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This month, Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain turns 100. One of the 20th century’s towering literary achievements, it is a sweeping critique of the dangerous totalitarian political forces that shaped – and very nearly destroyed – Europe in Mann’s lifetime. The novel also reflects Mann’s own dramatic public and political evolution. Initially politically reserved, he became an ardent patriot at the outbreak of World War I, only to become disillusioned by the rise of political extremism in postwar Germany. This shift set Mann on a collision course with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis – and ultimately led to him fleeing Germany in 1933. This intellectual novel is interested in the weightiest of topics – time, love, mortality, culture – and the fragility of civilisation. There are worrying parallels between 1924, when Mann’s magnum opus was published, and 2024, when we’re seeing a worldwide resurgence of these same impulses. There is the rise of the far-right in France , Austria and Germany . And then, American president-elect Donald Trump’s apparent admiration for dictatorial and authoritarian modes of governance. These forces loom ominously over our own era, threatening the democratic ideals Mann ultimately embraced. Things you’ve never dreamed of This encyclopedia of a novel (nearly 800 pages) opens in transit: An unassuming young man was travelling, in midsummer, from his native city of Hamburg to Davos-Platz in the Canton of the Grisons, on a three weeks’ visit. It is August 1907. Hans Castorp, a “perfectly ordinary” 23-year-old from an upwardly mobile merchant family is journeying to meet his cousin, Joachim Ziemssen – a patient at a tuberculosis sanitarium, located (Mann’s narrator estimates) 1,600 metres above sea level in the Swiss Alps. Mann’s amenable, omniscient narrator outlines the effect on the novel’s youthful protagonist: This being carried upward into regions where he had never before drawn breath, and where he knew that unusual living conditions prevailed, such as could only be described as sparse or scanty – it began to work upon him, to fill him with a certain concern. Home and regular living lay not only far behind, they lay fathoms deep beneath him, and he continued to mount above them. Poised between them and the unknown, he asked himself how he was going to fare. This is a sign of things to come. Joachim, who has already been at the Berghof Sanatorium for five months, implores Castorp to get properly “acclimatized” when he meets him at the train station. He continues: it isn’t so easy, you’ll see. And the climate isn’t the only queer thing about us. You’re going to see some things you’ve never dreamed of – just wait. Joachim advises his cousin to disabuse himself of the “class of ideas” typical of those who dwell at sea level “down below” – especially assumptions about time. He openly scoffs at Castorp’s woefully naïve assertion that he’ll be “going home in three weeks”. Soon after his arrival, Castorp catches a cold. Berghof’s medical director spies a suspicious dark spot on his lung and recommends he extend his stay indefinitely. Castorp spends the next seven years living at altitude. Time warps and wends in increasingly strange ways, and the pace of daily life gradually grinds to a near total halt. Seasons change. Visitors come and go. Some of the patients die. Castorp falls in love with a Russian temptress resident. When he isn’t pining for her, he spends his time in conversation, gorging on elaborate and seemingly endless meals, listening to records, and occasionally attempting to commune with the spirits. In one memorable and symbolically charged moment, he gets hopelessly lost in a life-threatening blizzard. It takes the outbreak of World War I to finally shatter the spell the mountain has cast over him. The reader parts company with Castorp on a Flanders battlefield in 1914. The odds of survival don’t seem to be stacked in his favour. Of course, potted plot summaries of this sort cannot hope to do justice to the sheer ambition, thematic richness and formal rigour of The Magic Mountain. Origins: world war and political awakenings The novel’s origins can be traced to May 1912, when Thomas Mann embarked on a three-week trip to Davos, Switzerland. His wife, Katia, had been falsely diagnosed with tuberculosis and was staying at the recently opened Wald Sanatorium . Mann’s stay served as the catalyst for a new literary venture. Initially conceived as a satire, The Enchanted Mountain was meant to be a comedic counterweight to his just-published Death in Venice , which traces the tragic obsession of Gustav von Aschenbach, an ageing author, with a beautiful young boy during a vacation in cholera-racked Venice. Mann started in on what should have been a fairly straightforward, small-scale undertaking. But world history had other ideas. On August 4 1914, German troops flooded into neutral Belgium, bringing the British Empire into the week-old World War I – and shattering the cultural ideals and intellectual suppositions of pre-war Europe. Mann was 39 when the fighting broke out. A prominent figure in the German cultural establishment, Mann, who lived in Munich at the time, was in many senses a model bourgeois citizen. As intellectual historian Mark Lilla observes, Mann attended concerts, he befriended composers, he read Goethe, he sent his children to the Volksschule , and he never expressed any views about politics. That is, until 1914. “From one month to the next Mann became an intransigent and inflammatory defender of the German cause internationally,” Lilla adds, “writing articles and giving speeches that made him a favorite on the volkish nationalist right”. Rabid patriot to fleeing Nazi Germany The conflict seems to have absorbed all of Mann’s energy and focus. In 1915, he abandoned work on his novella, which had by then expanded significantly in both scope and size. Instead, he turned his attention to Reflections of a Nonpolitical Man . Published in October 1918, this 600-page tirade is a reactionary, rabid screed in which Mann lashes out at the progressive political forces and institutions he believed were intent on nothing less than the destruction of the German nation. Indeed, he goes as far as to admit that from the very start of the war, he had been consumed by a patriotic feeling so profound, he would not want to live anymore if Germany were beaten by the West, humbled, her belief in herself broken so that she would have to “conform” and accept the rationale of her enemies. Mann’s jingoistic fervour persisted even after Germany’s defeat, carrying over into the spring of 1919, when he finally returned to The Magic Mountain. However, everything had changed for Mann by 1922. Appalled by the waves of extremist political violence coursing through Germany, Mann was forced to take stock and reappraise his beliefs. That year, in an unprecedented move that shocked his supporters and critics, he wrote and delivered his speech, On the German Republic . In it, he publicly embraced the postwar Weimar Republic and the principles of its democracy, distancing himself from the types of authoritarian nationalism he had so passionately defended just a few years earlier. This remarkable development, which led to him fleeing Nazi Germany, left an indelible mark on the development of The Magic Mountain. Europe teetering on the abyss By the time he finished writing, the work had been transformed from a satirical novella into a sweeping Bildungsroman , focused on moral education and psychological development. It was now also an allegory of European civilisation teetering on the abyss – a “world festival of death”, as Mann puts it in the novel’s final sentence. Specifically, the phrase is a reference to World War I. More broadly – and just as powerfully – it reflects the sense of postwar disillusionment and social malaise that shaped the novel. The intense intellectual debates that unfold in The Magic Mountain, particularly between charismatic humanist Lodovico Settembrini and nihilistic, “terroristic” Jesuit communist Leo Naphta, offer Mann the means to reflect and comment on the totalitarian forces that were threatening to tear the world asunder. A century after the novel first appeared, its nuanced discussions of ideological conflict, the dangers of extremism and the fragility of civilisation remain, depressingly, as pertinent as ever. In 2024, the far-right has taken a firm foothold across Europe and the rest of the world, challenging the very democratic principles Mann came – albeit reluctantly – to value to champion. One can’t help but wonder what Mann, who wrote while the skies were slowly closing in over Europe, might have made of this situation. Read more: Germany's post-Holocaust moral remaking is being challenged by wars in Gaza and Ukraine – and the rise of the far-right History repeating? Would he, for instance, discern echoes of the same forces he grappled with in his modernist masterpiece, now manifesting in new, yet strangely familiar ways? And would he recognise the dangers of cultural and political polarisation and the allure of authoritarian forms of thought and activity that are currently casting increasingly long shadows over our own precarious moment? I suspect he might. In any case, these are just some of the questions worth asking as we mark the anniversary of a novel that, much like its creator, challenges us to confront the currents of history and their unsettling tendency to repeat. Near the end of the book, Mann writes: “These were such singular times.” Viewed from the perspective of 2024, I’m not so sure.The Eagles' franchise-best winning streak was snapped on Sunday as the Birds fell 36-33 on the road to Washington. During this holiday season, here are some thoughts I currently have on the team ahead of Week 17... Don't get hung up on this Eagles loss It's a thought process common throughout the football landscape, but specifically during Nick Saban's time at Alabama, his teams had a 24-hour rule following games. Either celebrate a win or "flush" a loss and get back into the swing of things before the next matchup. Well more than 24 hours later, the Eagles themselves should be flushing away this loss in Landover and I'd urge the fan base to feel that way as well. Frustration is understandable. Losing after having double-digit second-half leads is never a fun proposition. Jayden Daniels went superhero mode and carved up the Eagles' defense on that last drive after it had been the best unit in the sport for most of the NFL season. The obvious immediate caveat to this loss is that Eagles missed Jalen Hurts for most of the game with a concussion. It remains to be seen the severity of this issue and how long Hurts will be sidelined, but he is currently in the concussion protocol. If he's able to recover and be out on the field in the middle of January as the No. 2-seedeed Eagles host the the final Wild Card team in the NFC, however, no one will be fretting this one-off loss that still has the Birds in the driver's seat for the the division. Speaking of the playoffs... Will the Eagles face the Commanders in the postseason? If the playoffs began next week (they don't), the Eagles would face... the No. 7-seeded Commanders. The Eagles should relish the opportunity for a third meeting with Washington this season. This one will come back at Lincoln Financial Field, naturally. The Eagles would have three weeks to rest up and hopefully get their quarterback back out there healthy and ready to play. In their celebration following the game, Washington acted as if that game was their Super Bowl, slaying the dragon in front of them that was in the midst of a 10-game winning streak. Maybe it was! Daniels has been excellent for Washington this year, but history isn't too kind to QBs in playoff debuts, particularly rookies. The Eagles, of course, need to firmly lock up the division first over the next two weeks, but I'd bank on a large contingent of the Delaware Valley eating up a chance to put a