Skip to main content

Home/ History Readings/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by aidenborst

Contents contributed and discussions participated by aidenborst

Simple Middle Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics
aidenborst

1 dead, 1 injured in shooting at fire station in California - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

LAFD politics US crisis Culture Fire LA Shooting

shared by aidenborst on 02 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • An off-duty firefighter shot two people, killing one, at a Los Angeles County fire station Tuesday morning, officials said at a news conference.
  • The shooting took place around 10:50 a.m. PT when authorities received reports about a shooting at Fire Station 81 Agua Dulce, California, about 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby.
  • Upon arrival, first responders found a 44-year-old man with gunshot wounds to his torso who was pronounced dead at the scene, said Brandon Dean with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department homicide bureau.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The man was a firefighter specialist and engineer who's been with the department for more than 20 years, Osby said.
  • "As a fire chief, I've dealt with a lot of death and lot of fallen members of our department and I always prayed we would never have a line-of-duty death," Osby said through tears. "I never thought that if it occurred it would occur in this fashion."
  • In the process of fighting the fire, deputies saw a man in a pool with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
  • "We feel fairly confident that is our shooter, but we can't say with 100% certainty," Dean said, adding that it's unknown if the suspect's wound was self-inflicted. No deputies fired at the suspect.
aidenborst

Yes, democracy *really* is in danger - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Democracy Politics US Trump history crisis Culture policy GOP Biden danger

shared by aidenborst on 01 Jun 21 - No Cached
  • There's a natural human tendency to assume that politicians (and people more generally) exaggerate -- especially when it comes to how bad things are at any given time. We are all prisoners of the current moment.
  • President Joe Biden, in remarks at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day, said that "democracy itself is in peril, here at home and around the world" the natural reaction among many people is an eyeroll.  Democracy in peril? In the United States? Really?
  • * Senate Republicans just put the kibosh on a bipartisan commission that would have investigated the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.Read More
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • * Former President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede defeat in the 2020 election. "Massive numbers of dead people 'voted' in the 2020 presidential election, far greater than anyone has known or seen before,"
  • Add it all up and you get this: We are a country in which basic facts -- like who won the election -- are in dispute. Partisanship is so severe that a bipartisan compromise to create a commission to study one of the darkest days in American history is voted down. And efforts are everywhere to restrict how and why people can cast ballots in future elections.
aidenborst

Senior members of military call out Tucker Carlson for mocking women serving in armed f... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Fox-News Tucker-Carlson Sexism military US Politics Culture

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • In an extraordinary rebuke, the Pentagon and several senior members of the US military called out Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday for a sexist segment in which he mocked women serving in the armed forces.
  • "So we've got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits," Carlson snarked. "Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It's a mockery of the US military."
  • Speaking to reporters Thursday, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin shared the same "revulsion" that many military leaders have expressed about the comments Carlson made.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Kirby said the military still had "a lot of work to do" to become "more inclusive, more respectful of everyone — especially women."
  • "We pledge to do better, and we will," Kirby said. "What we absolutely won't do is take personnel advice from a talk show host, or the Chinese military. Maybe those folks feel like they have something to prove. That's on them."
  • "Women lead our most lethal units with character. They will dominate ANY future battlefield we're called to fight on," tweeted the Sergeant Major of the Army, Michael A. Grinston. "@TuckerCarlson's words are divisive, don't reflect our values. We have THE MOST professional, educated, agile, and strongest NCO Corps in the world."
  • "They are beacons of freedom and they prove Carlson wrong through determination and dedication," Funk added. "We are fortunate they serve with us."
  • Carlson regularly makes incendiary comments on his primetime show. He was also called out by The New York Times this week for encouraging harassment against one of its journalists. And, in the past, he has seen large-scale advertiser boycotts over comments on the Black Lives Matter movement and immigration.
  • Carlson's top writer quit his job last year after a CNN report revealed he had for years used a pseudonym to post racist and sexist remarks on an online forum.
aidenborst

How to watch Biden's speech tonight - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Biden speech stimulus-bill prime-time-address economics healthcare

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • President Joe Biden is expected to deliver his first prime-time address from the White House on Thursday night to commemorate the anniversary of the Covid-19 shutdown.
  • The address is scheduled to air live at 8 p.m. ET.
  • "Tomorrow night, I'm going to (deliver a) prime-time address to the American people and talk about what we've been through as a nation this past year, but more importantly, I'm going to talk about what comes next," Biden said on Wednesday. "I'm going to launch the next phase of the Covid response and explain what we will do as a government and what we will ask of the American people."
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Biden's speech comes on the heels of the final passage of his top legislative priority: the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
  • Biden's scheduled address to the nation will take place exactly one year after President Donald Trump delivered remarks to the country after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
  • The address will be broadcast on CNN, CNN en Español and CNN International, with access to the livestream on CNN.com's homepage and across mobile devices via CNN's apps for iOS and Android, and simulcast on SiriusXM Channels 116, 454 and 795.
aidenborst

To punish Saudi Arabia with the "Khashoggi Ban," Biden mirrored a plan developed under ... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Politics US crisis Culture Policy Saudi-Arabia Trump Biden Biden-Administration Trump-Administration

