Most widespread cold this century, Canada
(THIS CENTURY IS ONLY 21 YEARS OLD)
The Weather NetworkDuration: 01:13
Tuesday, February 09, 2021
Wood Buffalo council defies AHS, will stop sending EMS calls to provincial dispatchers
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council is defying Alberta Health Services and is no longer transferring local calls for EMS services to the province’s dispatch centre.
On Jan. 19, the dispatch system run by Alberta Health Services (AHS) replaced local EMS dispatchers for the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo region, as well as Calgary, Red Deer and Lethbridge. The provincial system is based out of call centres in Calgary, Edmonton and Peace River.
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott, who has opposed AHS’ centralization plan since it was announced in August, proposed the motion after fire chief Jody Butz argued the new system is flawed.
“We simply need to take a new approach and that is simply to refuse, and that’s exactly what this does,” said Scott. “This region has been getting the shaft over and over, and now they’re putting people’s health at risk.”
Butz told council that local emergency workers have seen an “obvious degredation of service” in more than 50 incidents, or one-in-four calls.
The LocalHERO medevac service, for instance, has been delayed for remote calls. In two cases, the Anzac Fire Department was not sent to local accidents. In one incident, the accident happened across the street from the homes of several firefighters. In both cases, an ambulance from Fort McMurray took between 30 and 40 minutes to arrive.
Councillor Mike Allen said he would support the motion “right to the bitter end.” Councillor Phil Meagher said it was “undoubtedly” the most important motion he’s supported and called the situation “silly.”
“Obviously they’re not using any part of their brain for this because it just makes common sense,” he said. “If the provincial government wants to write me off of city council they can, but we are certainly in defiance of this and rightfully so.”
Since the province announced that consolidation would be happening last August, Butz, Scott, all municipal councillors, the union representing local firefighters, and First Nation and Métis leaders have protested the provincial system. Council has also offered to pay for a local service.
CAO Jamie Doyle gave his support. He admitted the municipality has an obligation to transfer calls coming in, but said he also has a priority for residents’ health and safety.
“We’ve exhausted, up until now, every reasonable option we had to help show some data and further a conversation that puts the health and safety of our residents at the forefront and it’s gone unheeded,” he said.
Councillor Verna Murphy was concerned about potential lawsuits or legal consequences. Municipal lawyer Chris Davis said this is being researched. The 911 agreement with Telus does not involve AHS, he said. But the dispatch agreement that ended in January has transition requirements, including that the municipality cooperate with AHS.
“If this is the one issue where we need to stand our ground on, no matter the cost, then I’m prepared to do it,” argued Scott.
“It’s time to take a strong stand. We represent the citizens of this region, we have an obligation to protect their health, and let’s do it. Let’s support this motion and tell the province they need to do the same.”
Yao supports councils decision
Tany Yao, UCP MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, is supportive of council’s decision, but is worried about legal repercussions. He also fears this decision could impact funding agreements or requests.
“I admire my municipal colleagues and my former coworkers on this decision,” said Yao, who is a former firefighter and paramedic. “They didn’t receive satisfactory answers from Alberta Health Services and I need to support them.”
Yao also said he was frustrated after hearing about the incidents in Anzac.
“We expect these groups to be transparent and accountable as to what happened, and I never received any answer that gave me confidence,” he said. “It sounds like what I deemed to be a significant error and it happened twice to people outdoors in this weather.”
© Provided by Calgary Herald Mayor Don Scott sits with Regional Fire Chief Jody Butz
during a press conference at the Jubilee Centre in Fort McMurray, Alta. On May 3, 2018.
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council is defying Alberta Health Services and is no longer transferring local calls for EMS services to the province’s dispatch centre.
On Jan. 19, the dispatch system run by Alberta Health Services (AHS) replaced local EMS dispatchers for the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo region, as well as Calgary, Red Deer and Lethbridge. The provincial system is based out of call centres in Calgary, Edmonton and Peace River.
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott, who has opposed AHS’ centralization plan since it was announced in August, proposed the motion after fire chief Jody Butz argued the new system is flawed.
