“Affordable”.  Earlier this year, the Obama administration published a report saying that a typical health insurance plan bought through Obamacare’s exchanges would rise in price by about 22 percent this coming year. Administration officials responded by downplaying concerns about rising premiums, noting that most consumers would be largely insulated from those increases by the law’s […]

‘d be bitter, too, if I were Hillary Clinton. Sure, she’s had one of the grand, public careers of the past 50 years, serving as First Lady, senator from New York, and coming oh-so-close to occupying the Oval Office itself. But she’s eaten a stable full of shit over the years, too, standing by her

Taxpayers paid for IRS employees to rent million-dollar townhomes and luxury apartments, and covered hundreds of nights at the Ritz Carlton and other five star hotels during 2015. A Senate Finance Committee report on long-term IRS travel released Thursday found that the 27 agents who traveled for more than half the year cost taxpayers, on average,

Thank Snowden? Via Reason:  Intelligence officials are preparing a report at the request of members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to provide an estimate of how many Americans have had their personal data snapped up by federal surveillance. Can anybody imagine this happening before Edward Snowden revealed the evidence that our own national intelligence

Via Reason:  For a half-decade or so, crypto-anarchists, libertarians, and freaks of all varieties of anticipated that bitcoin will upend all the powers and principalities of banking both government and private, credit, and perhaps even the legal system, IP system, rideshare system, and stock market via innovative use of the blockchain technology underlying it.   This week a bunch of federal sources decided

A baby doesn’t have a heartbeat. Instead, the fetus is making sounds — that according to NPR.  As I drove past NPR’s building in Washington DC Tuesday night, the words scrolling across the neon ticker caught my attention: “Republican governor decided the time-limit measure is more likely to withstand legal challenges than a separate bill tied

Quite an admission from the NY Times. The flip-side: they don’t really want to, either. If they did, they would hire journalists who represent the other 50% of the US population.  I think that the New York-based and Washington-based too probably, media powerhouses don’t quite get religion. We have a fabulous religion writer, but she’s

This is of interest because it’s happening in Moscow. Because he’s Kuwaiti and doesn’t attend one of the local conservative churches, this won’t be discussed by our local intoleristas.  A 23-year-old Moscow man who is facing 11 felony counts of sexual exploitation of a child did not appear in court for his scheduled status conference

Climatologist Dr. Roger Pielke Sr. announced: ‘I cannot recall last time I have seen such a cold anomaly forecast across almost entire USA.’ Cold Records are going to be SHATTERED! – “By the end of NEXT week, some states will be running 36 F BELOW NORMAL.” Meteorologist Paul Dorian of Vencore, Inc.: WIDESPREAD BLAST OF COLD AIR PLUNGES FROM ALASKA TO

I understand the need to reduce the trivial lawsuits that plague the court systems. But this ruling seems to give the edge to those with deep pockets.  The Idaho Supreme Court has launched the state’s entire court system on a new track that might be called “loser pay” – you lose a case, you pay

Senator says he doubts Russian efforts had influence on the presidential election.  Idaho Republican Sen. Jim Risch, a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Friday hacking has become a constant in global affairs, and Americans shouldn’t be surprised by suspected Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. “You can assume every

The US EAC does not administer elections itself, but it does certify the machines used.  In the year of “rigged” election claims, security firm Recorded Future says it identified a Russian-speaking hacker attempting to sell accounts that have access to the US Election Assistance Commission. While may not be familiar with the EAC, it’s the agency in

More record low temperatures.  Can you say “counterexample”?  A very cold arctic air mass has settled in over areas of coastal British Columbia. Weather summaryissued by Environment Canada Wednesday14 Dec 2016. New daily record low temperatures in degrees celsius: Pitt Meadows:   -12.2 (10F)Old record of -10.6 (12.9F) set in 1975. Records began in 1874.

More counterexamples to the current talking points. One record goes back to 1922. Weather summary for British Columbia issued by Environment Canada at 12:43 p.m. MST Thursday 15 December 2016. A very cold arctic air mass has settled in over areas of coastalBritish Columbia. Here is a summary of new daily record low temperatures in degrees

More counterexamples.  This weekend into Monday – The cold will extend across northern tier states from Washington to Maine, and as far south as Oklahoma, Arkansas and Virginia, according to the Climate Prediction Center. “You are talking about 30 degrees below normal highs. That is pretty darn cold,” said National Weather Service meteorologist James Brown

Another counterexample.  16 Dec 2016 – The mercury in Boston plunged to 4°F (-16° C) this morning. This was  the coldest for this date since 1883, when the temperature dropped to 1° F (-17° C), according to the National Weather Service. Schools were closed in two cities, Worcester and Lowell, due to the cold.