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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
September 20, 2019
Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a question for the critics who think she should have stepped down during President Obama’s administration:
The Supreme Court justice and “liberal lion” defended her 26 years serving on the highest court in the country with NPR’s Nina Totenberg at a NYC event on Wednesday.
“It has been suggested by more than one commentator, including some law professors, that I should have stepped down during President Obama’s second term,” said Ginsburg, 86, as reported by CNBC. “When that suggestion is made, I ask the question: Who do you think that the President could nominate that could get through the Republican Senate? Who you would prefer on the court than me?”
Plus, work gives the Notorious RBG life. She recently finished three weeks of radiation therapy in August for a tumor on her pancreas. She also had surgery in December for another cancer found on her lungs.
“This is my fourth cancer bout, and I found each time that when I am active I am much better than when I am just lying about feeling sorry for myself,” said Ginsburg. “The necessity to get up and go is stimulating. And somehow, all these appearances I’ve had since the end of August, whatever my temporary disability is, it stops, and I’m OK for the event.”
snip
Ruth Bader Ginsburg reveals why she didn't retire during Obama's term
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ruth-bader-ginsburg-reveals-why-she-didnt-retire-during-obamas-term-2019-09-19Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a question for the critics who think she should have stepped down during President Obama’s administration:
The Supreme Court justice and “liberal lion” defended her 26 years serving on the highest court in the country with NPR’s Nina Totenberg at a NYC event on Wednesday.
“It has been suggested by more than one commentator, including some law professors, that I should have stepped down during President Obama’s second term,” said Ginsburg, 86, as reported by CNBC. “When that suggestion is made, I ask the question: Who do you think that the President could nominate that could get through the Republican Senate? Who you would prefer on the court than me?”
Plus, work gives the Notorious RBG life. She recently finished three weeks of radiation therapy in August for a tumor on her pancreas. She also had surgery in December for another cancer found on her lungs.
“This is my fourth cancer bout, and I found each time that when I am active I am much better than when I am just lying about feeling sorry for myself,” said Ginsburg. “The necessity to get up and go is stimulating. And somehow, all these appearances I’ve had since the end of August, whatever my temporary disability is, it stops, and I’m OK for the event.”
snip
September 19, 2019
Exactly one year before Kentuckians will decide whether to reelect Mitch McConnell, they face a governor’s election in which the incumbent, Republican Matt Bevin, faces a challenge from Democratic state Attorney General Andy Beshear. According to Morning Consult, Bevin is the most unpopular governor in the nation. Campbell Robertson explained why.
Quite the charmer, isn’t he?
The state of Kentucky shares some things in common with its neighbor, West Virginia. The population is more than 80 percent white, and the Republicanization of southern states that followed the passage of civil rights legislation is not quite complete.
snip
In a Close Governor's Race (Kentucky 2019), a GOP Incumbent Resorts to Racism
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2019/09/18/in-a-close-governors-race-bevin-resorts-to-racism/Exactly one year before Kentuckians will decide whether to reelect Mitch McConnell, they face a governor’s election in which the incumbent, Republican Matt Bevin, faces a challenge from Democratic state Attorney General Andy Beshear. According to Morning Consult, Bevin is the most unpopular governor in the nation. Campbell Robertson explained why.
He has tangled with journalists, union representatives and Democrats, but he has been startlingly harsh on less typical targets — like public school teachers. After thousands of educators walked out last year in protest of budget cuts and proposed changes to teacher pensions, Mr. Bevin accused some who picketed a state senator’s business of having a “thug mentality” and called others “selfish” and “ignorant.” He blamed those involved in the walkouts for hypothetical poisonings and sexual assaults as well as a very real shooting.
Quite the charmer, isn’t he?
The state of Kentucky shares some things in common with its neighbor, West Virginia. The population is more than 80 percent white, and the Republicanization of southern states that followed the passage of civil rights legislation is not quite complete.
The current era of all-or-nothing partisanship is an awkward fit for Kentucky. It would be easy to take the state these days for an unquestioned stronghold for Republicans, given their supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature and the fact that Republicans hold all but one of the state’s seats in Congress. But the thoroughness of the Republican takeover was recent; registered Democrats still outnumber Republicans in the state and in even some of the strongest pro-Trump counties, the rural county courthouses remain all-Democrat shops. As in many Southern, or at least Southern-adjacent, states, the Democratic label is fine for the county clerk but quickly loses its luster the higher the elected office.
snip
September 18, 2019
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters Wednesday that presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is "not taking my guns away from me."
