Octopus Overlords

Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order on Thursday to expand Medicaid, fulfilling a campaign vow that ends the long delays imposed by the fervent opposition of her Republican predecessor, Paul LePage.

More than 70,000 Mainers will be eligible for MaineCare health insurance under the expansion. Mills, who had promised to act on “day one” of her administration, was sworn into office Wednesday evening and signed “Executive Order 1” on Thursday.

Mainers can begin signing up for coverage immediately, Mills’ office said. To find out how to do so, those eligible can visit the Maine Department of Health and Human Services website. About 4,500 Mainers attempted to sign up under expansion in 2018 but were rebuffed by the LePage administration.

Naomi Loss, of Lisbon Falls, said it’s a day she’s been waiting for nearly a year, when her daughter Bethany turned 26 and was no longer eligible to be on her mother’s health insurance. Bethany, who is uninsured, has epilepsy and severe cognitive and developmental disorders, but was denied Medicaid disability and did not qualify for subsidized Affordable Care Act insurance. Bethany’s medications cost more than $1,000 per month, and rebates from the pharmaceutical company that helped their family afford the medications were set to run out early this year.

Max Peck wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 7:04 pmIt's a little weird to be reading about an executive order that doesn't seem, well, evil.

A representative of WikiLeaks has sent a "confidential" memo to news outlets including an updated "defamation list" (version 1.2), advising reporters not to mention or publish it. The memo was promptly leaked (update: the first out of the gate to leak was Emma Best of MuckRock). WikiLeaks then linked to a revised, heavily edited and redacted version (version 1.3) they posted "anonymously" on a text paste site.

Here, without further comment or editing, and in its entirety, is the WikiLeaks advisory.

It is false and defamatory to suggest that Julian Assange has ever walked into embassy meeting rooms in his underwear.

pr0ner wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 12:11 am https://www.twitter.com/Mediaite/status ... 2435676161

AT&T is reportedly planning a significant round of layoffs, despite receiving a large tax break and various regulatory favors such as the repeal of net neutrality rules.

New party. Who dis?

Skinypupy wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 11:29 am I don't always agree with AOC, but have to give her credit for being superb on social media. Her response to Joe Liebermann saying he hoped she wasn't the future of the Dems was stellar.

AOC wrote:To quote Alan Moore: “None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with YOU. You're locked up in here with ME.”

Octavious wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:07 pm Fox News is obsessed with her for some reason. I guess a liberal female latino is just too much for them to handle.

pr0ner wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:15 pm

Octavious wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:07 pm Fox News is obsessed with her for some reason. I guess a liberal female latino is just too much for them to handle.

Daily Caller is obsessed with her, too, going so far as to publish stories dealing with fake nude pictures of her.

Holman wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:44 pm Bonus points for quoting the comic and not the movie.

Defiant wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:16 pm I am shocked that "exasperated" "establishment" Democrats might not be all that happy with the new hire that's been plotting to replace them.

As to AOC, shes made some smart moves and some embarrassing mistake. I'm still kind of puzzled as to why she's a thing, though - has any freshmen ever gotten this kind of attention?

But it is amazing the way she's driven Republicans visibly wacky. I think only Hillary and Obama got this amount of attention from them.

Defiant wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:16 pm I'm still kind of puzzled as to why she's a thing, though - has any freshmen ever gotten this kind of attention?

Kraken wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:58 pm

Defiant wrote: Sun Jan 13, 2019 1:16 pm I'm still kind of puzzled as to why she's a thing, though - has any freshmen ever gotten this kind of attention?

She is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is not a millionaire and is not beholden to the usual special interests. She is an attractive, smart, articulate person of color who speaks her mind. She's an avowed democratic socialist. The media love her. She scares the bejezus out of the traditional power brokers, and especially the old white men of the GOP. She embodies the future that they are determined to prevent.

She sometimes seems to speak first and think later, but she's new at this. I hope she has a long, distinguished career ahead of her.

pr0ner wrote:

Octavious wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:07 pm Fox News is obsessed with her for some reason. I guess a liberal female latino is just too much for them to handle.

Daily Caller is obsessed with her, too, going so far as to publish stories dealing with fake nude pictures of her.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery.

Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury in 2017 when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while Paul was mowing his lawn. The incident left Kentucky's junior senator with six broken ribs and a bruised lung.

He is scheduled to have the outpatient operation at the Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario during the week of Jan. 21, according to documents from Paul's civil lawsuit against Boucher filed in Warren Circuit Court.

The procedure is estimated to cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000, according to court documents. MDsave.com lists a hernia repair costing between $4,000 and $8,000.

Shouldice Hernia Hospital markets itself as "the global leader in non-mesh hernia repair," according to the clinic's website.

Paul often argues for private market solutions to American's health care woes.

In Canada, medical care is publicly funded and universally provided through the country's Provincial Ministry of Health, and everyone receives the same level of care.

Enough wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:18 pm I am not lock step in agreement with AOC, but it sure is nice to have some humor and youth as an anecdote to the typical geriatric fare we get in our politicians. She's owning the label liberal and determined to make it cool.

“It’s a profoundly generational phenomenon, and, clearly, it’s scary,” he said. Perlstein sees Ocasio-Cortez as part of a generation that doesn’t bear the lingering psychic wounds of a Democratic Party stunned into wimpiness by the Reagan era and its aftermath.

Enough wrote: Mon Jan 14, 2019 4:07 pmAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez is freaking out the news media. And it’s working for her.

“It’s a profoundly generational phenomenon, and, clearly, it’s scary,” he said. Perlstein sees Ocasio-Cortez as part of a generation that doesn’t bear the lingering psychic wounds of a Democratic Party stunned into wimpiness by the Reagan era and its aftermath.

Skinypupy wrote: Tue Jan 15, 2019 10:13 am People who don't have a prior history of being racist shitbags might get the benefit of the doubt on this one. Steve King, not so much.

NickAragua wrote: Tue Jan 15, 2019 12:19 pm "Well, what I *meant* to say was that I consider people with a skin color different than mine to be inferior and subhuman."

"Uh, I mean, immigration."