#When Trump threatened Meals on Wheels

[mariacallous]

Had the great Maya Angelou been alive to witness Saturday’s climax of the omnishambolic dog’s breakfast of a misbegotten legislative process that took place in the U.S. House of Representatives, surely she would have said, “When a political party tells you over and over again that they have no higher priority than serving Vladimir Putin, believe them.”

Then, again, it didn’t take the genius of Ms. Angelou to get the message. At the critical moment at which they had one last chance to avert a government shutdown, when Republicans in the House were forced to abandon all of their legislative priorities but one, the one they chose to ditch was the vital U.S. aid to Ukraine. In so doing, they sent the world an unmistakable signal once again that the first and guiding loyalty of Donald Trump’s GOP is as it always has been to the Kremlin.

Other messages were sent as well by the week of cringeworthy drama that was to the floor of the House as an untrained puppy would be to the floor of its new home.

Had James Madison, Alexander Hamilton or John Jay been watching, they surely would’ve been compelled to write a new Federalist Paper, likely entitled “On Legislative Clusterfuckery.” Kevin McCarthy, the ragdoll Speaker of the House, was toyed with and tormented by a MAGA alliance that appeared to be made up from a group of particularly inept extras from the movie “Idiocracy.” Neither principles, ideals, nor any sense of responsibility made an appearance during the prolonged floor fight.

Matt Gaetz, the chief tormentor, evoked Shakespeare. But not in a good way. He was more in the sort of character described by Macbeth when he spoke of “an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Gaetz and his misfit supporting cast, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, threatened to oust McCarthy if he did not meet their demand that he break the deal he had made months ago with President Biden to avoid the last government financial crisis. They wanted cuts to critical social programs including child care, Head Start, Meals on Wheels, law enforcement, housing and more. They wanted to cut the salaries of senior officials including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. And they seemed willing to throw millions of government employees—including the military, the Border Patrol, the IRS, administrators of aid programs and others—out of work, thus harming the lives of tens of millions more Americans.

But they also knew that every recent past government shutdown—and all were the handiwork of Republican House majorities—backfired on its authors. And so, just as many had given up hope and every agency of the U.S. government was making plans for a government shutdown that would have begun at midnight of Oct. 1, McCarthy agreed to put forward a so-called “clean” Continuing Resolution that would extend funding for government programs until Nov. 17 of this year. They continued funding at prior levels. They even included funding for disaster assistance and cut a pay boost the House GOP was trying to give itself despite their reckless disregard for their responsibilities.

But something had to be given to the far right. The GOP needed some concession to make it seem as though their childish games had all been worth it. What did they choose? What was the one thing they said would be the last hill they would die on, the one issue so important to them that they would turn out the lights of the U.S. government to defend their position? It was to defund Ukraine aid. It was to settle for, in the words of progressive commentator Josh Marshall, “one sloppy kiss with Vladimir Putin.”

The message that it sent to the world was unmistakable. Economist Timothy Ash tweeted, “Staggering that the GOP, the party of Reagan, has been captured by Russian fascists.”

French writer and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy wrote that U.S. aid to Ukraine should not be politicized, saying “it is about freedom and democracy, good over evil, right over wrong. Support for Ukraine is essential for the entire free world.”

Yale history professor Timothy Snyder wrote, “Cutting off Ukraine aid makes America unreliable, weakens the cause of democracy, threatens the international legal order, encourages tyrants around the world, and hastens Chinese aggression.”

Liz Cheney, one of the last Republicans with a conscience still standing, pointedly noted that the decision by the MAGA GOP to deny Ukraine funding came on the 85th anniversary of Neville Chamberlain’s 1938 “peace in our time” speech.

It was an apt point. Just as Hitler saw Chamberlain’s weakness as the opening he was looking for, surely Vladimir Putin saw the GOP message for what it was, encouragement for his aggression and his war crimes from the Party of Trump, a clear signal that all he would have to do was wait until the next election cycle and if they won, a GOP-led U.S. would abandon Ukraine, our allies in Europe, and reward Putin’s brutality by extending his reach ever more deeply into the heart of Europe.

Democrats and a handful of more moderate Republicans promised in the wake of the deal that they would seek and expected to get a new supplemental bill that would ensure Ukraine aid continued to be funded.

Let us all hope they are successful and it passes. But the damage has been done. The Putin wing of the GOP and all those who have enabled them made it crystal clear that of all their dangerous priorities, the most important was to strengthen America’s enemies, weaken our allies, and to put democracy at risk overseas just as they are doing here at home.

Nobody is cheering the last-minute deal to keep the government open that cleared the House and then, late Saturday, the Senate. McCarthy, seen as weak before, is seen as even more spineless and at risk than he was. The reprieve that was won is only temporary. The future is uncertain. While the Biden administration and Democrats handled this as well as possible, it is clear that getting anything done in Congress will be very difficult. And while the lunatics from the GOP’s MAGA ward may have temporarily gained control of the congressional asylum, they damaged their tattered reputations even further by achieving not a single solitary thing for any of their supporters—any that is, except their cackling Russian patron whose Bond villain laughter from deep within his bunker home could be heard round the world by all who understand the menace and his Trumpist supporters represent.

[viralhottopics]

When Trump threatened Meals on Wheels, Americans stood up for the service in the best way

Ann Kondos, on the far left, is an 81-year-old Meals on Wheels client in Providence, Rhode Island.

Image: Stew Milne/AP/REX/Shutterstock

For the elderly, living at home alone can be difficult to say the least. Just getting the meals they need can be a struggle, and for many, Meals on Wheels has been the answer.

So when Trump’s budget proposal released Thursday threatened to slash all federal funding for the program, a whole lot of Americans were outraged. And they acted on that outrage.

SEE ALSO: Are foodie millennials really fueling food waste?

Following the news, 50 times the usual donations flooded into Meals on Wheels America in a single day, Yahoo! News reports. The organization also saw a whole lot of people offering up their time as well as their cash.

Jenny Bertolette, vice president of communications at Meals on Wheels, said it saw “an almost 500 percent jump in volunteer sign-ups” through their website AmericaLetsDoLunch.org.

The mass goodwill came after a social media storm of backlash.

When my dad was first showing signs of dementia & I couldn’t get to OH to get to him yet #MealsOnWheels SAVED him. Literally kept him alive.

yvette nicole brown (@YNB) March 16, 2017

Even Meals on Wheels itself explained exactly why taking away those public funds would be so destructive.

Cuts of any kind would be devastating for millions of vulnerable seniors. Our #SkinnyBudget statement: https://t.co/R2MkmuitBR #Budget2017

Meals on Wheels (@_MealsOnWheels) March 16, 2017

Homebound elderly people who may otherwise have to live in a nursing home are especially helped by the program. 2.4 million seniors including half a million veterans have received a total of 217 million meals through the program. It’s received $517 million in federal funding through the Older Americans Act, which supports social and nutritional services for Americans over the age of 60.

But all that would end under Trump’s proposal.

Image: meals on wheels

Trump’s budget outline takes away federal money for the program, as it strips away 17.9 percent of the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees programs under the Older Americans Act, as explained by Alison Foreman, the director of Meals on Wheels in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

She told The Washington Post that while some details around the budget cuts are not totally definitive, it’s clear that funding cuts will happen regardless.

And that means programs like Meals on Wheels won’t get the government support that’s helped them survive for years.

We realize it is unclear what the presidents proposal means for nutrition and aging programs, Foreman said in an email to the Post. The overall proposed funding cut of 17.9 percent for HHS, which includes the Older Americans Act funding for aging programs, is concerning.

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from When Trump threatened Meals on Wheels, Americans stood up for the service in the best way

[the-firebird69]

It Max for taking tons of stuff and the little chips and spaceships take the stuff off cuz it takes a few quite a while to get here then it takes and then I think they're doing it on the UK or probably is even more so would be Iceland or Ireland I'm trying to threaten the ice on the way over there in Greyhound and other fleets all the time

I also think I hear my dad I think he's back on the UK aisle and he has the same a certain area so he doesn't get hurt and people must see him

Zues Hera

We see him on a scope and we know his waving right now I said we don't see it right now slipping me off my son says not us and it's something else off when it's cranky cuz he slept too late looks a little emaciated beef and little fat beef and pasta or pasta and stuff like that Wheels cuz it'll make you stronger and not giving him much to eat cuz I got to feed him for him to know stuff I mean what the hell is wrong with you people are you going to die if you give him like three four meals a day or five I mean does that kill you I guess so cuz you won't give me like $200 that's too much money you'd rather throw out like 200 million trillion million people and $200 so thinking about it too but we see him

Thor Freya

You see him too and still waving she's trying to figure out if I get way back and say hello and William are saying hi so they already said hi to you so that's not you your dad you can say hi to them more than once this fat f*** has been eating everybody's food just like him so Dad may have helped out today and he's a marketing guru who knows making companies knockoffs they didn't even flinch with Budweiser so everybody should know what time it is this bud's for you I mean but hoddess.

