Open Thread - 25 October 2016

pl

Comments

[turcopolier]

Allen Thompson

CIA has been known to use military cover. The scope of their transfers and their own equipment holdings is such as to require storage facilities but their transfers are not the big transfers. pl

[Sam Peralta]

You missed the biggest point which should be:

(8) Enforce existing laws. (No exemption for big pharma from price arbitrage as an example).

Snark aside, voting Trump to blow up the Borgist system would be the best bet. Better than voting for the same guys over and over again and getting the same punk results. That's true insanity!!

But...half the country prefers doing the same thing over and over again with the same results. Its always the lesser evil!

[Eric Newhill]

jonst,

Re; ACA
I work for one of the Big 5 insurance carriers and, since this past May, exclusively on ACA. I'm not in sales, though. In actuarial. However, I know the products pretty well, of course. Please let me know if there's anything I can answer for you from that perspective.

I have long had the impression that you are VN vet. Not to be too personal, but aren't you at the Medicare age yet? If so, why do you seek ACA?

[jerseycityjoan]

Well it all sounds wonderful.

But how can we expect more for less, when we've been getting less for more for decades from the healthcare financing system in this country?

Who among the various providers who have been overcharging us much more than any other country in the whole world is going to accept getting paid 15%-25%-35%+ less?

I do not see how the "free market" can help us on the worst problems, since companies have just felt "free" to charge us, the employers, the insurance companies and the government whatever they felt like.

[mike allen]

Great reads both! Agree with you about his Flashman series. And I never liked his screenwriting for various Hollywood farces. But the man did have a sense of humor.

[Tyler]

Huh! Looks like Colin Powell endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Now let's see the triple bankshot "lawgic" by her defenders on here that this in no way shows that she's going to triple down on the Borg Policies that are part and parcel of who she is.

[Tyler]

r whitman,

Or is it my vote that will cancel out yours?

[Daniel Nicolas]

They're going to have to accept getting paid closer to 70% less. They've felt free to charge us whatever they feel like because the government has not been wiling to enforce the law.

" 15 USC Chapter 1. ... bans, under felony criminal penalty and ruinous fines, any act that restraints trade, forms monopolies, price-fixes and similar. Trusts in restraint of import trade (e.g. prescription drugs) are also illegal, albeit at a misdemeanor level (15 USC Ch 1, §8)"

Guess what happens when you and I are not prevented from buying MRI machines in bulk and importing them into the USA and set up shop? All those hospitals charging $11k for an MRI and associated costs are screwed because I can charge $200-300 and make a killing while stealing all the business and providing routine health care services.

If only we had a government willing to enforce the law against the insurance company fraud, rather than one that was willing to bend over backwards to force Americans to give those private companies money...

[turcopolier]

mike allen

I think the Flashman books are wonderful. IMO the history in them is very sound and the ironic humor is just to my taste. You fellahs are very solemn about things. pl

[Martin Oline]

I have been considering casting an early ballot just to avoid the possibility of computer tampering/fraud in the counting. I live in Florida. Does anyone know whether it makes any difference in the total tabulation if an early vote is cast (Presumably paper ballot, I've never done it) compared to waiting for election day and casting a vote via a Diebold or other electronic machine?

[The Beaver]

@ Tyler

Looking at this email circa September 2008, I wonder what the transition team are working on to ensure that the Borg policies are followed to the letter.
https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/28660#efmATiAVS

Pretty sure the list is already out for vetting and the blessing of HRC.

[mike allen]

For sure they will try to duplicate Debaltseve or Ilovaisk. But Russian cauldron doctrine was developed long before that. At least since WW2 and probably before.

[mike allen]

The early ones were good, I agree. But he ran it into the ground. I did say that Fraser had a sense of humor.

[BabelFish]

We voted yesterday, in Jacksonville. Paper ballot, which is registered to your name via electronics, and then is fed into a reader for actual vote tabulation. I am not familiar with other Florida counties regarding equipment used but this method is the same as during voting without early balloting, at least in Duval county.

[Allen Thomson]

> but their transfers are not the big transfers.

That's true, but the CIA seems to be set up to do and perhaps is doing transfers in the range of tens of thousands of rifles per year, RPGs, recoilless rifles, etc. Plus ammunition.

It's not huge, but it probably isn't insignificant on the scale of Syria.

BTW, the Camp Stanley Storage Activity is just to the west of Ft. Bullis. I recommend looking around it in Google Earth and use the historical view to see how it's acquired new floor space over the past 15 years.

[turcopolier]

Allen Thomson

I realize that you used to work for Christians In Action and probably don't like them much, but someone has to do covert action. Tell you what, let's transfer the function to DoD. pl

[turcopolier]

Mike Allen

Didya ever see the letter I have from him to some fellow out in The Valley. It ended up in a library sale at the public library in Woodstock, VA and was gifted to me. BTW I felt cheated when he never wrote the WBS book about Flashy. pl

[Kooshy]

I don't think his endorsement will move many votes around, I think he messed his much gained credibility of the Iraq war one, in the UNSC presentation for Iraq war two. He Is in the history' black hole basket.

[Will]

mawt=death

[trinlae]

Also, one can ask "why": How about the Kingdom is not likely to attract a regiment of Gurkhas any time soon, even if there are otherwise thousands of Nepali in the Gulf States as laborers.

[turcopolier]

trinlae

I watched as a former British Gurkha officer (a baronet) employed by my "owners" tried to recruit a guard force of former Gurkha soldiers for one of our plants. The owners were Lebanese Sunni. They were utterly incapable of appreciating the sterling quality of these villagers in arms. I defended the troops (along with the Englishman)but they were fired and replaced with Kerala coolies. One of the finest days of my life was the moment in which their boss, a retired havildar came into my office with his mates and laid a Kukri on my desk. pl

[FkDahl]

The SAA has high ground with excellent LOS making good use of ATM. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H192RyWX79Y
The usual jihadi mechanized shock (which seems to consist of Chechen mech infantry/shock troops, supported by VBIEDs, mortars and Grads) tactic does not reach its target. Probably still probing attacks though.

[mike allen]

Colonel -

I'm sure his agent told him he would lose half his American readers if he lampooned either side. But I wonder if he would he have characterized Flashman as a Fremantle?

[FkDahl]

...turnip truck.. will be added to my growing list of American idioms...thank you! Call me sentimental but I like that part of America more than box stores...

[trinlae]

This clip of July 27 HH Dalai Lama meeting local Sunni and Shia leaders J&K's NE area of Leh Ladakh:

https://youtu.be/RdemALBMMuE