REST IN POWER
Martha White dies, sparked '53 Louisiana capital bus boycott

© Provided by The Canadian Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Martha White, a Black woman whose actions helped launch the 1953 bus boycotts in Louisiana's capital city, has died. She was 99.

White died Saturday, her family and others confirmed.

White, then 31, was working as a housekeeper in the capital city of Baton Rouge in 1953 when she took action. After a long day of walking to and from work while seeking to reach her bus stop, she decided to sit in one of the only bus seats available — one designated for white passengers.

When the driver ordered her to get up, White refused and another Black woman sat beside her in solidarity. The bus driver threatened to have the women arrested. Ultimately police, the bus company manager and a civil rights activist, the Rev. T.J. Jemison, showed up. Jemison informed the driver of a recently passed ordinance to desegregate buses in the city, meaning White wasn’t violating any rules.

In response to the ordinance, bus drivers began a strike and the ordinance was later overturned. That prompted a boycott by the Black community in Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome issued a statement Monday recognizing White’s contribution to the city’s civil rights movement.

“Martha White undoubtedly shaped our community in Baton Rouge, and communities across our nation,” Broome said. “We honor her legacy today and every day.”

That boycott later helped provide the framework for the famous effort sparked by Rosa Parks that led to a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.

Ted Jemison, the son of the Rev. T.J. Jemison, remembered White as being outspoken and unafraid to share her opinion. He told The Advocate of a conversation he had with her years ago about that day. He recalled her telling him she just wanted to sit in that bus seat because she was tired from being on her feet constantly that day.

”‘Can you imagine working on your feet all day and just wanting to sit down?’” Jemison recalled White as saying. “She was the same way from when she was young to when she was 90 years old. She knew that what she did was for the good of everyone in Baton Rouge.”

“We really lost a true pioneer for civil rights,” said Jason Roberts, co-owner of the Baton Rouge African American Museum, speaking of White’s death, the newspaper reported.

___

PRIDE
Kaitlyn Weaver hopes her coming out story finally breaks figure skating's female archetype

Devin Heroux 

© Getty Images Kaitlyn Weaver with ice dance partner Andrew Poje at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Weaver says the fear of being judged in her sport kept her silent about her sexuality.

It's a sport laced with creativity, beauty and strength. Ice dance is poetry in motion, two skaters weaving gracefully across the ice surface together as one. Their precision and symmetry is something to marvel over.

But figure skating is also littered with judgment — an international panel of judges scouring over every little detail, then providing their score.

It was that suffocating weight of knowing she was being watched every second that kept Canadian ice dancer Kaitlyn Weaver hiding what she calls her little secret.

But now, two years after leaving competitive figure skating, Weaver is tired of doing the dance and keeping up the façade just to be accepted in the sport she loves.

On Friday, the 32-year-old became one of the few Olympic female figure skaters to publicly identify as queer.

"I've reached the point of not wanting to pretend anymore. It really weighed on my mental health to hide consistently a part of who I am," Weaver told CBC Sports in an exclusive interview. "I feel like it's the right time in my life to share that I identify as a queer woman.

"I feel like I need to step up because I know there are a lot of young girls and people in sport who are afraid to share who they are," she said.

For 13 competitive seasons Weaver was alongside her skating partner Andrew Poje. The two were consistently near the top of the standings — they ranked among the top five in nine of those years, are three-time world medallists in ice dance, winning silver in 2014 to go with bronzes in 2015 and 2018, and competed at the 2014 and 2018 Olympics for Canada.

But throughout all their success, Weaver knew there was something missing. She couldn't pinpoint it because she wouldn't allow herself to go to that dark, scary place of confronting her sexuality. 

'Coming out was never something I considered'

"We are in a judged sport. We're afraid to put one toe out of line for fear of what people will think about us," Weaver said. "Coming out was never something I considered. It was not on the table for me. Fear. It was not even a real conversation I could have with myself."

Weaver wasn't willing to risk what she calls her livelihood while competing by coming out — she felt it would negatively affect their scores.