Nuada Arrianna we raise the four Godzilla tonight and first we're going to release the big huge bunch of them and sit in there and take out food and stuff and for the kju it's kind of getting horrendous this is Olympus sitting there and they didn't decide to do it yet as they send in like special forces so we're going to meet about that okay yeah here we go again

I'm waiting just waiting back and see you I love you Brian says I love you too if you're there the blind Chris guy says he's laughing it says are you locomotive breath no I'm not stop asking me dumb questions how much loot do they have there okay spaceships come take stuff away I've assumed they do and people can see that but I think they do it at sea King Lear instead of me 53 I think in Ellie's been keeping up with her birthdays and said any notes or anything so getting pissed off cuz she's this a****** Jenna now she's kicking me out of my apartment and bja needs you too it's good to know someone needs me he says that was me and I said DJ needs you too he won't admit it but he keeps missing these cycles and he misses what they're up to I don't know it's not even track who's next and this is the big one now my bro my bro is not from Idaho it's a skill it's like a skill set like Trump. Possible sleep it helps him sleep they're sleeping disorder. Practically all those redheads like some kind of deep sleep. It's freaking nuts gases I hear you guys and I hate you lots of times you are so damn dumb as soon as used it tons of times and some sort of tacit way you like the United Way of spying do it all for free you won't pay him anything people are stingy as hell it's gross it's disgusting he should be fed properly Queenie weenie it is Mom get down there and get him some mashed potatoes she is already she's helping me since I'm disgusting losing weight and she's trying to help the exercising too much yes and use the rest of he needs to have full meals and he needs to have snacks and he needs to have meal supplement drinks and it needs to have stuff and diarrhea issues and probiotics all that stuff so I'm starting to figure out his diet and I get what's wrong so I'm going to help at least have real food I mean never mind all the stupid sauces and I get that too. Yeah I know you're going to do it and Grandpa can help I don't know it's not nearby I'm probably shouldn't go there right cuz he's trying to capture people you see so but he can help that's terrible it's terrible and I usually think like you find what food you like and eat a lot of it and he like steak he likes potatoes and he likes bread with it and you can give him like a dark humping it maybe or one that you get it out back so you can get a fungus you know like pumpernickel or sorry about something salad with the vinegar is good for it he has some problems and he needs some fixed deliver etc need to look at that liver needs to see a real doctor and it won't be thinking clearly unless he does and so I thank you for the help I'm going to hopefully get some help and try and figure out how to do that you're under so much duress and if it's a liver and I think it is I can take supplements and supplements for the liver and supplements for your other one pancreas like certain fruits is it papaya yes it is papaya and some other things because when you don't have the liver your pancreas is doing all the work so I thank you for the help son good job that was amazing I hope you enjoy your first war zone within the quarter century or something thank you very much you always said you want to see them go, damn that's all okay mom's around. That was worse than I've been over there I'm sure. Holy crap thank God. Thank you sweetie yeah I was just thinking whose side was the poke out no yeah problems and they're trying to songs he want to tell her don't go to the United Kingdom they want to reunite you guys but I think she gets it

Arn and Dee

Caa

Kathy and Ellie and we're very happy to see you together again this is a nightmare and he says he hopes you feel straight ahead instead of your feet this time and keep your head down and stay indoors a lot of times because of shopping shapnel and debris not because of shopping and they say if you see she has covered it's just in the news these guys lie more than anything and then prime comes up the rear and lies about everything I was trying to say it's him it's quite horrific have a good night and sleep well I will

[kvetchlandia]

For Those of You...

who masochistically torture yourselves by following the news, as I do, here’s one you might not have caught.  A few months ago, Trumpenstein wrote an executive order legalizing the importation of the remains of African lions and elephants, both threatened and rapidly declining species, into the United States.  This is largely of significance to big-game hunters and importers of ivory.  Well, both of Trump’s despicable whelps, Don Jr (clever and imaginative name that) and Eric are big-game hunters, in case you didn’t know.  Anyway, when Trump originally went against quite a few years of American history in writing this executive order, he held one of those imperial signing ceremonies he so revels in, in which he elaborately swirls his signature on documents bound in leather and then holds them up for the admiring masses to enjoy.  Back then, because he made a huge show of this act, it caught the attention of a lot of people and such massive international condemnation followed that he had to disappoint his brats and renege on this order, giving Africa’s lions and elephants a brief respite from the tender mercies of the ultra-wealthy.  While no one was watching, being caught up in his tanking of the stock market, his pushing the world closer to nuclear armageddon, his attempting to coerce a porn star into not spilling the beans on their affair, his cozying up with the anti-semite Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, his making whoopie with racists of all sorts and oh, so many other things that I’m just too tired to list, he reneged on his reneging of the executive order.  So, as of this week, it is once again, and for the first time in many ears, fully legal to hunt threatened lions and elephants and to bring their remains back into the United States.  Now remember, this sort of big game hunting is solely the purview of the ultra-rich.  The costs are simply too great for normal human beings to enjoy such “sport.”  So, I imagine Pussy Grabber’s repulsive whelps and others of the 1% of the 1% are getting wood just thinking about their next trip to Africa.  You know, the trip where they fly first class or private jets to Botswana, check into their rooms at a 5+ star resort of the sort that most Africans couldn’t even dream of visiting, have their gourmet meals served to them by Africans who are paid a starvation wage, are driven out into the brush in a luxury 4-wheel drive Land Rover, of the sort the African driver could never be found in outside work hours, with air conditioning, leather seats and large windows so they can get a tremendous view of the landscape they’re about to despoil, take two steps out of the car (one doesn’t want to risk taking an actual walk in the African bush, you know-too many bugs, take out their high-powered rifles with the gold-inlaid filigree on the stock and take aim at animals that are so far from them that they don’t even try to escape because they’re too far from the hunters to feel threatened and boom.  The sickness of these utter wastes of human skin is just too severe to make any sense of, but it is they who control the world.  This is why we’re all screwed. 

[stephenmccull]

As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them

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Fed up with a lack of federal action to lower prescription drug costs, state legislators around the country are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels.

These bills, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in a half-dozen states, are a response to consumers’ intensified demand for action on drug prices as prospects for solutions from Congress remain highly uncertain.

Eighty-seven percent of Americans favor federal action to lower drug prices, making it the public’s second-highest policy priority, according to a survey released by Politico and Harvard University last month. That concern is propelled by the toll of out-of-pocket costs on Medicare beneficiaries, many of whom pay thousands of dollars a year. Studies show many patients don’t take needed drugs because of the cost.

“States will keep a careful eye on Congress, but they can’t wait,” said Trish Riley, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), which has drafted two model bills on curbing prices that some state lawmakers are using.

Several reports released last month heightened the pressure for action. The Rand Corp. said average list prices in the U.S. for prescription drugs in 2018 were 2.56 times higher than the prices in 32 other developed countries, while brand-name drug prices averaged 3.44 times higher.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review found that drugmakers raised the list prices for seven widely used, expensive drugs in 2019 despite the lack of evidence of substantial clinical improvements. ICER, an independent drug research group, estimated that just those price increases cost U.S. consumers $1.2 billion a year more.

Democratic legislators in Hawaii, Maine and Washington recently introduced bills, based on one of NASHP’s models, that would impose an 80% tax on the drug price increases that ICER determines in its annual report are not supported by evidence of improved clinical value.

Under this model, after getting the list of drugs from ICER, states would require the manufacturers of those medicines to report total in-state sales of their drugs and the price difference since the previous year. Then the state would assess the tax on the manufacturer. The revenue generated by the tax would be used to fund programs that help consumers afford their medications.

“I’m not looking to gather more tax dollars,” said Democratic Sen. Ned Claxton, the sponsor of the bill in Maine and a retired family physician. “The best outcome would be to have drug companies just sell at a lower price.”

Similarly, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, proposed a penalty on price hikes for a broader range of drugs as part of his new budget proposal, projecting it would haul in $70 million in its first year.

Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Hawaii, Maine, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Rhode Island have filed bills that would set the rates paid by state-run and commercial health plans — excluding Medicaid — for up to 250 of the costliest drugs to rates paid by the four most populous Canadian provinces. That could reduce prices by an average of 75%, according to NASHP.

Legislators in other states plan to file similar bills, Riley said.

Drugmakers, which have formidable lobbying power in Washington, D.C., and the states, fiercely oppose these efforts. “The outcomes of these policies would only make it harder for people to get the medicines they need and would threaten the crucial innovation necessary to get us out of a global pandemic,” the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s trade group, said in a written statement.

Colorado, Florida and several New England states previously passed laws allowing importation of cheaper drugs from Canada, an effort strongly promoted by former President Donald Trump. But those programs are still being developed and each would need a federal green light.

Bipartisan bills in Congress that would have penalized drugmakers for raising prices above inflation rates and capped out-of-pocket drug costs for enrollees in Medicare Part D drug plans died last year.

“If we waited for Congress, we’d have moss on our backs,” said Washington state Sen. Karen Keiser, a Democrat who sponsored the state’s bill to tax drug price hikes.

Based on ICER data, two of the drugs that could be targeted for tax penalties under the legislation are Enbrel and Humira — blockbuster products used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions.

Since acquiring Enbrel in 2002, Amgen has raised the price 457% to $72,240 for a year’s treatment, according to a report last fall from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

In a written statement, Amgen denied that Enbrel’s list price increase is unsupported by clinical evidence and said the company ensures that every patient who needs its medicines has “meaningful access” to them.

The price for Humira, the world’s best-selling drug, with $20 billion in global sales in 2019, has gone up 470% since it was introduced to the market in 2003, according to AnalySource, a drug price database.

In contrast, AbbVie slashed Humira’s price in Europe by 80% in 2018 to match the price of biosimilar products available there. AbbVie patents block those biosimilar drugs in the U.S.

AbbVie did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Manufacturers say the list price of a drug is irrelevant because insurers and patients pay a significantly lower net price, after getting rebates and other discounts.

But many people, especially those who are uninsured, are on Medicare or have high-deductible plans, pay some or all the cost based on the list price.

Katherine Pepper of Bellingham, Washington, has felt the bite of Humira’s list price. Several years ago, she retired from her job as a management analyst to go on Social Security disability and Medicare because of her psoriatic arthritis, diabetes and gastrointestinal issues.

When she enrolled in a Medicare Part D drug plan, she was shocked by her share of the cost. Since Pepper pays 5% of the Humira list price after reaching Medicare’s catastrophic cost threshold, she spent roughly $15,000 for the drug last year.

