YELLEN: TOLD CHINESE COUNTERPARTS THAT IF U.S. MOVES AHEAD WITH CURBS ON OUTBOUND INVESTMENT, IT WOULD BE DONE IN TRANSPARENT WAY, WITH RULE-MAKING PROCESS AND VERY NARROWLY TARGETED
Saturday, July 8, 2023
Home health group sues CMS over pay cuts
The National Association for Home Care and Hospice has filed a federal lawsuit against CMS and HHS challenging the validity of a change in Medicare home health payment that reduced rates by 3.9 percent in 2023, with more cuts expected in the coming years.
The group argues that Medicare is required to implement payment model changes in a budget-neutral manner rather than to "inflict rate cuts that have precipitated services limitations or access to care," according to a July 6 news release from the group representing 33,000 home care and hospice organizations.
The group said that since the new payment model began in 2020, over 500,000 fewer Medicare patients have accessed home health services.
The group is seeking a reversal of the rate adjustments in the 2023 rule and requiring Medicare to implement the budget neutrality mandate consistent with the law, according to the release.
Healthcare privacy risks of ChatGPT
Hospitals and health systems whose providers use ChatGPT could be opening themselves up to HIPAA violations and lawsuits if they are not careful with patient data, two health policy experts wrote in JAMA.
Clinicians who employ the artificial intelligence chatbot in their practice are sharing the data with its developer, OpenAI, so they have to be sure they do not input protected health information, according to the July 6 article by Genevieve Kanter, PhD, an associate professor of health policy at Los Angeles-based University of Southern California, and Eric Packel, a healthcare privacy and compliance attorney with law firm BakerHostetler.
"This is harder than it sounds," they wrote. "Transcripts of encounters can be sprinkled with benign comments such as 'Not to worry, Mr. Lincoln. It's just a flesh wound, and we'll fix you right up' that are considered PHI. Casual references to a person’s residence in this context ('How's your new place in Springfield?') are also PHI. Patient names, including nicknames, references to geographic information smaller than a state, and admission and discharge dates, to cite a few examples, must be scrubbed before transcripts can be fed into the chat tool."
The two experts recommended that health systems train staffers on the risks of chatbots, including as part of their annual HIPAA training.
Biden’s word salad explanation of his economic plan kowtows to teamsters
Joe Biden recently tried to explain the meaning of “Bidenomics,” but the word salad offered by our half-coherent president on his economic philosophy was hard to decipher. Good thing you don’t have to listen to Sleepy Joe to understand the concept; you can just talk to some average Americans.
They see Bidenomics as something more sinister — taxes, spending, business-strangulating regulations; stuff that causes sticky inflation. Despite Fed rate hikes, it won’t go away and it makes seemingly strong top-line economic numbers feel recessionary. Biden polls terribly on economic issues for the simple reason that people hate the fact that they have to work harder to put food on the table and fill up their cars with gas.
Bidenomics is also about picking winners and losers in the economy — and putting possibly 30,000 average Americans out of work for the sake of cozying up with the president’s union buddies at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. If you don’t believe me, consider the sorry spectacle surrounding a trucking company named Yellow, and its slow walk into oblivion because Sleepy Joe doesn’t want to piss off a union whose support he needs to shore up as the 2024 election approaches.
The Teamsters and its lefty president, Sean O’Brien, are in battle mode. They’re threatening to go to war with UPS, the unionized package-shipping giant, unless the company makes significant concessions for a new contract. That means 340,000 unionized workers who help deliver 20 million pieces a day could go on strike this month.
Talk about supply-chain problems.
O’Brien is waging a similar and, for my money, more dangerous battle with Yellow. O’Brien is now literally threatening Yellow with extinction by blocking a much-needed restructuring plan that doesn’t eliminate jobs, but does force union drivers to do stuff like load trucks. This trivial concession, the Teamsters are saying, will somehow cannibalize the company’s union workforce, which seems insane unless you consider the union’s and the White House’s broader aims.
Yellow has been around in one form or another since 1924. Its core business is known as the Less Than Truckload, or LTL, which involves transporting multiple smaller loads to different customers. It’s a niche business, about $60 billion in size. It’s also hyper-competitive and, without modernization, an impossible one to compete at.
