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The Covid Divide: The pandemic has plunged some into poverty, and boosted savings for others

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN Business

Updated Thu December 10, 2020

For many Americans, the economic effects of the pandemic have been devastating. Millions have lost jobs. Food and housing insecurity has soared. And roughly half of US households reported a drop in income this year, according to Bankrate.com.
Life will get worse for them if they don't get more financial help or paying work soon.
But others -- lucky enough to keep their jobs and even work from home -- have ended up financially better off, or at least unaffected, thanks to such factors as a rising stock market, increased savings, or a boost in demand for their business.

He never imagined he'd be in this situation


Unfortunately, Barnell Garrett finds himself in the "worse off" category.
In March, his job as a hotel sales manager in Seattle disappeared -- first through a furlough, then a permanent layoff.

Garrett's unemployment benefits expire at the end of December, and he doesn't know if he'll qualify for an extension. His health insurance costs are now $641 a month, well above the $150 he was paying when his employer subsidized his premiums. He's considering withdrawing about $25,000 from his 401(k) to pay off the extra credit card debt he accrued during the pandemic to pay for groceries and insurance, as well as a private loan he took out a few years ago.

Laid off from his hotel sales job, Barnell Garrett says he can only pay his bills through January.
He says he can pay his bills through January, but if he doesn't get help soon, he will have to move in with his mother if he can't find a much cheaper place to live. Now approaching 40, he never imagined he'd be in this situation.

Garrett said he doesn't expect the hotel industry, where he's built his career, to bounce back quickly so he's looking at other industries for a job. He's willing to take a pay cut, but is shocked at how low the pay on offer is -- even when an employer requires a college degree and years of experience.

"Several of the jobs I interviewed for initially looked like good-paying jobs, but during the interview I learned that they pay barely above Seattle's $15 minimum wage and are lower than my monthly unemployment," Garrett said.

Her 401(k) is already tapped out

Olivia Bukosky said last year she was a working mom living a middle class life in Owings Mills, Maryland.

This year, she lost her job in property management, drained her 401(k) and has been collecting unemployment benefits and food stamps.

She's behind on rent and worries she'll be evicted in January if her landlord can't secure rental subsidies from the state.


Olivia Bukosky went from middle class working mom last year to living off food stamps and unemployment benefits this year.

If that happens, Bukosky said, she'll either have to stay with friends or move back to the home she still co-owns with her husband, whom she is divorcing. "But it's not a good environment."

She wishes the divorce could proceed, but that will have to wait. "I cannot collect alimony until we go to court. I can't afford a lawyer and Legal Aid will not even look at divorces until the pandemic is over," she said.

'Tired of being sad.' The financial stress from Covid is taking an emotional toll
Like Garrett, Bukosky is also looking for work outside her chosen field. She's been applying for jobs and even getting interviews, but so far no offers. "I'm looking for everything. I just need to work."

She has friends to lend emotional support, but she's hesitant to open up. "A friend reached out today and I didn't want to tell him how I was doing because I didn't have anything good to say. I'm like a broken record," Bukoski said. "It's just been a terrible year."

Humbled by how lucky they've been

The economic story has been very different for folks like real estate lawyer Paul Levine, veterinarian Danielle Sawyer, and adventure travelers Michael and Melissa Harlow.

Levine, who works on both residential and commercial real estate deals, initially saw a huge drop off in business from mid-March through mid-May. But ever since, he said, his practice has been "staggeringly busy... There's a lot of money pouring into the market."

While he doesn't know yet whether his total revenue this year will top last year's, he expects it may. And even if it didn't, he still considers himself better off financially because the money that he's saved from not traveling or going out to eat has gone toward his savings and paying bills.

"I feel humble and thankful that I can pay my mortgage and pay for my household expenses," Levine said.


A surge of pet adoptions during the pandemic has meant a lot more business for veterinarians like Danielle Sawyer.

Sawyer's veterinary practice has seen a 50% uptick in clients because so many people have gotten dogs during the pandemic. It's also because many have done so via Craigslist or through unscrupulous breeders online and they end up with pets who are sick and need medical care. "It's been like one long day for us," Sawyer said.

But it's also meant she's had the best year financially since becoming a vet. And that has helped her pay down her school debt and buy the condo she and her toddler daughter now live in.

For empty nesters Michael and Melissa Harlow, the pandemic affirmed the wisdom of their decision years ago to pay off debt and downsize their belongings so they could quit their corporate jobs. While they still need to work so they don't have to touch their retirement savings, they do so in ways tied to their love of adventure.

Michael and Melissa Harlow's RV rental business did well this summer as people sought Covid-safe ways to travel.

For instance, they run an online rental RV service. Business this summer was very good as people sought to find Covid-safe ways to travel, they said. Melissa also works as a freelance voice over artist, which she does from a studio she created in the guest house they rent on a ranch near San Diego.

