The Definition of Insanity For $100, Alex

Albert Einstein is credited - probably incorrectly - with proposing the definition of “insanity” as repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.

This definition definitely applies to the Republican Party’s attempts to strike down and/or reform the Affordable Care Act the last seven years, where the GOP’s valiant abilities have been worse than Charlie Brown’s ability to hit a baseball or kick a football.

Between something like 60 failed attempts to repel the ACA while President Barack Obama was in office, and multiple failed attempts to do the same since Donald Trump took the Oval Office, Republican Party leadership and membership has been unable - and, in some cases, unwilling - to bring about its much-ballyhooed change to the health care system.

Obama promised change and achieved it; the GOP has proven all talk and no action, with plenty of flip and flop along the way.

Now, don’t get me wrong; there are plenty of issues that need to be fixed in the ACA. Plenty of Democrats feel this way; heck, back in January, Obama said he would publicly support GOP efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare - and encourage Democrats to support it - if their plan is better.

But Republican plans have not been better.

For seven years, Republicans have railed against the ACA (also known as “ObamaCare”). Instead of spending time seriously devising an alternative that would work, they whined and complained and shook their fists in the air. And in the past six months, since taking full control of the federal government - the GOP controls the House, the Senate, and the Office - they have developed replacement plans in secret, without reaching across the political aisle, and alienating their own base.

While they freely assailed the health law when Obama occupied the White House, the GOP was unable to devise a workable plan that would keep both moderate Republicans and conservatives on board.

Is it any surprise three of the GOP senators who helped prevent Trumpcare from achieving a vote were Susan Collins, Shelley Moore Capito, and Lisa Murkowski? It’s notable the three women - who have been vocal in their positions on health care policy - were all left out of the Senate’s initial working group to draft the latest Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill - a group of 13 men.

"I did not come to Washington to hurt people," Capito said in a statement. “I cannot vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.”

So now what? After the latest crash and burn, conservative commentator Laura Ingraham said Republicans must admit they need to work with Democrats in order to pass legislation on healthcare or “do nothing.” Trump seemingly decided to focus on the latter part of her position; the president has declared his plan is now to “let Obamacare fail,” suggesting Democrats would then seek out Republicans to work together on a bill to bury the Affordable Care Act. 

If he is determined to make good on that pledge, he has plenty of options at his disposal, from declining to reimburse insurance companies for reducing low-income customers’ out-of-pocket costs to failing to enforce the mandate that most Americans have health coverage.

I hope Democrats and Republicans can come together and clean up the health care system. Americans deserve the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and having available, viable health care options achieves all three of these goals.

Florida's Opioid Mess

It took much longer than it should have, but the state Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott have finally passed and signed into law tougher penalties aimed at combating Florida’s opioid epidemic.

The legislation, officially signed last month, increases penalties for dealers caught selling synthetic drugs like fentanyl, a cheap and potent painkiller largely responsible for the surge in overdoses in Florida over the last few years.

Under the new law, drug dealers could face murder charges if their customers overdose and die using fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid South Florida drug dealers have mixed into heroin.

Starting this fall, judges will be forced to sentence people possessing 4 grams of fentanyl to a minimum of three years in prison. If an individual has 14 grams, they face 15 years in prison; people with 28 grams with get a minimum 25 years in prison.

County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay has been pushing hard for such legislation to be passed. About the same time Gov. Scott was ceremoniously signing the bill into law in Wellington this week, McKinlay was receiving the Florida Association of Counties’ Marlene Young Presidential Advocacy Award, which is presented to a county elected official who has shown extraordinary leadership. FAC President Kathy Bryant said the recognition was in large part due to McKinlay’s tireless push to not only create tougher penalties for opioids, but to get more and better funding from the state and federal governments.

McKinlay was among the first public officials in the state to lobby Gov. Scott for action, and in April helped persuade the commission to adopt an initial $3 million plan to address the crisis.

In May, after four years of a drastic increase in opioid-related deaths, Gov. Scott finally declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency. The new law allows Florida to tap more than $54 million in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant money to pay for prevention, treatment and recovery services.

