Saturday, March 30, 2019

Singing Marines

From Military.com:
"Marines Will Soon Have to Belt Out the 'Marines' Hymn' When They Hear It"

Brace your ears: You're about to hear Devil Dogs in all keys singing about the halls of Montezuma and the shores of Tripoli the next time the "Marines' Hymn" is played in public. The commandant of the Marine Corps reportedly wants to hear more leathernecks proudly belting out the lyrics to their hymn. That's according to a new report from Marine Corps Times about upcoming changes to the service's drills and ceremonies manual, which will include a new directive about the beloved and highly recognized hymn "It is now directed that Marines, present and who have served honorably, who are not in formation or part of an actual ceremony, or marching in a parade or review, who when they hear the playing of the Marines Hymn will stand at attention, face the music and sing the words to the Hymn," the updated drill and ceremonies manual will read, according to Marine Corps Times. Lt. Col. Stuart Fugler, a spokesman for Marine Corps Combat Development Command, which will oversee the release of the new manual, confirmed that an updated version is expected to be released in April. None of the changes are final, he said, until the head of his command signs off on them. Leathernecks typically quietly stand at attention when the "Marines' Hymn" is played. That's out of respect for the song, whose lyrics are said to date back to the 1800s, according to Headquarters Marine Corps. Marines should still show that gesture of respect, according to the changes outlined by Marine Corps Times, but they'll now face the music and sing. The new manual, which is awaiting approval from Lt. Gen. David Berger, head of MCCDC who was nominated to be the next commandant, includes changes to Marine Corps birthday ball, retirement and change-of-command ceremonies, along with a section on why drill is important to the Marine Corps, Fugler said. If Berger approves the changes, they’ll go into effect immediately, he said. It has been about 13 years since the last drill manual update, Fugler added, which was initiated in 2003 and changed in 2006.

^ I grew up on and around different military bases and know how "well" soldiers tend to sing. This will not be a pleasant experience for those who have to listen. It's a little weird for the Commandant to make this change. Isn't there so more pressing issue that needs to be addressed (like poor military housing, getting all the training and equipment needed to fight a war, etc.?) ^

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/03/29/marines-will-soon-have-belt-out-marines-hymn-when-they-hear-it.html

Heavy Sarcasm


Raymond Antrobus

From the BBC:
"Deaf poet Raymond Antrobus wins Ted Hughes award"



London poet Raymond Antrobus, who was thought to be dyslexic with severe learning disabilities until his deafness was discovered at the age of six, has won the Ted Hughes Award for new work in Poetry.  He has won the £5,000 prize for his debut collection The Perseverance.  The poems explore loss and legacy through his own deaf experience.  The judges praised it as "transformative writing creating a new cultural landscape".  "Antrobus makes us hear between the lines through poems well-crafted with emotional intelligence. This collection's critique of the supremacy of the sonic world opened new doors and gave us new insights," they said.  Antrobus was born in Hackney to an English mother and Jamaican father.  At school he was taunted by hearing children because he had to sit at the front to hear the teacher, and deaf children called him a "baby signer" because he came to British Sign Language late and wasn't as proficient as them. He went on to become a teacher and is one of the world's first recipients of an MA in Spoken Word Education from Goldsmiths, University of London.  He works nationally and internationally as a freelance poet and teacher.  Last year, he was awarded the Geoffrey Dearmer Award by the Poetry Society.  The Perseverance has also been named Poetry Book of the Year in The Guardian and The Sunday Times. The Ted Hughes Award is funded by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. It was judged by Linton Kwesi Johnson, Mark Oakley and Clare Shaw. Meanwhile, Wayne Holloway-Smith was chosen as the winner of the National Poetry competition, with his poem, The posh mums are boxing in the square'. He beat 14,000 entries for the £5,000 prize which the judges praised as "a poem that hits us in our own gut with its devastating gravitas".

^ They say people who write (whether it's poetry, a novel, etc.) from their own experiences tend to have much better results and that seems to be true here. ^


https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47733353

4th Attempt?

From the BBC:
"Brexit: Theresa May ponders fourth bid to pass deal"

Theresa May and her cabinet are looking for ways to bring her EU withdrawal agreement back to the Commons for a fourth attempt at winning MPs' backing. The PM said the UK would need "an alternative way forward" after her plan was defeated by 58 votes on Friday. MPs from all parties will test support for other options during a second round of "indicative votes" on Monday. However, Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis said the government did not support any of those options. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called on Mrs May to change her deal or resign immediately, while Northern Ireland's DUP - which has propped up Mrs May's minority government - also continues to oppose the deal. The government has so far failed to win over 34 Conservative rebels, including both Remainers as well as Tory Brexiteers who say the deal still leaves the UK too closely aligned to Europe. But a No 10 source indicated the prime minister would continue to seek support in the Commons. They insisted efforts were "going in the right direction", given the margin of defeat was down from 149 a fortnight ago. MPs will hold another set of votes on various Brexit options in the Commons on Monday.  Mr Lewis told Radio 4's Today programme: "The government's position is very clear - we do not support these options. The government's position is we believe the best way to respect the referendum is to deliver the deal." He added said one of the voting options put forward, which supports staying in a customs union with the EU would go against the result of the referendum and the Conservatives' election manifesto. The customs union allows businesses to move goods around the EU without checks or charges. Continued membership would bar the UK from striking independent trade deals after Brexit. Nicky Morgan, a former cabinet minister and fellow Tory MP, said there may need to be a government of national unity to end the deadlock over Brexit. She told Today: "It may well be that if you end up with a cross-party approach to finding a majority in the House of Commons, it might be that you need a cross-party approach to implementing it. "There have been periods in our history when we have had national unity governments or a coalition for a very specific issue." There is every chance that the prime minister will again - with routes outside the normal boundaries - try to make a version of her Brexit deal the end result of all of this.  Despite a third defeat, despite the embarrassment of repeated losses, don't imagine that she is ready to say a permanent farewell to the compromise deal she brokered with the EU or, straightaway, to her time in office.  There is still a belief in the heart of government that there could be a way round, perhaps to include the prime minister's agreed treaty as one of the options that is subject to a series of votes that will be put in front of the Commons next week.  The aspiration, strange as it sounds, for some time now has been to prove to MPs that the deal is the least worst of all the options... Mrs May has until 12 April to seek a longer extension to the negotiation process to avoid the UK leaving without a deal - which most MPs believe could harm business and create disruption at ports. However, she said any further delay to Brexit was "almost certain" to involve staging elections to the European Parliament in May. Downing Street later said this was not an "inevitability".  Meanwhile, Leave voters registered their anger at the latest rejection, on the day the UK was originally scheduled to leave the EU. Thousands gathered outside Parliament to protest against the delay, bringing traffic to a standstill. And the Conservative former Attorney General Dominic Grieve, who has campaigned for a further referendum on the deal, lost a vote of no-confidence in his Beaconsfield constituency.

