December 12, 2017

Rural Progressivism: Land, Livelihood, and Community Part II

Last week I launched the Blue Jersey series on rural progressivism (here’s Part I), showing how in many of the key races in the upcoming 2018 elections have significant rural regions that represent an opportunity for candidates, and I introduced the concept of rural progressivism particularly as it’s catching fire in certain Oklahoma races. This week I want to dive into the policies and ideas caught up in that rural progressivism and how they overlap with progressivism as traditionally understood, but are drawn deeply from the experience of rural lives — and as such, have more potential to resonate with voters in rural communities.

At the heart of the discussion of rural progressivism is a challenging puzzle, perhaps most famously discussed in What’s the Matter with Kansas? by Thomas Frank. Frank argues that Republicans have adopted a strategy of focusing on social issues, which causes Kansas voters to vote against their economic interest. The book is a flashpoint, of academic discussions about the importance of class in American politics, of conservatives who find the premise condescending, and of liberals who struggle with the premise that economically favorably policies are being rejected in places such as Kansas. In many ways, though written in 2004, the book is even more pertinent now, as the increase of partisanship means that the “us-against-them”ism makes it even harder to reach voters across party lines.

The ideas behind rural progressivism is that there are elements of progressivism that have the potential to deeply resonate in rural communities but need to be built up from the lives and experiences of rural communities. That’s distinct from the idea that a Bernie Sanders-style progressivism as-is can reach rural communities — an effort hampered by the ways liberalism has been politicized, as written about by Frank. Rural progressivism is about forming a progressivism that draws deeply from the rural experience. This video by Family Farm Action lays out the heart of that movement:

At 3:53, a farmer captures the central argument:

There used to be local businesses that were built around receiving the products from the farms. And there were local businesses providing products to the farmers. Those are going away and it just hollows out the rural community.

Read more: http://www.bluejersey.com/2017/12/rural-progressivism-land-livelihood-and-community-part-ii/

December 12, 2017

Can a Rural Progressivism Work in New Jersey? Part I

Over the next few weeks I will be exploring what progressivism could look like in the relatively rural areas in New Jersey, and why that matters to our 2018 Congressional races. That conversation will do deep dives into the races, districts, and more — but I want to start by framing the discussion with three maps, and thoughts about the classic Democratic approach to such districts.

The first map is from the Census and is of New Jersey’s rural/urban areas — the second map, is of gubernatorial results from the recent governor’s race, the third map is New Jersey of congressional districts.



There is an obvious correlation in the first two maps between the more dense I-95 corridor, where Democrats dominate, and the relatively more rural regions outside that corridor that lean more Republican. The same correlation holds in the critical Congressional races. Cook has New Jersey up for five competitive races in 2018: NJ5 as lean Democrat, NJ2 and NJ11 as toss-up Republican, NJ7 as lean Republican, and NJ3 as likely Republican. All include significant rural strongholds, which poses a strategic for Democrats.

There are a couple of typical strategies in the playbook for Democrats in purple or red districts. One would be to play to the base, double-down on Democratic policies, and try to win on turnout alone. A second is to tack towards the center, adopt a couple of high profile centrist or conservative positions, and try to peal off moderate Republicans. Rarely is there a turn towards progressivism, in part because in 2016 Bernie Sanders struggled with rural voters, southern voters, and African-American voters.

Read more: http://www.bluejersey.com/2017/12/can-a-rural-progressivism-work-in-new-jersey-part-i/

December 12, 2017

Maryland's Relaxed Medical Marijuana Policy Offers Safe Alternative to Opioids

Last Friday, Maryland dispensaries began administering their first sales of medical marijuana. According to the Washington Post, over two hundred aspiring customers lined up outside of Potomac Holistics, Rockville’s first medical dispensary, on opening day for a chance to go home with the various cannabis elixirs, tablets, and flowers included in the dispensaries’ long-awaited shipment. In the opening days since the legislation passed after a five-year legislative standoff, demand boomed as supply dwindled, leading to long wait times and inflated prices.