smackdown on this Commanders squad at home. An Eagles Kelly Green uniform history lesson The Eagles will wear their beloved Kelly Green alternate uniforms on Sunday against the Cowboys in a game that has now been flexed to 1:00 PM. The Eagles' final season with the full-time, primary Kelly Green look was the 1995 campaign. Their final game in the now-throwback set? It was a 30-11 Divisional Round Playoff loss to, coincidentally, the Cowboys on the road. The Eagles were down 30-3 at one point in the fourth quarter. Not great. I can't imagine the internet handling that one well. The Eagles would switch to midnight green ahead of the 1996 season. Will Jalen Carter ever pick off a quarterback spike? On Sunday, Jalen Carter attempted to pick off Jayden Daniels while the Commanders quarterback was spiking the ball: Jalen Carter tried to catch the spike again 😂 pic.twitter.com/SpVQ1Xrql2 That's not the first time Carter has attempted it. Notably, he tried to do so against Kansas City last season: Watch Jalen Carter try to intercept the spike 😂 📺: #PHIvsKC on ESPN/ABC 📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/f0JSux0GFT pic.twitter.com/V3i4C7FItf It'll make for a high-IQ, all-time highlight if he can eventually do it. Eagles fans really hate Greg Olsen The FOX announcing booth at the Linc on Sunday will be the same as the one they had this past week against Washington: Joe Davis and Greg Olsen will be calling the Eagles game again. Back to back games for the Fox crew. Eagles hosting Cowboys is now 1 PM Sunday. pic.twitter.com/nETlCgrpXW I haven't seen a social media uproar of a Philly sports broadcast since the outrage over Joe Buck and Tim McCarver during the 2009 World Series. I'm all in favor of people just irrationally hating things in the sports world, it's what makes the whole experience so thrilling. Olsen may have taken the blowback personally given that he felt the need to defend his in-game takes: Final couple thoughts on todays game- Hurts was NOT knocked out of the game by a dirty hit. His head hit the ground Losing Hurts of course altered the game as we covered AT LEGNTH. (ex, Lack of QB sneak option on 4th down, WAS all but ignoring the pass to load up on Saquon,... I'd expect Olsen to hear it from any Eagles fans he encounters this upcoming Sunday. Follow Shamus on X: @shamus_clancy Follow Shamus on Bluesky: @shamus
World No.1 chess player Magnus Carlsen feels that the ongoing World Chess Championship 2024 has reached a point where India’s D Gukesh is no more a favourite. Gukesh, who won FIDE Candidates 2024 at the age of 17 and helped India win a historic gold medal at the 45th Olympiad, was seen as a clear favourite going into the World Chess Championship 2024 against reigning champion Ding Liren of China. Ding, 32, had not won a classical chess game since January 2024 before the Championship began on 25 November at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore but stunned the world with a victory in Game 1 before losing to Gukesh in Game 3. The other seven matches so far have ended in a draw and the scores are tied at 4.5-4.5. The 14-game series has five more games left and will resume with Game 10 on Saturday (7 December). “We have finally arrived at a point where Gukesh is not a favourite in this match anymore. We have a pure 50-50 match at this point,” Carlsen said on the Take Take Take app while reviewing the Game 9. Carlsen, a five-time world champion, has been quite critical of the standard of chess played so far at the World Chess Championship 2024. The 34-year-old Norwegian also analysed Gukesh’s game and felt that the Indian Grandmaster is not doing enough in the Championship to secure a win. “If Gukesh had been more vigilant or more accurate, he could have put Ding under pressure here,” Carlsen said analysing a move in Game 9. “This is what he’s done wrong. When Ding has little time, he has sort of forced Ding to play well.” “It is easier to say in hindsight, but I think Gukesh could have done a little better to keep the tension in a position that is objectively drawn, but at the moment not completely equal. I think he made it a little too easy for Ding.”NSW’s new intercity trains look shiny and smell fresh – but speeds remain stuck in the 20th century
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Top Stock Market Highlights of the Week: Singapore Post, Standard Chartered Bank and Singapore REITsAs open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans continues through Jan. 15, you’re likely seeing fewer social media ads promising monthly cash cards worth hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars that you can use for groceries, medical bills, rent and other expenses. But don’t worry. You haven’t missed out on any windfalls. Clicking on one of those ads would not have provided you with a cash card — at least not worth hundreds or thousands. But you might have found yourself switched to a health insurance plan you did not authorize, unable to afford treatment for an unforeseen medical emergency, and owing thousands of dollars to the IRS, according to an ongoing lawsuit against companies and individuals who plaintiffs say masterminded the ads and alleged scams committed against millions of people who responded to them. The absence of those once-ubiquitous ads are likely a result of the federal government suspending access to the ACA marketplace for two companies that market health insurance out of South Florida offices, amid accusations they used “fraudulent” ads to lure customers and then switched their insurance plans and agents without their knowledge. In its suspension letter, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cited “credible allegations of misconduct” in the agency’s decision to suspend the abilities of two companies — TrueCoverage (doing business as Inshura) and BenefitAlign — to transact information with the marketplace. CMS licenses and monitors agencies that use their own websites and information technology platforms to enroll health insurance customers in ACA plans