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Singapore to end free Covid treatment for unvaccinated
Singapore will stop covering Covid costs for those who decline to be vaccinated
Singapore will no longer cover the medical costs of Covid-19 patients who are eligible to get vaccinated against the virus but choose not to, the country’s Health Ministry says.
“We will begin charging Covid-19 patients who are unvaccinated by choice,” starting Dec. 8, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. Those who are not eligible for the shots will be exempt from the rule, it said, including children under 12 and people with certain medical conditions.
The announcement came as the number of severe cases, which have been mainly among unvaccinated people, has stabilized but remains high, the ministry said.
[....] Patients who are unvaccinated by choice may still use other health care financing options to pay their bills [...]
[....] Singapore will continue to cover partly vaccinated patients until Dec. 31 to allow them time to get their second shots [...]
(That article has an interesting graph: Global coronavirus cases by region)
I have very mixed feelings about that policy. And more questions than answers. What if it were to happen here? Is it really a measure to manage resources, or a "punishment" for not being vaccinated? What about if resources are available to treat unvaccinated patients? Shouldn't you treat those you can if your system is not overwhelmed?
Some people may have legitimate reasons they cannot be vaccinated. Others are afraid. Others are ignorant or uninformed. Others are simply crazy, conspiracy theory nuts or whatever you want to call them. Those afraid, ignorant or uninformed can be presented with actual facts. Nobody can help the crazy. It's like talking to flat earthers.
But what do you do as a matter of public policy for public safety?
Congress Pressures Biden to Defend Taiwan
Congress pressures Biden to defend Taiwan
China’s military provocations toward Taiwan and President Joe Biden’s mixed messages are igniting a debate on Capitol Hill over whether to adopt a more aggressive official posture — including the possibility of preemptively authorizing Biden to use military force if Beijing invades the island nation.
The conversations, coupled with the White House’s efforts to walk back some of Biden’s apparent slips of the tongue, are fueling bipartisan efforts to ditch “strategic ambiguity,” the policy that has governed the U.S. posture toward the conflict for more than four decades. The strategic ambiguity doctrine, enshrined in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, stipulates that the U.S. remains purposely noncommittal about whether it would defend Taiwan from an attack or invasion by China.
But a push to proactively send Biden a war authorization could subvert ongoing efforts by Congress and the Biden administration to restrict presidential war powers. And undermining the status quo on Taiwan, both parties worry, could be seen by Beijing as a provocation, rather than a deterrent.
President Xi Jinping declared in July that those who get in the way of China’s ascent will have their “heads bashed bloody against a Great Wall of steel.” The People’s Liberation Army Navy is churning out ships at a rate not seen since World War II, as Beijing issues threats against Taiwan and other neighbors. Top Pentagon officials have warned that China could start a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait or other geopolitical hot spots sometime this decade.
Analysts and officials in Washington are fretting over worsening tensions between the United States and China and the risks to the world of two superpowers once again clashing rather than cooperating. President Joe Biden has said that America “is not seeking a new cold war.” But that is the wrong way to look at U.S.-China relations. A cold war with Beijing is already under way. The right question, instead, is whether America can deter China from initiating a hot one.
Intel Alder Lake AVX-512 Fun
The Intel 12th Gen Core i9-12900K Review: Hybrid Performance Brings Hybrid Complexity (page 2)
It's fused off, it's disabled, it's re-enabled.
Smartmatic Sues Newsmax and OAN for Defamation
From Reuters:
Newsmax, One America News sued by voting technology firm Smartmatic
Voting technology company Smartmatic on Wednesday sued right-wing U.S. television networks One America News and Newsmax, saying they must be held accountable for spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
In separate lawsuits, Smartmatic accused OAN and Newsmax of knowingly spreading false claims that the voting technology company rigged the election against then-President Donald Trump.
Smartmatic says the networks doubled down on the false claims as part of an effort to win over Trump supporters dissatisfied with Fox News Network's election coverage.
The privately owned company sued San Diego-based OAN in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The case against Newsmax, which is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, was filed in state court in Delaware.
