healthcare-related bankruptcy

 the average number of citizens who declare bankruptcy each year due to medical debts that they cannot pay, by country:

• australia - 0
• canada - 0
• denmark - 0
• germany - 0
• great britain - 0
• finland - 0
• france - 0
• iceland - 0
• ireland - 0
• italy - 0
• japan - 0
• netherlands - 0
• norway - 0
• scotland - 0
• spain - 0
• sweden - 0
• united states - 326,000
• wales - 0

debtors prisons

the united states has the largest prison population in the world. the despite the fact the the united states supreme court has ruled that jailing people for not having the means to pay fines is unconstitutional, thousands of folks in these states are still sent to jail for it:

• alabama
• arizona
• arkansas
• california
• colorado
• florida
• georgia
• indiana
• maryland
• michigan
• minnesota
• missouri
• oklahoma
• pennsylvania
• south carolina
• tennessee
• texas
• washington
• wisconsin
• wyoming

wage theft

american employers steal 3 times the amount of money from their employees that is lost due to shoplifting, bank robberies, computer hacks, etc., put together.

this theft is often in the form of hours worked without pay, unpaid overtime, unpaid benefits, additional job duties added without additional pay during layoffs, etc.

most employees never recover these stolen wages. even for those that eventually do, it can take years.

why did trump win?

this is a question that will be asked and answered for as long as there are people, but here are some clues:

thank you to mark holton for the data: https://mastodonapp.uk/@MarkHoltom/113458723772970462

these members of congress voted against fema

remember when we had hurricanes and terrible floods in florida and north carolina?

these are the members of congress who voted AGAINST any federal aid for the victims:

Baird (R-IN)

Balderson (R-OH)

Banks (R-IN)

Bean (R-FL)

Biggs (R-AZ)

Bilirakis (R-FL)

Bishop (R-NC)

Boebert (R-CO)

Bost (R-IL)

Brecheen (R-OK)

Burchett (R-TN)

Burlison (R-MO)

Cammack (R-FL)

Cloud (R-TX)

Clyde (R-GA)

Collins (R-GA)

Crane (R-AZ)

Curtis (R-UT)

Davidson (R-OH)

Donalds (R-FL)

Duncan (R-SC)

Estes (R-KS)

Ezell (R-MS)

Feenstra (R-IA)

Finstad (R-MN)

Fischbach (R-MN)

Fry (R-SC)

Fulcher (R-ID)

Gaetz (R-FL)

Gonzales (R-TX)

Good (R-VA)

Gooden (R-TX)

Gosar (R-AZ)

Marj Taylor Greene (R-GA)

Roy (R-TX)

Griffith (R-VA)

Schweikert (R-AZ)

Guest (R-MS)

Self (R-TX)

Hageman (R-WY)

Spartz (R-IN)

Harris (R-MD)

Tenney (R-NY)

Higgins (R-LA)

Timmons(R-SC)

Jordan (R-OH)

Van Drew (R-NJ)

Joyce (R-PA)

Van Duyne (R-TX)

Kelly (R-MS)

Van Orden (R-WI)

LaHood (R-IL)

Waltz (R-FL)

L. Lee (R-FL)

Weber (R-TX)

Lesko (R-AZ)

Webster (R-FL)

Lopez (R-CO)

Westerman (R-AR)

Luna (R-FL)

Williams (R-TX)

Lutrell (R-TX)

Yakym (R-IN)

Mace (R-SC)

Blackburn (R-TN)

Mann (R-KS)

Braun (R-IN)

Massie (R-KY)

Britt (R-AL)

McClintock (R-CA)

Budd (R-NC)

McCormick (R-GA)

Crapo (R-ID)

Mary Miller (R-IL)

Fischer (R-NE)

Miller (R-OH)

Hagerty (R-TN)

Mills (R-FL)

Hawley (R-MO)

Mooney (R-WV)

RonJohnson(R-WI)

Moore (R-AL)

Mike Lee (R-UT)

Moran (R-TX)

Roger Marshall (R-KS)

Ralph Norman (R-SC)

Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)

Ogles (R-TN)

Rand Paul (R-KY)

Palmer (R-AL)

Ricketts (R-NE)

Scott Perry (R-PA)

Risch (R-ID)

Posey (R-FL)

Schmitt (R-MO)

Rose (R-TN)

Tim Scott (R-SC)

Rosendale (R-MT)

Tuberville (R-AL)

china is ready to take over the world

you've probably heard all kinds of things about china's production capacity, but probably not the latest:

• in the past 3 years, china has doubled its nuclear weapon stockpile
• it has also doubled its supply of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles and produced more than 400 fighter aircraft
• a single chinese shipyard can build more ships than all of the shipyards in the u.s. combined
• in fact, china has 230 times the ship-building capacity of the u.s.
• they also increased their satelite launched by 50%

who denies your medical claims?

it turns out that one company - evicore - is behind the majority of insurance claim denials for medical procedures.

more than 100 million-with-an-m americans have their proscribed care evaluated (and often denied) by evicore. it tells insurers that it can provide a 3-to-1 return on investment.

yep, that means exactly what you think it means.

who funded 'stop the steal'

some documents related to trump's 'stop the steal' campaign attempt to steal the 2020 election show that charlie kirk helped to finance it (us$1 million) via his 'turning point action' pac. other funders: doinald trump, jr. (us$500,000 via 'save the senate' pac), tea party express (us$400,000), and another us$300,000 given to shadowy figures whose names and organizations were redacted.

100 most powerful u.s. ceo's

fortune magazine published a convenient list of oligarchs. you know... in case you want to send them a christmas card.

sing along with project 2025

when i was a kid, there were a series of public service announcements on saturday mornings that cleverly taught us all kinds of things - how laws are passed, how to eat healthy, language skills, etc. - via entertaining animation and catchy songs. this collection was called 'schoolhouse rock'.

now there's a new online animation that explains project 2025 in a similar way.

uterus

 

robby starbuck

in case you were wondering, robby starbuck is a key player in the push for companies to drop their dei initiatives.