The real questions now are, (a) is it enough funding to stem the tide, and (b) can any amount of money achieve this goal? Odds are, the answers are (a) no, and (b) no … but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Florida has been a leader, nationally, in terms of opioid overdoses; according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the state accounted for 12 percent of the 33,000 people nationwide who died in 2015 of opioid overdoses.

This is the second recent major drug-addiction related initiative with direct ties to Palm Beach County. There have been nearly 30 arrests in the past few months of individuals who have been breaking the law while running drug-treatment centers.

So-called “sober homes” are intended to be supportive transitional environments for individuals preparing to face the world during recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. In 2015, the state passed a law requiring recovery residences and their administrators to be certified (at the time, sober homes were unregulated, so the state was not even sure how many there were).

Last year, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg began a task force consisting of prosecutors and police to study abuses in the industry and find solutions. The result has been a crackdown on such abuse, which has direct ties to the opioid situation.

I am pleased the rampant abuse of drugs is being dealt with at the local and state levels, and hope this will be resolved quickly and effectively in short order.

On Banning Conversion Therapy

A year ago, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, pushed for county commissioners to take up the issue of banning “conversion therapy” for children, the controversial practice in which therapists attempt to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Palm Beach County had the opportunity to be the first county in Florida to ban conversion therapy for people under the age of 18. But thus far, the commission has dropped the ball on creating a county-side umbrella policy banning the measure outright, so HRC president Rand Hoch has decided to go door-to-door (or, rather, municipality-to-municipality) to get local leaders to do what the county has not accomplished the past 12 months.

The reason this is “big” news now is this past week, Wellington Mayor Anne Gerwig cast the lone dissenting ballot during a preliminary reading of an ordinance that would ban conversion therapy within village boundaries. Several other municipalities in Palm Beach County have approved similar ordinances banning conversion therapy by medical professionals, but they were all unanimous votes.

According to the American Psychological Association, conversion therapy refers to psychotherapy aimed at eliminating homosexual desires and is used by people who do not think homosexuality is one variation within human sexual orientation, but rather still believe homosexuality is a mental disorder. The APA has concluded trying to change someone's sexual orientation can cause depression, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse. 

When the APA published the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the “bible” used by mental health professionals to diagnose psychiatric disorders) in 1952, homosexuality was defined as a psychiatric disorder. Although there was no scientific evidence to support the diagnosis, it remained in the DSM until 1973.

California was the first state to outright ban conversion therapy in 2013. Conservative Christian legal organizations - representing individual parents, children and therapists - said the law violated therapists' free expression and parents' rights to make important medical decisions for their children. Since then, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. have passed laws banning licensed mental health providers from offering the practice to children.

Gerwig said she was bothered the ordinance would prohibit licensed professionals from practicing conversion therapy to minors, but not unlicensed youth counselors. Under current Florida law, this is accurate; although the Wellington ordinance would ban the practice by medical professionals, by state regulation it could not ban its use by religious and other non-professional groups.

The past two legislative sessions, State Sen. Jeff Clemens has introduced legislation to prohibit conversion therapy statewide. However, the Florida Senate refused to take action on the bills. Clemens intends to reintroduce the bill in the 2018 legislative session. I urge both the county and state to ban the practice completely.

Going Rogue

“History will be the ultimate judge of last weekend’s historic Paris Agreement, the pact that commits 196 nations to work together in an attempt to limit climate change and stem the continued rise of greenhouse gas emissions.”

This was how I opened my commentary 18 months ago on the long-awaited - and much-needed - multi-nation pact to correct years of environmental abuse. Now, because of the irrational actions of President Donald Trump last week, the United States will be watching history from the sidelines, no longer capable of being either a partner or an active participant as the rest of the world moves forward.

The United States has gone rogue.

