The 'adamant insurrectionists': New data reveals the widespread 'radical beliefs' of aggrieved Trump fans

Alex Henderson, AlterNet
August 06, 2021

Trump supporter holds a Confederate flag outside the Senate Chamber. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Some far-right pundits who are critical of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's select committee on the January 6 insurrection have argued that Democrats simply need "get over it" and move on rather than continue to dwell on what happened seven months ago. But one of the problems with that argument is that insurrectionists themselves haven't gotten over the 2020 presidential election, buying into the Big Lie and the debunked conspiracy theory that the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. And a troubling University of Chicago study finds that almost one in ten Americans favor violence in order to put Trump back in the White House.

The study was conducted for the University of Chicago's Project on Security and Threats, which — according to Robert Pape, a political science professor — "has been updating its demographic studies of the nearly 600 Americans arrested for the January 6 attack to build as complete and current a picture as possible of this mass political movement with violence at its core."

"One might have expected fires to fade, the FBI arrests to have a chilling impact on violence to support Trump, or the deplatforming of Trump himself from Facebook and Twitter to lower the temperature," Pape explains. "But our most recent nationally representative survey of 1070 American adults fielded by the National Opinion Research Council…. found, most strikingly, that 9% of Americans — believe the 'use of force is justified to restore Donald J. Trump to the presidency.'"

Pape continues, "More than a fourth of adults agree, in varying degrees, that 'the 2020 election was stolen, and Joe Biden is an illegitimate president.' We also learned that 8.1% — that equates to 21 million American adults — share both these radical beliefs. From a statistical point of view, this number is extrapolated from a range between 6% (15 million) to 11% (28 million), where we have 95% confidence that the true number falls within."

"Of the roughly one tenth of those who think force is justified to restore Trump," Pape reports, "90% also see Biden as illegitimate, and 68% also think force may be needed to preserve America's traditional way of life."

Pape adds, "Today's 21 million adamant supporters of insurrection also have the dangerous potential for violent mobilization. Our survey also asked pointed questions about membership and support for militia groups, such as the Oath Keepers, or extremist groups, such as the Proud Boys, to which approximately, 1 million of the 21 million insurrectionists are themselves or personally know a member of a militia or extremist group."

Moreover, Pape warns, the Project on Security and Threats found that among "adamant insurrectionists," 63% believe in the Great Replacement and 54% support QAnon. The Great Replacement, which Fox News' Tucker Carlson has promoted on his show, is a far-right conspiracy theory claiming that people in federal governments are plotting to "replace" whites with non-whites. And QAnon believes that the federal government of the United States has been infiltrated by an international cabal of child sex traffickers, pedophiles, Satanists and cannibals and that Trump was elected president in 2016 to fight the cabal.

"Without a sound risk analysis of the drivers of American political violence," Pape writes, "it is hard to see how developing policies, far less strategies to mitigate the risk of future election-related violence, could be genuinely possible."

Vaccines: Two centuries of skepticism

Agence France-Presse
August 06, 2021

Israel's vaccination campaign has got moving faster than other advanced nations(AFP)

Wariness and outright hostility to vaccines did not start with Covid-19, they date back to the 18th century when the first shots were given.

From real fears sparked by side-effects, to fake studies and conspiracy theories, we take a look at anti-vax sentiment over the ages:

- 1796: First jab, first fears -

Smallpox killed or disfigured countless millions for centuries before it was eradicated in 1980 through vaccination.

In 1796 the English physician Edward Jenner came up with the idea of using the milder cowpox virus on a child to stimulate immune response after he noticed milkmaids rarely got smallpox.

The process -- coined "vaccinus" by Jenner (from cow in Latin) -- was successful, but from the outset it provoked skepticism and fear.

Before Jenner a riskier method of inoculation known as "variolation" existed for smallpox, introduced to Europe from Ottoman Turkey by the English writer and wit Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

- 1853: Mandatory shot -

In Britain the smallpox vaccine became compulsory for children in 1853, making it the first-ever mandatory jab and triggering strong resistance.

Opponents objected on religious grounds, raised concerns over the dangers of injecting animal products, and claimed individual freedoms were being infringed.

A "conscience clause" was introduced in 1898 allowing skeptics to avoid vaccination.

- 1885: Pasteur and rabies -

At the end of the 19th century, the French biologist Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine against rabies by infecting rabbits with a weakened form of the virus.

But again the process sparked mistrust and Pasteur was accused of seeking to profit from his discovery.

- 1920s: Vaccines heyday -

Vaccines flourished in the 1920s -- shots were rolled out against tuberculosis with the BCG in 1921, diphtheria in 1923, tetanus in 1926 and whooping cough in 1926.

It was also the decade that aluminum salts began to be used to increase the effectiveness of vaccines.

But more than half a century later these salts became the source of suspicion, with a condition causing lesions and fatigue called macrophagic myofasciitis thought to be caused by them.

- 1998: Fake autism study -

A study published in the top medical journal The Lancet in 1998 suggested there was a link between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella shot known as the MMR vaccine.

The paper by Andrew Wakefield and colleagues was revealed years later to be a fraud and retracted by the journal, with Wakefield struck off the medical register.

Despite subsequent studies demonstrating the absence of any such link, the bogus paper is still a reference for anti-vaxxers and it left its mark.

Measles killed 207,500 people in 2019, a jump of 50 percent since 2016 with the World Health Organization warning that vaccine coverage is falling globally.

- 2009: Swine flu scare -

The discovery in 2009 of "Swine flu", or H1N1, caused by a virus of the same family as the deadly Spanish flu, caused great alarm.

But H1N1 was not as deadly as first feared and millions of vaccine doses produced to fight it were destroyed, fuelling mistrust towards vaccination campaigns.

Matters were made worse by the discovery that one of the vaccines, Pandemrix, raised the risk of narcolepsy.

Of 5.5 million people given the vaccine in Sweden, 440 had to be compensated after developing the sleep disorder.

- 2020: Polio conspiracy theories -

Eradicated in Africa since August 2020 thanks to vaccines, polio is still a scourge in Pakistan and Afghanistan where the disease, which causes paralysis in young children, remains endemic.

Anti-vaccine conspiracy theories have allowed it to continue to destroy lives.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban banned vaccine campaigns, calling them a Western plot to sterilise Muslim children.