offered in the federal marketplace. Suit names long list of defendants The alleged scheme affected millions of consumers, according to a lawsuit winding its way through U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale that seeks class-action status. An amended version of the suit, filed in August, increased the number of defendants from six to 12: — TrueCoverage LLC, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based health insurance agency with large offices in Miami, Miramar and Deerfield Beach. TrueCoverage is a sub-tenant of the South Florida Sun Sentinel in a building leased by the newspaper in Deerfield Beach. — Enhance Health LLC, a Sunrise-based health insurance agency that the lawsuit says was founded by Matthew Herman, also named as a defendant, with a $150 million investment from hedge fund Bain Capital’s insurance division. Bain Capital Insurance Fund LP is also a defendant. — Speridian Technologies LLC, accused in the lawsuit of establishing two direct enrollment platforms that provided TrueCoverage and other agencies access to the ACA marketplace. — Benefitalign LLC, identified in the suit as one of the direct enrollment platforms created by Speridian. Like Speridian and TrueCoverage, the company is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. — Number One Prospecting LLC, doing business as Minerva Marketing, based in Fort Lauderdale, and its founder, Brandon Bowsky, accused of developing the social media ads that drove customers — or “leads” — to the health insurance agencies. — Digital Media Solutions LLC, doing business as Protect Health, a Miami-based agency that the suit says bought Minerva’s “fraudulent” ads. In September, the company filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in United States Bankruptcy Court in Texas, which automatically suspended claims filed against the company. — Net Health Affiliates Inc., an Aventura-based agency the lawsuit says was associated with Enhance Health and like it, bought leads from Minerva. — Garish Panicker, identified in the lawsuit as half-owner of Speridian Global Holdings and day-to-day controller of companies under its umbrella, including TrueCoverage, Benefitalign and Speridian Technologies. — Matthew Goldfuss, accused by the suit of overseeing and directing TrueCoverage’s ACA enrollment efforts. All of the defendants have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit. The motions deny the allegations and argue that the plaintiffs failed to properly state their claims and lack the standing to file the complaints. Defendants respond to requests for comment The Sun Sentinel sent requests for comment and lists of questions about the cases to four separate law firms representing separate groups of defendants. Three of the law firms — one representing Brandon Bowsky and Number One Prospecting LLC d/b/a Minerva Marketing, and two others representing Net Health Affiliates Inc. and Bain Capital Insurance Fund — did not respond to the requests. A representative of Enhance Health LLC and Matthew Herman, Olga M. Vieira of the Miami-based firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, responded with a short message saying she was glad the newspaper knew a motion to dismiss the charges had been filed by the defendants. She also said that, “Enhance has denied all the allegations as reported previously in the media.” Catherine Riedel, a communications specialist representing TrueCoverage LLC, Benefitalign LLC, Speridian Technologies LLC, Girish Panicker and Matthew Goldfuss, issued the following statement: “TrueCoverage takes these allegations very seriously and is responding appropriately. While we cannot comment on ongoing litigation, we strongly believe that the allegations are baseless and without merit. “Compliance is our business. The TrueCoverage team records and reviews every call with a customer, including during Open Enrollment when roughly 500 agents handle nearly 30,000 calls a day. No customer is enrolled into any policy without a formal verbal consent given by the customer. If any customer calls in as a result of misleading content presented by third-party marketing vendors, agents are trained to correct such misinformation and action is taken against such third-party vendors.” Through Riedel, the defendants declined to answer follow-up questions, including whether the company remains in business, whether it continues to enroll Affordable Care Act clients, and whether it is still operating its New Mexico call center using another affiliated technology platform. Lawsuit: COVID relief package made ‘scheme’ possible The suspension notification from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services letter cites several factors, including the histories of noncompliance and previous suspensions. The letter noted suspicion that TrueCoverage and Benefitalign were storing consumers’ personally identifiable information in databases located in India and possibly other overseas locations in violation of the centers’ rules. The letter also notes allegations against the companies in the pending lawsuit that “they engaged in a variety of illegal practices, including violations of the (Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations, or RICO Act), misuse of consumer (personal identifiable information) and insurance fraud.” The amended lawsuit filed in August names as plaintiffs five individuals who say their insurance plans were changed and two agencies who say they lost money when they were replaced as agents. The lawsuit accuses the defendants of 55 counts of wrongdoing, ranging from running ads offering thousands of dollars in cash that they knew would never be provided directly to consumers, switching millions of consumers into different insurance policies without their authorization, misstating their household incomes to make them eligible for $0 premium coverage, and “stealing” commissions by switching the agents listed in their accounts. TrueCoverage, Enhance Health, Protect Health, and some of their associates “engaged in