Friday, October 16, 2020
As Trump and GOP Refuse Aid Package, Studies Show 8 Million Forced Into Poverty Since McConnell Let Relief Expire
"It's really important that we reinstate some of the lost benefits" that were extended as part of the CARES Act, one researcher said.
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/15/trump-and-gop-refuse-aid-package-studies-show-8-million-forced-poverty-mcconnell-let
The authors of two separate poverty studies out of three top universities said Thursday that their findings make the unmistakable case for more federal economic aid for families struggling to make ends meet during the coronavirus pandemic.
Seven months after Congress passed the CARES Act, which included expanded unemployment benefits and one-time direct payments of $1,200 for many adults and $500 per child, the package's positive impact on poverty levels have already been reversed, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University's Center on Poverty and Social Policy and one out of the University of Chicago and Notre Dame.
While the number of people living in poverty fell by about four million after the CARES Act was passed, the Columbia study found that eight million more Americans are now poor than were in May—signaling that the pandemic has plunged more people into poverty than before the crisis.
The University of Chicago and Notre Dame study found that six million people have fallen into poverty in the past three months. Both reports found that the number of children living in poverty is rising, with 2.5 million more poor children since May.
Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein tweeted that the studies represent just one piece of bad news this week for families struggling with joblessness and the threat of Covid-19, as an agreement between the White House and congressional Democrats and Republicans "remains out of reach."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) spoke with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday about a potential aid package, but the two sides came no closer to reaching a deal. House Democrats want more direct aid for families while Republicans in the Senate proposed a far more meager package last month with payroll assistance. President Donald Trump has shown some support for a means-tested direct payment while the White House has objected to financing a nationwide coronavirus testing strategy as cases surpass 7.9 million.
As Common Dreams has reported, the CARES Act has been recognized as a significant piece of anti-poverty legislation, saving 12 million people from being pushed into poverty when it was passed in March. The Columbia study found that in May, 18 million people were being kept out of poverty thanks to the direct payments and $600 per week enhanced unemployment benefits.
"It wasn't perfect, but hands down it's the most successful thing we've ever done in negating hardship," H. Luke Shaefer, a researcher at the University of Michigan, told the New York Times, which reported that millions of people—including undocumented immigrants and families who don't have large enough incomes to file tax returns—were left out of the package.
A major shortcoming of the CARES Act, Columbia researcher Christopher Wimer told the Times, "was its temporary nature."
The Times also detailed some of the lengths families are going to in order to stretch their dwindling incomes after facing layoffs and being forced to stay home from work to look after their children. A woman in Michigan reported cutting back on her meals in order to keep her children fed, while a mother in California said her family has been eating only cold food like cereal for dinner to save on propane costs and that she attempted to undergo an invasive medical procedure to sell her eggs to a fertility clinic.
The numbers and personal accounts of poverty "are very concerning,” Bruce D. Meyer, co-author of the University of Chicago study, told the Times. "It's really important that we reinstate some of the lost benefits."
Why Is California Not Prosecuting GOP For Fake Ballot Boxes?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bsQ6XrduPE&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=TheYoungTurks
California Republicans Double Down on Defying Order to Cease and Desist Deployment of Bogus Ballot Boxes
"Let me be clear: unofficial, unauthorized ballot drop boxes are not permitted by state law," said California's secretary of state.
Brett Wilkins, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/15/california-republicans-double-down-defying-order-cease-and-desist-deployment-bogus
Defiantly doubling down on its contested use of unofficial ballot drop boxes in three counties, the California Republican Party on Wednesday said it would ignore an order from the state's top election official—and a threat of prosecution from its top law enforcement official—and continue operating the bogus boxes.
The Associated Press reports state GOP general counsel Tom Hiltachk asserted that the boxes comply with California's "ballot harvesting" law, which permits voter-authorized collectors to receive ballots from voters and submit them to county elections offices for counting.
"Operating unofficial ballot drop boxes—especially those misrepresented as official drop boxes—is not just misleading to voters, it's a violation of state law."
—Secretary of State Alex Padilla
"The fact that it is a box does not make it illegal," argued Hiltachk, who said the boxes are all locked and monitored. "If we have to use a bag, then we'll use a bag."
On Monday, Secretary of State Alex Padilla (D) filed cease and desist orders against state GOP officials, ordering the boxes removed by October 15 and arguing the unofficial drop boxes it has placed in hotly-contested areas of Fresno, Los Angeles, and Orange counties violate state elections code.
