Understanding US thread-III

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 25 Mar 2017 01:48

so ryan is trying to save his musharraf for a bit longer... he will repeat the exercise until he gets an answer he likes
but i think as the days go by, more and more americans (read trump voters) will start to do the math on what it means for them...
and that might not make for fun voting

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 01:54

The GOP quickly needs to pass a bill that harasses the black/brown. Trump might even issue an executive order prohibiting brown people from wearing belts (Pakistanis will be exempted because they are our valiant allies). They need to show that they still care about the white voter.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 25 Mar 2017 02:06

meanwhile, the national enquirer (with strong ties to Donnie) has turned on Flynn... the explanation/suggestion is that Flynn is testifying to the committee in exchange for some sort of stay out of jail deal (or maybe non secure prison)

manafort, and two other inner circle members apparently have volunteered to clear the air with the investigation... maybe they are looking for the same deal

another paper reporting that the original agreement between Team Trump and the FSB/GRU was done in the Mayflower hotel cocktail reception...

getting wackier by the minute

oh and right on cue... just when marine le pen is flagging in the polls and is struggling with funding and other problems in the party, she appears in moscow and is photographed with the great and the good and says that 'sanctions against russia must end'

her two rivals - one is defending a nepotism/corruption claim that came out of the woodwork and another is being 'outed' as having had a gay affair... interesting coincidence?

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 25 Mar 2017 02:11

All those years campaigning against Obamacare has now come back to bite GOP badly. At this point, the choices are

1. repeal and replace with something that resembles pre-ACA regime
2. "repeal and replace" with slight changes with "obamacare in another name"

and looks like both are not going to pass. Leaving it as it is, also looks bad now that they have put so much stake into this.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 25 Mar 2017 02:23

looks like ryan throwing in towel...
this was the biggest policy issue on the manifesto right?

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 02:31

Lalmohan wrote:looks like ryan throwing in towel...
this was the biggest policy issue on the manifesto right?

Deporting the Brown and Building the Wall using Mexican Money is till Numero Uno

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 25 Mar 2017 02:36

so we should expect to see a bit more anti-brown agitation on the streets?

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 02:50

Lalmohan wrote:so we should expect to see a bit more anti-brown agitation on the streets?

Yes and also probably extending the ban on use of laptops to all Muslims (except those from Pakistan and KSA).

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 25 Mar 2017 03:11

Wow! The more things change the more they remain the same. This saga of this dhaga reminds me of the old malloo saying

panntheerande kuzhalil ittu uzhinjalum.. sunakande vaalu valanjattanne..

The losers in this bill snafu are the "Destroy O'Care" elephants, led by Ryan, whose credibility is in the pakistan at this point. Candidate (unmentionable)'s position was to tweak O'Care to change something about obstacles to interstate something something. That in itself didn't seem like a big deal. I predict that this will be brought and passed with no fanfare, like the Snail Darter killed the TVA Dam way back.

While y'all were busy bashing (unmentionable) he appointed a smart person to actually deal with managing healthcare.

While the HHS Secretary Taaam Price is a 400% jeenius, this lady makes up for that.

Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma, a protégé of Vice President Mike Pence, was approved by a 55-43 vote, largely along party lines. She’ll head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a $1 trillion agency that oversees health insurance programs for more than 130 million people, from elderly nursing home residents to newborns. It’s part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Verma, a first-generation American whose parents emigrated from India, takes over at CMS..

(the pakistan parts of the article deleted)...

With a background in public health, Verma has said she wants government programs to improve health, not just pay bills. She’s been critical of Medicaid, saying “the status quo is not acceptable” for the federal-state insurance program that covers more than 70 million low-income people.

In Indiana, Verma designed a Medicaid expansion along conservative lines for Pence. Most beneficiaries are required to pay modest premiums. And the program uses financial rewards and penalties to steer patients to primary care providers instead of the emergency room. Critics say the plan has been confusing for beneficiaries and some have incurred penalties through no fault of their own.

