The political calculus on the gun issue has changed

Bill Schneider, opinion contributor 

4/4/2021`

President Biden will find it difficult - if not impossible - to get bipartisan support in Congress for new gun control measures, like a new assault weapons ban, which passed with bipartisan support in 1994 and expired ten years later.

© Mario Tama/Getty Images coronavirus COVID-19 guns violence firearm pruchases threat perceived university of california davis research new owners acquired 110,000 californians

Most gun control measures get broad public support, including requiring background checks for private and gun show sales (83 percent in a 2019 poll), a ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines (61 percent) and a ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons (57 percent). But what matters politically is intensity of support. Getting gun laws through Congress has always been difficult because of single-issue voting by gun rights supporters.


The gun issue drives their votes; for most other voters, it doesn't.

Let's say you take a poll and show a politician that his constituents divide 75 to 25 percent in favor of gun control. The politician knows what will happen if he votes for a gun control law. Maybe 10 percent of the 75 percent majority care enough about the issue to vote for him for that reason alone - but he may lose 20 out of the 25 percent on the other side. Gun owners may be a minority, but many see gun control as a threat to their Second Amendment rights. It drives their votes. They make sure politicians know it.

Single-issue voting helps explain why intensely committed minorities can hold sway over casually committed majorities. "Why are gun owners so politically powerful?" an abortion rights activist once told me in an interview: "There are more uterus owners than gun owners. And when uterus owners begin to vote their issue, we will win."

Single-issue politics is a sort of blackmail: "We don't care what your position is on anything else. If you are with us on our issue, we'll support you. If you are against us, we'll come after you."

None of that has changed. But the political calculus has.

Why? Because of political segregation.

Red America and blue America have been moving apart. Democrats and Republicans increasingly live in separate constituencies, if not separate political worlds. In the Republican world, gun rights are still sacrosanct, and many voters remain watchful for any threats. In the Democratic world - far more urban and suburban - single-issue voting to protect gun rights is a much less serious threat.

In a Democratic debate during the last presidential campaign, Beto O'Rourke thrilled liberals and horrified conservatives when he was asked, after a mass shooting in his home town of El Paso Texas, if he would mandate that people give up their assault weapons. "Hell yes!" the former Democratic Congressman responded, drawing cheers from the Democratic audience. "We're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans any more."

When the assault weapons ban was voted on by the House of Representatives in 1994, 46 Republicans voted for it, and 64 Democrats opposed it. It would not have passed without Republican support. Nothing like that could happen now.

Donald Trump has radicalized the Republican Party. Even though Trump lost his bid for re-election last year, the anticipated "blue wave" for Democrats never materialized. Any Republican in Congress who supports new gun laws is likely to face a conservative primary challenger funded by Trump.

Many conservative Democrats who represented southern and rural constituencies were wiped out in the 1994 midterm election when, after 40 years, Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives. That was widely interpreted as the gun rights activists' revenge for passage of the assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill mandating criminal background checks for gun purchasers. Congressional Democrats have been skittish about new gun laws ever since.

That, too, may be changing.

Democratic voters are more uniformly liberal just as Republican voters are more uniformly conservative. Moderates and centrists are diminishing in importance in both parties. Bipartisanship looks more and more like an old-fashioned idea.

Today, new gun laws are likely to be passed only by a straight partisan vote - just like President Biden's $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan, Obamacare in 2010, and President Trump's tax cuts in 2017.

The problem is: Straight partisan victories will be nearly impossible in the Senate as long as the filibuster is in force for non-taxing-and-spending legislation - like new gun laws.

The filibuster is supposed to encourage bipartisanship - but given the new hyper-partisan reality, what it really encourages is gridlock.

Bill Schneider is a professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and author of 'Standoff: How America Became Ungovernable' (Simon & Schuster).

COMMENTARY: Cancel culture isn’t about denying freedom of speech, it’s about consequences
globalnewsdigital 4/4/2021

© ITV/Screengrab Piers Morgan storms off of the 'Good Morning Britain' set.

Piers Morgan refutes a woman’s suicidal ideation and racism claims. Sharon Osbourne is accused of numerous racial slurs. Andrew Cuomo is called out for alleged sexual misconduct and even assault.

All these individuals are in the public eye. They all are white, wealthy and wield varying degrees of power and privilege, but putting these unsurprising similarities aside, they have also all been labelled by many right-wing politicos as the latest victims of cancel culture.

Read more: Fact or Fiction — Does ‘cancel culture’ work in holding people accountable?

It seems weekly, even daily we hear about individuals or institutions being called out for racism, sexism, even sexual assault. But when such claims are made, instead of focusing on the behaviour that caused the initial indignation, instead the outrage is redirected toward "cancel culture."

But cancel culture, or as I refer to it, consequence culture, serves as a means by which minorities and marginalized groups are demanding that public discourse shift from those historically in power, to include all members of society. It is about holding individuals and institutions accountable for their actions. It is about consequences for wrongful behaviour.

Yet critics of cancel culture argue it is an infringement on their free speech.

The likes of Piers Morgan want us to believe that cancel culture is a new phenomenon that is threatening our very democracy.

“If our rights to free speech are denied, then democracy as we know it will die. It's time to cancel the cancel culture before it kills our culture,” Morgan recently penned in his first piece for The Daily Mail since abruptly leaving Good Morning Britain last month.

Video: Piers Morgan storms off the set of ‘Good Morning Britain’

Cancel culture has existed for centuries. The difference is, up until recently, only those (predominantly white) people in positions of power were doing the cancelling and not just metaphorically. Entire communities have been silenced throughout our history — particularly Black, brown, Asian, Indigenous and LGBTQ2 voices have been degraded, abused and erased for centuries.