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • When the Biden administration announced a ban on dozens of Saudis from traveling to the US in response to intelligence that the kingdom's powerful crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it was rolling out a plan that had been spiked by the Trump administration and brought back to life once President Joe Biden took office.
  • While it's not unusual for an administration, especially early on, to use an idea that had been considered by past White Houses, it is notable that the Biden team would implement a policy that had been discussed at such high levels under Trump
  • The plan had initially been drafted by the Trump administration, which shelved it over fears of alienating the key Middle Eastern ally.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • "The work was done," a senior Trump administration official confirmed, noting that the plan was rejected by "consensus recommendation" after it had been sent up and discussed by the most senior officials in the Trump administration.
  • Once Biden was sworn in, new officials appointed to the State Department arrived with "a very similar concept already in mind," a Biden administration official said.
  • Ultimately, the list of 76 Saudis on the "Khashoggi Ban," whose names the State Department has said it will not publish, had been sent to Congress in February 2020 as part of a classified report of actions the department was considering under then Secretary Mike Pompeo, an official who has seen the lists told CNN.
  • Dubbed the "Khashoggi Ban" by the State Department, the measure issued visa restrictions on 76 Saudis and their families.
  • "It is fairly normal for departments and agencies to float previously considered policies up for review when new administrations come in," said Javed Ali, a longtime national security official who served under both Trump and President Barack Obama
  • "Any country that would dare engage in these abhorrent acts should know that their officials -- and their immediate family members -- could be subject to this new policy," a senior State Department official said in a statement. "We expect it will have a deterrent effect the world over."
  • When the intelligence report came out on Feb. 26, the Biden administration announced the "Khashoggi Ban," and the new sanctions aimed at the crown prince's protective team and one former senior Saudi intelligence official, Ahmad al-Asiri. But sanctions were never considered for MBS himself, according to administration officials. It was never a "viable option" and would be "too complicated," multiple administration officials said, with the potential to jeopardize US military interests.
  • Still unexplained is why on the day the long-awaited report was published, the Office of Director of National Intelligence quietly took it down and replaced it with a second version in which three names were removed.
  • "It was not some accident the three names were on one version of the report," the official said.
  • One of the three men whose names were removed, Abdulla Mohammed Alhoeriny, is a senior counterterrorism official whose brother is the head of Saudi Arabia's Presidency of State Security. It's not known whether he or the others are among the 76 who've been banned from traveling to the US.
aidenborst

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: One year of living in the shadow of a pandemic - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US Pandemic history crisis Culture Japan South-Korea Nigeria WHO 1-year covid-19

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Today, March 11, marks one year since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, a pandemic.
  • In the first months of 2020, as the unprecedented health crisis rapidly crossed borders -- China, Italy, Spain, South Korea, Japan and soon, the United States -- it started to take the shape of a looming, global threat. Something beyond an epidemic.
  • Loosely speaking, a pandemic is an outbreak of a virus that can cause illness or death, where there is sustained person-to-person transmission of that virus, and evidence of its spread in different geographic locations. Check, check and check.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Still, to call it a pandemic felt momentous and weighty.
  • A couple of days later, WHO adopted the same language.
  • WHO had been sounding the alarm steadily for nearly six weeks, since January 30, 2020, when the director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared the situation a "public health emergency of international concern" -- the highest level of health alert under international law. The definition is "an extraordinary event that may constitute a public health risk to other countries through international spread of disease and may require an international coordinated response."
  • While every country has responded to the emerging threat in its own way, some countries took the early warnings more seriously, she said.
  • "It wasn't about rich or poor countries. It was about experience. It was about those countries that knew the threat that this was; they heeded our warnings," said Van Kerkhove. That experience came from dealing with previous infectious outbreaks, such as SARS, MERS and Ebola. And those countries quickly implemented strong public health measures, mobilized community health workers, contact tracers and lab technicians. Van Kerkhove points to places like South Korea, Japan and Nigeria -- all of which managed to keep transmission of this novel virus relatively under control.
  • The US has more than 29 million total reported cases and more than half a million deaths. South Korea? Fewer than 100,000 cases and less than 2,000 deaths. You can't dismiss that as the US having a higher population than South Korea, because when you look at the per capita deaths per 100,000 population, the US has more than 161 compared with South Korea's 3.2.
  • How did they do it? By being strategic and leveraging the tools they had at their disposal, Van Kerkhove said. "They looked at the situation that they were in. They enhanced their cluster investigation. ... They ramped up their screening capacity, their testing capacity. They used quarantine effectively and they brought that outbreak under control. But at one point in time, it seemed almost impossible -- and they turned it around," she said.
  • But that's changing, thanks to COVAX, a global initiative that promotes equitable access for developing nations to Covid-19 vaccines. Led by the WHO and other organizations, COVAX delivered 20 million vaccine doses to 20 countries last week during the first week of distribution, according to WHO Director-General Tedros. An additional 14.4 million vaccine doses are slated to go out this week to an another 31 countries.
  • "I have glimmers of hope in many countries around the world," Van Kerkhove said, pointing to places such as Australia, New Zealand, China and Japan. "I see societies that are opened up. I see sporting events that are happening. I see a resilient community that is living their life, that has driven transmission down in some situations to zero."
aidenborst

Child tax credit: 5 ways the stimulus package is expected to reduce poverty - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US Culture Tax Biden Biden-Administration stimulus-package bill

