WSWS, today's articles

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Here are the latest articles published today on the World Socialist Web Site.

Working class resistance mounts to back-to-work campaign
On Monday, nearly 4,000 service workers at the University of Illinois walked out, joining strikes by 800 nurses at a UI hospital in Chicago and nearly 2,000 grad student instructors at the University of Michigan.
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New cases of COVID-19 reach a one-day high of nearly 308,000 worldwide
The number of new cases of COVID-19 hit a new one-day high of nearly 308,000 worldwide, bringing the global total to almost 30 million cases and 930,000 deaths. The United States alone will reach 200,000 deaths by mid-week.
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Israel becomes first country to impose second national COVID-19 lockdown
Israel now tops the world rankings in the number of new COVID-19 cases per capita.
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University of Michigan president seeks court injunction to force graduate student instructors back to work
The University of Michigan is responding with a new round of threats and intimidation to the overwhelming vote Sunday by graduate students to extend their strike.
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As Bloomberg pledges $100 million, Wall Street boosts Biden campaign
Bloomberg’s announcement is only the largest pledge of support from the financial oligarchy for the Democratic campaign.
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Protests continue against Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
For over two months, thousands of people have been marching in the streets of Bulgaria almost every day in opposition to Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
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Exposure of Trump’s lies on COVID-19 implicates Spain’s Podemos party
Though it had access to intelligence briefings on the deadly danger posed by the pandemic, Podemos adopted a criminally negligent policy.
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Indian workers speak out against Modi, trade unions on COVID-19 pandemic
WSWS reporters interviewed workers in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the situation facing Indian workers during the pandemic.
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Dramatic spike in Philippines’ coronavirus death toll
The official death toll reached 4,371 on Saturday, but the record of incorrect figures suggests that the real total could be much higher.
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US farmworkers labor under unsafe conditions as West Coast fires continue to rage
Nearly 500,000 field workers have been severely affected by the ongoing wildfires as they continue to labor in California’s Central Valley and in the wine region, picking lettuce, strawberries, citrus, grapes, and other crops.
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Four thousand University of Illinois at Chicago staff join striking nurses
The now nearly 5,000 university health and staff workers are locked in a battle against the Democratic state leadership and must expand their struggle for health and safety.
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Los Angeles Sheriff threatens violence, reporter arrested after shooting of deputies
After the shooting of two deputy sheriffs by an unknown gunman in Compton, California, Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva threatened anti-police violence protesters and deputies roughed up and arrested a local reporter.
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The University of Iowa and Iowa State University students and staff unite together to oppose in-person learning
The demands of those involved in the protest are to end all in-person classes and have all learning be done online until the pandemic is under control.
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Mounting opposition to school reopenings as 55 New York City teachers test positive for COVID-19
Public school educators in New York City have conducted protests and written petitions in the last several days to oppose the reckless reopening of schools by Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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Dangers mount as Detroit implements a “hybrid” return to school
The re-opening of schools in Detroit is threatening the lives of teachers, support staff, children and parents.
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Washington, DC mayor calls for reopening of public schools amid pandemic
The announcement comes despite a late-July decision banning in-person teaching throughout the fall.
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White House announces Oracle Corporation as “trusted tech partner” of TikTok
The announcement of a “technology partnership” between Oracle Corporation and TikTok is part of an attempt to whip up anti-Chinese sentiments in advance of the US elections.
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Hospital merger between Beaumont and Advocate-Aurora Health faces internal opposition
The merger plans have been slowed down by opposition from Beaumont staff and a group of donors who are calling on the Board of Directors to fire the management team.
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Management and NTEU prepare to cut jobs and conditions at Australia’s Newcastle University
In Newcastle, as around the country, the trade union is stepping up its collaboration with the employers to impose deep cost-cutting measures.
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Bernie Sanders offers left gloss to Biden’s right-wing campaign
With polls tightening, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders urged the Biden campaign to do a better job of selling its right-wing program to workers and youth.
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Portside, latest articles

The Social Fabric of the U.S. Is Fraying Severely, if Not Unravelling

Glenn Greenwald
August 28, 2020
The Intercept
Why, in the world’s richest country, is every metric of mental health pathology rapidly worsening? A full 10 percent of the U.S. population generally had seriously contemplated suicide in the month of June.






