Wow. pic.twitter.com/VOlQHBksPy
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) September 25, 2017
Respect
by David Anderson| 190 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
Wow. pic.twitter.com/VOlQHBksPy
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) September 25, 2017
Respect
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Don't Mourn, Organize, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
RETWEET to remind @realdonaldtrump that he has the USNS COMFORT at his disposal & Puerto Rico is part of the United States
Time to send it pic.twitter.com/4HkEbqDYPs
— Red T Raccoon (@RedTRaccoon) September 24, 2017
President Trump, Sec. Mattis, and DOD should send the Navy, including the USNS Comfort, to Puerto Rico now. These are American citizens. https://t.co/J2FVg4II0n
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 24, 2017
The need is dire, and will be for many months if not years. And since the GOP perceives even Puerto Ricans as the wrong kind of American citizens, it will be a battle to get any government support. Who’s got links for the groups that can make best and fastest use of our donations?
Commentors have suggested a couple already:
The Hispanic Federation’s “Unidos”: A Hurricane Relief Fund for Hurricane Maria Victims in Puerto Rico
First lady of Puerto Rico Beatriz Rosselló’s United for Puerto Rico
And GoFundMe’s Hurricane Maria Relief Page, which includes fund drives dedicated to Dominica as well.
Puerto Rico officials describe “apocalyptic" conditions after hurricane. No power; no phones; vast destruction. https://t.co/OFt3y9hO7A
— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) September 24, 2017
Add your favorite groups in the comments (or tell us more about the ones here) and I’ll post an updated list tomorrow.
Donation Sites for Puerto Rico & the Islands Hurricane Relief?Post + Comments (176)
by Adam L Silverman| 69 Comments
This post is in: America, Foreign Affairs, Military, Open Threads, Silverman on Security, Not Normal
As you read this Iraqi Kurds are voting on whether to declare independence for Iraqi Kurdistan. While a number of analysts, including me, have been forecasting and predicting that Iraq’s Kurds would declare independence over whatever areas where under their control after the fight against ISIS is completed, today’s vote is not the same thing. The fight against ISIS is not complete. Holding the referendum now is somewhere between provocative and naive. Here’s what Masoud Barzani, the President of the Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan, had to say in a recent interview:
A long time ago I reached this conclusion that it was necessary to hold a referendum and let our people decide, and for a long time I have held the belief that Baghdad is not accepting real, meaningful partnership with us. We don’t want to accept being their subordinate. This is in order to prevent a bigger problem, to prevent a bloody war, and the deterioration of the security of the whole region.
That’s why we want to have this referendum — to ask our people what they want. This will help us prevent any possible future instability or bloody fighting that will follow if the situation continues. You know what the security situation in this area is like. When the people decide in this referendum, we expect all the other parties to respect the wishes and peaceful democratic decisions of the people of Kurdistan.
To answer your question why now, previously also at many stages we wanted to hold it. But because of the overall situation, the context in the area, because of other developments, we have been postponing it. But if we postpone this longer it’s not going to beneficial to our people, it will have a negative impact on the destiny of our people. So that’s why the timing right now is the best for holding this referendum.
One of the major issues in play here is who controls Kirkuk. When my teammates and I conducted our tribal study and social history in 2008, with in depth interviews of over 50 sheikhs, imams, political, and business leaders in central Iraq (predominantly from Mada’ain Qada, but also including interviewees from across Baghdad Province, and a few from Diyala and Wassit Provinces) Kurdish independence was only brought up by about five or six of our interview subjects. But when it was brought up we were told that any attempt to declare an independent Kurdistan, especially if the attempt included taking Kirkuk, would be unacceptable. We were specifically told be several sheikhs that this was one issue that would unite Sunni and Shi’a Iraqi Arabs and could lead to an Iraqi-Arab versus Iraqi-Kurdish civil war.
Another important issue is going to be Turkey’s response. Erdogan, as everyone one of his predecessors was, has been adamant that an independent Kurdistan on his border is unacceptable. In order to shore up his own internal politics, as well as to prevent Turkey’s Kurdish minority from trying to break away and unite with their Iraqi cousins, Erdogan will have to take action if an independent Iraqi Kurdistan is declared. This will further strain Turkey’s relationship with NATO, as well as complicate the fight against ISIS.
