Sunday, February 9, 2020
'Blatant Lie': Seema Verma Claims Trump Not Cutting Medicaid as He Pushes Plan Doing Just That
"Make no mistake: the Trump administration has spent the past two years actively dismantling Medicaid by fiat—after failing to gut it legislatively."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/blatant-lie-seema-verma-claims-trump-not-cutting-medicaid-he-pushes-plan-doing-just?
Healthcare advocates are calling out Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma for claiming Thursday that the Trump administration "is not cutting Medicaid" even as it moves forward with a block grant plan that critics warn would slash benefits for millions of vulnerable people across the nation.
"This is a blatant lie," Rebecca Vallas, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, tweeted in response to Verma's Washington Post op-ed accusing healthcare activists—including an emergency room doctor who confronted Vice President Mike Pence over the block grant plan last week—of "fearmongering" about Medicaid cuts.
"No," states the headline of Verma's op-ed, "the Trump administration is not cutting Medicaid."
First of all, Vallas tweeted at Verma, "You authorized and are encouraging states to cut off Medicaid for millions who can't meet rigid work reporting requirements." And second, she added, "you're pushing Medicaid block grants, which could strip 14-21 million people of health insurance if enacted nationwide."
As Common Dreams reported last week, the Trump administration unveiled a proposal allowing states to convert federal Medicaid funding into fixed sums, a longstanding conservative goal that critics warn could constrain states' ability to hike spending on the program in response to an increase in public need.
Edwin Park, research professor at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University's McCourt School, wrote on Twitter that Verma's op-ed includes "many misleading claims" and warned the administration's proposed Medicaid block grants would not keep up with inflation—effectively resulting in cuts in the future.
The House of Representatives, with zero Republican votes, passed a non-binding resolution on Thursday officially condemning the Trump administration's Medicaid block grant plan as an "illegal" and "cruel attack on a program that provides for the health and well-being for some of our most vulnerable citizens."
"The Trump administration should uphold its responsibility to faithfully execute the law, including the Medicaid Act, and cease any and all efforts that threaten the care of the millions of Americans who rely on Medicaid," the resolution stated.
David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, said earlier this week that Democrats should force a vote on the resolution in the Senate to make sure all Republicans in Congress are on the record regarding Trump's attacks on the program:
Block-granting Medicaid has been Republican goal since at least the administration of former President Ronald Reagan. Bruce Bartlett, an architect of Reagan's right-wing economic agenda who has since broken with the GOP, tweeted last month that "block grants are just a Republican trick to slash spending without appearing to do so."
Rob Davidson, executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare and the physician who confronted Pence at a restaurant in Iowa last month, applauded House Democrats for denouncing the Trump administration's block grant proposal and echoed their demand that the White House "reverse this dangerous action."
"President Trump's latest healthcare cuts will endanger the health, security, and lives of millions of American families," Davidson said in a statement. "Instead of cutting healthcare as President Trump continues to do, we should expand it, protect patients with preexisting conditions, and reduce the astronomical costs of prescription drugs."
'Victory for Workers!': House Praised for Passing Landmark PRO Act to Strengthen Unions and Labor Rights
"Trump claimed to be 'pro-worker'... If that was anything other than his usual phony rhetoric, Trump will push the Senate to pass the bill and sign it."
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/victory-workers-house-praised-passing-landmark-pro-act-strengthen-unions-and-labor?
Union leaders and labor rights advocates applauded the Democrat-controlled U.S. House for passing landmark legislation Thursday night that supporters have called one of the most notable efforts to expand workers' rights in several decades.
"This is a watershed moment for the labor movement and shows what working people can accomplish when we come together to demand a voice on the job and a seat at the table," said Lee Saunders, president of AFSCME, the nation's largest trade union of public employees.House lawmakers voted mostly along party lines to approve the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act (H.R.2474), which passed 224–194 with 12 members not voting. See the roll call vote here.
"Make no mistake, this is the most significant step Congress has taken to strengthen labor laws in the United States in 85 years and a win for workers everywhere," said AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, declaring the measure "the labor movement's number one legislative priority this year."
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a top candidate in 2020 Democratic presidential primary race and longtime advocate for stronger labor rights, echoed the AFL-CIO's celebration, calling the vote "an important step in leveling the playing field for working people."
