I got nothing. Maybe you got something.
Archives for October 2017
You Won’t Hear My Gun or the Voices in My Head
This is more insanity:
The House could pass legislation as early as this week that would roll back decades-old restrictions on gun silencers, opening up the market for a device that critics say would make it difficult in a mass shooting to detect where gunfire is coming from.
The House is also expected to move this fall on separate legislation that would allow people to carry their legally concealed weapons across state lines into jurisdictions, such as California, that tightly restrict weapons concealment.
The silencer measure is part of the Sportsmen Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, a broad-ranging gun bill delayed in June after House GOP Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., and two Capitol Hill police officers were wounded by a gunman who opened fire on a congressional baseball practice session.
Critics say silencers — called noise suppressors by supporters and heavily regulated by the federal government for more than eight decades — would make it harder for police officers to locate a shooter in an attack.
These people are out of their god damned minds.
You Won’t Hear My Gun or the Voices in My HeadPost + Comments (342)
Worst Mass Shooting in U.S. History
If initial reports about the number of dead are correct, last night’s massacre in Las Vegas was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Via The Washington Post:
At least 50 dead, more than 200 injured in Las Vegas shooting
Gunman in a high-rise hotel on the Strip opened fire during a country music festival
In one of the worst mass shootings in modern U.S. history, the sniper-style gunfire rained down from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on Sunday evening, police said. The gunman, identified as Stephen Paddock, is believed to be a “lone wolf” and was killed after authorities confronted him on the 32nd floor of the hotel, police said.
If the gunman’s name were “Satam Panjwani” instead of “Stephen Paddock,” the attack would be deemed “terrorism,” and America would find deep national resolve to address the scourge. But the shooter was a 64-year-old white man, so it’s a “lone wolf” incident, and “thoughts are prayers” are activated instead:
My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2017
Nothing will change.
Gold Gap and active re-enrollment
Every year, all of the health wonks scream from the rooftops that it is critical that people who bought their insurance on the Exchange go and actively shop. The Exchanges would eventually automatically renew people into the same or similar coverage but that mechanism could produce significant cost shocks as the relationship of the same plan to the subsidy Benchmark could change. Actively shopping removes the surprise.
This year it is even more critical. The threat that Cost Sharing Reduction Subsidies may or may not be paid has led to insurers and states adopting three basic strategies. Some are ignoring the threat and pricing their premiums in the normal fashion. Other states may be allowing insurers to spread their CSR costs across all plans. Finally, quite a few states that Charles Gaba is tracking will allow insurers to put all of the CSR costs onto the Silver plans.
As I explained last week, this produces weird stuff:
Bronze, Gold, and Platinum plans saw their premiums increase by the normal trend of increasing price per unit of medical care, the number of units bought and other normal factors. Silver plans were different. They also had the normal price increases but then the insurer added a twenty five to thirty percent charge on top of the normal premium to calculate the actual premium.
This produces a pricing order from least expensive to most expensive of Bronze, Gold, Silver, Platinum.
Gold plans are better deals than Silver plans for anyone who makes between 200% and 400% Federal Poverty Line as the out of pocket expenses and post-subsidy premiums are lower. Below is the pricing example of a single insurer in part of New Mexico:
Gold is way cheaper than Silver and dominate Silver on cost sharing for this group of people. However, the auto-renewal logic is set by rule. The 2017 rule is still the operational guidance. The rules try very hard to keep the person in the same metal band that they bought the previous year for the next year. Eventually there is wiggle room for odd-cases but most Silver buyers will be auto-renewed into Silver even if Silver is now a dominated plan.
The system change effort for this problem is to notify the exchange regulators so that they tweak their assignment systems so that if an individual makes more than 200% and less than 400% FPL and if that individual had a 2017 Silver Plan and if they live in a Silver Load state where Silver is more expensive than Gold, to move the person to Gold as the first option. This is CMS for 38 states and the state based marketplaces for 12 states.
The individual level effort is to actively shop for your own plan. You are going to get a much better deal by going to Gold if you live in a Silver Load state. Take 20 minutes and make sure that you are not buying a dominated plan.