"Coming out is still not safe in a lot of countries around the world. On an international panel, who knows what someone is going to judge you for?" she said. "It puts you even deeper into hiding."

But now, Weaver feels it's time to step forward. For herself. And for those who are coming after her. Weaver knows what's at stake because she's now able to see how much added weight she was carrying by not bringing all of herself to life and competition.

© Getty Images Weaver and Poje competed together for 13 seasons, finishing on the podium at three world championships.

'What makes us different is OK'

"It's been a struggle," she said. "It's been a struggle to accept this part of myself but I think in the last year we've all had our experiences knowing that what makes us different is OK and something to be celebrated."

This past year, with time for reflection during the pandemic, Weaver confronted her sexuality in a way she never could while competing. She says it was time to look in the mirror and face things head on.

Weaver says it was easy to put it on the back burner throughout her career because she was always on the move and distracted by performing.

But keeping up that façade has taken its toll.

"I've done that my whole life. Skating first, personal life second. I'll figure it out later," she said. "But it got to the point where it wasn't healthy anymore. When the pandemic hit, I just knew this was going to be it. It was time.

"I had nowhere to hide anymore. I needed to do that for myself."

Breaking archetypes

Weaver was born in Houston, Texas. She moved to Canada at 17 and threw herself into her sport. It was all she identified with and how people identified her.

"There's a lot of pressure on young girls and women in my sport to play the archetype. I think it's our responsibility to say yes, you can be that, but you can also be all of these other things, too," Weaver said. "I am those things, too. I like playing the role of the princess and wearing the gowns.

"So when I was uncovering myself and sexuality, it didn't feel like those two things matched. There were no role models in my sport who were like me," she said.

There's a lightness and energy in Weaver's voice now as she shares her hopes and dreams for what's ahead, something she says she hasn't felt in a really long time. And despite her newfound perspective, there are still some fears about how she'll be viewed.

"I'm not sure what waits on the other side of this. There's a lot of excitement. Some fear. But you know what, it's time this stops being a thing. I'm ready to step into the light."

Carving a path for others

Weaver now calls Manhattan, N.Y., home. She says she's found an amazingly supportive group of people there, and feels wrapped in their love during what's been a big shift for her.

It's Pride Month, too — something Weaver celebrated in the past, but not in the way she wanted to. That's changed this year.

"I feel in my bones that I can celebrate in a different way. It's not a small, secret corner in my heart that I'm celebrating this anymore," she said. "That's what it was for a long time, my little secret. It just feels so good to be able to share my whole heart."

And it's Weaver's hope that she's carving out a new path in her sport for those still competing.

"It's really important to look around and ask what we are missing here. That goes for racialized people, too. You look at our sport. It's white. It's heteronormative and it's elite," she said.

"Why are there no queer women? What's the reason? That's why I feel it's my job to ask why we don't feel safe. Why can't you be one and the other? It's our job to look critically at our sport and say what groups of people aren't represented here."

SHE IS MASKED
Indian village prays to 'goddess corona' to rid them of the virus
By Saurabh Sharma 

© Reuters/REUTERS TV Indian village builds ‘goddess corona’ temple, offers prayers to get rid of virus

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - Indian villagers have erected a shrine to "goddess corona" and are offering her prayers in the hope that divine intervention can banish the deadly virus.

Devotees in Shuklapur village, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, have been offering prayers, holy water, and flowers at the bright yellow shrine where they have placed their idol of "Corona Mata", since they erected it this week

.

© Reuters/REUTERS TV Indian village builds ‘goddess corona’ temple, offers prayers to get rid of virus

"Maybe with her blessings the villagers, our village, and everyone else get some relief," one villager, who gave her name as Sangeeta, said on Friday.

India was hit hard by a surge of coronavirus infections in April and May but there are signs the worst could be over.

Authorities reported 84,332 new cases on Saturday, the lowest daily tally in more than two months, health ministry data showed. COVID-19 has killed 367,081 people in India, according to government data.

