U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

President Biden signed the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act into law on Friday.

He then pulled Dr. Breen's family from the ropeline at departure and gave them an impromptu tour of Marine One. What a great President we have.



If you are not aware of what the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Protection Act is, the article below explains it in detail.

Doctors and nurses had to go through excruciating hours during the surges of the covid pandemic. It was exacerbated by the anti vaxxers and anti maskers who ended up getting seriously sick in hospitals putting even more strain on these overworked medical professionals. There was absolutely no need for that when widely available masks and vaccines would have prevented it. But they chose to put themselves in that predicament because of spite and stubbornness and our amazing health professionals were forced to go through that nightmare.     

Family of ER doctor who died by suicide early in pandemic reacts to new law in her name

The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act provides federal grants for mental health programs for health care professionals combating stress during the pandemic.

The family of Dr. Lorna Breen vowed two years ago to do everything they could to help other health care professionals combat burnout and mental health issues after Breen's death by suicide in the early days of the pandemic.

Their tireless effort has brought life to the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, a bill expected to be signed into law and mentioned by President Joe Biden at his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

The new law is the first legislation of its kind and provides federal grants for training programs on treatment to reduce burnout for health care professionals, offer mental health services and prevent deaths by suicide by health care workers.

Breen's sister, Jennifer Feist, and brother-in-law, Corey Feist, spoke to Savannah Guthrie in an exclusive interview on TODAY Tuesday about honoring Breen's legacy by helping others in her profession.

“My mom texted me right before we started talking to you, and she said, 'Here’s my two cents. I think Lorna is in heaven smiling down at all the good that has come about,'" Jennifer Feist told Savannah. "We are so pleased and honored to be turning it into something positive and turning it into an experience that will help others for years to come. I think my sister would be thrilled by that."

Breen, 49, was an emergency room doctor at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in New York City who was on the front lines in March 2020 when the first wave of COVID-19 patients overwhelmed the hospital system.

She suffered from the virus herself before going back to working 12-hour days during the surge of patients and deaths. Breen's family shared on TODAY in 2020 that she reached out to them for help while dealing with mental health issues from the stress of the pandemic.

Her sister had a pair of friends drive Breen from New York to Baltimore, where Jennifer picked her up to take her to her home in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Breen stayed for 11 days.

Breen died by suicide at the Feists' home, putting a spotlight on the question of who is helping the frontline workers cope with the overwhelming stress of their jobs during the pandemic.

Breen had never had any previous mental health issues, according to her family.

“I never could have imagined losing my sister ever,” Feist said. “I thought we would be old ladies together.

“But if she can’t be here with me, I’m happy that Corey and I can carry the flag for her.”

Since the pandemic began, nearly half of the 13,000 physicians across 29 specialties surveyed by Medscape last year reported feeling burned out.

Nearly one in five health care workers has quit their job during the pandemic, while another 12% have been laid off, according to Morning Consult.

"We heard from hundreds and hundreds of health care workers across the country, in some cases across the world, who said to us, 'We have not been able to get help ourselves. We’ve not been able to take a break,'" Corey Feist said.

The Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act easily passed both houses of Congress and is now headed to Biden's desk to be signed into law. Funding for it was included in the American Rescue Plan Act that was passed last year, according to Corey Feist.

The money has been allocated to 46 institutions across the country working to help health care professionals. The Feists said they are also about to take part in a nationwide awareness campaign with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The couple also announced on TODAY last year that they had formed the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, dedicated to funding research and programs aimed at reducing burnout among health care workers and reducing the stigma of health care professionals seeking assistance for mental health issues.

"It is making an impact, and we are hearing from the health care workforce that it is already working and helping," Corey Feist said. "And the the gratitude and appreciation for this right now, given what they’ve been through is, frankly, even more important than the dollars."

Watch video in link:

https://www.today.com/health/health/family-dr-lorna-breen-reacts-law-protect-health-care-workers-rcna18081   

[Rick Plant]

Many politicians over the years, especially Presidents, have made bold claims that they were going to invest in research to find cures for diseases. They all made big promises telling people what they wanted to hear and when it came time to make good on their pledge it never came through.

In 2020, Joe Biden made medical research one of his main priorities as a candidate. His goal as President was to continue his Cancer Moon Shot program and find cures for other diseases that affect people all around the world. After President Biden was elected, he made good on his campaign promise and developed ARPA-H to find cures for various diseases. No other President has come through for Americans like President Biden has and this program will be instrumental in changing lives for the better and curing all these horrible diseases. Results matter and President Biden is delivering for the American people like he has promised. That's what a true leader does.       

President Biden
@POTUS 

"ARPA-H will have a singular purpose: to drive breakthroughs in cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, and more. We can do this.

Tune in as I meet with researchers and patients to discuss ARPA-H – a new cutting-edge health research agency that will accelerate progress on curing cancer and other health innovations."

Watch video: https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1504935486573453319
Watch Biden meet with researchers: https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1504874750455300104


Biden touts new agency he says will drive breakthroughs in biomedicine



President Biden on Friday touted the newly launched biomedical research agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), saying it will pursue bold ideas and drive breakthroughs in medicine.

