Paul Krugman reveals why the far right is living out its ‘nightmare’ — and could become even more dangerous
Published on June 12, 2020 By Alex Henderson, AlterNet


The “Justice for George Floyd” protests have been having a major impact all around the United States — even in the Deep South, where symbols of the Confederacy are being removed from public property. Discussing the impact of the protests in his New York Times column, liberal economist Paul Krugman asserts that far-right “reactionaries” are having a terrible month. But Krugman also warns that the more threatened reactionaries feel, the more “dangerous” they can become in the months leading up this year’s presidential election

President Donald Trump has been highly critical of the removal of Confederate monuments from public places — which, Krugman stresses, speaks volumes about Trump’s mentality and the mentality of his party.

"Why should a guy who grew up in Queens care about Confederate tradition in the first place?” Krugman asks. “The answer is that Trump and most of his party are reactionaries.”

Krugman goes on to explain that “from a reactionary’s point of view, the past three weeks have been a nightmare. Not only are marginal people who are supposed to know their place standing up for justice — they’re overwhelmingly winning the battle for public opinion.”

Trump, according to Krugman, has responded to the Floyd protests in a variety of ways — from “wild conspiracy theorizing” to “law and order” rhetoric that seeks to “turn the clock back to 1968.” Krugman is obviously referring to the fear-mongering 1968 presidential campaigns of President Richard Nixon and segregationist George Wallace.

Another tactic of the far right, Krugman observes, is claiming that the Floyd protests are being organized by extremists.

“On the right, it’s a given that mass popular demonstrations have been orchestrated by Antifa radicals, though there’s not a shred of evidence to that effect,” Krugman writes. “And Trump, famously, suggested that a 75-year-old man knocked over by the police — we’ve all seen the video of him bleeding out on the sidewalk — was an Antifa provocateur who somehow engineered his own assault.”

Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020

Krugman points out that in the minds of far-right reactionaries, “the horror of the situation isn’t the possibility that protests might turn violent. It’s the fact that the protests are happening at all. And that’s why people like Trump and Tom Cotton have been so eager to send in the military.”

Moreover, Krugman says, reactionaries are terrified to see so many whites marching in the protests.

But Krugman ends his column with a warning: if far-right reactionaries believe they are losing public option, that could make them even worse.

“Don’t count the reactionaries out,” Krugman warns. “They remain extremely dangerous and will become more dangerous if, as seems increasingly likely, Trump finds himself staring at the prospect of electoral defeat.”

American apartheid: This country still treats too many of its black citizens like slaves
Published on June 13, 2020 By Lucian K. Truscott IV, Salon- Commentary


Imagine that you are a black citizen of this country. Every day, you wake up in your house or your apartment, and you must wonder, is this the day? Is this the day I’m going to be jogging down a neighborhood street, like Ahmaud Arbery, and be killed by armed civilians? Is this the day I’m going to be arrested outside a convenience store, like George Floyd, and be strangled to death? Is this the day I’m going to be stopped in my car by a policeman for failure to signal a lane change, like Sandra Bland, and be arrested and jailed and end up dead? Is this the day I’m going to be birdwatching in the park, like Christian Cooper, and have a passerby call the police and report me? Is this the day I’m going to be stopped for a broken brake light, like Walter Scott, and shot five times in the back and killed? Is this the day I’m going to walk up to the door of my apartment building and be confronted by four policemen and when I reach for my wallet, be shot 19 times, like Amadou Diallo? Is this the day I will be snatched off the street by three white supremacists and dragged with a chain behind a truck for three miles until I die, like James Byrd Jr. in Texas?

How would you like to be afraid every single day of your life that something terrible will happen to you, just because you are black?

We white citizens are treating our fellow black citizens like they are slaves. They experience the same kind of violence and inhumanity that was visited upon slaves. If they were walking normally down a road, they could be suspected of having escaped their slave bonds and be arrested and taken into custody. They could be accused of misbehavior or a crime and be killed with impunity. They could be hanged from the neck until dead. They could be beaten with hands or clubs or whips in punishment for crimes they were arbitrarily accused of, without trial or conviction.

All of this could be done to them because they were not fully human beings. No laws protected them. They were not citizens. They were property. They were owned. Nothing prevented their punishment or death. Their owners could do with them what they pleased. They could rape them. They could beat them. They could sell them. They could kill them. Nothing would happen to the people who did those things, because they were white. They were protected by their skin color, and that was enough.