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • President Joe Biden's sweeping $1.9 trillion relief package represents one of the largest federal efforts to reduce poverty in the last half century.
  • The massive legislation, which the President is expected to sign Friday, provides aid to low-income Americans in numerous ways. Attention has focused on the third round of direct stimulus payments, but the bill also offers parents a guaranteed stream of income and gives childless workers a bigger tax break.
  • The package's key measures are expected to slash the poverty rate by about a third and reduce the share of children in poverty by more than half, according to estimates from both Columbia University and the Urban Institute.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • The provisions would cut the poverty rate among Black Americans by 38%, Hispanic Americans by 43% and White and Asian Americans by around 24%
  • In total, 16 million fewer people will be living in poverty in 2021
  • But there's one big catch. The benefits are all temporary -- a mix of one-time infusions and assistance that lasts no longer than a year.
  • "Getting this far is a huge win and a sign of progress in the conversation, as well as immediately putting money in people's pockets," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, director of the income and work supports team at The Center for Law and Social Policy, a left-leaning group.
  • "I certainly don't think it's a done deal, but I think there's a lot more opportunity than there has been in the time that I've been working on these issues," she continued.
  • The enhanced portion of the credit will be available for single parents with annual incomes up to $75,000 and joint filers making up to $150,000 a year.
  • The key change is that the tax credit will become fully refundable so that more low-income parents could take advantage of it.
  • Families can receive a credit of $3,600 for each child under 6 and $3,000 for each one under age 18, up from the current credit of up to $2,000 per child under age 17.
  • It provides direct payments worth up to $1,400 per person to married couples earning less than $160,000 a year, heads of households making less than $120,000 and individuals with incomes below $80,000.
  • Those who have lost their jobs will continue to receive federal support through September 6. The relief package extends the $300 weekly boost to unemployment benefits and two key pandemic jobless benefits programs.
  • The bill also calls for making the first $10,200 of unemployment payments tax-free for households with annual incomes under $150,000.
  • Food stamp recipients will see a 15% increase in benefits continue through September, instead of having the enhancement expire at the end of June.
  • This amounts to about $25 more per person per month, or just under $100 per month for a family of four.
  • The package nearly triples the maximum credit childless workers can receive to $1,502, up from $543.
  • The minimum age to claim the childless credit will be reduced to 19, from 25, and the upper age limit will be eliminated.
  • This is the largest expansion to earned income tax credit since 2009.
aidenborst

Stavian Rodriguez: Five Oklahoma City officers charged with manslaughter in shooting of... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Politics US

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Five Oklahoma City police officers were charged with first-degree manslaughter in relation to the shooting death of a 15-year-old in November, according to court records filed Wednesday in Oklahoma County.
  • Bodycam footage from five of the officers provided to CNN by the police department did not show the actual shooting, but officers can be heard yelling for Rodriguez to show them his hands. It's unclear in the videos who fired the first shots but multiple shots can be heard.
  • Officers Bethany Sears, Jared Barton, Corey Adams, John Skuta and Brad Pemberton are all currently on paid administrative leave, Stewart told CNN.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Surveillance footage released by the district attorney shows Rodriguez stepping out of the window and pulling a gun out of his waistband as officers were yelling for him to show them his hands and drop the gun.
  • He appears to be putting his hand down on his left side, and officers opened fire on him seconds later.
  • Attorneys have not been listed for the officers as of Wednesday. Currently, there are no dates set for the case.
  • The incident report states that Rodriguez "did not follow officers' commands and was subsequently shot."
  • In an email sent to CNN, Dan Stewart of the Oklahoma City Police Department said that the department was informed on Tuesday that the officers would be charged.
  • "A loss of life is always a tragedy, and we know these officers did not take firing their weapons lightly," John George, president of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police, said in a statement. "The OKC FOP stands by these officers and maintains they acted within the law."
  • Police records show that all five officers fired at Rodriguez.
aidenborst

Biden seeks to chart a path out of the pandemic in prime-time address - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US Trump crisis Culture Policy Pandemic gop Immigration vaccine covid-19 pandemic-recovery Biden Biden-Administration

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • President Joe Biden can report in his first prime-time address Thursday that a vaccination drive now reaching 2 million people daily has brought America far closer to exiting the pandemic than when he took office 50 days ago.
  • He is also armed with a newly passed $1.9 trillion Covid-19 rescue package -- his first major legacy achievement -- which represents an ambitious attempt to rebuild the US economy to favor the less well off.
  • "This bill represents a historic, historic victory for the American people," Biden said Wednesday, touting his rescue plan that finally cleared Congress on Wednesday and pivoting to an address that he said would inform the country what "comes next" in the effort to prevail over the coronavirus.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • A clear majority of Americans -- 60% -- approves of the new President's handling of the pandemic in a new CNN poll.
  • The virus is far from purged. Covid-19 variants may trigger a new spring surge in infections before vaccination campaigns can tamp them down. Republican governors racing to open their states with cases still at a high plateau could also cause a new wave of unnecessary deaths.
  • A fast-building southern border crisis threatens to turn into the first big non-Covid-19-related emergency of this presidency, with Biden yet to get a handle on a surge of undocumented child migrants across the border.
  • Biden's success -- along with Democratic leaders -- in piloting a massive piece of legislation through Congress despite the tightest of majorities in the first weeks of his presidency is a historic achievement that ranks alongside the fastest of starts by modern presidents. The new law delivers on his promise to send $1,400 stimulus payments to millions of Americans.
  • Since taking office, Biden has led the nation in mourning for 525,000 lost citizens and has managed a steady rise in vaccinations, which now average 2 million a day.
  • The overhaul of the US counter-pandemic strategy after Trump's denial and mismanagement and Biden's success in passing the Covid-19 rescue plan leave an impression that the new President is effectively wielding the tools of his office, after a lifetime Washington apprenticeship.
  • Biden's impact is also being felt in the way he has restored traditional expectations of presidential behavior and has projected human decency from the White House -- for instance, when he visited an old friend, former GOP Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, after his recent cancer diagnosis.
  • No longer does the president of the United States spend his time attacking American democracy, waging personal feuds on Twitter or cratering painstakingly brokered political compromises in Congress.
  • Early victories do not guarantee successful or ultimately popular presidencies. The job is so vast, and the challenges -- from domestic security threats to a sudden foreign policy crisis -- can be grave and unexpected. The pandemic, which destroyed the economy Trump had hoped to ride to reelection, is proof of that.
  • If Biden fails to get the immigration crisis under control, the success of passing the rescue plan may be quickly forgotten.
  • One crucial issue overshadowed by the race to vaccinate Americans and put them back to work is the unresolved threat to American democracy. Republican state legislators across the nation are rushing to suppress the potential vote of the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election with new laws that often directly discriminate against minority and Democratic voters.
  • Given such tests, Biden's objectively strong start to his presidency is only revealing the height of the political mountain up ahead.
aidenborst

