Pink Floyd Live Knebworth 90 Remastered Pt 1 & Pt 2

Pt 1

•Jan 7, 2020  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be1JoT9897s

Later Years Remastered Concert 4K Quality The band's headline set at the Silver Clef Award Winners Concert held at Knebworth House on 30 June 1990. tracks "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" 00:00 "The Great Gig in the Sky" 11:04 "Sorrow" 16:04 David Gilmour guitar, vocals Nick Mason Drums Richard Wright keyboards, organ vocals Candy Dulfer – saxophone Jon Carin – keyboards and vocals Guy Pratt – bass guitar and vocals Tim Renwick – guitars and vocals Gary Wallis – percussion Michael Kamen – keyboards (on "Comfortably Numb") Durga McBroom, Sam Brown, Vicki Brown, Clare Torry – backing vocals

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Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets - Astronomy Domine (Live At The Roundhouse)
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One Of These Days (Live, Hanover 1994)
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Pink Floyd
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Live Recordings, 1987 & 1994 Unreleased Studio Recordings
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One Of These Days (Live, Hanover 1994)
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Pink Floyd
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Live Recordings, 1987 & 1994 Unreleased Studio Recordings
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Pink Floyd (on behalf of Pink Floyd Records); Abramus Digital, LatinAutor - PeerMusic, LatinAutor, ASCAP, and 7 Music Rights Societies
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Astronomy Domine (Live, Miami 1994)
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Pink Floyd
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Live Recordings, 1987 & 1994 Unreleased Studio Recordings
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Pink Floyd (on behalf of Pink Floyd Records)
Song
Sorrow (Live At Knebworth 1990)
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Pink Floyd
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Knebworth Concert 1990
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Pink Floyd Live Knebworth 90 Remastered  Pt 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvZCLkxen4g

Pink Floyd Live Knebworth 90 Remastered Pt 2
Jan 7, 2020
Later Years Remastered Concert   4K Quality
The band's headline set at the Silver Clef Award Winners Concert held at Knebworth House on 30 June 1990.
Tracks
"Money" 00:00
"Comfortably Numb" 10:06
"Run Like Hell"  17:49

David Gilmour guitar, vocals
Nick Mason Drums
Richard Wright keyboards, organ vocals

Candy Dulfer – saxophone
Jon Carin – keyboards and vocals
Guy Pratt – bass guitar and vocals
Tim Renwick – guitars and vocals
Gary Wallis – percussion
Michael Kamen – keyboards (on "Comfortably Numb")
Durga McBroom, Sam Brown, Vicki Brown, Clare Torry – backing vocals
Music in this video
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Listen ad-free with YouTube Premium
Song
Run Like Hell (Live, Atlanta 1987)
Artist
Pink Floyd
Album
Live Recordings, 1987 & 1994 Unreleased Studio Recordings
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Pink Floyd (on behalf of Pink Floyd Records); Abramus Digital, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, LatinAutor, LatinAutor - PeerMusic, Warner Chappell, EMI Music Publishing, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., and 3 Music Rights Societies
Song
Blues 1 (Live, Remix 2019)
Artist
Pink Floyd
Album
Live Recordings, 1987 & 1994 Unreleased Studio Recordings
Licensed to YouTube by
Pink Floyd (on behalf of Pink Floyd Records); Warner Chappell, and 2 Music Rights Societies
Song
Run Like Hell (Live At Knebworth 1990)
Artist
Pink Floyd
Album
Knebworth Concert 1990
Writers
David Gilmour, Roger Waters
Licensed to YouTube by
Pink Floyd (on behalf of Pink Floyd Records); CMRRA, Abramus Digital, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, LatinAutor - PeerMusic, BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., ARESA, BMG Rights Management (US), LLC, LatinAutor, and 8 Music Rights Societies

Italian far right uses migrants to push coronavirus fears

NGOs say claims by populists are largely unfounded.

By HANNAH ROBERTS

8/1/20


Sixty-five migrants rescued from a boat tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week | Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

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https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-adds-fuel-to-migration-fire/
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ROME — The coronavirus pandemic is making life even more difficult for migrants seeking a new life in Europe.