In 1983, two years after I immigrated to Canada from England, my own experiences with racism began. I was five years old at the time. I was cancelled time and time again for not being white enough or wealthy enough.

I'd hear things like, “Dirty P-KI!” or “You smell like curry” or “Go back home!”

Sometimes they were overt racial slurs. Sometimes it was more covert, like the exclusion of invitations to join certain clubs or events as I got older into adolescence. Then, I would hear things like, “you probably can’t afford to come” or “there won’t be anyone like you there.”

It continued into adulthood. For example, at an annual film conference, one of my white clients once asked me, “Do you feel out of place because you’re not white like everyone else here?” I hadn’t felt out of place until that moment when I was subtly told I didn’t quite fit.

Read more: Dr. Seuss sales surge after six books cancelled for racist content

Until recently, the reasons for cancellation have been different, whether it be a failure to meet levels of whiteness, straightness or class. But make no mistake, this has been the real cancel culture at play for years. And sadly, for many, this still feels much more palatable than speaking out against any injustice or humanitarian reason.

The problem with cancel culture is that the dialogue very easily shifts away from the actual issue deserving attention, be it an act of racism or sexism, to a conversation on political correctness. Yet cancelling isn’t about pushing political correctness, nor is it a means of policing morality, for that matter. It is about consequences for behaviour.

In sports, you are given a red card, put on the sidelines, even ejected altogether for bad behaviour — it is not refuted as cancel culture, it is simply seen as a consequence. It is accountability for actions. Yet we struggle to hold ourselves to these same standards in everyday life.

Video: ‘Cancel Culture’ may not be a new phenomenon, Trent University experts say

Inevitably, even when individuals or institutions are so-called cancelled, they still take up space in the public consciousness. This is how accusations of racism, xenophobia and homophobia are gaslit, and instead of focusing on victims, the narrative becomes centred on those who are being tasked with accountability.

It is easy for many to sympathize with the accused as the victim — the victim of cancel culture, political correctness, wokeness — and vindicate them of their actual behaviour.

The truth is, if being cancelled had you fall from a position of power, you’re pretty certain to eventually fail back up.

Memories are short. Jessica Mulroney is back on Instagram with more followers than before she took time away to "listen and learn." Chris Harrison will soon return to The Bachelor. Jay Leno’s garage will remain stacked. Louis C.K. will continue the stand-up circuit. Lori Loughlin will be making Hallmark movies again and J.K. Rowling will continue to rake in millions, as will the estate of Dr. Suess.

Cancel culture has become a game of semantics, diversion, and distraction. But if you pay close enough attention, it's easy to see the real cancel culture is still fiercely at play — one that promotes deep divides in equality between the haves and the have-nots, and one that ensures historic power structures remain intact.

Meera Estrada is a cultural commentator and co-host of kultur’D! on Global News Radio 640 Toronto.

HE FORGOT ABOUT THE FAMILY PLANTATION IN BARBADOS
Wealthy MP with slave trade links failed to publish accounts for four of his firms

Paul Lashmar and Jonathan Smith 

THE GUARDIAN

4/4/2021


A multimillionaire MP who enjoys a Downton Abbey lifestyle funded by historical family links to the slave trade has failed to publish accounts for four of his five companies since 2009, in potential breach of company law.

© Photograph: See Li/Alamy 

Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, is having to produce accounts revealing hundreds of thousands of pounds of transactions.

The Observer and Sunday Mirror revealed in December that Richard Drax was worth an estimated £150m, but had not declared ownership of a Barbados sugar plantation in his register of members’ interests declaration.

Now Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset, is having to produce more than a decade’s worth of missing accounts, which reveal hundreds of thousands of pounds of business transactions.

Four months ago we revealed that Drax’s interests declaration was littered with omissions and errors. He had not declared inheriting his family’s 621-acre sugar plantation in Barbados, where from 1640 to 1838 his family used slaves to make huge profits in terrible conditions. Drax told us he had not declared the plantation as it was still in probate after his father died in 2017.

He had also not declared an estate in Swaledale, North Yorkshire and that he owned a £4.4m holiday let on Sandbanks – one of the most expensive areas for property in the UK.

In the new year, an amended register was published that included missing holdings. Campaigners have demanded that Drax pay reparations to Barbados for the damage inflicted by his ancestors on enslaved people forced to work on their plantations.

The Director of the Good Law Project, Jolyon Maugham, said, “Having been found out for failing properly to declare his vast wealth, including a sugar plantation in Barbados, to his constituents Richard Drax has now all but admitted he has also breached company law. What else is there? Perhaps, to him, it doesn’t matter. Perhaps, like so many titans of this government, he thinks laws are for the little people.”

Yesterday Drax admitted the accounts were missing and blamed his accountants for failing to file them to Companies House.

A hardline Brexiter, the Harrow-educated Drax, 63 – full name Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax – is a rising star in the right wing of the Conservative party, and has repeatedly opposed extending lockdown restrictions.

The former Coldstream Guards officer and BBC journalist owns a 14,000-acre estate, the largest in Dorset, which is noted for its three-mile-long brick wall running alongside one of county’s major roads. Drax also owns some 125 Dorset properties personally or through family trusts. The estate’s finances have mostly been hidden from public scrutiny and involve at least six family trusts and as many financial entities.

When Drax amended his register entry in January and correctly named the companies he owns, which relate to his farming interests – he grows poppies to make morphine for the NHS and barley for craft brewers – there were still problems. Four of the companies had not provided any accounts in the last decade. As both of his unlimited companies were subsidiaries of a limited company, under section 448 of the Companies Act 2006 they all should have submitted accounts annually.

