Firing Mueller: Beware!

Posted on December 25, 2017 by David Posnett

Contact your local resistance group!  BE READY.

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Posted in bigotry, Russian connection, Trump, Uncategorized, Zeldin | Comments Off on Firing Mueller: Beware!

Taking the Heart out of Obamacare

Posted on December 21, 2017 by David Posnett
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Tax bill sets up 2018 attacks on our health care
This week, House and Senate Republicans passed their deficit-busting tax giveaway to corporations and the ultra-rich without a single Democratic vote, clearing it for Donald Trump’s signature. After failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act outright earlier this year, GOP leaders gloated that “doing away with the individual mandate [in the tax bill] makes the ACA unworkable” and “takes the heart out of Obamacare.”

It’s true that repealing the individual mandate will do real damage. According to the Congressional Budget Office, premiums will rise an average of 10% (wiping out any short-term tax cut that low- and middle-income families might see under the bill before their tax rates jump up again in a few years) and 13 million people will lose their health insurance as a result of the Republican tax bill. Combined with regulatory changes proposed by the Trump administration to make “junk” plans more attractive to healthy people and the GOP’s ongoing efforts to sabotage consumer protections, the coming year could be turbulent, expensive and scary for millions of people in need of affordable care.

But while it’s easy to feel despair, Republicans have not taken the “heart” out of the ACA. Not yet!

It will be up to us next year to fight against attacks on the true heart of the ACA: the Medicaid expansion, subsidies to help low- and moderate-income families pay their premiums and consumer protections for women and people with pre-existing conditions. That’s because GOP leadership has made clear that, having blown a giant hole in the deficit with tax cuts, they intend to use that hole as an excuse to dismantle core safety net programs including the ACA, Medicaid, food stamps and more.

Help Raising Women’s Voices protect the true heart of the ACA in 2018 by making a tax-deductible charitable donation before year’s end! You can donate through the Network for Good page

Our 2017 work isn’t over yet!
Meanwhile, our fight for affordable health care isn’t even over for the week.  Having now given themselves and their donors an expensive Christmas bonanza with the national credit card, Republicans are hoping to leave town for the holidays without reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which expired in September. CHIP funds health insurance for nine million kids, including two million kids with serious chronic conditions, but without federal support, states are spending down reserves and moving to cut off new enrollments as a first step to shutting down their CHIP programs altogether.

Today, the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families released new analysis which found that if Congress does not act soon to fund CHIP, an estimated 1.9 million children in separate CHIP programs could lose coverage in January. An additional 1 million children would also be at risk of losing coverage by the end of February.

According to congressional Republicans, “The reason CHIP’s having trouble is we don’t have any money anymore.” Having just voted to add $1.5 trillion to the deficit in order to slash taxes on the rich, Republicans are refusing to fund the $14 billion CHIP program unless they win deep health cuts elsewhere. They hope to push off dealing with CHIP until after the New Year, even though states like Alabama have already announced that they will be forced to freeze enrollment on January 1.

Also left without continuing funding are community health centers, which provide vital primary care to many low-income families, the Maternal Infant Childhood Home Visiting Program, and the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments program, which supports safety-net hospitals that serve large numbers of Medicaid and uninsured patients. Word today is that Congress will pass yet another short-term extender of government funding until early in 2018.

There’s still time to push Congress to take more decisive action this week! The number for the Capitol switchboard is 202-224-3121. You know what to do!

From Raising Women’s Voices, NY, NY
Posted in ACA, American Health Care Act, Health Care, Trump, Uncategorized, Zeldin | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Taking the Heart out of Obamacare

Feel powerless? Here is something that will save a life, save a family.

Posted on December 21, 2017 by David Posnett

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DECEMBER 20, 2017

If you’re an attorney, law student, or fluent in English and another language, please consider volunteering with the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative. Just one week of your time could help save a life. If you’re unable to volunteer, please share this email with someone who you think would be interested.

The Trump administration is shredding civil rights protections in our country – and there’s one group that’s suffering the most: immigrants caught up in the president’s cruel deportation dragnet.

Not only are Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests tearing families apart, but some immigrants could face death if they are deported.

Many of these people have meritorious claims, but few have access to quality legal counsel. Needless to say, their due process rights are being trampled. We’ve hired numerous attorneys, but the need is so great that we need volunteers.

That’s why we created the Southeast Immigrant Freedom Initiative (SIFI), an SPLC project that provides pro bono representation to immigrants detained in the Southeast. It’s the largest deportation-defense program in the country that is funded and operated by a non-profit organization.

Here are a few facts:

ICE arrests have increased by 40 percent this year, and tens of thousands of men and women are being held behind bars as they await deportation proceedings.

Immigrants with legal representation are 10 times as likely to succeed in their cases as those who represent themselves.

