12 March 20
As simple as it sounds it works perfectly. Nothing more is needed.
Right now we are not getting “reasonable” support. That’s what all the fundraising is about.
So far for today 10 people have contributed a total of $240. 18,000 have visited. So we have a problem.
Like it or not, we have to address that.
No choice.
Marc Ash
Founder, Reader Supported News
Founder, Reader Supported News
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11 March 20
RSN: Bill Quigley | Six Quick Points About Coronavirus and Poverty in the US
Bill Quigley, Reader Supported News
Quigley writes: "In the United States, tens of millions of people are at a much greater risk of getting sick from the coronavirus than others. The most vulnerable among us do not have the option to comply with suggestions to stay home from work or work remotely."
Bill Quigley, Reader Supported News
Quigley writes: "In the United States, tens of millions of people are at a much greater risk of getting sick from the coronavirus than others. The most vulnerable among us do not have the option to comply with suggestions to stay home from work or work remotely."
Most low wage workers do not have any paid sick days and cannot do their work from home. The over two million people in jails and prisons each night do not have these options nor do the half a million homeless people.
One. Thirty-four million workers do not have a single day of paid sick leave. Even though most of the developed world gives its workers paid sick leave, there is no federal law requiring it for workers. Thirty-seven percent of private industry workers do not have paid sick leave, including nearly half of the lowest-paid quarter of workers. That means 34 million working people have no paid sick leave at all. As with all inequality, this group of people is disproportionately women and people of color. More than half of Latinx workers, approximately 15 million workers, are unable to earn a single sick day. Nearly 40 percent of African American workers, more than 7 million people, are in jobs where they cannot earn a single paid sick day.
Two. Low wage workers and people without a paid sick day have to continue to work to survive. Studies prove people without paid sick days are more likely to go to work sick than workers who have paid sick leave. And workers without paid sick days are much more likely to seek care from emergency rooms than those with paid sick leave.
Three. About 30 million people in the US do not have health insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly half say they cannot afford it. They are unlikely to seek medical treatment for flu-like symptoms or seek screening because they cannot afford it.
Four. Staying home is not an option for the homeless. There are about 550,000 homeless people in the US, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Homeless people have diabetes, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS at rates three to six times that of the general population, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. Shelters often provide close living arrangements, and opportunities to clean hands and clothes and utensils are minimal for those on the street. Homeless people have higher rates of infectious, acute, and chronic diseases like tuberculosis.
Five. Nearly 2.2 million people are in jails and prisons every day, the highest rate in the world. Prisoners are kept in close quarters and receive inadequate medical care. Iran released 70,000 prisoners because of coronavirus. Hand sanitizers are generally not allowed in jails because of their alcohol content. Prisoners are kept in over 3,000 different federal, state, and local jails and prisons, each of which has its own procedures and practices for dealing with infectious diseases.
Six. Solutions? For sick leave, see The National Partnership for Women & Families, which publishes several fact sheets about the need for paid sick days. For prisons, see Prison Policy Initiative, which has five specific suggestions for jails and prisons, starting with releasing as many people as possible. New York City has developed a working paper on coronavirus for homeless shelters. And of course, the country needs economic justice and universally available health care.
Bill teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and heads up the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
Senator Bernie Sanders. (photo: Getty Images)
Bernie Sanders to Remain in Democratic Primary and Attend Sunday's Debate
Scott Detrow, Kelsey Snell, Miles Parks, NPR
Excerpt: "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is planning to stay in the 2020 Democratic presidential race and pointed ahead to Sunday's one-on-one debate with Biden in Arizona."
Scott Detrow, Kelsey Snell, Miles Parks, NPR
Excerpt: "Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is planning to stay in the 2020 Democratic presidential race and pointed ahead to Sunday's one-on-one debate with Biden in Arizona."
Two weeks ago, Sanders was the unlikely front-runner for the nomination. Now former Vice President Joe Biden has consolidated support so rapidly, and won so many states, that Sanders is facing calls to drop out of the race.
But Sanders announced his intention to press on in a statement on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump is the most dangerous president in the modern history of our country, and he must be defeated," Sanders said. "I will do everything in my power to make that happen."
Sanders conceded, however, that last night was poor for his campaign "from a delegate point of view," as Biden expanded his lead in the race.
Sanders pointed ahead to Sunday's one-on-one debate with Biden in Arizona, and he said he would work to change the minds of voters who say they like his policy ideas but view Biden as the best option to defeat Trump in November.
