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This evening I finally had an "aha!" moment: if these Fox revelations from the Dominion lawsuit gets on the cover of People Magazine, perhaps it will break through to the MAGA crowd...Lord knows they would believe People over the NYT or WaPo.

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Great idea💡! And the tabloids in the grocery check-out aisle. Or does Rupert Murdoch own those, too?🤔

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He does indeed...but anything for a buck...

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Yesterday a lawsuit was filed against the state of Texas by five women whose lives were put in jeopardy by life-saving healthcare being withheld because of the Texas heartless, no exceptions anti-abortion law. Women being told they weren't sick enough to receive an abortion of a fetus that doctors knew wouldn't survive but still had a heartbeat. Women whose doctors and hospitals had to consult their lawyers before receiving needed healthcare because the law was written to intimidate anyone to stop all abortions. Women whose lives were of less value than any fetus no matter what its chances of survival were. Doctors know how to triage and save the life of the patient more likely to survive. And then there is the no exceptions for rape and incest with little or no consequence to the male perpetrator. For rape and incest I'd like to propose the Seahorse Law. The male seahorse is the one who carries the seahorse fetuses to term, not the female. So the seahorse law gives the human male rapist the choice of carrying the fetus himself or having a penectomy. Yes, that would mean either inserting a uterus in the male albeit not yet a simple or timely procedure or removing the male's sword. Why does the woman have to pay even with her life in some cases while the man has no consequences? Even the Constitution in the 14th Amendment prohibits forced labor! For now my choice is to vow not to vote for any Republican thereby holding the entire GOP accountable for these unfair and draconian anti-abortion laws.

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I firmly believe every legislator who voted for Texas Draconian law should be charged with practicing medicine without a license to do so.

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Cathy Laeroyd, THANK YOU for writing about the 5 women suing Texas for their anti-women, anti-life, anti-abortion law that nearly killed those women. I am sure the 5 are just the tip of the iceberg and suspect many more women of color have already perished because of this law. The story hasn’t yet received the coverage it deserves. I’m angry that women are made second class citizens by SCOTUS and citizens without the right to appropriate and timely healthcare (aka life) by Texas, one among many red states. Those 5 women are heroic and I’m awed and grateful for their strength of purpose. Their lives are on the line again to fight Texas in court. I’ll be looking for ways to support them. Robert, I hope you will center this story soon. Marginalizing segments of the population is a fascist strategy that is accelerating rapidly. In other words, eventually no one will equal rights or be safe here.

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Please join me in donating to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a nonprofit organization.

https://secure.reproductiverights.org/a/join-the-fight?source=23CTFR012301AAX

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Yes, the general media seems to think this issue will just fade and go away. WRONG! Don't mess with Texas Women (and the many good men who support women's rights) scorned! It just makes us angrier and more determined. The solution may well be technology -- the artificial womb. Hope that is in the not too distant future!

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Cathy, 💙 your Seahorse Law ! I’ve gifted the NYT article about the five, brave Texas women.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/06/us/texas-abortion-ban-suit.html?

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Great read thanks for sharing.

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YES! YES! YES! Did I mention YES? Just in case I didn't, YES!!!!

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So very happy those brave women filed their lawsuits!

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Mar 9, 2023·edited Mar 9, 2023

This is so timely as I was looking at Texas´ abortion laws yesterday., and you have just made what I read my big fear. The International Women´s Caucus is looking fore videos from women everywhere on the abortion issue. Would you be willing to simply record yourself speaking these words and then sending that to the caucus? If not, and I have your permission, may I? You can email me gaileegailee@gmail.com and I can give you more information. I was having a miscarriage while living in Houston, Texas and had a D&C. It is because I was wondering whether that would be the case now, and I see that it is not.

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It is so clearly either a total lack of respect for, or a hatred of, women that propels these inept, ignorant or just plain evil lawmakers who support a law like this one in Texas.

I can't imagine that even the black-robed queen of white Christian nationalism who does the bidding of her male overseers, could possibly support the idea that a woman carrying a fetus with no skull and a damaged brain, as at least one of the Texas plaintiffs did, should be forced to wait until she is on death's door before being allowed to mercifully end the existance of her much wanted child who has zero chance of survival.

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Re: Fox News. I heard someone on a podcast (sorry, can't remember which one) suggest that part of the settlement Dominion should pursue is to have everyone on Fox admit that they were lying. That they would have to say so on their shows, repeatedly and often. [My idea; every show for a month] I think this is such a good idea that I hope we can amplify it to get the attention of the Dominion lawyers.

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Hope they have to testify under oath. I wish part of the judgment against Fox was they had to run a nonstop banner, 24x7, for 30 days saying we lied about the election, Trump lost. A girl can dream.

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I like that too but making them SAY it would be so gratifying. I bet Tucker would quit before he did that.

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Love it!

