Euro “Terror,” The Pom Pom Man
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Vol. 4, No. 185
Drachma Drama: Greece’s Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis accuses his country’s creditors of “terrorism” on the eve of a national vote on whether to accept a new bailout. “Why did they force us to close the banks?” he asked in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. “To instill fear in people. And spreading fear is called terrorism.”
Last night tens of thousands of Greeks marched in the streets on both sides of the issue. Polls show the electorate evenly split on whether to take the bailout and stay in the euro zone.
Health Check: Health insurer Aetna announced yesterday that it will buy rival Humana for $37 billion as consolidation continues in the health insurance business. Anthem has already offered to buy Cigna. Bigger insurance companies have the power to drive down prices for drugs and doctors, but that doesn’t necessarily mean lower premiums.
Health insurance companies around the country are asking for rate increases of 20 to 40 percent, the NY Times reports. The company filings claim that Obamacare patients cost them more money than they had planned.
Permawar: The Islamic State leader nicknamed “The Emir of Suicide Bombers” was killed last month in a US drone strike, the military says. Tariq bin al-Tahar bin al-Falih al-Awni al-Harzi was responsible for co-ordinating suicide bombings in Iraq and for importing weapons to Syria. A military spokesman says the hit will hurt ISIS, but pinpoint killings have yet to dramatically slow the ISIS onslaught. This week they were seen destroying some of the ancient statues taken from the city of Palmyra.
The Shipping News: A Russian Soyuz re-supply rocket is on the way to the International Space Station, breaking a string of failures to send supplies and equipment. The ship is supposed to arrive tomorrow with food and water, although the Space Station crew still had enough to go four more months.
The Obit Page: Mormon leader Boyd Packer, President of the latter Day Saints’ Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and next in line to become president of the church, died in salt Lake at age 90. Packer spent most of his adult life working for and being a leader of the church, helping it grow to a worldwide faith. He was a social conservative. In 1993 he delivered a speech in which he said the biggest threat to the church was feminists, homosexuals and intellectuals.
>Lawrence Herkimer, inventor of the pom-pom and known as the father of modern cheerleading, has died at age 89. He developed cheerleading camps that became a $50 million empire. Herkimer created the signature flying split known as the “Herkie.”
PolitiSpeak: The candidates are making the rounds this 4th of July weekend. In New Hampshire Hillary Clinton warned, “If the country elects a Republican president, then they will repeal the Affordable Care Act.” Amid all the world’s trouble’s her fellow Democrat Lincoln Chafee is suggesting that the US convert to the metric system.
Former Republican candidate Mitt Romney is hosting candidates Chris Christie of New Jersey and Marco Rubio at his New Hampshire lake home this weekend. In response to whether Donald Trump is causing the Republicans trouble with Hispanic voters Christie said, “I like Donald. He’s a good guy. And as I said right from the beginning, he’ll be as serious a candidate as he wants to be. Those are his choices.”
Spoken like a true politician.
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