Medicare doesn’t allow drugmakers to cover beneficiaries’ copay costs because of concerns that it could prompt more beneficiaries and their doctors to choose high-cost drugs and increase federal spending.

Many patients with rheumatoid and other forms of arthritis are forced to switch from Enbrel or Humira, which they can inject at home themselves, to different drugs that are infused in a doctor’s office when they go on Medicare. Infusion drugs are covered almost entirely by the Medicare Part B program for outpatient care. But switching can complicate a patient’s care.

“Very few Part D patients can afford the [injectable drugs] because the copay can be so steep,” said Dr. Marcus Snow, an Omaha, Nebraska, rheumatologist and spokesperson for the American College of Rheumatology. “The math gets very ugly very quickly.”

To continue taking Humira, Pepper racked up large credit card bills, burning through most of her savings. In 2019, she and her husband, who’s retired and on Medicare, sold their house and moved into a rental apartment. She skimps on her diabetes medications to save money, which has taken a toll on her health, causing skin and vision problems, she said.

She’s also cut back on food spending, with her and her husband often eating only one meal a day.

“I’m now in a situation where I have to do Russian roulette, spin the wheel and figure out what I can do without this month,” said Pepper.

This article is part of a series on the impact of high prescription drug costs on consumers made possible through the 2020 West Health and Families USA Media Fellowship.

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills to Curb Them published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

[rilenerocks]

A stink bug dropped onto my head while I lay in my bed in the dark, reading on my Kindle before sleep. It’s not the first time I’ve had one appear out of nowhere. Discussions with my  son-in-law lead me to believe that our neighborhood has had quite the invasion this year, the kind when if you flip a piece of wood that’s been lying outside for awhile, hundreds might emerge from their dark place.  In fact, an article appeared last fall, warning that this particular invasive species, mostly a nuisance, also damages crops – one more thing to worry about. A day ago, I read about an insect called the Asian giant hornet which has turned up in the United States, posing a big threat to already endangered honeybees. From what I’ve read, it also packs quite a painful sting when a human gets in its way. East Africa is contending with a second wave of locusts which is being nicknamed “Locust-19,” as this invasion is coinciding with the inexorable advance of Covid19 across the continent. Already threatened, the increased risk of famine will only make life more impossible there than it is already.

Was it only mere months ago that the world’s eyes were focused on the astonishingly devastating wildfires that were racing through Australia, killing millions of animals while destroying homes and poisoning the air? And Indonesia that was struggling its way through massive flooding? California was suffering through a terrible wildfire season while Washington State was being inundated with rain.

These were the headlines we were reading:

Australians flee massive bushfires as new fire threat looms.

The 2020 California wildfire season is a series of wildfires that are burning across the state of California. As of April 30, 2020, a total of 888 fires have burned 1,482 acres (600 ha) according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

After 29 straight days of rain, an intense atmospheric river will drench Seattle through the weekend.

And then there was the sudden tragic  death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter,  the shock of which reverberated around the world, a painful reminder of how quickly life can change, how fast lives can end, no matter your age, your health or your privilege. Finally came this coronavirus which swiftly forged to the head of the news cycle and has come to dominate the consciousness of the global citizens everywhere.

All these events reminded me of a time back in college, when it seemed that there were daily events that I’d read about, nature-based and otherwise, which compelled me to start what I called “ The Apocalypse Notebook.” For years, I clipped articles from newspapers and magazines, selecting astonishing articles which were interspersed with average daily stories.  I remember thinking how easy it was to become inured to the unthinkable, those eye-popping tales tucked in between a story of people who’d just celebrated a 60th wedding anniversary and a description of a new restaurant opening. Stories of brutality, stupidity and for me, incredulity when I pondered how easily they came and went, just part of another news day. Here are a few of the headlines from recent times which would’ve made it into my apocalypse notebook, if I was still keeping it up to date.

Husband and wife poison themselves trying to self-medicate with chloroquine.

President Trump Wondered Out Loud If Injecting Disinfectant Could Cure COVID-19.

Kushner calls administration’s coronavirus response “a great success story”

I’m no Nazi, says mom of 7-year-old with swastika.

It’s no small wonder that people are searching for ways to cope and stay healthy through this truly dystopian time. In my part of the world, it’s become clear that my government is turning its attention to kickstarting the economy, pushing aside public health as a number one priority and looking ahead to the effort to re-elect our impossible president. That being the case, it’s become obvious to me that I’m going to have to make my own decisions about how I choose to live going forward, with no access to testing, no proven treatment for Covid19 and far from what I think will be a legitimate vaccine. I’m pondering what the risk vs. reward paradigm means for me.  

You can’t really tell by looking at the photo above, but that is actually a ditch that I had to get hauled out of the other day. One of the ways I’ve used to circumvent social distancing has been to drive to an out of the way place and park my car next to a friend’s so we can roll down our windows and spend a few hours having a foodless meal together. One friend is my breakfast buddy and the other is my weekly lunch date. I’ve actually enjoyed chatting without the usual incumbent meals, as I’m always trying to keep calories at bay. In any case, this nice sunny day meeting took place at a different spot than our normal meeting place. Unbeknownst to us, the ground was saturated by heavy rains from the day before, so my attempt to straighten out my car turned into digging myself into what felt like marshland beneath the wheels. Thankfully, I have an app for that and a nice young man showed up with his tow truck to drag me out of the abyss. My friend and I still had a lovely time. I’m thinking that though I’d like to exchange some hugs other than virtual ones, this mode of interaction is going to suit me for an indefinite time, until I see how this virus situation plays out over the coming months.  An odd choice? Maybe. But I feel uncertain right now and I’ve found a way to not feel so isolated. So that’s one thing.

Then there’s the pool question. I am sorely missing swimming and I mean that both literally and figuratively. I’m one of those humans who feels as comfortable in the water as I do on land. After almost two months of being unable to swim, I feel much less fit than I did before this virus changed everything. My body is stiffer and less fluid in its movements. I’m really grateful that my knee replacement surgeries allow me to take walks as an alternative to swimming. But I don’t get any endorphin rush from walking and I need to go for a lot longer than 40 minutes to feel like I’ve gotten a real workout. So what will I do when the pools finally reopen? I’m really on the fence about my favorite recreational activity. I keep envisioning leaping into a petri dish. Crowds of people splashing around. Locker rooms with so much traffic there’d need to be full-time cleaners to keep up with sanitation. Could I really enjoy myself with that anxiety? Adult swim hours would help but right now, I’m not sure that would be enough for me. So as an alternative I just purchased a below the desk elliptical machine.   Between walking, using this thing and working in my garden, I’m hoping to keep myself healthy and strong. I’ve always been a person who looks ahead. I want to give myself alternatives now, in an attempt to prepare for whatever is coming down the road. Luckily for me, I hate grocery shopping. I think that after having done it for so many years for my family, I just got to the end. Except for when my son is here, I only have myself to worry about. The online services of ordering food and either having a delivery or doing my own pickup is just fine. I don’t think I’d care if I never saw the inside of a grocery store again. But the movies. I am a movie junkie. I can certainly watch movies at home. The plethora of choices in platforms is amazing and I get that. But ever since I attended my first movie at the Iowa Theater in downtown Sioux City, “The Giant Claw,” I’ve been irresistibly drawn to sharing the darkness and the flickering images reflected on the faces in the audience, the smell of fresh popcorn with Milk Duds tossed into the container as a warm chocolatey surprise. I haven’t seen a theater movie  in months. Michael and I shared that love of movies. Before we had kids, we’d go a couple of times a week. When the babies came, I popped them into their Snuggli and kept them quiet by nursing them throughout the films. When will I go back to a theater? I guess that depends on how reopening looks. The same is true for restaurants. I don’t want to be crammed into any crowded waiting spaces. Maybe al fresco is the way to go. Picnics in the park with carry out seems like a good alternative. That is, unless the giant hornets take up residence in this town.

Trump Says Some States Will Be Able To Open ‘Literally Tomorrow’ If They Want To.

Maybe if there was a real national plan, I wouldn’t be busy with trying to figure out who I’m going to be for awhile. But there isn’t a national plan. All the states are on their own. So I’m just thinking about daily life. I’m not contemplating anything really big like whether I have taken my last trip, whether I’ll ever travel again. The biggest thing for now is to try to stay well, for myself and my family, overburdened with the complications of working from home and educating their kids. And there’s my son with his Phd, postdocs and no job market because of the pandemic trashing of higher education, along with everything else. All I can think of regarding him is that health insurance is expensive and what if the government eliminates the Affordable Care Act? The terror of no national health care.  So, yeah, I’m going to be careful and slow. No malls for me. I’m going to auto-visit, grow a ponytail and work in my yard for the next few months. What about you?

About That Apocalypse Notebook… A stink bug dropped onto my head while I lay in my bed in the dark, reading on my Kindle before sleep.

[scotiaeire]

When The World Goes Mad...

Like, when Macron wants to make Europe a nuclear power...feck’s sake, I already lived through *one* Cold War, mister! Or when the UKgov sets armed drones  over civilian airspace. Or, just, Brexit, which, y’know, almost split up my wee family and forced us to move not just from one country, but two (though, if I’d known how beautiful Ireland was before I’d have given in and done it sooner, but nope, spent two years fighting a losing war and have the scars to prove it ) or like when the only news seems to be nothing but bad news (I used to make a point of ignoring the news..memo to self: start doing that again)

Well, then, I try to look on the bright side. Go on, admit it, you’ve got *that* bloody song stuck in your head now, haven’t ye, har!