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Verma defended her approach by saying that low-income people are fully capable of making health care decisions based on rational incentives. She also said she does not support turning Medicare into a voucher plan under which retirees would get a fixed federal contribution to purchase private coverage from government-regulated private insurance plans.

{A classic Andhra-born no-nonsense attitude.}

Her boss, the idiot HHS Secretary Tom Price, is a prominent advocate of such an approach. Medicare covers more than 56 million seniors and disabled people.

Some state officials are welcoming Verma’s arrival as a sign that Medicaid has come of age at an agency where it traditionally came in second to Medicare.

With Verma’s confirmation and Price as health secretary, Trump has two of the most senior HHS officials in place.

Verma is seriously popular in Indiana and considered a super administrator. Barbie Jindal sans the mouth.

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 03:39

UlanBatori wrote: Verma is seriously popular in Indiana

Like saying I am household name in my own household.

Infant mortality in Indiana is on a par with the Confederate States. As an example, Illinois: 4.8 Indiana: 6.5. But she probably saved $54,000 in pre-natal care. So she is popular in Indiana.

GShankar · Post by **GShankar** » 25 Mar 2017 03:50

^^Not sure if there is discrepancy in the statistics. But Illinois is 6.6 per info here - http://www.dph.illinois.gov/data-statis ... statistics

For quick reference

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 05:28

GShankar wrote:^^Not sure if there is discrepancy in the statistics. But Illinois is 6.6 per info here - http://www.dph.illinois.gov/data-statis ... statistics

For quick reference

As of 2016, Indiana infant mortality at 7.7. Like appointing Bihar Health Secretary to the Centre.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/252 ... city-2011/

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 25 Mar 2017 06:38

Letting insurance companies compete across states is not a magic wand that will reduce prices. Some states do allow and prices are not falling.

It is just another talking point.

GShankar · Post by **GShankar** » 25 Mar 2017 06:42

^^ I just pointed out your data for Illinois ( 4.8 ) was inconsistent with those from official sources. And I quoted data from official state reference. May I hope that going forward you'll take data from the right sources to make your point?

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 25 Mar 2017 06:55

Interesting logic.
Ohio 2016 is 7.2, same as Indiana's 7.2.
The difference between 6 and 7 is about 140 babies. Is there any logic to blaming Verma for that?
As for Bihar HHS, hey, being HHS in Bihar is a lot tougher than being HHS where people have a history of excellent healthcare.

And.. what we won't see from our dear postor is the HISTORY of Infant Mortality rates in Indiana, 2005-2011, immediately BEFORE Ms. Verma took over
Nah! I don't want to spoil your fun seeing 4 urself the ~~fake~~ Super-Accurate Media At Work as usual.

There IS a reason why Indiana's infant mortality rate has risen in recent years though:
The IM for all Indiana is around 6.x to 7.x. But the IM for black mothers is like 12 to 13.
Now look at the birth rate to black mothers:
Births to Black Mothers 2011: 9908
Births to Black Mothers 2014: 10390

4% rise in rate of births in a segment of the population with more than double the IM rate, historically.

So Verma is at fault because she created conditions where more black mothers moved to Indiana or chose to have their babies in Indiana hospitals than at home, because they could get medical care. Maybe in some tough cases some babies died but mothers survived, whereas in pre-Verma days both would have died.

Wow! I had NO idea that I was such an expert in topics such as IM (we insiders don't use full forms of such words). But it is so easy to be an expert compared to (never mind... )

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 07:06

UlanBatori wrote:
So Verma is at fault because she created conditions where more black mothers moved to Indiana or chose to have their babies in Indiana hospitals than at home, because they could get medical care. Maybe in some tough cases some babies died but mothers survived, whereas in pre-Verma days both would have died.

Oh yeah, people are moving to Indiana to get medical care. And Indiana welcomes, with open arms, African American women to have their babies there.