A Newsmax spokesperson said in a statement: "While Newsmax has yet to receive or review the Smartmatic filing, Newsmax reported accurately on allegations made by well-known public figures, including the President, his advisors and members of Congress, as well as reporting on Smartmatic's claims in its defense. Smartmatic's action against Newsmax today is a clear attempt to squelch the rights of a free press."
An OAN representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Smartmatic did not say how much money it is demanding from Newsmax and OAN, but said election conspiracy theories have erased $2 billion in value from the company. Damages owed by each of the defendants will be determined at trial, it said.
Too bad we don't have the actual complaint yet. Smartmatic's earlier lawsuit against Fox News, host Lou Dobbs, and 'lawyers' Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani included detailed and well researched allegations of damages and alleges actual malice.
See Also:
Voting machine company Smartmatic sues OAN, Newsmax over election claims
Smartmatic is now suing Newsmax and OAN for 'disinformation campaign'
Smartmatic Sues Newsmax and One America News Network, Claiming Defamation
Don't forget to Vote!
Don't forget to VOTE![1]
Bu, bu, but . . . this isn't an election year, is it?
EVERY year is an election year.
If you have an opinion, ANY opinion, then VOTE!
Another option is to skip voting and post about how bad things are.
A better option I like is to vote AND whine online about how bad things are. The two are not mutually exclusive.
[1]be sure to conform to some state laws restricting by skin color, gender or income
Almost 1/3 of Republicans say violence may be necessary
Almost one in three of Republicans say violence may be necessary to ‘save’ US
Almost a third of Republicans believe violence may be necessary to “save” the US, according to a new poll.
Researchers at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit, found that 30% of Republicans agreed with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country”.
Among Americans who believe the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump, which it was not, 39% believe violence may be required.
[....] Republicans are most likely to believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence”, PRRI found, with just 11% of Democrats and 17% of independents agreeing with the statement. Among all Americans, 18% agreed.
It's one thing not to trust the government. I don't completely trust the government. Or corporations. Or news organizations. But I don't have any ambitions to overthrow the government by violence.
Or to overturn peaceful elections. Especially after they took plenty of time to do various hand recounts in some states before certification.
Let's not forget the role that some right wing media played in stirring this up with tons of misinformation. The sheer number of false statements about voting machines are well documented in a couple of multi billion dollar lawsuits currently in litigation. The complaints in those lawsuits go into great detail and show how easily each of these false statements could have been fact checked.
IDEA! Maybe it is the media you should not trust instead of the government? Maybe your mistrust is misplaced?
I listen to what many Jan 6 rioters say. They did it to save us from tyranny and communism. WTF? You mean Trump, who was in office? Or do you mean the tyranny and communism of free elections? What tyranny or communism are they talking about? Did they get this from the news media they watch? Maybe they just don't like where on the political spectrum some elected officials sit. And that is fair to disagree. But seriously, tyranny and communism?
And other absolute insanity. Marjorie Taylor Green saying anyone who votes for infrastructure is a traitor! Does she even know what the word infrastructure means? Or the word traitor -- especially since she defends Jan 6 so much.
How did we get here?
See Also:
4 in 10 who say election was stolen from Trump say violence might be needed to save America
Just one-third of GOP voters say they trust 2024 elections will be fair: poll
Gen 7 SSDs
Mike Lindell still hasn't given a response to lawsuit
- Mike Lindell and his company MyPillow haven't filed answers to Dominion's defamation lawsuit.
- A judge ruled in August that Dominion's lawsuits against MyPillow, Lindell, Sidney Powell, and Giuliani could proceed.
- Giuliani and Powell filed responses, but MyPillow and Lindell have dragged their feet.
MyPillow and its CEO Mike Lindell still haven't given the court an answer to the $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems filed against them in February.
Attorneys for Lindell and his company asked the court to dismiss the case in April, but US District Judge Carl J. Nichols ruled in August that it could proceed.
Since then, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — the two other 2020 election conspiracy theorists Dominion sued around the same time it sued Lindell — have provided thorough answers to the lawsuits against them.
But MyPillow and Lindell haven't.
This is a good way to get a default multi billion dollar judgement against you real quick.
Another fun story from the past which I didn't bother to write about here. But I wonder if this could be a factor in Lindell not responding to the lawsuit.
