MONTREAL MAYOR, MICHAEL APPLEBAUM, SENTENCED TO A YEAR IN JAIL

Probably with television, computer and sirloin steak.

We have waited so long for justice. Now when will someone investigate the crimes and corruption in the Montreal Police Department?

EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT - SUMMARY
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2014/03/evidence-that-demands-verdict-summary_11.html

 

THE EYES OF A YOGA GURU THIEF -
THE CRIMES OF DAWN MCSWEENEY AND THE MONTREAL POLICE
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2016/12/look-into-eyes-of-thief-dawn-mcsweeney.html

Former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum has been sentenced to 12 months in jail and two years' probation after being found guilty of fraud and breach of trust.

 

Provincial court Judge Louise Provost handed down her decision Thursday at the Montreal courthouse, saying Applebaum committed "very serious" crimes over a period of several years.

 

The 54-year-old was then handcuffed before addressing the court. Applebaum told the judge he will take time in jail to reflect upon his past actions and plan for the future.

 

"I can guarantee you and my family that I will be a better person when I come out," he said.

 

"Since my arrest, I haven't been able to work and put food on the table for my family ... I have a remarkable family, and I will again put food on the table and make a life."

 

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom, prosecutor Nathalie Kléber said the sentence sends a "clear message" that there are consequences to engaging in corruption.

 

Applebaum took power in 2013 on a promise to clean up Montreal City Hall.

 

Only seven months later, he was arrested on charges dating back to his time as borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, the city's largest borough.

 

The case centred on accepting cash from real estate developers and engineering firms in return for favours.

 

The sentencing was delayed by over an hour because, Provost said, Applebaum had to be treated in hospital for an unknown ailment earlier in the day.

 

Applebaum was convicted in January of eight corruption-related charges, including two counts each of fraud on the government, conspiracy to commit fraud on the government, breach of trust and conspiracy to commit breach of trust.

 

The maximum sentence Applebaum could have received was five years in prison.

 

Key players in the corruption trial of former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum

Kléber had argued that Applebaum's sentence should be "significant, but reasonable" and asked for less than the maximum: two years in prison, followed by two years of probation.

 

Shady dealings

 

The crimes stem from a period between 2006 and 2012, and involve two projects: a proposed real estate development on de Troie Avenue, and a municipal contract for the management and maintenance of the NDG Sports Centre.

 

The Crown argued Applebaum asked for cash kickbacks in exchange for ensuring the projects were approved by his administration.

 

There was no paper trail linking Applebaum to the illicit cash, and in her ruling, Provost said she would have been surprised if the investigators had been able to seize any documents, given the extreme prudence shown by the accused.

 

'Not an angel'

 

While Applebaum never admitted to any illegal activity on the surveillance recordings heard in court, Provost said she found several of his statements "troubling."

 

Sentencing hearing: Son asks for compassion, Crown wants to send message

Applebaum was recorded saying to the Crown's star witness, former political aide Hugo Tremblay: "In the end they have to have the money."

 

The defence tried to shake the credibility of Tremblay, but Provost said she found his testimony "articulate and sincere."

 

The court heard that during one conversation in 2007, Tremblay recalls Applebaum saying, "We gotta make a living."

 

"I realized at that moment that Michael Applebaum was open to corruption," Tremblay told the court.

 

He said his boss told him he "was not an angel".

666 – REVELATION – PROPHECY FOR OUR TIME

Kushners May Get $400 Million From Chinese on Tower

A company owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, stands to receive more than $400 million from a prominent Chinese company that is considering investing in the Kushners' marquee Manhattan office tower at 666 Fifth Ave.

 

The planned $4-billion transaction includes terms that some real estate experts consider unusually favorable for the Kushners. It would provide them with both a sizable cash payout from Anbang Insurance Group for a property that has struggled financially and an equity stake in a new partnership. 

The details of the agreement, which is being circulated to attract additional investors, were shared with Bloomberg. It would make business partners of Kushner Cos. and Anbang, whose murky links to the Chinese power structure have raised national security concerns over its U.S. investments. In the process, an existing mortgage owed by the Kushners will be slashed to about a fifth of its current amount.

 

The document offers a rare look at a major deal by a close Trump associate and family member. It's unclear whether the deal could prompt federal review, as occurred when Anbang bought other properties, like the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan. Anbang could also face review by the Chinese government, which has been clamping down on overseas investments and which has a range of pending issues with the Trump administration.

 

Controversial Visa Program

 

The proposed partnership is seeking additional participants through a controversial federal program known as EB-5, which is intended for economically distressed neighborhoods and provides residency permits to major foreign investors.

 

The deal would value the 41-story tower at $2.85 billion, the most ever for a single Manhattan building: $1.6 billion for the office section and $1.25 billion for the retail section. The new partnership will refinance $1.15 billion in existing mortgage debt.

 

"This is a huge, huge exit strategy for an office building," said Joshua Stein, a New York real estate lawyer. "It does sound like a home run of a transaction for Kushner and his group."