^ At this point May is just beating an already dead horse. She clearly has no new options available to her and so should resign and let someone do what she has not been able to do. ^


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47756122

Friday, March 29, 2019

Trudeau's Widened Scandal

From Reuters:
"Fresh documents keep up pressure on Canada's Trudeau over scandal"

A former cabinet member at the heart of a crisis that could cost Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau his job on Friday released documents to back up her case that she had been pressured to help a large corporation avoid a corruption trial.  Trudeau has been on the defensive since Feb. 7 over allegations that officials inappropriately leaned on former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould last year to ensure construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc escaped a trial by paying a fine instead.  The crisis may well threaten Trudeau’s reelection chances in a vote this October. Polls show his center-left Liberals, who as recently as January looked certain to win, could lose to the official opposition Conservatives.  Wilson-Raybould made public around 40 pages of documents revealing more details of what she said were attempts by officials to force her change her mind even after she insisted they desist.  Wilson-Raybould, who was demoted to veterans affairs minister in January and resigned the following month, first made the allegations in almost four hours of testimony to the House of Commons justice committee last month.  Trudeau says officials were trying to make Wilson-Raybould understand that thousands of jobs would be at risk if SNC-Lavalin were found guilty of bribing Libyan officials. Trudeau insists he and his team did nothing wrong.  The affair has so far cost Trudeau two high-profile female cabinet ministers, his closest personal aide and the head of the federal bureaucracy, Michael Wernick.  Wilson-Raybould included a recording of a phone call with Wernick last December in which he told her he was worried about “a collision” between her and Trudeau “because he is pretty firm about this.”  Wilson-Raybould, who stressed she thought the call was inappropriate, told Wernick she was waiting “for the other shoe to drop” because she was under no illusion about how Trudeau “gets things that he wants.”  Opposition legislators said the documents reinforced their demand for a public inquiry into the matter, something Trudeau says is not necessary.  “She is actually trying to speak truth to power, trying to say, ‘You can’t do this,’ ... and it keeps happening,” New Democratic Party parliamentarian Nathan Cullen told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.  Trudeau’s office was not immediately available for comment.  The crisis is opening rifts inside the Liberal Party and some legislators want Wilson-Raybould to be kicked out of the parliamentary caucus, a move Trudeau has so far resisted.

^ Imagine if this happened in the US (if Trump told Mueller to not investigate and if the Republicans then simply ended the investigation because it wasn’t going to go their way.) That is what happened in Canada. Trudeau told his Minister to not investigate SNC-Lavalin and his Liberal Party simply ended the investigation because it wasn’t going to go their way.  Trudeau serves at his Party’s (and the Queen’s) pleasure and once the lack of confidence erodes (which it clearly has since this Minster and several other Ministers from Trudeau’s own Party have resigned in protest of his mishandling of things) then the Prime Minister has to resign or be forced out. Trudeau has the option to save some face and resign now or suffer an even greater humiliating defeat from his own Party in the October Elections. Canada, like the UK and most of the world, does not directly elect their Prime Minister. The people vote for the Party they want and the leader of the Party with the greatest majority then becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister not only chooses his Cabinet, but also all the members of the upper house of Parliament (the Senate), all the judges of the Supreme Court, all Federal judges and the Governor-General (ie. the Queen’s official representative in Canada.) That’s a lot of power for a person not directly elected and there’s little checks and balances. ^

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-politics/fresh-documents-keep-up-pressure-on-canadas-trudeau-over-scandal-idUSKCN1RA2LA

Heartbeat Law

From Reuters:
"Georgia lawmakers pass heartbeat abortion ban, joining four other U.S. states"

Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature on Friday passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the United States, outlawing abortion if a doctor is able to detect a heartbeat.  The state’s House of Representatives passed the bill with a 92-78 vote, sending it to Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who is expected to sign it into law. The state Senate previously passed the measure.  “Georgia values life. We stand up for the innocent and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. The legislature’s bold action reaffirms our priorities and who we are as a state,” Kemp said in a Twitter post.  Shortly after the passage of the bill, the Democratic Party in Georgia said that it has started an initiative to recruit candidates to challenge Republicans who supported the legislation.  “Republicans have shown that they can’t be trusted to make decisions on behalf of Georgia women, Georgia’s healthcare system or Georgia’s economy,” said Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia said in a statement.  Georgia currently allows abortions up to 20 weeks into pregnancy.  Measures such as this one have been passed in Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee over the past year. But judges in Iowa and Kentucky blocked similar laws earlier this month.  Activists on both sides of the issue say the laws are aimed at getting a case sent to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge to Roe v. Wade, the court’s 1973 landmark decision, which said women have a constitutional right to an abortion.  The American Civil Liberties Union in Georgia warned that it will sue if Kemp signs the bill.  “If ... Kemp signs this abortion ban bill into law, the ACLU has one message: we will see you in court,” Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, said in a statement.

^ If doctors determine someone's death by the fact they no longer have a heartbeat then why don't we determine someone's life by the fact they have a heartbeat? It doesn't stop women from getting an abortion if they want one. It just tells them they have to decide before their baby has a heartbeat and is alive. ^

Disney Bans

From Yahoo:
"Disney World, Disneyland to ban smoking, large strollers and ice cubes"

It's a smoke-free world after all. Disney announced some policy changes Thursday on the official Disney Parks blog, including a smoking ban that will go into effect this spring. As of May 1, no smoking will be permitted at Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney water parks, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and Downtown Disney District in California. Currently all of these locations have designated smoking areas, which will be removed "to provide a more enjoyable experience for everyone who visits," according to Disney World's updated FAQ. (And yes, vaping is banned too.) Smoking will now be limited to specific areas outside park entrances and at Disney resort hotels. The smoking ban is bound to elicit some strong reactions, but it's actually one of four new rules applying to Disney park guests. The second and third rules involve strollers: Guests will no longer be allowed to bring stroller wagons (essentially luxury rides for the toddler set) and stroller size will be limited to 31" by 52," the intention being "to ease guest flow and reduce congestion." The FAQ notes that "many strollers, including many double jogging strollers, fit within these guidelines." Guests who own strollers that are too roomy will have the option of renting downsized strollers at the park. Last, Disney parks are cracking down on ice. Yes, the frozen-water kind. Specifically, they're taking issue with "loose and dry ice," which guests will no longer be allowed to bring into the parks. The ice ban will "improve guest flow, ease congestion and streamline the bag-check and entry processes," the guidelines state. Reusable ice packs are allowed and "cups of ice are available at no charge" from any park location that sells beverages. Disney notes that guests with disabilities will still be accommodated, as their policies have not changed in that regard. The new rules will take effect prior the opening of Disney's Star Wars-themed attraction Galaxy's Edge. Galaxy's Edge opens May 31 at Disneyland and August 29 at Walt Disney World.

^ I do not understand why they are getting rid of their smoking areas. I stayed at a Disney resort with a person who smokes and their smoking areas were few and far-between. I believe smokers should have an area where they can enjoy themselves and smoke while non-smokers should have an area where they can enjoy themselves and not inhale smoke. It's supposed to be the 'Happiest Place on Earth" but they just added a reason to be sad and to not stay on their properties. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/disney-world-disneyland-to-ban-smoking-large-strollers-and-ice-cubes-184647221.html

Rejected Again

From the BBC:
"Brexit: MPs reject May's EU withdrawal agreement"


