Month: January 2019

Opinion/Analysis: You’ve probably never heard of anti-competitive ‘certificate of need’ laws but they’re harming your health care

Imagine if a state law prohibited new restaurants from opening in your town unless an aspiring restaurateur successfully convinced the government that the area “needed” another eatery. Now imagine if that law didn’t stop there – that it also gave incumbent restaurants a say in the matter. If one could persuade the government that a new entrant would harm its interests – or could marshal its employees to lobby the state to protect their jobs – then that new restaurant would never open. Freed from competition, existing restaurants could hike prices or reduce service. And there would be little diners could do about it. Such laws actually exist. But they don’t govern restaurants. They prevent new hospitals and clinics from being built. These anti-competitive statutes, known as “certificate of need” (CON) laws, are driving up health care costs across the country. It’s time to repeal them. New York enacted the first certificate of need law in 1964. State lawmakers feared that hospital groups would build too many facilities and pass the cost of creating and maintaining excess capacity on to consumers. So they required health care providers to seek permission before constructing or expanding hospitals or clinics. In 1974, the federal government effectively forced states to put certificate of need laws on their books as a condition for receiving federal funding. But instead of keeping health care prices stable, CON laws concentrated market power with incumbent providers, who then gouged consumers. On average, U.S. hospital spending grew at a 14 percent annualized rate during the 1970s and a 9.6 percent annualized rate over the course of the 1980s. The federal government repealed its CON law requirement in 1986. Since then, 15 states have abolished their statutes. But 35 states and the District of Columbia still enforce them. And their residents pay a heavy price. Those 36 jurisdictions have 99 fewer hospital beds per 100,000 people than non-CON states, according to a study from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Patients in CON states also travel farther to receive health care. And they pay a lot more for it. Per capita health spending is 11 percent higher in states with CON laws than in those without them. These anti-competitive laws make it particularly hard for rural patients to access care. There are 30 percent fewer rural hospitals per capita in states with CON laws, according to another Mercatus study.

Thanks to Sally C. Pipes for that piece.  Sally C. Pipes is president, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy at the Pacific Research Institute. Her latest book is “The False Promise of Single-Payer Health Care” (Encounter 2018). Follow her on Twitter @sallypipes.

San Francisco area restaurant bans ‘Make America Great’ hats, compares to white hoods and swastikas

An award-winning cookbook author and California restaurant owner says anyone wearing a red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap will be refused service at his restaurant. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is a chef-partner of the Wursthall restaurant in San Mateo and says in a tweet Sunday that he views the hats as symbols of intolerance and hate. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that Lopez-Alt’s decision was met with mixed reaction by restaurant clients. Diners interviewed by the newspapers said they understood Lopez-Alt’s stance but questioned the hat ban and said he could have found a way to start a dialogue on the issue. On Twitter, many criticized the so-called tolerance of the liberal Bay Area. Lopez-Alt wrote the 2015 book “The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science.” He says his restaurant received threatening emails following the tweet and declined further comment.

Of course not!  This chef is a brazen hypocrite.  I find it curious how liberals are so quick to judge and whine about “intolerance,” when it is they who are being intolerant.  If you’re wearing a Trump MAGA hat, or voice your support for the man, you can’t eat here.  So typical..  Hopefully people will boycot the Wursthall restaurant in San Mateo, until this self-righteous tool decides to be a little more tolerant.

This Fast-Food Chain Has the Best Customer Service in America

Good customer service can go a long way, especially when you’re hangry and the fast-food line isn’t moving very fast. There is one restaurant where you’re guaranteed to be greeted with a smile and get your food in a timely manner. If you’ve ever been there you’ve probably heard their employees say, ‘My pleasure.’ That’s right, Chick-fil-A, the famous chicken joint, has the best fast-food customer service in America. They beat Sonic Drive-In, which came in at second place, and Arby’s, in third place. The America’s Best Customer Service 2019 report by Newsweek and Statista surveyed 20,000 U.S. customers. They each rated several brands in categories such as quality of communication, technical competence, range of services, customer focus, and accessibility. It’s no surprise that Chick-fil-A scored first in the fast-food category considering that good customer service has always been a part of their brand. A quote from the chain’s founder, S. Truett Cathy, is displayed proudly on their website. It states, ‘We should be about more than just selling chicken. We should be a part of our customers’ lives and the communities in which we serve.’ Don’t miss these polite customer habits that fast-food workers secretly dislike. Every Chick-fil-A store works hard six days a week to not only serve delicious biscuits, chicken sandwiches, and crispy waffle fries, but to also have quality face-to-face interaction with every one of its customers.

