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Lisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. This handout from an animated video provided by ESPN shows a scene from Atoms Stadium in Springfield from “The Simpsons” that will be used for “The Simpsons Funday Football,” an alternate broadcast on ESPN+ and Disney+ for the Dec. 9, 2024, game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys. Credit: AP Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.”ATLANTA — The Lakers’ four-game road trip, which ended with a disheartening overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday , lasted eight days if you count the days they flew out of and back to Los Angeles on the front and back ends of the trip. But considering they were in Southern California for just a few days after their Nov. 26 road loss to the Phoenix Suns and Nov. 27 road win over the San Antonio Spurs – flying back to L.A. Thanksgiving ahead of their Nov. 29 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder before flying to Salt Lake City the afternoon of Nov. 30 – the trip felt longer. “It was a two-week road trip, let’s be honest,” coach JJ Redick said Friday night. “It was a two-week road trip.” And the nature of how the last two weeks have gone for the Lakers added to their road weariness. The loss to the Hawks was their third straight defeat, including their losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat by a combined 70 points, and their seventh loss in nine games going back to the Nov. 21 home loss to the Orlando Magic , the start of another three-game losing streak. While Friday’s loss continued their losing streak, they played with significantly more energy and effort compared to their losses earlier in the week. “Based off the last couple games that we played, Minnesota and Miami, it’s a good bounce back for us,” Anthony Davis said. “Just some of the defensive communication we messed up a little bit [on Friday night]. As far as the carryover, it was better.” When asked what it’ll take for the Lakers, who won their first three games of the season and were 10-4 before their recent skid, to get back over the hump, LeBron James pointed to the players the team has been without. Austin Reaves missed the entire road trip because of a bruised left pelvis suffered Nov. 29 against the Thunder. “With Austin, the movement piece and the thrust, his ability to get in the paint, his ability to, for the most part, make quick decisions,” Redick said. “In some ways, he’s like a connector for our offense, but he’s also a scorer and a playmaker. So you can have connectors that aren’t necessarily players that can do what Austin does in terms of creating offense. He does both. And also, he’s highly competitive and he brings that juice every night.” Backup center Jaxson Hayes has been sidelined 12 of the last 13 games because of right ankle injuries, and isn’t expected to be reevaluated until this upcoming week. Christian Wood (offseason left knee surgery) and Jarred Vanderbilt (offseason feet surgery recovery) have yet to play this season. The Lakers announced that Vanderbilt is expected to return in early January . Wood’s status isn’t as clear. “I don’t know as far as what will get us over the hump,” James said. “We just gotta just not drown. Don’t drown and we’ll be all right.” Or as Davis put it: “There’s no cavalry. No one [feels] sorry for us. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Just gotta continue to put our head down and grind and work.” The Lakers will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday at Crytpo.com Arena. After that, they’ll get a rare four-day break off of games before playing the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday in Minneapolis. “That break, if you call it a break, for three, four days, we have to use that for our minds, for our bodies, for clean up,” Redick said. “It’ll be a good opportunity for us.” TRAIL BLAZERS AT LAKERS When : 6:30 p.m. Sunday Where : Crypto.com Arena TV/radio : Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM
I nflation refers to the declining purchasing power of a currency, meaning that over time, the same amount of money buys fewer goods and services. In much the same way, the overuse of words, opinions, and statements has led to their diminished power. When there is an excess supply of speech and commentary, the value of each word or statement shrinks just as in economics. We are now living in a time where voices, even those once considered powerful, seem to echo in a void. There was a time when every speech mattered — when words carried the weight of change. Protests, rallies, and public outcries were powerful enough to shake the foundations of governments and institutions. A single voice, used effectively, could create ripples that forced policymakers to rethink their decisions. Movements were born from these voices, shaping the course of history. But now, no matter how desperate or impassioned the plea, no matter who stages a hunger strike, renounces their titles, or puts themselves in harm’s way, it seems increasingly difficult to make oneself heard. The sheer volume of voices in the modern world has created a kind of verbal inflation — words are abundant, but their value is diluted. The world is flooded with noise, and amidst this constant hum of opinions, the individual voice struggles to stand out. Politicians, who once delivered speeches that inspired nations, now repeat the same tired lines. They take oaths, make promises, and introduce policies with carefully chosen words that are crafted to sound inclusive and progressive. Yet these words are often devoid of real substance. “We are public servants, and we make inclusive policies,” they declare, but the reality is often different. The words sound right, but they are hollow, offering little more than lip service to the ideals they claim to uphold. Organised workers sign contracts filled with complex and favourable language, only to find that these agreements often work against them in practice. Unorganised labourers, who should be the most protected, are given titles such as “partners” instead of “workers” or “labourers” in an attempt to mask their exploitation. These words, while seemingly progressive, do little to