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America's hospitals to publish the secret prices on more than 300 medical procedures for the first time

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 02 Jan 2021 18:00 UTC
Hospital Emergency entrance
© Federation of American Hospitals
President Trump's health-care policy ambitions didn't receive much attention from the mainstream media, but as we head into the new year, some of his market-based reforms are starting to become reality.

One of the most important is a directive requiring the nation's biggest hospital chains to publish the rates they've agreed to charge various insurers. As WSJ explains, after a failed attempt at an appeal, the major hospital operators are saying they will comply with the new rules and make their prices public starting on Friday.

Suddenly, America's hospital operators, a $1.2 trillion industry comprising some 6% of the country's economy, will be subjected to more transparency than they've seen in decades. And the Trump Administration policy wonks he pushed the idea are hoping that good ol' fashioned market dynamics will kick in, and help lower prices across the board.

Per WSJ, the nation's largest hospital chains, including publicly traded giants HCA Healthcare, Universal Health Services and Community Health Systems, and national nonprofit chains CommonSpirit Health and Ascension, are planing to comply with new requirements to post pricing. Tenet Healthcare declined to comment.

Within a week, hospitals will disclose prices for 300 common procedures.

Comment: Reform in this area has been long overdue. Success will depend upon finding a financial equilibrium between hospital, insurance and patient. So far it has been a two-sided tug-a-war with the patient stuck in the middle. Trump deserves credit for poking this sacred cow.

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Arrow Up

Google employees announce creation of a union

Chris Mills Rodrigo
The Hill
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 06:30 UTC
Google employees
© Michael Short/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Google employees protest event
More than 200 Google employees on Monday announced the creation of a union, a historic first at a major technology company.

The Alphabet Workers Union, referring to Google's parent company, is launching with support from the Communications Workers of America.

While smaller subsets of Google workers — cafeteria workers in the Bay Area and contractors in Pittsburgh — have unionized before, this marks the first effort to establish a companywide union. Dylan Baker, a Google software engineer, said in a statement:
"This is historic — the first union at a major tech company by and for all tech workers. We will elect representatives, we will make decisions democratically, we will pay dues, and we will hire skilled organizers to ensure all workers at Google know they can work with us if they actually want to see their company reflect their values."
Google workers have some history of collective action.
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Blue Pill

Mayor De Blasio's New Year's dance and the delusional politics of 2021

Jonathan Turley
jonathanturley.org
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 00:00 UTC
deblasio
Below is my column in the Hill on the rise of delusional politics in America — a problem captured vividly on New Year's Eve as Mayor Bill de Blasio dancing with his wife to a virtually empty Times Square. This is not Chicago where Sinatra sang about seeing a "guy dancing with his wife." It is New York and the only one dancing seemed to be de Blasio.

We are watching as both parties seem blissfully and utterly detached from reality.

Here is the column:

At midnight at the start of the new year, if you listened hard, you could almost hear the teeth of an entire nation grinding, or at least of those watching coverage from New York as Mayor Bill de Blasio danced in a nearly empty Times Square. Millions watched as he dipped his wife in a romantic flourish to Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York." At least Nero made his own music.

The scene drew angry rebukes. Andy Cohen said it made him feel sick. "I did not need to see that at the start of 2021. Do something with this city! Honestly, get it together!"


Comment: There is a Big difference between the righteous anger of seeing the vote stolen from Trump (and the demonization he has suffered at the hands of the mainstream media) - and the rage of the pathological and ideologically possessed that we've seen from the left in recent years.

As for "delusional politics" and the pseudo realities that they engender, we haven't read a better explanation of how this works than the following:

Psychopathy and the Origins of Totalitarianism

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Mr. Potato

Congress reopens as freakshow: Democratic Rep & pastor ends opening prayer in US House with 'Amen... and Awoman'


RT
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 17:56 UTC
Emanuel Cleaver
© Reuters/Scott Audette (file photo)
U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) addresses the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 28, 2016.
Missouri Democrat and United Methodist pastor Emanuel Cleaver has come under fire after he wrapped up his prayer in the US House by saying "amen" and "awoman" in an apparent nod to gender equality.

Cleaver (D-MO), who has represented Missouri's 5th congressional district since 2005, led a short prayer to mark the opening of the 117th Congress on Sunday. He closed off his speech, which called for unity, by saying: "We ask it in the name of the monotheistic God, Brahma, and the god known by many different names, amen and awoman."

It did not take long for conservative commentators on social media to notice the creative wording. Some began to question Cleaver's theological credentials - the lawmaker received his master's from St. Paul's School of Theology of Kansas City - while others accused him of mocking the religion.

Comment: Clown Congress!

The whole institution really needs to just be abolished. Trump would rule fine alone.