"The American people will have the opportunity to see which candidate is best positioned to accomplish that goal," Sanders said.
A shift in tone
Ahead of Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, Sanders would often end his rallies with a bold prediction: A wave of record turnout was on its way, and young and first-time voters would pave the way for a Sanders win that would shake the political establishment.
The wave never came, even as Sanders won two of the first three contests and finished in a virtual tie for first in the other. Exit poll after exit poll showed that while Sanders was winning young voters by a large margin, youth turnout was either flat or down in many states.
On Sunday evening, Sanders found himself in a familiar setting: addressing more than 10,000 amped-up young people on a college campus. But Sanders ended that Ann Arbor, Mich., rally on a different tone — more of a plea than a boast.
"We need you to come out to vote, or to vote early," he said. "We need you to bring out your friends and families and coworkers.
"Tell your friends that you're tired of them complaining about high tuition and student debt and lack of health care and low wages and unaffordable housing. Tell them to stop complaining and to stand up and fight back."
They didn't — at least in big enough numbers to help Sanders. He lost Michigan, a state that delivered him his biggest upset win of the 2016 primary, by more than 10 points, despite winning the 18- to 29-year-old demographic by more than 50 percentage points, according to CNN exit polls.
On Wednesday, Sanders warned the Democratic Party against nominating someone who young people do not support.
"We are winning the generational debate," Sanders said. "Today I say to the Democratic establishment: In order to win in the future, you need to win the voters who represent the future of our country. And you must speak to the issues of concern to them."
Key losses
On Tuesday night, Sanders lost another state from the 2016 win column: Idaho. And in Missouri, where Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were neck-and-neck four years ago (Clinton narrowly won the state), Biden's margin was so large that The Associated Press and other news outlets called the race the moment the polls closed.
As the field winnowed, Sanders and his top advisers were confident that a two-candidate race would give them the space and platform to make a clear distinction between the two men's long track records. Sanders ratcheted up attacks on Biden's support for trade deals like NAFTA, and for the 2003 Iraq War.
But on Super Tuesday, and again this Tuesday night, a clear pattern emerged: In state after state this month, Democratic voters have weighed that binary choice and picked Biden.
The math leading to November
Even as Sanders weighs his future, many Democratic leaders are viewing Biden as the party's likely, if not mathematically prohibitive, nominee.
Shortly after Biden was projected the winner in Michigan, Guy Cecil, chairman of the powerful Priorities USA superPAC, threw his support behind the former vice president.
"What tonight has made clear is that the delegate math is now a straight line to Joe Biden's nomination," Cecil told NPR. "So we're going to do everything we can to help him in the effort looking forward to November."
The super PAC is already up with online ads in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida and plans to start television ads in Michigan on Wednesday, Cecil said. The group plans to focus on countering President Trump's economic message, fighting against attacks on Biden.
Priorities USA has announced plans to spend $150 million on online and television advertising before the Democratic Party's convention in July. The group's advertising support clears the way for Biden to invest his official campaign cash on other priorities.
The move was largely symbolic as Sanders has long rejected the financial backing of super PACs. But the announcement means Biden will have critical spending support going forward.
Some Biden supporters, including Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., were calling for Sanders to step aside before the polls closed in Michigan. Clyburn said it is in the party's best interest to consolidate quickly and focus energy on defeating Trump.
"I think it is time for us to shut this primary down. It is time for us to cancel the rest of these debates," Clyburn told NPR. "You don't do anything but get yourself in trouble if you continue in this contest when it's obvious that the numbers will not shake out for you."
Clyburn endorsed Biden ahead of the South Carolina primary after telling reporters that the fate of the country was at stake. He is credited with helping solidify Biden's support among black voters in his home state. That endorsement helped jump-start momentum for Biden after disappointing finishes in the first three contests.
"Their ideas need to be embraced"
Not all Democrats share his confidence. Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell, who has not endorsed a candidate, urged the party to allow voters to decide. Dingell told NPR that Democrats should not force anyone out of the race, particularly when young voters in her state are turning out strongly for Sanders.
"You don't shut that off. You need everybody engaged," Dingell told NPR. "You don't tell somebody they need to get out."
Sanders supporter Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also warned against alienating voters who have been energized by Sanders. She pointed to the coalition of progressives, young voters and Latinos who have backed Sanders in large numbers.
