Daily Archives: February 25, 2020

AP FACT CHECK: Donald Trump and the audacity of hype – Associated Press

Posted: February 25, 2020 at 7:49 pm

WASHINGTON (AP) In their boisterous presidential debate, several Democrats sold short the health care plans of rivals or glossed over aspects of their own record. In an audacious league of his own, President Donald Trump celebrated the elimination of a tax that still exists and went deep and wide in distorting what hes done in office.

A sampling from the past week:

TAXES

TRUMP: We got rid of it. No more death tax, no more inheritance tax. Colorado rally Thursday.

THE FACTS: False. The death tax is still alive.

Hes referring to the estate tax, also known as the inheritance tax. He didnt get rid of it.

The 2017 tax overhaul doubled the threshold at which the estate tax gets levied. A couple worth less than $22.4 million would avoid the tax. But the increase of the threshold isnt permanent. Its set to expire in 2026.

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TRUMP, on the effects of the estate tax on people inheriting family farms: You know what? They go out and they would borrow a lot of money and they would lose the farms. The number is staggering. Colorado rally.

THE FACTS: Hes inflating the peril to family farms from the estate tax, which is aimed at the hugely wealthy. After his 2017 tax cuts, the Agriculture Department published estimates that 38,106 farm estates would be created in 2018. Of those, only 230 would have to file an estate tax return and only 133 would have any estate tax liability.

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TRADE

TRUMP: If our formally targeted farmers need additional aid until such time as the trade deals with China, Mexico, Canada and others fully kick in, that aid will be provided by the federal government, paid for out of the massive tariff money coming into the USA! tweet Friday in all capital letters.

THE FACTS: Thats a flatly false account of where the money for the farm subsidies comes from. It comes from U.S. taxpayers. There is no massive tariff money coming into the country, from which the subsidies could be drawn.

Since the start of his trade war with China, Trump has been consistently deceptive about who is paying for it. Tariffs are principally paid by U.S. importers and those costs are usually passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for goods. China and other exporters are not cutting the U.S. a check. The money to help farmers hurt by the trade war comes from the U.S. treasury at the expense of other federal programs and the debt.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says household income takes a hit from the tariffs. It estimated last year that the tariffs then in play would bring down average inflation-adjusted household income by $580 from 2018 to 2020.

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STOP AND FRISK

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE MIKE BLOOMBERG, on the stop-and-frisk policing policy when he was New York mayor: What happened, however, was it got out of control and when we discovered I discovered that we were doing many, many, too many stop and frisks, we cut 95% of them out. Democratic debate Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Hes misrepresenting how stop and frisk declined. That happened because of a court order, not because Bloomberg learned that it was being overused.

In Bloombergs first 10 years in office, the number of stop-and-frisk actions increased nearly 600% from when he took office in 2002, reaching a peak of nearly 686,000 stops in 2011. That declined to about 192,000 documented stops in 2013, his final year as mayor.

Bloomberg achieved his claim of a 95% cut by cherry-picking the quarterly high point of 203,500 stops in the first quarter of 2012 and comparing that with the 12,485 stops in the last quarter of 2013.

The former mayor defended the practice even after leaving office at the end of 2013 and only apologized for it a few weeks before declaring his candidacy for presidency.

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COAL

BLOOMBERG, citing his philanthropys work with the Sierra Club: Already weve closed 304 out of the 530 coal fire plants in the United States, and weve closed 80 out of the 200 or 300 that are in Europe. Democratic debate.

THE FACTS: Hes wrongly taking credit for driving the U.S. coal industry to its knees.

The U.S. coal industrys plunge is largely due to market forces, above all drops in prices of natural gas and renewable energy that have made costlier coal-fired power plants much less competitive for electric utilities. Bloomberg has indeed contributed huge sums to efforts to close coal plants and fight climate change, but against the backdrop of an industry besieged on other fronts.

U.S. coal production peaked in 2008, but since then has fallen steadily. Thats due largely to a boom in oil and gas production from U.S. shale, begun under the Obama administration, that made natural gas far more abundant and cheaper, and falling prices for wind and solar energy, partly because of improving technology in the renewable sector.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reaffirmed in a report in December the extent to which the market has turned away from coal.

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HEALTH CARE

TRUMP, on Sanders Medicare for All plan: Think of this: 180 million Americans are going to lose health care coverage under this plan. But if you dont mind, Im not going to criticize it tonight. Let them keep going and Ill start talking about it about two weeks out from the election. Arizona rally Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Thats a thorough misrepresentation of the Sanders plan as well as similar plans by Democrats in Congress. People wouldnt lose coverage. Under Sanders, they would be covered by a new and universal government plan that replaces private and job-based insurance. Democrats who stop short of proposing to replace private and job-based insurance would offer an option for people to take a Medicare-like plan, also toward the goal of ensuring universal coverage.

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WARREN on Klobuchars health plan: It is like a Post-it note, insert plan here. ... Amy, I looked online at your plan. Its two paragraphs. Democratic debate.

THE FACTS: Thats not true. Klobuchars health care policies run thousands of words online, addressing coverage, substance abuse and mental health, prescription drugs and the elderly. Some of her material lacks specifics found in the plans of several of her rivals. Yet aspects of her agenda are grounded in detailed legislation led or supported by the senator from Minnesota.

Its true that Klochuchars main health policy page devotes two paragraphs to summarizing her way of achieving universal coverage. But thats not the extent of her plan.

