Category Archives: Politics

“Mothers die too often because women’s health isn’t valued in the US”

Vox: California decided it was tired of women bleeding to death in childbirth. “The maternal mortality rate in the state is a third of the American average. Here’s why.” By Julia Belluz, Jun 29, 2017.

“[T]here’s been a decline in access to contraception and abortion in many parts of the US, leading to more unplanned, unwanted — and, in some cases, more dangerous — pregnancies.

The opioid epidemic certainly hasn’t made births safer for moms, and health care access remains poor for low-income and minority women, who have among the worst maternal health outcomes.”

Also:

“Large employers in California, including Disney and Apple, as well as insurance payers have recognized that making births safer saves them money. They’ve supported CMQCC by helping pressure hospitals to follow the steps to protect women in the workforce – and avoid incurring unnecessary costs that drive up insurance premiums.”

Emphases mine.

ProPublica and NPR: The Last Person You’d Expect to Die in Childbirth. By Nina Martin, ProPublica, and Renee Montagne, NPR, May 12, 2017.

“The U.S. has the worst rate of maternal deaths in the developed world, and 60 percent are preventable. The death of Lauren Bloomstein, a neonatal nurse, in the hospital where she worked illustrates a profound disparity: The health care system focuses on babies but often ignores their mothers.”

ProPublica: Lost Mothers. “An estimated 700 to 900 women in the U.S. died from pregnancy-related causes in 2016. We have identified 134 of them so far.” By Nina Martin, ProPublica, Emma Cillekens and Alessandra Freitas, special to ProPublica, July 17, 2017.

Links via MetaFilter.

“[A] few firings won’t solve the ongoing and underlying problems of objectification and inequality that manifest […] throughout American culture.”

The Atlantic: America’s Sexual-Assault Epidemic. “The Harvey Weinstein scandal rocking Hollywood has now spread throughout the American business world, with a growing list of firings and suspensions among high-profile men.” By Gillian B. White.

“In a sense, the current reckoning with predatory behavior by successful men has come about both because of, and in spite of, the country’s choice of president. […] Yet it’s impossible to contextualize the growing public outcry over sexual assault without considering the short distance, and largely unresolved tension, between Trump’s “you can do anything“ attitude toward women and his subsequent victory over a female candidate. Trump’s repeated denigration of women on the campaign trail, and the fact that he was elected anyway, set the stage for this moment. Viewed in that light, coming forward about experiences of abuse are both an act of personal courage, and a protest against this political moment.”

Link via dangerousmeta.

“Anis [Amri] hat sich nicht verstellt”

Deutsche Welle: Weitere Behördenpanne im Terrorfall Anis Amri. “Ein syrischer Flüchtling soll die Behörden zweimal vergeblich vor dem späteren Weihnachtsmarktattentäter gewarnt haben. Das berichtet das ZDF-Magazin “Frontal 21″.”

Man kann den Beitrag in der Sendung Frontal 21 hier anschauen (oder die gesamte Sendung vom 17.10.2017) oder sich das Manuskript zum Beitrag als PDF herunterladen.

“I can’t guarantee that Amri could have been removed, but the chance was there”

Deutsche Welle: Berlin Christmas market attack: Inquiry accuses police of ‘sloppiness’ in Anis Amri case. “Almost a year after Anis Amri drove a truck into a Berlin Christmas market, startling police “failures” in the case have come to light. An investigator said he could not fathom why the killer was not under surveillance.”

Deutsche Welle: Anschlag von Berlin gingen schwere Fehler voraus. “Nach seinen Ermittlungen zum Terroranschlag auf den Berliner Weihnachtsmarkt hat Sonderermittler Bruno Jost ein vernichtendes Urteil gefällt. Der frühere Bundesanwalt stellte zahlreiche schwere Fehler der Behörden fest.”

“This is what grudging benevolence rooted in a sense of personal superiority and belief in the power of performance looks like.”

The Washington Post: In Puerto Rico, Trump’s paper-towel toss reveals where his empathy lies.

“Nicholas Vargas, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Florida, noted that Trump doesn’t approach everyone in such a state of callous disconnect. In August, Trump said there were “very fine people“ among the white supremacists at a rally in Charlottesville that left a counterprotester dead. Soon after, he pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, formally expressing concern for a man known for racially profiling Latinos and housing jail inmates outdoors in tents.

In these cases, Trump showed compassion.

“But when it comes to Puerto Rico and the humanitarian crisis there, what we see is a hands-off, bitter, hardly restrained resentment that anything is expected of him at all,“ said Vargas, who studies issues related to race and ethnicity. “This is a man who has the capacity to empathize. It — even in a catastrophe — is just a selective thing.“

These images show a president without mercy for certain human beings, “people unlike him,“ Vargas said. “That is women, people of color — even in the most dire of circumstances.“ “