And Pakistan is a victim of terrorism onlee.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 25 Mar 2017 07:35

Er... and they accuse TRUMP of being a bit loose on the factual end?

Once again, komalji, if you could get someone to look at that link I posted above, and read it out slowly to you, you might see that the Infant Mortality rate was well over 8 until Ms. Verma took over. It came down to the low 6s, then seems to have shot up last year back to 7.2, but still well below the level of 2011. Meanwhile, the number of babies born to black women has gone up in Indiana, (figures for 2015 and 16 not seen yet) and so one would expect a slight uptick in IM, given that historically, IM rate among black babies is twice that of the general population.

I don't say that any of this is Ms. Verma's fault or credit directly - that's all entirely your line of argument, but it looks like you stepped right in it with both feet and then failed to see it until your face was right in it.

Happens sometimes to people who allow their hate and pompousness to dominate their vision.

Please consider moving on to something else so you don't get humiliated any more. Thanks.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 25 Mar 2017 08:04

Via http://www.in.gov/isdh/25985.htm

komal · Post by **komal** » 25 Mar 2017 09:30

^^^^^^ Gee, I wonder if there was any health care legislation passed in 2009?

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 25 Mar 2017 19:59

Got to wonder those who gritted their teeth and went to spasms of agony against hillary for 'lies' about some email server got to say about Trump allegations against Obama. These trump allegations are not only lies but another racist attack against Obama. For part of the repub base that is part of trump support base the defeciency of obama is not in his character but in his skin color. They hounded him with demands on birth certificate, rubbished him while praising white leader Putin and now this. Ofcourse they dont really beleive in these accusation - these are just more sophisticated ways of calling him N word.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 25 Mar 2017 22:06

Of course that is true, but the worst racists were/are in BO's own party, that's why they could never build on the good things that BO tried to do. Like reform healthcare. Most of the "faults" of BOcare are in the unfinished business that the racists on both sides would never allow to be finished, and now they are happily tossing it around like a hot potato because the truth is that BOcare, run properly (as it was in Indiana by Ms. Verma) is a resounding success.

But it was only the first step. Bringing everyone on board broadens the base, but without cutting medical costs by an order of magnitude, no solution is possible, that's elementary math. Why does it cost maybe Rs. 100 ($1.3) to get a dental checkup in urban Malloostan, and $200 for the same or (much) worse service in urban America? $13 to get a full set of teeth caps put on vs. what? $2000 in the US? A visit to a doc's office to say hello costs $100 for 5 minutes of the doc's time in the US.

It is absolutely insane, and if you dig deep it is the cost of getting hajaar forms filled out for overpaid insurance executives / obscenely overpaid malpractice lawyers.

Only massive open competition can fix the US healthcare system and bring basic healthcare to the people. And that cannot happen without a mass lobotomy in COTUS. Obama tried, all credit to him.

His would-be succeessor was a closet racist and obvious dimwit who would have completely destroyed the system. As for the present bunch... look on the bright side: the insurance companies' skyscrapers will be first to fall in the nuclear war that these bozos will set off any day now.

If you want to read one perspective from a brilliant surgeon see this: I happen to know that he tried to talk to Tom Price, whose medical credentials are nowhere near the authors, but the dork was so deep into the T-Party cra* that he would not listen.

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 25 Mar 2017 23:31

UlanBatori wrote:Of course that is true, but the worst racists were/are in BO's own party, that's why they could never build on the good things that BO tried to do. Like reform healthcare. Most of the "faults" of BOcare are in the unfinished business that the racists on both sides would never allow to be finished, and now they are happily tossing it around like a hot potato because the truth is that BOcare, run properly (as it was in Indiana by Ms. Verma) is a resounding success.

But it was only the first step. Bringing everyone on board broadens the base, but without cutting medical costs by an order of magnitude, no solution is possible, that's elementary math. Why does it cost maybe Rs. 100 ($1.3) to get a dental checkup in urban Malloostan, and $200 for the same or (much) worse service in urban America? $13 to get a full set of teeth caps put on vs. what? $2000 in the US? A visit to a doc's office to say hello costs $100 for 5 minutes of the doc's time in the US.