MPs have rejected Theresa May’s EU withdrawal agreement on the day the UK was due to leave the EU. The government lost by 344 votes to 286, a margin of 58.  It means the UK has missed an EU deadline to delay Brexit to 22 May and leave with a deal. The prime minister said the UK would have to find "an alternative way forward", which was "almost certain" to involve holding European elections. Thousands of Leave supporters gathered outside Parliament to protest against the delay to Brexit, bringing traffic to a standstill.  Mrs May now has until 12 April to seek a longer extension to the negotiation process to avoid a no-deal Brexit on that date. With a clear majority in the Commons against a no-deal Brexit, and with MPs holding more votes on alternative plans on Monday, Mrs May said that the UK would have to find "an alternative way forward". The prime minister said that the outcome was "a matter of profound regret", adding that "I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House". Downing Street said it was still not an "inevitability" that the UK would have to take part in elections to the European Parliament in May. A No 10 source indicated that the prime minister would continue to seek support in the Commons for her deal. "Clearly it was not the result we wanted. But, that said, we have had a number of senior Conservative colleagues who have felt able to vote with the government today. They have done so in higher numbers than previously," the source said. "Clearly there is more work to do. We are at least going in the right direction."  Downing Street said Mrs May would continue to talk to the Democratic Unionist Party about more reassurances over the Irish backstop, which it says risks splitting Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.  But the DUP's leader at Westminster leader, Nigel Dodds, told the BBC's Newsnight political editor Nick Watt: "I would stay in the European Union and remain, rather than risk Northern Ireland's position. That's how strongly I feel about the Union." Responding to the vote, European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "In view of the rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement by the House of Commons, I have decided to call a European Council on 10 April." In a statement, the European Commission said the UK would have to "indicate a way forward" by 12 April "for consideration by the European Council". "A 'no-deal' scenario on 12 April is now a likely scenario. The EU has been preparing for this since December 2017 and is now fully prepared for a 'no-deal' scenario at midnight on 12 April. The EU will remain united," the statement said. "The benefits of the withdrawal agreement, including a transition period, will in no circumstances be replicated in a 'no-deal' scenario. Sectoral mini-deals are not an option." 

What happens next?
- Monday, 1 April: MPs hold another set of votes on various Brexit options to see if they can agree on a way forward
- Wednesday, 3 April: Potentially another round of so-called "indicative votes"
- Wednesday, 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
- Friday, 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek/EU does not grant further delay
- 23-26 May: European Parliamentary elections

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "The House has been clear, this deal now has to change.  "There has to be an alternative found. And if the prime minister can't accept that then she must go, not at an indeterminate date in the future but now.  "So that we can decide the future of this country through a general election." Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the European Research Group of Brexiteer Conservatives, said it was time for Mrs May to quit. "This must be the final defeat for Theresa May's deal. It's finished. And we must move on. "It has not passed. It will not pass. I regret to say it is time for Theresa May to follow through on her words and make way so that a new leader can deliver a withdrawal agreement which will be passed by Parliament."

^ The UK was supposed to have left the EU today. Instead the chaos and confusion continues. No wonder the Brits have plans to evacuate the Royal Family and send in the troops while the Government hides in bunkers. ^

Vietnam VA

From the VA.gov:
"Vietnam Veterans"

United States military involvement in the Vietnam War officially began on August 5, 1964; however, the first U.S. casualty in Vietnam occurred on July 8, 1959. Approximately 2.7 million American men and women served in Vietnam. During the war, over 58,000 U.S. military members lost their lives and 153,000 were wounded. There were 766 prisoners of war of which 114 died in captivity. The war was officially ended by Presidential Proclamation on May 7, 1975.

VA Benefits for Vietnam Veterans
Vietnam Veterans may be eligible for a wide-variety of benefits available to all U.S. military Veterans. VA benefits include disability compensation, pension, education and training, health care, home loans, insurance, vocational rehabilitation and employment, and burial. See our Veterans page for an overview of the benefits available to all Veterans.

Disability Compensation for Veterans Exposed to Agent Orange
VA presumes that some disabilities diagnosed in certain Veterans were caused by exposure to Agent Orange during military service.  Learn more about VA health care benefits for Veterans exposed to Agent Orange on the Veterans Health Administration's Agent Orange page. Learn more about VA compensation benefits for Veterans exposed to Agent Orange on the Disability Compensation Agent Orange page.

Children of Veterans with Exposure to Agent Orange
Children of Veterans exposed to Agent Orange who have a birth defect including spina bifida, a congenital birth defect of the spine, and certain other birth defects may be entitled to VA benefits. These include monetary benefits, health care, and vocational rehabilitation services. Learn more about VA compensation benefits for children of Veterans exposed to Agent Orange on the Disability Compensation Birth Defects page.

How to Apply
Generally, Servicemembers, Veterans, and families can apply for VA benefits using one of the methods below.
- Apply online using eBenefits, OR
- Work with an accredited representative or agent, OR
- Go to a VA regional office and have a VA employee assist you. You can find your regional office on our Facility Locator page.

^ Here is some helpful information on how many Americans served in the Vietnam War and on some of the specific Vietnam-related issues the VA can help a veteran with. ^

Vietnam Veterans Day!



March 29th was chosen because it is the day the last United States combat soldier left South Vietnam in 1973.
According to the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA) states, "A Vietnam era veteran is a person who: “served on active duty anywhere in the world for a period of more than 180 days, any part of which occurred between August 5, 1964 and May 7, 1975.” 
2.7 million American men and women actively served in and around Vietnam. During the war, over 58,000 U.S. military members lost their lives and 153,000 were wounded. There were 766 prisoners of war of which 114 died in captivity. 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were Volunteers (ie. not Drafted) and 70% of those killed were Volunteers. 
As of February 2019 approximately 610,000 Americans who served on land in Vietnam and approximately 164,000 Americans who served at sea in waters around Vietnam are alive today.  This covers the time frame between 1954 and 1975 (from the North-South Partition to the Fall of Saigon.) 

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Special Olympics Funding

From USA Today:
"'I have overridden my people': Trump says he will keep Special Olympics funded, undercutting DeVos"

President Donald Trump said he would jettison a proposal to slash funding for the Special Olympics, undercutting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.  "The Special Olympics will be funded. I just told my people I want to fund the Special Olympics," Trump said he left the White House en route to a political rally in Grand Rapids, Mich. "I have overridden my people."  Trump's remarks came after widespread criticism targeted DeVos' budget proposal to eliminate funding for the program, which is designed to help children and adults with disabilities.  DeVos’ proposed $17.6 million cut for the Special Olympics was included in the $4.75 trillion federal budget that President Donald Trump’s administration sent to Congress earlier this month. It’s not just Special Olympics facing the budget ax. Trump seeks dramatic across-the-board spending cuts to domestic programs for the coming fiscal year. An exception: the military, which would get a 5 percent increase under his proposal. “Get rid of the fat, get rid of the waste,” Trump had instructed his Cabinet. DeVos, however, proposed additional funding for a few programs, including charter schools and a tax credit for individuals and companies that donate to scholarships for private schools. DeVos said she had to make some hard decisions after the president demanded across-the-board cuts and has had to defend her cuts to members of Congress, where she's faced days of being grilled.  For DeVos, a supporter of school choice, those decisions meant eliminating federal funding for Special Olympics – a program designed to help children and adults with disabilities – while spending millions more on charter schools. The education secretary explained her rationale by saying the Special Olympics is a private organization – not a federal program – that is better supported by philanthropy. The cuts have not gone into effect yet and don’t have a strong chance of passing in Congress.