"I don't think we can gloss over the generational divide," Jayapal told NPR. "Their ideas need to be embraced, and we need to build an enthusiasm so people vote not only from fear, but also from hope."
They would also need to turn out in November for Democrats to defeat Trump.
In 2016, Sanders pressed on through the full primary calendar, even when it was clear that Clinton wouldn't relinquish her delegate lead. Despite the fact that Sanders campaigned for Clinton in the general election, many Democrats think Sanders' extended campaign weakened Clinton's candidacy.
Sanders has repeatedly pledged to do everything he can to defeat Trump, and, if he isn't the nominee, to fully back Biden.
The question Sanders and his advisers face in Burlington, Vt., after another week of lopsided losses: whether there's any plausible path forward for the political revolution they were all so sure about just a few weeks ago.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in October 2019. (photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)
AOC: The Future of Democratic Party Is Progressive
Eliza Relman, Business Insider
Relman writes: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez conceded that Tuesday was a 'tough night' for her chosen 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who suffered a series of devastating primary defeats."
READ MORE
Eliza Relman, Business Insider
Relman writes: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez conceded that Tuesday was a 'tough night' for her chosen 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, who suffered a series of devastating primary defeats."
READ MORE
Harvey Weinstein. (photo: Getty Images)
I Testified Against Harvey Weinstein. No Sentence Can Heal His Victims, but It's a Start
Tarale Wulff, Guardian UK
Wulff writes: "I was not one of the named victims in this trial, I am not permitted under the laws of New York to give a victim impact statement. It is important for me, however, that my voice is heard."
READ MORE
Tarale Wulff, Guardian UK
Wulff writes: "I was not one of the named victims in this trial, I am not permitted under the laws of New York to give a victim impact statement. It is important for me, however, that my voice is heard."
READ MORE
Woman in New York City wears a medical mask. (photo: Stefan Jeremiah)
Trump Is Trying to Pull Millions Off Insurance as Coronavirus Spreads
Susan Rinkunas, VICE
Rinkunas writes: "Today the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about whether the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, can remain the law of the land even without its tax penalty for not having health insurance."
READ MORE
Susan Rinkunas, VICE
Rinkunas writes: "Today the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case about whether the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, can remain the law of the land even without its tax penalty for not having health insurance."
READ MORE
Austin's South by Southwest arts and music festival. (photo: Merrick Ales)
Keep Austin Weird, Keep Artists Paid: How the Cancellation of SXSW Affects Black Creators
Tonja Renee Stidhum, The Root
Stidhum writes: "I've been to SXSW as a patron. I've been to SXSW as a member of the press. I've always dreamed of going to SXSW with a project."
READ MORE
Tonja Renee Stidhum, The Root
Stidhum writes: "I've been to SXSW as a patron. I've been to SXSW as a member of the press. I've always dreamed of going to SXSW with a project."
READ MORE
Honolulu. (photo: iStock)
Honolulu Sues Petroleum Companies for Climate Change Damages to City
David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News
Hasemyer writes: "Honolulu city officials, lashing out at the fossil fuel industry in a climate change lawsuit filed Monday, accused oil producers of concealing the dangers that greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum products would create, while reaping billions in profits."
David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News
Hasemyer writes: "Honolulu city officials, lashing out at the fossil fuel industry in a climate change lawsuit filed Monday, accused oil producers of concealing the dangers that greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum products would create, while reaping billions in profits."
The city’s lawsuit cites the industry’s concealing of science that predicted catastrophic consequences for the continued burning of fossil fuels.
onolulu city officials, lashing out at the fossil fuel industry in a climate change lawsuit filed Monday, accused oil producers of concealing the dangers that greenhouse gas emissions from petroleum products would create, while reaping billions in profits.
The lawsuit, against eight oil companies, says climate change already is having damaging effects on the city's coastline, and lays out a litany of catastrophic public nuisances—including sea level rise, heat waves, flooding and drought caused by the burning of fossil fuels—that are costing the city billions, and putting its residents and property at risk.
"We are seeing in real time coastal erosion and the consequences," Josh Stanbro, chief resilience officer and executive director for the City and County of Honolulu Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency, told InsideClimate News. "It's an existential threat for what the future looks like for islanders."
The lawsuit puts it simply: The industry has known for decades that those impacts could be catastrophic, yet did nothing.
Fossil fuel companies have "promoted and profited from a massive increase in the extraction and consumption of oil, coal, and natural gas, which has in turn caused an enormous, foreseeable, and avoidable increase in global greenhouse gas pollution," the suit states.