I’m still alive, for one thing. And there’ve been times I almost wasn’t. Quite a few, actually. Like with an ex who tried to electrocute me by rewiring the washing machine. No, that sounds like it should be in a comedy show but it’s true, sadly. The shock I got threw me back against a worktop, almost broke my back (clear across the room) and I couldn’t move one of my arms for almost a month, but I survived. Obviously.

Or the multiple times my stupid heart arrhythmia put me in intensive care due to reacting to general anaesthetic..which is one reason I don’t want another operation. Ever.

But, aye, I lived through the Cold War. The first one, that is. As a young woman with a baby, I was amongst those living with a dual mindset (and *this* is a prime example of how incredibly easily folks are manipulated by media....) of having a brother in law in the Forces who admitted if the bombs dropped, we’d ALL be fecked. And of being a  member of CND, going on the rallies, baby on hip, attending the meetings and watching the banned MOD vids that showed (diluted, as it turns out) the horrors of nuclear war and it’s aftermath. We were terrified the bomb was going to drop almost every day, more so with Reagan and Thatcher (may the auld bitch rest in whatever hell she’s in. I hope it’s a scalding one) in charge.

But also, we watched films. The eighties was the era of the Post Apocalyptic movie. A media designed defiance against the misery of total annihilation. Films showing the event itself and how a brave wee band of survivors armed themselves to the teeth with whatever they could, scavenged whatever they could find and built Mad Max type cars and trikes to keep “the enemy Hordes” at bay. Or where the event had already happened and a few plucky survivors crossed the wastelands, in search of a patch of land that was somehow miraculously untouched by radiation, mutations, deaths and starvation and disease etc.

All good adventurous fun. And when you’re young and healthy enough, you *do* fall for it. A lot of the music of the day also echoed the “Live life to the full, it might end tomorrow” feeling we lived with.

Then we grew up and many of us realised how damn close we came to blowing our stupid fucking heads to bits....

So to hear someone like Macron advise that Europe should be a nuclear superpower, well...let’s just say, I’d prefer a return to the original Cold War. There was, somehow, a weird, if twisted kind of “innocence” about it that isn’t here now.

Sometimes, it seems like the world has gone mad. Much of this has to do with the instant access to news and events (not always true, and usually always skewed from one particular recorder’s viewpoint, or outright lying) so, here I am on social media advising digital detoxes every now and again.

(Not that I think anyone’s actually reading this blog, but, ahem, if you *do* them’s my words)

Because the world is more than strife and fear, crushing hatred and war. The world is also family and friends, landscape and urban curiosities, the world has people in it who ARE willing to listen to others when they need to talk (I’m one of those btw..anyone wanna talk? I have ears. And I listen well.)

I haven’t had a comfortable or easy life. To tell it all would bore the feck outta folks and take hours. I’ve stared death in the face quite a few times and feared for my bairns’ lives (which is worse than anything), I’ve been homeless and starving (I once managed to survive an entire week *and* go to work potato picking on one dried packet of spaghetti..no sauce...but I was young and tough then) and I’ve been suicidal, particularly lately due to Brexit and the effect it had on my family. I’m losing my sight, my lungs are packing up and my heart’s giving me hell too, thanks body for packing up just when I’d like to appreciate life more...

But I’m glad to be living. In spite of the swamp of fear-creating news (nobody else think somehow, a lot of it is deliberate, designed to keep us, to borrow a word from Watership Down, “thrawn”? Trapped in the headlights of the oncoming car...) well, in spite of it all, life is good. And nobody knows if we get another chance at it. No, I’m not preaching..I’ve been there when hope seems like a forbidden dream and the only way out is to walk into darkness. I’m glad now I didn’t.

Because I think of the pain my daughter and husband would feel. Because I’d miss times like this, when I sit beside a warm fire and it’s quiet indoors, but the rain lashes the windows and the wind makes the trees sing like banshees. Because although I’m going blind, I can *still* see enough to watch the goldfinches eat grass seeds in the bramble thorns, and can still see (when they’re close enough) the gulls wheel inshore to shelter from storms at sea.

When the world seems like it’s going crazy, I retract into myself and turn to the things I know the madness can’t touch...making a hearty meal for those I love, keeping clean, crisp sheets on comfortable beds, tending the bright, warm fire, throwing my arms around my exuberant Border Collie, Bran (named for one of Fionn Mac Cumhaill’s hunting hounds of old Irish lore) and having him just be so happy to be fussed, so loving, so loyal. Small things. Old fashioned things. Comfort blanket things. Treasures that too many folks in the world don’t have access to...

When I was young, I did my activist stint. Back then, we made zero difference. I learned governments will do whatever the fuck they want no matter what the people say en masse. Proof of that?  Cameron, May, Johnson. Trump. Countless others. I was never a pacifist. I believe if you or your family is threatened, words won’t stop what’s coming...you have to fight. Even if you lose, you *have* to fight.

I did, for two years, and lost. And we’re still wounded. But it worked out alright for us regardless.

So the point of all this rambling? When the world’s going mad, turn away from it. There’s no shame in hiding from it, because unless you *can* change anything, all it will do is eat you up and spit you out, destroyed, body, heart and soul.

Sometimes the only thing we can do is live our lives the best way we can. And if enough of us did that, maybe then things might change. Me, I have to leave activism to the young these days. I hope they have as much fight in them as we had back in the eighties, campaigning against the likes of Cruise Missiles and on behalf of Greenpeace etc. We did what we could, even when we knew it wasn’t enough.

But NEVER be ashamed if you can’t be part of that. If all you want to do is hide away from the madness. Be proud, instead, of living a life you choose to, and of living it well. Because others see that. And what others see, they often emulate.

[trendingnewsb]

We can’t hear Colin Kaepernick any more. He’s being drowned out by noise | Ameer Hasan Loggins

The quarterback ignited a storm by kneeling during the national anthem. He wanted to communicate a message but, sadly, many still refuse to hear it

Colin Kaepernick is everywhere. Like an icon, he is freeze-framed stoically kneeling for everyone to see. We see his image on stickers, T-shirts, graffiti and posters. Its on magazine covers, television shows and social media sites. Oddly, the more we see Kaepernicks likeness, the less we hear his message.

Colin Kaepernick first kneeled during a pre-game national anthem in 2016. His reasoning was simple: [Im] not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.

To Kaepernick his protest was: bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.

He was referring to the fact that many police officers involved in high-profile killings of black people do so with apparent impunity. The killers of Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, Terrence Crutcher, Philando Castile and Freddie Gray (to sadly name a few) have all gone unpunished. They either were acquitted or, even worse, were never charged with a crime at all.

That is what Kaepernick wants to talk about. Instead, his message is being slowly erased. Some want to make Kaepernicks protest all about Trump. Others want to ignore what he is saying completely and shift the conversation to patriotism, the military and respect for the flag.

The NFL the same league that now treats Kaepernick like a castaway is in on the game, too. After Trumps admonishment of the sports league, some higher-ups tried to turn the kneel into a symbol of unity among players, coachers and owners. It became a protest against, not the politics of the president, but the fact that he criticized the NFL.

That isnt what this is about.

Ive known Kaepernick as a friend for some time now, and I can see how his intentions surrounding the protest are being ignored.

Kaepernick used lucid language to articulate his mission when he said: This [protest] is not something that I am going to run by anybody. I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.

This reminds me of something Franz Fanon poignantly wrote in The Wretched of The Earth, his groundbreaking text on race and colonialism: Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity. Colin doesnt just want to fulfill his mission. He has made his mind up to never betray it.

When Donald Trump was busy threatening to cut the budget for Meals on Wheels, a program that provides meals to older impoverished Americans, Colin Kaepernick was donating $50,000 to their program.

As Trump was signing an executive order to push forward the intensely disputed Dakota Access pipeline, Kaepernick was donating another $50,000 to desperately needed health clinics at Standing Rock.

When Trump was talking about repealing the Deferred Action of Child Arrivals policy, which protected migrants who came to America as children, Kaepernick was donating $25,000 to United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation.

During Trumps tirade about the un-patriotic nature of Kaepernicks taking a knee, he forgets that Kaepernick donated $25,000 towards paying rent for US veterans facing eviction, and providing employment training programs for people who served in military uniform.

We need to eliminate the noise. We need to listen to what Colin Kaepernick is saying, pay attention to what he is actually doing, and why.

As he put it himself: This stand wasnt for me. This [protest] is because Im seeing things happen to people that dont have a voice. People that dont have a platform to talk and have their voices heard and effect change. Im in a position where I can do that, and Im going to do that for people that cant.

Thats why, as this protest gathers steam, its important to know what this kneel is about and what it isnt about.

Kaepernick was the architect of this protest. He was candid with his convictions, and clear with his vision. He could not take it any more. He wanted to talk about black lives being crushed by law enforcement. He wanted to bring attention to the many tentacles of systemic oppression. Kaepernick has been true to his message.

The question is: have we been true to it too?

Ameer Hasan Loggins is a doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley in African Diaspora Studies

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[ramialkarmi]

Evidence mounts that Russia used Facebook to sow political chaos in the US

A series of developments on Wednesday shed new light on the lengths Russia went to exploit social media, and Facebook in particular, to spread disinformation and generate political division among the American public.

Facebook recently came under the microscope after it emerged earlier this month that fake accounts linked to Russian entities used the platform to spread fake news and bought $100,000 worth of inflammatory ads leading up to the 2016 election.

The company still does not know the extent of Russia's purchases or whether these unidentified ad buys remain on the site. Facebook has since confirmed that Russia-linked groups did more than buy ads and post memes — they tried to organize anti-immigrant, anti-Clinton rallies in Texas and Idaho.

Wednesday's developments indicate that Kremlin-backed entities went even further than what was previously reported. 