“We simply need to take a new approach and that is simply to refuse, and that’s exactly what this does,” said Scott. “This region has been getting the shaft over and over, and now they’re putting people’s health at risk.”
Butz told council that local emergency workers have seen an “obvious degredation of service” in more than 50 incidents, or one-in-four calls.
The LocalHERO medevac service, for instance, has been delayed for remote calls. In two cases, the Anzac Fire Department was not sent to local accidents. In one incident, the accident happened across the street from the homes of several firefighters. In both cases, an ambulance from Fort McMurray took between 30 and 40 minutes to arrive.
Councillor Mike Allen said he would support the motion “right to the bitter end.” Councillor Phil Meagher said it was “undoubtedly” the most important motion he’s supported and called the situation “silly.”
“Obviously they’re not using any part of their brain for this because it just makes common sense,” he said. “If the provincial government wants to write me off of city council they can, but we are certainly in defiance of this and rightfully so.”
Since the province announced that consolidation would be happening last August, Butz, Scott, all municipal councillors, the union representing local firefighters, and First Nation and Métis leaders have protested the provincial system. Council has also offered to pay for a local service.
CAO Jamie Doyle gave his support. He admitted the municipality has an obligation to transfer calls coming in, but said he also has a priority for residents’ health and safety.
“We’ve exhausted, up until now, every reasonable option we had to help show some data and further a conversation that puts the health and safety of our residents at the forefront and it’s gone unheeded,” he said.
Councillor Verna Murphy was concerned about potential lawsuits or legal consequences. Municipal lawyer Chris Davis said this is being researched. The 911 agreement with Telus does not involve AHS, he said. But the dispatch agreement that ended in January has transition requirements, including that the municipality cooperate with AHS.
“If this is the one issue where we need to stand our ground on, no matter the cost, then I’m prepared to do it,” argued Scott.
“It’s time to take a strong stand. We represent the citizens of this region, we have an obligation to protect their health, and let’s do it. Let’s support this motion and tell the province they need to do the same.”
Yao supports councils decision
Tany Yao, UCP MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, is supportive of council’s decision, but is worried about legal repercussions. He also fears this decision could impact funding agreements or requests.
“I admire my municipal colleagues and my former coworkers on this decision,” said Yao, who is a former firefighter and paramedic. “They didn’t receive satisfactory answers from Alberta Health Services and I need to support them.”
Yao also said he was frustrated after hearing about the incidents in Anzac.
“We expect these groups to be transparent and accountable as to what happened, and I never received any answer that gave me confidence,” he said. “It sounds like what I deemed to be a significant error and it happened twice to people outdoors in this weather.”
© Vincent McDermott/Postmedia Network Tany Yao, the MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo.
Laila Goodridge, UCP MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, and a spokesperson for Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro could not be reached for comment. In a Tuesday evening email, AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said AHS was aware of the motion’s outcome, but had not been given any formal notice from the municipality.
“AHS will do all it can to ensure patients are not put at risk,” he wrote in a brief email.
Darren Sandbeck, chief paramedic and senior provincial director of AHS EMS, said during a media conference last week that dispatch centralization has not caused any delays or negative outcomes. He said 911 calls are handled the same way they were before consolidation and no response plans have changed.
Sandbeck said the snowmobile accident was transferred from Wood Buffalo RCMP, who described it as an “unknown problem.” He said local firefighters would not have been called to that incident.
As for the incident with the tree, Sandbeck said it happened in a “remote, rural location.” He also insisted the cases would have been handled the same way under the old system.
-with reporting from Vincent McDermott
lbeamish@postmedia.com
Laila Goodridge, UCP MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, and a spokesperson for Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro could not be reached for comment. In a Tuesday evening email, AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said AHS was aware of the motion’s outcome, but had not been given any formal notice from the municipality.
“AHS will do all it can to ensure patients are not put at risk,” he wrote in a brief email.
Darren Sandbeck, chief paramedic and senior provincial director of AHS EMS, said during a media conference last week that dispatch centralization has not caused any delays or negative outcomes. He said 911 calls are handled the same way they were before consolidation and no response plans have changed.