hundreds of thousands of agent-of-record swaps to steal other agents’ commissions,” the suit states. “Using the Benefitalign and Inshura platforms, they created large spreadsheet lists of consumer names, dates of birth and zip codes.” They provided those spreadsheets to agents, it says, and instructed them to access platforms linked to the ACA marketplace and change the customers’ agents of record “without telling the client or providing informed consent.” “In doing so, they immediately captured the monthly commissions of agents ... who had originally worked with the consumers directly to sign them up,” the lawsuit asserts. TrueCoverage employees who complained about dealing with prospects who called looking for cash cards were routinely chided by supervisors who told them to be vague and keep making money, the suit says. When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began contacting the company in January about customer complaints, the suit says TrueCoverage enrollment supervisor Matthew Goldfuss sent an email instructing agents “do not respond.” How it started The lawsuit states the “scheme” was made possible in 2021 when Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The act made it possible for Americans with household incomes between 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level to pay zero in premiums and it enabled those consumers to enroll in ACA plans all year round, instead of during the three-month open enrollment period from November to January. Experienced health insurance brokers recognized the opportunity presented by the changes, the lawsuit says. More than 40 million Americans live within 100% and 150% of the federal poverty level, while only 15 million had ACA insurance at the time. The defendants developed or benefited from online ads, the lawsuit says, which falsely promised “hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars per month in cash benefits such as subsidy cards to pay for common expenses like rent, groceries, and gas.” Consumers who clicked on the ads were brought to a landing page that asked a few qualifying questions, and if their answers suggested that they might qualify for a low-cost or no-cost plan, they were provided a phone number to a health insurance agency. There was a major problem with the plan, according to the lawsuit. “Customers believe they are being routed to someone who will send them a free cash card, not enroll them in health insurance.” By law, the federal government sends subsidies for ACA plans to insurance companies, and not to individual consumers. Scripts were developed requiring agents not to mention a cash card, and if a customer mentions a cash card, “be vague” and tell the caller that only the insurance carrier can provide that information, the lawsuit alleges. In September, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the claims. In addition to denying the charges, they argued that the class plaintiffs lacked the standing to make the accusations and failed to demonstrate that they suffered harm. The motion also argued that the lawsuit’s accusations failed to meet requirements necessary to claim civil violations of the RICO Act. Miami-based attorney Jason Kellogg, representing the plaintiffs, said he doesn’t expect a ruling on the motion to dismiss the case for several months. The complaint also lists nearly 50 companies, not named as defendants, that it says fed business to TrueCoverage and Enhance Health. Known in the industry as “downlines,” most operate in office parks throughout South Florida, the lawsuit says. Complaints from former employees and clients The lawsuit quotes former TrueCoverage employees complaining about having to work with customers lured by false cash promises in the online ads. A former employee who worked in the company’s Deerfield Beach office was quoted in the lawsuit as saying that senior TrueCoverage and Speridian executives “knew that consumers were calling in response to the false advertisements promising cash cards and they pressured agents to use them to enroll consumers into ACA plans.” A former human resources manager for TrueCoverage said sales agents frequently complained “that they did not feel comfortable having to mislead consumers,” the lawsuit said. Over two dozen agents “came to me with these complaints and showed me the false advertisements that consumers who called in were showing them,” the lawsuit quoted the former manager as saying. For much of the time the companies operated, the ACA marketplace enabled agents to easily access customer accounts using their names and Social Security numbers, change their insurance plans and switch their agents of record without their knowledge or authorization, the lawsuit says. This resulted in customers’ original agents losing their commissions and many of the policyholders finding out they suddenly owed far more for health care services than their original plans had required, the suit states. It says that one of the co-plaintiffs’ health plans was changed at least 22 times without her consent. She first discovered that she had lost her original plan when she sought to renew a prescription for her heart condition and her doctor told her she did not have health insurance, the suit states. Another co-plaintiff’s policy was switched after her husband responded to one of the cash card advertisements, the lawsuit says. That couple’s insurance plan was switched multiple times after a TrueCoverage agent excluded the wife’s income from an application so the couple would qualify. Later, they received bills from the IRS for $4,300 to cover tax credits issued to pay for the plans. CMS barred TrueCoverage and BenefitAlign from accessing the ACA marketplace. It said it received more than 90,000 complaints about unauthorized plan switches and more than 183,500 complaints about unauthorized enrollments, but the agency did not attribute all of the complaints to activities by the two companies. In addition, CMS restricted all agents’ abilities to alter policyholders’ enrollment information, the