Also, they noted, their savings have increased because they are spending less on travel and other activities this year.

"I'm grateful we bit the bullet for so many years (downsizing). It was worth the pain ... to be where we are now," Melissa said.

Financially steady, but not unaffected

For some people, the pandemic has meant neither boon nor bust.

Originally from the Netherlands, Jan Jansen, a retired physician, and his wife, Catharine, moved to Santa Fe a few years ago, after decades of living and working in Indianapolis.

Their income has remained steady -- thanks in part to a rising stock market. And they've ended up spending less because they aren't able to go to restaurants or travel. Instead, they're donating to food banks and giving money through their church.

"It's sad to see how a country can completely fail its population,"Jansen said.

Retiree Jan Jansen, with his wife Catharine, misses traveling to see family but feels fortunate the pandemic hasn't hurt their income.

The main thing they've lost, Jansen said, is a year of their lives. "Our main problem is a lost year, which counts more when your horizon becomes shorter."

Meanwhile, federal government employee Leigh Ramunni in Massachusetts said she has lost family members to Covid-19. But she is grateful she didn't lose her job and can work from home, since her husband is no longer working due to a disability.

Ramunni noted that she has stocked up on food for six months because she has asthma and tries not to go out much. But she is also donating more -- both in terms of money and food.
"We're lucky to have more, so we have given more," she said. "We count ourselves blessed, but also pray for something positive to emerge... As a rich and powerful nation, we should not have food lines and evictions during a pandemic."

Hanukkah Is About Resistance. Let’s Resist This COVID Spike Through Mutual Aid.

Volunteers from a nonprofit organization provide food supplies to people who line up ahead of Thanksgiving amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City on November 20, 2020.TAYFUN COSKUN / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

BY Brant Rosen, Truthout December 10, 2020

With Hanukkah now upon us, the internet is abuzz with articles offering guidance on how to celebrate the holiday in the age of COVID-19. While most of them focus on practical issues such as socially distanced Hanukkah parties and Zoom candle lightings, I’ve been thinking a great deal on what the story of Hanukkah might have to offer to all of us as we gear up for a winter like none we’ve ever experienced in our lifetimes.

Hanukkah, of course, is based upon the story of the Maccabees, the small group of Jews who successfully liberated themselves from the oppressive reign of the Seleucid Empire in 167 BCE. The legacy of this story, however, is a complex one because the Jewish struggle against religious persecution took place within the context of a bloody and destructive Jewish civil war. In contemporary times, the meaning of Hanukkah has become even more complicated given its proximity to Christmas, subjecting it to the uniquely American religion of unmitigated commercialism.

Beyond all these complications, I’d argue that the essence of Hanukkah is the theme of resistance. At its core, the Hanukkah story commemorates the victorious resistance of the people over the power and might of empire. On a deeper level, we might say that the festival celebrates the spiritual strength of our resistance to an often harsh and unyielding world.

In this regard, it is significant that Hanukkah takes place in the winter. Apropos of the season, the festival prescribes resistance to an increasingly colder and darker world by lighting increasing numbers of candles during this eight-night festival. Those of us who celebrate this holiday are instructed to place our menorahs in our windows as an act of “spiritual defiance,” directing the light outward into the night where it may clearly be seen by the outside world.

There have indeed been moments in Jewish history in which lighting the menorah was literally an act of resistance. One powerful example can be seen offered in a single image: the famous photograph taken in 1932 Germany showing a menorah on the window sill of a Jewish home, with a Nazi flag clearly visible across the street. Another well-known moment of Hanukkah resistance occurred in 1993 when, after a brick was thrown through the window of a Jewish home in Billings, Montana, scores of citizens showed their solidarity with the Jewish community by taping paper menorahs in their windows. More recently, on the Hanukkah after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, one local Jewish leader commented that the menorah is “not just something that we display in our homes for ourselves … but something we light so that passersby can see. For us, this year that feels like an act of resistance.”

In 2020, we find Hanukkah arriving amid a winter that medical experts are calling “the darkest days of the pandemic” and “COVID hell.” In a recent interview, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said, “the next three to four months are going to be, by far, the darkest of the pandemic.” Another expert has predicted that more lives will be lost in December than the U.S. saw in March and April combined.

With such an unprecedented and terrifying winter bearing down upon us, I’d suggest that the ideal of Hanukkah resistance is more powerfully relevant than ever. This resistance, of course, presents us with profound challenges. After living with the pandemic for the better part of a year, so many throughout the U.S. are succumbing to “COVID fatigue” — following months of social isolation and anxiety, increasing numbers of people are becoming less vigilant about the pandemic practice of masking and social distancing, even as infection rates spike precipitously.

