Monday, August 17, 2020
Blue collar workers turn on Trump as 'Scranton Joe' prepares for biggest week yet
Nick Allen,The Telegraph•August 16, 2020
Nick Allen,The Telegraph•August 16, 2020
Customers walk past a cardboard effigy of Joe Biden at 'Hank's Hoagies' in Scranton - ERIC BARADAT /AFP
Most Americans know Scranton, a beleaguered industrial centre in the heartland of Pennsylvania, as the setting for the US version of “The Office”.
But as the Democrat National Convention dominates television broadcasts next week they will be hearing a lot more about it.
Scranton is where Joe Biden was born, in a modest grey-blue clapboard house, and it is central to his political story. He credits it with forming his character. It is also exactly the kind of battleground he has to win.
For decades the gritty town bled Democrat blue. But In 2016 working class voters in Scranton, which is overwhelmingly white, swung by a massive 22 points to Donald Trump.
Such swings were repeated across the "rust belt" states, delivering shock, razor-thin victories for Mr Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and sending him to the White House.
However, polls show Mr Biden leading by up to 11 points in Pennsylvania, and Mr Trump knows his white working class revolution is in doubt.
That is why, on Thursday night as Mr Biden accepts the Democrat nomination in Delaware, the president will reportedly be in Scranton, campaigning in his opponent’s home town. Advance Secret Service agents were spotted in Scranton last week week. But Mr Trump will have his work cut out.
“Joe would win here if he was running against John F Kennedy," Tom Bell, 77, a lifelong friend of Mr Biden's, who sat next to him at school, told The Telegraph. “He’s that popular around here.”
Like many local Democrats, Mr Bell voted for Mr Trump in 2016, but will be returning to the fold.
“I honestly didn’t think Joe would run but I'm glad he is,” said Mr Bell. “He called me on the phone to tell me. I said ‘I don’t think you should’ and he got mad at me for that. He’ll win because he’s always been an incessant worker. And I think he’s aged well - 77 is OK to be the president, and to be selling insurance like I do.
“Joe will win Scranton and Pennsylvania. It’s not just because he's from here. Hillary was from Scranton too, but I didn’t like her.”
Both Mrs Clinton's father and grandfather worked at Scranton Lace Company, once the world’s largest lace curtain mill, which has been standing derelict on five city blocks since 2002.
Most Americans know Scranton, a beleaguered industrial centre in the heartland of Pennsylvania, as the setting for the US version of “The Office”.
But as the Democrat National Convention dominates television broadcasts next week they will be hearing a lot more about it.
Scranton is where Joe Biden was born, in a modest grey-blue clapboard house, and it is central to his political story. He credits it with forming his character. It is also exactly the kind of battleground he has to win.
For decades the gritty town bled Democrat blue. But In 2016 working class voters in Scranton, which is overwhelmingly white, swung by a massive 22 points to Donald Trump.
Such swings were repeated across the "rust belt" states, delivering shock, razor-thin victories for Mr Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and sending him to the White House.
However, polls show Mr Biden leading by up to 11 points in Pennsylvania, and Mr Trump knows his white working class revolution is in doubt.
That is why, on Thursday night as Mr Biden accepts the Democrat nomination in Delaware, the president will reportedly be in Scranton, campaigning in his opponent’s home town. Advance Secret Service agents were spotted in Scranton last week week. But Mr Trump will have his work cut out.
“Joe would win here if he was running against John F Kennedy," Tom Bell, 77, a lifelong friend of Mr Biden's, who sat next to him at school, told The Telegraph. “He’s that popular around here.”
Like many local Democrats, Mr Bell voted for Mr Trump in 2016, but will be returning to the fold.
“I honestly didn’t think Joe would run but I'm glad he is,” said Mr Bell. “He called me on the phone to tell me. I said ‘I don’t think you should’ and he got mad at me for that. He’ll win because he’s always been an incessant worker. And I think he’s aged well - 77 is OK to be the president, and to be selling insurance like I do.
“Joe will win Scranton and Pennsylvania. It’s not just because he's from here. Hillary was from Scranton too, but I didn’t like her.”
Both Mrs Clinton's father and grandfather worked at Scranton Lace Company, once the world’s largest lace curtain mill, which has been standing derelict on five city blocks since 2002.
Larry Orr (L) and Tom Bell (R) are old school friends of Mr Biden - ERIC BARADAT /AFP
Mr Trump has already accused Mr Biden of “abandoning” Scranton, and Pennsylvania.
When he was 10, Mr Biden’s father found a job cleaning boilers in Delaware, and moved the family there. But Joe Biden came back regularly to stay with his extended family, Mr Bell said.
Once, a new kid, a “mean wise guy,” picked a fight with Mr Bell. “The kid didn’t fight fair. He kicked me in the groin,” he said. “Joe was coming home that weekend. He asked the kid for an apology but the kid was abrasive. They got in a scuffle and Joe put manners on him. Joe's best quality is his loyalty and his friendship."
However, not everyone in Scranton is a fan. A hundred yards from Mr Biden’s childhood home, Tom Moran's house was festooned with Trump flags.
"Biden left here 70 years ago or something, the Scranton stuff's a political scam,” said Mr Moran, 60. Hillary Clinton had more connections to Scranton. I don’t like Biden or his policies. I don’t think he’s mentally competent. Biden’s against fracking, he’s against the coal industry. He shipped jobs overseas and he doesn’t understand the working man."
Scrantonians joke ruefully that their biggest exports after coal have been people and jobs. The town's population currently stands at 76,000, half its 1940s heyday.
Mr Trump has already accused Mr Biden of “abandoning” Scranton, and Pennsylvania.
When he was 10, Mr Biden’s father found a job cleaning boilers in Delaware, and moved the family there. But Joe Biden came back regularly to stay with his extended family, Mr Bell said.
Once, a new kid, a “mean wise guy,” picked a fight with Mr Bell. “The kid didn’t fight fair. He kicked me in the groin,” he said. “Joe was coming home that weekend. He asked the kid for an apology but the kid was abrasive. They got in a scuffle and Joe put manners on him. Joe's best quality is his loyalty and his friendship."
However, not everyone in Scranton is a fan. A hundred yards from Mr Biden’s childhood home, Tom Moran's house was festooned with Trump flags.
"Biden left here 70 years ago or something, the Scranton stuff's a political scam,” said Mr Moran, 60. Hillary Clinton had more connections to Scranton. I don’t like Biden or his policies. I don’t think he’s mentally competent. Biden’s against fracking, he’s against the coal industry. He shipped jobs overseas and he doesn’t understand the working man."
Scrantonians joke ruefully that their biggest exports after coal have been people and jobs. The town's population currently stands at 76,000, half its 1940s heyday.
Tom Moran is an avid Trump supporter who lives a few houses away from Joe Biden's childhood home - ERIC BARADAT /AFP
Many regard the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), signed by Bill Clinton in 1993, as a form of harakiri that sent their employment to Mexico and Canada.
Mr Moran said the president had delivered, including by ending Nafta, and that his backers in Scranton have "never wavered".
He added: "I’ve had my signs damaged. People came along and kicked them down. My friend had his taken out of his yard. You don't see Trump supporters doing that. It's a general lack of respect [from Democrats].
"It means if you don’t see a sign outside a house they're probably Trump supporters. There’s a hidden vote just like last time."
Perhaps the strongest criticism of Mrs Clinton in 2016 was that she did not visit the rust belt enough. By contrast, it is not hard to establish sightings of Mr Biden.