^ The Special Olympics deserve to be funded. The recent Special Olympics World Games (which I watched) shows just how important this organization is to the disabled and the non-disabled alike. ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/28/president-trump-restoring-funding-special-olympics/3302983002/

Looking Animals


VA Veteran Abuse

From USA Today:
"Veterans harmed at VA nursing homes in 25 states, inspections find"



At the Veterans Affairs nursing home in Brockton, Massachusetts, a severely impaired veteran with dementia sat trapped in his wheelchair for hours, his right foot stuck between the foot rests. Inspectors watched as staff walked past the struggling man without helping. Veterans moaned in pain without adequate medication at VA nursing homes in Dayton, Ohio, and Augusta, Maine. A unit at the VA nursing home in Lyons, New Jersey, had no functional call system for residents to summon caregivers. Nine months after USA TODAY and The Boston Globe reported veterans received substandard care at many Department of Veterans Affairs nursing homes, newly released inspection reports paint a discouraging picture of the care that veterans have received.  From April through December 2018, inspectors from a private contractor cited 52 out of 99 VA nursing homes for deficiencies that caused “actual harm” to veterans. In three facilities, they found veterans’ health and safety in “immediate jeopardy,” and in eight, inspectors found both veteran "harm" and "jeopardy." The facilities cited for shortfalls that caused harm are in 25 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Harm and jeopardy are standard categories of severity in the industry, but non-VA nursing homes are rarely cited for them. “That is really bad. It’s really bad,” said Richard Mollot, executive director of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, a New York City-based nonprofit advocate of nursing home care improvement. “It should be very rare when there is harm (or) when someone is ... in immediate jeopardy,” he said in an interview, adding it’s difficult to compare VA findings with inspections of non-VA nursing homes because those inspections may not be as rigorous. Inspectors found that staff at more than two dozen VA nursing homes failed to take steps to ensure bedsores healed or new ones didn’t develop. They can occur when frail people are left in the same position for too long. In Cincinnati, one resident had five bedsores in six months, yet when inspectors visited, they found no one moved the man or put cushions under him for hours. “It’s heartbreaking, and you think these are our vets, how can we not be taking care of them?” Mollot said. Bedsores are “almost always preventable and quickly treatable,” he said. “So there’s just no excuse.” In a statement issued with the inspection reports this month, VA officials said residents in their nursing homes are more difficult to care for than residents in private facilities. They said 42 percent of residents last year had conditions related to military service that have left them 50 percent or more disabled. “Overall, VA’s nursing home system compares closely with private-sector nursing homes, though the department on average cares for sicker and more complex patients in its nursing homes than do private facilities,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said. VA spokesman Curt Cashour said Wednesday that non-VA nursing homes also have problems. He said that by posting the VA reports for the first time, "we hope to drive improvements throughout the system."   The inspection results – made public nearly a year after USA TODAY and the Globe disclosed the existence of the reports – reveal for the first time the deficiencies identified during surprise visits by the outside inspector. Inspections can provide veterans and their families important background information on the homes. More than 40,000 elderly and infirm veterans stay in the agency's nursing homes each year

Widespread deficiencies
Many VA nursing homes failed in one of the most fundamental responsibilities – taking steps to prevent and control infection At two out of three VA nursing homes, inspectors found the staffs often didn’t follow simple protocols, such as wearing sterile gowns and gloves when treating residents In Des Moines, Iowa, they found managers didn’t make sure staff adequately cleaned a veteran, who contracted six urinary tract infections in seven months – the last three from E. coli bacteria Residents weren’t properly monitored or were exposed to hazardous conditions at more than 50 VA nursing homes, inspectors concluded Water used for washing hands and bathing was so dangerously hot at nursing homes in Carrollton, Georgia; Martinsburg, West Virginia; and St Cloud, Minnesota, that it could scald residents, particularly those with dementia or other conditions that make them less sensitive to pain or heat Temperatures at the facilities – up to 128 degrees in two cases – were intended to kill Legionella bacteria but were too high to be safe, inspectors said In Bedford, Massachusetts, inspectors concluded veterans were in “immediate jeopardy” because a resident with dementia who was physically unable to hold, light or extinguish a cigarette was allowed to go outside to smoke by himself. And it wasn’t the first time – he previously had returned with burn holes in his clothing and on the seat cushion of his wheelchair In Chillicothe, Ohio, the VA allowed a family to hire a private aide to take care of a resident and didn't provide adequate supervision. Inspectors said the aide nearly allowed the man with Parkinson's disease to fall. The aide was lying on the man's bed looking at a cellphone as the man leaned dangerously forward. He had fallen four times in less than two months, once sustaining a head injury that the aide said required stitches The same aide was supposed to feed the man a semi-liquid diet because he had trouble swallowing, but the aide often fed him fast food. In one instance, the veteran was found eating Styrofoam from fast-food packaging When confronted by inspectors, facility management agreed to immediately stop allowing untrained aides to feed residents Inspectors cited a handful of VA nursing homes, including in Washington, for failing to meet standards of care in as many as 10 key categories, such as treating residents with dignity The VA nursing home in Jackson, Mississippi, performed the worst of all the facilities on that count, with failures cited in 12 areas. Residents suffered in serious pain. A veteran didn’t have a bowel movement for days, but staff didn’t tell doctors until his temperature spiked to more than 100 degrees. Veterans languished without staff-assisted exercise to help them gain or maintain muscle tone In just seven cases, VA nursing homes passed inspections with no identified problems. Those facilities are in Topeka and Wichita, Kansas; Orlando; Houston; Miles City, Montana; Fargo, North Dakota; and New Orleans. When veterans need nursing home care, the VA can place them in agency nursing homes or in other facilities at VA expense. Taxpayers pay $1,125 each night to house a veteran in VA nursing homes. That's far higher than the average $296 each night in private facilities or $174 in state-run nursing homes where the VA pays a portion of the cost, according to agency budget documents VA officials said the rates are not directly comparable because VA nursing home costs include hospital care and "more expensive medical services that just aren't available in most non-VA facilities. The agency told the Government Accountability Office in 2013 that about 40 percent of VA nursing home costs account for "core" services and would be comparable. At that percentage, the current VA core cost would be $450 a night, still 52 percent more than the agency's cost for private placement Despite the sizable public spending on VA nursing homes –  more than $3.6 billion in 2018 – the agency until recently had kept the findings of inspections of its nursing homes confidential USA TODAY and the Globe revealed in June that the VA had long tracked the quality of care at its nursing homes through inspections as well as quality indicators and star ratings Under pressure from the news outlets, the VA pledged to release the inspection reports. That did not happen until this month, when the agency posted the reports for 99 of its nursing homes on its website. The VA said it planned to post the remaining 35 reports by October USA TODAY and the Globe obtained previously confidential quality data and reported  in June that more than 100 VA nursing homes scored worse than other nursing homes in 2017 on a majority of key quality indicators. At more than two-thirds of VA nursing homes, residents were more likely to have serious bedsores, as well as suffer serious pain. The newly released inspection results add depth to those findings and chronicle cases in which individual veterans suffered from poor care

'The resident moaned throughout
One severely impaired veteran with Parkinson’s disease went without adequate pain medication day after day at the VA nursing home in Augusta, Maine, as nursing staff treated a sore at the base of his spine that had penetrated to the bone “The resident moaned throughout the wound care and the moaning increased during wound cleansing and measuring,” noted an inspector who witnessed the episodes in July Inspectors cited the Augusta facility and 28 other VA nursing homes for failing to ensure veterans didn’t suffer from serious pain The issue has been a long-standing problem at VA nursing homes – flagged more than seven years ago by the GAO, which found a high percentage of veterans were in pain Specialists said caregivers should assess and adjust medications or try other methods to make sure residents get relief “There’s very little quality of life”when you're in constant pain, said Robyn Grant, director of public policy and advocacy at the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care. “Veterans have gone through so much, the last thing that they should be facing is relentless pain, especially if it could be mitigated.