lawsuit says. Now access is allowed only for agents that already represent policyholders or if the policyholder participates in a three-way call with an agent and a marketplace employee. Between June and October, the agency barred 850 agents and brokers from accessing the marketplace “for reasonable suspicion of fraudulent or abusive conduct related to unauthorized enrollments or unauthorized plan switches,” according to an October CMS news release . The changes resulted in a “dramatic and sustained drop” in unauthorized activity, including a nearly 70% decrease in plan changes associated with an agent or broker and a nearly 90% decrease in changes to agent or broker commission information, the release said. It added that while consumers were often unaware of such changes, the opportunity to make them provided “significant financial incentive for non-compliant agents and brokers.” But CMS’ restrictions might be having unintended consequences for law-abiding agents and brokers. A story published by Insurance News Net on Nov. 11 quoted the president of the Health Agents for America (HAFA) trade group as saying agents are being suspended by CMS after being flagged by a mysterious algorithm that no one can figure out. The story quotes HAFA president Ronnell Nolan as surmising, “maybe they wrote too many policies on the same day for people who have the same income or they’re writing too many policies on people of a certain occupation.” Nolan continued, “We have members who have thousands of ACA clients. They can’t update or renew their clients. So those consumers have lost access to their professional agent, which is simply unfair.” Ron Hurtibise covers business and consumer issues for the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He can be reached by phone at 954-356-4071, on Twitter @ronhurtibise or by email at rhurtibise@sunsentinel.com.If the refresh the Cullinan received earlier in 2024 didn't give things away, Rolls-Royce is in the process of updating its lineup. Next on the list is the Ghost Series II, though the new mark from the British marque may not be the kind of overhaul you were expecting. Given this is the biggest update Ghost has received since it dumped its original 7-Series underpinnings and went its own way a few years back, it comes as little surprise that Rolls-Royce has approached the process very carefully. Some of the original Ghost's few shortcomings are dealt with, the excessively customizable brand has somehow added more options, and a vehicle that already will open and close its own doors for you has found a few more quality of life features to add. Meanwhile, everything that made the Ghost a favorite of many Rolls-Royce aficionados seems to have been left well enough alone. Clearly confident of its handiwork, Rolls-Royce invited SlashGear out to France to get behind the wheel of the new Ghost, and put it through its paces on cruelly narrow village roads, winding country lanes, and the odd breathtakingly pretty coastal road. Because if the car itself stands out against a backdrop like that, the manufacturer must be doing something right. If you're a fan of the Rolls-Royce Ghost, the words " 6.7-liter, twin-turbo V12 capable of pumping out 563 horsepower" should be pretty familiar to you. Well, nothing has changed with the Series II. It's the same engine, same turbos, same eight-speed automatic transmission managing it all. The feeling when you're driving it is the same too. The 0-60 time is still a pacy 4.6 seconds, though the exact time depends on various circumstances and other outlets have reported times closer to 4.1 or 4.2 seconds on the original Ghost. If you just ignore the stopwatch, it feels quick, especially for something of this size. It's also shockingly well balanced, agile, and grippy for what could still be described as a stately home on four wheels. So if you've driven a Ghost, you'll know exactly what to expect. If you, admittedly ill-advisedly, blindfolded someone and stuck them behind the wheel of a Ghost and Ghost Series II back to back, I wager they would not be able to tell the difference between the pair. And that's not a bad thing, nor is this a criticism. The Ghost drives very well, and the new edition is exactly the same. As in other examples of the luxury automaker's fleet, one of the most important controls is also one of the most subtle: the "low" button perched on the transmission stalk. It tinkers with the throttle response and affects how the Rolls shifts gear. So, instead of that hefty V-12 sounding near-silent, you'll get a very distinct roar from under the hood whenever you get your foot down. Acceleration is notably sharper, and you'll find yourself driving the heavy sedan a lot harder than you may have originally intended. On the "silence" front, the frankly massive — one of the largest displacement engines still in use , in fact — V12 sitting under the hood is likely loud no matter what you do. Rolls-Royce opted to clad the engine bay and other areas of the Ghost II in an almost silly amount of sound-dampening material. It's carefully tuned so you hear just enough of the engine to know it's still there, and running, without it really disturbing you at all. Provided you drive smoothly, in normal mode. If you want a quieter drivetrain, you'll need an all-electric Spectre . The Ghost II is also good at eliminating outside noises, so you won't hear birds chirping, or other vehicles, or anything short of a siren with the windows rolled up. The door seals and pollen filter are also of high-quality, as you may expect. To put things into context, a Peugeot blew a head gasket right in front of us on the test drive, and despite the plume of burning engine oil affecting our vision somewhat we couldn't smell a thing inside the vehicle. As with the pre-refresh "Black Badge" Ghost , there's more here than just an aesthetic package. You also get a little extra out of the engine when you opt for this top-level trim: an added 29 horsepower and 37 lb-ft of torque. True, you'd have to concentrate to