Month: August 2021

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The Daily Signal - What Latest Inflation Numbers Mean for Your Wallet

Americans have felt the effects of ballooning inflation as a direct result of government-mandated shutdowns of the economy. Prices on essential goods, including food and gas, have risen steadily over the past few months, leaving many wondering about the economic health of the nation.

"This past year and a half, we also saw a very sharp economic decline, larger in a single quarter than we have seen in any of our lifetimes, unless you were around back in the 1930s," says Joel Griffith, research fellow in financial regulations at The Heritage Foundation.

Griffith joins us today on "The Daily Signal Podcast" to talk about the latest inflation numbers and how good fiscal policy can help us right the ship.

We also cover these news stories: 

  • The Taliban capture the strategically significant cities of Ghazni and Herat, marking the fall of 11 out of 34 provincial capitals after a weeklong blitz of fighting.
  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton push back on Dallas County's new mask mandate. 
  • A recent report details how Oregon Gov. Kate Brown quietly signed into law a measure ending graduation requirements for students to prove they can read, write, and do math at a high school level. 
  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is going to step down, but Republicans and Democrats alike call for him to be held accountable for his handling of nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. 



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Everything Everywhere Daily - The Great Molasses Flood (Encore)

On January 15, 1919, the city of Boston suffered its greatest disaster when a storage tank filled with over 2 million gallons of molasses burst and killed 21 people and injured 150 more. Researchers have been studying the unique circumstances surrounding this industrial accident ever since. Learn more about the Great Boston Molasses Flood on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Opening Arguments - OA516: We Turned Down Ads for a Scam Company Called CrowdHealth. Other Shows May Not. Send Them This!

We bring you a somewhat unusual rapid-response Friday episode in which we break down a new startup company, CrowdHealth, Inc., that is apparently engaged in a mass ad buy across the kinds of podcasts you likely listen to. This means that within a few weeks, you'll probably be hearing all sorts of paid testimonials for a product that does not exist right now and bears all the hallmarks of a classic (legal) scam.

This company is funded with $6 million -- some (most?) of which will be spent on the advertising blitz we refused to be a part of. Would you trust an insurance company with just $6 million in reserves? (No.) Would you trust an insurance company that offered contradictory promises? (No.) Does it make any sense to pay an underfunded entity for the right to pay your own medical bills? (No.)

We explain how this is almost certainly someone who is very familiar with the kinds of Christian Health Share Ministry scams we debunked in Episode 497 and is trying to replicate that -- only worse. Listen and find out why.

For service of process purposes, Opening Arguments is a product of and is copyright (c) 2021 Opening Arguments Media, LLC, a Maryland limited liability company with its principle place of business at 28 E. Susequehanna Ave., Suite 206, Towson, Maryland 21287.

This episode relied upon the following resources:

Links:

  1. Websites: crowdhealth.com goes nowhere; crowdhealth.org is an unrelated company selling KN95 masks and other COVID supplies; this product is at the (unfinished) website joincrowdhealth.com.
  2. You can read the two-page flyer CrowdHealth sent out here.
  3. We explained why Christian Health Sharing Ministries are a scam back in Episode 497.
  4. You can search for CrowdHealth, Inc., a Texas corporation organized on April 19, 2021, on the Texas Corporations website's search page (it will pull up in a separate window).
  5. Here is a link to CrowdHealth's SEC Form D filing showing it raised $6,025,800 from 23 angel investors; that story was covered in the May 10, 2021 issue of the Austin Business Journal.
  6. And if you want to know more about CrowdHealth's founder, CEO, and (possibly?) it's only shareholder, Andy Schoonover, you can check out: a) Andy's LinkedIn page; b) his LinkedIn post soliciting doctors to share pricing information and promising "a bunch of uninsured folks who want to pay you quickly and $$ directly"; c) his stupid unfunny TikTok thing he shared on LinkedIn; d) his Twitter page; and e) his bio at Lion Venture Partners.
  7. Legal documents: IRS Publication 16-0051; 26 U.S.C. § 213; and 26 U.S.C § 5000A

Appearances

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-And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com!

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Short Wave - Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall: Can Animals Recognize Their Reflection At All?

(Encore episode) The mirror self-recognition test has been around for decades. Only a few species have what it takes to recognize themselves, while others learn to use mirrors as tools. NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce talks us through mirror self-recognition and why Maddie's dog is staring at her.

For more science reporting and stories, follow Nell on twitter @nell_sci_NPR. And, as always, email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Amarica's Constitution - Neal Katyal’s Life in the Law, Part 2 (Special Guest)

Neal Katyal, now at the peak of the Supreme Court bar, reviews many of the big issues the Supreme Court will face in the new term, as well as some just past.  Abortion, affirmative action, and cases involving a tension between legitimate governmental action and religious organizations are all discussed from the unique perspective of this remarkable litigator, professor, author, and television commentator.

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Consider This from NPR - After Dire U.N. Warning On Climate, Will Anything Change?

What struck John Kerry the most about this week's landmark U.N. report on climate change?

"The irreversibility" of some of the most catastrophic effects of global warming, he tells Audie Cornish. Kerry, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, tells NPR the U.N. report underscored the need for the world to respond more forcefully to climate change — and he's called an upcoming U.N. climate summit in Scotland the "last best hope" for global action.

At the same time, the Biden administration faces an uphill battle to take major action on climate at home. Hear more on that from the NPR Politics Podcast via Apple, Spotify, or Google.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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Pod Save America - “Fire sale on Cuomo books.”

Joe Biden’s economic agenda gets closer to becoming reality, Republicans flirt with a debt ceiling disaster, former Obama economic advisor Austan Goolsbee explains the debate over inflation, and good riddance to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.


For a closed-captioned version of this episode, please visit crooked.com/podsaveamerica. 

For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.


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Science In Action - Methane: A climate solution?

The latest IPCC assessment raised alarm about the rate at which manmade emissions are contributing to climate change. Much of the focus for action is on reducing levels of carbon dioxide, however there is a more potent greenhouse gas, methane, produced by natural and industrial processes which, says Drew Shindell of Duke University and lead author on the Global Methane Assessment, is relatively easy to target for reduction.

Neuroscientist John Cryan of University College, Cork in Ireland is interested in the effects our gut microbes can have on our behaviour. It’s an unusual connection and one which he’s been experimenting on in mice. By feeding the faeces of younger mice to older ones he has found that the older ones’ took on some of the younger ones’ behaviour.

Ball lightning is the stuff of legend and the supernatural. And yet there are many reported sightings of this phenomenon. Texas State University's Karl Stephan is keen to uncover the science behind these observations. He’s running a crowd sourcing project encouraging people to contribute video recordings of any ball lightening events they might observe.

And Chile is home to the oldest known mummies in the World. UNESCO world heritage status has been given to a collection of around 300 mummies from Chile’s northern deserts. The mummies of babies, children and adults are thought to have been created in response to arsenic poisoning in the region around 7,000 years ago.

Image: Livestock farm in Brazil Credit: Photo by Igor Do Vale/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Julian Siddle