Trumpcare = Blood Money

It is very hard for a government to take away a “right” already granted.

When you look at Revolutions in Third World countries, you find some common themes. The Governments of those dictatorships or quasi-dictatorships are controlled by a group representing the interests of a small minority of the population, typically the wealthy. The Government uses increasingly Draconian measures to force the population’s compliance. Here in America, Republicans are doing just that. Examples of those measures to suppress dissent include laws in several state which allow Chumph supporters to run down and murder protesters, and an attempt by Republicans in some states (including DC, which the Republican majority House now controls) to criminalize dissent though the abuse of felony laws to punish protesters for nonviolent protest.

When you start locking up your detractors in prisons…you have paved the way for violent revolution. When facing a felony conviction or death for waiving a sign on the public streets – there is very little difference in the punishment for blowing up buildings. The white-wing Republican government in America isn’t far from that line.

The Trump(don’t)care legislation is another example of abuse of the majority for the benefit of the rich. A lot of those folks who will be getting abused voted Republican. While the Second Amendment whackos are too consumed by racism to care…There are a lot of poor Republican Soccer Moms and caretakers of the sick and elderly out there who do.

Democrats have one chance to get this right. They need to do smething to stop this steamroller besides pretty speches.

 

 

France’s “Skinny Model” Law

In an attempt to curb anorexia and models dieting to the point of severe health consequences – the Government of France has enacted a law requiring that all Models in the Fashion Industry meet a minimum BMI which is considered healthy. Probably doesn’t mean that fashion models will start looking like average healthy women, but it should stop some of the grotesque abuse.

The French React to Their New ‘Skinny Model’ Law

A French health-reform bill that has been colloquially termed a “skinny-model ban” was introduced at the National Assembly in March and was passed into law on Friday. The new law calls for models who want to work in France to present a doctor’s note attesting to their overall health and proving a BMI of 18 or over. (In the BMI system, 18.5 is the cutoff between underweight and a healthy weight.) Agencies and brands who break this law could be looking at a six-month prison sentence of 75,000 euro fine. Another proviso notes that advertising images that have been digitally altered — whether that means making the models appear smaller or larger — must contain the words “retouched photograph,” or risk a fine of at least 37,500 euros.

There is some precedent for this kind of government action, at least abroad. Italy, Israel, and Spain have all passed similar “skinny model” legislation, Denmark is considering doing so, and the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority has cracked down on images of what it deems to be too-thin models, notably in a recent Saint Laurent ad.

Women’s Wear Daily spoke to members of the French fashion industry about their thoughts on the bill, and it sounds like complaints abound. The head of France’s model agency union, Isabelle Saint-Félix, told the paper that she felt the law unjustly penalized French modeling agencies, and could even result in fashion shows or shoots being relocated outside the country. “Modeling agencies respond to the demand of advertisers, designers and photographers,” she told the paper. “One asks models to fit in a dress — not the opposite.” She added that members of the industry had not been consulted when the law was being drafted. Stylist Simon Gensowski seemed to concur, saying, “Rather than body-shaming women with eating disorders, it would have been wise to reconsider current sample sizes.” Whether or not you take issue with the law, this coming Paris Fashion Week is shaping up to be an interesting one.

 

When Things Are So Bad…Even the Morons in Congress Get it

Street Hijacking by nefarious Tow Companies. The problem is endemic in the DC area, and I am sure shared by other cities. So bad in fact – even the do-nothing Congress is taking it on…

Had a friend who owned one of the first Porsche Bi-Turbo Carreras in the US back in the 70’s. A local towing company couldn’t resist the sight of an expensive car, whose owner would pay megabucks to get it back. They hooked it up via the bumper hook and towed it away – doing about $25,000 in damage to the suspension and steering. He sued, and eventually won – which was a driving reason behind conversion to the bed type tow trucks in the area. Through the years, I have seen more than one car damaged or destroyed by the local city tow contractors.

Predatory towing companies are about to get a beat down from Congress

The terrible reign of the parking lot pirates may be about to end.
And you won’t believe which swashbucklers are eager to rescue the nation from the metal jaws of predatory towing companies.

Congress.

Yep. Our normally dysfunctional House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a transportation bill Thursday morning that — among tons of other things — lets local governments go after the tow truck operators who have picked many families’ pockets.

You know which tow truck operators I mean, right? The hated kind.

The ones who snag your car during the three minutes you ran into CVS to pick up a prescription.

The ones who make millions of dollars baiting deserted parking lots and using spotters at all hours of the night to tow you away.

The ones who hold your car hostage for more than $100 in towing and impound fees.

The ones who hooked a car with kids inside in April.

The ones who have towed cars with dogs inside.

