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SunSeeker's JournalDeputy City Attorney Contracts Typhus at L.A. City Hall
Deputy City Atty. Elizabeth Greenwood was at work in City Hall East last fall when her shin began to hurt. “I looked down and there were a couple of insect bites,” Greenwood recalled. She thought little of it at the time, she said, but within weeks she was gravely ill with what doctors would ultimately diagnose as the flea-borne illness typhus.
“It was absolutely terrifying,” Greenwood said, describing symptoms that included a 102-degree fever, “the worst headache I have ever had in my life,” and dizziness so severe that she needed help walking to the bathroom.
Greenwood’s doctor initially diagnosed her with meningitis. She said that as she lay in bed one day wondering why she wasn’t getting better, she recalled Mayor Eric Garcetti’s email last October warning of the typhus outbreak. “I googled ‘typhus’ and all of my symptoms were included on the list,” she said. A blood test later confirmed her diagnosis, she said.
Greenwood said she notified the City Attorney’s office that she had typhus, but supervisors did not alert co-workers.
“It was clear they just didn’t believe me,” she said. Spokesmen for the office did not respond to messages seeking comment.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-city-hall-typhus-20190209-story.html
87M Adults Were Uninsured or Underinsured in 2018, Survey Says
Researchers estimate that in 2018, 45 percent of working-age adults, or 87 million people, were either underinsured or had no coverage for at least part of the last year – a share that is essentially unchanged from 2010, despite monumental shifts in health policy during that time.
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"Inadequate insurance coverage leaves people exposed to high health care costs, and these expenses can quickly turn into medical debt," the report said.
The increase in Americans with leaner health coverage has largely been driven by employer-based plans, not the ACA's individual marketplaces, The Commonwealth Fund found. As health care costs have risen, employers have asked workers to shoulder some of the burden by offering plans with higher deductibles or requiring them to pay a larger share of premiums.
About 42 percent of people with individual health coverage said they were underinsured in 2018, compared with 28 percent of those with job-based coverage, the report found. Yet from 2010 to 2018, the greatest growth in the underinsured rate was among adults with employer-based plans.
https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2019-02-07/lack-of-health-insurance-coverage-leads-people-to-avoid-seeking-care
Russia's propaganda machine discovers 2020 Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard
The Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election is now promoting the presidential aspirations of a controversial Hawaii Democrat who earlier this month declared her intention to run for president in 2020.
An NBC News analysis of the main English-language news sites employed by Russia in its 2016 election meddling shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is set to make her formal announcement Saturday, has become a favorite of the sites Moscow used when it interfered in 2016.
Several experts who track websites and social media linked to the Kremlin have also seen what they believe may be the first stirrings of an upcoming Russian campaign of support for Gabbard.
Since Gabbard announced her intention to run on Jan. 11, there have been at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government: RT, the Russian-owned TV outlet; Sputnik News, a radio outlet; and Russia Insider, a blog that experts say closely follows the Kremlin line. The CIA has called RT and Sputnik part of "Russia's state-run propaganda machine."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/russia-s-propaganda-machine-discovers-2020-democratic-candidate-tulsi-gabbard-n964261
Authorities seek man in arson fire at 'Pizzagate' eatery
Federal authorities were looking for a man Saturday for questioning in an arson fire at a Washington pizzeria known for being a target of conspiracy theorists.
In 2016, Comet was targeted by some users of Reddit and 4chan discussion groups online who said a child sex ring was being operated out of the business' basement.
The business does not have a basement. Conspiracy theorists posted that readers could uncover a child sex ring in the hacked emails of John Podesta — if only one were to replace words like “pizza” with “little girl.”
Podesta casually knows the owner of Comet and once mentioned a fundraiser for President Obama at the restaurant. "Pizzagate" conspiracies were widely seen as a prelude to the blossoming of a community of online conspiracy theorists known as Qanon.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/authorities-seek-man-arson-fire-pizzagate-eatery-n963206
Here's the suspect's picture:
https://twitter.com/ATFHQ/status/1088929252978888704
Authorities seek man in arson fire at 'Pizzagate' eatery
Source: NBC News
Federal authorities were looking for a man Saturday for questioning in an arson fire at a Washington pizzeria known for being a target of conspiracy theorists.
In 2016, Comet was targeted by some users of Reddit and 4chan discussion groups online who said a child sex ring was being operated out of the business' basement.
The business does not have a basement. Conspiracy theorists posted that readers could uncover a child sex ring in the hacked emails of John Podesta — if only one were to replace words like “pizza” with “little girl.”
Podesta casually knows the owner of Comet and once mentioned a fundraiser for President Obama at the restaurant. "Pizzagate" conspiracies were widely seen as a prelude to the blossoming of a community of online conspiracy theorists known as Qanon.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/authorities-seek-man-arson-fire-pizzagate-eatery-n963206
The lunacy continues. Here's the suspect's picture:
https://twitter.com/ATFHQ/status/1088929252978888704
Trump's other vanity project: manned Mars landing by 2020.
Then, something happened. Trump “suddenly appeared distracted, distant,” wrote Sims. “I could sense the gears inside of his head starting to turn. I was losing him.” As the clock ticked down, Trump “suddenly turned toward the NASA administrator.” He asked: “What’s our plan for Mars?”