So who benefits here? In the short to medium term ISIS benefits. Any action taken by a member of the host country nation/local force partners of the US led coalition that strains that coalition benefits ISIS. In this case the potential effect is that today’s referendum could splinter the local forces that the US led coalition is partnering with in a “by, with, and through” strategy to defeat ISIS. The potential effects of today’s referendum have the ability to provide ISIS with the time and space to regroup, which is, perhaps, what they need more than anything right now.
The second major beneficiary is the Russians. Russia has been making false claims about its activities against ISIS for months; essentially taking credit for the successes of the local forces that the US led coalition is partnered with and the US led coalition. Moreover, they have been actively and aggressively working to establish greater ties with the Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan. Including a petroleum exploitation agreement between Gazprom, the sanctioned Rosneft, and Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan.
On Friday The NY Times reported that Paul Manafort had been engaged as an external consultant on the referendum by the Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan. They could not, however, verify who is paying Manafort. Given Manafort’s long history of working against US interests abroad; his involvement with planning and orchestrating an attack on US Marines at a NATO exercise in Ukraine in 2006 on behalf of his Russian backed and connected client; and his reported connections to both Russian intelligence and Russian oligarchs to whom he is deeply in debt; Manafort’s involvement should give everyone pause as to who is ultimately behind this referendum being held now. Russia’s interests in the region are bolstered and advanced if the US led coalition’s local partners are stressed, let alone if the independence referendum splinters them along Iraqi Arab versus Iraqi Kurdish lines and sucks Turkey into the dispute. Manafort’s involvement raises more questions than we have answers to right now, but it is possible that today’s referendum is just another front being opened in the Russian active measures campaign against the US and its NATO allies.
Today’s Independence Referendum in Iraqi KurdistanPost + Comments (69)
by David Anderson| 45 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance
Cassidy-Graham 2.0 came out last night. There are some major policy changes in it:
There are a bunch of political provisions. Several are aimed at shoveling money to Alaska, but those are not the important provisions. The policy matters more.
The bill sponsors also released their estimates of state effects. They use magical math.
1) They entirely ignore the cap to non-ACA Medicaid – which grows over time – a cut estimated at $1 trillion from '20-'36 for prior draft
— Jacob Leibenluft (@jleibenluft) September 25, 2017
Who cares about a trillion dollars among friends?
Transitioning Medicaid from a shared responsibility program to a program where the state bears the entire risk of crisis is the most basic element of the entire series of Republican bills. This is what will dive state governors crazy as their budgets can’t handle a counter-cyclical shock or a hurricane or an infectious disease outbreak without a federal backstop.
You know what to do; call the senate, call your governor and call your Rep.
by John Cole| 94 Comments
This post is in: Dolt 45
We are a failed state.
The people in Puerto Rico really need to start kneeling for the National Anthem so they can get some help. https://t.co/AVmFH2gFrz
— Ben (@BenHowe) September 25, 2017
by Alain Chamot (1971-2020)| 27 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Open Threads, Readership Capture
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful day, and enjoy the pictures!
Today, pictures from valued commenter ?BillinGlendaleCA.
Angels Flight
(The Shortest Railroad in the World)In the late 19th century and early 20th century Bunker Hill was the fashionable residential neighborhood towering to the west of the downtown Los Angeles as it grew south from the Spanish plaza. As with other neighborhoods of Los Angeles at the time there were steps to get people up to their mansions. In 1901 Colonel J.W. Eddy figured he could make some coin extracting some coin from these wealthy folk by building a narrow gauge funicular railway up Bunker Hill at the corner of 3rd and Hill streets It was next to the newly opened 3rd Street Tunnel(it runs under Bunker Hill from Hill Street to Figueroa Street), crossing over Clay Street before reaching Olive Street at the top of it’s run. It seems that short rail lines were all the rage at the time since 1905 saw the opening of the little remembered Court Flight between Broadway and Hill streets in the current Civic Center(across from the red brick courthouse). Angels Flight has two rail cars, Sinai and Olivet, that operate in opposing directions and originally moved on a single cable. Angels Flight operated at this location for 68 years seeing the decline of the neighborhood as the wealthy moved further west to neighborhood such as Angelino Heights and mid-Wilshire. The stately mansions turned into boarding houses and hotels. In the postwar era, the city decided that they needed to redevelop Bunker Hill and Angels Flight was closed in May of 1969. I was fortunate to ride Angels Flight in it’s original location on a Cub Scout trip to downtown in early 1969. The cars, the ticket plaza at the top and the entrance arch at the bottom were put into storage for the “brief period”(2 years they said at the time) while they relocated the tracks a half of a block to the south. This “brief period” turned out to be 27 years. Angels Flight re-opened in 1996 and instead of transporting the wealthy to their stately mansions it now transported office workers from their offices in the skyscrapers that replaced the stately mansions. In 2001 there was a serious accident on the railroad that killed an elderly German tourist and led to Angeles Flight being closed once again. It reopened in 2008 to only have another accident in 2013(this time without any deaths or major injuries) close it down again. It recently reopened on August 31, 2017 so I decided to take a spin on it.