Reports of migrants testing positive for coronavirus after crossing the Mediterranean Sea have sparked concerns about their health while traveling in cramped conditions. In frontline countries such as Italy, that's raised fears that a surge in arrivals could undermine efforts to tackle the disease — even though NGOs say such fears are largely unfounded.


Sixty-five migrants rescued from a boat and taken to Malta tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week. In Italy, recently arrived migrants have also tested positive for the virus.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told local media on Friday that, after 35,000 deaths in Italy from the virus, arrivals of migrants “constitute a national security issue.”

The Italian army has been deployed in the north to block the land border with Slovenia, and in Sicily to enforce quarantine measures after several hundred migrants fled from holding centers, the interior ministry said.


This year almost 14,000 people have arrived in Italy by boat, compared to just 3,000 in the same period in 2019.

But the government’s attempt to look tough on irregular migration was somewhat undermined after it voted on Thursday to allow former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to stand trial over his refusal to let 164 migrants disembark from a rescue vessel last summer.

Before the vote, Salvini told news agencies: “There are thousands landing without health checks and hundreds of potentially infected illegal immigrants fleeing and dispersing around Italy. If the coronavirus comes back, those who are allowing the migrants to land will have it on their conscience.


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This year almost 14,000 people have arrived in Italy by boat, compared to just 3,000 in the same period in 2019.

The figures have surged by 7,000 since the end of June, including increasing numbers of small boats landing on the island of Lampedusa. The island’s holding center for migrants, which normally has a capacity of 900, has seen that figure reduced to 200 because of the pandemic. As a result, it's been overwhelmed.


In a statement, the interior ministry said the “unprecedented context” made “management of migratory flows ... much more complex than in previous years.”

The right-wing opposition has sought to capitalize on the situation.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, told the lower house of parliament this week that “after the sacrifices made by Italians to avoid spreading the disease ... it is irresponsible and crazy to allow thousands of illegal immigrants to enter, violating our borders and then breaking quarantine.”


However, international organizations point out that the current numbers fall far short of the 2014-2017 period — when as many as 26,000 people arrived by boat in a single month (September 2014) and a total of 180,000 arrived in 2016.

And international agencies dismiss any link between coronavirus and the migrant community as "propaganda."

Overcrowded boats could put migrants at risk of contracting coronavirus, said Federico Fossi of the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR. “The fact that people travel in difficult conditions is a danger for them ... but the numbers are very limited,” he said.

Flavio Di Giacomo of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said it was predictable that migrants would be “unfairly stigmatized.” But of the around 5,000 arrivals in Italy last month, just 1.5 percent tested positive, he said.


The government voted to allow Matteo Salvini to stand trial over his refusal to let 164 migrants disembark from a rescue vessel last summer | Francesco Fotia/AFP via Getty Images

“There is no correlation. The far right will use whatever they find to create their anti-migrant message,” Di Giacomo said.

The Milan-based think tank ISPI said there were just three cases of the virus detected per day among migrants last month in Italy, compared to 200 a day among the general population.

NGOs have also accused European countries of using coronavirus as an excuse to shirk their responsibilities to those crossing the Mediterranean. Few national or NGO rescue boats are on the water, leaving refugee vessels flailing perilously at sea for hours, according to the IOM.

In Greece, authorities are accused by international aid agencies of detaining migrants illegally and cutting off sick and vulnerable migrants from accommodation and stipends. Médecins Sans Frontières closed its COVID isolation center in Lesvos this week after the authorities imposed fines and threatened criminal charges over planning issues.


Some European governments have tried to implement policies that could be favorable to migrants, but they have had limited impact.

“This is not the first and it probably won’t be the last time that we and other humanitarian organizations face these types of obstacles, as we try to cover the gaps left by European and Greek authorities in assistance to migrants and refugees,” Bertand Perrochet, MSF’s director of operations, said in a statement.

“For the past five years, we have seen the terrible harm inflicted by containment policies on people trapped in reception centers across the Greek islands. Now, during a global pandemic, MSF has been prevented from responding to a public health risk that the authorities have neglected.”

