Back from a trip to Chicago to help the Windy City deal with NATO summit protests, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they worry that Charlotte’s uptown might not have public spaces large enough to accommodate the thousands of demonstrators who massed in Chicago’s parks.
At a news conference Wednesday, police also said they’re fine-tuning their plans for responding to other issues they saw over the weekend – from roving bands of demonstrators who disrupt traffic to lawbreakers who incite violence while trying to blend in with peaceful protesters.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police sent 100 officers to Chicago to help with the protests and get experience with massive demonstrations. Several members of the department’s command staff – including Chief Rodney Monroe and Deputy Chief Harold Medlock – met with Chicago’s security planners and analyzed that department’s approach to safeguarding the city.
Since the NATO summit was designated a National Special Security Event, a federal grant will reimburse the city of Charlotte for the officers’ salaries and travel expenses. - WCNC
Officials in Florida are holding a disaster planning drill to determine just how bad a Category 3 hurricane would be for the Republican National Convention.
This week, he and other state Emergency Management officials will run through the nightmare scenario of a major hurricane hitting Tampa during the middle of the convention. The storm, nicknamed "Hurricane Gispert" for Hillsborough's recently retired EOC director, will follow the path of the last major storm to hit Tampa Bay, the Hurricane of 1921.
"The impacts would be devastating," said Brian LaMarre of the National Weather Service in Ruskin. He is among the team of meteorologists helping to coordinate with the U.S. Secret Service for just such a scenario. The week of the convention, a team from the Ruskin office will staff the emergency operations center in Tampa around the clock.
"Downtown Tampa would be under water, transportation would be severed," says LaMarre. "If we see a category 1 impact downtown Tampa at high tide, the bridges will no longer be passable." - WTSP
Matt has written repeatedly about hurricanes and conventions (see here, here, here, here and here). The biggest takeaway from his posts is this:
The chance of a hurricane hitting Tampa Bay the week of the convention are probably less than 1 percent, a National Hurricane Center scientist estimates. ...
"For a major hurricane, it's a rare event," said Chris Landsea, science and operations officer at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
In August, most hurricanes move east to west. So Tampa Bay, on Florida's west coast, tends to be a "little shielded," he said.
Landsea puts the chances of a hurricane hitting the Tampa Bay area during August at about 2 to 3 percent.
For any given week in August, the chance may be one-half of 1 percent — or possibly up to 1 percent if 2012 is an especially busy hurricane season.
I don't think people should be worried about hurricanes in Tampa... they should be worried about earthquakes.
And just in case you think Charlotte reporters aren't joining in the fun there's this:
The peak of hurricane season is usually around Sept. 10, but the peak activity in the Carolinas is the first week of September.
That week happens to coincide with the DNC this year.
Lewis Collins is concerned about what his trip to work in uptown Charlotte will be like in early September.
"It's going to be a madhouse," he said.
But he's also concerned about a hurricane hitting the coast - or possibly further inland -- at the same time. Collins said he still remembers everything about 1989, the year Hurricane Hugo hit. - WSOC
The jockeying for prime-time speaking slots in Tampa is on:
This is unwelcome news for Mitt Romney: Florida Gov. Rick Scott expects a high-profile speaking slot at the Republican National Convention.
“I would hope so,” he told a newspaper editorial board this week when asked whether he anticipates giving a prime-time speech in Tampa. ... We’re 100 days out, and convention organizers are just starting to tackle one of the trickiest and most important elements of the convention — selecting the speakers.
It’s a matter of juggling monumental political egos, precious little time for maximum TV exposure, appeasing people whose help is needed and ensuring the best message comes through to win over swing voters just starting to focus on the presidential contest. -Politico
There will likely be a state-wide Republican politician from Florida speaking in a key timeslot. But his name won't be Rick Scott.
This is fascinating. We're still monitoring the GOP superdelegates for their endorsements, and it's pretty incredible that so many of them still haven't publicly endorsed the presumptive nominee.
And so we turn our attention to Minnesota, where towards the end of the contentious state convention, RNC members Pat Anderson (uncommitted) and Jeff Johnson (still listed for Gingrich) gave speeches. And not once did either mention Mitt Romney's name. Johnson focused on Paul:
So I want to say something to both the Ron Paul lovers in the room, and the Ron Paul haters in the room.
TAMPA, Fla. – With the Republican National Convention just 100 days away, convention Chief Executive Officer William Harris reported today that preparations for the event are “right on schedule.”