With the darkest days of the pandemic ahead of us — even as we agitate for rent cancellation, eviction resistance and universal health care — we have another form of resistance at our disposal: We can resist government inaction/abandonment of its citizens by participating in the grassroots, self-organized networks of support known as mutual aid.

While these community-based efforts are not new, they have proliferated widely since the onset of the pandemic. As Jia Tolentino pointed out in a New Yorker article last May:

[Mutual aid] is not a new term, or a new idea, but it has generally existed outside the mainstream. Informal child-care collectives, transgender support groups, and other ad-hoc organizations operate without the top-down leadership or philanthropic funding that most charities depend on. Since COVID, however, mutual aid initiatives seemed to be everywhere.

The concept of mutual aid was coined in 1902 by the Russian anarchist/scientist/economist/philosopher, Peter Kropotkin, who argued that mutual aid could be traced to the “earliest beginnings of evolution.” Kropotkin posited that solidary provided the human species with the best chance of survival, particularly given the emergence of private property and the rise of the State:

It is not love and not even sympathy upon which Society is based in mankind. It is the conscience — be it only at the stage of an instinct — of human solidarity. It is the unconscious recognition of the force that is borrowed by each man from the practice of mutual aid; of the close dependence of every one’s happiness upon the happiness of all; and of the sense of justice, or equity which brings the individual to consider the rights of every other individual as equal to his own. Upon this broad and necessary foundation, the still higher moral feelings are developed.

Some of the most well-known examples of mutual aid in U.S. history, in fact, were the survival programs created by the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the community-based initiatives organized by the Puerto Rican Young Lords Party in the 1960s and ’70s. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover himself grasped the radical power of these mutual aid projects. In a now infamous internal memo, he wrote that the Black Panther breakfast programs represented “the best and most influential activity going for the BPP, and is as such, the greatest threat to efforts by authorities.”The true miracle of resistance occurs when we show up for one another.

Another important aspect of mutual aid is the understanding that disenfranchised people cannot ultimately depend on state institutions to save them. According to Puerto Rican scholar Isa Rodríguez, “‘Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo’ — ‘Only the people save the people,’ became a rallying cry for Puerto Ricans following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017 as multiple organizations — mostly based on grassroots groups that existed prior to the hurricane — quickly organized to channel aid.”

The community-based solidarity of mutual aid is also fundamentally different from the approach of private humanitarian charities in which the needy are “saved” through the beneficence of those of greater means. And it must not be viewed through the lens of “crisis response.” Mutual aid, rather, is rooted in long-term alliances between people engaged in a common struggle. As historian/writer, Elizabeth Catte has observed:


Mutual aid can be a form of resistance, but the practice itself requires discipline. We can’t do it because it helps us sugarcoat our trauma, or because it lets us say we have claimed goodness in a world where it is often lacking. Mutual aid is incompatible with charity and should offer no pleasure to the well-resourced person or do-gooder who hopes to find worthy recipients of their kindness, because the practice of mutual aid is intended to destroy categories of worth.

Since mutual aid is rooted in the ideal of solidarity, the first step for anyone interested is to cultivate genuine and accountable relationships within their own local communities. This will be undeniably challenging in a time of pandemic, when our mutual safety literally depends upon socially distancing from one another.

Mutual aid projects, however, are adapting to meet these challenges through creative use of commercial internet platforms, online databases and toolkits. Additionally, mutual aid projects in the age of COVID insist on strict adherence to public health protocols.

In the words of anarchist organizer Cindy Milstein: “While ‘social’ aka ‘physical’ distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing are necessary tools to help stop the spread of this virus, they will only be effective if it’s grounded in an ethics and practice of social solidarity and collective care.”

The most famous Hanukkah story says that when the Maccabees entered the Temple to relight the menorah, they only found enough oil to last for one day. Miraculously, however, the menorah burned for eight days. At the core of this seemingly simple parable are profound lessons about the power of sustainability and resilience. We know from history that popular movements of resistance have the ability to succeed even against the most daunting of foes.

The prospect of the coming winter — and the new year ahead — are undeniably daunting. Amid it all lie fundamental questions: Where will we find the strength to meet these challenges? How will we keep the fire of our commitment to each other from burning out? Who can we depend upon to see us through the coming season and beyond?

The resistance embodied by mutual aid provides us with a compelling answer — in the end, we have each other. As Dean Spade, who recently published a book titled Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next), so aptly puts it, “what happens when people get together to support one another is that people realize that there’s more of us than there is of them.”

True resistance can never occur as long as we expect an external human force to somehow show up to save us. In the end, the true miracle of resistance occurs when we show up for one another.

5 facts about the QAnon conspiracy theories

More than a dozen 2020 U.S. House and Senate candidates have engaged with the collection of conspiracy theories known as QAnon. At least two of those candidates won their races and will be heading to Congress in 2021.

Here are five facts about how much Americans have heard about the QAnon conspiracy theories and their views about them, based on Pew Research Center surveys and analysis.