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Lightfoot explained to the president — who, again, had recently signed a bill containing a plan for Mars — that NASA planned to send a rover to Mars in 2020 and, by the 2030s, would attempt a manned spaceflight.
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“Trump bristled,” according to Sims. He asked, “But is there any way we could do it by the end of my first term?” Sims wrote that he leaned in toward Lightfoot and made him an offer. “But what if I gave you all the money you could ever need to do it?” Trump asked. “What if we sent NASA’s budget through the roof, but focused entirely on that instead of whatever else you’re doing now. Could it work then?”
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In the bathroom mirror, Trump smirked and said to himself, “Space Station, this is your President.” He told Sims to go ahead into the Oval, assuring him, “I’ll be right in.”
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/trump-offered-nasa-unlimited-funding-to-go-to-mars-by-2020.html
Florida bill would ban abortions if fetal heartbeat detected
Source: CBS News
A bill filed by a Florida state lawmaker aiming to ban abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected has led to public outcry from some progressive groups, with one advocate stating it's "among the most extreme" ever filed in the country.
House Bill 235, filed by Republican Florida state Rep. Mike Hill, would make it illegal for women to get an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.
The fetal heartbeat is usually detected when a woman is around six weeks pregnant. Women typically discover within four to seven weeks that they are pregnant, according to the American Pregnancy Association.
According to the bill, any person who provides an abortion after a heartbeat is detected commits a third-degree felony.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-mike-hill-house-bill-235-abortion-ban-fetal-heartbeat/
This essentially bans abortion and forces women to give birth against their will.
MAGA Hat-Wearing Teen Claims He Was 'Helping To [Defuse] The Situation'
Source: HuffPost
Nick Sandmann, a student from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, was seen smugly staring at Nathan Phillips while his peers stared down the vet as he sang the American Indian Movement song on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
While the teens do not approach the group, Phillips eventually appears and quickly becomes surrounded by the students. However, in a statement released Sunday, Sandmann claimed that he had been singled out and felt as though the elder was “attempting to provoke the teenagers.”
“I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to [defuse] the situation,” Sandmann’s statement read. “I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.”
“Because we were being loudly attacked and taunted in public, a student in our group asked one of our teacher chaperones for permission to begin our school spirit chants to counter the hateful things that were being shouted at our group,” he said. “Our chaperone gave us permission to use our school chants. We would not have done that without obtaining permission from the adults in charge of our group.”
Read more: https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5c452fa7e4b027c3bbc2f869
So "BUILD THE WALL!" and the tomahawk chop is their "school spirit chant"?
And this lying little idiot does realize we have eyes and ears and can watch the video for ourselves, right?
But even more concerning is that they apparently had their chaperons' approval to do their "school chants."
A Reminder That Two Southern States Still Celebrate Robert E. Lee's Birthday on MLK Day
On Monday, when the rest of the country is taking the day off in commemoration of one of America’s civil rights heroes, the denizens of two states will get a remarkable choice: You can celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., or you can celebrate that of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
In Mississippi and Alabama, those days are officially the same, and the civil rights icon and the commander of the Confederate army are celebrated jointly, as two equally noble characters of American history. In Alabama, Lee gets first billing. (Mississippi downplays Lee in official documents). The two states have celebrated Lee’s birthday since the 1800s and began celebrating King’s in 1983.
Many in those states who defend the decision to honor Lee with King do so by whitewashing Lee’s actions and beliefs. In building upon Lost Cause myths and narratives, Lee’s defenders portray him as a reluctant hero, an honorable man who only with a heavy sadness took the job out of a sense of duty to protect his beloved South. Some will insist that he despised the institution of slavery, and others will emphasize he treated his slaves humanely. The reality, though, is this: Lee led an army—an army that conducted “slave hunts” of free black Americans and massacred black Union soldiers who tried to surrender—against the United States in an uprising for the explicit purpose of maintaining the institution of slavery. And while he was not the most ardent defender of slavery (he once wrote that slavery was a “moral & political evil” but also complained it was “a greater evil to the white man” and that black people needed to be enslaved in order to become civilized), he still ordered his slaves whipped and families separated. After the war, he continued to fight against efforts to give black Americans rights.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/robert-e-lee-mlk-day-alabama-mississippi.html
First lady Melania flies to Florida on government jet after Trump postpones Speaker Nancy Pelosi's
Source: CNBC
First Lady Melania Trump flew to Florida on a government jet Thursday for a weekend vacation, hours after President Donald Trump dramatically postponed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip with other members of Congress to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan, NBC confirmed, citing a law enforcement source.
President Trump cited the ongoing government shutdown as his reason for postponing Pelosi's travel plans, shortly before she and her team were scheduled to depart on a military plane.
While Pelosi was practically grounded by Trump's actions, the president's wife headed to Joint Base Andrews for her own trip on a military aircraft, NBC said.
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Trump's letter, which was made public in a tweet by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, did not mention Pelosi's call for him to postpone the State of the Union address, which the president has not otherwise commented on. But his letter was seen as a retaliation for her suggestion.
Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/17/trump-postpones-pelosis-overseas-trip-because-of-shutdown.html
Lawrence O'Donnell said tonight the jet Melania flew is identical to the jet Pelosi would have flown.
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