitter. He also told employees he thinks the company could be worth $250 billion in the future, despite its bumpy journey in the months since he took over.
*What's Inside*
*FINALLY: CONSERVATIVE PRESCRIBES CALLING OUT TRUMP SUPPORTERS AS MORAL FAILURES AND BAD CITIZENS(SUCKERS)
*FOSSIL FUELS KILL MORE PEOPLE THAN COVID. WHY ARE WE SO BLIND TO THE HARMS OF OIL AND GAS?(OIL)
*RENEWABLES WILL BE WORLD’S TOP ELECTRICITY SOURCE BY 2025, ENERGY AGENCY SAYS
(ENVIRONMENT)
*BIG OIL DOUBLES PROFITS IN BLOCKBUSTER 2022
(OIL)
*HOW STEPHEN SMITH, ONCE THE RICHEST BLACK MAN IN U.S., USED HIS WEALTH TO FREE THOUSANDS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS(BLACK HISTORY)
*STUDY: RED STATES HAVE HIGHER MURDER RATES THAN BLUE STATES
WAIT, WHAT?(AMERICA)
*THE “GOVERNED” IN AMERICA AREN’T GETTING THE “HAPPINESS” THEY DESERVE
WHY DO OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE EXTENSIVE AND FUNCTIONING SOCIAL SAFETY NETS AND WEALTHY PEOPLE WHO PAY THEIR TAXES, AND WE HAVE NEITHER?- THOM HARTMANN
(AMERICA)
*NO LONGER CONTENT WITH RIGHT TO OPT OUT, CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS ASKING COURTS TO ELIMINATE RIGHTS FOR OTHERS — AND THEY’RE WINNING
(CHRISTIANITY)
*WHEN WILL REPUBLICAN VOTERS WAKE UP TO THEIR OWN OPPRESSION?
COMMENTARY
*BIG OIL IS BEHIND CONSPIRACY TO DECEIVE PUBLIC, FIRST CLIMATE RACKETEERING LAWSUIT SAYS(COLONIES)
*INTERNAL DOCUMENTS REVEAL BIG OIL’S PLAN FOR PROFITING AMID CLIMATE PRESSURES
OIL
*late news of interest*
A Meditation On Practical Applications Of Stupidity
The Mystery of Anti-Vax & Anti-Mask
Kat Ignatz - DAILY KOS
Sunday August 01, 2021 · 5:00 AM PDT
...“The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” seems as good a way as any to explain the insane situation we’re in. It’s speculative, but in my opinion, guessing is all we’ve really got right now.
In his essay, Cipolla divides human beings into four categories and builds his theory on these characteristics.
His categories are:
And he presents his theory as five laws:
Taking Cipolla’s laws and looking for correlations with anti-vax/mask behavior, you can map out anti-vax/mask actions like this:
And you could do the same matching of Cipolla’s laws with anti-vax/mask actions, and together, we could come up with a big, five-part list of parallels between Cipolla’s theory and the anti-vax/mask movement.
And it would prove nothing.
But looking at it might make you wonder, like me, if there’s anything but dangerous, illogical, and incomprehensible behavior there.
Cipolla doesn’t explain stupid people. He simply says that they exist, and they’re irrational, unpredictable, and hazardous. He states that irrational people can’t be understood by rational minds and cautions against getting involved with irrational people because it always comes with a cost that’s often a big cost.
He says the only hope is for rational people to create more gains than the losses that irrational people cause. He was an economist so his theory is all gains and losses, and another way to think about his four human traits is total gain, loss/gain, gain/loss, and total loss.
And maybe that’s the real answer here. Maybe, we shouldn’t concern ourselves with why anti-vax/maskers act like they do. Perhaps, we should simply accept them as an incredible danger to our country, states, cities, friends, families, and selves, and we should just do everything we can to do more good than they do harm.
I like Cipolla’s theory, and I find it to be a compelling model for many of the problems we’re experiencing—like, for instance, Republicans.