^ The word "disgusting" isn't strong enough for what the VA and these employees are doing to these veterans. I can only hope that this investigation results in these horrible people being punished severely and that the veterans start getting the good care they deserve and need. I also hope that when the employees that abused or neglected the veterans are old and in care homes themselves they receive the same kind of "treatment." ^

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/28/va-nursing-home-inspections-find-veterans-harmed-52-facilities/3276087002/


"Luxury" Bones

From the DW:
"Nazi-era mass grave site to become luxury homes in Belarus"

In the Belarusian city of Brest, construction work has unearthed the remains of over 1,000 Jews killed during World War II. But instead of a memorial, the spot will be a high-end apartment complex.  Young soldiers comb through the soil with their gloved hands and with shovels. They pull out blackened bones, skulls, fragments of shoes — and lay them out to be counted. The site opens up like a huge wound in the middle of the city. After around two months of work, the exhumation work here is coming to an end. In total, the special army search battalion has found the remains of 1,190 people, according to authorities in Brest, a Belarusian city on the border to Poland. Builders discovered the first bones in mid-January, when they began to lay the foundations for an apartment block in the historical center of Brest. From December 1941 until October 1942 this district was a Jewish ghetto. When the site was "cleared," Nazi occupiers shot an estimated 16,000 Jews in a forest to the northeast of the city. Thousands more were executed within the confines of the ghetto. "You see the results of this horrible war and of a genocide," the commander of the search battalion, Major Pavel Galetsky, says of the digging work. "History speaks for itself here," he adds. But history seems to say different things to different people. For a long time, it wasn't clear what would happen to the area once all the remains were dug up. Now the mayor's office has confirmed that building work will be restarted as early as this week. The planned apartment complex is a lucrative project: A representative from the construction company told DW that a square meter was selling for $1,250 (€1,110) at the end of last year. That is nearly twice the current average price in the city. Weeks before the exhumation work neared the end, local authorities were already insisting that a modern apartment complex was the right thing for the city center. Alla Kondak, who heads the cultural department at the mayor's office, says that the city doesn't need another memorial. Just around the corner a small marble stone is dedicated to the 34,000 Jews killed in and around Brest during World War II. "There should be a place where people can live well, a nice corner of the city of Brest," Kondak says, explaining that there used to be small, run-down houses on the site. The city authorities and the construction company emphasize that the foundations of the building will not touch the actual spot where the remains were found. According to plans, the grave will be underneath a landscaped courtyard. And there will likely be a memorial plaque on the building, representatives of the mayor's office say. Like many here in the city, Kondak points out that this is far from the first time that remains have been found during construction work. "When the buildings around here were built they also found bones," she says, pointing to an apartment complex next to the building site. A woman from the complex later shouts from the window that the whole city is "built on bones." But to historian Irina Lavrovskaya, the bones tell a different story. "This finding screams out to us to pay the necessary attention to the ground underneath this city," she says. Lavrovskaya has been petitioning to stop construction on the site for months. She suggested a memorial park here instead and says the decision to continue building is "upsetting and painful." Irina grew up just a few streets away from the construction site. The 68-year-old academic is writing a book about medieval Brest, meticulously mapping out whole areas of a city that no longer exist — including the Jewish areas. "People shouldn't be able to live in a place where a mass execution took place. That pain continues to exist," she says. "I see all these historical layers, different eras as a whole. If you don't heal the symptoms of a disease, you will go through it again," she warns. "The same thing keeps happening over and over again. Brest has a long and often painful Jewish history. Before World War II, just over half the population of the city was Jewish. Only a handful of people survived Nazi mass executions. In today's Brest, there isn't even a synagogue. The building was turned into a movie theater by Soviet authorities in 1959. A Jewish cemetery was turned into a sports stadium. But current Belarusian authorities don't have a great track record either. For example, the head of the Brest Jewish community, Regina Simonenko, has been pushing for years to build a memorial out of Jewish gravestones found in Brest during construction in 2014. Today the community rents several basement rooms where some of them get together regularly for the Friday night Shabbat blessing. Regina Simonenko is both passionate and rational about the newly found Jewish remains, which the city plans to rebury soon. "People were shot all over the territory of the [former] ghetto," she says, adjusting her red glasses. "It's probably impossible to make the whole territory into a cemetery." But she also demands a memorial plaque on the apartment complex and wants the Belarusian authorities to stop seeing Jewish Holocaust victims as the responsibility of the Jewish community rather than as "residents of Brest." Irina Lavrovskaya agrees. She thinks that Belarusian authorities haven't learnt the lessons of the past. The country's opposition regularly faces political pressure or repression. Critics have called the country "Europe's last dictatorship." Lavrovskaya herself has always pushed against official narratives — in 1999, she was fired from her university teaching job for her opposition views. The mass grave is a warning to future generations about authoritarian regimes, she says. "The people there were killed because they are part of a certain ethnicity. It was segregation — a separation of our society into different 'sorts.' What will be the next 'sort' picked for destruction? We don’t know." That's why she wants people to discuss history openly — even when it is painful. And she wants the area where the new remains were found to remain open to the public as well. The construction company had planned for a gated community. "I'm not going to lie in front of the bulldozers," Irina laughs darkly. "But I will be checking what happens there."

^ The site should be preserved. I know Belarus (like most of the former Soviet Union) is full of mass graves left by both the Nazis and the Soviets, but each place is sacred and should be respected. ^


https://www.dw.com/en/nazi-era-mass-grave-site-to-become-luxury-homes-in-belarus/a-48081367

Wow Collapses

From the DW:
"Icelandic budget airline WOW ceases operations"

Low cost carrier WOW has grounded all flights indefinitely after entering a final round of talks with investors. Passengers had been advised to seek other means of travel, but many have been left stranded. Iceland's budget airline WOW announced Thursday that it had ceased operations and canceled all flights. It is the latest in a series of low cost operators in Europe to go out of business and has left a number of passengers stranded.

What the airline said

In a statement on their website WOW offered passengers the following advice

- check for available flights with other airlines;
- contact their credit card company to check whether a refund of the ticket cost will be issued.
- Those who bought their ticket from a European travel agent as part of a package tour are protected by the Package Travel Directive.
- Some airlines may offer flights at a reduced rate, what are known as "rescue fares."
- They may also be entitled to compensation from WOW AIR in accordance with European regulation on Air Passenger Rights.

How it came to this
The airline's bankruptcy comes after six months of difficult negotiations to sell the low-cost carrier, first to its main rival and flag-ship carrier Icelandair and later to Indigo Partners, an American company who operate the airline Wizz. "I will never forgive myself for not acting sooner," Mogensen said in a letter to employees Thursday. "WOW was clearly an incredible airline and we were on the path to do amazing things again."

Who is affected? WOW grounded at least six planes in North America that were set to leave late Wednesday from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York and Baltimore. In Europe, planes bound for Reykjavik from seven cities - Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Frankfurt and Copenhagen - did not take off Thursday morning.

Who are WOW? The airline was founded by entrepreneur Skuli Mogensen and began operations in 2012. It's specialty was incredibly cheap flights between North America and Europe. It had flights to airports in cities including Washington, D.C, New York, Paris, London and its Reykjavik hub. WOW's fleet comprised 11 aircraft of different Airbus models. Last year it operated 20 aircraft.

Rash of bankruptcies: There have been a number of low-cost carriers that have gone bankrupt or into receivership over that last year and a half including Germania and Air Berlin from Germany, UK's Monarch Airlines, VLM Airlines in Belgium and Skywork from Switzerland.