 

Scott A. Singer, president of the Singer & Bassuk Organization, said the terms struck him as "aggressive but not absurd," based on the net income and square footage metrics he was shown by Bloomberg. He said they were along the lines of what might be expected for a trophy asset at a prime location.

 

Conflict of Interest?

 

Kushner Cos. declined to discuss details of the plan or name the potential lenders or investors it is courting, saying the deal is not finalized. A company spokesman, James Yolles, said that Jared Kushner sold his ownership stake in 666 Fifth to family members so the transaction poses no conflict of interest with his White House role.

 

"Kushner Companies has taken significant steps to avoid potential conflicts and will continue to do so," Yolles said in a written statement.

 

Asked for comment, a White House spokeswoman said Kushner will recuse himself from any matter where his impartiality could be reasonably questioned, including an examination of the EB-5 program.

Some government ethics experts argue that the Kushner family and business are so close-knit that the steps Jared Kushner has taken do not go far enough. Also at issue: as-of-yet undisclosed lenders who are financing the project and the forgiveness of a portion of a $250 million loan which will allow the debt to be cleared for one-fifth of its value.

 

'Sweetheart Deal'

 

"At the very least, this raises serious questions about the appearance of a conflict that arises from the possibility that the Kushners are getting a sweetheart deal," said Larry Noble, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. "A classic way you influence people is by financially helping their family."

 

The transaction would allow the Kushner Cos.' investment in the tower to be salvaged by lenders and businesses that could have extensive dealings with the federal government, while also permitting the Kushners to buy back into the building's more lucrative retail spaces and maintain a 20 percent stake.

 

The deal would allow Vornado Realty Trust -- which is partnered with Trump in his two most valuable properties -- to exit a troubled asset with a 10-fold payout on its stake in the building's offices and a doubling of its investment in its stores. It declined to discuss the deal.

 

Steven Roth, chairman of Vornado, co-chairs a committee dedicated to one of the new administration's signature campaign pledges: infrastructure investment. Vornado is the biggest property owner in the area surrounding Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station and could benefit from increased infrastructure spending.

 

Fears of Espionage

 

Anbang would pay a hefty price for both sections of the 666 Fifth Ave. project but score its first U.S. real estate investment of the year. The company's ties to the Chinese government are sufficiently unclear that former President Barack Obama declined to stay at the Waldorf after Anbang bought it because of fears of espionage. Now Anbang will be business partners with in-laws of the First Family.

 

An outside spokesman for Anbang, Tim Ragones, declined to comment on the deal terms but denied that the company's ownership structure is unclear. "Anbang is a highly transparent company that operates in accordance to the standards of public companies and strictly abides by applicable regulatory requirements," he said.

 

Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka, has become something of a de facto envoy for the administration, and was present for a meeting between Yang Jiechi, China's top diplomat, and his father-in-law at the end of February. As one of the president's closest advisers, he could have input on a wide range of issues affecting China, from national security concerns and territorial disputes to trade matters and allegations of currency manipulation. There are discussions under way between China and the U.S. on a potential summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to take place as early as next month.

 

The refinancing agreement is the latest twist in the history of a building that was Jared Kushner's grandest conquest and nearly proved his downfall. In 2007, he purchased the tower for a then-record $1.8 billion. It was a move that signaled the company's intention to expand beyond its extensive holdings in suburban garden apartments to more prestigious urban properties. Then the financial crisis hit. Four years later, with the investment teetering near insolvency, Vornado swooped in, getting a 49.5 percent stake in exchange for an $80 million capital injection. It then took on more of the tower in 2012, purchasing the retail spaces at the building's base from Kushner and others for $707 million.

 

An unusual consideration in the refinancing plan is the proposal to pay off a part of the mortgage known as a "hope note," which was for $115 million when Kushner Cos refinanced its debt in 2011. The loan, which was made by Barclays Plc and has since been sold off to investors, is now valued at more than $250 million because of compounded interest. But according to the deal documents, the Kushners will settle the debt for just $50 million. The Kushners declined to discuss the agreement. LNR Partners LLC, which currently oversees the debt, declined to comment.

 

Anbang will pay for most of the building and take out a construction loan of more than $4 billion to convert the property's higher floors into luxury residential units. The Kushners have agreed to invest $750 million in the retail portion of the building and will end up with a one-fifth stake in a project that the deal document says would be valued at $7.2 billion when completed. In addition to the $400 million from Anbang, the Kushners will receive another $100 million from other investors.

 

The plan also relies on the government program known as EB-5, which grants two-year visas and a path to permanent residency to foreigners who invest a minimum of $500,000 in projects that create jobs in economically distressed areas.

 

Lax Vetting?

 

Supporters argue that the program, which is overwhelmingly used on deals involving Chinese investors, attracts foreign capital and creates jobs at no U.S. taxpayer cost. But some Homeland Security officials and the General Accounting Office have warned that lax vetting has threatened to turn the program into a mechanism for the government to sell visas to wealthy foreigners with no proven skills, paving the way for money laundering and compromising national security.

It has been used to finance high-profile developments in wealthy enclaves, however, including Brooklyn's Barclays Center and Hudson Yards. The deal for 666 Fifth Avenue, on one of the world's most expensive shopping strips, blocks from Trump Tower, would arguably be the toniest location for an EB-5 project yet. The $850 million in EB-5 funding sought in the refinancing plan for 666 Fifth Avenue would be the largest to date.