change the underlying conditions. It’s all a façade — a manipulation of language to present an illusion of fairness and equality where none truly exists. The truth is, we are drowning in words — on social media, in the news, in speeches, and in policies. Everywhere we turn, someone has something to say. But the sheer abundance of communication has numbed us to its effects. Words no longer move us the way they once did. The inflation of words has left us desensitised, immune to the impact that speech once had. In a world where words are overused and undervalued, perhaps what we need is not more talking, but more listening. Maybe the key to restoring the power of words lies not in the quantity of what is said, but in the quality of attention we give to those who speak. In doing so, we might rediscover the true value of words — their ability to inspire, to move, and to create real change. akshanshvimal2000@gmail.com Published - December 08, 2024 02:38 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit
Bengals keep confidence and playoff hopes high as they head for a showdown with PittsburghNoneNo. 7 Mercer stages 4th-quarter comeback to top No. 10 Rhode Island 17-10, advances to FCS semifinal
Many players had achieved Midview’s school record of five 3-pointers in a game. Leah DiFranco and Hunter Crum reached five in a game but did not capture an elusive sixth 3-pointer. In a nonconference matchup against Lorain, Crum hit No. 6 on Dec. 7. As she earned the school’s 3-point record, Midview pulled away for a 65-46 victory. “(The 3-point record) has always been my goal since freshman year. This was what I wanted, for my own personal goals,” she said. “I am proud of myself, but I know that my percentage was not the best. It’s about getting better every day.” DiFranco led Midview with 24 points, three steals, four assists and nine rebounds. However, Crum scored 18 and recorded seven rebounds, two steals and three assists. “When Hunter (Crum) hits six (3-pointers), that helps,” DiFranco said. “Everyone was running down the court and I was finding them. I always tell them to run to the block and I will find you. We finally started to get out in transition and we passed the ball really well.’ Despite the lopsided final score, Lorain put up a strong first half fight to trail Midview, 32-26. Coming out of halftime, Midview opened up with a 10-1 run and led, 42-27. Soon after, Crum made her sixth 3-point shot. “I love this for Hunter (Crum),” Midview Coach Brittney McNamara said. “I was able to do it as a player. Having her, I see myself in her a lot (when I played at Elyria Catholic). Doing it on our home court is really exciting and I am really happy for her to have that. She has been wanting that for a few years. Her and Leah (DiFranco have been going back-and-forth with five.” The Titans were within two possessions to start the second quarter (15-11) and at halftime. Lorain’s strengths in the paint overmatched Midview’s Samone Whitt led with 14 rebounds and scored seven points. Although Lorain and Midview were tied, 41-41, in rebounds, Lorain crashed the glass for 19 offensive rebounds. “I think we were going through the motions in the first half. We were not being as aggressive and not with enough energy. That is what we have been lacking,” Crum said. Along with the heroics from DiFranco and Crum, Morgan contributed with eight points, Audrey Gerber (five) and Riley Frei (six) scored as well. “In the second half, I liked how we played more physically. We played more of our game and our style,” McNamara said. “We were able to get in a groove and play good defense against big girls. Our freshman Laila (Morgan) really stepped up for us.” Lorain’s leading scorer was Aminah Mustafa, who scored 12 on four 3-pointers. Ava Miller also scored eight. Lorain dropped to 0-3 on the season. Lynch liked the first-half effort, but believe there is room for improvement. “I think, mentally, we are getting tired later in games,” Lynch said. “There are breakdowns. We did a good job stopping transition points in the first half, but it started to get away from us in the second half.” Lorain will compete for its first win on Dec. 9 when it will host Firelands. The Middies split their first four games of the season, and the win improved their record to 3-2. Their next game will be on the road against Olmsted Falls, the reigning state champion. Midview 65, Lorain 46Faculty of Law – University of Colombo crowned ultimate champion of Varsity Battles 2024 quiz competition
MALCOLM in the Middle is returning with a reboot as Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston and other cast members have signed on for the limited revival. From Frankie, 39, leaving acting to become a race car driver to Bryan, 68, starring in career-defining roles, find out where the cast of Malcolm in the Middle is today. FRANKIE MUNIZ While playing Malcolm from 2000 to 2006, he starred in Agent Cody Banks, Big Fat Liar and more. But Frankie decided celebrity life wasn’t for him and he retired from acting. In 2023, he announced his career as a full-time professional race car driver after competing in races through the years. “It’s with the utmost excitement, optimism and gratitude that I’m joining Rette Jones Racing for the full ARCA Menards Series schedule this year,” he said at the time . Read more on Frankie Muniz “Ever since childhood, it’s been my dream to pursue racing in NASCAR, and it was important for me to partner with a team that aligned with my long-term objectives and vision, while providing every opportunity imaginable to grow mentally and physically as a full-time race car driver.” Frankie also raises his son Mauz Mosley Muniz with his wife Paige Price. Bryan Cranston After Malcolm in the Middle, Bryan moved on to a career-defining role on Breaking Bad from 2008 to 2013. He also appeared in other roles including How I Met Your Mother. Most read in Streaming Bryan, who played dad Hal, took a break from acting in 2023. He wrote on Instagram at the time, “I am not retiring. What I am going to do is hit the pause button for a year after I reach my 70th birthday in 2026. Holy crap - 70! “I’m not even sure what ‘pausing’ means entirely, but at this moment, I think it means that by taking a year off it will provide