Upper plaza and ticket window.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
This is were you buy your ticket for the trip, if you riding up the hill you pay here after you ride up. It’s the same building that served this purpose from 1901 to 1969 though it did change a bit over the years. The cars and the stations received a fresh coat of paint as part of the latest renovation.
Inside one of the cars.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
This is inside one of the cars(I’m not sure if it’s Sinai or Olivet) looking through the car and down the tracks from the top.
About half way down.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
This is about half way down the hill and you can see that the tracks move out to the side to let the ascending car move past.
About 3/4er’s the way down.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
Here, the other car has passed and both cars are making the transition from the duel track to the single track.
At the Hill street station.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
This picture really gives a good idea how long the railroad is, with the car I’m in at the bottom and the other car at the top.
Station at Hill Street.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
This is the Hill Street station and is right across from the Grand Central Market where you can get some nice eats.
Car waiting to go up.
Taken on 2017-09-07
Los Angeles, CA
Here is a car at the Hill Street Station waiting to go up. The concrete buildings in the background is where Angels Flight originally was.
Thank you so much ?BillinGlendaleCA, do send us more when you can.
Travel safely everybody, and do share some stories in the comments, even if you’re joining the conversation late. Many folks confide that they go back and read old threads, one reason these are available on the Quick Links menu.
One again, to submit pictures: Use the Form or Send an Email
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Don't Agonize - Organize, Open Threads, Republican Venality, World's Best Healthcare (If You Can Afford It)
The Senate Finance Cmte hearing on Graham-Cassidy is still on for Monday, now starting at 2 p.m.
Here are the witnesses, per @OrrinHatch. pic.twitter.com/Yucj08KANT
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 23, 2017
Per the Washington Post:
The Republican senators at the forefront of the latest effort to undo the Affordable Care Act plan to release a revised version of their bill Monday sending more health-care dollars to the states of key holdouts, as hardening resistance from several GOP senators left their proposal on the verge of collapse.
According to a summary obtained by The Washington Post, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) will propose giving Alaska and Maine more funding than initially offered. Those states are represented by Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), who have expressed concerns about the bill but have yet to say how they would vote…
The plan was distributed among Republicans late Sunday, with party leaders just one “no” vote away from defeat and as Republican senators from across the political spectrum were distancing themselves from the prior draft…
Although the CBO plans to release a “preliminary assessment” early this week, officials there have said they will not be able to provide estimates of how Cassidy-Graham would affect insurance premiums or the number of people with coverage “for at least several weeks.” Trump and McConnell are trying to bring the bill to a vote by the end of this week to take advantage of a procedural rule allowing the plan to pass with just 51 votes.
It remained far from clear Sunday that they could get close to that number…
KEY: Grassidy 2.0 is health insurance for healthy ppl, boondoggle 4 red states, robs Medicaid, and won't be properly scored. A disgrace. 15/
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) September 25, 2017
On the other hand, if we can prevent this latest attempt…
! @LindseyGrahamSC on him, RonJohn: "We're not going to vote for a budget resolution that doesn't allow the health care debate to continue."
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) September 24, 2017
hahahahaha Obamacare isn't just not going to be repealed, it's going to sink the GOP tax bill, too https://t.co/3urxjJcezB
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 24, 2017
***********
Apart from the Repubs’ never-ending efforts to make everybody elses’ lives worse, what’s on the agenda as we start a fresh week?
Monday Morning Open Thread: Once More Unto the BreechPost + Comments (100)