November 23, 2016

Anything we can do about this? Wyoming DUers?

http://trib.com/news/local/casper/vietnam-vet-with-no-known-family-to-be-buried-in/article_97da23eb-9813-5ace-a186-056bc16b22be.html

Vietnam vet no known family to be buried in Casper; coroner hopes people will attend his funeral

- snip -

But that’s about all Natrona County Coroner Connie Jacobson knows for certain about Stephen Carl Reiman, a 63-year-old homeless Navy veteran who died Thursday at Wyoming Medical Center. Her office has looked for a friend or a family member to claim Reiman. They haven’t found anyone.

The other thing Jacobson knows is that Reiman needs to be buried with respect. And that he shouldn’t be alone.

- snip -

Reiman came to Wyoming from a Southern California community for homeless veterans. He served in the Navy from 1971 to 1975, his last post aboard the U.S.S. Long Beach. Reiman had previously told a VA doctor that he had struggled with PTSD, depression and alcoholism, Jacobson said. Those symptoms worsened when Reiman’s only son died in combat in Iraq, Jacobson said, and Reiman became incapable of working. He depended on the VA for housing, income and health care.

It’s not clear why Reiman traveled the 1,250 miles to Sheridan with just one backpack — full of Bruce Springsteen CDs, a laptop, an iPod, two identification cards, a copy of his birth certificate and his Navy discharge papers. He also had Springsteen’s memoir, “Born to Run,” in his pack, his most recent page marked with the book’s dust cover.

- snip -

A funeral with military honors will be held for Reiman at 10 a.m. Nov. 29 at the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery in Evansville. Every year, the cemetery hosts a handful of funerals for veterans whom nobody claimed as family, the cemetery’s interim director said.

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November 21, 2016

@AP: BREAKING: Magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes off Fukushima in Japan, tsunami warning issued

Source: Associated Press

@AP: BREAKING: Magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes off Fukushima in Japan, tsunami warning issued.

@Reuters: RT @ReutersWorld: MORE: Tsunami to strike Fukushima coast within minutes - Japan broadcaster NHK

m.twitter.com/Reuters

Will update.

Read more: Link to source

October 31, 2016

Donald Trump’s Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court Orders

Source: Newsweek


Donald Trump’s Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court Orders

By Kurt Eichenwald On 10/31/16 at 7:00 AM

11/11/16
COVER STORY


Donald Trump has a long, troubling history of destroying and hiding important documents in lawsuits, but he thinks Hillary Clinton’s the one who should be going to jail

Over the course of decades, Donald Trump’s companies have systematically destroyed or hidden thousands of emails, digital records and paper documents demanded in official proceedings, often in defiance of court orders. These tactics—exposed by a Newsweek review of thousands of pages of court filings, judicial orders and affidavits from an array of court cases—have enraged judges, prosecutors, opposing lawyers and the many ordinary citizens entangled in litigation with Trump. In each instance, Trump and entities he controlled also erected numerous hurdles that made lawsuits drag on for years, forcing courtroom opponents to spend huge sums of money in legal fees as they struggled—sometimes in vain—to obtain records.

This behavior is of particular import given Trump’s frequent condemnations of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, for having deleted more than 30,000 emails from a server she used during her time as secretary of state. While Clinton and her lawyers have said all of those emails were personal, Trump has suggested repeatedly on the campaign trail that they were government documents Clinton was trying to hide and that destroying them constituted a crime. The allegation—which the FBI concluded was not supported by any evidence—is a crowd-pleaser at Trump rallies, often greeted by supporters chanting, “Lock her up!”



Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/2016/11/11/donald-trump-companies-destroyed-emails-documents-515120.html

October 8, 2016

@aedwardslevy: I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of Donald Trump...