This is one big reason why Yellow is on the verge of going out of business. It’s been losing money, lots of it. The company will likely be liquidated — tens of thousands of jobs up in smoke — in the coming weeks unless some deal is reached with the Teamsters to reduce costs and modernize its operations.
Yellow believes it can achieve these cost savings without layoffs but it needs the Teamsters to buy into the deal. Again, without a deal the company is toast. Don’t take the company’s word for it; the market is saying as much. Amid the impasse (Yellow just sued the Teamsters to pressure them to the table), shares trade at what’s known as distressed levels — 86 cents and probably heading lower.
Yellow has almost gone out of business several times over the years, most recently during the COVID lockdowns when it received a bailout from the Trump administration to stay afloat. Some people believe it’s just crying wolf to force the union to give back stuff like wage increases it extracted during previous dustups.
Proxy war
But the numbers suggest the company’s bankruptcy fears are real. Meanwhile, evidence is growing that O’Brien is using Yellow as a proxy in his war with a bigger, more lucrative foe, UPS. If he can prove to UPS he is willing to play hardball with Yellow — even killing the company — UPS might cave and agree to union demands on salary and more, industry observers say. A work stoppage won’t put UPS out of business, but the threat of a long strike from a proven, determined enemy would certainly be bad for business given the uncertain economy.
The people at Yellow also believe Sleepy Joe & Co. are partners in O’Brien’s plan. Consider: As a result of the Trump bailout, the Biden Treasury now holds about 30% of the company’s stock and it is owed hundreds of millions in debt. Yellow employs more unionized truckers than any company other than UPS, a key voting demo for Democrats.
Logically, it makes sense for Sleepy Joe and his peeps to tell the Teamsters they need to cut some deal. But after making some half-ass efforts at facilitating a truce, Yellow says it’s been radio silence from the White House on this matter.
It’s easy to see how the political types around Sleepy Joe are in cahoots with the Teamsters because they both have bigger union business to do by crushing the much larger foe in UPS.
It’s all very cynical if true — Yellow isn’t exactly small-fry. If it imploded, 30,000 jobs, 22,000 of which are unionized, would evaporate. These are good, blue-collar jobs, paying $39.95 an hour in salary and benefits, the company tells me.
If that does happen, you can chalk it up to Bidenomics — the one that Sleepy Joe won’t fess up to while stumbling through one of his half-coherent teleprompter-read speeches touting an economy that continues to strangle middle America.
Reps for the Teamsters and the Treasury didn’t return calls for comment.
Cluster bombs not a 'game changing' weapon: analyst
The United States announced on Friday (July 7) that it will send Ukraine cluster munitions - prohibited by more than 100 countries - as part of an $800 million security package, a move Ukraine said would have an "extraordinary psycho-emotional impact" on Russian forces.
"No single weapon is going to produce a victory" said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"But the other one is that these munitions are just very effective, much more effective than regular artillery against certain kinds of targets," he added.
Cluster munitions typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode, known as duds, pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends, prompting human rights groups to condemn their use.
Amazon workers at UK warehouse to strike for three days in July
Nearly 900 Amazon workers at a warehouse in Britain will stage a strike for three days in the coming week over a pay dispute, labour union GMB said on Saturday.
The strike will take place from July 11-13 at Amazon's warehouse in Coventry, for two hours during the morning and two hours in the evening on the three days, GMB said in an emailed statement to Reuters. It coincides with a "Prime Day" sales event the company has announced for July 11-12.
"GMB members in Coventry have time and time again shown that this fight will only end with 15 pounds ($19.25) an hour and union rights," GMB Senior Organiser Rachel Fagan said.
Amazon did not respond to a Reuters request for comment outside business hours.
Last month, the union said that the Coventry warehouse workers had voted for six more months of strikes. The workers also went on strike last month from June 12-14.
Amazon is expected to record about $7 billion in revenue from its Prime Day sales, an increase of 12% from what was disclosed for Prime Day during the third quarter last year, according to JPMorgan.
Strikes have been called in several industries in Britain in recent months, including by nurses, teachers and transportation workers in response to inflationary pressures.
On Thursday, trade union RMT said the staff of the London Underground will strike from July 23-28 in a long-running dispute over pensions, job cuts and working conditions.
