IN LABOUR LAW THIS IS 'PRECIDENT'

Uber Hit By Dutch Ruling That Classifies Drivers As Employees

CPI

 -

September 13, 2021

Uber drivers are employees entitled to greater workers’ rights under local labour laws, a Dutch court ruled on Monday, handing a setback to the US company’s European business model, reported Reuters.

It was another court victory for unions fighting for better pay and benefits for those employed in the gig economy and followed a similar decision this year about Uber in Britain.

The Amsterdam District Court sided with the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions, which had argued that Uber’s roughly 4,000 drivers in the capital are in fact employees of a taxi company and should be granted benefits in line with the taxi sector.

Uber said it would appeal against the decision and “has no plans to employ drivers in the Netherlands”. “We are disappointed with this decision because we know that the overwhelming majority of drivers wish to remain independent,” said Maurits Schönfeld, Uber’s general manager for northern Europe. “Drivers don’t want to give up their freedom to choose if, when and where to work.”

The court found drivers who transport passengers via the Uber app are covered by the collective labour agreement for taxi transportation.

“The legal relationship between Uber and these drivers meets all the characteristics of an employment contract,” the ruling said.

Uber has faced several cases in Europe around the status of drivers on its network. Most notably, earlier this year, drivers in the UK were deemed ‘workers’ rather than contractors. This means that drivers are entitled to a minimum wage and benefits such as holiday pay and pension contributions.

Since then, Uber has been on the offensive in the UK, arguing that the requirements of that ruling should be applied to its rivals in the UK market as well. If enacted, that would mean rivals like Bolt would be required to move their drivers to worker status as well.

Pope laments Europe's fractures between individual rights and common good
Reuters
September 13, 2021

IS THAT A SERPENT IN THE TREE OF LIFE? 

TO THE LEFT BY G*D I THINK IT IS

By Philip Pullella and Robert Muller

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Pope Francis warned against too much focus on individual rights and culture wars at the expense of the common good on Monday during a visit to Slovakia amid increased nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment across eastern Europe.

The 84-year-old Francis is making his first trip since undergoing intestinal surgery in July and has appeared to be in good form. Asked by a reporter on Monday how he felt, he joked: "Still alive."

On the first papal visit to Slovakia since 2003, Francis returned to a theme he had touched on during a stopover on Sunday in Hungary on how nations should avoid a selfish, defensive mentality, as he recalled the region's communist past.

"In these lands, until just a few decades ago, a single thought system (communism) stifled freedom. Today another single thought system is emptying freedom of meaning, reducing progress to profit and rights only to individual needs," Francis said.

Addressing Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, other officials and diplomats in the gardens of the presidential palace, the pope added: "Fraternity is necessary for the increasingly pressing process of (European) integration."

Slovakia, part of Czechoslovakia during communist times, secured its independence from Prague in 1993. The Slovak and wider eastern European economies have since boomed but their integration into the European Union has also coincided with a nationalist backlash against increased illegal immigration, often involving Muslims from the Middle East and Afghanistan.

EASTERN DISCONTENT

Slovakia's neighbours, Hungary and Poland, have been at loggerheads with the EU over their hard-line stance on migration as well as over their judicial reforms and curbs on media freedoms.

In September, Brussels told Poland its challenge to the primacy of EU law over national law was holding up the release of 57 billion euros in recovery funds to deal with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francis specifically mentioned the EU recovery plan on Monday, saying people were "looking forward with hope to an economic upturn" it is meant to underpin.

The pope has often called for European solutions to the migrant crisis and has criticised governments that try, like Hungary's, to tackle it with unilateral or isolationist actions.

In Budapest on Sunday, in an apparent response to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's stand that Muslim immigration could destroy its heritage, he said preserving a nation's deeply rooted Christian heritage did not exclude a welcoming, caring attitude for others in need.

"Our Christian way of looking at others refuses to see them as a burden or a problem, but rather as brothers and sisters to be helped and protected," he said on Monday.

From the presidential palace, Francis went to a meeting with the bishops and other religious leaders of Slovakia, which is about two thirds Roman Catholic.

Later he was due to visit a shelter for the poor and to meet representatives of Slovakia's Jewish community. He returns to Rome on Wednesday morning.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Gareth Jones)

Mary Trump explains why her uncle Donald cared more about boxing instead of Sept. 11 anniversary

MARY, MARY QUITE CONTRARY

Mary Trump on MSNBC (screengrab)

Sarah K. Burris
September 12, 2021

Speaking to CNN's Jim Acosta on Sunday, Dr. Mary Trump, the niece of former President Donald Trump, explained why her uncle was more focused on making money on Sept. 11 than he was about the victims and survivors on the 20th anniversary of such a horrific tragedy.