Manchin told a Wall Street Journal reporter that the former Texas representative did not speak for all Democrats when vowing to complete mandatory buybacks for certain high-powered rifles.
"Beto's one human being," Manchin said, according to a Journal reporter. "He gave his own opinion, OK? I think it was very harmful to make it look like all the Democrats. I can tell you one thing: Beto O'Rourke's not taking my guns away from me. You tell Beto that OK?"
Manchin's comments follow O'Rourke's statements on gun control during the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday, when the candidate said, "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47." O'Rourke has made his support of stricter gun control a centerpiece of his campaign following a shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people.
snip
Manchin: 'Beto O'Rourke is not taking my guns away from me'
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/462019-manchin-beto-orourke-is-not-taking-my-guns-away-from-meSen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters Wednesday that presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is "not taking my guns away from me."
Manchin told a Wall Street Journal reporter that the former Texas representative did not speak for all Democrats when vowing to complete mandatory buybacks for certain high-powered rifles.
"Beto's one human being," Manchin said, according to a Journal reporter. "He gave his own opinion, OK? I think it was very harmful to make it look like all the Democrats. I can tell you one thing: Beto O'Rourke's not taking my guns away from me. You tell Beto that OK?"
Manchin's comments follow O'Rourke's statements on gun control during the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday, when the candidate said, "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47." O'Rourke has made his support of stricter gun control a centerpiece of his campaign following a shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people.
snip
September 17, 2019
Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) said Monday that the U.S. may need to use military force against Iran if intelligence reports determine Tehran was behind recent attacks on two Saudi oil refineries.
“This may well be the thing that calls for military action against Iran if that’s what the intelligence supports,” Coons said Monday on “Fox & Friends.” Coons said it “seems credible” that Iran is responsible for Saturday's attacks, arguing that the Houthis — the Yemeni rebels supported by Iran — don’t have the “sort of advanced drones that carried out” the strikes.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strikes, but U.S. officials have blamed Iran. Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org criticized Coons's remarks about possible military action, calling the comments “reckless.”
“Senator Coons going on Fox and giving ammunition to Trump administration war hawks who are trying to push the U.S. into a costly, avoidable war with Iran is shameful and beyond dangerous,” MoveOn campaign director Justin Krebs said in a statement.
https://twitter.com/MoveOn/status/1173632208973848576
snip
Video:
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/sen-chris-coons-saudi-oil-attack-may-call-for-military-action-against-iran/
https://twitter.com/danpfeiffer/status/1173593475473756161
Dem. Senator (Coons): Attacks on Saudi oil refineries 'may call for military action against Iran'
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/461582-democratic-senator-attacks-on-saudi-oil-refineries-may-call-for-military-actionSen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) said Monday that the U.S. may need to use military force against Iran if intelligence reports determine Tehran was behind recent attacks on two Saudi oil refineries.
“This may well be the thing that calls for military action against Iran if that’s what the intelligence supports,” Coons said Monday on “Fox & Friends.” Coons said it “seems credible” that Iran is responsible for Saturday's attacks, arguing that the Houthis — the Yemeni rebels supported by Iran — don’t have the “sort of advanced drones that carried out” the strikes.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strikes, but U.S. officials have blamed Iran. Liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org criticized Coons's remarks about possible military action, calling the comments “reckless.”
“Senator Coons going on Fox and giving ammunition to Trump administration war hawks who are trying to push the U.S. into a costly, avoidable war with Iran is shameful and beyond dangerous,” MoveOn campaign director Justin Krebs said in a statement.
https://twitter.com/MoveOn/status/1173632208973848576
snip
Video:
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/sen-chris-coons-saudi-oil-attack-may-call-for-military-action-against-iran/
https://twitter.com/danpfeiffer/status/1173593475473756161
September 16, 2019
Located just outside of Perth, Australia, Robeson Architects’ Triangle House is positioned on an unforgiving 180 sq.m. plot sandwiched between a busy street and a 1.5m sewer easement. Despite the challenging site, the architect is the property’s owner and saw the potential in the land, wanting to prove that even the smallest, least likely plots can be successfully and affordably developed into interesting and spacious buildings.
Triangle House Proves That No Plot Is Too Small
https://www.opumo.com/magazine/triangle-house/Located just outside of Perth, Australia, Robeson Architects’ Triangle House is positioned on an unforgiving 180 sq.m. plot sandwiched between a busy street and a 1.5m sewer easement. Despite the challenging site, the architect is the property’s owner and saw the potential in the land, wanting to prove that even the smallest, least likely plots can be successfully and affordably developed into interesting and spacious buildings.