“ARPA-H will have a singular purpose: to drive breakthroughs in biomedicine to prevent, detect and treat diseases including cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes,” Biden said in remarks at the White House.

ARPA-H officially launched this week, after a government spending bill Biden signed into law on Tuesday included $1 billion for the agency.

“ARPA-H will pursue ideas that break the mold on how we normally support fundamental research and commercial products in this country. Ideas so bold, no one else, not even the private sector, is willing to give them a chance or to sink a lot of money into trying to solve,” Biden said. “Ideas so audacious that people say they just might work only if, only if, we could try. Well, we’re about to try in a big way.”

ARPA-H is modeled after the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that develops emerging technologies for military use.

It will focus on equity, “because every American should have access to cutting edge health care and innovations and to make the impossible, possible,” Biden said.

Biden met with researchers and patients to discuss the new agency and its goals to accelerate progress on curing cancer and other diseases, produce medical innovation and address disparities in health outcomes.

DARPA Director Stephanie Tompkins joined the meeting, as well as Alondra Nelson, the head of the White House Office on Science and Technology, and Francis Collins, White House science adviser and former director of the National Institutes of Health.

The president also heard from a patient who he said benefited from DARPA research that enabled him to use a prosthetic arm to move and provide a sense of touch.

The launch of ARPA-H is part of Biden’s focus on cancer research and follows him reigniting the "cancer moonshot" initiative last month. The initiative is focused on reducing the cancer death rate by 50 percent in 25 years, and its goals include diagnosing cancer sooner by increasing access to ways to screen for the disease, with a focus on equity and addressing inequities across race and region.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/598781-biden-argues-new-agency-arpa-h-will-drive-breakthroughs-in

[Richard Smith]

Hunter is ever closer to the slammer.  The stripper he impregnated is cooperating with the authorities to finally bring him to justice.   Turning over the financial documents that she obtained when Hunter refused to pay child support for his love child (who he has never bothered to see).  What a great guy!  The "big guy" must be proud to have raised such an upstanding son.   Now it is America's turn.  Way to go Brandon! 

[Rick Plant]

Biden Touts $409 Million in New Infrastructure Projects

President Biden touts $409 million in new funding for infrastructure projects, including fleets of electric busses for cities and towns.

[Rick Plant]

Biden signs law on reporting critical infrastructure cyber attacks

President Joe Biden signed a law that requires critical infrastructure entities to report cyber attacks within 72 hours and report ransom payments in 24 hours.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed into law a federal cyber attack reporting requirement aimed at protecting critical infrastructure in the United States.

The Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act of 2022 was created to shore up cyberdefenses and increase the power of agencies investigating cybersecurity incidents. The Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 is a part of the new law that focuses on how critical infrastructure organizations must report cyber attacks to the federal government, specifically the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

The Critical Infrastructure Act states that an entity in the critical infrastructure sector "shall report the covered cyber incident to the Agency not later than 72 hours after the covered entity reasonably believes that the covered cyber incident has occurred." It also says that the director of CISA may not require a report any earlier than that 72-hour mark.

Peter Guffin, chair of law firm Pierce Atwood's privacy and data security practice, discussed the aim of the law with SearchSecurity.

"As its name suggests, the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act, passed by the U.S. Senate last week, aims to bolster the defenses of federal government agencies and critical infrastructure owners, such as energy and healthcare facilities, against major cyberthreats and cyber incidents, including ransomware attacks," Guffin said. "The expectation is that the prompt reporting and subsequent sharing of such information will arm federal agencies and critical infrastructure owners with the information they need to be able to defend themselves against major cyberthreats and incidents."

On top of the initial report, any entity that submits a ransom payment to a threat actor must also report that they did so to CISA within 24 hours of delivering the payment.

The law details not only the timeline for reporting cyber attacks and specifically ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure, but also outlines the new powers and responsibilities given to CISA.

The law identifies CISA as the head agency in charge of collecting and analyzing the data on cyber incidents, but it also dictates that the agency must "coordinate and share information with appropriate Federal departments and agencies to identify and track ransom payments, including those utilizing virtual currencies."

Sharing information with other agencies was a sticking point when the bill got to Congress, as it did not explicitly require CISA to assist other agencies, something that the Department of Justice took issue with.

The bill was passed by the House, however, and was adjusted so that all federal agencies were able to see what reported incidents CISA was handling if they wished. It also stated that CISA was required to share relevant findings with not just federal departments, but local entities as well.

Subsection (a)(4-5) of section 2241 states that the agency must provide "timely, actionable, and anonymized reports of cyber incident campaigns and trends, including, to the maximum extent practicable, related contextual information, cyber threat indicators, and defensive measures," to all "appropriate entities, including sector coordinating councils, Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations, State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments, technology providers, cybersecurity and cyber incident response firms, and security researchers."

Another key part of the law comes from a subsection titled "Periodic Briefing," which states that on the first day of each month, the director of CISA must collaborate with the national cyber director, attorney general and the director of national intelligence to give a briefing on the "national cyber threat landscape." This briefing would feature the total number of reports received by CISA in the previous month, new trends in cyber incidents and ransomware attacks, and how the past month compares to the month before it. It also says that the briefing must have a summary of how the information in the received reports was used by CISA.

