There is some good news on the 2A front out of the SCOTUS as the Justices struck down a law which required people to show cause before carrying a weapon for self defense:
“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,'” Thomas wrote. “We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense.”
In an era of high crime and the authorities not protecting conservatives this is very good but let me give one warning.
Some might look at this ruling and say: “Well we don’t have to worry about the gun control bill and red flag laws because SCOTUS will strike them down.”
Let me remind people who think this of two things:
The only reason why this vote was 6-3 and not 5-4 was because it was a fait acompli. If there had been one more liberal vote to uphold this law rest assured that Justice Roberts would have voted the other way.
People thought the same thing about Obamacare,. That it would not pass SCOTUS muster was conventional wisdom and the public argument right up to the moment when the court suddenly upheld it.
As I head toward retirement at the end of the month, my wife and I have had to delve into the Medicare morass.
Simply put, Medicare is one of the most confusing bureaucracies I’ve ever dealt with. Since I used to report on government bureaucracies, I thought I would have some expertise in cutting through the weeds.
For the most part, I was wrong.
For those who have yet to head into the Medicare morass, I pity you. For those who have managed to get through the barriers already, I applaud you and also pity you.
Medicare, run by the Social Security Administration, is one of the most complex organizations in the country, providing some form of hospital, medical, and drug coverage for millions of Americans, most of whom are 65 and older.
Here’s my story of banging my head against the Medicare walls.
I wanted to sign up for Medicare coverage a few months before I retired, and that’s tricky. I was able to sign up for Medicare, but I couldn’t tailor our coverage until one month before I retired.
That’s when the voluminous number of letters and responses started with Medicare. It appears that the organization doesn’t know how to use email or other forms of electronic correspondence.
I had to file three separate letters to Medicare to convince the minions that I was retiring.
I then was told my Medicare costs would be significantly higher for my wife and me because I earned more than I should in 2020. I had to appeal that decision, convincing the authorities that my retirement in June would mean I wouldn’t make as much money. That took two appeals—another set of letters and responses—until I finally returned to the original Medicare cost.
Then I decided to obtain a Medicare Advantage program from a private insurance company to ensure my wife and I got decent coverage for health issues and drugs. It’s rather strange since we don’t have many health issues.
The number of Medicare Advantage programs is voluminous and complicated. I still don’t truly understand the drug formula, known as the “donut,”—which is supposed to make it less costly the more drugs you have to use.
Most of my doctors take Medicare, but my chiropractor doesn’t. He finds it too costly to get paid by the government.
Our dentist doesn’t take Medicare. In fact, only a handful of dentists in our area take Medicare, so we added an extra dental plan at $109 a month.
For the past decade, I have had a Health Savings Account, which allowed us to save about 25 percent in taxes on the money spent for copays and other approved procedures that insurance plans didn’t cover. That saved us about $600 a year in taxes.
Medicare doesn’t allow such accounts. Although Congress has tried to pass such measures, not much has happened.
During the 2020 campaign, most Democrats called for “Medicare for All,” meaning that everyone would be brought under the umbrella of the health program. Since it’s estimated that Medicare may go bankrupt in a few years on its present course, it seems evident to me that would be a bad idea.
I’ll report later whether Medicare works for my wife and me. But I’ve added a few more gray hairs and seen my blood pressure rise during my lengthy attempt just to get signed up for the program.
SHREVEPORT – A few days ago on this blog, datechguy wrote about a favorite local business that was a casualty of the Biden economy:
In the grand scheme of things it’s just one more business that has gone under thanks to the Biden Administration Economy and the steal of the last election. It’s just a few more jobs lost by people who worked there for decades, it’s just one more person whose decades of hard work building a business has gone for naught. Nobody in Washington will note it, it will not make the NY Time or the Washington Post or the TV news nor will those in the administration which insists we have a booming economy notice that it is gone.
Y’all. I could have written this myself because the same thing happened to me this week and I know it’s happening all over the country. I know it is.
One of my favorite local businesses is Champagne’s Bakery located in Henderson, Louisiana on the edge of the Atchafalaya Basin. The business began 134 years ago in Breaux Bridge and is known for their French bread which they sell wholesale to a large percentage of restaurants in the Acadiana region. At the bakery in Henderson, when the bread is fresh and hot, a flashing light like a siren will spin wildly on their sign. It’s a landmark!
Champagne’s (pronounced SHAM-pines) is known for their trademark “pink cookies.” They are about the size of a quarter and are little sandwich cookies with icing as the filling. They are just the right size to pop into your mouth whole. During Mardi Gras they make them in purple and green; during football season you can get them in LSU purple and gold or Ragin’ Cajuns red. But always there are pink ones. They are delicious!
When the bakery announced on social media last week that they were closing, a large number of shocked commentors lamented the loss of the pink cookie.
Paul said that, like most places, the bakery took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Business slowed, but Paul said it wasn’t terrible.
The bakery was still recovering from the pandemic and things were looking pretty good until, he says, the economy began to turn.
When I pressed him for more, he said that inflation is killing the business.
3 years ago, Paul was paying around $15 for a case of eggs. Today, he is paying around $60. A few years ago, shortening for the baker cost Paul about $28 for shortening. Today, that same package of shortening sets him back $90.
Who can survive increases like that?!
Not to mention that when we were there two weeks ago, they were having trouble getting supplies in because of trucking woes. Their suppliers couldn’t get their goods to them. Smaller trucking companies are having to lay people off and make adjustments of their own; look at the diesel prices to figure that one out.
So, yes, I’m mad that I’m losing my favorite bakery. I’m even more mad that another, yet ANOTHER, local mom ‘n pop business is going under, a casualty of the Biden economy. But what really bothers me is where this is going to end. The WalMarts are going to survive. They’ll be here forever. Most of your chain restaurants are going to survive too. But soon you’re going to lose the local flavor, and even part of the culture, of what makes your area unique.
You’ll have to participate in hyper-capitalism to get anything done, to buy goods and materials, to eat.
Our local diners, those that are left, are struggling. They’re raising prices, they’re closing a couple of days a week, they’re struggling to find employees. They have to take what they can get from the labor force and it’s often lackluster.
I diverge from my point a bit, but really, where is this going to end?
In The Advocate this morning was an article about struggling shrimpers; fishing is a major source of livelihood for people in south Louisiana but rising fuel prices are contributing to the demise of that for a lot of fishermen.
Where does it all end? What will out economy and our culture look like at the end of this?
The loss of our local bakeries, restaurants, diners, and shops will soon mean our country is generic from one end to the other. You won’t be able to tell New Orleans from San Francisco.
…then why don’t we hear about all the Transgender men doing well in Men’s sports?
I mean if there actually is no difference if you grew up with the muscle mass of a man or not in sports then we should be hearing about all kinds of Transgender men making big strides in college and pro sports. We should be hearing about transgender men playing in the high minors, Transgender men being scouted for the NFL draft and NBA drafts and Transgender men making splashes internationally in Hockey and Soccer.
If the actual biology doesn’t matter this should be a story somewhere, shouldn’t it?
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