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SANDERS, to Buttigieg: Lets level, Pete. Under your plan, which is a maintenance continuation of the status quo. ... Democratic debate.

WARREN: Buttigiegs health care plan is not a plan. Its a PowerPoint.

THE FACTS: Its more than the status quo and more than a PowerPoint presentation. Buttigiegs plan would cover almost all U.S. citizens and legal residents, even if its not as far reaching as the proposals of Sanders and Warren.

An analysis of health care overhaul plans by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund found that an approach like the one advocated by Buttigieg would reduce the number of uninsured people from more than 32 million to less than 7 million. Those 7 million or so would mainly be people who are in the country illegally.

The proposal from Buttigieg features a new government-sponsored public option plan that even people with employer-sponsored coverage could join voluntarily.

Warrens put-down of Buttigiegs plan comes after she reconsidered her own approach to Medicare for All, deciding to proceed in stages. She would first expand coverage by building on existing programs and postpone the push for a system fully run by the government until the third year of her presidency.

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TRUMP: We are now offering plans that are up to 60% less expensive than they were, and it is better health care. Arizona rally.

THE FACTS: Cheaper, yes. But not cheaper and better.

The bargain health insurance plans Trump talks about are cheaper because they skimp on benefits such as maternity or prescription drug coverage and do not guarantee coverage of preexisting conditions.

The short-term plans the Trump administration is promoting as an alternative to the Affordable Care Act provide up to 12 months of coverage and can be renewed for up to 36 months.

Premiums for the plans are about one-third the cost of fuller insurance coverage. Theyre intended for people who want an individual health insurance policy but make too much money to qualify for Obamacare subsides.

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TRUMP: We are protecting people with preexisting conditions ... we are trying to get rid of Obamacare ... we are trying to get rid, so we can give you a great health-care plan and protect preexisting conditions. Arizona rally.

THE FACTS: Not really. People with preexisting medical problems have health insurance protections because of Obamas health care law. As Trump notes, he is trying to dismantle it.

One of Trumps major alternatives to Obamas law short-term health insurance doesnt have to cover preexisting conditions. Meanwhile, his administration has been pressing in court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.

He and congressional Republicans say they would put new protections in place, but they have not spelled them out.

With Obamas law still in place, preexisting conditions continue to be covered by regular individual health insurance plans. Insurers must take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and charge the same standard premiums to healthy people and those who had medical problems before or when they signed up.

Before the Affordable Care Act, any insurer could deny coverage or charge more to anyone with a preexisting condition who was seeking to buy an individual policy.

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PRESIDENTIAL POWERS

TRUMP, on one of the people who benefited from his round of pardons and sentence commutations: Rod Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat. He served 8 years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal! tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: Thats misleading at best. The FBI closed in on Blagojevich when he was trying to make the sale. He was convicted of trying to sell an appointment to President Barack Obamas former Senate seat as well as trying to shake down a childrens hospital. Trump commuted the sentence of the former Illinois governor on Tuesday.

James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump, had nothing to do with the case. Comey was working in the private sector when Blagojevich was indicted, tried and convicted. As for Comeys gang, Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor who brought the case against Blagojevich, is a Comey friend and one of his lawyers.

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TRUMP: Im actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country. remarks Tuesday to reporters.

THE FACTS: Thats disputed.

Several veterans of Obamas administration described Trumps assertion as simply wrong on the law, while conservative legal minds say they think Trump is right.

While the president is in charge constitutionally, as a matter of good policy, presidents have kept law enforcement at arms length, said John Yoo, a University of California at Berkeley law school professor and Justice Department lawyer during President George W. Bushs Republican administration. Neutrality in law enforcement is important if the government is to have the credibility and integrity to convince judges and juries, who are the ones who ultimately render the verdict.

Trumps push for leniency for convicted confidant Roger Stone drew condemnation from more than 2,400 former Justice Department officials who served in Democratic and Republican administrations.

Martin Lederman, a Georgetown law professor and former Obama Justice Department official, said on Twitter that Congress, not the president, gives the authority to prosecute to the attorney general. Its also the attorney generals responsibility, Lederman said, to stand up to a president who charts an unlawful course, knowing that it might ... lead to removal.

Chris Lu, who managed Obamas Cabinet in his first term, said the Obama White House followed its predecessors in adhering to strict rules on who could communicate with the Justice Department and on what topics.

What Trump is suggesting is at odds with this longstanding precedent and dangerous to the principle of impartial justice, Lu said.

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Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Jonathan Lemire, Ellen Knickmeyer, Eric Tucker, Mark Sherman and Paul Wiseman in Washington and Amanda Seitz in Chicago contributed to this report.

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EDITORS NOTE A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

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Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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Imagine That Donald Trump Has Almost No Control Over Justice – The New York Times

Posted: at 7:49 pm

The department can also show leniency to a presidents political friends. The Roger Stone case is an example. Indeed, the very possibility that it will do so can create a strong incentive to become the presidents political friend.

The presidents power over the Justice Department is potentially even more dangerous than that. The department helps to oversee the antitrust laws, and in allowing or forbidding mergers, it can play political favorites. Civil actions, and not merely criminal ones, can be polluted by the presidents electoral interest (or spite).

The Office of Legal Counsel, which sits within the department, is supposed to provide the president and the rest of the executive branch with objective legal advice. But at least some of the time, that offices judgment is anything but objective. To an uncomfortable degree, its assessment of what the president is entitled to do, as a matter of law, often fits with the presidents wishes.