© Reuters/REUTERS TV Indian village builds ‘goddess corona’ temple, offers prayers to get rid of virus

The Shuklapur villagers' prayers have not been fully answered - there are sill some cases in the district - but the numbers are also sharply lower than they were at the height of the pandemic.

(Reporting by Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Ediitng by Robert Birsel)

German environmental groups file objection against Tesla gigafactory permit

BERLIN (Reuters) - German environmental groups have filed an official objection to a provisional permit from the Brandenburg environmental authority for the construction of a Tesla gigafactory near Berlin, the groups' lawyer said on Friday.

© Reuters/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE FILE PHOTO: The construction site of the future Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide

The objection is based on the claim that Tesla has not sufficiently clarified what precautions it will take to prevent highly poisonous gas from escaping from the factory, the objection document showed.

It said Tesla had also changed its application documents to produce battery cells on the premise, for which it has not yet obtained the necessary permit.

The groups, Gruene Liga and NABU, said they will go to court if the state authorities fail to file for a permit suspension by June 16.

(Reporting by Christina Amann and Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Caroline Copley)

Temporary foreign worker from Philippines dies in central Alberta agricultural incident 

UCP OPPOSED & ELIMINATED 

NDP BILL 6 FARMWORKERS H&S

Fri., June 11, 2021

Efren Reyes died at work on May 26 in Lacombe County. He was a temporary foreign worker with family in the Philippines. (Antonio Manahan - image credit)

Occupational Health and Safety is investigating after a temporary foreign worker from the Philippines died at work in central Alberta last month.

OHS spokesperson Natasha McKenzie said the fatality occurred at an agricultural site in Lacombe County on May 26.

Zaldy Patron, consul general for the Philippines in Calgary, identified the victim as Efren Reyes, a young man who came to Canada in 2019 and had been living in Wetaskiwin in housing provided by his employer, Elite Farm Services.

Patron said he has been in touch with Reyes's family in the Philippines, including his wife.

"Of course, they are devastated, very sad," Patron told CBC News on Thursday.

Zaldy Patron, consul general for the Philippines in Calgary, has been in touch with Efren Reyes's family and employer.(Madeleine Cummings/CBC)

RCMP called the consulate the day Reyes died, Patron said. The consulate then contacted Reyes's employer to learn what had happened.

"We were told that there was an accident involving a Bobcat machine," he said.

"It apparently struck Mr. Reyes."

An emailed statement from Elite Management to CBC News said "we are saddened by the loss of one of our team members. Our sympathies and condolences go out to the family and those involved in the accident."

The statement said the incident is under investigation and the company is cooperating fully with authorities.

The company said it would not be providing further statements or interviews, "out of respect and privacy of our team members and their families."

Reyes's remains are in a funeral home, Patron said, and it is the employer's duty to repatriate them to the Philippines.

Patron said he has asked Reyes's employer to collect his personal belongings so they can also be sent back to the family.

A GoFundMe campaign to support Reyes's family has raised more than $38,000.

Antonio Manahan, left, and Efren Reyes were coworkers in Taiwan. (Antonio Manahan)

Patron said this is the first workplace death of a Filipino temporary foreign worker that has occurred since he arrived at the consulate in 2018.

"We hope that this won't happen again," he said.

The consul general also plans to follow up on the results of the investigation into the death and ensure Reyes's family receives any worker compensation benefits to which they are entitled.

The most recent annual report on workplace fatalities in Alberta, published last month, showed there were 129 occupational fatalities in 2019.

WHITE NATIONALIST PARTYPeople's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier arrested by RCMP in Manitoba

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Bernier attended rally against COVID-19 restrictions held in southern Manitoba village

Caitlyn Gowriluk · CBC News · Posted: Jun 11, 

Maxime Bernier was taken into custody by Manitoba RCMP after attending a rally protesting COVID-19 restrictions on Friday in St-Pierre-Jolys, Man. (Laïssa Pamou/SRC)

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier was arrested after appearing at a sparsely attended rally against COVID-19 restrictions in a southern Manitoba village on Friday afternoon.

