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Contents contributed and discussions participated by yehbru

yehbru

George Floyd's preexisting conditions and drug use had no impact on his death, doctor s... - 0 views

  • A renowned pulmonary critical care doctor testified Thursday morning that George Floyd died from a "low level of oxygen" when former police officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the street and restricted his ability to breathe.
  • "This caused damage to his brain that we see, and it also caused a PEA arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop," Dr. Martin Tobin of Chicago testified
  • He identified four main reasons why Floyd died: the handcuffs and the street acting as a "vise;" Chauvin's left knee on his neck; Floyd's prone position; and Chauvin's right knee on Floyd's back, arm and side.
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  • Floyd's preexisting health conditions and drug use were not relevant to his death, Tobin said.
  • Over the last few days, a series of police experts and training coordinators have testified that Chauvin violated police policy and used excessive force on Floyd.
  • By observing Floyd's condition in video and calculating the rate of decline in his blood-oxygen level, Tobin deduced that Floyd eventually had no oxygen left in his body. Chauvin remained kneeling on him for another three minutes and two seconds after that point, he said.
  • He highlighted a moment in the body-camera footage when Floyd's legs lift into the air. This involuntary movement, also known as an anoxic seizure, is evidence of a fatal brain injury due to lack of oxygen, Tobin said.
  • Further, Tobin explained that fentanyl did not play a role in Floyd's death. After observing body-cam footage, Tobin calculated Floyd's respiratory rate at 22 breaths per minute, within normal range. People who overdose on fentanyl generally have a respiratory rate of about 10, so Tobin concluded that fentanyl was not affecting Floyd's breathing.
  • Baker performed the autopsy on Floyd and determined his death was a homicide, listing the cause of death as "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression."
yehbru

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, dead at 99 - CNN - 0 views

  • Prince Philip, the lifelong companion of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, has died, Buckingham Palace announced Friday.
  • The duke had been admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital in London hospital on February 17 after feeling unwell.
  • On March 1, he was transferred to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, also in London, where doctors continued to treat the infection as well as undertake testing for a pre-existing heart condition.
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  • The Queen will need to sign off on any plans before they are confirmed, and it is not yet known whether this has already happened.
  • Philip, also known by his official title of the Duke of Edinburgh, was the longest-serving British consort.
  • The duke was known for off-the-cuff remarks that often displayed a quick wit but occasionally missed the mark, sometimes in spectacular fashion.
  • In December 2019, he was taken to hospital as a "precautionary measure" for what Buckingham Palace described as a "pre-existing" condition. He had previously been admitted to hospital on multiple occasions for a variety of reasons, including for a hip replacement and for treatment for bladder infections.
yehbru

Biden and his top officials slammed Trump's lack of action against Saudi Arabia, MBS in... - 0 views

  • In the years prior to taking office, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and many of their administration's top officials harshly criticized President Donald Trump's lack of action against Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
  • Biden is now facing criticism for not following through on campaign promises to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the killing.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday announced visa restrictions that affected 76 Saudis believed to be involved in harassing activists and journalists, but he did not announce any measures against the crown prince.
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  • Psaki outlined the Biden administration's actions, including sanctioning the former deputy head of general intelligence and imposing visa restrictions on 76 Saudis believed to be involved with the Khashoggi operation, and said the White House "made clear that we expect additional reforms to be put in place" in their conversations with Saudi Arabia.
  • "There's very little social redeeming value in the present government in Saudi Arabia," Biden said in a 2019 Democratic debate. "They have to be held accountable."
  • "I think the administration has missed a tremendous opportunity to use a horrific, terrible event, the murder of this journalist Khashoggi to use that as a way to influence Saudi behavior and Saudi policies in a way that better reflect our interests and our values,"
  • Jake Sullivan, who is now Biden's national security adviser, harshly criticized the Trump administration's response to Khashoggi's assassination, saying in June 2020 the administration gave Saudi leadership a "blank check" to wrongly continue "jailing dissidents, curbing speech, punishing women, and murdering a US resident and prominent journalist in a grotesque and almost sort of ostentatious way."
  • "Prince Mohammed is not and can no longer be viewed as a reliable or rational partner of the United States and our allies,
  • "Obviously, we're going to continue to have a relationship with Saudi Arabia. They're an important relationship for the United States but his survival is interesting here, and I'm not sure survival would be as certain without the US support which he has at this point."
  • "We don't have to destroy our relationship with Saudi Arabia. We've all done business with Saudi Arabia. We've all been impressed with some ways in which they've helped us in intelligence and strategic thinking about the Middle East, but this is a crime of untold proportion to take a resident, US citizen and murder them in the Saudi consulate. And there have to be consequences,
  • The Biden administration ended offensive military aid for the Saudi-led war in Yemen last month.
  • Deputy UN Ambassador Jeffrey Prescott in 2019 said Trump refused to hold Saudi leadership to account for Khashoggi's murder.
yehbru

