SunSeeker
SunSeeker's JournalPro-Russia ex-premier leads leftist party to win in Slovakia election
Source: NBC News
A populist former prime minister and his leftist party won parliamentary elections in Slovakia, staging a political comeback after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-American message, according to almost complete results.
Former Prime Minister Robert Fico and the leftist Smer, or Direction, party led with 22.9%, the Slovak Statistics Office said early Sunday after completing the count of 99.98% of the votes from some 6,000 polling stations.
The election Saturday was a test for the small eastern European country’s support for neighboring Ukraine in its war with Russia, and the win by Fico could strain a fragile unity in the European Union and NATO.
Fico, 59, vowed to withdraw Slovakia’s military support for Ukraine in Russia’s war if his attempt to return to power succeeded.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/slovakia-election-pro-russia-ex-premier-robert-fico-election-win-rcna118257
Slovakia is going the way of Hungary. This is bad news for Europe, and the world. Slovakia, and all of Europe, especially Eastern Europe, has been awash in Putin's propaganda. It is having an affect. It's Putin's most effective conquest technique.
Jimmy Buffett died after a four-year fight with a rare form of skin cancer
Jimmy Buffett, whose sun-drenched songs celebrated life by the shore, died of a rare, aggressive skin cancer, according to a statement on his website.
Buffett, 76, had Merkel cell cancer, according to the statement, which was posted after initial news of his death emerged Saturday. The statement also disclosed where the “Margaritaville” singer died: at his home in Sag Harbor, New York, near the Hamptons.
He had been fighting the cancer for four years while continuing to perform, the last time making a surprise appearance in Rhode Island in early July, the statement said.
Merkel cell carcinoma, as it's known in medical literature, is very rare and tends to spread quickly, including to parts of the body beyond the skin, according to the federal National Cancer Institute and the Mayo Clinic. Risk factors include a lot of sun exposure, a weakened immune system, a history of other cancers, and being light-skinned and over 50.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/jimmy-buffett-died-after-year-fight-rare-form-102895688
Head of Zelenskyy's office posts AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell'
Andriy Yermak did not leave any other comment.
Love me some dark humor. If there is a Hell, Prighozin's there.
In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged barricades survived
As flames tore through a West Maui neighborhood, car after car of fleeing residents headed for the only paved road out of town in a desperate race for safety.
And car after car was turned back toward the rapidly spreading wildfire by a barricade blocking access to Highway 30.
One family swerved around the barricade and was safe in a nearby town 48 minutes later, another drove their 4-wheel-drive car down a dirt road to escape. One man took an dirt road uphill, climbing above the fire and watching as Lahaina burned. He later picked his way through the flames, smoke and rubble to pull survivors to safety.
But dozens of others found themselves caught in a hellscape, their cars jammed together on a narrow road, surrounded by flames on three sides and the rocky ocean waves on the fourth. Some died in their cars, while others tried to run for safety.
https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9?user_email=af4a3b628578e24fe3cc001524281964ec2742242ba6399b7768d46e524c3cce&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire_23%20August_2023&utm_content=B&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers
( Good interactive timeliness and recap of the fire at the link, along with stories of what people did to manage to survive. Good lesson for future disasters. )
West Maui beyond Lahaina cut off and struggling
Residents of West Maui in the areas unaffected by fire say they’ve felt trapped this week, lacking access, communication, and supplies for the thousands of residences and businesses still standing. Past the destruction of one area of Lahaina, around the edges and beyond were untouched by fire, but their residents were stranded nonetheless.Nothing burned down north of the post office, which is Kaanapali, Honokwai, Mahinihina, Kahana, Napili, Kapalua,” said Maui County Councilmember Tamara Paltin, speaking to KHON2 on her first day able to get a signal out of West Maui. “Nobody wanted to leave to get supplies and then go to a shelter on the other side when their house was still standing.”
They’re struggling without power and dwindling supplies, and many tell us officials instructed them all week it’s a one-way trip if they left.
“They’re saying that if we head out to the Wailuku area, they’re only letting people that have flights, so tourists and locals, to leave,” said Kahana resident Eliana Perez, “and if you go out you’re not going to be able to come back in through Lahaina.”
https://www.khon2.com/top-stories/west-maui-beyond-lahaina-cut-off-and-struggling/
Messi bends it like Beckham for his Miami debut, as Becks watches in delight.
With the game tied 1-1 in minute 93, Messi scored on a free kick that curved right around the defenders and slipped into the top left corner of the goal, out of reach of the helpless goalie's outstretched hands, winning the game for Miami 2-1. Miami is in full Messi-mania!
The lovely curve can best be seen at the view at 0:20:
Beckham is co-owner of Inter Miami CF, and has seen ticket sales spike 558%, even with ticket prices shooting up 459%, since they signed Messi. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/07/18/messi-drives-miami-ticket-prices-up-500-ahead-of-debut/
More than 1 million people are dropped from Medicaid as states start a post-pandemic purge of rolls
Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork.
Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government, President’s Joe Biden’s administration isn’t too pleased at how efficiently some other states are accomplishing the task.
...
Florida has dropped several hundred thousand people, by far the most among states. The drop rate also has been particularly high in other states. For people whose cases were decided in May, around half or more got dropped in Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.
https://apnews.com/article/medicaid-eligibility-states-coronavirus-pandemic-46484af651466539d6874c1a97397b50?user_email=af4a3b628578e24fe3cc001524281964ec2742242ba6399b7768d46e524c3cce&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=MorningWire_June27_2023&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers
Really fishy how the red states manage to use paperwork technicalities to drop people from Medicaid. I wonder how many of those people even know they were dropped, or even received any paperwork to fill out. I imagine a lot of addresses on file are no longer current, and red states probably don't care if they're sending to the wrong address.
I predict our emergency rooms will be slammed this winter with newly uninsured and very sick patients. And covid has not gone away. There was a 9.1% increase in nationwide covid deaths in the last week. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_currenthospitalizations_testpositivity_00
More than 1 million people are dropped from Medicaid as states start a post-pandemic purge of rolls
Source: AP
More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork.
Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government, President’s Joe Biden’s administration isn’t too pleased at how efficiently some other states are accomplishing the task.
Florida has dropped several hundred thousand people, by far the most among states. The drop rate also has been particularly high in other states. For people whose cases were decided in May, around half or more got dropped in Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/medicaid-eligibility-states-coronavirus-pandemic-46484af651466539d6874c1a97397b50?user_email=af4a3b628578e24fe3cc001524281964ec2742242ba6399b7768d46e524c3cce&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=MorningWire_June27_2023&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers
Really fishy how the red states manage to use paperwork technicalities to drop people from Medicaid. I wonder how many of those people even know they were dropped, or even received any paperwork to fill out. I imagine a lot of addresses on file are no longer current, and red states probably don't care if they're sending to the wrong address.
I predict our emergency rooms will be slammed this winter with newly uninsured and very sick patients. Covid has not gone away. There was a 9.1% increase in nationwide covid deaths in the last week. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_currenthospitalizations_testpositivity_00
Russian authorities launch criminal probe into Wagner Group over threats to oust defense minister
Source: AP
Authorities in Russia launched a criminal probe Friday against the owner of the Wagner Group military contractor over his alleged threats to oust Russia’s defense minister.
The announcement follows a statement from owner Yevgeny Prigozhin accusing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of ordering a rocket strike on Wagner’s field camps in the Ukraine where its soldier are fighting on behalf of Russia against Ukranian forces.
Prigozhin said that his troops would now move to punish Shoigu and urged the army not to offer resistance. Prigozhin declared that “this is not an armed rebellion, but a march of justice.”
The Russian Defense Ministry rejected Prigozhin’s claim and the National Anti-Terrorism Committee, the country’s top counter-terrorism structure, said it opened a criminal inquiry on charges of making calls for a military coup.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-war-russia-nuclear-647a545db4e4628676ff7db5b1bded34?user_email=af4a3b628578e24fe3cc001524281964ec2742242ba6399b7768d46e524c3cce&utm_medium=Afternoon_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=AfternoonWire_Jun23_2023&utm_term=Afternoon%20Wire
How Blue Houston Decreased Their Homelessness By 60%
This editorial outlining how Democratic-led Houston, despite a red state government, decreased their homeless population by 60%, should be a model for the nation:
We should note that homelessness got worse here before it got better. In 2011, the Houston area had one of the largest homeless populations in the country. With the threat of homelessness only increasing, and dismay over decades of substantial investments without results, our community was propelled into action.
...
This became particularly critical during Covid-19, when homelessness became a present danger to many people who were already living on the brink. As challenging as it was, we reframed this crisis as an opportunity to do more to assist them. The city of Houston and Harris County strategically invested federal pandemic aid, alongside contributions from private philanthropy, allowing our system to house, or offer homelessness diversion services to, more than 12,000 people during the pandemic. We housed the most vulnerable people first. When the average person sees someone experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental illness, they assume that individual is dangerous or needs hospitalization. Our experience is that most of these folks stabilize in housing with the appropriate level of services. We have also found that housing with supportive services is the solution to encampments — sites where unhoused people set up groups of tents. We have holistically decommissioned dozens of encampments by placing close to 400 people on the path to housing.
...
We are doing this difficult work not just because it is the moral thing to do, but also because it is the fiscally responsible thing to do. It is less expensive to house an individual and provide services (we estimate about $18,000 per year) than the multiple of costs of putting people in jail or allowing them to suffer on the streets and being forced to make regular use of our emergency rooms (which national estimates range from $30,000 to $50,000 and up).
..
Since 2012, more than 28,000 people who have experienced homelessness in the greater Houston area have been housed. This has resulted in a more than a 60% decrease in overall homelessness in just over a decade.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/08/opinions/homelessness-solutions-houston-model-eichenbaum-nichols/index.html
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