Mohammed bin Salman: Biden administration never considered MBS sanctions a viable optio... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

US politics Culture Biden Saudi-Arabia Biden-Administration MBS

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The Biden administration never considered sanctions as a viable option against the powerful Saudi crown prince named as responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, even though the new President promised to punish senior Saudi leaders during the election.
  • Administration officials tell CNN there was little debate or tension inside the White House last week in the leadup to the release of a long-awaited intelligence report into the brutal 2018 murder of Khashoggi— and that the notion of sanctioning Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto leader, was never really on the table.
  • The White House has been hammered over what many critics say was its weak response to the report's findings, especially given the administration's tough talk about recalibrating the relationship with Saudi Arabia, and Joe Biden's campaign promises of making the Saudis pay a price for their role in Khashoggi's murder.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • As CNN's KFile reported, in the years before taking office, many of the administration's top officials harshly criticized President Donald Trump's lack of action against Saudi Arabia and bin Salman.
  • Sanctioning the crown prince, known as MBS, would have been "too complicated," according to two administration officials, and could have jeopardized US military interests in the kingdom.
  • One central reason: MBS has near complete control over all the country's levers of power. He is not only the crown prince, he is the deputy prime minister, defense minister, chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, chairman of the Council of Political and Security Affairs and the head of Aramco, the state-owned oil and natural gas company.
  • The White House has stood its ground over the last few days, defending its decision to spare MBS, though struggling at times to explain its rationale.
  • Psaki added that as President, Biden's role "is to act in the national interest of the United States. And that's exactly what he's doing."
  • "We are working to put the US Saudi relationship on the right footing," Price told reporters on Monday.
  • That's all done little to appease angry lawmakers, including many Democrats, who have lashed out at the Biden team's decision not to sanction MBS. Despite the Biden administration's tough talk, the full recalibration that they promised "did not happen," said a Democratic aide on Capitol Hill.
  • The Biden administration also failed to keep Congress informed in the run-up to the actions they planned to take, two congressional aides said.
  • A bipartisan group of lawmakers immediately announced last week that more needed to be done to hold MBS accountable, and some are working up legislation.
  • "I don't think he does go far enough, although you have to give him credit because he's actually increased sanctions and he's increased the travel bans on those individuals who were directly responsible," Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week."
  • "I don't think anybody thinks that the crown prince was not responsible, in other words, that he knew about it and that he approved of it," Portman added. "So, I do think there ought to be something additional that focuses on him."
  • "There's obviously a difficult balance that the Biden administration is trying to strike here," she added. "The administration is doing a really good balancing act where Biden is saying they are not going to condone the transactional approach or Whatsapp diplomacy."
  • "There's no question he and other top advisors view Saudi Arabia as far too important to justify" MBS sanctions, the former administration official said.
aidenborst

Beth Moore: Popular evangelical Christian and Bible teacher says she's no longer a Sout... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US Trump history Culture Chruch Southern-Baptist-Church sexual-assault

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Beth Moore, a popular evangelical Christian and Bible teacher, says she is no longer a Southern Baptist and is parting ways with the denomination's publishing arm.
  • "I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists," she told the news agency. "I love so many Southern Baptist people, so many Southern Baptist churches, but I don't identify with some of the things in our heritage that haven't remained in the past."
  • The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the US.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Moore is the founder of Living Proof Ministries, a Bible study organization for women based in Houston, Texas.
  • In recent years, though, she has been an outspoken advocate for sexual abuse victims and a critic of President Donald Trump -- stances that have caused a rift between her and other Southern Baptist leaders, who have been among Trump's most fervent supporters.
  • Days after the news about the now infamous "Access Hollywood" tape broke in 2016, which captured Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, Moore revealed that she, too, had been sexually abused and harassed.
  • "I'm 63 1/2 years old & I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism," Moore tweeted in December last year. "This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it."
  • A series of scandals involving Southern Baptist leaders came to light in 2018. And in 2019, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News published a sweeping investigation that found about 380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers had faced allegations of sexual misconduct and more than 700 victims had been abused over 20 years.
aidenborst

What's in the $1.9 trillion rescue plan for small businesses - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US history crisis Culture Policy Pandemic Business Biden Biden-Administration

