https://www.mediaite.com/ .. hem-any-money/


Far-right former Trump adviser turned podcast host, Steve Bannon, told his audience Monday “whatever you do, don’t send them any money” – referring to the Republican National Committee.

Bannon, who ran former President Donald TrumpÂ’s 2016 presidential campaign and worked briefly in the White House, appeared to express concern over the RNC reelecting Ronna McDaniel as chair on Friday






“Just take a deep breath,” he added on his War Room podcast, which is very influential with the MAGA base.

“There’s going to be a program and a plan for all of it. Just just take a deep breath, what happened in Maine, what happened in Arizona are quite important to taking back these state parties, the precinct strategy, all of it,” Bannon concluded.


Ahead of the 2022 midterm elections Bannon boosted far-right candidates for local office across the country and vowed a take over of local government to help overturn the 2020 election results


Over the weekend, Bannon discussed McDanielÂ’s reelection as RNC with Mike Lindell, who ran against McDaniels, and former GOP candidate for governor of Arizona Kari Lake.

Bannon asked conspiracy theorist Lindell if he accepted the 111-of-168 vote win by McDaniel.

“There’s no machines!” Lindell replied, saying he did accept the results. Lake, who is still refusing to accept her loss, also said she accepted McDaniel’s victory, but declared she hoped McDaniel had “heard the message from the grassroots,” because “we can’t save this country unless we listen to the grassroots.”

Bannon, however, was less enthusiastic about McDaniel’s win accusing her of having “abandoned” Lake in her “historic f*ght.”

US still has the worst, most expensive health care of any high-income country

A woman watches white flags on the National Mall on September 18, 2021, in Washington, DC. Over 660,000 white flags were installed here to honor Americans who have lost their lives to COVID-19.

Americans spend an exorbitant amount of money on health care and have for years. As a country, the US spends more on health care than any other high-income country in the world—on the basis of both per-person costs and a share of gross domestic product. Yet, you wouldn't know it from looking at major health metrics in years past; the US has relatively abysmal health. And, if anything, the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated the US health care system's failures relative to its peers, according to a new analysis by the Commonwealth Fund.



Compared with other high-income peers, the US has the shortest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of avoidable deaths, the highest rate of newborn deaths, the highest rate of maternal deaths, the highest rate of adults with multiple chronic conditions, and the highest rate of obesity, the new analysis found.

"Americans are living shorter, less healthy lives because our health system is not working as well as it could be," Munira Gunja, lead author of the analysis and a senior researcher for The Commonwealth FundÂ’s International Program in Health Policy and Practice Innovation, said in a press statement. "To catch up with other high-income countries, the administration and Congress would have to expand access to health care, act aggressively to control costs, and invest in health equity and social services we know can lead to a healthier population."

Dying young

Overall, the analysis paints a grim picture of how much catching up the US has to do. In terms of life expectancy, the US has trailed its peers for years but took a nosedive during the pandemic, while other countries fared better. In 2020, the average life expectancy at birth in the US was 77 years, three years lower than the average for high-income countries. The next lowest life expectancy among high-income countries was from the UK, which had a 2020 life expectancy at birth of 80.4 years.

Provisional data for 2021 suggests US life expectancy fell nearly a full year further, from 77.0 years to 76.1 years. Relatedly, the US had the highest rate of deaths from COVID-19 in 2020 compared with its high-income peers and was among the lowest of its peers in rates of COVID-19 vaccination.

In a particularly shameful set of statistics, the US continues to have the highest infant and maternal mortality rates of any other high-income country. In 2020, there were 5.4 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the US, while the average among high-income countries was 4.1 infant deaths. In Norway, there were 1.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. The health care system is also failing mothers. In 2020, there were 24 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, about 2.5 times higher than the average for high-income countries. The country with the next highest maternal mortality rate was New Zealand with 13.6 per 100,000 live births.



With many US states now rapidly turning back the clock on reproductive rights and maternity care, the US's appallingly high rates of infant and maternal deaths are expected to worsen.