 

Congress is now considering whether to renew the program and adopt new restrictions to deter the misuse of the program. The White House will ultimately be involved in that decision.

 

(Corrects first paragraph to say Anbang considering investment in Manhattan tower.)


by David Kocieniewski  and Caleb Melby

March 13, 2017

https://bloomberg

HEROES - THE RIGHTEOUS ARE THE MORAL MINORITY

Jan and Antonia Zabinski, former Warsaw zookeeper and his wife, saved lives of dozens of Jews through various methods, including hiding Jews in animal enclosures.

Emerging from the rubble of Warsaw:
A survivor remembers his Holocaust childhood.

AP - It was World War II, Warsaw was under German occupation, and the wife of the director of the Warsaw zoo spotted Nazis approaching the white stucco villa that she and her family inhabited on the zoo grounds.

According to plan, she went straight to her piano and began to play a lively tune from an operetta by Jacques Offenbach, a signal to Jews being sheltered in the house that they should be quiet and not leave their hiding places.

That scenario, repeated over years of war, was one of the tricks that allowed Jan and Antonina Zabinski to save the lives of dozens of Jews, a dramatic chapter in Poland's wartime drama that was virtually unknown until an American author, Diane Ackerman, published a book about the Polish couple in 2007 called "The Zookeeper's Wife."

The Zabinskis' remarkable wartime actions - which included hiding Jews in indoor animal enclosures - seem certain to gain even more renown with the inauguration Saturday of a permanent exhibition in the villa, an attractive two-story Bauhaus home from the 1930s still on the grounds of the Warsaw Zoo.

The exhibition pays homage to the couple with photos of them, sometimes with their beloved zoo animals, in rooms recreated to evoke the wartime period. There are sculptures of animals made by a Jewish artist, Magdalena Gross, who stayed there during the war. Visitors will also be able to see basement chambers where the Jews took shelter, as well as a narrow tunnel they crawled through to reach animal enclosures.

Among those attending an opening celebration on Saturday evening will be 78-year-old Moshe Tirosh, who sheltered there for three weeks in 1943, when he was just 6, as well as the Zabinskis' son and daughter, Ryszard and Teresa. There is only one other known living Jewish survivor, Tirosh's sister Stefania, who lives in Canada.

Tirosh can still recall details, even though his time there amounted to just a short spell in a long and dramatic struggle for survival over years of Nazi occupation. He remembers being taken there by a horse-drawn carriage that carried him over the Vistula River to the green gardens of the zoo. He remembers squatting in the cellar with his sister while his parents hid in animal enclosures. He said he was always putting his hand over his sister's mouth when she cried to stifle the sound, which could have given away the hiding place. He also remembers being well fed, compared to periods of near starvation during other periods of the war.

When it was time to move on to another hiding place, Antonina brought him upstairs to dye his hair blond, hoping to help him pass as an "Aryan." But the color turned out red instead, the inspiration for a secret code name for him: squirrel.

He also remembers Antonina using her piano to send the secret messages, with one melody to warn of danger and a different one to signal that danger had passed. He can't identify the tunes, but other witnesses say that the warning was "Go, Go, Go to Crete!" from Offenbach's "La Belle Helene" - a piece that a pianist is to play at the inaugural ceremony Saturday.

Though he is grateful to both Zabinskis, his fondest memories focus on Antonina, who had closer contacts to the Jews in hiding than her husband, who was more active out of the house in his underground anti-Nazi activities, including by helping Jews escape from the Ghetto. By helping Jews the Zabinskis risked not only their own lives but that of their children, with the dealt penalty in force for Poles caught helping Jews.

"Antonina is a great woman, a hero," Tirosh said, speaking in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday in Warsaw, where he traveled from his home in Israel to attend the inauguration. "She was also beautiful, smart and wise."

The couple is credited with saving dozens of Jews; though the exact number isn't known it is believed to range from over 100 to 300. They were both honored in 1965 as "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

The development of the exhibition is the work of the zoo and "From the Depths," an organization that works to preserve Jewish memory. The director, Jonny Daniels, says he hopes Warsaw zoo will now become a key stop on the itinerary of Israelis and other Jewish visitors to Poland. The zoo cafe has even agreed to offer some kosher food choices.

The zoo itself also was the site of horrors during the war. In September 1939, when the Germans invaded the country, they bombed the zoo, killing many animals and wreaking destruction that allowed others to escape. Some of those that escaped - such as bears and lions - were dangerous to humans, and had to be shot. The Germans then took some of the more valuable specimens, like lynx, to zoos in Germany and killed off the rest in a hunting spree at the zoo on New Year's Eve of 1940.

Zabinski then turned the zoo grounds into a pig farm. That allowed him to enter the Ghetto on the pretext of gathering scraps for his pigs, something that allowed him to help the Jews there.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/features/1.651285 - Vanessa Gera

IVANKA PLANS TO REPAIR THE "PUSSIES" HER FATHER GRABS

THIS IS YOUR LEADER, AMERICA. IVANKA PLANS TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE DONE TO THE "PUSSIES" HER FATHER GRABS.