Radio-Canada's Laïssa Pamou, who was covering the event, said the rally in St-Pierre-Jolys, which is about 57 kilometres south of Winnipeg, saw no more than 15 people in attendance. After the event ended, Bernier got into a vehicle to head to a rally in nearby St. Malo, another small, rural community.

That's when he was pulled out of the vehicle by Mounties who handcuffed him and put him in the back seat of an RCMP vehicle. 

Bernier spoke to Radio-Canada shortly before he was detained and said he got a ticket for violating public health orders at a rally in the nearby town of Niverville earlier Friday. He did not say how much he was fined — just that he planned to fight it.

An RCMP spokesperson confirmed Bernier was ticketed earlier in the day.

"It is the duty of the RCMP to enforce the laws of Manitoba, and those include public health orders. Mr. Bernier knew of the health orders and has already received a ticket. The continuation of the offence of violating the current public health orders in Manitoba has resulted in his arrest," Tara Seel said in an email.

WATCH | Bernier arrested in Manitoba

People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier taken into custody by RCMP in Manitoba15 hours ago 0:25

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier was handcuffed and put in the back of an RCMP vehicle after attending a rally against COVID-19 restrictions in St-Pierre-Jolys, Man., on Friday afternoon.

Bernier was charged under the Public Health Act for assembling in a gathering at an outdoor public place and for failing to self-isolate once he got to Manitoba, and he will appear before a magistrate, Seel said.

Bernier was released Friday evening on the condition he abide by public health orders while he is in Manitoba, RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre said in a statement.

Manitoba Justice would not say when he might appear before the magistrate, as his case is now before the courts.

The penalties section of Manitoba's Public Health Act states the maximum sanction is a $100,000 fine, one year in jail or both.  

Bernier had announced a tour of southern Manitoba this weekend that was set to include several stops at anti-lockdown rallies in spite of pandemic restrictions banning large events and requiring people to self-isolate when entering the province if they're not fully vaccinated. 

Bernier's appearances in Niverville and St-Pierre-Jolys were the first two rallies listed on an itinerary posted on Facebook that was supposed to see him stop in the rural cities of Morden and Winkler later Friday.

He was also scheduled to appear in the communities of La Salle and Lorette, as well as in Winnipeg on Saturday, then in the cities of Steinbach and Selkirk on Sunday, according to the itinerary.

Rights violated, party claims

People's Party of Canada spokesperson Martin Masse said in a statement Bernier was "wrongfully arrested" on charges that violate his charter rights. 

"This isn't about COVID anymore. It's political repression. This is the kind of stuff countries like China and Russia do," Masse said. 

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said in a news release that it will appear in court on Bernier's behalf. 

• People's Party Leader Maxime Bernier expected to attend Manitoba anti-lockdown events this weekend

• Manitoba fines nearly 3 dozen attendees of anti-mask, anti-lockdown rallies

The Calgary-based organization has also been involved in challenges of lockdown measures across the country, including one in Manitoba that saw seven churches take the province to court over its pandemic powers. No decision has been issued yet in that challenge.

A provincial spokesperson previously told CBC News that the province was aware of Bernier's planned rallies and would be conducting surveillance to gather video and other evidence.

At a news conference on Thursday morning, Premier Brian Pallister said Bernier would be "light in the pocket book" if he planned on violating Manitoba's public health orders.

People's Party leader Maxime Bernier charged after anti-rules rallies in Manitoba


Fri., June 11, 2021



WINNIPEG — The leader of the People's Party of Canada has been arrested in Manitoba after attending a rally against COVID-19 restrictions.

RCMP say Maxime Bernier was charged with exceeding public gathering limits and violating Manitoba's requirement to self-isolate upon entering the province.

The arrest south of Winnipeg occurred before Bernier was to arrive at a protest in the city.

Bernier is a former federal Conservative who served as a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's government.

