Thursday, March 09, 2017

March 8, 2017
By L.A. Times

The hundreds of immigrant detainees (click here) housed in Orange County’s largest detention facility have been served foul, slimy lunch meat; use moldy showers; and contend with inoperable phones, according to the findings of an internal inspection issued Wednesday.

Some detainees said they had to rinse their acrid lunch meat off with water before eating it, according to the report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

The review, which was based on an unannounced inspection in October and interviews with detainees and staff members, found that the poor conditions violate standards set by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In addition to unsafe food handling, the inspectors found that high- and low-risk detainees were housed together and that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s method for imposing solitary confinement for discipline violated ICE standards....

Business must be good for Wall Street.


June 1, 2011

A private management company (click here) will house up to 1,300 immigration detainees in Southern California after an agreement between the company, the city of Adelanto and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Wednesday.

The city approached ICE to express interest in housing a detention facility and in turn negotiated with Florida-based GEO Group Inc. to house the facility, said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

The company purchased the 650-bed facility from Adelanto last year for about $28 million and invested $22 million to renovate and retrofit it, according to company officials. A 650-bed expansion on adjacent land is expected to be complete by the end of 2012. 

At full occupancy, GEO is expected to generate about $42 million in yearly revenue with a 75% occupancy guarantee, company officials said.

The agreement “marks another important step in the agency’s long-term effort to reform the immigration detention system,” ICE officials said in a statement. 

ICE also is currently in negotiations with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to extend an existing contract at the Mira Loma Detention Facility in Lancaster and is in discussions with the Orange County Sheriff's Department to expand its detention contract with that agency.



GEO $43.62
0.54
1.25%



Hutchinson, Kansas 
March 9, 2017

As of Wednesday night, (click here) the Highlands fire in Reno County was 85 percent contained. Firefighters from across the state were on hand to douse the flames - a fact not lost on Hutchinson fire crews.
"This is the worst fire I have ever seen," said Chris Ledbetter, a Hutchinson firefighter.
Ledbetter never thought that he would see a fire as bad as the Highlands fire in his own backyard. "It was just all hands on deck," he explained.  "Trying to get in there and do the best we could, which proved to be a difficult task."
It is a difficult task, because wildfires are not fought like structure fires. The best tools for it can be found in most garages.
"The number-one tool being used out there right now is a chainsaw," said Ledbetter as he held a 25-pound saw. They help fire crews get to fires in areas of heavy brush. Pitchforks help clear brush and shovels help douse flames. 
The Hutchinson Fire Department knew it could put out the fire on their own. But support from people like Caleb Johnson with the Junction City Fire Department has been invaluable....

There is devastation currently in 23 of Kansas' counties.

March 7, 2017
By Michael Pearce
...“It’s horrible, just horrible. I left the house with (60) shells and used them all,” Konrade said. He said he probably killed 40 cows, “and in a lot of places there weren’t even very many left alive to put down.”


Konrade, (click here) an accountant by trade, had spent the day helping a local Clark County rancher destroy cattle maimed in the wildfire that he says burned almost the entire county.
“All in all, I’d guess I seen between 300 and 400 dead cattle,” he said. “It was just a matter of putting animals out of their misery, doing them a favor. They were going to die anyway.
“It’s horrible out there, the things I saw today. The fire was so big, and so much of Clark County burned, I don’t see how anything lived through it.”...
March 7, 2017
By the Journal Star editorial board

Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon (click here) apparently wants state employees to do homework for people who want to demonize the refugees that church groups and other good-hearted Nebraskans are trying to help.

In the name of transparency, Brewer has introduced a bill that would require the state to collect information and compile it into a report.

But Brewer wants to collect only negative information -- nothing positive about the contributions that refugees make to Nebraska, and nothing about the horrors they are fleeing. And he wants to make that cherry-picked negative information easily accessible on a state website.

If senators think that state resources ought to be used for that purpose, they ought to at least require the legislation to undergo major revision so that it presents information in an even-handed fashion.

Brewer’s bill (LB505) would require resettlement agencies to report the number, age, gender, family status and nation of origin for all refugees settled in Nebraska.

Apparently Brewer didn’t do his own homework, because much of that information is already available....

Sponsorship of refugees into the USA has been ongoing for decades. I don't expect much will stop it and that goes for immigrants that are undocumented as well. There are churches that actively look for and advertise for any undocumented that needs sanctuary.