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Muck proves once again there is no connection between the brain and the billfold. Can we please just strap Unreconstructed Afrikaner Elon Muck in one of his tinny toys, stuff that in one of his toy rockets, and fire it into the sun? Make the Universe Great again!

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¨We won’t change the minds of every die-hard Fox viewer; we don’t have to. We need only reach enough of them to make a difference in a handful of elections. We can do that!¨ Exactly!!!! Great, inspiring newsletter today (8:33 a.m. in Spain).

I want to thank all who liked the idea of a ¨Woke¨ video and thank Robert for your gracious offer to share. I don't want to take up time here, so on the Saturday newsletter that Robert opens up to us, I will share the vision and how to contact me and become involved. Yes ❤️ We. 🤍Can. 💙

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Thank you THANK YOU for continuing to face the news and provide a clear brief summary. There is no way I could manage to do what you do for us. I'm am a team leader in fridayaction.org - a great hands on activist group. We refer to you often. If I (and we) were also trying to digest the news directly I'd drown! Thank you so very much for all yor years and hours and hours of doing this work!

p.s. I agree with Karen Williams about People Mag! Great idea. Can you make it happen Karen?

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"They have no choice. They make a living—good ones—by lying. To acknowledge that their business model is based on deceit would cause their house of cards to collapse."

Bob, I think that is kind of naive, like saying that if fans knew pro wrestling was fake, they would stop watching.

People don't watch Fox for the truth.

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Mar 8, 2023·edited Mar 8, 2023

Good on Biden for going on the offensive with solid proposals to strengthen Medicare. Regarding Big Pharma, it would also be good to point out that the rapaciousness of these corporations is not due to the "free market" but instead is a result of the government's longer and stronger patents and copyright laws/policies enacted by conservative politicians over the past 40 years. Longer/stronger patents is a monopolistic practice that allows for significant price gouging, particularly by Big Pharma. Therefore it is totally legitimate that the federal government try to force these corporations to lower their prices since their mind boggling profits are due in large part to government price supports.

On another note, I would like to see Biden do something to reign in the Federal Reserve. The Fed is trying to tank the economy and throw people out of work. They are overreacting with their war on inflation. Enough is enough. Everything that Biden has been doing to build an economy that works for the rest of us could be undone by these supply-side ghouls on the Federal Reserve.

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Our government supports Big Pharma R&D (think NIH), but it's only Big Pharma that profits if a med is approved - the research money never gets reimbursed to our government. Nice, eh? Also, let's not forget that those who serve in Congress have completely different insurance (medical and Rx) and pension benefits. So they don't have a personal stake in the cost issue.

It's not only Big Pharma, though. It's also the medical insurance industry (think Medicare Advantage plans ripping U.S. taxpayers off for millions - and we're just going to let it slide for any over billings prior to 2018). https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiv4L7yws39AhURjIkEHauNAowQFnoECEsQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.consumerfinancialserviceslawmonitor.com%2F2023%2F02%2Fcms-publishes-final-rule-increasing-government-authority-to-recover-overpayments-from-medicare-advantage-plans%2F&usg=AOvVaw0o8B_AITClGKlRg_t-ZBN0

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It would be more efficient if NIH did all of the drug research and then open sourced the findings for any company to make and sell drugs based on that research. Then we could get rid of the patents.

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Pharma should reimburse our government prior to earning profits. Patents will never go away - not in any industry.

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I don't disagree with making pharma reimburse the government for all the NIH research they benefit from. But that would be a very bureaucratic process creating more jobs for lawyers. More importantly it wouldn't get at the pricing issue. True, pharma patents aren't going away anytime soon. However, Congress could make them shorter and weaker. Certainly if the government provides direct funding to a pharma corporation to develop a drug ie. Moderna and its covid vaccine, then the company should not be granted a patent monopoly for that drug. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Moderna's vaccine and they have raked in billions.

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I have an elderly neighbor who watches Fox, and my interactions with her in our condo parking lot are rather like watching tightrope dancers. Carlson does belong in the same paragraph with McCarthy, just as DeSantis belongs with Gene Talmadge of Georgia

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Why aren't we focusing on Fox advertisers?

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This org is doing just that :

https://checkmyads.org/fox/

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Love them

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Yep!

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Regarding Medicare-Biden's proposals are good as far as they go. The obvious next step is to eliminate Medicare Advantage. Having private profiteers administer Medicare is more expensive than having it be administered by the regular Medicare contractors, who have an overhead of approximately 3%. Medicare Advantage companies game the system and have been proven to overcharge, but have not been asked to pay back their excessive profits. Medical Insurance companies recognize that Medicare Advantage is so profitable that some are getting out of the employer-based insurance market to focus exclusively on Medicare Advantage. Even better that eliminating Medicare Advantage would be for the US to go to a single payer universal coverage system with first dollar coverage-improved Medicare for all. Even just lowering the age of Medicare eligibility would be cost saving by adding younger, healthier people to the risk pool.