^ Something needs to be done because this isn't the first airline in 2019 or 2018 to abruptly shutdown. In 2019: Insel Air, Flybmi, Shaheen Airlines, Germania. In 2018: 15 airlines around the world. Several of these airlines flew between the US/Canada and Europe. The following link has a good list of the airlines that abruptly failed in recent years leaving passengers stranded around the world. https://www.protectmyholiday.com/news-airline-failures.aspx ^

https://www.dw.com/en/icelandic-budget-airline-wow-ceases-operations/a-48092878

Anti-Marine Bride

From Yahoo:
"Bridge Kicks Guests Out Of Wedding For Wearing Marines Uniform"

A bride admitted over the weekend that she recently asked a guest to leave her wedding for arriving in his Marines uniform and all his military medals, claiming the man did it just to upstage her. The bride described the scenario in a post on the Reddit forum “Am I the A******,” in which users ask other users whether they acted inappropriately in a given situation or another party did “I have nothing against anyone in the military but this was a black-tie-optional wedding and frankly it felt very out of place and it seemed like he was just trying to show off,” she wrote. “My wedding had over 300 guests and nobody else felt the need to wear something to make them stand out.” The man was the son of one her husband’s family friends, and other than allegedly hijacking her big day, he acted like a perfect gentleman “as one might expect from a member of the armed forces,” she wrote. But she also implied he was making a spectacle of himself, enticing “a few excited teenage girls” to ask him to take pictures with them, “to which he graciously agreed.” Of course, many other guests were approaching the military man and thanking him for his service, but to the bride, it was too big of a faux pas. “Frankly it just felt like the only reason he wore that was to be in the spotlight and make it about him, which I don’t think you are supposed to do at someone else’s wedding,” she wrote.  “If he wants to wear that to his own wedding then fine, but the whole point of having a dress code at a wedding is so that no one guest will stand out too much. I felt that he should have known this, since the whole point of uniforms in the military is so that you don’t stand out from everyone else!” The anonymous bride closed the letter by saying she “felt bad” about asking the man in the Marine formal uniform to leave, “but it just didn’t feel right for him to be there like that.” When she asked if she was being the a******, commenters answered — many also members of the military — but their responses may come as a surprise. “Army here. Look, I wouldn’t want to wear my ASUs (much less my mess dress) to someone’s wedding. Even if they asked me,” one person wrote. “But that’s because my ASUs feel significantly less formal and awesome than the Marines formal uniform. Theirs actually looks classy and black tie. If I had that as an option, I might be like ‘I should definitely wear this to this fancy wedding.'” Another member of the military wrote, “Wearing formal military wear at formal civilian events is allowed per regulations (Army is AR 670-1, no clue for Marines), but you have to be a special kind of a****** to wear it to a non-military wedding without specific permission of the couple. The reason for this is the same as wearing white to a wedding — this puts you in competition with the bride. He should have dressed in civilian wear, or at very least, checked with the couple getting married.” That person did suggest, however, that the bride went a little too far. “He was rude. No question, but kicking him out of the wedding was a bit much,” the user wrote. “It’s your special day, but you shouldn’t forget that you play dual roles — you are both the host and the one fêted. Don’t forget that former role. You probably should have grimaced and just gone with it along with other faux pas such as Uncle Larry puking in the bushes and cousin Jenny making out with the DJ. With 300 guests, one person in uniform isn’t going to kill your day.” A third person put it simply: “Full on medals, man? To a civilian wedding? Come on. Others came to the Marine’s defense. One wrote, “He probably wore the d**n thing because it’s the formal thing that makes him feel the most awesome — not to steal the spotlight.” Another commented, “If he is young and right out of boot, money isn’t flowing yet for him to rent a tux. But he definitely should have checked with the couple first.” Another commenter put it a little more bluntly, writing, “Over 300 people. Guy is in military formal wear and was very well-mannered. No question you’re an A. An over-dramatic, self-centered A.”

^ Unless the wedding invitation specifically stated a certain dress code (ie. no uniforms, no white other than the bride or casual dress only, etc.) then this bride really is a selfish, arrogant prick. I feel very sorry for her new husband and everyone that knows her. ^

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/bride-kicked-guest-wedding-wearing-marines-uniform-medals-seemed-like-just-trying-show-off-110336380.html

2nd Brexit



"If Brexit was a TV show it would have been cancelled after Season 1."

"I found this really good exercise. It's called Brexit and it will make you lose lots of Pounds - guaranteed."


The Brexit chaos continues.

Optional Campaign

From Reuters:
"Netanyahu: Israel is prepared for broad Gaza campaign - but as final option"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel is prepared to wage a broad military campaign in Gaza but only as a last resort, after a two-day flareup of cross-border fighting less than two weeks before an Israeli election. “All Israelis should know that if a comprehensive campaign is required, we will enter it strong and safe, and after we have exhausted all of the other possibilities,” Netanyahu said after visiting the Gaza frontier and meeting with Israeli commanders.  Security is a major issue for Netanyahu in Israel’s April 9 election. In power for a decade and beset by corruption allegations that he denies, he is facing his strongest electoral challenge from a centrist coalition led by a former general.  Israel launched air strikes and moved troops and armor reinforcements to the Gaza border after a Palestinian rocket attack from the Hamas Islamist-run enclave wounded seven Israelis in a village north of Tel Aviv on Monday.  “We are tightening the security ring around the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said in a speech at a highway dedication in Israel after returning from the border with the territory.  This week’s fighting came ahead of the first anniversary on March 30 of the start of weekly Gaza protests at the frontier. The protests’ organizing committee called for a million-person march to mark the anniversary on Saturday at five locations along the frontier with Israel.  Some 200 Gazans have been killed and thousands wounded by Israeli fire in the past year. One Israeli soldier was killed.  Israel says its use of lethal force is meant to stop attempts to breach the border and launch attacks on its troops and civilians.  The protesters are demanding the right to return to lands Palestinians fled or were forced to leave in Israel during fighting that accompanied its founding in 1948.  After two days of rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli air strikes, an uneasy calm took hold on Wednesday amid Egyptian mediation.  Seven Israelis were injured in Monday’s initial rocket strike in the village of Mishmeret, 120 km (75 miles) north of Gaza. Twelve Palestinians were wounded by Israeli attacks, Gaza health officials said. 

^ Hopefully, Hamas will take this threat seriously and stop attacking Israel. Israel not only makes threat, but if needed they act on those threats and usually come out the winners - at least in the past 70+ years. ^

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-violence/netanyahu-israel-is-prepared-for-broad-gaza-campaign-but-as-final-option-idUSKCN1R9215

Above Freezing

For the first time since October 2018 both our high and low temperature is above 32° F. Today our high will be 55°F and our low will be 37°F.