The PRO Act now faces an uphill battle in the legislative "graveyard" of GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.). Following the vote, Charles Idelson of National Nurses United (NNU) noted President Donald Trump—who repeatedly claims to be a friend to workers—now has an opportunity to prove it.
NNU, the largest nurses union in the country, celebrated the House's passage of the PRO Act as a "victory for workers" and highlighted how the bill aims to protect those who take steps to form or join a union.
The bill, as the Washington Post reported, "would amend some of the country's decades-old labor laws to give workers more power during disputes at work, add penalties for companies that retaliate against workers who organize, and grant some hundreds of thousands of workers collective-bargaining rights they don't currently have. It would also weaken 'right-to-work' laws in 27 states that allow employees to forgo participating in and paying dues to unions."
The legislation would also empower the National Labor Relations Board to fine companies up to $50,000 per violation, "award workers' compensation for the damages they experience when they are retaliated against, not just back pay and reinstatement, as they are currently entitled to," and "allow more people currently classified as contractors to be given the status of employees for the purposes of union organizing," the Post noted.
Leaders of some of the country's largest progressive groups argued in an op-ed ahead of the House vote that "passing this legislation will restore working people's voice on the job and fulfill the promise of our democracy to benefit all of us, regardless of income, race or gender. And it's what the people want. More than half of non-union workers would vote to join a union if they could."AFL-CIO's Trumka called the PRO Act "long overdue." He explained that "America's labor laws are no longer an effective means for working people to have our voices heard" and "working people are hungry for a bill that will ensure a process for reaching a first contract once a union is recognized, prevent the misclassification of employees, protect the right to strike, and so much else."
Celine McNicholas, director of government affairs and labor counsel at the progressive Economic Policy Institute (EPI), welcomed the vote Thursday, calling the PRO Act "a critical step in restoring workers' right to organize and bargain collectively." McNicholas added:
This fundamental right has been eroded for decades as employers exploit weaknesses in the current law and influence the government to weaken current protections. Further, employers often interfere with workers' rights to organize, and face no real consequences for doing so. The result has been stagnant wage growth, unsafe workplaces, and rising inequality. The PRO Act will go a long way toward restoring workers' right to join together to bargain for better wages and working conditions by streamlining the process when workers form a union, ensuring that they are successful in negotiating a first agreement, and holding employers accountable when they violate labor law. The PRO Act is an important effort to bring U.S. labor law into the 21st century—giving working people more power to counteract rising corporate power and inequality. The Senate should pass the PRO Act immediately and give working people what they need most: fairness and a voice on the job.
Saunders of AFSCME also urged the Senate "to reject corporate-backed interests pressuring them to kill this bill and stand with workers by defending their right to organize."
As Common Dreams reported Wednesday, the bill is backed by over 60 environmental groups, who sent a letter to the House that said in part: "We need strong, common-sense worker protections like those in the PRO Act to ensure that a sustainable economy reverses rather than reinforces rising inequity. There is no way to build a greener, more inclusive economy without strong, thriving labor unions."
Progressives in the lower chamber have taken to the floor and Twitter in recent days in support of the bill.
Ardent supporters of the measure include the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.).
Meanwhile, seven House Democrats voted against the legislation and five Republicans crossed the aisle to help pass the bill.
In a Twitter thread about those who broke with their parties, former GOP operative Liam Donovan noted that Trumka had "unequivocally said anybody who isn't with labor on the PRO Act is dead to them," referencing a tweet from earlier this week.
As the the AFL-CIO leader tweeted Wednesday: "And to those who would oppose, delay, or derail this legislation—do not ask the labor movement for a dollar or a door knock, we won't be coming."
'Not Good Enough': After Judge's Ruling, Greenwald Vows to Take Press Freedom Case to Brazil's Supreme Court
"We want a clear ruling from the Supreme Court that will enduringly protect the right of a free press against further assaults from the Bolsonaro government."
Jessica Corbett, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/not-good-enough-after-judges-ruling-greenwald-vows-take-press-freedom-case-brazils?
Award-winning American investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald welcomed a Brazilian judge's decision Thursday to reject cybercrime charges that federal prosecutors brought against him last month but also promised to keep fighting against assaults on press freedom by the right-wing government of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro.