At Scanlan’s, a popular Scranton eaterie known for its fries and gravy, Jerry McCabe, 76, a retired paper mill worker, said: “I saw him a couple of years ago right here when he came in for lunch. He sat down and chatted. I think I’d played Little League against him when we were kids. Joe's going to nail it believe me.
“There’s still a lot of Trump signs outside of town, in the rural parts, but I just don’t get it. Most of them don’t have, excuse me, a pot to piss in but they’re going for a guy who doesn’t have their interests at heart. Trump’s a mean spirited guy.”
But at a nearby table Mark McHale, 22, a student, said he would vote for Mr Trump, as he did four years ago.
“I think it’s awesome Joe Biden’s s from here and comes back but that’s not enough for me. I like his roots and hard work but I don’t think he can do four years. People just get old and run out of steam. I'll be joining the workforce in the next few years and Trump’s the best option, he’s pro-business.”
Mr Biden's selection of Kamala Harris had made little impression on customers at Scanlan's.
"The only thing I heard was she attacked Biden in the debate, and now their teaming up?" said Mr McHale.
Two sisters at another table both said they had never even heard of Ms Harris.
"I didn't vote last time but I probably should this time," said one of the women. "I guess the country needs a change, not just Scranton."
Many regard the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), signed by Bill Clinton in 1993, as a form of harakiri that sent their employment to Mexico and Canada.
Mr Moran said the president had delivered, including by ending Nafta, and that his backers in Scranton have "never wavered".
He added: "I’ve had my signs damaged. People came along and kicked them down. My friend had his taken out of his yard. You don't see Trump supporters doing that. It's a general lack of respect [from Democrats].
"It means if you don’t see a sign outside a house they're probably Trump supporters. There’s a hidden vote just like last time."
Perhaps the strongest criticism of Mrs Clinton in 2016 was that she did not visit the rust belt enough. By contrast, it is not hard to establish sightings of Mr Biden.
At Scanlan’s, a popular Scranton eaterie known for its fries and gravy, Jerry McCabe, 76, a retired paper mill worker, said: “I saw him a couple of years ago right here when he came in for lunch. He sat down and chatted. I think I’d played Little League against him when we were kids. Joe's going to nail it believe me.
“There’s still a lot of Trump signs outside of town, in the rural parts, but I just don’t get it. Most of them don’t have, excuse me, a pot to piss in but they’re going for a guy who doesn’t have their interests at heart. Trump’s a mean spirited guy.”
But at a nearby table Mark McHale, 22, a student, said he would vote for Mr Trump, as he did four years ago.
“I think it’s awesome Joe Biden’s s from here and comes back but that’s not enough for me. I like his roots and hard work but I don’t think he can do four years. People just get old and run out of steam. I'll be joining the workforce in the next few years and Trump’s the best option, he’s pro-business.”
Mr Biden's selection of Kamala Harris had made little impression on customers at Scanlan's.
"The only thing I heard was she attacked Biden in the debate, and now their teaming up?" said Mr McHale.
Two sisters at another table both said they had never even heard of Ms Harris.
"I didn't vote last time but I probably should this time," said one of the women. "I guess the country needs a change, not just Scranton."
Chilling Anti-Protest Bills Are Popping Up Across America
Kelly Weill,The Daily Beast•August 17, 2020
Kelly Weill,The Daily Beast•August 17, 2020
Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
After two months of protests across from the State Capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee lawmakers voted for a tidy way to disperse their new neighbors: making it illegal to camp there.
The law, which also targets protests on public property, makes convictions punishable by up to six years in prison—and even loss of voting rights.
The Tennessee bill, passed by the state legislature last week, was the latest legislation targeting dissent in a year marked by nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. It follows a Michigan bill that would classify rioting as terrorism, and a slew of recent legislation—begun before George Floyd’s killing at the hands of police in late May—imposing harsh punishments on anti-pipeline protesters.
The measures have real potential to chill protest movements, their critics say.
‘I’m Not Scared’: She Faces Life in Prison After Allegedly Buying Red Protest Paint
Tennessee’s SB 8005/HB 8005, which passed the state legislature on Wednesday, would rewrite state criminal code to make it a Class E felony to camp on state property between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. That’s bad news for the People’s Plaza, a movement of racial justice protesters who have led a nonstop demonstration near the State Capitol since June 12.
The group says it will gladly vacate the state-owned plaza—as soon as Gov. Bill Lee meets with them, or the state legislature removes a bust of Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol building. So far, neither has happened.
“There are aspects of the law that I might have done differently, that were different from my original proposal,” Lee said last week, indicating he nonetheless intended to sign it so as to ensure "lawlessness doesn’t occur in the midst of protest."
Protesters and civil liberties experts cried foul.
“They can say this bill is about protecting law enforcement,” ACLU of Tennessee Policy Director Brandon Tucker told The Daily Beast. “It’s not. Law enforcement is already protected. This bill came about when people took to the street demanding racial justice, an end to police violence, and to say that Black lives matter.”
Anjanette Edwards, an activist who demonstrates at the People’s Plaza, said she thought it was quite clear that the bill targeted protesters like her.
“I believe a lot of the revisions that were made to this bill were trying to capitalize on actions that occurred when the People’s Plaza was occupying that space,” she told The Daily Beast.
The bill also comes with other anti-protest provisions, like making it easier to charge protesters with theft for markings on state buildings—including those made with chalk (punishable with a mandatory $5,000 fine on the second offense). Even before their cases go to court, people arrested for allegedly camping on state property, damaging state property, or conducting other protests like interrupting meetings would face a mandatory 12-hours detention in jail. It’s an unusual measure, The Tennessean noted, and an unpleasant prospect, especially while COVID-19 rages in jails and prisons across the country.
The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Republican-led legislature, with most Democrats voting against it.
“We are using a bazooka to go after a house fly here,” Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro argued on the statehouse floor, according to The Tennessean. “Are we really saying that a citizen of this state can be punished with a year in prison and have a felony record because they camped on public property? That should be a bridge too far.”
Elsewhere in the country, lawmakers are trying to go even further.
In response to recent protests in Michigan, a state lawmaker proposed new legislation that would amend the state’s terrorism laws to make “acts of social and domestic anarchy” punishable by up to 20 years in prison or a fine of $250,000. (The bill defines acts of anarchy as riot-related offenses, although anarchy is, broadly, a perfectly legal political philosophy opposed to organized government.)
The bill’s author, Rep. Lynn Afendoulis, claimed the current riot sentencing laws were too light, and in an interview with a local ABC affiliate, appeared to suggest protesters came from out of town—part of a mostly unfounded narrative about “outside agitators” traveling to stir up trouble. “A 10-year felony, for many, is going to be a slap on the wrist,’’ Afendoulis said. “Especially when they come here with the intent of hurting people and hurting property and again, terrorizing a community.’’
A series of anti-protest bills introduced before George Floyd’s death have also sped toward law this year, in the form of legislation that would affect anti-pipeline protesters.
In March, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed into law legislation that will boost the state’s penalties for rioting and inciting a riot, two charges sometimes controversially levied on protesters. The law faced stiff opposition from environmentalists and Native Americans in the state for its potential to crack down on protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, which threatens water and environmental conditions on indigenous land. A previous version of the law had been found unconstitutional because it directly targeted those protesters.
Meanwhile, anti-pipeline protesters in Louisiana are currently contending with a bill that would mean up to 15 years in prison for protests on “critical infrastructure” near pipelines. As West Virginia went into COVID-19 lockdown this spring, its governor quietly approved the state’s own law against such protest, the Intercept reported. Mississippi passed its own law in June increasing penalties for trespassing on or damaging pipeline property, and a similar bill is in the works in Alabama.