Concerns about a section 448 breach were raised with Companies House in late January. Over the last two weeks, some 50 documents from the four companies have appeared on the Companies House website, including a decade’s worth of missing accounts. Two limited companies, said to have been dormant from 2009, are now shown to have been active. The unlimited companies have now filed accounts, showing in some years hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of financial activity. All had been approved by Drax annually as late as November 2020.

Alex Cobham, the chief executive of the Tax Justice Network, pointed out that under the Companies Act it was an offence for a person “knowingly or recklessly to make a statement that is misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular”, with potential penalties including imprisonment.

He said: “Mis-registering companies with sometimes very substantial assets or transactions as ‘dormant’ would certainly appear to be material. For an outside observer, it is difficult to see how this error could have been made for multiple companies and over the course of so many years, in a way that was neither knowing nor reckless – so an explanation from Mr Drax is badly needed.”

Carralyn Parkes, who stood against Drax for Labour in the 2019 election, said: “South Dorset has high levels of child poverty, a housing crisis caused by a lack of affordable homes for rent, and many of our hardworking families are struggling to make ends meet in this harsh economic climate – I am sure that they would be able to tell you how much money they have, and where every penny came from.”

A spokesman for Drax said: “Richard was made aware on 5 February of omissions in the Companies House filings in relation to the unlimited companies Abbot’s Court Farm (Charborough) and Anderson Manor Farm. He had quite reasonably relied upon his accountants to whom he had delegated full responsibility to file the necessary accounts and, when he was made aware of the unintended omission, he instructed his accountants to immediately rectify the position. All of the required information was sent to Companies House on 12 February, that is within a week of the issue having been identified.”

COYOTE'S ARE URBAN DWELLERS

Coyote sightings rise in Canada this spring amid COVID-19

Nathan Howes 

4/4/2021


Play Video
Family of coyotes take over a rock wall in Calgary community are cute, but stay away

Many Canadians have reported seeing and hearing more wildlife in their neighbourhoods during COVID-19, and according to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC)'s senior conservation biologist, Dan Kraus, it's because we are spending more time near home and in local parks.

As such, coyotes in residential areas have received heightened awareness in recent weeks.

SEE ALSO: Canadians explore nature more to relieve COVID-19 pandemic stress

"During busier times when we are constantly on the move, many of us tend to be hurrying to get somewhere and fail to notice that wildlife is all around us," said Kraus, in a news release.

He said it is a "good sign" that people are becoming more aware of wildlife and their annual life cycles. While coyotes are generally more active during their mating season in the winter, spring is when they are searching for dens to house their pups, so seeing them at this time of year is not uncommon.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkSeeing coyotes in the spring is not uncommon, but they should never be approached. Photo: Paul Turbitt.

STAY AWAY FROM COYOTES

However, coyotes, as with all wildlife, should only be viewed from a distance and never approached. Although they are generally shy and would prefer to avoid confrontations with humans, coyotes can become habituated to people and become aggressive, Kraus added.

“Early spring is when coyotes are very actively looking for food. They play an important role in the urban ecosystem by controlling rodent populations and eating carrion. It’s an amazing experience to watch a coyote sitting patiently in a meadow or park, and then pouncing to capture mice and voles. Unfortunately, coyotes that are injured, starving, young or have been fed by people can come into conflict with people,” said Kraus.

Despite past population control measures, coyotes have actually expanded their range, even adapting to live in the "downtown cores of our cities," the senior conservation biologist said.

"They offer a unique opportunity to experience nature where we live. But we need to remember that real nature is not a Disney film. These are wild animals and need to be treated with respect so we can peacefully co-exist,“ said Kraus.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkPhoto: Allison Haskell.

Kraus offers the following tips to people to keep themselves and their pets safe:

Feed your pets inside and keep them indoors. Do not leave pets unattended or unprotected outdoors

Keep dogs on a leash when going for walks

Make sure garbage, pet food or compost is not left outside

Keep garbage containers sealed and locked

Close off spaces under porches, decks and sheds to prevent wildlife from seeking shelter or dens

IF YOU ENCOUNTER A COYOTE OR OTHER WILDLIFE

He also has helpful information for people who encounter a coyote or any wildlife while in public or on their property.

Do not approach, do not try to feed, touch or to photograph the animal from close distances

If you encounter a coyote and it does not flee, remain calm and slowly back away, and leave the area in the direction where you came from

Never run from a coyote, or any wildlife, as it may trigger a predatory response and give chase

Use personal alarm devices — such as a whistle, bell or phone to frighten or threaten the animal

VIDEO
Listen to the cutest coyote family hanging out in Toronto


If the animal exhibits aggressive behaviour, then make yourself larger and noisier by raising your arms and voice

If, in the rare case, the animal continues to approach, throw rocks or sticks in its direction

Landowners unable to deal with coyotes that repeatedly show signs of aggression or habituation should contact the police or their local natural resources department

Thumbnail courtesy of Paul Turbitt.

Running on Empty: There's a Lot to Like About Hydrogen, If You Can Find It

Steven Cole Smith
From the May 2021 issue of Car and Driver
.
© Illustration by Jorge Cuadal Calle - Car and Driver Hydrogen's Bombshell

In April 2004, the city of San Francisco acquired two Honda FCX cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Mayor Gavin Newsom held a press conference, and to show off just how clean the vehicles' emissions would be, he collected condensate from a tailpipe in a paper cup and took a sip."You are looking, literally, at the future," he said.