September 13, 2019
Last month, Olivia Jade Giannulli took to Instagram to respond to rumors in the press about her famous family. In the Aug. 11 post, the teen vlogger mugs for the camera, face heavily made up and both middle fingers in the air. The photo’s provocative caption reads, “@dailymail @starmagazine @people @perezhilton @everyothermediaoutlet #close #source #says.”
Olivia Jade takes aim at the tabloids by directly tagging them and implying that their sources are not to be trusted. It was a ballsy, aggressive statement for the influencer’s second Instagram post in the wake of the college admissions bribery scandal that has been a fixture in the media since news of the FBI-dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” first broke in March (the first Instagram post since the incident was a birthday tribute to her mom, Lori Loughlin).
snip
Olivia Jade and Bella Giannulli, Lori Loughlin's Sketchy Daughters, Are Back on Instagram.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/olivia-jade-and-bella-giannulli-lori-laughlins-sketchy-daughters-are-back-on-instagram-god-help-us-allLast month, Olivia Jade Giannulli took to Instagram to respond to rumors in the press about her famous family. In the Aug. 11 post, the teen vlogger mugs for the camera, face heavily made up and both middle fingers in the air. The photo’s provocative caption reads, “@dailymail @starmagazine @people @perezhilton @everyothermediaoutlet #close #source #says.”
Olivia Jade takes aim at the tabloids by directly tagging them and implying that their sources are not to be trusted. It was a ballsy, aggressive statement for the influencer’s second Instagram post in the wake of the college admissions bribery scandal that has been a fixture in the media since news of the FBI-dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” first broke in March (the first Instagram post since the incident was a birthday tribute to her mom, Lori Loughlin).
snip
September 13, 2019
We are handing the Rethugs so much material for adverts with these hit-job interviews. I hope they stop.
Democrats veer into a Trump-style "many people are saying" about Biden's mental fitness.
https://twitter.com/zbyronwolf/status/1172364704272068610We are handing the Rethugs so much material for adverts with these hit-job interviews. I hope they stop.
September 13, 2019
FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES REPORT
Are the world's richest countries family friendly?
Policy in the OECD and EU
https://www.unicef-irc.org/family-friendly
Family-friendly policies matter because they help children to get a better start in life and help parents to find the right balance between their commitments at work and at home. Yet even some of the world’s richest countries fail to offer comprehensive solutions to all families. This report focuses on two key policies: childcare leave for parents and early childhood education and care for preschool children. It reviews these policies in the 41 high- and middle-income countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or the European Union (EU), using the most recent comparable data on hand. The analysis includes national breastfeeding rates and policies as well as the quality of preschool education, where comparable indicators are available. It excludes other elements of family policy, such as child benefits or birth grants, to limit the scope of the report to issues that concern the work–family balance.
FIGURE 1: League Table – Indicators of national family-friendly policies, 2016
snip
Podcast
UNICEF Office of Research- Innocenti
The Research Behind Ranking Family-friendly Policies
https://soundcloud.com/unicef-office-of-research/the-research-behind-ranking-family-friendly-policies
How ‘family-friendly’ are European countries?
The Nordic countries, with their strong public spheres, are more supportive than those which elevate the family as a private institution.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/how-family-friendly-are-european-countries
Bringing up children can be seen as the sole responsibility of families or as a role shared and supported by society as a whole—countries can be more or less ‘family-friendly’. The period from a child’s birth until the start of school is critical, as parents balance time caring for their child with the demands of paid work. Public policy can promote child wellbeing and support parents in this period through such provisions as:
Sweden, Iceland and Norway provide the best overall packages of parental leave and early childcare, while Switzerland, Greece and Cyprus offer the least. But there is room for improvement in all countries, compared with international guidelines and standards.
Parental leave
Job-protected maternity leave helps women to maintain their earnings and attachment to the labour market immediately before and after giving birth. The International Labour Organization recommends that countries provide maternity benefits for 14 weeks and a range of other protections for women in paid work. Most of the 31 European countries exceed the 14-week target in their nationwide statutory entitlements. But only 16 have ratified the full range of protections in the ILO Maternity Protection Convention.
Leave reserved for fathers can promote a more equitable distribution of care in the home and help fathers bond with their children. In some countries, such as Iceland, paternity leave is understood as a child’s right to access to the second parent. Paternity leave is however much less widely available: there is no entitlement in five countries and less than one week (full-rate equivalent) in five others.
snip
UNICEF : US dead last out of 41 EU and OECD nations in key family friendly/childcare measurements
This does not even count the first 2 years of the Trump regime, so I can only imagine it is even worse now.FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES REPORT
Are the world's richest countries family friendly?