It is absolutely insane, and if you dig deep it is the cost of getting hajaar forms filled out for overpaid insurance executives / obscenely overpaid malpractice lawyers.

Only massive open competition can fix the US healthcare system and bring basic healthcare to the people. And that cannot happen without a mass lobotomy in COTUS. Obama tried, all credit to him.

His would-be succeessor was a closet racist and obvious dimwit who would have completely destroyed the system. As for the present bunch... look on the bright side: the insurance companies' skyscrapers will be first to fall in the nuclear war that these bozos will set off any day now.

If you want to read one perspective from a brilliant surgeon see this: I happen to know that he tried to talk to Tom Price, whose medical credentials are nowhere near the authors, but the dork was so deep into the T-Party cra* that he would not listen.

You might be correct about racists in democrats ..after all it was party of segregration was it not? I frankly dont understand how health care insurance works in America so cant comment much about rest of post. But one thing rings true to me - democrats vs repub fight has long ceased to be one of ideology. but its more about to whom should the freebies keep going - repubs have no problem with freebies if they benefit their favored constitutents same with democrats.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2017 00:45

Both get big $$$ from the American Medical Association (biggest protectionist Union scam in the duniya) and the insurance companies, to keep robbing the people, and people just have to go along like sheep because Doctors Know Better. Anyway if you fall ill you have no choice.

All sane solutions involve outsourcing/opening global competition for medical services in the short term, until costs are equalized. That also means massive cutbacks in insurance companies (after all, insurance companies are supposed to be just cooperatives where people pay premiums so that those who fall ill can get care, why should these be so damn complicated?) and firm limits on malpractice judgements. Then, tough limits on drug profit margins, esp. where federal research dollars are used at any stage of the game.

At the other extreme, those who have money demand the best in medical care, going towards permanent youth and health, at least sex. That will drive Designer Health solutions, cost be damned. But just as people drive all sorts of cars which are kept fairly safe to minimum levels (and cars cost less in the US than in India), I believe it should be possible to have a basic healthcare system at reasonable cost, with plenty of global competition.

I don't see the present bunch going for any such solutions. And the democrats are at their worst now - no way to do any good - they didn't even when the POTUS was democrat (and remember in 1992 when Slick Willie won first, the Dems actually controlled the House and Senate I believe, but still couldn't pass anything) and all energy focused on being negative and outdoing the Republicyaint COTUS of the past 8 years.

Which means, a sly trader such as ****** and his Hitler-Jugend supporters will draw on the worst fears and hatreds in society for their support base to do whatever benefits their top bunch.

What I want to see is how these people change their own narrative to go where there is money: outsourcing medical care. Like approving Indian hospitals for US insurance coverage. They may couch it as Allowing US Insurance Companies Freedom To Compete In India (Indians would have to be nuts, but plenty are), and use that to achieve the win-win deal: Indian hospitals make $$B providing care at rates 1/10 of what US hospitals do.
Plus, dismantle the FDA and the Surgeon General's office so that the standards can be loosened on US hospitals. Dismantle the Dept of Education so that the medical education cartel is hit (but while protecting contributions to the elephant coffers from AMA).

Or they'll just let things fester: it's only another 3.5 years after all before the next bunch of crooks gets elected. Bihar is right.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2017 02:14

Tulsi Gabbard (on fB):

"I'm happy to report that the AHCA was pulled from the House floor today due to lack of support. It's a terrible bill that was basically written by and for insurance and pharmaceutical corporations on the backs of the most needy and vulnerable. There are serious problems with our healthcare system that must be addressed, but this bill was not the solution—it would have just made things worse. This is not the end. We must continue to work for a healthcare system that puts the health and well being of people first." -TG

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 26 Mar 2017 03:55

Bases on my admittedly superficial analysis Ryan bill is not a bad bill- its just obama bill with subsidy going to slightly higher income people. It supports middle class better. What is pathetic is Trump unable to sell it to his own party.