This is hardly surprising.  Congrats to Chick-fil-A!  They’ve earned this.      🙂

VA Gov Northam on Abortion Bill: Infant Could Be Delivered and Then ‘Physicians and the Mother’ Could Decide If It Lives

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D.) commented Wednesday about a controversial 40-week abortion bill and in so doing said the law allows an abortion to take place after the infant’s birth. “If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother,” Northam said, alluding to the physician and mother discussing whether the born infant should live or die. A Democratic lawmaker in the Virginia House of Delegates proposed a bill Tuesday that would allow abortions through the end of the third trimester of pregnancy. The video of Delegate Kathy Tran presenting her bill led to an exchange where she admitted that her bill would allow for a mother to abort her child minutes before giving birth. “How late in the third trimester could a physician perform an abortion if he indicated that it would impair the mental health of the woman?” Majority Leader Todd Gilbert (R.) asked. “Or physical health,” Tran said. “Okay,” Gilbert replied. “I’m talking about the mental health.” “I mean, through the third trimester,” Tran said. “The third trimester goes up to 40 weeks.” “Okay, but to the end of the third trimester?” Gilbert asked. “Yup, I don’t think we have a limit in the bill,” Tran said. “Where it’s obvious that a woman is about to give birth, she has physical signs that she’s about to give birth, would that still be a point at which she could request an abortion if she was so certified?” Gilbert asked. “She’s dilating.” Tran responded that is a decision between the woman and her doctor would have to make. Gilbert asked if her bill would allow an abortion right before the infant was born. “My bill would allow that, yes,” Tran said. NBC4 reporter Julie Carey asked Northam about the measure. “Do you support her measure and explain her answer?” Carey asked. “I wasn’t there, Julie. And I certainly can’t speak for delegate Tran. But I would tell you one, the first think I would say, this is why decisions such as this should be made by providers, physicians, and the mothers and fathers that are involved,” Northam said. “When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of obviously the mother, with the consent of the physicians, more than one physician by the way. And it is done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that is non-viable.” Northam continued by saying government shouldn’t be involved in these types of decisions and that legislators, especially male legislators, shouldn’t be telling women what to do. “I think this was really blown out of proportion. But again we want the government not to be involved in these types of decisions. We want the decision to be made by the mothers and their providers. And this is why Julie, that legislators, most of whom are men by the way, shouldn’t be telling a woman what she should or shouldn’t be doing with her body,” Northam said. Carey asked if the law should still require women to have multiple physicians approve an abortion. “Well, I think it is always good to get a second opinion and for at least two providers to be involved in that decision,” Northam said. “These decisions shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Wow..  Just pause and re-read what Gov. Northam (D-VA) is saying here..  He’s advocating that it’s perfectly reasonable to abort mere minutes before birth for a whole range of reasons having NOTHING to do with the life or health and welfare of the mother.  He’s even suggesting it can be done POST birth/POST delivery!  And, if your a male (who isn’t a liberal Democrat, of course, like him), then you shouldn’t weigh in on the issue.  What a hypocrite!  Now, here at The Daily Buzz we really try to avoid the abortion issue altogether as it’s such a divisive issue.  And, it’s really not what this blog focuses on.  But, c’mon..  This is what the late DEMOCRAT Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) referred to as “infanticide.”  This isn’t about whether abortion should be legal or not.  Its about abortion on demand regardless of science, and even POST delivery.  By ANY definition, that’s murder…and that’s what these lunatics are advocating.  Unreal..  If you’re in Virigina, ya just might want to contact your state rep and state senator, and let them know how ya feel about this insanity.

