The LuLac Edition #4,420, October 15th, 2020
WANTED: BIDEN POLL OBSERVERS
With Luzerne and Lackwanna Counties being very important in the battle ground known as Pennsylvania, the Biden campaign is asking for volunteers to be poll observers. For more information, contact Katy Larkin. Her e mail address is katy.larkin@2020victory.com
TRUMP PLEADS WITH WOMEN: 'PLEASE LIKE ME.' WOMEN FIRE BACK: 'NO WAY.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday begged for suburban women’s support during a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
“Suburban women, would you please like me? Please. Please,” he said. “I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?”
Polls show Trump’s numbers plunging in the suburbs, especially among women. That’s prompted him to repeatedly claim he “saved” the suburbs by scrapping rules that made it easier to build low-income housing. Critics call the comments a racist dog whistle ― a not-so-subtle vow to keep people of color out of the suburbs.
TRUMP TORCHED FOR MOCKING BIDEN, ELDERLY PEOPLE WITH WEIRD PHOTOSHOPPED TWEET
Hey seniors, Donald Trump is MAKING FUN OF YOU! Check this out. President Donald Trump tweeted an image Tuesday of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, edited onto the body of an elderly person sitting in a wheelchair, endorsing him for “Resident” of a retirement home.
The image showed a room full of elderly wheelchair users with Biden’s face superimposed on one of them. Biden is 77, Trump is 74.
Despite being only a few years apart, Trump and his campaign have invested big in trying to cast Biden as too old for the job. Trump has repeatedly called him “sleepy” and “stupid.” He’s seized on the former vice president’s speech issues and gaffes to claim he has dementia.
The only person who has anything near not being abl;e or capable is not Biden but Diaper Don. Trump has been hemorrhaging support from senior voters in the polls, due in part to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which carries higher risks for older people. Trump had a 9-percentage-point advantage with voters 65 and older in the 2016 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to the Pew Research Center, but numerous polls now indicate Biden leads Trump with that group three weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
TRUMP’S INVESTIGATION INTO ‘UNMASKING’ CONSPIRACY ENDS
A federal investigation meant to target Obama administration officials for “unmasking” the names of individuals in classified intelligence reports ended recently without finding any wrongdoing that the Trump administration could use as political ammunition, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Attorney General William Barr appointed Texas U.S. Attorney John Bash in May to look into the unmasking requests from late 2016 and early 2017, which involved intercepted conversations between Michael Flynn — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser — and Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the 2016 election.
The “unmasking” of names in classified documents is a common, legal practice that allows government officials with proper security clearance to better understand what they’re reading, the Post noted. During the Flynn unmasking, the list of Obama officials involved included Vice President Joe Biden, FBI Director James Comey and director of national intelligence James Clapper.
But Trump has attacked the practice as a conspiracy to undermine his administration.
“No one has ever been criminally prosecuted for unmasking,” Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who worked in the Obama administration, told Reuters at the time of Barr’s announcement. “That would be tantamount to pursuing criminal charges against an intelligence analyst for merely doing his job.”
The Post, citing anonymous sources familiar with Bash’s investigation, said his findings also focused on whether Obama-era officials provided information from the documents to reporters. But the investigation didn’t find the type of smoking gun the Trump administration could leverage into political points, the sources said.
The Department of Justice has so far declined to release the findings of the investigation.
Trump has been under scrutiny lately over his efforts to pressure the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents in the waning days of his reelection campaign. He has said this month that he is “very disappointed” in Barr and called for the quick release of a probe into the Obama administration’s efforts to investigate any possible collusion between Russia and the Trump administration.
The attorney general has said those results will not be available before the Nov. 3 election. (AOL News, LuLac)
REP. CARTWRIGHT INTRODUCES COMPREHENSIVE LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE AMERICAN MANUFACTURING AND END AMERICA’S RELIANCE ON CHINA FOR PPE SUPPLY
U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright introduced the Managing American Knowledge and Equipment to Prevent Pandemic Emergencies (MAKE PPE) Act to build our domestic manufacturing capacity of personal protective equipment (PPE) and nonpharmaceutical supplies and bolster American preparedness for pandemics.
“Health experts agree that PPE is one of the most important tools we have to fight the deadly coronavirus,” Cartwright said. “We were caught flat-footed when COVID-19 arrived in America, and we continue to grapple with persistent shortages of this equipment because of our limited PPE manufacturing capacity. This legislation ensures the U.S. has a coordinated strategy to face future health crises and invests in American businesses to consistently produce the PPE we need.”
