Important headlines for January 9th:
Bottom Line: These are stories you don't want to miss and my hot takes on them...
BROWARD NEWS Paramedics were in and out of deadly nursing home as temperature climbed, but didn't see the crisis coming - Sun-Sentinel
Excerpt: Hollywood Fire Rescue crews were inside a hot nursing home to rescue dying people on the Monday after Hurricane Irma, then again Tuesday and twice Wednesday before forcing an evacuation.
What they saw and how they responded inside the nursing home where 12 people died after 62 hours without air conditioning is the subject of a deposition examined by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Hollywood Fire Rescue Lt. Amy Parrinello, in a sworn interview Dec. 5 with a nursing home attorney, had the same answer to dozens of questions about what she and her team observed: “I don’t recall.”
Hot Take: We know that multiple failures took place resulting in the horrible tragedies that played out in the wake of Irma at the Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills. That included being ill-prepared for the impact of a hurricane. It included failure to comply with existing laws and regulations governing the facility. It also doubtless included failures of basic human decency. As we're finding out more detail, it's likely to raise additional questions. I'm not interested in speculation - this needs to play out as it is - but what's clear with additional detail is that there were likely many opportunities to keep this horrible event from playing out like it did. It's possible additional laws/regs may be needed or are helpful to prevent future like events but it's also increasingly clear that existing laws and regs were sufficient to prevent this from happening but were ignored.
In the immediate aftermath of the evacuation of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills I sought out information about what the legal requirements are for operators. I found the regulations regarding temperature maintenance and it became very clear very quickly that the law/regulations weren't being followed at the facility ahead of time. The state requirements call for temperature checks to be performed on all floors of a facility with regularity and temperatures that must be at a safe level between 71 and 81 degrees aside from "brief periods of time" in an emergency situation. If the existing laws and regs were adhered to this wouldn't have happened. In the aftermath lots of additional action has been taken and is in process of being taken legislatively. Here's the thing. New laws may feel good but they don't mean anything if they're not followed. If the existing laws weren't followed why would new ones ensure they would be? That's why there needs to be personal accountability at the end of this investigation. Wherever it may lead.
Did Sessions Increase the Odds Congress Will Legalize Pot? James Higdon, Politico
Excerpt: When Jeff Sessions announced Thursday morning he had removed the barrier that had held back federal prosecutors from pursuing marijuana cases in states that had made pot legal, he delivered on something he had all but promised when he was nominated as attorney general. Most of the marijuana world saw it coming, but they freaked out anyway.
Thursday may well turn out to be a pivotal moment in the marijuana industry’s evolution as a political force. Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe in some form of legalized marijuana, but does the nascent industry have the sway to rewrite nearly 50 years of federal drug policy? Or will it remain a splintered coalition of investors, libertarians, concerned parents of sick kids, cancer sufferers, and traumatized veterans, who have the numbers but not the concentrated lobbying effort necessary to once and for all remove marijuana from the crosshairs of federal drug enforcement?
Hot Take: Finally! Finally, someone gets it. For years I've been repeating a similar version of a similar thing on this topic. If you want legal marijuana in any form - stop the nonsense at the state and local level. It isn't lawful or constitutional for these state and local governments to allow any consumption of marijuana in any form. Instead state and local governments have created a class of locally sanctioned federal drug traffickers, money launders and accessories to these crimes. Congrats on failing civics 101.
Now here's the thing. The Jeff Sessions decision to actually enforce federal law doesn't make him the marijuana bogeyman. It makes him someone who's doing his job. There was always a realization that the federal government might actually enforce federal drug laws. The reality that many rapidly expanding and already established marijuana manufactures and dispensaries could actually be taken down has led to another notion that should have been where we started. Federal action to potentially legalize the industry. It's unclear what the proposed legislation could look like or if it'll pass but it's becoming increasingly likely that proposed legislation is coming (potentially as early as this week). If you want legal marijuana in any form - this is the fight that you should be fighting rather than the illegal games we've been playing.
The Media's Standard for Trump: 'Fake But Accurate'? David Harsanyi, The Federalist
Excerpt: Michael Wolff has given the media a convenient excuse to repeat unverified stories about the Trump administration
Hot Take: This hits at my operating theory. Michael Wolff knows he's perpetuating a series of lies. Wolff also knows that he can make a lot of money doing it and marketing it to the radical leftists that loathe the President in a myriad of willing media outlets. He also knows that millions of Americans that're filled with bigotry and hatred will vote by buying the book. This takes us back to the media.
Here was CNN's statement on Fire and Fury: "CNN has not independently confirmed all of Wolff's assertions. But the broader portrait of a President surrounded by aides and advisers wary of his temperament has been borne out in conversations with officials over the past year"
Here was CNN's statement in 2012 on an unflattering book with many salacious assertions regarding Barack Obama in 2012: “CNN has not independently confirmed many of Klein’s assertions, so we doubt the veracity of the book as a whole.”
Any questions?
Until tomorrow...