In the post-Watergate era, a reasonable balance has been struck. As a matter of established norms, both Republican and Democratic presidents have usually given the attorney general a great deal of room to maneuver, especially when it comes to criminal prosecutions and ongoing litigation. In other words, norms have done the work of law.

Under President Trump, those norms have come under severe pressure. If they collapse, there would be incalculable damage to both liberty and self-government.

In light of that risk, Congress should seriously consider making the Justice Department an independent agency. Sure, a Republican-dominated Senate is unlikely to allow that to happen in the near future.

But wouldnt it be better? There are two objections.

The first involves accountability. Theres a reasonable argument that the priorities of the department, which oversees so many important questions of law and policy, should reflect the views of the American people and so the president, whom they elected.

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Imagine That Donald Trump Has Almost No Control Over Justice - The New York Times

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How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession – The New Yorker

Posted: at 7:49 pm

In April, Miller initiated a purge of D.H.S. It began with the firing of Nielsen, then continued with the ouster of Vitiello, Cissna, the head of Customs and Border Protection, and the departments top lawyer. Restrictionist groups like the Center for Immigration Studies protested Cissnas departure. Chuck Grassley, who had worked with Cissna on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the President was pulling the rug out from the very people that are trying to help him accomplish his goal. But with Nielsen and the other officials gone, Miller was able to move loyalists into the top positions. One of them was Matthew Albence, the new head of ICE, who, in congressional testimony from 2018, compared family-detention facilities to summer camp. A senior D.H.S. official said, Now there are no breaks in the chain of command.

Disgruntled department veterans saw many of Millers actions as policy miscues and legal errors, but they were more likely signs of Millers success. So was the political deadlock on immigration, which the White House was deliberately exacerbating. Michael Chertoff, who led D.H.S. under GeorgeW. Bush, told me, The only two arguments you hear now are Dont enforce the law at all, or Be draconian. Miller has exploited calls by left-wing Democrats to abolish ICE and to decriminalize border crossings. On the whole, public outrage has dissipated, and the federal courts, which are increasingly populated by Trump appointees, are starting to uphold the Administrations policies. The U.S. is resettling the fewest number of refugees in its history; there are more than fifty-five thousand asylum seekers stuck in Mexico under a policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols; and the Central American asylum dealsknown as safe third-country agreementsare expanding. A former senior official told me, Without Miller, Nielsen would still be secretary. There would be no safe third-country agreements, no M.P.P. He pushed and pushed. He simply works harder than everyone else.

Last October, the Presidents fourth head of Homeland Security, Kevin McAleenan, who filled the position left by Nielsen, announced his resignation, six months into the job. What I dont have control over is the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarized time, he told the Washington Post. White House officials initially distrusted McAleenan, who was a career official and had served during the Obama Administration. Yet the President soon came to depend on McAleenans experience: after he took charge of the department, the number of immigrants apprehended at the southern border dropped by close to sixty per cent. He was also the lead negotiator of the Central American asylum deals. When McAleenan tendered his resignation, Miller initially refused to accept it.

In late fall, as Trumps impeachment hearings began, Miller tried to limit his own public exposure. He was getting a little too much steady attention, so he knew he had to hang back, a top Administration official told me. Miller has survived the upheavals in Trumps inner circle by representing himself as a member of the supporting cast. This strategy was reinforced by the demise of Steve Bannon, who, a few months before being fired, in August, 2017, appeared on the cover of Time, next to the headline The Great Manipulator. Sessions was forced out in November, 2018, after having recused himself from the Russia probe. Trump continued to mock him, often in front of Miller. According to someone who witnessed the exchanges, Miller never spoke up to defend his mentor. He was part of the family now, a White House official told me.

By the end of November, Miller was back in the news, though not by choice. The Southern Poverty Law Center acquired and published hundreds of e-mails that Miller had exchanged, between 2015 and 2016, with editors at Breitbart. They included links to articles on the white-supremacist Web site VDare, as well as an enthusiastic reference to The Camp of Saints, a racist French novel about the ravages of immigration. In one e-mail, Miller approvingly forwarded an article arguing that the U.S. should deport immigrants on trains to scare out the people who want to undo our country. In Congress, there were calls for his resignation, but only from Democrats.

The e-mail scandal barely registered at the White House, where Miller faced a greater challenge. At Trumps behest, Jared Kushnerwho was already responsible for negotiating peace in the Middle East, overhauling international trade agreements, and leading the Presidents relection campaignhas added immigration to his portfolio. Stephen understands that Kushner is the real power, a former White House official said. He would never cross Kushner.

When Kushner came in to work on this, he told people that they were too close to the issue, that he had the distance from it that was needed, a senior Republican aide told me. A number of people Kushner consulted on the Hill recommended that he start by trying smaller deals, such as one on DACA. Im doing this big or Im not doing it at all, he responded. In May, from a dais in the White House Rose Garden, Trump announced the broad contours of Kushners merit-based immigration plan, in which applicants would be evaluated based not on family ties, as in the current system, but on a combination of factors, including language skills, education, and employment prospects. (Sitting in the front row was Lindsey Graham, who was now one of Trumps strongest allies.) In 2013, when Miller was first engaged in immigration policy, he and Sessions talked about moving to a merit-based system, and it was laughed about, one of the former Republican aides told me. It wasnt just a fringe position. It was a politically impossible position. Now the proposal represents the White Houses moderate pitch, though it is still unlikely to get through Congress.