Half of the US Population Lacks Adequate Protections Against Evictions

Sasha Abramsky
August 25, 2020
Truthout
As fewer people remain able to afford rent in big cities, more leave those cities for cheaper regions, or simply fall out of the housing market and into homelessness. Think tanks and activist groups are thinking outside the box with solutions.






California’s Apocalyptic ‘Second Nature’

Mike Davis
September 11, 2020
Rose Luxemburg Stiftung NYC Blog
Fire in the Anthropocene has become the physical equivalent of endless nuclear war. A new, profoundly sinister nature is rapidly emerging from our fire rubble at the expense of landscapes we once considered sacred.






National (In)Security and the Pentagon Budget

Mandy Smithberger
September 13, 2020
TomDispatch
A Post-Coronavirus economy can no longer afford to put the Pentagon first. As it turns out, creating jobs through Pentagon spending is among the least effective ways to rebuild the economy.






Overturning Austerity 101: California’s Prop 15 Will Tax the Rich

Fred Glass
August 24, 2020
Labor Notes
“We’ve got to be able to pass Schools and Communities First, as one measure, and then come back with another measure, and another, so that we make the rich pay their fair share.”






Striking in the Coronavirus Depression

Jeremy Brecher
September 2, 2020
Labor Network for Sustainability
This article is part of a series on how workers are organizing in response to COVID-19 and the COVID-19 Depression.






The Secret Life of Groceries

Beth Dooley
September 9, 2020
SF Chronicle
A new book researching the grocery business reveals the unsustainability of American shopping.









INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

Possible marker of life spotted on venus

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200914112219.htm


An international team of astronomers today announced the discovery of a rare molecule -- phosphine -- in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. Astronomers have speculated for decades that high clouds on Venus could offer a home for microbes -- floating free of the scorching surface but needing to tolerate very high acidity. The detection of phosphine could point to such extra-terrestrial 'aerial' life.


"When we got the first hints of phosphine in Venus's spectrum, it was a shock!," says team leader Jane Greaves of Cardiff University in the UK, who first spotted signs of phosphine in observations from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), operated by the East Asian Observatory, in Hawai'i. Confirming their discovery required using 45 antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, a more sensitive telescope in which the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is a partner. Both facilities observed Venus at a wavelength of about 1 millimetre, much longer than the human eye can see -- only telescopes at high altitude can detect it effectively.

The international team, which includes researchers from the UK, US and Japan, estimates that phosphine exists in Venus's clouds at a small concentration, only about twenty molecules in every billion. Following their observations, they ran calculations to see whether these amounts could come from natural non-biological processes on the planet. Some ideas included sunlight, minerals blown upwards from the surface, volcanoes, or lightning, but none of these could make anywhere near enough of it. These non-biological sources were found to make at most one ten thousandth of the amount of phosphine that the telescopes saw.

To create the observed quantity of phosphine (which consists of hydrogen and phosphorus) on Venus, terrestrial organisms would only need to work at about 10% of their maximum productivity, according to the team. Earth bacteria are known to make phosphine: they take up phosphate from minerals or biological material, add hydrogen, and ultimately expel phosphine. Any organisms on Venus will probably be very different to their Earth cousins, but they too could be the source of phosphine in the atmosphere.

While the discovery of phosphine in Venus's clouds came as a surprise, the researchers are confident in their detection. "To our great relief, the conditions were good at ALMA for follow-up observations while Venus was at a suitable angle to Earth. Processing the data was tricky, though, as ALMA isn't usually looking for very subtle effects in very bright objects like Venus," says team member Anita Richards of the UK ALMA Regional Centre and the University of Manchester. "In the end, we found that both observatories had seen the same thing -- faint absorption at the right wavelength to be phosphine gas, where the molecules are backlit by the warmer clouds below," adds Greaves, who led the study published today in Nature Astronomy.