The People's Party of Canada did not win any seats in Parliament in the 2019 election.

RCMP say Bernier will be brought before a magistrate.

"It is the duty of the RCMP to enforce the laws of Manitoba, and those include public health orders," RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel wrote in an email Friday.

"Mr. Bernier knew of the health orders and (had) already received a ticket. The continuation of the offence of violating the current public health orders in Manitoba has resulted in his arrest."

In a written statement that did not mention Bernier by name, Manitoba Justice said a Quebec man was arrested for "failing to follow public health orders as a result of unlawful gatherings today in Niverville and St-Pierre-Jolys and to prevent further offences related to attending, participating, and organizing public gatherings throughout the province."

A video later posted to Bernier's Twitter account showed an RCMP officer handcuffing Bernier and asking if he had any weapons.

"Only my words" was Bernier's response.

Our Leader Maxime Bernier was wrongfully arrested this afternoon by the RCMP in St-Pierre-Jolys, Man., for attending rallies with supporters.
-PPC Team pic.twitter.com/sbOpu6RORn

— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) June 11, 2021

Manitoba has had the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rate in the country in recent weeks. The government has banned almost all public gatherings and has required anyone entering the province to self-isolate for 14 days. Bernier has been appearing at rallies throughout the country, including one in Waterloo, Ont., last weekend.

Manitoba is easing its ban on gatherings somewhat starting Saturday. People will be allowed to gather in groups of up to five on public property. They will also be allowed to have five guests outdoors at their homes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2021.

The Canadian Press

UCP BASE IS CHRISTIAN  WHITE  SUPREMACISTS

Province's plan to combat hate crimes receives mixed reviews

Mosques and other places of worship fearful of hate-motivated attacks will receive grants to beef up their security, the province announced Friday

.

© Provided by Calgary Herald Justice Minister and Solicitor General Kaycee Madu.

That’s on top of plans to create a community liaison and a new law hate crime co-ordination unit that will collaborate with police services in investigating and prosecuting those offences, among the recommendations of the Alberta Anti-Racism Advisory Council that were released Friday.

While those moves are being welcomed by members of Alberta’s Muslim community traumatized by an allegedly hate-motivated attack that killed four family members in London, Ont., they say it doesn’t go far enough and ignores the root of the problem.

Two activists say the vast majority of attacks targeting Muslims occur away from mosques in parks or on public transit, while the origins of extremism aren’t dealt with by the $500,000 earmarked for this year to bolster security at places of worship or the creation of a hate crimes unit.

“We’re thankful (Premier Jason Kenney) is paying attention to Islamophobia, he’s speaking the right language but he’s giving the wrong medicine,” said Saima Jamal, Calgary human rights activist and a Muslim, adding she’s already skeptical of the commitment of existing police hate crimes units.

The province’s draft educational curriculum, which is already under attack for its alleged insensitivity to First Nations issues, needs to address white supremacy and hatred, said Jamal and Atthar Mahmood, president of the group Muslims Against Terrorism.

“Starting from junior high school, we need to talk more about this,” said Mahmood.

WE NEED TO SCHOOL STUDENTS IN COMPARATIVE RELIGIONS, 

HISTORY OF RELIGION IN SCHOOL CURRICULUM

ANTI RACIST EDUCATION BEGINS IN KINDERGARTEN

© Provided by Calgary Herald Saima Jamal is photographed in her home in Calgary on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020.

On Friday, the province announced a program that would see grants of up to $90,000 for a mosque or other place of worship to purchase items like surveillance cameras, motion detectors, graffiti protection and protective barriers.

Those faith communities can also apply for up to $10,000 for a security assessment and to train specialized staff in a program that will be expanded to $1 million provincewide next year, said Kenney and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu.

“That means not just prosecuting these crimes but preventing them from happening,” said Madu.