Analysis: Washington Post Political Reporter Calls Trump Supporters ‘Rubes’

The far-left Washington Post’s Dave Weigel called President Trump’s supporters “rubes” during an appearance on a left-wing podcast. In response, the Post told the Daily Caller, which first reported on the incident, that “We do not think our reporters should be using derogatory terms to characterize anyone [and the] matter is being handled internally.” Weigel appeared on the left-wing podcast Chapo Trap Host and in reference to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) handling of the partial government shutdown and the funding for President Trump’s wall, said that McConnell “is very good at identifying what the rubes want to hear.” McConnell didn’t care about the wall… he’s very good at identifying what the rubes want to hear, because all he cares about is getting enough judges to strike down campaign-finance law, strike down gun law, strike down health care, etc. All of his brilliant tactics are like, ‘What if we don’t have a vote on this? What if we just sit here for two years and don’t have a vote on this?’ On the wall, like, ‘What if we don’t do that? What if we just don’t do that? Everyone go away so I can confirm more judges.” Like much of the establishment media, the anti-Trump Post has increasingly tolerated and even encouraged slurs against those on the political right, most especially President Trump and his supporters. Earlier this month, the Post published a column arguing it was okay to call Trump a “motherfucker” and even after the boys from Covington Catholic High School were vindicated by uncut video, the Post continues to publish smears about these kids, who are guilty of nothing more than being white, Christian Trump supporters. The Post has also openly called for the harassment of Trump supporters, up to and including violence. Back in July, the Post’s Jennifer Rubin publicly called for the public harassment of White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. In June, the increasingly unhinged Post published a story advocating for the universal hatred of all men and attempted to blame Trump for creating a hurricane. The Post has also published call for violence against the political right, as we saw in a piece published in mid-2017. The Post was already aware of Weigel’s long history of smearing the political right. He was forced to resign from the Post for exactly that back in 2010. The Post rehired him a few years later, and now, here he is, back to doing it again when he believes no one is looking. But there will be no repercussions this time. Compared to the open calls for hate, harassment, and violence the Post is publishing and spreading nowadays, Weigel’s elite biases seem pretty tame.

Agreed…  Thanks to John Nolte for that excellent analysis exposing the extreme liberal bias of the Washington Post, and Dave Weigel.  The Washington Post has been a key member of the dominantly liberal mainstream media.  But, they’ve gone WAY off the deep end since Trump became president.  And, their arrogant elitism is SO offensive.  Keep in mind, if you’re a Trump supporter, or voted for him..  Dave just called you a “rube” which is basically calling you an uneducated, country hick…and he’s looking down his nose at you.  What a self-righteous, arrogant, elitist, prick.

Apple to patch FaceTime privacy bug

Apple Opens a New Window. said on Monday it will issue a fix for a bug that lets iPhone Opens a New Window. users hear audio from users who have not yet accepted a FaceTime video call. The software patch will be issued by the end of the week. The bug allows an iPhone user placing a call using Apple’s FaceTime video-calling feature to hear audio from the recipient’s phone even if the recipient has not yet picked up the call, according to Reuters. In certain situations, the bug also broadcast both video and audio from the recipient’s phone, the technology news website the Verge noted. Apple’s group FaceTime was temporarily made unavailable due to an ongoing issue, according to Apple’s system status webpage. The Cupertino, California-based company was not immediately available to comment on the update on its system status page. Apple announced the feature last summer, but then removed it from early test versions of its iOS 12 operating system. The company launched the feature in October. Apple will report its fiscal first quarter results after the markets close on Tuesday.