Dipanker · Post by **Dipanker** » 26 Mar 2017 05:52

kiranA wrote:
You might be correct about racists in democrats ..after all it was party of segregration was it not?

But they were also the party willing to rectify the situation and passed the Civil Rights Act, 1964 ( and 1968 ). That was 50 years ago.
Once they signed the Civil Rights Act, they lost the entire South to Republican party due to Republican's southern strategy.

Since those days, south has remained a faithful vote bank for Republicans.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2017 06:13

ACA is a leaky boat, but at least it's got temporary floatation. Instead of fixing the leaks and putting in some oars (bring in competition for the insurance companies and medical providers) the oiseules are spending all their energy on criticizing the paint job on a boat that is sinking. And bringing in THEIR even-leakier boat. The CBO was not very kind, they must be on to something.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2017 06:17

Dipanker wrote: Once they signed the Civil Rights Act, they lost the entire South to Republican party due to Republican's southern strategy.
Since those days, south has remained a faithful vote bank for Republicans.

As recently as the 1990s there had not been a single elephant governor in Gorgia since the Reconstruction dins.

komal · Post by **komal** » 26 Mar 2017 06:20

UlanBatori wrote:
Dipanker wrote: Once they signed the Civil Rights Act, they lost the entire South to Republican party due to Republican's southern strategy.
Since those days, south has remained a faithful vote bank for Republicans.
As recently as the 1990s there had not been a single elephant governor in Gorgia since the Reconstruction dins.

Absolute 100% proof that the Dumbocrats were for segregation and Ronald Reagan was doing everything to fight it including making states rights speeches in Philadelphia MS.

LBJ fighting to get the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act was just eyewash to deceive the naive. Donald Trump has done more for the Negro in two months than the Dumbocrats have done since 1948.

amritk · Post by **amritk** » 26 Mar 2017 11:59

Whoa, brofesaar, looks like students are trying to compete against you

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Mar 2017 18:43

An interesting interview on reviving American manufacturing:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/can-t ... b-atkinson

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 26 Mar 2017 19:06

UlanBatori wrote:Tulsi Gabbard (on fB):
"I'm happy to report that the AHCA was pulled from the House floor today due to lack of support. It's a terrible bill that was basically written by and for insurance and pharmaceutical corporations on the backs of the most needy and vulnerable. There are serious problems with our healthcare system that must be addressed, but this bill was not the solution—it would have just made things worse. This is not the end. We must continue to work for a healthcare system that puts the health and well being of people first." -TG

gross ignorance.

obamacare is in danger of dying on the vine with steep premium increases that fewer people can afford.

one thing is for sure, the rethugs will cut the support underneath obamacare while not being able to agree on a replacement.

just simply deleting the obamacare requirement for everyone to be insured will ultimately kill it. finis, done. in just a matter of a few years. the plan needs healthy people to be insured in order for it to survive.

the rethugs will therefore stomp on it. while unable to replace it.

what a sad.....horrific....joke on the public.

I was in insurance regulation for 11 years and audited these plans.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Mar 2017 20:18

Thus we remain, nearly alone among nations rich enough to have it, without universal health care. It's not so much an indictment of Trump, Congress, or even our politics as it is of our national character at the moment. America's like all those normal-seeming guys you read about in newspaper crime stories who take their savings and hire a hit man to kill their wife or boss or father-in-law. They think if they can just get this one insane, immoral thing done, everything will work out great. But they can't do it themselves so they need to hire this insane, immoral guy. And things always go wrong because the hit man winds up blackmailing them or trying to kill them or kidnapping a member of their family. These guys always seem to assume, against all evidence and experience, that for some reason the hit man won't turn on them. That's us now. We're a nation of Jerry Lundegaards.

from: http://alicublog.blogspot.com/2017/03/t ... ealth.html

LokeshC · Post by **LokeshC** » 26 Mar 2017 20:43

TSJones wrote: what a sad.....horrific....joke on the public.

