@#3

Yeah, we've progressed so far in those 45 years since that song was written.

What might current songs about AI have to say?

@#168 ... In 2013, 85.5% of Americans were covered by public or private health insurance, leaving 14.5% uninsured. The ACA went into effect in 2014. By 2016, 91.4% were insured, dropping the uninsured percentage to 8.6%, a 5.9-point shift. ...

Yeah, I remember from the time that the GOP was complaining that ACA was not 100% successful, therefore it should be eliminated.

They ignored the positive trend of the ACA.

Purposefully?

imo, yes. For political gains, not health gains.

Instead of trying to change the ACA to make it even better, the GO wanted to eliminate it and the health benefits accrued from the ACA.

@#13 ... Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was in no hurry for peace and if it did not want to resolve their conflict peacefully, Moscow would accomplish all its goals by force. ...

And, what might Pres Putin's goals for Ukraine be?

Well, he has stated that a sovereign Ukraine should not exist, that Ukraine is merely a part of Russia.

@#6 ... Putin gapes pedo 47's fat ass for the Epsteinth time. ...

Looks that way.

Then there's this ...

@#11

Yeah, that current trolling alias still seems to be enamored with Pres Putin talking points.

@#2 ... It's the incompetence. ...

If I may be allowed to expand that observation ...

It's the intentional cruelty of the incompetence.

@#4 ... Does that "eight" include the war he claims to have stopped between two non-fighting countries 4,000 miles apart? ...

More from the article ...

... Previous law required that a nursing home that accepts state funding to care for indigent people generally admit new residents from its waiting list in the order the applications were submitted.

The new law adds an exception requiring a nursing home to admit a veteran regardless of the waiting list if the nursing home has a contract with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide care for veterans, and the veteran applicant meets eligibility requirements.

...

The new law also allows children in military families to stay enrolled in their current school for an additional school year when a service member relocates on orders.

The law requires local and regional school boards to take steps to ensure a minimally disruptive transition of a military-connected student who enrolls in a school after the school year begins, or has an individualized education plan for special education services from a prior school year.

This applies when the student enrolls due to an armed forces member's military orders or other documents directing the service member to the state.

For these students, the law requires districts to at least transfer records and evaluations, perform a reevaluation, and within 30 school days of enrollment, hold a planning and placement team meeting or a meeting to establish an individualized education plan.

Under the law, a service member's child must be allowed to remain enrolled in a school until the end of the school year if the service member relocates on orders and remains in the armed forces. However, a child enrolled in grade 11 may continue to be enrolled in school for an additional year while the service member remains in the armed forces.

...

Under the new law, the governor is required to proclaim November of each year as Veterans' Month in recognition of the service and sacrifice of those who have served in the armed forces to protect the country and state.

Suitable exercises can be held in the state Capitol building and other sites if the governor chooses. ...

@#8 ... "Remembering the Worst Media Misses of 2025" ...

That article owns itself.

It is pay-walled.

Yeah, imo, pay-walls are the biggest media miss in 2025.

Even axios.com, whose reporting I have admired for years, seems to have succumbed to the pay-wall.

@#9 ... The moral of the story - diversify your news sources. ...

Yeah, your current trolling alias should take its own advice ...

:)

From the sub-summary ...

... and please sign up for my daily newsletter ...

So, begging for more followers?

@#12 ... I hate to do this but I will give credit where it's due. ...

Why does your trolling current alias admit it hates to give credit when appropriate?

I'd proffer that would be something that one might be proud to do.

More from the post ...

... The Trump Administration is substantially off pace to "carry out the largest deportation operation in American history."

President Donald Trump set the goal for his Administration to exceed President Dwight Eisenhower's 1954 deportation program.

Eisenhower Administration Statistical Overview

In 1954 the Eisenhower Administration carried out an unprecedented deportation surge.

The operation

The Eisenhower Administration officially called it "Operation Wetback," using a derogatory term for Mexican nationals illegally crossing the Rio Grande into the United States.

responded to widespread problems from lack of compliance with a 1951 agreement between Mexico and the United States, one of a series of similar programs between 1942 and 1964, known as the Mexican Agricultural Labor Program or, colloquially, as the Bracero Program (bracero being Spanish for manual laborer). ...

@#154 ... This is abusive fraud ...

I agree. he facts point to abusive fraud.

... by some reporting, is in the billions. ...

Got links of that "some reporting?"

Or has a new shift of the troll farm just checked in?

@#21 ... Vance has the personality of a dead moth. ...

Speaking of moths ...

@#21 ... Vance has the personality of a dead moth. ...

imo, in that opinion, you are being kind.

@#16 ... But frankly, I'm not convinced there is a "peak" in Newsom's case . ...