Another team member, Clara Sousa Silva of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, has investigated phosphine as a "biosignature" gas of non-oxygen-using life on planets around other stars, because normal chemistry makes so little of it. She comments: "Finding phosphine on Venus was an unexpected bonus! The discovery raises many questions, such as how any organisms could survive. On Earth, some microbes can cope with up to about 5% of acid in their environment -- but the clouds of Venus are almost entirely made of acid."

The team believes their discovery is significant because they can rule out many alternative ways to make phosphine, but they acknowledge that confirming the presence of "life" needs a lot more work. Although the high clouds of Venus have temperatures up to a pleasant 30 degrees Celsius, they are incredibly acidic -- around 90% sulphuric acid -- posing major issues for any microbes trying to survive there.

ESO astronomer and ALMA European Operations Manager Leonardo Testi, who did not participate in the new study, says: "The non-biological production of phosphine on Venus is excluded by our current understanding of phosphine chemistry in rocky planets' atmospheres. Confirming the existence of life on Venus's atmosphere would be a major breakthrough for astrobiology; thus, it is essential to follow-up on this exciting result with theoretical and observational studies to exclude the possibility that phosphine on rocky planets may also have a chemical origin different than on Earth."

More observations of Venus and of rocky planets outside our Solar System, including with ESO's forthcoming Extremely Large Telescope, may help gather clues on how phosphine can originate on them and contribute to the search for signs of life beyond Earth.

This research was presented in the paper "Phosphine Gas in the Cloud Decks of Venus" to appear in Nature Astronomy.

The team is composed of Jane S. Greaves (School of Physics & Astronomy, Cardiff University, UK [Cardiff]), Anita M. S. Richards (Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, The University of Manchester, UK), William Bains (Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA [MIT]), Paul Rimmer (Department of Earth Sciences and Cavendish Astrophysics, University of Cambridge and MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK), Hideo Sagawa (Department of Astrophysics and Atmospheric Science, Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan), David L. Clements (Department of Physics, Imperial College London, UK [Imperial]), Sara Seager (MIT), Janusz J. Petkowski (MIT), Clara Sousa-Silva (MIT), Sukrit Ranjan (MIT), Emily Drabek-Maunder (Cardiff and Royal Observatory Greenwich, London, UK), Helen J. Fraser (School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK), Annabel Cartwright (Cardiff), Ingo Mueller-Wodarg (Imperial), Zhuchang Zhan (MIT), Per Friberg (EAO/JCMT), Iain Coulson (EAO/JCMT), E'lisa Lee (EAO/JCMT) and Jim Hoge (EAO/JCMT).

An accompanying paper by some of team members, titled "The Venusian Lower Atmosphere Haze as a Depot for Desiccated Microbial Life: A Proposed Life Cycle for Persistence of the Venusian Aerial Biosphere," was published in Astrobiology in August 2020. Another related study by some of the same authors, "Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres," was published in Astrobiology in January 2020.






Story Source:

Materials provided by ESO. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal References:
Jane S. Greaves, Anita M. S. Richards, William Bains, Paul B. Rimmer, Hideo Sagawa, David L. Clements, Sara Seager, Janusz J. Petkowski, Clara Sousa-Silva, Sukrit Ranjan, Emily Drabek-Maunder, Helen J. Fraser, Annabel Cartwright, Ingo Mueller-Wodarg, Zhuchang Zhan, Per Friberg, Iain Coulson, E’lisa Lee, Jim Hoge. Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus. Nature Astronomy, Sept. 14, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-1174-4
Sara Seager, Janusz J. Petkowski, Peter Gao, William Bains, Noelle C. Bryan, Sukrit Ranjan, Jane Greaves. The Venusian Lower Atmosphere Haze as a Depot for Desiccated Microbial Life: A Proposed Life Cycle for Persistence of the Venusian Aerial Biosphere. Astrobiology, 2020; DOI: 10.1089/ast.2020.2244
Clara Sousa-Silva, Sara Seager, Sukrit Ranjan, Janusz Jurand Petkowski, Zhuchang Zhan, Renyu Hu, William Bains. Phosphine as a Biosignature Gas in Exoplanet Atmospheres. Astrobiology, 2020; 20 (2): 235 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1954