So many attitudes and laws are passed down to us from slavery, and we inherit them without thinking about it. Doesn’t all of this sound like what has been done to black citizens over and over and over again? Sure, sometimes a perpetrator is caught and tried and punished. But many times — way, way too many times — when the perpetrators are police officers, they get away with it. The police have been like overseers, working for slave owners to control and discipline and punish slaves. The police are our hired agents just as much as overseers were the agents of slave owners. It’s awful to confront, isn’t it? Ugly. Terrible to think about.

But it’s been happening right in front of our eyes. It’s beyond racism. It’s a system of apartheid that has been with us since slavery: two worlds, one white, one black, kept separate by culture and custom and law enforcement. Two systems of justice, two ways of punishment, two ways of living, two ways of dying.

If you are white, you don’t have to wake up in the morning in fear of what will happen to you that day at the hands of the police or your fellow citizens. You don’t have to worry that you will be pursued and shot to death because you are jogging through a neighborhood. You don’t have to worry that men will seize you and tie you with a chain behind a truck and drag you until you are dead. You don’t have to worry about a policeman pulling you over in your car because your taillight is out, and you will end up handcuffed and beaten and even shot. You do not have to worry about any of this because you are white, not black.

We white people, we have sat back and thought to ourselves, it’s all good now. In my lifetime, we’ve had Brown v. Board of Education, ordering the integration of schools. We have passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, conveying the right to free access to public accommodations, and outlawing discrimination in hiring because of race. We’ve passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, prohibiting racial discrimination in voting. We’ve passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting racial discrimination in rentals and sales of housing. We have passed dozens of lesser federal and state laws dealing with racial discrimination of various kinds. We have even elected a black president.

And yet here we are. Black people are still being beaten and killed all across this country, not just in the South, but in the Midwest and the West and the North. When it’s done by cops, they generally get away with it because the system of apartheid allows it, two legal systems, one for white people and one for black people. Black people are arrested and jailed far more than white people. They are given stiffer sentences. And yes, they are beaten and killed by policemen for infractions that white people can usually get away with.

You want to know why this is happening? It’s because we have never lived up to the promise in the Declaration of Independence that everyone is created equal, and we have never lived up to the guarantees in the Constitution enforcing that ideal.

It’s happening because we have never dealt, as a nation, with our legacy of slavery. Look at what’s happening right now. Donald Trump just announced that he will oppose the renaming of Army posts named for Confederate generals. He wanted to put armed active duty soldiers on the streets to suppress the protests against the killing of George Floyd. Why is he doing this? Because he wants to send a signal to the base of his supporters that he is in favor of our system of apartheid, and wants to keep it going.

His audience gets the message when its subject is honoring Confederate generals who fought on the side of slavery. By honoring these dishonorable traitors to the ideals of our Constitution, Trump is keeping alive the laws of slavery. Did you see the story about a dozen Republican county chairmen in Texas sending out racist and anti-Semitic posts last week? You know why they did it? Because they can read Trump’s signals that it’s OK to discriminate against black people and Jewish people. They know he’s on their side.

Slavery isn’t some ancient custom you find in history books. In terms of the history of this country, it’s yesterday, staring us in the face. You want to know how close we are to slavery? My grandmother’s grandfather owned slaves. When I was growing up and visited my grandparents, their maid lived in a log cabin without running water or electricity that had been built by her great-grandparents when they were freed from slavery. Her grandmother, who still lived with her, was born a slave. All her ancestors she knew of, past her grandparents, had been slaves. All of my ancestors on my grandmother’s side, past her grandmother and grandfather, had been slave owners. All the schools in the state of Virginia, where my grandparents lived, were segregated. So were public accommodations. If you were black and you wanted to buy a Coke in Loudoun County where my grandparents lived, you had to go to a black-owned store. If you wanted to buy a dress or a shirt, you had to go to a black-owned store. If you wanted to use the restroom, you had to go to a restroom marked for “Coloreds.”

I saw it all. This apartheid happened during my lifetime.

My sixth great-grandfather, Thomas Jefferson, who famously wrote the words in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal,” also infamously owned more than 600 slaves during his lifetime. He wrote in a letter in 1820 to a friend, discussing the issue of slavery in the territory of Missouri, “But as it is, we have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.”

The “wolf” to which he referred was the evil of slavery.