Beyond pregnancy, Americans are dying from other conditions that are treatable or preventable at a rate far higher than those seen in all other high-income countries. In 2020, 336 US deaths per 100,000 people were avoidable, while the average among high-income countries was just 225 deaths per 100,000. The rate of avoidable deaths has been rising in the US since 2015, the analysis notes.

Sicker

That tracks with the finding that Americans are more likely than their high-income-country peers to have multiple chronic conditions. In 2020, 30.4 percent of US adults said that they had previously been diagnosed with two or more chronic conditions in their life. Among other high-income countries, no more than a quarter of adults reported having two or more chronic conditions. America's high obesity rate may play into that discrepancy. The US has a higher obesity rate than any other high-income country. In fact, it's nearly two times higher than the average of its peers.

While Americans are dying young from avoidable conditions, they're also spending an exorbitant amount on health care. The US spent 17.8 percent of its GDP on health care in 2020, nearly twice as much as the average of 9.6 percent among high-income countries. On a per-person basis, it outspent its peers, paying nearly $12,000 per person via government insurance programs, private insurance coverage, and out-of-pocket costs. The country that came the closest to US spending was Germany, with a little over $7,000 per-person spending.

The data hints that these high prices are discouraging Americans from getting the care they need, potentially feeding into the country's high rates of chronic conditions and avoidable deaths. In the analysis, the US had among the lowest rate of doctor visits, with just four per year. The average was 5.7. The US also has one of the lowest rates of practicing physicians per 1,000 people—2.6 per 1,000, while the average is 3.7.

The US was the only high-income country in the analysis that does not guarantee health coverage. People in most other high-income countries have guaranteed health coverage with the option of buying supplemental private coverage.

 https://arstechnica.com/s .. ncome-country/

 https://www.presstv.ir/De .. ockheed-Martin

 https://arstechnica.com/s .. ncome-country/

CNN
—
Colombian authorities have charged an American citizen over the alleged murder of a female DJ in Colombia whose body was discovered inside a suitcase at the bottom of a garbage container.

John Poulos was arrested and detained at the Tocumen International Airport in Panama on Tuesday while trying to leave for Istanbul, the Panamanian National Police said.

During a televised court hearing in Bogota, lasting more than five hours, Poulos spoke through a translator to deny the charges, which relate to the death of Valentina Trespalacios, 23, a well-known electronic music DJ.

TrespalaciosÂ’ body was found by a recycler in the early hours of January 22 in a garbage container in the southwest of Bogota.

In a previous hearing on Thursday, the court heard details of a relationship between Trespalacios and Poulos.

PoulosÂ’s defense alleged that there were flaws in his arrest and that due process had not been respected.

The Colombian ProsecutorÂ’s Office and police say they have more than 300 hours of security footage in which Poulos and Trespalacios are seen in the days before her body was found.

Another hearing is set for January 31.




 https://www.cnn.com/2023/ .. hnk/index.html

A Chicago-based prosecutor announced Monday she would be dropping state s*x crime charges against singer R. Kelly. Her decision comes after a pair of federal convictions ensures the singer will likely be behind bars for decades.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said the indictments would be dropped on Tuesday. The charges were in relation to accusations that Kelly s*xually abused at least four people, per The a*sociated Press.

"Mr. Kelly is potentially looking at the possibility of never walking out of prison again for the crimes that he's committed," Foxx said in regard to Kelly's federal convictions. "While today's cases are no longer being pursued, we believe justice has been served."

However, Foxx added that she understood her decision to drop the state charges "may be disappointing" to those who had accused him.

Kelly was first arrested on a 13-count federal indictment in New York in 2019. The charges against him included enticement of a minor, child pr0nography, s*xual abuse, racketeering, and s*x trafficking.

He was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 30 years in prison for s*x trafficking. He was then found guilty last year on separate federal charges filed in Chicago and is set to be sentenced for those on Feb. 23. He was also facing state charges in Minnesota for similar crimes.