"Defendants had actual knowledge that their products were defective and dangerous and were and are causing and contributing to the nuisance complained of, and acted with conscious disregard for the probable dangerous consequences of their conduct's and products' foreseeable impact upon the rights of others, including the City and its residents," according to the 119 page lawsuit filed in in the First Circuit Court of Hawaii.
The lawsuit seeks to hold fossil companies, including Exxon, Shell, Chevron and Phillips 66, accountable for the costs and damages caused by misleadingly promoting and selling products that their own scientists and experts warned could impose "severe" or even "catastrophic" consequences.
"This case is about accountability," Stanbro said during a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
"It's about making sure corporations play by the rules; disclose known problems with their products," he said. "And when they don't do that, they are held accountable to cover the cost the rest of society is having to bear."
Business owner Mike Leary sees holding the fossil fuel industry legally responsible as long overdue,and a decisive step in dealing with the damages that have been affecting his business for years. At Leary's Island Demo's equipment yard on the edge of downtown Honolulu, rubber boots and waders have become standard gear for the workers. Desks in the small office sit on cinder blocks and the interior walls have been stripped to the studs because there's no use trying to keep sheetrock up: it only has to come down again after it's once more soaked by floodwater.
Leary has watched as more frequent tidal flooding from rising seas has inundated the property in recent years, and he supports the city's plan to try to hold the fossil fuel industry legally accountable for climate-related damage.
"This constant flooding is a nightmare," Leary said. He estimates that he's had to buy 60 pairs of waders for his demolition company's crew in the last few years. "The flooding is happening so frequently now that these guys need the boots to walk around in the yard."
The lawsuit sketches a dire picture of Honolulu's fate in the face of climate change:
- The sea level is almost certain to rise substantially along the city's coastline, causing flooding, erosion and beach loss. Extreme weather, including hurricanes and tropical storms, "rain bomb" events, drought, heat waves and other phenomena, will become more frequent, longer-lasting and more severe.
- Temperatures that are warming four times faster than anytime in the last 50 years will likely lead to heat waves that could expand the range of pathogens and invasive species, and stress plants and animals.
- Freshwater would become scarcer in the city because of a decrease in rainfall. Warming oceans and acidification could reduce fish catch and injure or kill coral reefs.
The city faces costs estimated at more than $19 billion, as sea level rise threatens critical infrastructure, including roads, freshwater supply pipelines, coastal structures and a wastewater treatment plant, according to the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Honolulu by the San Francisco-based law firm of Sher Eding, an environmental law office handling 11 of the 14 climate cases filed in the last two-and-a-half years.
The growing list of lawsuits, filed by cities, counties and the state of Rhode Island, are determined to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for damages and mitigation costs attributable to climate change, costs that could bankrupt municipal budgets.
In fighting them the industry has been trying to get the cases heard in federal rather than state courts, which it hopes will prevent them from being litigated at all. It argues that climate remedies and policy questions belong with Congress, not the courts—a position federal courts have embraced in similar cases. Most of the legal skirmishes so far have been over jurisdiction rather than the fossil fuel industry's role in climate change.
The jurisdiction question, which Honolulu almost certainly will face, is hanging in legal limbo in federal appeals courts across the country. A Maryland appeals court ruled recently that a climate case filed by Baltimore should be heard in state court. Rulings in the remaining cases are expected later this year and could set at least one of the cases on course for a showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The coast-to-coast litigation calls out the fossil fuel industry for its culpability in sea level rise, wildfires, drought and other climate related disasters—furious natural ravages exacerbated by climate change that have resulted in billions of dollars of damages, lost lives and uncertain futures, the lawsuits claim.
Generally, these cases embrace a range of state law violations that include public nuisance, trespass, product liability and consumer protection.
The foundation of the lawsuits rests on the argument that the industry knew for decades that burning fossil fuels would accelerate climate change, but nevertheless campaigned to undermine climate science and mislead the public about the role of fossil fuels.
The mayor of neighboring Maui also has vowed legal action against the industry, saying last year that a lawsuit was necessary to offset taxpayer costs associated with mitigating climate change-related damages to the island. The Maui County Council recently gave approval to engaging Sher Edling to prepare litigation.
Honolulu's Harbinger of the Climate Crisis
What's happening at Island Demo and along the Oahu shore is the "canary in the coal mine" for Honolulu, Stanbro, the city resilience officer who announced the lawsuit, told InsideClimate News.