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act that President Joe Biden will sign into law on Friday contains a number of provisions intended to help small businesses, especially restaurants.
  • It authorizes another $7.25 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to small businesses and other organizations hurt by the pandemic. The loans will only be forgiven, however, if at least 60% of the money is used to support payroll expenses and the remainder goes to mortgage interest, rent, utilities, personal protective equipment or certain other business expenses.
  • Despite the added funds, however, the legislation doesn't actually extend the program, which is currently set to expire on March 31.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • That means banks must decide how much longer they want to accept new applications, since it now takes 24 to 48 hours for a bank to hear back from the SBA on whether a submitted loan application has been approved.
  • Bank of America, for instance, stopped accepting new applications on Tuesday. "As the largest lender in the program since it began, we have 30,000 applications in process and want to allow enough time to complete the work and get each client's application through the SBA process by March 31," a bank spokesman said in an email to CNN Business.
  • The American Rescue Plan includes nearly $29 billion to create a grant program that provides direct relief to restaurants.
  • Another $15 billion will be added to the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants program, created by the previous economic aid package. The grants are intended to help those who run museum, theater, concert and other venues that had to shut down due to Covid restrictions. The bill also allows such operators to apply for PPP loans in addition to these grants.
  • To help the SBA administer all the new programs that have fallen under its purview as a result of the pandemic, the bill allocates another $1.325 billion to its budget.
aidenborst

The world went on a debt binge last year. There could be a nasty hangover - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US history crisis Culture Policy Pandemic economics Biden UK Italy Interest

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Desperate to save their economies from complete collapse, governments borrowed unprecedented amounts of money on the cheap to support workers and businesses during the pandemic. Now, with recovery in sight, a big risk looms: interest payments.
  • Spurred on by rock-bottom rates, governments issued $16.3 trillion in debt in 2020, and they're expected to borrow another $12.6 trillion this year, according to S&P Global Ratings. But fears are growing that an explosive economic comeback starting this summer could generate inflation, potentially forcing central banks to raise rates sooner than expected.
  • Should that happen, the cost of servicing mountains of sovereign debt will jump, eating up government funds that could otherwise be spent on essential services or rebuilding weakened economies.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • "A big jump in interest rates would be very costly," said Ugo Panizza, professor of international economics at the Graduate Institute in Geneva. "Central banks will face very, very complicated tradeoffs if inflation does go up."
  • The moves have been triggered in part by growing confidence about the next phase of the pandemic. As vaccination campaigns allow governments to lift some restrictions, consumers are expected to rush to restaurants and hop on planes. That could push up prices, which central banks have pledged to keep under control.
  • US lawmakers approved a mammoth $1.9 trillion stimulus package on Wednesday that could send prices higher and increase pressure on the Federal Reserve.
  • The Congressional Budget Office projects that publicly-held government debt in the United States will climb to nearly $22.5 trillion by the end of fiscal 2021. That's equivalent to 102% of annual gross domestic product. In Italy, the ratio stood at 154% at the end of September, while Greece was almost at 200%.
  • Interest costs are even more sensitive to inflation and rate hikes because of the pandemic response.The UK government borrowed £270.6 billion ($377 billion) between April 2020 and January 2021, and higher interest rates mean increased payments on that debt.
  • "Just as it would be irresponsible to withdraw [economic] support too soon, it would also be irresponsible to allow future borrowing and debt to be left unchecked," he said.
  • "It is a real concern," said Randall Kroszner, who served as a Federal Reserve governor from 2006 until 2009. If US debt payments suddenly go "from being quite low to being quite significant," that could weigh on the recovery and slow economic activity, he added.
  • Panizza said that Italy needs to refinance or extend the due date of about one-seventh of its debt every year. If interest rates were to go up by 2%, that would add about half a point of GDP, or roughly $9.9 billion, to debt servicing costs annually. That's a "substantial" amount, he emphasized.
  • "This is not something that we have a lot of experience with," Kroszner said.
aidenborst

Former Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama urge Americans to get vaccinated - CN... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US crisis Culture Policy Pandemic Biden Biden-Administration pandemic-recovery vaccine

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and their respective former first ladies are part of a newly released ad campaign urging Americans to get the coronavirus vaccine when it is their turn, a push that is aimed squarely at combating vaccine skepticism.
  • The ad campaign reunites almost every member of the so-called President's Club, the group of living former commanders in chief. Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump are not featured in either ad, the only living president and first lady to not participate.
  • The ads are being released at a critical time in the fight against the coronavirus and one year after the outbreak was first declared a pandemic.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • The longer spot begins with Bush touting that Covid vaccines will "soon be available to everyone," before Obama says that the vaccine means "hope" that it "will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease."
  • According to CNN data, about 93.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in the United States, with the Food and Drug Administration issuing emergency use authorizations for three vaccines: The two-shot Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines and the single-dose Johnson & Johnson one.
  • "So, we urge you to get vaccinated when it is available to you," Obama says. "Roll up your sleeve and do you part," Bush says. "This is our shot," Clinton says.
  • "Now it is up to you," Carter concludes, as an image of the smiling former President holding his vaccine card closes the ad.
  • Clinton says he wants to "go back to work" and to "be able to move around." Obama says he misses visiting his mother-in-law and he wants to "hug her and see her on her birthday." And Bush says he is "really looking forward to going to Opening Day in Texas Rangers Stadium with the full stadium."
  • "The science is clear, these vaccines will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease," Bush says. "So, we urge you to get vaccinated when it is available to you."
  • "That's the first step to ending the pandemic and moving our country forward," Obama says. "It's up to you."
  • "In this pandemic, we need every American to help so that all Americans can recover," said former Republican Gov. Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho and former Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, the co-Chairs of the COVID Collaborative. "These former Presidents and First Ladies have come together to show that each of us, regardless of political party, has a stake in beating this virus."
  • The Ad Council said the ads would appear nationwide during time and space donated to them by a range of television and digital platforms. They will begin airing this week.
  • And Carter said he and Rosalynn got the vaccine so they could "get back to church, see our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and eventually be active in our community again.""I encourage everyone to get a vaccine when it's their turn," he added.
  • The Biden administration has made getting Americans vaccinated central to both its fight against the coronavirus and its messaging around the success of the President's first 100 days in office. Biden made a pledge early in his administration to get 100 million shots in arms within his first 100 days, a goal he appears likely to achieve.
aidenborst

