Seriously, though, legally it wouldn't be possible. The poor man is clearly non compos mentis . I'm pretty sure you can't swear such a person. And there'd be no point if he weren't under oath.
The county hospital and its workers were the biggest item in the county budget. It was the (or "a"?) time when privatization and reduction in the size of government was extremely fashionable. The county hospital in the not distant past had been losing money on paper (much of the debt was to other county agencies), so despite the fact that the new CEO had turned it around, the right-wingers (a clear majority) on the Board of Supervisors continued to beat that dead horse for propaganda purposes. The big private hospital had turned up its nose at taking Medicaid patients a couple of years before, but it was having (richly deserved) financial problems of its own and saw that the county hospital was making a profit from Medicaid, so wanted the profits. One of the Supervisors was married to a member of the private hospital's Board of Directors. The private hospital gave the Board of Supervisors a bunch of freebies (a prepaid weekend at a fancy mountain resort, for instance). No hanky-panky, no conflict of interest, oh no, absolutely not. Then when the Medicare/Medicaid regulations changed and required a public option everywhere, the Board of Supervisors ordered the county hospital not to submit their plan for consideration, which was the death knell of the hospital. The private hospital is notorious for union busting, and they (indirectly) fired anyone in the hospital suspected of sympathies for the old management. Among other things, they fired all the billing staff and replaced them with their own serfs; there was a little problem, though: the billing staff who were fired were experts at finding money to pay for the care of people who couldn't pay. Losing that expertise cost the private hospital millions of dollars in the first year. Typically, when the deal was done, everyone at the county hospital had to submit their resignations and apply to the private hospital for their old jobs. One thing I realized was that the people from the private hospital were frightened. It might have been that they were afraid of what would happen to them if they didn't do a job of taking over the county hospital that satisfied their masters; it might be because they were lily white and were frightened of the county workforce, which looked like the residents of Fresno county--that is, not lily white. Or both. I think it was both.
I will admit that the county hospital was confronted with one difficult problem; but the Supes could have dealt with it if they had wanted to. The hospital buildings no longer met the Medicare standards, which required (among other things) operating rooms big enough to accommodate open heart surgery (which they did not do). Replacing the hospital buildings would have been expensive; but on the other hand, the county was renting a lot of office building space around town, and the old hospital buildings could easily have been repurposed as county office buildings. I don't know if the Supes didn't want to inconvenience the property owners they were renting from, but it wouldn't surprise me.
A few from talkingpointsmemo.com: =================================== “The Supreme Court on Monday issued an administrative stay blocking House Democrats’ subpoena for President Trump’s tax returns until both sides can file the necessary legal papers,” Axios reports.
“The lower court order compelling Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars USA to turn over the president’s financial records will be delayed until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up Trump’s appeal.” =================================== “Two Senators are probing a whistleblower’s allegations that at least one political appointee at the Treasury Department may have tried to interfere with the audit of President Trump or Vice President Pence,” the Washington Post reports.
“Staff for Sens. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), the chair and ranking Democrat on the Senate finance committee, met with the IRS whistleblower earlier this month… Follow-up interviews are being scheduled to further explore the whistleblower’s allegations.” =================================== Former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd at a Washington, D.C., jazz club over the weekend, days after her dramatic testimony in the House impeachment probe. ================================== Trump and Republicans Have a [VERY] Big Health Care Problem [Click]
There is a lot more, but that’s more than enough for me at the moment.
What America Lost When It Lost the Bison [Click] “By migrating in huge herds, bison behave like a force of nature, engineering and intensifying waves of spring greenery that other grazers rely on.”
California Democrats approve platform, endorse candidates on final Long Beach convention day [Click] Nothing exciting—but that’s good! There have been times when passions ran high.
ReplyDeleteProgress!
DeleteImpeachment: Trump will 'strongly consider' testifying
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50464261
😂😂😂 That’ll be the day !!
His lawyers wouldn't dare place him under oath. But wouldn’t that make for an interesting day? Ha!
Funny that he expressed an interest and alleged willingness. So...why not let Bolton and the others have a go as well? 😉
Oh, man! What a circus that would be.