Anti-Asian Attacks Higher Than Numbers Indicate, Group Says : NPR - 0 views

  • A surge in anti-Asian attacks reported since the start of the pandemic has left Asian Americans across the country scared and concerned, but a Los Angeles-based civil rights group says the actual number of hate incidents could be even higher.
  • This underreporting is due to a combination of several factors, ranging from language and cultural barriers to a lack of trust in law enforcement, Chung Joe said an interview with Morning Edition host Rachel Martin.
  • Stop AAPI Hate, a coalition aimed at addressing anti-Asian discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic, received more than 2,800 firsthand reports of anti-Asian hate, including physical and verbal assaults, between March 19 and Dec. 31, 2020.
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  • The reported incidents range from verbal harassments to physical altercations.
  • As a man in his late 20s, Kim is not the typical victim of anti-Asian attacks. Chung Joe said that most attacks target the more vulnerable members of the Asian American community.
  • "Women are targeted more than twice as often as men," she said, and "we are seeing a spate of hate and violence targeted at our seniors."
  • Nearly 44% of all incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate have come from California. Asian Americans account for roughly 15% of California's estimated 40 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • "The Federal Government must recognize that it has played a role in furthering these xenophobic sentiments through the actions of political leaders, including references to the COVID-19 pandemic by the geographic location of its origin," Biden said. "Such statements have stoked unfounded fears and perpetuated stigma about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and have contributed to increasing rates of bullying, harassment, and hate crimes against AAPI persons."
yehbru

Alabama Official On Vaccine Rollout: 'How Can This Disparity Exist In This Country?' : ... - 0 views

  • In Birmingham, Ala., Alabama Regional Medical Services — a health clinic that primarily serves a lower-income, Black neighborhood — has not received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and news reports say it will have to wait until March 13 for its first shipment.
  • Meanwhile, the first doses in the state went to nearby Mountain Brook, an affluent white suburb of Birmingham, says Sheila Tyson, a local official
  • According to the most recent data provided by the state's health department, in cases where race was reported — white people have received 54.6% of vaccinations, compared to 14.6% for Black people.
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  • Tyson, a commissioner in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, says state officials have told her that they are not distributing vaccines to majority-Black neighborhoods because they expect people there may be hesitant to take them.
  • "I am finding out thousands and thousands of people within the state of Alabama want the vaccine. We have over 125,000 people in Jefferson County on the waiting list," she says. "We want it now."
  • "The pandemic has pulled the Band-Aid off of the racist cancer wounds that have covered this country for centuries. No one wants to address it. Everyone keeps dodging the questions," she says. "We have more access than anyone else. So how can this disparity exist in this country?"
yehbru

Whistleblowers Allege Improper Hiring At Justice Department During Trump's Last Days : NPR - 0 views

