December 27

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Well, last week of 2022. The year is winding down as it has gone all year. The death toll for the storm continues to grow as the snow and stalled vehicles are cleared. At this moment, the news puts the tally at 57 of which 27 were in a single county in New York, around Buffalo. We have had so many weather/climate disasters this year. 

The "year of the con man" continues. A newly elected representative in New York just gave a non-apology apology for "embellishing" his resume--the one he ran on. He was so sorry to have disappointed people who may feel mislead. (I don't believe he is sorry for one damned minute. After all, he still will most likely be seated in the House of Representatives.) He claims he is "still the same person" and "is not a fraud." He is half right: he is the same person but he is a fraud. But that is no bar to him being sworn in or serving in national office. Crap.

Another Con, Kari Lake in Arizona, was slapped down by the courts where she had brought a lawsuit against her opponent and the officials in Maricopa County charging multiple examples of corruption. The judge dismissed the case brutally noting her lawyers produced no, absolutely no, documented evidence and her case was totally frivolous. Now her opponents have filed suit asking the court to sanction her and her lawyers for her baseless suit.

The Onion is a wonderful site for black humor and satire. I wonder how many of us would love to find some poor bastard who can't do a damn thing to make anything better and can't hit back to scream our rage at.

The Atlantic published a very nice article on a not so nice problem: private insurers taking advantage of Medicare Advantage. I thought from the beginning that both the ACA and the Medicare Advantage was merely a sop to the insurance industry that we all had to pay for.