How we did this

Americans’ awareness of the conspiracy theories called QAnon increased dramatically from early to late 2020. In a Feb. 18-March 2 survey, about a quarter (23%) of U.S. adults said they had heard “a lot” or “a little” about QAnon. By September, that number had increased to 47%. At the same time, though, very few Americans have heard a lot about it: 9% as of September, up from 3% in February.

Knowledge of QAnon grew on both sides of the political aisle, though Democrats’ awareness continues to outpace that of Republicans. As of September, more than half (55%) of Democrats and those who lean Democratic say they have heard at least a little about the conspiracy theories, compared with 39% of Republicans.

The same U.S. adults were sampled for the March survey and September survey. This raises the possibility that some of the increase in QAnon awareness is attributable to re-asking the same people.

Americans with high political knowledge are more likely than others to have heard of the conspiracy theories. Within both parties, political knowledge correlates closely with awareness of these theories.

Among Democrats, those with high political knowledge are more than three times as likely to say they have heard about QAnon (85%) as those with low political knowledge (25%). And though fewer Republicans overall have heard of QAnon, those with high political knowledge are more than twice as likely (59%) as those with low political knowledge (24%) to have heard at least a little about QAnon. (You can find more details of the political knowledge index here.)

High or low political knowledge is a stronger factor in awareness of the conspiracy theories than differences in ideology within each party. The differences seen between Democrats with high and low knowledge are much larger than the differences seen between liberal Democrats and conservative or moderate Democrats, and the same is true among Republicans. 

The majority of Americans who have heard of QAnon think it’s a bad thing for the country. Among those who have heard of the conspiracy theories, 57% say QAnon is a “very bad” thing for the country. Another 17% say it is “somewhat bad.” That compares with 20% who say it is a somewhat or very good thing, while 6% did not answer.

Democrats who have heard of QAnon are more likely than their Republican counterparts to say it’s bad for the country. Almost eight-in-ten Democrats who have heard of QAnon (77%) say it is a “very bad” thing for the country, and another 13% say it is a somewhat bad thing. On the other hand, only about a quarter of Republicans who have heard of QAnon (26%) feel it is very bad for the country, while 24% say it is somewhat bad. Indeed, roughly four-in-ten Republicans who have heard of QAnon (41%) say it is a good thing for the country (32% somewhat good and 9% very good).

When asked to describe QAnon, people most often mentioned that it was a group of some kind (41%) or a conspiracy group or theory (44%). When Americans who said they had heard at least a little about QAnon were asked to write in their own words what they thought it was, they were most likely to describe it as a group of some kind or include a more specific description of it as a conspiracy group or theory.

Far fewer wrote in other kinds of descriptions. Two-in-ten mentioned that it is a right-wing group or theory (20%) or that it is a theory about child abuse or trafficking (20%). Another 16% connected it directly to President Donald Trump, either by saying that Trump supports the group or that the group views him as a hero, savior or victim. (Responses could fit into more than one of these categories.)

A separate content study of YouTube by the Center found that in December 2019, mentions of “QAnon” were concentrated in a very small number of the most viewed news channels. Overall, 5% of videos published by the 100 most viewed YouTube news channels at the time of the study included the word “QAnon.” The vast majority of those mentions came from just a handful of YouTube news channels: 11 of these channels studied produced 80% of the videos mentioning QAnon.

In a subsequent content analysis conducted in September 2020, eight of these 11 YouTube news channels were still producing videos that mentioned QAnon. What’s more, four of them mentioned QAnon in half or more of the videos they published that month.

Some of these channels clearly advertised their orientation around these conspiracy theories, including one that put the word “QAnon” in the thumbnail of all of its videos. Other channels were more subtle in their mentions, using euphemisms such as “our favorite anon.”

Several of the 11 channels were terminated by YouTube in October, including some channels that mentioned QAnon the most in September 2020.

Note: Here is the methodology for th

So far, Trump has granted clemency less frequently than any president in modern history

BY JOHN GRAMLICH AND KRISTEN BIALIK PEW RESEARCH

  

President Donald Trump signs a pardon for Alice Johnson, who was serving a life sentence on drug-related charges, on Aug. 28, 2020, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)

As he enters the home stretch of his White House tenure, Donald Trump has used his clemency power less often than any president in modern history, according to data from the U.S. Department of Justice. Trump’s sparse use of pardons, commutations and other forms of official leniency stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Barack Obama, who used the clemency power more frequently than any chief executive since Harry Truman.

As of Nov. 23, Trump had granted clemency 44 times, including 28 pardons and 16 commutations. That’s the lowest total of any president since at least William McKinley, who served at the turn of the 20th century. Obama, by comparison, granted clemency 1,927 times during his eight-year tenure, including 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. The only modern president who granted clemency almost as infrequently as Trump is George H.W. Bush, who granted 77 pardons and commutations in his single term.

