turbinetree
turbinetree's JournalFederal Watchdog Identifies New Workplace Safety Problems at Los Alamos Lab
This article was produced in partnership with The Santa Fe New Mexican, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.
Los Alamos National Laboratory has failed to keep track of a toxic metal used in nuclear weapons production, potentially exposing workers to serious health consequences, a federal watchdog has found.
The New Mexico lab’s failure to adequately track beryllium — small amounts of which can cause lung disease and cancer — violates federal regulations put in place to prevent worker overexposure, according to a report last week from the Department of Energy’s inspector general.
The report is the latest example of serious workplace safety violations that have occurred at Los Alamos — which gave birth to the atomic bomb during World War II — including radioactive contamination and other injuries to workers.
In October, for example, an independent federal safety board said the lab was ill equipped to respond to emergencies and found recurring flaws in emergency preparedness dating back to 2011. Soon after, the Department of Energy launched an investigation following a “near-miss” incident in which a worker responded to an alarm and entered an oxygen-deprived room, which could have resulted in asphyxiation.
https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-watchdog-identifies-new-workplace-safety-problems-at-los-alamos-lab
Kelly and Kushner stuck at an impasse after Trump's punt on clearance
Source: Politico
President Donald Trump’s decision to punt the issue of whether Jared Kushner can keep his access to sensitive government secrets without a full security clearance to his chief of staff, John Kelly, has put him in a tricky position, stuck between the rules on one side and the president’s family on the other.
Trump's ad hoc decision not to intervene in the clearance process on behalf of his son-in-law and senior adviser in effect left Kelly and Kushner in limbo, prolonging an uncomfortable situation that White House aides say is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.
Kelly does not plan to recommend to the president that he grant Kushner a waiver, but he is unlikely to resign if Trump ultimately decides to do so, according to a person familiar with his thinking.
-snip-
“If it starts preventing him from doing what he wants to do, he’ll figure out a workaround,” a senior administration official said of Kushner’s security clearance troubles. “All of this stuff is basically just cosmetic talk.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/26/kelly-kushner-trump-security-clearance-424295
So being blackmailed or compromised is just "cosmetic talk"......................FUCK YOU
Your "team player" lied on his F86 Form....................end of story and should be denied anything near top secret or for that matter any clearance, and should band have a charge of lying being leveled against him and all that knew about his lying.......................end of story
What the fuck are the rules of law for .................toilet paper
November 2018 cannot get here fast enough.....................
Report: D.O.T. stalling transportation regulations under Trump
Source: Axios
The Department of Transportation under President Trump has decided to indefinitely delay or withdraw at least 12 regulations designed to increase safety, per an AP report. The moves come as the Trump administration decided to make a significant push toward deregulation — with Trump often touting those cuts as one of the primary examples of his first year in office.
Why it matters: The stalled regulations are often to the benefit of transportation industries — as they don't have to enact costly safety additions — and the AP's report highlights political appointees in Trump's DOT with strong industry backgrounds.
The Trump administration's take: "DOT says having industry insiders in leadership positions provides deep practical experience in how the transportation industry works."
Read more: https://www.axios.com/trump-administration-transportation-regulations-safety-0663195c-6eab-4d56-89a6-90194aa41217.html?source=sidebar
“These rules have been written in blood. But we’re in a new era now of little-to-no new regulations no matter how beneficial they might be.”
— John Risch, national legislative director for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers-
November 2018 cannot get here fast enough
John Oliver Mocks Donald Trump over Gun Control............"Show of Hands"
"Show of Hands"
Disgraced anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield aims to advance his agenda in Texas election
Anti-vaccine campaigners have found a growing political voice for their debunked ideas in Texas, the adopted home of discredited British researcher Andrew Wakefield, and now hope to unseat a moderate Republican in the heart of Houston.
Texas has seen rates of children opting out of vaccines for philosophical reasons skyrocket after Wakefield – the man behind the UK’s MMR vaccine controversy in the early 2000s – moved to the state’s capital, Austin, more than a decade ago.
Since the early 2000s, when he arrived, the rate of Texas children exempted from at least one vaccine has shot up by 1,900% according to one analysis, while Houston has become a battleground for anti-vaccine activists of growing clout.
Now, Wakefield sees the upcoming Republican primary in Houston on 6 March as an “an extremely important time” to advance his anti-vaccine agenda.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/26/texas-vaccinations-safety-andrew-wakefield-fear-elections
I have said this often, and will say it again.......................your military has to have all of its shots, when they and their family deploy to a country outside of the United States, and if anyone thinks that this will not effect military readiness, you cannot be or have military readiness if you a have a epidemic to a squad, company, battalion or division ---------------you are wrong.................take for example ...............diphtheria / polio shots....................