I called my old friend Frank Serpico on Thursday night to discuss the issues of racism and police brutality that have filled the news for weeks. He was a famous New York cop who fought corruption in the NYPD more than 50 years ago, and I knew he would have something to say.

“It’s the same shit, Lucian,” Serpico said. “It doesn’t go anywhere. They always pick on the guy who has no ability to defend himself. It’s not just the cops. It’s the judges, it’s the district attorneys, it’s the mayors. The cops, they come from society, and the society is us. Watching this cold-blooded killer taking the life out of a human being was like a perfect storm. When you give somebody power, they’re never going to give it up. Look at Trump. He’s in there egging it on. There’s no stopping him. It’s been there all along. It’s all been said before. Nothing ever changes.”

I interviewed Serpico at his home in the Netherlands in 1975 for a story in the Village Voice. He told me back then, “People have got to understand that it’s just as patriotic to try to keep your country from dying, as it is to die for your country.”

Serpico is right. We will continue to have “justice on one scale, and self-preservation in the other” until we confront the wolf of slavery, and if we don’t, our country will die.

Larry Kudlow grilled by CNN’s Tapper over ‘swampy’ decision to hide names of corporations getting millions in bail-out dollar

Published on June 14, 2020 By Tom Boggioni


Appearing on CNN on Sunday morning, one of Donald Trump’s chief economic advisors was put on the spot by State of the Union host Jake Tapper for the administration’s decision to withhold the names of corporations that received millions in federal bailout money related to the coronavirus pandemic.

With the host noting Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s decision to withhold the names of the large corporations that have received millions in taxpayer dollars after previously saying the process would be totally transparent, Director of the United States National Economic Council Larry Kudlow was pressed to explain why the secrecy.

“He [Mnuchin] reversed course and he said the government would not release the names of those companies,” Tapper began. “Now, look, I can understand why the Trump administration might think that a company that receives a $25,000 loan doesn’t need that information released — I get that. But some companies are getting millions if not tens of millions of dollars. Don’t the American people have a right to know where their money is going?”

“Well, look. I think in terms of those that shouldn’t have qualified, a lot of them have returned the money, and some of those have been named, but I think when Secretary Mnuchin talked about transparency, he talked about the transparency of the process of making the evaluation for the loan and then the distribution of the loan,” he attempted.

“I’m sorry,” Tapper replied. “He said we would report to the public — that’s what he said, we will be reporting to the public. That’s us, the American people and we have a right to know where these tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars have gone if there’s no problem with it, if everything’s fine with it, great. but otherwise it is about as swampy a deal as I can ever imagine. The government giving out hundreds of millions of dollars and the American people don’t even get to know who got it.”

‘Well, I don’t know that I would judge it that way. Idon’t think it was sloppy,” Kudlow replied only to have Tapper correct him with “swampy.”

“The Congressional Budget Office, which is nonpartisan, said this is the most efficient distribution of emergency rescue funds ever,” Kudlow soldiered on. “That’s the CBO, that’s nonpartisan, Jake. Now, insofar as naming each and every company, I don’t think that promise was ever made and I don’t think it’s necessary. I think what is necessary is to make sure that the legalities were observed, that the process of credit and lending was observed, and that people who can qualify will in fact get it.”


You can watch below:

Internet celebrates ‘best president ever’ Obama by honoring 44th president on Trump’s birthday
Published 1 min ago on June 14, 2020
By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement - Commentary


It’s President Donald Trump’s 74th birthday but on social media former President Barack Obama is the one being celebrated.

On Twitter, the top trending topics include #BestPresidentEver, which is number one and almost entirely comprised of tweets about Barack Obama.

“President Trump celebrates 74th birthday” is number two.

“President Obama” is number three. “Mr. President,” mostly praise for Obama or attacks on Donald Trump, is number four.

#RampGate, relating to Trump having to be helped to walk down a ramp after he delivered the West Point commencement address in number seven.
“People are expressing their r former president Barack Obama,” is number nine.

#TrumpIsUnwell comes in at number 10.

And #ObamaDayJune14th is number 11.