Prices are expected to stabilize in coming months as more state-approved cannabis products arrive in Maryland. Additionally, the fledgling dispensaries will grow to accommodate more customers than just the pre-registered patients who arrived on opening days, as medical growers expand their crops to adapt to a rapidly growing market. Maryland’s medical marijuana bill passed in 2013, but the first crops weren’t planted until the fall of 2017. The years of delay are due in part to the fact that the initial bill only permitted the use of medical marijuana in academic facilities, and was later altered in 2014 to permit licensed doctors under specific conditions.

Among the eager customers that travelled hours to purchase medical cannabis products from Maryland’s new dispensaries were patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to name a few. In Maryland, the law states that medical marijuana can be prescribed for cachexia, anorexia, wasting syndrome, severe pain, severe nausea, seizures, severe or persistent muscle spasms, glaucoma, PTSD and chronic pain—but it also includes a catch-all provision that allows doctors to prescribe patients the drug as long as they believe they are suffering severe pain. The qualifying conditions to receive a prescription vary heavily state by state, but Maryland’s relaxed take on qualifying conditions allows the perfect setup for the new market to thrive.

Medical marijuana’s ability to soothe chronic pain presents another exciting prospect for American public health, in addition to de-stigmatizing new and promising forms of treatment—a welcome alternative the prescription opioids that have catapulted the United States into a full-blown public health crisis. America’s rampant opioid epidemic, declared a public health emergency by President Donald Trump in October, has acquired such a lethal grip over the nation due to prescription opioids’ overwhelming prevalence in the medical community as a means to combat chronic pain and help patients cope post-surgery.

Read more: http://observer.com/2017/12/marylands-medical-marijuana-policy-offers-safe-alternative-to-opioids/

December 12, 2017

Ascension and Providence Are in Talks to Form the Largest US Hospital System

Ascension and Providence St. Joseph Health, two faith-based nonprofit hospital systems, are in talks for a merger that would create the largest U.S. hospital system by the number of locations, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.

Ascension is the second largest health care system in the U.S. It owns 41 hospitals across the nation and reported a revenue of $22.6 billion in 2016. Providence owns 50 hospitals and ended 2016 with $22.2 billion in revenue. Ascension has a strong presence in the the Midwest and the South, while Providence focuses operation on the West Coast. Both systems have hospitals in Washington State and Texas.

If completed, the merged entity would be the largest hospital system in the nation, with presence in 27 states and Washington D.C. Top rivals of comparable size will be government-owned or for-profit systems like HCA Healthcare (with 177 hospitals) and Community Health Systems (with 127 hospitals).

The Journal reported that the two systems had been in talks for months, but a merger is still far from assured. Providence declined to comment on the deal. Ascension didn’t respond to a media request by Observer.

Read more: http://observer.com/2017/12/ascension-and-providence-are-in-talks-to-form-the-largest-us-hospital-system/

December 12, 2017

MSNBC Fights Back Against Fox News Propaganda Factory

As Minister of Propaganda for the Radical Republicans, Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel fluffs up amateur President Donald Trump while huffing and puffing fire and smoke at Trump’s targets in a manner both cynical and sinister.

Because he is a confidant of the word-slurring, 71-year-old, orange-faced, yellow-haired demagogue, Hannity is both influential and dangerous as Trump grows more desperate. The progressive network MSNBC seems to notice this and fought back on Thursday.

In an Olympian display of baton-passing, its show hosts played Hannity highlights from hour to hour and answered them with stern commentary.

After each video clip, the hosts made the point that Hannity and the Republican Party are using unseemly personal attacks to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller, the FBI, the Justice Department and the investigation into the dirty deeds of the Trump gang.

Read more: http://observer.com/2017/12/msnbc-fights-back-against-fox-news-propaganda-factory/

December 12, 2017

Is CNN Too Fair to Trump?

By Joe Lapointe

Carl Bernstein still carries lots of street cred in journalism, so forgive his mixed metaphors in pursuit of truth.

He spoke Sunday of the escalating attacks by amateur President Donald Trump and his right-wing media goons against the FBI, the Justice Department, and most legitimate American news outlets.

“We are in a hothouse, cold civil war,” Bernstein told Brian Stelter on CNN’s Reliable Sources.