And if anyone thinks that polio and diphtheria is some benign thing you are wrong....................you can die.................
'Gory, botched': Alabama's aborted execution of inmate was bloody, says lawyer
An execution in the US was aborted last week after the inmate was left with 10 puncture wounds when medical personnel were unable to find a vein after two and a half hours of trying. The failed attempts left behind a bloodied death chamber, the inmate’s lawyer said.
On Thursday, Alabama tried to execute by lethal injection convicted murderer Doyle Hamm, 61, who has spent more than half his life on death row. After about two and a half hours of trying, the state called the execution off because issues with Hamm’s veins could not be resolved before a death warrant expired at midnight.
“It was a gory, botched execution. They gave up when they could not find a vein,” Bernard Harcourt, a professor at the Columbia University law school who is representing Hamm, said by email on Sunday.
The execution has come under federal court review, with a US district judge calling for the state to preserve evidence, including the clothes Hamm was wearing.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/26/gory-botched-alabamas-aborted-execution-of-inmate-was-bloody-says-lawyer
This is just sadistic................next up on the list of methods to do this shit in Alabama and other states .............is fucking nitrogen gas, with a bag over the person's face hooked up to a hose
Opioid deaths mounting, lawmakers hit gas on new legislative pus
Source: The Hill
Congress is moving to take a second crack at opioid legislation, with lawmakers broadly agreeing that they need to do more to deal with a crisis that’s killing more than 42,000 people per year.
There’s a sense of urgency to the push, as lawmakers continue to hear story after story of people in their communities dying from overdoses. The crisis is showing no signs of abating, as the rate of opioid overdose deaths increased nearly 28 percent from 2015 to 2016.
Congress already passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) in 2016, but lawmakers and advocates broadly agree that it’s only one part of the puzzle.
“CARA in a lot of ways provided a starting point for a lot of the work that needs to be done,” said Grant Smith, the interim director for the Drug Policy Alliance’s office of national affairs.
Read more: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/375373-opioid-deaths-mounting-lawmakers-hit-gas-on-new-legislative-push
I just have to fucking ask................what about the Sackler's and their responsibility to this issue..................
All one has to do is type in Sackler's and see what the fuck the country is getting and what they are getting..................l
https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/19/who_profits_from_the_opioid_crisis
I mean really......................
Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway made $29 billion off the Republican tax cuts
Warren Buffett’s multinational conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway, made an extra $29 billion in 2017 thanks to the Republican tax bill, the billionaire investor said in his annual letter to shareholders released on Saturday. For reference, that’s nearly half of the conglomerate’s entire net gain last year.
“A large portion of our gain did not come from anything we accomplished at Berkshire,” Buffett, 87, wrote. Of the $65 billion the company made last year, $36 billion was from its operations. The rest was thanks to the GOP tax cut, passed in December, which dropped the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.
That the tax bill would make such an enormous difference for Berkshire Hathaway, which as of 2017 has $702 billion in total assets, is not a surprise: That is largely how it was designed. The bill is most beneficial to corporations, including Berkshire, and the wealthy, particularly the ultra-wealthy, such as Buffett, who according to Forbes has an estimated personal net worth of $86.9 billion.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/24/17048378/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-tax-cuts
This is just totally fucked up, because back in the day when there was a 90% tax rate, he would have still took home 8.6 billion---------------------------"ayn rand" is alive and fucking people over............and paying exactly how much to defense, firefighters, police, parks, roads, bridges, hospitals, etc...................not fucking much......................
Police in Washington sell seized assault weapons back to the public
SEATTLE (AP) — When law enforcement agencies in Washington and other states sell guns they've confiscated during criminal investigations, they're not just selling pistols and hunting rifles, they're also putting assault weapons, including AR-15s, back on the street.
Sheriff's offices and police departments across Washington state have sold dozens of AR-15s, AK47s and other assault weapons since 2010, an Associated Press investigation found.
Most states allow law enforcement agencies to decide whether to sell, trade or destroy their confiscated firearms, but a growing list of states has passed laws in recent years requiring agencies to sell all forfeited guns. Supporters say selling seized guns provides law enforcement with needed revenue, and if the practice were abandoned, people would just buy weapons somewhere else.
But Yakima Police Captain Jeff Schneider said it's "absolutely insane" that police are selling assault weapons.
http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/02/police_in_washington_sell_seiz.html
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