several things. “First, it will allow me to spend time with Robin (my beautiful wife of 34 years now) in a way that I haven’t been able to in the last 25 years...not as a wife of a celebrity, but as a loving married couple entering into - well, let’s be honest, our latter years, with new hopes and goals and experiences. “Secondly, it gives me a sort of ‘reset’ in my career. I’ve had such an unbelievable ride for over two decades - with playing characters on TV, films, and on stage that I could only have dreamt about... until it actually happened... That said, I feel as though I’m beginning to run out of fresh ideas in how to play characters that I’m being offered. "So exploring a more expanded life experience will give me the chance to replenish my soul and prepare for whatever roles I may be afforded in a more authentic way.” Jane Kaczmarek Jane Kaczmarek, who played mom Lois, is also returning for the reboot. After Malcolm in the Middle, Jane, 68, kept herself busy by appearing in This is Us, 6 Balloons, and Wolves at the Door and more. The mom of four took a social media break for a couple of years, as her announcement of appearing in the reboot marks her return to Instagram. CHRISTOPHER MASTERSON Christopher Masterson, who played Malcom's oldest brother Francis, also found luck in Hollywood after the role. He made appearances on a series of shows and movies. With his last credit on IMDB in 2019, he now works as a full-time DJ and producer. According to his Instagram, he appears to travel often. Chris, 44, is the younger brother of That 70s Show Danny Masterson, who was sentenced in 2023 to 30 years to life in prison for raping two women over two decades ago. It is unclear if he is appearing in the reboot, as he has not posted the trailer on his social media. JUSTIN BERFIELD Justin Berfield, 34, who played Malcom’s older brother Reese, acted in a handful of roles up until 2010. In May 2020, he became a father to a daughter. He reshared the trailer, hinting he's participating in the reboot. ERIK PER SULLIVAN Erik Per Sullivan played Dewey, the youngest brother in the family sitcom. Erik, 33, worked in Hollywood until 2010 . Today, he continues to post throwbacks from the series on his social media. His on-screen mom Jane gave an update on him earlier this year. She said, "He’s well, he’s very, very well. He did Malcolm for seven years, he started at seven, he ended at 14. He wasn’t interested in acting, at all. "He goes to school at a very prestigious American university that he’s asked us all to be quiet about and he loves Charles Dickens. "He’s doing graduate work in Victorian literature. I admire it because so many people think being in show business is the greatest thing in the world, it’s not for everyone." I have been waiting for this moment for 18 years." THEY'RE BACK! The series will be rebooted for four new episodes on Disney+ and will air in 2025. President of Disney Branded Television Ayo Davis told Variety , “ Malcolm in the Middle is a landmark sitcom that captured the essence of family life with humor, heart and reliability. "Its hilarious and heartfelt portrayal of a lovably chaotic family resonated with audiences of all ages, and we’re so excited to welcome the original cast back to bring that magic to life again. "With Linwood Boomer and the creative team at the helm, these new episodes will have all the laughs, pranks, and mayhem fans loved — along with a few surprises that remind us why this show is so timeless.” Frankie, Bryan, Jane and Justin posted a video announcing the reboot. Frankie said, “I have been waiting for this moment for 18 years. Let’s find out where Malcolm and his family are.” Bryan added, “I am so excited that I may have peed just a little. Excuse me.” Read More on The US Sun Jane then joked, “What a delight that I get to yell at that kid again! "We are very, very excited about coming back together and seeing where this family is up to.”Cade Metz NEW YORK: OpenAI revealed details Friday about its plans to adopt a new corporate structure that will remove the company from control by a nonprofit that has been the focus of contention. OpenAI’s leaders have been privately discussing a change for several months but had provided few specifics. In a company blog post published Friday, OpenAI said it planned to restructure as a public benefit corporation, or PBC, which is a for-profit corporation designed to create public and social good. OpenAI rivals like Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI use a similar structure. “The PBC is a structure used by many others that requires the company to balance shareholder interests, stakeholder interests, and a public benefit interest in its decision making,” the company said. “It will enable us to raise the necessary capital with conventional terms like our competitors.” A year ago, the board of the nonprofit tried to fire CEO Sam Altman. It failed, but the incident spooked OpenAI’s investors, including Microsoft. In the months since, Altman and his colleagues have been working toward a new structure. With the change in structure, Altman and his colleagues must find ways to compensate the nonprofit for its loss of control. OpenAI said the nonprofit would receive shares in the PBC but added that the value it would receive was still being negotiated by independent financial advisers. The plan “would result in one of the best resourced nonprofits in history,” the company said in its blog. OpenAI’s latest funding round valued the company at $157 billion. OpenAI set off the generative artificial intelligence boom in late 2022 with the release of its online chatbot ChatGPT, which can answer questions in a near humanlike manner. In the months that followed, startups and tech giants like Google, Meta and Amazon raced to build similar technologies. Altman founded OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015 with several AI researchers and entrepreneurs, including Musk. The aim, Altman and his co-founders said, was to build AI for the benefit of humanity — not for corporate shareholders. But by 2018, OpenAI’s founders realized that building powerful AI technology would require far more money than they could raise through a nonprofit. Early that year, Musk left the lab. When Altman took