Policy in the OECD and EU
https://www.unicef-irc.org/family-friendly
Family-friendly policies matter because they help children to get a better start in life and help parents to find the right balance between their commitments at work and at home. Yet even some of the world’s richest countries fail to offer comprehensive solutions to all families. This report focuses on two key policies: childcare leave for parents and early childhood education and care for preschool children. It reviews these policies in the 41 high- and middle-income countries that are part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) or the European Union (EU), using the most recent comparable data on hand. The analysis includes national breastfeeding rates and policies as well as the quality of preschool education, where comparable indicators are available. It excludes other elements of family policy, such as child benefits or birth grants, to limit the scope of the report to issues that concern the work–family balance.
FIGURE 1: League Table – Indicators of national family-friendly policies, 2016
snip
Podcast
UNICEF Office of Research- Innocenti
The Research Behind Ranking Family-friendly Policies
https://soundcloud.com/unicef-office-of-research/the-research-behind-ranking-family-friendly-policies
How ‘family-friendly’ are European countries?
The Nordic countries, with their strong public spheres, are more supportive than those which elevate the family as a private institution.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/how-family-friendly-are-european-countries
Bringing up children can be seen as the sole responsibility of families or as a role shared and supported by society as a whole—countries can be more or less ‘family-friendly’. The period from a child’s birth until the start of school is critical, as parents balance time caring for their child with the demands of paid work. Public policy can promote child wellbeing and support parents in this period through such provisions as:
rights to paid parental leave;
availability of affordable, high-quality pre-school facilities;
promotion of, and support for, breastfeeding.
Sweden, Iceland and Norway provide the best overall packages of parental leave and early childcare, while Switzerland, Greece and Cyprus offer the least. But there is room for improvement in all countries, compared with international guidelines and standards.
Parental leave
Job-protected maternity leave helps women to maintain their earnings and attachment to the labour market immediately before and after giving birth. The International Labour Organization recommends that countries provide maternity benefits for 14 weeks and a range of other protections for women in paid work. Most of the 31 European countries exceed the 14-week target in their nationwide statutory entitlements. But only 16 have ratified the full range of protections in the ILO Maternity Protection Convention.
Leave reserved for fathers can promote a more equitable distribution of care in the home and help fathers bond with their children. In some countries, such as Iceland, paternity leave is understood as a child’s right to access to the second parent. Paternity leave is however much less widely available: there is no entitlement in five countries and less than one week (full-rate equivalent) in five others.
snip
September 13, 2019
Something getting lost in this Medicare-for-all exchange (30 minutes and counting) is that the insurance industry considers every Democratic proposal a threat to the private market. In its TV and digital ads, the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future warns that expanding Medicare in any way would ruin what Americans are comfortable with.
“The politicians may call it Medicare-for-all, Medicare buy-in, or the public option, but they mean the same thing: Higher taxes and higher premiums,” say actors in the industry group’s most recent spots.
Ironically, one of Joe Biden’s answers on the subject explained the industry’s thinking: His suggestion that the 50 million people who, on average, lose their insurance plans due to employer decisions (or layoffs) would be able to quickly buy into the public option. That’s the moral hazard the industry is talking about — if 50 million people jumped into the new government system every year, private insurance would go into a death spiral, unable to compete.
snip
WaPo Real Time Debate Fact Check : The insurance industry hates the public option, too
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/live-updates/election-2020/third-democratic-debate-analysis-and-fact-checking/the-insurance-industry-hates-the-public-option-too/Something getting lost in this Medicare-for-all exchange (30 minutes and counting) is that the insurance industry considers every Democratic proposal a threat to the private market. In its TV and digital ads, the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future warns that expanding Medicare in any way would ruin what Americans are comfortable with.
“The politicians may call it Medicare-for-all, Medicare buy-in, or the public option, but they mean the same thing: Higher taxes and higher premiums,” say actors in the industry group’s most recent spots.
Ironically, one of Joe Biden’s answers on the subject explained the industry’s thinking: His suggestion that the 50 million people who, on average, lose their insurance plans due to employer decisions (or layoffs) would be able to quickly buy into the public option. That’s the moral hazard the industry is talking about — if 50 million people jumped into the new government system every year, private insurance would go into a death spiral, unable to compete.
snip
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: London
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Current location: Stockholm, Sweden
Member since: Sun Jul 1, 2018, 07:25 PM
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