friendly_iconoclast
friendly_iconoclast's JournalThis one...
Judge Tosses California Ammunition Purchase Law
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/california/judge-tosses-california-ammunition-purchase-law/2311952/A federal judge on Thursday blocked a California law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition, issuing a sharply worded rebuke of onerous and convoluted regulations that violate the constitutional right to bear arms.
U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego ruled in favor of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, which asked him to stop the checks and related restrictions on ammo sales.
The experiment has been tried. The casualties have been counted. Californias new ammunition background check law misfires and the Second Amendment rights of California citizens have been gravely injured, Benitez wrote in a 120-page opinion granting the group's motion for a preliminary injunction...
...While it is intended to keep ammunition from criminals, it blocked sales to legitimate, law-abiding buyers about 16% of the time, he wrote. Moreover, he ruled that the state's ban on importing ammunition from outside California violates federal interstate commerce laws.
Good- that law is in no wise different from the "abortion safety" and "voting safety" laws Republicans love, and its ultimate demise can't come soon enough.
Partners Tells Employees No Hazard Pay During Coronavirus Pandemic
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/04/04/coronavirus-partners-healthcare-no-hazard-pay/The I-Team obtained a copy of an email sent out to employees which said that A core part of our mission is that we deliver the same high-quality care to all patients without regard to the type or severity of their condition. Similarly, we do not calibrate pay and benefits based upon the patients condition and for this reason we do not offer hazard or crisis pay.
Partners went on to say that employees will receive pay and benefits if they are unable to work due to a COVID-related illness, and the organization will offer eight weeks of pay and benefits to employees who are temporarily without their own work or a reassignment opportunity because their job has been affected by deferrals of elective or other non-urgent procedures.
Partners said it will also provide hotel rooms for employees working directly with patients if they are too tired to commute or dont have enough time between shifts to go home...
A more likely reason is Partners' acute case of 'edifice complex':
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2020/01/13/partners-healthcare-expects-to-spend-6-1b-in-next.html
...Partners plans to spend $6.1 billion from fiscal 2020 through fiscal 2024 to stay at the top of the health care food chain, according to the presentation. Spending, in both committed projects and new initiatives, could ultimately be higher, with another $675 million available for the organization...
...In fiscal 2019 alone, revenue from innovation totaled $349 million a 139% increase from fiscal 2018. Apart from general upticks, the health system saw a large bump in fiscal 2019 from the sale of an orthopedic device to Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: ZBH), an Indiana-based medical device company, for $47 million.
At the same time, the organization has saved millions of dollars since fiscal 2017. From fiscal 2017 through fiscal 2019, Partners had saved $424 million through a variety of expense management techniques, including supply chain efficiencies, workflow improvements, a buyout of Brigham employees and other operational efficiencies. The organization hopes to save another $76 million in fiscal 2020.
That strategy has allowed Partners to embark on the next five years on solid footing. The health systems operating income has been trending upward for the past three years, culminating in $485 million in operating income reported in fiscal 2019....
Post-Soviet strongmen prescribe vodka, hockey and folk medicine against coronavirus
Repost from Editorials & Other Articles
https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016250902
For those who've looked at Trump's coronavirus response and wondered: "Could this *be* a bigger shitshow?"
Wonder no longer- because it is, in certain places...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/europe/soviet-strongmen-coronavirus-intl/index.html
Belarus has officially reported 94 cases of coronavirus -- and no deaths -- but Lukashenko's critics have cast doubt on those statistics, warning that authorities there could be downplaying the numbers as the country gears up for a presidential election later this year.
Lukashenko has made his own recommendations to combat the virus, suggesting that Belarusians should drink vodka to "poison the virus," or attend a banya...
And of course, our Alex is a Trump fan:
Post-Soviet strongmen prescribe vodka, hockey and folk medicine against coronavirus
For those who've looked at Trump's coronavirus response and wondered: "Could this *be* a bigger shitshow?"
Wonder no longer- because it is, in certain places...
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/europe/soviet-strongmen-coronavirus-intl/index.html
Belarus has officially reported 94 cases of coronavirus -- and no deaths -- but Lukashenko's critics have cast doubt on those statistics, warning that authorities there could be downplaying the numbers as the country gears up for a presidential election later this year.
Lukashenko has made his own recommendations to combat the virus, suggesting that Belarusians should drink vodka to "poison the virus," or attend a banya...
And of course, our Alex is a Trump fan:
I figured out what Trump's junto is most like in history: China's Late Qing Dynasty
Incompetent, corrupt, out of touch, harmful to the populace, pushed around by outside forces, centered in an
architectural masterpiece- and in the very end, crumbling to ruins in plain sight of all.
(yeah, I'm a history nerd...)
Hey, Roy? Remember when Jesus said: "Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the test" ?
Clear as day, in the book of Matthew chapter 4, verse 7
You and the people that listen to you may be getting the 'test results' a lot sooner than you wanted, and they
probably won't be good.
For a guy that loudly and often purports to be doing His bidding, Roy Moore sure seems to 'forget' a lot of what He
actually said...
From here on, I'm going to call what we're all in now World War V (for virus)
Anyone with me?
Trump *needs* a posse around him at all times because he's insecure
Hence the virus-fest press conferences...
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