  • Two whistleblowers assert that a Justice Department official improperly injected politics into the hiring process during his waning days in the Trump administration, according to a new filing obtained by NPR.
  • The whistleblowers accuse Jeffrey Bossert Clark of conducting a "sham" process and elevating a person who volunteered to defend a controversial Trump policy on abortion access, even though the person had far less experience than other finalists for the job in the Civil Division, they said in a Wednesday letter to House and Senate lawmakers and the Justice Department's inspector general
  • The whistleblowers said that Clark's participation in the hiring process for an assistant director of the Civil Division was unusual and that he engaged in "perfunctory" 15-minute interviews with two more highly qualified finalists for the post.
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  • "What set the successful appointee apart from the other candidates was that the appointee — unlike the others — had volunteered and was part of the DOJ litigation team defending a controversial Trump administration policy," according to their letter.
  • "Mr. Clark's last-minute politicization of the DOJ hiring process and issuance of policy memoranda — capped by his willingness to participate in what was close to an attempted coup d'état — demands immediate, close and transparent oversight and investigations."
yehbru

Democrats should spike the football (Opinion) - CNN - 0 views

  • The House passed the $1.9 trillion bill, overwhelmingly thanks to Democrats. Not a single Senate or House Republican voted for the bill, and one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted against it.
  • The relief package is groundbreaking: It sends $1,400 stimulus checks to close to 90% of American households, directs billions to small businesses and schools, pours necessary resources into vaccine distribution, extends unemployment benefits and offers parents an unprecedented child allowance -- a cash benefit for families with children
  • Trump and the GOP passed tax cuts in 2017 that disproportionately helped the wealthiest, but when the pandemic hit in 2020, they were out to lunch
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  • That's the message Democrats need to hammer home as they take well-earned credit for what they've achieved here.
  • Taking credit isn't just so Democrats can pat themselves on the back; it's so the public understands how and why this happened.
  • Democrats are spending their time passing legislation that could reduce poverty by a third, cut the number of kids living in poverty by half, put food on tables and keep roofs over heads.
  • Raising the shamefully low federal minimum wage remains on the table. The Biden administration is also turning its attention to America's crumbling infrastructure. Most importantly, many Democrats are pushing their own party to make early moves to ensure that power is fairly distributed, and that every American gets an equal vote and a voice in our elections.
  • We can't bring back all of the people whose lives were lost thanks to Trump's recklessness. But with Democratic majorities in Congress and a Democratic president in the White House, we have more competent political leadership that could propel us toward a brighter future.
yehbru

People With Disabilities Feel Left Out By California's Vaccine System : NPR - 0 views

  • "I have had periods of my life — years and years and years — where I had to be either in bed the whole time, or just not able to leave the house 'cause I had been so sick," she says. "But it's so different when anyone that could walk through the door could essentially kill you with their breath."
  • Californians with high-risk disabilities, such as heart failure and chronic pulmonary disease, had been eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the state's tier 1C.
  • California joined states like Connecticut and Indiana in pivoting from a risk-based strategy to an age-based one. That meant Newman, who's 31, would have to wait until mid-March.
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  • Many states are rolling out the vaccine in tiers that prioritize people using a variety of factors, including age, occupation, and risk factors such as preexisting conditions.
  • There is widespread agreement that healthcare workers should take priority. But almost immediately after that, things get messy.
  • "How do we weigh teachers against people with disabilities or chronic illnesses? Those questions of individual value, of who quote-unquote deserves a vaccine more or needs a vaccine more, are directly butting heads with: Who do we need to be vaccinated for the good of our society?"
  • But sometimes that risk is obscured by a lack of data. "There are rare conditions that probably put people at really high risk, but they're rare, so they don't get quantitated,"
yehbru

Alaska Is 1st State To Expand Vaccines To People As Young As 16 : NPR - 0 views

  • Alaska on Tuesday became the first state in the nation to make COVID-19 vaccinations available to anyone over the age of 16 who lives or works in the state.
  • "A healthy community means a healthy economy," Dunleavy said. "With widespread vaccinations available to all Alaskans who live or work here, we will no doubt see our economy grow and our businesses thrive.
  • The Pfizer vaccine is available to people who are 16 and older, while the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines are available to people 18 and olde
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  • Alaska has received 288,000 vaccines and has vaccinated 170,993 people, according to state data.
  • Dunleavy said some regions in the state, including Kodiak Island, the Petersburg Borough and the Kusilvak Census Area, are nearing or exceeding 90% vaccination rates among seniors
  • As of Tuesday morning, more than 123 million vaccine doses had been distributed to states. More than 93.6 million shots had been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID-19 vaccine data tracker.
yehbru