In this writings, Cipolla makes a point of dividing bandits into Intelligent Bandits and Stupid Bandits. Intelligent bandits cause an equal amount of loss and gain, and they get everything they take from others. Stupid bandits cause more loss than gain, and they only get part of what they cause others to lose.
When I read that, I think about how Republicans are actively working to crash the US so they can keep their wealth and power. And then I think that they’re going so far with it that they may have moved from being stupid bandits to fully stupid because it’s irrational to think they’ll keep much of anything if the country collapses.
I also start thinking about how prevalent stupid banditry is in the world—as if it’s the only way to do business. The “bigs” are especially dangerous: big agriculture, apparel, chemical, electronics, oil, pharmaceuticals, retail, etc.
We’re all losing our lives in one way or another to these dubious ventures.
But that’s my mind drifting on to a topic for another diary, and I’ll stop this one here.
In his essay, Cipolla divides human beings into four categories and builds his theory on these characteristics.
His categories are:
- Intelligent People whose actions benefit others and themselves
- Helpless People whose actions harm them but benefit others
- Bandits whose actions harm others but benefit them
- Stupid People whose actions harm others but don’t benefit them and may, in fact, harm them, too
And he presents his theory as five laws:
- Everyone always underestimates how many stupid people there are.
- Stupidity is unrelated to any other human trait.
- Stupid people cause losses to others without gain and, possibly, with losses to themselves.
- Non-stupid people always underestimate how harmful stupid people are.
- Stupid people are the most dangerous type of person.
Taking Cipolla’s laws and looking for correlations with anti-vax/mask behavior, you can map out anti-vax/mask actions like this:
- How many: 30% of the US population is hesitating, resisting, or outright refusing to get a coronavirus vaccine.
- Unrelated to other traits: Health care workers are protesting against getting vaccinated.
- No gain and possible losses: Not even the threat of death is changing anti-vax/mask behavior.
- How harmful: Who would have predicted that Missouri would end up in such terrible condition?
- Most dangerous: Anti-vax/maskers are bringing the systems we rely on for our safety and health to the brink of crashing.
And you could do the same matching of Cipolla’s laws with anti-vax/mask actions, and together, we could come up with a big, five-part list of parallels between Cipolla’s theory and the anti-vax/mask movement.
And it would prove nothing.
But looking at it might make you wonder, like me, if there’s anything but dangerous, illogical, and incomprehensible behavior there.
Cipolla doesn’t explain stupid people. He simply says that they exist, and they’re irrational, unpredictable, and hazardous. He states that irrational people can’t be understood by rational minds and cautions against getting involved with irrational people because it always comes with a cost that’s often a big cost.
He says the only hope is for rational people to create more gains than the losses that irrational people cause. He was an economist so his theory is all gains and losses, and another way to think about his four human traits is total gain, loss/gain, gain/loss, and total loss.
And maybe that’s the real answer here. Maybe, we shouldn’t concern ourselves with why anti-vax/maskers act like they do. Perhaps, we should simply accept them as an incredible danger to our country, states, cities, friends, families, and selves, and we should just do everything we can to do more good than they do harm.
I like Cipolla’s theory, and I find it to be a compelling model for many of the problems we’re experiencing—like, for instance, Republicans.
In this writings, Cipolla makes a point of dividing bandits into Intelligent Bandits and Stupid Bandits. Intelligent bandits cause an equal amount of loss and gain, and they get everything they take from others. Stupid bandits cause more loss than gain, and they only get part of what they cause others to lose.
When I read that, I think about how Republicans are actively working to crash the US so they can keep their wealth and power. And then I think that they’re going so far with it that they may have moved from being stupid bandits to fully stupid because it’s irrational to think they’ll keep much of anything if the country collapses.
I also start thinking about how prevalent stupid banditry is in the world—as if it’s the only way to do business. The “bigs” are especially dangerous: big agriculture, apparel, chemical, electronics, oil, pharmaceuticals, retail, etc.
We’re all losing our lives in one way or another to these dubious ventures.
But that’s my mind drifting on to a topic for another diary, and I’ll stop this one here.
