|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:02:04 GMT -8
A backward poet writes in-verse.
One Million Americans Do It Every Year. Two Were Murdered.
Americans often travel to Mexico for low-cost medical services. But bargain shopping for healthcare can be risky.
Over the weekend, four Americans were kidnapped in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, after travelling by car to the Mexican border town for cosmetic surgery, according to relatives. Two have been confirmed dead, and two survived the ordeal.
Border towns like Matamoros are among the most dangerous in Mexico. Drug cartels control large regions of the state of Tamaulipas, and often hold more power than local law enforcement.
But these towns are some of the top medical tourism destinations for tens of thousands of Americans, some who can't afford healthcare in the US.
Medical shoppers, especially those familiar with the region, have learned to take precautions, like registering their vehicle in Mexico, which allows them to change the licence plate to a Mexican one after entering the country by car so they will be less of a target, and avoiding wandering around these towns on foot.
Price and proximity make Mexico a top medical tourism destination for Americans.
"It's economics," said Néstor Rodriguez, an immigration studies expert and professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. "Medicines and services are cheaper in Mexico, especially dental procedures. You can get your teeth cleaned or an implant for a fraction of the cost of what you get in the US."
The quality of care usually matches what a patient can find in the US, he added, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned about infections from surgical procedures in Mexico.
According to the Mexican Council for the Medical Tourism Industry, nearly one million Americans travel to Mexico for medical care each year.
For many border cities, it's among the fastest-growing industries.
In Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, a few hours northwest of Matamoros, two main corridors running south from the region's main international land crossing are lined with dozens of dentistry offices and hotels for travellers seeking medical care.
In Tijuana, Baja California, just a three-minute drive south of the border from San Diego, a 33-storey medical facility opened in November 2022.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:05:06 GMT -8
Teach Your Children Well. Don't Ever Ask They Why. If They Told You, You Would Cry.
Last April, 12-year-old Masha Moskalyova was asked to draw a picture for art class showing support for Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine.
Instead, she drew a mother and a child standing in the path of missiles with the captions “no to war” and “glory to Ukraine”.
The following day, her father Alexey Moskalyev, who was raising her alone in the town of Yefremov, in the Tula region, about 200km (125 miles) south of Moscow, was called to her school.
Both father and daughter were taken away in police cars.
Alexey was interrogated by local officers, who found disparaging comments he had made online about the Russian military, comparing them with rapists.
In court, Alexey was fined 32,000 rubles ($420) for discrediting the armed forces.
The next day, Federal Security Service (FSB) agents paid a visit to Masha’s school, accused her father of poor parenting and said Masha should be taken away. After that, Masha was too scared to attend class.
Alexey was ultimately arrested and Masha was taken into care – a sign of how far the Russian authorities are going to suppress criticism of the war in Ukraine.
On December 30, 2022, five police cars and a fire truck had parked outside their home.
Alexey told Russian human rights group OVD-Info he did not want to let them in without a warrant, but he opened the door when they began barging it down.
The police and FSB ransacked the apartment, allegedly taking the family’s life savings, mobile phones, laptops and Masha’s anti-war drawing.
At the time of writing, Russian authorities – including the Investigative Committee for the Tula Region – had not responded to a request for comment.
Alexey claimed that his head was slammed against a wall and that he was locked in a room with the national anthem on full blast. He was then charged again for discrediting the army; he now faces up to three years in jail.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:08:59 GMT -8
Here's Hoping God Tells Doug to Run
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a QAnon ally who was one of the very worst Republican nominees last year in a cycle chock full of them, tells Politico’s Holly Otterbein that he’s considering challenging Democratic Sen. Bob Casey in 2024. Mastriano, who was anything but humbled by his blowout 56-42 loss to now-Gov. Josh Shapiro, says that he's “praying” about whether to run but added that God would make the ultimate decision.
Republican Senate leaders, who want self-funding rich guy Dave McCormick to go up against Casey, are undoubtedly also praying … that Mastriano will sit this race out. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chief Steve Daines was quick to express his blunt disdain: "We need somebody who can win a primary and a general election," the Montana senator said. "His last race demonstrated he can’t win a general."
