September 25, 2019

Tulsi Gabbard: Transcript doesn't show 'compelling' case for impeachment

The Rising reports:

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said Wednesday that the partial transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president released by the Trump administration doesn’t show a “compelling” case for impeachment.

“Most people reading through that transcript are not going to find that extremely compelling cause to throw out a president that won an election in 2016,” the Democratic presidential candidate said during an appearance on “Rising.”

The Hawaii representative maintained that impeachment will only deepen the “hyperpartisan divides,” and argued that most people will only see it as another politically-motivated move by Democrats to oust Trump.

September 24, 2019

Fox News Guest Calls Greta Thunberg 'Mentally Ill Swedish Child' as Right Wing Unleashes...

on Climate Activist.

Throughout the day on Monday, conservatives on television and social media mocked and belittled the 16-year-old climate activist.

The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles joined other conservative pundits and Fox News personalities in openly attacking 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg following her fiery speech at the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday, calling the teenager a “mentally ill Swedish child.”

<snip>

Appearing on Fox News’ The Story on Monday evening, Knowles joined anchor Harris Faulkner and liberal commentator Christopher Hahn to discuss Monday’s climate protests across the nation as well as Thunberg’s speech. Knowles immediately went after the young climate activist.

“If it were about science it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left,” Knowles said, prompting Faulkner to ask Hahn to respond since he had a “visceral reaction” to the right-wing talker’s comments.

<snip>

As Hahn continued to demand that Knowles “take it back,” the conservative podcaster stood by his remarks, repeating his claim that Thunberg is “mentally ill” while accusing the left of “exploiting a girl with many mental illnesses.” (For the record, Thunberg has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, something she has called her “superpower.”)

<snip>

A Fox News spokesperson provided the following statement to The Daily Beast on Knowles’ remarks: “The comment made by Michael Knowles who was a guest on The Story tonight was disgraceful - we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers.”

Fox News also told The Hollywood Reporter’s Jeremy Barr that it has no plans to book Knowles again as a guest.

more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/fox-news-guest-calls-greta-thunberg-mentally-ill-swedish-child-as-right-wing-unleashes-on-climate-activist

September 23, 2019

Back surgery saved him from paralysis. Then the bills arrived: over $650,000

Frank Esposito says it started last March with unrelenting back pain. He could barely move, and an MRI soon showed a bulge in his spine. A specialist told him to go to the closest hospital — immediately.

Doctors at the emergency room said he needed surgery. The herniation was so severe it could cut his nerve, Esposito said, and render him paralyzed.

The surgery was a success, but then the bills started coming: over $650,000 in all.

His insurance company said his back surgery didn't qualify as an emergency and wasn't medically necessary.

<snip>

Carroll added: "I think people have an assumption, right or wrong, that insurance is going to protect them. That's why if we pay that much, we think we're going to be covered, and we're not going to see that surprise bill. So, when you do, people are shocked."

Esposito has already taken $49,000 from his retirement savings. He hired a company to negotiate down some of his bills. After appeals, Esposito's insurer, Oxford United Healthcare, did pay some of his doctors' bills. But he still owes $220,000 — CBS News is still waiting for a response to questions about that balance.

"You work all your life. You work to buy a house. You work to have a house," he said. "You have to save up for everything. We would like to be able to know that we can go to the doctor, that we can get healthy, that we can get taken care of without losing everything we have."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/back-surgery-saved-him-from-paralysis-then-the-bills-arrived-over-650000/

September 11, 2019

Oh my: Amid Water Crisis, Michigan's Top Health Official Said Flint Residents "Have to Die of Someth

Amid Water Crisis, Michigan’s Top Health Official Said Flint Residents “Have to Die of Something,” Scientists Say

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/amid-water-crisis-michigans-top-health-official-said-flint-residents-have-to-die-of-something-scientists-say/

August 22, 2019

Do you think Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is responsible for the fires in the Amazon?

If so, what should be done about his actions?

August 21, 2019

Plastic Straw Man or how the right turns reason into treason

https://thenib.com/plastic-strawman?

August 12, 2019

Trump overhauling enforcement of Endangered Species Act. Critics predict more extinctions

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is finalizing major changes Monday to the way it enforces the landmark Endangered Species Act in a move that it says will reduce regulatory burdens — but that critics charge will drive more creatures to extinction.

The administration was making public a final version of a rule overhauling the way the federal government handles protections for plants and animals at risk of extinction. Information about the rule was obtained by the Associated Press beforehand.

<snip>

At least 10 attorneys general joined conservation groups in protesting an early draft of the changes, saying they put more wildlife at greater risk of extinction.

A draft version of the rule released last year would end blanket protections for animals newly deemed threatened, allow federal authorities for the first time to consider the economic cost of protecting a particular species, and could let authorities disregard impacts from climate change, one of the largest threats to habitat.