For those seeking asylum because of persecution in their home countries, having an attorney can mean the difference between life and death.

By volunteering just one week of your time, you’ll help protect the right to due process that’s under assault by the Trump administration, ensure fair and humane treatment of people in the legal system, and make your mark on history.

Thank you for considering this opportunity to help those in need.

Your friends at the SPLC

P.S. Have questions? Please see our FAQ.

Posted in bigotry, immigration/deportation, Judiciary, Religion & tolerance, Trump, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Feel powerless? Here is something that will save a life, save a family.

Keep Bannon out of New York

Posted on December 14, 2017 by David Posnett

This demonstration is tomorrow Thursday on Park Ave and 47th in front of the offices of Wayne Berman, one of the hosts of Zeldin’s fundraiser with Bannon.   The location may change in the last minute – keep checking this Facebook site:

https://www.facebook.com/events/787115771474452/?active_tab=discussion

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On December 14, Steve Bannon will be in NYC fundraising for Rep. Lee Zeldin. It’s Bannon’s first fundraiser for a House Representative, and we have to show up big if we’re going to make it his last.

After Steve Bannon was ousted from the White House (we helped do that!), he set his sights on Congress with a plan to elect extremists who support Trump and his white supremacist agenda.

We need to make it clear that Steve Bannon and his white supremacist agenda are NOT welcome in New York or in Congress.

Help us bring our message to Rep. Lee Zeldin and every Member of Congress: if they’re willing to threaten our communities by giving a platform to Steve Bannon’s hateful agenda for their own political gain, we’re going to do everything in our power to hold them accountable.

Share and invite your friends, and sign our petition: http://www.weveseenthisbefore.org/zeldin_dump_bannon

More details to be announced!

CO-SPONSORS: Bend the Arc Jewish Action, Show Up LI, Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin, Suffolk Progressives, Resist and Replace, Long Island Progressive Coalition, PEER/NYPAN: Progressive East End Reformers, Resist Here, T’ruah, United Through Action/Flip Long Island, Make the Road New York, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice [JFREJ]

I would add:
As Doug Jones in Alabama proved yesterday and summed up by Michael Steele on MSNBC:
Prepare you signs/banners (but don’t mount them on sticks or poles).
Ideas for signs:
When you lie down with fleas…
No Hate in NY State
Zeldin is a Bannon puppet
Zeldin is a Trump puppet
Zeldin: Alt right Jew ???
Zeldin: siding with Alt Right
We are coming for you Lee Zeldin
Toxic Lee has the Bannon Virus
Peter King on Bannon:
Posted in bigotry, GOP, Peter King, Religion & tolerance, Trump, Uncategorized, Zeldin | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Keep Bannon out of New York

Rally to protest Zeldin/Bannon fundraiser

Posted on December 12, 2017 by David Posnett

Today, Dec 11th, in Patchogue we rallied to protest Bannon as the featured speaker in a Zeldin fundraiser scheduled for Dec. 14th in NYC.  Today we submitted a petition with over 5000 signature to Rep. Zeldin’s office in Patchogue and rallied with speakers and chants.  By my count there were 150 supporters in attendance and a small handful of bigoted Zeldin/Bannon/Trump supporters.

“Incensed residents…” says Patch.com.  Darn right.  https://patch.com/new-york/easthampton/constituents-protest-petition-bannon-zeldin-fundraiser

Enjoy these videos:

 

 

 

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Medicine and Why Net Neutrality Matters

Posted on December 11, 2017 by David Posnett

Published in The Doctor’s Tablet

by NANCY R. GLASSMAN, M.L.S., M.P.H, on DECEMBER 8, 2017

Recently, the library at Einstein, where I work as a medical librarian, experienced a momentary internet outage. In that instant everything seemed to stop in its tracks.

Medical students preparing to take their STEP 1 Board exams couldn’t finish their web-based practice tests. Ph.D. candidates couldn’t download the journal articles they needed in preparation for writing their theses. Faculty members were unable to download data sets sent from collaborators across the country. Librarians were interrupted in the middle of presenting a webinar about searching for clinical research studies in PubMed to medical residents at our university hospital across town. The frustration was palpable.

After what seemed like forever―but was in reality just a few minutes―access was restored. Life, as we typically know it, resumed.

This moment and the disruption it caused illustrate how essential fast, reliable internet access is to nearly everything we do in the library and at the medical school in support of education, research and patient care.

It’s also the first thing I thought of when, just before Thanksgiving, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)―led by its chair, Ajit Pai―presented detailed plans for dismantling network neutrality.

Network neutrality in action
“Net neutrality” refers to the concept that internet service providers (ISPs) should handle all data―no matter its source, destination or content―traveling through their networks in the same way. This means that individuals, community-based organizations, small businesses, educational institutions, public libraries, government agencies and large corporations are all sending and receiving information at the same speeds and levels of quality. In 2015, the FCC adopted a set of rules designed to protect net neutrality. These rules were affirmed by a federal appeals court ruling in 2016.

