Top 6 Reasons to Sign Up for Health Insurance at healthcare.gov Today
6. You only have seven days left to sign up for coverage starting January 1st.
5. Did somebody say excellent benefits? Like no denial for pre-existing conditions? Like keeping dependents on your plan until age 26? Like a bunch of free preventive care services? Like no lifetime caps? And in many cases premiums are lower than last year? Why yes. Yes, I did.
Continued...
4. Your insurance card doubles as a convenient windshield scraper in winter and gentle cooling fan in the summer.
3. I can’t tell you what #3 is. You’ll just have to trust me.
2b. Because enrolling means you’re, like, a responsible adult and stuff.
2a. It’ll piss off “Healthiest Man in America” (just ask him) Donald Trump so much that he’ll barely be able to wolf down his two platters of hamberders, fries, extra-large slab of the best chocolate cake (believe me), and Diet Coke. Hell, it might even send him to the ER for even more “routine physical.”
And the #1 reason, courtesy of Daily Kos’s brainwrap (aka Charles Gaba) at ACASignups.net, who keeps track of the numbers like no one else:
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Again: 7 days.
And now, our feature presentation...
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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Note: Today, in open defiance of Leviticus, I'm wearing garments that mingle two kinds of material. In fact, they mingle three. Because I live on the edge of danger. —Daredevil Billeh
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the start of Hanukkah: 2
Portion of Americans surveyed by Pew who say they're "pretty certain" they won’t get the coronavirus vaccine: 2-in-10
Percent of New York firefighters who say they won’t get the coronavirus vaccine because of anti-vaxxer hysteria, according to Newsweek: 55%
Percent of the voting-eligible population who voted this year: 66.7%
Year by which Denmark, the EU's largest fossil fuel producer, says it will end oil and gas extraction in the North Sea for good: 2050
Weight of a cubic foot of powdery snow: 3 pounds
Weight of a cubic foot of wet snow: 10 pounds
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Happy birthday #8 (51 in human years, we’re told) to C&J's rescue lab-mix and parvo/cancer survivor Haley. One of the happiest and smartest dogs we've ever had the privilege of being owned by, SBDs and all. Everyone: please enjoy the free kibble casserole in the C&J cafeteria today in honor of our goofy old snow-lovin’ dawg from Macon, Georgia:
Happy birthday, Haley, and many blessings on your squeaky toys.
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CHEERS to more sand slipping through the hourglass. It may seem slow as molasses, but tempus fugits steadily onward toward January 20th. And despite the current Snowflake-in-Chief's whining, another milestone has arrived to slam another door in Donald Trump's face:
December 8, 2020: The Safe Harbor Deadline
U.S. Code requires that states resolve all election-related disputes six days before electors cast their votes.
States are expected to complete recounts, resolve any legal challenges, and certify results by this date, commonly known as the “Safe Harbor” deadline.
Typically, state governors also prepare Certificates of Ascertainment by this date, which include the names of electors, certified election results, and the state’s official seal. […] If a state succeeds in meeting the Safe Harbor Deadline, their results are considered conclusive and legally binding when sent to Congress for counting.
reaching safe harbor clears the way for what happens next: the official vote of the electors six days from today—December 14th—in Washington, D.C. under the watchful, tearful eyes of Vice President Mike Pence. The scarcest commodity in stores between now and then: popcorn.
CHEERS to more smarts and competence. I don’t know if I can stand all these qualified professionals being recruited for President-elect Joe Biden's inner circle, but I'm happy to find out. The latest additions continue to fulfill Joe's pledge to have the most diverse cabinet in U.S. history:
Health and Human Services President-elect Joe Biden on Monday picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and created three new senior White House positions intended to signal a more aggressive response to Covid-19, including addressing its disproportionate impact on Black people and Latinos.
Becerra, 62, served 12 terms in the House of Representatives and was a vigorous defender of the Affordable Care Act who led the defense of the law in the Supreme Court last month. If he is confirmed, he would be the first Latino to lead the massive department as the incoming administration tries to elevate more diverse candidates to front-line positions.
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention [Dr. Rochelle] Walensky is currently the chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital.
She is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. The position does not require Senate confirmation. “I began my medical career at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and I've spent my life ever since working to research, treat and combat infectious diseases,” Walensky said. “I'm honored to be called to lead the brilliant team at the CDC. We are ready to combat this virus with science and facts.”
NBC News says Biden will make these and other world-class nominations official today, including a brand-new position made necessary by the times in which we live: Post-Trump Administration White House Silverware Counter.
JEERS to winter snowflakes. As the aforementioned Safe Harbor Day arrives, let's take a quick spin through the halls of justice and conduct a formal inventory of how the courts are ruling on Trump's election-fraud lawsuits thus far, according to Marc Elias at Democracy Docket, lovingly presented in the shape of a squirt bottle of the lame-duck president’s favorite orange face makeup:
No!
No! No! No!
No! No! No!
No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
No! No! Yes No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
No! No! No! No! No!
This is now getting so ridiculous I'm actually bored with all the winning. Trump warned this would happen. Warned us, he did.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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END BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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CHEERS to today's edition of Ya Think????? Univision's Jorge Ramos wonders aloud in The New York Times if maybe normalizing a mentally-deranged tyrant and crook might not have been the best move for the mainstream media:
We journalists should have been tougher on Mr. Trump, questioning his every lie and insult.
We should not have let him get away with his racism and xenophobia. We should never again allow someone to create an alternative reality in order to seize the presidency.
Perhaps it was the pandemic that was most responsible for putting an end to Mr. Trump’s presidency. But the entire debacle might have been avoided if we had simply paid greater attention—and offered more resistance—to the words and gestures of the undeserving man who descended the golden escalator of Trump Tower in 2015.
This has been today's edition of Ya Think?????
JEERS to NAFTA. On December 8, 1993 the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed into law by President Clinton. It eliminates virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. To celebrate, officials will commemorate its 27th anniversary by visiting U.S. manufacturing plants all across the country. And that country, of course, would be Mexico.
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Ten years ago in C&J: December 8, 2010
JEERS to killing a bill without lifting a veto pen. If my math is right, 1.1 billion 100-dollar bills add up to...[Clackity clack clack clackity]...a shitload of cash. But there are, in fact, 1.1 billion C-notes sitting in storage right now because they're defective. China's first words to Tim Geithner when it heard the news: "Dude, you broke our money??!!"
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And just one more...
CHEERS to A Timely and Necessary Musical Interlude. 40 years ago today, on December 8, 1980, John Lennon was gunned down by some moron. I was 16 and getting ready for school when I heard the news that day (oh boy), and it's hard to fathom that I'm now more than fifteen years older than he was—40—when he was killed. Lennon believed that all you need is love, give peace a chance and war is over if you want it. And this, too…
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Today there will be commemorations of John Lennon's life and activism. Pay no attention to the war industry and the NRA rolling their eyes. They’re assholes.
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial
"Each Cheers and Jeers is different. It’s just, you know, drinking out of a firehose trying to keep ahead of everything that’s going on in the kiddie pool."
—Dr. Anthony Fauci
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