The Digger

Another view of the coronavirus and how the media is covering it... Amazing but hidden news about coronavirus By Larry Kummer,  Summary: The coronavirus epidemic provides amazing news. About the epidemic, about the barrage of fake news (that we love), about the fear it creates (that we love), and the wonderful hidden news that makes this a milestone in history. “We need a vaccine against misinformation {and} a communications vaccine. We need to be able to communicate in a much more effective way.” — Dr.  Michael J Ryan  at WHO’s  Feb. 13 press briefing . He is Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. “News” about the coronavirus global pandemic! If you have been reading the headlines from the “right” sources, you are terrified of the coronavirus pandemic. Pants-wetting is America’s new national pastime. No wonder our rulers and foes have contempt for us. Coronavirus disease is now known as COVID-19, the virus is SAR-CoV-2;...

Impure Thoughts James Howard Kunstler What if the Corona virus turns out to be a genuine pandemic with  legs , not some punk-ass, flash-in-the-pan bug like SARS… and infects hundreds of millions around the world…? And what if it happens to go logarithmic in the USA, as in China now…? And what if takes a few months, or half a year, to do that…? And what if Americans will not get on airplanes when that happens…? Or gather together in large numbers…? Or if government imposes quarantines …? Will the parties hold their nominating conventions? Might the November election have to be postponed? Just sayin’… since nobody else seems to be talking about it. A few months ago, nobody was thinking about a disease that would virtually lock-down China’s economy, either… and now here we are. Speaking of which, that lock-down of China’s economy is already generating serious damage to global GDP, after only a few weeks. But nothing shows our detachment from reality like the recent surge in...

What the Heck Happened to Surprise Billing Legislation? (Or, it’s never too late for the lobbyists to win.) By APeticola. Originally published at  Health Care Renewal With constituents pressing for something to remedy unexpected liabilities incurred from “surprise” medical bills, it was expected that surprise medical bill legislation would pass federally in December 2019 as part of an end-of-year legislation package. House and Senate committees had worked for months on consensus legislation that was ready to go, but that fell through at the last moment. What happened? Some background on the issue: Surprise bills are something of a battleground between payers (insurers) and providers (doctors/hospitals). Insurers want to lower bills, and providers want to raise them. More and more, hardball is being played. If large groups of specialty providers remain out-of-network, they can often make a great deal more money than if they signed a contract for a number agreeable to th...

A Primer on Domestic Spying by  Andrew P. Napolitano   Posted on February 13, 2020 "The Framers … conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone – the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men."  – Justice Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) While we were all consumed by impeachment, a pernicious piece of legislation was slowly and silently making its way through Congress. It is a renewal of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act of 2001 has three sections that are scheduled to expire on March 15. One of those sections is the infamous 215, which authorizes the federal government to capture without a warrant all records of all people in America held by third parties. Do we really want the federal government to spy without warrants? How can Congress, which has sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, legislate such a blatant violation of it? Here is the backstory. After the Constitution was ratifie...

14 February 2020 Strengthened by the failure of the Democrats’ impeachment drive, President Donald Trump has accelerated his efforts to expand the powers of the presidency in every sphere. On Thursday, the Senate approved a symbolic bill instructing the White House to “terminate the use of United States Armed Forces for hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran … unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.” The bill is virtually certain to be passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which passed its own version of the measure last month. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto at the White House in Washington, October 2019 [Credit: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster] In response, the White House stated categorically that Trump will veto the bill that emerges from Congress, arguing in effect for unlimited and unilateral presidential ...

How the left shares the blame for neo-McCarthyism In the 1940s and 50s, advocating Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism could get you fired from your job,  blacklisted , deplatformed and even  imprisoned . Though communists and  socialists  were  instrumental  in the struggles of the 1930s and 40s that built the industrial labor movement in the U.S., by the late 1940s those radical ideas were vilified and virtually outlawed. Communism was purposely conflated with the crimes of Stalin. Communists and socialists were driven out of the unions. A layer of union bureaucrats that supported the witch-hunt was promoted. For fear of reprisals, many radicals kept quiet and self-censored. Some “recanted” socialist beliefs. Some fingered others to save themselves. The poison unleashed by that witch-hunt dealt a body blow to the labor movement and its devastating effects are felt to this day. It’s no coincidence that the U.S. is the only major capitalist country...