In Tennessee, activists and civil rights groups were still hoping to talk their governor into a veto of the anti-protest bill.
“This will only serve to exacerbate our overly high incarceration rates with unnecessarily enhanced penalties and mandatory minimums,” Tucker said, adding that his organization was urging Gov. Lee to veto the bill in part by citing the criminal justice platform on which Lee campaigned.
“This bill absolutely chills free speech,” Tucker said. “It undermines any claim that our elected leaders want to reform the criminal legal system, and it shows that our leaders here have heard the calls for racial justice and completely chosen to ignore them.”
After two months of protests across from the State Capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee lawmakers voted for a tidy way to disperse their new neighbors: making it illegal to camp there.
The law, which also targets protests on public property, makes convictions punishable by up to six years in prison—and even loss of voting rights.
The Tennessee bill, passed by the state legislature last week, was the latest legislation targeting dissent in a year marked by nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. It follows a Michigan bill that would classify rioting as terrorism, and a slew of recent legislation—begun before George Floyd’s killing at the hands of police in late May—imposing harsh punishments on anti-pipeline protesters.
The measures have real potential to chill protest movements, their critics say.
‘I’m Not Scared’: She Faces Life in Prison After Allegedly Buying Red Protest Paint
Tennessee’s SB 8005/HB 8005, which passed the state legislature on Wednesday, would rewrite state criminal code to make it a Class E felony to camp on state property between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. That’s bad news for the People’s Plaza, a movement of racial justice protesters who have led a nonstop demonstration near the State Capitol since June 12.
The group says it will gladly vacate the state-owned plaza—as soon as Gov. Bill Lee meets with them, or the state legislature removes a bust of Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Capitol building. So far, neither has happened.
“There are aspects of the law that I might have done differently, that were different from my original proposal,” Lee said last week, indicating he nonetheless intended to sign it so as to ensure "lawlessness doesn’t occur in the midst of protest."
Protesters and civil liberties experts cried foul.
“They can say this bill is about protecting law enforcement,” ACLU of Tennessee Policy Director Brandon Tucker told The Daily Beast. “It’s not. Law enforcement is already protected. This bill came about when people took to the street demanding racial justice, an end to police violence, and to say that Black lives matter.”
Anjanette Edwards, an activist who demonstrates at the People’s Plaza, said she thought it was quite clear that the bill targeted protesters like her.
“I believe a lot of the revisions that were made to this bill were trying to capitalize on actions that occurred when the People’s Plaza was occupying that space,” she told The Daily Beast.
The bill also comes with other anti-protest provisions, like making it easier to charge protesters with theft for markings on state buildings—including those made with chalk (punishable with a mandatory $5,000 fine on the second offense). Even before their cases go to court, people arrested for allegedly camping on state property, damaging state property, or conducting other protests like interrupting meetings would face a mandatory 12-hours detention in jail. It’s an unusual measure, The Tennessean noted, and an unpleasant prospect, especially while COVID-19 rages in jails and prisons across the country.
The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Republican-led legislature, with most Democrats voting against it.
“We are using a bazooka to go after a house fly here,” Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro argued on the statehouse floor, according to The Tennessean. “Are we really saying that a citizen of this state can be punished with a year in prison and have a felony record because they camped on public property? That should be a bridge too far.”
Elsewhere in the country, lawmakers are trying to go even further.
In response to recent protests in Michigan, a state lawmaker proposed new legislation that would amend the state’s terrorism laws to make “acts of social and domestic anarchy” punishable by up to 20 years in prison or a fine of $250,000. (The bill defines acts of anarchy as riot-related offenses, although anarchy is, broadly, a perfectly legal political philosophy opposed to organized government.)
The bill’s author, Rep. Lynn Afendoulis, claimed the current riot sentencing laws were too light, and in an interview with a local ABC affiliate, appeared to suggest protesters came from out of town—part of a mostly unfounded narrative about “outside agitators” traveling to stir up trouble. “A 10-year felony, for many, is going to be a slap on the wrist,’’ Afendoulis said. “Especially when they come here with the intent of hurting people and hurting property and again, terrorizing a community.’’
A series of anti-protest bills introduced before George Floyd’s death have also sped toward law this year, in the form of legislation that would affect anti-pipeline protesters.
In March, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem signed into law legislation that will boost the state’s penalties for rioting and inciting a riot, two charges sometimes controversially levied on protesters. The law faced stiff opposition from environmentalists and Native Americans in the state for its potential to crack down on protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, which threatens water and environmental conditions on indigenous land. A previous version of the law had been found unconstitutional because it directly targeted those protesters.
Meanwhile, anti-pipeline protesters in Louisiana are currently contending with a bill that would mean up to 15 years in prison for protests on “critical infrastructure” near pipelines. As West Virginia went into COVID-19 lockdown this spring, its governor quietly approved the state’s own law against such protest, the Intercept reported. Mississippi passed its own law in June increasing penalties for trespassing on or damaging pipeline property, and a similar bill is in the works in Alabama.
In Tennessee, activists and civil rights groups were still hoping to talk their governor into a veto of the anti-protest bill.
“This will only serve to exacerbate our overly high incarceration rates with unnecessarily enhanced penalties and mandatory minimums,” Tucker said, adding that his organization was urging Gov. Lee to veto the bill in part by citing the criminal justice platform on which Lee campaigned.
“This bill absolutely chills free speech,” Tucker said. “It undermines any claim that our elected leaders want to reform the criminal legal system, and it shows that our leaders here have heard the calls for racial justice and completely chosen to ignore them.”
The USPS Is Actively Being Destroyed By Trump—Here's How to Help
Rachel Epstein,Marie Claire•August 17, 2020
Sign a petition.
The lack of USPS funding not only threatens the accessibility of receiving mail in rural areas and tribal lands throughout the U.S., where UPS and Fedex do not have access to (more on that here), but also the ability for people to receive the medicine they need in order to survive. More than 1.4 million people have signed this Change.org petition to save the USPS. Here are other USPS-related petitions you can sign as well.
SIGN THE PETITION
Call and email your representatives.
Congress is on recess from August 10 until September 7, but you can still email your representatives and demand action to help save the USPS. For an easy way to send a letter to your representatives, text "USPS" to 50409. A letter will be sent to your representatives asking them to support Rep. Maloney's Delivering for America Act, which would "prohibit the Postal Service from implementing any changes to the operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020."
Buy stamps and/or gifts.
If you have the means, consider buying some stamps—any amount helps. The U.S. Postal Service is currently selling stamps featuring illustrations of historic suffragettes to commemorate the centennial of women's right to vote. However, it's important to remember that Black women did not receive the same right to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The USPS also has an entire gift store you can shop from here. Did someone say USPS merch?
BUY STAMPS
BUY GIFTS
Submit your mail-in ballot early and request a tracking number.
Voters should submit their mail-in ballots early to ensure their vote gets counted, and request a tracking number for a few extra dollars if they're able to. Rather than searching for an official USPS mailbox, which were being removed across the country, if you have an accessible mailbox at your residence a postal worker will be able to pick up your ballot from there.
I just got this from a USPS worker. pic.twitter.com/5RQlTCGyZs
— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) August 15, 2020
Support organizations fighting to end voter suppression.
Organizations like Fair Fight Action, When We All Vote, and the ACLU are actively fighting voter suppression across the country. Support them by donating, or getting involved.
FAIR FIGHT ACTION
WHEN WE ALL VOTE
ACLU
Register to vote.