How we did this

Looking at the same data another way, Trump has granted clemency to less than half of 1% of the more than 10,000 people who petitioned him for it through the end of the 2020 fiscal year (which ended Sept. 30), according to the Justice Department. That, too, is the lowest percentage of any president on record, though George W. Bush came close, granting clemency to just 2% of the more than 11,000 people who asked him for it during his eight years in office.

Clemency refers to multiple forms of presidential mercy. The two most common forms are pardons, which forgive past crimes and restore civil rights, and commutations, which completely or partially reduce sentences for those in prison or on community supervision. Two less-common forms are remissions, which reduce financial penalties associated with convictions, and respites, which are temporary reprieves that are usually granted to inmates for medical reasons.

The Justice Department’s statistics, it’s important to note, do not count clemency granted through proclamation or executive order, such as the actions taken by Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter to forgive thousands of Vietnam-era draft dodgers. The DOJ numbers also count some clemency recipients twice – for example, in cases where someone received both a pardon and a commutation.

While rare so far, Trump’s use of presidential clemency has caused controversy because of the nature of his pardons and commutations. Many of Trump’s clemency recipients have had a “personal or political connection to the president,” according to a July analysis by the Lawfare blog, and he has often circumvented the formal process through which clemency requests are typically considered.

But Trump is far from the only president who has faced scrutiny over his use of clemency. Obama’s frequent use of commutations, particularly for prisoners convicted of drug-related crimes, prompted criticism from Republicans, who said it benefited “an entire class of offenders” and infringed on the “lawmaking authority” of the legislative branch. And President Bill Clinton drew bipartisan condemnation for pardoning a fugitive commodities trader, Marc Rich, on his last day in office in 2001.

Presidents have generally become less forgiving over time, at least when looking at the proportion of clemency requests they have granted. Every president from McKinley to Carter granted clemency to at least 20% of those who asked for it, according to the Justice Department data. But the percentages have fallen to the single digits for every president since George H.W. Bush, including Obama, who granted clemency to just 5% of those who petitioned him for it.


Obama’s relatively low percentage, however, is largely due to the fact that his administration encouraged federal prisoners to apply for leniency under a program known as the Clemency Initiative. The program, which launched in April 2014 and ended in 2017 when Obama left office, allowed “qualified federal inmates” – those who met certain Justice Department criteria – to apply to have their prison sentences commuted. The initiative led to a surge in petitions and helps explain why Obama’s use of clemency tilted so heavily toward sentence commutations, rather than pardons.

Overall, Obama received more than 36,000 clemency petitions during his time in office, by far the largest total of any president on record. Petitions have declined considerably during Trump’s tenure

John Gramlich is a senior writer/editor at Pew Research Center.

Kristen Bialik is a former research assistant at Pew Research Center.

Fast facts on Americans’ views about social media as Facebook faces legal challenge

BY MONICA ANDERSON

Kyodo via AP Images

Monica Anderson is an associate director of research at Pew Research Center.

The Federal Trade Commission and nearly every state sued Facebook on Wednesday, alleging that the firm’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp resulted in unfair business practices and calling for these companies to be broken up. The action comes seven weeks after the FTC and a smaller group of states sued Google on antitrust grounds and months after Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg – along with the heads of Apple, Amazon and Google – appeared before Congress about their firms’ role in the marketplace. The new legal challenges could have a defining impact on major technology companies as a whole, with lawmakers on both sides advocating for stronger oversight of the industry.

Here are some key findings about Americans’ attitudes toward the tech industry – and social media in particular – based on Pew Research Center surveys.

Americans favor more, not less, regulation of major technology companies, according to a Center survey conducted in June. Some 47% of U.S. adults think the government should be regulating major technology companies more than it is now, while just 11% think these companies should be regulated less. About four-in-ten (39%) believe government regulation should stay at its current level.

Americans’ knowledge of the business side of social media companies is relatively low, with many being unable to correctly identify which digital platforms are under the Facebook umbrella. Just 29% of Americans correctly named WhatsApp and Instagram as two companies owned by Facebook in a June 2019 survey that quizzed Americans about their digital knowledge. (In fall 2019, Facebook rebranded these products to help clarify it was the owner.)

Facebook remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults in the U.S. In an early 2019 survey, roughly seven-in-ten adults (69%) said they ever used the platform. YouTube is the only other site that matches Facebook’s reach: 73% of adults report ever using the video sharing site. But certain online platforms, most notably Facebook-owned Instagram, have an especially strong following among adults under the age of 30. Instagram is one of the few sites measured in the survey that has seen steady growth over the past several years. As of the 2019 survey, Facebook’s WhatsApp was also used by 20% of American adults.

