A former UnitedHealthcare claims representative says employees were systematically trained to deny medical claims and rush distressed customers off phone lines, revealing internal practices at the nation's largest health insurer amid growing scrutiny of the industry. read more
There's one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas. read more
Mob rule is not conducive to representative democracy. read more
Poet Rives does 8 minutes of lyrical origami, folding history into a series of coincidences surrounding that most surreal of hours, 4 o'clock in the morning.
After a debut hit, many bands often find their follow-up album panned: further evidence of the curse of the "sophomore slump," critics say. read more
Billy Bragg - Ideology (1986)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt...
...
When one voice rules the nation
Just because they're on top of the pile
Doesn't mean their vision is the clearest
The voices of the people
Are falling on deaf ears
Our politicians all become careerists
They must declare their interests
But not their company cars
Is there more to a seat in parliament
Then sitting on your arse
And the best of all this bad bunch
Are shouting to be heard
Above the sound of ideologies clashing
Outside the patient millions
Who put them into power
Expect a little more back for their taxes
Like school books, beds in hospitals
And peace in our bloody time
All they get is old men grinding axes
Who've built their private fortunes
On the things they can rely
...
Ralph McTell - Streets of London (1975)
www.youtube.com
While I disagree with the comment on the site that this is the best version, I will also say that it is the best availble version that I could find.
I prefer my vinyl album version over this one. But, ya have to work with what you have ...
Lyrics excerpt...
...
Have you seen the old man
In the closed-down market
Kicking up the paper
With his worn out shoes?
In his eyes you see no pride
And held loosely at his side
Yesterday's paper telling yesterday's news
So how can you tell me you're lonely
And say for you that the sun don't shine?
Let me take you by the hand and
Lead you through the streets of London
Show you something to make you change your mind
...
A song (one of the few) that has made a significant impression on me.
Jade Warrior - A Winter's Tale (1972)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
...
Ivy tapping on my window, wine and candle glow
Skies that promise snow have gathered overhead
Buttered toast and creamy coffee, table laid for two
Lovely having you to share a smile with me
And it's all right, sitting in firelight
Making the room bright, keeping us warm
Yes it's so good, smelling that pine-wood
Burning like wood should, glowing like corn
On the wall the clock is chiming, hours passing by
And for you and I the wind sings winter songs
In the village people gather at the Lamplight Inn
Drinking liquid sin to keep the cold away
...
@#19 ... there's another thing called nipping it in the bud. The House would be a good place to start if they so have the mind. ...
Congress has already given the Trump-Musk coalition the finger with the rejection of the budget bill hat Mr Musk proposed.
So there's that.
But, given the slim majority the GOP holds in the House, my current view is ... get yer popcorn ...
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Morning Glory (1968)
www.youtube.com
Lyrics excerpt ...
genius.com
...
I lit my purest candle
Close to my window
Hoping it would catch the eye
Of any vagabond who passed it by
And I waited in my fleeting house
Before he came I felt him drawing near
Passing here I felt the anxious fear
But he had come to my door and jeered
And I waited in my fleeting house
Tell me stories, I called to the hobo
Stories of cold, I smiled to the hobo
Stories of old, I knelt to the hobo
And he stood before me in my fleeting house
No, said the hobo, no more tales of time
Don't ask me now to wash away the grime
I can't come in 'cause it's too hard a climb
And he walked away from my fleeting house
Then you'll be damned, I screamed to the hobo
Leave me alone, I wept to the hobo
Turn into stone, I knelt to the hobo
And he walked away from my fleeting house
...
@#24 ... Waiting for co-presidents in waiting Musk and Trump to tell them what to do. Sorry, GOPers, but transforming yourselves into political eunuchs is an act that cannot be corrected. ...
Looks like both of them have endorsed Spkr Johnson.