Obamacare going up and up

Obamacare insurance costs will rise again in 2027. Now don't blame Trump! He tried to undo that mess during his first term, and I think it was a Republican who worked against him. That's how much some hate Trump. They'd rather get rid of Trump or defeat his agenda than help the American people. ACA premiums proposed increase is 14%. Healthcare costs went up under Obama, not down--ACA went up 20% in 2025. It looked tempting in the beginning because of the subsidies, and we Americans still believe someone else will pay the bill. New Yorkers fell for that--Mamdani. Californians always go for--and Minnesotans--and increasingly, Texans. There is no free lunch--only socialism and communism. 

(Reported by ABCNews in BottomLine, Sept 2026, although the opinion part is mine)

Students using AI assistants and the professors who have to keep up

I was glancing through a bibliography of a medieval monastic reform movement (Cistercian Reform) and clicked on something that offered help from "Leo AI." Wondering who or what that was, I found I could have a chat with Brave Leo--for a price:

"Chat Privately with Brave Leo

Brave Leo is a private AI smart assistant that enhances your use of the web. Leo is free to use with limited access. Brave Leo Premium offers more models, higher limits and gives subscribers early access to new features. The default model will change from time to time. See the Brave Help Center for more details.

By default, when you ask Leo a question about a website or page you are viewing, the content of the webpage you are viewing or any text you highlight on a page, as well as your search query will be sent to Brave servers in order for Leo to provide a response. In some cases, Leo will send queries derived from your input to Brave Search and use the search results to better answer your question. Brave does not guarantee the accuracy of responses, and responses may include inaccurate, misleading, or false information. Don't submit sensitive or private information to Brave Leo, and use caution with any answers related to health, finance, personal safety, or similar. You can adjust Leo’s options in Settings any time. Go to Settings > Leo.

Leo does not collect identifiers such as your IP address that can be linked to you. We do not train our models based on your data, including your search queries or Brave Leo’s responses. No personal data is stored on our servers, or retained by Brave. See the privacy policy for more information."

Then I was supposed to click on "I understand." But I don't. So, I didn't. How does a college professor of some age ever evaluate a paper of a student who had help from Brave Leo?

Michael Smith, guest blogger, on Democrat voters

I'm not shy about saying that to the Democrats, your life and the lives of your family and friends are worthless.

 
That's not me just issuing hyperbolic rhetoric, it is a proven fact based on their on policy positions, priorities and actions.

First and foremost, this is a party that has gone from saying abortion should be "safe, legal and rare" to approving elective abortion until birth - and even then, they loudly support mothers who have killed their own children.

They have little interest in stopping the cross border flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl, costing thousands of lives every year.

They release hardened criminals back on the streets to commit more crimes that often include murder and rigorously defend them once they do commit criminal acts, enthusiastically prosecuting anyone who tries to stop their rampages.

They openly call for the abolition of any effort to stop illegal immigration or removal of illegal aliens and ignore ICE detainers of proven serious criminals, even to the point of helping these criminals avoid detention and deportation.

 
They cheer the political violence that has led to unsuccessful assassination attempts on Donald Trump, and the successful assassinations of Charlie Kirk and Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Health Care. Never forget that they idolized the Boston Marathon bombers, to the point of swooning over Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's glamor photo on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

Factions within their party openly support Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran and those who don't, try to minimize or excuse the open antisemitism and attacks on the Jewish community both here in the US and abroad.

They use the argument that "if it saves one life", it is justifiable to abridge your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms while openly calling for a weak or open border to allow more illegal aliens to enter, even though some of those aliens murder, get drunk and drive and kill. The Democrats facilitate vehicular homicide, in the name of compassion for our "neighbors", by handing out commercial driver's licenses to aliens who do not speak or read our language.

Self-identified "lifelong Democrat" Elizabeth Carter admitted during a hearing this week that that she is "ashamed" of her party’s handling of the immigration issue after her son, William Micah Carter and his newlywed wife, Jennifer Lower, were killed in a car crash after their vehicle slammed into a jackknifed big rig driven by illegal immigrant Rajinder Kumar in late November. Kumar's CDL was issued by the State of California.

 
She agreed with the statement that "They just don't care" as an accurate assessment of the Democrat Party's view.

At worst, they hate you and want you to die, at best they see you as a disposable tool for their agenda and yet they sell their party as the party of compassion.

They are going all out to make you believe they care about you.

They don't.

Believe then when they show you who they are.