US Coronavirus: A year after the pandemic was declared, US Covid-19 numbers are way too... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US history crisis Culture Policy Pandemic covid-19 pandemic-recovery vaccine

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • More than 29 million cases have been reported in the US since the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a pandemic one year ago.
  • The virus plunged America into grief and crisis.
  • Spikes in deaths drove some communities to call in mobile units to support their morgues.
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • The US has lost more than 529,000 people to the virus, Johns Hopkins University data shows. It's more than the number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined. And the death toll is rising by the thousands each week.
  • Now, the country is at a pivotal point.
  • "While these trends are starting to head in the right direction, the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths still remain too high and are somber reminders that we must remain vigilant as we work to scale up our vaccination efforts across this country," Walensky said.
  • So far, almost one in 10 Americans have been fully vaccinated -- a number that is still too low to suppress the spread of the virus. And some experts have warned another possible surge could be weeks away, fueled by a highly contagious variant spreading across the country.
  • "We must continue to use proven prevention measures to slow the spread of Covid-19," Walensky added. "They are getting us closer to the end of this pandemic."
  • For Americans who have been fully vaccinated, the new guidance released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week marks a small first step toward a return to pre-pandemic life, the agency's director and other colleagues wrote in a JAMA Viewpoint article published Wednesday.
  • "As vaccine supply increases, and distribution and administration systems expand and improve, more and more people will become fully vaccinated and eager to resume their prepandemic lives," Walensky and CDC officials Drs. Sarah Mbaeyi and Athalia Christie wrote.
  • "With high levels of community transmission and the threat of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, CDC still recommends a number of prevention measures for all people, regardless of vaccination status," they wrote.
  • "What we have seen is that we have surges after people start traveling. We saw it after July 4, we saw it after Labor Day, we saw it after the Christmas holidays," Walensky said in the briefing. "Currently 90% of people are still unprotected and not yet vaccinated. So we are really looking forward to updating this guidance as we have more protection across the communities and across the population."
  • More than 62 million Americans have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, CDC data shows. Roughly 32.9 million are fully vaccinated.
  • As vaccination numbers climb, more state leaders are loosening the requirements for who can get a shot.
  • At least 47 states plus DC are allowing teachers and school staff to receive Covid-19 vaccines. By next Monday, teachers will be eligible in all 50 states.
  • In Georgia, officials announced the state will expand its vaccine eligibility starting March 15 to include people 55 and older as well as individuals with disabilities and certain medical conditions.
  • "Provided supply allows, vaccine eligibility is expected to open to all adults in April," Gov. Brian Kemp's office said in a statement.
  • Other states also announced expanded vaccine eligibility this week, including Alaska, who took it the furthest by making vaccines available to everyone living or working in the state who is at least 16. It's the first state in the nation to do so.
  • The guidance allows for indoor visitation regardless of the vaccination status of the resident or visitor, with some exceptions.
  • For example, visitations may be limited for residents with Covid-19 or who are in quarantine or for unvaccinated residents living in facilities where less than 70% of residents are fully vaccinated, in a county that has a Covid-19 positivity rate greater than 10%.
  • "CMS recognizes the psychological, emotional and physical toll that prolonged isolation and separation from family have taken on nursing home residents, and their families," CMS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lee Fleisher said in a statement.
  • "That is why, now that millions of vaccines have been administered to nursing home residents and staff, and the number of COVID cases in nursing homes has dropped significantly, CMS is updating its visitation guidance to bring more families together safely."
aidenborst

Jayapal asks for investigations into three GOP members for their role in instigating th... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US history crisis Culture Policy gop Jayapal Capitol-Riots

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington has sent letters to the House Committee on Ethics and the Office of Congressional Ethics requesting they launch investigations into three Republican lawmakers, over accusations of the trio "instigating and aiding" the deadly January 6 riot on the Capitol.
  • Jayapal asks the two groups to "thoroughly investigate" the activity of the three members of Congress -- Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Paul Gosar of Arizona -- in the time leading up to the insurrection and refer all potential criminal wrongdoing to the Department of Justice.
  • For each member, Jayapal lists examples of their conduct in the weeks before January 6.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Boebert filming herself carrying a concealed firearm around the Capitol Grounds, the fiery speech Brooks gave at the Trump rally on the day of the insurrection and Gosar's ties to extremist groups. The letter also makes note of Boebert's tweets regarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's location on the day of the insurrection.
  • "It's clear what I believe to be clear violation of our ethical standards and our responsibilities as members of Congress. That is what the House Ethics Committee can look at," Jaypal said in an interview with CNN. "But I also think that there are other pieces here that are even beyond just service in the House that are federal statutes. And so that's why we asked for the referrals to the Department of Justice."
  • "I still worry about my safety and my security when I'm inside Congress, not just when I leave," Jaypal said. "And that is very troubling. I've only been here for four years, but I've not felt that before. And, and I feel it from my colleagues. I don't know, who my colleagues are engaging with, I don't know what their role was. And I do think that that is part of the reason these letters are so important."
  • Gosar's denials have been less clear. In a tweet on that day he posted a photo of rioters scaling a wall of the Capitol "let's not get carried away."
  • Federal authorities have said they are investigating the possibility that some of those that participated in the riot may have been given tours ahead of time, but have stopped short of saying any lawmakers did so with the express purpose of helping the rioters prepare to attack the Capitol.
  • "These three members seem to be emboldened by the fact that there hasn't been really any accountability for them. There hasn't been any accountability at all," she said. "And that is unacceptable I think and that's why I'm asking for these investigations."
  • In a tweet on January 18, Boebert wrote "All claims of my involvement with the attacks on January 6th are categorically false. These lies are irresponsible and dangerous."
  • Jayapal is not the only Democrat looking into the role her colleagues may have played in the events leading up to January 6th. Rep. Zoe Lofgren recently released a 2,000-page report that outlined the social media activity of several GOP members ahead of the insurrection.
aidenborst