The Intercept co-founder responded to the judge's decision with videos in both English and Portuguese posted to Twitter. "It's obviously good news, but not good enough for us," Greenwald explained. "Our lawyers are now going to go to the Brazilian Supreme Court and seek a much broader ruling."
"We don't just want to win on procedural grounds; we want a clear ruling from the Supreme Court that any attempt to criminalize my journalism or my relationship with my sources is a grave assault on core press freedoms guaranteed by the Brazilian constitution," Greenwald added. "We want a clear ruling from the Supreme Court that will enduringly protect the right of a free press against further assaults from the Bolsonaro government."
Greenwald lives in Rio de Janeiro with his husband, Brazilian Congressman David Miranda, and their two children. Their family has faced mounting threats from Bolsonaro's "vitriolic anti-LGBTQ+" and "authoritarian, dictatorship-supporting movement," culminating in the cybercrime charges. Human rights and press freedom groups called the charges "a straightforward attempt to intimidate and retaliate against Greenwald and The Intercept for their critical reporting" on key government officials.
In the video Thursday, Greenwald, who worked as a constitutional attorney in the U.S. for a decade before entering journalism, also vowed that The Intercept will continue to report on the archive that provoked the criminal charges and thanked everyone from around the world who has expressed support and solidarity with him and his colleagues in Brazil.
Murtaza Hussain reported on the limitations of the judge's decision for The Intercept:
Judge Ricardo Augusto Soares Leite ruled that Greenwald's prosecution would not go forward, but only on account of a previous finding by the Brazilian Supreme Court that The Intercept's reporting on Operation Car Wash had not transgressed any legal boundaries. In the absence of the injunction issued by a Supreme Court minister that prohibited investigations into Greenwald related to this case, Leite said he would have let the charges against Greenwald move forward. The judge also said that, if the Supreme Court injunction were to be overturned, he would be open to charging Greenwald.
"I decline, for now, to receive the complaint against GLENN GREENWALD, due to the controversy over the extent of the injunction granted by Minister Gilmar Mendes in ADPF nº 601, on 08/24/2019," Leite wrote, referring to the ruling by Mendes, a Supreme Court minister.
Betsy Reed, The Intercept's editor-in-chief, welcomed the judge's ruling while noting that it "is narrow and procedural."
"There remains enormous pressure to prosecute Glenn in retaliation for his work on The Intercept's Secret Brazil Archive series," she said. "We will continue to fight for the complete exoneration Glenn deserves, and for the rights of all journalists to exercise the freedoms they are entitled to under the Brazilian constitution."
Responding to the news on Twitter, the Americas Program of the Committee to Protect Journalists also welcomed the judge's ruling and declared that "Brazilian authorities must respect press freedom and stop criminalizing journalists."
Earlier Thursday, human rights experts with the United Nations and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) released a joint statement in which they raised alarm about the charges brought against Greenwald, disclosed that they were in contact with Brazilian authorities regarding the case, and demanded that criminal investigations not be used to threaten journalistic work.
"Legal threats like these put all reporting in Brazil at risk," said David Kaye, U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. "Journalists who investigate cases of corruption or improper actions by public authorities should not be subjected to judicial or any other types of harassment in retaliation for their work."
Edison Lanza, special rapporteur for freedom of expression at IACHR, added that "criminal charges of this nature can also have a general chilling effect on press investigations. In the case of any measure that may affect the exercise of freedom of expression, states must ensure that restrictions are provided by law, serve one of the legitimate interests recognized by international law, and are necessary and proportionate to protect that interest."
Record-Breaking Temperature of Nearly 65ºF Logged in Antarctica as Scientists Sound Alarm Over Rapid Ice Melt
The Antarctic peninsula was warmer than the United Kingdom when the the temperature was recorded Friday.
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/record-breaking-temperature-nearly-65of-logged-antarctica-scientists-sound-alarm?
Climate scientists on Friday revealed the latest troubling new observation in Antarctica, illustrating the consequences of the rapid warming of the area brought on by the manmade climate crisis.
As The Guardian reported Friday, researchers stationed at the Esperanza research station at the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula found that temperatures reached 64.9º Fahrenheit (18.3º Celsius)—the highest temperature logged since scientists began recording the continent's temperature in 1961.