A six-hundred-page bill that details Kushners plan has been circulating in Washington. It would not directly lower the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country each year, but, so far, Miller has coperated with Kushner, writing the parts of it that address asylum and family detention. Jared is the most powerful White House adviser, but hes very busy, a person who has worked closely with both Miller and Kushner told me. Miller is focussed on one thing. He and Kushner make situational alliances. They both think the President needs the other, and they each believe in the others absolute loyalty to Trump. In all my time around them, I have never heard either one of them say a negative word about the other, and thats not true of anyone else.

Recently, the number of migrants intercepted at the border has dropped significantlyfrom a hundred and forty-four thousand, in May, 2019, to thirty-six thousand, last month. Asylum seekers stuck in Mexico have given up on reaching the U.S. Americas legal and moral standing may not survive the Administrations immigration policies, but Trump has succeeded in realizing one of his most infamous tweets: Our country is full.

With the border virtually sealed, Miller is turning his attention inward. D.H.S. has begun sending armed agents from Border Patrol SWAT teams to New York, Chicago, and other so-called sanctuary cities, where local law enforcement has limited its coperation with ICE. Theres no one left at D.H.S. to say No to Miller anymore, a senior department official told me. Another official was present at a meeting in which Miller advocated allowing ICE officers to pull children out of school.

This summer, months before the election, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether the Administration can cancel DACA. Everythingeverything!hinges on that decision, a former senior D.H.S. official told me. If the Supreme Court ends DACA, then Miller will be in ecstasy. Hell finally have the leverage over the Democratic Congress that hes been dying to have this entire time. Hell say, Well, youre all worried were going to deport them. What will you agree to? The official continued, Itll be the summer of a huge campaign, and Miller will be in his glory.

An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

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Donald Trump is ending endless war | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 7:49 pm

President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump suggests Sotomayor, Ginsburg should have to recuse themselves on 'Trump related' cases Sanders says idea he can't work with Republicans is 'total nonsense' Sanders releases list of how to pay for his proposals MORE promised to end the reckless foreign intervention of the United States over the past two decades, and he is keeping that promise. Reports indicate that he is closer than ever to fulfilling this by bringing a satisfactory end to the longest war in American history. After years of negotiations, the Taliban appears on the verge of signing an accord that would pave the way for a reduction of hostilities, a settlement on the future of Afghanistan, and a withdrawal of American troops.

If and when the deal is signed, about 5,000 troops will leave Afghanistan. If conditions continue to improve after that, the remaining 8,000 soldiers could eventually be brought home as well, ending an military presence of 18 years that has long since fallen off the radar of most Americans who do not have friends or loved ones in danger. As I wrote a decade ago in Operation Dark Heart, a negotiated settlement would be a necessary solution to end the Afghanistan conflict. Trump has taken the path to victory and is bringing an effective conclusion to the war.

After our country was attacked on 9/11, the United States had to retaliate against the monsters who killed more than 3,000 innocent civilians. Our superb military proved its valor and worth, enduring deployment after deployment and years of bloody conflict around the world to deliver that righteous retribution. Osama Bin Laden and his successor as the most prominent leader of Islamist terror, Abu Bakr Baghdadi, are both dead, brought to justice by the powerful might of American arms.

Nevertheless, on the campaign trail, Trump struck a chord with Americans by promising to avoid endless wars, which is exactly what our involvement in Afghanistan had become over the years. By the 2016 election, however, Americans finally came to recognize an ugly truth that the global war on terror had long since transformed into an open commitment of American troops to hostile war zones with no obvious conditions for victory.

Nowhere has this been more clear than in Afghanistan. Our presence there is now officially older than some of the American soldiers fighting there. Our troops were originally tasked with rooting out those people responsible for 9/11 and establishing a legitimate government in Kabul, but today their mission and the definition of victory are unclear.

For far too many years, Americans have fought and died to create the conditions for peace to flourish and for the democratic government in Kabul to establish its own legitimate authority. Just last week, two more American families joined the roughly 2,400 others who have received the tragic news that their loved one will never leave Afghanistan.

But the war in Afghanistan is no longer crucial to the core of our national security, leaving our troops with no obvious mission. Our Afghan partners need our support, but the exact conditions that would constitute a victory are unclear. Even if we had clear victory conditions, we do not even have accurate metrics to judge whether we have achieved them.

Given these realities, Trump and his advisers have now charted the best possible path forward. We have to set a clear and easily verified condition of a reduction in violence and aggression from the Taliban. American troops and negotiators meeting with Taliban and Afghan government representatives in Qatar appear to be on the cusp of achieving that.

Trump gave a lot of American families a great deal of renewed hope when he promised to stop the endless wars that have taken so many American lives over the past two decades. By fulfilling that promise, he is finally turning that hope into gratitude and relief across the country.

Tony Shaffer is a retired senior intelligence operations officer who served with the United States Army. He is now the president of the London Center for Policy Research and an adviser to the 2020 campaign of Donald Trump.

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Watch | Progressive Insurance brings 1500 jobs to Cleveland, and Donald Trump accused of trying to buy votes in Ohio on 3News Now with Stephanie Haney…

Posted: at 7:49 pm

CLEVELAND On Tuesday's 3News Now with Stephanie Haney, the top headlines include how you can snag one of 1,500 new jobs with Progressive Insurance in Cleveland, and allegations of President Donald Trump trying to buy votes from minorities in Ohio.

Plus, Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield promises to make the dreams of a young boy who wants to play catch with him come true, and 3News sports analyst Ben Axelrod joins the show to talk about Browns general manager Andrew Berry's role in that 1-31 stretch, during the 2016 (1-15) and 2017 (0-16) regular seasons.

