Sat: Second in Line to the President

Going undercover to reveal people smugglers' sales tactics

Many smugglers are operating in plain sight on mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok - through accounts that have tens of thousands of followers.

Since May, the BBC has been monitoring social media accounts promoting illegal migration routes. We have found that the smugglers' tactics are concealed by a web of euphemisms that enable them to sidestep content moderation and law enforcement. They arrange trips and payments privately via direct messages and WhatsApp.

Code words like "dunki" and "game" are used to promote illegal routes to Europe. "Dunki" refers to boat crossings and "game" describes the journeys that migrants will take from start to finish.

Excellent Article From LA Times On Coffee County GA Breach Of Voting Machines And The RICO Case.

He exerpts a lot, so you don't need an LA Times subscription

The plans to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s win hinged on proving evidence of fraud in the election, something Trump’s team was not able to do.

So with time running out, his allies drafted proposed executive orders — dated Dec. 16 and Dec. 17, 2020 — that would have directed the Defense secretary or Department of Homeland Security to seize voting machines, and called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the election. As part of the justification for the orders, both drafts stated that Coffee County had “identified a significant percentage of votes being wrongly allocated contrary to the will of the voter,” and had therefore “refused to certify its result.”

The Coffee County reference did not appear in the draft executive order presented to Trump in the Oval Office meeting on Dec. 18. That version would have allowed Homeland Security to seize state election machines and voting data. According to testimony provided to the House Jan. 6 committee by multiple people who attended the meeting, it devolved into a shouting match between Trump allies and White House lawyers over whether the president had the legal authority to make such an order and how the public would react.

In an effort to keep Trump from signing the order and naming Powell as special counsel, Giuliani promised that the campaign would soon have access to election machines in Georgia, former White House Staff Secretary Derek Lyons told the Jan. 6 committee in a deposition.

Medicare Disadvantge Strikes Again

One large health system with hospitals in Virginia and Ohio this year cut off in-network access to consumers enrolled in some Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare and Medicaid health insurance plans.

Two doctors groups with Scripps Health in San Diego are terminating contracts with private Medicare plans over concerns about payments and routine denials.

For years, hospitals, doctors and health insurance companies have squared off over how much to pay for medical services. Insurers negotiate contracts with hospitals and doctors so their customers can get lower, in-network rates at those facilities. These negotiations, usually hammered out behind the scenes, are becoming increasingly tense and public as hospitals seek adequate payments and health insurance companies attempt to check spiraling medical bills.

Experts say these disputes could be an early warning sign of more contract terminations ahead as hospitals and large doctor groups seek lucrative payments to offset inflation, healthcare workers' double-digit raises and escalating prices for medical supplies.

But for patients caught in the middle of these disputes, the results can be devastating. Some need to switch doctors or insurance plans or potentially pay higher, out-of-network rates at a time when half of Americans are struggling to afford the rising cost of medical care.

Scripps Health ended the 2024 Medicare Advantage plan contracts with two medical units, called Scripps Clinic and Scripps Coastal. The decision will affect about 32,000 patients who will either need to switch Medicare plans or find new doctors.