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What Are We Trying To Accomplish With Policy?

As Americans debate how to reopen our society in the wake of COVID-19, we seem to be breaking down into three groups: first, those who believe the virus isn’t particularly serious and desperately want to reopen everything as soon as possible (a small minority of Americans, by polling data); second, those who believe the virus is extraordinarily serious and want everything to remain closed as long as possible (a significant minority of Americans); and third, those who believe the virus is extraordinarily serious, that the economic damage brought about by COVID-19 is extraordinarily ...

Senior Life Matters: Medicare Is Excellent Insurance For Virus

Question: How does Medicare cover my recovery of COVID-19 if I get sick? Answer: Last month I addressed how Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) covered hospital stays and testing of COVID-19 related services. Your question also has been answered by CMS. Original Medicare gives you excellent Health Insurance all the time. When thinking about COVID-19, this coverage continues to be excellent and useful. As I said previously, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has worked hard to get in front of this situation. CMS has waived all deductibles and cost sharing ...

Big Google Is Watching Your Children

Schools remain shuttered across the country, 30 million Americans are out of work, and food banks are running low, but the edutech sector is booming. Silicon Valley companies are feasting on an exploding client base of quarantined students held hostage to “online learning.” Big Google is leading the way — and that is not OK. Unsuspecting parents cheering all the software and hardware donations during the pandemic shutdown have no idea the privacy price their children are paying. This isn’t charity. It’s big tech recruitment of vulnerable generations of future Google addicts. ...

Experts, Politicians Need Strong Dose Of Humility

With COVID-19 inducing so much turmoil here and around the world, I again refer to one of the most profound concepts for understanding political and economic manipulations, as I have multiple times in the past, the pretense of knowledge. Even though it might leave a great deal unknown and unpredictable, true knowledge is better than having a “pretense of exact knowledge that is likely to be false.” We as a nation, as in the people, the organizations, and the government entities, frequently rely on experts and, as a general rule, that is a good thing. Experts often spend a great ...

Country Living Is A Good Thing

Next to Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, I would rate Merle Haggard as one of the most gifted country/western singers of our generation. He sang from the heart. I was saddened when he died a few years back, but his music lives on. In his song “Big City,” he spins a tale of getting “tired of these dirty old sidewalks” and wanting to get back to country living. In words that resonate to the bottom of your boots, he implores the big city to “turn me loose, set me free, somewhere in the middle of Montana!” I feel he is speaking for me though I am living on a lake in ...

Stage Is Set For Work On The Lake

By Vince Horrigan As the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance prepares to enter our sixth year prioritizing projects, securing funding, and allocating resources for our 26 member agencies, there is much to reflect upon and much to be excited about moving forward. Prioritizing Projects: This summer’s lake-wide program includes 15 member-led lake and watershed projects consisting of stormwater management, invasive species detection and removal, phosphorus monitoring (harmful algal bloom source detection), new Mobitrac and skimmer equipment to enhance near-shore weed ...