A few examples:

Today is Yo Day!!!! Love you #44 and miss You!!! #BestPresidentEver #ObamaDayJune14th pic.twitter.com/gO3uyjKNwN
— MeShellTheBell (@MeShellTheBell1) June 14, 2020


#BestPresidentEver walks the ramp with ease and grace — and going up. #ObamaAppreciationDay pic.twitter.com/EtZd3KJI7V
— Outspoken (@Out5p0ken) June 14, 2020


GM everybody-
I hear it’s #ObamaDayJune14th

President Obama, a man of integrity and inspiration that believed in building bridges, not walls. #HappyBirthdayTrump pic.twitter.com/DaISEuF0ev
— Debbie (@Dangchick1) June 14, 2020

President Obama can win elections without cheating.#ObamaDay #ObamaDidEverythingBetter #TrumpIsNotWell pic.twitter.com/rSRMTGRw8R

—

Robyn (@rsmale) June 14, 2020


Impossible to pick just one @PeteSouza photo of my President. @BarackObama encompassed everything a leader should: strength, compassion, clarity, accountability, affability, humility.#ObamaDayJune14th #ObamaAppreciationDay #ObamaDay #BarackObamaDay #BarackObamaDayJune14th pic.twitter.com/VOV92AW9Ft
— Dr. Lara Carlson (@DrLaraCarlson) June 14, 2020


Forever First Family #ObamaAppreciationDay pic.twitter.com/p4NhJMPFN7
— TV One (@tvonetv) June 14, 2020


WATCH: Trump greeted by silence after telling West Point cadets it’s his birthday on Sunday
Published on June 13, 2020 By Tom Boggioni


Midway through his commencement address at West Point, Donald Trump noted that tomorrow is notable for being both the birthday of the U.S. Army and his own — and was greeted with silence by the graduating cadets.

Earlier in his speech, scattered applause could be heard as the president commended some of the military school’s top athletes, but when the subject of birthdays came up his announcement was met with silence before he soldiered on.

“Tomorrow, America will celebrate a very important anniversary — the 245th birthday of the US Army. Unrelated, it’s going to be my birthday also. I don’t know if that happened by accident,” the president said, and with no response, added, “But it’s a great day because of that Army birthday.”

Watch below:

“Tomorrow, America will celebrate a very important anniversary — the 245th birthday of the US Army. Unrelated, it’s going to be my birthday also. I don’t know if that happened by accident.” #BoneSpurs pic.twitter.com/KDlfxePPeE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 13, 2020

Larry Stone: Black Lives Matter movement has catalyzed a reckoning across sports — and it's not slowing down

2020/6/14 ©The Seattle Times

Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/TNS

SEATTLE — The country is going through cataclysmic changes before our very eyes. And the world of sports, rather than providing a sanctuary for those who want to escape the upheaval, is being jolted with a seismic force of its own.

You might even say a reckoning is taking place at all levels of sports. When NASCAR, of all organizations, announces a ban of the Confederate flag in all forms at its races, well, there’s something’s happening here, to paraphrase the classic Buffalo Springfield song from an earlier era of reckoning.

The demands, revelations, changes and mea culpas that have taken place in just a couple of weeks since the George Floyd protests started are nothing short of astonishing.

Perhaps the fact that almost all our games are shut down from the coronavirus makes this a unique moment of reflection by both athletes and those in the power structure. It’s hard, after all, to find sanctuary in non-existent competition. Or, more to the point, this is one of those rare inflection points in our society where all arrows point in the direction of an awakening of sorts.

Clearly, Black athletes are not going to accept the status quo and are speaking out with a force not seen since the turbulent 1960s. White athletes are joining in solidarity more than ever before. As Richard Sherman told the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s like the beast has been woken up. And I don’t think they’ll let it go back to sleep.”

This has gone beyond the statements that virtually every sports team and organization felt compelled to make condemning the Floyd killing and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. It seems as if a collective soul-searching is manifesting itself in deeds as well as words. Whatever hesitance to speak out that might have existed in the past — fear of alienating owners, coaches, fans, sponsors — has abruptly disappeared.

You have the Boston Red Sox taking the remarkable step, in the wake of former All-Star outfielder Torii Hunter’s comment that he put the Red Sox on his no-trade list because of the racial abuse he received at Fenway Park, putting out a statement that began, “Torii Hunter’s experience is real. If you doubt him because you’ve never heard it yourself, take it from us, it happens.” The Red Sox then vowed to address “larger systemic issues” within the organization.

You had a group of star NFL players releasing a video on social media demanding that the league “admit wrong in silencing our players from peacefully protesting” — which resulted in commissioner Roger Goodell releasing his own video in which he did just that.