Pete Townshend pressing forward with new Who album

Pete Townshend is working full throttle on the upcoming Who album — which could be out by this spring. Townshend has been posting on TheWho.com about his current overdub sessions for the album — and the planning of the album cover art. Townshend even posted a 30-second clip of an unfinished track for the album featuring noted guitarist Gordon Giltrap supplying a flamenco-like nylon string guitar line. Townshend went on to post on the website about working with famed pop artist Sir Peter Blake — best known for designing the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band as well as the Who’s Face Dances — about providing the artwork for the new Who album: Townshend wrote, “Today (January 24th) I met with Peter Blake the artist at his studio in London to discuss what he might do to create album art for the next Who album, We are old friends, going back to 1964 when we met on the set of the Ready Steady Go! TV show. Peter also studied with, and knew well, many of the lecturers who taught me at Ealing Art School between 1961 and 1964. It was great to see the amazing collection of art and sculptures he has. It’s colorful, exciting and stimulating. I shot a video with my new Vlogging camera. Sorry about the shaking — I will get better. By the way, with the help of a friend from Texas who will remain nameless but for the fact that he has a website called theentiref***inguniverse.com gave us an idea for a name for the album. Quite simply ‘WHO’. Might take us right back to the beginning, who knows.” Pete Townshend gave us the back-story on what will be the Who’s first new studio set in nearly 13 years: “I had said to our managers that I would like to tour, but only if we had a new album out. And because I had made that condition, I spent from May, June, July — and quite a chunk of August — working on 15 tracks and wrestling a few tracks from ancient history, and submitted them in the beginning of September.” Townshend told us he’s planning on adding musicians to his studio tracks to flesh out the songs: “Maybe with Pino Palladino on bass and Zak Starkley on drums to replace the bass and drums elements on the recordings that I’ve made, so that it feels more like a band. We shall see. But we’ve started, y’know, we’re in the process. Roger listened to my songs. He came back with a plan, which is, he’s away for six weeks — or nearly, eight weeks, now — when he comes back he’s going to start working on the vocals.” In celebration of their recently announced 2019 North American MOVING ON! Tour, The Who have launched a series of pop up Magic Buses straight from the 60s in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. The buses are inspired by The Who’s iconic song “Magic Bus” and compilation album, Magic Bus – The Who On Tour from 1968. Fans in New York City can see the double decker buses now through February 10th as they hit the streets all over Manhattan from Harlem to Midtown, down to Chelsea and Greenwich Village. Fans who spot the bus can also enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win two premium tickets to The Who’s tour stop nearest to them. To enter, fans can post a picture of the bus on Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #MagicBusEntry and follow + tag @LiveNation in the image.

How cool is that?!?  🙂

Opinion/Analysis: ‘White Privilege’ Is a Racist Idea

Across the country, re-education sessions are routinely held in businesses, professional offices, medical schools, universities, and even kindergartens. Their purpose is to teach the un-woke about the evils of “white privilege,” and make white people who participate uncomfortable about their skin color. Whites are to own up to the fact that regardless of their intentions, beliefs, behaviors or status in life, they are elite participants in a racist system that oppresses “people of color,” and are so merely because they are white. But discrimination on the basis of skin color has been outlawed in this country for more than 60 years. One might reasonably ask, “WTF is white privilege”? Here’s my politically incorrect answer: White privilege is the gift of being the only racial/ethnic group on the planet which it is okay to single out for abuse. Indeed, such abuse is obligatory for all who regard themselves as “woke,” and who aspire to promote “social justice.” This is a category that includes the media, the popular culture, the educational system, and such shapers of public opinion as Don Lemon; Joy Ann Reid; Joy Behar; Brian Stelter; Rachel Maddow; the editorial boards and reporters of the New York Times and the Washington Post; and the Democratic Party. “White privilege” is the privilege of being regarded as untrustworthy, prejudiced, and blind to the injustices one’s skin color is said to inflict. “White privilege” is the privilege of being damned for alleged racist public safety measures like like “Stop and Frisk” policies, and also the often imaginary crimes of one’s alleged ancestors. Thus, it is fashionable in today’s political culture to seek reparations for slavery from Americans whose ancestors never owned slaves, were not even in the country at the time, and were oppressed themselves in ethnic and religious ghettos across the globe. Reparations for slavery are also sought from the descendants of Union soldiers who gave their lives to abolish slavery. White privilege is the privilege of being held responsible for slavery when white America accounted for a small proportion of the African slave trade globally, which was mainly run by “people of color,” while white America led the world in abolishing slavery, an institution that still exists in non-white Africa today. Our country is now facing a national political crisis over borders because of the poverty and oppression caused by the corrupt politics and leftist economies of Central and South America, which has prompted their citizens to break into our country illegally. Conditions in the resource-rich southern hemisphere are so bad that 20 million of its residents have already broken the law to violate our sovereignty, bankrupt our social services and educational systems, and fill our jails. And yet according to the left, to seek a wall to stem this flood is white racism. As a top Democratic strategist put it recently, “Building a wall says: ‘If you’re brown turn around.” Such twisted logic would also provide an excuse to open our borders to the world’s Islamic terrorists, who have killed hundreds of thousands of mainly “brown” victims since 9/11.

Exactly!!  For more on this outstanding op/ed by best-selling author David Horowitz, click on the text above.  Excellent!!      🙂

The Naval Academy is deteriorating so badly, its mission to train midshipmen is under threat

Leaking pipes. Moldering walls. Condemned offices and balconies. Plumbing that can’t handle its load and a stormwater system dumping unfiltered rainwater into the Severn River. These aren’t the issues of a long-abandoned factory. They describe the current condition of the Naval Academy. Infrastructure at the naval institution in Annapolis has degraded to the point of threatening the school’s ability to train and educate midshipmen, according to a report by the Naval Audit Service. The 2018 audit, obtained by The Capital Gazette through a Freedom of Information Act request, details failing buildings, classrooms and athletic facilities — which in some cases actively leak, overheat and threaten user safety. Buildings including Nimitz Library and Macdonough Hall were built decades ago but never fully updated, causing critical systems to outlive their usefulness. Auditors fear the conditions jeopardize academy accreditation, endanger midshipmen and visitors, and violate several federal laws. The report took stock of 13 unfunded maintenance or renovation projects spread among 15 facilities between March 6, 2017, and April 26, 2018. Ten of these facilities are highly important to the academy mission, according to its internal rating system. But of those 10, four rated “poor to fair” and five rated “failing to poor” at supporting the academy’s ultimate goal — to ready midshipmen for naval service. The auditors found a maintenance backlog exacerbated by steep funding cuts after the Naval Academy lost its Flagship Institution designation to the 2013 federal budget sequester. The designation promised the academy funding for both regular repairs and major renovations. To dam the deluge of problems, the Navy restored the Flagship Institution designation for the academy, Naval Postgraduate School and Naval War College. The academy will get $15 million every other year, beginning in fiscal year 2020. The Navy will also support the maintenance budget at a higher level. “USNA concurs with the findings of the audit,” Cmdr. David McKinney, a Naval Academy spokesman, said in a prepared statement. “We look forward to addressing the discrepancies in the report and with additional funding look forward to ensuring the Naval Academy remains a modern Flagship Institution for the Navy.” The Naval Academy continues to do emergency maintenance — including recent repairs to the Bancroft Hall roof and the Leahy Hall roof that was blown off during a wind storm last year, said Ed Zeigler, a spokesman for Naval District Washington. But to fund large-scale infrastructure projects, the school competes for money against other projects in the Washington, D.C., Naval District. The academy submits projects to the district, which prioritizes and passes them on to Shore Mission Integration Group, a Navy body responsible for balancing priorities at sea and on the shore. Even with the new money, it would take years to address all of the problems listed in the audit.

Indeed..  For more, click on the text above.

Many guns used by criminals bought on black market, study shows

As the gun-control debate continues to rage, a survey released this month by the Department of Justice (DOJ) showed that many armed criminals have relied on the black market for guns. Based on the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI), about 1 in 5 – 21 percent – of all state and federal prisoners reported they had “possessed or carried a firearm when they committed the offense for which they were serving time in prison.” According to the study, an estimated 287,400 prisoners possessed a firearm during their offense. The findings concluded 6 percent had stolen the weapon, 7 percent found it at a crime scene and 43 percent obtained it off the street or on the black market. More than 25 percent had received it from a family member or friend, or as a gift. About 1.3 percent of all prisoners obtained a gun from a retail source and used it during their offense, the study stated. Moreover, among the prisoners who possessed a firearm during their offense, “0.8 percent obtained it at a gun show.” Overall, handguns were the most common type of firearm possessed by prisoners, and about 1 in 5 state and federal prisoners who possessed a firearm during their offense obtained it with the intent to use it during the crime.

Some interesting figures..  Bottom line..  VERY few guns used in crime are obtained at gun shows…  And many criminals get their weapons illegally.  Imagine that!  Keep that in mind the next time you hear some Dem politician or political hack say, “we need to close the gun show loophole.”  It’s a talking point that means nothing.  There is no “loophole.”  If you buy a firearm at a gun show (something I’ve personally done on more than occasion), you undergo a background check there and cannot leave with your purchase until that background check comes back clean.  Period.