National Guard Will Extend Deployment At U.S. Capitol : NPR - 0 views

  • The Pentagon has approved a request to continue National Guard support at the U.S. Capitol through May 23, 2021. About 2,300 troops will remain at the Capitol, which is about half the number currently deployed, the Department of Defense said Tuesday evening.
  • U.S. Capitol Police last week requested a 60-day extension following intelligence that showed a possible security threat from an identified militia group.
  • The National Guard has been sharply criticized for its handling of the Jan. 6 riots and, in particular, a delayed response that left troops standing by for hours before being authorized to intervene.
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  • The D.C. National Guard's commanding general testified last week that the Department of Defense took more than three hours to approve a "frantic request" for support from USCP.
  • the installation of a new mobile fencing system at the Capitol and the formation of a new federal agency that would coordinate law enforcement in the Washington, D.C. area.
yehbru

Texts show county commissioner, wealthy developer said vaccination drive for wealthy ZI... - 0 views

  • Text messages show that Manatee County, Florida, Commissioner Vanessa Baugh and developer Rex Jensen said a planned vaccination drive largely serving a wealthy, gated community may give Gov. Ron DeSantis "exposure here" ahead of a potential 2022 reelection campaign.
  • "Yup and he is better known on east side," Jensen replied. "Premiere (the vaccination site) could have a nice setup for him."
  • DeSantis, a Republican, did not directly respond to the texts when asked about it in a news conference on Tuesday. Instead, he emphasized the vaccine drive was done to help Manatee County raise the vaccination rates of residents age 65 and older. He pivoted to a conspiracy theory, claiming that, "partisan corporate media" was "demonizing" the drives because they didn't want "people being vaccinated who disagree with them politically."
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  • Baugh, herself, has previously admitted that she directed county employees to limit the vaccine drive to residents from two ZIP codes that largely made up the wealthy community.
  • Former Florida governor and current Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, requested the Department of Justice investigate DeSantis and whether the vaccine drives benefited DeSantis' political allies and donors
  • "Now it's clear that the Governor's team handpicked vaccine recipients, bypassing a county's random selection process -- for political gain -- denying seniors and others the vaccines they need. The authorities must investigate this abuse of power immediately."
yehbru

Covid relief bill: Biden's stimulus package is huge, ambitious and about to pass - CNNP... - 0 views

  • President Joe Biden plans to use the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill expected to pass Congress on Wednesday as a platform for a generational transformation of the economy to benefit the least well-off Americans and alleviate poverty.
  • according to a CNN poll released Tuesday, the relief bill is broadly popular, and Biden's approval rating tilts positive around 50 days after he took the oath of office.
  • Some economists, meanwhile, fear that it could trigger an inflationary spike in an economy that already appears to be in recovery and could overheat if there is a swift exit from the pandemic.
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  • Early successes are crucial for presidents, since they must harness their power when it is at its apex early in their terms. Political muscle is built for later legislative fights by enacting priorities and uniting party factions behind a common cause. Presidents who struggle to get early priorities passed are not necessarily doomed. But they risk creating an impression of disarray that can hurt them in their first midterm elections, as was the case with President Bill Clinton's collapsed effort to overhaul American health care.
  • And progressives who were dismayed by the removal of a hike in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour elected to bank their gains, staying behind the effort and vowing to fight another day.
  • The President judged the $600 billion cost of an alternative package offered by 10 GOP senators as insufficient for the scale of the crisis. In votes so far in the House and the Senate, the bill has not attracted a single Republican supporter as Biden's opponents stake out early positions for the midterm elections on the basis of a pro-Trump base of activists who are keen to deny the new President an early victory.
  • Various polls show that more than 60% of the public supports it, which means some Republican and independent voters are on board.
  • With its tax credits for children and low-income workers, an extension of health insurance subsidies and nutrition and rental assistance, the American Rescue Plan is intended to do far more than simply stimulate the economy.
  • "It's a real tragedy when you look at that package. We know that the result of that package is going to be middle-class tax increases," the Wyoming Republican said.
  • The bill is sure to be a fulcrum of the Democratic midterm election campaign next year.
  • But if the current pace of vaccinations is maintained and the end game of the pandemic is not derailed by a wave of sickness and death caused by Covid-19 variants, Biden can expect a much faster and more robust economic rebound.
  • The bill is almost the inverse of Trump's sole major legislative triumph outside of a conservative refashioning of the judiciary: a massive tax cut that cost $1.5 trillion and was targeted mostly at corporations and more well-off Americans.
  • His initial $1.9 trillion request, not far off half the entire US annual federal budget, is playing into Republican claims that his administration will be rooted in out-of-control socialism.
  • The partisan nature of the votes on Biden's recovery package also has some Democrats pondering whether to seek to abolish filibuster rules that mean most major legislation needs a 60-vote majority to pass. The $1.9 trillion behemoth was advanced using a process known as reconciliation, which applies only to budget issues and can be used only sparingly.
  • But it seems equally certain that Democratic priorities like voting rights will die in a 50-50 Senate.
yehbru