Sandbeck said the snowmobile accident was transferred from Wood Buffalo RCMP, who described it as an “unknown problem.” He said local firefighters would not have been called to that incident.
As for the incident with the tree, Sandbeck said it happened in a “remote, rural location.” He also insisted the cases would have been handled the same way under the old system.
-with reporting from Vincent McDermott
lbeamish@postmedia.com
WHAT, ONLY TWO
Two of Premier Kenney's caucus members join coalition fighting COVID-19 restrictions
EDMONTON — Two members of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s caucus are challenging the province's COVID-19 economic restrictions and have joined a national coalition pushing against lockdowns.
Two of Premier Kenney's caucus members join coalition fighting COVID-19 restrictions
EDMONTON — Two members of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s caucus are challenging the province's COVID-19 economic restrictions and have joined a national coalition pushing against lockdowns.
© Provided by The Canadian Press
Drew Barnes, the United Conservative legislature member for Cypress-Medicine Hat, and Angela Pitt, the deputy speaker of the house and chair of committees, say Albertans have not been given adequate evidence to justify the rules and real hardship and harm is resulting.
“Down here in Medicine Hat our mental health crisis is as big as our COVID crisis,” said Barnes in an interview Tuesday.
“Let’s give people more freedoms.”
He said the province should take a more regional approach to restrictions, as was done for a while last year.
There are few infections in his region, he said, and he’d like to see businesses allowed to open up more, with additional testing and with health restrictions to keep COVID-19 in check.
Barnes added he doesn't worry about challenging government policy in the UCP caucus.
“I’m not worried about disciplinary action,” he said. “As a government backbencher, I’m not a part of cabinet. I’m not part of the decision making. It’s my job to speak up with what my constituents want.”
Pitt, the member for Airdrie, said she has been trying for months to get information out of the government to determine what evidence and rationale there is for the restrictions.
She said she and her constituents don’t, for example, understand why restaurants were allowed to reopen this week to in-person dining while gym and fitness centres can't have group workouts.
“There’s a lot of confusion around some of the restrictions that have been put in place because of the lack of information sharing,” said Pitt in an interview.
“My constituents are having a hard time buying in, as are many Albertans across the province. And you see that in the ways of civil disobedience.
“Albertans aren’t buying into this because the case has not been made.”
Pitt and Barnes have signed on to the End the Lockdowns national caucus, part of a group called Liberty Coalition Canada.
The group includes past and present federal, provincial and municipal politicians, including Paul Hinman, the interim leader of the Wildrose Independence party, a right-wing rival to Kenney’s United Conservatives.
“After careful examination and scrutiny of mitigation measures undertaken by all levels of government, it is now evident that the lockdowns cause more harm than the virus and must be brought to an end,” writes the caucus on the Liberty website.
Jerrica Goodwin, Kenney’s spokeswoman, responded in an email statement.
“MLAs are elected to represent their constituents, and are able to do so,” she said.
“Alberta's restrictions are based on expert medical advice.
“What's more, Alberta has resisted the total lockdowns of some other jurisdictions. For example, while some other provinces fully shut down non-essential retail, Alberta did not. And just yesterday, restaurants and bars were allowed to reopen, with specific requirements, as part of our phased, evidence-based plan.”
Kenney’s government has been getting squeezed from both sides of the lockdown debate as it works to keep the economy afloat and the pandemic in check.
Alberta's current economic restrictions have been in place since mid-December when surging COVID-19 case numbers put daily infections at 1,800 and those in hospital with the virus at 800.
The numbers have been dropping ever since. Daily case counts are well under 300. On Tuesday, there were 427 people in hospital with COVID-19.
The rules initially limited restaurants to take out only.
Retailers and faith-based services remain capped at 15 per cent capacity, and entertainment venues like museums and movie theatres are closed. Indoor gatherings are banned and outdoor get-togethers are capped at 10 people.
The government began reopening the economy this week after some restaurants opened illegally to in-person dining, arguing if they didn’t violate the rules they would have to close for good.
Also, GraceLife church, just west of Edmonton, had been hosting 300 congregants at Sunday services, calling the pandemic a deliberately overblown attempt to restrict personal liberties. The church's pastor was charged by RCMP on Monday with violating the Public Health Act.