Last fall, Newsom, now California's governor, signed an executive order requiring all new cars and light-duty trucks sold in the state to be zero-emission vehicles starting in 2035, his ambitions buoyed by a growing list of EVs and rising demand. If you want to go electric, the Golden State is a fine place to be. There are, according to the California Energy Commission (CEC), more than 70,000 public and shared private vehicle-charging plugs throughout the state. The Tesla Model 3 was the best­selling car in the state in the first quarter of 2020, a sign that Californians have an appetite for more environmentally friendly vehicles. That makes it a great test market for hydrogen cars, which are supposed to solve the range and charging headaches of today's EVs by carrying more energy and refueling more quickly.Running on Empty: There's a Lot to Like About Hydrogen, If You Can Find It

© Sean Rice Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but in California it can be maddeningly hard to find when you need it to fuel vehicles like the Toyota Mirai.

Still, even in California, hydrogen's future is murky. In 2015, when Toyota debuted the Mirai hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered sedan in the United States, the automaker took to calling customers trailblazers. The trouble with blazing a trail, however, is that you don't always know what you're getting into. Deals and incentives abound, but if you're driving any of the 9000-plus fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) that call California home, you better be good with logistics. In a state that covers more than 163,000 square miles, there are currently only 45 hydrogen stations, and they don't always have enough fuel for everyone who needs it.

Nearly 17 years after Newsom took a sip of tomorrow, FCEV customers are finding it difficult to fill up and almost impossible to offload their cars when reality sets in."The excitement of being a trailblazer rubbed off long ago," says Patrick Perez, a Mirai driver in the Los Angeles area. On Facebook, a Mirai group that Perez is part of whiplashes between ecstatic and despondent. Some members extol the almost holy virtues of driving an emissions-free vehicle and saving the earth; others count the minutes until their Mirai leases end."The car does what it's supposed to," Perez says."It's just the hydrogen infrastructure that is causing the issues."

By far the most pressing problem is fuel availability, as FCEV owners can't count on stations to actually have hydrogen. To mitigate the issue, Mirai owner Doug Dumitru started H2-CA.com, a website where people can easily"tell whether a station is likely to have hydrogen when they get there," he says. The site, which pulls info from the California Fuel Cell Partnership every 60 seconds, gets around 2000 visits per day when hydrogen is scarce.

This problem began in June 2019, when a hydrogen production facility in Santa Clara caught fire, disrupting supply in the Bay Area and Southern California. More recently, the big freeze in Texas, where much hydrogen comes from, left many California stations bereft. FirstElement has 23 of them on the West Coast. With road closures keeping trucks in Texas, on the morning of February 23, only six of its stations showed more than 25 percent capacity, which likely dwindled as hydrogen-starved vehicles descended on them.

The fuel is pricey too: A report from the California Air Resources Board and the CEC showed that in 2019, the average price per kilogram of hydrogen was $16.51. According to the few stations we called, the rate hasn't changed much. To put that in perspective, consider the base-model Hyundai Nexo. It can hold 6.3 kilograms of hydrogen and, by the EPA's methodology, sees 60 miles per kilogram. That means a Nexo owner can go about 380 miles before needing to refill the tank, which costs about $100.

Given that a Hyundai Tucson (which starts at $24,885) will go even farther for less than half as much, you may wonder why anyone would opt for an FCEV. But the majority of fuel-cell owners don't pay for gas, with Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai all handing out a $15,000 fuel card good for 36 months with each purchase or lease.

Hydrogen Cost

That's just one of the things manufacturers are doing to attract buyers. With its $60,120 Nexo, Hyundai is also throwing in maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles, a 10-year/100,000-mile warranty on the battery, and a free rental car one week per year, in case you actually need to go somewhere outside a hydrogen-filling-station area or you just feel like polluting a little. On top of that, FCEV buyers can drive solo in HOV lanes, receive $4500 (or $7000 if they're in a low-income bracket) from the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, and take advantage of a federal tax credit of up to $8000. But given the scarcity of fuel, prudent shoppers will base their decision to purchase an FCEV on whether they live in the vicinity of multiple reliable filling stations, which pretty much limits them to L.A. or the Bay Area. However, not everyone thinks about that before signing the paperwork.

That's where Kirk Nason made his mistake. In 2018, the retired Microsoft engineer took delivery of a Mirai for his daughter, whose commute took her up and down Interstate 605. There aren't any hydrogen stations off that regularly congested freeway, but several were due to open; until they did, Nason figured she could refill the Mirai somewhere nearby. At least once she had to have it towed after running out of fuel while looking for more. There are no battery jumps, no five-gallon gas cans delivered by AAA. When you're out, you're out.

It became too much, Nason says, and his daughter bought a gasoline-powered SUV. Her Mirai took up residence in his garage, awaiting the end of its $543-per-month lease in June so he can return it to Toyota."I can't wait to get out of this nightmare," Nason says. He has tried to give it back early, and neither Toyota nor his dealership is interested.

That's not surprising. A used Mirai is abominably cheap—a car that was close to $60,000 new in 2018 (the 2021 starts at $50,495) now sells for maybe $15,000, with plenty available for less. We found a decent 2017 Mirai for $8500. Certified Pre-Owned cars at Toyota dealerships cost a little more, but there's a reason: Buy one and you'll get that $15,000 fuel card. If you have a Mirai and try to sell it on your own, that's what you are up against. Even if you have money and time left on your fuel card, too bad."It is not transferable, so any unused portion would not go to a new owner," says Paul Hogard, a Toyota senior analyst.