“We’ve made enormous progress toward a very big job,” said Harris, who is responsible for overseeing the countless details involved in planning the four-day gathering, from securing 16,000 hotel rooms to house the delegates, alternates, media representatives and guests to the design of the podium where the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential and vice-presidential nominees will give their acceptance speeches.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I’m delighted to report that we’re right on schedule,” Harris declared, adding that work will intensify as the convention draws closer.
Tom Coburn has heard enough posturing about that $800,000 conference the Government Services Agency held in Las Vegas. He’s got a bigger target: The $36 million taxpayers will spend on the Democratic and Republican conventions this summer.
...
Earlier this year, Coburn put the public financing of the conventions as the number one item in his annual “Wastebook” of the most wasteful expenditures of taxpayer money. Now Coburn has written a letter to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz asking them to give the money back.
“Can we agree once and for all the party is over when it comes to travel and meetings paid for by the taxpayers?” Coburn wrote today in a letter to Priebus and Wasserman-Schultz. “If you agree, I would urge you to reject the millions of dollars of public financing for your 2012 party convention provided by the federal government through the Presidential Election Campaign Fund (PECF) and to return the money to the federal government.”
The convention financing comes from a taxpayer fund that comes from the so-called $3 check-off — the little box on your tax return where taxpayers can dedicate $3 of their income tax to go toward public financing of political campaigns.
And the DNC and RNC Respond:
DNC spokesperson Kristie Greco said, “Political nominating conventions are an essential part of our democratic process, voluntarily funded by the taxpayers. Contrary to Senator Coburn’s assertions, we use the federal grant to fund the functions necessary to renominate the president and vice president.”
RNC spokesperson Sean Spicer said, “Conventions serve an important role in the process of nominating candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. If Senator Coburn has ideas on how to overhaul campaign finance laws that will provide political parties with viable alternative funding sources or on the funding for future conventions, he should address them through the legislative process.”
I think the key thing here is that the money comes from voluntary funding. Ever wonder what the money goes toward when you check the box on your return? $36 million is a drop in the bucket on what we'd save if we returned to Reagan-era taxes.
I have wondered aloud for years why people vote against their own self-interest. People tell me various answers but none that have ever made enough sense to me. So here's this:
Cancer patient Kathy Watson voted Republican in 2008 and believes the government has no right telling Americans to get health insurance. Nonetheless, she says she'd be dead if it weren't for President Barack Obama's health care law. Source.
You might think that Kathy would, in 2012, be thinking of voting Democratic and changing her mind about the individual mandate. But no. She's a small businesswoman, and doesn't want the government involved in telling business what to do (especially where the individual mandate is concerned) but that she should be able to buy health insurance even with her pre-existing condition. She doesn't realize that insurance is a business, too, and her cancer-riddled body does not fit within their money-making model. Without the government telling the insurers they must cover her, they will not, at least not at any affordable premium cost.
There you have it, a woman who would be dead now if not for ACA, and she STILL supports the people who worked to derail it.
The overall article in which Kathy's story appears is about the people across America who will likely die if the Supremes gut the ACA. They are cancer patients, AIDS patients, cardiac patients, the elderly relying on medications for chronic conditions, and this is not to mention the people who become sick or injured afterwards.
And that doesn't even touch the problems that doctors will face. Consider:
Imagine you’re a physician, and you have a full schedule of patients to see the day after the Supreme Court has thrown out the entire Affordable Care Act. Imagine you never liked “Obamacare” in the first place, so you are feeling pretty good about the Supreme Court decision.
Your first patient, an elderly retiree named Mrs. Jones, comes in for her annual Medicare wellness visit—one of the new Medicare preventive benefits offered at no cost to the patient. But this new preventive service benefit was created by the ACA, so presumably with the ACA overturned, Medicare no longer is allowed to pay for wellness visits. Do you tell Mrs. Jones that Medicare might not cover the visit? Provide the visit anyway, hoping that somehow Medicare will find a way around the Supreme Court ruling and pay for it? Offer it at no charge, or try to collect the 20% you would collect for a normal (non-preventive) office visit?
Your second patient, Mr. Jones, another senior, comes in for a follow-up visit for an ongoing chronic condition. You decide to renew his expensive brand-name prescription drug, knowing that he is eligible for a 50% discount because he has fallen into the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole.” Oh wait … the Medicare Part D drug discount was part of the now-defunct ACA. So does that mean he now has to pay full price? Do you prescribe the drug anyway, knowing he can’t afford to pay the regular retail price? Prescribe a lower cost no-name brand drug that he doesn’t tolerate as well?