Overall, 72% of U.S. adults say social media companies have too much power and influence in politics today, according to a June 2020 survey. Majorities of both Republicans and Democrats – including independents who lean to either party – believe social media companies wield too much power and influence, but Republicans are more likely than Democrats to express this view (82% vs. 63%).

About two-thirds of Americans (64%) say social media have a mostly negative effect on the way things are going in the country today, according to a survey fielded this July. Just one-in-ten Americans say social media sites have a mostly positive effect on the way things are going, and one-quarter say these platforms have a neither positive nor negative effect.

Man freed after nation's longest prison time 

for nonviolent cannabis crimes


Richard DeLisi, shown here in 1989 and in 2020, was released from prison Tuesday after serving 31 years for nonviolent marijuana-related offenses. File Photo courtesy of Last Prisoner Project

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A Florida man who spent 31 years in prison -- the nation's longest prison time served for nonviolent cannabis crimes -- has been released from prison.

Richard DeLisi, now age 71, was released from South Bay Correctional Facility in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Tuesday, 18 months ahead of his scheduled release date, The Lakeland Ledger, part of the USA Today Network reported.

He had been sentenced in 1989 to 90 years in prison for nonviolent cannabis crimes.

"It actually feels like 10 times better than wonderful," DeLisi told The Ledger. "It was so unjust what they did to me. I just hope that I can help other people that are in the same situation."

RELATED Study: Cancers in U.S. teens, young adults up 30% since 1970s

Late last month, a Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman told CNN he could be released as early as Dec. 4, though his release depended on several factors.

DeLisi was sentenced in 1989 on charges of racketeering, trafficking in cannabis and conspiracy after helping smuggle more than 100 pounds of marijuana from Columbia to Florida. Judge Dennis Maloney sentenced both him, and his older brother, Ted DeLisi, in a Polk County courtroom, to three consecutive 30-year sentences on similar charges.

The prison terms were longer than recommendations in judicial guidelines.

RELATED Study: Two-thirds of young e-cig users quit or cut back early in pandemic

Ted DeLisi successfully appealed his conviction, prompting his release from prison in 2013, but Richard DeLisi's appeal was unsuccessful.

The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit that advocates for ending prison sentences for cannabis offense, along with pro-bono attorneys, had advocated for clemency for DeLisi. Advocates also argued that he had multiple health issues and risked dying if he contracted COVID-19 in prison.

Still, the Florida Department of Corrections said the shortening of his prison sentence was unrelated to advocates' push for his release.

Instead, the department said that it resulted from a periodic review of inmate records and recent review of DeLisi's records that found that he had not been awarded 390 days of provisional release credits, DOC Press Secretary Kayla McLaughlin said in an email to The Ledger.

The review's findings adjusted his release date to May 13, 2021, according to McLaughlin.

DeLisi had forfeited 120 days of gain time for infractions, and he was able to restore that time since he was within 120 days of release, moving his release date to Tuesday, McLaughlin said.

Israel, Morocco agree to normalize relations in Trump administration deal


A man holds Palestinian and Moroccan flags during a protest on September 18 opposing the normalization of relations with Israel and showing Palestinian support, in front of Parliament in Rabat, Morocco. File Photo by Jalal Morchidi/EPA-EFE

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Israel and Morocco have agreed to normalize relations, the Trump administration announced on Thursday.

With the deal, Morocco is the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel since the summer, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

"As part of this deal, Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel. They will grant overflights and direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis," White House adviser Jared Kushner told reporters in a press call Thursday.

"They'll reopen the liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv immediately, with the intention to open the embassies in the near future. They'll be promoting economic cooperation between Israeli and Moroccan companies."

President Donald Trump called it a "historic breakthrough."

"Our great friends Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco have agreed to full diplomatic relations -- a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East," he tweeted.

THE REAL STORY

US IMPERIALISM APPROVES OF MOROCCO'S COLONIALIST EXPANSION INTO THE WESTERN SAHARA 

Additionally, Trump signed a proclamation declaring Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed territory in northwestern Africa.

The Moroccan government has mostly controlled the area, but a small portion has been managed by the partially recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, a self-proclaimed sovereign state established by the Polisario Front in the 1970s.

"The United States believes an independent Sahrawi State is not a realistic option for resolving the conflict and that genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only solution," the proclamation states. "We urge the parties to engage in discussions without delay, using Morocco's autonomy plan as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution.

"To facilitate progress toward this aim, the United States will encourage economic and social development with Morocco, including in the Western Sahara territory, and to that end will open a consulate in the Western Sahara territory, in Dakhla, to promote economic and business opportunities for the region."

Morocco is said to be the first country to recognize the United States after it declared independence 244 years ago.

"Morocco recognized the United States in 1777," Trump added in a tweet. "It is thus fitting we recognize their sovereignty over the Western Sahara."