Drew Barnes, the United Conservative legislature member for Cypress-Medicine Hat, and Angela Pitt, the deputy speaker of the house and chair of committees, say Albertans have not been given adequate evidence to justify the rules and real hardship and harm is resulting.
“Down here in Medicine Hat our mental health crisis is as big as our COVID crisis,” said Barnes in an interview Tuesday.
“Let’s give people more freedoms.”
He said the province should take a more regional approach to restrictions, as was done for a while last year.
There are few infections in his region, he said, and he’d like to see businesses allowed to open up more, with additional testing and with health restrictions to keep COVID-19 in check.
Barnes added he doesn't worry about challenging government policy in the UCP caucus.
“I’m not worried about disciplinary action,” he said. “As a government backbencher, I’m not a part of cabinet. I’m not part of the decision making. It’s my job to speak up with what my constituents want.”
Pitt, the member for Airdrie, said she has been trying for months to get information out of the government to determine what evidence and rationale there is for the restrictions.
She said she and her constituents don’t, for example, understand why restaurants were allowed to reopen this week to in-person dining while gym and fitness centres can't have group workouts.
“There’s a lot of confusion around some of the restrictions that have been put in place because of the lack of information sharing,” said Pitt in an interview.
“My constituents are having a hard time buying in, as are many Albertans across the province. And you see that in the ways of civil disobedience.
“Albertans aren’t buying into this because the case has not been made.”
Pitt and Barnes have signed on to the End the Lockdowns national caucus, part of a group called Liberty Coalition Canada.
The group includes past and present federal, provincial and municipal politicians, including Paul Hinman, the interim leader of the Wildrose Independence party, a right-wing rival to Kenney’s United Conservatives.
“After careful examination and scrutiny of mitigation measures undertaken by all levels of government, it is now evident that the lockdowns cause more harm than the virus and must be brought to an end,” writes the caucus on the Liberty website.
Jerrica Goodwin, Kenney’s spokeswoman, responded in an email statement.
“MLAs are elected to represent their constituents, and are able to do so,” she said.
“Alberta's restrictions are based on expert medical advice.
“What's more, Alberta has resisted the total lockdowns of some other jurisdictions. For example, while some other provinces fully shut down non-essential retail, Alberta did not. And just yesterday, restaurants and bars were allowed to reopen, with specific requirements, as part of our phased, evidence-based plan.”
Kenney’s government has been getting squeezed from both sides of the lockdown debate as it works to keep the economy afloat and the pandemic in check.
Alberta's current economic restrictions have been in place since mid-December when surging COVID-19 case numbers put daily infections at 1,800 and those in hospital with the virus at 800.
The numbers have been dropping ever since. Daily case counts are well under 300. On Tuesday, there were 427 people in hospital with COVID-19.
The rules initially limited restaurants to take out only.
Retailers and faith-based services remain capped at 15 per cent capacity, and entertainment venues like museums and movie theatres are closed. Indoor gatherings are banned and outdoor get-togethers are capped at 10 people.
The government began reopening the economy this week after some restaurants opened illegally to in-person dining, arguing if they didn’t violate the rules they would have to close for good.
Also, GraceLife church, just west of Edmonton, had been hosting 300 congregants at Sunday services, calling the pandemic a deliberately overblown attempt to restrict personal liberties. The church's pastor was charged by RCMP on Monday with violating the Public Health Act.
KENNEY UCP WAGE THEFT
Bigger investment in wage top-up could have resulted in $400M GDP increase and 2,000 jobs, NDP says
© Alberta NDP
NDP Leader Rachel Notley presented the findings of the analysis in Calgary on Tuesday, and said its modelling used the same fiscal multipliers as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's 2009 economic action plan.
An economic analysis released by the Alberta NDP suggests a more substantive investment in the federal wage top-up program could have led to a GDP increase worth hundreds of millions and created nearly 2,000 jobs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last May that the provinces had agreed to collectively pitch in $1 billion to bolster $3 billion in federal funds that would boost the pay of essential workers.
While other provinces accessed all or half of the matching federal funds by September, Alberta was the sole exception, having accessed just $47 million of its $347-million allocation.
