In case you tire of referring to me with my old nickname "Sugar Tits":

https://twitter.com/amyalkon/status/732085085483110400

Tits.

Linkerdome?

Two Jews enter, one Jew leaves?

Wut? Ok, fine, I'll go sit in the sin bin.

It’s easy to look good when you haven’t run out of other people’s money yet.

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/233845/

We find ourselves repulsed at the notion of Pocahontas being "tapped."

Looks like the University of Kansas did take notes during their neighbor and former rival's recent troubles. We'll see if they use Orwell as a cautionary or as a how-to guide:

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2016/may/11/kus-university-senate-forms-free-speech-committee/

In the "don't ask questions you don't want the answer" category, Salon asks Daryl Hall (Hall & Oates fame) about cultural appropriation:

https://twitter.com/Heminator/status/731994766536261632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Well, I'm getting older, y'know? Sometimes I think I've lost a step... There's just no way I can move with the deft alacrity that characterized my younger self... There's just no new way to feel love for David Burge, the Iowahawk.

And then he says something so plainshit glorious that I feel like a schoolgirl again and I realize no, I'm not old, my adoration has just begun.

Apprently the Angry Birds movie is about the refugee crisis in Europe.

https://i.sli.mg/Y1IdKp.jpg

"cultural appropriation"

Does that mean we have to give back Black Beauty?
(You know horses, that the Native Americans stole from the Spanish, that we stole from the Native Americans, ... I know lame.)

It's cruel, not funny.

But those 300 milliseconds before the collapse have a certain piquance....

Not too big to fail, but note that severance package:

As Heat Street reported last month, the college almost immediately fell short on its financial obligations as fundraising pledges and commitments Ms. Sanders cited in the loan agreements never materialized.

Less than a year after leading Burlington College into massive debt, Ms. Sanders resigned, taking with her a $200,000 severance package. By 2014, because of its shaky finances and running deficits, Burlington College found itself placed on probation for two years by the regional accreditation agency.

http://heatst.com/politics/breaking-burlington-college-closes-due-to-crushing-weight-of-debt-acquired-by-jane-sanders/

Broadcaster professionals are tired of hearing that they can't adapt to the new environment of social media connected that the kids today find so enchanting.

Crid,

Some context on that sweater incident:

https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/4jgghe/ktla_handed_their_meteorologist_a_sweater_live_on/d36gz6b

Takes the fun out of it.

And it's weird how 40 minutes after linking the thing, it was hard to imagine what "sweater" thing you were talking about. Because Attention Span Theat

Saw this woman doing weather for L.A. on the TV in an airport terminal once and considered canceling my flight and going to Best Buy to pick up a set.

Huh. Cut staff, increase business, and wait times go up? who knew?

https://www.theatlas.com/charts/NkcoP-B1b

"Colette turned out to be completely fine. A doctor ran her finger under the tap, stuck a Band-Aid on her pinky, and sent the family home.

A week later, something else showed up at home: a $629 hospital bill for the Band-Aid and its placement on Colette's finger."

So I'm supposed to have enough equipment and staff on hand to handle everything from a snip to emergency surgery and only charge what CVS would for a band-aid.

Snort. You know these guys voted for Obama twice and support the Bern.

http://www.vox.com/2016/5/13/11606760/emergency-facility-fees-american-health-care

Xena, Warrior Jew.

Sorry Amy, you cannot have that moniker. A great colleague of mine used to go by that. She was also known as "The Rock" too. I think that was a moniker she borrowed from Dwayne Johnson though.

She was one badass MFer, and let you know it too. All in a good way of course. People didn't mess with her, yet, she would go out of her way to help those who didn't piss her off.

I must have been one of the lucky ones who didn't piss her off as we still keep in touch.

Li'l Miss Energizer (the one with the "perky enhancements", according to the Secret Service agents) scores a $2M piece of the Clinton slush fund.

Apparently it's illegal to divert "nonprofit" funds to a for-profit enterprise like hers, and thus:

Neither Clinton will comment.