Morocco and the United States recently renewed a defense cooperation road map through 2030.

upi.com/7060326

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/12/trump-recognized-moroccos-illegal.html

Western Sahara - Newikis

https://newikis.com/en/Western_Sahara

This article is about the geographical area. For the partially recognized state that controls the Free Zone and claims sovereignty over ... partially controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and partially occupied by neighboring Morocco. Its surface area amounts to 266,000 square kilometres (103,000 sq mi). It is one of the most sparsely populated territor

https://wiki2.org/en/Western_Sahara

This article is about the geographical area. For the partially recognized state that controls the Free ... French: Sahara Occidental) is a disputed territory in the Maghreb region of North Africa, partially controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and partially Moroccan-occupied, bordered by Morocco proper to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east ...

Western Sahara - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core

https://infogalactic.com/info/Western_Sahara

For the partially recognized state that controls the Free Zone and claims sovereignty over Western Sahara, ... The exiled government of the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a form of single-party parliamentary and presidential system, but according to its constitution, this will be changed into a multi-party system at the achievement of independence. It is presently ...

Morocco - TheInfoList

www.theinfolist.com/php/SummaryGet.php?FindGo=Morocco

Morocco was the only African state not to be a member of the African Union due to its unilateral withdrawal on 12 November 1984 over the admission of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1982 by the African Union (then called Organisation of African Unity) as a full member without the organisation of a referendum of self-determination in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Morocco ...

Western Sahara | Familypedia | Fandom

https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Western_Sahara

Western Sahara (/ʔ səˈhɑːrə,_ʔˈhærə/; Arabic: الصحراء الغربية aṣ-Ṣaḥrā’ al-Gharbīyah; Berber: Taneẓroft Tutrimt; Spanish and French: Sahara Occidental) is a disputed territory in the Maghreb region of North Africa, partially controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and partially Moroccan

1.4 million American workers apply for unemployment benefits, as relief bill negotiations drag on

Initial claims for unemployment benefits hit 1.4 million last week, according to the Labor Department. That's the highest level since mid-September.

The dynamic points to rising layoffs, according to economists, while Congress continues talks on a Covid relief bill.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are surging, job growth is slowing and there are millions more unemployed workers than available jobs.

© Provided by CNBC A person wearing a protective mask walks past a store for lease in San Francisco, Calif., on Dec. 8, 2020.

Greg Iacurci CNBC Dec. 10, 2020.

Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week at the highest level in three months, signaling deepening job loss as a raging coronavirus pandemic continues its assault on the economy and Congress continues work on another relief package.

Nearly 1.4 million workers filed an initial claim for benefits last week, according to Labor Department figures issued Thursday. Workers file an initial claim to establish or re-establish eligibility for aid.

About 950,000 applied for traditional state unemployment insurance. Another 428,000 sought Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a temporary federal program for self-employed, gig and other workers typically unable to collect state assistance.

Worsening outlook

Together, initial claims are at their highest point since mid-September.

"[The] rebound signals things aren't just stagnating, they're worsening," Daniel Zhao, an economist at Glassdoor, a job and recruiting site, said.

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Nine months into the crisis, the volume of initial claims eclipses any pre-pandemic record.

When stripping out data for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which was created in March by the CARES Act relief law, claims for state benefits are still higher than all but the worst week of the Great Recession.
'Resurgent virus'

"Layoffs appear to be rising, consistent with the resurgent virus," Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former Labor Department chief economist, wrote Thursday in an analysis.

The U.S. recorded 3,124 new Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday, the deadliest single-day tally of the pandemic so far, according to a CNBC analysis of Johns Hopkins University data

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Meanwhile, Congress is trying to hammer out details on another relief package. A deal has remained elusive for months.

Lawmakers are rushing to avoid a benefits cliff that looms at year's end, at which time jobless benefits will expire for millions of workers and federal eviction protections lapse.

Job growth last month slowed to its lowest level since May. There are about 4.2 million more unemployed workers than job openings, according to an analysis of federal data issued Wednesday.

© Provided by CNBC

Unemployment benefits generally replace half of a worker's lost wages. However, some workers get much less of a wage replacement due to weekly caps on aid amounts, which vary widely among states. Six states — Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee — cap their unemployment benefits at a level below the country's $7.25 hourly minimum wage.

Roughly 19 million Americans were collecting unemployment benefits at the end of November.
Multiple layoffs

Evidence suggests most new applications for unemployment benefits are coming from workers who have been laid off multiple times during the Covid pandemic.

Such claims accounted for 80% of all initial claims in California during the last week in October, according to a recent analysis published by the California Policy Lab. The U.S. Labor Department doesn't report such figures for the whole country.

We're the only game in town, we're getting very close: Sen. Joe Manchin on stimulus bill

"It's hard to know if these folks are applying for a second (or even third) time, but it's very likely," Eliza Forsythe, an assistant professor and labor economist at the University of Illinois, said of nationwide claims data.