In a joint press conference with Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), Padilla asserted that the only legal ballot boxes are ones operated by state elections officials.
"Let me be clear: unofficial, unauthorized ballot drop boxes are not permitted by state law," Padilla said at the press conference, according to the Sacramento Bee.
Padilla's office issued guidance (pdf) on Sunday following the first reports of the unauthorized boxes.
"Operating unofficial ballot drop boxes—especially those misrepresented as official drop boxes—is not just misleading to voters, it's a violation of state law," Padilla said in a statement. "My office is coordinating with local officials to address the multiple reports of unauthorized ballot drop boxes. Californians should only use official ballot drop boxes that have been deployed and secured by their county elections office."
However, California Republican Party spokesman Hector Barajas told ABC 7 News Wednesday that the party is "going to continue this program."
"If he wants to take us to court, we'll see him in court," Barajas said of Padilla.
Collecting ballots is legal in California. However, Padilla explained Monday that voters must authorize collectors, who must sign each envelope and disclose their relationship to the voter. Padilla argued that unofficial drop boxes are not a legitimate form of ballot collecting because there is no identified person authorized by each voter to collect the forms.
"When a voter drops off a ballot in an unauthorized, non-official vote-by-mail drop box, no designated 'person' would be signing, as required by state law," Padilla's guidance stated.
Republicans point to a 2018 state law that prohibits disqualification of ballots that lack these signatures as evidence of the legality of their actions. However, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego)—who wrote the law—said it requires voters to give their ballots to a person, "not to put it in an unofficial box sitting outside somewhere."
Regarding the signature requirement, Gonzalez told the Associated Press that she would be "happy to re-write the law so [Republicans] would be punished for their behavior."
Then there is the issue of the boxes themselves. According to state law, a "vote by mail ballot drop box" is defined as "a secure receptacle established by a county or city and county elections official."
However, not only are the GOP boxes not established by any officials, Padilla's office has received reports of bootleg boxes fraudulently labeled as "official."
Not only are state Republicans refusing to remove the boxes, Barajas told the Associated Press Tuesday that the party is considering deploying even more of the contested boxes throughout the state—although they would no longer be falsely labeled as "official."
Barajas called Democrats' anger "overblown."
"In California, where you can have convicted felons and individuals with a criminal history go door to door and collect ballots from voters, Democrats are now upset because organizations, individuals, and groups are offering an opportunity for their friends, family, and patrons to drop off their ballot with someone they know and trust," Barajas told the Bee.
The Republicans' intransigence could have serious consequences, Becerra warned at the press conference and on social media.
"We hope that the message goes out loud and clear to anyone who is trying to improperly solicit, obtain, and manage a citizen's vote that they are subject to prosecution," he said at Monday's press conference. "I'm trying to be careful with how I say this, but the reports we are hearing are disturbing."
Ben Sasse RIPS Trump in LEAKED Recording: Trump Kisses Dictators' butts; mocks evangelicals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doKQLHIkOuE&ab_channel=ChristoAivalis
To Remedy 'Absolutely Anemic' Social Security Increase Amid Pandemic, Democrats' Bill Would Boost Payments by 3% in 2021
"Congress should immediately pass their legislation, which will boost the economy and save lives," said Nancy Altman of Social Security Works.
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/10/15/remedy-absolutely-anemic-social-security-increase-amid-pandemic-democrats-bill-would
In the wake of the federal government's announcement this week of a paltry 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security recipients in 2021, a pair of House Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would more than double the benefit increase next year as an emergency measure to help seniors cope with the devastating economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis.
"Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, seniors are facing additional financial burdens in order to stay safe," said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who unveiled the bill alongside Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.). "This absolutely anemic COLA won't even come close to helping them afford even their everyday expenses, let alone those exacerbated by Covid-19."
Endorsed by advocacy groups representing millions of seniors and retirees across the U.S., DeFazio and Larson's legislation would boost Social Security's COLA to 3% in 2021 because, as the Connecticut Democrat put it, "a 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment is just not enough during these difficult times."
"Social Security is our country's number one financial security program, and, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, people are depending on it now more than ever," said Larson, the lead sponsor of legislation to expand Social Security's benefits across the board and ensure the program's solvency into the next century.
Larson and DeFazio pointed to data from the Senior Citizens League showing that annual COLAs have averaged a mere 1.4% over the past decade, a sharp decline from the 3% average increase between 1999 and 2009.
