I traditionally have a thread heading to the election, here we go.

Get out the popcorn for this one.

Quote

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to formally announce next week he is running for president in 2024, NBC News reported Thursday, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The governor's official entry into the Republican primary field will put him head-to-head with former President Donald Trump, the party's current frontrunner for the nomination. Trump has already spent months treating DeSantis as his primary campaign rival, thrashing him with torrents of criticism over his gubernatorial record, his political skills and his personality.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/18/desantis-plans-to-officially-announce-presidential-run-next-week.html

Beerman said:

I think it sounded like a campaign speech, and that him yelling most of the time to make him appear a bit demented.  Its supposed to be the State of the Union, but talked about Ukraine first, and nothing about illegal immigration for quite awhile.

I only caught a glimpse of the rebuttal, but what I did see striked me as a bit weird. 

We haven't seen a proper SOTH speech since Obama.  

Beerman said:

I think it sounded like a campaign speech, and that him yelling most of the time to make him appear a bit demented.  Its supposed to be the State of the Union, but talked about Ukraine first, and nothing about illegal immigration for quite awhile.

I only caught a glimpse of the rebuttal, but what I did see striked me as a bit weird. 

That's funny that you can imagine some evidence of dementia in that performance.  

Yeah, Biden skillfully made Republicans look weak on a number of issues including Ukraine and immigration.  

The rebuttal was more than a bit weird.  

subee said:

We haven't seen a proper SOTH speech since Obama.  

Obama criticized the SCOTUS Citizen's United decision during one of his SOTU  and a republican shouted that Obama was a liar. Was that the beginning of the right wing heckling tradition?

toomuchbaloney said:

That's funny that you can imagine some evidence of dementia in that performance.  

Yeah, Biden skillfully made Republicans look weak on a number of issues including Ukraine and immigration.  

The rebuttal was more than a bit weird.  

The rebuttal was HILARIOUS! Delivered by a woman in a kitchen! Were they trying to appeal to work-at-home wives? Or was it a Freudian slip? Or both?

My vote's for both.

 

I follow this veteran on a couple of platforms.  He used to be based in Alaska. 

His name is Jim Wright and this is his essay.

The Party who voted down their own border security bill on orders of Donald Trump, a self-professed serial rapist, offered up a "rebuttal" to Biden's SOTU by putting a female member of the Senate at home, in the kitchen, using a fake little girl voice (there's actually name for it, "The Fundie Baby Voice," and it's actually a thing in the South where Evangelical men prefer their women to sound that way) completely different from how she normally talks, and her speech was one easily disproved lie after another with the centerpiece "gotcha" about a rape that happened to someone else in another country nearly two decades before Joe Biden took office.

I dunno, I guess if your entire argument is "rape is super really very terrible bad" then maybe -- and I'm just saying here -- it shouldn't be in support of a self-professed serial rapist who yesterday had to borrow nearly a $100,000,000 from mysterious Russian backed sources (allegedly) to pay the bond on his appeal for defaming the woman he raped.

Also, maybe if women being raped south of the border is something you're actually concerned about, perhaps WE SHOULD LET THEM IN AND GIVE THEM SHELTER AND SUPPORT AND PROTECTION. 

Anyway, Republicans thought that would appeal to women.

Remember this come November.

toomuchbaloney said:

I follow this veteran on a couple of platforms.  He used to be based in Alaska. 

His name is Jim Wright and this is his essay.

The Party who voted down their own border security bill on orders of Donald Trump, a self-professed serial rapist, offered up a "rebuttal" to Biden's SOTU by putting a female member of the Senate at home, in the kitchen, using a fake little girl voice (there's actually name for it, "The Fundie Baby Voice," and it's actually a thing in the South where Evangelical men prefer their women to sound that way) completely different from how she normally talks, and her speech was one easily disproved lie after another with the centerpiece "gotcha" about a rape that happened to someone else in another country nearly two decades before Joe Biden took office.

I dunno, I guess if your entire argument is "rape is super really very terrible bad" then maybe -- and I'm just saying here -- it shouldn't be in support of a self-professed serial rapist who yesterday had to borrow nearly a $100,000,000 from mysterious Russian backed sources (allegedly) to pay the bond on his appeal for defaming the woman he raped.

Also, maybe if women being raped south of the border is something you're actually concerned about, perhaps WE SHOULD LET THEM IN AND GIVE THEM SHELTER AND SUPPORT AND PROTECTION. 

Anyway, Republicans thought that would appeal to women.

Remember this come November.

Great essay.  I always appreciate when I can gain some further insight into the thinking of the unhinged left.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68533351

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"He will not give a penny in the Ukraine-Russia war. That is why the war will end," the conservative premier said after meeting Mr Trump in Florida.

The former US president has pledged to end the war "within 24 hours" if elected - but provided no details.

Mr Orban is openly backing his long-term ally in the 2024 White House race.

Trump's authoritarian buddy told the world that Trump won't support Ukraine and will defer to Putin. I guess that capitulation to a despot looks like strength to Republicans in the Trump era of conmen, grifters and charlatans.  

Beerman said:

Great essay.  I always appreciate when I can gain some further insight into the thinking of the unhinged left.

 The definition of unhinged is apparently to correctly identify the hypocrisy and dishonesty of the GOP spokesperson around women's issues and immigration.  That's not surprising.  

 

https://finance.Yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-hack-clouds-outlook-insurers-190711193.html

Quote

United's Change Healthcare unit is a vital lynchpin in the complex U.S. system for making and clearing insurance claims, connecting providers to not just UnitedHealth but also to CVS Health's Aetna, Elevance, Humana, and others.

"There could be effects on cash flow and more uncertainty around medical utilization estimates going forward," said Morningstar analyst Julie Utterback.

UnitedHealth and its rivals carefully monitor insurance claims, targeting to spend as close to 80% or 85% of the premiums they take in on medical services, as required under the U.S. Affordable Care Act popularly known as Obamacare.

The insurers are going to raise their prices and buy up health businesses that are going broke because they aren't getting money from the hacked insurers. It's a real sh!+sh0w for patients.  

heron said:

The rebuttal was HILARIOUS! Delivered by a woman in a kitchen! Were they trying to appeal to work-at-home wives? Or was it a Freudian slip? Or both?

My vote's for both.

With Republicans and their restrictive stance on abortion and her coming from the much ridiculed state that says frozen embryos are children she wanted to appear sympathetic to women's issues with are families and children.  Bless her heart.  Big fail.

toomuchbaloney said:

https://finance.Yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-hack-clouds-outlook-insurers-190711193.html

The insurers are going to raise their prices and buy up health businesses that are going broke because they aren't getting money from the hacked insurers. It's a real sh!+sh0w for patients.  

That's an interesting take.  I think the real poop show is going to continue to be pressure from the elderly population pushing up the cost of healthcare through demand.  Every day 10,000 people turn 65 and we aren't the healthiest bunch.  The burden will continue to be on the people paying the premiums.  

I have United through work.  I checked my app and I see my doctor's visit from eight days ago isn't posted there yet which I'm sure means my doctor hasn't gotten paid yet and I don't know what my co-pay is going to be.

United's profits might have decreased but they are doing fine, cyberattack or not.

https://finance.Yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-group-unh-q4-earnings-193500901.html#