Trump investigation: NYC prosecutors' probe into Trump finances expands to include mill... - 0 views

  • The Manhattan district attorney's office subpoenaed documents from an investment company that loaned the Trump Organization millions of dollars for its Chicago skyscraper in a sign that the investigation into the former president's finances continues to expand, according to people familiar with the investigation.
  • Investigators' interest in how Trump and his company treated the Chicago loan is an expansion of an inquiry that encompasses multiple aspects of the Trump business.
  • Their interest in Fortress relates to a $130 million loan the company made to the Trump Organization for the construction of a luxury hotel and condo tower in Chicago.
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  • By 2012, Fortress subsequently forgave more $100 million of the loan, which, including interest and fees, was worth about $150 million, according to court filings. The forgiveness was done to secure a partial re-payment of about $45 million at a time when the real estate market was suffering from the financial crisis.
  • Fortress has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Representatives for Fortress and the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to comment.
  • The New York Times, which obtained Trump's taxes, said the forgiven debts showed up in Trump's tax returns as cancelled debts. The Times wrote that Trump took advantage of a law enacted after the 2008 financial crisis that allowed companies to spread out income from cancelled debts over several years.
yehbru

Far-Right Misinformation Drives Facebook Engagement : NPR - 0 views

  • After the events of Jan. 6, researcher Laura Edelson expected to see a spike in Facebook users engaging with the day's news, similar to Election Day.
  • "The thing was, most of that spike was concentrated among the partisan extremes and misinformation providers," Edelson told NPR's All Things Considered. "And when I really sit back and think about that, I think the idea that on a day like that, which was so scary and so uncertain, that the most extreme and least reputable sources were the ones Facebook users were engaging with, is pretty troubling."
  • A new study from Cybersecurity For Democracy found that far-right accounts known for spreading misinformation are not only thriving on Facebook, they're actually more successful than other kinds of accounts at getting likes, shares and other forms of user engagement.
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  • "It's almost twice as much engagement per follower among the sources that have a reputation for spreading misinformation," Edelson said. "So, clearly, that portion of the news ecosystem is behaving very differently."
  • In all other partisan categories, though, "the sources that have a reputation for spreading misinformation just don't engage as well," Edelson said. "There could be a variety of reasons for that, but certainly the simplest explanation would be that users don't find them as credible and don't want to engage with them."
  • The researchers called this phenomenon the "misinformation penalty."
  • In response, Edelson called on Facebook to be transparent with how it tracks impressions and promotes content: "They can't say their data leads to a different conclusion but then not make that data public."
  • "I think any system that attempts to promote the most engaging content, from what we call tell, will wind up promoting misinformation."
yehbru

Roy Blunt Announces He Won't Run For Reelection In 2022 : NPR - 0 views

  • Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt has announced he will not seek another term next year, making him the latest in a string of long-serving Senate Republicans to decline a reelection bid.
  • "There's still a lot to do and I look forward to every day this year and next year as I continue to work for you in the Senate,
  • Blunt, a member of Senate Republican leadership, said he intends to "finish strong" with his remaining time in the Senate
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  • "I've tried to do my best. In almost 12,000 votes in the Congress, I'm sure I wasn't right every time. But you really make that decision based on the information you have at the time."
  • He's the fifth Republican to announce his plans to leave the upper chamber, joining Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Rob Portman of Ohio and Richard Shelby of Alabama.
yehbru