"I did try and (penetrate) her. She was married… I moved on her like a bitch, but I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she's not got the big phony tits and everything… I've got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful. I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."

He never apologized. He never showed remorse. He never acknowledged that "grabbing them by the pussy" would be sexual assault.

Donald Trump used a speech on women's rights to ask them if they knew Susan B Anthony - Donald Trump has been ridiculed on social media for comments he made during a speech on women's history.

INDEPENDENT.CO.UK

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KIDS TODAY?

Saturday Down South

#Truth

Comments

Phyllis Carter

 A POPULAR SONG ASKED,
"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KIDS TODAY?"

IT IS RIGHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW CHILDREN ARE BEING RAISED. WHILE RECOGNIZING THAT NOT ALL YOUNG PEOPLE ARE MESSED UP AND A DANGER TO SOCIETY, IT IS SICKENING TO SEE HOW SO MANY YOUNGSTERS BEHAVE TODAY. 

DON'T TELL ME ABOUT HOW PEOPLE ALWAYS COMPLAINED IN THE PAST. THIS IS NOW AND IT IS SAD AND UGLY AND SCARY. 

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE A MENACE - KIDS THAT MAKE ADULTS AFRAID - KIDS ON DRUGS, PIERCING AND TATTOOING THEIR BODIES, DRESSING IN RIPPED JEANS AND SLOPPY CLOTHES FOR WHICH THEIR PARENTS PAY HIGH PRICES. KIDS WHO TERRORIZE ADULTS, TEACHERS, THE WOMAN JUST PASSING THEM ON THE STREET. KIDS WHO ARE PROMISCUOUS, DESTRUCTIVE. WHOSE MOUTHS SPEW FILTH AND HATE AND LIES. KIDS WHO BULLY AND INJURE THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO LIVE A DECENT LIFE.

THIS IS A REPEAT OF THE NAZI ERA. BUT YES. LOOK AT THEIR PARENTS. SEE WHO IS RAISING THESE YOUNG MONSTERS WHO ARE GOING TO RULE OVER SOCIETY.

IF YOU ARE ABUSED AT THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL

NO ONE WILL HELP YOU IF YOU ARE ABUSED AT THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL IN MONTREAL. I HAVE HAD SEVERAL TERRIBLE EXPERIENCES WITH INCOMPETENT AND EVEN SADISTIC NURSES - AND A COUPLE OF DOCTORS.

EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR, JEROME STAZIAK, ALMOST CAUSED MY DEATH DUE TO HIS ARROGANCE AND IRRESPONSIBILITY. I AM ALIVE TODAY BECAUSE I REFUSED TO LEAVE THE HOSPITAL AS STAZIAK DEMANDED. I MANAGED WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY TO MAKE MY WAY TO THE ONCOLOGY DEPARTMENT. MY ONCOLOGIST SAVED MY LIFE.

DR. ARTHUR ROSENEBERG, THE SENIOR HEMATOLOGIST, CAUSED THE DEATH OF MY HUSBAND. CLIFF WAS ON COUMADIN - A BLOOD THINNER. DR. ARTHUR ROSENBERG TOLD ME AND CLIFF AND THE DOCTORS IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT THAT, AFTER THE COUMADIN WAS STOPPED FOR THREE DAYS, IT WAS SAFE FOR CLIFF TO HAVE A WISDOM TOOTH EXTRACTED IN THE HOSPITAL DENTAL CLINIC.

THROUGH THE WEEK FOLLOWING THE EXTRACTION, MY DARLING HUSBAND BLED TO DEATH.

I REPORTED THESE EVENTS IN DETAIL TO ALL THE "AUTHORITIES" AND ON MY BLOG - PHYLLIS CARTER'S JOURNAL.

I DECLARE YET AGAIN, I AM ALIVE BECAUSE OF THE EXCELLENT CARE I HAVE BEEN RECEIVING FROM MY DOCTORS AT THE JGH, AND MOST EVERYONE THERE IS RESPECTFUL AND KIND. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT ABUSES SHOULD BE IGNORED. BUT THEY ARE. THEY ARE BRUSHED OFF AND COVERED-UP.

JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL ABUSES
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2011/01/abuse-at-jewish-general-hospital.html
http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2010/11/carter-report-on-patients-plight.html
DR. ARTHUR ROSENBERG
http://jgh.ca/en/BioRosenberg.

BOYCOTT THOSE SADISTIC SPANISH SAVAGES

Beatriz Kajt shared a link to the group: 
Peticiones y recogidas de firmas para el reino animal.

No al asesinato del toro y el perro en esta fiesta FIRMA Y COMPARTE ESTA PETICIÓN AHORA!

Los residentes locales atan un perro en el lomo de un toro, luego, son liberados en una corrida de toros, donde ambos serán asesinados.

FIRMA ESTA PETICIÓN AHORA!

