n2doc
n2doc's JournalReport: Contractors outnumber U.S. troops in Afghanistan 3-to-1
Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan still outnumber U.S. troops by a 3-to-1 margin according to new research released this week, raising questions again about the role those workers play in the ongoing wars overseas and the oversight they receive.
The data, compiled by the Congressional Research Service and first reported by Politico, shows contractor numbers in both Iraq and Afghanistan dating back to fiscal 2007. Combined, the Defense Department spent more than $220 billion on contractors in both war zones for a variety of services and support.
The numbers show that the non-military defense workers have outnumbered U.S. troops in Afghanistan continuously since mid-2011, even as the numbers of both have drawn down steadily. But the ratio between the two groups continues to widen as administration officials work to reduce the roles played by armed military personnel in the war-torn country.
In early 2012, the number of defense contractors in Afghanistan peaked at more than 117,000 individuals, as compared to around 88,000 U.S. servicemembers.
more
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/crs-report-afghanistan-contractors
Insurance companies want to weaken Obamacare. We can’t let them
Insurance companies keep pretending that participating in the Affordable Care Act exchanges is killing their business model. Aetna, one of the five largest insurance companies in the United States, announced on Tuesday that it was withdrawing from 70% of the Obamacare exchange markets it operates in by next year. And two other major insurers – UnitedHealthCare and Humana – also announced recently that they would be withdrawing their products from large portions of the exchanges where they’re available.
But this corporate hardship story couldn’t be further from the truth: Aetna’s overall profits surged last year, and its share prices have risen consistently since the ACA passed in 2010.
All the other major insurance companies have noted similar rises, even as the product that they offer has been deteriorating. Premiums have long outpaced wage increases and underinsurance is rife even among those with insurance.
So while staying wouldn’t have drastically endangered their bottom lines, the decision may, however, cause uninsured Americans looking for Affordable Care Act coverage have even fewer subpar options to pick from. One county in Arizona is slated to not have a single option available next year. These withdrawals could hurt Americans and the ACA in a way Republicans have only dreamed of.
more
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/17/obamacare-insurance-companies-want-to-weaken
Expect a blast of racial hatred from Cheeto Jesus later today
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign. (all times local):
12:40 p.m.
Donald Trump is traveling to Milwaukee, the site of ongoing protests over the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer.
The Republican presidential nominee will be speaking Tuesday at a Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity, before traveling to nearby West Bend for a public event.
He'll also be meeting with law enforcement officers earlier in the afternoon.
https://www.apnews.com/64fcbd30f8c440e29fe2d4dafcabd184/The-Latest:-Trump-traveling-to-Milwaukee
I'm sure his rhetoric will be stately....
Family: Son killed by neighbor who called him 'dirty Arab'
For years, the Jabara family says, their neighbor terrorized them.
He called them names -- "dirty Arabs," "filthy Lebanese," they said.
He hurled racial epithets at those who came to work on their lawns, they alleged.
He ran Haifa Jabara over with his car and went to court for it.
And it all came to a head last week when the man, Stanley Vernon Majors, walked up to the front steps of the family home and shot and killed Khalid Jabara, police said.
more
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/16/us/tulsa-arab-american-shooting-trnd/index.html
UnFrickin'believable. Or maybe all too predictable. 
Could Medical Cannabis Break the Painkiller Epidemic?
A body of research suggests yes, but scientists are having to fight red tape to study whether medical marijuana could substitute for opioid drugs
By Jeremy Hsu
Six days before Prince died, the iconic pop star was hospitalized after possibly overdosing on Percocet. His death on April 21 involved overdosing on another painkiller, fentanyl. Both are among the prescription opioids that alleviate the pain of millions of Americans every year—often at the price of their needing ever greater amounts and the risk of overdose. The U.S. “is in the midst of an unprecedented opioid epidemic,” according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Prescription opioid overdoses killed more than 165,000 Americans between 1999 and 2014, and the health and social costs of abusing such drugs are estimated to be as much as $55 billion a year. The problem has led experts to scramble for a less dangerous alternative for pain relief—and some research points to medical marijuana.
As early as 15 years ago physicians began hearing that patients were using cannabis instead of prescription opioids for pain. These anecdotes inspired a research team led by Marcus Bachhuber, assistant professor of medicine at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, to examine whether some states' legalization of medical cannabis had affected the number of opioid overdose deaths. Published in 2014, the study revealed an intriguing trend: between 1999 and 2010, states that permitted medical marijuana had an average of almost 25 percent fewer opioid overdose deaths each year than states where cannabis remained illegal.
Bachhuber's research could not prove that medical cannabis use directly led to fewer opioid overdoses. In addition, the overdose count included both prescription opioids and illegal heroin. But the study opened the eyes of many researchers to a possible relation between marijuana and painkiller use. “I think medical cannabis could fall into the category of alternatives for treating chronic pain so that people don't use opioids or use a lower dose of opioids than they otherwise would,” Bachhuber says.
more
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-medical-cannabis-break-the-painkiller-epidemic/
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