If it wasn't clear before, your vote matters now more than ever. Take two minutes to register here. If you're worried about timelines for registering and submitting your ballot, you can see a full list of voter registration deadlines here.
REGISTER TO VOTE
Rachel Epstein,Marie Claire•August 17, 2020
Photo credit: Justin Sullivan - Getty Images
From Marie Claire
For months now, President Trump has attempted to delegitimize the practice of mail-in voting, which is the exact same thing as absentee voting and has been performed by the president himself. There is no evidence that confirms mail-in voting is synonymous with ballot fraud, but the president is not convinced. So, rather than allowing citizens to utilize a safer alternative to in-person voting during a pandemic, the administration is refusing to properly fund the United States Postal Service (USPS), which could result in voters' ballots not being received on time in 46 states.
To be clear, the USPS was suffering financially long before the pandemic, but the president is actively choosing not to fund the USPS by denying the Postal Service’s request for $25 billion as part of the second pending COVID-19 relief bill. (The request is not solely to accommodate mail-in ballots, but rather the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Internal issues with the USPS began when Louis DeJoy, a major Trump campaign donor, was named postmaster general in May. Once promoted, top USPS leadership was suddenly displaced, employee overtime was eliminated, and significant cost-cutting measures were enacted that will affect the efficiency of the postal service, including receiving mail-in ballots, and ultimately, the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
DeJoy has previously denied that election mail will be affected due to the measures mentioned above. "We will do everything we can to deliver election mail in a timely manner consistent with our operational standards," he stated. "Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail. Instead we continue to employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all election mail." Despite his statement, there continues to be conflicting reports about whether the postal service is actively decommissioning 10 percent of its letter-sorting machines, ultimately affecting the USPS's ability to handle the overwhelming amount of mail-in ballots in the coming months.
On August 16, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, called upon Postmaster General DeJoy to testify at an Oversight Committee hearing, set to take place on August 24, regarding the operational changes occurring at the USPS. The request follows a 10-page letter sent on August 14 by Chairwoman Maloney, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and several others requesting documents and information from DeJoy.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Chair @RepMaloney just called on @USPS PMG DeJoy to testify at an urgent Oversight Cmte hearing on Aug. 24 to examine his sweeping changes and their impact on mail-in voting. #SavetheUSPS
Read more here: https://t.co/WETO762Dsq pic.twitter.com/PJn6XPoFHj
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) August 16, 2020
If you're frustrated about what's going on with the USPS and are worried about your mail-in ballot being received on time, we've outlined key ways, below, for you to help save the USPS.
From Marie Claire
For months now, President Trump has attempted to delegitimize the practice of mail-in voting, which is the exact same thing as absentee voting and has been performed by the president himself. There is no evidence that confirms mail-in voting is synonymous with ballot fraud, but the president is not convinced. So, rather than allowing citizens to utilize a safer alternative to in-person voting during a pandemic, the administration is refusing to properly fund the United States Postal Service (USPS), which could result in voters' ballots not being received on time in 46 states.
To be clear, the USPS was suffering financially long before the pandemic, but the president is actively choosing not to fund the USPS by denying the Postal Service’s request for $25 billion as part of the second pending COVID-19 relief bill. (The request is not solely to accommodate mail-in ballots, but rather the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.)
Internal issues with the USPS began when Louis DeJoy, a major Trump campaign donor, was named postmaster general in May. Once promoted, top USPS leadership was suddenly displaced, employee overtime was eliminated, and significant cost-cutting measures were enacted that will affect the efficiency of the postal service, including receiving mail-in ballots, and ultimately, the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
DeJoy has previously denied that election mail will be affected due to the measures mentioned above. "We will do everything we can to deliver election mail in a timely manner consistent with our operational standards," he stated. "Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down election mail or any other mail. Instead we continue to employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all election mail." Despite his statement, there continues to be conflicting reports about whether the postal service is actively decommissioning 10 percent of its letter-sorting machines, ultimately affecting the USPS's ability to handle the overwhelming amount of mail-in ballots in the coming months.
On August 16, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, called upon Postmaster General DeJoy to testify at an Oversight Committee hearing, set to take place on August 24, regarding the operational changes occurring at the USPS. The request follows a 10-page letter sent on August 14 by Chairwoman Maloney, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and several others requesting documents and information from DeJoy.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Chair @RepMaloney just called on @USPS PMG DeJoy to testify at an urgent Oversight Cmte hearing on Aug. 24 to examine his sweeping changes and their impact on mail-in voting. #SavetheUSPS
Read more here: https://t.co/WETO762Dsq pic.twitter.com/PJn6XPoFHj
— Oversight Committee (@OversightDems) August 16, 2020
If you're frustrated about what's going on with the USPS and are worried about your mail-in ballot being received on time, we've outlined key ways, below, for you to help save the USPS.
Sign a petition.
The lack of USPS funding not only threatens the accessibility of receiving mail in rural areas and tribal lands throughout the U.S., where UPS and Fedex do not have access to (more on that here), but also the ability for people to receive the medicine they need in order to survive. More than 1.4 million people have signed this Change.org petition to save the USPS. Here are other USPS-related petitions you can sign as well.
SIGN THE PETITION
Call and email your representatives.
Congress is on recess from August 10 until September 7, but you can still email your representatives and demand action to help save the USPS. For an easy way to send a letter to your representatives, text "USPS" to 50409. A letter will be sent to your representatives asking them to support Rep. Maloney's Delivering for America Act, which would "prohibit the Postal Service from implementing any changes to the operations or level of service it had in place on January 1, 2020."
Buy stamps and/or gifts.
If you have the means, consider buying some stamps—any amount helps. The U.S. Postal Service is currently selling stamps featuring illustrations of historic suffragettes to commemorate the centennial of women's right to vote. However, it's important to remember that Black women did not receive the same right to vote until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The USPS also has an entire gift store you can shop from here. Did someone say USPS merch?
BUY STAMPS
BUY GIFTS
Submit your mail-in ballot early and request a tracking number.
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Here’s one depressing thing COVID-19 and the 1918 Spanish flu have in common
A new working paper looks at the effects of the 1918 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics on mortality and the economy, plus the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions
Published: Aug. 17, 2020
Economists Brian Beach, Karen Clay, Martin Saavedra said pandemics may exacerbate health disparities by disproportionately affecting groups more likely to suffer from risk factors, such as underlying, chronic conditions, including diabetes, and other cardiovascular issues. (Photo: MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty.)
How much has changed?
The 2020 coronavirus and 1918 Spanish influenza pandemics have many differences and share many similarities, but they also converge on one key point: their impact on the economy and employment and, in particular, how wealthier people had better odds of surviving their respective pandemics.
Both pandemics involve novel, highly contagious, respiratory viruses, spread across the world in a matter of months and, as of August 2020, COVID-19 — like the 1918 influenza — lacks a vaccine. During the 1918 pandemic, people wore masks and employed social distancing as much as possible instead, just like today.
A new working paper released Monday looked at the effects of the 1918 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics on mortality and the economy, plus the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing and social distancing, and the impact on workers and socioeconomic status.
Even though both of these pandemics occurred 100 years apart, they had one depressing commonality, according to the research carried out by economists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
During the 1918 influenza pandemic, wealthier people had a better chance of survival: Individuals of moderate and higher economic status had a mortality rate of 0.38%, versus 0.52% for those of lower economic status and 1% for those who were “very poor,” they wrote.
The economists — Brian Beach, Karen Clay, Martin Saavedra — said pandemics may exacerbate health disparities by disproportionately affecting groups more likely to suffer from risk factors, such as underlying, chronic conditions, including diabetes, and other cardiovascular issues.
“Compared to individuals who lived in one-room apartments, individuals who lived in two-room, three-room, and four-room apartments had 34%, 41%, and 56% lower mortality, respectively,” they added. Similarly, multi-generational households were more at risk from coronavirus in 2020.
Women were harder hit by both pandemics economically
Some 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population, became infected with the 1918 Spanish flu. An estimated 50 million people died worldwide, with about 675,000 deaths occurring in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were some differences between the first and second waves in 1918. Using data from military, insurance, and death records, earlier research showed that Blacks had lower morbidity and mortality rates, but higher case-mortality rates than whites during the second wave in 1919.
“This finding is striking given the evidence from other contexts that lower socioeconomic groups were more affected by the pandemic,” they wrote. “It is possible that Blacks may have had greater exposure to the milder spring wave and thus some immunity to the more deadly second wave.”
Although it seems unlikely that the 1918 pandemic significantly affected gender equality, as few married women participated in the labor force during 1918, a man who lost his spouse to the virus in 1918 likely would been less economically affected than a widowed women.
In 2020, the International Labour Organization said women were likely harder hit economically. They are in greater danger of contracting COVID-19 and less likely to have Social Security coverage, “as they make up the vast majority of domestic, health and social-care workers globally.”
The organization warned that women were disproportionately affected, “with almost 510 million women, or 40% of all employed women, working in the industries with most job losses compared to 36.6% of men, which includes food and accommodation, retail and real estate.”
The 2020 pandemic may have a shorter economic shock
Both pandemics caused an economic contraction, reducing both gross domestic product and employment. “Businesses and schools temporarily shut down in many places, although those shutdowns were less stringent than what occurred in the spring of 2020,” the economists said.
“Many studies disagree on the size of the contraction and how long the effects lasted. Some suggest the economy recovered by the time the pandemic was over, whereas others argue that the economy recovered in two to three years.”
There, however, the two pandemics part ways. “With COVID-19, working-age adults are among the most likely to survive,” Beach, Clay, and Saavedra wrote. “It is thus unlikely that COVID-19 will generate a similarly sized negative labor supply shock.”
As separate research by Deutsche Bank DB, -0.63% said: “For COVID-19, the elderly have been overwhelmingly the worst hit.” Approximately eight in 10 deaths in the U.S. from coronavirus were among those who were 65 or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Though the 1918 pandemic is forever associated with Spain, this strain of H1N1 was discovered earlier in Germany, France, the U.K. and the U.S. But similar to the Communist Party’s response to the first cases of COVID-19 in China, World War I censorship buried or underplayed those reports.
“It is essential to consider the deep connections between the Great War and the influenza pandemic not simply as concurrent or consecutive crises, but more deeply intertwined,” historian James Harris wrote in an article about the pandemic.
Coronavirus update: COVID-19 has now killed at least 776,157 people worldwide, and the U.S. ranks 10th in the world for deaths per 100,000 people (51.5), Johns Hopkins University says. As of Monday, the U.S. has the world’s highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (5,408,268) and deaths (170,131). Worldwide, confirmed cases are now at 21,720,713.
The Dow Jones Industrial Index DJIA, -0.31% was down slightly Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.27% and Nasdaq COMP, 1.00% were trading marginally higher as investors await progress on a vaccine and, as Democrats and Republicans debate the details of the next unemployment benefits, round two of the economic stimulus program.
AstraZeneca AZN, +2.33% in combination with Oxford University, BioNTech SE BNTX, +2.36% and partner Pfizer PFE, +0.73%, GlaxoSmithKline GSK, +1.43%, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.54%, Merck & Co. MERK, -1.51%, Moderna MRNA, +0.88%, and Sanofi SAN, -1.11%, among others, are currently working on COVID-19 vaccines.
4 facts about oleandrin, an unproven coronavirus treatment reportedly pitched to Trump
Ben Carson and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell pushed the toxic floral extract as a COVID-19 ‘cure’ to the White House: report
Aug. 17, 2020 By Nicole Lyn Pesce
The entire oleander plant is poisonous because of oleandrin and other compounds. ERIKA PARFENOVA/ISTOCK
Another questionable coronavirus treatment is raising eyebrows.
That would be oleandrin, an extract from the highly toxic oleander plant, which was pitched to the president by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in July. It should be noted that Lindell, a Trump supporter, owns a financial stake in Phoenix Biotechnology, which is developing the experimental oleandrin product. And Carson, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is a personal friend of his.
The entire oleander plant is poisonous because of oleandrin and other compounds. ERIKA PARFENOVA/ISTOCK
Another questionable coronavirus treatment is raising eyebrows.
That would be oleandrin, an extract from the highly toxic oleander plant, which was pitched to the president by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in July. It should be noted that Lindell, a Trump supporter, owns a financial stake in Phoenix Biotechnology, which is developing the experimental oleandrin product. And Carson, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is a personal friend of his.
Lindell told Axios in a new interview that Trump “basically said: …’The FDA should be approving it,” during their July meeting.
And this Axios interview went viral over the weekend, as it sparked déjà vu over what happened with hydroxychloroquine last spring. (Trump had encouraged the FDA in March to authorize the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to treat the novel coronavirus. But the FDA revoked this in June after a large, randomized clinical trial found hydroxychloroquine showed “no benefit” for either preventing infection or speeding recovery.)
While some scientific trials have studied whether oleandrin could treat cancer, AIDS and congestive heart failure, there is no evidence that oleandrin works to treat COVID-19 in humans. Yet Andrew Whitney, an executive at Phoenix Biotechnology, told Axios that oleandrin has been tested on humans for treating COVID-19; the study has just not been published or peer-reviewed yet.
Critics have expressed concern that another snake oil treatment is being pushed as a potential coronavirus cure, even as confirmed cases hit 21.7 million globally, with the death toll passing 775,000.
“The involvement of the Secretary of HUD and MyPillow.com in pushing a dubious product at the highest levels should give Americans no comfort at night about their health and safety during a raging pandemic,” a senior administration official told Axios.
Yet when reporters spoke to the president outside of the White House on Monday morning, he said that he has not asked the FDA to look into oleandrin. Trump merely said, “I’ve heard of it,” and, “we’ll look at it. We’re looking at a lot of different things.”
Considering oleandrin is on everyone’s lips, here are four things known about the experimental extract so far.
It’s derived from the oleander plant.
Oleandrin is drawn from the Nerium oleander plant, an evergreen shrub native to northern Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. It is also known as rose laurel, adelfa, rosenlorbeer and karavira. It has been used in traditional medicine to treat hemorrhoids, ulcers, leprosy and as an abortifacient, aka a drug to induce abortions, although there is no evidence that it is safe or effective for any of these medicinal purposes.
The plant is highly toxic.
Oleander is highly toxic to humans and animals because of compounds including oleandrin. Eating just one leaf from the plant can be fatal for an adult, and all parts of the plant are poisonous. Oleandrin poisoning symptoms occur several hours after consumption, and include vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, skin turning blue, low blood pressure, low body temperature and respiratory paralysis. Symptoms can last two or three days, and hospitalization is often necessary. Even skin contact with the plant’s sap can result in rashes or sores.
Oleandrin has been developed to treat cancer.
A hot water extract of the plant trademarked as Anvirzel has shown some promise in cancer treatment, where it has appeared to slow the growth of tumors and even killed some cancer cells in laboratory settings (aka test tubes). But Anvirzel has not been proven to be effective in the human body yet, so it is still considered an “investigational new drug” that is only being used in approved clinical trials. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center notes that Anvirzel is not an approved treatment in the United States.
It’s also being looked at for treating HIV. A test tube study published in 2012 found that Anvirzel lowered the infectivity of HIV; but keep in mind that something that works in a test tube does not always work in the human body.
There’s no evidence that it can treat COVID-19 in people yet.
So where is the COVID-cure buzz coming from? A July 2020 study out of Texas showed that, in test tubes, oleandrin could inhibit the coronavirus in monkey kidney cells. But this study has not been peer-reviewed or published yet. And while Phoenix Biotechnology exec Whitney also told Axios on Saturday that “we have provided” human clinical evidence to the FDA, he would not share what that evidence is. The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) also conducted some preliminary testing of oleandrin against SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19). The results were “inconclusive,” a spokesperson told Axios.
“You’d certainly want to see more work done on this before even contemplating a human trial,” Professor Sharon Lewin, the director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, told Axios.
What’s more, one of the authors of the Texas study, Robert Newman, is the chairman of the Phoenix Biotechnology advisory board — the company developing the oleandrin product.
And this Axios interview went viral over the weekend, as it sparked déjà vu over what happened with hydroxychloroquine last spring. (Trump had encouraged the FDA in March to authorize the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to treat the novel coronavirus. But the FDA revoked this in June after a large, randomized clinical trial found hydroxychloroquine showed “no benefit” for either preventing infection or speeding recovery.)
While some scientific trials have studied whether oleandrin could treat cancer, AIDS and congestive heart failure, there is no evidence that oleandrin works to treat COVID-19 in humans. Yet Andrew Whitney, an executive at Phoenix Biotechnology, told Axios that oleandrin has been tested on humans for treating COVID-19; the study has just not been published or peer-reviewed yet.
Critics have expressed concern that another snake oil treatment is being pushed as a potential coronavirus cure, even as confirmed cases hit 21.7 million globally, with the death toll passing 775,000.
“The involvement of the Secretary of HUD and MyPillow.com in pushing a dubious product at the highest levels should give Americans no comfort at night about their health and safety during a raging pandemic,” a senior administration official told Axios.
Yet when reporters spoke to the president outside of the White House on Monday morning, he said that he has not asked the FDA to look into oleandrin. Trump merely said, “I’ve heard of it,” and, “we’ll look at it. We’re looking at a lot of different things.”
Considering oleandrin is on everyone’s lips, here are four things known about the experimental extract so far.
It’s derived from the oleander plant.
Oleandrin is drawn from the Nerium oleander plant, an evergreen shrub native to northern Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. It is also known as rose laurel, adelfa, rosenlorbeer and karavira. It has been used in traditional medicine to treat hemorrhoids, ulcers, leprosy and as an abortifacient, aka a drug to induce abortions, although there is no evidence that it is safe or effective for any of these medicinal purposes.
The plant is highly toxic.
Oleander is highly toxic to humans and animals because of compounds including oleandrin. Eating just one leaf from the plant can be fatal for an adult, and all parts of the plant are poisonous. Oleandrin poisoning symptoms occur several hours after consumption, and include vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, skin turning blue, low blood pressure, low body temperature and respiratory paralysis. Symptoms can last two or three days, and hospitalization is often necessary. Even skin contact with the plant’s sap can result in rashes or sores.
Oleandrin has been developed to treat cancer.
A hot water extract of the plant trademarked as Anvirzel has shown some promise in cancer treatment, where it has appeared to slow the growth of tumors and even killed some cancer cells in laboratory settings (aka test tubes). But Anvirzel has not been proven to be effective in the human body yet, so it is still considered an “investigational new drug” that is only being used in approved clinical trials. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center notes that Anvirzel is not an approved treatment in the United States.
It’s also being looked at for treating HIV. A test tube study published in 2012 found that Anvirzel lowered the infectivity of HIV; but keep in mind that something that works in a test tube does not always work in the human body.
There’s no evidence that it can treat COVID-19 in people yet.
So where is the COVID-cure buzz coming from? A July 2020 study out of Texas showed that, in test tubes, oleandrin could inhibit the coronavirus in monkey kidney cells. But this study has not been peer-reviewed or published yet. And while Phoenix Biotechnology exec Whitney also told Axios on Saturday that “we have provided” human clinical evidence to the FDA, he would not share what that evidence is. The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) also conducted some preliminary testing of oleandrin against SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19). The results were “inconclusive,” a spokesperson told Axios.
“You’d certainly want to see more work done on this before even contemplating a human trial,” Professor Sharon Lewin, the director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, told Axios.
What’s more, one of the authors of the Texas study, Robert Newman, is the chairman of the Phoenix Biotechnology advisory board — the company developing the oleandrin product.
FDA's first-ever list of medical supply shortages says US needs more ventilators, gloves, surgical gowns
ichoi@businessinsider.com (Inyoung Choi),
Business Insider•August 16, 2020
The list cited the CARES Act that was signed in March for adding an additional section in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Part of the new section required the FDA to "maintain a publicly-available, up-to-date list of the devices the FDA has determined to be in shortage," the FDA announced.
In the list, a number of PPE, testing supplies, and ventilation related products are stated to be short in supply. Surgical apparel, patient examination gloves, sterile swabs, and ventilators are among those on the list.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump lauded the nation's supply of medical supplies at Friday's press conference at the White House. He commemorated his administration for using the Defense Production Act "more than any President in history" to help America create ventilators.
"Our nation is now the king of ventilators. I say that: the king of ventilators," Trump said.
While the US struggles in medical supplies like ventilators and PPE shortages, Trump has for long lauded his administration's ability to secure supplies.
In May, Trump said that he's "heard we have tremendous supply to almost all places — tremendous supply" after the President of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners noted that "PPE has been sporadic."
The shortages of medical supply remain critical as the US cases spike at 5.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Last month, the CDC stated that the US may have 10 times higher the number of officially recorded cases of coronavirus.
Read more:
CDC clarifies that science does not imply people are immune to coronavirus in the 3 months after infection
US coronavirus cases are probably 10 times higher than the official numbers, more and more research suggests
6 public-health experts offer a coronavirus agenda for Biden and Harris' first day in office, should they win
The FDA has granted emergency use authorization to a new saliva-based coronavirus test funded by the NBA and NBPA
Read the original article on Business Insider
ichoi@businessinsider.com (Inyoung Choi),
Business Insider•August 16, 2020
Medical gear is placed outside the room of a Covid patient in the ICU at Oakbend Medical Center in Richmond, Texas, on July 15, 2020.
MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesMore
For the first time, under the CARES Act signed in March, the FDA issued a "publicly-available, up-to-date list" of medical supply shortages.
The list, which was released on Friday, includes surgical gowns, gloves, swabs, and ventilators.
That same day, President Donald Trump called the US "is now the king of ventilators."
MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesMore
For the first time, under the CARES Act signed in March, the FDA issued a "publicly-available, up-to-date list" of medical supply shortages.
The list, which was released on Friday, includes surgical gowns, gloves, swabs, and ventilators.
That same day, President Donald Trump called the US "is now the king of ventilators."
On Friday, the US Food & Drug Administration issued a publicly available list of medical supply shortages for the first time.
The list cited the CARES Act that was signed in March for adding an additional section in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Part of the new section required the FDA to "maintain a publicly-available, up-to-date list of the devices the FDA has determined to be in shortage," the FDA announced.
