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    How Donald Trump set-up nursing home residents to die in the pandemic

    Jillian S. Ambroz, DCReport @ RawStory
    November 13, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    Donald Trump removes his coronavirus mask before giving a White House campaign address. AFP.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Jillian S. Ambroz, DCReport @ RawStory

    As the pandemic rages to new heights and we gear up for a new administration, there’s an important step President-Elect Joseph R. Biden could take right away to protect our most vulnerable population: He could restore the ability for nursing home residents to sue their facilities for poor health standards.


    Though coronavirus cases for people living in long-term care facilities total just 8% of cases, that demographic accounts for 45% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. through August, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

    The state-level data is even more grim. Nursing home deaths from COVID-19 in Minnesota and Rhode Island, for example, accounted for 81% of coronavirus deaths in those states as of early June, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation data. Long-term care facilities are a major driver of COVID-19 deaths in the country.

    Seniors at long-term care facilities and their families have little legal recourse when it comes to fighting for better conditions.

    But seniors at long-term care facilities and their families have little legal recourse when it comes to fighting for better conditions.

    Trump stripped seniors of those protections his first year in office. He rescinded a rule President Obama had put in place in 2016 which would have prevented corporate-run facilities from receiving federal funding if residents were forced into arbitration after suffering harm in their care. That rule also would have prevented facilities from making arbitration agreements a condition of admission or continued care.

    The Obama administration found significant evidence that pre-dispute arbitration agreements negatively impact the quality of patient care and create negative incentives on staffing and care because there is no threat of a substantial jury verdict for sub-standard care—findings that team Trump did not dispute.

    The move to erode protections for seniors prompted a group letter by 17 state attorneys general and the District of Columbia to the HHS in 2018. The letter urged the agency not to “lower the level of regulatory oversight” by “rolling back reforms to improve the safety and wellbeing of nursing home residents.”

    The new rule, finalized in mid-2019, has been promoted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which falls under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

    The Trump administration has taken an extra step to line the coffers of the corporations running these facilities. Since May, HHS has dedicated some $10 billion to facilities as incentive pay for “curbing” COVID-19 deaths and infections, among other things. Long-term care facilities have not blunted the spread of coronavirus, but they are taking the money.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

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    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

    We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.

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    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.


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    Judge rules against Parler — says their claims are ‘inaccurate and unsupported’

    Sky Palma
    January 21, 2021

    A federal judge has denied the social media platform Parler's request to force Amazon Web Services to put its site back online while a lawsuit against the company is ongoing, Forbes reports. According to the court, the platform favored by right-wing users has "fallen far short" of proving the credibility of its legal claims.

    "The Court explicitly rejects any suggestion" by Parler that Amazon is obligated "to host the kind of abusive, violent content at issue in this case, particularly in light of the recent riots at the U.S. Capitol," U.S. District Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein wrote in her ruling. "That event was a tragic reminder that inflammatory rhetoric can—more swiftly and easily than many of us would have hoped—turn a lawful protest into a violent insurrection."

    Amazon removed Parler from its servers after similar actions were taken by Apple and Google.

    Read the full report over at Forbes.

    'A hugely consequential first move': Biden offers to extend nuclear START treaty with Russia

    Common Dreams
    January 21, 2021

    In a move applauded by anti-war activists, U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday reportedly offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a five-year extension of the New START treaty just days before the pact—the only remaining nuclear arms control agreement regulating the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world—is set to expire.

    "President Biden's offer signals a welcome return to serious diplomacy that provides a path to a safer and more secure future for all."
    —Derek Johnson, Global Zero

    If the White House and Russia cannot settle on a mutually agreed-upon plan to extend the New START treaty, which caps the number of offensively-deployed nuclear weapons that each country is allowed to have at 1,550, the deal will expire on February 5, 2021.

    Letting the treaty expire could unleash "a full-blown nuclear arms race that exposes the whole world to an intolerable level of risk," Derek Johnson, chief executive officer of Global Zero, an international movement for the elimination of nuclear weapons, said in a statement on Thursday.