Donald Trump expected to meet with Sen. Rick Scott amid GOP divide over former Presiden... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US Trump Culture gop Rick-Scott meeting

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Former President Donald Trump is expected to meet with Republican Sen. Rick Scott this week, a source familiar with the meeting told CNN, at a time when the party is heatedly debating Trump's role in its future.
  • But it will come at a time of considerable tension between the former President and the party establishment following his push to route supporters' money through his own political apparatus, rather than traditional Republican campaign committees like the NRSC.
  • The visit, which was first reported by The Washington Post, also underscores the GOP split over Trump's legacy in the party as it moves forward in the Biden era.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • But Trump's support is less pronounced in the Senate, where GOP leader Mitch McConnell and John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican who faces reelection in South Dakota next year, have both worked to distance themselves from the former President.
  • "No more money for RINOS," Trump said in a Monday evening statement.
  • But while Trump may put his name behind a candidate, McConnell is still armed with a well-funded outside group, the Senate Leadership Fund, which stands poised to drop millions in key races to try and push the GOP leader's preferred choices across the finish line.
aidenborst

Joe Manchin on his veto power over Biden agenda: 'It's not a good place to be' - CNNPol... - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics US Trump crisis Culture gop Biden Manchin Veto

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • He's undecided on the nominee to head Health and Human Services. He's not sure if he'll back the No. 3 for the Justice Department, or the undersecretary of policy at the Pentagon.
  • He says maintaining the 60 vote-requirement to overcome a filibuster is a "red line" for him. And he's made clear he'll block advancing an infrastructure package on a party-line vote if Democrats don't work with Republicans.
  • In a 50-50 Senate, with most members voting the party-line, Sen. Joe Manchin stands mostly alone
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Manchin joined the Senate after literally shooting the Democrats' climate change proposal in a 2010 campaign ad -- and more recently joining Republicans in the Trump years on some of the most controversial matters, such as voting to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and William Barr as attorney general. Yet he also voted to convict Trump in both impeachment trials and voted against efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
  • Manchin's opposition effectively sank the nomination of Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget, as he claimed her past tweets made her "too toxic." And he sent Washington into nearly 12 hours of tension when he initially balked at a last-minute change on jobless benefits, a position Democrats feared could have sunk Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid relief plan. Ultimately, he cut a deal and then backed the bill, which passed the Senate on a 50-49 vote with no GOP support.
  • "Anybody in a 50-50 Senate is in a position to be able to do that," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat and member of leadership. Asked if Manchin should be careful not to overreach, Stabenow: "I think all of us need to be careful about that."
  • "Here's what I'm going to say about Manchin: Everybody asks me about him. Why don't you just ask him?" said GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, who also represents West Virginia. "Seriously. When you have a one-vote margin, everybody has a lot of influence. Talk to him about it."
  • "Tweets," Manchin said, sounding exasperated. "I don't know why people want to get on there. I really don't know."
  • "Here's the thing, I've been pretty differential on that, you follow me?" Manchin said of presidential nominees.
  • "He's just out of the mainstream of his own party with regards to abortion and with regards to religious freedom," Romney said of Becerra on Wednesday.
  • Other nominees could potentially hinge on winning all Democratic support, such as Vanita Gupta as the No. 3 at the Justice Department, though Manchin signaled he has yet to review her nomination.
  • "I wanted Donald Trump to succeed," Manchin said in the interview. "I want Joe Biden to succeed. ... But like he said, 'Joe,' he said, 'I've never asked you to go against your convictions.' And I told him, 'I appreciate that, Mr. President, because I won't.' "
  • "It would be nice to find some common ground first," Tester said of trying to win over Republicans before moving ahead on reconciliation. He added with a laugh: "But I don't want to sound like Joe Manchin."
  • "The red line is having minority participation in your process," Manchin said. "That's the way we were designed. ... I haven't seen any reason to come off the 60."
  • "I hope he sticks to his guns," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. "I'm sure Robert Byrd would want him to. And the people of West Virginia. We cease to be the Senate if that goes away."
aidenborst

