September 11, 2018
By Harriet Agerholm
MPs are to hold an emergency debate (click here) on the desperate situation of civilians in Yemen, as a new poll suggested a majority of Britons opposed arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom is the British government’s largest arms customer, with the UK licensing more than £4.6bn worth of arms to the country since the beginning of its bombing campaign in Yemen in March 2015, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT).
A poll by YouGov for Save the Children and Avaaz published on Tuesday found that 13 per cent of the British public supported the sale of weapons to the Saudis, while 63 per cent opposed them. It also indicated less than one in six people (14%) think that the UK’s role in supporting the Saudi/UAE-led coalition reflects British values and interests....
Yemen is a difficult topic. On one hand the Houthis have been aggressive in attacks into Saudi Arabia and of course then enters the issue of Iran. Iran backs the Houthis and while the Brits are tired of the killing and suffering of the Yemeni people, including their children, the fighting has not stopped.
Currently, Saudi Arabia is fighting the Yemeni rebels to maintain a port city Hodeidah, a Yemen port on the Red Sea. (click here) Of course, once the port is in the hands of Saudi Arabia it is difficult for the rebels to receive their munitions.
The peace talks collapsed. I think it was simply an excuse. I can't see the parties interested in peace actually killing the delegation to Switzerland. Iran needs to speak to the parties from Yemen and make it clear their safety is understood. If Iran can arm rebels it can also back the delegates to the peace talks.
...The UN and Britain (click here) had invested heavily in the success of peace talks led by UN special envoy Martin Griffiths, but the talks collapsed before they started when the Houthi negotiating team said it had not received satisfactory guarantees from Saudi Arabia about its safe passage to Switzerland. Griffiths said he would continue to his efforts to relaunch the talks....
The entire process gets more complicated when realizing a Foreign Minister is making his way to Iran to secure a British woman of Iranian ethnicity from being detained and return her home.
Alistair Burt, the Foreign Minister from the UK, is visiting with the full force of the "Iran Deal" still intact. I doubt Mr. Burt will be involved in talks regarding the war raging in Yemen in any meaningful way. I suppose he plans to bring it to the attention of Iran, but, that is the UN and the peace deal was supposed to be conducted while Mr. Burt is visiting the Iranians.
This is the first visit to Iran since the United States reneged on it's part to the Iran Deal when there was absolutely no reason in sight for it to end.
August 31, 2018
...“As long as Iran (click here) meets its commitments under the deal, we remain committed to it as we believe it is the best way to ensure a safe, secure future for the region,” Burt said in a statement before his visit....
...Britain is seeking the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She was arrested in April 2016 at a Tehran airport as she was heading back to Britain with her daughter, now aged four, after a family visit....
The people of the UK are correct, the war in Yemen is becoming a sincere humanitarian problem for the children and no one needs another Syria. Any conflict has to measure it's purpose in relation to the people of that country and whether continuing the war is simply killing people with no clear result in sight.
There comes a time in any conflict/war when the war itself is the enemy and end it becomes the prudent thing to do. If there is an example of that, it is Syria. The fighting should have ended a long time ago, but, no party would see the devastation and the suffering of the people; there were other priorities and that is where humanitarian issues takes center stage and civil war is no longer the problem, so much as genocide and senseless killing.
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Low Income households helped by Medicaid Expansion in Montana.
Everyone knows health care costs are driven by the bad habit of smoking cigarettes. The cigarette tax will provide healthcare in Montana for 100,000 people that would normally not afford it. The new tax would raise $74 million a year by the year 2023.
One other thing to note, while the Montana Veterans health system passed inspection from the Joint Commission, but, only half of the Montana Veterans are enrolled (click here for 2017 report). There is every reason for Montana veterans to sign up. Sometimes campaign stops can provide information and assistance in signing for their health care.
US Senator Jon Tester has voted for every legislative measure to help veterans. The Montana veterans seem to think an office in Kalispell would help with some of their complaints. It is a distance from Northwest Montana to current facilities. They feel forgotten by the VA.
