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Barks

UPDATE TO “CAWTHORN’S FIRST 2 MONTHS IN OFFICE”

Subtitled “Under Attack, He Moves (Far) Right,” our story noted that Rep. Madison Cawthorn had not introduced any original legislation after 60 days in office.

Cawthorn last week introduced two original pieces of legislation. One would provide tax credits for small businesses that are required to train employees in safety measures to deal with the COVID-19 virus. The other would permanently abolish Daylight Savings Time.

Our story March 5 also noted that Cawthorn frequently voted with, and co-sponsored bills by, his far-right Republican allies, including Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, Chip Roy, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and fellow North Carolinian, Ted Budd.

In two recent votes Cawthorn split from his far-right group. He voted in favor of a House resolution condemning the violent right-wing military coup in Myannmar — the coup leaders claimed “voter fraud” justified their seizing power — and also in favor of awarding medals to Congressional police who tried to stop violent Trump supporters from invading the U.S. Capitol. — Peter Lewis

MISSION-HCA HEALTHCARE PUBLIC MEETING APRIL 7th

Gibbins Advisors, the independent monitor hired to oversee HCA’s compliance with terms of the Mission Health System sale, will hold an informational online meeting open to everyone in Western North Carolina served by Mission Health. The webinar will be Wednesday, April 7^th at 5:30 p.m. (Eastern).

This will be the first public meeting with the independent monitor since last year’s seven pre-pandemic community meetings. In the webinar, the independent monitor will provide an update on its work, and take questions from the public.

Anyone interested in participating can register at this link.

The presentation will be recorded and posted for viewing after the event on the Independent Monitor’s website. — Peter Lewis

CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN FOR MISSION NURSES

The National Nurses Union, which in September 2020 won recognition at Mission Hospital for 1,800 Registered Nurses, is in the throes of negotiating its first contract at Mission with HCA. It took four months before negotiations actually started in January, and the NNU isn’t putting a timeline on finishing. While patient and staff safety are prime concerns as the pandemic continues, the NNU says that the nurses want HCA to make real changes at the hospital and to address “a wide range of issues”, including staffing, which many nurses say has been cut to the bone. The NNU has successfully negotiated contracts with 19 other HCA hospitals around the country, though Mission is the first for-profit hospital in North Carolina that the NNU has unionized. — Barbara Durr

DESPITE COVID HOTSPOT,

SCHOOL BOARD MEETS IN PERSON

Despite four active cases of COVID-19 at the Asheville City Schools Central Office, ACS supervisors meeting Tuesday March 16 required anyone wishing to comment on plans to close Asheville Primary School to appear in person at the Central Office meeting room. Although the meeting was streamed online, anyone wishing to address the board had to appear in person.

CAWTHORN: LEFTIES WANT TO TAKE ALL YOUR GUNS! Writing in the Heritage Foundation’s The Daily Signal, U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (SPQR-NC) writes “Make no mistake, the left wants to take your guns, and trample your constitutional rights.” Western North Carolina’s rookie congressman has made unrestricted gun ownership a key focus of his term in office.

PLAY BALL! ASHEVILLE TOURISTS

Now an affiliate of the cheating Houston Astros, the hometown Asheville Tourists announced that they plan to play a 120-game schedule in 2021, including 60 home games at McCormick Field. The home opener is May 5 against the Brooklyn Cyclones, a farm club of the hated Mets.

THE FIRST BEAR SIGHTING OF SPRING

It was the first trash day after Pi Day (3.14). Although the adolescent black bear that sprinted through our yard was alone, neighbors said they saw a mama with three cubs heading for a local birdfeeder. Yes, I’m trying to fill space here.

Linux

By PHL on October 2, 2017

Linux

Happy virtual birthdays, Linux and PGP by PHL posted on AUGUST 27, 2011 It was was (pretty near) 20 years ago today Linus Torvalds taught the band to play. The young student announced to a Usenet group that he had created a new operating system kernel. From: torvalds@klaava.Helsinki.FI (Linus Benedict Torvalds) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: What would you like to see most in minix? Summary: small poll for my new operating system Message-ID: Date: 25 Aug 91 20:57:08 GMT Organization: University of Helsinki Hello everybody out there using minix – I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and…

Google+ (Look It Up)

By PHL on October 2, 2017

Google Plus or Minus by PHL posted on AUGUST 31, 2011 THE GOOG, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY Does anybody use Google+ any more? That seems to be the question floating around these days. The Google+ project made its debut two months ago and by the end of its first month had a user base of 25 million worldwide, becoming the fastest-growing social media network in the admittedly short history of social media networks, according to comScore. Almost immediately afterward, Experian Hitwise, an online consumer behavior and marketing consultancy, began reporting that Google+’s rate of growth was slowing, and that the average…

He Looks Pretty Good Now, In Comparison

By PHL on October 2, 2017

He Looks Pretty Good Now, In Comparison

Checkers v. “I am not a crook” by PHL posted on SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 I’M GOING TO TELL YOU A STORY One of the greatest, and most infamous, examples of the power of storytelling occurred on this date 59 years ago. The world would little remember the details of the speech Richard Nixon delivered on Sept. 23, 1952 –in fact, would consider the campaign finance kerfuffle to be almost charming in contrast to today’s multimillion-dollar campaign binges — were it not for Tricia Nixon’s little dog, Checkers. Yes, today is the anniversary of the Checkers Speech. It’s appropriate that we mark the…