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Some Medicare Advantage plans are nonprofits, like Kaiser Permanente. I've been mostly satisfied with their care for decades.

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Just because they are not for profit doesn't mean they don't cost taxpayers more. One of the fundamental inequities of Medicare Advantage (MA) is that it is inherently unfair. All of us pay into Medicare, but the benefits aren't equal between regular Medicare and the various MA plans. Not all of us can access a MA plan because some counties don't have an insurer offering one, and the benefits the plans offer varies widely from location to location. That means that some people get extra benefits, like eyeglasses, that people on regular Medicare don't get. MA plans are able to offer more for less by have restricted narrow provider networks and by requiring prior authorizations that may delay care. They tend to market to healthier people by offering perks such a Silver Sneakers/fitness programs and by existing in markets with a healthier demographic (called "cherry-picking"). They also discourage enrollment of less healthy members, in other words, those likely have greater medical expenses, by having few if any specialists in fields where care is expensive, like oncology or rheumatology (called "lemon-dropping" when the enrollee realizes they can't get the care they need in MA and revert back to regular Medicare). All the big insurance companies have been found on audits to "upcode"-which means they add diagnoses to their enrollees to make them look sicker than they are, and get paid more for doing so, which is FRAUD.

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That was well written, Laura, and you make some valid points. I don't know if Kaiser upcodes. I hope not. Certainly what appear on my monthly reports look exactly like what I've been treated for, but I can't speak to whether the codes are accurate. I'm already sick enough without being upcoded! >smile< Fortunately, I've been able to find all the specialists I need at the most convenient locations. I consider myself very lucky so far.

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founding

Not to divert attention from today's excellent newsletter, but I couldn't help but comment on Thomas Friedman's latest column in the NYT: "American Jews: You Have to Choose Sides on Israel". This is a subject that has been swirling around in my head since I first heard about Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to effectively "crush the independence of the country's judiciary". Jews in America have had a special place in their hearts for Israel. And they have unwaveringly supported the country in financial and other ways since its founding in 1948. With this new proposal, things have changed, and it is heartbreaking. There are Jews who will support Israel unconditionally, but they are in the minority. Most of us emphatically do not want to see an Israel dominated by its right wing, without checks and balances, where powerful people may be above the law. If Netanyahu's proposal is enacted, American Jews will have to make a hard choice about continuing to support Israel. Friedman refers to a reimagining of support, directed at building up the vitality of Jewish institutions in American society. Still heartbreaking, but an alternative to supporting a country that has lost its democracy. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

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I have 75 1st and 2nd cousins living across Israel who have been in the streets for the past 8 weeks protesting. As more and more stakeholders, like the air force and the army reserves, Moody credit rating, Michael Bloomberg, global investors, join the anti-Netanyahu protests, my relatives are terrified but more hopeful the government will have to back down.

The only real compromise to this crisis is for Netanyahu to resign from public life in exchange for a pardon.

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Tucker Carlson's actions ensure that he will be remembered on the Fascist side of history, enshrined in our national memory in his own especially hot corner of Hell, sweating for eternity in the company of other infamous propagandists like Joseph Gobbels, Rush Limbaugh, Tail-Gunner Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and of course, the Demagogue-in-Chief himself, Donald Trump, the man Carlson has publicly confessed he has hated all along. With the release of his manipulated version of the January 6 tapes, Carlson's career as an "anchor" seems to have come to a "bitter end," as is the case when an incompetent yachtsman forgets to secure the other other end of the anchor rode to the boat.

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, which we have all witnessed thanks to the honest reporting on Today's Edition Newsletter, I propose a toast: "To Tucker and all the other sycophant liars at Fox News: May they roast in Hell!"

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I have for some time now refused to use the word news when referrring to the Fox business, its affiliate stations, or its broadcasts. It is quite clear that is a gross micharacterization of what they offer. Likewise I refuse to refer to their entertainers or hosts as journalists. That also mischaracterizes them. I urge all to adopt this approach as well. If it looks like a duck, walks and swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, surely it is a duck.

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They come with a warning label. They call themselves ¨Fox Entertainment¨ that let's them get away with their chicanery.

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Mar 8, 2023·edited Mar 8, 2023

I think when Dominion wins, aside from the money award, part of the settlement should be that Fox has to air notifications to viewers that they lied not only about Dominion, but also about the election. That would be some powerful stuff.

A footnote to the Today's Edition Newsletter footnote. Instead of "Talk to you tomorrow." I suggest "Talk with you tomorrow." Sounds more like a conversation and a community - which I think is more reflective of the tone and intent.

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True. It's a very good idea. It will get the grey area of GOP voters but It won't impact the hard core who have gone over to Newsmax or OAN.

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Mar 8, 2023·edited Mar 8, 2023

Here is something to share with family, friends, and neighbors. If Krogers and Albertsons merger....https://youtu.be/0_WB84fA7i0

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