While the people of the U.S. were mourning and recalling the sadness surrounding the day, Trump eagerly provided commentary with his son for a boxing match on the day. At the same time, other political leaders flocked to remembrance sites. Trump bragged he scored an "obscene" amount of money for the gig, something he likely needs to fight the legal problems he's facing.

"It's entirely in keeping in what Donald always does," said Dr. Trump. "He doesn't understand dignity. He doesn't understand tragedy. He doesn't understand anything that doesn't pertain directly to him. And he will always push the envelope as long as he's allowed to. And this is the problem here. He's always allowed to. He's always allowed to get away with it. So, you and I might think it's bizarre behavior because it is for any decent human being, but one, he's not a decent human being and, two, where's the pushback? Nobody raised their voices on his side of the aisle against that appearance so he will continue to get away with whatever he can get away with as long as they let him."

She explained this part of the problem, noting that he continues "to be supported by Republican leadership or at least not criticized by them. They are not taking a stance against his spreading the first big lie about the election. They're not taking a stance about his second big lie about the insurrection, and last I checked, nobody pushed back on the fact that on the 20th anniversary of the worst tragedy to hit this country, he was commentating a boxing match to line his own pockets."

The two went on to talk about Trump's big COVID-19 scare when he was put in the hospital. Dr. Trump said that she thought the former president was actually afraid and he was struggling.

"He was very ill and, as somebody who had very bad asthma as a child, I know what it looks like when somebody is struggling to breathe, which he clearly was," she said. "But beyond that, in my family, showing any kind of weakness, even if it's succumbing to a virus, is considered fatal. You don't ever want to admit any kind of weakness at all. And he was probably quite afraid that he was not going to be able to either to pretend that he was okay or continue to recover, which ultimately he did. But I saw a completely terrified man who didn't know what to do in that moment."

See the full interview below:

The GOP's new culture war won't lose it many friends — but it will create a lot of new enemies
John Stoehr
September 11, 2021

Women's March in Washington U.S., January 21, 2017. 

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

For today's edition of the Editorial Board, I have at the ready a tall pitcher of ice-cold water. I'm going to pour it all over a sizzling hot take I saw in the wake of the new law virtually outlawing all abortion in Texas, a law that's going to be copy-catted by other GOP-controlled states. The hot take was summed up on Friday by Will Wilkinson. "Roe makes the GOP safe for moderately conservative white women they're already losing in droves," Wilkinson said. "Expressive, grandstanding anti-abortion politics is one thing. The clear and present danger of losing control of your body and your life is another thing altogether. It creates a visceral sense of threat that cuts across party lines."

Now why would I want to pour ice-cold water over a hot take like that? Will Wilkinson is a nice guy and singular mind to boot! Well, for one thing, I don't think conservative white women are going to be animated by the United States Supreme Court's lawlessness the same way liberal white women are going to be. (We can't just ignore 50 years of legal precedent, but the high court did.) I'll get to this more in a moment, but let's say for now that the Democratic Party has been annoyingly hesitant to take on "culture war" issues for fear of driving conservative white voters away. With this new development, it's not hard to see a Democratic Party going all-in on the "culture war."

As for conservative white women, well, that's where the ice-water is needed. Presuming some of them, especially the suburbanites, will move over to the Democratic column is itself based on presumption — and it's that presumption we need to talk about. That presumption is the new Texas law, and similar laws enacted in other states, will regulate the bodies of all women. It presumes there is one system of justice. It presumes the rule of law applies equally. If that were the case, there would be no point in outlawing abortion. It never was about fetuses. It's about restoring America to its original, natural and "constitutional" state in which citizens are separate and unequal.

Think of it this way. White women, not just conservative women, already understand at some level that they are the exception to the rule of law on account of being white women. They understand this to the extent that none of them would trade places with a non-white woman knowing full well how non-white women are treated by law enforcement and society in general. Add to this established context the fact that enforcement of the new law does not come from the state. It comes from private citizens incentivized to sue anyone enabling abortion services thanks to the creation of a bounty system. There are two reasons for taking enforcement out of the hands of the state. One, to avoid federal litigation (though that's to be seen). Two, to abandon the legal obligation to enforce the law equitably. It might take a while, but over time, all white women, not just conservative white women, will figure out the abortion ban does not apply to them.