Hogard acknowledges the hydrogen shortage in California, saying that Toyota is monitoring the situation but doesn't make or distribute the fuel. He says the company is working on"a case-by-case basis" to keep customers"mobile" while also trying to improve infrastructure.

Jack Brouwer, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and associate director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California, Irvine, says it's"very unfortunate that the infrastructure has not been sufficient for quite a few people" who drive hydrogen-powered vehicles. Certainly, he says, it hasn't grown as quickly as EV-charging infrastructure, with"many more millions spent" on those stations. In December, California pledged $115 million to add up to 111 more hydrogen-fueling stations by 2027."I'd suggest it's too slow, but it is coming along," Brouwer says.

At present, Brouwer gives the nod to plug-in electric vehicles, citing the scope of the recharging infrastructure and improvements in battery technology. But he submits that any hydrocarbon-free future must include hydrogen. One reason: It works much better than battery power for heavy-duty vehicles because hydrogen's energy density is much higher than a battery's, plus refueling is significantly quicker than charging a battery. Brouwer is also looking ahead to the day when California is saturated with zero-pollution vehicles. Imagine, he says, a high-rise where almost every resident has an EV; charging would have to be extended to each parking space, and the electrical grid would have to be retooled to handle the drain.

"But if there were a hydrogen station on the corner," he says, it could substantially reduce area electrical consumption and the need to dramatically update electrical infrastructure. Brouwer predicts that one way or another, the future of the auto industry will include far more FCEVs than are currently on California roads (or sitting in California garages). But for now, he drives a Tesla.

Arctic mining takes centre stage in Greenland election

AFP 1 

4/3/2021

Greenland votes Tuesday in legislative elections largely seen as a referendum on a controversial mining project that would help diversify the Arctic island's economy as it plans for a future altered by global warming.

© Christian KLINDT SOLBECK 

Independent fisherman Lars Heilmann's main hope from the elections is larger fishing quotas

The autonomous Danish territory obtained ownership of its vast mineral reserves in 2009 when its self-rule powers were widened.

Those resources, its geopolitical relevance and easier access due to melting sea ice have made Greenland increasingly attractive to the world's superpowers in recent years. Donald Trump, when he was US president, even offered to buy the island in 2019.

© Emil Helms Mineral-rich Nuuk is keen to attract foreign investment

While Denmark and Greenland made it abundantly clear the territory was not for sale, Nuuk is nonetheless keen to attract foreign investments to help it cut its financial umbilical cord to Copenhagen someday.

A rare earth and uranium mining project proposed by an Australian company and backed by Chinese investors in the south of the island in Kuannersuit could provide a massive windfall that would supplement Greenland's main industry, fishing.

© Emil Helms Polls suggest the ruling Siumut party is trailing in the polls

But in February, a political crisis erupted when a junior party quit the coalition government over the project, leading to Tuesday's early elections for parliament's 31 seats.

- 'Unspoiled nature' -

Social democratic Siumut, Greenland's largest party, has dominated island politics since autonomy in 1979. Currently trailing in the polls, it backs the mine project.

The opposition left-green party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA), leading in the polls, opposes any uranium mining, fearing the radioactive waste could harm the pristine environment.

© Emil Helms Activists with the left-green party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) say the mining project would destroy the region's pristine environment

"We have to say no to the mine and allow ourselves to develop our country our own way," Mariane Paviasen, an IA member of parliament and leader of the anti-mine charge, told AFP.


"In Greenland we have clean air and unspoiled nature. We live in harmony with nature and we aren't going to pollute it."

A resident of Narsaq, the village of 1,500 inhabitants where the mine would operate for 37 years if approved, she has been fighting for eight years to block the mine's permit.

In 2010, Australian company Greenland Minerals obtained an exploration license for the Kuannersuit deposit, considered one of the world's richest in uranium and rare earth minerals -- a group of 17 metals used as components in high-tech devices such as smartphones, flat screen displays, electric cars and weapons.

The company's environmental protection plan was recently approved but authorities still need to greenlight the project before an operating licence can be issued.

- 'Reminiscent of colonial times' -

Siumut party leader Erik Jensen said the project would be "hugely important for Greenland's economy".

But opponents say the mine, located in the island's only agricultural region, would deprive locals of their farmland and hunting grounds. They argue it reeks of colonialism in a region already coping with the devastating effects of climate change.

"People in Narsaq... feel they will have to leave," Greenlandic political scientist Nauja Bianco told AFP.

"The question then is how to legitimise the shutdown of the settlement. It's reminiscent of colonial times."

For Birger Poppel, a University of Greenland expert on Arctic development, the mine is in any case "not a quick fix" for Greenland's financial independence.

Nuuk relies on annual Danish subsidies of around 526 million euros ($620 million), representing a third of its national budget.

The mine could boost the island's budget by 1.5 billion Danish kroner ($235 million, 200 million euros) according to Greenland Minerals. But that would reduce Denmark's annual subsidies by half that amount due to a revenue-sharing deal with Copenhagen, which is not opposed to Greenland's dream of independence.

Other sectors that could be developed to help finance that dream are tourism, agriculture, and the export of sand and natural fertilizers, according to Mikaa Mered, professor of geopolitics at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

- Eyeing independence -

For now, fishing makes up most of the local economy and 90 percent of exports.

That industry is prospering, benefitting from climate change as fish stocks diversify in the warmer waters.

"I love being an independent fisherman," 27-year-old Lars Heilmann, who mostly catches halibut for export, tells AFP.

He's not hoping for any major changes from the election -- "just bigger quotas in the Nuuk fjord" -- and says climate change hasn't affected his life much.