Cite This Page:
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ESO. "Possible marker of life spotted on venus." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 September 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200914112219.htm>.




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These 62 landlords received at least $60 million in taxpayer bailouts. Now they are evicting tenants.

Sep 15






Sixty-two corporate landlords who have received taxpayer bailouts intended to blunt the economic impact of the pandemic are pursuing evictions despite a federal moratorium, a Popular Information investigation reveals. The large landlords have received at least $60.9 million in forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, which was intended to help prevent an economic collapse. After the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a national eviction moratorium on September 1, the same landlords have initiated at least 494 legal actions for eviction.

These corporate landlords are attempting to exploit a weakness in the moratorium announced by the CDC. Specifically, the moratorium is not self-executing. Tenants must sign a declaration attesting to their income, the reason they are unable to pay rent, and their efforts to obtain government assistance or alternative housing. Corporate landlords know that most tenants (90%) are not able to obtain legal counsel that can advise them about how to assert their legal rights.

The CDC has provided a form for tenants to fill out, but it's possible for a tenant to make it through the entire eviction process without even being aware of the CDC moratorium. The CDC did not specify whether judges should inform tenants about the moratorium or the form. Some judges in Texas, for example, believe that it would be improper for them to advise tenants of their rights. "Me telling a tenant to fill out an affidavit may be bridging over to legal advice instead of legal information," Jeremy Brown, a judge in Harris County, Texas, said. Other judges in Brown's courthouse are telling defendants about the availability of the form.

A review of 100 cases in Harris County last week found that just one eviction was halted as a result of the federal moratorium. Some judges rejected the tenants' CDC declarations because they weren't notarized, which is not a requirement of the CDC policy. Other judges were not convinced that tenants made their "best effort" to pay rent and issued a one-week continuance. Some tenants were told the CDC policy did not apply to them without any explanation.

Successful eviction actions could put families on the street during a pandemic. But even unsuccessful actions put additional pressure on renters who may already be struggling to provide for their families' basic needs and trying to find work during a severe economic crisis.

The figures in this report represent only a portion of the problem. The eviction activity from corporate landlords comes from court data, collected by the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, from 12 counties in five states (Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida). That means that there are more eviction cases — and corporate landlords who received PPP loans — that are not included in this investigation.

Here are the details of the ten corporate landlords who have filed the most eviction cases since September 1. 

CAPREIT

CAPREIT, a Maryland-based real estate operating company that describes itself as “one of the nation’s leading multifamily housing companies,” has filed 37 evictions across Tennessee and Georgia since September 1. The company, which operates 76 multifamily apartment communities across the U.S., has spent the past few years investing heavily in properties that qualify for the low-income housing tax credit. According to CAPREIT’s president Andrew Kadish, the firm keeps these properties at less than 100% occupancy so as to “charge max rents” and not leave any money on the table. Back in April, CAPREIT received a $5-10 million PPP loan. CAPREIT did not respond to a request for comment. 

Priderock Capital Management

Real estate asset manager Priderock Capital Management has filed 35 evictions so far this month after securing a $2-5 million PPP loan. According to its site, the company has been “involved in the day to day operations of over 100+ communities throughout the United States.” Most recently, in May 2020, the company paid $83 million for an apartment complex in Colorado. Priderock Capital Management did not respond to a request for comment.

