Wednesday, July 31, 2019
RAND PAUL: NO ONE HAS DIED FROM LACK OF ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE IN ‘HUNDREDS OF YEARS’
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said on Thursday that people don’t die because they don’t have access to healthcare. He’s also annoyed that so many people look at how these proposed policies would affect the health insurance industry.
Appearing on Sean Hannity’s radio program, Sen. Paul said he is disappointed that Republicans have balked on repealing the Affordable Care Act.
He said, via CNN:
They think this is about actuarial tables and insurance, and all this stuff. No, this is about freedom. This is about whether we as Americans should be free to buy what kind of insurance we want….It’s a freedom issue. It really isn’t about actuarial tables. It isn’t about all the ins and outs. We have always taken care of those who are sick in our country. We have never, ever turned anyone away. I’m a physician. I’ve operated in hospitals for 25 years. I have never, ever seen anyone turned away who needed care.
On another radio program a month ago, Paul said that it had been “hundreds of years” since anyone died because they weren’t able to pay for medical treatment.
Of course, there is an ample body of empirical evidence that suggests lack of coverage kills thousands of people in America each year.
It’s also interesting to hear Paul, a medical doctor, decry “actuarial tables” and what will happen to the actual Americans who will lose their coverage should Paul’s desire of full repeal become reality.
Of course, as perhaps the most libertarian member of the Senate, Paul is an absolutist about certain issues, specifically that the government shouldn’t really do much of anything.
You can listen to the segment below:
LINK
Those 'rat infested' places in Baltimore? They're owned by Trump's son-in-law
KUSHNER = SLUM LORD
President Donald Trump tweeted out a storm of attacks against Rep. Elijah Cummings, calling him "racist" and his district a "rodent infested mess." USA TODAY
BALTIMORE — Davon Jones doesn't have to look far to see the irony in President Donald Trump's tweets that Baltimore is a "rat and rodent infested mess." His apartment owned by the president's son-in-law has been invaded by mice since he moved in a year ago.
"I don't know how they come in," Jones says. "Every time I catch them, they come right back."
Jared Kushner's family real estate firm owns thousands of apartments and townhomes in the Baltimore area, and some have been criticized for the same kind of disrepair and neglect that the president has accused local leaders of failing to address. Residents have complained about mold, bedbugs, leaks and, yes, mice — plenty of mice. And they say management appears in no hurry to fix the problems.
Racist attacks: Pelosi denounces Trump's comments on Rep. Elijah Cummings
"They don't care," says Dezmond James, who says he has spotted as many as three mice a week since he moved in to the Commons at White Marsh in suburban Middle River four years ago.
James says he sees a massive contradiction in Trump's much-publicized tweets laying the blame for Baltimore's poverty, crime and rodent problems on frequent antagonist Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. Trump, he said, should look more at what he — and specifically Kushner — could do about it.
"His son-in-law owns all of this — then he can fix it. I'm pretty sure he has a lot of money," says James, who is studying to be a medical assistant. "That's kind of weird that you want to talk trash. ... If you want to make improvements, you can make improvements."
Conditions got so bad two years ago that the Baltimore County government issued a release showing the Kushner Cos. had violated housing codes more than 200 times in just 10 months and only moved to fix the problems after being threatened with fines.
"I had black mold in my cabinets. I called them, I called them, I called them. And they never did anything," says Simone Ryer who moved out Whispering Woods in Middle River two years ago. "That was more than enough for me to leave."
In a statement, the Kushner Cos. said it was proud of its Baltimore-area apartments and has worked to maintain a "high quality residential experience for our tenants" by investing "substantial amounts" in upkeep.
A website for the Commons at White Marsh boasts of "amenities that amaze," but many of the 181 comments posted by residents at the review siteapartmentratings.com complain of rats, mold, bedbugs, roaches and leaks. The reviews say management is generally unresponsive.
