I need to make today another short one, with this article only, because leg pain kept me up. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:55 (average 4:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Think Progress: 1.5 million low-income Texans may go without health care coverage after lawmakers in the state voted against expanding Medicaid using $100 billion in federal funds offered under President Obama’s health care law. The decision comes almost a year after the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government cannot require states to enroll more Medicaid beneficiaries.
The proposal, sent to Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Sunday, says state health officials “may only provide medical assistance to a person who would have been otherwise eligible for medical assistance or for whom federal matching funds were available under the eligibility criteria for medical assistance in effect on December 31, 2013.”
Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government fully funds Medicaid expansion until 2016 and gradually reduces its contribution to 90 percent in 2020 and subsequent years. Texas — which has the highest percentage of uninsured residents — would never pay more than 7 percent of the cost of providing coverage to Texans, but Texas Republicans argued that “even $1 in the name of ‘Obamacare’ was a dollar too much.”
Texas Republicans will provide RepubliCare, marking 1.5 million residents for the RepubliCare death benefit.
From McClatchy DC: The exact location of the anti-poaching operation is secret, as is the number of rangers who will be on duty. Also confidential: where the drones will fly as they search out poachers intent on slaying rhinos for their horns – one killed every 11 hours in South Africa alone.
But over the next several days, Tom Snitch thinks that his project, at a private game farm adjoining South Africa’s famed Kruger National Park, will prove that unmanned aerial vehicles can end the scourge of rhinoceros poaching.
God help the poor rhinos that have the misfortune to be saved through the use of those evil drones!! 😉
From Daily Kos:
The D.C. Circuit federal appeals court has unusual power, acting as a feeder to the Supreme Court and holding jurisdiction over cases involving federal agencies. That makes it a prime subject for Republican obstructionism, and until the confirmation of Sri Srinivasan last week—the first confirmation of an Obama nominee to the D.C. Circuit—there were four vacancies out of 11 spots on the court. Srinivasan’s confirmation brings Democrats into parity with Republicans on the D.C. Circuit, at four judges each. But, writing at Dissent, Moshe Z. Marvit shows that the court’s Republican skew has been much stronger than those numbers imply:
However, this simple count ignores a key feature of the federal judiciary: senior judgeships. Many judges do not retire, but instead choose senior status, which makes their seat officially vacant but places them on part-time work.
On the D.C. Circuit, there are six senior judges, which is almost the number of active judges, with five having been appointed by Republicans. In all the cases decided in 2013, almost 70 percent of the three-judge panels included at least one senior judge. As a result, almost 80 percent of the panels in 2013 were composed of exclusively or a majority of Republicans.
…
The D.C. Circuit will become a lot more controversial in shout order, because Obama intends to nominate judges to fill all three vacancies at once. Expect intense screams to come from the Judiciary Committee, where the Republicans are virtually all wing nuts: Grassley, Hatch, Sessions, Graham, Cornyn, Lee, Cruz, and Flake. What a collection of InsaniTEA!
Cartoon:
19 Responses to “Open Thread–5/28/2013”
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So sorry your leg is hurting TC – I do hope you are mostly on the mend though!
The stuff about Texas makes me despair – I not only think of all the good people that we know who are in Texas, but all those other good people there – where for no fault of their own they can't afford health care – and the Texan oligarchs refuse them any help at all! The news about the judges is almost as bad.
I'm a member of Amnesty – a very good organisation, God bless them for their work.
Thanks Pat. I share your grief that so many good people in red states are hurting, but they have a way out of it.
Pres. Obama doing ANYTHING will unleash fierce Repubican opposition.
Those idiots' one-note "NO!" is an embarrassment to our nation.
VOTE 'EM OUT!
Amen Nameless!
3:51 I barely paddled by you on this mountain stream.
3:23 I found a good line through the rapids.
3:24 I`m right behind you Jerry. When I was a kid (7-8 years old), my father would take me to the Moon River at Bala, Ontario and we would canoe the river shooting the Seven Sisters Rapids. We also went north near Parry Sound to Blackstone Lake and area rivers to canoe and camp. In those days, more than 50 years ago, it was wilderness, literally. We were almost charged by a bull moose at one point, and managed to tip the canoe so that all our sleeping bags were wet. The can of fishing worms ended up on the bottom of the river and as I recall, drowned.
When I was fourteen I spent some time in the Ontario wildernss. Two memories stand out: tha abject beauty of trhe place and mosquito swarms that blocked the setting sun.
Critter Crunched and last!
Keep resting and healing. The short articles are just fine.
Think Progress ~ This is a perfect example of some people cutting off their noses to spite their faces. I just hope it comes back to bite the selfish politicians in their asses.
McClatchy Report ~ It just goes to show there are some good uses for drones.
Daily Kos ~ When the judges are appointed, the republicanTs will scream bloody murder.
Cartoon ~ Congrats Amnesty International!
I would like to submit my a cartoon today for your enjoyment. http://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury
Doonesbury nails the republicans.
Yeh, right! You could also say they give 110% screwing the country!
Thanks Patty.
Amen!
Yep!
They sure will!
Great cartoon!
Puzzle — 3:24 I`m right behind you Jerry.
Think Progress — You just have to admire all those good Christian Republican/Teabagger politicians in Texas! Making sure that they don`t spend money foolishly on people that don`t count. Oh it is so time to clear the temple again of greedy, uncompassionate RepublicanéTeabagger assholes! (I know, that is probable redundant!)
McClatchy DC — Personally, I`d like to see the heads of the poachers and end users of rhino horns mounted on a wall and then invite all the rhinos to the display. I think that might make the rhinos happy. I wonder if they would want to play a game of "pin the horn on the poacher"?
Daily Kos — Until the American citizens get their collective shit together and get rid of the "do nothing", obstructive RepublicanéTeabagger vermin that infest the Congress, there are going to be problems with literally everything. I hope I see that day before I die (not planning that eventany time soon).
Cartoon — Very cool! Going through my TH complex, there is a section of roadway where they have patched the cracks with tar. The tar outline looks like the amnesty candle and barbed wire. It really is uncanny!
Sorry I was late in doing articles yesterday. Came down with gout late last week. Have good pain killers/anti-inflammatories to take but I was wiped out after 3 days of pain and no sleep. Two pills and wow what a difference!
You came in second.
If Jesus had veen a Republican, he would hav e given leprosy to the poor instead of curing it.
Not a bad idea.
Bingo!
Thanks. Neat tar!
I'm sorry. Gout with size nines must be horrid. 🙁
9:01 on the puzzle… 🙂
You are improving. 🙂
I hope you are feeling better. We had another travesty of justice today. Patriot Coal won its case in court and no longer have to pay for health insurance for its retired employees. It siphoned off all its profit making companies and put all the bankrupt ones under Patriot coal. The judge who ruled in their favor should be kicked out of the U.S.
Thanks Edie.
Damn! Patriot sure has a different meaning there. I agree, and hope they are appealing.