I have been wondering about this since the second Bush term: When has it NOT been that?

The second Bush term was what destroyed the facades for me. Everyone in massa has a massa. Its rule of the people, by the massa, for the massa. The former Lincoln quote expired around the time of Teddy Roosevelt (or maybe even Polk, who preceded Lincoln. Assuming that the first civil war was really about South getting too powerful for its own good and not *really* about abolishing slavery).

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Mar 2017 20:49

When gross domestic product was first defined, in the nineteen-forties, by the economist Simon Kuznets, the goal was to find one simple measure that could serve as a thermometer for the economy: when the number rose, things were probably going better than when the number fell. Kuznets, of course, knew that this was an oversimplification, but a helpful one. Of all the countless ways people make and spend money, Kuznets identified three categories that he believed could cover everything: consumption, investment, and government spending. (He also included exports and subtracted imports, to limit G.D.P. to economic activity within one country, but that’s another story.) When he devised the number, health-care expenditure was minuscule, making up about 0.4 per cent of the over-all G.D.P. There seemed no reason to carve it out as its own category. Today, health spending makes up more than seventeen per cent of G.D.P. That spending is divided into the major categories. You “consume” cancer treatments or a checkup or a week in the hospital. A hospital might invest in a new M.R.I. machine or a cardiac-treatment wing. And the government spends money through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, among other ways. Health care is the single largest government expenditure by quite a lot, typically nearly double the defense budget. However, dividing health expenditures into these categories misses an important economic reality: health-care spending has a substantial impact on every other sort of economic activity.

A few years ago, a relative of mine, an electrician who made a good living laying cable alongside highways, told me that his economic future depended on one thing: his back. He saw what happened to older guys—he meant men in their late thirties—when the pain became unbearable. They either became supervisors or they had to quit. At the time, my relative was about to turn thirty himself, and I remember him saying, “My back is killing me.”
...
In economics, when a person has some money, they can do one of two things: invest it or use it to buy something they want to consume. Most of the time, they consume. That can mean buying a slice of pizza, or “consuming” a vacation, a movie, or a new car. Health care is typically classified as a form of consumption. But if my relative spent some of his money with a back-pain specialist, who could teach him exercises that would prolong his working life by another decade, shouldn’t that be considered an investment? He would be choosing to forego paying for something that he actually wants today so that he can make more money in the future.
...
As my relative’s situation makes clear, much health-care consumption is perhaps better classified as an investment. As it happens, my relative didn’t get his back properly treated. He took medicine, and then illegal drugs, to treat his pain. That led to an addiction, which led to crime; he is in prison now, and costing the government tens of thousands of dollars a year. When he gets out, it seems unlikely that he will ever earn as much as he would have had he received basic preventive care when his pain first began. It would be wrong to blame all his troubles on health care, but failing to invest in proper treatment when it was needed helped transform one citizen from a hard-working taxpayer into a possible lifelong recipient of government largesse.

http://www.newyorker.com/business/adam- ... ealth-care

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 26 Mar 2017 20:56

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/jia-to ... f-to-death
The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death

Last September, a very twenty-first-century type of story appeared on the company blog of the ride-sharing app Lyft. “Long-time Lyft driver and mentor, Mary, was nine months pregnant when she picked up a passenger the night of July 21st,” the post began. “About a week away from her due date, Mary decided to drive for a few hours after a day of mentoring.” You can guess what happened next.

Mary, who was driving in Chicago, picked up a few riders, and then started having contractions. “Since she was still a week away from her due date,” Lyft wrote, “she assumed they were simply a false alarm and continued driving.” As the contractions continued, Mary decided to drive to the hospital. “Since she didn’t believe she was going into labor yet,” Lyft went on, “she stayed in driver mode, and sure enough—ping!— she received a ride request en route to the hospital.”