The new legislation comes amid widespread fears about the future of Social Security should President Donald Trump win reelection next month. In August, as Common Dreams reported, Trump vowed on live television to "terminate" the tax that funds both Social Security and Medicare—a proposal that critics warned poses an "existential threat" to the New Deal program's finances.
In a statement Wednesday applauding DeFazio and Larson's proposal, Social Security Works president Nancy Altman said "Social Security's automatic cost of living adjustment is one of its most valuable features, even more so in the middle of a pandemic."
"But due to an inadequate measure, Social Security's modest benefits are eroding," Altman added. "To offset that erosion, Representatives DeFazio and Larson are wisely proposing an ad hoc 3% increase. Social Security Works applauds their leadership and enthusiastically endorses their proposal. Congress should immediately pass their legislation, which will boost the economy and save lives."
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, also voiced support for the new bill, calling it an important step toward helping seniors face the "extraordinary challenges" of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Covid pandemic has devastated many older Americans both physically and financially," said Richtman. "Seniors living on fixed incomes need a lifeboat; this COLA increase is more like an underinflated inner tube. We strongly support Rep. Peter DeFazio's bill to provide an emergency 3% Social Security COLA for 2021."
Jimmy's Message To TRUMP on Tucker Carlson's Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7IEi562pk&ab_channel=TheJimmyDoreShow
THIS IS WHAT THE SIXTH MASS EXTINCTION LOOKS LIKE. AND HERE’S WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
Unhealthy ecosystems jeopardize our ability to meet our most basic needs: Water, food, medicine, clean air. There is no one on the planet this doesn’t impact. And loss of biodiversity hurts the poorest the most.
BY AMAN AZHAR
OCTOBER 14, 2020
https://therealnews.com/this-is-what-sixth-mass-extinction-looks-like-and-heres-why-you-should-care
Away from the buzz of endless news cycles, political chatter, and self-styled punditry, the natural world is quietly experiencing the sixth mass extinction of species, with grave consequences for global food security, ecological balance, and nature reserves.
According to the Global Living Planet Index 2020—the international measure of the world’s biological diversity—populations of all classes of species, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish have plummeted on average by a whopping 68% between 1970 and 2016. The findings reflect the sixth mass extinction trend, which broadly refers to the record drop in species populations worldwide—caused in this case by warming oceans, loss of nature reserves, and climate change, all driven by human activity.
Between 1970 and 2016, tropical rainforests across South and Central American countries, and southern Mexico, recorded a shocking 94% decline in species under observation—a near annihilation of existing species and the largest fall observed in any region worldwide.
“This is because in the last 50 years our world has been transformed by an explosion in global trade, consumption and human population growth, as well as an enormous move towards urbanization,” the recently published Living Planet Report 2020 explains.
Co-authored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the study maps out how the ever-increasing human encroachment on the natural world is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives. “Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in millions of years. The way we produce and consume food and energy, and the blatant disregard for the environment entrenched in our current economic model, has pushed the natural world to its limits,” Marco Lambertini, WWF International’s director general, writes in the report’s introduction.
This a stark reminder that while tigers, pandas, and polar bears get more airtime and have come to represent global warming and biodiversity decline, it’s the world of the small and the tiny—insects and crawlers—which provide fundamental support for life on Earth and are showing the most signs of stress. These tiny species of a million different varieties are vital to maintaining the balance of soil, plant, and insect diversity.
“Our natural world is transforming more rapidly than ever before, and climate change is further accelerating the change,” the study makes it plain.
Our work can only happen with the sustained support of our viewers. Will you join our campaign for independent radical journalism by making a gift today?
In an email to The Real News, WWF lead scientist Jeff Opperman succinctly captured the report’s major findings: “Freshwater species populations are declining disproportionately faster than those on land or in the oceans. The 3,741 monitored populations—representing 944 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes—in the Freshwater Living Planet Index have declined by an average of 84%, equivalent to 4% per year since 1970. Species’ population trends are important because they are a measure of overall ecosystem health. These trends show the planet is in trouble.”
Opperman emphasized that human health is intrinsically linked to safeguarding environmental health, and that human communities depend on nature for survival and wellbeing.
“When ecosystems are unhealthy, we jeopardize our ability to meet the most basic needs: water, food, medicine, clean air,” Opperman said. “There is no one on the planet this doesn’t impact. And loss of biodiversity hurts the poorest people who depend on it, further exacerbating an already inequitable world.”