© 2021 AFP

North Korea conducted tests at Yongbyon nuclear facility, report says

North Korea conducted multiple nuclear tests after expelling international inspectors from Yongbyon in 2009. File Photo by Siegfried C. Hecker/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 6 (UPI) -- North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear facility was up and running several times between late 2020 and February, according to a Japanese press report Friday.

A draft report from a panel of experts for the United Nations sanctions committee on North Korea said there is evidence Yongbyon is active, citing infrared imagery of the nuclear site, the Nikkei reported.

The U.N. draft report stated that "the external construction of a light water reactor seems to be complete" and that "installation of machinery is likely to be in progress."

But experts also said the 5-megawatt reactor at Yongbyon was not showing signs of activity. The reactor ceased to operate in 2018.

The report described the activity as "tests," but did not specify what kind of tests had been carried out. North Korea conducted six nuclear tests in 2006, 2009, 2013, twice in 2016 and once in 2017.

AS I HAVE POINTED OUT BEFORE THESE ARE NOT PROVEN BY RADIOACTIVITY COUNTS THEY COULD BE ULTRA HIGH EXPLOSIVES WHICH CAN PRODUCE SIMILAR SEISMIC READINGS

The report will come under U.N. review before being released in September. It could be used as evidence to impose sanctions on individuals and entities, according to the Nikkei.

North Korea's ability to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons has raised concerns at international agencies.

Olli Heinonen, a former International Atomic Energy Agency deputy director general, recently said on 38 North that North Korea likely produced about 1,190 pounds of highly enriched uranium at Yongbyon by the end of 2020.

North Korea also invested heavily in the facility after expelling IAEA inspectors in 2009. North Korea built two halls in the decade that followed, with one hall capable of containing 2,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment, according to Heinonen

Walmart, Amazon creating new demand for carbon credits

Retailers are purchasing carbon credits from growers to lower greenhouse gas footprint.

Forrest Laws | Aug 03, 2021

Walmart and Amazon may not be the first entities that come to mind when farmers are thinking about environmental stewardship. But the two business giants have begun playing a role by helping breathe new life into the once moribund carbon market.

They and other companies are making commitments to lower their greenhouse gas footprint and purchasing carbon credits to follow through on those pledges, according to David M. “Max” Williamson, an attorney with Williamson Law & Policy in Washington, D.C.

This isn’t the first time carbon markets have been poised to play a role in helping farmers contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Williamson told participants in the Mid-South Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference, which was held online again this year due to Covid-19 concerns.

“We were pretty much there before the economic crisis with mortgage-backed securities and the global economic recession occurred in 2008,” said Williamson, an environmental and energy lawyer who began working on carbon credit contracts in the early 2000s. “There was a lot of momentum building for ag carbon in that timeframe.”

Williamson said some might remember the Chicago Climate Exchange. The CCX was essentially a pilot project that was set up in conjunction with the Chicago Board of Trade, which at one time handled most of the corn, soybeans and soft red winter wheat futures trading in the U.S.

“They had an interesting focus on soil and range land, and the payments were not bad,” he said. “They averaged about $750 a ton and that's for carbon dioxide that you could show was absorbed or taken up in the soils on these farmlands.”

Investing in carbon credits

Fast forward to 2019 and companies like Walmart and Amazon have begun investing in carbon credits to demonstrate to consumers that they are trying to lower their carbon or greenhouse gas footprint and reduce the impact of global warming.

“They can buy credits from landfills or the dairy farms we talked about, from forestry or industrial emissions projects,” he said. “But this trend of companies making voluntary commitments for their sustainability reports has driven an enormous amount of money into the market.”

A 2019 market report puts the value of the purchases at $282.3 million dollars, but Williamson believes the estimate is understated.

“It's lagging the actual numbers – that’s from 2018,” he noted. “I think today in 2021 it’s well over a billion dollars and growing exponentially. That’s what’s really driving the market opportunities right now.”

Third-party verification is one of the cornerstones of the more recent carbon market activity. “If you have a dairy farm, for example, and you’re collecting methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas, and keeping it out of the atmosphere, how do you prove that?” he asked. “You would go to one of these three nonprofit entities that have set up standards and act as a clearinghouse for auditing.”

Those are the Climate Action Reserve or CAR, the American Carbon Registry or ACR and the Verified Carbon Standard, which is often referred to as VERRA. Participants submit data to them and, if the standards are met they issue carbon credits, which can be sold to Walmart, Amazon or some other buyer.

THE IDAHO FARM LOBBY

Biden’s clean cars plan doesn’t mention biofuels

STRIVING FOR ZERO EMISSIONS: 

President Biden set an ambitious new target to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 zero-emissions vehicles, including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles. 

But ethanol wants to be part of the solution today.

Biofuels interests remind administration of ethanol’s role as low carbon solution available today.

Jacqui Fatka | Aug 06, 2021


President Joe Biden outlined a new national target for the adoption of electric vehicles in an announcement Thursday, calling for them to represent half of all new vehicle sales by 2030. However, biofuels groups continued to remind the administration the role that low carbon fuels such as ethanol can play in the remaining transportation fleet.

Despite pioneering the technology, a White House fact sheet notes the U.S. is behind in the race to manufacture electric vehicles and the batteries that go in them. Today, the U.S. market share of electric vehicle sales is only one-third that of the Chinese electric vehicle market. The White House announcement coincides with promises from automakers, representing nearly the entire U.S. auto market who have positioned around the goal of reaching 40 to 50% electric vehicle sales share in 2030.

Even if half of new vehicles sold in 2030 are electric, four out of every five cars on the road that year will still have internal combustion engines that require liquid fuels, shares Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper.

“We agree with the Biden administration that action needs to be taken now to begin aggressively reducing GHG emissions from transportation. But decarbonizing our nation’s fuels and vehicles is going to take an all-of-the-above approach that stimulates growth in all available low-carbon technologies,” Cooper says.

RFA says the overarching goal should be to “reach net-zero emissions as quickly as possible without dictating the pathway to get there or putting all of our eggs into one technology basket.

“We believe any plan to decarbonize the transportation sector should recognize the massive opportunity for low-carbon liquid fuels like ethanol to reduce GHG emissions from internal combustion engines in the near term,” he adds.