Phyllis Carter  - VILE SPANISH SAVAGES !  DO NOT TRAVEL TO SPAIN. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING MADE IN SPAIN. BOYCOTT EVERYTHING THAT COMES FROM THOSE BEASTS WHO ENJOY CAUSING BLOODSHED AND AGONY.

DONALD DRUMPH GIVES YOU DEATH BY COAL

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to dismantle a slew of climate rules established by President Obama. If carried out, the executive order will virtually guarantee that the United States will fail to meet its 2015 Paris Agreement pledge to reduce emissions in order to curb the effects of climate change. The executive order marks the first step to undo Obama's Clean Power Plan to limit emissions and replace coal-fired power plants with new solar and wind farms. Trump signed the executive order at a ceremony at the Environmental Protection Agency while being surrounded by a group of coal miners, as well as EPA head Scott Pruitt, who himself denies the human impact on climate change.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Today I'm taking bold action to follow through on that promise. My administration is putting an end to the war on coal. Gonna have clean coal, really clean coal. With today's executive action, I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations.

AMY GOODMAN: The executive order also ends President Obama's 2013 Climate Action Plan, which outlined the federal government's approach to curbing climate change. Trump never mentioned climate change or global warming during his remarks, even though 2016 was the warmest year on record, breaking the record set in 2015. He also only mentioned the EPA's mission to protect the environment once.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're going to continue to expand energy production, and we will also create more jobs in infrastructure, trucking and manufacturing. This will allow the EPA to focus on its primary mission of protecting our air and protecting our water. Together, we are going to start a new energy revolution, one that celebrates American production on American soil.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we're joined by Jacqueline Patterson, director of the NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program, joining us from New Orleans.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Jacqueline. Talk about the effect of this executive order, its significance.

JACQUELINE PATTERSON: Yes, it is so significant. Thanks for having me. So, there are so many far-reaching implications for this rule, if the actions go forward as presented. Certainly—certainly, fortunately, labor experts and market experts say that regardless of this rule, which seeks to release the restriction on leasing of federal lands for coal, they're saying that it's not necessarily going to bring back the coal industry. But if it did, the coal industry is so harmful not only to the communities that are host to coal-fired power plants, but also to the very workers whose jobs that President Trump purports to save, including the fact that 76,000 coal miners have died of black lung disease since 1968, while the industry has fought against the regulations to protect them from coal mine dust. So we have those implications. We have implications like the communities that are host to coal-fired power plants are choking down sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury, arsenic, lead, not to mention that coal is the number—coal-based energy production is the number one contributor to greenhouse—to carbon dioxide emissions, which is the number one greenhouse gas emission that drives climate change. So, those implications are significant.

AMY GOODMAN: And can you talk about how, in particular, it will affect communities of color?

JACQUELINE PATTERSON: Yeah, so, for example, African American—68 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant. And we know that with the emissions, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, they're known to have a link to exacerbating respiratory conditions such as asthma. We also know that African Americans—71 percent of African Americans live in counties in violation of air pollution standards. And we know that the African-American children are three to five times more likely to enter into the hospital from asthma attacks and two to three times more likely to die of asthma attacks. When we connect the dots in terms of exposure and in terms of the health conditions of African-American children and people, we start to see the ties in terms of the impact, the disproportionate impact, of the coal industry, in particular, on communities of color. We know that African-American adults are more likely to die from lung disease, but far less likely to smoke.

When we put out our report, "Coal Blooded: Putting Profits Before People," back in 2012, we went around, and we visited with communities that were host to coal-fired power plants. And we heard time and time again from folks who had—half the kids in their school were on inhalers. Half the people in their church were on respirators. I spoke to a fellow in Indiana whose wife had died of lung disease. They lived within seeing distance of a coal-fired power plant. She had never smoked a day in her life. I spoke to a woman whose father worked in a coal plant and who died of lung cancer, but had never smoked a day in his life. So we see these stories—we hear these stories, and we see the statistics. And the disproportionate exposure and the differential impact are clear.

democracynow.org.

YOU COULD STARVE AT THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL

THE QUEBEC GOVERNMENT'S BUDGET CUTS MADE THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL CLOSE THE LOBBY CAFETERIA THAT HAD SERVED PATIENTS, DOCTORS, NURSES AND VISITORS FOR DECADES. THE WORKERS, I WAS TOLD, WERE LAID OFF. DIS-EMPLOYED.

THEY SERVED GOOD HOME-STYLE FOOD AT A REASONABLE PRICE - NOT CHEAP, BUT REASONABLE.

WHAT IS LEFT?

SECOND CUP - AND. I AM TOLD, A BATTERY OF FOOD STALLS IN THE NEW SECTION. I AM ALSO TOLD THAT THE PRICES ARE SO HIGH THAT MANY PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD TO EAT THERE.

I WAS REALLY HUNGRY TODAY AND DESPERATE TO BE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF ALL MY MEDICAL APPOINTMENTS,

I PAID $8.00 FOR A TUNA SANDWICH AT SECOND CUP AND, WITH A BOTTLE OF ORANGE JUICE AND THE TAX, MY BILL WAS OVER $11:00 ! THAT IS OUTRAGEOUS!

