DL Open Thread: Thursday, November 25, 2021
Happy Thanksgiving! Best holiday of the year by far, at least for us.
Let me just emphasize how disgraceful giving the Kathleen McGuiness the Pharmacist Of The Year Award is. With one move, that professional association has lost all credibility. Especially when there are real pharmacists making real differences out there–like Dr. TaQuina Warren:
Dr. TaQuina Warren – better known as “Dr. Tee” – treats her patients like family, oftentimes inducting them as her newfound relatives when they enter her Smyrna pharmacy.
For her patients, Warren has come to represent much more than a local pharmacist as she has grown to become a cornerstone within the community.
“I realized that I wanted to connect with my patients on a totally different level,” Warren said. “A lot of times I tell them when they come in, ‘I’ll be your adopted niece so I’ll call them aunt so-and-so or uncle so-and-so.’”
Her personal experiences with diabetes have allowed her to forge strong, empathetic relationships with her patients as well as providing more nuanced treatment information. Warren described having a deep passion for connecting with people and to be able to help patients on their health and wellness journey.
Now, she’s someone for whom to be thankful.
390,000 Federal Contract Workers To Get Raises On January 30, 2022. Biden Executive Order raises minimum wage for such workers to $15 an hour.
I’m thankful for everyone involved in successfully suing Charlottesville’s Nazis. Even if not a single penny of the $26 mill verdict is ever collected:
The suit’s nine plaintiffs scored a major victory on Tuesday when, after about three weeks of witness testimony and three days of deliberation, a jury found the defendants participating in the case liable for more than $24 million in punitive damages and about $2 million in compensatory damages ― hefty sums that they have vowed to fight.
Attorney Roberta Kaplan, who served as co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs alongside Karen Dunn, stressed her intention to ensure the plaintiffs are actually paid the damages they are owed. In an interview with Law.com after the verdict was handed down, Kaplan cited her experience working on judgment enforcement cases, saying: “I knew how to do it then, and we’ll have to do it again here, if necessary.” Several of the plaintiffs are under age 40, meaning the obligation to pay damages may follow them around for years to come. One can only hope.
WV’s Coal Baron Governor Finally Being Held Accountable? If so, I’m thankful:
The proprietor of the Greenbrier Resort owns more than 50 coal mines and businesses and has faced fines before—along with community opposition—for failing to pay taxes and suppliers, inadequately implementing mine safety requirements, and ignoring court-ordered environmental remediation work.
This most recent fine adds to more than $15 million in taxes and safety penalties he has owed state governments for his coal mines across six states, according to a 2016 NPR investigation. That analysis revealed Justice’s mines as a hotbed for workplace injuries, holding the most unpaid safety violations of any American-owned coal operator.
The fine might also just happen to turn the tide in improving environmental and safety habits in the region, too, says Willie Dodson, a field organizer with the environmental labor group Appalachian Voices. “Regulators have been giving these companies just second chance after second chance for too long,” Dodson told Grist. “It is clear now, that to stop these companies from trying to squeeze more money out these dying mines at the expense of the community and jobs, states need to start revoking permits and going after the full array of personal and corporate assets held by these billionaires.”
Not only will it ease the taxpayers’ burden by forcing the Justices to foot the bill, it’ll also create hundreds of jobs. Kentucky, one of the poorest states in the country, has nearly a dozen counties with a poverty rate above 30 percent, nearly triple the national average. An analysis by Appalachian Voices found that reclamation work at Justice’s mines alone would employ 220 to 460 workers for five years. A big boost is expected soon, at the hands of the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. According to the Reclaiming Appalachia Coalition, the $11.3 billion earmarked in the law for abandoned mine cleanup will result in nearly 3,000 jobs and $7.45 billion in economic output across Appalachia.
Which reminds me: Why can’t the D’s market the shit out of all the good stuff in the infrastructure bill? You can bet that Rethugs who opposed the bill will.
What do you want to talk about?
