Politics Plus

Yesterday, it rained heavily enough so I couldn’t go out and run the car, But we don’t generalally have two days of rain in a row, so today should work. Instead, I did a little more knitting. There is one hour every week day, from 7 to 8 pm, when my regular radio station runs a program with a host whose voice just grates on my ears, so I try to find something else for that hour. This week I’ve been watching programs about Dracula – not the fiction, but the actual person (you wouldn’t Have liked him – I knnw I don’t.) Uesterday’s and the day before were about his building projects. He was a much better architect than he was a human being. Most interesting.

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Short Takes –

HuffPost Personal – My 11-Year-Old Patient Was Pregnant. Here’s What I Want You To Know About Being ‘Pro-Life.‘
Quote – I tried in vain to coax the truth of what happened out of Sophia, sitting next to her with a large anatomy atlas flipped open in my lap. She said nothing. I was thankful there was a female police officer that was among the throng at the clinic. It was this officer, when permitted to speak with Sophia, who discovered the identity of the family member that did this awful, unspeakable thing to her. And when the cops left to arrest that relative, they headed to church, because the perpetrator was at choir practice.
Click through for complete story. Maybe a hanky alert.

The Daily Beast – White Nationalists Are Tearing Each Other Apart Over Ukraine
Quote – Others stand with Russia because they believe Putin is a bulwark against Western liberal ideals and alleged “globalist” (read: Jewish) plots that supposedly threaten white Christian civilization. And because they like the cut of his performatively hypermasculine jib. As one prominent American white nationalist put it in a recent and especially ugly post, they hold “faith that Vladimir Putin is a Christian King sent by God to free Christendom from the clutches of the Jewish homo agenda.”
Click through for analysis. There are some Nazis in Ukraine, but that’s another story. This article is about American Nazis heads exploding, and what it could mean for us sane people here.

Colorado Public Radio – Most people who lost homes in the Marshall Fire were underinsured, Colorado insurance regulators say
Quote – Standard homeowners’ insurance that mortgage companies require homeowners to have covers the repair and replacement of homes lost or damaged in a wildfire — but that doesn’t mean the entire cost is covered. Different policies will have different levels of payout, and it’s impossible to give a one-size-fits-all explanation of insurance benefits. Less than 10 percent of homes lost in the Marshall Fire carried coverage that guaranteed coverage for the entire cost to rebuild, the state’s data show.
Click through for more information. One of the first things one learns when starting work in property/casualty insurance (auto and home)is that the mortgage company required coverage and the minimum liability limts on auto policies are both generally insufficient. Ideally, liability coverage (on home or auto) should be “If you were getting sued for everything you own, how much cash would you need?” And a mortgage comapny just wants you covered for enough to pay off your mortgage, not necessarily what it would cost to rebuild the entire home – which in any case can vary – what if you want to do something differently in a rebuild from what was originally there? Probably the best compromise if you want more or less adequate protection but don’t want to spend your entire income on insurance is to look into different kinds of Homeoowner policies which may be written to cover the best guess, but also have a cushion nuilt in. There are other variables too. I’m all for people making their own decisions, provided they actually know what they are deciding, and that’s not always the case.

Food For Thought