Bye-bye to Biden's cancer moonshot:

Steve Rattner
@steverattner.bsky.social
DOGE leaders Ramaswamy and Musk have proposed eliminating all NIH funding, which among other things supports life-saving cancer research, contributing to a 33% decline in cancer death rates over the last 30 years.

Vivek and Leon laying down some early markers:

Steve Rattner
@steverattner.bsky.social

Musk and Ramaswamy have already identified $516B dollars in government savings--it includes cutting all of Veteran's Affairs health care, eliminating the NIH, and ending funding for federal prisons.

Update:

Insurance company halts plan to put time limits on coverage for anesthesia during surgery

After sharp criticism from anesthesiologists, an insurance company is halting its plan to limit the amount time it would cover anesthesia used in surgeries and procedures. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield said on Thursday it would no longer move forward with the policy change.

"There has been significant widespread misinformation about an update to our anesthesia policy. As a result, we have decided to not proceed with this policy change," the company said in a statement. "To be clear, it never was and never will be the policy of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to not pay for medically necessary anesthesia services. The proposed update to the policy was only designed to clarify the appropriateness of anesthesia consistent with well-established clinical guidelines."

Last time Trump pretended to give a ---- about Americans, this time he has no such pretense.
He's just here to tear in all down.
Putin can't wait.
Posted by ClownShack

Yes, Trump isn't worried about re-election or impeachment or indictments, so he can do whatever he wants, the American people be damned.

"didn't know a preemptive pardon was possible."

Talk Of 'Preemptive' Pardons By Trump Raises Questions: What Can He Do?
December 2, 20201:27 PM ET

A presidential preemptive pardon sounds unusual, but it has been done before, most famously when President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, who resigned because of the Watergate scandal in 1974 but had not been charged with any crimes.

"A preemptive pardon is a presidential pardon granted before any formal legal process has begun," American University professor Jeffrey Crouch tells NPR.

In an email, Crouch, author of The Presidential Pardon Power, says that "someone must have committed a federal offense, but as soon as that happens, the president can grant them clemency. He does not need to wait until the alleged offender is charged, stands trial, and so on."

Crouch continues: "These pardons are not common, but they do happen occasionally."

Hillary wanted to expand Medicare to people 50 and older if they wanted to buy into it, which I thought would have been a good option for many people who are getting older and have increasing health problems but aren't yet near at retirment age. Instead with got DonOLD who wanted to get rid of the ACA with no plan to replace it and only McCain stopped him. But guess what? He's b-a-c-k with the same desire and the same lack of a feasible replacment plan. Winning!

"Ignorant citizens elect ignorant leaders. It's a simple as that." George Carlin

We are about to reach the find out stage in so many ways:

"Six of the nine states with trigger laws-- Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina and Utah--went for Trump in the 2024 election."

Wait, what??? I thought the economy was booming, the markets were on fire, inflation was down and unemployment was near nonexistent. What happened?
#59 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

Nothing new happened. It's the same old story. The rich keep gettig richer, and Trump's billionaire boys club cabinet and proposed upcoming tax cuts for the ultra wealthy aim to increase the divide between the wealthy and the rest of us. Winning!

FTA:

The company said that the standards it's using to determine how long a surgery should last are consistent with industry standards and formulas set by the American Society of Anesthesiologists. Maternity-related care and pediatric services for patients younger than 22 will be excluded from this change, as there is more variability in the time needed for surgeries and procedures for these groups, Anthem said.

But the American Society of Anesthesiologists has called for an immediate reversal of this policy, saying that Anthem has set an "arbitrary time limit" on surgeries that threatens individual patient care.

Now reporting that the words - "deny", "defend" and "depose" - were meticulously written on the recovered shell casings.
#53 | Posted by REDIAL

Delay Deny Defend
Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It.
by Jay M Feinman (Author)
Paperback January 1, 2010

An expose of insurance injustice and a plan for consumers and lawmakers to fight back. Now a paperback version of the hard-hitting original. The denial of valid insurance claims is not occasional or accidental or the fault of a few bad employees. It's the result of an increasing and systematic focus on maximizing profits by major companies such as Allstate and State Farm. Citing dozens of stories of victims who were unfairly denied payment, the book explains how people can be more careful when shopping for policies and what to do when pursuing a disputed claim. It also lays out a plan for the legal reforms needed to prevent future abuses.

Trump set to take funds from Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, etc. to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. More to follow.

Copy of document available at link:

Federal Inquiry Traced Payments From Gaetz to Women

A document prepared by federal investigators bolsters claims by women who say they were hired for sex by Matt Gaetz, President-elect Donald J. Trump's choice for attorney general, who denies wrongdoing.

