Ashley just had a baby: She’s sitting on the couch in a relative’s apartment in Clarksdale, Miss., wearing camo-print leggings and fiddling with the plastic hospital bracelets still on her wrists. It’s August and pushing 90 degrees, which means the brown patterned curtains are drawn, the air conditioner is on high, and the room feels like a hiding place. Peanut, the baby boy she delivered two days earlier, is asleep in a car seat at her feet, dressed in a little blue outfit. Ashley is surrounded by family, but nobody is smiling. One relative silently eats lunch in the kitchen, her two siblings stare glumly at their phones, and her mother, Regina, watches from across the room. Ashley was discharged from the hospital only hours ago, but there are no baby presents or toys in the room, no visible diapers or ointments or bottles. Almost nobody knows that Peanut exists, because almost nobody knew that Ashley was pregnant. She is 13 years old. Soon she’ll start seventh grade. It’s a nightmare: In the fall of 2022, Ashley was raped by a stranger in the yard outside her home, her mother says.
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For-profit means not for you Please indulge this local story. It’s not as local as it first seems. Ever since for-profit HCA Healthcare Inc. bought our local nonprofit hospital system in 2019, patient and staff complaints about understaffing have soared. Hundreds of veteran doctors and nurses have resigned. N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein, Democratic candidate for governor in 2024, has faced repeated questions from locals for approving the deal. Stein had limited authority to halt the $1.5 billion sale, his office says, so long as legal I’s were dotted and T’s were crossed. Stein, however, negotiated additional concessions in the purchase agreement and has has since sued HCA for failing to live up to its standards for patient care. Asheville Watchdog, an online investigative site staffed by “retired” local reporters (some, Pulitzer winners), has leaned into the story: Mission Hospital risks losing Medicare and Medicaid funding because of deficiencies in care that were so severe, state inspectors concluded last month, that they “posed immediate jeopardy to patients’ health and safety,” Asheville Watchdog has learned.
I know everything feels like shit right now. It’s the dead of winter, Trump is still spewing his garbage and millions of people seem to love it, and we’re looking at another nail biter of an election. But don’t despair. There are some things to hang on to. Like that astonishing number. Why anyone would think that’s a problem, I don’t know. He IS going to be the nominee unless he keels over. They will have to make that choice. Again.
That’s a fellow from The God Liars. Lol. “Our little snowflake”
That ad above was from 2020 and the same group is doing ads like this again on a larger scale for 2024. This is a great idea, in my opinion. Everyone says that the only way most people can be persuaded is if the message comes from people with whom they identify or trust. Yes, a lot of them will say this is AI or fake news but the ones who haven’t completely gone down the wingnut rabbit hole might feel the truth in it and respond: Democrats began the search last summer, fanning out through the northern swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to find the nurses, electricians, farmers and floor installers who could best testify to the danger of Donald Trump returning to power. The previously unreported project by the outside group American Bridge 21st Century developed 732 leads, conducted 472 interviews and then filmed about 50 voters who will anchor a $140 million ad campaign starting this spring, aimed at reminding women and working-class voters why they voted against Trump in 2020, according to the group’s leaders.
FFS Please, no. Just no: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday that he wants former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to consider a third-party presidential bid with No Labels after Christie ended his GOP campaign. Lieberman, chair of No Labels, brushed off previous comments from Christie denouncing the group’s push for a bipartisan third-party ticket. “Look, earlier in the year when he was asked about No Labels, he basically said it was not an effort that had any chance of succeeding, but maybe the world will look different to him now,” Lieberman said in a SiriusXM interview with Michael Smerconish. “And I’d like to reach out to him and see if he, Gov. Christie, is at all interested in being on a bipartisan No Labels Unity ticket this year. He could be a very strong candidate.” Lieberman said Christie “might well be” No Labels “material,” referring to the anti-Trump former governor as “refreshingly independent.” “That’s the kind of candidate No Labels is looking for,” he said.
Raskin and Markey will need increased security “Democrats Propose Bill to Neuter Militias” is how Vice News described it: Militias who like to spend their weekends training to overthrow the government could find themselves running afoul of federal law, under new legislation being proposed in the House and Senate Thursday that seeks to curtail paramilitary activity. The “Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act” is being introduced by Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts, and Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland, both Democrats. Here’s the bill. Here’s Raskin’s statement: Washington, DC – Following the anniversary of the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act,legislation that wouldcreate a federal prohibition on paramilitary groups through civil and criminal enforcement.
Here we go again. The House Republicans are running around in circles, unable to agree among themselves about what they were sent to Washington to do and we are once again on the cusp of a government shutdown. No matter who’s in charge or what the circumstances are, they just can’t get anything done. And for some reason they believe this is a winning election year strategy. The week started out on a hopeful note. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Speaker Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had come to an agreement on a top-line budget number. This seemed to signal that Johnson and his team were serious negotiators who might actually be able to avoid a government shut down. Of course, the framework was already in place from the deal struck last spring between then Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden to raise the debt ceiling, but it still spoke well of his successor that he could be practical enough to recognize that he was going to have to negotiate.
Via Raw Story: A Florida Republican’s bill aims to silence accusations of racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, or any other allegations of discrimination, making them “defamation” under the law and potentially costing the person who made them up to $35,000 in the state known for its “Don’t Say Gay” law. The sweeping legislation also appears to void journalists’ right to not reveal sources, and, chillingly removes the long-standing requirement that a public figure needs to show “actual malice” to win a defamation lawsuit. “In cases of alleged homophobia or transphobia, defendants charged with defamation are not allowed to use the plaintiff’s religious or scientific beliefs as part of their defense. If they are found liable for defamation, the defendant could be fined at least $35,000,” The New Republic reports, noting it “would silence basically any accusations of discrimination.” “The bill applies to statements made in print, on television, or on social media.
I usually do animals but I thought this was pretty heartwarming for a cold January night: JV Last at the Bulwark featured this. It’s about a minor league hockey team, the Hershey Bears, which has a fundraising event in which locals bring stuffed animals for donation. When the team scores its first goal they throw them on to the ice. Last wrote: This year, Hershey fans donated almost 74,599 stuffies during the game and you have to see the video to believe it. The rain comes slowly at first and then it picks up. But then it just keeps going, a flood-tide of plush. Watch and bask in the warmth of people being good. It’s out there. We just have to look for it.