And with it being Fat Tuesday, we have your guide on where to get the best paczkis (pronounced "poonch-keys") in Northeast Ohio.

Progressive Insurance announced plans on Tuesday morning to hire 1,500 people right here in Cleveland with more than 8,000 jobs up for grabs nationwide, including 400 work-from-home positions.

The new jobs are expected to be filled throughout 2020.

With an increase in customers and total revenues topping $39 billion, the company needs more employees to support continued growth in the auto, property, commercial lines and recreational products insurance at more than 250 locations across the country, the company announced in a press release.

Apply for one of the open position at Progressive's career website, here.

On Monday, video of a little boy named Deacon Jones was tweeted, holding up a poster board saying that his one wish is to play catch with the Browns' quarterback.

"If you had one wish, what would it be?" the adult, presumably Deacon's father, asks in the video.

Deacon replies, "Play catch with Baker Mayfield."

Mayfield, who was tagged in the tweet, saw it and replied, "We can make this happen!"

We'll all be watching for that, when it happens.

The Browns continue to get national attention, even in the off-season, as the Today Show discussed whether new general manager Berry is the right man for the job, despite his role in the Browns' 1-31 stretch.

Ben joins Stephanie to talk about how Berry explains that time period, when he served in the Browns' vice president of player personnel.

"The focus was a little bit more on accumulating assets whether it was draft picks, young players, cap space to set a foundation for long-term success," Berry said. "But at the end of the day, it is about winning and that has to be the focus and we didn't win enough games."

Hopefully that turns around this time, as Berry becomes the youngest GM ever in the NFL, at the age of 32.

And for those who observe Lent, today is Fat Tuesday, the last day to gorge yourself on whatever you plan to give up for the next 40 days (46 days if you include Sundays).

To help you out, we have compiled a list of the best places to partake in the Polish tradition of Fat Tuesday paczkis.

A paczki is a jelly-filled donut, and every Fat Tuesday Cleveland-area bakers rise super early and spend hours preparing the treats for customers to enjoy, often times selling out in just hours.

Here are a few 3News favorites:

5580 Ridge Road Parma, OH 441123

267 Cooper Foster Park Rd, Amherst, OH 44001

6379 Pearl Rd, Cleveland, OH 44130

Check out the fill list here.

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Watch | Progressive Insurance brings 1500 jobs to Cleveland, and Donald Trump accused of trying to buy votes in Ohio on 3News Now with Stephanie Haney...

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Oklahoma Heart Hospital IT lead: Follow the ‘digital golden rule’ to improve outcomes, engagement – MobiHealthNews

Posted: at 5:48 am

Last year Oklahoma Heart Hospital switched up its vendor for appointment scheduling to great affect. As HIMSS Media reported at the time, switching to Relatient took the hospitals no-show rate down from around 6.5% to 5.1% and saved the hospital nearly a million dollars on an annual basis.

Jonathan Minson, lead software architect at OHH will present at HIMSS20 last month along with Relatient Chief Technology Officer Kevin Montgomery. Together, the two will speak about some lessons learned from that implementation.

Relatients mobile-first approach to appointment reminders, which includes text messages, phone calls, and web forms, offered OHH improvements in interoperability, transparency, and patient engagement without sacrificing privacy or security.

Minson said that as a software developer working in the healthcare space, hes used to working with vendors that are highly siloed compared to vendors in other industries.

But Relatient was not that way, he said. From day one we told them we needed an API so we could get your data and work it into our clinician workflow seamlessly and they were totally onboard. And so having that data transparency, they are able to offer the same type of technical capabilities that every other software partner outside of health care is offering these days, that was the big difference for us. And because of that, really what drove our declining no-show rate was data transparency."

Additionally, the company had a fresh approach to patient engagement which also presented a contrast to other companies hes worked with.

Their idea is, well, let's engage people as a health care institution the way that people engage each other, he said. We'll have higher adoption. And you know that it's absolutely the case that we've seen, as opposed to some other messaging tools we've used, which would send an e-mail to the patient saying go log in to the other website with credentials you may not even remember to see this important thing we need to tell you.

Minson says he and Montgomery plan to sum up these and other insights into what theyre calling the digital golden rule.

We need to treat our patients and business partners in the same way that we treat people and business partners outside of the healthcare space, he said.

That rule extends to how health systems think about privacy and security as well, MInson added, where the lesson we can learn from other industries is that data privacy is a manageable problem and shouldnt stand in the way of innovation.

Yes, we need to treat our patients' data with the utmost sanctity, I 100% believe in that, he said. But, you know, there are other industries that have equivalent if not more stringent privacy concerns like banking and people dealing with national defense issues.And I've worked with various people in those industries and they have made strides way beyond what we're making in health care. So this can be done. Instead of using thatas a reason not to innovate, use that as a launching point, to say, all right, we have to accept this world of HIPAA and privacy and the sanctity of patient data. Just don't let that stifle our growth.

Minson and Montgomery will be presenting "Achieving Patient Engagement in a Mobile-First Market" at HIMSS20. It is scheduled for 1:00-2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 12 at the Orange Country Convention Center in room W303A.

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After three decades of service, Jaffrey’s police chief and tax collector say it’s time to retire – Monadnock Ledger Transcript

Posted: at 5:48 am

For decades, Bill and Dawn Oswalt have been part of the fabric of Jaffrey, with Bill working his way from beat cop to police chief, and Dawn presiding over the tax collection office.