He's had a significant level of attention a couple three weeks ago.

But, where is his attention level this week?

@#17 ... I also have to wonder if Peter Thiel will be willing to throw good money after bad if Newsom is the more politically overwhelming candidate in turncoat Republican states. ...

Good query.

imo, Mr Thiel looks at his ~investments~ for a return.

(interesting that the Firefox spell-checker seems to know Mr Thiel's name, and told me I misspelled it.)

So at what point does Mr Thiel determine that his ~investment~ in VP Vance is no longer worthy of the return.

In a financial circles acronym, ROI. Return on Investment.

@#10 ... THAT's why it tastes better. ...

I disagree.

Restaurant foods taste better to many (most) folk because of the added salt.

I was once told by an accomplished chef who stated that when he was in culinary school the mantra seemed to be ~salt is flavor.~

Salt excites the taste buds and makes them more receptive.

That's why processed foods are so loaded with salt.

Without salt, they'd be nearly tasteless.

Yet the Republican majority in the House has elected him.

Interesting tidbit, the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of the House, according to the Constitution.

@#150 ... It's just like a reoccurring butt boil, ...

That one's an image that is going to linger.

:(

There's video, if that's yer thing ...

More from the article ...

... Garmin's Emergency Autoland system is built to automatically take "complete control of the flight to land the airplane in an emergency where the pilot is unable to fly." It can also be activated at the press of a button.

After initial reports speculated that the pilot or pilots may have been incapacitated after the plane, a Beechcraft Super King Air, had pressurization problems, the plane operator assured the public that triggering autoland was a deliberate act by the pilots. No passengers were on board on the flight, which according to the tail number given to the ATC, landed at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport on Saturday afternoon, after flying in from Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, also known as Sardy Field, a small mountain airport measuring just 573 acres.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed in a statement that the "Beechcraft Super King Air landed safely at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Colorado around 14:20 local time on Saturday, December 20, after the pilot lost communication with air traffic control." The FAA added: "An onboard emergency autoland system was activated. Two people were on board. The FAA is investigating."

While the aircraft did experience "a rapid, uncommanded loss of pressurization," the pilots put on their oxygen masks, the CEO of the charter company, Chris Townsley, said in a statement to CNN. Townsley reiterated that the pilots had "made the decision to leave the system engaged," and "automatically engaged exactly as designed when the cabin altitude exceeded the prescribed safe levels." ...

@#146 ... Because convenience is not unlimited. At some point, the risk to election integrity outweighs the marginal benefit of added convenience. ...

Still on that off-thread unsubstantiated mail-in ballot fraud kick?

Yet, ignoring the on-thread question posed in #144.

Why?

From the sub-summary ..

... "Do I get credit for it? ...

Pres Trump will get the credit he deserves and has earned, and not the credit he thinks he should have.

@#5 ... The Washington Post recently did a hit job on universal healthcare ...

Well, what might be expected from Mr Bezos, the billionaire owner of WaPO who has sucked up to Pres Trump?

Local coverage ...

@#135 ... You can never really be sure who the crazy ones are. ...

Be sure? No.

Have a strong suspicion? Yes.

For example, look back at #4 on this thread ...

That post says ...

... Watch this for an answer to the question in the heading. ...

Yet that posted video seems to be quite absurd. (I'm being kind. See #11 and #13 for more details).

So, I ask your current alias, is #4 posted by one of the "crazy ones" it seems to despise?

What does Pres Putin have over Pres Trump?

@#5

Friggin' wow ...

From the link in #5...

... RIGHT-WING MEDIA PERSONALITY Lauren Chen left the United States in July in disgrace. Her Tenet Media YouTube channel, which positioned itself as a sort of MAGA supergroup bringing together such popular commentators as Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, and Dave Rubin, had been exposed in 2024 by the FBI as a Russian media front illicitly taking money from pro-Putin propaganda outlet RT.

The September 2024 indictment from the Southern District of New York targeted Tenet's FARA-skirting Russian funders, not Chen or her husband, Liam Donovan.

But the Canadian couple were clearly described in the indictment as allegedly scheming with RT employees to direct $10 million to Tenet and even create a fictional persona to mislead one pundit about the source of the funding.

In the wake of the indictment, Chen lost her work visa and was forced to leave the country. She also vanished from social media. It seemed unlikely she would return to the United States anytime soon. ...

But this holiday season, Chen and her husband were back in Nashville, where she lived while running Tenet. She broke the news herself, by announcing on Instagram and X on Christmas Day that she could now return to the United States, and specifically thanking the State Department's Joe Rittenhouse, a senior adviser on consular affairs and former Trump presidential campaign worker, for his help. ...