Democrats, of course, would like it just fine if the state senator is divinely inspired to try again. Mastriano, though, is far from the only far-right loser from 2022 who could wage another bid for statewide office. Indeed, at least five GOP candidates who ran failed midterm campaigns have come up as potential '24 contenders:
Kari Lake for Arizona Senate (even though she thinks she's governor)
Blake Masters for Arizona Senate too
Abe Hamadeh for Arizona Senate also
Tudor Dixon for Michigan Senate
Adam Laxalt for Nevada Senate
The rolling disaster may even extend to the House level: Ohio Republican J.R. Majewski is mulling another try against Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
But Mastriano, whose many sins include paying the white supremacist social network Gab $5,000 for “campaign consulting,” still stands out in this sordid crowd. Most of his fellow Republicans gave up on him long before Election Day, with one would-be ally saying, “I've not seen anything that is even a semblance of a campaign.”
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:11:15 GMT -8
Yet His Approval Rating is 42%
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:13:02 GMT -8
Oops! They're Doing It Again.
A guide to common misconceptions you’ll read about the GOP primary.
Once again, political reporters and campaign analysts are making their traditional quadrennial mistake—getting too far ahead of the story in their eagerness to handicap the presidential race. As Tom Rath, a former New Hampshire attorney general who has been advising GOP presidential candidates since the 1980s, said to me, “Reporters want to run the horserace before the horses are even in the starting gate. There’s a lot more to unfold here. That’s why polling is worthless.”
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:15:16 GMT -8
From a Conservative
The night after the polls closed in this midterm, when it was increasingly clear that a bold Republican victory would not be in the offing, I joined a few friends for some dinner and commiseration. As we discussed the question of what to do next, I was asked what one concrete thing I’d want everyone around the table to do that might make a difference for the future of the ideas we care about.
I pondered for a moment, not wanting to assign “homework” that would be too daunting, labor-intensive, or, worse, forgettable. So I asked for something simple.
“If you ever hear someone claiming to quote Winston Churchill saying ‘If you’re young and conservative you have no heart; if you’re old and liberal, you have no brain,’ please let them know that everything they’ve just said is incorrect.”
Churchill is not on record as ever having said it, and there’s not a shred of data to support the claim that young people are naturally progressives. Yet in a decade and a half of studying young voters, I hear this quote and its underlying sentiment constantly from those on the right.
I can think of no misconception more damaging to the future of conservatism than the idea that young people are a lost cause and we must just passively wait for them to awaken to our way of seeing the world.
If the QOP Wants to Reach the Young, They Might Stop Being the Party of Stupid. And They Might Do Something About Guns.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:19:52 GMT -8
You Made Your Bed TucKKKer
Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he despised then-President Donald Trump in a Jan. 4, 2021, text to an unnamed recipient, according to legal documents.
The text transcripts were among the documents released Tuesday as part of the $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion alleges that Fox News gave airtime to Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy claims, including that its voting machines were rigged, even though they knew the stories were false.
“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson texted on Jan. 4, 2021. “I truly can’t wait.”
“I hate him passionately,” he added.
The newest texts paint an even clearer picture of just how much effort Carlson placed into placating Trump and his base in the wake of the 2020 election, despite his apparent personal disdain for the former president. In another court filing last month, Carlson was shown complaining that Trump was a “demonic force” and “a destroyer” in texts to his producer on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
TucKBGer is Not a Conservative. Fox Noise is Not Conservative
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:23:09 GMT -8
The Results of the Big Russian Winter Offensive
So that is not totally accurate. Russia gained a bit more than 80 square kilometers around Bakhmut in that time. That’s 30 square miles, or a 5-mile-by-6-mile grid. Still, you can’t see that on the map above because it is a militarily insignificant gain. And if you don’t already know where Bakhmut is on that map, good luck finding it. (It’s the middle red arrow.)
All the orange arrows are the locations of Russia’s big winter offensive. Remember back in February, when everyone was like “RUSSIA’S WINTER OFFENSIVE IS COMING!”, and then they were like, “Wait, is this the winter offensive?” In reality, the last two months have been more of the same self-destructive Russian tactics—mostly frontal assaults against deeply entrenched Ukrainian positions. Both sides may be suffering brutal casualties, but the Pentagon estimates a 5-1 Russian-to-Ukraine casualty ratio. Ukraine will take it. (They claim 7-1, for what it’s worth.)
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:24:10 GMT -8
Lindsey, Lindsey, Lindsey
Invading Mexico?