actually notice a difference though, if you get the lab coats out it's probably there, but the "silver badge" has the same surprising burst of speed when needed, and handles very similarly. It's like the boost to comfort and handling that the 22" wheels give you on the Black Badge. It's certainly there, the math will check out, but the standard model rides and handles so well you'll need elite level concentration to tell the two apart. Where the Black Badge does notably differ, aside from the carbon-fiber touches cladding various interior elements, is in the soundtrack. That roar you get when the "low" mode is active is far throatier and more noticeable on the top trim. If you are a more aggressive driver, or you just like driving something with a darker touch, then the step up is probably worth every penny. One of the new features on the Ghost Series II is Duality Twill, a rayon-fabric made from bamboo and available as an upholstery option. Bamboo is an extremely sustainable and versatile material, and the new cloth doesn't look out of place in the interior of the Ghost at all. At a glance, you're likely to confuse it with silk, both in terms of styling and feel. With this being Rolls-Royce, you aren't limited to the Duality Twill. You can basically ask for your interior to be clad in anything not currently on the endangered species list–though some materials come with a premium. But the new rayon-fabric does not fall short in the slightest, and the fact it's actually worth considering in a world of almost unlimited choices is testament to just how good it is. A lot of effort does go into the twill, along with 11 miles of thread. That effort takes the form of around 2.2 million stitches. A new perforation style is also available for the vehicle's seats, should that pattern appeal to you. Other little touches include a small Spirit of Ecstasy under the clock on the dash. This has slight "ornament on Grandma's mantle" vibes, but mostly plays into the overall Rolls-Royce feeling shockingly well, with an odd timeless elegance to it. Certainly, you can go in the opposite direction. You could ask for a candy-cane colored interior with a hot pink dashboard and paint the outside lime green if you really want. But there's a solid argument that, if you're doing the whole Rolls-Royce thing properly, you should really feel like you're in the lobby of an upmarket Victorian hotel. One of the standouts on the new Ghost is the improved infotainment system and digital experience. Again, it's not totally novel — all of this debuted on the Spectre. But now you have access to things like Android Auto and Apple Car Play, alongside increased integration with Rolls-Royce's owners-only Whispers app. The "Spirit" digital interface also aids navigation through the vehicle's many features. You can go beyond simply launching Spotify, and instead customize things like the color of the vehicle's dials through it. The app and vehicle work seamlessly together, allowing you to do things like book services, lock the car, or send travel destinations directly to your navigation system. Again, none of this is unique to Rolls-Royce, but it's a definite improvement for the Ghost Series II. The Series I often felt like it was lagging behind on the technological front at times, and modern app-based conveniences do make life a lot easier. Any media you play will be pumped through Rolls-Royce's proprietary 18-speaker audio system. The marque has opted to keep the audio in-house, rather than outsource to an audio company like Bowers & Wilkins as its parent company BMW does. Among the subtle changes is a re-shaped body. Which sort of turns this into the Ghost Sports Edition as much as it does the Ghost Series II. The vehicle's lines have been taken in, and look a touch more aggressive. On the whole the vehicle appears a touch smaller than its predecessor. It isn't, it's exactly the same size, but the redrawn lines leave it seeming sleeker, lower down, and more aggressive. The new tail light configuration is also a nice touch. Despite the newfound edge, there's still that overall Rolls-Royce feel to it. The front is flat and square, with things not truly beginning to sweep backwards until you pass the windscreen. It really fits the weird duality you encounter in the vehicle's performance. It's an elegant evening gown, and a designer tracksuit, all at the same time. Overall, there isn't that much of a difference between the Ghost Series II and its predecessor. There are some very nice aesthetic touches, and the "Low" button injects a bit of fun into what can be a very serious vehicle in certain circumstances. But day to day, you'll struggle to find too much distinction between the new vehicle and the Ghost that came before it. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. As with many people, the Ghost was my favorite drive in the Rolls-Royce lineup. It felt wonderfully agile for its size, surprisingly punchy when needed, and kept that classic Phantom -inspired styling while adding a sliver of modernity. If Rolls-Royce was to rip all of that up and go in a drastically different direction, that would be a tragic thing indeed. Instead, you have a focused refresh, centered around subtle improvements which add polish while keeping the core elements exactly where they need to be. It's not a reason to run to the dealer, trade in your two-year-old Ghost, and slap your name down on the pre-order list. Then again, that's not really how Rolls-Royce owners choose their cars, and if you happen to be in the market for a new Ghost anyway, the little tweaks and new options keep this appealing sedan feeling fresh. The Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II starts at $355,000, and the Ghost Black Badge Series II starts at $420,000. That said, the sky really is the limit on both options, and the subsequent bill.
