CfA's December 18, 2020 Newsletter

Our Recent Work:

• CfA Files Ethics Complaint Against Rep. Dan Crenshaw: On Tuesday, CfA asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), violated House ethics rules when he shared false information with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie about a Democratic House staffer, and then refused to cooperate with an investigation by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General into a sexual assault on that staff member.
  • (Press Release, Letter)

What We're Reading:

• We’re future OB-GYNs. Pa. needs to drop its support for ‘crisis pregnancy’ centers | Opinion: "Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) are anti-abortion organizations that claim to help pregnant people though they have been shown to  utilize misinformation to coerce, deceive, and manipulate women. They are widely considered to be unethical by healthcare professionals and the American Medical Association (AMA).  A staggering number of these unprincipled institutions receive Pennsylvania taxpayer dollars." (Pennsylvania Capital Star, December 15)
• EU approves Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit, subject to conditions: "Google’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit has been conditionally approved by the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU. The Commission on Thursday set out a number of commitments that Google must follow over the next 10 years. It said Google must not be able to use the health data of Fitbit users in the European Economic Area for advertising and enforced a technical separation of Fitbit’s data from Google’s. The EEA refers to EU member states, and also Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway." (CNBC, December 17)
• Amazon Has Turned a Middle-Class Warehouse Career Into a McJob: "The reality is less rosy. Many Amazon warehouse employees struggle to pay the bills, and more than 4,000 employees are on food stamps in nine states studied by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Only Walmart, McDonald’s and two dollar-store chains have more workers requiring such assistance, according to the report, which said 70% of recipients work full-time. As Amazon opens U.S. warehouses at the rate of about one a day, it’s transforming the logistics industry from a career destination with the promise of middle-class wages into entry-level work that’s just a notch above being a burger flipper or convenience store cashier." (Bloomberg, December 17)

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