But the same cannot be said for the many hunters in Greenland's small coastal villages, as retreating sea ice shortens the season when they can head out on the ice with dogsleds to hunt.

The Arctic has been warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world since the 1990s. And yet, Greenland has not signed the Paris climate agreement. IA has vowed to do so if it comes to power.

While opinion polls credit IA with 36 percent of voter support compared to 23 percent for Siumut, pollsters warn that the outcome remains uncertain.

Voting stations open at 1100 GMT and close at 2200 GMT, with the results expected early Wednesday.

cbw/map/po/jj

How the wealthy cut (INTO) the line during Florida's frenzied vaccine rollout
Sharyn Alfonsi 
4/4/2021

This past week, President Biden said 90% of U.S. adults will be eligible for the COVID vaccine by April 19 and will be able to get their shots within five miles of their home. That will be welcome news to many in Florida.

© Credit: CBSNews floridacovidscreengrabs03.jpg

For three months, we've been reporting around Palm Beach County, the third-largest in the state. It's home to old-monied millionaires but also some of the poorest day laborers and farm workers in America.

During those months, we watched Florida's vaccine rollout deteriorate into a virtual free for all and watched as some wealthy and well-connected residents cut the line, leaving other Floridians without a fair shot.

This is the town of Palm Beach. Privacy hedges hide beachfront mansions and a healthy share of billionaires. More than 80% of the town's seniors have been vaccinated. Bram Majtlis was one of the first.

Bram Majtlis: I was the lucky one that had my phone in my hands, pushed the link to make the appointment, and had an appointment.

© Provided by CBS News Bram Majtlis

On January 5, Majtlis, a retired businessman, got his first shot at a fire station just a block from his home. A few days earlier, the town had been given a thousand doses from the state. The vaccine was in short supply. Residents were thrilled. But neighboring towns were upset that Palm Beach was the only town in all of palm beach county to get the life-saving shots for their seniors.

Bram Majtlis: I don't think that they got it for any other reason than being prepared.

Sharyn Alfonsi: To be prepared you have to have resources. And so I think a lot of people look at Palm Beach and say, "Well, they got the vaccine because they're a rich community."

Bram Majtlis: I really think it has nothing to do with the resources. In this particular case. Absolutely not.

The Palm Beach fire chief said they spent months training staff and setting up locations to administer the vaccine quickly. But a bridge away in West Palm Beach, they say they were just as prepared.

Sharyn Alfonsi: You were ready in West Palm Beach for the vaccine?

Keith James: Absolutely. And I even put my signature on the letter to let the governor and the county know that we were ready, willing and able.

Keith James is the mayor of West Palm Beach, which is not on the beach at all, but the intercoastal waterway. The median income in West Palm Beach is about $28,000 a year, compared to $70,000 in the town of Palm Beach.

James told us after he and other mayors complained about the town of Palm Beach getting the 1,000 doses, the county's health director took the blame, calling it a "miscommunication."

Keith James: Listen, the county health director has fallen on the sword on that and said it was her bad. Her organization's bad. They made a mistake. But isn't it funny that these mistakes only happen in communities that have that kind of wealth? They didn't make a mistake and send a thousand doses to the poorest communities in our county?

© Provided by CBS News Keith James

Mayor James is among a number of community leaders who say the state's vaccination rollout has favored the wealthy.

Florida's rollout started pretty typically. The first doses were given to health care workers and nursing home residents in early December.

But then a few weeks later, Governor Ron DeSantis, breaking from CDC guidelines, announced he would not vaccinate teachers and essential workers next but instead put "seniors first," making anyone 65 or over eligible for the vaccine. The first in the country to do that. DeSantis said seniors were at highest risk.

Ron DeSantis at press conference: They will have priority over ordinary workers who are under 65. And I think that that's the appropriate way to do.

Florida's four and a half million seniors started competing against each other for the vaccine.

In the rush, public health department phone lines failed and computer sites crashed.

Kara Macsuga, a teacher, tried to increase the odds of getting her mom an appointment.

Kara Macsuga: So I have a school-issued Chromebook. I have my own personal laptop. I have my husband's iPad. I have my ancient iPad. And all four of those screens. It's very deflating, I missed it again today

.

© Provided by CBS News Kara Macsuga and her mother try to obtain a COVID vaccination appointment

In some places, seniors waited 17 hours for a shot, but not everyone was so patient. Almost immediately, the line jumping started.

Keith James: It was incredibly frustrating.

In West Palm Beach, Mayor James says he was still trying to secure vaccines for his town's firefighters when he learned that at a nursing home in town, some board members and their wealthy pals got vaccinated. Even though those doses were only supposed to be given to elderly residents and staff.

Then, the private jets started arriving.

Hollywood moguls, New York socialites and tourists from overseas were getting vaccinated in Florida, posting on social media and sparking outrage. Early on, there were no residency requirements to get vaccinated in the state.

Keith James: People were saying, "Listen, this is a resource and I know it's out there and I'm gonna use whatever leverage I have to get that resource." There were no rules.

Sharyn Alfonsi: It sounds like "The Hunger Games."

Keith James: That's a pretty good way of putting it. And those who had the fiscal resources were gonna use them in whatever way they could to get this vaccine.

By February 1, casualties of the chaotic rollout became clear.

State data revealed of the more than 160,000 residents in Palm Beach County who'd been vaccinated, only 2% were Black and 3% Hispanic. Even though minorities make up almost half the county. State representative Omari Hardy, a Democrat, says it's all about access.