Federal investigators have established a web of payments among Matt Gaetz and dozens of friends and associates who are said to have taken part with him in drug-fueled sex parties, according to a document obtained by The New York Times. . . .

The document obtained by The Times was assembled by federal investigators during a sex-trafficking investigation into Mr. Gaetz, who is President-elect Donald J. Trump's choice for attorney general. It shows how Mr. Gaetz and a friend sent thousands of dollars through Venmo to dozens of people who, according to testimony that is said to have been given to federal and congressional investigators, were involved in sex parties from 2017 to 2020. . . .

Titled "VENMO TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN ALL INDIVIDUALS AS OF 09/14/20," the document uses thumbnail photos of Mr. Gaetz, dozens of women and several other men to show how payments flowed between them. Lines with arrows connect the men and the women, showing, among other things, how much Mr. Gaetz and his associates paid the women.

Okay, so I was off by a couple of weeks:

#7 I think that's right. Trump ias helping Gaetz get out of having the Ethics reports released by using the excuse he was going to be AG. After the Thanksgiving, Gaetz is likely to withdrawal his name from consideration. . . .
Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2024-11-14

FTA:

Hospitals around the country are conserving critical intravenous fluid supplies to cope with a shortage that may last months. Some hospital administrators say they are changing how they think about IV fluid hydration altogether.

Hurricane Helene, which hit North Carolina in September, wrecked a Baxter International facility that produces 60% of the IV fluids used in the U.S., according to the American Hospital Association.

The company was forced to stop production and is rationing its products. In an update posted Nov. 7, Baxter said its North Cove facility had resumed producing some IV fluids. In an email to KFF Health News, the company wrote that customers will be able to order normal quantities of "certain IV solutions products" by the end of the year, but there is no timeline for when the North Cove facility will be back to prehurricane production levels.

Maybe Madison Cawthorn was right:

Congressman Madison Cawthorn under fire over claims of DC drugs and orgies

Asked if the Netflix hit House of Cards, about amoral Washington politicians and fixers, was anything like reality, Cawthorn said: "The only thing that isn't accurate about that show is that you could never get a piece of legislation about education passed that quickly."

The 26-year-old added: "I mean, being kind of a young guy in Washington, where the average age is probably 60 or 70--you know, I look at all these people, a lot of them that I've looked up to through my life--I've always paid attention to politics.

"Then all of the sudden you get invited to, 'Well, hey, we're going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes, you should come.'

"I'm like 'What did you just ask me to come to?' And then you realise they are asking you to come to an ----."

The Republican also claimed: "You know, some of the people that are leading on the movement to try and remove addiction in our country and then you watch them do, you know, a key bump of cocaine right in front of you and it's like, Wow, this is wild.'"

This morning on Morning Joe. The method behind Trump's Cabinet appointment madness:

Ed Luce: You have a dismantling of the federal government in these picks

And just a reminder, as of yesterday, this is what the popular vote count looks like:

Updated popular vote count per Cook Political Report

Trump 76,666,332 (49.93%)

Harris 74,086,596 (48.25%)

*Did MSNBC's top brass sign off . . .

"That's the way countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Iran work."

Don't forget Orban's Hungary. That's the model that Trump and the GOP are following:

American conservatives embrace Hungary's authoritarian leader at Budapest conference

At a conference center plastered with slogans like "Let's drain the swamp," Republican after Republican endorsed harsh immigration policies, crackdowns on LGBTQ rights, and a battle against "woke ideology."

The scene could have been any recent GOP event--except it was taking place roughly 4,000 miles away from the US at the Conservative Political Action Conference's third annual gathering in Hungary.

The visiting GOP dignitaries' praise for Prime Minister Viktor Orbn and his authoritarian government showed how the small central European country has become an unlikely model for a potential Trump second term--despite what international observers have described as an alarming backsliding of democratic rights.

The American right's growing embrace of Orbn builds upon millions of dollars that his government has spent on lobbying in the US, and new connections between Hungarian and American conservative think tanks.

What do you think brought those two to Mar-a-Lago?
It wasn't their decision; it was the owners of MSNBC. An action like this is not taken unilaterally by 2 talking heads. It is a directive from higher up.