'Russia knows no ends and no limits'

In one instance, The Daily Beast learned, operatives supported by the Russian government created a Facebook group impersonating a California-based Muslim organization, called United Muslims of America, to sow anti-US sentiment among American Muslims by targeting politicians across the spectrum. 

Pro-Kremlin trolls used the group to push fabricated stories, like one claiming Hillary Clinton admitted that the US "created, funded and armed" Al-Qaeda and ISIS — which she did not and the US did not — and that John McCain was the true founder of ISIS — which he was not. Both Clinton and McCain are frequent and vocal critics of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. 

In addition to spreading disinformation about Democratic and Republican politicians, the group also used Twitter and Instagram to spread divisive memes and messages. 

Though Russia's interference in the US election was aimed primarily toward helping Donald Trump clinch the presidency, this development indicates that "Russia knows no ends and no limits to which groups they would masquerade as to carry out their objectives," Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, told The Daily Beast. 

Indeed, though Russia backed Trump's candidacy during the election, the report noted that the fake Facebook group's biggest swell in activity came after the president ordered a missile strike on Syria's Shayrat airfield in April. Trump made the decision after a deadly chemical attack, allegedly carried out by Syrian President Bashar Assad, killed scores of civilians in a northwest province of the country.

Russia is a staunch ally of Assad and repeatedly warned the US against taking harsh action following the chemical attack. Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said that the US' missile strike constituted "aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law." 

On April 9, three days after the strike, the fake UMA Facebook account posted a meme signaling its opposition to the move, according to the report. The $93 million that the strike cost, the social-media posting said, "could have founded [sic] Meals on Wheels until 2029." The group posted more than a dozen memes afterward — both on Facebook and on Instagram — opposing US intervention in Syria.  

The real United Muslims of America organization, Swalwell said, "seek[s] harmony between the US and the Muslim world."

"Many of these individuals I have heard first-hand denounce terrorist attacks across the world, including those carried out by Muslims," Swalwell said. "To see their name hijacked by the Russians, if true, and carrying out Russian goals of undermining the U.S. is disturbing and not who they are."

The fake UMA group organized several real-life events, according to The Daily Beast, though it's unclear if it successfully drew an audience. Fifty-nine people were marked as having attended one event in September 2016, while 20 were marked as having attended another in June this year, though the report said there's no evidence that anyone showed up. 

Consistent with the overall goal of creating discord

On Wednesday evening, CNN followed up with a separate report with details about a Facebook ad Russia bought during last year's election which was centered around the Black Lives Matter movement and targeted specifically towards the cities of Ferguson and Baltimore. 

The ad was bought by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll factory based in St. Petersburg. 

Both cities made headlines in 2014 and 2015, respectively, when two young, unarmed black men were killed following encounters with law enforcement in what critics said was an example of frequent police brutality toward predominantly African-American communities. 

Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014 after Brown allegedly robbed a convenience store.

Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old from Baltimore, was arrested in April 2015 and died a week later from injuries that were sustained when he was being transported in a police vehicle. 

The incidents sparked massive nationwide protests and calls from Black Lives Matter, as well as other civil-rights groups, for law enforcement to be held accountable for their actions. 

The Russian-backed Facebook ad appeared in late 2015 or early 2016, sources told CNN, and though it was meant to appear supportive of Black Lives Matter, it may also have conveyed the group as threatening to some residents of those cities. 

"This is consistent with the overall goal of creating discord inside the body politic here in the United States, and really across the West," Steve Hall, the former CIA officer and CNN National Security Analyst, told the cable network. "It shows the level of sophistication of their targeting. They are able to sow discord in a very granular nature, target certain communities and link them up with certain issues," he said.

Cyberwarfare as a way to support informational goals

The Internet Research Agency, the Russian company that bought the ad, is known for its activities in the informational space. 

From his research on the company last year, journalist Adrian Chen discovered that Russian internet trolls — paid by the Kremlin to spread false information on the internet — were behind a number of "highly coordinated campaigns" to deceive the American public.

It's a brand of information warfare, known as "dezinformatsiya," that has been used by the Russians since at least the Cold War. The disinformation campaigns are only one "active measure" tool used by Russian intelligence to "sow discord among," and within, allies perceived hostile to Russia.

From his interviews with former trolls employed by Russia, Chen gathered that the point of their jobs "was to weave propaganda seamlessly into what appeared to be the nonpolitical musings of an everyday person."

Indeed, "the Russians generally look at cyberwarfare as a way to support informational goals, like shaping an election," Paulo Shakarian, the CEO of CYR3CON, a cybersecurity threat intelligence firm, told Business Insider in July. The belief is rooted primarily in Putin's long-held view that cyberwar is a way to influence the informational battlefield. 

Russia's objectives were also likely bolstered — intentionally or not — by Trump himself. 

"Part of the reasons active measures have worked in the US election is because the commander-in-chief has used Russian active measures at times against his opponents," former FBI special agent Clint Watts told the Senate Intelligence Committee in May, pointing to Trump’s citations of fake-news stories pushed out by Russian-linked entities last year.

"[Trump] denies the intel from the United States about Russia, and he claimed the election could be rigged — that was the number one claim pushed by RT, Sputnik News, all the way up until the election," Watts said. "Part of the reasons Russian active measures work is because they parrot the same lines."

Facebook, for its part, appears to have been slow to act in the wake of Russia's actions. 

Former President Barack Obama tried to warn the platform's CEO and co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, about the threat of fake news and its effect on the 2016 election less than two weeks after Trump won the presidency,The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

Nine days before Obama warned him about the effect fake news had on the November result and the problem it would pose in future elections, Zuckerberg struck down the notion as a "crazy idea" that "surely had no impact" on the end result.

Following the president's warning, Zuckerberg acknowledged the problem but said fake news wasn't widespread on Facebook, according to The Post. He added at the time that there was no easy solution to the issue, according to those familiar with the matter.

SEE ALSO: 'Private briefings,' warrants, and wiretaps — here are the dizzying Trump-Russia developments you may have missed

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Stephen Colbert bring out Sean Spicer at the Emmys to defend the crowd size

[yes-dal456]

Trump Is Lying. His Budget Proposal Does Cut Social Security.

Donald Trump lies about everything from the size of his inauguration crowds to his promise to provide “great health care for a fraction of the price” to every person in America. So, it’s no surprise that Trump is lying when his Administration says his just-released budget proposal doesn’t cut Social Security. In fact, it cuts billions from that vital program.

There is good reason that he is covering up the truth. The truth is a complete contradiction of his repeated campaign promise not to cut Social Security. He bragged that his refusal to cut Social Security differentiated him from his Republican Primary rivals, who had their knives at the ready. His voters tend to be older and more rural. They will be hit the hardest by his duplicity.

Trump’s Administration is seeking to cover up the breaking of this key promise by claiming that Social Security disability insurance, which the budget cuts, is not really Social Security, or, at least, not an important part of Social Security protection – though it has been part of working families’ earned Social Security benefits for more than six decades and is the nation’s most important protection for working families hit with work-ending disabilities!

Unfortunately, too many reporters are parroting the White House lie, spreading the falsehood that the budget doesn’t touch “core” Social Security benefits. Nothing could be further from the truth. To start, just look at the name: Social Security disability insurance! It is Orwellian to say that Social Security disability insurance is not Social Security. It would be like claiming that only the Army and Navy are core parts of the armed forces, so cutting the Marines and Air Force is not cutting the armed forces.

This is part of a divide-and-conquer strategy, designed to dismantle our Social Security system brick by brick. There are people with disabilities who receive retirement benefits and survivor benefits. And there are disabled workers’ spouses and children who are able-bodied and receive disability benefits. The program is seamless and completely interconnected. All benefits are generated from a single benefit formula. Indeed, workers who become disabled prior to retiring receive disability benefits until their retirement age and then receive retirement benefits.

Another part of the divide-and-conquer strategy making its way into the false narrative about Trump’s just-released budget is that cuts to Social Security and Meals on Wheels are somehow good for children under the rationale of a supposed intergenerational war. Only in the political world of Washington could anyone argue with a straight face that hurting grandparents is good for grandchildren. In fact, Social Security is not only the most important source of economic support for seniors; it is the nation’s largest children’s program because of the insurance it provides them when they lose parental support as the result of death or disability. And it is the most important source of income for children living with their grandparents.

His voters tend to be older and more rural. They will be hit the hardest by his duplicity.

Don’t believe the lie that the cuts to Social Security disability insurance are simply designed to help people return to work. The test for disability is among the strictest in the world. People do not receive benefits unless they can prove that they are unable to earn a living at any job – even if the job they can work at doesn’t exist in their area or there are no jobs available. However the proposals are dressed up, they are, at base, cuts that weaken all of our protection. These are all earned benefits that are being snatched away from the most vulnerable among us. The earned benefits of hard-working Americans who have the misfortune to suffer a work-ending illness or accident. All of us are one traffic accident away from joining their ranks.

What is going on is an effort to divide us, in order to get a toehold toward their real goal– ending Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Don’t be fooled by Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Prior to running for President, he called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. He advocated ending the program by privatizing it. claiming that “privatization would be good for all of us.” And, in true elitist fashion, he called for raising the retirement age to age 70, because “how many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon?”

Moreover, even as he was lying to the electorate about protecting Social Security, he selected Mike Pence as his vice president. Pence has a long record of attacking Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Indeed, Pence criticized Bush’s Social Security privatization proposal for not going far enough, fast enough!

As President, Trump has chosen a staunch opponent of Social Security, Mick Mulvaney, for the key position of Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Prior to becoming OMB director, Mulvaney was a member of the reactionary House Freedom Caucus and was well known for his fervent opposition to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Don’t believe the lie that the cuts to Social Security disability insurance are simply designed to help people return to work.