Video: Calgary’s Palestinian community concerned with police hate crime response (Global News)

MANY PALESTINIANS ARE CHRISTIANS SO THIS IS MORE THAN ISLAMOPHOBIA IT IS RACIST AND ANTI IMMIGRANT

“It doesn’t matter where you come from, the colour of your skin, where you worship, the circumstances of your birth, in this province we want you to live a complete life and to live in peace.”

The announcement was made in front of Edmonton’s Al Rashid Mosque, which Madu noted has been the repeated target of vandals.

Mahmood said his group’s facilities that have been subjected to vandalism are already equipped with security equipment but that the province’s infrastructure program could bolster them.

Kenney said the new investigative unit would be especially useful in focusing on internet networks that radicalize and promote extremist views.

DOES THAT INCLUDE EZRA LEVANT'S REBEL MEDIA EMPIRE, 

THE WESTERN STANDARD, VARIOUS WHITE POWER GROUPS IN THE PROVINCE, BERNIER AND HIS PEOPLES PARTY, ANTI MASKERS ETC.

But while calling his government’s moves meaningful, Kenney said it’s ultimately up to Albertans themselves to nurture understanding between faith and ethnic groups to undermine the hatred that leads to violence.

“The single most powerful weapon against hatred is simply relationships. I put out a call to Albertans to intentionally reach out to Muslims to know them,” he said.

“Once you know their aspirations, you can no longer objectify them.”

Mahmood said his organization, the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, already reaches out to other faith groups to foster understanding and tolerance.

But he said the attack in London has left his community fearful and undermined that sense of unity they’ve worked hard to build.

“People are nervous. I can tell you that,” he said. “If we’re going to work, we wonder if we might not come back.”

Jamal echoed that view, saying a recent rash of hate-motivated attacks on identifiable Muslim women in Calgary and Edmonton had the community on edge before the four deaths last Sunday in London.

“People are wondering if they should leave their scarves or hijabs at home,” she said, adding there’s still a reluctance to face the reality confronting Muslims.

“It’s still hard for people to say the word Islamophobia.”

Many hate crimes occurring in Alberta, she said, aren’t reported out of fear of backlash or that they’ll be ignored.

Bill Kaufmann

CALGARY HERALD

 JUNE 11,2021
BKaufmann@postmedia.com
on Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MORMONS

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=ALBERTA+SOCIAL+CREDIT

THIS IS THE ORIGIN OF THE RIGHT IN ALBERTA AND QUEBEC THE ONLY TWO PROVINCES TO HAVE THIS ANTI SEMITIC PARTIES (IT WAS ALSO A QUEBEC BASED FEDERAL PARTY IN THE 1960'S)

How the wealthy hanging onto their money actually makes everyone else poorer, according to a new study

© Provided by Business Insider Crystal Cox/Business Insider

A Chicago Booth Review report looks at the link between the wealthiest saving their money and inequality.

Wealthy people's savings are used to finance household debt for everyday Americans.

As debt grows for the lowest-earning Americans, the wealthy having more savings just fuels the cycle further.

The wealthy sitting on their savings may be helping finance the debts of poorer Americans and therefore play a role in rising inequality, according to the Chicago Booth Review.

Researchers Amir Sufi, Ludwig Straub, and Atif Mian looked at the growing savings of America's wealthiest residents, and found it isn't going into what they call "productive" investments, like building roads or new research. Instead, the stockpile is going toward financing debt from everyone not in the top 1%.

Prior to the financial crisis in 2008, such savings financed "almost a third of the rise in household debt owed by the bottom 90%." After the housing crash, they began to take on a greater role in subsidizing government debt (although the continued debt from lower-earning Americans is still financed from those savings).

How does that work, exactly? Rebecca Stropoli at Chicago Booth Review uses the hypothetical of a corporation issuing equity to a wealthy shareholder, but the proceeds don't go on research or equipment but into a deposit at a bank, which in turn uses it to fund a mortgage for a less-affluent household. The wealthy are financing bank lending to average Americans, in other words.

