June 26, 2017
At last: an article on how our voting systems can be hacked and what to do about it.
This article points out issues that should be raised about the way we go about voting. One state that does it better is Maine: "Experts say Maine is one of the least vulnerable states because all
polling stations use paper ballots – which enable non-hackable hand
recounts in the event of uncertainty – and same-day voter registration,
which removes the possibility that people would be prevented from voting
if the state’s central voter registration databases were compromised."
Republican senator compares preexisting conditions to crashing a car
Raw Story - During an interview on Meet the Press, host Chuck Todd noted that Republicans in the Senate had held no hearings on their health care bill and so they could not say for sure why insurance companies were abandoning some markets.
Johnson sidestepped the refusal to hold hearings and insisted that he already knows the answer “but nobody wants to talk about it.”
The Wisconsin Republican pointed to Obamacare rules that forbid insurance companies from charging more for people with preexisting conditions.
“We know why those premiums doubled,” he opined. “We’ve done something with our health care system that you would never think about doing, for example, with auto insurance, where you would require auto insurance companies to sell a policy to somebody after they crash their car.” Report Advertisement
“States that have… guarantees for preexisting conditions, it crashes their markets,” he continued. “It causes the markets to collapse. It causes premiums to skyrocket.”
Johnson sidestepped the refusal to hold hearings and insisted that he already knows the answer “but nobody wants to talk about it.”
The Wisconsin Republican pointed to Obamacare rules that forbid insurance companies from charging more for people with preexisting conditions.
“We know why those premiums doubled,” he opined. “We’ve done something with our health care system that you would never think about doing, for example, with auto insurance, where you would require auto insurance companies to sell a policy to somebody after they crash their car.” Report Advertisement
“States that have… guarantees for preexisting conditions, it crashes their markets,” he continued. “It causes the markets to collapse. It causes premiums to skyrocket.”
Latino homelessness surges in Los Angeles
National Institute for Latino Policy - Recent figures released by [Los Angeles] county show that Latino homelessness shot up by 63% in the past year, a staggering number in a county that saw its overall homeless population soar by 23%, despite increasing efforts to get people off the street.
Nearly every demographic, including youth, families and veterans, showed increases in homelessness, but Latinos delivered one of the sharpest rises, adding more than 7,000 people to the surge.
"I would say it's a whole new phenomenon," said County Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district saw Latino homelessness go up by 84%. "We have to put it on the radar and really think outside the box when we consider how to help this population."
Homeless officials and outreach groups say Los Angeles' rising rents and stale wages are the main drivers pushing many out of their homes.
Nearly every demographic, including youth, families and veterans, showed increases in homelessness, but Latinos delivered one of the sharpest rises, adding more than 7,000 people to the surge.
"I would say it's a whole new phenomenon," said County Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district saw Latino homelessness go up by 84%. "We have to put it on the radar and really think outside the box when we consider how to help this population."
Homeless officials and outreach groups say Los Angeles' rising rents and stale wages are the main drivers pushing many out of their homes.
One percent expected to control 70% of America's wealth by 2021
Popular Resistance - A new study by the Boston Consulting Group has found that while wealth inequality is growing on a global scale, it has kicked into overdrive in the United States – where America’s 1% are expected to control 70 percent of the nation’s private wealth by the year 2021.
The firm found that the already massive gap between the world’s wealthy elite – the approximately 18 million households that hold at least than $1 million in assets – and everyone else is continuing to widen at a remarkable rate. The estimated 70 million people who make up these households were found to control 45 percent of the world’s $166.5 trillion in wealth. And in just four more years, it is estimated that they will control more than half of the world’s wealth, despite representing less than 1 percent of the world’s current population.
However, while rising inequality is a global phenomenon, it is especially pronounced in the United States. While wealth inequality in the U.S. is by no means an unknown phenomenon, the U.S. is significantly more unequal than most other countries, with the nation’s elite currently holding 63 percent of the private wealth. The U.S. elite’s share of national wealth is also growing much faster than the global average, with millionaires and billionaires expected to control an estimated 70 percent of the nation’s wealth by 2021.
The firm found that the already massive gap between the world’s wealthy elite – the approximately 18 million households that hold at least than $1 million in assets – and everyone else is continuing to widen at a remarkable rate. The estimated 70 million people who make up these households were found to control 45 percent of the world’s $166.5 trillion in wealth. And in just four more years, it is estimated that they will control more than half of the world’s wealth, despite representing less than 1 percent of the world’s current population.
However, while rising inequality is a global phenomenon, it is especially pronounced in the United States. While wealth inequality in the U.S. is by no means an unknown phenomenon, the U.S. is significantly more unequal than most other countries, with the nation’s elite currently holding 63 percent of the private wealth. The U.S. elite’s share of national wealth is also growing much faster than the global average, with millionaires and billionaires expected to control an estimated 70 percent of the nation’s wealth by 2021.
TV, film performers may go on strike
Variety - SAG-AFTRA has decided to seek a strike authorization vote from its membership amid contentious film and TV contract talks with the major studios.
The performers union said in a message to members Sunday night that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has pushed for “outrageous rollbacks” in the negotiations that began May 31. SAG-AFTRA’s current master contract for film and primetime TV expires June 30. The union has about 160,000 members.