And Trump has picked another staunch opponent of these programs, Tom Price, to head the cabinet department that runs Medicare and Medicaid, He is just as hostile to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as the others. In fact, he has threatened, “We will not rest until we make certain that government-run health care [i.e., Medicare and Medicare] is ended.” Moreover, by virtue of his position, Price is a trustee of Social Security. Talk about a fox in the henhouse!

It is clear why Trump is trying to hide his efforts to undermine Social Security. He understands how popular it is. In a 2011 interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said he was on board with plans to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — but that Republicans should be very careful “not to fall into the Democratic trap” by doing it in the open, without bipartisan cover, or they would pay the price politically.

Underreported but devastating in its potential impact, Trump has already, in his short tenure, gone after Medicare and Medicaid. He enthusiastically champions TrumpCare, which raids billions of dollars from Medicare, depriving the program of essential funding and giving Congressional Republicans the perfect excuse to call for cuts a few years down the road. It cuts nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid, on the road to dismantling it. Trump’s budget would speed the destruction of Medicaid by cutting an additional $610 billion on top of the TrumpCare cuts.

TrumpCare would also be a disaster for Social Security beneficiaries in their early 60s who aren’t yet eligible for Medicare. The bill would allow insurance companies to impose an age tax, which the CBO estimates could lead to a massive 750% increase in their premiums.

And now he is going after Social Security directly. His motive is obvious. His priorities are tax cuts for him, his family, and his billionaire friends, not the economic security of the American people.

Hold him accountable. And the media. And your representatives and Senators. Call 202-224-3121 and demand that your Senators and Representative denounce Trump’s budget. Remind them that if they support this budget, they will be supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicaid. If they are foolish enough to endorse the budget, let them know that you, your family, friends, and neighbors will hold them accountable. You will grill them at town hall meetings and vote against them in 2018, or the next time they are on the ballot.

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[imreviewblog]

Trump Is Lying. His Budget Proposal Does Cut Social Security.

Donald Trump lies about everything from the size of his inauguration crowds to his promise to provide “great health care for a fraction of the price” to every person in America. So, it’s no surprise that Trump is lying when his Administration says his just-released budget proposal doesn’t cut Social Security. In fact, it cuts billions from that vital program.

There is good reason that he is covering up the truth. The truth is a complete contradiction of his repeated campaign promise not to cut Social Security. He bragged that his refusal to cut Social Security differentiated him from his Republican Primary rivals, who had their knives at the ready. His voters tend to be older and more rural. They will be hit the hardest by his duplicity.

Trump’s Administration is seeking to cover up the breaking of this key promise by claiming that Social Security disability insurance, which the budget cuts, is not really Social Security, or, at least, not an important part of Social Security protection – though it has been part of working families’ earned Social Security benefits for more than six decades and is the nation’s most important protection for working families hit with work-ending disabilities!

Unfortunately, too many reporters are parroting the White House lie, spreading the falsehood that the budget doesn’t touch “core” Social Security benefits. Nothing could be further from the truth. To start, just look at the name: Social Security disability insurance! It is Orwellian to say that Social Security disability insurance is not Social Security. It would be like claiming that only the Army and Navy are core parts of the armed forces, so cutting the Marines and Air Force is not cutting the armed forces.

This is part of a divide-and-conquer strategy, designed to dismantle our Social Security system brick by brick. There are people with disabilities who receive retirement benefits and survivor benefits. And there are disabled workers’ spouses and children who are able-bodied and receive disability benefits. The program is seamless and completely interconnected. All benefits are generated from a single benefit formula. Indeed, workers who become disabled prior to retiring receive disability benefits until their retirement age and then receive retirement benefits.

Another part of the divide-and-conquer strategy making its way into the false narrative about Trump’s just-released budget is that cuts to Social Security and Meals on Wheels are somehow good for children under the rationale of a supposed intergenerational war. Only in the political world of Washington could anyone argue with a straight face that hurting grandparents is good for grandchildren. In fact, Social Security is not only the most important source of economic support for seniors; it is the nation’s largest children’s program because of the insurance it provides them when they lose parental support as the result of death or disability. And it is the most important source of income for children living with their grandparents.

His voters tend to be older and more rural. They will be hit the hardest by his duplicity.

Don’t believe the lie that the cuts to Social Security disability insurance are simply designed to help people return to work. The test for disability is among the strictest in the world. People do not receive benefits unless they can prove that they are unable to earn a living at any job – even if the job they can work at doesn’t exist in their area or there are no jobs available. However the proposals are dressed up, they are, at base, cuts that weaken all of our protection. These are all earned benefits that are being snatched away from the most vulnerable among us. The earned benefits of hard-working Americans who have the misfortune to suffer a work-ending illness or accident. All of us are one traffic accident away from joining their ranks.

What is going on is an effort to divide us, in order to get a toehold toward their real goal– ending Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Don’t be fooled by Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Prior to running for President, he called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. He advocated ending the program by privatizing it. claiming that “privatization would be good for all of us.” And, in true elitist fashion, he called for raising the retirement age to age 70, because “how many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon?”

Moreover, even as he was lying to the electorate about protecting Social Security, he selected Mike Pence as his vice president. Pence has a long record of attacking Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Indeed, Pence criticized Bush’s Social Security privatization proposal for not going far enough, fast enough!

As President, Trump has chosen a staunch opponent of Social Security, Mick Mulvaney, for the key position of Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Prior to becoming OMB director, Mulvaney was a member of the reactionary House Freedom Caucus and was well known for his fervent opposition to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Don’t believe the lie that the cuts to Social Security disability insurance are simply designed to help people return to work.

And Trump has picked another staunch opponent of these programs, Tom Price, to head the cabinet department that runs Medicare and Medicaid, He is just as hostile to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid as the others. In fact, he has threatened, “We will not rest until we make certain that government-run health care [i.e., Medicare and Medicare] is ended.” Moreover, by virtue of his position, Price is a trustee of Social Security. Talk about a fox in the henhouse!

It is clear why Trump is trying to hide his efforts to undermine Social Security. He understands how popular it is. In a 2011 interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said he was on board with plans to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — but that Republicans should be very careful “not to fall into the Democratic trap” by doing it in the open, without bipartisan cover, or they would pay the price politically.

Underreported but devastating in its potential impact, Trump has already, in his short tenure, gone after Medicare and Medicaid. He enthusiastically champions TrumpCare, which raids billions of dollars from Medicare, depriving the program of essential funding and giving Congressional Republicans the perfect excuse to call for cuts a few years down the road. It cuts nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid, on the road to dismantling it. Trump’s budget would speed the destruction of Medicaid by cutting an additional $610 billion on top of the TrumpCare cuts.

TrumpCare would also be a disaster for Social Security beneficiaries in their early 60s who aren’t yet eligible for Medicare. The bill would allow insurance companies to impose an age tax, which the CBO estimates could lead to a massive 750% increase in their premiums.

And now he is going after Social Security directly. His motive is obvious. His priorities are tax cuts for him, his family, and his billionaire friends, not the economic security of the American people.

Hold him accountable. And the media. And your representatives and Senators. Call 202-224-3121 and demand that your Senators and Representative denounce Trump’s budget. Remind them that if they support this budget, they will be supporting cuts to Social Security and Medicaid. If they are foolish enough to endorse the budget, let them know that you, your family, friends, and neighbors will hold them accountable. You will grill them at town hall meetings and vote against them in 2018, or the next time they are on the ballot.

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from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://bit.ly/2qhh067

[difrntdrmr]

Moving Past 100 Days: The Lies Continue

Perhaps Donald Trump’s greatest talent is his ability to feed fake news to his fans without interference from the mainstream press. In his signature move, he piles on a bunch of smaller lies and then follows up with an outrageous statement. The press then covers the controversy while ignoring the other nuggets. Meanwhile, his base reads them, sees that they have not been refuted and accepts them as truth. Perhaps this is one explanation for the fact that while his approval rating sits at a historically low 42%, only 2% of his voters regret their decision.

This weekend’s events marking Trump’s first 100 days in office provides an example of the problem as the press gets lost in their coverage of his “deeply disturbing” speech in Harrisburg while ignoring Trump’s weekly address. Meanwhile, this address contains outright lies that feed Trump’s alternate reality. Since our impotent press has failed to provide any type of fact-checking, I’ll do their job for them:

"My fellow Americans, I truly believe that the first 100 days of my Administration has been just about the most successful in our country's history."

If Trump is not lying with this opening statement, then he is surely delusional. The hundred-day was initiated during the FDR administration as he responded to the crisis of the Great Depression and acted accordingly. Obama faced a Great Recession that was threatening to deepen and acted quickly by ushering in a stimulus package. Even if Trump had the ability to display this type of leadership, the circumstances of a deep, overwhelming crisis do not exist that would enable him to unite the country around a solution.

"Most importantly, we're bringing back jobs. You asked the people of Michigan; you asked the people of Ohio; you can ask the people of Pennsylvania. See what's happening. See the car companies come roaring back in. They don't want to leave. They want to stay here. They want a piece of the action."

Trump was handed an economy that “has gained jobs for 75 straight months – the longest streak on record.” When Obama left office the unemployment rate stood “at 4.7 percent”. To put that in historical perspective, “in all the months since 1948 the median jobless rate was 5.6 percent.” Therefore, to say that Trump is “bringing BACK jobs” is in itself a violation of the truth.

While Trump likes to take credit for everything good that has happened since the beginning of the year or even since his election, there have only been two full months of economic reports since he actually took office. The February jobs report showed that 237,000 jobs were created in the first full month of Trump’s presidency, 1,000 LESS than the amount that was created in February 2016. “Employers pulled back sharply on hiring in March”, creating only 98,000 jobs. In March 2016, 225,000 jobs were created.