When the poorer take on more debt - especially when they're incentivized by low interest rates - that's less money they have to spend on other things.
During the pandemic, wealthy savings climbed, along with their fortunes

On the whole, the personal saving rate - the amount that Americans have left over from their income after paying off bills - has climbed during the pandemic, although it shot down in April 2021. But, as Time's Alex Gailey reports, an increased savings rate may not show the whole story. Poorer Americans, Time reports, continued to spend at levels just a little below pre-pandemic rates, while their wealthier counterparts held on to more money.

The wealthiest Americans saw their net worths grow during the pandemic as widespread economic devastation and unemployment ravaged the country. From March 18 to December 30, 2020, the world's billionaires added $3.9 trillion to their net worths; that's enough to pay for the world's vaccines and to keep everyone out of poverty.

In the US, billionaires got 44% richer throughout the pandemic, Insider's Lina Batarags reported. That stands in marked contrast to the millions of Americans facing down unemployment and poverty.

The researchers note that the pandemic has cleaved an even deeper divide between the top 1% and the bottom 99%. Low-wage workers and workers of color were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic's economic devastation, which took the shape of a K - high-earning workers saw jobs and incomes grow, while those at the bottom experienced the opposite.

"Mian, Straub, and Sufi see in the data a widening wealth gap and more saving by the rich, thus more money being turned into loans and lent out to consumers," Stropoli writes.

The methods by which the ultrawealthy hang onto that wealth have come into greater relief this week, too, as a bombshell ProPublica investigation revealed that the wealthiest Americans are paying an incredibly low rate of taxes proportional to their wealth. That's all legal, but it could finally kickstart reform targeted at America's highest earners.

In the meantime, the savings of the wealthy will sit in bank accounts, fueling more debt for the rest of the country.

Read the original article on Business Insider

NOT A CONSPIRACY THEORY 

THE REAL REASON BILL GATES IS SCARY

Bill Gates: Stop shutting down nuclear reactors and build new nuclear power plants to fight climate change

Catherine Clifford 

As some nuclear power companies continue to shut down nuclear reactors for reasons ranging from economic woes to safety concerns, Bill Gates is bullish on nuclear power as a clean energy solution to climate change

.

© Provided by CNBC Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates, who is also an investor in nuclear power, told the Nuclear Energy Institute's Nuclear Energy Assembly on Wednesday that the United States needs to strengthen its commitment to existing nuclear power plants and invest in new ones.

"Today, nuclear power is at a crossroads. Nearly 20% of America's electricity comes from nuclear," Gates said. "But while America's current nuclear capacity serves the country well, there are far more reactors slated for retirement than there are new reactors under construction."

In April, the Indian Point Energy Center nuclear power plant north of New York City retired its last operating nuclear reactor. And the Exelon Corporation has announced plans to retire two of its Illinois nuclear power plants in the fall.

If these retirements come to fruition, 2021 could set a record for the most retirements of nuclear generators in a year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Since 1960, the United States has retired 40 nuclear generators but it has never this many in one year, sasy an EIA spokesperson.

According to Gates, "if we're serious about solving climate change, and quite frankly we have to be, the first thing we should do is keep safe reactors operating."

But "even then, just maintaining that status quo is not enough. We need more nuclear power to zero out emissions in America and to prevent a climate disaster," Gates said Wednesday.

(Getting to "net zero" emissions means achieving no new quantity of emissions in the atmosphere, according to the United Nations, both through reduced emissions and removal of emmissions from the atmosphere.)

Gates is the founder and chairman of TerraPower, an advanced nuclear technology company that launched in 2006. On June 2, TerraPower announced it will build an advanced nuclear power plant at a retiring coal power plant in Wyoming. The specific location in Wyoming is not yet decided: several potential locations in Wyoming are under currently under consideration, according to the company.

Gates said Wednesday that TerraPower will use the coal plant's existing infrastructure and its skilled workforce to build and operate the advanced reactor plant, which is called Natrium. TerraPower developed the Natrium technology in collaboration with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.