Louisiana agreed to terms on a new five-year deal with Ragin' Cajuns football coach Michael Desormeaux, ESPN reported Monday. The contract keeps Desormeaux, 39, in Lafayette through the 2029 season. Financial terms were not reported. Desormeaux was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year this season and guided the Ragin' Cajuns (10-3, 7-1) to the conference title game. Louisiana will face TCU (8-4) in the New Mexico Bowl on Saturday in Albuquerque. Desormeaux is 23-17 as the head coach at his alma mater since taking over as the interim coach for the New Orleans Bowl to conclude the 2021 season. He replaced Billy Napier, who left Louisiana to take over as head coach at Florida. --Field Level Media
Feds suspend ACA marketplace access to companies accused of falsely promising ‘cash cards’FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A rare win as a double-digit underdog came just in time to let the Dallas Cowboys believe their playoff hopes aren't completely gone in 2024. Cooper Rush probably will need three more victories in a row filling in for the injured Dak Prescott for any postseason talk to be realistic. The thing is, the Cowboys (4-7) could be favored in two of those games, and already are by four points as an annual Thanksgiving Day host against the New York Giants (2-9) on Thursday, according to BetMGM. Not to mention the losing record at the moment for each of the next four opponents for the defending NFC East champions, playoff qualifiers each of the past three seasons. The Cowboys have a chance to make something of the improbable and chaotic 34-26 win at Washington that ended a five-game losing streak. “Behind the eight ball,” Micah Parsons said, the star pass rusher acknowledging the reality that Dallas hadn't done much yet. “Let’s see how we can handle adversity and see if we can make a playoff run. But we got a long way to go.” It was a start, though, powered in part by the best 55 minutes from the Dallas defense since the opener, when the Cowboys dismantled Cleveland and looked the part of a Super Bowl contender. The last five minutes for the Dallas defense against the Commanders looked a lot like most of the nine games after that 33-17 victory over the Browns. Which is to say not very good. Jayden Daniels easily drove Washington 69 yards to a touchdown before throwing an 86-yard scoring pass in the final seconds to Terry McLaurin, who weaved through five defenders when a tackle might have ended the game. The Cowboys kept a 27-26 lead thanks to Austin Seibert's second missed extra point, and withstood another blunder when Juanyeh Thomas returned an onside kick recovery for a TD rather than slide and leave one kneel-down from Rush to end the game. Dallas will have to remember it did hold a dynamic rookie quarterback's offense to 251 yards before the madness of the ending in the Cowboys' biggest upset victory since 2010 at the New York Giants. That one was too late to save the season. This one might not be. “We needed it,” embattled coach Mike McCarthy said. “It’s been frustrating, no doubt. We’ve acknowledged that. We’ve got another one right around the corner here, so we have to get some wins and get some momentum.” What's working Rush ended a personal three-game losing streak with his best showing since the previous time he won as the replacement for Prescott, who is out for the season after surgery for a torn hamstring. The 117.6 passer rating was Rush's best as a starter, and the NFL's second-worst rushing attack played a solid complementary role with Rico Dowdle gaining 86 yards on 19 carries. What needs help KaVontae Turpin's electrifying 99-yard kickoff return did more than lift the Cowboys when it appeared an 11-point lead might get away in the final five minutes. It eased the worst day of special teams for Dallas since John Fassel took over that phase four years ago. Suddenly struggling kicker Brandon Aubrey had one field-goal attempt blocked and missed another. Bryan Anger had a punt blocked. For the second time in five games, Aubrey's attempt to bounce a kickoff in front of the return man backfired. The ball bounced outside the landing zone, putting the Commanders at the 40-yard line to start the second half and setting up the drive to the game's first touchdown. Stock up CB Josh Butler, whose NFL debut earlier this season came five years after the end of his college career, had 12 tackles, a sack and three pass breakups. The pass breakups were the most by an undrafted Dallas player since 1994. Stock down Rookie LT Tyler Guyton, who has had an up-and-down season with injuries and performance issues, was benched immediately after getting called for a false start in the fourth quarter. His replacement, Asim Richards, could be sidelined with a high ankle sprain that executive vice president of personnel Stephen Jones revealed on his radio show Monday. Veteran Chuma Edoga, who was the projected starter at Guyton's position before a preseason toe injury, was active but didn't play against the Commanders. He's awaiting his season debut. Injuries The status of perennial All-Pro RG Zack Martin (ankle/shoulder) and LG Tyler Smith (ankle/knee) will be a question on the short week after both sat against Washington. Stephen Jones indicated Smith could be available and said the same of WR Brandin Cooks, who hasn't played since Week 4 because of a knee issue. TE Jake Ferguson may miss at least a second week with a concussion. The short week might make it tough for CB Trevon Diggs (groin/knee) to return. Key number 75% — Rush's completion rate, his best with at least 10 passes. He was 24 of 32 for 247 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. His other game with multiple TDs and no picks was a 25-10 victory over Washington two years ago, when he went 4-1 with Prescott sidelined by a broken thumb. Next steps There's some extra rest after the short week, with Cincinnati making a “Monday Night Football” visit on Dec. 9. The next road game is at Carolina on Dec. 15. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl Schuyler Dixon, The Associated PressOver 18,000 in Mexico register to run for Supreme Court seats and federal judges in new system
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