05 July 20
Cornel West and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor on Uprising Against Racism: "America's Moment of Reckoning"
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "Well, there's no doubt that this is America's moment of reckoning."
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "Well, there's no doubt that this is America's moment of reckoning."
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President Trump watches as U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly overhead at Mount Rushmore in Keystone, S.D., on July 3, 2020. (photo: Tom Brenner/Reuters)
David Nakamura, The Washington Post
Nakamura writes: "In his inaugural address, President Trump sketched the picture of 'American carnage' - a nation ransacked by marauders from abroad who breached U.S. borders in pursuit of jobs and crime, lured its companies offshore and bogged down its military in faraway conflicts."
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Seattle. (photo: Jason Redmond/Reuters)
One of Two Seattle Protesters Hit by Car Dies From Her Injuries
Barbie Latza Nadeau, The Daily Beast
Nadeau writes: "Summer Taylor, the 24-year-old Seattle protester who was hit by a car driven by Dawit Kelete early Saturday morning, has died from their injuries."
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Barbie Latza Nadeau, The Daily Beast
Nadeau writes: "Summer Taylor, the 24-year-old Seattle protester who was hit by a car driven by Dawit Kelete early Saturday morning, has died from their injuries."
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The theaters in your town will be closed for a while, too. (photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
New York's Problems Are America's Problems Now
Henry Grabar, Slate
Grabar writes: "After six terrible weeks as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York is reopening again, in fits and starts. The city was not, as some observers irresponsibly claimed, a uniquely vulnerable edge case."
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Henry Grabar, Slate
Grabar writes: "After six terrible weeks as the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York is reopening again, in fits and starts. The city was not, as some observers irresponsibly claimed, a uniquely vulnerable edge case."
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Vicky Hartzler. (photo: Don Shrubshell/Tribune)
Missouri Rep Hartzler Reveals How Much Coronavirus Relief Went to Family Businesses
Bryan Lowry, McClatchy DC
Lowry writes: "Rep. Vicky Hartzler's family's businesses received nearly $480,000 from a federal program designed to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic, the Missouri Republican disclosed Thursday."
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Bryan Lowry, McClatchy DC
Lowry writes: "Rep. Vicky Hartzler's family's businesses received nearly $480,000 from a federal program designed to keep small businesses afloat during the pandemic, the Missouri Republican disclosed Thursday."
Hartzler’s announcement comes ahead of plans by the Small Business Administration to release names of businesses that obtained loans of more than $150,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program. The temporary program was launched in April to help businesses pay workers during coronavirus-related shutdowns.
Heartland Tractor Company, a firm owned by Hartzler and her husband, received a loan of $451,200, which helped preserve 54 jobs, according to a statement to The Star which provides more specific dollar figures than the SBA’s upcoming data release. Hartzler Farms also received a loan of $26,900 to retain three employees.
“This program has helped employees keep food on the table, pay their rent, and meet their car payments. The program protects paychecks across the state, including employees at the small business owned by my husband and me,” Hartzler said in a statement.
“We, like small business owners all across the country, are grateful for this program because it enabled our employees, who have become like family after working with us for so many years, to be financially sound during these difficult times.”
Both the tractor company and the farm are valued at between $1 million to $5 million, according to the financial disclosure Hartzler filed last year with the House.
Hartzler’s farm previously benefited from a separate program that bailed out farmers adversely affected by President Donald Trump’s trade war with China. Her farm had received more than $100,000 last year to compensate for 2018 losses.
Hartzler, who lives in Cass County, is one of several members of Congress to benefit from the Paycheck Protection Program, which did not restrict participation by lawmakers or their spouses.
The congresswoman, whose district stretches from the Kansas City area to central Missouri, first acknowledged in April that her husband applied for and received a loan from the program. But she initially declined to disclose the amount and which of the family’s several businesses had applied.
Lawmakers of both parties have lauded the program for helping prevent many businesses from going under during the pandemic. But the Trump administration’s initial refusal to name recipients and the revelation that it exempted lawmakers and federal officials from ethics reviews when applying for loans has raised bipartisan concerns about transparency.
Lindsey Simmons, the Hallsville Democrat challenging Hartzler in Missouri’s 4th congressional district, had repeatedly called on Hartzler to reveal the size of the loans her family businesses received. Simmons criticized Hartzler Thursday for waiting until July.
“It’s incredibly troubling that a sitting member of Congress is only willing to come clean when they’re about to be caught and the SBA is about to release information,” said Simmons, an attorney who has previously worked for former Sen. Claire McCaskill among other prominent Democrats.
She noted that the amount the Heartland Tractor Company received was nearly four times larger than the average PPP loan and that Hartzler has a history of taking advantage of government programs.
“I definitely believe that our campaign pushing for accountability and people in the district pushing for accountability got the ball rolling for her to disclose how much taxpayer money she’s taken.”
Hartzler emphasized in her statement that her husband’s application for the loans was in accordance with House ethics rules. She said more than 90,000 Missouri businesses had received loans from the program for a total of $9.1 billion to businesses in the state.
The program officially closed June 30, but on Tuesday the Senate passed an extension through the first week of August to enable more businesses to apply. Hartzler called on House leadership to take up the legislation quickly.
“Keeping people working has been one of the highest priorities of this Congress during this difficult time. During this national emergency, hardworking people should be able to focus on keeping their families safe and safeguarding their own health, not worrying about how to pay the rent,” she said.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin watches a Victory Day military parade on Red Square, marking the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II, on June 24 in Moscow. (photo: Ramil Sitdikov/Host Photo Agency/Getty Images)
Jen Kirby, Vox
ussian President Vladimir Putin just got what he’s wanted from a recent vote: the veneer of a popular mandate on a plan that allows him to stay in power far beyond his current term limit — and could essentially make him president for life.