    "After four years of efforts to kill arms control and chase the false security of nuclear dominance, the U.S. is coming back to its senses," said Johnson. "Extending New START is a hugely consequential first move by the Biden administration."

    In response to Biden's proposed extension of the New START treaty, Paul Kawika Martin, senior director for policy and political affairs at Peace Action, said in a statement that after years of former President Donald Trump "putting Americans in harm's way by decimating international agreements, we can all breathe a bit easier now that he cannot start a nuclear war within minutes."

    Trump "tried to conclude a shorter extension with Moscow in the final months of his presidency, but he failed to reach an agreement after his nuclear envoy spent months trying to persuade China to join the accord before dropping that demand," The Washington Post reported Thursday.

    As The Moscow Times reported on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Trump administration of "'deliberately and intentionally' dismantling international arms control agreements," interpreting "its 'counterproductive and openly aggressive' approach in talks" as an indication that Washington was not interested in extending New START.

    Now that Biden is in office, Moscow expects the U.S. to "take a more constructive approach in its dialogue with us," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We are ready for such work on principles of equal rights and taking mutual interests into account."

    According to The Moscow Times:

    The Russian Foreign Ministry said the treaty should be extended in its current version and "without any pre-conditions," adding that prolonging the arms pact for five years would be "preferable."
    "This would allow Russia and the United States to seriously begin a joint search for responses to the issues of international security and strategic stability that are now arising," the ministry said in the statement.
    "At the same time the current level of transparency and predictability in relation to New START would remain in place which would be in the interests of security of both our countries and the whole world."

    While Putin is seeking an unconditional extension of the treaty, The Post reported that the Biden administration "is preparing to impose new costs on Russia pending a newly requested intelligence assessment of its recent activities."

    Two senior U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic, told the newspaper that "Biden is ruling out a 'reset' in bilateral relations with Moscow as many new U.S. presidents have done since the end of the Cold War."

    The Post noted that "Biden's plans for potential punitive actions toward Russia at the outset of the administration is unique among his recent predecessors, all of whom attempted to turn a new page with the Kremlin in the hopes of encouraging a more productive relationship."

    While the White House's specific terms are not yet clear, The Post reported that unlike his predecessor, Biden "is not interested in holding an extension of New START hostage to China."

    Johnson of Global Zero said that "the treaty is an essential guardrail against nuclear arms-racing that imposes equal limits on U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons. Both countries are in full compliance with the agreement, and its intrusive verification provisions ensure neither side can cheat without detection."

    "President Biden's offer signals a welcome return to serious diplomacy that provides a path to a safer and more secure future for all," Johnson added. "Unless you're a defense contractor, this is good news for everyone."

    Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley facing ‘expulsion or censure’ after Ethics complaint filed: report

    Sarah K. Burris
    January 21, 2021

    Senate Democrat filed ethics complaints against Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) after their unsuccessful effort to overthrow the 2020 election.

    A letter sent to the Ethics Committee chairs Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and James Lankford (R-OK) requested "expulsion or censure" for the members after their election overthrow attempts spun a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

    "By proceeding with their objections to the electors after the violent attack, Senators Cruz and Hawley lent legitimacy to the mob's cause and made future violence more likely," the letter said.

    Hawley in particular was seen raising a fist in solidarity to those who ultimately attacked the building. Many opponents, including hometown newspaper, the Kansas City Star, has said he has "blood on his hands" and called for him to resign.

    The anti-Donald Trump PAC Really American launched a video that has been viewed over 3 million times demanding that both men be expelled from the Senate.

    "The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is clear: No American who is engaged in insurrection or rebellion is allowed to hold office," the ad says.

    NEW VIDEO📽️: The 14th Amendment is clear. No American engaged in insurrection or rebellion are allowed to hold offi… https://t.co/S8EKillEou
    — ReallyAmerican.com 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican.com 🇺🇸)1610929647.0
     
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