Because of our reliance on the internet, the current debate regarding the future of net neutrality deeply concerns me. Removing the current protections for the public that net neutrality represents could impede internet access to the web by imposing slower speeds and higher costs.  Access to educational and non-profit websites could be deprioritized in favor of commercial websites. Without net neutrality, the scientific and academic community would be subject to the whims and biases of those in power and the profit margins sought by ISPs in control of internet access.

Net neutrality is essential to education today
I’ve worked as a medical librarian in an academic health science library for more than 25 years. During that time, I’ve been directly involved in the move from print to a primarily online environment. Open and equal access to information, no matter its source, is vital to the primary mission of my library, whether it is supporting education, laboratory research or patient care. At a time when budgets are tighter than ever, the possibility of having to pay more for access to electronic resources could result in a reduction in online subscriptions.

This issue also brings to mind the digital divide. I think about my colleagues at the local branch of the New York Public Library (NYPL, which serves as the primary internet access point for many members of the community. These people use the library’s computers and Wi-Fi network in connection with many aspects of their lives, including homework, research, literacy training and applying for jobs. Like those of other public libraries, the NYPL’s mission could be jeopardized by the administration’s proposal.

Earlier this year, many organizations in the library, education and science fields took a civilized stand in support of net neutrality by submitting comments to the FCC. Among those lending their voices to protecting net neutrality is a coalition of leadership associations in higher education, including the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the American Council on Education, the Association of American Universities, the Association of Research Libraries and EDUCAUSE.

Other organizations have also voiced concerns over the FCC chair’s “Restoring Internet Freedom” order. Yet informed conversations on this topic have largely been overshadowed by disheartening rancor and abusive language directed toward Mr. Pai. This only weakens the cause of net neutrality. Those wishing to comment should first learn more about the importance of neutrality through these statements from the Association of College & Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, and the scientific journal PLoS and use them to make a well-reasoned case.

On December 14, 2017, the FCC’s five commissioners are scheduled to vote on Mr. Pai’s new draft order. If they approve the order, it will drastically change the way we access the internet resources we rely on daily and our ability to connect and communicate effectively and efficiently. Although the FCC is not currently accepting comments, there is still time to add our voices to those supporting protection of net neutrality. Contact your representatives using this customizable email form from the American Library Association to let them know how important fair and equal access to information is to you.

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Zeldin: gutting NY’s gun control laws

Posted on December 9, 2017 by David Posnett
With the help of Lee Zeldin, this week, Republicans in the U.S. House pushed through a bill that would gut New York’s gun control laws and open the barn door to a flood of concealed, loaded firearms on New York streets.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act is a huge gift to the gun lobby and an attack on states like ours that have taken commonsense steps to protect our communities from gun violence. The bill would require New York to accept the porous gun laws in states like Mississippi and Arkansas, which allow virtually anyone to carry a concealed firearm anytime, anywhere—no permit required.
How much of a threat is this bill? If it passes the GOP-controlled Senate by December 31st, the NYPD would be unable to place any meaningful restrictions on loaded, concealed firearms in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. That is madness.
There’s a reason we’ve cut gun violence so dramatically in New York in recent years. Our sensible gun laws keep firearms away from dangerous individuals and restrict who may carry a concealed firearm. We can’t allow the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act to become law. If it does, our neighborhoods will become less safe and our police officers will be at greater risk.
All my best,
Eric Schneiderman
PAID FOR BY SCHNEIDERMAN 2018
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Tax Plan: Declaration of War

Posted on December 7, 2017 by David Posnett

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Published in the East Hampton Star, Dec 6th

 

To the Editor,

The Republican tax plan is nothing short of a declaration of war on the lower and middle classes, especially those in blue states. Republicans have decided they can say one thing (their tax plan simplifies taxes and provides relief for the middle class), do another thing entirely (it’s really tax relief for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations), and chalk up any criticism to fake news and liberal bias.

Why are they literally stealing from the middle class (e.g., threatening the mortgage tax deduction and state and local tax deductions) to give the wealthy a tax break? Because their backers want to see some bang for their big-buck donations. Don’t take my word for it. According to Chris Collins, a Republican congressman representing New York’s 27th District and discussing the importance of passing a tax bill: “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’ ”

We must stop this insanity. Tell Lee Zeldin it’s not enough that he voted no on the House bill. He needs to convince his colleagues that this bill is abjectly unfair and work to make the final bill less disastrous for his constituents.

Even better, vote for a Democrat in 2018. Then we won’t have a congressman who has to fight his own party in order to represent us.

Sincerely,  CAROL DEISTLER

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The Republican Tax Scam

Posted on December 2, 2017 by David Posnett

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By Saumya Narechania, National Issues Campaign Manager, Organizing for Action

Yesterday’s tax scam will go down as one of the most shameful acts in Senate history.