The performers union said in a message to members Sunday night that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has pushed for “outrageous rollbacks” in the negotiations that began May 31. SAG-AFTRA’s current master contract for film and primetime TV expires June 30. The union has about 160,000 members.
British Airways finds new way to rip off passengers
Daily Mail, UK - British Airways is facing a backlash from passengers after forcing them to pay extra to guarantee sitting with their family on flights.
Furious travellers complain that they are being split up from loved ones as they head off on holiday.
Worst affected are passengers who have bought the cheapest deals. But even BA's executive club members who have been awarded 'companion vouchers' to go on a romantic break or honeymoon with their partner are being separated on flights.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4638270/British-Airways-asks-fee-guarantee-seats-together.html#ixzz4l7E53KFO Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Furious travellers complain that they are being split up from loved ones as they head off on holiday.
Worst affected are passengers who have bought the cheapest deals. But even BA's executive club members who have been awarded 'companion vouchers' to go on a romantic break or honeymoon with their partner are being separated on flights.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4638270/British-Airways-asks-fee-guarantee-seats-together.html#ixzz4l7E53KFO Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Trump appointee is Saudi lobbyist
Alternet - One of President Donald Trump’s newest appointees is a registered agent of Saudi Arabia earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby on the kingdom’s behalf, according to U.S. Department of Justice records reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity.
Since January, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry has paid longtime Republican lobbyist Richard Hohlt about $430,000 in exchange for “advice on legislative and public affairs strategies.”
Trump’s decision to appoint a registered foreign agent to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships clashes with the president’s vow to clean up Washington and limit the influence of special interests.
Since January, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry has paid longtime Republican lobbyist Richard Hohlt about $430,000 in exchange for “advice on legislative and public affairs strategies.”
Trump’s decision to appoint a registered foreign agent to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships clashes with the president’s vow to clean up Washington and limit the influence of special interests.
June 25, 2017
With GOP healthkill bill, Citizens United comes home to roost
Sam Smith - The GOP healthkill bill, if passed, will do more domestic damage than any congressional action since the war on drugs. A couple of estimates are that about 45,000 people will die as a result of lost healthcare.
But what is also extraordinary is that only 17% of Americans support the GOP plan. Why does a major political party back a measure so lacking in popularity?
One answer is that Citizens United has really come home to roost - leading Republicans to think about money as an adequate alternative to intrinsic political appeal. Money buys advertising which allows you, as our president demonstrates on a daily basis, to lie with impunity.
This is not just a political change; it is a cultural one. If you don’t like a fact, you spend money to call it false news and it may well fade.
A recent case in point was reportedly recently by the Portland Press Herald:
But what is also extraordinary is that only 17% of Americans support the GOP plan. Why does a major political party back a measure so lacking in popularity?
One answer is that Citizens United has really come home to roost - leading Republicans to think about money as an adequate alternative to intrinsic political appeal. Money buys advertising which allows you, as our president demonstrates on a daily basis, to lie with impunity.
This is not just a political change; it is a cultural one. If you don’t like a fact, you spend money to call it false news and it may well fade.
A recent case in point was reportedly recently by the Portland Press Herald:
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., announced that he could not vote for the legislation without revisions, singling out the measure’s long-term spending cuts to Medicaid as the reason for his opposition. The announcement caught some Republicans in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s orbit by surprise.
It also prompted a Republican super PAC to plan a seven-figure advertising campaign in Nevada to pressure Heller – raising the specter of an ugly intraparty fight that could serve as a harbinger of the political clashes to come during next year’s midterm elections…
Word: Eugene Robinson on GOP health theft
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post - The “health-care bill” that Republicans are trying to pass in the Senate, like the one approved by the GOP majority in the House, isn’t really about health care at all. It’s the first step in a massive redistribution of wealth from struggling wage-earners to the rich — a theft of historic proportions.
Fundamentally, what Republicans in both chambers want to do is cut nearly $1 trillion over the next decade from the Medicaid program, which serves almost 70 million people. Medicaid provides health care not just for the indigent and disabled but also for the working poor — low-wage employees who cannot afford health insurance, even the plans offered through their jobs.
Fundamentally, what Republicans in both chambers want to do is cut nearly $1 trillion over the next decade from the Medicaid program, which serves almost 70 million people. Medicaid provides health care not just for the indigent and disabled but also for the working poor — low-wage employees who cannot afford health insurance, even the plans offered through their jobs.
The tough state of renters
Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies - Despite a slight improvement from 2014, fully one-third of US households paid more than 30 percent of their incomes for housing in 2015. Renters continue to be more likely to face cost burdens. Indeed, the number of cost-burdened renters (21 mil- lion) considerably outstrips the number of cost-burdened owners (18 million) even though nearly two-thirds of US households own their homes. While the share of renters with housing cost burdens was down 1.0 percentage point in 2015, the decline reflects an increase in the number of higher-income renters rather than improved affordability among low- and moderate-income households.
Climate oddity: More Antarctic ice
Washington Post - Antarctic sea ice has grown to a record large extent for a second straight year, baffling scientists seeking to understand why this ice is expanding rather than shrinking in a warming world. On Saturday, the ice extent reached 19.51 million square kilometers, according to data posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center Web site. That number bested record high levels set earlier this month and in 2012 (of 19.48 million square kilometers). Records date back to October 1978.
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