December 20, 2016

Protests grow in Poland as political crisis deepens

The political fighting over media access and the budget vote is the latest controversy to hit the Polish government. Since coming into power a little more than a year ago, the socially conservative Law and Justice government has launched root-and-branch overhauls of the country's highest court, publically run media, the armed forces and the civil service in a campaign it claims is necessary to modernize the institutions and rid them of bias and corruption.

The protests in Warsaw came after the government's plan to limit media access to lawmakers.

But to its critics, the campaign's real goal is to undermine the basic principles of democracy and try to turn the Central European country into a one-party state once again. The policies have also deepened and widened a bitter political divide in Poland that, at the moment, appears beyond any hope of reconciliation.

The Polish government is also under scrutiny by the European Union for alleged violations of rule of law, while at the same time Poland's hard-won international reputation as a successful and stable state with a buoyant economy has taken a battering.
Protesters have vowed to take to the streets again to keep the pressure on the government.

"We will be on the streets until they are done destroying the country," Mateusz Kijowski, the leader of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy -- the movement that has spearheaded protests since Law and Justice came to power -- told demonstrators Saturday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/12/17/europe/poland-political-protests/


Not getting the rightward turn this world has taken.

December 19, 2016

Son's broken arm: Bill Huizenga says people must be responsible for own health care costs

While the Affordable Care Act put in place under President Obama is credited with giving 20 million Americans health insurance, it has been criticized for driving up insurance rates and adding regulations that interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.

<snip>

"There's definitely going to be changes in the health care delivery system," said U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland. "We can't just continue to squeeze providers to say this is how we are going to save money. It's forcing health care providers ... into some very different actions that in most people's opinion is unhealthy."

Instead, Huizenga says more responsibility needs to shift to the shoulders of patients to reduce costs. One way to do that is having them pay a bigger share of their medical expenses by increasing their insurance deductibles and incentivizing them to use HSAs, health savings accounts, to sock away pre-tax money to pay medical bills.

<snip>

The father of five offered a personal example of how this shift might play out. He says his youngest son fell and injured his arm. Not sure if it was sprained or broken, he and his wife decided to wait until the next morning to take the 10-year-old to the doctor's office, instead of going to the emergency room that night. The arm was broken.

"We took every precaution but decided to go in the next morning (because of) the cost difference," Huizenga said. "If he had been more seriously injured, we would have taken him in. ... When it (comes to) those type of things, do you keep your child home from school and take him the next morning to the doctor because of a cold or a flu, versus take him into the emergency room? If you don't have a cost difference, you'll make different decisions."

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2016/12/sons_broken_arm_bill_huizenga.html

December 7, 2016

I understand Gen. Flynn and his son run a Child Sex Ring in Washington DC.

I don't have any links at the moment but I hear this is what they're up to. I can only assume they started "Pizzagate" to draw attention away from them.

What a couple of sick fucks.