‘Welcome to Donald Trump’s Ignorant America’ – from Rolling Stone

By Jesse Berney

The day before Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States – an actual event taking place in the universe we live in – news broke that his administration plans to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. And I wanted to scream.

News recently broke that Donald J. Trump’s administration plans to eliminate the national endowments for the arts and humanities. This is Trump’s America: one where things like art and books and science and learning are deemed worthless and tossed aside.”
Read the full report from Rolling Stone magazine …

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/welcome-to-donald-trumps-ignorant-america-w462019

What President Trump InheritsPosted by FactCheck.org on January 20, 2017

Candidate Donald Trump won the election claiming “our country is stagnant.” But President Trump actually inherits an economy experiencing steady if unspectacular growth in output, jobs and incomes.
The new president also inherits a mountain of national debt, large and growing federal deficits, 43 million Americans still mired in poverty and a rising murder rate.
These are some of the numbers by which the future successes or failures of the new presidency will be measured.

Read the list here: 

http://www.factcheck.org/2017/01/what-president-trump-inherits/

Major Fake News Operation Tracked Back to Republican Operative

Cam Harris, who fabricated viral stories about Hillary Clinton, did so while living in the home of his boss, a Republican member of the Maryland legislature.

The entire time that he was spreading lies about Democrats, he was employed as a legislative aide and campaign manager for a Republican operative.

Read the full report here: Major Fake News Operation Tracked Back to Republican Operative

Congress moves to give away national lands, discounting billions in revenue and millions of jobs

Republican lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away a large portion of America’s 640m acres of national land. These may include areas around the Grand Canyon that feed the Colorado River. Arizona Republicans would like to open up surrounding mineral-rich areas for mining, while conservationists see this move as disastrous Photograph: Michele Falzone/Getty Images

Read the full report here: Congress moves to give away national lands, discounting billions in revenue and millions of jobs | Environment | The Guardian

The DeVos Legacy: Crumbling Schools, Poisoned Water – EXPOSED by CMD

If Betsy DeVos does unto U.S. as she did unto Michigan, our schools are in big trouble. The Devos dynasty’s radical agenda of privatization and charter school deregulation led to the #FlintWaterCrisis and the Detroit schools debacle. #DeVos #DeVosConfirmation

Read the full blog post here: The DeVos Legacy: Crumbling Schools, Poisoned Water – EXPOSEDbyCMD

The finer points of prebiotic fibers | Dr. William Davis

No doubt: insight into the best ways to manage our prebiotic fiber intake is an evolving process.

Those of you who have been following these Wheat Belly conversations for some time recognize that we view bowel flora, the 3-pound or so collection of trillions of microorganisms concentrated in the colon, as a crucial player in human health.

The species composition and relative numbers within each species play roles in bowel health, regularity, protection from colorectal cancer, even yielding metabolites that have metabolic impact on our bodies and modulate, for instance, blood insulin, blood sugar, triglycerides, and blood pressure. There is even discussion about a “gut-brain” axis that reflects the profound effect bowel flora metabolites exert on brain health.

And we all begin with various degrees of dysbiosis given our prior exposure to the many factors in modern life that modify species composition, such as occasional antibiotics, antibiotic residues in meats and dairy, chlorinated/fluoridated water, wheat and grain consumption, and many others.

To help you understand the process we go through to re-establish something close to healthy bowel flora, we view our bowel flora as a garden. The “seeds” are high-potency probiotic preparations with as high a CFU count and as many species believed to be healthy as possible, while the “water” and “fertilizer” are prebiotic fibers that nourish healthy species and promote their proliferation.

Wisdom in both areas, probiotics and prebiotic fibers, are evolving rapidly. We could, of course, wait 20 years until much of the science has been clarified. But I don’t think that is necessary—we can start now. Even with the limited knowledge we now have, it is still possible to obtain substantial health benefits by adopting a rational program for bowel flora cultivation.

In particular, there are some important lessons surrounding prebiotic fibers that you should know about to help maximize your chances of success:

Read More: The finer points of prebiotic fibers | Dr. William Davis

ObamaCare’s 10 Essential Health Benefits… Which ones would you be willing to do without?

What Are ACA’s 10 Essential Health Benefits?

Which ones would you be willing to do without?

Ten Essential Health Benefits must be offered at no dollar limits on every plan under the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). Essential Health Benefits consist of ten categories of items and services required on all individual and small group plans starting in 2014. Large Group Plans are not required to offer a essential benefits package, but most already do, as these benefits were defined from the coverage typically provided by large employers.

In general Essential Health Benefits are the types of care you need to prevent and treat sickness and do not include elective and “non-essential treatments”, a full list of Essential Benefits under the Affordable Care Act with descriptions is provided below.

All major medical plans sold on the Health Insurance Marketplace, Non-marketplace Plans, small group plans, and Government healthcare options like Medicaid and Medicare starting January 1st, 2014 or later offer services from at least ten categories of Essential Benefits regardless of cost. You can buy coverage that includes these benefits during each year’s open enrollment period. Find your state’s Health Insurance Marketplace.

Follow this link to see a list and brief description of the ACA’s 10 Essential Benefits: ObamaCare Essential Health Benefits

AARP’s Priorities for President-Elect Trump

Older Americans want the incoming administration to protect Medicare and Social Security. — Getty Images

In a letter to President-elect Donald J. Trump, AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins outlined AARP’s priorities for Americans 50 and older, calling for protection of Medicare and Social Security as well as access to affordable health care and prescription drugs.

“Throughout the [election] campaign, your statements on these important issues of health and financial security set you apart from many other candidates,” Jenkins said to Trump in a letter released Tuesday. “Now, as you assume office, older Americans are looking to you to protect them from efforts to cut their benefits, increase their costs or otherwise harm the crucial programs they rely on.”

AARP members believe Medicare and Social Security should be strengthened for future generations, Jenkins wrote. “Unfortunately, some congressional leaders have discussed plans to fundamentally change the Medicare program and undermine the contract made with generations of Americans,” she wrote.

The letter cites congressional proposals to fundamentally change Medicare by creating a defined-contribution “premium-support” system, which would give recipients a fixed amount, in the form of vouchers, to buy private health insurance. Other proposals would raise the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 67 and allow hospitals and providers to charge higher prices than Medicare.

“These proposals do little to actually lower the cost of health care,” Jenkins wrote. “They simply shift costs from Medicare onto individuals — many of whom cannot afford to pay more for their health care.”

To confront continued huge price spikes for prescription drugs, AARP backs proposals to give the secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to negotiate lower prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. “In addition, we agree with you that we should reduce barriers to better pricing competition worldwide by allowing for the safe importation of lower priced drugs,” Jenkins said.

She noted that provisions of the Affordable Care Act have helped millions of 50-and-older Americans. These include a ban on excluding consumers because of preexisting health conditions, a ban on lifetime and annual coverage limits, and restrictions on charging older Americans more for insurance than younger people.

Jenkins also urged Trump to protect millions — including low-income elderly people — by fending off efforts to cap Medicaid funding. She asked the incoming president to ensure that “home and community-based services be available to individuals in the same way they can access nursing home funding.”

Source: AARP’s Priorities for President-Elect Trump – AARP

An anecdote for Trump’s inauguration

Eclectablog has posted a new item, ‘Here’s an antidote to today’s inauguration ceremony’, at Eclectablog

You may view the latest post at

http://www.eclectablog.com/2017/01/heres-an-antidote-to-todays-inauguration-ceremony.html