In a single bill — finalized Friday night (Dec 1, 2017) in scribbled handwriting, and passed in the early Saturday morning hours — Mitch McConnell and 50 other senators voted to:

  • Push 13 million Americans off health care.
  • Ultimately raise taxes on 87 million middle-class families.
  • Punish homeowners, college students, and graduates.
  • Add a trillion dollars to our deficit.

All in the name of massive tax breaks for billionaires and corporations.

It’s a bill that was never — not for a second — presented honestly to the American people, and its stain won’t soon go away.

We’ll fight this bill as it goes to conference. We’ll make sure every House member knows he or she should think long and hard before rubber-stamping this calamity.

We’ll let every Senator who voted “yes” know that we deserve better than this bill, this process, and this vote.

And we will keep working, over the next few months, on the fights that determine the future of our country. Let’s channel our anger!

This work needs you

Please sign up. I just did

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John Tepper Marlin writes this about the  THE TAX BILL based also on reporting from Dana Chasin:

  • there is a looming Dec. 8th deadline: by then the house must accept the Senate’s changes
  • The Senate grants owners of pass-throughs a deduction rather than a maximum rate, zeroes out the individual mandate penalty, and retains a panoply of deductions eliminated in the House bill.
  • The bill is unpopular. This is possibly the least-popular tax package that the Senate has ever passed. Only 25 percent of voters approve of it.
  • Some Republican Senators threatened to break ranks over these issues: Fiscal (Debt) Impact, Small Business Treatment, Property Tax Deductibility, ACA Individual Mandate Repeal
  • Reps. Ryan and Brady promised to save the average family of four earning $59,000 a year an estimated $1,182. But this works only for the first year of the plan…These families face tax increases in 2024, paying approximately $450 more by 2027. Furthermore, these hikes are expected to affect families earning less than $30,000 in 2019 and less than $40,000 in 2021.
  • That this unpopular tax bill could pass the Senate so quickly is astonishing. However, Americans won’t be filing under the new tax system, if it passes, until April 2019 and most Americans won’t suffer a tax increase until after the 2020 election.

 

 

 

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Why are Drug Prices Going Through the Roof?

Posted on December 1, 2017 by David Posnett

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Twitter Accounts: @WritersVoice
On Facebook & LinkedIn

Why are drug prices going through the roof? We talk with Wendell Potter about Big Pharma and what his new investigative journalism site, Tarbell, is finding out about it.

Critics say single payer health insurance would be too expensive. We talk with economist Gerald Friedman, who developed Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan.  He answers his critics point by point.

Wendell Potter

Are Americans getting swindled at the pharmacy? We pay an average of 300% more for medications than people in other major countries. And the costs just keep going up.

And of course, it’s not just drugs. We pay far more for all aspects of health care — insurance, doctors and hospital fees, tests and drugs — than other nations. But we aren’t getting our money’s  worth.

Wendell Potter is a former health insurance industry executive turned whistleblower. We spoke with him several years ago about his book DEADLY SPIN, about how the health insurance industry skews the playing field in its favor, making sure to kill efforts at reform while getting laws passed that fatten its bottom line. His book NATION ON THE TAKE showed how corporate America in general does the same thing.

Now Potter has started a nonprofit investigative journalism site, Tarbell, to expose the inner workings of the healthcare industry. Tarbell went online in November with a series of investigative articles by different journalists about the influence of Big Pharma over our political process. We called up Wendell Potter to learn about the results of those investigations and to find out more about Tarbell itself.

How Big Pharma Keeps Drug Prices High

Gerald Friedman

During the presidential primary season last spring, we spoke with University of Massachusetts economist Gerald Friedman about Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan. Friedman was the architect of that plan.

At the time, some mainstream economists published an op-ed in the New York Times saying the plan was too expensive. Then the Urban Institute came out with a study claiming that the Sanders’ plan would cost an extra $32 trillion. And candidate Hillary Clinton declared that single payer health care would “never, ever happen.”

Since then, Sanders has come out with a Medicare for All Senate bill that has actually garnered the support of sixteen Democratic senators, including some potential presidential hopefuls. Among them are Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker.

With the GOP continuing its assault on health insurance coverage — the latest being the so-called Tax Reform bill that would collapse Obamacare and take billions out of Medicare — a push for single payer  by an outraged electorate might actually gain steam.

So, would single payer really break the bank? We called up Gerald Friedman to ask him to address criticisms of his plan so we could make up our own minds.  To listen to the interview on a podcast click on this link http://www.writersvoice.net/2017/11/wendell-potter-gerald-friedman/ and then click on the player to hear both interviews.

Posted in economics, Health Care, medicare, Seniors, trumpcare, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Why are Drug Prices Going Through the Roof?