Frank Guinta (R-NH) admits he took illegal gift

Just last year, US Representative Frank Guinta of New Hampshire found much-needed support from fellow Republicans to mount a political comeback and win his election. He will probably have to fight his next battle all alone.

After five years of denying wrongdoing, Guinta was found by the Federal Election Commission to have accepted $355,000 in illegal contributions from his parents. He has said the money he used for his first congressional campaign was also his, but now Guinta must refund the full sum to his parents and pay a $15,000 fine.

But it gets worse. On Friday, the conservative publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader ran a six-word editorial with his picture: “Frank Guinta is a damned liar.” The state’s highest-ranking Republican, US Senator Kelly Ayotte, described the incident as “serious and troubling.” Former US Representative Jeb Bradley, a Republican who once employed Guinta on his staff, said Guinta “is on a pretty lonely island” these days.

If and how Guinta wages this battle could have significant consequences for him and others.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/new-hampshire/2015/05/15/new-hampshire-republicans-back-away-from-frank-guinta/QmGt3fda1Fd6YzXZGlhaVM/story.html

Did Ruth Bader Ginsburg offer a clue on marriage equality?

Over the weekend, less than a month after the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage bans, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presided over the wedding of Shakespeare Theatre artistic director Michael Kahn and interior designer Charles Mitchem. According to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, a guest at the wedding, Ginsburg delivered her portion, including saying she was officiating by the power vested in her by the United States Constitution, “with a sly look and special emphasis on the word ‘Constitution.’“

Dowd wrote that guests applauded, though “no one was sure if she was emphasizing her own beliefs or giving a hint to the outcome of the case the Supreme Court is considering whether to decide if same-sex marriage is constitutional.” A decision in that case, which will determine whether same-sex marriage is recognized throughout the country, is expected at the end of the term, usually late June.

No one seriously believes that Ginsburg, a liberal stalwart on the court, will be the swing vote in the decision in the case, Obergefell v. Hodges – that would be Justice Anthony Kennedy. The justices generally meet a few days after a case is argued for a closed door conference to take an initial vote tally and assign opinions, so under normal circumstances, Ginsburg would already know the case’s outcome. But more likely, the often-careful Ginsburg was emphasizing “constitution” at that moment to underscore her own vision of that document, which she has long held can expand to embrace people who were left out at the founding – including gays and lesbians.

This is the third time Ginsburg has been known to preside over a same-sex wedding; two of the weddings have involved prominent people in the performing arts, unsurprising given how many evenings Ginsburg spends at the theater.



http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/did-ruth-bader-ginsburg-offer-clue-marriage-equality

Second Amendment in full glory in Waco.

“There were maybe 30 guns being fired in the parking lot,” a witness told the Waco Tribune. “There’s a lot of people in the hospital, a lot of people shot.” All bikers, amazingly. Bikers reportedly fired at one another and at police, who fired back. No video has yet emerged and with 100 people detained for questioning none of the bikers has yet spoken to the press. The Tribune added, “other local dining and drinking establishments, including Rudy’s Country Store & Bar-B-Q, closed early as concern spread that other gang members were traveling to Waco to resume the violence.”


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/the-texas-biker-gang-massacre/ar-BBjUON8?ocid=mailsignout

I've just witnessed the coming labor mass extinction.

I stopped into a fast food place today after a movie and, halfway into the restaurant, there was a kiosk that enabled me to place my order. I did so, paid with my debit card, got my drink and sat down. A short time later, my food was brought out to me. I realize there will always be people who show up to pay with cash, but maybe half at best and, therefore, franchise operators will need fewer people. When the kiosk idea catches on, there will be a significant drop in the demand for labor at the lowest end of the market and even these jobs of "last report" for may will be gone as well.

Nurse Confessions: Don’t Get Sick in July

Every year in teaching hospitals at the start of July, medical students become interns, interns become residents and each successive class of residents moves up a level. These new doctors are immediately thrust into direct patient care. As the National Bureau of Economic Research reported, “On day one, new interns may have the same responsibilities that the now-second-year residents had at the end of June (i.e., after they had a full year of experience).”

This upheaval causes what health care workers call “The July Effect” in the United States and “August Killing Season” in the United Kingdom (where the shift happens in August). The changeover harms patient care, increasing medical errors, medication mistakes and the length of hospital stays. In July, U.S. death rates in these hospitals surge between 8 and 34 percent—a total of between 1,500 and 2,750 deaths. UC-San Diego researchers found that fatal medication errors “spike by 10 percent in July and in no other month.” In Britain, August mortality rates rise by 6 to 8 percent as new doctors are tasked with surgeries and procedures that Britons say are “beyond their capabilities.” Patients in English hospitals have a higher early death rate when they are admitted on the first Wednesday in August than patients admitted on the previous Wednesday.