But what about the six-week time frame? It's true that the law forbids abortion after six weeks, which is usually before most women even know they are pregnant. I think we should be asking ourselves why Texas lawmakers even bothered with it. You could say because that's when an embryo's heart cells start thumping, but let's not accept the GOP's bad faith. Let's imagine that Texas lawmakers understood the need for plausible deniability — that people who are the exception to the rule of law still need a period of time to get around a law. And let's imagine that that period of time is around six weeks. In that case, it's not hard to imagine the creation of an informal network of doctors and patients that understands the need for medical records showing pregnancies at 12 weeks are under six on paper. Corruption begets corruption. A law incentivizing lawlessness will be understood for what it is by doctors prepared to price-gouge vulnerable white women.

It's often said rich white women will have access to all the abortion services they need, law be damned, while poor white women will left behind. While I'm sure that will be the case some of the time, let's not underprice the immense wealth that comes with being white in Texas. All white women, not just rich white women, will in time figure out that the abortion law does not apply to them. To the extent that some are screwed by the law, well, they probably vote Democrat anyway, not because of any abortion ban, but because they are poor. The real white working class, earning less than $50,000 a year, tends to vote blue.

So let's dispense with the idea that the Republican Party might end up losing voters they need on account of passing laws similar to the one in Texas. As I said, lawlessness imperiling women's freedom is not going to radicalize conservative white women who already understand they are, and their daughters are, the exception to the rule of law.

Who will it radicalize? The very people who should have been radicalized but were too busy going to brunch to notice the rights and freedoms being taken away from non-white people. Democratic white women will understand, I think, that they are the exception to the rule of law, too, but Democratic white women will probably reject the law and its unequal treatment on ideological grounds. These are the people to whom Democratic leaders are right now signaling to. These are the people who will likely push the party nationally into leaning into the "culture war" instead backing away from it, as it usually does.

John Stoehr is a fellow at the Yale Journalism Initiative; a contributing writer for the Washington Monthly; a contributing editor for Religion Dispatches; and senior editor at Alternet. Follow him @johnastoehr.

Inside the secret Google group Wisconsin police used to monitor 2020 protests

Isiah Holmes, Wisconsin Examiner
September 11, 2021

Kenosha Police gassing documentary filmmaker Ashley Dorelus (screengrab)


Last year, as the streets in towns across Wisconsin filled with marches against police violence, local law enforcement agencies established numerous ways of sharing updates and information on the protests. One response was the Milwaukee County Law Enforcement Executives COVID/Protest group, which became an online hub for local agencies monitoring the movements of protesters in 2020.

Wisconsin Examiner obtained emails sent within the Google group through an open records request to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office. Specifically, the request asked for emails within the inbox of Sheriff Earnell Lucas.

Although it was initially created to allow law enforcement to discuss and adapt to policy changes during the pandemic's early weeks, the online group, of which Lucas was a part, shifted focus after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Within days protests were formed in Wisconsin, with Milwaukee experiencing some of the largest and most frequent demonstrations.

The Milwaukee County Sheriff Office didn't respond to a request for comment for this story. Chief William Jessup of the South Milwaukee Police Department, however, offered some insights into the group's creation and purpose. Jessup told Wisconsin Examiner that once the protests began, “We used the same Google group to exchange information and coordinate plans." Jessup was also president of the Milwaukee County Law Enforcement Executives' Association (MCLEETA) and helped “coordinate information exchanges and virtual meetings with other chiefs, often using Google group."

Jessup's name appears frequently in the group's emails, among many other law enforcement leaders, including chiefs, supervisors, and other personnel from the police departments of Milwaukee, Oak Creek, St. Francis, West Allis, Wauwatosa, Marquette University, and other municipalities. Personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Milwaukee's intelligence fusion center, and related national security offices also sent messages.

The emails offer a glimpse of the activities and attitudes of many agencies involved in protest enforcement. On June 1, 2020 a few days after Milwaukee's protests began, Jessup sent an email out to the Google group. “If you haven't received the HSIN link to monitor the events during the protests, please send an email to Captain Craig Sarnow at the Fusion Center and he will add you to his list," wrote Jessup. “As we discussed in the call, if you have an active protest in your city with live video, the Fusion center can walk you through the steps to connect your video to the HISN." These links essentially act as secure portals for law enforcement officials to communicate and access information. These are monitored by the Fusion Center and other entities.

Jessup sent another email on June 1 mentioning the FBI's growing interest in Milwaukee's protests. “As we discussed in our call, the FBI is asking for our assistance in collecting some information about injuries, arrests, and property damage during the course of the protests." A data sheet was attached to the email, but wasn't provided as part of the records request. During Milwaukee's first protest night, officers fired less-lethal munitions at protesters. Later that night as the crowds dispersed some businesses were damaged and had goods stolen.