As global temperatures rise, warming ocean water expands and land ice in Greenland, Antarctica and mountain glaciers melts into the sea. Higher seas lead to more erosion, tidal flooding and damage when storms strike, creating economic risks, endangering lives and threatening the way of life for islanders.
The lawsuit offers the hope of safeguarding lives and the economic livelihood of Honolulu, Stanbro said.
"We are a small island with a small population," Stanbro said. "How do you clean up from (billions) in damages?"
He said the lawsuit will make sure funds are available for adaptation and recovery, though no dollar amount was specified in the lawsuit.
Studies have been warning of the damage ahead for Honolulu as sea level rises. Leary's equipment yard along Kilihau Street is one of about 15 businesses that already flood frequently when seawater surges into them from Mamala Bay, less than a half mile away. If sea level rises 3.2 feet, that could cause up to $150 million in economic losses in the 20 square blocks surrounding Leary's business, according to a study by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant program.
The image Leary paints of his ongoing—and losing—battle with sea level rise is as absurd as it is colorful.
"If you had a fishing rod you could catch tilapia in the middle of the street," he said.
Two feet of seawater flowing down the street, filling his equipment yard and swamping Leary's office, has become almost a monthly occurrence with the tidal pull from each full moon; a nuisance to be reckoned with in rubber boots. It's worse when exceptionally high tides—-called king tides—are whipped into a fury by storms.
"It takes a tremendous toll," Leary said, describing the destruction four feet of water causes when it surges across his equipment yard. "There's no stopping it, and it's only going to get worse."
Troubled Waters for Hawaii
The threat to the businesses along the shores of Oahu foreshadows the dark future for an island exposed to body blows from climate change-induced sea level rise.
Oahu and its string of sister islands sit vulnerably in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A 2017 Sea Level Rise Vulnerability and Adaptation Report, written for the state's Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission, provides a dire statewide assessment of Hawaii's exposure and vulnerability to sea level rise.
"Over the next 30 to 70 years, as sea level rises, homes and businesses located on or near the shoreline throughout the State will become exposed to chronic flooding," the report says. "Portions of coastal roads may become flooded, eroded, impassible and potentially irreparable, jeopardizing access to and from many communities.
"Plan for 3.2 feet of sea level rise now, and be ready to adjust that projection upward," the report says. "It is also important to recognize that global sea level rise will not stop at the year 2100, but will likely continue on for centuries."
The report estimates that more than 6,500 structures near the shoreline would be compromised or lost if sea level rose 3.2 feet. Some of these vulnerable structures include hotels, shopping malls and small businesses, like Island Demolition.
The loss of residential structures — homes, apartments and condominiums — could leave more than 20,000 people without homes. The value of flooded structures, combined with the land value of the 25,800 acres projected to be flooded, amounts to more than $19 billion across the state, according to the report.
Up to 15 percent of the state's highway system will be affected by sea level rise, and road protection or relocation around the state will cost at least $15 billion.
'That Should be on the Fossil Fuel Companies'
Oahu, home to Honolulu, is the most developed and populous Hawaiian island, and consequently will take the biggest hit from rising seas.
"The impact of sea level rise on Oahu is greater than all of the other islands combined due to the size of the population and extensive urbanization of vulnerable coastal areas," according to the report. "Even more troubling is the fact that impacts from chronic flooding with sea level rise on Oahu can reverberate and translate into economic and social impacts for the other islands."
On Oahu, 3.2 feet of sea level rise will have an impact on 3,880 structures and 13,300 residents, resulting in $12.9 billion dollars of loss and damage to private property, according to the report.
Beyond sea level rise, Hawaii faces the added risk of coastal flooding from hurricanes and tropical cyclones and increasing rainfall fueled by global warming.
Hawaii's abundant wildlife also finds itself in the crosshairs of seal level rise.
Flooding and loss of beaches could threaten the endangered Hawaiian monk seals, Hawaiian green turtle nesting areas, and the nesting habitats for 25 protected migratory birds.
"Rising seas, rain bombs, stronger hurricanes, and other consequences of climate change are already threatening Oahu and will impact our fiscal health," said Honolulu City Council Budget Chair Joey Manahan. "Taxpayers should not have to pay for all the steps we will need to take to protect our roads, beaches, homes, and businesses. That should be on the fossil fuel companies who knowingly caused the damage, and as budget chair I believe we should go to court to make them pay their share."
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