Banning Symbols

From Reuters:
"Quebec to Ban Public Workers from wearing Religious Symbols"

The Canadian province of Quebec will ban public sector employees from wearing religious symbols during work hours, in legislation introduced on Thursday, a controversial move that critics say targets Muslim women who wear hijabs or other head coverings.  The proposed law sets the province’s right-leaning Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government on a collision course with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who promotes religious freedom, in a federal election year with a Quebec a vital battleground.  “It is unthinkable to me that in a free society we would legitimize discrimination against citizens based on their religion,” Trudeau told reporters in Halifax on Thursday.  The legislation, which is expected to pass, will cover public workers in positions of authority, including teachers, judges and police officers. It exempts current government employees and civil servants in the mainly French-speaking province.  Governments in Quebec have been trying for years to restrict civil servants from wearing overt religious symbols like headscarves and Jewish skullcaps at work in an effort to cement a secular society. A ban on full face coverings on anyone giving or receiving public services in Quebec passed in 2017, but was suspended by a Canadian judge last June and remains in legal limbo. The CAQ was elected late last year in part on pledges to restrict immigration and impose a secular charter. Quebec Premier Francois Legault told reporters on Thursday the bill “represents our values and it’s important.” But condemnation was quick, with Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith calling the bill “an assault on the fundamental rights and freedoms of Quebecers,” while the National Council of Canadians Muslims said it will make Muslims and other minorities “second-class citizens” and overwhelmingly impact Muslim women. Like France, which passed a ban on veils, crosses and other religious symbols in schools in 2004, Quebec has struggled to reconcile its secular identity with a growing Muslim population, many of them North African emigrants. While the Quebec legislation does not single out any religion by name, Muslim headwear have long been a source of public debate in Quebec. Quebec’s minister for the status of women drew condemnation from opposition politicians earlier this year after she said the hijab is a symbol of female oppression.  And a Montreal-area municipal politician faced backlash this weekend after she wrote a Facebook post expressing her anger over being treated by a doctor wearing a hijab, calling the headscarf a symbol of the “Islamification of our country.” To shield the new legislation from legal challenges, the Quebec government is invoking a rarely used clause that enables it to override the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom for up to five years. 

^ Many countries (Muslim and non-Muslim) have similar bans  - full or partial -  Belgium, Austria, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, Tajikistan, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Gabon,  Turkey, Australia and China - and it seems to be working there so Canada and the United States should consider applying the same bans. ^

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-quebec-religion/quebec-to-ban-public-workers-from-wearing-religious-symbols-idUSKCN1R923N

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

Commies Guilty

From the BBC:
"Lithuania convicts Russians of war crimes under Soviet rule"

A court in Lithuania has found a former Soviet defence minister guilty of war crimes over a deadly crackdown aimed at stopping the Baltic state breaking away from the USSR in 1991. Marshal Dmitry Yazov, 94, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. Another 66 former Soviet military and KGB officials were given sentences of between four and 14 years. Only two of them were present in the courtroom. Russia says the trial in Lithuania is politically motivated and illegal.  The assault by security forces on a TV tower in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on 13 January 1991 left 14 civilians dead and hundreds injured. The Baltic republic, which is now an EU state, had declared independence from the Soviet Union in March 1990. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the Soviet president in 1991, has refused to testify.

What did the Lithuanian court rule?
It sentenced Yazov, a Russian national, to 10 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Another high-profile defendant, former KGB officer Mikhail Golovatov, was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison. He is also a Russian citizen. Moscow has refused to extradite the two men. The only two defendants present in the courtroom were Yuriy Mel, a former Soviet tank officer, and Gennady Ivanov, a former Soviet munitions officer. The two Russian nationals were sentenced to seven and four years in prison respectively. Most of the 67 convicted on Wednesday are believed to be residing in Russia and Belarus.

What about the reaction to the court verdict?
"For me, the most important thing today is that those who organised and implemented crimes against civilians have been handed sentences by a court," Robertas Povilaitis, whose father was killed during the assault, told Reuters. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite also praised the court ruling.  "The guilty have been named for killings of people who peacefully protected freedom," she said in a statement.

^ The Soviet Union did not collapse peacefully as many people believe. It was wrecked with violence and wars across the Soviet Republics. The Soviet Government in Moscow often sent the Red Army in to kill and seriously wound anyone who questioned their authority. That was the case in Lithuania and the people who committed those crimes are guilty regardless of whether they live in Lithuania, Russia or any other place. Even Gorbachev is guilty as he was the man who sent in the troops. ^


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47725239

Michel Bacos

From the BBC:
"Entebbe pilot Michel Bacos who stayed with hostages dies"


Michel Bacos, the Air France captain hailed as a hero for refusing to abandon his passengers when Palestinian and German hijackers seized the plane in 1976, has died in France aged 95. The plane, carrying some 260 people from Tel Aviv to Paris, had stopped off in Athens, where the hijackers got on board and demanded it change course. The hostage drama ended six days later at Entebbe airport in Uganda, when Israeli commandos stormed the terminal. Bacos died in the French city of Nice. Awarded France's highest civilian accolade, the Légion d'Honneur, he told the BBC in 2016 that as captain "it would be impossible for me to leave my passengers, unimaginable". The youngest of the Entebbe survivors, Benny Davidson, said Bacos was a role model and had taken a leading position on behalf of all of the hostages. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi said: "Michel was a hero. By bravely refusing to give in to anti-Semitism and barbarity he brought honour to France."

What happened to Air France flight 139?
After leaving Athens on 27 June 1976, the plane was seized by two Palestinians from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two Germans from guerrilla group Revolutionary Cells. They forced Bacos and his crew to fly to Benghazi in Libya.  After refuelling it flew on to Entebbe where the hijackers were joined by at least three more Palestinian militants and Ugandan troops. Uganda's leader, Idi Amin, was on the tarmac to welcome the hijackers. The hijackers demanded the release of 54 militants and a $5m ransom. The passengers were eventually split up. The non-Israelis were flown to Paris while the 94 Israeli passengers were held hostage. Alongside the hostages were the Air France crew of 12.  "I told my crew that we must stay until the end, because that was our tradition, so we cannot accept being freed. All my crew agreed without exception," Bacos told the BBC. Benny Davidson described that moment as "the ultimate decision". "It was very brave to stay with us and tell all his crew 'I made this decision on my behalf and you can choose whatever you want'. All of his crew stayed with him to the last minute," he told the BBC. "Whenever someone needed something, he took a leading position on behalf of the hostages and spoke to the terrorists or the Ugandan authorities." Israeli commandos eventually stormed the terminal on 3 July. Two hostages were killed during the rescue, and Michel Bacos revealed that the hostage-takers opened fire on the group killing a third as the Israeli operation unfolded. "I thought France would try to save us. There were French forces stationed in Africa, closer than Israel, but either way I knew someone would come rescue us," he said in a separate interview with Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Mr Davidson said the pilot's fearless attitude served as an inspiration to all the children caught up in the drama. "He set an example as a role model and how to behave even though all hell is breaking loose around you."

^ Bacos and his crew went above and beyond the call of duty with how they stayed and helped the passengers after the terrorists hijacked the plane. ^


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47719367

Amazon's Initiative

From Disability Scoop:
"Amazon Rolls Out Disability Hiring Initiative"

