House scraps Border Bill…
House Speaker John Boehner cancelled the vote on the legislation designed to help alleviate some of the issues caused by the current border crisis. Among agreements that could not be reached were the amount of requested funding the President said was needed to deal with crisis and changes to the 2008 Child Trafficking law….
More than 57,500 unaccompanied children and teenagers have been apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally since October, overwhelming a system already plagued by backlogs and in need of significant resources. President Barack Obama requested $3.7 billion to deal with the crisis, and Senate Democrats proposed a $2.7 billion package. House Republicans introduced a bill to approve just a fraction of that sum — with the possibility of appropriating more funds later — with conditions many Democrats oppose, such as changing a 2008 law so unaccompanied minors from countries other than Mexico and Canada can be deported more quickly and sending the National Guard to the border.
The issue over the 2008 law, in particular, became a flashpoint in the debate. While the White House has voiced support for changing the law to allow for speedier deportations, most Democrats in Congress have voiced vehement opposition. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the bill an “unjust and inhumane proposal,” and Democratic members were urged to oppose it.
Statement issue by House Republican leadership…
This situation shows the intense concern within our conference – and among the American people – about the need to ensure the security of our borders and the president’s refusal to faithfully execute our laws. There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders and ensure these children are returned swiftly and safely to their countries.
Huh, Mr. Speaker? Are you suggesting the President use an executive order?
“Senator Reid agrees with House Republican leaders’ statement that President Obama has the authority to take steps on immigration reform on his own,” Jentleson (Reid’s aid) said. “He’s glad Republicans have come around and hopes this means they’ll be dropping their frivolous lawsuit against the President, instead of continuing to waste the American people’s time and money.”
House Republicans resurrected their bill to address the crisis at the U.S-Mexico border late on Thursday, and they are delaying a planned five-week recess in an attempt to pass the revived bill before Congress leaves town for its August recess.
House GOP leaders led a conference meeting Thursday afternoon in which the decision was made to stay at least one extra day in Washington. House Republicans are planning to meet at a 9 a.m. conference. However, plans could change at any minute. The latest move followed a chaotic day on Capitol Hill where House leaders abruptly postponed a scheduled vote on the bill and then pulled it from the day’s schedule.
According to House Republican sources, House leadership heard from a number of dissatisfied members who said it was imperative to pass something before recess…
Fewer uninsured patients benefit hospitals…
Who’d a thunk? Bloomberg is reporting that the drop in the number of uninsured patients has benefited hospital’s bottom line and has helped to slow down the rise of cost of healthcare…
HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA), the largest for-profit hospital chain, yesterday raised its forecast and reported a 6.6 percent drop in uninsured patients at its 165 hospitals, a reduction that grows to 48 percent in four states that expanded Medicaid, a top initiative of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. WellPoint Inc. (WLP), which made the biggest commitment of any publicly traded insurer to the Obamacare markets, raised its guidance today after handily beating analyst estimates for the quarter on rising membership linked to the overhaul…
About 8 million Americans signed up for private plans offered through the health law’s insurance exchanges by April, and another 6 million were added to Medicaid, the state-federal program for low-income people, according to the Obama administration.
The proportion of the U.S. population without insurance has fallen 3.7 percentage points to 13.4 percent since the end of the 2013, according to Gallup Inc., the lowest rate since the firm began surveys of coverage in 2008.
“We’re now halfway through the first year of expanded coverage under the Affordable Care Act and, so far, our experience has been very positive,” William Carpenter, LifePoint’s chairman and chief executive officer, said in a July 25 conference call. The company operates 100 hospitals, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Medicare has been strengthened as well…
Medicare’s financial stability has been strengthened by the Affordable Care Act and other forces that have been subduing health-care spending, according to a new official forecast that says the fund covering the program’s hospital costs will remain solvent until 2030 — four years later than expected a year ago…
The trustees’ forecast said that the trust fund that pays for hospital care — Medicare Part A — has been strengthened significantly, with the date when it is predicted to start running short of money extended by 14 years since the Affordable Care Act was enacted in 2010. The report also predicted that the insurance premiums that older Americans pay for the portion of Medicare that covers doctors’ visits and other outpatient care would probably remain the same for a third year in a row.
Panhandle Slim… Art for Folk…
Language School writer fired for writing about homophones…
Seriously, Tim Torkildson was fired for this…
A social media specialist for a Utah language school that teaches English to non-native speakers says he was fired for writing a blog post about homophones—words that sound the same, but carry different meanings—because his boss was afraid readers would think it was about “gay sex.”
It seems too ridiculous to believe, but Torkildson’s former employer confirmed the incident of homophonia actually happened…
Torkildson disagrees. He wrote that homophones are “one of the first subjects tackled when teaching ESL,” and said his piece about them was very straightforward. The Tribune points out the Nomen blog published another post on the topic in 2011, apparently without incident.