"Our country is going up and it's going up fast. Our companies are doing better they just announced fantastic profits all because of what's happened in this rather short period of time."

The “gross domestic product increased at a meager 0.7% annual pace in the first three months of the year, down from 2.1% and 3.5% in the back half of 2016.” This was the “slowest growth in 3 years”.

"And that's just the beginning. We're putting in a massive tax cut for the middle class and for business. It's going to have an enormous effect."

Trump’s “plan” was nothing more than an outline on a single sheet of paper. When asked on ABC’s Good Morning America, Treasury Secretary, would not “guarantee that middle-class families wouldn't pay more under the proposal.”

"The massive Keystone Pipeline, the Dakota Pipeline tens of thousands of jobs right there. And so many other businesses. We're really proud of what we're doing."

According to TransCanada’s bid for the permit, only 50 permanent jobs will be created to maintain the Keystone pipeline. It will also increase our trade deficit as it will be built to import Canadian oil into our country. “Just 40 full-time permanent positions will remain upon the conclusion of construction on the DAPL”. Despite previous assurances, neither project will require using American made steel.

"The F-35 fighter jet program it was way over budget. I've saved 725 million dollars plus, just by getting involved in the negotiation. We're cutting costs, and we're going to have a truly competitive and great country again.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a $400 billion program. Interestingly, Trump had just bragged on Monday that he had saved $700 million from this program, making this seem like nothing more than the tall tales of weekend fishermen. Additionally, these projected savings are not contained in a contract but in the “personal assurance” of Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson. The General Accounting Office says that due to “cascading testing delays” the project “could cost the Department of Defense more than a billion dollars more than what was budgeted in 2011 when the program was restructured.”

"In just fourteen weeks, my administration has brought profound change to Washington. The most fundamental change can be found in the relationship between the people and their government. For too long, politicians cared more about special interests than they did about a very successful future for all Americans. They took our taxpayers' money, and sent their jobs and wealth to other countries.Not anymore. From the first day of my administration, I have governed by a simple idea: My only allegiance is to you, our wonderful citizens."

As of today, 1,093,105 people have signed a petition at WhiteHouse.gov calling on the administration to “Immediately release Donald Trump's full tax returns, with all information needed to verify emoluments clause compliance”. The information has not been released.

"Together we are seeing that great achievements are possible when we put American People first. That is why I withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That day was a turning point for our nation. It put the countries of this world on notice that the sellout of the American worker was over."

One of Trump’s first acts as President was to reverse an Obama action to cut interest premiums on FHA mortgages” that would have saved “eligible homeowners an average of $500 a year.” His budget blueprint proposed cuts that included “$3 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant program, which includes Meals on Wheels among other housing and community programs.”

"In the following weeks, I took unprecedented actions to reverse Federal overreach and unleash job creation. We have slashed burdensome regulations, and imposed a policy that for each new regulation, two regulations must be erased from the books."

This sounds like a policy developed by a second grader. While burdensome regulations that have not proven to be effective should be repealed, this policy assumes that all regulations were created equal. It is unclear how lifting a ban on the use of lead bullets on federal lands will unleash job creation, but this is an example of one of the environmental protections that Trump has taken.

"We've done it all while moving quickly to restore the most basic protection for all citizens, the rule of law."

The congress continues to investigate Michael Flynn and other members of the Trump administration for their relationships with the Russian government. “The White House is refusing to provide congressional investigators with some of the documents they're requesting as part of an investigation into potential Trump campaign connections to Russia, and whether former national security adviser Mike Flynn disclosed payments from Russian companies when applying for his security clearance.”

"A truly great judge, Neil Gorsuch, now sits on the United States Supreme Court. Justice Gorsuch is deeply devoted to our Constitution. My Administration is the first in the modern political era to confirm a new Supreme Court Justice in the first 100 days the last time it happened was 136 years ago in 1881."

Merrick Garland is a moderate judge who should not have been nominated by a liberal President. However, like every other compromise that Obama attempted to make with the Republicans, they rebuffed the effort and refused to consider his nomination claiming that there was a “rule” that stated that “the Senate would not confirm a Supreme Court nominee in the middle of a presidential election year”. Now the administration brags that it has been 136 years since there was opening for an incoming president as he took office. The Senate was clearly following a precedent that did not exist.

"Defending the rule of law is a priority, not just in the courts, but also on the streets and on the border. We've told the incredible police of our nation that they have our full support as they work to bring down violent crime rates. We've taken bold action to go after criminal cartels, and made it a top priority to prosecute anyone who targets law enforcement."

While Trump continues to play Chicken Little, the homicide rate “has fallen continuously: for the last 25 years.” “The US homicide rate in 2014, the most recent year available, was 4.5 per 100,000.” This was the lowest rate since 1963. The fact that Trump continues with the politics of fear should not be surprising to anyone who remembers that he continued to call for the execution of the Central Park Five, even “after their sentences were vacated based on DNA evidence and the detailed and accurate confession of a serial rapist named Matias Reyes.”

"This has been the work of my administration fighting for the American worker, defending the rule of law, and returning the power to the American people. Since my inauguration, economic confidence has soared reaching higher than any time in 9 years. Optimism among manufacturers is at a record high. And small business confidence has seen its largest increase in nearly four decades.

Perhaps the greatest change of all is the renewal of the American Spirit. As long as we have faith in each other, and trust in God, then the sun will always shine on our very Glorious Republic."

“Confidence” is an abstract item that does not result in any actual data. Remember that the same polls that are measuring this hopefulness are also showing that people continue to be fearful even as the crime rates fall. If job growth continues to lose steam, Trump may very quickly find himself in a situation where he is dealing with confidence bubbles that are popping around him. In the meantime, they are a pretty good indication that his talents as a master manipulator may be unsurpassed. P. T. Barnum would be proud.

 ____________________________________________

Carl Petersen is a parent and special education advocate and was a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race. He was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action and Dr. Diane Ravitch called him a “strong supporter of public schools.” His past blogs can be found at www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com.

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New Post has been published on Forex Blog | Free Forex Tips | Forex News

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We should nurture, not ax, U.S. programs for older volunteers

By Mark Miller | CHICAGO

What to say about a federal program that helps enable 245,000 U.S. seniors to tutor kids, renovate homes and teach English to immigrants?

How about this: “We can’t spend money on programs just because they sound good.” That is White House budget director Mick Mulvaney last month, explaining why the Trump administration’s budget blueprint proposes cutting dozens of federal programs.

Mulvaney was not specifically referring to Senior Corps, which allows all those seniors to find ways to volunteer. He was trying to justify a much longer list of cuts that are, well, deplorable – everything from legal services for the poor to public television and environmental protection.

The plan would eliminate a long list of federal agencies – among them the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which administers Senior Corps and Americorps, the community service program aimed at young people. The White House also wants to kill programs that help low-income seniors with job training and placement and assistance paying utility bills. Some funding for the Meals on Wheels program also could be threatened.

It is not clear that the White House can get any of this through Congress – all of these programs have devoted followings in communities across the country, and older people vote in disproportionate numbers. But the call to pull the plug on CNCS underscores the administration’s misplaced values, and should be resisted strongly.

Senior Corps does not just “sound good” – it actually is good. The roots of its programs date back to the 1960s; today, Senior Corps operates three programs: RSVP, the largest senior volunteer organization in the nation; Foster Grandparent, which tutors and mentors special-needs young people; and the Senior Companions Program, which helps frail seniors and other adults maintain independence and stay in their own homes.

INTERGENERATIONAL GOOD

Senior Corps is the prototype for an idea that is fast gaining ground – engaging the rapidly growing ranks of older Americans for a range of intergenerational projects for the greater good. “The way our demographics are changing, we need more ways to engage older people in communities and neighborhoods, because they are one of our greatest growing assets,” said Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, a nonprofit focused on intergenerational collaboration programs and public policy.

“We can’t just think of it as something nice and sweet,” Butts said.

Generations United did some simple math calculations to demonstrate the value and power of volunteers. There are 108 million Americans today over age 50, and they watch 47 hours of television every week. If 2 percent of them gave just 2 percent of their TV time as volunteers, that would generate almost $2.5 billion worth of human resources devoted to addressing problems each year (valuing an hour of time at $23).

“Mulvaney is way off base,” Butts added, referring to the White House budget director. “We have to engage these folks, especially at a time like this, when we know there are divides in our country that need to be healed. Engaging people of different generations is one way to do that.”

PURPOSEFUL ENGAGEMENT

Private-sector philanthropy gets this. Consider Encore.org, which made its name encouraging interest in encore careers and inventing the Purpose Prize, a sort of MacArthur genius prize for older entrepreneurs. Encore’s new project is Generation to Generation – a campaign aiming to recruit and mobilize more than a million older adults to help young people thrive through mentoring programs. (reut.rs/2g4FH2m)

Encore is wrapping up a study on the positive effects that purposeful engagement through volunteering can have on older adults; purposeful people report significantly higher life satisfaction, personal growth and sense of empathy.

It also found that volunteering did not cut in to more personal goals, such as spending time with friends and family or pursuing hobbies – rather, older adult volunteers were more likely to engage in those activities.

“People get so much joy out of doing something that engages their capacities and makes them feel competent,” said the lead researcher, Anne Colby, an adjunct professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.

Colby is a developmental psychologist specializing in the study of purpose, values and character at all ages. An especially surprising finding, she said, is that the prevalence of “purpose beyond the self” not only cut across all demographic lines, but was also just as high among respondents with health and financial problems as among those who were healthy and financially secure.

“And engagement has this spillover effect – people feel more motivated to address health problems like losing weight or getting more exercise.”