On the Road and In Your Backyard
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Monday Morning Open Thread: Look for the Helpers
An immigrant is doing the job the US president has proved incapable of doing.https://t.co/iO1n8XlYcJ
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 30, 2017
Unlike the president, Homeland Security or the Federal Emergency Management Agency, José Andrés has no responsibility to respond to natural disasters, and yet the Washington celebrity chef has become a reliable presence in disaster zones, deploying his Chef Network to help feed thousands of displaced people.
Andrés was among the first responders in Haiti and Houston, and now he and his crew from World Central Kitchen are on the ground in Puerto Rico, improvising ways to feed countless residents who are stranded without electricity, drinking water and food in the wake of Hurricane Maria. With little ability to speak with the outside world, Andrés has used his Twitter feed to keep followers updated on his progress in the U.S. territory.
If President Trump has become a target of criticism for the administration’s response in Puerto Rico, Andrés has become a hero. The restaurateur’s social networks are overflowing with words of praise for the native Spaniard who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2013.…
If I was .@realDonaldTrump I will stop attacking the media, with their reporting keeps everyone inform actually helping fix satellites pic.twitter.com/QmdLHR39Z9
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) October 1, 2017
Thank you the men and women of @fema because I know you have a plan and you are trying to deliver help as fast as you can.#PuertoRicoRelief
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) October 1, 2017
For those that think we do not have it in us. They are deadly wrong. Honored to be your Mayor. Here is looking at you!!! pic.twitter.com/Uoz1669PTU
— Carmen Yulín Cruz (@CarmenYulinCruz) October 2, 2017
How you can help… #TheSimpsons pic.twitter.com/QE73mTbyLK
— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) October 2, 2017
Monday Morning Open Thread: Look for the HelpersPost + Comments (125)
Sunday Night Horrowshow Open Thread: As American As A Burning Cross
Just asked a Republican county chairman in Alabama what he'd say to critics who call Roy Moore anti-Muslim.
Answer: "I'm anti-Muslim too."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 27, 2017
It's find euphemisms for lunatic day in the media. https://t.co/IJ6h18nvJ4
— Schooley (@Rschooley) September 27, 2017
Education split in Alabama primary suggests a bumpy 2018 for GOP Senate https://t.co/RwSZ4sVw0G pic.twitter.com/FPf6C5vgMC
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 1, 2017
MSNBC finds a way to phrase the GOP problem… delicately:
… There are five counties in the state of Alabama where more than 30 percent of the 25-and-over population has a college degree, according to the U.S. Census. Strange won three of those counties and did so fairly convincingly, by about 8 points, 54.1 percent – 45.9 percent.
But the rest of state went against the sitting senator and the margins for him got worse as the percentage of those with a college education dropped.
There are two counties where the college education rates were between 25 percent and 30 percent. Moore won those counties by about 6 points, 53.2 percent – 46.8 percent. The rest of the counties have fewer than 25 percent of the population with a degree. Moore won them by more than 18 points, 59.2 percent – 40.8 percent.
Those education numbers have a special significance when you look at the Republican Senate seats that are up in 2018. In eight of them, all but Utah, the college-educated population numbers are below 30 percent, which is roughly the national average.
The Alabama results suggest the Republican voters in those states may be ready for a more populist, anti-establishment candidate — one that would challenge the incumbent and pull him or her toward the more populist end of the GOP.
To be clear, these college education figures aren’t solely about education, they are about people living in different economic and cultural worlds…
In other words: “We’re not gonna spell it out, but there’s a genuine fear among the people who make a living off the GOP that it’s turning into the house brand for ignorant rubes who’ve never had to meet anyone they weren’t related to.”
(And, of course, they’re heavily armed.)
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On TV today we played footage I found of Roy Moore saying the Newtown, CT. shooting happened because we forgot God's law. pic.twitter.com/jzyVD4tIcW
— andrew kaczynski ?? (@KFILE) September 27, 2017
Bannon says Moore win shows Trump's "program" works politically.
But how does Moore represent Trump's program?https://t.co/GpbHUVCsG6 pic.twitter.com/4M2x66bxSb
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 28, 2017
Because if a racist, revanchist program can work in an Alabama Republican primary, it can work anywhere! https://t.co/CwaghomFsA
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) September 28, 2017
Sunday Night Horrowshow Open Thread: As American As A Burning CrossPost + Comments (130)