Health Insurance – Debt vs Profit
It’s all about more money. Otherwise, they could help lower health insurance costs to benefit all Americans and still make a decent profit.
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2024-07-20
World Court Says Israel’s Occupation of Palestinian Territories Is Illegal
In this news article from Reuters, “The World Court, the United Nations’ highest court, said on Friday that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in its strongest findings to date on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“The advisory opinion by judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), known as the World Court, was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel.
“‘Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,’ President Nawaf Salam said, reading the findings of a 15-judge panel.
“The court said Israel’s obligations include paying restitution for harm and ‘the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements’.
In a swift reaction, Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the opinion as ‘fundamentally wrong’ and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.
“‘The Jewish nation cannot be an occupier in its own land,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, one of the largest settler councils, said the ICJ opinion was ‘contrary to the Bible, morality, and international law’.
“The ICJ opinion also found that the U.N. Security Council, the General Assembly and all states have an obligation not to recognize the occupation as legal nor “render aid or assistance” toward maintaining Israel’s presence in the occupied territories.”
Reuters also has an article about the connections between the West Bank settlements and the Republican Party: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-settlers-court-republican-religious-right-after-hamas-attacks-2024-07-20/
2024-07-20
New Trump Same As Old Trump
Reuters takes a look at how the Republican party has been trying to rebrand Trump and how long that lasted (about a half hour).
“For four nights at Donald Trump’s nominating convention in Milwaukee, a roster of speakers attempted to give one of the most divisive politicians in recent U.S. history a makeover, describing him as a loving and caring family man whose near-assassination at a rally on Saturday had changed him.
“Early in his speech on Thursday night, as he accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, it seemed Trump had bought into the carefully orchestrated effort to repackage him as a humbler, unifying figure, more palatable to swing voters who will be crucial to winning the Nov. 5 election.
“In an age when our politics too often divide us, now is the time to remember that we are all fellow citizens,” Trump said.
“That new version of Trump lasted barely half an hour.
“Then the Trump more familiar to Americans – the bombastic thrower of insults who revels in demonizing his opponents – re-emerged, trampling over the message of unity so painstakingly choreographed by the Republican National Committee this week.
“In a rambling 92-minute address that broke the record for the longest convention speech in history, Trump called Democratic President Joe Biden the worst president in U.S. history and the former Democratic House Speaker “crazy Nancy Pelosi,” and accused Democrats of launching judicial witch hunts against him and creating a “planet of war.”
“The Democrat Party should immediately stop weaponizing the justice system and labeling their political opponent as an enemy of democracy, especially since that is not true,” Trump said.
“Using familiar hyperbolic and divisive language, he said illegal immigration to the United States was “the greatest invasion in history” and was leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans every year, though neither claim is supported by any data.
“He painted a dark picture of a crumbling America, a nation in decline, its cities crime-ridden and economically depressed, a staple image of his stump speech in which he presents himself as the country’s savior.
“We had been told this was going to be a different Trump, a softer side,” Mary Anna Mancuso, a Republican strategist and Trump critic, said afterward. “Trump’s speech was not about unifying the nation. It was the same Trump that we’ve seen and there was no difference.”
Full article: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tramples-republican-party-effort-give-him-image-makeover-2024-07-19/
2024-07-19
Mercator Projection vs Actual Size
Here is a comparison between Mercator Projection country sizes and their actual sizes.
The Mercator Projection is a cylindrical map projection that was originally created to display accurate compass bearings for sea travel. It was presented by Gerardus Mercator in 1569 and still the most common form of world map.
Source: https://brilliantmaps.com/mercator-vs-true-size/
2024-07-19
Takeaways from the RNC
Some takeaways from the RNC that AP News shared:
Key points:
“It seemed at first that Trump was trying to embody a less partisan version of himself. Yet as quickly as he called for an end to the “demonization of political enemies,” he turned the issue exclusively toward Democrats, reprising his accusations that the justice system was weaponized against him.
“Trump tried to humanize his image by telling of the assassination attempt. The former president spoke in vivid detail of his experience being injured and nearly killed on Saturday. On stage was the uniform of the retired fire chief, Corey Comperatore, who was killed behind Trump.
“Trump made sweeping promises to end inflation and secure the border, but he didn’t outline any plans and mostly used crowd-pleasing talking points. The most specific he got was promising to roll back Biden administration efforts to combat climate change, redirect infrastructure spending and impose steep tariffs.”
Full article: https://apnews.com/article/rnc-election-republican-trump-takeaways-dedb44fe4bd5b4947ad3ee3aaa65bf3b
2024-07-19
Sci-Fi Swear Words
Sci-fi movies and TV shows, being sci-fi, can make up words and phrases and that’s how they often swear. Here are some of the best examples of using made-up words as swear words. 😁
2024-07-18
Florida Passes Universal Licensure Law
While Florida has created many policies and laws that have chased people out of the state, here is one that will attract people!
Governor DeSantis just signed a universal licensure law. By recognizing occupational licenses from other states, doctors, nurses, dentists, and other licensed professionals will be able to start working more quickly if they move to Florida.
Full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickgleason/2024/07/17/florida-becomes-twenty-first-state-with-universal-licensure/
2024-07-17
Amazing Sculpture
To balance all the contentious news, here is some beauty: a detail from an amazing marble sculpture by French sculptor Philippe Faraut (born 1963). It’s amazing what some artists can do with stone!
2024-07-17
Trump Now Claims Black Population in Danger from Invasion of Immigrants
“Donald Trump and his allies have spent years amplifying a conspiracy theory that Democratic officials are intentionally letting people into the country illegally to ‘replace’ the voting population.
“But lately, the former president has been claiming that the ‘invasion’ is specifically coming after Black Americans.” In his typical fearmongering, evidence-lacking style.
“He now claims that ‘the Black population is going to die’ without his violent immigration agenda in place, pitching his anti-immigration platform as a way to attract Black voters.
“’The Black people are going to be decimated by the millions of people that are coming into the country,’ he told Bloomberg in an interview published on July 16.
“’There will never be a decimation like this, and they’re already feeling it,’ he added. ‘Their wages have gone way down. Their jobs are being taken by the migrants coming in illegally into the country.’
“His language then turned apocalyptic.
“’The Black population in this country is going to die because of what’s happened, what’s going to happen to their jobs — their jobs, their housing, everything,’ he said. ‘I want to stop that. … They’re taking everything.’
“He then suggested that he believes President Joe Biden wants people who live in the country illegally to take Black Americans’ jobs from them.”
Here is the complete transcript of his interview with Bloomberg, with fact-checking notes alongside:
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-trump-interview-transcript/?terminal=true
With some quotes taken from this article that focuses on the one aspect:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-floats-outrageous-claim-that-black-americans-are-going-to-die-because-immigrants-are-taking-their-jobs/ar-BB1q9Qgx
2024-07-17