On July 1, Russia tallied the results of a week-long national vote on a slew of constitutional reforms, including a constitutional amendment that allows Putin to nix term limits and remain president until 2036. Such an outcome was expected, and largely predetermined, given Russia’s long track record of electoral fraud. This latest vote also saw some, well, irregularities.
Putin, who’s been in power in Russia one way or another since 1999, was scheduled to leave office in 2024, though most observers figured he’d likely find a way to drag that out. The Russian leader’s plans became clearer this March, when, in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis, Russia’s parliament unrolled a whole bunch of proposed constitutional changes. They included a tweak that would reset presidential term limits, which could effectively make Putin Russia’s president for the rest of his life, or at least most of it (he’ll be 83 in 2036).
Pedro Capultitla's son, Axel, navigates a trajinera on a canal in Xochimilco. Axel is a 6th-generation chinampero. (photo: Colectivo Ahuejote/Grist)
Amanda Gokee, Atlas Obscura
Gokee writes: "Called chinampas, these floating gardens were built by the Aztecs to feed a growing population."
Xochimilco became one of the city’s main sources of food, but rapid urbanization in the 1900s meant less land available for farming. In 1985, when an earthquake struck Mexico City, many chinampas were abandoned as people who had lost their homes built shanty towns. Today, only an estimated 20 percent of the approximately 5,000 acres of chinampas are in use, and only 3 percent are used for farming.
But since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Mexico, interrupting the industrial food supply in important ways, small farmers have increased production and rehabilitated abandoned chinampas to fill the demand for fresh, local food.
“We’re talking about something that’s 1,000 years old. We have to preserve this,” says Raúl Mondragón on a Zoom call from his home in Mexico City. Mondragón has been recuperating chinampas since 2016, when he founded Colectivo Ahuejote. Now the virus is revealing the strength of this model in the midst of a crisis.
The revival of chinampa farming is due, in part, to pandemic-related problems at Mexico City’s main market, La Central de Abastos, the largest of its kind in Latin America. Some warehouses have closed, truck traffic has been limited, and people have been getting sick with the virus. The supply chain of producers from around the country has also had to contend with road closures that limited deliveries to the capital and raised prices.
While the market is an enclosed and often crowded environment, small farmers can deliver their crops to the consumer directly, using a model similar to Community Supported Agriculture. At a time when people are worried about the risk of shopping at a crowded market or grocery store, buying directly from a chinampero at an outdoor pickup point in their neighborhood is one way of limiting exposure.
Quarantine has also given many Mexicans more time to cook, Mondragón points out, and they are taking a greater interest in where their food comes from. He cites a friend who now not only knows what a leek is but also how to cook it. His “very capitalistic” sister has started compulsively composting.
Mondragón grew up in Xochimilco, eating produce from the chinampas that his family bought at a local market. Now he works on the 16,000-square-foot chinampa that Colectivo Ahuejote uses for growing crops, teaching, and experimenting with new techniques. The collective operates as an NGO to develop cooperation among farmers, and they’ve also started a for-profit business to sell produce. Their goal is to rehabilitate abandoned chinampas to promote sustainable agriculture and the country’s agricultural heritage.
The pandemic halted the collective’s workshops and trainings, but the commercial side of the business has been flourishing. Between February and May, small farmers who are part of the collective have increased sales by 100 to 120 percent, according to Mondragón. Networks that have been years in the making are now becoming a bigger part of the city’s food supply.
This is a welcome change for farmers who have other jobs to support themselves. Chinampero Pedro Capultitla used to have two or three extra jobs, but he was able to quit one recently to spend more time farming.
The word chinampa comes from the Nahuatl chinámitl, meaning a hedge or fence made out of reeds. Mud from the bottom of the canal as well as lake vegetation are piled into this fencing until they reach the surface, creating a fertile and well-irrigated place for crops to grow. These favorable conditions make the chinampas one of the most productive types of agriculture in the world, enabling as many as seven harvests per year. A variety of produce flourishes here: greens, herbs, flowers, fruits, and milpa — a combination of corn, beans, and squash also grown by Native American farmers in the United States, who call this collection the three sisters.
Chinampero Pedro Méndez Rosas has been farming his whole life, and in that time, he’s seen generations of farmers leave to find work in the city. “They go in search of more money, or a more elegant life,” he says on a phone call after a day spent mostly harvesting squash. “But I’ve always preferred to be in the field.”
Méndez Rosas farms the same chinampas as his father and grandfather, and he eats the food he grows there, only buying products like grains and meat. He started helping out when he was 5 or 6, and “really working” when he was 13. This October, he’ll turn 50.
Since COVID-19, Méndez Rosas has seen the demand for leafy greens go up. As the orders he normally fills from restaurants and chefs have been put on hold, he is now primarily selling products to individuals and families. The quick changes to business can be challenging, but Méndez Rosas has never been in it for the money.
“Being a chinampero is a vocation,” Méndez Rosas says. “For me, it’s a way of life. It’s a way of hanging onto our traditions and our culture.”
These floating gardens have been feeding the city for a millennium, in times of sickness and in times of health, and this pandemic has made it clear that they are poised to keep sustaining the city in the future. Traditions continue quietly; a seed buried in fertile ground, small certainties against the future. For his part, Pedro Méndez Rosas prepares, again, to plant.
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