You had the newly elected president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, Cindy Parlow Cone, personally apologizing to OL Reign star Megan Rapinoe for the policy — recently repealed — that banned kneeling during the national anthem. Rapinoe had done so in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, and Parlow Cone told ESPN, “We missed the point completely — it was never about the flag.”

You had an extraordinary outpouring of allegations from nearly 50 former football players at the University of Iowa, alleging racism and systemic bullying within the program under coach Kirk Ferentz. The immediate result was longtime strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle — the highest-paid strength coach in the country — being placed on administrative leave, and a full investigation into the Hawkeye program ordered.

This only touches the surfaces of a movement that has now spread around the world, from international soccer to Australian Rules Football. The Premier League in England last week sanctioned the display of “Black Lives Matter” in place of individual player names on the back of jerseys. It also expressed support for players who choose to take a knee when play resumes.

Some might call it virtue signaling or political correctness. It’s fair to wonder if all this will last when the vigor of the current protest movement wears off. It’s inevitable that there will be a backlash, and it’s already coming. Saints quarterback Drew Brees received a firestorm of criticism when he stated that he could never support a protest during the national anthem because it was disrespecting the flag. But Brees was criticized from a different direction when he profusely apologized, then backed off his original statement, and then contradicted President Donald Trump by saying, “Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag. It has never been. We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our Black communities.”

It’s absolutely undeniable, however, that this movement within sports, in the wave of Black Lives Matter consciousness-raising, has attained what is now virtually an unstoppable momentum.

The second half of the lyric I quoted earlier — “There’s something’s happening here” — goes: “What it is ain’t exactly clear.” And, indeed, it’s impossible to say where all this is heading.

But if you’re one of those people who likes to tell athletes to “stick to sports” or “stay in your lane’’ or “shut up and dribble,” this is not a comfortable time. Because, for now anyway, the beast is wide awake.

Only one in six say their financial situation improved after three years of Trump: report
Published on June 14, 2020 By Tom Boggioni

According to a report at Bloomberg, few Americans believe their financial situation improved after over three years under the administration of Donald Trump.

The report notes that a survey commissioned by Bankrate.com revealed that, “The ‘Trump Bump’ hasn’t benefited most Americans, with fewer than one in six saying their personal finances have improved since Donald Trump became president.”

According to the survey, despite claims from the president that he has led America to its best economy ever, few are reaping the rewards if there are any.

“Almost twice as many respondents said they’re worse off since Trump moved into the White House in January 2017, while about half of the U.S. adults polled, 45%, said their financial situation has stayed about the same, ” the report states before adding, “Groups likely to report doing better under Trump included men, those identifying as white, and those earning $80,000 or more annually

The report does add the caveat that the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic is a contributing factor –with millions losing their jobs — bit added that the health crisis is only partly to blame.

“Three out of five of those surveyed said they failed to see any improvement in their personal wealth during Trump’s presidency, even before the coronavirus slammed the U.S., cratered the economy, and ate into stock market gains of the past three years,” Bloomberg reports, adding, “About 42% of those surveyed rated Trump’s overall handling of the economy negatively while 35% say he’s done a good or very good job.”

As for what the future holds, the report adds, “Just 35% of those who say their finances have been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak think their financial situations will improve by November’s election.”

Federal court urged to hold ‘rogue’ Trump EPA head in contempt for blatant defiance of ban on toxic weed killer

Published June 14, 2020 By Common Dreams
A coalition of farming and conservation groups is calling on a federal appeals court to hold EPA chief Andrew Wheeler in contempt for defying an order to immediately suspend use of dicamba, a poisonous weed-killer that is notorious for its tendency to drift and destroy nearby crops.

“Trump’s EPA is so rogue it thinks it can blow off a federal court ruling that stops the damaging dicamba spraying in an administrative order,” George Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety, lead counsel in the case, said in a statement late Thursday night. “EPA needs a lesson in separation of powers and we’re asking the court to give it to them.”

On Monday, the EPA issued guidance greenlighting the use of dicamba through July 31 despite a June 3 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the agency’s approval of XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan—dicamba-based herbicides sold by chemical giants Bayer (formerly Monsanto), BASF, and Corteva, respectively.

In its 56-page ruling (pdf), the Ninth Circuit said the EPA “entirely failed to recognize the enormous social cost to farming communities where use of dicamba herbicides had turned farmer against farmer, and neighbor against neighbor.”