Omari Hardy: At the beginning of this pandemic Black people, Hispanics, people of color, we bore the full force of this pandemic. Overrepresented in the hospitalizations. Overrepresented in the deaths. And now on the back end of the pandemic we're bearing the full force of it as well. Because we don't have the same access to the vaccine.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Some people have said that the minority community is distrusting of the vaccine and doesn't want the vaccine. What do you think of that narrative?

Omari Hardy: That's an excuse for people who don't want to do the work required to ensure that the distribution of this vaccine is equitable.

© Provided by CBS News Omari Hardy

And nowhere was that more challenging than here. This is the Glades. It's 44 miles west of the town of Palm Beach, also in Palm Beach County. 31,000 people call the Glades "home."

Rivers of sugar cane line the roads and the air is thick with the smell of molasses.

About 90% of residents are Black and Latino. Many live below the poverty line. By March, 11 weeks into the rollout, more than half the seniors in the Glades had still not been vaccinated.

For months, Tammy Jackson-Moore, a community organizer, has been going door to door trying to fix that. We were with her when we met 91-year-old Annie-Pearl Cornelius on her porch

.

© Provided by CBS News Annie-Pearl Cornelius

Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you drive?

Annie-Pearl Cornelius: No, ma'am.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Do you have a computer?

Annie-Pearl Cornelius: No, ma'am.

Annie-Pearl told us she wanted to get the vaccine for months, but couldn't make an appointment.

Tammy Jackson-Moore: A lot of people still have flip phones. So there were a lot of challenges in our community as it relates to people trying to make appointments for vaccinations.

But the biggest challenge for residents of the Glades wasn't just making appointments, it was getting to them.

That's because back in January, the governor made another game-changing move. He announced he was partnering with Publix grocery stores across the state to distribute the vaccine in their pharmacies.

But as part of the program in Palm Beach County, most seniors could no longer get vaccine appointments though their public health departments. They had to go to Publix instead

.

© Provided by CBS News Tammy Jackson-Moore

Tammy Jackson-Moore: I was shocked because I know that we don't have a Publix in our community. And then I got angry, because I personally knew three people that had passed from COVID. And I knew that this was not going to be good for this community.

Omari Hardy: Belle Glade is one of the poorest communities, not just in Palm Beach County, but in the state of Florida. So you have lots of folks who don't have cars.

Sharyn Alfonsi: How far would someone from Belle Glade have to go to get to a Publix?

Omari Hardy: The nearest Publix to Belle Glade is about 25 miles.

Sharyn Alfonsi: That's pretty significant if you don't drive.

You have to catch two buses to get to the nearest Publix from the Glades. It's 34 stops. More than two hours round trip. A daunting task in the middle of a pandemic, especially if you're elderly.

So why did the governor choose Publix?

Campaign finance reports obtained by 60 Minutes show that weeks before the governor's announcement, Publix donated $100,000 to his political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis.

Julie Jenkins Fancelli, heiress to the Publix fortune, has given $55,000 to the governor's PAC in the past. And in November, Fancelli's brother-in-law, Hoyt R. Barnett, a retired Publix executive, donated $25,000.

Publix did not respond to our request for comment about the donations.

Governor DeSantis is up for re-election next year.

Sharyn Alfonsi: I imagine Governor DeSantis's office would say, "Look, we privatized the rollout because it's more efficient and it works better."

Omari Hardy: It hasn't worked better for people of color. Before, I could call the public health director. She would answer my calls. But now if I want to get my constituents information about how to get this vaccine I have to call a lobbyist from Publix? That makes no sense. They're not accountable to the public.

Distributing vaccines is lucrative. Under federal guidelines, Publix, like any other private company, can charge medicare $40 a shot to administer the vaccine.

© Provided by CBS News Ron DeSantis

We wanted to ask Governor DeSantis about the deal. But he declined our requests for an interview. We caught up with him south of Orlando.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Publix, as you know, donated $100,000 to your campaign. And then you rewarded them with the exclusive rights to distribute the vaccination in Palm Beach County.

Ron DeSantis: So, first of all, that-- what you're saying is wrong. That's--

Sharyn Alfonsi: How is that not pay to play?

Ron DeSantis: --that-- that's a fake narrative. I met with the county mayor. I met with the administrator. I met with all the folks in Palm Beach County and I said, "here's some of the options. We can do more drive-thru sites. We can give more to hospitals. We can do the Publix." And they said, "We think that would be the easiest thing for our residents."

But Melissa McKinlay, the county commissioner in the Glades, told us the governor never met with her about the Publix deal.

Sharyn Alfonsi: The criticism is that it's pay-to-play, governor.

Ron DeSantis: And it's wrong. It's wrong. It's a fake narrative. I just disabused you of the narrative. And you don't care about the facts. Because, obviously, I laid it out for you in a way that is irrefutable.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Well, I-- I was just talk--

Ron DeSantis: And, so, it's clearly not.

Sharyn Alfonsi: Isn't there the nearest Publix --

Ron DeSantis: No, no, no. You're wrong.

Sharyn Alfonsi: --30 miles away.

Ron DeSantis: You're wrong. You're wrong. Yes, sir?

Sharyn Alfonsi: That's actually a fact.

A federal complaint raises other questions about the governor's vaccine distribution decisions and alleges Governor DeSantis was discriminating when he hand-picked communities for pop-up sites across the state.

One of those communities was Lakewood Ranch in Manatee County just south of Tampa. In February, the governor announced he was giving 3,000 doses to the community.

Ron DeSantis: We saw a need, we want to get the numbers up for seniors.

But what the governor didn't mention was that Lakewood Ranch developer Pat Neal has donated $135,000 to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC.