Owing to his 30-year sentence, and more prison time on the horizon, ABC Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams said he didn't expect R. Kelly "to ever walk free again."

However, Lanita Carter, who says she was a*saulted by Kelly, told AP she was "extremely disappointed" with Foxx's decision to drop the charges.

"Justice has been denied for me," Carter said.

 https://theweek.com/cultu .. ams-last-of-us

HARVEY, Ill. — The food service director for an impoverished south suburban school district is accused of stealing $1.5M worth of food – mainly chicken wings – according to court documents reviewed by WGN Investigates.

Vera Liddell, 66, worked for Harvey School District 152 for more than a decade, according to a LinkedIn account a*sociated with her name.



Massive fraud began at the height of COVID during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school,” reads a proffer presented at Liddell’s bond hearing. “Even though the children were learning remotely, the school district continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.”

Court records accuse Liddell of ordering more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the school district’s food provider and then picking-up the order in a district cargo van.

“The food was never brought to the school or provided to the students,” reads the proffer.

District funds were used to pay for the food, according to prosecutors, who did not reveal what became of the chicken wings.

The scheme was uncovered by the district’s business manager during a routine mid-year audit. The manager found the district was $300,000 over its annual food service budget despite only being halfway through the school year, according to prosecutors.

“She discovered individual invoices signed by Liddell for massive quantities of chicken wings, an item that was never served to students because they contain bones,” prosecutors said.

Court records say employees of the district’s food provider, Gordon Food Service, were all familiar with the defendant “due to the massive amount of chicken wings she would purchase.”

The case was investigated by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office and Liddell was charged with theft. She’s in custody at the Cook County Jail with a $150,000 bond.

Harvey School District 152’s interim superintendent Lela Bridges said she has only been on the job since last week. She told WGN she was aware of the charges but had no comment due to the ongoing investigation.

The district consists of five schools. Records indicate the district’s total enrollment is 1,600 children with more than 80% of students qualifying as “low income.”


Source:  https://wgntv.com/news/wg .. chicken-wings/

Why Black Families Are Leaving New York, and What It Means for the City​
Black children in particular are disappearing from the city, and many families point to one reason: Raising children here has become too expensive.

By Troy Closson and Nicole Hong
Jan. 31, 2023Updated 10:32 a.m. ET

Athenia Rodney is a product of the upward mobility New York City once promised Black Americans. She grew up in mostly Black neighborhoods in Brooklyn, graduated from public schools and attended a liberal arts college on a full scholarship. She went on to start her own event-planning business in the city.

But as Ms. RodneyÂ’s own family grew, she found herself living in a cramped one-bedroom rental, where her three children shared a bunk bed in the living room. It was hard to get them into programs that exposed them to green spaces or swim classes. As she scrolled through friendsÂ’ social media posts showing off trampolines in spacious backyards in Georgia, the solution became clearer: Leave.

Last summer, the family bought a five-bedroom home in Snellville, Ga.

“I felt like it became increasingly difficult to raise a family in New York,” Ms. Rodney said.
The Rodneys are part of an exodus of Black residents from New York City. From 2010 to 2020, a decade during which the cityÂ’s population showed a surprising increase led by a surge in Asian and Hispanic residents, the number of Black residents decreased. The decline mirrored a national trend of younger Black professionals, middle-class families and retirees leaving cities in the Northeast and Midwest for the South.


The cityÂ’s Black population has declined by nearly 200,000 people in the past two decades, or about 9 percent. Now, about one in five residents are non-Hispanic Black, compared with one in four in 2000, according to the latest census data.

The decline is starkest among the youngest New Yorkers: The number of Black children and teenagers living in the city fell more than 19 percent from 2010 to 2020. And the decline is continuing, school enrollment data suggests. Schools have lost children in all demographic groups, but the loss of Black children has been much steeper as families have left and as the birthrate among Black women has decreased.