I read articles like these and wonder: the Supremes have access to the same sources I do, so do they read any of these articles? I have read, tagged, and made notes, on my printed copy of the Affordable Care Act. While I cannot recite it from memory, I know a lot about the law, its structure, and its interconnections. I know that none of the Supremes have read it, that was discussed at the hearing.
If I were a Supreme, and was making a decision that affected the lives and deaths of millions of people, I know I would take the time to read the legislation. To rule without even knowing what the legislation says is to rule blindly. I would do everything I could to not only listen to the people who testified in front of me, but also to research, and have my staff research, everything I could about the impacts related to my decision. While I would certainly cede to the rule of law, I would want to know everything I could about the base data. To do anything less is a complete disservice to all Americans and the rule of law on which this country was founded.
Why do I care more about Americans and their health than the Supremes do?
CHARLOTTE – The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today named Zander Guinn Millan, Inc. (ZGM), a full-service woman-owned branding communications firm located in Charlotte, as the vendor for artwork and design services for the 2012 DNC credential.
“Zander Guinn Millan, Inc. has the experience, skillset and creativity that we’re looking for to design a functional and visually appealing credential,” said DNCC CEO Steve Kerrigan. “We’re excited to be working with this local company on our credential design, because credentials not only provide access to the main event, but are a keepsake from the convention that attendees will hold on to for many years to remember their experience in Charlotte.”
The theme of the credential will be “Americans Coming Together,” and Zander Guinn Millan, Inc. will develop credential designs in coordination with the DNCC, the security printing vendor and other vendors. Additionally, the DNCC selected Miami artist Rosa Naday Garmendia to work with ZGM to provide the illustrations for the credentials.
In order to gain access to the convention, each delegate, staff member, volunteer, vendor, member of the media and program participant must have a credential.
A credential differs from a ticket in that they are printed by a security printing firm, there is no monetary value to a credential, there is no replacement for a lost credential, and credentials bear enhanced security features to protect against counterfeiting. The credential is only valid for official convention proceedings, and will not gain an individual access to events and parties hosted by outside groups.
The DNCC evaluated proposals based on numerous criteria, including, but not limited to: experience, reliability, relationships to Charlotte, North Carolina, and the surrounding region, participation of union labor, women, minorities, LGBT, veterans and persons with disabilities, and innovative proposed solutions.
The DNCC and the Host Committee have adopted a diversity contracting policy for the 2012 Democratic National Convention that represents unprecedented progress towards both the inclusion and use of diverse businesses. The policy states that the DNCC has a goal of spending at least one third of its funding for contracts and projects with Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs), Women Business Enterprises (WBEs), Disability-Owned Businesses, LGBT-Owned Businesses and Veteran-Owned Businesses.
About Zander Guinn Millan, Inc. Zander Guinn Millan, Inc. (ZGM) is a full-service branding communications firm founded in 2006 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
With a staff of highly seasoned professionals, ZGM approaches every client’s project as a unique mission: position their brand in a credible and competitive fashion; develop compelling and effective communications; and deliver exceptional client service based on mutual trust and respect. Through comprehensive analysis, cohesive strategies and breakthrough creative, ZGM builds smart, hardworking communications that elevate brands and provides sensible management to sustain their lofty positions.
About Rosa Naday Garmendia Ms. Garmendia was born in La Habana, Cuba and immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of eight and currently resides in Miami. For the past 12 years Ms. Garmendia has been a working artist and teacher engaging children and adults in the experience of art. She was an artist-in-residence at the Miami Children’s Museum for 2 consecutive terms, and since 2009 an artist-in residence at Art Center/South Florida.
More recently she has been pursuing her interest in the role of art and how it can effect social change in today’s world. She recently accepted the opportunity to participate in INTER-NOS, X Mural Painting International Biennale in Santiago de Cuba where the city became “an open gallery” for its citizens and international visitors.
Please give to Coffman's challenger Joe Miklosi. Anybody that watches this video knows that Coffman's apology is complete BS. He knew what he was saying.
I spend a lot of time reading, mostly about politics, and it's becoming a grind. I get especially angry every time I see a poll related to whether the country is on the right track or the wrong track. For some reason, the outcome always is that OBAMA is on the wrong track, and that's what's derailing America. I believe Obama is on the right track, and it's the Republicans in Congress and the states that are screwing everything up. At such times, I go looking for something fun to distract myself. I came across this quiz. It's about US presidents, and while I thought I knew something, I honestly didn't know the majority of questions, although I learned a lot from it. There is a related list of quizzes, including one on health care reform, which is much easier than the presidential quiz.
