March 4, 2024

Trump warns of 'languages coming into our country' that 'nobody' has heard of

Warning about the dangers of illegal immigration at the southern border has long been one of Donald Trump’s campaign mainstays, going back to the day he launched his first presidential bid. At the time, he said Mexico was sending “rapists” and people who were bringing “drugs” and “crime.”

But lately, the former president has seized on a new thing he says migrants are bringing: languages.

“We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor in our entire nation that can speak that language,” Trump said before a crowd of thousands of supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, D.C., last month.

“These are languages — it’s the craziest thing — they have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing,” he added.

Trump repeated the comment the following week during an appearance at the southern border alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, saying that migrants are entering the country speaking “truly foreign languages.”

“Nobody speaks them,” he said after a tour of the border in Eagle Pass.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-warns-languages-immigration-migrants-rcna141535

Really? Nobody? I guess nobody YOU know, dummy. But about 6 years ago, when our gallery did a mosaic mural of "LOVE", we asked students at the local high school to submit tiles in their native languages to be included in the mosaic. You know how may we got from our little HS? 62, SIXTY-TWO DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. That ain't nobody, for sure!

March 4, 2024

How hospitals are fighting to keep their former doctors from seeing patients

David Lankford, an Indiana pediatrician who specializes in treating critically ill children, says he decided to leave his job at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne after it laid off a group of pediatricians, causing the number of patients he was seeing to increase more than fourfold.

But when Lankford took a job last year at nearby Parkview Health, his new employer was threatened with a lawsuit by his former employer, who alleged he had violated a noncompete clause in his contract, according to court records. Now, he’s months into a legal battle over whether he can continue taking care of patients in Fort Wayne.

“There is a shortage of physicians who do the subspecialty work that I do in Fort Wayne,” said Lankford in a written response to questions. “I believe many critically ill children and their families would have to travel significant distances at significant hardship to get access to care.”

Lankford is among a handful of doctors who are fighting back in court against the increasing prevalence of noncompete agreements, which often prevent a doctor from seeing patients for one to two years within a geographic region if they are fired or quit their job. While employers say the agreements are necessary to protect the investment they make in recruiting, marketing and supporting their doctors, physicians argue the provisions can harm patients by restricting access to care and risk discouraging doctors from speaking out about unsafe or unethical conditions.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/economics/hospitals-are-fighting-keep-former-doctors-seeing-patients-rcna134341

Noncompetes are bullshit and the equivalent of NDAs. They need to stop NOW.

March 4, 2024

Just a little lesson to ponder in this climate of religious hatred

There is an old tale where the rabbi was asked by one of his students “Why did God create atheists?”
After a long pause, the rabbi finally responded with a soft but sincere voice. “God created atheists” he said, “to teach us the most important lesson of them all – the lesson of true compassion. You see, when an atheist performs an act of charity, visits someone who is sick, helps someone in need, and cares for the world, he is not doing so because of some religious teaching. He does not believe that God commanded him to perform this act. In fact, he does not believe in God at all, so his actions are based on his sense of morality. Look at the kindness he bestows on others simply because he feels it to be right.
When someone reaches out to you for help. You should never say ‘I’ll pray that God will help you.’ Instead, for that moment, you should become an atheist – imagine there is no God who could help, and say ‘I will help you’.”

-courtesy of Marginal Mennonite Facebook group

March 3, 2024

This L.A. neighborhood's 'cool pavements' help it beat the intense heat

A 2021 study of satellite images found that California’s metro areas saw greater temperature disparities between the poorest and wealthiest neighborhoods than any other Southwestern state, with tree canopy unevenly distributed across Los Angeles County. The study also found that Latino-majority neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area, like Pacoima, were 6.7 degrees hotter than neighborhoods with few Latino residents.

Pacoima ranks among the hottest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Temperatures in what is known as “The Valley” are notoriously warmer than in other parts of the city, but Pacoima also lacks tree coverage and is home to massive public housing complexes that have been shown to warm the area.

The largely working-class neighborhood of around 75,000 has also been historically impacted by a multitude of polluting industries like manufacturing, freeway construction, the nearby Whiteman Airport and a Metrolink line. Polluters like these only further impact health disparities and create heat-related illnesses.

Over the past few years, a coalition of nonprofits, community organizations and Pacoima Councilmember Monica Rodriguez’s office have come up with a plan to cool the neighborhood: a multiyear and multiphase project that was announced in 2018. It began with resurfacing 18 city blocks with a solar-reflecting coating that disperses heat. In partnership with the roofing manufacturer GAF, Pacoima’s “cool pavement” project not only reduces heat, it also brightens the community with colored pavement and vibrant murals.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/reflective-payments-cooling-heat-latinos-california-rcna141458

Probably cost-effective, too.

March 3, 2024

Education Department to open investigation into Nex Benedict's Oklahoma school district

The Department of Education is opening an investigation into whether the Oklahoma school district where the late 16-year-old transgender student Nex Benedict attended high school failed to appropriately respond to sex-based harassment, according to a letter obtained by NBC News on Friday.

The letter was addressed to the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest LGBTQ rights group, which had filed a complaint with the department following Benedict's Feb. 8 death.

Benedict died a day after engaging in a fight with three other students in a school bathroom at Owasso High School, in a case that has drawn intense media attention and condemnation from LGBTQ advocates around the world.

In its complaint, the HRC called on the Department of Education to investigate the district for failing “to address the discrimination and harassment to which Nex was subjected” and to determine whether the district violated Title IX, a landmark civil rights law that protects people from gender-based discrimination in education programs funded by the federal government.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/education-department-opens-investigation-nex-benedicts-oklahoma-school-rcna141469

Why the hell isn't the DOJ there? Garland? Garland? [crickets]

March 3, 2024

Iranian singer who won Grammy for Mahsa Amini protest anthem is sentenced to prison in Iran

An Iranian singer who won a Grammy presented by U.S. first lady Jill Biden has been sentenced to more than three years in prison over his anthem supporting the 2022 protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.