Some European governments have tried to implement policies that could be favorable to migrants, but they have had limited impact.

In Portugal, the government gave refugees and migrants temporary citizenship rights, but the policy ended on July 30. Italy had an amnesty for undocumented farmworkers and carers, allowing them to gain legal status but its implementation has been limited because of the number of conditions attached.

Trump slams Fauci over testimony on COVID-19 surge


Tensions between president and expert have been simmering for months.

By EVAN SEMONES

8/2/20

U.S. President Donald Trump publicly rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci on Saturday, forcefully rejecting the nation’s top infectious disease expert's testimony on why the U.S. has experienced a renewed surge in coronavirus cases.

“Wrong!” Trump wrote in a retweet of a video where Fauci explained to a House subcommittee that the U.S. has seen more cases than European countries because it only shut down a fraction of its economy amid the pandemic. “We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country, 60,000,000. If we tested less, there would be less cases,” the president added.


Fauci made the remarks during his Friday testimony on the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appearing with CDC Director Robert Redfield and Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir, contended that the White House’s decision to leave shutdown decisions to states allowed the virus to run rampant.

“If you look at what happened in Europe when they shut down … they really did it to the tune of about 95-plus percent,” Fauci said in his testimony after panel chair Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) presented a chart contrasting Covid-19 cases in the U.S. and Europe.

“When you actually look at what [the U.S.] did — even though we shut down, even though it created a great deal of difficulty — we really functionally shut down only about 50 percent of the totality of the country.”

Tensions between Trump and Fauci have been simmering for months. The president has previously retweeted posts calling for Fauci’s firing and allies of Trump’s, including top trade adviser Peter Navarro, have publicly attacked him in a smear campaign. Both Trump and Fauci maintain relations between them are good.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has a higher amount of cases because it tests more than any country, contradicting officials in his own administration and confounding public health experts. The president also said at a rally he had as such requested a slowdown in national testing — a claim White House officials later said was a joke.

In his Friday testimony, Fauci said he stood by previous comments that the surge was "due to a number of factors, one of which was that in the attempt to reopen, that in some situations, states did not abide strictly by the guidelines that the task force and the White House had put out and others that even did abide by it, the people in the state actually were congregating in crowds and not wearing masks."

US/UK Study: COVID-19 risk 3 times higher for front-line health workers
Healthcare workers in the United States and Britain faced significant challenges during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study has found. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

July 31 (UPI) -- Front-line healthcare workers in the United States and Britain were more than three times as likely to report a positive COVID-19 test during the first few weeks of the pandemic, an analysis published Friday by The Lancet Public Health found.

The findings are based on self-reported data from nearly 100,000 American and British clinicians using the COVID Symptom Study smartphone app, recorded between March 24 and April 23, according to the researchers.

Preliminary results also suggest that healthcare workers' ethnic background and clinical setting, as well as the availability of personal protective equipment, or PPE, were important factors in their likelihood of testing positive for COVID-19, the researchers said.

"Previous reports from public health authorities suggest that around 10% to 20% of COVID-19 infections occur among health workers," co-author Dr. Andrew Chan said in a statement. "Many countries, including the U.S., continue to face vexing shortages of PPE."

"Our results underscore the importance of providing adequate access to PPE and also suggest that systemic racism associated with inequalities to access to PPE likely contribute to the disproportionate risk of infection among minority front-line healthcare workers," said Chan, director of cancer epidemiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The prevalence of COVID-19 was 2,747 per 100,000 app users among front-line care workers, compared with 242 per 100,000 app users from the general public, according to the researchers.

Gloves, gowns and face masks are recommended for those caring for COVID-19 patients, but surging demand and supply chain disruptions resulted in global shortages, the researchers said.

SCIENCE SAYS 

Face coverings, social distancing can reduce COVID-19 spread by up to 65%

Some areas have attempted to conserve PPE by reusing items or using them longer, but data on the safety of such practices is scarce, they said.

For their research, Chan and his colleagues asked COVID Symptom Study smartphone app users to provide background information about themselves, whether they work in healthcare, if they have direct contact with patients and if enough PPE was available when needed.