The ones who get taken to court and rarely pay more than a $125 fine when a judge finds that they improperly and illegally seized — and damaged — your car.

Yeah, those guys.

They have no mercy, and their victims can be anybody.

Um, everybody, actually.

“Lots of members of Congress were excited about it,” said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who co-authored the amendment with Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “Getting towed is a very non-partisan experience.”

Van Hollen knows the experience too well.

“I was at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, literally ran in for takeout,” he explained. His car was towed in “less than 90 seconds,” he said.

In his neck of the woods, Montgomery County, that tow will add at least $150 onto whatever errand you were trying to run. Expensive moo shu.

Van Hollen said these kinds of tow guys have turned it “into a science,” with an empty parking lot becoming a “cash cow.” It’s one of the biggest complaints his office gets.

“We didn’t have trouble signing up people,” said Van Hollen, who has been trying to thwart the parking lot pirates for years and may finally be successful with this bill.

Of course, it was Congress that gave the pirates their opening years ago.

A loophole in a 1994 federal law forbade local jurisdictions from doing anything to regulate these guys.

So they saw the opportunity and created a cottage industry of spying on people on empty lots and towing them minutes after they leave their car.

ESPN reporter Britt McHenry had her car towed while she was eating dinner in Clarendon. She was famously caught on video ripping into the cashier when she went to pay them off to get her car back. She was suspended by ESPN for a week.

I was just as angry a couple of years ago when they hooked us after we pulled up near a condo in Clarendon to load a piece of furniture into our minivan.

It was less than 10 minutes, flashers on, sign on the windshield explaining we’re loading and will be right back. It was late at night in front of a dry cleaner that was closed. And it was gone, sparks flying as the undercarriage slammed on the ground and the truck fishtailed away.

Mind you, these aren’t the merciless guys who tow your car parked in a no-parking lane on one of the District’s main streets one minute into rush hour.

Those guys are brutal, but they serve a purpose. One illegally parked car can be like metal cholesterol, clogging up a city’s thoroughfares for blocks and blocks.

The parking lot pirates? A lot less noble.

They lurk in cars and tow your vehicle even if you’re a customer of one business, then walk 200 feet to use the ATM at another. Show them your receipt, they won’t care.

The online complaints about them are outrageous.

One guy was towed exactly one minute after his gym closed. Another was towed because a condo placard was on the left side of the dashboard instead of on the right. And another was towed even though she was parked perfectly legally. And that was just this week.

They’ve been doing this for years.

The late musician Steve Goodman sang about the notorious Chicago towing company with similar tactics back in the 1970s in “Lincoln Park Pirates,” made famous by columnist Mike Royko:

“We plunder the streets of your town

Be it Edsel or Chevy

There’s no car too heavy

And one one can make us shut down.”…

 

 

 

France – Burkini Wars, Part Deux

You know it’s bad when – There’s a law against women putting on too much clothing!

As the fashion capital of the world, if there is one thing the Frenchmen are more serious about than their wine…

Is women.

If a proposed law passes – it is going to cost you to not have your wife or girlfriend run around “Nekked” at the beach in France if a new law passes…

It will cost you about $20,000 US and 1 year in jail!

Ouch!

Men to face £13,000 fine and jail for forcing women to wear burkas if new French law is passed

Men could be fined £13,000 and jailed for a year for forcing their wives to wear a burka under tough proposed laws in France, leaked documents reveal.

Ministers hope to vote on a total ban on anyone hiding their face in public in July, it is claimed.

The move comes after Belgium became the first country in Europe to ban the burka and other full Islamic face veils last week.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

There is also widespread support for a ban on burkas and niqabs in the Netherlands.

The French law would create a new offence of ‘incitement to cover the face for reasons of gender’, the newspaper Le Figaro reported.

According to the paper, the legislation would state: ‘No-one may wear in public places clothes that are aimed at hiding the face.’

While men will incur steep fines and prison sentences for forcing their wives to hide their face, women would receive a much smaller fine of around £130 because they are ‘often victims who are not given any choice’, one of the proposed law’s authors said.

Definitely no so Hot...

Women would not be ‘unveiled’ in the street but instead taken to a police station to be formally identified, the draft legislation states.

The law would also apply to Muslim tourists – including the thousands of wealthy Middle Eastern visitors to Paris every year.

France’s tough stance against face veils comes after a woman was pulled over and fined in April for wearing a burka while driving.

And last year a Muslim woman was banned from wearing a ‘burkini’ swimming costume at a public swimming pool in Paris for hygiene reasons.

President Nicolas Sarkozy has already branded the burka a ‘sign of debasement’, and immigration minister Eric Besson has called it ‘a walking coffin’.