"We hope to show that on top of all of its energy benefits, advanced nuclear can play a key role in the development of good jobs for skilled workers across the country," Gates said.

Other companies, like the Rockville, Md.-headquartered X-energy, are also building advanced nuclear reactors.

In October, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced it is investing $80 million in TerraPower and X-energy, for a total of $160 million. Rita Baranwal, then the Assistant Secretary for nuclear energy, said at the time that the urgent development of nuclear technology is "important not only to our economy, but to our environment...." (Baranwal is now the chief nuclear officer at the Electric Power Research Institute, a global research and development energy organization.)

Though Gates "strongly" believes "nuclear power must play a role in getting the world to net zero," and that everyone from technologists to utility companies must have "a common vision for the role of nuclear in our electric grid," other experts disagree.

For instance, in February, academics and other researchers signed a public declaration calling for fighting climate change by transitioning to 100% renewable energy from sources including wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal, tidal and wave energy.

Nuclear energy is not considered renewable, says Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson, one of the signatories of the declaration. Nuclear fission, the process currently used to create usable nuclear energy, requires uranium as a fuel, which is a finite resource, he says.

Jacobson says that, in fact, "investing in new nuclear power is the surest way to climate disaster." Climate change is urgent, and new nuclear power plants are expensive and take a long time to build, he says.

Jacobson, who has published a textbook on renewable energy, also points out that nuclear power comes with concerns that renewables don't have, including weapons proliferation, meltdowns, radioactive waste and uranium mining risks.

"New nuclear is basically an opportunity cost," he says.

See also:

How Bill Gates' company TerraPower is building next-generation nuclear power

NATIONALIZE BIG OIL
Public facing monetary disaster over orphaned wells, Alberta auditor says

The province’s auditor general says more needs to be done in how the Alberta government manages and accounts for its nearly $250 million in environmental liabilities. An advocate for reform in how the government regulates orphaned oil and gas wells says that figure is only a small tip of a mammoth iceberg taxpayers are on a collision course with.

In his report issued Thursday, Auditor General Doug Wylie said the process in which Alberta Environment and the Alberta Energy Regulator manage their environmental liabilities lacks clarity on who is responsible to pay and clean up oil, gas and coal sites.

Those sites are separate from those which form the liabilities under the jurisdiction of the Orphan Well Association.

“We’re looking at it as ensuring there are systems that first identify what the potential liability sites are and who is responsible for those sites and what work is required to be done and by when,” said Wylie.

In his report on the issue, that is far from clear with AER and Alberta Environment – both under the provincial government umbrella – having conflicting interpretations.

The report found instances where both the regulator and ministry concluded neither was responsible for sites even when evidence showed otherwise.

Even within the AER, the report found that regulatory staff did not share cost estimates of environmental liabilities with its own finance staff.

“They became aware of this list through our audit work,” read the report as part of its key findings that there are insufficient systems to track management costs of oil, gas and coal sites under the government’s jurisdiction to clean up.

Reagan Boychuk, co-founder of the Alberta Liabilities Disclosure Project, says the quarter of a billion dollars in government liabilities is nothing compared to the quarter of a trillion in oil and gas environmental liabilities scattered across the province.

And if AER isn’t able to manage its own house, it’s less likely it can ensure private oil and gas firms follow the polluter pay model.

Boychuk called the report, “a small illustration that they are incapable of solving these problems.”

He added, “There is no bigger threat to Alberta than this mess.”

In Cypress County alone, cleaning up wells could see billions in investment and thousands of jobs, he said, and oil and gas companies “can either pay investors or they can flow the money to Albertans’ pockets as wages.”Â

But over the last three decades, the former has been the case, said Boychuk, adding the industry-funded Orphan Well Association only has a fraction of a per cent of the cash required to fund reclamation of sites where the owners have become insolvent.

“We either make industry pay while it’s still coming out of the ground or we find some other way,” said Boychuk.

He is calling for a public inquiry to look into the monumental consequences of not dealing with the issue.

Alex McCuaig, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Medicine Hat News