More than 2.6 million people participated in the COVID Symptom Study, including just under 200,000 in the United States, the researchers said.

Of these, just under 100,000 identified themselves as front-line healthcare workers and just over 5,500 reported testing positive for COVID-19, the analysis found.

Front-line healthcare workers who reported having inadequate PPE were 1.3 times more likely to have COVID-19 than those with adequate PPE, the researchers found.

Healthcare workers who reused PPE were almost 1.5 times more likely to have COVID-19, and healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19 without adequate PPE were almost six times more likely to test positive, the researchers said.

Even with adequate PPE, the risk of getting COVID-19 was almost 2.4 times greater for those caring for suspected COVID-19 patients -- and around five times greater for those caring for people with confirmed COVID-19 -- compared with those who were not exposed to COVID-19 patients, the researchers said.

After accounting for pre-existing medical conditions, healthcare workers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were almost five times more likely to report a positive COVID-19 result than somebody from the public, the researchers said.

White healthcare workers were around 3.5 times more likely to have COVID-19 than the public, they said.

The prevalence of COVID-19 among U.S. healthcare workers -- 461 per 100,000 app users -- was almost twice that of their British counterparts, at 227 per 100,000 app users, the researchers said.

"Our findings highlight structural inequities in COVID risk," study co-author Erica Warner said in a statement.

"Ensuring access to, and appropriate use of, high-quality PPE across care settings would help mitigate these disparities," said Warner, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.


upi.com/7025867

#FNORD 
Glitch blamed for Mickey Mouse signing tax refund checks

State officials in Rhode Island said a technical error was responsible for 176 tax refund checks being mailed out bearing the signatures of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney instead of the state's general treasurer and controller. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

July 31 (UPI) -- Rhode Island state officials said a technical glitch was to blame for 176 tax refund checks being mailed out bearing the signatures of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney.

Jade Borgeson, chief of staff for the Rhode Island Department of Revenue, confirmed the checks were mailed out this week with the signatures of Walt Disney and his most famous cartoon creation instead of Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner and State Controller Peter Keenan.

"As a result of a technical error in the Division of Taxation's automated refund check printing system, approximately 176 checks with invalid signature lines were printed and mailed to taxpayers on Monday," Borgeson in a statement to WJAR-TV.

"The invalid signature lines were incorrectly sourced from the Division's test print files," she said.

Borgeson said most of the erroneous checks were corporate tax refunds.

"Corrected checks will be reissued to impacted taxpayers within one week," she told WPRI-TV.

Watchdog alleges Stephen Miller violated Hatch Act, requests probe

POST POTUS ELECTION THERE SHOULD BE A LOT OF TRUMP FOLKS GOING TO THE HOOSEGOW 

A government ethics watchdog called for a probe Friday into President Donald Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller's alleged violations of the Hatch Act on Fox News. File Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A watchdog has accused President Donald Trump's senior policy advisor, Stephen Miller, of violating the Hatch Act and requested an investigation into his comments on Fox News.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint Friday to the Office of Special Counsel alleging that Miller violated the Hatch Act when he told Fox News on the same day that presumptive Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden was "stuck in a basement" in an interview from the White House grounds.

"Well, as you know, Joe Biden is stuck in a basement somewhere, and he just emerges every now and again and somebody hands him a note card, and he says whatever his 23-year-old staffer tells him to say and then he dutifully disappears to be seen a week later," Miller said in the Fox News interview. "As for former President Obama the reality is for eight years he delivered nothing but failure and betrayal to the people of this country."

The comment came after Fox host Brian Kilmeade asked Miller if he felt Trump was running against Obama or Biden. It also came in response to questions about Obama's comments on voter suppression during a eulogy he gave for the late Rep. John Lewis, which Miller called "shockingly political

RELATED Lawyers' group files professional ethics complaint against A.G. Barr

The Hatch Act is an ethics law that "prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while on duty," according to the U.S. Department of Interior's ethics office.

CREW accuses Miller of violating the Hatch Act since he "mixed official government business with political views" when he gave the Fox News interview.