The couple plan to retire at the same time, with a retirement and thank-you party scheduled for both on Friday.

I will just miss the townspeople, Dawn said.Even though well still be here, itll be in a different light. I will miss the people.

I just hope weve been good for the town, Bill said.

Their expertise and long service will be missed.

Between the two of them, they have 56 years of service to the town. I thank them for their service. Theyre outstanding individuals and the town is lucky to have had them as long as we have, said Selectmen Frank Sterling, who was on the Select Board when Dawn and Bill were originally hired.

Sterling said Dawn stepped into her position when the previous tax collector resigned, and was left with the job of straightening out the accounts.

It was quite a feat, but she accomplished it, and since, has kept things perfect, he said.

And Sterling credits Bill Oswalts leadership in keeping the police department together and focused, and retaining officers.

Thats because of his leadership. Hes been terrific in that role, Sterling said.

Other police officers also offered praise for Bill Oswaltsleadership in the department.

I've known Bill for many years as a law enforcement officer, and we've worked together from time to time. He's an extraordinary police chief and the residents of Jaffrey have been served well by him, Peterborough Police Chief Scott Guinard said. And he'll be sorely missed by law enforcement and the residents as well. I wish him all the best in his retirement.

Bill Oswalt grew up in central Iowa, in a small farming community. Dawn Oswalt is originally from Jaffrey. The two first met after entering the Navy in the mid-1970s at a stateside base in Maine. Both radio operators, they got to know each other through the job, and came to Jaffrey in 1979 to wed.

After six years in Iowa, working Bill Oswalts family farm, the couple came back to Jaffrey to settle for good in 1987.

With three young children to support, Dawn said she was looking for a job that would allow her to still be there for her family. Thats when her father pointed her to an advertisement in the paper, looking for a new tax collector in Jaffrey. Dawn, who had experience working in a bank, and loves math and numbers, said she tossed her hat in the ring. She got a call while she and her husband were on vacation in Iowa.

They said, You got the job, and How soon can you be back? she said.

Bill Oswaltdidnt join the police force until a few years later.

It had never been on my radar, he said, of a career in law enforcement.

He came to the job in a round-about way, he said, because of his experience in another town emergency service: The Fire Department. Dawns father was a member, and convinced him to join up. He got to see law enforcement in work during his initial years on the department, and the then-police chief asked him if he might be interested in a part-time position, which is how he started in the department. He eventually became a full-time officer in 1994 but he continued on in the fire department as well.

I kept the red lights in my personal vehicle, and when I wasnt on duty, Id show up as a firefighter, he said. And when I was on duty, I was an officer who knew how to prime a fire hydrant.

At their heart, both jobs were about interacting with people, Bill said.

We like totreat the people wedeal with with respect, kindness and dignity. Follow the Golden Rule, Bill said.

Listening is a huge skill, Dawn agreed.

The two will be retiring. Though they plan to continue living in Jaffrey, and continue running their pick-your-own blueberry operation on their property, they will be doing more traveling, particularly to visit Bills family still in Iowa, and their now-adult children and three grandchildren.

They know theyre leaving their departments in capable hands. Chelsie Snow is slated to step into the position of tax collector, and though no official announcement has been made about Bill Oswaltsreplacement in the police force, he said, the department has excellent leadership in his second-in-command, Lt. ToddMuilenberg, who has prior experience as a police chief.

A farewell party is planned for the Oswalts onFriday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Jaffrey Fire Station.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. Shes on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.

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How to give employee feedback calmly and effectively – Real Business

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No one particularly enjoys feedback. Many managers feel uncomfortable giving it, either because of the employees reaction or because they simply struggle to translate their feedback into words. Equally, employees can fear to be on the receiving end of feedback, because they are concerned they wont be able to follow through on recommended improvements.

Halfof all managers dont think their team is comfortable receiving feedback and coaching. This is problematic for organisations and could explain whyover halfof employees only receive feedback from their manager a few times a year. Even for those who do receive regular feedback,only 23%feel its meaningful.

Ongoing, continuous feedback has beenprovento increase performance and motivation, while a lack of feedback stunts employee engagement and career growth, as well as increasing turnover and operational expenses.

HR leaders looking to improve their feedback processes should remind employees and managers of that ancient golden rule: treat others as you want to be treated.

Giving the right type of feedback is important it should incorporate both positive feedback for achievements and areas of improvement. Good feedback demonstrates to employees that their manager is investing in them and focusing on areas that will accelerate their career. If you can coach your managers to give the right type of feedback, your employees will likely respond well to it.

Research has shown57%of employees prefer corrective feedback to straight praise, and 92% of employees believe this type of feedback improves performance.

That said, there are many ways for feedback to go wrong; focusing solely on the positive, or just the negative or simply neutral feedback thats not at all helpful. Each of these methods misleads your staff. Employees who receive only positive feedback are never told how to improve and therefore cant be expected to reach their full potential.

Those who receive only negative feedback feel overlooked and burnt out from the lack of recognition. People who receive neutral feedback risk growing disengaged.

Feedback can be hard to process because it forces us to come to terms with two conflicting facets of human nature: the need to learn and grow and the drive to be accepted, respected, and loved the way we already are. Its therefore important to ensure employees learn how to receive feedback. While this may seem obvious, many employees either find feedback a tedious part of their job that they must endure, or they dont yet understand how to use it for their own growth.