On one afternoon shift, Michael Howard logged some 15,000 steps pushing a cart around the aisles of an Amazon Prime Now warehouse, gathering groceries, electronics and countless other items for one- and two-hour delivery to customers. “It’s fast-paced,” the 28-year-old Seattle man said. “You walk around. You get a lot of exercise.” Howard is one of scores of Washington workers with disabilities employed directly by Amazon through a partnership with Northwest Center, a Seattle-based disability-services nonprofit. The partnership helped Amazon begin a much broader hiring initiative that over the last two years has resulted in several hundred people with disabilities hired across at least nine states. “I’m grateful to actually have gotten a job,” Howard said during a work break. “It’s just part time, but even still, it’s a good job. … I’m making above minimum wage.” The national unemployment rate for people with disabilities — more than 30 million people 16 and older — is about double the rate of the broader working population. Leaders at Northwest Center, which has worked with Amazon quietly since 2002, think they have hit on a new model with the company that will demonstrate to other businesses the potential in this historically overlooked group of people. “If we can say, ‘Hey, we solved Amazon’s business problem,’ every other employer is going to pay attention,” said Northwest Center CEO Gene Boes. Over a 17-year relationship, Northwest Center has evolved to meet the business needs of Amazon. “The focus is on ability. It’s not on disability. All of these people have talent and ability,” said Boes. “We’re the matchmakers between ability and need. I think that’s what’s helped us thrive at Amazon.” When John Schoettler, Amazon’s top real-estate executive, joined Amazon in 2001, members of his facilities team were having trouble finding dependable people for day-to-day tasks such as hanging coat hooks, moving white boards and readying space for new employees. Schoettler, who served on Northwest Center’s board for six years in the 1990s while an executive at Unico Properties, connected his team with the nonprofit, “and the relationship just started to evolve and grow from there,” he said. In the years since, Northwest Center has provided an expanding portfolio of services to Amazon, growing as the company did. Northwest Center employees — some of whom have documented disabilities, others have a disability they might not disclose, and others with typical abilities — perform janitorial work, staff the front desks of Amazon office buildings, hand out free bananas from the company’s stands and greet visitors to the Spheres, Amazon’s enormous urban terrariums. In 2008, Northwest Center won a contract to assemble Amazon’s door desks, made famous by founder and CEO Jeff Bezos who built the first one in the company’s earliest days. Even as the company has ascended to the top of global commerce, the door desks are standard issue — a symbol of Amazon’s frugality. “They built hundreds of thousands of door desks for us over the years that have been shipped … across the Americas,” Schoettler said. “We have a quirky need and they’re able to help us fulfill that need.” When Amazon was honored at a Northwest Center luncheon in 2015, Schoettler attended and brought colleagues from Amazon’s operations team, which runs the expansive system of warehouses that fulfill customer orders and employ tens of thousands of people across the country. “They had this ‘ah ha’ moment,” Schoettler said. Boes said Amazon told his organization, “We have a really big problem with attrition and retention and absenteeism in our sortation centers,” the Amazon facilities that route packages to various carriers for delivery to customers. Northwest Center began a pilot program to provide job candidates for direct employment with Amazon — a major change in the long-standing relationship, which had been that of a more typical services provider. With Amazon’s help, Northwest Center quickly built a mock-up of an Amazon sortation center work station inside one of its facilities. “It allowed us to bring candidates in and put them through the paces,” Boes said. “It was a four-hour interview. They had to do every task that was required of a sortation facility worker. It wasn’t carve-out work. It was literally the exact same demands, but it gave us the ability to assess the talent.” Would-be Amazon employees also got a better sense of what they would experience on the job, he said. In 2015, 22 people with disabilities were hired for part-time jobs in Amazon’s Kent sortation center as part of the pilot program. Their performance was tracked against the general employee population on retention, safety, productivity, quality and attendance. Amazon is “really forward with metrics,” Boes said, adding that employees provided by Northwest Center were held to the same expectations as other employees. “For me, that’s really important,” Boes said. “I don’t want there to be a break or a concession because I don’t think that’s what moves inclusion forward.” Likewise, Northwest Center employees and those it places with Amazon are paid at least minimum wage. The pilot program employees met or exceeded all of Amazon’s expectations and the program expanded, placing more workers in the sortation centers and in other operations facilities, such as Howard in Prime Now. Later this year, Northwest Center will begin placing people in full-time jobs inside Amazon’s vast fulfillment centers where goods are packed into boxes for shipment. In 2017, according to the nonprofit’s annual report, employees placed at Amazon by Northwest Center chalked up a productivity rate that was 98 percent of the average while achieving 37 percent better quality work than the general population, and with a perfect safety record, compared with a 1.1 percent warehouse incident rate. They also had better attendance. In addition to the interview prep, Northwest Center supports people as they start working at Amazon, providing job coaching, assisting managers in understanding and communicating with them, and helping them obtain an accommodation if necessary. More than 180 people with disabilities have found work with Amazon through Northwest Center since 2015, and the impact is extending beyond Washington. Amazon created its own Alternative Workforce Supplier Program, with Northwest Center’s help, that is replicating the model in several other states through partnerships with other local nonprofit organizations, many of which have been trained by Northwest Center staff. A company spokeswoman said several hundred people with disabilities have been hired in both corporate and operations roles. Even as it welcomes more people with disabilities into its ranks, some workers have sued the company for disability discrimination. A recent case was brought by a Kentucky man who alleged the company violated the Americans with Disabilities Act for failing to accommodate his Crohn’s disease. The revenue Northwest Center earns from Amazon and other businesses that use its services — including Microsoft, Starbucks, UPS and Walgreens — helps fund its other programs, including early in-home interventions, such as speech, feeding or physical therapy, for young children from birth to age 3. Northwest Center also offers inclusive learning — preschools with a mix of children with special needs and typically developing kids — up to age 5. That was the original mission of the organization, founded in 1965 by a group of parents who wanted an alternative for their children to the practice of isolating or institutionalizing people with disabilities. Their advocacy spurred Washington Gov. Dan Evans to request the 1971 Education for All Act, which enshrined the constitutional right of all Washington children to a public education. Federal legislation followed. Today, a major focus at Northwest Center is employment opportunities for people with disabilities. “There are people out there with talent that have no idea that there’s even opportunity,” Boes said. About 19 percent of the 30.1 million people with disabilities participated in the U.S. labor force last year — meaning they had a job or wanted one, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate for people with disabilities has trended steadily downward since 2011, when it was about 15 percent, to 8 percent in 2018. The unemployment rate for the population as a whole was 3.9 percent last year. “There’s a huge gap in the unemployment rate for the average population and people with disabilities, and we don’t want to see a gap,” said Sarah Parsons, director of the Northwest Center program that matches workers to jobs. Partnerships with large companies like Amazon represent the potential to significantly scale up employment in a disability field that typically helps individuals one or two at a time, she said. Schoettler, the Amazon executive, said the company is “quietly super proud” of its long-term relationship with Northwest Center, which he described as “a hybrid of a business need and a philanthropic opportunity.” He likened it to two other high-profile local community partnerships the company has begun in the last several years. One is with FareStart, a culinary training program, restaurant operator and food-service provider that teaches hospitality-industry skills to people who’ve faced barriers to employment. Amazon granted FareStart space and equipment in its buildings for a variety of food-service programs. The other is with Mary’s Place, which provides shelter to women and families experiencing homelessness. Mary’s Place will have a permanent shelter inside one of Amazon’s headquarters buildings opening next year with room for more than 200 people. Schoettler was instrumental in pairing Amazon with Mary’s Place. The company has donated more than $40 million to the two local nonprofits. It also has programs that in recent months supported Seattle’s Alliance for Education, providing kids in need with warm clothes, food and school supplies. At the beginning of the decade, Amazon faced criticism for its relative lack of local philanthropy. And its stepped-up efforts in recent years seemed little noticed by the proponents of the Seattle head tax, who specifically targeted Amazon with an attempt to raise funding for affordable housing and homeless services. The Seattle City Council reversed itself on the tax under pressure from Amazon and other businesses that would have been subject to the tax. Schoettler said Amazon hopes people will view its philanthropic efforts positively. He maintains that the company pursues these initiatives to fulfill needs it sees in its community. “We can’t control the narrative of what a lot of people want to say or think about Amazon,” Schoettler said. “And I don’t believe that that is what motivates in the end. … From my perspective, I like to try to see how far we can spread the blanket to try to help as many people as possible.”

^ Amazon learned what those of us who have worked with the disabled have also learned - that the disabled are some of the best, most hardworking people. I hope this program helps lead to even more disabled people being hired by Amazon and other companies around the country. ^

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2019/03/27/amazon-disability-hiring-initiative/26275/