<snip>

A United Nations report warned in May that more than 1 million plants and animals globally face extinction, some within decades, owning to human development, climate change and other threats. The report called the rate of species loss a record.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-08-12/trump-endangered-species-act

July 26, 2019

The US Media is TMZ and we're stuck in a really bad reality show

The Press Has Adopted Trump’s Reality-Show Standards

The reaction to the special counsel’s testimony shows how deeply the president has conditioned the media to treat political events like reality television.



On Wednesday, Robert Mueller testified to the House Judiciary Committee that the president of the United States sought and benefited from Russian interference during the 2016 campaign, and that he attempted to deflect culpability from Russia while lying to the public about his hidden attempts to secure a construction project in Moscow. After winning the election, Mueller testified, the president lied to the special prosecutor, directed subordinates to falsify records, and attempted to exert “undue influence” on law enforcement in order to protect himself and his allies.

In any other administration, in any other time, a special prosecutor, former FBI director, and decorated Marine testifying that the president of the United States was an unprosecuted felon who encouraged and then benefited from an attack on American democracy in pursuit of personal and political gain would bring the country to a grinding halt. But the American political press found Mueller insufficiently dazzling.

The New York Times declared, in language Trump could have written himself, “Mueller’s Performance Was a Departure From His Much-Fabled Stamina.” The Washington Post announced, “On Mueller’s Final Day on the National Stage, a Halting, Faltering Performance,” and, in a separate piece, dubbed Mueller a “weary old man.” Conservative outlets, fond of reciting the president’s grandiose self-assessments of his health and intelligence, openly speculated that Mueller was unwell.

Although other pieces from the same outlets covered the substance of Mueller’s testimony, the conclusion that he had failed to excite his audience framed the totality of coverage. NBC News’s Chuck Todd spoke for much of the political press when he declared, “On substance, Democrats got what they wanted: that Mueller didn’t charge Pres. Trump because of the OLC guidance, that he could be indicted after he leaves office, among other things. But on optics, this was a disaster.” Mueller testified that the president was likely guilty of federal crimes, and the most important American media outlets reviewed his performance like a disappointing late-series episode of Game of Thrones. Mueller did not deliver The Payoff That Was Promised.



more: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/press-tires-russiagate/594874

July 20, 2019

The US Media in one tweet

https://twitter.com/KyraPhillips/status/1152324862549118981

July 16, 2019

Goodwill pulls paychecks from disabled workers

https://w3.cdn.anvato.net/player/prod/v3/anvload.html

The President and CEO at Goodwill defended her decision to pull paychecks from disabled workers:

"It really was not a job," she said. "We gave them through grace out of our budget to pay them so they had a paycheck to go home with."

CEO blames state’s minimum wage increase

An iconic nonprofit thrift store is crying poor in the face of looming payroll increases, and it is announcing plans to layoff disabled employees in order to take on the extra cost.

However, the 501(c)(3) organization pays no taxes, collects state funding, was awarded state contracts, and has special permission from the federal government to pay disabled workers well below the minimum wage floor.

Sharon Durbin, President and Chief Executive Officer at Land of Lincoln Goodwill, told dozens of disabled thrift store workers they would no longer receive a paycheck as a result of the state’s new minimum wage increase, and she warns future job cuts could still be coming to the last 11 remaining disabled employees still on the payroll.

Durbin runs the Central Illinois nonprofit branch that oversees 15 retail locations and more than 450 total employees. She wrote about “upcoming changes to the Vocational Rehabilitation Program” in a letter dated June 14th. Her letter said the program “is funded through the Illinois Department of Human Services,” but the funding “does not cover all of the significant costs of the program.”

<snip>

She explained that disabled workers are not always as efficient or as productive as a traditional employee, and the extra time and labor it takes to train and correct the mistakes of the disabled workers costs more money.

“It really was not a job,” she said. “It was a work component and through it we gave them through grace out of our budget to pay them so they had a paycheck to go home with.”

Braun, who describes his experience at Goodwill as his dream job, disputed Durbin’s characterization of his abilities. He says his managers told him he was “very high functioning” and “said they wished they had ten more of me.”

“I am very proud of my work,” he said. “I would help when I was on the sales floor. I would help customers find what they were looking for. I would help them find where the active wear was, and this and that.”

<snip>

The organization’s 990 tax documents from 2018 reveal Durbin takes home an annual salary of $164,849 plus another $6,145 in benefits.

She warned the higher wage floor would set off a “domino effect” of jobless claims around the state.”

“It is going to impact us all,” she said. “Gas prices are going to rise, grocery prices are going to rise. Jobs are going to be lost. Look at your Wal-Mart, your Meijers, your Schnucks. They are doing away with real people checking you out and they are doing more to go in the line of automation. Why is that? Because they don’t want — or can’t afford in their business model — to start paying everyone who walks in the door $15 an hour. They can’t. So what are they going to do? They start eliminating jobs, because that is the first line of defense.”

Durbin called on Pritzker to use his executive authority to halt the roll out of the minimum wage floor.

https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/goodwill-pulls-paychecks-from-disabled-workers/