US Senator Jon Tester has voted for every legislative measure to help veterans. The Montana veterans seem to think an office in Kalispell would help with some of their complaints. It is a distance from Northwest Montana to current facilities. They feel forgotten by the VA.
And, by the way, veterans don't want their health care privatized. The veterans have the best of both worlds. If the VA system is becoming overloaded as when the PTSD epidemic was raging; the director can enlist private and public hospitals to help at no cost to the veterans. So, privatizing the VA is mostly a campaign maneuver and not the best outcomes of our veterans.
A veterans meeting of about 12 particpants provided insight to the privatized veterans program.
...Several participants agreed that the Veterans Choice program, which intended to open avenues for care outside VA facilities, was, in practice, deeply flawed — several told stories of abandoned appointments, missed diagnoses and claims not paid for. Many viewed the recently passed VA Mission Act, intended to shore up many of the issues with the Choice program, with skepticism....
A veterans meeting of about 12 particpants provided insight to the privatized veterans program.
...Several participants agreed that the Veterans Choice program, which intended to open avenues for care outside VA facilities, was, in practice, deeply flawed — several told stories of abandoned appointments, missed diagnoses and claims not paid for. Many viewed the recently passed VA Mission Act, intended to shore up many of the issues with the Choice program, with skepticism....
This is from "The Military Times."
April 10, 2018
...Nearly everyone (click here) in the veterans community and on Capitol Hill is against privatizing VA — and nearly everyone has a different definition of what privatization is.
Last week, VA officials released a statement titled “Debunking the VA Privatization Myth,” which insists “there is no effort underway to privatize VA,” and “to suggest otherwise is completely false and a red herring designed to distract and avoid honest debate on the real issues surrounding veterans’ health care.”
The move came in response to comments from former VA Secretary David Shulkin, fired by President Donald Trump over Twitter less than two weeks ago.
In an op-ed just hours after his dismissal, Shulkin warned of individuals within the White House who “seek to privatize veteran health care as an alternative to government-run VA care.”...
This is a big year for the Montana ballot, including a significant pay increase for state legislators.
By Colby Itkowitz
The tobacco industry (click here) has spent more than $9 million to date to persuade Montana voters to vote "no" on a ballot initiative to make Medicaid expansion permanent in the state, according to state campaign finance filings.
The reason that tobacco companies want to prevent low-income Montanans from accessing health coverage? The industry would have to pay for it.
In November, Montana voters will get to choose whether to increase taxes on all tobacco products to fund Medicaid expansion and other health programs. Advocates of the "Healthy Montana Initiative" argue that smoking contributes to a range of illnesses, so the industry producing them should help bear the burden of increased health-care costs.
Under the Affordable Care Act, states are allowed to expand their Medicaid programs to cover people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,000 a year. The federal government paid 100 percent of expansion costs through 2016. Since then, federal funding has been tapering off and by 2020 the states will have to pay 10 percent of the cost of any Medicaid expansion....
...Earlier this year, with no sign that the state legislature would act to reauthorize the Medicaid expansion, a number of health organizations, including the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Montana Hospital Association, as well as providers across the state, collected enough signatures to secure a ballot initiative known as I-185 that allows voters to determine the future of the Medicaid program....
The tobacco lobbyists in Montana are not following the rules.
September 10, 2018
Montana's campaign regulator (click here) says two tobacco companies opposing a ballot initiative registered late and failed to report a campaign expense.
Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan wrote in a decision last week that Altria Client Services and RAI Services Company registered as incidental political committees two days late in June. They also failed to report the travel expenses of a representative who appeared before the Montana Chamber of Commerce.
The companies represent the makers of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes and report spending $8.8 million on the Montanans Against Tax Hikes committee that opposes the initiative to raise the state's tobacco tax. The initiative seeks to raise the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 to $3.70, on snuff to at least $3.70 per 1.2-ounce can and tax e-cigarettes and vaping products for the first time....
