The news thread

[Toy Revolver]

https://apnews.com/article/48d1f565c800139bb397bb886436968f

as states begin checking everyone's eligibility for Medicaid for the first time in three years, as many as 14 million people could lose access to that health care coverage

as far as i'm concerned any hospital or clinic that turns away the poor should be razed

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/25/business/long-covid-workforce-issues-disability-claims

Long Covid disabled them. Then they met a 'broken' Social Security disability process

more on american hospitals refusing to treat the poor

if they don't treat the poor they should be destroyed

[Trollheart]

Also, on Brexit: selfish if you like, but one effect it has had for me is that now if I buy something from the UK I have to pay VAT, whereas before I did not, as the UK was part of Europe and covered by the agreement between EU nations after the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty. Basically, it's no longer worth buying from the UK unless the item is quite cheap. I think the UK may have lost a lot of business from European buyers due to this. Why buy from Britain when you can probably get it at the same price from Spain or France or Germany, or even if it is a little more expensive, it still makes sense when you don't have to pay VAT?

[jimmy jazz]

I know you know and this is nitpicking, but the UK is still part of Europe.

[Toy Revolver]

selfish if you like, but one effect it has had for me is that now if I buy something from the UK I have to pay VAT, whereas before I did not, as the UK was part of Europe

that's not selfish - sales taxes are regressive and disproportionately injure the poor

[Toy Revolver]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/americas/mexico-asylum-policy-intl-latam

The US proposal – which has been panned by human rights advocates and immigration experts – largely bars migrants who have not taken a legal pathway and instead traveled through other countries on their way to the US southern border from applying for asylum in the US. It would take effect in May.

i was so happy when biden won and i voted for him but i'm really REALLY tired of his Trump 2.0 presidency

[Trollheart]

I know you know and this is nitpicking, but the UK is still part of Europe.

Yeah but not financially or in trade agreement sense. Basically they're excluded from the no-VAT-charged-on-EU-goods agreement, so they might as well not be part of it, as far as I'm concerned. Also, not that I care or would, but if I were to travel to the UK do I now need a passport? Not sure.

[Rubber Soul]

Ireland is still part of the EU, right?

[jimmy jazz]

I know you know and this is nitpicking, but the UK is still part of Europe.

Yeah but not financially or in trade agreement sense. Basically they're excluded from the no-VAT-charged-on-EU-goods agreement, so they might as well not be part of it, as far as I'm concerned. Also, not that I care or would, but if I were to travel to the UK do I now need a passport? Not sure.

No you don't and the same applies the other way.

I thought I would mention it in case anyone reads it and thinks the UK isn't part of Europe.

Ireland is still part of the EU, right?

Yeah.

[Toy Revolver]

I thought I would mention it in case anyone reads it and thinks the UK isn't part of Europe.

When I went from England to France it did sort of feel like I was going to Europe though. As a kid I always thought of the UK as Europe but then in college I had a professor who made a big distinction between the UK and "the continent" so I thought oh I didn't know that was a big thing and it kind of stuck in my head. But yeah, I mean Japan is part of Asia and Greenland is America

[jimmy jazz]

Maybe the language had something to do with it.

[Toy Revolver]

Maybe the language had something to do with it.

yeah - it was nice to get to paris where people can actually speak english

[Toy Revolver]

https://apnews.com/article/3dbe15abc204f540711704f520bc4074

Dozens of activists, including Greta Thunberg of neighboring Sweden, were blocking the entrance to Norway's energy ministry in Oslo Monday to protest a wind farm they say hinders the rights of the Sami indigenous people to raise reindeer in Arctic Norway.

damned if you do; damned if you don't

[Trollheart]

I wonder if they'll go down, down, down, down, down in history?

[Psy-Fi]

https://apnews.com/article/3dbe15abc204f540711704f520bc4074

Dozens of activists, including Greta Thunberg of neighboring Sweden, were blocking the entrance to Norway's energy ministry in Oslo Monday to protest a wind farm they say hinders the rights of the Sami indigenous people to raise reindeer in Arctic Norway.

damned if you do; damned if you don't

One of the old horror/sci-fi flicks I watched recently, had a group of native reindeer herders in the story, herding reindeer and battling a giant alien bigfoot creature in the snow.

[Janszoon]

One of the old horror/sci-fi flicks I watched recently, had a group of native reindeer herders in the story, herding reindeer and battling a giant alien bigfoot creature in the snow.

Herding reindeer and battling a giant alien bigfoot creature is my typical Monday.