“The EPA and Monsanto urge us, if we conclude that substantial evidence does not support the 2018 conditional registrations, to remand without vacatur, leaving the conditional registrations in effect,” the court said. “We decline to do so.”

Green groups celebrated the ruling as a victory for both farmer safety and the environment. On Thursday, the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed an emergency motion (pdf) urging the Ninth Circuit to enforce its June 3 order and hold the EPA and Wheeler in contempt for refusing to abide by it.

According to the two groups, last week’s court ruling to ban the continued use of dicamba “could not have been any clearer” and argued the EPA must be held to account for disobeying the order.

“It’s mind-boggling to see the EPA blatantly ignore a court ruling, especially one that provides such important protections for farmers and the environment,” Stephanie Parent, a senior attorney with CBD, said in a statement. “We’re asking this court to restore the rule of law at the Trump EPA.”

Virus crisis puts Nigeria corrupt fuel subsidy system in spotlight

AFP / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI 

Nigeria, a major oil producer, aims to end a costly fuel subsidy system which has provided a lucrative source of funds for corrupt officials and businessmen but which the government says it can no longer afford given the coronavirus' economic impact
Plunging oil prices and collapsing state revenues have seen Nigerian authorities vow an end to a controversial fuel subsidy scheme long criticised as a graft-ridden drain on public finances.

But there are major doubts that Africa's most populous country is finally ready to wean itself off a system that has helped some in high places syphon billions from government coffers.

The fuel subsidy scheme has been described as a sprawling web of patronage and mismanagement that encapsulates the dysfunction plaguing the continental powerhouse.

Despite being Africa's largest oil producer, OPEC member Nigeria has limited refinery capacity and actually imports the bulk of its refined products, including fuel.

That fuel is then sold at a subsidised rate in an opaque system aimed at keeping average Nigerians happy -- but it also left plenty of scope for corruption by officials and traders.

Over the past few months the coronavirus crisis and turmoil worldwide has upended all this.

The fall in global oil prices means that fuel coming in from outside no longer needs to be subsidised, just as Nigeria's state revenues have taken a major hit.

Taking advantage of the slump to save its much-needed reserves, the Nigerian authorities announced an end to the old system in April.

"There is no subsidy and it is zero forever," said Mele Kyari, the head of state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

From now on, officials pledged, the market would determine the cost at the pump.

- 'Full deregulation' -

As so often in Nigeria's murky world of big money and vested interests, not everything has turned out quite so straightforward.

AFP / PIUS UTOMI EKPEI Motorists queue to buy petrol at a Lagos filling station
Despite the insistence of the authorities that the subsidy system is over, many in the industry complain the government refuses to relinquish control.

So far the authorities have continued to set a pricing band that they say retailers must stick to.

"Nigerians shouldn't be overcharged, that's what we are saying," said Apollo Kimchi, spokesman for the state Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

"We advise marketers -- this is how you sell, you shouldn't go above (this) price because if you go above it, you will be exploiting people, that’s it."

For Tunji Oyebanji, chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, official action has fallen well short of the pronouncements.

"We don't really understand what the government is up to," he told AFP.

"Where are (the) market forces determining price in this?"

His organisation -- which represents large filling station owners -- has long pushed for the government to let pump prices go free.

"We maintain that a full deregulation and liberalisation of the downstream sector is the solution," Oyebanji said.

- Vast sums -

The current scrap over the fuel subsidy is just the latest tussle about change to a system that has helped some at the top grow seriously wealthy over the years.

International lenders like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have long decried a scheme that swallows up vast sums that should otherwise be spent on sectors such as health or education.

President Muhammadu Buhari shook things up after his election in 2015 on a platform to tackle Nigeria's endemic graft.

He took over the oil ministry and ordered state behemoth NNPC to become the sole fuel importer into the country.

The move may have cut out some of the more egregious abuses under the previous administration of president Goodluck Jonathan.

But critics say putting the notoriously unaccountable NNPC in charge only made funds harder to trace and immense sums have continued to vanish into the system.

"Corruption has not disappeared under Buhari's administration, even if it is less rampant than under Goodluck Jonathan when traders became billionaires in five years," said Benjamin Auge, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations.

- 'End of the system'? -

Given the vast fortunes being made from the scheme many in the industry are sceptical that it can ever change.

"With the crisis, the price of a barrel fell so low that there was nothing left to benefit anymore from the subsidy system," said one operator on condition of anonymity.