Or that only residents from two ZIP codes would be allowed to get the shots and those two ZIP codes have some of highest income levels and lowest COVID infection rates in the county.

When the governor was questioned about it, he threatened to take all the vaccine back.

Ron DeSantis: I mean if Manatee County doesn't like us doing this, then we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it.

Annie-Pearl Cornelius got her first shot last month at a weekly vaccination site the state set up in the Glades. The local CVS and Walgreens have been given vaccine, too. There is no shortage of takers.

State Democratic leaders are calling for the Justice Department to investigate whether Governor DeSantis was rewarding high-dollar donors with special access to the vaccine.

Omari Hardy: This is a once-in-a-century pandemic. Someone shouldn't have a better chance to survive because they have money or because they can write a check to someone, or because they have access to powerful people.

A spokesperson for Publix Super Markets provided the following statement to 60 Minutes:

"The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state's vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive. We are proud of our pharmacy associates for administering more than 1.5 million doses of vaccine to date and for joining other retailers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to do our part to help our communities emerge from the pandemic."

Produced by Oriana Zill de Granados. Associate producer, Emily Gordon. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Craig Crawford.

VIDEO

How the wealthy cut the line during Florida's frenzied vaccine rollout 

 

"The Five Lies of Capitalism."

Frank Jacob

362 Pages

1 File ▾

Political Philosophy,

Political Theory,

Marxism,

Political Science,

Capitalism

 ...more ▾

The present paper offers a reflection about capitalist exploitation and the lies this exploitation is based upon. It identifies capitalism’s narratives to secure its own existence against criticism from different protest movements and, in addition, shows that the named five lies are contested by larger crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic, the anti-racism protests in the US, as well as the menace of climate change, which unite different protest movements not only against racism or the global ecological exploitation but also against capitalism itself, the force that has been identified as the main menace for humanity and its further existence in the 21st century. 

Keywords: Five Lies of Capitalism, Capitalism, Global Exploitation, Capitalist Exploitation, Marxism

Patti Smith ~ Easter ~ Full Album (Seamless) HQ Audio

Michigan's Middle Eastern and North African population face barriers to optimal health

Multiple factors, ranging from fear of deportation to food insecurity, create a negative domino effect for the health of the MENA community

MICHIGAN MEDICINE - UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Research News

IMAGE: ISSUES SUCH AS TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS, FOOD INSECURITY, AND FEAR OF DEPORTATION CREATE SIGNIFICANT OBSTACLES TO OPTIMAL HEALTH FOR THE MENA COMMUNITY. view more 

CREDIT: JACOB DWYER

Within southeast Michigan's Middle Eastern and North African community, those who worry about deportation or believe they've been treated unfairly are likely to face more adverse conditions associated with poor health, including food insecurity and financial distress.

The MENA people who face several of these barriers are also more likely to report chronic illness and mental health issues as well as worse overall health.

That's according to a new study by the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services.

"There are numerous health disparities for the MENA community that are not that different from other racial and ethnic groups where we're trying to close the gap," says Minal R. Patel, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor of health behavior and health education at the U-M School of Public Health and a member of the Rogel Cancer Center. "The data show us that this is an important population where we should be focusing our efforts to address health needs."

This is the latest in a series of papers based on data from an extensive survey designed to better understand the population within one of the geographic areas the Rogel Cancer Center aims to serve. The researchers paid special attention to MENA people because metro Detroit is home to one of the United States' largest MENA communities, with about 210,000 residents hailing from Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other Arab countries.

Previous state surveys had revealed significant health disparities for the MENA population, similar to what Michigan's African-American and Hispanic groups experience. However, Patel and her research team knew more specific data was needed to determine MENA people's unmet health needs as well as the impact that discrimination has on their health.

Through questionnaires distributed in community venues -- including grocery stores, mosques, and health care clinics -- to about 400 people who identified as MENA, researchers found that almost 60% of respondents felt they had experienced discrimination. Close to half did not believe the government was trying to improve life for Arab-Americans. Although fewer people worried about deportation or thought they had been treated unfairly, those who did often faced more adverse conditions associated with poor health, such as food insecurity.

More unmet health needs were also found among people who were not born in the United States (58% of the study's sample); who had lived in America for fewer years; who spoke Arabic at home; and who were from Egypt, Syria, or Yemen -- countries with unstable political environments and high poverty rates.

Public health researchers and media outlets alike have previously called attention to the physical and mental toll of immigration-related concerns on Latino immigrants. Patel says this data illustrates how the MENA people fit into that discussion.

"We were able to highlight that even though we don't share a border with a Middle Eastern country, we still have a sizeable population right next door to us that have concerns about immigration," Patel says. "This is another community where we can bring in that national conversation and think about how it is specifically impacting health."

Among risk factors that limit optimal health in the MENA population, transportation issues for health care visits, food insecurity, and financial strain were the most common, followed by unemployment and unstable housing.

Patel said she was surprised at the prevalence of food insecurity in particular given the number of grocery stores and restaurants in areas with large concentrations of the MENA population.

"When you drive through Dearborn, where much of the survey took place, it doesn't look like the makeup of your typical food desert," Patel says. "So we need to unpack that. Food insecurity is multidimensional, and the availability of food is only one component."

Overall, experiencing more risk factors for poor health, e.g., food insecurity and unemployment and unstable housing, was linked with more chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression and heart conditions. In addition, mental health and general health were poorer for the people who faced multiple societal conditions that limit optimal health.

This survey was conducted in 2019, and Patel says all the issues discussed have likely worsened for the MENA community since then due to the increased stressors of the pandemic.