?No vote on Graham Cassidy?
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) September 26, 2017
Enjoy today.
We’ll have to do this again as there is still talk about another repeal attempt sometime in 2018 but enjoy today.
by David Anderson| 182 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance
?No vote on Graham Cassidy?
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) September 26, 2017
Enjoy today.
We’ll have to do this again as there is still talk about another repeal attempt sometime in 2018 but enjoy today.
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Don't Mourn, Organize, Excellent Links, Republican Venality
The stories out of Puerto Rico are just as incredible as during Harvey but receiving far less attention https://t.co/gUgFvab0Fs
— Adrian Carrasquillo (@Carrasquillo) September 24, 2017
Puerto Rico has no gas, no cash, no trees, no walls. 1st thing villagers ask when seeing outsiders: “Are you FEMA?” https://t.co/Foectsjn3k
— Dan Zak (@MrDanZak) September 25, 2017
From the AP:
The U.S. ramped up its response Monday to the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, even as President Donald Trump brought up the island’s struggles before Hurricane Maria struck — including “billions of dollars” in debt to “Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with.”
The Trump administration has tried to blunt criticism that its response to Hurricane Maria has fallen short of its efforts in Texas and Florida after the recent hurricanes there.
Five days after the Category 4 storm slammed into Puerto Rico, many of the more than 3.4 million U.S. citizens in the territory were still without adequate food, water and fuel. Flights off the island were infrequent, communications were spotty and roads were clogged with debris. Officials said electrical power may not be fully restored for more than a month…
In Washington, officials said no armada of U.S. Navy ships was headed to the island because supplies could be carried in more efficiently by plane. The Trump administration ruled out temporarily setting aside federal restrictions on foreign ships’ transportation of cargo, saying it wasn’t needed. The government had waived those rules in Florida and Texas until last week…
Energy Department crews are working in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, coordinating with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, FEMA and a team from the New York Power Authority, among others. An eight-member team from the Western Area Power Authority, an Energy Department agency, assisted with initial damage assessments in Puerto Rico and has been redeployed to St. Thomas. A spokeswoman said additional responders would go to Puerto Rico as soon as transportation to the hurricane-ravaged island could be arranged…
Here are some donor suggestions, via commentors to yesterday’s post:
Charity Navigator has a list of Charities Providing Assistance in the Wake of Hurricane Maria
So does the Florida Association for Volunteer Action in the Carribean & the Americas: FAVACA
All Hands Volunteers has a link dedicated to US Virgin Island Hurricane Response
Commentors who’ve adopted dogs from Second Chance Animal Rescue of Puerto Rico speak up for that group’s volunteers, and the many rescues they’re sheltering.
Multiple commentors also recommended ShelterBox USA: “ShelterBox provides shelter and life-saving supplies to communities overwhelmed by disaster, including people affected by the recent Hurricanes Irma and Harvey. They are actively evaluating needs in the Caribbean after Hurricane Maria and in Mexico following recent earthquakes.”
Habitat for Humanity:
“We appreciate that you are anxious to help, but please do not self-deploy. Shelter, food and water are in limited supply and the arrival of unexpected volunteers adds to an already strained situation. Volunteers from outside the immediate area will be needed, now is just not the time.
Habitat for Humanity has trained disaster response personnel on the ground now as a part of the initial response and assessment, which includes basic cleanup work. The next phase will be to repair and rebuild. This will take months and could take years to complete. These efforts are often the most difficult as media attention tends to move on before the work has even really begun. Please don’t let timing discourage you from being a part of the hurricane recovery efforts.
In the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes, it is important to give first responders and trained disaster responders the space and resources they need for their work. But as we move into the long-term rebuilding phase, we’ll be counting on volunteers to help, just as they have so many times before. Sign up below to join our hurricane recovery volunteer registry. This will give us the ability to keep you up to date on the situation, and call on you as volunteer teams prepare to deploy…
Global Giving’s Puerto Rico & Caribbean Hurricane Relief Fund
Operation USA — “Give and it gets there”
Please add your own suggestions below — and forgive me if I missed your comment yesterday.
Senior Hill aide says WH expected to send disaster aid request to Congress in 1st/2nd week of Oct for Puerto Rico. That gets ball rolling.
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) September 25, 2017
Our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico are in crisis and need our help. Here are some ways to do your part. https://t.co/zLoGn2PaVc
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 25, 2017
Update: Where to Donate to Help Puerto Rico & the IslandsPost + Comments (141)
by John Cole| 74 Comments
This post is in: Meetups and social events, Readership Capture
Why is that two autographed copies of NYT Bestseller Wiley Cash’s new book just waiting to be given away:
Did you all decide on when we would like to have a chat with him? Also, you should follow him on teh twitter at @wileycash. All the cool kids are doing it.
Look What I Have In My Hot Little (but much bigger than Trump’s) HandsPost + Comments (74)
by David Anderson| 43 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
The only way that Cassidy-Graham is truly and fully dead is if Senate Majority Leader McConnell removes the reconciliation instruction from the Senate calendar. Right now it is mostly dead but that also means it is somewhat alive. The prime targets are Senators Murkowski, Capito, Portman, and Gardner. If they are your Senators your calls are way more powerful than my calls.