In the list, a number of PPE, testing supplies, and ventilation related products are stated to be short in supply. Surgical apparel, patient examination gloves, sterile swabs, and ventilators are among those on the list.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump lauded the nation's supply of medical supplies at Friday's press conference at the White House. He commemorated his administration for using the Defense Production Act "more than any President in history" to help America create ventilators.
"Our nation is now the king of ventilators. I say that: the king of ventilators," Trump said.
While the US struggles in medical supplies like ventilators and PPE shortages, Trump has for long lauded his administration's ability to secure supplies.
In May, Trump said that he's "heard we have tremendous supply to almost all places — tremendous supply" after the President of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners noted that "PPE has been sporadic."
The shortages of medical supply remain critical as the US cases spike at 5.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Last month, the CDC stated that the US may have 10 times higher the number of officially recorded cases of coronavirus.
Read more:
CDC clarifies that science does not imply people are immune to coronavirus in the 3 months after infection
US coronavirus cases are probably 10 times higher than the official numbers, more and more research suggests
6 public-health experts offer a coronavirus agenda for Biden and Harris' first day in office, should they win
The FDA has granted emergency use authorization to a new saliva-based coronavirus test funded by the NBA and NBPA
Read the original article on Business Insider
Hit ’em where it hurts – how economic threats are a potent tool for changing people's minds about the Confederate flag
Jordan Carr Peterson, Assistant Professor of Political Science, North Carolina State University and Christian Grose, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences,
The Conversation•August 17, 2020
What’s the effect?
In our research, we surveyed voters as well as elected officials at both city and county levels. We wanted to measure whether, and how much, economic interests might affect Southerners’ attitudes toward the presence of Confederate symbols. We randomly assigned the participants into one of three equal-sized groups.
The first group read a vignette asking them to imagine that a Confederate flag was displayed on local government property in their county, and then asked them, on a scale from 1 to 7, how likely they were to support removal of the flag.
The second group was given the same basic information as the first group, but with additional language indicating that the continued presence of Confederate flag on public property in their county would mean a major multinational company would not want to relocate to the community.
[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]
The last group was given the same information as the second group, but with an additional assertion that the continued presence of the flag would have an effect large enough to affect the stock market in a way that would hurt the respondents’ personal economic bottom line.
Jordan Carr Peterson, Assistant Professor of Political Science, North Carolina State University and Christian Grose, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences,
The Conversation•August 17, 2020
The Mississippi state flag, with a representation of the Confederate battle flag, is raised one last time over the state Capitol building on July 1, 2020. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
Activists nationwide have resumed demanding the removal of statues and symbols that are considered racially offensive – such as of slave owners, Confederate leaders and the Confederate flag.
The requests – and related boycotts and threats of other economic protests – have been part of the national controversy about racism in American life and have sparked questions about how to recognize traumatic elements of U.S. history.
Typically, the debate about the role of Confederate imagery in public life is seen as a political, social or racial issue. But in recent research, we discovered that economic concerns could be effective in shifting Southerners’ attitudes about Confederate symbols.
Public officials and individual citizens alike are more likely to oppose the presence of Confederate symbols when they learn it may be bad for local business.
Longstanding support
Decisions to build Confederate monuments or display the Confederate battle flag were not, of course, controversial among white Southerners. Even recently, it wasn’t common for many white Americans – either in public service or as private citizens – to actively support removing Confederate imagery.
Yet some organizations have long opposed Confederate symbols. For instance, the NAACP called an economic boycott of South Carolina from 2000 to 2015 because the Confederate battle flag flew over the State House in Columbia, alongside the state and U.S. flags.
As recently as 2011 a plurality of white Southerners saw the Confederate flag as more positive than negative.
Political elites were not much different: In 2000, when South Carolina hosted a debate during the Republican presidential primaries, both George W. Bush and John McCain initially supported leaving decisions up to state officials about whether to keep the Confederate flag flying, though McCain equivocated on the issue throughout the campaign.
Activists nationwide have resumed demanding the removal of statues and symbols that are considered racially offensive – such as of slave owners, Confederate leaders and the Confederate flag.
The requests – and related boycotts and threats of other economic protests – have been part of the national controversy about racism in American life and have sparked questions about how to recognize traumatic elements of U.S. history.
Typically, the debate about the role of Confederate imagery in public life is seen as a political, social or racial issue. But in recent research, we discovered that economic concerns could be effective in shifting Southerners’ attitudes about Confederate symbols.
Public officials and individual citizens alike are more likely to oppose the presence of Confederate symbols when they learn it may be bad for local business.
Longstanding support
Decisions to build Confederate monuments or display the Confederate battle flag were not, of course, controversial among white Southerners. Even recently, it wasn’t common for many white Americans – either in public service or as private citizens – to actively support removing Confederate imagery.
Yet some organizations have long opposed Confederate symbols. For instance, the NAACP called an economic boycott of South Carolina from 2000 to 2015 because the Confederate battle flag flew over the State House in Columbia, alongside the state and U.S. flags.
As recently as 2011 a plurality of white Southerners saw the Confederate flag as more positive than negative.
Political elites were not much different: In 2000, when South Carolina hosted a debate during the Republican presidential primaries, both George W. Bush and John McCain initially supported leaving decisions up to state officials about whether to keep the Confederate flag flying, though McCain equivocated on the issue throughout the campaign.
A BLACK woman takes a Confederate flag off a public display.
A rapid change
Opposition to public display of Confederate symbols has shifted in more recent years.
In some cases, public officials have encountered changing political circumstances. In 2015, for instance, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley supported a bipartisan call to remove the flag from the State House in the wake of a racially motivated mass shooting of African Americans at a Charleston church.
Our research found that presenting divisive social and political issues in terms of their potential economic consequences can change the views of both political elites and the public at large.
This came up, for instance, during a legislative debate in Mississippi in June 2020. Some of the people arguing that the Confederate flag should not be part of the state flag said that keeping it might impede job creation and economic development in their state.
Those tactics are similar to economic arguments from other groups seeking social change, such as LGBT-rights advocates explaining how the business community would be hurt by continued discrimination.
Opposition to public display of Confederate symbols has shifted in more recent years.
In some cases, public officials have encountered changing political circumstances. In 2015, for instance, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley supported a bipartisan call to remove the flag from the State House in the wake of a racially motivated mass shooting of African Americans at a Charleston church.
Our research found that presenting divisive social and political issues in terms of their potential economic consequences can change the views of both political elites and the public at large.
This came up, for instance, during a legislative debate in Mississippi in June 2020. Some of the people arguing that the Confederate flag should not be part of the state flag said that keeping it might impede job creation and economic development in their state.
Those tactics are similar to economic arguments from other groups seeking social change, such as LGBT-rights advocates explaining how the business community would be hurt by continued discrimination.
What’s the effect?
In our research, we surveyed voters as well as elected officials at both city and county levels. We wanted to measure whether, and how much, economic interests might affect Southerners’ attitudes toward the presence of Confederate symbols. We randomly assigned the participants into one of three equal-sized groups.
The first group read a vignette asking them to imagine that a Confederate flag was displayed on local government property in their county, and then asked them, on a scale from 1 to 7, how likely they were to support removal of the flag.
The second group was given the same basic information as the first group, but with additional language indicating that the continued presence of Confederate flag on public property in their county would mean a major multinational company would not want to relocate to the community.
[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]
The last group was given the same information as the second group, but with an additional assertion that the continued presence of the flag would have an effect large enough to affect the stock market in a way that would hurt the respondents’ personal economic bottom line.
A truck carrying a Confederate battle flag is parked next to a Confederate statue.
We found that Southerners were far more likely to support removal of Confederate symbols from public property when told there would be economic harm if they stayed up. Both voters and elected officials became about a half-point more likely on our seven-point scale to support removal after receiving information about the economic threats associated with the continued presence of the Confederate flag.
Controversies around socially and racially divisive monuments and symbols are likely to continue in the U.S. Our findings indicate that social movements might change more people’s minds by emphasizing not only the history of Southern racial injustice, but also by using the potent threats of boycotts and other forms of economic pressure.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.
Read more:
African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces
Latest legal hurdle to removing Confederate statues in Virginia: The wishes of their long-dead white donors
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
We found that Southerners were far more likely to support removal of Confederate symbols from public property when told there would be economic harm if they stayed up. Both voters and elected officials became about a half-point more likely on our seven-point scale to support removal after receiving information about the economic threats associated with the continued presence of the Confederate flag.
Controversies around socially and racially divisive monuments and symbols are likely to continue in the U.S. Our findings indicate that social movements might change more people’s minds by emphasizing not only the history of Southern racial injustice, but also by using the potent threats of boycotts and other forms of economic pressure.
This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.
Read more:
African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces
Latest legal hurdle to removing Confederate statues in Virginia: The wishes of their long-dead white donors
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Days after deal with UAE, anti-Netanyahu protests resume
SHLOMO MOR,
Associated Press•August 15, 202
Trump: More Middle East talks after UAE-Israel deal
President Donald Trump said Thursday the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. (Aug. 13)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, resuming their calls for the embattled leader to step down despite his historic agreement to establish diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates.
Israelis have been gathering outside Netanyahu’s residence several times a week throughout the summer, protesting his handling of the coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.
While Netanyahu has tried to play down the protests, the gatherings appear to be getting stronger. Even Netanyahu’s blockbuster announcement Thursday announcing plans to establish ties with the UAE, making it just the third Arab country currently to have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, appeared to have no effect on the protesters’ momentum.
Thousands of people thronged central Jerusalem late Saturday, blaring horns, hoisting Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Netanyahu. A smaller protest took place near Netanyahu’s private beach home in the upscale coastal town of Caesaria, while other gatherings took place on bridges and intersections across the country.
There was a heavy police presence at the demonstrations but no reports of serious violence. In the central town of Hadera, police said they arrested a 20-year-old man who threw firecrackers at demonstrators.
The rallies against Netanyahu are the largest Israel has seen since 2011 protests over the country’s high cost of living. Even so, they do not appear to pose an immediate threat to Netanyahu.
After moving quickly to contain the virus last spring, many believe Israel reopened its economy too quickly, leading to a surge in cases. The country is now coping with a spike in cases, while unemployment has surged to over 20%.
Many of the demonstrators, including many young unemployed Israelis, accuse Netanyau of mishandling the coronavirus crisis and the economic damage it has caused.
The demonstrations, taking place several times a week at locations around the country, are organized by a loose-knit network of activist groups. Some object to Netanyahu remaining in office while he is on trial. He has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals. Many carry black flags, the name of one of the grassroots movements.
US approves oil, gas leasing plan for Alaska Wildlife refuge
Oil and gas leasing program within Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge approved
MARK THIESSEN,
Associated Press•August 17, 2020
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Department of the Interior on Monday approved an oil and gas leasing program within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the sprawling home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed the Record of Decision, which will determine where oil and gas leasing will take place in the refuge’s coastal plain, a 1.56-million acre swath of land on Alaska’s north shore with the Beaufort Sea.
“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR Coastal Plain, and we have taken a significant step in meeting our obligations by determining where and under what conditions the oil and gas development program will occur,” Bernhardt said in a statement.
Congress approved the program in 2017, and the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in December 2018 concluded drilling could be conducted within the coastal plain area without harming wildlife.
“Today’s announcement marks a milestone in Alaska’s forty-year journey to responsibly develop our state and our nation’s new energy frontier,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said.
The Republican governor called Monday’s decision “a definitive step in the right direction to developing this area’s energy potential,” which he estimated at 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil reserves.
Environmental groups immediately assailed opening the refuge and promised litigation.
“The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We’ll see them in court,” said Lena Moffitt with the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign.
“Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left,” Adam Kolton, Executive Director at Alaska Wilderness League, said. “And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation’s last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it.”
US Interior Dept approves oil drilling in Arctic refuge
Steven C. AMSTRUP,
AFP•August 17, 2020
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to polar bears such as this one, photographed on sea ice northeast of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska
The US Department of the Interior approved oil and gas drilling on Monday in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that drilling leases could be auctioned off by the end of the year.
Environmental groups vowed to fight the move to allow drilling in the remote area of northeast Alaska which is home to polar bears, caribou and other animals.
"Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left," Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.
"And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation's last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it."
The then Republican-held US House of Representatives and Senate approved oil leases in part of the vast federally-owned refuge three years ago.
"Congress gave us a very clear directive here, and we have to carry out that directive," Bernhardt said. "I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a way that is responsible, sustainable and environmentally benign."
With oil prices at 15-year lows and potential deposits unknown, it is unclear how much bidding interest there will be among the major oil companies.
"We will continue to fight this at every turn, in the courts, in Congress and in the corporate boardrooms," said Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League.
"Any oil company that would seek to drill in the Arctic Refuge will face enormous reputational, legal and financial risks."
cl/jh
Oil and gas leasing program within Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge approved
MARK THIESSEN,
Associated Press•August 17, 2020
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Department of the Interior on Monday approved an oil and gas leasing program within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the sprawling home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed the Record of Decision, which will determine where oil and gas leasing will take place in the refuge’s coastal plain, a 1.56-million acre swath of land on Alaska’s north shore with the Beaufort Sea.
“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR Coastal Plain, and we have taken a significant step in meeting our obligations by determining where and under what conditions the oil and gas development program will occur,” Bernhardt said in a statement.
Congress approved the program in 2017, and the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in December 2018 concluded drilling could be conducted within the coastal plain area without harming wildlife.
“Today’s announcement marks a milestone in Alaska’s forty-year journey to responsibly develop our state and our nation’s new energy frontier,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said.
The Republican governor called Monday’s decision “a definitive step in the right direction to developing this area’s energy potential,” which he estimated at 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil reserves.
Environmental groups immediately assailed opening the refuge and promised litigation.
“The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We’ll see them in court,” said Lena Moffitt with the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign.
“Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left,” Adam Kolton, Executive Director at Alaska Wilderness League, said. “And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation’s last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it.”
US Interior Dept approves oil drilling in Arctic refuge
Steven C. AMSTRUP,
AFP•August 17, 2020
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to polar bears such as this one, photographed on sea ice northeast of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska
The US Department of the Interior approved oil and gas drilling on Monday in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that drilling leases could be auctioned off by the end of the year.
Environmental groups vowed to fight the move to allow drilling in the remote area of northeast Alaska which is home to polar bears, caribou and other animals.
"Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left," Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.
"And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation's last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it."
The then Republican-held US House of Representatives and Senate approved oil leases in part of the vast federally-owned refuge three years ago.
"Congress gave us a very clear directive here, and we have to carry out that directive," Bernhardt said. "I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a way that is responsible, sustainable and environmentally benign."
With oil prices at 15-year lows and potential deposits unknown, it is unclear how much bidding interest there will be among the major oil companies.
"We will continue to fight this at every turn, in the courts, in Congress and in the corporate boardrooms," said Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League.
"Any oil company that would seek to drill in the Arctic Refuge will face enormous reputational, legal and financial risks."
cl/jh
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