over as CEO, he created a for-profit company able to take on investors and promise them financial return while still answering to the nonprofit board. Eventually, it raised more than $13 billion in funding from Microsoft and others. As OpenAI’s largest investor, Microsoft also negotiated a partnership that has tightly bound the two companies as they compete with other AI companies. Microsoft supplies the raw computing power needed to build OpenAI technologies and it has an exclusive license to use these technologies in its own products. But Microsoft and other investors grew unhappy with the nonprofit’s control over the startup when its board tried to remove Altman in November 2023. The board said it no longer trusted Altman to build AI for the benefit of humanity. Musk sued OpenAI this year, claiming that the company and two of its founders, Altman and Greg Brockman, breached the company’s founding contract by putting commercial interests ahead of the public good. OpenAI has denied the claim. (The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft, claiming copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems. The two companies have denied the suit’s claims.)You have three days left, if you got suckered in by those omnipresent ads for Medicare Advantage and left regular Medicare for the siren song of cheaper coverage, “free” vision, hearing, or dental, or even “free” money to buy groceries or rides to the doc. The open enrollment period for real Medicare closes at the end of the day Saturday, December 7th; after that, you’re locked into the Medicare Advantage plan you may have bought until next year. If you’ve had Medicare Advantage for a year or more, however, the open enrollment period is still “open” until December 7th, but you will want to make sure you can get a “Medigap” plan that fills in the 20% that real Medicare doesn’t cover. Companies are required to write a Medigap policy for you at a reasonable price when you turn 65, no matter how sick you are or what preexisting conditions you may have, but if you’ve been “off Medicare” by being on Medicare Advantage for more than a year, they don’t have to write you a policy, so double-check that and sign up for a Medigap policy before making the switch back to real Medicare. So, what’s this all about and why is it so complicated? When George W. Bush and congressional Republicans (and a handful of bought-off Democrats) created Medicare Advantage in 2003, it was the fulfillment of half of Bush’s goal of privatizing Social Security and Medicare, dating all the way back to his unsuccessful run for Congress in 1978 and a main theme of his second term in office. Medicare Advantage is not Medicare. These plans are private health insurance provided by private corporations, who are then reimbursed at a fixed rate by the Medicare trust fund regardless of how much their customers use their insurance. Thus, the more they can screw their customers and us taxpayers by withholding healthcare payments, the more money they make. With real Medicare, if your doctor says you need a test, procedure, scan, or any other medical intervention you simply get it done and real Medicare pays the bill. No muss, no fuss, no permission needed. Real Medicare always pays, and if they think something’s not kosher, they follow up after the payment’s been made so as not to slow down the delivery of your healthcare. With Medicare Advantage, however, you’re subject to “pre-clearance,” meaning that the insurance company inserts itself between you and your doctor: You can’t get the medical help you need until or unless the insurance company pre-clears you for payment. These companies thus make much of their billions in profit by routinely denying claims — 1.5 million, or 18 percent of all claims , were turned down in one year alone — leaving Advantage policy holders with the horrible choice of not getting the tests or procedures they need or paying for them out-of-pocket. Given this, you’d think that most people would stay as far away from these private Medicare Advantage plans as they could. But Congress also authorized these plans to compete unfairly with real Medicare by offering things real Medicare can’t (yet). These include free or discounted dental, hearing, eyeglasses, gym memberships, groceries, rides to the doctor, and even cash rebates. You and I pay for those freebies, but that’s only half of the horror story. Give a gift subscription This year, as Matthew Cunningham-Cook pointed out in Wendell Potter’s brilliant Health Care un-covered Substack newsletter, we’re ponying up an additional $64 billion to give to these private insurance companies to “reimburse” them for the freebies they relentlessly advertise on television, online, and in print. And here’s the most obscene part of the whole thing: the companies won’t tell the government (us!) how much of that $64 billion they’ve actually spent. They just take the money and say, “Thank you very much.” And then, presumably, throw a few extra million into the pockets of each of their already obscenely-well-paid senior executives. For example, the former CEO of the nation’s largest Medicare Advantage provider, UnitedHealth, walked away with over a billion dollars in total compensation. With a “B.” One guy. His successor made off with over a half-billion dollars in pay and stock. Good work if you can get it: all you need do is buy off a hundred or so members of Congress, courtesy of Clarence Thomas’ billionaire-funded tie-breaking vote on Citizens United , and threaten the rest of Congress with massive advertising campaigns for their opponents if they try to stop you. And while the companies refuse to tell us how much of the $64 billion that we’re throwing at them this year to offer “free” dental, etc. is actually used, what we do know is that most of that money is not going to pay for the freebies they advertise. As Cunningham-Cook noted , in one study only 11 percent of Advantage policyholders who’d signed up with plans offering dental care used that benefit. Another study showed over-the-counter-drug freebies were used only a third of the time, leaving $5 billion in the insurance companies money bins just for that “reimbursable” goodie. A later study found that at least a quarter of all Advantage