Last month, RFA’s ethanol producer members pledged to President Biden that they would ensure ethanol achieves a net-zero carbon footprint, on average, by 2050 or sooner. “We are already well on the way to net-zero with ethanol, and we encourage the Biden administration to embrace and promote renewable fuels as an important component of the nation’s decarbonization strategy,” explains Cooper.

American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings shares nearly 100% of all U.S. light-duty vehicles on the road today use liquid fuels. A recent analysis from the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory shows that today’s ethanol reduces GHG emissions by more than half compared to gasoline.

“If we want to get serious about tackling climate change sooner rather than later, government officials and automakers ought to be taking steps right now to help ensure motorists have greater access to low-carbon alternatives to gasoline such as E15 and E85,” Jennings says. “Each increased gallon of ethanol used in the U.S. today reduces GHGs and the administration can take steps today through the Renewable Fuel Standard to push more ethanol into the marketplace.”

Rural Voices USA Board President Chris Gibbs says in accomplishing the goal, the path ahead will be difficult but Americans, particularly in rural America, are ready to do their part.

“The path ahead will also require a commitment to biofuels as an essential way to reduce emissions and support rural economies. That is why today, as the President discusses the future of the industry, we encourage him to renew his commitment to biofuels and upholding the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Gibbs says. “Now is not the time to go back. The administration must uphold promises on blending targets and ensure rural Americans play a part in tackling climate change in a way that supports jobs.”

BLACK HAT FASHIONISTA

Top US cyber official makes debut calling for more 'ambitious' defenses and wearing a 'Free Britney' shirt

By Geneva Sands, CNN 

In her first major speech since taking office, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly sought to elevate the young agency, pushing for more cybersecurity talent across the US and announcing a new initiative collaborating with the private sector on ransomware and other issues.

© Black Hat 2021 Conference

Easterly made her debut not in a suit before a Washington policy audience, but directly to the cybersecurity community, wearing a partly covered up "Free Britney" shirt and introducing policy with dance moves, music and a reference to the long-running sitcom "Seinfeld."

Speaking virtually to the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, which provides security consulting, training, and briefings to hackers, corporations, and government agencies, she told the audience that CISA needs to be more "ambitious" when it comes to building up the cybersecurity workforce in the United States and federal government.

She made a plea to the cybersecurity community to help build up the nation's cyber workforce, pointing to the more than 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions in the US.

'Much more ambitious'

Easterly, who took the helm of the agency in mid-July, said CISA is already undertaking multiple efforts, including a program to retrain non-cybersecurity federal professionals and a K-12 program that provides cybersecurity curricula to teachers.

Despite a host of programs aimed at growing cybersecurity talent, she said, "I believe we need to be much, much more ambitious about this and innovative about figuring out how to inform and educate and really inspire the next generation of cybersecurity professionals from the youngest of ages," offering a glimpse into her thinking as director.

She also urged people to come work for CISA -- an agency housed within the Department of Homeland Security that was established during the Trump administration. During her speech, she provided a QR code for people to join "team CISA."

"My goal is to make CISA the world's premier cyber and infrastructure defense agency," she said.

Easterly is making her push as a new Senate report released Tuesday found that key agencies across the federal government continue to fail to meet basic cyber security standards, with systematic failures to safeguard data.

Pressed by Black Hat founder Jeff Moss on whether she will be successful at hiring the right talent, she said, "I am going to be relentlessly focused on this."

"If I don't get it done, it won't be for lack of effort. The government hiring process is Byzantine and really kind of a mess," Easterly said, acknowledging that there is "huge competition" from the private sector when it comes to recruiting talent.

Setting the announcement to music that referenced the rock band "AC/DC," Easterly also unveiled a new effort to ramp up cyber defense planning at the agency called the "Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative" or "JCDC," which will coordinate planning and operations between the federal government, local officials, and private companies.

She made the virtual announcement while dancing to the so-called "Elaine dance" from "Seinfeld."

The collaboration will initially focus on combating ransomware and cloud provider incidents with companies such as Crowdstrike, Palo Alto, FireEye, Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen.

'Strong encryption'

Easterly said the goal is for the government and private sector to work together closely "before an incident occurs to strengthen the connective tissue and ensure a common understanding of processes," in prepared remarks.

Easterly also appeared to take a swipe at those in the US government, such as law enforcement, that have called for the weakening of digital encryption in order to peer into the otherwise scrambled communications of terrorists and criminals. Critics of encryption have said the technology — which safeguards all businesses and consumers — can allow bad actors to "go dark."

Asked to weigh in on the matter, Easterly came out forcefully in favor of "strong encryption," a term typically used to mean encryption that does not permit secret "back door" access for law enforcement. Law enforcement critics have said that allowing back doors into encryption would create vulnerabilities that would be targeted by hackers and would undermine everyone's security.

"We have to have strong encryption to be able to ensure the defense of our networks. It's foundational, as everybody in this audience knows," Easterly said, in a response that drew a rare round of applause. "I recognize there are other points of view across the government, but I think as the CISA director and me, personally, I think strong encryption is absolutely fundamental for us to do what we need to do."

Easterly, who is only the second Senate-confirmed CISA director, was part of the team that built US Cyber Command before going on to work at the National Security Agency on cyber and counterterrorism issues and serving as senior director for counterterrorism in former President Barack Obama's National Security Council.

She was scheduled to appear in-person at Black Hat, along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but the DHS team decided to participate virtually "out of an abundance of caution," due to the latest Covid-19 concerns, a DHS spokesperson told CNN.

Asked how she will differentiate herself from CISA's first director, Chris Krebs, Easterly said she will focus on putting the right processes in place to be able to take CISA into our next five and 10 years.

Shortly after the November election, then-President Donald Trump fired Krebs, who rejected Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud.

"I think there's the founder, right. And then there's the next CEO that comes in and transforms, continues the transformation of the organization," Easterly said.

Black Hat: New CISA Head Woos Crowd With Public-Private Task Force

Author:Tom Spring
August 5, 2021 

Day two Black Hat keynote by CISA Director Jen Easterly includes launch of private-public partnership with Amazon, Google and Microsoft to fight cybercrime.

LAS VEGAS – Just weeks after the U.S. Senate confirmed Jen Easterly to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the new director spoke at Black Hat USA 2021 on Thursday, albeit virtually, announcing a major public-private partnership to fight cybercrime.