Brazil coronavirus variant and surging second wave are overwhelming hospitals - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

politics Brazil pandemic-recovery Pandemic vaccine covid-19

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • In 22 of Brazil's 26 states, ICU occupancy has surpassed 80%. In the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, hospital patients must line up to wait for beds as occupancy rates in intensive care units soar past 103%. The neighboring state of Santa Catarina has already surpassed 99% occupancy and is on the verge of collapsing, as cases surge throughout the state.
  • "I was here during the first wave and it wasn't like this. We are completely overwhelmed, with our occupancy rate at over 100%. Many of those patients who are waiting for an ICU don't make it," Molina told CNN during a telephone interview.
  • Last week, Rio de Janeiro's Mayor Eduardo Paes announced a new curfew for bars and restaurants throughout the city, limiting hours of operation from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm. But hundreds of people stayed out anyway -- 230 curfew-related fines and closures were issued from Friday to Saturday alone, according to the city government. At one bar, more than 200 mostly-maskless partygoers were found at a party that had been going for seven hours, reported CNN affiliate CNN Brasil.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • Many municipal and state health officials and lawmakers blame Bolsonaro's government for undermining their efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. And the country's National Council of Health Secretaries (CONASS) has asked the federal government to adopt stricter measures to support hospitals and enforce social distancing.
  • "The health system in Brazil is on the verge of collapse," Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria told CNN's Becky Anderson during a recent interview. "There is no national coordination to combat the pandemic in Brazil. It would be important for the President and the governors to send the same message to the population, but this unfortunately, doesn't happen in Brazil.
  • He has made disobeying health guidance a point of pride, congratulating agricultural workers at an event last week for not staying home "like cowards."
  • "The emergence of new variants, which combine both the potential to be more transmissible and the absence of broad and articulated mitigation and suppression measures, are highly worrisome," the study's authors wrote, urging Brazil to encourage behaviors that limit the viral spread.
  • "The data showing the prevalence of this variant in several states and its ample spread throughout the country, as well as the challenges presented due to its high level of transmission, reinforce the immediate need to adopt non-pharmaceutical measures in order to reduce the speed or its spread and the increases in cases."
  • "This is what viruses do: They evolve, they get stronger. The only way to stop it is to contain its spread, which is why we need restrictive measures -- there is no other solution. Even if the Government decrees a national lockdown, we need the population to adhere. The action of each one of us will impact everyone as a whole," Naveca said.
  • Hope could be on its way, in the form of vaccines. But Brazil's vaccination rollout was slow in comparison to other countries, including others in the region, like Chile and Mexico.
  • Since then, roughly 4% of Brazil's 211 million citizens have received at least one vaccine dose, according to data from the Brazilian Health Ministry, and 2.3 million have had two doses.
  • "Pfizer says this very clearly on the contract, 'we are not responsible for any collateral side effects' - if you turn into an alligator it's your problem," Bolsonaro said in December. "If you become Superman, or grow a beard as a woman, or a man's voice becomes high pitched, they say they have nothing to do with that."
  • "I thank you for this meeting and we recognize Pfizer as a great world company," Bolsonaro said, during an excerpt of the meeting posted to his official Twitter account. "We would like to close these deals with you, even more given the aggressiveness of this virus in Brazil."
  • "The story in Brazil can be and will be repeated elsewhere if we stop implementing the measures as we need to implement them," he said. "Countries are going to lurch back into third and fourth surges if we're not careful."
  • "Unfortunately, I don't think we've learned our lesson," Molina said. "We [health workers] are tired, exhausted and are getting sick. We feel powerless. We need a more coordinated action if we're going to keep this from happening again.
aidenborst

Merrick Garland finally got his Senate vote. Now comes the hard part - CNNPolitics - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

Politics US Culture Policy gop Garland Biden Biden-Administration

shared by aidenborst on 11 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Merrick Garland faces multiple crises to address and politically tough decisions to make as he belatedly takes the reins at the Justice Department as attorney general.
  • He'll try to heal a workforce that was battered during the Trump era, deliver on President Joe Biden's liberal priorities and campaign promises and oversee some of the most complex investigations in a generation.
  • Garland got a bipartisan nod of approval of 70-30, earning the support of 20 Republicans in a Senate where zero-sum partisanship is the new normal. But that was the easy part for Garland, who's been a federal appellate judge since 1997.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Other issues pose long-term challenges. Biden made big promises on criminal justice and police reform. At the peak of last summer's protests against racial inequality, Biden said at an NAACP town hall that the US had reached "a moment where we must make substantive changes now."
  • Some issues percolated to the front-burner before Garland was confirmed. Under Biden, the Justice Department already revoked some hardline immigration policies and told the Supreme Court that it was reversing the Trump-era position that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.
  • "He is exactly what the DOJ needs at this historic moment in our nation's history," said Michael Zeldin, a former CNN contributor who previously served in several senior roles at the Justice Department. "He knows the department, he's a legal scholar, and he recognizes the inflection point the criminal justice system is at and understands the imperative of getting it right."
  • Another related priority looms at the Justice Department. Biden vowed to crack down on White supremacists and right-wing extremist groups. It's now up to Garland to make that happen.
  • "Garland will be watched closely for his handling of domestic terrorism matters," said Jessica Carmichael, a DC-area defense attorney who specializes in privacy and surveillance issues. "I hope (that he) approaches this issue in keeping with a broader goal of criminal justice reform and not simply advocating for more criminal laws, more surveillance, and more incarceration."
  • It will be an uphill climb -- especially in this heated political climate and with disinformation running rampant -- to convince Americans that these investigations are being handled without bias. After repeated abuses and attempts by Trump to politicize the Justice Department, experts have said that it could take many years to restore the public's faith in federal law enforcement.
  • If Democrats stay united, they can confirm Lisa Monaco to the No. 2 post, Vanita Gupta to the No. 3 spot, and Kristen Clarke to run the Civil Rights Division. But the GOP hasn't made it easy.
  • Gorelick continued, "He was talking about the Justice Department as 'we' during his confirmation hearing because he grew up there, and it will be very natural for him to return."
« First ‹ Previous 41 - 60 of 135 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page