All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Republican politicians can no longer count on the support of their families

LOL

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Bob Goodlatte’s son and Stephen Miller’s uncle have proved that when it comes to politics blood is not thicker than water

The Republican party is increasingly alienating younger voters, older voters and voters in the suburbs. But there is one constituency turning against GOP lawmakers that they must be especially disappointed about losing: their own family members.

On Monday, Bobby Goodlatte, a Virginia-based designer, announced he had donated the maximum amount to Jennifer Lewis, the Democrat running in Virginia’s sixth congressional district. He also claimed he persuaded five others to do the same. There was nothing untoward about the donations save for the fact that Goodlatte’s father, GOP congressman Bob Goodlatte, has been the representative for the district since 1993. Bobby says he wants to “flip” districts like his father’s in 2018.

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Tuesday Open Thread | Did You Know That 3 Non-Government Employees Are Running the Veterans Administration?

Yes.

Three people who ARE NOT Government Employees are running one of the largest parts of the Government – The Veterans Administration.

We have Pro Publica to thank for informing us of this absolutely outrageous situation.

You know a veteran?

You know a veteran that gets their healthcare from the VA?

Maybe you should let them know that the decisions for their healthcare are being made by three people that they’ve never heard of. Three people whose only qualifications is that they pay dues at Mar-a-Lago.

Yeah, you read right.

 

The Shadow Rulers of the VA

How Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter and two other Mar-a-Lago cronies are secretly shaping the Trump administration’s veterans policies.

by Isaac Arnsdorf

Aug. 7, 6:29 p.m. EDT

Last February, shortly after Peter O’Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O’Rourke replied. “I will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action.”

O’Rourke treated the email as an order, but Moskowitz is not his boss. In fact, he is not even a government official. Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service “concierge” medical care.

More to the point, he is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump’s. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.

Yet from a thousand miles away, they have leaned on VA officials and steered policies affecting millions of Americans. They have remained hidden except to a few VA insiders, who have come to call them “the Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”

Perlmutter, Moskowitz and Sherman declined to be interviewed and fielded questions through a crisis-communications consultant. In a statement, they downplayed their influence, insisting that nobody is obligated to act on their counsel. “At all times, we offered our help and advice on a voluntary basis, seeking nothing at all in return,” they said. “While we were always willing to share our thoughts, we did not make or implement any type of policy, possess any authority over agency decisions, or direct government officials to take any actions… To the extent anyone thought our role was anything other than that, we don’t believe it was the result of anything we said or did.”

VA spokesman Curt Cashour did not answer specific questions but said a “broad range of input from individuals both inside and outside VA has helped us immensely over the last year and a half.” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters also did not answer specific questions and said Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz “have no direct influence over the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a different story — of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The Mar-a-Lago Crowd spoke with VA officials daily, the documents show, reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former administration official said.

Kiss the ring?

WHAT THE PHUCK?

Three people, with no experience whatsoever, outside of being able to sign a check for dues at a PRIVATE CLUB, have say over what happens to the largest medical service in the country? The VA directly serves more people than any other healthcare system in the government.

Like with Jared, and Ivanka, once again, we have people who are unaccountable running policy for this country.

How many veterans have been hurt because of their policy decisions?

How many have been killed?

Why aren’t their policy plans being discussed? Being debated?

Why aren’t these men being called before Congress to justify what they’re doing?

Once again, here is ANOTHER point for why you should vote in November.

MILLIONS of Veterans are having their healthcare affected, and NOTHING from Congressional Republicans.

We MUST have accountability.

VOTE IN NOVEMBER 2018.

TAKE BACK CONGRESS.

Analysis of fake YouTube views

Wherever more attention or the appearance of it equates to more money, there are those who try to game the system. Michael H. Keller for The New York Times examines the business of fake YouTube views:

YouTube’s engineers, statisticians and data scientists are constantly improving in their ability to fight what Ms. O’Connor calls a “very hard problem,” but the attacks have “continually gotten stronger and more sophisticated,” she said.

After the Times reporter presented YouTube with the videos for which he had bought views, the company said sellers had exploited two vulnerabilities that had already been fixed. Later that day, the reporter bought more views from six of the same vendors. The view count rose again, though more slowly. A week later, all but two of the vendors had delivered the full amount.

Tags: fake, New York Times, YouTube

Worries about security and healthcare exposures as DRC Ebola total grows to 52 | CIDRAP

In Twitter posts today, Peter Salama, MD, the WHO’s deputy director-general of emergency response, said sadly, many health workers in Mangina were exposed to Ebola early in the outbreak. And since health worker infections are known to amplify Ebola outbreaks, health officials expect the current DRC outbreak to get worse before it gets better. “Given complexities, we ask all partners to support government-led response with their most experienced staff,” he said. Salama said the event is on an “epidemiological precipice” and that there’s a crucial time-limited window of opportunity to prevent the Ebola outbreak from taking hold in areas that are much more difficult to access due to security concerns. “There is not a minute to lose,” he said.

Source: Worries about security and healthcare exposures as DRC Ebola total grows to 52 | CIDRAP

‘Bigger than any man she ever encountered’: the under-appreciated genius of Madonna | Life and style | The Guardian

When she collected her woman of the year prize at Billboard’s Women in Music awards in 2016, she said she stood before the crowd “as a doormat”. “Thank you for acknowledging my ability to continue my career for 34 years in the face of blatant sexism and misogyny and constant bullying and relentless abuse.” This is genuine, rightful anger and ferocity. The level of ageism and sexism directed at her is femicidal, even matricidal, visceral loathing. When people say they want Madonna to age gracefully, what they really mean is: become beige, shut up and go into a corner. And she refuses to do that. Instead, she continues to produce brilliant, captivating and thought-provoking work.

Source: ‘Bigger than any man she ever encountered’: the under-appreciated genius of Madonna | Life and style | The Guardian