Called the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), Easterly said 20 cybersecurity firms have already joined the effort. They include Amazon, AT&T, Google Cloud, Microsoft, Palo Alto Networks, Verizon, Crowdstrike and FireEye Mandiant.

She said ransomware will be the group’s initial focus, along with creating a framework to respond to incidents affecting critical U.S. cyber-infrastructure.

“The whole idea of JCDC is to bring together our partners to do four key things. First, to share insights so that we create a common operating picture, shared situational awareness of the threat environment so that we understand it better, and to develop national comprehensive cyber-defense plans to deal with the most significant threats to the nation threatening our critical infrastructure,” she said.

JCDC would also call on federal agencies that include Department of Defense and its cyber-command partners such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to “make sure that we are aligning operations, talents and capabilities to support the nation’s cyber-defense activities,” she said.

Who is the New CISA Director?

Easterly is a former NSA deputy for counterterrorism and has a long history within the U.S. intelligence community. She served for more than 20 years in the Army, where she is credited for creating the armed service’s first cyber battalion. More recently she worked at Morgan Stanley as global head of the company’s cybersecurity division.

Easterly replaced CISA acting director Brandon Wales after the agency’s founder and former director Christopher Krebs was fired by former President Trump in 2020.

“I hope to build on Chris’s great work,” Easterly said. “Chris did a fantastic job. He founded the agency and he shepherded CISA through some turbulent times, with the [2020] elections and COVID.”

She likened her new position to that of a new CEO, fulfilling the spirit and mission of Krebs. “I’m going to be focused on how we put the right processes in place to be able to take CISA into our next five and 10 years,” she said.

For Those About to Hack, JC/DC is Gunning for You

Borrowing liberally from the design motif of the rock band AC/DC, Easterly debuted a tongue-in-cheek logo of JCDC (or JC/DC).

She said JCDC represents a move by CISA to up its ante in working with the private sector. Several examples already this year – SolarWinds, Kaseya, PrintNightmare and ProxyLogon – are examples of the private sector aiding the federal response and helping shape cybersecurity policy.

She singled out Victor Gevers, chair of the Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure, for helping the agency understand the chain of vulnerabilities that led to the exploitation of Kaseya. During the height of the SolarWinds attack, Easterly said, Trimarc founder Sean Metcalf was instrumental in helping CISA understand the byzantine nature of identity management. She also thanked Will Dormann, a vulnerability analyst, for helping government security researchers understand “the pathways of interconnectedness” associated with the PrintNightmare bug.

In CISA We Trust?

Perhaps Easterly’s biggest challenge in her new role will not be heaping praise on the cybersecurity community. Rather, it will be earnings its trust. During a question-and-answer session, the CISA director scored points with the audience by stating that she supported strong encryption.

“I realized that there are other points of view across the government, but I think strong encryption is absolutely fundamental for us to be able to do what we need to do,” she said.

Strong encryption is jargon for what some call “warrant-proof” encryption. Many in the law enforcement circles believe ironclad encryption helps criminals “go dark”, in that it shields their communications.

While acknowledging distrust within some segments of the cybersecurity community, Easterly urged the audience of security professionals to trust people first.

“We know some people never want to trust an organization,” she said. “In reality we trust people – you trust people. … When you work closely together with someone to solve problems, you can begin to create that trust.”

(Image of Jen Easterly, courtesy of Jen Easterly’s Twitter feed)

Congress Reports That Federal Agencies Continue to Fail at Addressing Cyber Vulnerabilities

Peter Suciu / Aug 6, 2021
CYBERSECURITY

Recent cyber attacks on the United States resulted in a spike in gasoline prices earlier this year after a crucial pipeline was taken offline by ransomware, while a similar attack impacted Americans’ food supply chain. Several American cities have also been targeted by cyber criminals in ransomware attacks in the past decade, while breaches of government systems have resulted in the theft of millions of individuals’ sensitive data.

The problem is likely going to get worse before it gets better, according to a new bipartisan report that was prepared by U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the Ranking Member and Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The federal agencies responsible for safeguarding the cybersecurity and personal data of Americans have largely failed to implement even the basic defenses, the 47-page report warned.

As a result, the agencies earned a grade of C- for falling short of federally-mandated standards, whilst the report also warned that the personal information of American citizens continues to remain at high risk, despite the wave of high-profile cyber attacks.

“From SolarWinds to recent ransomware attacks against critical infrastructure, it’s clear that cyberattacks are going to keep coming and it is unacceptable that our own federal agencies are not doing everything possible to safeguard America’s data,” said Sen. Portman via a statement

“This report shows a sustained failure to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities at our federal agencies, a failure that leaves national security and sensitive personal information open to theft and damage by increasingly sophisticated hackers,” I am concerned that many of these vulnerabilities have been outstanding for the better part of a decade – the American people deserve better. In the coming months, I will be introducing legislation to address the recommendations raised in this report so that America’s data is protected. This report makes it clear that the Biden administration must also ensure there is a single point of accountability for federal cybersecurity to oversee the implementation of our recommendations and address these cybersecurity failures.”

AGENCY SHORTCOMINGS

The report titled, “Federal Cybersecurity: America’s Data Still at Risk,” found that two years after Portman’s 2019 bipartisan report on federal agency cybersecurity – which he released as then-Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation (PSI), there are still system failures to safeguard American data.

The report especially called out the Department of State; the Department of Transportation; the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Health and Human Services; the Department of Education; and the Social Security Administration.

The lawmakers noted that the agencies had failed or otherwise came up short in terms of security in several ways, including to protect personally identifiable information adequately, to maintain accurate and comprehensive IT asset inventories, to maintain current authorizations to operate for information systems, to install security patches quickly, and most notably to retire legacy technology no longer supported by the vendor.

According to the report, six agencies operated systems without current authorizations to operate; seven agencies used legacy systems or applications no longer supported by the vendor with security updates; six agencies failed to install security patches and other vulnerability remediation controls quickly; seven agencies failed to maintain accurate and comprehensive information technology asset inventories; and seven agencies failed to protect personally identifiable information adequately.

“This is an unnerving report and should be considered as a call to action,” Doug Britton, CEO of Haystack Solutions, told ClearanceJobs in an email.