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE AND HOW CAN WE GET FOOD AT A REASONABLE PRICE IN THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL?

WE ARE NOT THERE FOR FUN. WE ARE EITHER SICK OR VISITING THE SICK AND WE NEED FOOD AND DRINK.

WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR CAVIAR AND CHAMPAGNE. WE SHOULD NOT BE DRAINED OF EVERY CENT WE HAVE TO BUY A SIMPLE SANDWICH.

I WONDER - HOW MUCH OF THIS IS CAUSED BY THE RICH PEOPLE WHO RUN THE HOSPITAL. THEY PROVIDE VITAL SERVICES TO THE SICK, BUT THEY LIVE IN WESTMOUNT AND NOT AMONG THE PEOPLE. ARE THEY TO BLAME FOR DEPRIVING THE PATIENTS AND STAFF OF REASONABLY PRICED FOOD IN THE HOSPITAL?

KLAUS BARBIE – NEVER AGAIN ?

The question before the court was a simple one. Was the man in civilian clothes who led the notorious raid on the Jewish children of Izieu in 1944 the same man who now occupied the dock, 43 years later, in Lyons courthouse?

 

Were the 44 child victims rounded up that day and trucked away to extermination camps, in other words, victims of the Gestapo chief, Klaus Barbie?

 

Mrs Sabina Zlatin, who ran the children's home at the village of Izieu, east of here, had no doubts yesterday. Barbie's claim that he tracked down only Resistance and Maquis fighters who threatened the German army cut no ice with the white-haired, 80-year-old woman.

 

The children were innocents, she cried. "There can be no forgiveness, no forgetfulness, for this odious crime." And Barbie was the man who must pay.

 

The Izieu raid forms the basis of the main and most direct charges faced by Barbie. Yesterday's evidence was therefore considered crucial.

 

Polish-born Mrs Zlatin ran the children's home with her husband Miron in the remote village. In the spring of 1944, hopes were high that the war would soon end and deliver them to safety.

 

The children loved their country retreat and wrote reassuringly to relatives. Serge Klarsfeld's book, the Children of Izieu, quotes from a letter by eight-year-old Georges Halpern who wrote of afternoon naps, country walks and a forthcoming party.

 

But these ordinary pleasures were soon cut short. Hopes of survival foundered on Maundy Thursday - April 16, 1944 - when two lorries and two cars drew up outside the home and carried off 44 children aged between four and 17 and seven adults.

 

Of the 51, only one adult survived - and that was not Mrs Zlatin's husband. She herself was lucky because she was not at Izieu at the time of the raid which, according to other witnesses, was led by Barbie.

 

Dr Leon Reifmann, aged 73, a medical student helping at the home, escaped arrest by jumping from a window and hiding. When he began giving evidence yesterday, he was asked to state his age. "The same as the defendant," he replied, referring to the 73-year-old Barbie.

 

It seems ironic that Barbie, the alleged instigator of Izieu, and Dr Reifmann, who lost his sister, parents and nephew in the raid, should have survived as contemporaries to hear the truth told in a Lyons court 43 years later.

 

Dr Reifmann said he saw three men in civilian clothes during the raid. Confronted with Barbie, he said the resemblance between one of the three and the defendant was "striking."

 

Mr Lucien Favet, who was close to the Izieu home at the time of the raid, heard the children singing a patriotic French song as they were driven away. He also identified Barbie, but some of his evidence was challenged by the defence lawyer Mr Jacques Verges.

 

Mrs Lea Feldblum, the survivor of the Izeu raid, was deported with the children but survived Auschwitz. Describing their arrival at the extermination camp, she said: "the children went to the left (to the gas chambers), me, they pushed to the right."

 

Barbie was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. He died in prison four years later.

Campbell Page in Lyons

PLENTY OF MONEY FOR WEAPONS - BUT NOT FOR YOU.

Democracy at Work

Healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege for those who can afford it

Phyllis Carter - OH, PLEASE BE THAT KIND OF SOCIALIST - LIKE JESUS WAS.

GOOD NEWS FOR HERR DONALD DRUMPH

If Herr Drumph has a sniffle,
he will now be able to benefit from Obamacare.

US House of Representatives delays vote on health bill in blow to Trump - US President Donald Trump's bid to repeal his predecessor's signature health care fails 

WWW.FRANCE24.COM|BY FRANCE 24 ENGLISH

SCIENTISTS AND DOCTORS RISK THEIR LIVES TO STOP ZIKA, EBOLA,

In 2015, a mysterious virus, eventually identified as Zika, first appeared in Brazil, flooding clinics with patients.

Health care workers and researchers working in Brazil made a startling connection between the increase in prenatal Zika virus infections and the growing number of babies born with microcephaly and other devastating birth defects.

The year before, as the world watched in horror, the Ebola virus tore through the heart of West Africa, leaving some 12,000 dead in its wake. The outbreak was historic: ten times worse than all other Ebola outbreaks combined. And beyond the headlines, out of the spotlight, other threats were unfolding at the same time: legions of viruses were continuing their march around the globe, largely unreported. Nipah. Chikungunya. MERS.