An attorney representing MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in a new lawsuit against voting machine companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic has departed the law firm Barnes & Thornburg after filing the complaint without its authorization, the firm said in a statement Friday, and it withdrew from the case.
It's a fun story. In a nutshell:
- Lindell keeps pushing baseless claims alleging widespread election fraud
- After Dominion's lawsuit against Lindell (and others), Lindell files a counter lawsuit against Dominion
- The lawyer who filed it, didn't get permission from his firm. Is now fired from firm. The firm has withdrawn from the suit leaving only the attorney attached to the case.
Is this a clown circuis or what?
Lindell, Powell, Guliani, FoxNews, OAN and others all had their free speech. Nobody censored them. Especially the government did not censor them, which is part of what 1A is about. Now the natural consequences of their speech is coming back to bite. The 1A doesn't mean your speech might not have consequences. It only means the government can't stop you from putting your foot in your mouth.
See also the past journal articles about the fraudulent election lawsuits . . .
More lawyers sanctioned trying to overthrow election
Mike Lindell undermines his own lawyers' case
More fallout pt2 of Trump losing the election
More fallout of Trump losing the election
my most favoritest court smackdown
Judge orders GOP to pay costs of election lawsuit
Judge Orders Arizona GOP to Pay Up for Filing ‘Groundless’ Lawsuit Challenging 2020 Election Results
Judge rips Arizona GOP for 'groundless' lawsuit challenging Biden's win, orders it to pay legal fees
Judge rips Arizona GOP for 'groundless' lawsuit challenging Biden's win, orders it to pay legal fees
Arizona GOP Must Pay $18,000 In Legal Fees For Failed Election Lawsuit
Judge rips Arizona GOP for election lawsuit, orders party to pay thousands in legal fees
Giuliani claims ‘Chavez approved’ Venezuelan election technology was used to rig election
Trump’s New Vote Fraud Theory Is So Much Crazier Than You Realize
What a clown circuis. I sure miss Groklaw.
Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change?
Can Nuclear Fusion Put the Brakes on Climate Change?
“To be honest, I was feeling pretty despondent,” Dennis Whyte, the fifty-seven-year-old director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, at M.I.T., said. “And I was seeing that despondency in the faces of my students, too.” It was 2013, and M.I.T.’s experimental fusion device had lost its Department of Energy funding, for no clearly stated reason. The field of nuclear fusion, as a whole, was still moving forward, but agonizingly slowly. ITER, an enormous fusion device being built in southern France, in an international collaboration, was progressing—the schedule is for iter to demonstrate net fusion energy in 2035, and the majority of plasma physicists have high confidence that it will work—but Whyte knew that it wasn’t going to deliver affordable energy to the public in his lifetime, and maybe not in his students’ lifetimes, either. “ITER is scientifically interesting. But it’s not economically interesting,” Whyte said. “I almost retired.”
Nuclear fusion researchers open another bottle.
Rigging the System
Suppose you were a right-wing populist government and wanted to maximise your chances of retaining power, what could you do? You could go about "reforming" the checks and balances your society provides. You could alter the judicial system. You could enact new laws, perhaps to effectively criminalise peaceful protest and other forms of democratic dissent. Of course, it helps to have most of the media on your side, and to demonise traditionally critical media and investigative journalism. You could plant your stooges in various media and regulatory organisations.
A few weeks ago, Jonathan Freedland wrote an article in the Guardian: In plain sight, Boris Johnson is rigging the system to stay in power.
From the article:
If this wasn’t us, how would we describe it? If this was Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, or Poland, what language might we use? Would an announcer on the BBC World Service declare: “Amid fuel and food shortages, the government has moved to cement its grip on power. It’s taking action against the courts, shrinking their ability to hold the ruling party to account, curbing citizens’ right to protest and imposing new rules that would gag whistleblowers and sharply restrict freedom of the press. It’s also moving against election monitors while changing voting rules, which observers say will hurt beleaguered opposition groups … ”
It's a good read.
For me, it's further confirmation that the UK, and England in particular, is in serious trouble. Scottish independence can't come soon enough.
Democracy is about much more than just voting.
