Tag Archives: endorsements

Quote of the Day: Since When Is a Sex Tape Not Newsworthy?

by AudryN6748784 Posted on March 19, 2016

Mother Jones

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From Samantha Barbas, a law professor at the University at Buffalo, commenting on the $115 million verdict Hulk Hogan won against Gawker in an invasion-of-privacy case:

For a jury to say that…a celebrity sex tape is not newsworthy, represents a real shift in American free press law.

Ain’t that the truth? It’s hard to believe that a red-blooded American jury concluded that sex tapes aren’t a vital part of our media ecosystem. Maybe our nation really is going down the drain after seven years of Obummer’s leadership.

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Quote of the Day: Since When Is a Sex Tape Not Newsworthy?

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Medicare Wants to Try a New Way of Paying for Expensive Drugs

by ChristoMighell Posted on March 9, 2016

Mother Jones

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For drugs administered in clinics and hospitals, Medicare reimburses doctors a flat 6 percent of the price of the drug. This has never really made much sense, since it doesn’t cost any more to attach a $1,000 vial to an IV line than a $100 vial. So now the Obama administration is proposing a five-year test of a new system that pays a flat fee plus a smaller percentage of the cost of the drug. Here’s what it looks like:

The current rule is an update of an older rule that was even stupider than reimbursing based on price. But it’s still pretty stupid. If two drugs are about the same, and you can make $6 from one and $60 from the other, then you might as well prescribe the more expensive one. That’s exactly the wrong incentive. Not everyone sees it this way, of course:

The test program is also likely to meet stiff opposition from the pharmaceutical industry and some providers—especially cancer centers where many high-price specialty drugs are used—because of the drop in reimbursement….Providers may also feel they are being pressured by the federal government into selecting cheaper drugs they don’t feel are as effective.

This makes no sense. No one is being pressured into selecting cheaper drugs. You just won’t get paid an artificial bonus for avoiding them in favor of more lucrative options that don’t work any better. If that’s your idea of “pressure,” I’d recommend you go into a less demanding field.

The new system, I assume, is designed to recognize that administering a drug is mostly—but not entirely—a flat cost operation. The reason the cost isn’t completely flat is that clinics and hospitals have to pay for the drugs up front and keep them in stock. There’s a carrying cost involved in that, which means that expensive drugs really do cost a little more to administer than cheaper ones.

But not that much more. The new system seems well worth a try.

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Medicare Wants to Try a New Way of Paying for Expensive Drugs

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Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Team Is…Um…

by MaxwellCisco Posted on March 8, 2016

Mother Jones

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As you all know, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Donald Trump’s announcement of his foreign policy team. He promised it a couple of weeks ago, but he’s been busy and I guess real life got in the way. We all know how that goes. He didn’t announce anything last week either. So how about this week? This morning, Mika Brzezinski asked him if there’s a team:

Yes, there is a team. There’s not a team. I’m going to be forming a team.

There you have it. Like Schrödinger’s cat, there is, there isn’t, and there might be a team. But until the box is opened, we won’t know for sure.

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Donald Trump’s Foreign Policy Team Is…Um…

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A Quick Look at Bush vs. Rubio vs. Cruz

by OmaOxleyih Posted on October 16, 2015

Mother Jones

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Who will be the Republican nominee for president? Beats me. GOP voters are obviously in a weird mood this year. But let’s suppose two things:

The folks who are currently polling below 3-4 percent have no chance.
The non-politicians will eventually fade out or implode. No Trump, no Carson, no Fiorina.

If—if!—those things are true, we’re left with Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. So how are they doing? I was curious, so I took a look at only those three on HuffPost Pollster. I don’t really have any point to make, so I won’t make one. Just consider this raw data.

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A Quick Look at Bush vs. Rubio vs. Cruz

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Friday Cat Blogging – 31 July 2015

by Ewan45J515680712 Posted on July 31, 2015

Mother Jones

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Hopper (left) and Hilbert are so entranced by something or other that even my sister wants to know what they’re looking at. My guess: a dust mote in the cat dimension.

Speaking of my sister, she is promising some guest cat blogging for next week. Will she come through? Tune in next Friday to find out!

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Friday Cat Blogging – 31 July 2015

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Chart of the Day: The Economy Continues to Plod Along

by Aaron Duff Posted on July 30, 2015

Mother Jones

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GDP was up in the second quarter, but our economy is still not exactly a house afire. Preliminary results indicate an increase of 2.3 percent:

The BEA explains where last quarter’s growth came from:

The acceleration in real GDP growth in the second quarter reflected an upturn in exports, an acceleration in PCE, a deceleration in imports, and an upturn in state and local government spending that were partly offset by downturns in private inventory investment, in nonresidential fixed investment, and in federal government spending and a deceleration in residential fixed investment….Real personal consumption expenditures increased 2.9 percent in the second quarter, compared with an increase of 1.8 percent in the first.

Really, the chart tells the whole story. As you can see, 2.3 percent growth is about….average since the recession ended. Not great, not horrible. Every time we manage to get into third gear for a little while, we hit a bump and end up back in second. It’s now been eight years since the economy imploded, and we’re still just muddling along. It’s not clear what it will take to improve things.

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Chart of the Day: The Economy Continues to Plod Along

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My Day

by RogerToftfsj Posted on March 16, 2015

Mother Jones

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Heart test. Check. EKG. Check. Chest X-ray. Check. Complete spinal X-ray. Check. 20 vials of blood drawn. Check. All that’s left is a lung test tomorrow and dropping off a stool sample. Then I get a week off before I visit City of Hope for an orientation and further instructions in preparation for the stem cell transplant in April. Progress!

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My Day

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Factlet of the Day: Mutual Funds Suck

by MonserrDalgarno Posted on March 15, 2015

Mother Jones

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Jeff Sommer summarizes the results of actively managed mutual funds over the past five years:

If all of the managers of the 2,862 funds hadn’t bothered to try to pick stocks at all — if they had merely flipped coins — they would, as a group, probably have produced better numbers.

I am not an investment advisor, so do whatever you want to do. But if you’re smart, you’ll invest in a few low-fee index funds and then just leave them alone. That is the path of wisdom.

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Factlet of the Day: Mutual Funds Suck

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Ides of March Catblogging – 15 March 2015

by DanieleMcGowen Posted on March 15, 2015

Mother Jones

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Et tu, Hopper? A few days ago I featured Hilbert draped over my sister, so I figured that turnabout is fair play: here’s Hopper draped over me to make up for the lack of normal Friday catblogging. Hopper is a Daddy’s girl, and will sit on no one’s lap but mine. Nor will she even do that very often. But once or twice a day she suddenly gets in the mood and plonks herself into the crook of my arm for an hour or so, purring loudly the whole time. Unlike the tubby Hilbert, Hopper weighs a svelte 11 pounds (up from nine when we first got her), so she’s no trouble at all to handle. A relaxing time is had by all.

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Ides of March Catblogging – 15 March 2015

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Friday Cat Blogging – 7 March 2014

by Kyle3094ioyoxj Posted on March 7, 2014

Mother Jones

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Last weekend’s rain has obviously traumatized Domino. Sunny skies may have returned to Southern California since then, but Domino has spent all week hiding in a blanket cave anyway, just in case the rain clouds return. Her humans failed her once, after all. There’s no telling when we’ll fail her again.

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Friday Cat Blogging – 7 March 2014

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