Don’t let the GOP health care bill distract you from this potentially devastating change already underway.
With the House passage of a bill to get rid of Obamacare, everyone interested in the fate of the American health care system is watching the Senate to see what its version of the American Health Care Act will look like. Meanwhile, a less-noticed change to federal health care rules could pull insurance from some of the most vulnerable people in the country without any congressional action at all.
A growing number of states, in collaboration with the Trump administration, are pushing to deny Medicaid benefits to many people who don’t have jobs.
“The work requirements are important. They’re something that is restorative to people’s self-worth,” Tom Price, President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, said in March. “We believe it’s important for folks to have a job, that they contribute not just to society but they contribute to their own … well-being.”
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Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
Ryan Seacrest is joining “Live” as Kelly Ripa’s new co-host, jump-starting a new era in the morning television ratings race.
Two sources with knowledge of the deal confirmed the news to CNN prior to Monday’s broadcast, on which Ripa and Seacrest broke the news to viewers.
“Today, the next chapter of the ‘Live’ story is about to be written,” Ripa said.
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Ripa thanked all of the temporary co-hosts who had filled in during the search, saying, “They are a part of the ‘Live’ family forever.”
She then increased the anticipation by going to commercial break before bringing Seacrest on stage.
“So happy,” Seacrest said as he embraced Ripa before the audience. “So exciting.”
Seacrest, one of the world’s best-known broadcasters, has co-hosted “Live” five times as a guest since ABC began the search for Michael Strahan’s replacement one year ago.
A Swiss climber acclaimed for his rapid ascents — including scaling dozens of peaks in the Alps in a little more than two months — was killed Sunday in a mountaineering accident near Mount Everest in Nepal, expedition organizers said.
Ueli Steck was killed at Camp 1 of Mount Nuptse, Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks said. Steck’s body has been recovered from the site and been taken to Lukla, where the only airport in the Mount Everest area is located.
Steck’s family said the exact circumstances of his death were still unclear.
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Swiss Alpinist Ueli Steck was killed in a mountaineering accident on Sunday. CHRISTIAN BEUTLER / EPA
British and other European intelligence agencies intercepted communications between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and other Russian individuals during the campaign and passed on those communications to their US counterparts, US congressional and law enforcement and US and European intelligence sources tell CNN.
The communications were captured during routine surveillance of Russian officials and other Russians known to western intelligence. British and European intelligence agencies, including GCHQ, the British intelligence agency responsible for communications surveillance, were not proactively targeting members of the Trump team but rather picked up these communications during what’s known as “incidental collection,” these sources tell CNN.
The European intelligence agencies detected multiple communications over several months between the Trump associates and Russian individuals — and passed on that intelligence to the US. The US and Britain are part of the so-called “Five Eyes” agreement (along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand), which calls for open sharing among member nations of a broad range of intelligence.
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The communications are likely to be scrutinized as part of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russia’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
Facebook is planning to hire thousands of people to help review user content following multiple high-profile incidents of people sharing videos of suicide and murder.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO and cofounder, said Wednesday the company will add 3,000 people to its global community operations team to help “review the millions of reports we get every week.” That is in addition to the 4,500 people already on the team.
“Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen people hurting themselves and others on Facebook — either live or in video posted later,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook (FB, Tech30)post. “It’s heartbreaking, and I’ve been reflecting on how we can do better for our community.”
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The announcement comes weeks after Facebook faced an outcry over a Cleveland murder video that stayed up for hours on the social network before getting removed.
A man fatally shot three people in less than two minutes in what police in Fresno, California, are calling a hate crime.
The three victims from the shooting rampage Tuesday were white, and apparently chosen at random, police said. The suspect, Kori Ali Muhammad, 39, is black.
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Muhammad had posted on social media a dislike for white people and government officials, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said. He also yelled “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) when he was arrested Tuesday, officials said.
“We do not believe … that this is a terrorist-related crime,” Dyer told reporters. “This is solely based on race.”
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The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
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The shootings started around 10:45 a.m. local time.
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Muhammad fired 16 rounds within 60 to 90 seconds, Dyer said.
The mayor, one of three patrons in this small town bar on a Monday night, lights his cigarette. He knows it’s illegal to smoke in here.
“I don’t give a s–t,” says the honorable Greg Janzen.
The town is Emerson, Manitoba. The bar is a literal two minute walk to the United States border.
For the past few months, it has become a hotbed for people illegally crossing the border into Canada.
And Janzen is angry.
Most had come to the U.S. from halfway around the world to seek asylum, but said they feared a crackdown under President Donald Trump. So they continued north, where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made it clear that such asylum seekers are welcome.
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A group of migrants who said they were from Djibouti and Somalia walk along railway tracks after crossing the border at Emerson. Chris Wattie / Reuters
The former Charmed actress took to Instagram to share the good news with her followers Friday, writing, “Moments. They happen. Today was and is a moment. What does remission mean? I heard that word and have no idea how to react. Good news? YES. Overwhelming. YES. Now more waiting.”
Donald Trump may have had a rocky first three weeks in office, but they now look like a blissful honeymoon compared to the fourth one.
Amid a flurry of leaks and reports of staff disarray, Trump suffered his first defeat on a Cabinet nomination, withdrawing his choice for labor secretary. He gave up on his appeals in State of Washington v. Trump, leaving the order suspending his “travel ban” intact.
Anonymous aides portrayed the nation’s CEO roaming the White House alone at night in his bathrobe, watching cable news obsessively, and calling his national security adviser Michael Flynn at 3 a.m. to ask whether a strong or weak dollar was better for America. That same retired Lt. Gen. Flynn soon found himself defenestrated from the young administration, ostensibly for misrepresenting his contacts with the Russian ambassador during the transition.
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Donald Trump speaks as Vice President Mike Pence looks at the Congress of Tomorrow Republican Member Retreat on January 26 in Philadelphia. Dean Falvy writes that Trump’s marathon press conference refocused attention on his mental competence and stability. Critics have never been shy about diagnosing Trump with various psychological conditions, the most popular being narcissistic-personality disorder. But many self-obsessed people are capable of functioning at a high level professionally, as Trump has for much of his life. But the astonishing achievement of reaching the presidency seems to have aggravated Trump’s insecurities and grievances, to the point where mental illness has become the elephant in the White House Situation Room. Alex Wong/Getty
A lot of people seem to be questioning President Trump’s mental health. This month, Representative Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, went so far as to say he was considering proposing legislation that would require a White House psychiatrist.
More controversial is the number of mental health experts who are joining the chorus. In December, a Huffington Post article featured a letter written by three prominent psychiatry professors that cited President Trump’s “grandiosity, impulsivity, hypersensitivity to slights or criticism, and an apparent inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality” as evidence of his mental instability. While stopping short of giving the president a formal psychiatric diagnosis, the experts called for him to submit to a full medical and neuropsychiatric evaluation by impartial investigators.
A practicing psychologist went further in late January. He was quoted in a U.S. News and World Report article titled “Temperament Tantrum,” saying that President Trump has malignant narcissism, which is characterized by grandiosity, sadism and antisocial behavior.
I don’t doubt that these experts believe they are protecting the country from a president whose behavior they — like many of us — see as dangerous. A recent letter to the editor in this newspaper, signed by 35 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers, put it this way: “We fear that too much is at stake to be silent.” It continued, “We believe that the grave emotional instability indicated by Mr. Trump’s speech and actions makes him incapable of serving safely as president.”
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Image: Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post
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Is It Time to Call Trump Mentally Ill?
James' World 2 