Relationships and Going Places
When Your Doctor Is Also A Lobbyist: Inside The War Over Surprise Medical Bills
The failure to get legislation through Congress set up a potentially explosive battle in an election year. Republicans and Democrats who have vowed to do something about health care costs must reckon with powerful industry groups whose influence transcends party lines. Meanwhile, physicians and hospitals have made their case in Washington and back home through in-person meetings and phone calls with lawmakers and congressional staff. They’ve hosted dinners and fundraisers and organized fly-ins to swarm Capitol Hill with in-person meetings. They’ve even led tours of their emergency rooms.
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First Flight: Wheels left the ground, that first gentle lift into the air, and a magic I didn't understand moved us skyward"
Margaret Cullison writes: I looked down at the farms below us, my eyes tracking the highway that led into town. Then I saw the swimming pool, the grade school, and finally our house. The little plane banked deeply as we circled. I held onto the edge of my seat and looked out the window at my side, which was now almost beneath me. The roof of our house loomed large below us, and then Dad pulled the plane out of the circling turn and dipped the wings in greeting. He turned his head towards me, the gold rim of his glasses glinting in the sunlight, and he grinned at the show we'd put on for the groundlings. more »
Setting a Record for the Longest Single Spaceflight in History by a Woman, NASA astronaut Christina Koch Completes 328-Day Mission in Space
Koch’s first journey into space became a 328-day mission in which she orbited Earth 5,248 times, a journey of 139 million miles, roughly the equivalent of 291 trips to the Moon and back. She conducted and supported more than 210 investigations during Expeditions 59, 60, and 61, including as a research subject volunteer to provide scientists the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman as the agency plans to return to the Moon under the Artemis program and prepare for human exploration of Mars. more »
Senator Mitt Romney Delivers Remarks on Impeachment Vote Wednesday, February 5, 2020: "I hope we respect each other’s good faith"
"The allegations made in the articles of impeachment are very serious. As a Senator-juror, I swore an oath, before God, to exercise “impartial justice.” I am a profoundly religious person. I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the President, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong... I support a great deal of what the President has done. I have voted with him 80% of the time. But my promise before God to apply impartial justice required that I put my personal feelings and biases aside. Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented, and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke and the censure of my own conscience." more »