At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, large hospitals in major cities sounded the alarm about the lack of PPE for health care workers fighting on the frontlines of the pandemic. Nurses in New York were forced to wear trash bags as makeshift gowns and told to reuse N95 masks for days and weeks at a time. In March, the Strategic National Stockpile had 12 million N95 masks and 30 million surgical masks, only 1% of the 3.5 billion masks that public health officials say are needed this year.
In June, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) revealed that the demand for PPE in the U.S. outpaces domestic manufacturing capabilities, which led to an overreliance on foreign supply chains. The surging global demand for this equipment made it difficult to procure.
At a hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Reform in July, representatives from six large medical equipment distribution companies that were involved with the Trump Administration’s response to the coronavirus reported widespread challenges to providing PPE and other medical supplies to communities in need across the country. Industry officials reported that from January to March, repeated requests for guidance from the federal government went unanswered. The administration left local governments and hospitals to fend for themselves, exacerbating already strained budgets and pitting states in competition with each other.
Some American manufacturers shifted production to simple PPE items like face shields and hand sanitizer, only to find the market flooded with similar products while more complicated equipment, like N95 respirator masks used by health care workers, remain in short supply. Small- and mid-sized manufacturers cite prohibitive costs and high levels of risk preventing them from entering the PPE space. Without federal assistance, many American manufacturing companies cannot afford to expand production capabilities.
Six months into the pandemic, N95 respirator masks and other PPE are still hard to find. The Trump Administration and FEMA have so far failed to execute a national strategy to address persisting PPE shortages around the country. As small businesses and schools re-open, they join hospitals, churches and governments in open competition to procure enough PPE to operate safely. Without federal assistance, large corporations and hospital systems have been able to amass PPE stockpiles while cash-strapped school districts and small business owners struggle to afford PPE from foreign suppliers.
The MAKE PPE Act would address what has traditionally been a major gap in planning and preparedness efforts by ensuring adequate domestic production capacity for PPE and other critical supplies needed to respond to a public health emergency. Specifically, this bill would require FEMA to execute a national strategy to meet PPE manufacturing and distribution needs through a centralized office.
Other key provisions include:
Requiring the development of a strategy for maximizing the use of U.S.-made PPE during an emergency, including an assessment of current sourcing challenges and opportunities to increase U.S. manufacturing of PPE;
Utilizing the federal government’s buying power to send a consistent demand signal to manufacturers of PPE and other materials that they should invest in domestic production;
Authorizing $100 million per year in grant funding to ensure that new and existing American manufacturers, including those in economically distressed areas, get assistance and support to build or expand PPE manufacturing capability;
Adding a data sharing requirement to existing public health grants to ensure that the federal government can access the data needed to coordinate materials needs during a crisis;
Updating the Stafford Act to include a public health emergency, such as a pandemic, in the definition of a major disaster; and
Increasing resiliency by producing information and resources about how to make basic temporary protective equipment at home. This legislation is endorsed by the International Safety Equipment Association.
“To ensure safety equipment manufacturers can meet demand during a public health emergency, the federal government must regularly collect and provide PPE needs assessments from the healthcare community. ISEA supports the MAKE PPE bill because it would require FEMA to do this during a pandemic or other national emergency. The MAKE PPE Act puts America on the right track to better prepare for future crises, and we look forward to its fair and equitable implementation,” said Chuck Johnson, Jr., ISEA President.
This legislation is also sponsored by U.S. Reps. Joe Morelle (NY-25), Collin Peterson (MN-07) and Chris Pappas (NH-01).
CASEY, COLLEAGUES URGE HHS TO INTEGRATE COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS INTO COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE AS SENIORS, PEOPLE OF COLOR DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED BY VIRUS
CASEY, SMITH, BOOKER, BROWN LEAD LETTER, RECOMMEND STEPS FOR CDC, CMS TO AMPLIFY THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS IN AT-RISK COMMUNITIES
U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, urging him to expand the integration of community health workers within existing programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). As the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted the Nation’s most at-risk, including seniors and people of color, community health workers are essential to supporting these populations by building relationships within marginalized communities and providing culturally appropriate care. U.S. Representatives Ted Deutch (D-FL-22), Eliot Engel (D-NY-16) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01) led a similar letter to Secretary Azar in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Numerous studies indicate that community health workers can help improve mental health and chronic disease control, serve rural populations, mitigate risks associated with the social determinants of health and generate cost savings. Randomized clinical trials have shown that community health workers can improve health while reducing costly hospitalizations and readmissions, saving Medicaid $4,200 per beneficiary. If scaled to even 15 percent of Medicaid beneficiaries, community health workers could save taxpayers $47 billion annually. Research findings confirm community health workers’ services are a cost-effective means to address racial and ethnic health disparities and produce better health outcomes for individuals at high risk,” the Senators wrote.