The residents who know enough to know what they do not know—and therefore listen to and seek out nurses for advice—are not the problem here. But too many residents, enamored of their M.D., won’t ask for help. “Nurses are correcting every error and preventing major mistakes every day,” said a Maryland solid organ transplant nurse.

If you must be hospitalized in July for particularly complex procedures, you might consider avoiding teaching hospitals.


http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/05/dont-get-sick-in-july-and-other-advice-from-from-americas-nurses-117876.html#ixzz3aQW0oTt7

Patriot Act on life support

A stalemate in the Senate would leave the FBI and National Security Agency (NSA) without powers they have used to track terrorists for years, say supporters of the Patriot Act.

Without action by the end of the month, key provisions of the Patriot Act will expire, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) argues would put the United States at a pre September 11, 2001-footing.

Yet McConnell has no definite path to extend those provisions.

He and other hawkish senators are pressing for an extension of the key Patriot Act measures, but they are opposed by other senators, the White House and a majority of House lawmakers in both parties.


http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/242271-patriot-act-on-life-support

BRILLIANT Fan-made Opening Credits For A Black Widow Solo Movie

Loretta Sanchez under fire over 'shocking' Native American joke

ANAHEIM -- U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez's campaign was off to a rough start after a videotape surfaced showing her making a whooping cry in reference to Native Americans during an apparent joke.

Her chief rival, Attorney General Kamala Harris, called the gesture "shocking."

The video, which was shared on social media on Saturday, shows Sanchez, a 10-term congresswoman, tapping her hand over her open mouth and making a whooping sound while speaking to a group of Indian-American delegates at a state Democratic Party convention.

She made gesture while talking about her confusion over whether a potential campaign supporter, who had referred himself as from the "Indian American community," was Native American or of South Asian descent.

Questioned later by reporters, Sanchez said American Indians have "a great presence in our country and many of them are supporting our election."


http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_28134062/loretta-sanchez-under-fire-over-shocking-native-american

Selma's Ava DuVernay tipped to direct Marvel's Black Panther

Ava DuVernay, the director of acclaimed civil-rights drama Selma, is being courted by Marvel to take charge of a high-profile superhero movie. The Wrap reports DuVernay is being lined up for either Black Panther, the company’s first attempt at a film headlined by an African American comic-book titan, or Captain Marvel, expected to be the studio’s first female-fronted superhero epic.

Black Panther, which will debut in July 2018, is the most likely project, according to the respected Hollywood trade site’s sources. The print version, the first black superhero in mainstream comics, is the superpowered ruler of the fictional African nation of Wakanda. He is considered a genius – one of the eight cleverest people on Earth – and has access to vast financial resources, thanks to his nation’s huge reserves of the fictional substance Vibranium.

Chadwick Boseman will play a younger Black Panther who takes on the mantle following the death of his father in the forthcoming big-screen version. DuVernay would become Marvel’s first African American director, and first female director, though the company had initially hired Monster’s Patty Jenkins to direct Thor: The Dark World before later dispensing with her services.

The film-maker’s absence from the list of 2015 Oscar nominees for best director was one of the biggest controversies of the awards season. Selma did pick up a best picture nomination, and was rewarded with the best song prize, but critics lamented the Martin Luther King biopic’s absence from a number of other high-profile categories.


http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/13/ava-duvernay-marvel-direct-black-panther-selma

Clinton Foundation donors include dozens of media organizations, individuals.

NBC Universal, News Corporation, Turner Broadcasting and Thomson Reuters are among more than a dozen media organizations that have made charitable contributions to the Clinton Foundation in recent years, the foundation's records show.

The donations, which range from the low-thousands to the millions, provide a picture of the media industry's ties to the Clinton Foundation at a time when one of its most notable personalities, George Stephanopoulos, is under scrutiny for not disclosing his own $75,000 contribution when reporting on the foundation.

The list also includes mass media groups like Comcast, Time Warner and Viacom, as well a few notable individuals, including Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecom magnate and largest shareholder of The New York Times Company, and James Murdoch, the chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox. Both Slim and Murdoch have given between $1 million to $5 million, respectively.

Judy Woodruff, the co-anchor and managing editor of PBS NewsHour, gave $250 to the foundation's “Clinton Haiti Relief Fund" in 2010.


http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/05/clinton-foundation-donors-include-dozens-of-media-207228.html?hp=c2_3