There seems to be some reporting by the "Washington Examiner" stating Senator Tester has a great deal of cash in his campaign coffers. I would hope so because Jon Tester's campaign is a bit frugal in that he spends what he has to and saves some in case he needs it.
According to "Open Secrets" (click here) he raised about $16.5 million and spent less than $10.5 million. His donations are all reported and while he has significant monies yet to spend if he needs it; there is nothing wrong nefarious going on.
Voter turnout in Montana has been interesting. When Senator Jon Tester ran in 2012, voter turnout was 72.18 percent of all registered voters of which there are 681,608. That was an exceptionally high turnout for Montana elections. I suggest his campaign seek to repeat that turnout. That level of participation occurred in Montana in the presidential election year of 2008 and 2016; but, otherwise Montana has about 55 percent participation.
The tobacco lobbyists in Montana are not following the rules.
September 10, 2018
Montana's campaign regulator (click here) says two tobacco companies opposing a ballot initiative registered late and failed to report a campaign expense.
Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan wrote in a decision last week that Altria Client Services and RAI Services Company registered as incidental political committees two days late in June. They also failed to report the travel expenses of a representative who appeared before the Montana Chamber of Commerce.
The companies represent the makers of Marlboro and Camel cigarettes and report spending $8.8 million on the Montanans Against Tax Hikes committee that opposes the initiative to raise the state's tobacco tax. The initiative seeks to raise the state's tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 to $3.70, on snuff to at least $3.70 per 1.2-ounce can and tax e-cigarettes and vaping products for the first time....
There seems to be some reporting by the "Washington Examiner" stating Senator Tester has a great deal of cash in his campaign coffers. I would hope so because Jon Tester's campaign is a bit frugal in that he spends what he has to and saves some in case he needs it.
According to "Open Secrets" (click here) he raised about $16.5 million and spent less than $10.5 million. His donations are all reported and while he has significant monies yet to spend if he needs it; there is nothing wrong nefarious going on.
Voter turnout in Montana has been interesting. When Senator Jon Tester ran in 2012, voter turnout was 72.18 percent of all registered voters of which there are 681,608. That was an exceptionally high turnout for Montana elections. I suggest his campaign seek to repeat that turnout. That level of participation occurred in Montana in the presidential election year of 2008 and 2016; but, otherwise Montana has about 55 percent participation.
September 11, 2001
17 years, Osama bin Laden is dead and the USA is still in Afghanistan.
I am not alone and in good company.
September 10, 2018
By Barry B. Rosen
After a Taliban attack in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on Aug.16, 2018.
“It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end,” (click here) Gen. John Nicholson said as he relinquished command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Seventeen years of war have shown no plausible theory of success to justify additional U.S. costs and more killing in Afghanistan. Though Nicholson directed his war-ending advice at the Taliban, and reiterated U.S. commitment to the fight, he offered no theory of victory.
Supporters of the war claim that its political purpose is to bring the Taliban to the bargaining table. The Taliban want U.S. departure; the U.S. wants Taliban capitulation. There is no common ground, and policymakers must know this.
The sad political purpose of endless U.S. military involvement is for leaders to be seen trying to prevent terrorists from once again launching international attacks out of Afghanistan. But the U.S. presence in Afghanistan cannot prevent future terrorist outrages....
The answer to ending the terror of the Taliban is to recognize Pakistan's role in their continued presence in the region. The Taliban are a militia, they are not ethnic and have no rights under any human rights convention. If anything the Taliban violate any human rights issue and cause hardship and death.
The truth is while the government of Pakistan is friendly to any country in the world and carry out no war with any, they harbored the Taliban and protected Osama bin Laden until his death. Today, the Taliban has reconstituted their numbers and are still a threat to the Afghan government.
The people of Pakistan have mostly driven them out of their country, but, only to settle in Afghanistan and the western border of Iran. The people most responsible for the ongoing problems in Afghanistan are Pakistan's ISI and the Iranian government and their elite forces. The Taliban serve the purpose of keeping the USA military busy so they can't cause any more problems as in Iraq.