The odds are in our favor, but we can ask the Atlanta Falcons how that can work out. So keep on calling.
by David Anderson| 29 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
Doctor says people needing care should 'abandon the island' after Puerto Rico’s medical system crippled by #Maria https://t.co/ArQdxwM9Xy pic.twitter.com/8a1xYEjiTv
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) September 25, 2017
Roughly half of everyone living in Puerto Rico has health insurance through Medicaid. Medicaid is obligated to pay for medically necessary care in an emergency even if the hospital is not in the provider network. The doctor in this clip is making a recommendation that anyone who needs significant care and whose family can find a way to get them off the island to go to the mainland.
I grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts. There was a large Puerto Rican population there. I would be shocked if some of the kids I grew up with are not talking with their siblings and their cousins about ways to get a family member to Lowell General Hospital for treatment next week. Those same discussions have to be occurring all over America. And these are the discussions that are best for the families involved.
However, it will drain the already inadequate Puerto Rican Medicaid block grant as some of the potential medical evacuees will be insured via Medicaid and when they present their cards to mainland hospitals, the care will be medically necessary and unavailable in Puerto Rico. The prices that will be charged will be far higher than the prices hospitals on the island charge to Medicaid. So each given unit of service will be a more expensive unit of service and a higher proportion of the fixed budget of the Medicaid program.
Block grants don’t work when there is a large shock that needs an immediate response.
Medicaid and emergent care under block grantsPost + Comments (29)
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 28 Comments
This post is in: Albatrossity, On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter Albatrossity.
A while back my spouse was invited to give a presentation at a meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland. Since Scotland is the land of my forebears, I tagged along and we made a two-week trip of it. We flew into Edinburgh but did not linger there; we headed to the Highlands and then to the Outer Hebrides, then to Orkney before heading to Aberdeen for the main event. After that we headed back down towards Edinburgh, but again stayed mostly out of the city and explored some of the local sights, including the house where my great-grandfather was born prior to emigrating to the US in the middle of the 19th century. Here are a few images from that trip; Scotland is magnificent, but the Hebrides and Orkney are beyond my powers of verbal description.
The Standing Stones of Callanish (Calanais), on Lewis Isle
Taken on 2008-07-23
Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides
Scotland (and especially the Outer Hebrides and Orkney) has many Neolithic stone circles and other monuments. This one is estimated to be about 5,000 years old (older than the pyramids of Egypt…). Learn more at https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/calanais-standing-stones/
Kittiwakes nesting on a cliff
Taken on 2008-07-24
Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides
The northern end of the Isle of Lewis (aka, the Butt of Lewis) has lots of cliffs and lots of nesting seabirds. Here are some Black-legged Kittiwakes canoodling on the Butt of Lewis
The Standing Stones of Stenness
Taken on 2008-07-29
Orkney, UK
Only four stones (out of an original 10-12) remain in this ancient circle on Orkney, dated to 3100 BC, making it the oldest henge monument in the UK. More at http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/standingstones/index.html
Stone from the Ring of Brodgar, and the adjoining loch
Taken on 2008-07-29
Orkney, UK
Not too far from Stenness is another, more complete, stone circle, the Ring of Brodgar. Dated to between 2000 and 2500 BC, this site (like the others above) is open to the public. You can walk around the stones and marvel at the skills of the ancient people who brought them here.
Skara Brae
Taken on 2008-07-29
Orkney, UK
Skare Brae is an excavated Neolithic village on the coast of Orkney. The houses are made of stone, the bedframes are made of stone, the furniture (there are shelves and dressers in some of these houses) are made of stone. The Flintstones might not be as fictional as we imagined… More at http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/
Barn and house of my ancestors
Taken on 2008-08-03
Perthshire, Scotland
In Perthshire, just west of Loch Leven, is an abandoned stone house and barn. This is where my great-grandfather (with whom I share my first and last name) was born in 1834. He and some of his siblings emigrated to America, but the house and barn were still there, waiting for his descendants to show up for a visit
Siccar Point
Taken on 2008-08-04
East coast of Scotland, south of Edinburgh, looking out to the North Sea
Sotuheast of Aberdeen is a site that is famous in the history of science (geology and biology). Hutton’s Unconformity is the site where, in 1788, James Hutton found unequivocal proof that the earth is far older than the 500 years calculated by Bishop Ussher. His books influenced Charles Darwin, and helped advance our understanding of the natural world. To get here, you park behind a turnip-processing plant, hike through a couple of sheep pastures, and then head down a grassy (look out for the sheep poo!) 45-degree slope to the rocks below. No lawyers or insurance agents were consulted in the development of this site, and it is definitely worth the time and effort. More at http://www.geowalks.co.uk/isiccar.html
Thank you so much Albatrossity, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
This post is in: Dolt 45, Election 2016, I'm With Her, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Russiagate, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It), Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?
.
The clip is from Chris Hayes’ interview with Hillary Clinton last night. Well worth watching!
So I spent last week helling around with my old friend, and only skimmed the news. My mood is much better, but it’ll take me a while to catch up on all the current outrages…
Sounds like the latest attempt to gut Obamacare may be (no so) quietly being put to rest, so that’s one good thing, yes?
***********
What else is on the agenda for the new day?
.
Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Watch & EnjoyPost + Comments (132)