(2020-01-07). 'Medicare for All' Would Help Heal the Income Gap. truthdig.com 
An overlooked aspect of the health care debate is how "Medicare for All" could reduce the income inequality that separates America's rich from the poor and middle class. | In the presidential campaign, attention has been focused on well-publicized, important questions of patient care: Will I lose my company- or union-sponsored health insurance? Will I have my choice of a doctor or be forced to wait for care from a narrow network of health providers, making a visit to a physician as harrowing as a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles? What about pre-existing conditions? Will rising deductibles and copays bedev…
(2020-01-07). Some Pet Products Touted as CBD Don't Have Any. truthdig.com 
Companies have unleashed hundreds of CBD pet health products accompanied by glowing customer testimonials claiming the cannabis derivative produced calmer, quieter and pain-free dogs and cats. | But some of these products are all bark and no bite. | "You'd be astounded by the analysis we've seen of products on the shelf with virtually no CBD in them," said Cornell University veterinary researcher Joseph Wakshlag, who studies therapeutic uses for the compound. "Or products with 2 milligrams per milliliter, when an effective concentration would be between 25 and 75 milligrams per milliliter. There are plenty of fol…
(2020-01-07). 'Keep out of Libya!' Gruesome videos of Tripoli military academy strike emerge as UN envoy decries foreign meddling. rt.com 
Shocking videos have emerged online, showing what appears to be a drone strike on a Libyan military academy — instantly killing dozens of cadets and wounding just as many — as well as its bloody aftermath. | At least 30 trainees were killed and another 33 injured in the Saturday strike, health officials of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) said, noting the total death toll could still increase. | In one video circulating online, somewhat grainy and taken from a distance, a column of trainees is briefly seen in marching formation before it is obliterated by a direct hit that come…
(2020-01-07). Cyprus gang rape claim teen heading home after judge gives her a 'second chance'. thecanary.co 
A British teenager found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus can return home after a judge said he was giving her a "second chance" and suspended her prison sentence.The 19-year-old woman hugged her family and legal team and left court weeping, with her head in her hands, after she was sentenced for public mischief.The teenager's mother shouted "she's coming home" to supporters outside Famagusta District Court, telling reporters she feels "relieved".Her lawyer Lewis Power QC said she will be returning home later on Tuesday but said her legal team would be challenging her conviction and was prepared t…
(2020-01-07). 'Fiery conditions': Nike changes Australian Open outfit ad after bushfire backlash. rt.com 
Sportswear giant Nike was forced to change its newly-released Australian Open outfit ad after receiving a widespread backlash over a promise to help players battle "fiery conditions" on the court. | Nike's new knee-length bodysuit is aimed at helping female athletes combat Australia's enervating heat, however, the wording used in the ad sparked outrage on social media. | READ MORE: Australia's cricketing 'King of Spin' Shane Warne sells prized Baggy Green cap for bushfire victims | "Melbourne also tra…
(2020-01-07). Fraudster Christine Baker Off The CA Fraud Assessment Commission FAC. indybay.org Fraud Assessemnt Commission, California Department of Insurance, Enforcement Branch Headquarters 2400 Del Paso Road, Suite 190, Sacramento, CA 95834…
(2020-01-07). Almost 900 'excess deaths' during 2019 heatwaves, official figures show. thecanary.co Almost 900 "excess deaths" are thought to have occurred during the heatwaves of summer 2019, official data shows. | There were an estimated 892 excess deaths in the over-65s over summer last year, Public Health England (PHE) said. | This is the number of deaths on top of those which were expected as per standard mortality rates. | Provisional data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) last October indicated the number of deaths had spiked on the hottest day of the summer — 25 July. | Temperatures reached 38.7C (101.66F) in Cambridge, breaking the record for the highest temperature ever record…
(2020-01-06). Monday's Daily Brief: Geopolitical strife, Australia bushfires, Burkina Faso, Cambodia updates. news.un.org Monday's top stories include: UN chief's call for de-escalation in global tensions; UNICEF offers help as Australia bushfires continue to rage; condolences following Burkina Faso bus explosion; new shipping regulation to boost health of people and planet; and ILO responds to deadly Cambodia building collapse.
(2020-01-02). Investing in health workers yields 'triple dividend', WHO chief says in New Year's message. news.un.org At the start of the new year and new decade, the head of the United Nations health agency thanked "the brave health workers" around the globe and asked that the world do better in supporting them.
(2020-01-01). Year of the Nurse and the Midwife highlights 'backbone' of health systems. news.un.org The world will need an additional nine million nurses and midwives to achieve the commitment of providing all people with access to health care by 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
(2019-12-29). NUHW workers strike for better mental health care for their patients. liberationnews.org 
On Dec. 16, the National Union for Healthcare Workers began a week-long strike at Kaiser Permanente's Clairemont Mesa Blvd facility in San Diego, California.
