iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

You have to temper your expectations. Even with a majority of Dems in the Congress, they will only be able to slow the MAGA administration slightly through choking off funds and maybe some Congressional investigations.

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The $90 covered the increase in Part B premiums for the upcoming year. Medicare Advantage enrollees don't get it, only traditional Medicare recipients. Yet both groups, for the most part, have to pay the Part B premium.

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Have you actually gone in and priced it? You can do that through a free account at Medicare.gov.

That has to be Part B and Plan G combined, right? Part B is $203. Plan G in Southern CA, a high cost area, is $228 for a 70 year old through Blue Cross. No network, no co pays after the initial $283 Part B co-pays, 100% coverage of everything, including 99 days of rehab / long term care.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 16h

I have traditional Medicare with a Plan G supplement. Premiums are about $400 a month combined. That $4,800 combined paid 100% of about $300,000 in medical bills I had when I had a stroke in 2025 (I did have to pay the $283 Part B deductible, but the ER, ICU, and rehab hospital were 100% covered.)

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MAGA has outperformed polling by 4 to 8 points in every election since their movement started. Over a decade of being underestimated. Even if you see a Dem 8 points ahead, it's really a tie. Vote.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 16h

The Phoenix BIOS clean room technique is the one I remember. A single engineer, who has never written code for PC (he wrote for the TI calculators) created code to mimic the IBM API -- without ever reading the IBM specs. An LLM clean room? Doesn't sound likely.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

No. Many retired people, like Bill Gates, have significant income. I have significant tax-deferred savings that should be taxed as I spend it in my final season of life. My hope is that my taxes go to help others, not drop bombs on people.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

May all his days be as wonderful as today.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I'm encouraged by the polls, but also a bit cautious. Doesn't MAGA under-poll by about 4 or 5 points? I see a LOT of "leaning Blue" races are only up by 2 or 3 points. It's not enough. We can't get complacent.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Sign up for "where's my ballot" at the CA Secretary of States office. california.ballottrax.net/voter/ Know when they receive or retrieve your ballot, and when it's counted.

california.ballottrax.net

BallotTrax

BallotTrax is a service that enables voters in participating states and counties to receive notifications by email, SMS, or voice about the status of their mail ballots.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I truly hope that is the case. House and Senate investigations, along with cutting off the funds for programs highjacked by Trump, like ICE. The opposition can't do everything, but they should do everything they can.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Sign up for "where's my ballot?" I get notices when my ballot has been mailed to me, when I drop it off and it is collected, and when it is counted. I will know of anyone interferes, whether that be a gay person, trans person, POC, or this administration.

Sms message that my ballot has been mailed v to me.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Not true for Congresspeople. They buy their insurance through the DC exchange, and it's similar to the policies any of us buy through an exchange. The Feds pick up 72% of the cost, but they pay the rest. Very similar to what private employers do. fedlaws.org/do-members-o...

fedlaws.org

Do Members of Congress Really Get Free Healthcare?

Learn how healthcare works for members of Congress, from what they pay and where they buy coverage to on-site perks and coverage after they leave office.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

As the article says, the actual rate is from 50 to 90% of the denials are overturned on *appeal*. But how many don't appeal? That's the number that shows the "chilling effect" of denials, and why they are the insurance company's most powerful weapon to increase profit.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Nixon was not impeached. He resigned before the House voted on impeachment.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

The Pope is Chicago expressing support for anti-death penalty advocates. Perhaps God agrees.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

About time CA joined the rest of the sane world.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

No, LINXS itself has the 25 year contract to maintain and operate the system after construction is done. Not a subcontractor. LINXS is itself a kind of joint venture between several entities including Fluor Engineering.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I have seen some estimates that over 20% of total healthcare spending is on administrative costs (not including physician payments). Medicare has less than 4%, IIRC.

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Any anti vax person is an active threat to anyone over 65 and under 18. Not to mention someone in their 90s. State laws need to be revised, no medical worker, care giver, or custodian should be behind on their vaccinations. No vaccinations, no pay.

No one is paying premiums so that insurance companies can get subsidies from the government. If that's happening, it's with fake accounts made by insurance companies. Audit them, and prosecute the people involved for financial crimes.

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Our system is just crazy.

The best analogy for the way out works is like an annuity that you pay for during your working years that pays you back when you retire. The more you've paid in, the more you get out. Most people get more back out than they pay in, by far.

The construction company (LINXS) is also contracted to operate it for a number of years, 25 I think. That should be severved from the contract for non-performance.

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So, people are paying premiums each month to scam someone? If the companies are making up people to get the government incentives, let's prove it, get the money back and throw the CEOs in jail.

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I don't know of another industry with pricing like that. My wife's surgery was $50k, but insurance discount brought it down to $11k, of which we paid $3,800. What if we didn't have insurance? Would we be doing a Go Fund Me for $50k?

Interesting. Always considered "fish" like "moose". Same singular and plural, but I don't think there are "mooses".

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"Every Breath You Take" was played at a lot of weddings. It's not a love song.

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So you think it's worse now? Of course it is. Murder has no statute of limitations. Most other crimes have terms of 7 to 10 years. The abuses of power, like this specific act, can be prosecuted.

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This administration will not be in power forever.

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I wonder if Metro or Metrolink could operate it instead of LINXS.

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Had a similar experience with a well dressed, late 80 year old woman outside the grocery store. Her "check was cut." I have no idea if her husband died and her Social Security was cut that way, or if she's an early victim of current cuts. Maybe it was a scam, but it made me very sad.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The judge will frown, and tell the DOJ they risk another sternly worded opinion.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

So Boebert, the MAGA favorite, turns out to be gay. Or, as they might say "a dangerous sexual deviant." This may not affect her support in the MAGA community, after all, they still support a sexual harasser and suspected hebophile (pedophile).

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Deadly force because "he wouldn't stop"? Sorry, that's not allowed. That's the very definition of excessive force.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Nothing succeeds like success. If Seattle and NYC can show us a different way of doing things, I will support their success.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My fear is that most people won't realize it, and the oligarchs will rule.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The problem is that right wing billionaires are buying and reshaping legacy media in the same mold (e.g. CBS).

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Violent, but closer to the series of novels than that awful Tom Cruise movie. Alan Ritchson is at least physically closer to the book character. They rely a little too much on head butts, but the head butt is like karate chops to the neck eye in the 70s.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

There should be mandatory cognition tests for all leaders once a year, and after any extended leave of office.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

He could have fallen due to something like a stroke. Stroke victims often look like that. I had a hemmoraghic stroke last year but have fully recovered. He has not recovered.

Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

He thought he was hiring illegal aliens, so he knowingly hired them in order to prevent paying them. That should be a crime, punishable by 2 to 5 years in prison. They should file a defamation lawsuit against him and take every thing he has if that state doesn't cap damages.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Can we all just settle on 70 as the maximum age of any federal office holder? Because I'm 70, and doing fine, but this could be me tomorrow.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Yes, plus it costs the government more per recipient than traditional Medicare.

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Frank @fshagan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If they can afford it, going back to traditional Medicare with the guaranteed issue Plan G supplement is much better insurance, but it will cost than about $400 each person instead of the $203 per person they are currently paying.