“These agencies deal with data that reaches the heart of what helps our country work, regulating transportation, research, and social services,” Britton warned. “It is startling to see how basic cyber protections are still not yet in place as we continue to see significant breaches making headlines. We are under active threat and need to take immediate action and make significant investment into our cyber security infrastructure starting with our talent pipeline. We have the tools to find them regardless of their background. We need everyone we can muster to join this fight.”

ADDRESSING THE ISSUES

The lawmakers’ report offered several suggestions including calling for a centrally coordinated approach for government-wide cybersecurity to ensure accountability, while suggesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should develop and require agencies to adopt a risk-based budgeting model for information technology investments.

Even those – and the numerous others – solutions that the report laid out, may not fully resolve the issue.

“While such comprehensive approaches are clearly necessary, they take time to develop and deploy. In the meantime, government agencies can substantially enhance their security posture by improving their execution around basic security practices,” said Jamie Lewis, Rain Capital venture partner, founder of The Burton Group and former Gartner executive.

“These include streamlining the consistent and timely implementation of patches for known system vulnerabilities, increasing the security awareness of front-line employees, and creating better incident response programs,” Lewis told ClearanceJobs. “Government agencies must also limit the collection and use of personal information, which will reduce the risks they must manage.”

LAGGING BEHIND

Even as lawmakers in Washington are finally addressing critical infrastructure, there needs to be an understanding that cyber is also a critical part of that infrastructure – and that outdated security, legacy systems and inadequate training of users is all contributing to an ever-growing problem.

“Since cyber security investment often lags cyber crime, such lapses are not unusual in the federal and commercial sector,” Rajiv Pimplaskar, CRO of cyber research firm Veridium, said in an email.

“As the report indicates, systems housing user data or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) are especially vulnerable as they present bad actors with a honeypot of valuable information,” Pimplaskar explained to ClearanceJobs.

To address these issues, the mindset of agency leadership must change, and be ready to adapt to the ever growing threats.

“Like much of the cybersecurity industry, most agency security programs have invested significantly more in prevention technologies and products than they have in detective systems,” explained Lewis.

“But those products are failing. Insider threats, social engineering, zero-day attacks, state-sponsored attackers, and many other factors have made an over-reliance on prevention a losing bet,” he added. “Instead of pretending they can build impenetrable systems, government agencies must increase their ability to discover threats and orchestrate responses before they can do significant damage. Accomplishing that requires realigning both security architecture and the organization, which must come from the top.”

Why ARE children so good at skateboarding? 

As 13-year-olds Sky Brown and Momiji Nishiya take home medals at the Tokyo Olympics, scientists reveal how a low centre of gravity and fearless attitude helped the teen sensations claim victory

EXCLUSIVE: MailOnline spoke to two experts about the science hehind the success for young skateboarders

Seven of 12 medals at the Tokyo Olympics went to teenagers or younger, including Britain's Sky Brown, 13
Being leaner and having a lower of centre of gravity, plus fearlessness and creativity are all factors

By SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 6 August 2021 

Skateboarding made its debut at the Olympics Games this week, and it's clear from the medal winners that youngsters were the ones showing how it's done.

Twelve-year-old Japanese sensation Kokona Hiraki claimed a silver while three children aged 13, including Britain's youngest ever Olympic medal winner Sky Brown, also enjoyed success in Tokyo.

In total seven of the 12 skateboarding medals available went to teenagers or younger, with Brazil's Kelvin Hoefler the oldest prize winner at 28.

So just what is it that makes children so good at the sport?

MailOnline spoke to experts to find out the science behind their success, including what aspects of physiology, anatomy and psychology play a part.

Scroll down for video


Expert view: MailOnline spoke to scientists to find out why youngsters have enjoyed so much success at the Tokyo Olympics. The graphic above show just some of the reasons, including size, mass, their fearless attitude and the sport's younger culture


Twelve-year-old Japanese sensation Kokona Hiraki claimed a silver while three children aged 13, including Britain's youngest ever Olympic medal winner Sky Brown (pictured), also enjoyed success in Tokyo

WHAT ARE THE AGES OF THE SKATEBOARD MEDALLISTS AT THE TOKYO OLYMPICS?


Men's Street

Gold: Yuto Horigome, Japan - 22

Silver: Kelvin Hoefler, Brazil - 28

Bronze: Jagger Eaton, USA - 20



Women's Street

Gold: Momiji Nishiya, Japan - 13

Silver: Rayssa Leal, Brazil - 13

Bronze: Funa Nakayama, Japan - 16



Men's Park

Gold: Keegan Palmer, Australia - 18

Silver: Pedro Barros, Brazil - 26

Bronze: Cory Juneau, USA - 22


Women's Park

Gold: Sakura Yosozumi, Japan - 19

Silver: Kokona Hiraki, Japan - 12

Bronze: Sky Brown, Great Britain - 13


Lower centre of gravity

Speaking to MailOnline, Professor Craig Williams, director of the Children's Health & Exercise Research Centre (CHERC) at the University of Exeter, said being smaller, leaner and thus having a lower centre of gravity was certainly beneficial for youngsters.

'The lower your centre of gravity the easier it is to keep your balance. If you're smaller then you have a lower centre of gravity, so it is a bit of an advantage,' he said.

'These types of sport where tricks and flips happen, such as gymnastics and diving, tend to favour smaller individuals.

'Britain's Tom Daley for example is not particularly tall, but that helps when it comes to rotations and somersaults.'

American expert Bill Robertson, who goes by the self-titled name 'Dr Skateboard', agreed.

'Usually people with a compact centre of gravity are more prevalent in skateboarding,' he told MailOnline, 'although skateboarders come in all shapes and sizes.

'Typically, shorter skateboarders have an easier time of lowering their centre of gravity towards the board, which often translates into tricks being made.

'Taller skaters often extend the centre of gravity naturally, and this can cause them to miss tricks.'

Smaller feet

Professor Williams said having smaller feet may also be a possible advantage for children, but added that it was difficult to establish for certain because it all plays into the wider aspects of their anatomy.

'If you're taller you have bigger feet,' he said. 'For balance it wouldn't work if you didn't. And if you'ree a small person you have smaller feet because it's in proportion to the rest of your body.

'So I think it's more about body mass and the stature of a person than it is the size of their feet, but it could be this that is also giving them an advantage.'