(2019-12-27). "Bedlam": Film Shows How Decades of Healthcare Underfunding Made Jails "De Facto Mental Asylums" democracynow.org 
Are prisons and jails America's "new asylums"? A new documentary looks at how a disproportionate number of underserved people facing mental health challenges have been swept into the criminal justice system, where they lack adequate treatment. Nearly 15% of men and more than 30% of women in jails have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder. For many of them, jail is their first point of entry into mental health treatment. The documentary "Bedlam" was filmed over five years in Los Angeles County's overwhelmed and vastly under-resourced Emergency Psychiatry Services, a…
(2019-12-27). Headlines for December 27, 2019. democracynow.org In Confidential Videos, Navy SEALs Say Gallagher Was "Toxic" & "Freaking Evil", Hospitals & Health Clinics Shuttered by Heavy Bombing in Idlib, Syria, Japan to Deploy Destroyer to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions in Gulf of Oman, Nigerian-American Journalist Omoyele Sowore Released from Prison, In India, Protests Rage Against "Anti-Muslim" Citizenship Law, Netanyahu Staves Off Party Leadership Challenge Ahead of General Election, Mexico to Bring Complaint Against Bolivia's Interim Government to ICJ, Congolese Asylum Seeker Died in Border Patrol Custody on Christmas Day, Los Angeles Prosecutors Consider Filing Cri…
(2019-12-26). Michael Moore: Americans Pay More for Healthcare Than Others, But "We Don't Call It a Tax" democracynow.org 
We continue our interview with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore about election 2020 and some of the major issues for voters. Long before Medicare for All became a rallying cry in the Democratic Party, Moore's 2007 film "Sicko" diagnosed the shortcomings of the for-profit American healthcare system and called for a system of universal healthcare. "The real question never gets asked. They always want to pin them on how much is it going to cost in taxes," Moore says of debate moderators who ask whether Democratic presidential candidates will raise taxes to pay for Medicare for All.
(2019-12-18). A Tennessee City Banned Surgical Abortion Within the City Limits. We're Taking Them to Court. aclu.org For 30 years, I have | worked in reproductive health care. In my current role as Chief Operating | Officer of carafem, a nonprofit with a national network of health centers, I | know the difference compassionate and comprehensive reproductive health care | makes in the lives of our clients. I have witnessed the personal impact when | people who have the legal right to have a child or to have an abortion are denied | those rights due to outrageous societal barriers. Abortion providers are used | to opposition, but we've never experienced the kind of explicit targeting we | received from politicians in the city…
(2019-11-17). Warren's Head Tax Is Not More Popular Than A Payroll Tax. peoplespolicyproject.org As we know by now, Elizabeth Warren's Medicare head tax proposal is a regressive mess ( I, II, III, IV). Warren's team knows this. The goal of the proposal i…
(2019-11-17). CAP's Topher Spiro Is Trying to Deceive Journalists By Lying. peoplespolicyproject.org 
It's been fun to see how the Center for American Progress (CAP) navigates this year's presidential election. For insider political reasons, they can't support Biden or Sanders. But for a long time, it was unclear who the alternative candidate they could support would be. | When Kamala Harris was rising, CAP's staff was doing overtime boosting her on Twitter and in the press, including boosting Harris's absurd health care proposal. But Harris's collapse put an end to that strategy. Recently Warren has risen as the alternative and so CAP has been working to promote her campaign, which puts CAP in the comical positi…
(2019-11-03). Warren's Medicare Head Tax Would Be About $9,500. peoplespolicyproject.org On Friday, I wrote a piece arguing that Elizabeth Warren's use of an employer head tax was not a good way to fund Medicare for All and that instead the more conventional choices of income and payroll taxes would be better. The reason they are better is because income and payroll taxes are based on how much income you receive while a head tax charges the same dollar amount for every worker regardless of their income, making it much more onerous on the lower and middle classes. | This point holds…
(2019-11-02). What Is a Middle Class Tax Hike? Am I Losing My Mind? peoplespolicyproject.org I have been swimming in the Medicare for All waters for over a decade now, going back to when I worked on the Ralph Nader presidential campaign that made Medicare for All its number one issue. And during this time, I developed a specific understanding of what we might call the M4A Financing Problem. | The Problem: | The M4A Financing Problem, in simple terms, is that even if you bring in existing federal spending on health care, existing state spending on health care, and a bunch of new rich-people taxes, you still fall short of financing the program. Thus to actually complete the financing, you have to u…
(2019-11-01). Warren's Perpetual Medicare Head Tax Is Unworkable and Bad. peoplespolicyproject.org 
Elizabeth Warren released her Medicare for All financing plan today. The main purpose of the proposal appears to be to find a plan that you can message as "not increasing middle class taxes," which is of course a nonsensical goal insofar, as Warren herself has said, what matters is middle class health care costs, not whether you categorize those costs as premiums, taxes, or out-of-pocket expenses. | Nonetheless, bowing to the stupid media discourse on this, Warren put forward a financing pro…
(2019-06-19). House Casts Historic Vote to Repeal Authorization for Endless War. peaceaction.org Washington, D.C. — June 19, 2019 — In response to the House of Representatives passing H.R. 2740 (Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Legislative Branch, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2020), which includes language to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) eight months after …