“Supporting community health workers can improve public health, create jobs and rebuild trust in America’s communities, all while saving taxpayer dollars,” said Dr. Shreya Kangovi, MD, MSHP, University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor and Executive Director of the Penn Center for Community Health Workers.
For every 100,000 people, 72 Black individuals died from COVID-19 (when adjusted for age) between February and June 2020, while the death rate for white individuals during the same period was 20 per 100,000. The age-adjusted rate of death for Hispanics/Latinos was 50 per 100,000, and the CDC found that the COVID-19 incidence rate for American Indians/Alaska Natives is 3.5 times higher than that of non-Hispanic white individuals.
U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Chris Coons (D-DE) also signed the letter to Secretary Azar.
Supporting organizations include the Penn Center for Community Health Workers, 1889 Jefferson Center for Population Health, Advance African Development, Inc., American Diabetes Association, American Public Health Association, Ariadne Labs, Center for Inclusion Health - Allegheny Health Network, Chicanos Por La Causa, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia PolicyLab, Community Health Acceleration Partnership, Community Health and Social Services Center, Inc., Community Health Worker Association of Rhode Island, Families USA, Florida Community Health Worker Coalition, Health Begins, Health Leads, Integrate Health, Michigan Community Health Worker Association, NAACP, National Association of Community Health Workers, National Committee for Quality Assurance, National Hispanic Medical Association, Next Wave, New York University Langone Health, Partners in Health, Siloam Health, Society of General Internal Medicine and Southern Complimentary Wellness Center.
BOLD GOLD COMMUNITY FORUM
This week's guest is Justin Behrens, CEO of Keystone Mission. Tune in Sunday morning at 6 on 94.3 The Talker; 6:30 on The Mothership 1340/1400 am, 100.7 and 106.7 fm; and at 7:30 on The River 105 and 103.5.
BUDDY RUMCHEK
Want to hear some great parodies on the news? Tune in to WILK Radio at 6:20
and 8:20 AM on Mondays. As Ralph Cramden used to say, “It’s a laugh riot!”
BOBBY V’S DOO WOP SOCK HOP
SUNDAY NIGHTS!
1980
Our 1980 logo.
The Staggers Rail Act was signed into law by U.S. President Carter, deregulating the U.S. railroad industry. Among the changes were that for the first time, railroads could enter into long-term contracts for shipping without federal approval, and could raise rates (up to 6 percent) without seeking approval from the Interstate Commerce Commission. "By stripping away needless and costly regulation in favor of marketplace forces wherever possible," Carter said, "this act will help assure a strong and healthy future for our nation's railroads and the men and women who work for them……Greece rejoined the NATO military structure after an absence of six years. The cabinet of Prime Minister George Raflis voted unanimously in favor of the proposals of Raflis, Defense Minister Evangelos Averoff-Tostitsas and Foreign Minister Constantine Mitsotakis. Greece had dropped out of the alliance in 1974 after going to war with fellow NATO member Turkey, and returned after Turkey's government was replaced by a military junta……Somalia's President Mohamed Siad Barre declared a state of emergency in the northeast African nation. Barre also reinstated the Supreme Revolutionary Council of Somalian Army generals to assist in ruling the nation…….
Negotiations between the United States and Iran, aimed and getting Iran to release U.S. Embassy personnel who had been held hostage since November 4, were abruptly terminated by Iran without explanation. The U.S. House of Representatives would later investigate allegations that the campaign team for Republican nominee Ronald Reagan had met secretly between October 15 and October 20 with other representatives of the Iranian government to prevent the release of the U.S. hostages before the November 4 U.S. presidential election, giving rise to the term "October surprise". The American captives would be held for 91 additional days, and would be allowed to depart Iran on January 20, 1981, a few minutes after Reagan's taking of the oath of office as president…..Iraq announced that it had eliminated the last pocket of resistance from Iranian defenders and that it had captured Khurramshahr, Iran's port on the Shatt al-Arab waterway at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers….”The Wanderer “ by Donna Summer.
posted by David Yonki @ 9:59 PM
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