Who Is Funding 'Drag Story Hours' At California Public Libraries?
by Orlean Koehle via The Epoch Times,
...continued from Groups Protest at Drag Story Hours in California Part II
On the evening of July 5, about 30 concerned parents and grandparents showed up at the Sonoma County commissioners meeting held at the Rohnert Park Library. About 20 of us spoke and stated why we were so opposed to their sponsoring and paying for the recent four drag story hours held on Fathers’ Day weekend.
The story hours were sponsored and paid for by the Sonoma County Library Commission using our tax dollars to the tune of $500 per hour, thus $2,000 in total.
By attending the meeting, we learned that, for the most part, the 10 commissioners agreed that the drag story hour performances went well and they are proud of themselves for holding them; they are pleased that they were able to “affirm” the LGBT community. They were happy that a total of 322 parents and children attended them.
One commissioner, who is an attorney, was able to attend the story hour held at Petaluma. He borrowed a friend’s 11-year-old child so he could sit in on it. (You had to have a child with you, or you were not allowed in, even as a commissioner.)
He said that there was nothing sexual about the presentation and there were no sexual movements. The storyteller just read her books and led the children in songs and dances. Another commissioner stated that he was pleased that the protests were peaceful on both sides.
The 20 of us who were part of the protests spoke and gave a whole different view. We told of the disrespect shown to us, especially at the Santa Rosa downtown library, where someone from the pro-trans group used a loud mega horn and called us every derogatory name she could think of: bigots, fascists, hateful, fascist grandmothers, etc. Our signs were blocked by big black umbrellas, or large people stood in front of us so no one could see us or our signs.
The commissioners only gave us two minutes each to speak, so I made copies of what I wanted to say and gave them each a copy after I spoke. I spoke briefly about the history and purpose of drag story hours and my concern that many of the people telling stories to our innocent children are anything but good role models for them.
The following is part of the content of the handout that I gave to the commissioners. I had also given it to people at the drag story hour events, but most of the people of the LGBT community refused to take it.
History
According to Wikipedia, the idea for a drag queen story hour was started in San Francisco in 2015 by author Michelle Tea, who identified as “queer.” She came up with the idea after attending children’s library events with her young son and finding them welcoming but not really “affirming” of LGBT families.
Tea wanted a library hour that would be inclusive to LGBT families. Her first event was held at the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco. It featured several drag queens who were all well received.
The idea quickly spread, and Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) chapters formed across the nation and some internationally.
As of February 2020, there were 50-plus official nonprofit chapters, and drag storytellers were holding events at libraries, schools, bookstores, and museums. In October 2022, the name was officially changed to Drag Story Hour (DSH) to be more inclusive and “reflect the diverse cast of storytellers,” since there are both “queen and king” presenters now.
Wikipedia states that DSH aims to “capture the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.”
DSH leaders actually admit that they want children to have “queer role models.”
Attack on the Family
Christopher Rufo, who writes for City Journal, believes the real purpose of DSH and the transgender movement is far more subversive than just creating queer role models. He stated, “The drag queen [or king] might appear as a comic figure, but he/she carries an utterly serious message: the deconstruction of sex, the reconstruction of child sexuality, and the subversion of middle-class family life.”
Not only are many of these “drag queen” or “king” readers also performers in striptease bars and nightclubs (as Vera, our reader, was), some are even pedophiles.
Newsweek reported in 2019 that the drag queen storyteller in Houston, Texas, who had been performing at the public library from 2017–2019, turned out to be a registered sex offender, a pedophile. The National Pulse reported in 2021 that Brette Bloome, the head of the drag queen story hour in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was arrested for multiple possessions of child pornography.
Is that the kind of person you want your child to be around or to someday become?
Notice the choice of books. They all have something to do with transgenderism—to affirm to a small child that the transgender, gay, or lesbian lifestyle is perfectly normal and acceptable. Experts call this “grooming” the child. The more grooming that occurs, and the more exposure to such presentations, the more the child will accept the indoctrination that he or she is receiving.
What effect did our protests and words have on the library commissioners? None at all, it seemed.