The NDP's recent analysis used a fiscal multiplier model that indicated an investment of $100.3 million in 2020 could have generated a sustained GDP increase of $401.3 million, and job growth of 1,706, by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Leader Rachel Notley presented the findings of the analysis in Calgary on Tuesday, and questioned why the UCP had not taken full advantage of the eligible funding for Alberta.
"Essential workers have been working on the front lines of this pandemic. They risk their health every single day," Notley said.
"The federal program is put in place to ensure that essential workers are properly compensated for the risk that they take to do their job … and for some reason, [Premier] Jason Kenney has been dragging his feet."
'300% return on our investment'
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews told a legislature committee in November that the province had received the $47 million in federal funding with no strings attached.
The remaining funds would have been cost-shared at a 3:1 ratio, and could be used to pay top-up wages to health-care workers, correctional officers, first responders and other essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This was good for workers, and it was a good deal for the provinces — for every one dollar they spent on topping up essential worker wages, the federal government paid another three dollars," Notley said Tuesday.
"From an economic perspective, in the most simplistic of terms, this is a 300 per cent rate of return on our investment."
In its analysis, the NDP stated that it used the same methodology as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's finance ministry when creating its 2009 economic action plan.
The $100.3-million investment in the federal top-up plan, the analysis said, would have directly increased Alberta wages and been used to stimulate the economy in the short- and medium-term.
Its stimulative effects would have included an increase in spending by households, or increased savings, that encourage a higher level of sustained economic output or investment, according to the analysis.
While Calgary economist Trevor Tombe told CBC News that he does not endorse fiscal multiplier methodology — expressing concern that it can sometimes be used to arrive at whatever effect one wants — he said the NDP used the model sensibly.
"A multiplier of 1.0 is not unreasonable to use within this class of economic impact analysis. So [the NDP's] numbers are sound," Tombe said.
"I have serious critiques with the method as a whole, but the NDP in this case appears to be using the tool the way that one should."
'Political game-playing'
The province's seeming reluctance to invest robustly in the program has also drawn the ire of unions across the province.
"Alberta is an outlier, a gross outlier, in regards to doing what's necessary to make sure that these low-paid, front-line workers get the so-called hero pay that they've been promised," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said in November.
Notley acknowledged Kenney has suggested the UCP would be providing an update about the wage top-up soon, but still reserved strong words for the party.
"This would have been money that we saw flowing into our economy almost immediately, and there would have been job creation," Notley said.
"I struggle to comprehend what the delay is, I'm left to wonder if maybe it really was about … political game-playing."
CBC News contacted the finance minister's office, seeking comment, but had not received a response prior to publication.
An economic analysis released by the Alberta NDP suggests a more substantive investment in the federal wage top-up program could have led to a GDP increase worth hundreds of millions and created nearly 2,000 jobs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last May that the provinces had agreed to collectively pitch in $1 billion to bolster $3 billion in federal funds that would boost the pay of essential workers.
While other provinces accessed all or half of the matching federal funds by September, Alberta was the sole exception, having accessed just $47 million of its $347-million allocation.
The NDP's recent analysis used a fiscal multiplier model that indicated an investment of $100.3 million in 2020 could have generated a sustained GDP increase of $401.3 million, and job growth of 1,706, by the fourth quarter of 2021.
Leader Rachel Notley presented the findings of the analysis in Calgary on Tuesday, and questioned why the UCP had not taken full advantage of the eligible funding for Alberta.
"Essential workers have been working on the front lines of this pandemic. They risk their health every single day," Notley said.
"The federal program is put in place to ensure that essential workers are properly compensated for the risk that they take to do their job … and for some reason, [Premier] Jason Kenney has been dragging his feet."
'300% return on our investment'
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews told a legislature committee in November that the province had received the $47 million in federal funding with no strings attached.
The remaining funds would have been cost-shared at a 3:1 ratio, and could be used to pay top-up wages to health-care workers, correctional officers, first responders and other essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This was good for workers, and it was a good deal for the provinces — for every one dollar they spent on topping up essential worker wages, the federal government paid another three dollars," