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Workin...

If you listen to many Republicans in Washington, the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets are in a “death spiral,” “imploding,” “collapsing” or “will fall of their own weight

Mr. Ryan is right that the Obamacare market has endured hardships. It isn’t as competitive as many of its advocates had hoped, and shoppers in many parts of the country have only one insurer to choose from

But insurers say lawmakers need to make fixes in order for them to remain in the market and have praised some of the early steps taken by the Trump Administration to stabilize the market.

You call it Repeal and replace, or fix Obama care... It wasn't the end of the road and we haven't got Trump-care yet. But it is the politicians tactic to scare the public and they may get some publicity out of this cruel game.  Just a thought.

Spells...*

Two recently deciphered papyri were discovered and translated, dated to the third century. The spells are written in Greek, a language widely used in Egypt at the time.

Ancient, magical spells of love, subjugation and sex,  may sound like a "Game of Thrones" episode, but these evildoings are also found on two recently deciphered papyri from Egypt.

One spell invokes the gods to "burn the heart" of a woman until she loves the spell caster.  Another spell, targeted at a male, uses a series of magical words to "subject" him, forcing him to do whatever the caster wants.

The two spells were not targeted at a specific person, only need to insert the name of the person being targeted sort of like an ancient "Mad Libs."

Archaeologists Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt discovered the spells in Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, more than 100 years ago, among a haul of hundreds of thousands of papyri.   Many of them are now owned by the Egypt Exploration Society and are housed and studied at the University of Oxford in England.

 Nothing new under the Sun.   Been used since. Just a thought.  

Defend...*

An Oregon woman fatally shot a home intruder after she found him in a bedroom. 
The woman, 33, said she had returned home with her two children when she found a stranger in one of her child's bedrooms. She was armed with a handgun and fired at least one shot at the man.  Officers found the man, 59, dead at the scene.

Local defense attorney Edward Kroll says a homeowner has the right to defend themselves in most cases.   He says, if the homeowner reasonably believes an intruder is in their house to commit a crime, they can use deadly force to protect themselves.   

Exceptions come into play when the intruder is a known to the homeowner and, perhaps, has been invited over before.  On a twist, neighbors said squatters have been coming to this house in the past.

Police can response very quickly, that is what they do, so step out of the house and call the police.          Just a thought.

Full-Blown...

The head of a now-defunct Massachusetts pharmacy was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people and left others with debilitating infections.

Barry Cadden, the owner and head pharmacist, was convicted of racketeering and fraud in connection with the outbreak, the largest public health crisis ever caused by a pharmaceutical product.

The 50-year-old was accused of producing drugs in dangerously unsanitary conditions and sidestepping regulations. Tainted steroids from the facility were distributed to patients around the country, triggering a wave of infections that sent health officials scrambling to identify the source.

When regulators inspected Cadden’s facility, they found standing water, mold and bacteria on workers’ gloves all potential sources of contamination.

The case brought new scrutiny to compounding pharmacies, which typically make medicines for individual patients on a custom basis and face looser regulations as a result.  The New England Compounding Center was operating more like a full-blown manufacturer, producing large volumes of medicine and shipping them to many states.  

Even...

Turns out...

Phony...

The veteran reporters and editors Thomas Frank, Lex Haris and Eric Lichtblau submitted their resignations after CNN retracted and apologized for a story that linked a member of Trump’s transition team to Russian-related federal investigations.

The article alleged Anthony Scaramucci, a financier and close ally of Trump, was tied to a Russian investment fund allegedly being investigated by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The article was removed from the site and replaced with an editor’s note stating that the story “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards.”

The retraction marked only the latest in a string of embarrassing incidents for the news network, including firing one of its TV hosts, Reza Aslan, for tweeting that Trump was a “piece of s---.”

In another tweet, Trump accused CNN of publishing other “phony” stories, though it’s unclear to which pieces he was referring. He did go on to retweet “Fox & Friends,” a TV show that has been notably soft on its coverage of the president, several times. You know why is that!!!

Fatale...

A femme fatale  is a stock character of a mysterious and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to entrance and hypnotise her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as being literally supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, vampire, witch, or demon, having power over men.

A femme fatale tries to achieve her hidden purpose by using feminine wiles such as beauty, charm, and sexual allure,  lies or coercion rather than charm. She may also make use of some subduing weapon

She may also be (or imply that she is) a victim, caught in a situation from which she cannot escape.
A younger version of a femme fatale is called a fille fatale, or "fatal girl".

One of the most common traits includes promiscuity and the "rejection of motherhood," seen as "one of her most threatening qualities since by denying his immortality and his posterity it leads to the ultimate destruction of the male."^[1] Femmes fatale are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification, and unease.

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