The consequences—a less hospitable planet overall—are already in plain sight. The erosion of ecosystems will contribute to global food and water shortages, more extreme weather events, and more infectious disease outbreaks, COVID-19 being one such event. And the poorest people on the planet will suffer most.
“2020 may not seem like such an outlier when we get to 2040,” Opperman said.
Talking to The Real News from São Paulo, Brazil, climate scientist Carlos Nobré explained the situation from a climate perspective: “We are 7.4 billion people today on this planet. In the 1900s we were 2 billion. So, in the 20th century we have totally disturbed the eco-systems particularly in the last 50 years. We really provided the conditions for the disappearance of animal and plant species.”
Nobré affirms that while declining biodiversity is primarily caused by land encroachment, climate change is also now contributing to the disappearance of individual species because certain areas in the Northern Hemisphere are becoming increasingly inhospitable for native wildlife, causing migration and extinction.
“The real catastrophic impact of climate change is that if we are unable to stop global warming then we are talking about extinction and not just the reduction in the number of individual species,” Nobré said. “And the biodiversity convention made a statement last week highlighting the risk of the extinction of 1 million species. This is a tragedy we are causing.”
Nobré underscored the urgency to completely transform the way we see nature and emphasized the dire need for a fundamental shift in production systems and economics that underpin the consumption-driven society of the present times: “We are very far from finding a sustainable path out of this quagmire,” Nobrê added.
And as large swathes of pristine wilderness and rainforest give way to orderly arrays of palm and soy to cater to the ever-expanding agricultural needs of society, scientific studies are warning of another climate threat.
According to another new study, “A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks,” rising nitrous oxide emissions are putting reaching climate goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement in jeopardy.
“The growing use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide is increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere—a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide and which remains in the atmosphere longer than a human lifetime,” the report explains.
Hanqin Tian, the study’s lead author, provided additional insight into the report: “The dominant driver of the increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide comes from agriculture, and the growing demand for food and feed for animals will further increase global nitrous oxide emissions.” He added, “there is a conflict between the way we are feeding people and stabilizing the climate.”
The study found that emissions from synthetic fertilizers dominate releases in China, India, and the United States, whereas emissions from the application of livestock manure as fertilizer mainly come from Africa and South America.
As these larger trends that include diversity loss, climate change, and increasing land encroachment seize upon each other, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the speed of recurring catastrophic climate events are increasing in frequency.
“In the coming decades, we expect that climate change will become one of, if not the most significant driver of biodiversity loss. And of course, climate change compounds the existing drivers—for example, when agricultural land becomes less productive due to climate change, people are forced to clear more land,” WWF’s Opperman said.
“The most important thing to me is that our modeling shows that we can halt the loss of nature. Declining biodiversity trends can be flattened and even reversed. This report is not all doom and gloom. It’s saying, this is a crisis—here’s the science to back that up—and here are the solutions.”
https://therealnews.com/this-is-what-sixth-mass-extinction-looks-like-and-heres-why-you-should-care
Away from the buzz of endless news cycles, political chatter, and self-styled punditry, the natural world is quietly experiencing the sixth mass extinction of species, with grave consequences for global food security, ecological balance, and nature reserves.
According to the Global Living Planet Index 2020—the international measure of the world’s biological diversity—populations of all classes of species, including mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish have plummeted on average by a whopping 68% between 1970 and 2016. The findings reflect the sixth mass extinction trend, which broadly refers to the record drop in species populations worldwide—caused in this case by warming oceans, loss of nature reserves, and climate change, all driven by human activity.
Between 1970 and 2016, tropical rainforests across South and Central American countries, and southern Mexico, recorded a shocking 94% decline in species under observation—a near annihilation of existing species and the largest fall observed in any region worldwide.
“This is because in the last 50 years our world has been transformed by an explosion in global trade, consumption and human population growth, as well as an enormous move towards urbanization,” the recently published Living Planet Report 2020 explains.
Co-authored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the study maps out how the ever-increasing human encroachment on the natural world is having catastrophic impacts not only on wildlife populations but also on human health and all aspects of our lives. “Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in millions of years. The way we produce and consume food and energy, and the blatant disregard for the environment entrenched in our current economic model, has pushed the natural world to its limits,” Marco Lambertini, WWF International’s director general, writes in the report’s introduction.