policyholders failed to use any of the freebies they’d been offered when they signed up. That’s an enormous amount of what the industry calls “breakage”; benefits offered and paid for by the government but not used. Billions of dollars left over every month. And, used or not, you and I sure paid for them. In my book The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich , I lay out the story of this scam and how badly so many American seniors — and all American taxpayers, regardless of age — get ripped off by it. And now it looks like things are about to get a whole lot worse. When he was president last time, Donald Trump substantially expanded Medicare Advantage, calling real Medicare “socialism.” Project 2025 and candidate Trump both promised to end real Medicare “immediately” if Trump was re-elected; at the very least, they’ll make Medicare Advantage the “default” program people are steered into when they turn 65 and sign up for Medicare. These giant insurance companies ripped off us taxpayers last year to the tune of an estimated $140 billion over and above what it would’ve cost us if people had simply been on real Medicare, according to a report from Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) . If there was no Medicare Advantage scam bleeding off all that cash to pay for executives’ private jets, real Medicare could be expanded to cover dental, vision, and hearing and even end the need for Medigap plans. But for now, the privatization gravy train continues to roll along. The insurance giants use some of that money to buy legislators, and some of it for expensive advertising to dupe seniors into joining their programs. The company (Benefytt) that hired Joe Namath to pitch Medicare Advantage, for example, was recently hit with huge fines by the Federal Trade Commission for deceptive advertising. The FTC news release laid it out : And what was it that the Federal Trade Commission called “sham insurance”? Medicare Advantage . Nonetheless, the Centers for Medicare Services continues to let Benefytt and Namath market these products: welcome to the power of organized money. And it’s huge organized money. Medicare Advantage plans are massive cash cows for the companies that run them. As Cigna prepares for a merger, for example, they’re being forced to sell off their Medicare Advantage division: it’s scheduled to go for $3.7 billion . Nobody pays that kind of money unless they expect enormous returns. And how do they make those billions? Most Medicare Advantage companies regularly do everything they can to intimidate you into paying yourself out-of-pocket. Often, they simply refuse payment and wait for you to file a complaint against them; for people seriously ill the cumbersome “appeals” process is often more than they can handle so they just write a check, pull out a credit card, or end up deeply in debt in their golden years. As a result, hospitals and doctor groups across the nation are beginning to refuse to take Medicare Advantage patients. And in rural areas many hospitals are simply going out of business because Medicare advantage providers refuse to pay their bills. California-based Scripps Health, for example, cares for around 30,000 people on Medicare Advantage and recently notified all of them that Scripps will no longer offer medical services to them unless they pay out-of-pocket or revert back to real Medicare. They made this decision because over $75 million worth of services and procedures their physicians had recommended to their patients were turned down by Medicare Advantage insurance companies. In many cases, Scripps had already provided the care and is now stuck with the bills that the Advantage companies refuse to pay. Scripps CEO Chris Van Gorder told MedPage Today : Similarly, the Mayo Clinic has warned its customers in Florida and Arizona that they won’t accept Medicare Advantage any more, either. Increasing numbers of physician groups and hospitals are simply over being ripped off by Advantage insurance companies. Traditional Medicare has been serving Americans well since 1965: it’s one of the most efficient single-payer systems to fund healthcare that’s ever been devised. But nobody was making a buck off it, so nobody could share those profits with greedy politicians. Enter Medicare Advantage, courtesy of George W. Bush and the GOP. While several bills have been offered in Congress to do something about this — including Mark Pocan’s and Ro Khanna’s Save Medicare Act that would end these companies’ ability to use the word “Medicare” in their policy names and advertising — the amounts of money sloshing around DC in the healthcare space now are almost unfathomable. So far this year, according to opensecrets.org , the insurance industry has spent $117,305,895 showering gifts and persuasion on our federal lawmakers to keep their obscene profits flowing. It’s all one more example of how five corrupt Republicans on the US Supreme Court legalizing political bribery with Citizens United have screwed average Americans and made a handful of industry executives and investors fabulously rich. They get away with it because when people choose to sign up for Medicare Advantage at 65 (or convert to these plans in their 60s or early 70s) they’re typically not sick — and thus cost the insurance companies little. Tragically, the people signing up for these plans have no idea all the hassles, hoops, and troubles they might have to jump through when they do get sick, have an accident, or otherwise need medical assistance. And since the last three years of life are typically the most expensive years for healthcare, the insurance denials are more likely to happen then — long after the person’s signed up with the Advantage company and it’s too late to go back to real Medicare. This is why it typically takes a few years for people to figure out how badly they got screwed by not going with regular Medicare but instead putting themselves in the hands of private insurance companies. The New York Times did an exposé of the problem in an article titled “ Medicare Advantage Plans Often Deny Needed Care, Federal Report Finds .” It tells the story of “Kurt Pauker, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor in Indianapolis” who’d bought an Advantage policy