When feedback is delivered promptly, the context is still fresh in our minds, so it is more relatable and valuable. We are better able to understand why we deserve the praise or constructive feedback we are receiving and can react to it with more clarity. Conversely, when feedback is given months later, the details of tasks are long gone, and any negative feedback will more likely be perceived as a personal attack.

When a new manager-employee relationship begins, managers should learn about the employees feedback tendencies and preferences. This will allow them to develop personalised feedback early on, preventing fraught situations down the line.

For those employees who push back, managers can then coach them on how their resistance impacts themselves, their colleagues and the business overall. Asking employees for their thoughts on the entire process will ensure their communication styles are understood and that they feel part of the process. This will also help managers provide more accurate feedback that aligns with employees individual goals.

Ongoing, frequent feedback is closely tied to progress.89%of HR professionals agree that employee performance will increase with more timely feedback and coaching from managers.Without continuous conversations and feedback, its tough to gauge our progress. With feedback, we understand how far weve gone and where we need to get to. Annual feedback loops turn far too slowly, these need to be much more frequent for employees and managers to give and receive the feedback they both deserve.

The ultimate goal when it comes to feedback is to make it as beneficial to employees and management as possible, and therefore as successful as possible. Ensuring managers treat their employees as they would want to be treated in that situation makes this possible. Giving the right type of feedback, at the right time, as part of a continuous process is what every employee should expect, and every organisation should provide.

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Letters to the editor: Mansfielder disappointed with radio station’s policy – Mansfield News Journal

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Mansfield News Journal Published 5:13 a.m. ET Feb. 23, 2020

WMAN used to be my favorite radio station of choice. However, no more. Why, you may ask?

As a local radio station, I feel they have an obligation to the citizens of this community to announce on their station the school, church and work closings and delays due to inclement weather and the like, as a safety factor. Instead, we are told on the radio to check their website for information regarding these closings. Well, guess what? Not everyone has access to the website, myself included.

When I called the radio station recently regarding this, I was told, "Sorry, it's company policy." Really?

Are the program sponsors aware of this and do they, likewise, concur with this policy?

Since getting rid of the good announcers like Greg Hindel, Tommy Barnes and Rusty Cates who knew how to interact with their radio audience, discussing issues of local interest andinterviewing guests regarding current and political events it seems the quality of programming has done downhill.

Incidentally, TV Station WMFD, Channel 15 does carry closings, delays, etc., on their channel, but then, not everyone watches TV either.

Betty Schartl, Mansfield

Become a Republican. Why? Because you can say or do whatever you want and they will protect you.

Example: You can be a bully. Intimidate people such as mocking or making fun of challenged people. You can lie andnot pay or declare your income tax. You don't have to respect or honor the U.S. Constitution.

Don't worry, if you have to go to trial, they will block the witness so, don't worry, there won't be any evidence to convict you.

More: Police: Clevenger's estranged husband admits he stabbed her to death

More: Kuehnle placed on paid leave, contract not renewed

More: Mansfield hair salon and day spa damaged in fire

If there is a whistleblower, no problem. They will make them out to be the bad person.

How about this for a campaign slogan: Make America Nice Again or Make America Honest Again.

That's all I have to say about that.

Paul Williams, Ontario

I would like to thank Rudy Knapp, retired trustee, for appointing me chief zoning inspector. Since 1986 it has been a pleasure to serve the citizens of Washington Township. I have always used the Golden Rule to operate the zoning office.

It has been an honor to work with the zoning board and zoning board of appeals. My most memorable experience was to guide the ad hoc committee and zoning boards in a complete revision of the zoning resolution in 1997.

On Jan. 31, I retired asthe longest serving chief zoning inspector, with a total of 54 years in public service.

John K. Hurlow, Mansfield

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The Astros and the Golden Age of Brazen Cheating in Sports – The Ringer

Posted: at 5:48 am

A major sports league is in crisis mode after a powerhouse club earns unprecedented sanctions for flagrant and repeated rule violations. Unfortunately, thats not a specific enough headline for the events of the past six weeks.

In addition to the much-discussed fallout from the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal, championship contenders in not one but two European sports have suffered controversy and heavy punishment for recently acting like the rules dont apply.

The most notable is Manchester Citys two-year ban from European competition, handed down last week by UEFA, the European soccer governing body that sanctions the prestigious Champions League. (The sentence is still subject to appeal.) In the interest of at least appearing to foster level competition, UEFA institutes whats known as Financial Fair Play, a system of rules that require clubs soccer-related expendituresplayer wages, transfer fees, and so onto remain in line with their soccer-related revenues. This structure is meant to protect teams from outspending their means and leaving themselves in financial peril after a run of poor results, and also to prevent outside investors from pumping cash into a mid-table team and turning it into a worldwide powerhouse overnight.

Unfortunately for UEFA, outside investment is tied inextricably into Manchester Citys identity. In 2008, Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and a multibillionaire, bought what was at the time an unremarkable mid-table club. In the 12 years since, backed by the financial power of the Emirati government, City has become one of the richest and most successful teams not just in English soccer, but in any sport in the world.

It was this case, along with Russian plutocrat Roman Abramovichs takeover of Chelsea in the early 2000s and the Qatari royal familys investment in Paris Saint-Germain, that drove home the need for FFP in the first place. Since then, Mansours club has fallen afoul of regulators repeatedly, incurring transfer restrictions and tens of millions of pounds in fines as far back as 2014. But it wasnt until this month that UEFA truly came down on City, which was charged with not only violating FFP rules but disguising personal cash infusions from Sheikh Mansour as sponsorship money in order to deceive UEFA.