ACRE

Asia Capital Real Estate Management (ACRE), a global real estate private equity firm that manages more than $2.1 billion in assets, has filed 34 evictions across Florida and Georgia since September 1. It received $150,00-350,000 in PPP loans. Last month, the firm announced that it was providing $86.3 million to refinance a rental property in Florida. ACRE’s senior vice president Daniel Jacobs said that the firm is “very active” in the sector and plans to grow. ACRE did not respond to a request for comment. 

Odin Properties

Odin Properties, a Philadelphia-based real estate firm, has filed 32 eviction cases against tenants in Tennessee. The company, which owns and manages 7,000 units across the U.S., received a $1-2 million PPP loan. In August, the company purchased 407 units in Florida for almost $22.8 million. Odin Properties did not respond to a request for comment. 

Blue Magma Residential

Blue Magma Residential, a Florida-based real estate investment group, boasts that it owns more than 10,000 units and manages $1 billion in assets. Since September 1, the company has filed 22 evictions against tenants in Georgia and Tennessee, despite acquiring a $1-2 million PPP loan. Previously, WABE reported in July that Blue Magma Residential filed 60 evictions in just one complex, initiating the second most eviction cases in Fulton County, Georgia. Blue Magma Residential did not respond to a request for comment. 

Tzadik Management

Florida-based property management company Tzadik Management received a $3 million PPP loan and has filed 20 evictions since September 1. According to its website, the company “has managed more than $1 billion in apartment complexes, over 15 million square feet of commercial real estate and more than 19,000 units in over 20 states.” It doesn’t appear the company is strapped for cash. Over the summer, Tzadik acquired a commercial property management company and secured permanent financing for two apartment portfolios. Yet, Tzadik continues its spree of eviction filings. According to a report by the Center for Public Integrity in July, Tzadik has initiated the most evictions in Florida since the pandemic. The Tampa Bay Times reports that the firm has also elicited a discrimination lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this summer for “refusing to waive $100 monthly late fees for a tenant who paid rent with disability benefits, which arrived late in the month.”

Tzadik told Popular Information that “filing is simply the first step in the eviction process...nothing is completed or moved forward without an official court hearing, which will not take place until the moratorium is lifted.” However, this is not true as eviction proceedings can still move forward. Tzadik is still delivering notices and terminating month-to-month leases.

Tzadik also shared that the PPP loan was used to “retain all its employees” and “provide all Tzadik employees with the newly created Tzadik Stimulus Package.”

Benedict Canyon Equities

Benedict Canyon Equities, a multifamily real estate investment company, has filed 19 evictions this month. The company, which has more than 9,000 units across 48 properties worth $2.2 billion, received a $150,000-$350,000 PPP loan in April. In March, the company purchased a property in Colorado for almost $87 million. Just last month, Benedict Canyon Equities acquired a Las Vegas luxury apartment community for $21.5 million. Benedict Canyon Equities did not respond to a request for comment. 

Pro Residential

Since September 1, apartment management company Pro Residential has filed 17 evictions, despite receiving a $150,000-$350,000 PPP loan in May. Pro Residential attorney Steven E. Glass told Popular Information that the firm has “local eviction attorneys that know what the law is.” Glass added that the federal order is "not a blanket moratorium banning all evictions" and “spells out when you can evict.”

Strata Equity Group

California-based real estate investment firm Strata Equity Group has initiated 18 evictions since the beginning of the month, despite receiving a $350,000-1 million PPP loan. In response to a request for comment, the company said that “Strata Equity Group is the corporate platform of a multifaceted group. None of our affiliated properties have utilized PPP funds or any government funding opportunities arising from the pandemic.”

Provence Real Estate

Similarly, Provence Real Estate has filed 17 evictions since September 1. The real estate management company, which claims to have “extensive experience with property management,” secured a $1-2 million PPP loan in April.

You can find details on the rest of the 62 corporate landlords who received PPP loans and continue to file eviction actions HERE.


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