Although property destruction only occurred in the late evening hours, officers continued to confront daytime marchers with tear gas and other tactics. This resulted in a hearing by Milwaukee's Common Council into the Milwaukee Police Department's crowd-control methods and military-style equipment. Meanwhile, residents across the city began reporting visits by FBI agents, or receiving tickets in the mail after posting videos of themselves out past curfew. The curfew tickets were both later linked to units within the Fusion Center, and dropped by the city.

When asked about why agencies were looking for certain information on the protests Jessup recalled that, “we had a virtual meeting (group call) to plan for the ongoing protests and someone on the call asked the group for information regarding injured officers, damaged government equipment, and arrests." He added that, “I don't recall who asked for the information but I believe it was being collected to provide information to the public and to elected officials."

Some emails, however, suggest an interest in steering the narrative around the city's protests. On June 3, 2020, Jessup emailed, “As we discussed in our call, law enforcement will need to provide context to the community regarding the protests and the violent nature of some protesters. Please provide the Fusion Center with any video/photos of damage to government property, assaults on officers, and injuries sustained by our personnel. In addition, please provide the Fusion Center with any protest-related arrest information on a daily basis so they can provide that information to the FBI." Part of Fusion, called the Southeastern Threat Analysis Center (STAC), hosts a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force.

As Milwaukee's Common Council probed Milwaukee PD's gear, the department began pushing back. Then-Chief Alfonso Morales famously compared criticism of police actions to Christ's crucifixion. On June 4, West Allis' police chief sent an email with the subject line: “Getting Our Message Out." Chief Mitchel discussed suggestions he'd received regarding hiring a public relations firm and that the idea had backing from Morales and lobbyists from the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association. “They are in agreement that this is a state-wide need," Mitchel wrote.

Milwaukee PD would also claim it deployed tear gas and rubber bullets in broad daylight, and before a curfew, to counter of what it said were Molotov Cocktails. Subsequent investigations showed that what police claimed was a firebomb was actually just a plastic water bottle.

Heads of local departments also communicated about specific protesters. In an email sent on June 4, 2020, St. Francis PD's Chief Kevin Hunter provided an update on a protest held by local resident Bethany Crevensten. She'd planned a small protest outside the home of someone who allegedly made racist comments regarding owning Black people. That individual was also on parole at the time, Chief Hunter noted, adding, “this will not stop Bethany according to our conversation with her today, but again, sounds like it will be peaceful." A screenshot of a social media post made by Crevenseten to announce the protest was also attached to the email.

Creventsen went on to protest throughout the state alongside many other Wisconsinites over the following months. She told Wisconsin Examiner that officers from St. Francis and Cudahy paid her a house visit. “They showed up to my house and told me the whole city knows," said Crevensten. She added that, “the cops wanted to know details. What my route was going to be, followed us, sat outside. I protested for like an hour and a half." Like many other protesters, Crevensten feels she and her husband were placed under surveillance last summer. From being shadowed around town by police vehicles, to odd things happening to their phones and social media. “I try not to make a big deal out of it because I know they are watching," said Crevensten.

Like dozens of other protesters, elected officials, and one journalist, Crevensten was also placed on a list by police. The list, created by a Wauwatosa Police Department crime analyst last summer and shared with the FBI and numerous other agencies, was both called a “protester list" and a “target list" by the analyst. While that list focuses on a specific group of protesters known as The People's Revolution, it also includes activists from across Milwaukee.

Jessup told Wisconsin Examiner that his department did not receive the list from Wauwatosa PD. Emails in the Google group also included updates and information on a wide variety of left-wing protest events. He also stated that, “I don't recall any discussion regarding specific protesters. Law enforcement's goal was simply to have context when answering questions about injuries, damage, and arrests."

On June 9, 2020, Oak Creek PD's Chief Steve Anderson sent out an email requesting details on a small demonstration. “Somebody is organizing a planned chalk event demonstration at our Drexel Town Square this week Thursday," said Anderson. “I am recalling that these have been peaceful events but am wondering if any other agency had issues there was one in your community. At this time I am planning on just monitoring the area but am curious what others experienced."

The Fusion Center's Captain Sarnow responded that, by his count, there have been three such chalk events in Milwaukee. “They have all been peaceful," he said. “The crowds consisted mostly of families and their kids, and usually incorporate some speeches. They're good about posting their marching route (if applicable), gathering point, and time frame." He added, “Crowds varied with largest being approximately 300 at the event by the Art Museum."