The record-breaking temperature was logged a week after scientists at New York University and the British Antarctic Survey reported that the grounding line of the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica—where the ice meets ocean water—was 32º Fahrenheit.
The record-warm temperature was recorded in one of the fastest-warming regions of the world.
Lewis Pugh, an endurance swimmer and advocate for the world's oceans, posted an image on social media of a swim he took in East Antarctica "to demonstrate how it is changing."
"We need urgent and ambitious action to tackle this climate crisis!" Pugh tweeted.
Podcast host and climate advocate Assaad Razzouk added that when the researchers at the Esperanza station recorded the record-warm temperature, the Antarctic peninsula was warmer than the United Kingdom.
The peninsula has warmed by about 5.4º Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. The latest reading broke the previous record of 63.5º Fahrenheit (17.5º Celsius), which was recorded in March 2015.
"The reading is impressive as it's only five years since the previous record was set and this is almost one degree centigrade higher," James Fenwick, a climate scientist at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, told The Guardian. "It's a sign of the warming that has been happening there that's much faster than the global average."
Even minor increases in temperatures in Antarctica alarm climate scientists, especially as researchers have observed the retreat of glaciers and even a massive cavity beneath the Thwaites glacier a year ago.
The consequences of such warm temperatures "are the collapse of the ice shelves along the peninsula," Nerilie Abram, a climate scientist at the Australian National University, told The Guardian.
The void found beneath the Thwaites glacier last year intensified concerns among climate scientists that Antarctica is melting faster than experts have previously believed.
The collapse of the glacier is "completely plausible," Ted Scambos, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who was not involved with the recent studies, told NBC News at the time.
"Thwaites has a really perfect storm going for it," he added, referencing the findings of Pietro Milillo, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who last year in a study pointed to "different mechanisms of retreat" leading to the glacier's melting.
While temperatures on the Antarctic peninsula have warmed and the cavity beneath Thwaites has formed, the glacier is retreating at a rate of about 650 feet per year. The melting of the glacier can be attributed to about 4% of global sea level rise, Scambos told NBC News.
Thwaits is often called the "Doomsday Glacier" by scientists, as the collapse of the ice mass could lead to a global sea level rise of two feet, flooding coastal cities all over the world.
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/record-breaking-temperature-nearly-65of-logged-antarctica-scientists-sound-alarm?
Climate scientists on Friday revealed the latest troubling new observation in Antarctica, illustrating the consequences of the rapid warming of the area brought on by the manmade climate crisis.
As The Guardian reported Friday, researchers stationed at the Esperanza research station at the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula found that temperatures reached 64.9º Fahrenheit (18.3º Celsius)—the highest temperature logged since scientists began recording the continent's temperature in 1961.
The record-breaking temperature was logged a week after scientists at New York University and the British Antarctic Survey reported that the grounding line of the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica—where the ice meets ocean water—was 32º Fahrenheit.
The record-warm temperature was recorded in one of the fastest-warming regions of the world.
Lewis Pugh, an endurance swimmer and advocate for the world's oceans, posted an image on social media of a swim he took in East Antarctica "to demonstrate how it is changing."
"We need urgent and ambitious action to tackle this climate crisis!" Pugh tweeted.
Podcast host and climate advocate Assaad Razzouk added that when the researchers at the Esperanza station recorded the record-warm temperature, the Antarctic peninsula was warmer than the United Kingdom.
The peninsula has warmed by about 5.4º Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. The latest reading broke the previous record of 63.5º Fahrenheit (17.5º Celsius), which was recorded in March 2015.
"The reading is impressive as it's only five years since the previous record was set and this is almost one degree centigrade higher," James Fenwick, a climate scientist at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, told The Guardian. "It's a sign of the warming that has been happening there that's much faster than the global average."
Even minor increases in temperatures in Antarctica alarm climate scientists, especially as researchers have observed the retreat of glaciers and even a massive cavity beneath the Thwaites glacier a year ago.
The consequences of such warm temperatures "are the collapse of the ice shelves along the peninsula," Nerilie Abram, a climate scientist at the Australian National University, told The Guardian.
The void found beneath the Thwaites glacier last year intensified concerns among climate scientists that Antarctica is melting faster than experts have previously believed.
The collapse of the glacier is "completely plausible," Ted Scambos, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, who was not involved with the recent studies, told NBC News at the time.