A 2017 report by the New York Times and ProPublica about residents at Kushner-owned developments echoed many of those online complaints, with one woman saying she found a mouse on her 12-year-old child's bed. The Kushner Cos. told the Times at the time that it is had spent $10 million on its properties, but their age means issues can still arise.
A Baltimore Sun story the same year found the Kushner Cos. used the courts to arrest tenants late on rent more than any other landlord in the state.
And a lawsuit seeking class-action status for residents alleges Westminster Management, the Kushner subsidiary that oversees rental properties in Maryland and other states, often charges tenants illegal and excessive fees that keeps them in constant fear of eviction and guessing what they owe. Westminster has said it has broken no laws and denies the charges.
Jared Kushner took in $3.1 million from Westminster in the past two years, according to financial disclosure reports he filed with the federal government. He stepped down as CEO of parent company Kushner Cos. when he and his wife, Ivanka Trump, joined the White House as senior advisers to the president, but he still retains a financial interest and draws money from many of its operations.
At the Kushners' Dutch Village community in Baltimore, Ronald Newson says his 86-year-old mother, Carrie, has been asking maintenance staff for nearly a year to patch a hole in her ceiling from a leak on the second floor, and that someone has to come to kill all the mice she's been living with.
As a stopgap measure, she jammed the leg of a chair against a hole in the corner of her living room, but they kept coming out anyway. They also come from behind her stove.
"It takes them a long time to get repairs done," the son said. He suggested that Trump, instead of blaming Cummings for the city's problems, should look to landlords like Kushner, too.
"He talks about everyone but his son-in-law."
ECSO deputy accused of urinating in girl's mouth, FDLE says there may be more victims
An Escambia County Sheriff's Office deputy who was arrested last week is accused of urinating into the mouth of a young girl multiple times over the span of nearly two years.
Jerome Zaid, 33, was arrested Friday and charged with one count of battery of a child and one count of sexual battery of a child under 12 years of age.
A warrant for his arrest, released Monday morning, details several instances where Zaid allegedly urinated into the mouth of girl, now age 5, from October 2017 through July 2019.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the case, and the agency said in a news release Monday afternoon that agents believe Zaid victimized at least two children under the age of 6, both of whom he had frequent contact with.
The investigation is ongoing, and agents believe there may be additional victims, the release states. If anyone has information about Zaid, they are asked to call the Pensacola Regional Operations Center at 850-595-2100.
Deputy arrested: Escambia County Sheriff's Office deputy arrested on suspicion of sexual battery of child
ECSO spokesman Maj. Andrew Hobbs on Friday confirmed Zaid was a deputy with the Sheriff's Office and said, "We are in the process of terminating his employment with the Sheriff's Office."
Hobb said that once the Sheriff's Office was made aware of the allegations against Zaid, the agency turned over the case to the FDLE. The warrant for Zaid's arrest was both written and served by FDLE.
She told investigators that Zaid would then instruct her to brush her teeth, the report stated.
The girl recounted the incidents typically occurred in the bathroom, except for one time when she had been wearing a yellow tutu butterfly costume, the report stated.
Investigators later obtained a statement from a person who verified the girl had dressed as a butterfly for Halloween when she was 3 years old and had been left alone with Zaid not long after Halloween that year.
The girl told investigators the last time an incident had occurred was when she had been left alone with Zaid earlier this month on July 17. Again, investigators obtained a statement from an unnamed person who verified that the child had been under Zaid's supervision at that time.
County records indicate Zaid was booked into the Escambia County Jail at 5:42 p.m. Friday without bond. As of 11:20 a.m. Monday morning, he remained in custody.
Zaid's mugshot is exempt from release under Florida law because he is a law enforcement officer.
Senator Mitch McConnell
Sen. Mitch McConnell's net worth:
2005: $2,962,015
2015: $26,927,535
Increase: $23,965,520 (+809.1%)
2015: $26,927,535
Increase: $23,965,520 (+809.1%)
How does a senator earning $193,400 a year increase their net worth by nearly $2.4 million a year, every year for a decade?
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