I think they went of their own free will and as the result of their own fears based on their previous experience with Trump as all the posts I made above demonstrate. The rift between Mika and Joe and Trump was personal after Trump accused Joe of being a murderer and called for an investigation into the death of Joe's dead staffer to be re-opened. Since it was Matt Gaetz who personally brought Trump the folder full of conspiracy material about the staffer's death that triggered Trump to start tweeting about Joe, the murderer, it only stands to reason that the nomination of Gaetz to be AG increased their fears regarding Trump's retribution against them.

Did MSNB sign off on their visit and even encourage it? I'm sure they did, because Joe and Mika aren't the only MSNBC hosts to be threatened with retribution:

Bannon: Gaetz DOJ coming for media

Steve Bannon, President-elect Trump's onetime White House adviser and a conservative media personality, said if confirmed to be attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) would go after media outlets.

Bannon singled out MSNBC, the cable news channel owned by Comcast, a company Trump himself has threatened to investigate over what he says is "treasonous" critical coverage of him.

The American people weighed in measure, and you were inundated for years. [Andrew] Weissmann, you were on TV with MSNBC and all the producers, MSNBC. Preserve your documents. Ari Melber and all you hosts. Preserve your documents. All of it," Bannon said on his "War Room" podcast.

you first three are gonna have to do better than that.
--I could have written that same old shvt for you.....
#5 | Posted by shrimptacodan

I did better, much better, which is why you cowardly Trump cultists will ignore my posts.

And here is Matt Gaetz's contribution to the "Joe Scarborough is a murder story"

"The View" star confronted 'scary person' Matt Gaetz at White House, says he gave Donald Trump docs accusing MSNBC host of murder

Alyssa Farah Griffin says she urged Gaetz not to present Trump with the "printed out conspiracy theories" about Joe Scarborough.

The View cohost and former Donald Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin revealed that she once confronted the president-elect's attorney general pick, controversial politician Matt Gaetz, about a conspiracy theory she said he introduced to Trump.

Griffin remembered asking him [Gaetz] what was in the folder, and its alleged contents shocked her.

"He shows me these printed out conspiracy theories that Joe Scarborough of Morning Joe and former congressman had murdered his staffer," Griffin alleged. "I said, 'Please do not show these to the President of the United States.' Then, days ensued of Donald Trump tweeting false, malicious claims about Joe Scarborough. The family of the woman who died--there was no foul play, it was a tragedy--begged Twitter and the White House to take it down, so that speaks to his character, integrity, and judgment."

Also from the transcript:

And I think that's very important. And I think it's also obviously very important. There are a lot of people that are very scared by the selection of his attorney general selection. . . .

But we spoke at length just about what Jonathan said. A lot of people are scared right now. They're scared about the threats of political retribution. They're scared about the threats of, of retribution against media people. They're scared that some potential picks have actually said they are going to arrest members of the media or go after them civilly. All that does is make people martyrs. And that's something that we said You know, you go after your political opponents, you turn 'em into martyrs, you make 'em the next president of the United States. So again, a lot of people are scared, a lot of people are nervous.

Morning Joe Hosts to 'Restart Communications' with Donald Trump After Revealing They Visited the President-Elect

'Morning Joe' hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have had fraught histories with Trump, who previously falsely accused Scarborough of murder

In May 2020, Trump even accused Scarborough of being a murderer " implying on X that the former member of the House of Representatives in Florida was to blame for the 2001 accidental death of one of his congressional aides, Lori Klausutis. This prompted the news host to pause his live show and ask Trump to stop watching "for the sake of America" and himself.

"When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so," Trump wrote on social media. "Why did he leave Congress so quietly and quickly? Isn't it obvious? What's happening now? A total nut job!"

From Morning Joe transcript:

Okay. So here's where we are. Over the past week, Joe and I have heard from so many people, from political leaders to regular citizens, deeply dismayed by several of President-elect Trump's cabinet elections, and they are scared. Last Thursday, we expressed our own concerns on this broadcast and even said we would appreciate the opportunity to speak with the president elect himself on Friday. We were given the opportunity to do just that. Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago, to meet personally with President elect Trump. It was the first time we have seen him in seven years

Now. e talked about a lot of issues including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets. We talked about that a good bit and it's gonna come as no surprise to anybody who watches this show, has watched it over the past year or over the past decade that we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of issues. And we told him. So

What we did agree on was to restart communications. My father often spoke with world leaders with whom he and the United States profoundly disagreed. That's a task shared by reporters and commentators alike. We had not spoken to President Trump since March of 2020, other than a personal call Joe made to Trump on the morning after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania. In this meeting, president Trump was tearful. He was upbeat, he seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats on some of the most divisive issues. And for those asking why we would go speak to the President-elect during such fraught times, especially between us.