We noticed on the agenda that their next story hour will be the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence coming to Guerneville on July 29. This will not only endanger innocent children; it will be a total mockery of Catholic nuns and the Catholic religion. Some of the Catholics in our group of protesters are threatening a lawsuit.
Who Is Funding the Presentations?
Much funding comes from taxpayer dollars. Some of the story hours have been held on military bases, supported by our taxes. Some funds come from public libraries themselves (as in the case of our Sonoma County libraries), who invite the presenters in the spirit of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The funds buy books; some DSH events give books away for free. Of course, all the books are promoting their agenda.
The funds also pay the “queens” and “kings” for their performances and for the training they receive to ensure they can “talk effectively to children and parents about gender identity and drag,” according to Wikipedia.
Funding also comes from big foundations and corporations. Much money comes from wealthy billionaires like George Soros and his Open Society Foundation and from the Warren Buffett Foundation.
Both of these men believe the world is overpopulated and the population must be drastically reduced. What better way than to make sure young people cannot reproduce? They know that transgender children who have had body parts cut off will never be able to have children of their own.
The Federalist reported in 2018 that another big billionaire family that is giving much money to drag story hours and other transgender causes is the Pritzker family. This family created the Hyatt Hotel chain with its leader Jennifer Pritzker, who identifies as transgender. Mr. Pritzker used to be named James and even served in the military. Now as a transgender woman, he is very supportive of transgender causes.
But could it be more because of financial interests than ideological ones? Some of the organizations Mr. Pritzker owns and funds are especially noteworthy, for they are all promoting the rapid induction of transgender ideology into medical, legal, and educational institutions.
Mr. Pritzker owns Squadron Capital, an acquisitions corporation with a focus on medical technology, medical devices, and orthopedic implants; and the Tawani Foundation, a philanthropic organization with grants that focus on gender and human sexuality.
Other wealthy people who have invested a lot of money in the transgender movement are Martine Rothblatt (a male who identifies as transgender and transhumanist), Tim Gill (a gay man), Drummond Pike, Jon Stryker (a gay man), Mark Bonham (a gay man), and Ric Weiland (a deceased gay man whose philanthropy is still LGBT-oriented). Most of these billionaires fund the transgender lobby and organizations through their own organizations, including corporations.
According to the Federalist, many other wealthy donors use other foundations to hide their names—such as the Tides Foundation.
Then there is Big Pharma. Who stands to make the most money if children fall for all the indoctrination that they hear and decide they, too, were born in the wrong body and end up transitioning themselves?
According to PJ Media, Big Pharma companies are also pouring money into the transgender movement because they know they will get that money back with all the puberty blockers and hormones that the transitioning persons will need for the rest of their lives to keep them in their transgendered state.
The transgender business is very lucrative, bringing in lots of money for the hospitals and doctors performing the surgeries, plus the cost of expensive hormones and the cost of counseling.
According to the Daily Wire, it is expected that the money earned will be $5 billion at the end of 2023 and maybe $11 billion in future years.
Concerned Parents
We who protested the story hours are a group of concerned parents and grandparents. Some of us even have children who have suddenly—seemingly out of the blue—decided they identify strongly with the opposite sex and are at various stages in their transitioning.
This is a new phenomenon that has only recently been identified. Researchers are calling it “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD), and it is becoming an epidemic among our most vulnerable youth.
We are horrified at the growing number of young people whose bodies have been disfigured and whose physical and mental health have been destroyed by transitioning, only to discover—too late—that it did little to relieve their dysphoria.
Contrary to popular opinion, data shows that the highest rate of thoughts of suicide is among transgender youth (82 percent) who realize there is no going back—they cannot regrow those body parts that were removed. They will never be able to have children of their own.
Our children are young, naïve, and impressionable. Many of them are experiencing emotional or social difficulties. They are strongly influenced by their peers and by the media, and these sources promote the transgender lifestyle as popular, desirable, and the solution to all of their problems.
And they are being misled by authority figures such as teachers, doctors, counselors, and librarians who rush to “affirm” their chosen gender without ever questioning why.
We concerned parents do not hold any hate for the LGBT community. We just love our children and do not want them indoctrinated into making decisions at an early age that can harm them for the rest of their lives.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/who-funding-drag-story-hours-california-public-libraries
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