At the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August, Fusion again provided protest information, and another secure DHS meeting link. One email, sent on Aug. 17 by a lieutenant within Fusion, included a list of planned DNC protests. These included groups supporting Bernie Sanders, Our Wisconsin Revolution, Extinction Rebellion, Unity Fire MKE, the Coalition to March on the DNC, and others. It provided social media links, brief descriptions of each demonstration, estimates on crowd size based on Facebook commitments, and whether there were any records of potential violence, “civil disobedience," or arrests associated with any particular group or march. A small section also documented protests with approved permits, but no social media presence.

Examples of emails including the DNC protest event list Document(7)

Some departments also used the group to vent about not being able to use certain crowd-control equipment for the DNC. It was a debate which ultimately led to many departments opting to not assist in the DNC. Chief Hunter emailed about questions he'd received from local reporters on the issue. “I would not subject my officers to potential danger if they were not able to utilize all of the tools at their disposal," Hunter wrote. But he also stated that Milwaukee PD had been a good partner to suburban agencies under Morales and that “we too would respond in time of crisis if called upon."

Discussion of counter-protesters or right-wing demonstrations were absent from the dozens of emails obtained through the Google group. Jessup told Wisconsin Examiner, “I don't recall the specific conversations in great detail and therefore cannot say whether any right-wing groups were discussed."

As the year went on and curfews would come and go, the Google group was also used to share tallies of equipment. Various departments shared spreadsheets with the group counting the number of armored vehicles, drones, tear gas, and other munitions different departments could provide. During Wauwatosa's curfew, alternate jailing options and transport vans were also discussed.

The Google group appears to have been used mainly by Milwaukee-area law enforcement agencies and their federal peers. Other departments, such as those in and around Kenosha, are absent from the Google group. However, messages gathered from other requests show that Milwaukee's fusion center also fed intelligence and social media updates during Kenosha's unrest. Details continue to emerge as to how law enforcement coordinated protest operations last year.

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and Twitter.

WATCH: 

Florida woman fights off giant alligator while paddleboarding in swamp

Matthew Chapman

RAW STORY
September 13, 2021

Woman fights off huge alligator while paddleboarding (Facebook).

THE GATOR IS THE AVERAGE SIZE FOR ITS AGE

On Monday, Orlando Weekly reported on a viral Facebook video of a woman who fought off an enormous alligator who attacked her while she was paddleboarding in a swamp in Ocala.

"In multiple videos and photos posted to her Facebook page, Vicki Reamy Baker can be seen fending off a large alligator at Silver Springs State Park," reported Colin Wolf. "'Why are you messing with me? Why are you trying to bite me?,' says Baker in one of the videos. 'Someone's been feeding that gator, makes them very dangerous.'"

"At one point in a video, the gator can be seen hissing at Baker, after she nudged it with her paddle," continued the report. "A man can then be heard on a loudspeaker telling Baker to get away from the gator. 'Mam, I would suggest backing up after you just made him pretty mad.'"

Watch below:

 

SHE IS IN THE GATORS TERRITORY SHE IS THE INTRUDER THE GATOR IS CURIOUS UNTIL SHE OVERREACTS AND THREATENS IT COMPLETLY CLUELESS AS TO HER SURROUNDINGS AND ECOLOGY A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF SPECIES CHAUVINISM

Funeral worker details devastating toll of COVID on 'unrecognizable' bodies

John Wright
September 13, 2021

(Shutterstock.com)

While the plight of healthcare workers has gotten a lot of attention throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, relatively few media reports have addressed the impact on licensed embalmers who work in the funeral-home industry.

One Texas-based embalmer of 30 years, Patrick Huey, writes that his profession is currently "at a breaking point" due to the pandemic, in a column published Monday by the Huffington Post.

Huey also describes the devastating toll of COVID on the bodies of victims, including swelling and infections that make them "unrecognizable" to their loved ones. And he urges people to get vaccinated, in part to help relieve the enormous strain on workers like himself.

"I don't know how much longer I can keep working this way," Huey writes. "I'll never throw my hands up and just say 'screw this!' If the good Lord calls me home and I drop dead at the embalming table, then I guess that'll make for a day off."

At the beginning of the pandemic, embalmers weren't sure if they could safely work on the bodies of COVID victims — but they are now doing so with personal protective equipment. Huey explains that funeral homes prefer to embalm bodies because they can then be stored without refrigeration — and in many places including his mortuary, the freezers are full.

From late November through mid-March, when Texas experienced its first COVID wave, Huey said embalmers were pulling 22- and 36-hour shifts, and 65 percent of bodies were COVID victims.