Undocumented Venezuelans Given Protected Status In United States : NPR - 0 views

  • The Biden administration said Monday that it will allow many Venezuelans who are already in the country illegally to remain because of the humanitarian and economic crisis in the socialist South American nation that is an adversary of the U.S.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas granted Temporary Protected Status to an estimated 320,000 Venezuelans.
  • Venezuela has fallen into a life-threatening economic and humanitarian crises that have caused more than 5 million Venezuelans to flee in search of food, medicine and shelter.
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  • The decision represents a dramatic shift in policy from the previous administration, which withstood bipartisan calls to grant the protections to Venezuelans.
  • Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic political strategist and pollster, said granting TPS to Venezuelans could open up a new relationship for Biden with an electorate that largely supported Trump in 2020.
  • Temporary Protected Status is granted to those from countries ravaged by natural disasters or war, allowing them to live and work in the United States until conditions improve back home.
  • "Venezuela is a failed state in every single measure," he said. "There's simply not enough food to go around. Hospitals had collapsed before the pandemic. You have a repressive dictatorship and extraordinary levels of violence in the street. You have pro-government militias attacking protesters. It's just inhumane to send people back into those conditions."
yehbru

American Rescue Plan Details: Tax Credit, COVID-19 Vaccine Funds : Coronavirus Updates ... - 0 views

  • The Senate passed its version of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Saturday, paving the way for the plan to be taken up by the House on Tuesday or Wednesday before heading to President Biden's desk for his signature.
  • The colossal package known as the American Rescue Plan allocates money for vaccines, schools, small businesses and anti-poverty programs such as an expanded child tax credit that would mean new monthly payments to many parents.
  • Republicans are expected to universally oppose the bill, arguing that they were effectively shut out of the process through reconciliation and that the package is too broad, saying only 9% of the funds go directly toward COVID-19 relief.
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  • But Democrats counter that the bill takes a holistic look at the entire American economy and how it was affected by the pandemic.
  • Senate Democrats agreed to lower the income cutoff at which payments phase out from $100,000 to $80,000 for individuals, and from $200,000 to $160,000 for couples filing jointly, following demands from moderate Democrats.
  • Progressive Democrats vigorously pursued including a minimum wage hike in this legislation, which would have gradually increased the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.
  • Individuals earning up to $75,000 and couples earning up to $150,000 would receive the full direct payments of $1,400 per person. Individuals will also receive an additional $1,400 payment for each dependent claimed on their tax returns.
  • "The major pieces of the bill — payments to individuals, extended unemployment, money for states and localities, money for schools — all of those things were in the COVID package that passed last year that all the Republicans voted for. So they were OK then, but they're not OK now, and I frankly can't really figure out that argument."
  • Under the Senate version, federal unemployment insurance payments will remain at $300 per week — down from $400 per week
  • The bill includes $7.25 billion in new money for the small-business loan program known as PPP and would allow more nonprofits to apply, including those groups that engage in advocacy and some limited lobbying. It also allows larger nonprofits to be eligible.
  • There are over $128 billion in grants to state educational agencies, with 90% allocated to local educational agencies, plus $39 billion in grants to higher education institutions.
  • The bill includes $4.5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, to help families with home heating and cooling costs.
  • The bill provides $37 million to the Commodity Supplemental Food Program for low-income seniors.
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to receive $7.5 billion to track, administer and distribute COVID-19 vaccines. Another $46 billion would go toward diagnosing and tracing coronavirus infections, and $2 billion would go toward buying and distributing various testing supplies and personal protective equipment.
  • There is $25 billion for emergency rental assistance, including $5 billion for emergency housing vouchers for people experiencing homelessness, survivors of domestic violence and victims of human trafficking.
yehbru

The racism Meghan says she experienced in the British royal family is reflective of wid... - 0 views