Learning without realising

Having good eye, hand and feet coordination is crucial for skateboarders, according to Professor Williams, along with spatial awareness and the ability to process cognitive skills quickly.

Sometimes youngsters are honing these important skills without realising, he added, giving them an advantage from a young age when it comes to taking part in the sport competitively.

'Due to the culture of skateboarding, a lot of children aged seven, eight or nine will pick up a skateboard and start messing around with it, so they're training and practising without realising it,' he said.

'They're learning and developing before they even decide they want to compete.'

Sky Brown pictured as she returned to the UK today, having won a bronze medal in the skateboarding, despite being just 13 years old

Prof Craig Williams, director of the Children's Health & Exercise Research Centre (CHERC) at the University of Exeter, said being smaller, leaner and thus having a lower centre of gravity was certainly beneficial for youngsters


Prof Williams said having good eye, hand and feet coordination was crucial for skateboarders, along with spatial awareness and the ability to process cognitive skills quickly

Youth culture

Outside of physiology, the culture of skateboarding may also be behind the success of so many children at the Olympics.

Professor Williams said: 'There's probably a bit of pre-selection bias. Skateboarding attracts a young age group, and that was the intention of the IOC to include newer sports that appealed to a wider range of people.

'But compared to other sports it's has more of a youth culture to it, so we're probably seeing some of that coming through.'


The youngest skateboarding medallist was 12-year-old Japanese sensation Kokona Hiraki

Sky Brown (R) finished with a bronze medal, behind Japanese duo Sakura Yosozumi (C) and Kokona Hiraki (L) on Wednesday

HOW DID SKY BROWN BURST ONTO THE OLYMPIC STAGE?

Olympic medallist: Britain's Sky Brown, 13

Sky Brown was born in Japan but lives in San Diego with her British father Stu, a skateboarder and marketing executive originally from Cornwall, and Japanese mother Miko, a housewife.

She is understood to have never lived in the UK but her grandparents were watching her compete from the New Forest and she has visited the country to compete since she was nine, beating a Team GB selector at a trial in Bath aged just nine.

The teenager could have represented Britain or Japan but chose the country of her father birth in 2018 when she was ten.

Sky already has 1million followers on Instagram and the YouTube channel she shares with her brother Ocean, nine, who is also a professional skateboarder, has had 20million views.

Such is her high profile in America, Sky even won US TV talent show 'Dancing With The Stars: Juniors' in 2018.

Sky also has a passion for surfing, and may choose to take part in that event at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

She is already worth an estimated £3.5million ($5m) and could be offered up to £2million in new endorsements in 2021 after she became Britain's youngest Olympic medallist in history.

The teenager showed extraordinary skill to finish third just over a year after fracturing her skull in a training crash that could have killed her, breaking down in tears of joy at the end of the final where she was beaten by two Japanese stars, including 12-year-old rival Kokona Hiraki.

Fearlessness

As well as physiology, anatomy and the culture of the sport, there's also a mental aspect to skateboarding, as with any other Olympic event.

'It does take some guts to skateboard, as falling down on the ground (or concrete) is part of the sport that you have to deal with regularly,' said Dr Skateboard, who has a PhD in education and has been a skateboarder for over 35 years.

'I think about it in terms of those willing to take risks as being more successful, and this is where good mentoring or coaching can really play a part, to help channel the risk taking ability effectively to foster early success and minimise falling.'

Professor Williams agreed that fearlessness could well be a factor, not just in terms of going for tricks that could result in an injury but also in dealing with the stress and pressure of competing on the world stage.

He said: 'There's a risk to any sport kids take part in, and of course they'll hurt themselves if they fall, but because their bones are still developing the potential consequences are not as catastrophic as adults.

'Children's bones are still very malleable and not fully formed, so they might suffer a small fracture or a bruise and recover from it.

'However, if adults fall they're more likely to break a bone, and it might be that bone doesn't heal as well.'

This past experience and its severity may weigh on a person's mind, Professor Williams said, potentially impacting on how they approach tricks and flips.

'If you're a child you might not think about the consequences as much as an adult, you're more likely to be in the moment rather than having your long-term health in the back of your mind,' he explained.

Professor Williams was speaking in general terms, but it should also be stressed at this point that Sky would have missed these Olympics if they had been held in 2020 as scheduled, before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

Her father Stu Brown said she was 'lucky to be alive' after a training accident last May left her with a fractured skull, left arm and wrist, as well as lacerations to her heart and lungs.

But it didn't stop her becoming Britain's youngest Olympic medallist in history – less than a month after her 13th birthday – as she grabbed Tokyo 2020 bronze at the death after a perfect run following two big falls in the final.

She surpassed the summer British record of Margery Hinton, who was 13 years and 43 days when she competed in swimming at the 1928 Games. British figure skater Cecilia Colledge was 15 when she won figure skating silver in 1936.

Under less pressure to succeed

So what about pressure?

'For 13-year-olds like Sky Brown you're always going to feel stress. It doesn't matter how old you are. We know that from the comments she made,' Professor Williams said

'Especially considering she fell on her first two runs and it was all on the last one. So children will have pressure on them but the way in which the consequences of success or failure impact on their ability to compete differs because they have many more Olympics to come.

'They also won't have a job or endorsements riding on it, although that's likely to come in the future.'

Professor Williams also highlighted the advantage of not having the pressure and stress of building up to the Olympics, as opposed to someone who has trained for a decade or more.

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'If you're a 24-year-old going to the Olympics for the first time you've probably had 14 years to get there, starting your sport aged 10, realising you're good enough to compete seriously at 15 and then 10 years later you're at the Olympics,' he said.

'It all builds up the stress [as opposed to someone competing aged 13].'

He added: 'But ultimately pressure manifests itself in different ways depending on the individual.'

Creative mind

When asked whether any other factors might influence a child's skateboarding ability, Dr Skateboard said a 'creative mind' was vital, adding: 'children inherently have this trait'.

'I also think that having good overall fitness is important, as skateboarding requires lots of energy, concentration and coordination,' he said.

Professor Williams said it was beneficial that children could easily pick up a skateboard and go down to a local skate park to practise.