"We've just had to buckle down and do the best that we can," he writes. "The Internet has been a blessing because it allows all of us embalmers to communicate and find out what issues everyone is having because so much of this has been unlike anything we've seen before. We get bodies out of ICU regularly, but not in the condition that these COVID bodies are in."

He goes on to describe in graphic detail how the bodies of COVID victims are "tremendously swollen" with "huge legions" on their cheeks that have "gone gangrene" and blood clots "the size of pancakes." Despite specializing in post-mortem reconstruction of trauma victims, Huey says there's little he can do in these cases.

"The sad part is the families of these people, at that point, hadn't been allowed to see their loved ones during the several weeks that they were in the ICU," he writes. "So the body comes out in an almost unrecognizable condition, and then you have to explain to their family that their loved one doesn't look anything like what they should. ... And for a lot of these families, it's just a tremendous shock."

During the latest Texas COVID surge, fueled by the Delta variant, Huey said he's noticed more victims in their 30s, 40s and 50s because most seniors are vaccinated. The victims are also dying faster and spending less time in the ICU, which is actually a "benefit" to embalmers because their bodies are in better condition. Huey says he's currently working 19 to 20 hours on the first day of his two-day shifts, and rarely gets to see his family. His mortuary will sometimes receive an unprecedented 10 bodies a day, and about 85 percent of them are COVID victims.

"Seeing so many of these people who have passed away who shouldn't have died in the first place and the husbands and wives passing within days of each other ― on top of just the mass volume ― is a lot to deal with," he said, adding that embalmers are also constantly worried about their own safety. "Although we try to distance ourselves professionally as much as possible while doing our jobs, it wears on us. There are a lot of us that definitely have some PTSD ― or just traumatic stress. It's really, really hard."

Huey's mortuary recently received a large FEMA refrigeration trailer after its freezers holding 120 bodies became full. He says if they run out of refrigeration space, they'll have to embalm all of the bodies or bury them within 24 hours — which is a problem given a "major shortage" of embalmers in Texas.

Despite precautions, many embalmers have died from COVID, and some recent mortuary school graduates have quit because they couldn't handle it after getting slammed with coronavirus victims, Huey writes.

"[The embalmers] are just doing the best that we can, and I wish that people would just do the best that they can to stay safe," Huey writes. "I want everyone to take this seriously and to remember that the repercussions of their actions run downhill, and we funeral professionals are down near the bottom of that hill.

"Lastly, I'll just say I wish this would quit being such a political thing," he adds. "People want to blame one party or the other, and I don't know what the answer is. I do know that the studies have shown the vaccination works and I wish more people would get it. And sometimes we have to have our freedoms infringed upon just a little bit for the betterment of the entire population. We're just trying to do our part ― and we wish everyone else would do the same."

Air pollution exposure during pregnancy has long-term impact on children’s health, development

Adverse effects from prenatal air pollution exposure include low birth weight, asthma, cognitive and behavioral issues, obesity and diabetes

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Particulate matter (PM) is a major component of air pollution that is increasingly associated with long-term consequences for the health and development of children. In a study recently published in Nature’s Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, Natalie Johnson, PhD, associate professor at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health, and her co-authors synthesized the findings of previous studies, reviews and meta-analyses on the adverse health effects of the two smallest types of particulate matter (PM): fine (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) and ultrafine (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 1 μm). Both types of PM can be inhaled deep into the lung. Ultrafine particles have recently been shown to cross into circulation and even cross the placental barrier, directly reaching the developing fetus.

A range of adverse health outcomes associated with fine PM exposure were reported in the studies and reviews of human data, including low birth weight, asthma and other chronic respiratory conditions, cognitive and behavioral issues, obesity and diabetes. Research on the effects of prenatal ultrafine PM exposure has not been as extensive, but a growing body of evidence shows similarities with the effects associated with fine PM exposure. Studies and reviews of data obtained from animal models supported the findings from the human studies.

In addition, some of the studies examined the possible ways that PM could cause the observed adverse health effects. The two broad mechanisms documented in the literature are direct (ultrafine PM crosses the placenta and enters fetal circulation) and indirect (PM causes interactions that result in oxidative stress, inflammation, epigenetic changes and endocrine disruption).

The researchers also reviewed possible treatments and policies that might minimize or even undo the harms associated with prenatal PM exposure. Green spaces such as parks and other areas with trees and foliage provide a range of benefits for the communities that have them, including lower exposure to PM. Nutritional interventions, including maternal dietary changes and antioxidant and vitamin supplementation, can provide protective effects that are also associated with better health outcomes for children with prenatal air pollution exposure.