The government ethics watchdog organization added that the Office of Special Counsel should immediately investigate its allegations.

RELATED Ambassador 'Woody' Johnson denies allegations of racist, sexist remarks

"This administration continues to use its official powers improperly to assist the president's re-election and to chip away at the checks and balances that preserve our democracy," the watchdog's executive director, Noah Bookbinder, said in a statement. "It is well past time for those like Stephen Miller, who show an open disdain for ethics laws like the Hatch Act and who illegally use official resources to promote the president's re-election bid, to be held accountable for their actions."

Last year, the Office of Special Counsel found that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway repeatedly violated the Hatch Act by criticizing Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity and recommended removal from federal service, but Conway remains in her position.

Washington state identifies first trapped Asian giant hornet
This Asian giant hornet was trapped near Birch Bay in Whatcom County, Wash. Photo courtesy of Washington State Department of Agriculture

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Washington State Department of Agriculture has trapped its first Asian giant hornet.

The giant hornet was found in a department trap near Birch Bay in Whatcom County, a statement said. Officials identified the hornet at a lab on Wednesday after it had been trapped and sent for processing in mid-July.

It was the first Asian giant hornet to be detected in a trap in the state. Washington state previously confirmed five other hornets were found in the environment.

"This is encouraging because it means we know that the traps work," Sven Spichiger, the department's managing entomologist, said in the statement. "But it also means we have work to do."

The department's next steps include using infrared cameras and additional traps to catch live hornet specimens and attempts to track them back to their colony in order to eradicate the colony, according to the statement.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture said in the statement that their goal is to destroy the entire nest by mid-September when the colony would begin to create new queens and drones, which hinder the capacity to control the spread.

Asian giant hornets are estimated to be up to 2.5 inches long. Chris Looney, a entomologist in charge of exotic pests at the Washington State Department of Agriculture, spoke to CBS Sunday Morning about the previous five hornets detected and their predatory impact on honeybees.

The nickname "murder hornets'" might have come from a possible error in translation from Japanese that went viral after it was used in a New York Times article, the Sunday morning show reported.

In Japan, the Asian giant hornet has killed dozens of people in recent years.

Looney told CBS Sunday Morning that the nickname exaggerates the risk.

"'Murder hornet' doesn't work, for a couple of reasons," Looney told CBS. "One of them, it exaggerates the human health risk. These are human health risks, but like I said, we don't want to be stung by one. If you're allergic to one, obviously, that can be really dangerous. And even if you're not allergic, multiple stings certainly can lead to being hospitalized and sometimes rarely even death. But it turns out it's not that many people that die from this any given year in the places where it's native."

upi.com/7026018

IT'S THE #TRUMPVIRUS NOT THE CHINA VIRUS
Study: 65% of early COVID-19 cases globally linked to Italy, China, Iran travel

Two-thirds of early COVID-19 cases globally were linked to travel to Italy, China or Iran, a new study has found. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo
July 29 (UPI) -- Almost two-thirds of confirmed COVID-19 cases outside China during early stages of the pandemic occurred among people who had traveled to Italy, China or Iran or to their close contacts, an analysis published Wednesday by The Lancet Infectious Diseases found.

Seventy-five percent of countries outside China that reported their first coronavirus infections during the first 11 weeks of the pandemic -- between Dec. 31, 2019, and March 10 of this year -- could trace the cases to travel to an already affected country, the researchers said.

Of these, 27% were linked with travel to Italy, 22% traced to China and 11% tracked to Iran, they said.

"Our findings suggest that travel from just a few countries with substantial [COVID-19] transmission may have seeded additional outbreaks around the world before the characterization of COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11," Dr. Fatimah Dawood, a medical epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

RELATED U.S. extends border closures; EU tightens travel restrictions


COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December. Italy and Iran were among the first countries outside China to report large-scale outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization.

For this study, Dawood and her colleagues examined publicly available online reports from national ministries of health and other government agency websites, social media feeds and press releases to identify newly confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Countries with at least one case were classified as affected, and "early" cases were defined as the first 100 cases reported in each country, with those after the first 100 referred to as "later" cases, the researchers said.