Just over a year ago Sky 'lucky to be alive' after fracturing her skull in a horror accident in training in California in June last year. Her father Stu said that doctors feared for her life when she was airlifted to hospital

Team GB's youngest Olympic medallist bags bronze in skateboarding


Stu Brown raises his arms aloft next to his daughter. Sky's mother and brother are believed to be back home in California

'It's not a sport that needs a lot of organisation,' he said. 'You don't need a referee or 10 other players to come together for a match.

'With skateboarding there's a lot of self-organisation, there's not adults trying to organise anything, so that is perhaps a factor, too.'

Tips for budding skateboarders

Professor Williams and Dr Skateboard also had several tips for any children thinking about taking up skateboarding after watching the success of Sky and others at the Olympics.

'It's good to be a multi-activity person because there's lots of crossover between different sports,' Professor Williams said.

'It will help with your athletic prowess. That's my advice to any young athletes.

'But also you want to be doing push-ups and handstands to build up your balance and core strength; really any exercises that can transfer over to skateboarding should be encouraged.'

Dr Skateboard added: 'First, take the time to connect with a local skate shop in your area, as they have good equipment and people there who can serve as teachers and mentors.

'I also think it's good to start in a smooth area away from traffic and free of rocks and debris. If there is a skatepark, that is also a plus, whether it is concrete or ramps made of wood or steel.

'The great thing about skateboarding is that you can do it everywhere, and once you have the basics down, and you can push, roll, turn and ollie, you are on your way to interacting with your world in ways you may never have imagined.'

New Animal Welfare Law Could Drive Up Pork Prices in California—and Nationwide

In 2018, Californians overwhelmingly supported Proposition 12, an initiative designed to create humane conditions for farm animals

By David Kindy
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM

One of America’s favorite foods—bacon—may soon disappear from menus in California. A new law enforcing animal-welfare regulations could cause prices to soar as much as 60 percent, making the pork product hard to find—if at all—in the Golden State.

“Our number-one seller is bacon, eggs and hash browns,” Jeannie Kim, owner of SAMS American Eatery in San Francisco, tells Scott McFetridge of the Associated Press. “It could be devastating for us.”

On January 1, 2022, a new law will take effect in California requiring hog farmers to provide more space for their livestock. Currently, only 4 percent of operations nationwide follow these guidelines, which could make it nearly impossible to find bacon and other pork products in the state once the regulations are enforced, AP reports.

In 2018, Californians overwhelmingly supported Proposition 12, an animal-welfare initiative designed to create humane conditions on the farm for calves, chickens and pigs. The rules increase caging sizes for livestock so they can live a less-crowded existence.

While cattle and chicken producers say they will have little difficulty adhering to the new standards, hog farmers point out it will drive up their costs, and the industry is fighting the legislation. The North American Meat Institute lost their case in the United States Court of Appeals, then was stymied by the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case, reports Caroline Anders of the Washington Post.

Representatives of hog farmers claim the law was drafted by people who don’t understand the industry or just want people to stop eating meat.

“The Humane Society of United States’ goal is the elimination of meat on the table,” Michael Formica of the National Pork Producers Council tells the Washington Post.

Pork producers are obviously not happy, especially since California has such a large market. The state gobbles up 15 percent of all pork products produced in the country. The industry also claims implementing this regulation for California will drive up bacon and other pork prices nationwide, reports Ed Kilgore for the Intelligencer at New York magazine.

Though the law goes into effect January 1, California still has not released final details regarding the law. Pork producers are challenging it in Iowa, where a third of the country’s hogs are raised, claiming it will cost “tens of millions of dollars” annually to meet the requirements, according to Clark Kauffman of the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

Though the regulations are not completed, the California Department of Food and Agriculture stated that key stipulations have been known for years.

“It is important to note that the law itself cannot be changed by regulations and the law has been in place since the Farm Animal Confinement Proposition (Prop 12) passed by a wide margin in 2018,” the state agency tells AP.

Tenants Aren't Waiting for the Biden Admin to Save Them

Here’s how tenant organizers are mobilizing locally to stem the housing crisis.

ANNIE HOWARD AUGUST 5, 2021,   IN THESE TIMES

Community members protest against evictions and in support of the movement to "cancel rent" outside the Bronx housing court on August 10, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York City.

ANGELA WEISS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The Biden administration announced a new, temporary eviction moratorium on Tuesday afternoon — a direct response to pressure from Rep. Cori Bush (D‑Mo.), who camped out on the steps of the Capitol to demand relief for renters. While tenant organizers breathed a sigh of relief at the development, they also criticized the patchwork and narrow nature of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) order, which applies only to counties that meet a certain threshold for Covid-19 outbreaks.

Tenant advocates have been sounding the alarm about an ​“eviction cliff” that loomed with the end of the old CDC eviction moratorium on August 1, and they say Biden’s new extension does not address the full scope of the crisis. Given that more than 15 million people are living in households behind on rental payments, according to the Aspen Institute, the eviction moratorium is clearly a stopgap where much more systemic solutions are necessary. Amid this stark political reality, local and statewide efforts around the country point to other models that treat the housing issues magnified by the pandemic in a more systemic fashion, hoping to change landlord-tenant dynamics for the better.

It’s a tall order for organizers, advocates and tenants who are already scrambling to meet the needs of those being removed from their homes. These groups are attempting to change public perception of a renter’s right to secure housing. With millions on the brink of losing their homes, and with cities like Los Angeles passing draconian new measures to further criminalize homelessness, the task of enacting housing as a human right has never been more urgent.

Here’s how some tenant advocates are meeting the urgency of the moment by organizing locally, in order to change the conversation nationally.
Just Cause for Eviction passes in Albany

One policy being considered in numerous municipalities to ensure the longer-term stability of rental housing is Just Cause for Eviction, which would prevent no-fault tenant displacement. (Disclosure: the author of this piece is an organizer with a coalition in Chicago working on a Just Cause ordinance.) Just Cause (or Good Cause) for Eviction states that landlords must provide a clear reason for an eviction. While traditional tenant-fault reasons like nonpayment of rent remain, Just Cause would slow the use of non-tenant-fault evictions, which are often undertaken when a landlord wants to flip the property for more money or remove a tenant who has complained about unsafe living conditions. It’s a common-sense approach that goes beyond measures like rental assistance or eviction moratoria, recognizing that evictions will remain a concern long after the pandemic.