Children and poetry

For our next meeting of TEPG, The Estates Poetry Group, we're going to look at hymns as one of the earliest ways children learn and memorize poetry (and it's also the final way we hear poetry even with dementia). Again, I used AI and am not filled with terror that the Democrats and their funding sources in the AI industry have pushed on us the last 2 weeks. My question was about the meter 11.11.11.11 compared with a more standard meter like 8.6.8.6 and I was told that was impossible to know because there are too many hymnbooks. At least Chat gpt didn't tell me to ask a librarian like Co-pilot did with my last question. That meter is used for "Immortal, invisible God only wise," one of my favorites. Count it.

https://youtu.be/6YCBO5bGrdE?si=mCsbJKKd5jJC6QhF

Bill Gurley (venture capitalist) discusses how to respond catastrophes

Covid is still dividing friends, colleagues, church members and residents of senior living residences. This may be the most important explanation you'll read today, this week, or ever. Yes, I'm no click bait. This is real. At the recent symposium by All-In 2026, Bill Gurley discusses how societies respond to catastrophes. Surfside, Florida collapse, Boeing 737 MAX crashes, Hurricane Katrina, etc., and then how it responded to Covid-19. In the past the media jumped in to provide the solutions. But with Covid? It became the channel of misinformation allowing the real criminals to get away with murder.

https://singjupost.com/transcript-of-bill-gurley-searching-for-feynman-at-all-in-summit-2026/?

You can watch this, listen to it, or read it (transcript) Gurley analyzes the root causes of some recent disasters--you'll remember them--Surfside collapse, Hurricane Katrina, etc. The researchers and the solutions to prevent the next one. Sometimes it was a small failure overlooked. But Covid? Nope. No big search for solutions and prevention for next time. There are blockers and searchers. He notes 5 women Alina Chan, Katherine Eban, Emily Kopp, Zeynep Tufekci and Alison Young who are heroes but are still being ignored by the blockers and the media (who were critical in previous solutions but became political in Covid). Some of you know how to be sleuths, so get busy.

Guide to AI

 The 2026 IBM Guide to AI

Although Kamala may not understand AI or how it works, she knows she and her backers benefit if she can slow it down. And why not? If someone with a better widget shows up, just have a law that says no new players in the game--or it would just be too dangerous.

Harris backs AI slowdown amid growing safety fears - POLITICO

It's never enough for Democrats, but Republicans?

Enough is never enough for Democrats, so I'm only writing for Republicans who believe the affordability lie, yet understand there is a very real war in the middle east and the witch hunt AI doomers.

1) Inflation has been cut in half since the Biden years. OK, finished with that one.

 
2) Yes, Trump said no more wars, but he also said Israel is our ally and Iran couldn't have a nuclear bomb to wipe us out (been attacking US and allies for 49 years).

 
3) Democrats have tried to kill Trump several times and they lie incessantly about gender, fascism and white supremisim while screaming "free Palestine" and shut down Jews on college campuses. So, do Republicans really think in their wildest dreams that AOC or Kamala have any understanding of even the meaning of the words or history, or do they think more Muslims in Congress will improve their lives, or the lives of women? Get a life!

This poem has one sentence

From Pádraig Ó Tuama e-mail (Sept 13)

"In my first Poetry Unbound book (Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World), I wrote an essay about a magnificent short poem from Rafiq Kathwari’s collection In Another Country. It’s a short poem. In fact, the title is longer than the poem itself.

"On Receiving Father at JFK after his Long Flight from Kashmir" 

 As I fling my arms wide, he extends his hand.

(From Rafiq Kathwari’s In Another Country, published by Doire Press)

That’s it. If you’re reading this on a phone, it may be that there are line breaks in either the title or body of the poem, but in the book, the title and poem are simply one line across the page each."

Read in context of Mr. Kathwari's family history, this is a beautiful poem.  Even one sentence. I read it to our poetry group at the Estates yesterday.  I don't think the group quite understood my enthusiasm. 

Dear Classmates

Must be a rerun. Found it cleaning out my files, too old to be AI, but could still be a fake.

Dear classmates of 1957. Erma Bombeck, one of my favorite writers, said this when she found out she was dying of cancer. We’ve made it this far—near or at 80, so enjoy the ride!

If I had my life to live over, by Erma Bombeck

I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for the day.

I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.

I would have talked less and listened more.

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.

I would have eaten the popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.

I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.

I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.

I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.

I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.

I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.

I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.

Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.

When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.” There would have been more “I love you’s” and more “I’m sorry’s.”

But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it…live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!

Don’t worry about who doesn’t like you, who has more, or who’s doing what. Instead, let’s cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.