RELATED CDC: Most COVID-19 cases in New York City in March traced to Europe

During the first 11 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, 32,459 confirmed cases were reported in 99 countries outside mainland China, they said.

Of 1,200 cases from 68 countries with available patient age or sex data -- 4% of the global number of cases on March 10 -- 874, or 73%, were "early" cases in their respective regions, the researchers said.

Travel to Italy was linked with three of the first six reported cases in Africa, and 16 of the first 45 reported cases in Europe. It also accounted for five of the first 13 cases in the Americas, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, travel to mainland China accounted for 10 of the first 12 reported cases in the Western Pacific region and four of the first seven in Southeast Asia, they said.

Seven of the first 16 reported cases in the Eastern Mediterranean region had a history of travel to Iran, the researchers said.

The average age of people infected in these early cases was 51 years, and only 3% were children younger than 18. Two percent of these early cases were healthcare workers, they said.

upi.com/7025286

AMERIKA;IS A POLICE STATE

DHS removes acting chief of intelligence and analysis after protest response

lack Lives Matter protesters against racism and police brutality storm the Justice Center and clash with local police and federal agents in downtown Portland, Ore., Monday. On Saturday reports surfaced that Brian Murphy, acting chief of intelligence and analysis for the Department of Homeland Security, following criticism of his department's handling of the protests. EPA-EFE/DAVID SWANSON

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The Department of Homeland Security is removing its acting chief of intelligence and analysis amid criticism of his office's role in responding to civil unrest in Portland, Ore.

As of Saturday, Brian Murphy was still listed as Acting Under Secretary for the Office of Intelligence and Analysis Brian Murphy on the DHS website.

But the Washington Post has reported that DHS Secretary Chad Wolf has removed Brian Murphy from his role following a series of reports about how his office responded to nightly protests in the city.

Most recently, the reports surfaced reported that DHS had compiled "intelligence reports" on journalists who published leaked documents, and that the agency had monitored protesters' electronic communications.

RELATED Obama: 'We have to be more like John Lewis if we want true democracy'

On Saturday House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the committee had been conducting an investigation into Murphy and his department for more than two weeks.

"In light of recent public reports, we are concerned that Murphy may have provided incomplete and potentially misleading information to Committee staff during our recent oversight engagement, and that the Department of Homeland Security and I&A are now delaying or withholding underlying intelligence products, legal memoranda, and other records requested by the Committee that could shed light on these actions," Schiff said in the statement.The demonstrations have been part of a nationwide protest against police brutality and racism following the May 25 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

RELATED Federal officers to begin phased withdrawal from Portland, Ore.

Tensions between demonstrators and police -- who had used tear gas and other means of crowd dispersal repeatedly in late May and throughout June -- were high before the arrival of federal officers in early July.

After DHS agents arrived in the city, viral videos showed officers -- who have dressed in military gear have not worn badges revealing their names or agencies -- appearing to arrest protesters without probable cause, drawing criticism from city officials and the public.

Video also shows federal agents shooting a protester, who was holding a boom box over his head during the incident, in the head with a rubber bullet and sending the man to the hospital.

RELATED Justice Dept.: Federal officers will go to Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee

On July 23 U.S. District Judge Michael Simon blocked federal agents from arresting and using force against clearly identified journalists in Portland for 14 days.

A group of journalists and legal observers has filed a motion accusing federal agents of defying that order.

On Wednesday Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced federal officers would begin a phased withdrawal from the city beginning Thursday.

Wolf said later that day that DHS would remain in the city "until the violent activity toward our federal facilities end."

On Friday DHS published a press release saying federal officers had been present to protect the federal courthouse as part of a collaboration agreement with Oregon State Police and the Portland Police Bureau, but described the protests as peaceful and not resulting in any arrests.

AMERIKA IS A SICK COUNTRY

The Trump Administration Won A Legal Fight To Slash Federal Payments To Hospitals During The Coronavirus Pandemic


The DC Circuit ruled the administration could cut a Medicare reimbursement rate by nearly 30% for hospitals that serve patients with low incomes.