The factors propelling families like the Rodneys out of the city are myriad, including concerns about school quality, a desire to be closer to relatives and tight urban living conditions. But many of those interviewed for this article pointed to one main cause: the ever-increasing cost of raising a family in New York.

Harlem lost 5,000 Black residents between 2010 and 2020, according to census data. During the same time, 9,000 white people moved in.Credit...Hilary Swift for The New York Times

Black families drawn to opportunities in places where jobs and housing are more plentiful are finding new chances to spread out and build wealth. But the exodus could transform the fabric of New York, even as Black political power surges. It has alarmed Black leaders, as well as economists who point to labor shortages in industries like nursing where Black workers have traditionally been overrepresented.

The filmmaker Spike Lee, a longtime New York booster, said he worries about the city becoming more expensive and less accessible to people of color in particular, who have contributed so much to the cityÂ’s culture, from the birth of hip hop in the South Bronx to artists like Alvin Ailey and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2 .. dents-nyc.html

Only the MOB pleads the fifth

3 rappers have been missing for 10 days since their scheduled performance was canceled, Detroit police say



(CNN) —
Multiple Michigan agencies are investigating what happened to three local rappers who went missing 10 days ago after a performance at a club was canceled, Detroit police said Monday.

Armani Kelly, 28, Dante Wicker, 31 and Montoya Givens, 31, who are all a*sociates, were supposed to perform at a club in Detroit on January 21, according to Michael McGinnis, commander of major crimes.

“It’s our understanding that the performance got canceled, and from there – we just have a whole lot of unanswered questions that we are trying to find out,” McGinnis said. All of their phones “stopped having activity” by the early morning hours of January 22, McGinnis added.

“The mother of one of the victims, the next day, made a report of the missing person. That mother became very proactive in the investigation and started searching for her vehicle through OnStar,” McGinnis said.

The mom found the car in Warren, Michigan, McGinnis said, where authorities recovered the car on January 23. By January 27, information about KellyÂ’s disappearance was spreading throughout the media, McGinnis said.

“Once that happens, other family members of the other missings come to realize that that’s a friend of their loved ones and they haven’t seen them either, so then they both get reported missing,” McGinnis said.

“We want to find them and get them home to their loved ones,” he said. “Really think about the victims’ families in this case, they have no answers. They don’t know where their loved one is.

“We need help,” McGinnis said. “If somebody knows something, we’re asking please call and share that information with us.”

KellyÂ’s mother, Lorrie Kemp, told CNN affiliate WXYZ she has posted flyers all around Lansing, where Kelly grew up, in an attempt to find her son.

“I don’t want to be on ‘Dateline’ in 20 years to find his body,” she said.

 https://www.cnn.com/2023/ .. ing/index.html

I thought I was trippin for a second yesterday, but I thought about this whole heart condition vaccine sh*t and I definitely remember them saying that Covid gives people heart condition before the vaccine was even distributed in 2020. It’s was just under the radar in comparison to how many people needed ventilators for their lungs. And everybody was like “nah, it’s these 5g towers. Ain’t no way a virus causes heart attacks.”

Fast forward like 6 months later when the vaccine rolled out, now you got people dropping from heart conditions and those same people went from “it’s 5g!” Straight to “no, now it’s the vaccine!”

But regardless, people, mainly athletes were getting myocarditis and heart conditions before the vaccine was even rolled out.


Here’s the link to a news article from September 2020, like 6-8 months before the vaccine, about how 1/3 of all Covid infected athletes had myocarditis:

 https://www.usnews.com/ne .. th-myocarditis

Under a newly signed law in Florida, teachers across the state (and at all grade levels) are required to have all classroom books approved by a “certified media specialist.” Now, teachers in some districts are being instructed to remove entire libraries of books or cover them up so they can’t be accessed by students because they haven’t yet been approved.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that teachers at all grade levels in the Manatee County School District have been instructed by the districtÂ’s chief of staff to remove any unapproved books, for fear that any teachers found in violation of the book-banning law could face felony charges.