The most recent locale to pass Good Cause is Albany, New York, which enacted the bill in July. For Alfredo Balarin, lead sponsor of the bill, Just Cause approaches the deeper causes of housing instability left untouched by other measures.

“Just Cause is looking at long-term housing stability issues, not just the short-term immediate relief that’s needed,” Balarin says. “[It’s] looking to make sure that you protect good tenants who are doing everything right and have a right to be able to live in stable, quality housing.”

Before the pandemic, Just Cause was already in place in four states (California, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Oregon), as well as in more than 20 cities. Several other cities in New York are currently considering the legislation after it was blocked as a statewide bill, while the state of Washington adopted Just Cause this May.
Pushing politicians to the left

While tenants and their supporters have fought for visionary policies that go beyond the status quo, another significant part of the battle remains focused on improving policies that are being put forth by political leaders. That’s been true in California, where Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill in late June to make $5.2 billion available to pay all outstanding rent for California tenants, and up to three months of future rent, by far the most money invested into rent relief by any individual state. While far more universal than some other programs, the legislation is plagued by some of the same problems that are playing out at the federal level, with only $61.6 million distributed by the state as of late June.

According to Shanti Singh, communications director for Tenants Together, a group that supports tenant organizing around the state, some aspects of the legislation create more ambiguity for renters. The state’s eviction moratorium has been extended until the beginning of October, at which point municipalities are preempted from passing their own additional protections against eviction for nonpayment of rent until April 2022. Instead, tenants are only legally protected from eviction if they face the case in eviction court and have completed an application for financial assistance. Given that only a small percentage of tenants have legal representation in court, and many undocumented people will ​“self evict” due to fear of deportation, it’s an approach that leaves plenty to be desired.

Still, Singh argues that more radical demands like calls to cancel people’s rents and mortgages outright, as advocated by groups like Right to the City, a nationwide alliance of housing organizations, have improved the bill that was passed. For example, Singh notes that under the final version of the bill that was passed, both tenants and landlords can apply for up to 100% of back rent owed; earlier in negotiations landlords would have received 80% paid by the state if they waived the other 20%, while tenants seeking assistance against landlords who refused to comply could only receive 25%. That shift will help thousands more families wipe their rental debt clean, a much-needed shift won through community pressure, even as advocates are still frustrated that the bill serves as a massive handouts to landlords, in contrast to the rent and mortgage cancellation approach.

“I think if we hadn’t been out front making the demands to cancel rent and to cancel mortgages, from the beginning, I don’t think we would have gotten to the point where the governor felt compelled to say that tenants [could] get 100% of their money back,” Singh says. ​“That pressure and that heat was productive.”
Fighting against means testing

The ineffective distribution of federal rent relief funds has been one of the biggest flaws of the federal approach: While $46.5 billion was allocated through January’s Emergency Relocation Assistance program, just $3 billion, or about 7%, reached vulnerable renters by the end of June, according to the Treasury Department.

Cutting through this gridlock and ensuring that government benefits reach people with a minimum of regulatory barriers is one of the key goals embraced by activists. Santa Fe-based Chainbreaker Collective expedited the distribution of emergency housing funds as a political priority, as they worked with local officials to minimize red tape and get funds in people’s hands, no questions asked.

Last fall, Chainbreaker partnered with Somos Un Pueblo Unido, a statewide immigrant worker advocacy organization, and city officials to target families who had not received stimulus money — primarily undocumented families. Chainbreaker managed to get 167 families $3,000 in unrestricted funds, available as a direct deposit or as a prepaid debit card for those without access to formal banking.

For Chainbreaker community organizer Cathy Garcia, getting people funds with no strings attached has been the biggest shortcoming of many of the federal and state approaches to financial assistance for renters.

“We’re putting all this money on this really high shelf, and then being like, ​“Yeah, I’m not surprised they can’t reach it… so I guess we’ll put it back into the general fund,’” Garcia says.

Other groups have embraced the model of direct assistance with minimal red tape, recognizing that impacted communities can define their own needs. Another powerful example of the rapid distribution of financial assistance came last summer in the Twin Cities, as Nexus Community Partners, which works to support cooperative economic principles, distributed more than $7 million through its Transformative Black-Led Movement Fund, primarily to groups without formal legal status. Given the bureaucratic nightmares that have kept millions from receiving government funds they were legally entitled to, these initiatives are vital to getting working-class people the resources they deserve.
Decommodifying housing through Community Land Trusts

Beyond administering direct assistance, Chainbreaker has also fought to create what would become one of the nation’s largest community land trusts. After years of trying to sell a 64-acre parcel for development, the city of Santa Fe’s chosen contractor asked the city in January to terminate the contract. Even before then, the city began using the site’s former dormitories for emergency housing during the pandemic, a commitment that the city recently reaffirmed until July 2022. That toehold has allowed Chainbreaker to make the case for the site to come under full community control, expanding its reach to also house mobile home users who are being displaced from trailer parks elsewhere in the city.

For Garcia, it’s exactly the kind of decision that would set the tone for the future of Santa Fe. The midtown site is also where the city has its highest eviction rates, and it divides some of the richest and poorest parts of town. Making a commitment for permanent affordable housing in a city whose median home value recently climbed past $600,000 could set the tone for a more human-centered housing policy.

As housing becomes increasingly unaffordable everywhere in the United States, prices driven upwards by corporate landlords who have bought thousands of single-family homes from foreclosure and now rent them at inflated rates, the growth of community land trusts is a vital reminder that housing should not be commoditized as it is today. As a recent Shelterforce article argued, community land trusts have ​“become one of the most common policy answers to ​‘how will we [insert revitalization plan here] without causing displacement?’” and the number of community land trusts nationwide has grown from just 162 in 2006 to 289 today. In Santa Fe, Garcia sees the fate of this project as one that will forever define the city’s future, and whether it — like the rest of the country — can change course and begin to mend the harm caused by decades of growing housing precarity. It’s a vision that carries far beyond the immediate wrangling around the CDC eviction moratorium, knowing that housing injustice has been an issue long before the pandemic began.

“Midtown campus is literally right on the divide between the haves and the have nots,” Garcia says. ​“How it gets developed is absolutely going to set up the history of the city for forever into the future.”


ANNIE HOWARD is a freelance organizer and organizer with the Chicago Housing Justice League. She’s on Twitter @t_annie_howard.