This a stark reminder that while tigers, pandas, and polar bears get more airtime and have come to represent global warming and biodiversity decline, it’s the world of the small and the tiny—insects and crawlers—which provide fundamental support for life on Earth and are showing the most signs of stress. These tiny species of a million different varieties are vital to maintaining the balance of soil, plant, and insect diversity.
“Our natural world is transforming more rapidly than ever before, and climate change is further accelerating the change,” the study makes it plain.
Our work can only happen with the sustained support of our viewers. Will you join our campaign for independent radical journalism by making a gift today?
In an email to The Real News, WWF lead scientist Jeff Opperman succinctly captured the report’s major findings: “Freshwater species populations are declining disproportionately faster than those on land or in the oceans. The 3,741 monitored populations—representing 944 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fishes—in the Freshwater Living Planet Index have declined by an average of 84%, equivalent to 4% per year since 1970. Species’ population trends are important because they are a measure of overall ecosystem health. These trends show the planet is in trouble.”
Opperman emphasized that human health is intrinsically linked to safeguarding environmental health, and that human communities depend on nature for survival and wellbeing.
“When ecosystems are unhealthy, we jeopardize our ability to meet the most basic needs: water, food, medicine, clean air,” Opperman said. “There is no one on the planet this doesn’t impact. And loss of biodiversity hurts the poorest people who depend on it, further exacerbating an already inequitable world.”
The consequences—a less hospitable planet overall—are already in plain sight. The erosion of ecosystems will contribute to global food and water shortages, more extreme weather events, and more infectious disease outbreaks, COVID-19 being one such event. And the poorest people on the planet will suffer most.
“2020 may not seem like such an outlier when we get to 2040,” Opperman said.
Talking to The Real News from São Paulo, Brazil, climate scientist Carlos Nobré explained the situation from a climate perspective: “We are 7.4 billion people today on this planet. In the 1900s we were 2 billion. So, in the 20th century we have totally disturbed the eco-systems particularly in the last 50 years. We really provided the conditions for the disappearance of animal and plant species.”
Nobré affirms that while declining biodiversity is primarily caused by land encroachment, climate change is also now contributing to the disappearance of individual species because certain areas in the Northern Hemisphere are becoming increasingly inhospitable for native wildlife, causing migration and extinction.
“The real catastrophic impact of climate change is that if we are unable to stop global warming then we are talking about extinction and not just the reduction in the number of individual species,” Nobré said. “And the biodiversity convention made a statement last week highlighting the risk of the extinction of 1 million species. This is a tragedy we are causing.”
Nobré underscored the urgency to completely transform the way we see nature and emphasized the dire need for a fundamental shift in production systems and economics that underpin the consumption-driven society of the present times: “We are very far from finding a sustainable path out of this quagmire,” Nobrê added.
And as large swathes of pristine wilderness and rainforest give way to orderly arrays of palm and soy to cater to the ever-expanding agricultural needs of society, scientific studies are warning of another climate threat.
According to another new study, “A comprehensive quantification of global nitrous oxide sources and sinks,” rising nitrous oxide emissions are putting reaching climate goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement in jeopardy.
“The growing use of nitrogen fertilizers in the production of food worldwide is increasing concentrations of nitrous oxide in the atmosphere—a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide and which remains in the atmosphere longer than a human lifetime,” the report explains.
Hanqin Tian, the study’s lead author, provided additional insight into the report: “The dominant driver of the increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide comes from agriculture, and the growing demand for food and feed for animals will further increase global nitrous oxide emissions.” He added, “there is a conflict between the way we are feeding people and stabilizing the climate.”
The study found that emissions from synthetic fertilizers dominate releases in China, India, and the United States, whereas emissions from the application of livestock manure as fertilizer mainly come from Africa and South America.
As these larger trends that include diversity loss, climate change, and increasing land encroachment seize upon each other, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the speed of recurring catastrophic climate events are increasing in frequency.
“In the coming decades, we expect that climate change will become one of, if not the most significant driver of biodiversity loss. And of course, climate change compounds the existing drivers—for example, when agricultural land becomes less productive due to climate change, people are forced to clear more land,” WWF’s Opperman said.
“The most important thing to me is that our modeling shows that we can halt the loss of nature. Declining biodiversity trends can be flattened and even reversed. This report is not all doom and gloom. It’s saying, this is a crisis—here’s the science to back that up—and here are the solutions.”
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