Zoe Tillman BuzzFeed News Reporte
Reporting From Washington, DC
Posted on July 31, 2020

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Trump administration didn't violate federal law when it scaled back a billion-dollar drug reimbursement program that benefitted public and not-for-profit hospitals serving patients with low incomes.

The legal fight predated the coronavirus pandemic, but the stakes of the case became higher this year as hospitals have lost tens of billions of dollars as nonessential services and elective surgeries were put on hold.

Starting in 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services slashed the reimbursement rate paid to certain hospitals for outpatient drugs prescribed to elderly and disabled patients covered by the Medicare program. Under what's known as the 340B program, these hospitals buy drugs at a discounted rate, and then file claims with the federal government for reimbursement.

Hospitals participating in the program collectively have earned billions of dollars annually through the program because of the difference between what they paid and the higher reimbursement rate paid out by the government.

The Trump administration argued hospitals shouldn't be earning a windfall from the discounted drug rates and approved a plan to cut the reimbursement rate by approximately 30%. The hospitals argued that Congress intended to give hospitals a way to put the money they saved by paying a discounted rate for drugs back into services for poor and underserved communities.

A federal district judge in Washington, DC, sided with the hospitals, writing in a December 2018 opinion that the rate cut's “magnitude and its wide applicability inexorably lead to the conclusion” that the agency “fundamentally altered” what Congress intended. The lower rate has been in effect notwithstanding the judge's decision, though — he declined to block it while the litigation was pending, writing that forcing the government to pay back hospitals in the meantime was "likely to be highly disruptive."

HHS estimated that the rate change would save the Medicare program $1.6 billion in 2018 alone, and that money would be distributed back to hospitals through increases in other Medicare-related reimbursements.

Hospitals that participated in the 340B program argued they would still lose money even if the agency redistributed the money. Some hospitals filed affidavits in court saying they would lose millions of dollars each year.

In a 2–1 decision written by Judge Sri Srinivasan, the DC Circuit on Friday reversed the district judge's decision, finding that the Trump administration's decision to reduce the rate "rests on a reasonable interpretation of the Medicare statute."

Congress gave HHS two options for how to set the rate, using either an average of what hospitals were actually paying for drugs, or what the drugs cost in the marketplace. HHS had been using the average drug cost information because it didn't have survey data on what hospitals were paying, and the hospitals argued the law didn't allow HHS to use that data to make such a substantial cut. The hospitals also argued that a 30% cut was too big to qualify as an "adjustment" under the law.

Srinivasan wrote that Congress hadn't "unambiguously" prohibited HHS from using average drug costs to come up with a reimbursement rate to match what hospitals were paying for the drugs, even if they didn't have the actual purchase data. The hospitals' position would make Congress's decision to give the department an alternative way to calculate the reimbursement rate "superfluous," the judge wrote.

Srinivasan was joined by Judge Patricia Millett. Judge Nina Pillard dissented, writing that she agreed with hospitals that the Medicare law could only adopt "large reductions" if it had the specific survey data of what hospitals were paying for the drugs. She also wrote that the record showed Congress anticipated hospitals would earn revenue through the program.

"The net effect of HHS’s 2018 and 2019 OPPS rules is to redistribute funds from financially strapped, public and nonprofit safety-net hospitals serving vulnerable populations — including patients without any insurance at all — to facilities and individuals who are relatively better off. If that is a result that Congress intended to authorize, it remains free to say so. But because the statute as it is written does not permit the challenged rate reductions, I respectfully dissent," Pillard wrote.

Representatives of HHS and the Justice Department, as well as the American Hospital Association, one of the hospital groups that led the challenge, did not immediately return a request for comment.


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The Trump Administration Wants To Cut Back A Billion-Dollar Healthcare Program. Hospitals Say Now Is A Really Bad Time.

Zoe Tillman · May 27, 2020

Hospitals Expect To Lose More Than $200 Billion Because Of The Coronavirus

Venessa Wong · May 6, 2020

Zoe Tillman is a senior legal reporter with BuzzFeed News and is based in Washington, DC.