Torklinson recalls this incident in his personal blog…
A homophone, in case you do not know, is a word that has a different meaning for each different spelling, but always sounds the same; such as “be”, “bee”, and “Bea”. There are hundreds of these in the English language, and it is one of the first subjects tackled when teaching ESL. It is a subject that has been taught and discussed with absolutely no controversy for well over a hundred years.
Until now . . .
This week I was fired for writing a blog about homophones for an educational website.
“I’m letting you go because I can’t trust you” said Clarke Woodger, my boss and the owner of Nomen Global Language Center. “This blog about homophones was the last straw. Now our school is going to be associated with homosexuality.”
I said nothing, stunned into silence.
“I had to look up the word” he continued, “because I didn’t know what the hell you were talking about. We don’t teach this kind of advanced stuff to our students, and it’s extremely inappropriate. Can you have your desk cleaned out by eleven this morning? I’ll have your check ready.”
Good Lord, that boss is a real maroon… just can’t make this stuff up…
Lunch time open thread
http://youtu.be/etXAm-OylQQ
I watched this talk by Israeli peace activist Miko Peled last night, and it was maybe the first thing I’ve seen in a long time that gave me some hope for the horrible situation in Israel. It’s long — I suggest you put it on and listen to it as you go about your business, because it is well worth the time:
Miko Peled was born in Jersusalem into a famous and influential Israeli Zionist family. His father was a famous General in the Israeli Army, of which Miko also served his time. When Miko’s niece was killed by Palestinian suicide bombers, you may have expected the family to put Palestinians at fault, but surprisingly they blamed the state of Israel, and their violent torturing and persecution for driving people to such sadness that they would take their own lives.
Through his father’s deep knowledge of the Israeli war of terror, together with his own research, Miko Peled ruins the myths surrounding the Israel and Palestine situation, and delivers a truth so damning that many Jews and Israel supporters will not be able to bear it. He reveals facts such as the original expelled Jews are not the ones returning, and they are not their descendants either, covers the double standards regarding the right of return, which doesn’t apply to Palestinians, and dispels the myth that there has been a conflict for ages by producing proof that it was peaceful up until 1947 when Israel launched their illegal attacks.
A helping hand
Watch the whole thing, it’s nice:
Deportations halted at Artesia, NM processing center…
Deportation of immigrant families has been temporarily halted at a detention center in Artesia, NM due to one contracting chickenpox earlier this week…
ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (Reuters) – U.S. border authorities have suspended the processing of undocumented immigrants at a center in New Mexico after one of the detainees was diagnosed with chicken pox, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Wednesday.
The case was discovered earlier this week at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, where more than 600 people are being held for processing after entering the United States illegally, said ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen.
“The individual is being treated by medical professionals and the necessary precautions are being taken to protect the other detainees at the center,” Christensen said.
The decision to suspend processing was taken immediately after the illness came to light, she added.
The center in Artesia began receiving immigrants earlier this month during a surge of arrivals across the southern U.S. border, many of them youths from Central America.
The inflow put pressure on border and customs authorities in Texas, leading the federal government to transport many of the immigrants to centers such as the one in Artesia for processing.
In some areas, plans to house the new arrivals have prompted street protests by critics who accuse the Obama administration of failing to secure the border.
Christensen said ICE was not releasing the age or gender of the chicken pox patient in Artesia, but added the individual had been separated from the other detainees at the facility, which is also home to the Border Patrol Academy.
On admission to such centers, the spokeswoman added, all detainees are evaluated by medical personnel for infectious diseases, uncontrolled mental disorders, or any other condition that could deteriorate if not immediately cared for.
No date has been set for processing to resume, she said.
Morning open thread
Good news! The NLRB has ruled that McDonald’s employees work for McDonald’s, and not for independent small businesses. This will make it a lot easier to organize a union:
For decades the giant fast-food company McDonald’s has been using a gimmick, pretending that its local outlets are independent “small businesses” and that the larger McDonald’s company and brand has nothing to do with personnel and other policies of these outlets. This has allowed the company to remain above liability when the outlets steal the wages of employees, as well as making it much more difficult to form a union that negotiates with the larger chain.
The NLRB has now stated that McDonald’s has substantial power over the working conditions of the people working in these local outlets, and has a great deal of influence over the business operations of its franchisees. This leaves individual franchise operators without much leeway over working conditions. Therefore, the NLRB considers the larger McDonald’s to jointly be an employer of workers at these franchises for the purposes of NLRB rules.
Seen any other good news out there? Share in the comments.
Just one of the guys
Jenny Lewis: