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VIDEO: Hezbollah MP to The Grayzone on surviving ‘devastating’ losses, fighting back

https://thegrayzone.com/2024/12/05/hezbollah-grayzone-resistance-survived-fough…
Created
Fri, 06/12/2024 - 15:25

Dr. Ibrahim Moussawi, a member of Lebanese parliament representing Hezbollah, tells The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal how his party withstood harsh losses during its year-long conflict with Israel, hit back at a technologically superior foe, and undermined Tel Aviv’s stated objectives. Moussawi also provides insights on ceasefire negotiations, the legacy of Hezbollah’s late leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and repercussions of recent military setbacks suffered by the Syrian government.

The post VIDEO: Hezbollah MP to The Grayzone on surviving ‘devastating’ losses, fighting back first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post VIDEO: Hezbollah MP to The Grayzone on surviving ‘devastating’ losses, fighting back appeared first on The Grayzone.

Hullabaloo Fri, 06/12/2024 - 11:30

https://digbysblog.net/2024/12/05/204790/
Created
Fri, 06/12/2024 - 11:30
Sigh: A hearing of the bipartisan task force investigating the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump devolved into a shouting match when Republican Rep. Pat Fallon accused acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe of “playing politics” when he attended a 9/11 memorial event with the nation’s top leaders. Yelling between the two broke out after Fallon displayed a photo of Trump, President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the event in New York City in September. Rowe was standing directly behind Harris, then a candidate for the presidency, in the second row. “Who is usually, at an event like this, closest to the president of the United States, security-wise?” Fallon, of Texas, asked Rowe. “The SAC of the detail,” Rowe answered, referring to the special agent in charge of security. Fallon then questioned whether the acting director was serving in that role at the 9/11 memorial. Rowe did not answer directly.

A five-minute scroll

https://johnmenadue.com/a-five-minute-scroll-62/
Created
Fri, 06/12/2024 - 11:00
Trump announces the head of NASA and the USA’s future among the stars. Barbara Pocock speaks out on nuclear waste in our own backyard. An Israeli professor speaks out on the genocide, while Israel has continued attacks in Gaza overnight. On the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death we are reminded of his views of the Continue reading »

US/China Trade War Heats Up

https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-click/v3/niyBMplQItBv11tJiwJeJ8tqLzIIrLXT
Created
Fri, 06/12/2024 - 10:12
US/China Trade War Heats Up

So, China has put export controls on rare earths.

People think “well, we’ll just mine them ourselves” but it often isn’t that simple. Gallium is refined as part of the process of aluminum smelting, for example, and the US has no aluminum smelting industry left.

More generally speaking the world is unfolding as I predicted: it’s splitting into two trade blocs, a cold war is developing (the Syrian “uprising” is a cold war maneuver) and the US is trying cannibalize its satrapies: that’s what Trump’s tariffs on allies are about.

Since the 50s it was deliberate American policy to offshore industry to its allies, especially South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, but also to Europe and the Anglosphere to some extent. Now it wants to pull that back in. This has been especially noticeable, of late, in Germany, where heavy industry is shutting down and much of it is moving to the US.

“Don’t Make Trouble”

https://digbysblog.net/2024/12/05/dont-make-trouble-5/
Created
Fri, 06/12/2024 - 08:30
Brian Beutler’s newsletter today proposes the idea that in light of the Hunter Biden pardon statement, in which Biden alluded to serious prosecutorial abuses in the case, that Biden needs to tell everything they know about Trump’s and the Republicans’ abuses before he leaves office. He writes: We don’t know what these Democrats chose to leave buried. But the Hunter Biden saga, culminating in his Sunday pardon, and his father’s accompanying statement justifying the decision, all suggest the party still fails to grasp the importance of sunlight, accountability, and clear communication. The election is over and they lost, but now the question is whether they will cede all power to the GOP in six weeks without doing everything they still can to inform and protect the country Between the lines, it’s clear Biden knows quite a lot that never made big splashy headlines.

Yes, Denial Of Care Improves Profits For Health Insurers

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Created
Fri, 06/12/2024 - 05:27
Yes, Denial Of Care Improves Profits For Health Insurers

Insurance companies generally have a loss ratio: a percentage of income from insurance policies they must pay out. In health insurance this percentage varies: it’s lower for individual plans, and higher for group plans. Most commonly it’s 80%.

If they pay out less, in many cases they have to return the difference to policy owners. (Not always though. Often with Medicaid, for example, this isn’t the case.)

This doesn’t mean that they have no reason to deny care, however. They want their health care costs as close to that bottom number as possible without going past it.  If they spend, say, 83% rather than 80%, that will cost them billions. Denial of care is meant to get the margin as close to to loss ratio as possible.