Workers who re-enter the unemployment system essentially pick up where they left off, meaning they have fewer weeks of assistance available.

Repeat claims make it difficult to determine who may soon exhaust benefits, Forsythe said.

While the high level of unemployment claims is concerning, the extent to which Thanksgiving influenced last week's spike is unclear, she said. Workers who would have otherwise filed during the holiday week may have been pushed to the following week.

"I'd like to see another week of data before feeling comfortable saying that claims are rising," she said.

TWEEDLE DEE & TWEEDLE DUM

Stimulus update: McConnell signals no Republican support for COVID-19 deal from bipartisan group

It comes as President Donald Trump's top negotiator took the opposite view. "I think we're making a lot of progress," Steven Mnuchin said Thursday.

By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Thursday, December 10, 2020 

Stimulus talks continue as millions of Americans struggle

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is hitting the brakes on the emerging COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of lawmakers, saying Republican senators won't support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.

McConnell's staff conveyed to top negotiators that the GOP leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers' existing proposal - a slimmed-down version of the liability shield for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits - in exchange for $160 billion in state and local funds that Democrats want.

A senior Democrat confirmed that McConnell's position was conveyed to negotiators and was granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. McConnell's office did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

The hardened stance from McConnell, who does not appear to have the votes from Republicans for a far-reaching compromise, creates a new stalemate over the $900-billion-plus package, despite days of toiling by a bipartisan group of lawmakers toward a deal.

SEE ALSO: New White House offer adds $600 checks to COVID-19 relief

The Trump administration has dived back into Capitol Hill's confusing COVID-19 negotiations, offering a $916 billion package to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that adds a $600 direct payment to most Americans.

It comes as President Donald Trump's top negotiator on COVID-19 financial aid took the opposite view. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reported headway Thursday on the package from the bipartisan senators' group.

"I think we're making a lot of progress," Mnuchin said.

Deadlines, real and perceived, haven't been sufficient to drive Washington's factions to an agreement, despite the U.S. breaking a record-high 3,000 daily COVID fatalities, and hospitals straining at capacity from soaring caseloads nationwide.

A one-week stop-gap measure to prevent a federal shutdown appears to have sapped some urgency from the talks. The short-term government-wide funding bill, approved by the House on Wednesday, needs to clear the Senate before Friday at midnight to avert a partial closure.

The next deadline would be Dec. 18, but both House and Senate leaders say they won't adjourn without passing an aid measure.

But many Republicans have long viewed the state and local aid as a bailout they would have trouble supporting, despite the pleas for funds coming from governors and mayors nationwide.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is sending lawmakers home while talks continue, said Congress would keep working up to or even after Christmas to get an agreement. The new Congress is being sworn in on Jan. 3.

"Now if we need more time then we take more time, but we have to have a bill and we cannot go home without it," Pelosi said. She also gave an upbeat assessment on the talks.

North Carolina Triangle small businesses are contending with increased COVID-19 cases -- causing concerns that customers may stay away or stricter regulations will be implemented right in the heart of the holiday shopping season.

McConnell has proposed a five-year liability shield from virus lawsuits, retroactive to December 2019, but the bipartisan group was eyeing a scaled-back shield of six months to a year. Labor and civil rights groups oppose any shield, which they say strips essential workers of potential legal recourse as they take risks during the pandemic.

Republicans say the right people to handle final negotiations are the four leaders of Congress and the Trump administration, with the focus on a proposal by McConnell, R-Ky., to eliminate a Democratic demand for $160 billion or so in assistance for state and local governments.

The Trump administration is back in the middle of the negotiations with a $916 billion plan. It would send a $600 direct payment to most Americans but eliminate a $300-per-week employment benefit favored by the bipartisan group of Senate negotiators.

The offer has the endorsement of the top House Republican and apparent backing from McConnell, who had previously favored a $519 billion GOP plan that has already failed twice. But Democrats immediately blasted the plan over the administration's refusal to back the partial restoration, to $300 per week, of bonus pandemic jobless benefits that lapsed in August.

President-elect Joe Biden is pressing for as much pandemic relief as possible, though he's not directly involved in the talks. McConnell, like Pelosi, says Congress will not adjourn without providing the long-overdue COVID-19 relief. The pressure to deliver is intense; all sides say failure isn't an option.

The bipartisan negotiating group - led by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, among others - is seeking to rally lawmakers behind the $908 billion framework that includes the $300-per-week pandemic jobless benefit and $160 billion for states and local governments.

It also includes a four-month extension of jobless benefits set to expire at the end of the month, $300 billion for "paycheck protection" subsidies for struggling businesses, funding for vaccines and testing, and a host of smaller items such as aid to transit systems, the U.S. Postal Service and health care providers.