“It is important to review the body of literature on such an important and common environmental exposure. This helps in policy development and intervention strategies. The timing of exposure, like during pregnancy, is becoming recognized as an important window of susceptibility. So, protecting the most vulnerable can have a huge public health impact,” Johnson said.

###

---

JOURNAL

Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine

DOI

10.1186/s12199-021-00995-5 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Air pollution and children’s health—a review of adverse effects associated with prenatal exposure from fine to ultrafine particulate matter

Forget About Biden’s ‘Cruel Summer’—He’s Doing Big Things

ALTERNATE REALITY

He’s ended America’s longest war, got vaccines distributed at no cost nationwide and halved the child poverty rate. So why all the stories about ‘Biden‘s Cruel Summer’?

David Rothkopf
Bernard Schwartz
Updated Sep. 13, 2021 

DAILY BEAST

OPINION

Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images

We are both old enough to remember a time when you picked up the newspaper in the morning or turned on the television news to find out what was happening in the world. Now, it is not that simple.

Opinion, spin, misguided attempts at “objectivity” that produce false equivalencies, the partisanship of some media outlets and a herd mentality in the press have made it difficult to know where the facts end and the truth begins. When untrue or misleading narratives emerge, they can take on a life of their own and have serious real world consequences—shifting the political landscape, remaking polls, changing how subsequent developments are viewed or even impacting whether and how they take place.

This has seldom been made more clear than in the recent treatment of President Biden in the media. Not only has much of it been divorced from reality, misguided, or twisted, but the real world implications of the narratives that have emerged in the past several weeks could have lasting negative ramifications for the country.

The facts of Biden’s presidency are there for all of us to see. When he took office, Biden inherited a country in the midst of a pandemic and an economic crisis, reeling from an unprecedented attack on its political system and wracked by social divisions the last president systematically sought to make worse. Our international standing had been battered by racist policies, nationalist, anti-immigrant rhetoric, attacks on our allies, corruption, efforts to undermine international institutions, embrace of our enemies and rejection of our own core democratic values.


Joe Biden Finally Ended America’s Abominable ‘Forever Wars’
LOST GENERATION
David Rothkopf


In just eight months, the president and his team have engineered transformational progress on many fronts. Where there had been no plan to administer vaccines, today over 200 million Americans have received at least one shot and the vaccines are available to every American free of charge and are now required of federal workers as part of a sweeping effort to contain the spread of the virus here. Our vaccine diplomacy efforts lead the world, with commitments to share 600 million doses to countries in need worldwide. Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan has cut the child poverty rate in half. More jobs, 4.1 million, were created in the first six months of this administration than in the 12 years of the Trump and Bush administrations combined. The U.S. economy grew at an extraordinary annualized rate of 6.5 percent during the second quarter of this year. Biden implemented scores of executive orders undoing Trump administration policies that damaged the environment, put our security at risk or violated the rights of Americans.

Biden made combatting climate change a priority again. The U.S. re-entered the Paris Climate Accords and re-joined the World Health Organization. The U.S. repaired damaged relations with allies. Biden has appointed new judges at a faster rate than his predecessors. He has appointed the most diverse cabinet in American history as well as the most diverse set of judges. Vice President Kamala Harris has led efforts to oversee police reform, to work with the nations of Central American to curb the flow of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. and to shore up our alliances to ensure stability in Asia. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has worked to usher in a new era in U.S. foreign policy in which America focuses on the emerging challenges of the 21st century. And the administration has been swift to provide essential aid when disasters like wildfires in the West, hurricanes in the South and flooding in the East brought pain to millions.

The president ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan, something neither of his three predecessors had the courage to do even as the costs of that war were compounded daily. And he negotiated a bi-partisan bill now before the Congress to finally invest as we must in America’s neglected infrastructure, while outlining additional investments of $3.5 trillion as part of America’s Build Back Better package that will, taken with the infrastructure bill, represent the biggest investment in American competitiveness, health and security in almost a century.

DOING HIS TED DANSON IMITATION 

You might not agree with every one of these policies. Aspects of their implementation may not have been perfect. There are certainly areas where criticism is fair.

But somehow, this unprecedented record of achievement in the face of extraordinary challenges and a toxic political environment coming on the heels of the most incompetent and corrupt administration in American history, another narrative has emerged. It is so divorced from reality that it seems as if it is reporting on a different universe. It’s so crazy that you might dismiss it as the work of hacks or just the politically motivated, but it has taken on a life of its own.

You have seen the headlines. A New York Times op-ed asserting that Biden’s is a failed presidency. A CNN story saying that Biden is “facing a crisis of competence.” A Times story saying that the reputation for competence that Biden ran on is being tested. There have been stories about “Biden’s Cruel Summer,” “The Two Mistakes that Ruined Biden’s Summer” and about how “Biden’s Rough Summer Puts Dems on High Alert.”