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Snow Globe

The top 10%'s bubble is about to burst

John Hugh Smith
of two minds.com
Wed, 30 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
Titanic
When the top 10%'s bubble pops in 2021, the loss of illusions/delusions of security and wealth will be shattering to all those who believed artifice and illusory "wealth" were real.

A great many people are living in bubbles that are about to pop. The largest bubble is the one inhabited by people who complacently believe in time travel, i.e. that the world of 2019 is about to replace the nightmare of 2020 and we can all go back to our carefree debt-funded consumption frenzy and illusions of ever-greater wealth forever and ever.

The greater one's sense of security, the more durable the bubble. Those in America's top 10% who have reaped virtually all the gains in income and wealth of the past 20 years live in a bubble that they view as unbreakable: no matter what problems arise, their personal income and wealth is secured by the government, central bank, etc.

Put another way, the top 10% are confident their position atop the wealth-power pyramid is secure no matter what happens. Any dip in stocks, bonds, real estate, bat guano futures, etc. that causes their personal wealth to decline (horrors!) will be instantly bought because the Federal Reserve will print another couple trillion dollars and funnel it into risk assets, as it has done for the past 20 years.

Comment: But the top 1% likely have a plan to escape unscathed:

The elites are already prepared and have a plan for the coming collapse of the dollar bubble

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Alarm Clock

Arizona woman arrested for beating COVID-positive children because they weren't wearing masks in home

Paul Sacca
The Blaze
Sun, 03 Jan 2021 16:54 UTC
Sarah Boone
© Maricopa County Sheriff
An Arizona woman has been accused of beating her children, who were COVID-positive. The 32-year-old mother assaulted her three children because they not wearing face masks in their Wickenberg home, according to police.

Sarah Michelle Boone was arrested on Dec. 26 after she purportedly abused her three children and step-children. Police responded to a call at Boone's residence, where they were informed that the mother had "hit one child in the face, kicked a second one while he was on the floor and picked a third child up by the neck," according to the Associated Press.

The individual who called the police was one of the victims, who said Boone carried out the assault "because the children all tested positive for COVID but were not wearing masks," according to the probable cause statement, as reported by KTAR-FM.

The ages of the children were not listed in the booking documents.
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Attention

Julian Assange: London court rules Wikileaks founder should not be extradited to the US

Rachael Kennedy
euronews
Mon, 04 Jan 2021 12:53 UTC
assange
© Matt Dunham/AP
Julian Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy to avoid another extradition request, but has been in Belmarsh prison since 2019.
Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face charges of espionage, a British court has ruled.

Delivering her decision at the Old Bailey on Monday, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser upheld many of the arguments from lawyers representing the US, but ultimately found in favour of the Wikileaks founder due to concerns over his mental health.

The 49-year-old is said to have experienced suicidal ideation while detained in London's Belmarsh prison and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and depression.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Facebook removes 1.7 MILLION member group "Joe Biden Is Not My President" without warning — but anti-Trump "Not My President" page still up after 4 years

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Sun, 03 Jan 2021 12:16 UTC
joe biden not my president FB group
Facebook removed the 1.7 million member "Joe Biden Is Not My President" group this weekend without warning.
This is what continues to happen to conservatives after Republican lawmakers refused to take action to preserve freedom of speech in America.

Via The Scoop:
The far-left radicals that run Facebook just deleted the 1.7 million member group 'Joe Biden IS NOT MY PRESIDENT!'.

The group's admins say they were given no warning and no explanation as to why the group, which was created on December 15th, 2020 was deleted.

The Scoop reported 3 days ago that the group had set the record for the shortest amount of time to reach 1 million members.

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

Georgia Judge denies request for restraining order from Stacey Abrams's Group

Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times
Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00 UTC
Stacey Abrams
© Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Stacey Abrams looks on during a campaign rally with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 15, 2020.
A federal judge in Georgia on Friday rejected a request for an order that would have barred an election integrity group from filing more challenges to voters in the state.

Fair Fight, a group that says it aims to combat voter suppression, filed a request for the order. Fair Fight was founded by failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, a Democrat.

Fair Fight accused True the Vote, a group that says it aims at protecting the integrity of elections, of launching a coordinated campaign to harass and intimidate voters across Georgia.

Comment: See also:

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Newspaper

27 Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers urge McConnell and McCarthy to dispute PA election results for rampant fraud

Tom Ozimek
The Epoch Times
Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
Mitch McConnell
© Kevin Dietsch-Pool/Getty Images
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks to the media after the Republican's weekly senate luncheon in the US Capitol on Dec. 8, 2020 in Washington.
A group of 27 Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers on Dec. 30 penned a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), calling on them to dispute the Pennsylvania election results until an investigation is conducted into numerous claims of fraud.

Pointing to allegations of fraudulent activity and violations of election law, the lawmakers said in the letter that their effort has "nothing to do with overturning any election results, but rather ascertaining if the allegations of fraud corrupted the outcome of the vote."

Comment: See also:

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