The move is in response to Florida governor Ron DeSantis signing HB 1467, which says that all school reading material must be vetted and approved by an appointed education media specialist with the appropriate state certification. The media specialist is tasked with ensuring all classroom books are “free of pr0nography” and “appropriate for the age level and group.”

The law also states that the Board of Education must train these media specialists to censor any books or other reading materials with “unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination.”

Teachers told the Herald-Tribune that whether they agree with the law or not, they now have to cut off their studentsÂ’ access to books.

“If you have a lot of books like I do, probably several hundred, it is not practical to run all of them through (the vetting process) so we have to cover them up,” Don Falls, a history teacher in the Manatee School District, told reporters. “It is not only ridiculous but a very scary attack on fundamental rights”.

Jean Faulk, a history and journalism teacher at Bayshore High, said all thatÂ’s left on her classroom shelves are reference books. She was even forced to remove books on democracy and writings by John Adams, simply because they havenÂ’t been vetted yet.

“This is totally a political move by the governor,” she said. “It has nothing to do with the students.”

 https://tinybeans.com/flo .. a*sroom-books/

The party of freedom

Actor Cindy Williams, the optimistic Shirley of ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ dies at 75






Cindy Williams, the dynamic actress known best for playing the bubbly Shirley Feeney on the beloved sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” has died, according to a statement from her family, provided to CNN by a representative. She was 75.

Williams died after a short illness, said the statement from her children Zak and Emily Hudson, provided to CNN by family spokesperson and Williams’ personal a*sistant Liz Cranis.

“The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,” their statement read. “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

Williams had credits spanning six decades, but it was her role on “Happy Days” spin-off “Laverne & Shirley” that endeared her to millions and made her a household name.

On the series, she starred opposite the late Penny Marshall as one half of a dynamic friend duo whose adventures powered the show, which ran for eight seasons from 1976-1983.

Work and acclaim
Born in Van Nuys, California, Williams’ interest in acting throughout high school led her to studying theater at Los Angeles City College, according to a biography provided by her family. Some of Williams’ first professional acting credits include a three-episode arc on the 1969 series “Room 222” and appearances on other shows, like “Nanny and the Professor” and “Love, American Style,” in the early 1970’s.

Williams went on to become a prolific working television and film actor, appearing in dozens of titles. But it was after she first appeared as Shirley Feeney on “Happy Days” in 1975 that her career began to take shape.

The lighthearted “Laverne & Shirley” proved to be a ratings hit and earned six Golden Globe nominations, including two for best comedy series and one for Williams in the best actress in a comedy category.

Williams also appeared in several standout films. Most notably, she starred in George Lucas’ 1973 film “American Graffiti,” which earned Williams a British Academy Film Awards nomination for best supporting actress. The film, about a group of friends who spend one wild night together before leaving for college, went on to be nominated for five Oscars, including best picture, at the 1974 Academy Awards. Williams also had roles in acclaimed films “Travels with My Aunt” by George Cukor’ in 1972 and “The Conversation” from director Francis Ford Coppola in 1974.

Williams was also an accomplished stage actress, with a long list of credits. Last year, she took her one-woman show, “Me, Myself and Shirley,” where she shared stories from throughout her career, on a national tour. She had at least one series of dates scheduled for later this year.

Source:  https://www.cnn.com/2023/ .. ead/index.html

Of course, RIP to her and Penny Marshall who passed on 2018 also at the age of 75.

 https://leginfo.legislatu .. 202120220SB960



Wonder why CA feels this is necessary?

Makes no sense
 https://www.niddk.nih.gov .. -revisedv2.jpg it's not as if the younger Hispanic population is exactly fit for the job

Someone needs to check the lineage of this hybrid looking charlatan.

This isn't about immigration reform. Black people make 3 percent of the California population. Residency is the least of our concern. This bill can set a precedent for the federal bill.


 https://www.dailymail.co. .. ot-enough.html