Rev. Emad, Shireen, Samer, and Steve with members of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Omaha.

POBLO International (click here) is seeking volunteers to assist at our International Friendship Centers at Atonement Lutheran Church in Dearborn, MI and St. Florian Convent in Hamtramck, MI. In particular, we are looking for volunteer teachers/assistants for our sewing classes and English classes....

This is Iceland, but, there are churches in the USA just as obvious regarding immigrants.


August 24, 2016

JUDY WOODRUFF: (click here) But, first: Anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise in Europe, and it has spread to Iceland, one of the more unusual destinations for refugees from the war in Syria.
But many people on this island nation in the middle of the North Atlantic welcome the prospect of their traditionally white, Christian country becoming more multicultural.
Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports from the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik.

MALCOLM BRABANT, Special Correspondent: Outside Iceland’s tiny Parliament, pro-refugee supporters outnumber and encircle a group from a new party called the Icelandic National Front, which objects to recent legislation relaxing rules on immigration.
One of their standard-bearers is nurse Maria Magnusdottir.

MARIA MAGNUSDOTTIR, Icelandic National Front: We do not want people that are not adapting to our culture, like, for example, Muslims. I’m not saying that all Muslims are bad people. But, unfortunately, they are not adapting to cultures. So, like, in Europe, we can see two cultures in most of those countries. And that is what we are afraid of....

Continued from previous entry...

SEC. 102. COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER PROGRAM

          Effective as if included in the enactment of the Medicare Access and 
CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Public Law 114-10, 129 Stat. 87),
Paragraph (1) of section 221 (a) of such Act is amended by inserting", and an additional $422,000,000 for fiscal year 2017" after "2017".

Now the Republicans are getting into Medicare Access and CHIP reauthorization.

OTHER LAW WILL APPEAR IN BLACK.

shown Here:

Public Law No: 114-10 (04/16/2015) (click here)
[114th Congress Public Law 10]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

[[Page 129 STAT. 87]]

Public Law 114-10
114th Congress

                                              An Act

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to repeal the Medicare 
sustainable growth rate and strengthen Medicare access by improving
physician payments and making other improvements, to reauthorize the 
Children's Health Insurance Program, and for other
purposes. <<NOTE: Apr. 16, 2015 - [H.R. 2]>> 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, <<NOTE: Medicare 
Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015. 42 USC 1305 note.>> 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS...

Here it is.

EC. 221. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS, THE 
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS, AND TEACHING HEALTH CENTERS.
     (a) Funding for Community Health Centers and the National Health Service 
          Corps, --
         (1) Community health centers, -- Section 10503(b)(1)(E) of the
          Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 254b-2(b)(1)(E) 
          is amended by striking "for fiscal year 2015" and inserting "for each
          of fiscal years 2015 through 2017". ", and an additional $422,000,000 
          for fiscal year 2017".

Section 102 of the American Health Care Act adds $422 million to cover fiscal
year 2017 for costs incurred by the ACA. I am curious where these numbers 
come from and why. See, I am skeptical as to where all the rescinded funding 
has gone, including the taxes which I assume will be addressed later.


January 30, 2017
By Rachel Roubein

A little-discussed side effect (click here) of the ObamaCare repeal effort could be losing gains that community health centers — a lifeline for the nation’s most vulnerable — have made.

Republicans’ vow to gut President Obama’s signature domestic achievement 
has thrust all facets of the health system into uncertainty — and community 
health centers are no different. Nearly 25 million people receive care through 
the nonprofit groups, and in interviews, nearly a dozen state community 
health associations expressed concerns over whether advances under the 
law would be reversed.

“Talking points are wonderful, but we live in a reality here that talking points 
don't help,” Alan Pruhs, executive director of the Association for Utah 
Community Health, told The Hill Extra. “So we're really going to be vigilant 
and watching what the replacement strategies look like and how that's going 
to affect the populations that we’re focused on serving.”...

The next section of The American Health Care Act is Section 103. Federal 
payments to states. It is an exceptionally long section, so it will be covered
tomorrow.

Thank you for your interest.
SEC. 101. THE PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND

     (a) In General subsection (b) of section 4002 of The Patient Protection 

      SEC. 4002 ø42 U.S.C. 300u–11¿. PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH
FUND.