Charity Navigator has placed the Clinton Foundation on their 'watch list' joining the likes of Al Sharpton.

It gets worse.

So, the weathergirl is hot. Okay. Not exactly sure who's handling the "Kid's Choice Awards"...

...but that's not a kid!

Says you, ya little punk.

"So I'm supposed to have enough equipment and staff on hand to handle everything from a snip to emergency surgery and only charge what CVS would for a band-aid."

This is a good illustration of how screwed up people are about doctors and health care.

Would you charge $629.00 for the Band-Aid at CVS?

Because they're supposed to have enough inventory and salespeople on hand to handle more than that.

The sickness at the core of "healthcare" is that the consumer should pay for things they DO NOT USE, in the mistaken idea that there will not be enough traffic to provide for them when they are needed.

Well I did noticed that the equipment at the hospital was a lot more complex than the cash register at CVS so yes I do expect a band-aid to cost more at an emergency room than a drug store.

Same thing w/businesses that have a fleet of vans stocked w/parts manned by numerous techinicans will "cost" more than the guy w/magnetic signs on his pickup.

How can it not be this way?

"How can it not be this way?"

You're suggesting that something from WalMart should cost more than from that guy in the truck, you know that?

And do you really want to suggest that medical supplies should come from the back of some Chevy?

Supply systems currently in place at every auto parts store in America work like this: if you need a common thing, here it is; if you need something rarer, they will have it the next morning, or they can tell you where it is.

And yes, most medical procedures can wait that long. Medical supplies are barcoded and inventoried, so their usage is easy to anticipate. As it is already, specialists are on call for demands the ER cannot handle.

Now, if you're going to tell me that this wouldn't handle every case... the present system doesn't, right now, and there's no way to make it do that. You're not getting an eyeball lost in Cherry County, Nebraska put back in in time, because in THAT case, the simple existence of a trauma center isn't warranted.

There is a better comparison. If you go to a fancy store and demand personal attention from the staff and when you are done you tell them to just bill your accountant don't be surprised when you get a ginormous bill.

They could have gone to a doc in the box and asked about costs upfront. Pay cash when you leave and it should cost ~$65 around here. Go to the ER and it will be several hundred as they learned. You aren't paying just for the bandaid. You are also paying for the doctor and overhead (i.e. operating costs for the facility) which I guarantee costs more than the clerk and shelf at CVS.

If you go to an ER (and _can_ pay the bill), you are also paying for all the indigents that use the ER for basic medical care. Federal law doesn't allow the ER to turn patients away if they can't prove their ability to pay - and that's a good thing if someone knocks you over the head and steals your wallet - other medical providers do check for ability to pay. The result is that poor people who haven't gotten on Medicaid use the ER and stiff them on the bill. In addition, Medicaid cases frequently use the ER rather than getting a family doctor - it doesn't matter to them that this costs several times as much because they aren't paying - and Medicaid pays only a portion of the bills. To stay solvent, the hospitals have to rob their paying customers.

I suggest three changes.

1) Unpaid ER bills can be sold to the federal government and passed to the IRS for collection. I would moderate that (and other IRS collections) somewhat with a requirement that first they evaluate the ability of the debtor to pay and reduce the debt if necessary - but even a disabled person living entirely on welfare will lose a bit of their income if they unnecessarily use the ER.

2) Make clinics running on the same financial rules as the ER (treat first, try to collect later, sell debts to the IRS) more accessable than ER's, so someone who isn't suffering a heart attack or arterial bleeding will go there rather to the ER. Since these clinics don't have to be able to handle a fleet of ambulances hauling in the victims of a shootout or multiple-auto-collision, they can work on a considerably lower cost basis.

3) Turn Medicaid into a universal insurance program for everyone who doesn't buy other insurance - but with means tested premiums. It will pay for pre-existing conditions, but eventually you'll have to pay premiums for the last 3 years if you weren't insured. And it gives crappy service, a limited list of providers, and limited coverage (just like it does now).