from Humana: This is not at all uncommon, the Times notes : If you have “real” Medicare with a heavily regulated Medigap policy to cover the 20% Medicare doesn’t, you never have to worry. Your bills get paid, you can use any doctor or hospital in the country who takes Medicare, and neither Medicare nor your Medigap provider will ever try to collect from you or force you to pay for what you thought was covered. Neither you or your doctor will ever have to do the “pre-authorization” dance with real Medicare: those terrible experiences dealing with for-profit insurance companies are part of the past. But if you have Medicare Advantage — which is not Medicare, but private health insurance — you’re on your own. As the Times laid out: Buying a Medicare Advantage policy is a leap in the dark, and the federal government is not there to catch you. And it’s all perfectly legal, thanks to Bush’s 2003 law, so your state insurance commissioner usually can’t or won’t help. Thus, here we are, handing billions of dollars a month to insurance industry executives so they can buy new Swiss chalets, private jets, and luxury yachts. And so they can compete — unfairly — with Medicare itself, driving LBJ’s most proud achievement into debt and crisis. Enough is enough. Let your members of Congress know it’s beyond time to fix the Court and Medicare, so scams like Medicare Advantage can no longer rip off America’s seniors while making industry executives richer than Midas. And if you got hooked into switching out of real Medicare and now find yourself in a Medicare Advantage plan, you have three days to back out and return to real Medicare. For more information, you can also contact the nonprofit and real-Medicare-supporting Medicare Rights Center at 800-333-4114. NOW READ: Agenda 47: Alarm sounded about Trump’s dystopian plans for his second term
Sammy Gyamfi, the Communications Director for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has responded robustly to claims made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), accusing them of resorting to “frivolous allegations” as they sense defeat in the ongoing elections. Gyamfi’s comments came in response to allegations that the NDC was involved in an incident at Kintampo South, where an Electoral Commission (EC) agent allegedly tore off the details of NPP’s presidential candidate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, from several ballot papers. “The NPP is resorting to frivolous allegations because they sense defeat, and they are using such tactics to incite violence and manipulate the election process,” Gyamfi stated during a press briefing. He dismissed the accusation that the NDC was behind the act, pointing the finger at the Electoral Commission, which is responsible for the conduct of the election. “This was not the NDC’s doing but an action by an Electoral Commission officer. If anyone is to blame, it should be the EC, not the NDC,” he emphasized. The incident in question involved an EC official who allegedly issued 15 ballot papers with the details of Dr. Bawumia omitted. The suspect, identified as Joseph Derry, was arrested by police and is currently assisting with the investigation. Gyamfi’s remarks come amid increasing political tension as the election nears its conclusion. The NDC has continued to push for a peaceful and fair election, while the NPP has raised concerns over alleged irregularities. The NDC spokesperson’s call for accountability and peace underscores the party’s ongoing efforts to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.(All times Eastern) Schedule subject to change and/or blackouts Sunday, Dec. 8 AUTO RACING 7:55 a.m. ESPN — Formula 1: The Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates ESPNU — Formula 1: The Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (F1 Kids) COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN’S) Noon BTN — Maryland at Purdue FS1 — Oklahoma St. at Seton Hall SECN — Richmond at Auburn 12:30 p.m. People are also reading... Paige Hubl, former Nebraska volleyball player and Lincoln Southeast coach, dies at age 34 Man found dead in north Lincoln, police say Lincoln Southwest vs. East boys basketball game briefly suspended due to 'unsafe environment' Andi's Ascent: She didn't want to play volleyball. Now Andi Jackson is the sport's next best thing 'It could be very special': Why signs point to strong match between Nebraska, Pinstripe Bowl Wisconsin officer grabbing Donovan Raiola's arm a 'misunderstanding,' UW police say Nebraska defensive lineman announces he’ll return for 2025 season Tony White leaves Nebraska for Florida State defensive coordinator job 140 layoffs hit Lincoln immigration services center; more likely Taco restaurant started by brothers in Grand Island expands to Lincoln 'Straight up theft': Lincoln craft fair organizer under fire after canceling event Lincoln Public Schools chief Gausman announces plans to retire Matt Rhule, Luke Fickell both downplay postgame encounter between Fickell, Donovan Raiola 'Not what we want to do': Nebraska's Matt Rhule talks pregame handshake snub with Iowa Nebraska volleyball aces first test, sweeps Florida A&M in first round of NCAA Tournament ESPNU — Vanderbilt vs. TCU, Fort Worth, Texas 1 p.m. ESPN2 — Kansas at Missouri 3 p.m. ESPN2 — Texas A&M vs. Texas Tech, Fort Worth, Texas 4 p.m. ESPNU — Arkansas St. at Memphis 5 p.m. ESPN — UConn at Texas 6 p.m. ACCN — Duke at Louisville BTN — UCLA at Oregon COLLEGE BASKETBALL (WOMEN’S) Noon ACCN — Notre Dame at Syracuse 2 p.m. ACCN — SMU at Florida St. BTN — Minnesota at Nebraska SECN — Tennessee St. at Mississippi 4 p.m. ACCN — Virginia Tech at Duke BTN — Illinois at Ohio St. SECN — Kansas St. at Texas A&M 7 p.m. ESPN2 — South Carolina at TCU COLLEGE FOOTBALL Noon ESPN — College Football Playoff Selection Show COLLEGE WATER POLO (MEN’S) 6 p.m. ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: TBD, Stanford, Calif. FIGURE SKATING 4:30 p.m. NBC — ISU: The Final 2024, Grenoble, France GOLF 4 a.m. GOLF — DP World Tour: The Nedbank Golf Challenge, Final Round, Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa 11:30 a.m. GOLF — PGA Tour: The Hero World Challenge, Final Round, Albany Golf Club, Nassau, Bahamas 1:30 p.m. NBC — PGA Tour: The Hero World Challenge, Final Round, Albany Golf Club, Nassau, Bahamas HORSE RACING Noon FS2 — NYRA: America’s Day at the Races NBA G-LEAGUE BASKETBALL 2 p.m. NBATV — Westchester at Raptors 905 NFL FOOTBALL 1 p.m. CBS — Regional Coverage: Jacksonville at Tennessee, N.Y. Jets at Miami, Cleveland at Pittsburgh, Las Vegas at Tampa Bay FOX — Regional Coverage: Atlanta at Minnesota, New Orleans at N.Y. Giants, Carolina at Philadelphia 4:05 p.m. CBS — Seattle at Arizona 4:25 p.m. FOX — Regional Coverage: Buffalo at L.A. Rams, Chicago at San Francisco 8:20 p.m. NBC — L.A. Chargers at Kansas City PEACOCK — L.A. Chargers at Kansas City NHL HOCKEY 1 p.m. NHLN — Seattle at N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. NHLN — Colorado at New Jersey SOCCER (MEN’S) 9 a.m. USA — Premier League: Brighton & Hove Albion at Leicester City 11:30 a.m. USA — Premier League: Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Noon CBSSN — Serie A: Como at Venezia SWIMMING Noon NBC — U.S. Open: Championships, Greensboro, N.C. (Taped) TENNIS 9:30 a.m. TENNIS — Ultimate Tennis Showdown The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive TV listings provided by LiveSportsOnTV .
Romania's far-right candidate Calin Georgescu on Saturday urged voters to go to polling stations despite the country's top court having scrapped the presidential elections over alleged irregularities amid claims of Russian interference. The court's shock ruling, coming just before the presidential run-off which had been due Sunday, opens the way for a new electoral process starting from scratch in the EU and NATO member state bordering war-torn Ukraine. The annulment follows a spate of intelligence documents declassified by the presidency this week detailing allegations against Georgescu and Russia, including claims of "massive" social media promotion and cyberattacks. Georgescu -- who unexpectedly topped last month's first round of voting -- called for voters on Sunday "to wait to be welcomed, to wait for democracy to win through their power", said a statement from his team. "Mr. Calin Georgescu believes that voting is an earned right," said the statement. "That is why he believes that Romanians have the right to be in front of the polling stations tomorrow." Georgescu himself would go to a polling station near Bucharest at 0600 GMT, said his team. Earlier Saturday, police raided three houses in Brasov city in central Romania as part of the investigation "in connection with crimes of voter corruption, money laundering, computer forgery". Among the houses searched was that of businessman Bogdan Peschir, a TikTok user who according to the declassified documents allegedly paid $381,000 to those involved in the promotion of Georgescu, Romanian media reported. Peschir has compared his support for Georgescu to the world's richest man Elon Musk's backing of US president-elect Donald Trump. Little-known outsider Georgescu, a 62-year-old former senior civil servant, was favourite to win the second round on Sunday against centrist pro-EU mayor Elena Lasconi, 52, according to several polls. But the constitutional court on Friday unanimously decided to annul the entire electoral process as it was "marred... by multiple irregularities and violations of electoral legislation". President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday that he had discussed with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and they agreed on the "need to strengthen the security of social media". The European Commission announced earlier this week that it had stepped up monitoring TikTok after Romania's authorities alleged "preferential treatment" of Georgescu on the platform -- a claim the company has denied. Following the court's decision, the United States said it had faith in Romania's institutions and called for a "peaceful democratic process". Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., on X branded the vote's cancellation an "attempt at rigging the outcome" and "denying the will of the people". Georgescu called it "a formalised coup d'etat" and said democracy was "under attack". His team on Saturday declined to comment on the raids, saying they "will not comment or provide answers until we have exact data". Georgescu and another far-right party, the AUR, have said they plan to appeal the decision to stop the voting to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. A past admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Georgescu, an EU and NATO sceptic, in recent days had reframed himself as "ultra pro-Trump," vowing to put Romania "on the world map" and cut aid for neighbouring Ukraine. In an interview with US broadcaster Sky News on Saturday, Georgescu said there were no links between him and Russia. Political scientist Costin Ciobanu told AFP that the annulment has "further polarised Romanian society". With trust in institutions and the ruling class already low, the vote's cancellation poses a "major danger that Romanians will think that it doesn't matter how they vote", Ciobanu added. Elsewhere in the EU, Austria annulled presidential elections in 2016 because of procedural irregularities. In Romania, a new government is expected to set another date for the presidential vote. In last weekend's legislative elections, the ruling Social Democrats came top. But far-right parties made big gains, securing an unprecedented third of the ballots on mounting anger over soaring inflation and fears over Russia's war in Ukraine. In a joint appeal on Wednesday, the Social Democrats and three other pro-EU parties -- together making up an absolute majority in parliament -- signed an agreement to form a coalition, promising "stability". bur-jza/jj