All are diseases caused by viruses that reside in animals and spill over into humans. Over the last half century, the number of spillover diseases has increased rapidly. What's behind the rise in spillover viruses? What can we do to stop them? And what have we learned from the ultimate containment of Ebola?

Spillover  - Zika, Ebola & Beyond is a harrowing drama that follows scientists into the world's hot zones in a search for answers. And it does so while providing much needed scientific context for the most recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Battle-hardened health workers and survivors share their untold stories, such as how a courageous band of Nigerians jumped into the breach to stop Ebola from turning into a truly global pandemic.

Spillover - Zika, Ebola & Beyond extends to the new frontiers of disease detection, prevention, and containment. The film travels the world with virus hunters who are tracking old enemies while vigilantly looking out for new foes. Along with cutting-edge science, the film investigates low-tech, but tried-and-true methods to stop viruses from spreading. And the film delves into the microscopic world of viruses to see how they turn our own cells against us to produce legions of infectious offspring.

Through in-depth interviews with leading public health experts and epidemiologists, viewers find out how human behaviors increase the likelihood of spillover events, and how science is learning to anticipate, and tame, spillover events.

At Candido Vargas Institute in João Pessoa, Brazil, a geneticist examines an infant with microcephaly, a brain defect associated with Zika virus infection.

Filmed on four continents, Spillover - Zika, Ebola & Beyond sheds light on one of the most important public health challenges of our time—predicting and stopping the next pandemic. The film is a rich mix of cutting edge science and inspiring personal stories of both tragic loss and selfless heroism. Graphics reveal the invisible world of viruses - organisms that reside in the nether land between being "alive" and "dead"-and animation portrays some of the most dramatic moments of the recent Ebola crisis.

Answers to burning questions, and hope against a seemingly endless onslaught of disease, come together in Spillover - Zika, Ebola & Beyond.

PBS

NO HELP IF YOU ARE ABUSED AT THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL

I have written many reports about the Jewish General Hospital. I owe my life to the care I have received there. I do not hesitate to tell anyone about the many good people who work there, skillful, devoted, kind people. But no one talks about the abuses. I do.

 

I am an 80 year old Canadian journalist and a cancer patient.

 

WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT ABOUT HOW YOU WERE TREATED AT THE JEWISH GENERAL HOSPITAL?

 

I ACCESSED THE WWW SITE AND WENT AROUND IN CIRCLES. SO HERE IT IS.

 

AFTER A LONG DAY AS A PATIENT, I WAS PREPARING TO LEAVE THE JGH TO GO HOME. I CALL FOR ATLAS TAXIS BECAUSE THEY GIVE GOOD SERVICE TO ELDERLY AND HANDICAPPED PEOPLE.

I WAITED IN A WHEELCHAIR BY THE FRONT ENTRANCE FOR WHAT SEEMED A VERY LONG TIME. I UNDERSTOOD THAT THE WEATHER COULD CAUSE DELAYS.

 

I CALLED ATLAS A SECOND TIME AND I WAS TOLD THAT A TAXI HAD COME FOR ME BUT THE DRIVER COULDN'T FIND ME.

NO DRIVER CAME INTO THE HOSPITAL ASKING FOR ME. I WAS RIGHT AT THE DOOR.

SO ATLAS GRACIOUSLY DISPATCHED A SECOND CAR AND I WAITED AND WAITED.

 

FINALLY, I CALLED AGAIN AND AGAIN BUT THE LINE WAS BUSY.

NOT HAVING A PHONE NUMBER FOR ANY OTHER TAXI SERVICE I ASKED THE SECURITY GUARD AT THE DESK TO PLEASE CALL A TAXI FOR ME.

 

THE GUARD TOLD ME THERE WERE TAXIS OUTSIDE. I TOLD HIM I HAVE CANCER AND I CANNOT WALK.

 

THAT NASTY FOOL STOOD OVER ME DEMANDING THAT I WALK OUTSIDE TO GET A TAXI.

I SAID, "LEAVE ME ALONE. I CAN'T WALK".

HE DEMANDED THAT I "MAKE THE EFFORT."

HE KEPT HARANGUING ME, STANDING OVER ME AND DEMANDING THAT I WALK. - FROM HIS FOOLISH MOUTH TO GOD'S EARS. HOW I WOULD LOVE TO WALK - TO DANCE. FINALLY, I HAD TO YELL AT HIM TO LEAVE ME ALONE.

 

SOON AN ATLAS TAXI DRIVER ARRIVED AND PUSHED ME OUT TO HIS CAR IN THE WHEELCHAIR.

 

I WILL LODGE A FORMAL COMPLAINT AGAINST THAT SECURITY GUARD AS SOON AS I FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT. THE PATIENTS' "OMBUDSMAN" AT THE JGH IS BASICALLY A PR PERSON WORKING FOR THE CORPORATION. HER FUNCTION IS USUALLY TO SILENCE ANYONE WHO HAS A COMPLAINT. I HAVE WATCHED HER DO.IT.

 

SO WHO IS RESPONSIBLE TO PROTECT PATIENTS FROM ABUSE AT THE JGH?