Armies of talking heads did not just critique the chaos surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, as might be fair. They went further. They said the scenes of America’s last days in Kabul were more important than the fact that the war was finally ending after 20 years, $2 trillion in spending, and the loss of thousands of American and allied lives along with those of 170,000 Afghans. They argued that the White House was merely trying to “distract” from the problems on the ground by pointing out that Biden had finally put an end to two decades of terrible American decision making while his team managed to get 125,000 people out of that country in a matter of weeks in the largest humanitarian airlift ever completed by the U.S. military.

All of a sudden, they argued, America’s standing was hurt at the very time that almost 100 countries were working with the U.S. to help keep Kabul’s airport open and more than 30 were convened every other day by the State Department to address future policy concerns in that country.

Similarly, these bad-faith pundits argued that the renewed spike in COVID infections — driven by members of the Republican Party who denied science, politicized masks, and made red states the locus of the greatest new spread of the disease —reflected badly on Biden. In fact, his was the administration that brought vaccines to the country and restored sound public health policies after the last administration was literally responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands with their horrible policy failures. In other words, Republicans were making the pandemic worse and Biden was being blamed for it.

The Biden response was to strengthen federal mandates for masks and vaccines. It was the right response again. But no matter. Ron de Santis and Greg Abbott pour gasoline on a public health wildfire and Joe Biden faces op-eds questioning his competence in managing the pandemic.

Unsurprisingly given this kind of coverage, Biden’s poll numbers have fallen. And again the talking heads are framing it not as a consequence of their handiwork or as normal for recent presidencies, they are calling it a crisis. Some predicted worse was ahead.

Why does it matter? Because if Biden appears vulnerable, it will make it harder for him to advance his investment agenda, now pending for a final decision from Congress in the next few weeks. And every setback associated with that agenda will be framed as compounding the misstated reality of the past few weeks which could have negative consequences come next year’s elections.

Which could lead to Republicans regaining control of the House and the Senate. Which, given their recent track record, would almost certainly lead to further attacks on voter rights and democracy. (Remember while Biden is being criticized in spite of his achievements, his opponents have actually supported and defended an attempted coup on January 6th of this year against the United States.)

Political opponents who attack Biden recognize this and their motives are clear. Perhaps the journalists and commentators taking the same line think overstating criticisms or conveniently forgetting about real achievements to make for more dramatic headlines is good for business. Sadly, it may be.

But it isn’t good for journalism, good for those who seek the truth or good for the country.

  GUILTY CONSCIENCE YOUR HONOR

‘Some next level BS’: Amy Coney Barrett blasted over claim US Supreme Court isn’t a ‘bunch of partisan hacks’

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
September 13, 2021

Amy Coney Barrett (AFP)

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court whose nomination was rammed through the Senate by then-Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, on Sunday told guests invited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, “My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks."

She was roundly criticized and mocked for that claim, which was reported by the Louisville Courier Journal.

Barrett was nominated immediately after liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, before she had even been buried. She was confirmed one week before the November 2020 election in a 52-48 vote, entirely on party lines, and sworn in the very next day, all thanks to the efforts of Senator Mitch McConnell. McConnell in 2016 infamously blocked President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, from even getting a committee hearing, then pushed through Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh before Barrett's nomination.

Here's Senator McConnell celebrating Barrett's confirmation, which indeed was on former U.S. Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's birthday:

The court now sits with a 6-3 highly-conservative majority, and some across the country feel several of the conservatives have flouted judicial ethics by weighing in on issues, directly or in directly. Justice Clarence Thomas's wife, Ginni Thomas, is a far right wing lobbyist who used to run a Tea Party organization. She is believed to have had a hand in President Donald Trump's expulsion of transgender service members from the U.S. Armed Forces. And Justice Kavanaugh, during his Senate confirmation hearing, infamously threatened revenge against Democrats.

In fact, as Amy Coney Barrett was being sworn in, The New Republic published an opinion piece stating she and Justice Kavanaugh "have demonstrated this week that they should be thought of as political operatives, not justices."

Barrett of course brought this perception on herself, allowing her nomination to be pushed through in the weeks before a highly controversial presidential election, appearing at a super-spreader event at the White House celebrating her nomination, then later standing on the White House balcony with President Trump, days before the election, all of which effectively worked as an endorsement of his re-election.

L.A. Times columnist Jackie Calmes noted at the time just how unprecedented this single act was:

Many are mocking Barrett's claim.