Shervin Hajipour posted on Instagram on Friday, the same day that Iran held its parliamentary election, what appeared to be part of the judgment against him.

It said Hajipour received a three-year, eight-month sentence on charges of “propaganda against the system” and “encouraging people to protest.” The court issued its sentence in part because it found he hadn’t properly expressed regret over publishing the song.

It also imposed a two-year travel ban and ordered him to create a song about “U.S. crimes,” as well as make posts about those crimes online.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iranian-singer-won-grammy-mahsa-amini-protest-anthem-sentenced-prison-rcna141499

Wanna bet how soon that new song will be coming?

March 3, 2024

Texans reeling from wildfires assess catastrophic damages, impact on cattle industry

From residents to ranchers, Texans are grappling with the ongoing devastation stemming from some of the biggest wildfires in the state’s history.

On Saturday, fires continued to burn throughout parts of northern Texas, much of which are considered cattle country. The wildfires have destroyed as many as 500 homes and structures, according to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. At least two people have died.

In a Facebook video on the Texas A&M Forest Service’s Incident Information page, Blue Team Operations Section Chief Mike Brod said his team remained vigilant as red flag warnings from the National Weather Service remained in effect Saturday for the entire Panhandle region.

According to the weather service, an increased risk of fire danger in northern Texas remains Saturday due to warm temperatures, very low humidities and strong winds.

"Given the critical weather that’s predicted for today, we do anticipate additional fire activity and we’re prioritizing our suppression efforts on the areas of the highest concern," Brod said Saturday morning.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texans-reeling-wildfires-assess-catastrophic-damages-impact-cattle-ind-rcna141507

My friend who lives near Pampa reported that they lost almost all their cattle. She said "We can start from here," but this will take them a long time. The pastures are all burnt to hell.

March 1, 2024

Why a financial regulator is going after health care debt

When President Barack Obama signed legislation in 2010 to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he said the new agency had one priority: "looking out for people, not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses."

Since then, the CFPB has done its share of policing mortgage brokers, student loan companies, and banks. But as the U.S. health care system turns tens of millions of Americans into debtors, this financial watchdog is increasingly working to protect beleaguered patients, adding hospitals, nursing homes, and patient financing companies to the list of institutions that regulators are probing.

In the past two years, the CFPB has penalized medical debt collectors, issued stern warnings to health care providers and lenders that target patients, and published reams of reports on how the health care system is undermining the financial security of Americans.

In its most ambitious move to date, the agency is developing rules to bar medical debt from consumer credit reports, a sweeping change that could make it easier for Americans burdened by medical debt to rent a home, buy a car, even get a job. Those rules are expected to be unveiled later this year.

"Everywhere we travel, we hear about individuals who are just trying to get by when it comes to medical bills," said Rohit Chopra, the director of the CFPB whom President Joe Biden tapped to head the watchdog agency in 2021.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/03/01/1234998635/why-a-financial-regulator-is-going-after-health-care-debt

And that "debt" might not even be accurate! Case in point--UVA double-billed me for something I'd already paid, then sold my already-paid bill to a collection agency!

March 1, 2024

Gay, lesbian and intersex whales: our queer sea has much to teach us

Whales are extraordinarily sensuous creatures. Those blubbery bodies are highly sensitive, and sensitised. At social meetings, pods of sperm, humpback and right whales will roll around one another’s bodies for hours at a time. I’ve seen a group of right whales engaged in foreplay and penetration lasting an entire morning.

I have also watched a male-female couple so blissfully conjoined that they appeared unbothered by our little fishing boat as they passed underneath it. And in what may sound like a career of cetacean voyeurism, I have also been caught up in a fast-moving superpod of dusky dolphins continually penetrating each other at speed, regardless of the gender of their partner.

That’s why this week’s report of the first scientifically documented male-to-male sexual interactions between two humpback whales off the coast of Hawaii is not surprising.


The remarkable image of a two-metre whale penis entering another male “leaves little room for discussion that there is a sexual component to such behaviour”, as one whale scientist, Jeroen Hoekendijk at the Wageningen Marine Research institute in the Netherlands, notes drily.

In fact, one of the whales was ailing and there has been speculation that the encounter may not have been consensual or that the healthy whale was actually giving comfort to the other. Whatever the truth, such “flagrant” acts also expose many of our human presumptions about sexuality, gender and identity.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/01/documented-sex-male-humpback-whales-gay-lesbian-nonbinary-queer-cetaceans-sexuality

If Moms for Liberty hear about this, they will have all have massive strokes.

March 1, 2024

News from my friend in the Texas panhandle

I have been worried about her since I first heard about the fires. She lives with her husband on a ranch a few miles from Pampa. Her parents also live there in their own house. I messaged her as soon as I heard about it. I finally heard from her today. Here's what she said in part:

"The fires burned about 80% of our place, including everything all around the houses. But our houses are still standing. We lost nearly
all our cattle. But saved all the horses
...We can start from here."

What she doesn't say but I know is that her dad had to pretty much retire from the hard work of ranching during Covid after he had a second heart attack and her mom is battling multiple myeloma. Her husband, who like mine is, or was, a geek for a living, lost his job during the pandemic, so he took over the hard work of the ranch from her dad.

I know we all have negative feelings about Texas, and some have even expressed them here (including "they deserved it&quot , but before we go too far, let's remember that there are real people there, and some of us know them, who are badly affected by these fires. If you are so moved, say a prayer to the universe or to God or whatever for them. They're hurting right now.