 

THIS TOOK PLACE AROUND 6:00 PM ON DECEMBER 16, 2016.

 

 

IT WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME I HAVE HAD TROUBLE WITH THIS SECURITY GUARD.

 

 

PHYLLIS CARTER'S JOURNAL

Building Camelot One Essay At A Time

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

 

HOW WE MIGHT DIE IN HOSPITAL -
LEGARE LOBBY BLUES

 

To the Jewish General Hospital Complaints Commissioner

 

April 23, 2009

 

THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

 

I am home right now, Rosemary, but I don't know if I'm coming or going.

Dr. Very Stern said he wanted another test done today but he would not let me stay overnight. I had to go home and come back in spite of the stress and the cost of taxis. Dr. Stern told me that if I could not come back for the test, it was my own problem. He said,  "You are responsible for your own life."

 

A male nurse named Yannick pulled the painful catheter from my wrist leaving me with blood running down my arm and onto my gown, the papers and the floor.

 

As I was leaving Number 33 Red in Emergency, an older nurse with long blonde hair grimaced at me and said, "You have the best doctors here. Why aren't you satisfied?"

 

I said I was satisfied with my doctors.

 

She said, "Then why don't you just go home and stop complaining?"

 

I told her she doesn't know my circumstances. I live alone and I am very weak.

 

She told me to ask my neighbours to help me.

 

I do not impose upon my friends and neighbours. They all have their own problems.

 

The nurse told me to go out into the neighbourhood and do good for others and then maybe someone would help me.

 

I needed that !

 

It took me about twenty minutes to walk from the taxi to my apartment yesterday. I arrived at about 8:00 PM. I was so totally exhausted it was after 10 AM when I woke up and I have been too tired to do anything but sleep all day.

 

My appointment for the "duplex" test was at 10:45 AM and there was no way I could go. I phoned the coordinator nurse. She rescheduled for tomorrow. It will be an ordeal to walk to the taxi but I will do it somehow.

I've lost track of time. I've been bounced around so much and tortured with needles and catheters.

 

I had an appointment at 1:30 in nuclear medicine. It would have been Tuesday, the 21st.

 

My brother dropped me at the door at Legare. When I started walking the pain that I had in my left shoulder blade increased and a new pain started in the chest, left side. I couldn't walk anymore and it was hard to stand.

 

That's when I asked the young security guard to get someone to bring a wheelchair and take me to my appointment in nuclear medicine or to the emergency.

 

He said there was nothing he could do. He refused to do anything or call anyone. I managed to walk over to the room nearby where you get the hospital cards and I told one of the registrars I had a pain in my chest and I needed help.

 

She told me to ask the security guard. I told her that he said he can't do anything. She said something like, "What does he mean, he can't do anything! Go tell him to call Emergency."

 

I went back to the security guard and he said there are no porters and he is not allowed to leave his post and Emergency doesn't answer and... and...

 

By that time I was lying on the floor and one of the crowd said, "The woman is going to die right here in front of us! Do something!"

 

The guard complained again, "I can't do nothing!"

 

I said, "Then call 911!

 

And the security guard said, " I can't call 911. You are in the hospital."

 

And people just kept walking past me, even a few in white coats. There were people selling jewelry nearby and people selling coffee. Nobody paid any attention.

 

I heard the security guard, apparently talking on the phone. In French he said I had a pain in my estomac. (stomach). I said, "I have a pain in my chest," and again he said he couldn't do anything. He said he would lose his job.

 

If you want another perspective, I invite you to contact the one person who acted and took it upon herself to get me to the emergency.

 

This wonderful person ordered the guard to help her and they both pulled me from the floor to a wheelchair. Then Bonnie, a patient herself, I learned later, wheeled me to Emergency.

 

It reminds me of the story of Sodom and Gemorrah where Abraham argues with God appealing with Him to spare the sin cities ... if there were even ten good men ...

 

There was one decent human being in the Legare lobby of the JGH that day. Her name was Bonnie Fraser - a gift from God.

 

September 16, 2010.

 

Of course, excuses were made. No one did anything wrong. No one was responsible. The young guard is still working at the same job to this day.

 

Phyllis Carter

 

http://phylliscartersjournal.blogspot.ca/2010/09/how-we-might-die-in-hospital-legare.html

March 24, 2017

I received a letter dated December 20, 2016, from Rosemary Steinberg, "Commissioner of complaints and quality of services, centre integre of McGill University …" -  in short, she is supposed to be the patients' representative at the Jewish General Hospital.

Rosemary's letter full of legalese says that she has been advised of the actions of the security guard and she will investigate and I will receive a reply within 45 days and, if she is unable to do so, she must inform me of the delay.

If the deadline cannot be met I have the option of complaining to the Protector of Quebec Citizens at 525 Rene Levesque Blvd.

I never heard from Rosemary Steinberg after that.

This is exactly what I expected. Patients and patients' families cannot expect help for any complaints at the Jewish General Hospital. All you will get is the run-around. It is always the same.

Your only recourse is  -

DO NOT REMAIN SILENT ABOUT ANY ABUSE.

Abusers do not like anyone to know what they are doing.