"But when prices go up again, won't they back off and restore the lucrative subsidies?"

Some are more hopeful that the current global turmoil will hasten an end to the subsidies once and for all.

Researcher Auge said that the collapse in state revenues means that the government simply cannot afford to return to the old ways.

After turning to the IMF for financial aid to weather the storm it is also going to find it harder to shrug off pressure to make genuine reforms.

And on the horizon there is anyway a major game-changer coming that could radically overhaul the market.

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote is building a gigantic refinery on the edge of economic hub Lagos which is expected eventually to handle 650,000 barrels a day.

While construction has been hit by repeated delays, including the current crisis, the facility should end up slashing the need for imports -- and so for subsidies.

"This time the state doesn't have a choice," said Auge.

"It is the end of the system."

In rare session, Senate advances bill to fund $20B backlog at national parks

The light of the moon mixes with spray from Yosemite Falls to throw a lunar rainbow at Northern California's Yosemite National Park. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo
June 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate advanced a bipartisan conservation bill early Friday during a rare session that was prompted by some lawmakers who refused to delay voting on the measure until next week.

The measure, which some have called the most significant conservation legislation in a generation, would permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund with $900 million annually and allocate $9.5 billion over five years to address a $20 billion maintenance backlog for national parks and public lands.

The Senate voted 65-19 in favor of the Great American Outdoors Act at 1 a.m. Friday. Sixteen senators did not vote.

The proposal has broad bipartisan support, but after it passed a procedural vote Wednesday several Republican senators refused to grant unanimous consent to lay over its next procedural vote until Monday, which would have allowed senators to adjourn for the weekend.

RELATED Most protected areas are vulnerable to invasive species

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and others objected to a move by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell to close debate on the bill, and sought amendments. He said the proposal worsens "our already highly problematic federal public lands policy."

The bill, however, is on track to pass with no amendments and President Donald Trump has said he'll sign it if it's passed by Congress.

The Great American Outdoors Act is next scheduled for three additional procedural votes on Monday and is expected to pass.

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The National Parks Service said last year it has a $12 billion backlog of deferred maintenance that has compiled for decades, and if unresolved it could threaten the safety of park visitors and staff.

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Pew Research Center: Unemployment rise is higher than Great Recession
Food banks have seen an uptick in demand as unemployment has surged around the country amid COVID-19. The Pew Research Center said Thursday that the unemployment rate is worse than it was during the Great Recession. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo
June 11 (UPI) -- The number of unemployed rose more during three months of the COVID-19 pandemic than it did during two years of the Great Recession, the Pew Research Center said Thursday.

Pew Research Center's data shows that U.S. unemployment rose by more than 14 million people from February to May.

The Great Recession officially lasted from December 2007 through June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
From the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2010, the number of unemployed rose by 8.8 million compared to a rise of 14 million in just three months of COVID-19, Pew Research Center analysts found.

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The unemployment rate increased from 3.8 percent in February to 13 percent in May. Last month's unemployment rate was slightly lower than April when it reached 14.4 percent.

In January 2010, the Great Recession had brought the unemployment rate to a peak of 10.6 percent.

Furthermore, analysts said that the unemployment rate in May might be underestimated because of measurement challenges due to the pandemic and a sharp decline in labor force participation.

"In May, 9 million Americans not in the labor force were in want of a job compared with 5 million in February, per government estimates," the Pew Research Center said in a statement. "But these workers are not included in the official measure of unemployment. Thus, the COVID-19 recession is comparable more to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when the unemployment rate is estimated to have reached 25 percent."

The Pew Research Center showed a rise in unemployment across a range of demographic groups.

Unemployment rate was notably higher for women than men across all racial/ethnic groups in May.

During the same month, Hispanic women had the highest rate of unemployment at 19.5 percent, rising from 5.5 percent in February.

The Pew Research Center also noted that black men were the only demographic group whose unemployment rate in May was substantially less than the peak rate they faced in the Great Recession.

The unemployment rate for black men was 15.8 percent in May, rising from 7.3 percent in February, but notably less than their 21.2 percent unemployment rate during the Great Recession.
Pew Research Center analysts said that it's unclear why black men were the only group to experience this, but unemployment hit black men worse when "goods-producing sectors" were hit in the Great Recession.

Earlier this month, the Economic Policy Institute said that black workers are disproportionately among the essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.