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:26:49 GMT -8
Yet, He Did Nothing
Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch privately bashed then-President Donald Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, following the 2020 election, according to court records made public on Tuesday as part of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Murdoch wrote that Trump and Giuliani were "both increasingly mad" -- using the British expression for "crazy" -- in an email whose contents were read during a deposition taken as part of the lawsuit.
The voting machine company has filed court documents containing private communications from Fox News personnel appearing to cast doubt on claims that Dominion's voting machines had somehow rigged the presidential election in Joe Biden's favor.
Tuesday's newly unveiled records included additional correspondence between Fox network executives and on-air hosts regarding Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against him.
"The real danger is what he might do as president," Murdoch wrote of Trump, according to a transcript of the deposition. "Apparently not sleeping and bouncing off walls!"
Actually, He Did This
Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch agreed in a deposition that he gave Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner a preview in 2020 of a Joe Biden campaign ad, the latest sign of unusually close ties between the network and the former president.
Murdoch, questioned under oath in a voting-machine company’s $1.6 billion defamation suit against Fox News and its parent, initially denied providing the preview until he was shown an email in which he told Kushner he “will send it,” according to excerpts of his deposition made public late Tuesday.
“Do you think it is appropriate for someone in your position to give a heads up to the opposing campaign about what the ad of the opposing campaign will show before it is public?” Justin Nelson, a lawyer for Dominion Voting Systems Inc., said at the deposition.
“I was trying to help Mr. Kushner,” Murdoch said during the deposition, which took place in January in Los Angeles. “He’s a friend of mine.”
One More Reason Democrats Should Not Advertise on Fox Noise
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:31:00 GMT -8
Chomp! Chomp! Chomp!
A Texas zoo said it had taken back an 8ft alligator which was stolen as an egg more than 20 years ago, then kept as a backyard pet.
In an Instagram post accompanying footage of three agents gingerly lifting the alligator into a truck and releasing it into a zoo enclosure, the state parks and wildlife department said: “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all.” (Dug!)
A Texas parks & wildlife spokesperson said a game warden found the animal, named Tewa, during an unrelated investigation in Caldwell county last month.
A woman confessed to taking an egg from Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo, near Austin. She did not have a permit to keep the alligator as a pet.
In a Facebook post, a zoo staff member said: “We got a call from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department about an alligator that someone apparently had in their possession for over 20 years.”
“Interesting part of the story is evidently they were volunteering here at Animal Farm, way back then, decades ago, and apparently stole this alligator … as an egg … put it in their pocket and took off.”
He added: “Being that technically we are the rightful owners of that alligator … a quick phone call and we were able to go out to this lady’s place about 50 miles from here, capture the alligator and bring her in and introduce her to the rest of our group out here. She’s going to live out the rest of her life.”
Polk salad Annie, the gators got your granny, chomp, chomp, chomp, chomp
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:32:19 GMT -8
Woke is No Joke
Republican presidential hopefuls are vowing to wage a war on "woke," but a new USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds a majority of Americans are inclined to see the word as a positive attribute, not a negative one.
Fifty-six percent of those surveyed say the term means "to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices." That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.
Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, "to be overly politically correct and police others' words." That's the view of 56% of Republicans.
The findings raise questions about whether Republican campaign promises to ban policies at schools and workplaces they denounce as "woke" could boost a contender in the party's primaries but put them at odds with broader public opinion in the general election.
Independents, by 51%-45%, say "woke" means being aware of social injustice, not being overly politically correct.
|
|
|
|
Post by mhbruin on Mar 8, 2023 9:33:45 GMT -8
The Fed Isn't Done
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told lawmakers Tuesday that policymakers may have to speed up their interest rate hikes to tame high inflation.
With prices continuing to rise at a yearly pace of 6.4% according to government data, Powell warned that it may take time for Americans to see further relief from rising prices.
“The process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee in the first of his semiannual two-day testimony in Congress on the central bank’s interest-rate policy.
Powell said the central bank could again increase the size of its interest rate hikes if it doesn’t see stronger progress on lowering inflation in the months ahead. After raising rates by at least half a percentage point six times in a row last year, the Fed imposed a smaller quarter-point increase in its last meeting, in February.
Returning to beefed-up rate hikes could keep consumer-facing interest rates — on everything from mortgages and credit cards to bank deposits — higher for longer.
|
|
