DRMPHD

I agree on the lack of competition, but I think it arises from the very particular structure of US health care. Because of insurance, few people actually pay the full price, or are even aware of the full price, for health care and pharmaceuticals. As a result, they have no incentive to shop around. Indeed, in many cases, the copayment is the same for the patient, regardless of whether they go to Doctor A or Doctor B (as long as both are in network). So, nobody shops on the basis of price and medical providers have no incentive to compete on the basis of price, but instead, they compete on non-price aspects of care--better offices, better food or rooms in hospitals, which further drives up costs and prices. There needs to be a way to motivate patients to care about price and shop based on price. That would help competition and drive down costs.

Bait, a .270 and tannerite.

Magnum PI (the original, not the reboot)
House
The Mentalist
Arrested Development
Seinfeld

Gran Torino

Interesting article on how Skenes' physical talents and his preparation and work ethic make him so good.

Yahoo Sports

Screw that! Complete waste of military resources. I’m not on board with risking my kid who’s in the navy to make it harder for some drug addicted loser to kill themselves with an overdose!!

USS New Orleans on fire

Apparently even the Navy thinks New Orleans is a dumpster fire!

Phil Gramm-The Myth of American Inequality

I highly recommend this book by Phil Gramm and some other economists on flaws in the way the Census Bureau measures incomes and its impact on measures of inequality. Adjusting for those flaws, they conclude that income inequality in the U.S. is at a post-WW2 low. (ie, because of government transfers, income inequality has decreased, not increased).

Not funny. Stupid and dangerous!

CCP spies are everywhere inside the U.S. from the government to academia to defense industry. Everywhere. They have stolen everything that makes them perhaps the only peer nation to the U.S. on the planet. We are decades too late in realizing this, but even now, we should get serious about letting Chinese nationals into our most valuable institutions, including the government and universities. Even the ones who might come here with good intentions are coerced by CCP threats against their family members in China to do the CCP's bidding and to steal every bit of technology and information they can get their hands on.