(b) FUNDING.—There are hereby authorized to be appropriated,
and appropriated, to the Fund, out of any monies in the Treasury
not otherwise appropriated—
(1) for fiscal year 2010, $500,000,000;
(2) for fiscal year 2011, $750,000,000;
(3) for fiscal year 2012, $1,000,000,000;
(4) for fiscal year 2013, $1,250,000,000;
(5) for fiscal year 2014, $1,500,000,000; and
(6) for fiscal year 2015, and each fiscal year thereafter,
$2,000,000,000.

(c) USE OF FUND.—

and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. - 11), as amended by section 5009 of the 

SEC. 5009. AMENDMENT TO THE PREVENTION AND PUBLIC HEALTH FUND.
Section 4002(b) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act (42 U.S.C. 300u–11(b)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘$1,250,000,000’’ ($1,000,000,000) and
inserting ‘‘$900,000,000’’;
(2) in paragraph (4) , by striking ‘‘$1,500,000,000’’ ($1,250,000,000 and
inserting ‘‘$1,000,000,000’’; and
(3) by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the following:
‘‘(5) for fiscal year 2022, $1,500,000,000;
‘‘(6) for fiscal year 2023, $1,000,000,000;
‘‘(7) for fiscal year 2024, $1,700,000,000; and
‘‘(8) for fiscal year 2025 and each fiscal year thereafter,

$2,000,000,000.’’...

I believe paragraph 6 from the ACA is removed with the above amounts taking
it's place.

21st Century Cures Act, is amended 

(1) in paragraph 2 by adding "add" at the end

Paragraph 2 of The 21st Century Cures Act already has "and" at the end.


(2) in paragraph 3 

    (A) by striking each of the fiscal years 2018 and 2019 and inserting 2018
          and

The 21st Century Cures Act does not have any fiscal years listed. The ACA has 
fiscal years listed. The fiscal year of paragraph 3 of the ACA reads: 

(3) for fiscal year 2012, $1,000,000,000;

I am looking at both these documents, the ACA and The 21st Century Cures Act
and they do not read as the American Health Care Act states. The Republican
document has inaccuracies in it. It is flawed.

FOX News doesn't have an illegal document on their website, does it? (click here)
It is not Fake News, is it?

    (B) By striking the semicolon at the end and inserting a period; and 

(3) by striking paragraphs (4) through (8)

 have to assume what is meant is that the fiscal year 2019 as mentioned in 
The American Health Care Act will end with the funding in 2018 with a
period at the end. Then removing paragraphs 3 through 8 of The 21st Century
Cures Act. Four through eight of the ACA deals with far earlier years.

The American Health Care Act is highly flawed in it's verbiage.

    (b) RESCISSION OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS - Of the funds made available
         by such section 4002, the unobligated balance at the end of fiscal year
         2018 is rescinded.

Section 4002 refers to the ACA and some funding through 2018 which is unclear 
from the ACA law at this point as referred to in the American Health Care Act
will end any further funding of the ACA.

Okay, so the funding is suppose to stop, I suppose at the end of the fiscal year
2018. Fine. What happens to the taxes that pay for that funding are they 
rescinded too? OR. Are the Republicans maintaining the tax structure in the ACA 
to pay for their budgets?

continued in next entry...

I think Trump is absolutely correct, this needs to be a 2018 issue!

March 8, 2017
By Jim Acosta

Washington (CNN) - In an Oval Office meeting (click here) featuring several leaders of conservative groups already lining up against the House Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Donald Trump revealed his plan in the event the GOP effort fails: Allow Obamcare to fail and let Democrats take the blame, sources at the gathering told CNN.

During the hour-long meeting, sources said Trump chastised the groups -- including Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks and the Tea Party Patriots -- for calling the House GOP proposal "Obamacare lite," warning the tea party activists, "you are helping the other side."

In true Trump fashion, the President jumped into salesman mode, sources at the meeting said.

"This is going to be great. You're going to make it even greater," the President told the group. "I'm going to work hard to get it done."

The meeting between Trump and the conservative leaders also included White House senior advisers Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway and Marc Short, as well as other top West Wing staff.

Sources at the meeting said White House aides showed some openness to one aspect of the House GOP plan that has become an irritant to tea party aligned groups: the provision that pushes back an overhaul of the expansion Obamacare Medicaid funding until 2020.

The conservative groups at the meeting asked that the date be moved up to January 1, 2018. White House aides said they were "open to discussing" it, sources said...