DeleteSeriously, though, legally it wouldn't be possible. The poor man is clearly non compos mentis . I'm pretty sure you can't swear such a person. And there'd be no point if he weren't under oath.
Alan, why was the county hospital closed and replaced with such an inferior outfit?
ReplyDeleteThe county hospital and its workers were the biggest item in the county budget. It was the (or "a"?) time when privatization and reduction in the size of government was extremely fashionable. The county hospital in the not distant past had been losing money on paper (much of the debt was to other county agencies), so despite the fact that the new CEO had turned it around, the right-wingers (a clear majority) on the Board of Supervisors continued to beat that dead horse for propaganda purposes. The big private hospital had turned up its nose at taking Medicaid patients a couple of years before, but it was having (richly deserved) financial problems of its own and saw that the county hospital was making a profit from Medicaid, so wanted the profits. One of the Supervisors was married to a member of the private hospital's Board of Directors. The private hospital gave the Board of Supervisors a bunch of freebies (a prepaid weekend at a fancy mountain resort, for instance). No hanky-panky, no conflict of interest, oh no, absolutely not. Then when the Medicare/Medicaid regulations changed and required a public option everywhere, the Board of Supervisors ordered the county hospital not to submit their plan for consideration, which was the death knell of the hospital. The private hospital is notorious for union busting, and they (indirectly) fired anyone in the hospital suspected of sympathies for the old management. Among other things, they fired all the billing staff and replaced them with their own serfs; there was a little problem, though: the billing staff who were fired were experts at finding money to pay for the care of people who couldn't pay. Losing that expertise cost the private hospital millions of dollars in the first year. Typically, when the deal was done, everyone at the county hospital had to submit their resignations and apply to the private hospital for their old jobs. One thing I realized was that the people from the private hospital were frightened. It might have been that they were afraid of what would happen to them if they didn't do a job of taking over the county hospital that satisfied their masters; it might be because they were lily white and were frightened of the county workforce, which looked like the residents of Fresno county--that is, not lily white. Or both. I think it was both.
ReplyDeleteI will admit that the county hospital was confronted with one difficult problem; but the Supes could have dealt with it if they had wanted to. The hospital buildings no longer met the Medicare standards, which required (among other things) operating rooms big enough to accommodate open heart surgery (which they did not do). Replacing the hospital buildings would have been expensive; but on the other hand, the county was renting a lot of office building space around town, and the old hospital buildings could easily have been repurposed as county office buildings. I don't know if the Supes didn't want to inconvenience the property owners they were renting from, but it wouldn't surprise me.
DeleteA few from talkingpointsmemo.com:
ReplyDelete===================================
“The Supreme Court on Monday issued an administrative stay blocking House Democrats’ subpoena for President Trump’s tax returns until both sides can file the necessary legal papers,” Axios reports.
“The lower court order compelling Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars USA to turn over the president’s financial records will be delayed until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up Trump’s appeal.”
===================================
“Two Senators are probing a whistleblower’s allegations that at least one political appointee at the Treasury Department may have tried to interfere with the audit of President Trump or Vice President Pence,” the Washington Post reports.
“Staff for Sens. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), the chair and ranking Democrat on the Senate finance committee, met with the IRS whistleblower earlier this month… Follow-up interviews are being scheduled to further explore the whistleblower’s allegations.”
===================================
Former Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was greeted with a standing ovation from the crowd at a Washington, D.C., jazz club over the weekend, days after her dramatic testimony in the House impeachment probe.
==================================
Trump and Republicans Have a [VERY] Big Health Care Problem [Click]
There is a lot more, but that’s more than enough for me at the moment.
Bummer on the Supremes. I wish they'd just stayed out of it.
ReplyDeleteSweet about the standing ovation!!!
The SC might still stay out of it; we shall see.
DeleteTen more days to WAIT. Sheesh! Haven't we waited long enough?
DeleteWhat America Lost When It Lost the Bison [Click] “By migrating in huge herds, bison behave like a force of nature, engineering and intensifying waves of spring greenery that other grazers rely on.”
ReplyDeletePhil*in*Iowa says the same thing. His pastured cows make a huge difference in his meadow.
DeleteShort-grass prairie is in fact a grazing-maintained ecosystem.
Delete