Political Cartoons, Memes & Amusing Videos

[rareboy]

 

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[rareboy]

 

[KaraBulut]

It might be time to start a "Florida, Man" thread. The State that brought you Anita Bryant. The State where drug-addled men wander about naked. The state where Cuban immigrants vote for the guy who calls immigrants "murders" and "thieves". The State whose criminal justice system inspires the careers of many a Sean Cody and Corbin Fisher model. The state that brings the rest of the nation an endless supply of WTF news stories.

And now this...

Florida introduces bill to ban "weather modification"

The language of the bill appears to refer to the chemtrails conspiracy theory that claims the government is chemically modifying the weather.

www.newsweek.com

Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia has introduced legislation to prohibit weather modification activities in the Sunshine State.

The bill was filed on November 20 by Garcia, a Republican who has served in the Florida State Senate since 2020.

The "Weather Modification Activities" bill sets out that "the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, the weather, or the intensity of sunlight is prohibited."

 

[rareboy]

They are nuttier than squirrel shit.

 

[rareboy]

So the people who voted for the Leopards Will Eat Your Face party are surprised that the Leopard will eat their face.

 

[rareboy]

 

[KaraBulut]

A rare moment of bipartisan comity in the US House. Patrick McHenry [R-NC] is retiring from Congress after 20 years. He is currently the chair of the House Financial Services Committee. No word on whether McHenry will apply for a position as a Keebler elf. McHenry is a big crypto proponent, so it's likely he'll end up a lobbyist for the crypto industry.

McHenry is known for his love of wearing bow ties. Several members from both parties wore bowties to today's committee meeting. In spite of the white hair, McHenry is only 49 years old.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[KaraBulut]

The video of the Brian Thompson incident is like something from a mob hit or Russian intelligence operation. The shooter rode in on a bike. Thompson was in NYC for meetings. The shooter seemed to know when and where to catch Thompson on the street. Video captures show a young man in a hoodie wearing a balaclava. He walks up behind Thompson with a pistol with a silencer/suppressor and shoots Thompson in the back.

UHC is not just an insurance company. They own all sorts of intermediaries like Optum and Change Healthcare which process electronic claims, electronic payments and Optum has a subsidiary that is a pharmacy benefits management company. UHC was hit my a malware attack in early 2024 that locked up their systems for months. The personal health information for over 100 million Americans was compromised in the attack. The shutdown of UHC systems meant that pharmacies weren't getting paid, doctor's offices weren't getting paid, bills weren't being processed and many smaller healthcare organizations were driven to the brink of bankruptcy.

It took 9 months for UHC to return to normal operations.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2823757

In the wake of the attack on Change Healthcare, hundreds of thousands of physician practices, hospitals, and pharmacies were unable to submit claims or receive payments. With the weeks-long paralysis and ponderous shift to alternative protocols, many facilities found themselves unable to deliver care and facing financial collapse.

It will be interesting to hear the motive behind the killing of Thompson.

 

[rareboy]

Some pretty dark humour reflecting on the state of insurance for healthcare in the US:

"Our apologies, but bullet wounds are only covered under our platinum+ package," one user wrote in response.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

Another on-line expression of sympathy.

"Felt bad till I saw it's UnitedHealth Cares CEO

spent 23 days in the hospital during the summer and came out with a $700k bill that United groups absolutely refused to cover even though it's literally part of my coverage. I ended up getting BlueCross from Empire and they covered it retroactively even though they really didn't need to."

I suspect that a lot of execs in industries that actively harm their customers might be considering whether they have a target on their backs now.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

sounds about right....

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

This is why insurance CEOs will have targets on their backs.