"Thwaites has a really perfect storm going for it," he added, referencing the findings of Pietro Milillo, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who last year in a study pointed to "different mechanisms of retreat" leading to the glacier's melting.
While temperatures on the Antarctic peninsula have warmed and the cavity beneath Thwaites has formed, the glacier is retreating at a rate of about 650 feet per year. The melting of the glacier can be attributed to about 4% of global sea level rise, Scambos told NBC News.
Thwaits is often called the "Doomsday Glacier" by scientists, as the collapse of the ice mass could lead to a global sea level rise of two feet, flooding coastal cities all over the world.
'Bombshell': Iraqi Officials Say ISIS—Not Iran—Likely Behind Rocket Attack Trump Used to Justify Soleimani Assassination
"Al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. on 9/11 and we went to war with Iraq. If this report is true, ISIS attacked the U.S. and we nearly went to war with Iran."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/07/bombshell-iraqi-officials-say-isis-not-iran-likely-behind-rocket-attack-trump-used?
In a "bombshell" revelation that calls into question one of the Trump administration's stated justificiations for assassinating Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani—a move that nearly sparked a region-wide military conflict—Iraqi intelligence officials told the New York Times that they believe ISIS, not an Iran-linked militia, was likely responsible for the Dec. 27 rocket attack that killed an American contractor at an air base near Kirkuk, Iraq.
The Times reported Thursday that "Iraqi military and intelligence officials have raised doubts about who fired the rockets... saying they believe it is unlikely that the militia the United States blamed for the attack" was responsible.
The Trump administration has not released a single piece of evidence showing that the Iraqi militia Khataib Hezbollah, which has ties to Iran, was responsible for the attack on K-1. The group has denied carrying out the attack."All the indications are that it was Daesh," Brigadier General Ahmed Adnan, the Iraqi chief of intelligence for the federal police at the K-1 air base, told the Times, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. "We know Daesh's movements."
The U.S. responded to the rocket attack days later with deadly airstrikes on Khataib Hezbollah targets in Iraq and Syria, setting off a dangerous escalatory spiral that brought Iran and the U.S. to the brink of war.
On Jan. 2, the U.S. assassinated Soleimani with a drone strike in Baghdad ordered by President Donald Trump. Following the assassination, which was widely condemned as an act of war, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a statement claiming without evidence that Soleimani "orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months—including the attack on December 27th—culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel."
But Iraqi officials told the Times that "based on circumstantial evidence and long experience in the area where the attack took place," there is good reason to be skeptical about U.S. claims that Khataib Hezbollah was behind it.
As the Times reported:
The rockets were launched from a Sunni Muslim part of Kirkuk Province notorious for attacks by the Islamic State, a Sunni terrorist group, which would have made the area hostile territory for a Shiite militia like Khataib Hezbollah.
Khataib Hezbollah has not had a presence in Kirkuk Province since 2014.
The Islamic State, however, had carried out three attacks relatively close to the base in the 10 days before the attack on K-1. Iraqi intelligence officials sent reports to the Americans in November and December warning that ISIS intended to target K-1, an Iraqi air base in Kirkuk Province that is also used by American forces...
These facts all point to the Islamic State, Iraqi officials say.
"We as Iraqi forces cannot even come to this area unless we have a large force because it is not secure," Brig. Gen. Adnan said of the area from which the rocket attack was launched. "How could it be that someone who doesn't know the area could come here and find that firing position and launch an attack?"
In response to the Times report, Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council, tweeted: "Al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. on 9/11 and we went to war with Iraq. If this report is true, ISIS attacked the U.S. and we nearly went to war with Iran."
U.S. officials insisted to the Times that they have "solid evidence" showing that Khataib Hezbollah carried out the attack, but they have not released any of this evidence to the public or to Iraqi officials.
"We have requested the American side to share with us any information, any evidence, but they have not sent us any information," Lt. Gen. Muhammad al-Bayati, chief of staff for former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, told the Times.
Ilan Goldenberg, Middle East security director at the Center for a New American Security think tank, tweeted that the U.S. Congress "must ask questions about this and get the intel."
Responsible Statecraft managing editor Benjamin Armbruster agreed.
"Congress needs to investigate ASAP," Armbruster tweeted.
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