@aedwardslevy: I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of Donald Trump interacting with women until we can figure out what is going on

September 9, 2016

Police-Involved Injuries of Civilians Rise Nearly 50%, Harvard Researchers Say

Source: The Guardian

US policing

Police-involved injuries of civilians rise nearly 50%, Harvard researchers say

Study looked at emergency visits over 14-year period and also found black men were more likely to be injured by police and security guards than white men

Ciara McCarthy in New York
@mccarthy_ciara
Friday 9 September 2016 10.02 EDT Last modified on Friday 9 September 2016 10.45 EDT

The rate of serious injuries caused by police and private security increased nearly 50% from 2001 to 2014, according to a new study from Harvard public health researchers that looked at emergency room visits.

An article published this week reviewed hospital emergency room data to analyze non-fatal injuries following “legal intervention” – defined in this study as a wound inflicted by police officers or private security guards. In the 14-year period examined, the rate of these injuries per 100,000 people increased by 47.4%. The analysis is one of few that can provide a longitudinal study of police use of force over time, according to lead author Justin Feldman.

The article also concluded that black civilians, and particularly black men, are significantly more likely to be injured by police than their white counterparts, a trend carried over in numerous analyses of police killings and fatal shootings. Black people were injured and sought treatment at a rate 4.9 times higher than whites, according to the research.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/09/police-involved-injuries-civilian-harvard-study

September 9, 2016

Firefighters in Iowa Revive Cat Rescued from Basement of Burning House

ABC News (@ABC)
9/9/16, 9:53 AM
Firefighters in Iowa revive cat that had been rescued from the basement of a burning house. pic.twitter.com/1M2ilFvbJi

https://twitter.com/abc/status/774244316516540416

September 5, 2016

TOM TOMORROW: 21st Century News Cycle

DAILY KOS LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/5/1566132/-Cartoon-21st-century-news-cycle

August 29, 2016

TOM TOMORROW: Trump Trump Trump Trump

DAILY KOS LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/8/29/1563440/-Cartoon-Trump-Trump-Trump

August 22, 2016

TOM TOMORROW: Election Phenomena ('The Futility of Satire')

DAILY KOS LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/08/22/1561921/-Cartoon-Election-phenomena

August 19, 2016

What Aetna Forgot to Mention About Its Obamacare Losses

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article96217822.html

EDITORIALS
AUGUST 17, 2016 4:00 PM

THE OBSERVER EDITORIAL BOARD

What Aetna forgot to mention about its Obamacare losses

On Monday evening, one of the nation’s largest insurers released a statement announcing its intention to stop offering individual coverage in most Obamacare markets. Aetna’s announcement, just six paragraphs long, explained that it had lost more than $430 million on the public exchanges since 2014, thanks largely to too many high-cost (read: sick) enrollees.

Aetna regretted its decision, said CEO Mark Bertolini in the statement, but doing business in the Obamacare marketplaces created “significant sustainability concerns.”

It’s the same complaint other insurers have voiced about Obamacare, and it mirrors what Bertolini said just two weeks ago in a second-quarter earnings call. But earlier this year, Bertolini let slip another figure that didn’t make it into Monday’s six paragraphs: Aetna enjoyed a record $6.5 billion in government program premiums in the first quarter.

In other words, doing business with the government isn’t so bad after all. In fact, it’s gotten especially good since Obamacare came along, thanks largely to the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid in most states (but not yet North Carolina.) Medicaid, like Medicare, offers the best of most worlds for insurers – it’s single-payer, government-financed insurance, and it has low enrollee costs. So while insurers like to gripe about the individual Obamacare exchanges, they have no issues with the big Medicaid profits that Obamacare helps provide.

Aetna, at least, seemed to see that big picture not long ago, even calling the Obamacare marketplaces “a good investment” in April. What changed? It could be that last month, the Obama administration blocked Aetna’s proposed $37 billion merger with Humana. On Wednesday, the Huffington Post revealed a July letter from Bertolini to the Justice Department in which he said that if the merger (and its bottom-line benefits) didn’t happen, Aetna would pull out of Obamacare’s exchanges.

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