Maybe take a break from what you're doing and try you're hand at some of the quizzes.
Then go back to what you were reading...like how Common Cause has sued to end the Senate filibuster. The filing is here.
Sure, the Republicans are doing everything they can to suppress Democratic turnout, especially if those Democrats are poor, black and/or elderly. But they aren't stopping there: they're also working to throw out the votes of any Republicans who don't immediately fall in line behind Mittens.
In Nevada, the state party, in going through its process from caucuses to county conventions to the state convention to the end of selecting their delegates has virtually imploded. Paul won 22 of Nevada's 25 delegates. Not enough to change the Tampa outcome directly, but the Romney campaign and the RNC really didn't like it. So what did they do? They decided to just ignore the Nevada GOP (especially in Clark County, which includes Vegas and about 75% of the state's population) especially after this:
The Republican National Committee's strategy to work around the troubled state party and starve it of cash was revealed Wednesday, a day after Paul backers led a successful effort at a Clark County GOP meeting to rebuke RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. They passed a resolution calling on Priebus to resign for helping Romney's campaign before he has officially won the GOP nomination.
The plan would be to transfer money directly to Team Nevada and/or funnel some through the Washoe Republican Party, run by the respected Dave Buell, who is well-liked by the RNC and Romney folks.
To distill, the GOP insider said, “Essentially we’re setting up a shadow state party.”
That's right: when the GOP hoi polloi don't like their voters or the outcome, they just ignore it. They'll be setting up "Team Nevada" offices and using them as effectual GOP offices. Now, the Nevada Republicans are correct, it's against their rules for Priebus or the RNC to play favourites before the convention, but the insiders don't seem to care about that, either. Who needs voters when you're a plutocrat?
Newt Gingrich put up ads about Romney as a job destroyer so effective that he won the South Carolina primary. Those ads were based on the job killer ads Ted Kennedy ran against Mittens when he ran unsuccessfully against Uncle Teddy in 1994. With imitation being the highest form of flattery, the Obama campaign has launched the Romney Economics site. In response, the Romney campaign has dialed back their claim that Mittens helped created 100,000 jobs while at Bain to "thousands". Source.
Remember the ACA facet which says that health insurers must rebate to policyholders the amount of money policyholders paid in premiums that did not go to health care costs if those costs are less than 80%/85%? The percentage was dependent on whether it was a group or individual policy. Those checks are going to go out soon, and the first paragraph of the attached letter will say:
"This letter is to inform you that you will receive a rebate of a portion of your health insurance premiums. This rebate is required by the Affordable Care Act—the health reform law."
The largest rebates overall are projected to go to consumers and businesses in Texas (total $186 million) and Florida ($149 million); Hawaii is the only state where no insurer is expected to issue a rebate.
Consumers receiving rebates in the individual market are projected to receive $127 on average, with amounts varying significantly by insurer and state. The average rebates for individual purchasers expected to receive them range from just a few dollars in some states to as much as an average of $305 in Alaska, $294 in Maryland, $243 in Pennsylvania, $241 in Idaho, and $236 in Mississippi.
If you have a WSJ subscription, you can see the full breakdown by type of policy, amount of average rebate and state here. That chart indicates that the total number of Americans who will receive rebate checks is:
Individual policyholders: 3,360,858 Small Group policyholders: 4,932,786 Large Group policyholders: 7,475,657 Total: 15,769,301
That's almost 16 million people. Trying to find the number of people who have private health insurance is a little tricky. We know that about 87 million people have insurance, but many of them are covered by government programs (Medicare, Medicaid, SChip, military benefits, government workers). Depending on whose statistics you believe, the number of people covered by employer plans runs between 42% and 48%. Thus, the overall conclusion is that as health insurance rates keep climbing, and the number of uninsured keep rising the premium dollars are NOT going to health care costs, but rather to the companies. Which, ahem, now have to send that money back.
So let's recap: the Affordable Health Care Act is working! It's decreasing the amount of money that just gets kept by the insurance companies who keep saying they need to raise premiums to cover costs. (Liars.) This is in addition to the other benefits of covering more people including offspring in their 20's, people with pre-existing conditions, people who don't receive employer benefits and cannot afford individual plans on the open market, plus the decreased Medicare donut hole, and free preventive services. And yet, people seem not to like this, according to most polling. Yet another Ich Kreplach moment, but a win for most Americans nonetheless.
I have wondered aloud for years why people vote against their own self-interest. People tell me various answers but none that have ever made enough sense to me. So here's this:
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