If Afghanistan is to have peace among their people, it is up to the government to supply sufficient national security. Right now the USA is occupying Afghanistan to the suffering of it's people. The USA does not belong there.
Daesh has been driven out of every other country in the world, EXCEPT, Afghanistan.
The USA causes more problems than they solve, it is time to bring the troops home and for their humanitarian mission they should bring home all the scrap military melt in downed machines and otherwise; home to the USA for recycling. The children of Afghanistan need playgrounds, not makeshift playgrounds of downed and abandoned aircraft.
August 15, 2018
By Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah
Abul, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber (click here) targeted students preparing for university exams in a Shiite neighborhood of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 25 young men and women studying together in an attack that was blamed on Deash (ISIS).
Najib Danish, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said at least 35 people were also wounded in the attack that struck a private building in the Shiite Dasht-i Barcha area of Kabul. He feared the casualty toll could rise further.
The explosion initially set off gunfire from Afghan guards in the area, leading to assumptions that there were more attackers involved, but officials later said all indications were that there was only one bomber....
17 years, Osama bin Laden is dead and the USA is still in Afghanistan.
I am not alone and in good company.
By Barry B. Rosen
After a Taliban attack in Ghazni, Afghanistan, on Aug.16, 2018.
“It is time for this war in Afghanistan to end,” (click here) Gen. John Nicholson said as he relinquished command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Seventeen years of war have shown no plausible theory of success to justify additional U.S. costs and more killing in Afghanistan. Though Nicholson directed his war-ending advice at the Taliban, and reiterated U.S. commitment to the fight, he offered no theory of victory.
Supporters of the war claim that its political purpose is to bring the Taliban to the bargaining table. The Taliban want U.S. departure; the U.S. wants Taliban capitulation. There is no common ground, and policymakers must know this.
The sad political purpose of endless U.S. military involvement is for leaders to be seen trying to prevent terrorists from once again launching international attacks out of Afghanistan. But the U.S. presence in Afghanistan cannot prevent future terrorist outrages....
The answer to ending the terror of the Taliban is to recognize Pakistan's role in their continued presence in the region. The Taliban are a militia, they are not ethnic and have no rights under any human rights convention. If anything the Taliban violate any human rights issue and cause hardship and death.
The truth is while the government of Pakistan is friendly to any country in the world and carry out no war with any, they harbored the Taliban and protected Osama bin Laden until his death. Today, the Taliban has reconstituted their numbers and are still a threat to the Afghan government.
The people of Pakistan have mostly driven them out of their country, but, only to settle in Afghanistan and the western border of Iran. The people most responsible for the ongoing problems in Afghanistan are Pakistan's ISI and the Iranian government and their elite forces. The Taliban serve the purpose of keeping the USA military busy so they can't cause any more problems as in Iraq.
If Afghanistan is to have peace among their people, it is up to the government to supply sufficient national security. Right now the USA is occupying Afghanistan to the suffering of it's people. The USA does not belong there.
Daesh has been driven out of every other country in the world, EXCEPT, Afghanistan.
The USA causes more problems than they solve, it is time to bring the troops home and for their humanitarian mission they should bring home all the scrap military melt in downed machines and otherwise; home to the USA for recycling. The children of Afghanistan need playgrounds, not makeshift playgrounds of downed and abandoned aircraft.
August 15, 2018
By Rahim Faiez and Amir Shah
Abul, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber (click here) targeted students preparing for university exams in a Shiite neighborhood of Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 25 young men and women studying together in an attack that was blamed on Deash (ISIS).
Najib Danish, spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said at least 35 people were also wounded in the attack that struck a private building in the Shiite Dasht-i Barcha area of Kabul. He feared the casualty toll could rise further.
The explosion initially set off gunfire from Afghan guards in the area, leading to assumptions that there were more attackers involved, but officials later said all indications were that there was only one bomber....
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