  • There were several "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born," Meghan, Duchess of Sussex said of an issue raised by an unnamed member of the British royal family before the birth of her son Archie.
  • many more will relate to the mental health issues that come with being marginalized in a predominantly -- or in Meghan's case completely -- White space, the sense of exclusion, the feeling of being unworthy, unwanted and afraid.
  • Meghan and Harry were careful to focus on the "system," "the firm," and the "institution," and never accused any specific individuals. This is perhaps a sign of respect to Prince Harry's grandmother, the Queen, and his other relatives across the Atlantic, but it also broadens the couple's struggle and ties it to the global anti-racism movement.
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  • In the UK, protesters directed their anger at the country's elite institutions of power, some such as monarchy which date back to colonialism and beyond, and the systems of class and race they perpetuate in modern-day Britain. In Bristol, southwest England, last June, activists pulled down a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, and dumped it into the harbor, igniting a national conversation on race and history in the UK.
  • 'How many times we need to rebuild?' Well, you know what? We are going to rebuild, and rebuild, and rebuild until it is rebuilt. Because when the foundation is broken so are we,
  • "The British like to think of themselves as quite liberal and the British get quite offended if they are accused of racism," Diane Abbott, the first black woman elected to the UK's Parliament, told CNN in an interview last year.
  • "It can often be thought in British society if you don't say insulting words than it's not racism," royal historian Kate Williams told CNN. "But the coverage [of Meghan] was very different -- what other women in the royal family were celebrated for Meghan was criticized for in the papers."
  • Meghan's entry into the royal family brought diversity and with it the possibility of change, but that institution prides itself on remaining unchanged and steeped in traditions that date back to the British empire and beyond.
yehbru

New York State Senate Leader Calls For Cuomo's Resignation : NPR - 0 views

  • The top Democratic lawmaker in New York called for the resignation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo Sunday amidst allegations of sexual harassment and an ongoing investigation around botched counts of COVID-19 deaths in the state's nursing homes.
  • "New York is still in the midst of this pandemic and is still facing the societal, health and economic impacts of it. We need to govern without daily distraction. For the good of the state Governor Cuomo must resign."
  • At least five women have accused Cuomo of inappropriate behavior.
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  • "We have many challenges to address, and I think it is time for the Governor to seriously consider whether he can effectively meet the needs of the people of New York."
  • Earlier, two former aides and a woman who met the governor at a wedding accused Cuomo of unwanted touching and inappropriate comments.
  • Cuomo said New York lawmakers "don't override the people's will, they don't get to override elections." He added, "I was elected by the people of New York state. I wasn't elected by politicians."
  • Last week, Cuomo apologized for actions that may have made others uncomfortable, but denied touching anyone inappropriately. He refused to resign and called for an independent investigation to be conducted.
yehbru

On International Women's Day, Biden Signs Gender Equity Measures : NPR - 0 views

  • President Biden marked International Women's Day on Monday by signing two executive orders geared toward promoting gender equity, both in the United States and around the world.
  • "In our nation, as in all nations, women have fought for justice, shattered barriers, built and sustained economies, carried communities through times of crisis, and served with dignity and resolve. Too often, they have done so while being denied the freedom, full participation, and equal opportunity all women are due."
  • "We intend to address all sorts of discrimination and fight for equal rights for people, whether that's LGBTQ+ people, women, girls, men."
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  • The Council's staff will include a special assistant to the president to focus specifically on "policies to advance equity for Black, indigenous and Latina women and girls of color," Klein said
  • Areas of long-term focus for the Council, Reynoso said, will include "increasing economic security and opportunity by addressing the structural barriers to women's participation in the labor force; decreasing wage and wealth gaps; and addressing the caregiving needs of American families and supporting care workers."
  • The second executive order the president signed Monday is directed at the Department of Education, and seems expressly aimed at reversing a controversial rule on campus sexual assault and harassment that was issued last year by then-President Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
  • "[guarantee] an educational environment free from discrimination on the basis of sex, including discrimination in the form of sexual harassment, which encompasses sexual violence, and including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity."
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