The worst part of Trump’s action for the United States as a whole is that we have yet again handed over our role as hegemonic leader on the global stage. Our allies are again dismayed, our business leaders’ wishes defied, our international competitiveness shaken, and ability to create job growth shackled. Further, under Trump’s “leadership,” the U.S. has yet again forfeited an opportunity to lead the way on an issue of international importance. Trump’s decision is based on volumes of fake news, ignoring numerous studies showing the reduction of carbon emissions would not only reduce greenhouse gasses and reduce damage to the environment, but also would drive economic growth in multiple ways.

The worst part of Trump’s action for everyday citizens is that it adds to the overwhelming burden being placed on future generations to deal with the idiocy of modern political actors. We are unsure which is the appetizer and which the main dish when looking at the buffet line of rising seas and trillion-dollar debt. And of course, the irony is those generations will need to add to said debt in order to pay for construction of infrastructure to deal with those rising seas, especially in areas such as southeast Florida.

In quick response, nearly 1,500 companies and institutions - including more than a dozen Fortune 500 businesses - signed a pact saying they are still committed to meeting the Paris Agreement standards; further, a dozen states and nearly 300 cities across the nation have committed through coalitions to stand by what was agreed to in December 2015. California passed legislation putting the state on a path to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.

Sadly, Florida is not among those dozen states to take proactive measures, despite being one of the states most at-risk due to climate change. Yet. But a number of Florida mayors - including Jeri Muoio of West Palm Beach, Tomas Regalado of Miami, Philip Levine of Miami Beach, Buddy Dyer or Orlando, Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg, Jack Seiler of Ft. Lauderdale, Andrew Gillum of Tallahassee, and Bob Buckhorn of Tampa - are part of the 274-strong “Climate Mayors” coalition that has pledged to work together to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting efforts for binding federal and global-level policy making.

Here’s hoping our federal leaders take note and reverse course, before further damage takes place.

Virus Alert

Eleven years ago, Weird Al Yankovic inked a catchy tune for his “Straight Outta Linwood” album called “Virus Alert,” which in his own humorous, albeit warped, way, offered up a warning about the perils of opening emails from individuals you don’t know or with attachments you aren’t expecting.

Even before 2006, computer users worldwide had been served up a wide helping of computer viruses, and despite advances in technology since then, the danger remains high; all you need to do is look at last fall’s extremely high-profile email hack attack, which had a definite impact on voters and their decision at the ballot box.

Is this week’s Google Drive phishing attack in the same ballfields as allegations of Russian interference in the United States’ 2016 presidential election? In some ways, it pales; in others, it may easily eclipse what happened in the waning days of the campaign.

Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers. In the May 3 Google Drive situation, the attack seemed to focus primarily on education emails and their servers; teachers across the School District of Palm Beach County and other educational systems nationwide reported an influx of questionable emails indicating that “(enter coworker name here) has shared a document on Google Docs with you.”

If you clicked the link, it asked for some access permissions to individuals’ Gmail account (which actual Google Docs links would not need), and then spammed everyone in their contacts with a link to a Google Docs file. They, in turn, email everyone in their contacts, and so on. All of them seemed to include the email address “hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh@mailinator.com.”

(If, by chance, you received this email and clicked on the link, here’s what you need to do, if you have’t already done so: (1) Go to your Gmail account’s permissions settings at https://myaccount.google.com/permissions; (2) Remove permissions for “Google Docs,” the name of the phishing scam.)

What’s of concern to area residents is many teachers across the district have incorporated Google Drive into their daily lives, including accepting and sending assignments electronically. This is the world in which we live, where the technology we have at our fingertips now controls how we live and work, not the other way around.

Cybersecurity concerns are not new. In a survey of 24 federal agencies, the General Accounting Office found between 2006 and 2015, the number of cyberattacks climbed 1,300 percent - from 5,500 to over 77,000 a year. This week’s attack was not an outlier. Nor is there any guarantee of absolute protection; even the best anti-virus packages can be overrun by intelligent creators of viruses and other cybercrime. All we can do is keep our protections active and updated, and hope we don’t get caught in the virus trap. And just to be a bit safer, change your email password. It can’t hurt.