About 200 miles southeast, a giant in Englands other major ball-kicking sport has created an even bigger mess. Saracens are the most successful club in English rugby union, having won four of the past five Premiership titles and boasting a roster full of star players, including almost half of Englands starting lineup from last years World Cup final.

Like Manchester City, Saracens came by this championship squad through shady accounting. In November, Saracens were docked 35 points and fined 5.3 million for violating the Premierships 7 million salary cap over the previous three seasons. In late January, the club accepted relegation to the sports second division for the 2020-21 season, after acknowledging that they could not comply with the salary cap this season either.

Those numbers are risibly small in comparison to an MLB teams payroll, let alone the billions of dollars that get tossed around in world soccer. (There are relief pitchers who could fund an entire Premiership rugby team.) While a major soccer team like Man City is a global entertainment brand, rugby is less popular and substantially less globalized. Moreover, rugby union became professionalized only in 1995; up until that point it had been an amateur competition in order to restrict the game to gentleman hobbyists. Athletes from lower socioeconomic classes were shuttled off to other football codesrugby league and soccerif they wanted to make a living.

Before rugby union went professional, the sport was riddled with the kind of under-the-table payments and impermissible benefits that are part and parcel of high-level college sports in the United States today. And 7 million split among a squad of a few dozen senior players isnt enough to keep those payments from coming. Former club director Nigel Wray managed to funnel about 2 million to various players over the course of three seasons through a variety of joint business and real estate investments and no-show marketing side gigs.

Every league with a hard or soft salary cap carries penalties for spending too much on players, like an NBA team paying the luxury tax or an MLB team that moves back in the draft for running a salary over the competitive balance tax limit. But Saracensand Manchester City, for that matterviolated black-letter law, rather than incurring established penalties for behavior thats disincentivized but not strictly illegal. Thats why these infractions rise to the level of scandal and inspired such severe punishments.

Now, as far as cheating schemes go, its not particularly odious to find creative ways to shuttle money to the players who provide the sole value of a sports business enterprisein fact, theres a perverse nobility to what Saracens is being punished for doing. But like the Astros and Manchester City, its such a flagrant and persistent violation of the rules that the leagues involved could no longer look the other way.

These three scandals are linked not by the method of rule-breakingthe Astros transgressions were technological, Man Citys and Saracens financialbut by their persistence. As pissed off as the baseball world is at the Astros, and as unprepared as the commissioners office seemed to be to actually hand down punishment, the use of technology to steal signs has been something of an open secret within the game for years. MLB commissioner Rob Manfreds report already noted that a warning was issued about increased punishment for sign-stealing violations as far back as September 2017. In essence, the league issued a directive to the Astros to knock it off before things got ugly.

But they didnt knock it off, so when the rumors were confirmed and reported publicly by The Athletic in November, Manfred threw the bookor at least what passed for the book at the timeat the biggest offender. Saracens violated the salary cap for years. Manchester City built an entire club around the concept of financial might making right, and even after UEFA levied fines and lesser sanctions their behavior changed not one bit.

These clubs are being punished not just because they broke the rules, but because, like the famous local news stabbing victim, they dared their respective sanctioning bodies to punish them. As a rule, sports governing organizations are venal and corrupt even by the standards of small cartels of rich people. They exist to enrich themselves and the clubs they represent. Its bad for business if MLB or the PRL makes an avoidable stink about a recent World Series champion breaking the rules; its bad for business if UEFA takes Sergio Agero and Kevin de Bruyne off the air for two seasons. These governing bodies have every incentive to either tolerate wrongdoing or punish it as quietly as public scrutiny will accept.

But theres a limit to the level of brazen greed and shameless rule-breaking that even an organization like MLB or UEFA can stomach before something has to be done. A friend of mine who works in corporate tax law once told me an aphorism from his profession that fits this story: Pigs get fat, but hogs get slaughtered.

Having three high-profile cases in such rapid succession, across national and sporting boundaries, makes it look like this is some kind of high-water mark for brazen rule-breaking, but this is not a novel concept. How many times have the New England Patriots been caught sticking a video camera or an air compressor in the wrong place at the wrong time, only to receive a slap on the wrist? It wasnt too long ago that the Seattle Seahawks built an entire defensive system around the idea that theres a limit to the number of penalties referees are willing to call, and that limit does not change with the number of penalties a team actually commits.

If there was ever a time when the spirit of a law dictated behavior, that time has gone. Now its no longer about the letter of the law, but about what a given actor believes the authorities are willing to enforce. And within this specific amoral framework, crime pays. What do the Astros, Man City, and Saracens have in common, apart from suffering penalties severe enough to merit six-column headline type? Theyve won, constantly and inexorably, and flags fly forever. So, too, for the Seahawks and Patriots.

So, too, to the peril of society at large, have disruptive commercial and industrial institutions similarly benefited by greed and regulatory capture. Its now a billion-dollar business to find creative ways aroundor uncreative ways throughrules designed to ensure public safety, or to protect workers and consumers. The proof is in Uber, and Amazon, and investment banking.

Athletes cheat, and have cheated since time immemorial, because they want to win. Businesspeoplethe kind of folks who now run organizations like the Astros, Manchester City, and Saracenscheat because they can. Avoiding the rules, or avoiding punishment for breaking them, has the same effect as following the rules, and absent the values of fairness and justice that inspire such rules in the first place, the ethical consequences are the same as well.

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