“Luckily,” as Lyft put it, the passenger requested a short trip. After completing it, Mary went to the hospital, where she was informed that she was in labor. She gave birth to a daughter, whose picture appears in the post. (She’s wearing a “Little Miss Lyft” onesie.) The post concludes with a call for similar stories: “Do you have an exciting Lyft story you’d love to share? Tweet us your story at @lyft_CHI!”

Mary’s story looks different to different people. Within the ghoulishly cheerful Lyft public-relations machinery, Mary is an exemplar of hard work and dedication—the latter being, perhaps, hard to come by in a company that refuses to classify its drivers as employees. Mary’s entrepreneurial spirit—taking ride requests while she was in labor!—is an “exciting” example of how seamless and flexible app-based employment can be. Look at that hustle! You can make a quick buck with Lyft anytime, even when your cervix is dilating.

Lyft does not provide its drivers paid maternity leave or health insurance. (It offers to connect drivers with an insurance broker, and helpfully notes that “the Affordable Care Act offers many choices to make sure you’re covered.”) A third-party platform called SherpaShare, which some drivers use to track their earnings, found, in 2015, that Lyft drivers in Chicago net about eleven dollars per trip. Perhaps, as Lyft suggests, Mary kept accepting riders while experiencing contractions because “she was still a week away from her due date,” or “she didn’t believe she was going into labor yet.” Or maybe Mary kept accepting riders because the gig economy has further normalized the circumstances in which earning an extra eleven dollars can feel more important than seeking out the urgent medical care that these quasi-employers do not sponsor. In the other version of Mary’s story, she’s an unprotected worker in precarious circumstances. “I can’t pretend to know Mary’s economic situation,” Bryan Menegus at Gizmodo wrote, when the story first appeared. “Maybe she’s an heiress who happens to love the freedom of chauffeuring strangers from place to place on her own schedule. But that Lyft, for some reason, thought that this would reflect kindly on them is perhaps the most horrifying part.”

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Mar 2017 21:34

Indian beaten and abused in tasmania

http://www.news18.com/news/india/you-bl ... 64446.html

Falijee · Post by **Falijee** » 26 Mar 2017 22:56

International Diplomacy - Donald Trump Style

Donald Trump printed out made-up £300bn Nato invoice and handed it to Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel will reportedly ignore Donald Trump’s attempts to extricate £300bn from Germany for what he deems to be owed contributions to Nato. The US President is said to have had an “invoice” printed out outlining the sum estimated by his aides as covering Germany’s unpaid contributions for defence. If, this is true as reported, it has to be a first in international diplomacy

But the bill has been backdated even further to 2002, the year Mrs Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, pledged to spend more on defence.
Mr Trump reportedly instructed aides to calculate how much German spending fell below two per cent over the past 12 years, then added interest. Estimates suggest the total came to £300bn, with official figures citing the shortfall to be around £250bn plus £50bn in interest added on. The Times quoted a German government minister as saying the move was “outrageous”. Cowboy or gunboat diplomacy - take your pick !

The bill follows a disastrous meeting between the pair earlier this month, characterised by Mr Trump’s refusal to shake his peer’s hand.

Mr Trump has repeatedly voiced his criticism over member payments to Nato, throwing doubt on the future role of the US in the organisation. He has singled out a number of Nato countries, including Germany, over their defence contributions claiming the US has been forced to bear the brunt and pick up the tab.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 26 Mar 2017 23:53

there are a lot of questions around the constitution of nato and who is supposed to do what and who does what and what who feels about it, etc., etc.

but step back and have a think about the point of what is going on...

who is the winner in a feud within nato...?

another great chess move by the master

komal · Post by **komal** » 27 Mar 2017 01:23

Lalmohan wrote:there are a lot of questions around the constitution of nato and who is supposed to do what and who does what and what who feels about it, etc., etc.

but step back and have a think about the point of what is going on...

who is the winner in a feud within nato...?

another great chess move by the master

Putin?