Eliminating the CNCS would save the government about $1 billion a year – coincidentally the same amount the White House wants to fund the first 62 miles (100 km) of that all-important border wall with Mexico that it now seems American citizens will pay for.

A much better idea: encourage the grandparents to keep reading to the kids.

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

(Editing by Matthew Lewis)

We should nurture, not ax, U.S. programs for older volunteers We should nurture, not ax, U.S. programs for older volunteers http://feeds.reuters.com/news/wealth $inline_image

[nationalsportinguk]

Robert Redford Wrote A Letter Supporting The National Endowment For The Arts As Its Funding Is Threatened

Disney

Within the newest recommended national budget in the Trump management, some main reductions were suggested. The entire cancellation of the “Meals on Wheels” budget may have been the possible cut to garner the absolute most dislike and information interest, but rage within the same destiny perhaps visiting the National Endowment of the Disciplines wasn’t significantly behind within the “indignant” line. In his budget, Trump really wants to totally reduce all financing for that NEA, in addition to the National Endowment for that Humanities and much more than the usual dozen additional useful companies.

Within the threat of dropping any national financing at-all for that company and also the encounter of such surprising reductions, several governmental thoughts and superstars talked out concerning the need for the NEA. Robert Redford may be the newest actor to demand the NEA stay financed and described why in an open notice about the Sundance Institute’s website named “The NEA Should Endure — And Thrive.” you are able to browse the whole of the notice on the webpage, but particular pathways stick out for how individual they’re to Redford and also the Sundance kingdom he’s constructed through the years.

Redford embraces gifted designers every year and recalls the way the NEA offered Sundance $25,000 to aid their first laboratories for filmmakers. The Endowment also assisted the Butch Cassidy and also the Sundance Child actor develop the Sundance Film Festival, which any film enthusiast is well-aware of when it’s kept every year. Redford claims,

The NEA really obviously assisted us find viewers for tales away from conventional and produce the Film Festival, which converted into the key worldwide display for fresh designers and brand new sounds to start their function. No body continues to be at far it’s eliminated more surprised, now the Event provides huge amount of money of income over a-10 to Ut -time interval – showing that artwork is definitely an economical pressure.

The resounding and most crucial passing may be the one by which the impact is straight tied by Redford on assistance and the National desire to clean sounds who may possibly not be ready to locate assistance that is such from businesses that are different.

The defunding of the budget might gut our background of assistance for disciplines applications and designers also it might deny all our people of variety and the tradition the humanities provides to the nation.

This really is completely the incorrect strategy at completely the period that is incorrect. We have to ask sounds that are fresh towards the desk, we have to provide an opportunity to produce to potential decades, and we have to commemorate our ethnic history.

In my opinion the NEA mustn’t just endure, but prosper. And that’s why join me in incorporating your speech towards the refrain of worried people by calling your congressional consultant and voicing your resistance in benefit of ongoing assistance for that part as well as to these reductions the disciplines perform in loving our National tale.

It’s a notice that is convincing, however it could be sensible to consider when people of the management haven’t been persuaded of the significance right now, they never can. In either case, there’s usually an opportunity the next notice that is available would be the one. It’s definitely better to possess people that are main in the market than having them be satisfied with whichever governmental techniques are now being created using no opposition speaking.

from national sporting heritage day http://nationalsportingheritageday.co.uk/robert-redford-wrote-a-letter-supporting-the-national-endowment-for-the-arts-as-its-funding-is-threatened/

[graciedroweuk]

Robert Redford Wrote A Letter Supporting The National Endowment For The Arts As Its Funding Is Threatened

Disney

Within the newest recommended national budget in the Trump management, some main reductions were suggested. The entire cancellation of the “Meals on Wheels” budget may have been the possible cut to garner the absolute most dislike and information interest, but rage within the same destiny perhaps visiting the National Endowment of the Disciplines wasn’t significantly behind within the “indignant” line. In his budget, Trump really wants to totally reduce all financing for that NEA, in addition to the National Endowment for that Humanities and much more than the usual dozen additional useful companies.

Within the threat of dropping any national financing at-all for that company and also the encounter of such surprising reductions, several governmental thoughts and superstars talked out concerning the need for the NEA. Robert Redford may be the newest actor to demand the NEA stay financed and described why in an open notice about the Sundance Institute’s website named “The NEA Should Endure — And Thrive.” you are able to browse the whole of the notice on the webpage, but particular pathways stick out for how individual they’re to Redford and also the Sundance kingdom he’s constructed through the years.

Redford embraces gifted designers every year and recalls the way the NEA offered Sundance $25,000 to aid their first laboratories for filmmakers. The Endowment also assisted the Butch Cassidy and also the Sundance Child actor develop the Sundance Film Festival, which any film enthusiast is well-aware of when it’s kept every year. Redford claims,

The NEA really obviously assisted us find viewers for tales away from conventional and produce the Film Festival, which converted into the key worldwide display for fresh designers and brand new sounds to start their function. No body continues to be at far it’s eliminated more surprised, now the Event provides huge amount of money of income over a-10 to Ut -time interval – showing that artwork is definitely an economical pressure.

The resounding and most crucial passing may be the one by which the impact is straight tied by Redford on assistance and the National desire to clean sounds who may possibly not be ready to locate assistance that is such from businesses that are different.

The defunding of the budget might gut our background of assistance for disciplines applications and designers also it might deny all our people of variety and the tradition the humanities provides to the nation.

This really is completely the incorrect strategy at completely the period that is incorrect. We have to ask sounds that are fresh towards the desk, we have to provide an opportunity to produce to potential decades, and we have to commemorate our ethnic history.

In my opinion the NEA mustn’t just endure, but prosper. And that’s why join me in incorporating your speech towards the refrain of worried people by calling your congressional consultant and voicing your resistance in benefit of ongoing assistance for that part as well as to these reductions the disciplines perform in loving our National tale.

It’s a notice that is convincing, however it could be sensible to consider when people of the management haven’t been persuaded of the significance right now, they never can. In either case, there’s usually an opportunity the next notice that is available would be the one. It’s definitely better to possess people that are main in the market than having them be satisfied with whichever governmental techniques are now being created using no opposition speaking.

from network 4 http://nationalsportingheritageday.co.uk/robert-redford-wrote-a-letter-supporting-the-national-endowment-for-the-arts-as-its-funding-is-threatened/

[trendingnewsb]

We can’t hear Colin Kaepernick any more. He’s being drowned out by noise | Ameer Hasan Loggins

The quarterback ignited a storm by kneeling during the national anthem. He wanted to communicate a message but, sadly, many still refuse to hear it

Colin Kaepernick is everywhere. Like an icon, he is freeze-framed stoically kneeling for everyone to see. We see his image on stickers, T-shirts, graffiti and posters. Its on magazine covers, television shows and social media sites. Oddly, the more we see Kaepernicks likeness, the less we hear his message.

Colin Kaepernick first kneeled during a pre-game national anthem in 2016. His reasoning was simple: [Im] not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.

To Kaepernick his protest was: bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.

He was referring to the fact that many police officers involved in high-profile killings of black people do so with apparent impunity. The killers of Tamir Rice, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, Terrence Crutcher, Philando Castile and Freddie Gray (to sadly name a few) have all gone unpunished. They either were acquitted or, even worse, were never charged with a crime at all.

That is what Kaepernick wants to talk about. Instead, his message is being slowly erased. Some want to make Kaepernicks protest all about Trump. Others want to ignore what he is saying completely and shift the conversation to patriotism, the military and respect for the flag.

The NFL the same league that now treats Kaepernick like a castaway is in on the game, too. After Trumps admonishment of the sports league, some higher-ups tried to turn the kneel into a symbol of unity among players, coachers and owners. It became a protest against, not the politics of the president, but the fact that he criticized the NFL.

That isnt what this is about.

Ive known Kaepernick as a friend for some time now, and I can see how his intentions surrounding the protest are being ignored.

Kaepernick used lucid language to articulate his mission when he said: This [protest] is not something that I am going to run by anybody. I am not looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are oppressed. If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.

This reminds me of something Franz Fanon poignantly wrote in The Wretched of The Earth, his groundbreaking text on race and colonialism: Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity. Colin doesnt just want to fulfill his mission. He has made his mind up to never betray it.

When Donald Trump was busy threatening to cut the budget for Meals on Wheels, a program that provides meals to older impoverished Americans, Colin Kaepernick was donating $50,000 to their program.

As Trump was signing an executive order to push forward the intensely disputed Dakota Access pipeline, Kaepernick was donating another $50,000 to desperately needed health clinics at Standing Rock.

When Trump was talking about repealing the Deferred Action of Child Arrivals policy, which protected migrants who came to America as children, Kaepernick was donating $25,000 to United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the nation.

During Trumps tirade about the un-patriotic nature of Kaepernicks taking a knee, he forgets that Kaepernick donated $25,000 towards paying rent for US veterans facing eviction, and providing employment training programs for people who served in military uniform.

We need to eliminate the noise. We need to listen to what Colin Kaepernick is saying, pay attention to what he is actually doing, and why.

As he put it himself: This stand wasnt for me. This [protest] is because Im seeing things happen to people that dont have a voice. People that dont have a platform to talk and have their voices heard and effect change. Im in a position where I can do that, and Im going to do that for people that cant.

Thats why, as this protest gathers steam, its important to know what this kneel is about and what it isnt about.

Kaepernick was the architect of this protest. He was candid with his convictions, and clear with his vision. He could not take it any more. He wanted to talk about black lives being crushed by law enforcement. He wanted to bring attention to the many tentacles of systemic oppression. Kaepernick has been true to his message.

The question is: have we been true to it too?

Ameer Hasan Loggins is a doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley in African Diaspora Studies

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