DALLAS — Calling all SMU Mustangs fans! In celebration of the football team's historic 2024 ACC season, the SMU Mustangs are getting their own limited-edition bobbleheads. SMU went 8-0 in ACC play and became the first team transitioning to a power conference to reach a conference championship game. Despite losing to Clemson, 34-31, the Mustangs were selected as the 11 seed in the College Football Playoffs. Only 2,024 of the special edition bobbleheads have been produced and each one is individually numbered. "These bobbleheads are the perfect way for SMU fans, alumni, students, faculty, and staff to show off their school pride year-round,” National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum co-founder and CEO Phil Sklar said. The standard Peruna bobbleheads are $35 each and $40 each for the Top 25 Ranking Tracker bobblehead and Peruna IX bobblehead, plus a flat-rate shipping charge of $8 per order. You can order them online but unfortunately, you won't get them in time for the team's playoff game against Penn State next weekend. The university says the bobbleheads will be shipped in May. To pre-order your limited-edition bobblehead, click on this link . Standing on a base that reads “SMU Mustangs” across the front with a backing featuring the SMU logo, the first Peruna bobblehead gives the No. 1 signal while wearing a red shirt adorned with the SMU logo in blue. Running on a grass-like texture on a base bearing his name, the Peruna IX bobblehead is a replica of SMU’s miniature black Shetland pony. Standing on a football field-like texture, the second Peruna bobblehead is positioned on a numbered block that can be adjusted when SMU’s ranking changes. Peruna is also holding a football adorned with the SMU logo. SMU (11-2) will face sixth-seeded Penn State (11-2) in a first-round matchup on Saturday, Dec. 21 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. This marks the first time the Mustangs have been chosen for the College Football Playoff, which debuted in 2014. Related Articles Here's where all the Texas schools are playing during the bowl season and College Football Playoff Did SMU's pony really kill another mascot? The matchups are set! Texas and SMU both made it into the College Football Playoff
The artist’s concept portrays a sleek and modern new building with sharp angles and generous natural light. The Butte Community Wellness and Resilience Hub would be built near the Butte Civic Center and on formerly contaminated ground associated with the Parrot Tailings. As envisioned, the center would serve a host of functions, ranging from providing recreation and wellness programming and facilities to a shelter during times when wildlife smoke diminishes air quality and threatens health — an increasingly common scenario given climate change. Butte-Silver Bow County appears destined to benefit from EPA’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program. The city-county learned recently that it would receive a multi-million grant from the program. Fine-tuning will follow, according to Taylor Gillespie, a regional spokeswoman for EPA. “After a grant is selected, they go through work plan negotiations which is a back-and-forth process between Butte-Silver Bow and the EPA project officer to make sure that the details are solid and that they are on track to meet the requirements of the grant,” Gillespie said. “This would include going line by line through their budget, looking at all of the specifics in the work plan, etc.” EPA has not yet announced the grant amount, but Butte-Silver Bow’s application last spring sought $20 million. And that’s the amount J.P. Gallagher anticipates local government will receive. “This is going to be a huge benefit to the community,” said Gallagher, chief executive of Butte-Silver Bow. “We are very confident that we will be fully funded but before we go into final engineering and design, we need the full confirmation of that funding,” he said. “The cost of construction could affect the square footage of what can be built. There are still some unknowns.” An estimate of total square-footage was not available Thursday. Gallagher said the city-county received feedback that its application, completed in consultation with Water & Environmental Technologies, was one of the most complete received by EPA for funding from the agency’s Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program. No taxpayer money was involved in preparing the ambitious grant application, Gallagher said. The proposal had to fall within the grant program’s environmental and climate justice framework. The grant application alluded to the human and economic costs of federal Superfund designation for Butte because of historic mining and smelting pollution. “With an active Superfund site, prolonged disinvestment and significant indicators of poverty and negative environmental impacts, Butte-Silver Bow has been designated as a disadvantaged community and continues to struggle with the impacts of social, economic and environmental decline,” the application noted. Given that status, how will Butte-Silver Bow pay to operate the new facility? One estimate puts annual operating costs at about $560,000. The feasibility study completed by Water & Environmental Technologies cites a variety of ways, in fees and rentals, that the facility could cover expenses. Gallagher weighed in. “The analysis is that the facility would make money to pay for operation,” he said. The feasibility study observes, “One of the most important criterion when selecting and evaluating potential programming is the ability of that programming to recover at least 100% of its expense.” The study adds, “Providing spaces for event, birthday, meeting, fitness and gymnasium rentals offers potential for recovering expenses.” Gallagher said the recreational functions of the facility will likely be less like a fitness center and more like a gym — with basketball and volleyball courts and probably pickleball, too. Programming at the Community Wellness and Resilience Hub would focus on such things as community resiliency, emergency preparedness and wellbeing activities. Several regional environmental consulting businesses and contractors benefit from the so-called remediation economy tied to Butte’s status as a federal Superfund site. And a few cleanup projects have benefitted the community in tangible ways. But a cost/benefits analysis of the Superfund status hitched like a lamprey to Butte since 1987 would have to consider a host of costs, including environmental stigma. Some residents of Butte-Silver Bow are routinely critical of EPA’s handling of Superfund work in the region. But relationships recently improved when EPA proposed a dramatic decrease in the action level for lead in residential soils and interior dust.
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