Bernstein added that “attacking the press” is a basic element of “too many demagogues” and that “the best obtainable version of the truth is not necessarily about neutrality. It is about sorting through information and presenting what the facts and context are.”

Read more: http://observer.com/2017/12/carl-bernstein-and-david-frum-reflect-on-cnn-coverage-of-donald-trump/

December 12, 2017

Unemployment compensation funding fix bill on track for Senate vote this week

Legislation to provide four additional years of state funding to help underwrite the cost of operating the state's unemployment compensation system and modernize its technology is moving toward full Senate consideration this week.

The Senate Labor & Industry Committee on Monday voted 8-3 to approve a bill the House passed last week that provides $115.2 million to the state Department of Labor & Industry's Service and Infrastructure Improvement Fund through 2021.

After that point, the bill's intention is to dissolve that fund and force the department to operate the UC system strictly on the federal funding it receives for that purpose.

The funding for this legislation would come from diverting a portion of the money that Pennsylvania businesses and workers pay into the state's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which is supposed to be used to fund jobless benefits.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/12/unemployment_compensation_fund.html

December 12, 2017

Cumberland County jury finds nursing home at fault for resident's death

A Cumberland County jury found a nursing home was at fault for the death of an 85-year-old resident.

That verdict was reached Friday after a weeklong trial in which the family of Bruce Dove had filed suit against the United Church of Christ's Sarah A. Todd Memorial Home in Carlisle. The jury awarded the family $250,000 in damages, attorney Michael Kelley, who represented the family, confirmed.

"It's been a very long road for them," Kelley said. "They were extremely happy, all crying tears of happiness because they had finally gotten justice for their father."

Dove had five children, now adults, some of whom were there throughout the trial, and it was the circumstances of his February 2014 death at the nursing home that spawned the lawsuit, filed in 2015.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/12/nursing_home_lawsuit_carlisle.html

December 12, 2017

President Trump is said to have Interior Department open door for East Coast oil drilling

WASHINGTON--The Trump administration is preparing to unveil as soon as this week an expansive offshore oil plan that would open the door to selling new drilling rights in Atlantic waters, according to people familiar with the plan.

President Donald Trump ordered his Interior Department to write the new blueprint with the aim of auctioning oil and gas drilling rights off the U.S. East Coast--territory that his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, had ruled out. The Interior Department's coming draft proposal, an initial milestone in replacing the Obama-era sale plan, dovetails with the oil industry's push for new places to drill, said the people, who asked not to be identified before a formal announcement.

Trump's proposal would span the years 2019 to 2024, replacing the Obama plan, which runs through 2022.

Industry leaders have lobbied the Trump administration to sell drilling rights in the U.S. Atlantic as a way to complement existing oil production in the Gulf of Mexico. It is not clear how much oil and gas exists off the East Coast, because existing data stems largely from decades-old geological surveys and more than four dozen wells drilled in the 1970s and 1980s.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2017/12/president_trump_is_said_to_hav.html

December 11, 2017

Second settlement expected in Plum sex scandal lawsuits

Plum school board Tuesday will approve the settlement of a second federal court case filed by a victim of a former teacher who is in prison for having sex with students in 2015, according to President Steve Schlauch.

Terms have not been disclosed in the case involving the actions of Jason Cooper. Former teachers Cooper, Joseph Ruggieri and Michael Cinefra all pleaded guilty last year and are serving prison sentences for having sex with students.

President Steve Schlauch said the settlement with the second victim will be approved at the board's 7 p.m. meeting at the high school. Schlauch on Monday could not explain why the agenda for the meeting indicates the settlement has already been approved.

“The Plum Borough School, upon recommendation of its insurance carrier, has approved the settlement of the lawsuit ...,” the agenda item states. “All settlement proceeds are being paid by insurance carriers. Under terms of the settlement agreement, all parties have agreed to refrain from further public comment regarding either the lawsuit or the terms of the settlement agreement, beyond any disclosures that may be required by state or federal law.”

Read more: http://triblive.com/local/allegheny/13059946-74/second-settlement-expected-in-plum-sex-scandal-lawsuits