The law requires the briefings to be delivered to the majority and minority leaders of the Senate, the speaker of the House and the minority leader of the House, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Homeland Security.

https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/252514713/Biden-signs-law-on-reporting-critical-infrastructure-cyber-attacks

[Rick Plant]

New details emerge about indicted GOP lawmaker — including a 'brown bag with $30,000' from Nigerian billionaire



Testimony resumed on Monday for the federal corruption trial of Nebraska Republican Rep. Jeff Fortenberry. One main witness in the trial was a Los Angeles doctor who gave personal accounts of his role in funneling money to the official.

The Omaha World-Herald quoted Dr. Eli Ayoub, who confessed that he funneled money from Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury in a brown paper bag to the Fortenberry campaign.

"A go-between handed the money to Ayoub. Ayoub set the bag of cash in the back seat of his car. After arriving for lunch following a funeral, Ayoub handed his keys to a valet and went inside the restaurant," said the report.

The bag of cash was still sitting on the seat when he got the car back, however.

Prosecutor Mack Jenkins asked to confirm if he really left $30,000 in cash on the back seat of his car.

"Yes, I remembered I forgot it in the car during lunch, and I was very nervous about it," Ayoub told the court.

Fundraiser Alexandra Kendrick also testified about a Los Angeles event for Fortenberry she helped organize where she saw "some red flags."

"I had many concerns. For one, we weren’t given an RSVP list before the event. ... That’s not normal. I was apprehensive," she said.

She remembered a fundraiser she ran for former Republican Rep. Jack Kingston (GA). After the event was over, the host revealed that the cash raised for Kingstone was "dirty, siphoned to the campaign through a foreigner. Different nationalities had been at the fundraiser. The FBI was involved."

The event for Fortenberry brought back a lot of those fears, she explained. The LA event was a result of Fortenberry's advocacy for the Yazidis, Christians often persecuted by ISIS. About 3,000 Yazidis refugees have moved to Lincoln, Nebraska.

“He was excited because he finally had a group of people who were willing to financially support him to thank him for the work that he had done,” Kendrick said.

A big part of the trial has been about whether Fortenberry should have known if the money was dirty. Kendrick said that it was clear to her. Fortenberry's attorney asked if she was just a racist because many of the people on the event list weren't white.

“It was more than that,” Kendrick said. “Any time you can’t get a list of names and know where the money is coming from … it’s concerning for a multitude of reasons."

Fortenberry asked the go-between of the Nigerian billionaire if everything was above board, and was assured it was, even if it wasn't.

"Eventually, Ayoub doled out more of Chagoury’s money to other politicians’ campaigns: $50,000 to former presidential candidate Mitt Romney; $30,000 to California Rep. Darrell Issa; and $20,000 to former Nebraska Rep. Lee Terry," said the Herald. In those cases, the candidates returned the money.

Fortenberry is charged with three felonies. The first charge is that he tried to conceal illegal foreign donations and lied twice to the FBI.

https://www.rawstory.com/corruption-trial-jeff-fortenberry/

[Rick Plant]

These right wingers sure aren't shy about their racism anymore. The GOP wants to take us back to the 1950's and some want to go even further back to the 1700's.

Republican Senator Mike Braun Says Supreme Court Should Have Never Legalized Interracial Marriage
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mike-braun-says-interracial-marriage-should-be-illegal-1325336/

[Rick Plant]

US to offer funds of $2.9 billion for major infrastructure projects

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House will announce on Wednesday a funding opportunity of $2.9 billion earmarked by the Transportation Department for major infrastructure projects this year, as part of a $1-trillion law Congress approved in 2021.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu will unveil the plans at an event held at a major bridge linking the U.S. capital of Washington with Arlington, Virginia.

The grant funding offers "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix our outdated infrastructure and invest in major projects for the future of our economy," Buttigieg said. Applications are due by May 23.

The figure includes $1 billion for projects of national or regional significance that are too large or complex for traditional funding programs, which Buttigieg described as the "cathedrals of our infrastructure."

Such structures could be bridges or tunnels linking two states, new rail and transit lines or freight hubs integrating ship, train and truck traffic.

The department also plans to award $300 million for rural projects and $1.55 billion for other highway, multimodal freight and rail projects.

A potential funding recipient is a $12.3-billion project that aims to build a new tunnel between New York City and New Jersey and reconstruct an existing one.

Buttigieg said he expected the project to apply for funding but it would face review, like all the rest. On a visit to the existing tunnel, Buttigieg added, he saw a "sense of urgency around those much needed upgrades."

The Hudson Tunnel Project is a key component of the Gateway Program, a major project to overhaul much of the aging rail infrastructure in the New York City area.

The New York City-area rail tunnel, which opened in 1910, was damaged in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy flooded parts of the city.

Congress approved $66 billion for rail as part of the massive infrastructure bill, with passenger railroad Amtrak receiving $22 billion. The bill also sets aside $36 billion for competitive grants.

© Reuters