March 2, 2020

Top Teachers Union Leader Is Endorsing Elizabeth Warren For President

AFT President Randi Weingarten is backing the Massachusetts senator in her personal capacity. Her union has backed Warren, Biden and Sanders.

andi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, is expected to endorse Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president at a rally Saturday night in Houston, according to a source familiar with the endorsement.

Weingarten is backing Warren in her personal capacity. The 1.7 million-member AFT has encouraged local unions and members to support either Warren, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or former Vice President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination to challenge President Donald Trump.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/aft-president-randi-weingarten-is-endorsing-elizabeth-warren-for-president_n_5e5aa724c5b60102211194bc

February 17, 2020

Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan confirms 99 new bringing the total confirmed infections to 454

Another 99 people have tested positive for coronavirus onboard the stricken Princess Diamond cruise ship docked in Japan, bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 454.
Meanwhile concern is growing over possible infections among passengers from another cruise liner that docked in Cambodia last week. On Sunday a traveler from the MS Westerdam was confirmed to have the virus in Malaysia, days after disembarking along with hundreds of other passengers.
It is not clear how many travelers remain in Cambodia and how many have already travelled on to further destinations. The Cambodian health ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
The cruise operator, Holland America Line, told Reuters that guests who had left Cambodia would be “contacted by their local health department and be provided further information”. It is not clear if passengers will be asked to self-isolate once they return home.
Hundreds of American passengers from the Diamond Princess, where travelers have been mostly confined to their cabins since 3 February, have been flown back to the US. Fourteen passengers tested positive during the evacuation, the US state department said.
Australia said it would follow suit on Wednesday. Both countries have said citizens will face a further two weeks of quarantine after arriving home. Forty American passengers who were diagnosed with the virus have already been transferred to hospitals in Japan.
Some Diamond Princess passengers still on the ship face another two weeks in isolation if they have shared a cabin with someone who tests positive.

That is much faster than standard flu would have spread. 454 infected out of 2670 max capacity passengers?
This virus is going viral!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/17/coronavirus-japan-braces-for-hundreds-more-cases-as-another-china-city-locked-down

February 17, 2020

This is the type of immigrant we DON'T want!

Florida doctor charged with $26M in Medicaid, Medicare fraud
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Federal prosecutors alleged a Florida doctor defrauded Medicaid, Medicare
and other insurance providers to the tune of $26 million by billing them for nonexistent procedures.

Prosecutors with the Northern District of Florida allege Dr. Moses D. Degraft-Johnson submitted a series of false claims and pocketed the money between September 2015 and February 2020, in some cases claiming to have performed the procedures in his office while actually traveling to locations such as Spain, Ghana and the U.K., ABC News reports.
They alleged Degraft-Johnson, a naturalized American citizen, had told officials he was building toward an “ultimate long-term professional goal” of becoming president of Ghana and was “hard at work using the proceeds of fraud in the United States to establish an empire in a foreign country."

“He used his access to the hospital’s daily census to poach patients for his scheme to defraud, instructing his staff to cold call patients from the hospital so that he could use their presence to fraudulently bill health care programs,” prosecutors said in court documents.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/483356-florida-doctor-charged-with-26m-in-medicaid-medicare-fraud

February 17, 2020

Corona Virus could infect 2/3 of the Globe!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-13/coronavirus-could-infect-two-thirds-of-globe-researcher-says

Coronavirus Could Infect Two-Thirds of Globe, Research Shows
By John Lauerman
February 13, 2020, 10:28 AM EST
Updated on February 13, 2020, 12:23 PM EST
Disease scientist bases estimate on transmissibility of virus
WHO has said China quarantines provide a ‘window’ to prepare

As the number of coronavirus cases jumps dramatically in China, a top infectious-disease scientist warns that things could get far worse: Two-thirds of the world’s population could catch it.


So says Ira Longini, an adviser to the World Health Organization who tracked studies of the virus’s transmissibility in China. His estimate implies that there could eventually be billions more infections than the current official tally of about 60,000.

If the virus spreads to anywhere near that extent, it will show the limitations of China’s strict containment measures, including quarantining areas inhabited by tens of millions of people. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has credited those steps with giving the rest of China and the world a “window” in which to prepare.

Quarantines may slow the spread, but the virus had the opportunity to roam in China and beyond before they went into effect, Longini said. The country boosted its count of those infected by almost 15,000 on Thursday after widening the diagnosis methods.

Longini’s modeling is based on data showing that each infected person normally transmits the disease to two to three other people. A lack of rapid tests and the relative mildness of the infection in some people also makes it difficult to track its spread, he said.

Reducing Transmission
Even if there were a way to reduce transmission by half, that would still imply that roughly one-third of the world would become infected, Longini said.

February 16, 2020

Klobuchar shifts on immigration before Nevada caucuses

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar says she no longer believes English should be the national language of the U.S., disavowing a vote she took more than a decade ago as she tries to build support in a state where Hispanics make up a critical constituency.
Campaigning in Las Vegas, the three-term Minnesota senator said Friday that she has changed her stance since voting for an English-language amendment in 2007 and has “taken a strong position against” it. She also blasted President Donald Trump for using immigrants as “wedges” and said as president she would work with Republicans to achieve comprehensive immigration reform.

https://apnews.com/5c18eac85b0448b262b8dc6e8c6bbe17

February 9, 2020

Only half of Americans own stocks, and 84 percent of all stocks are held by just 10%

And that is why it is critically important to choose your primary candidate who
has the strongest agenda on helping the other 90% who own only 16% of all stocks.

https://theweek.com/articles/894128/vanguard-anomaly-investment-world-stay-that-way

February 3, 2020

As New Coronavirus Spread, China's Old Habits Delayed Fight

At critical turning points, Chinese authorities put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis and risking public alarm or political embarrassment.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/world/asia/china-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=MoreIn&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=Global%20Health

February 2, 2020

Is Hillary Clinton angling to become vice president?

A number of people in politics, the media and elsewhere are openly speculating that if Democrats wind up with a “brokered convention,” with no strong or viable nominee evident, Hillary Clinton might enter the arena as the “savior” who could unite the delegates and go on to defeat President Donald Trump.

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/480523-is-hillary-clinton-angling-to-become-vice-president

Clinton herself seemed to throw shade at that theory during an interview with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival. When asked about the “urge” to beat Trump, the former Democratic nominee said, “Yeah. I certainly feel the urge because I feel the 2016 election was a really odd time and an odd outcome. And the more we learn, the more that seems to be the case. But I’m going to support the people who are running now and do everything I can to help elect the Democratic nominee.”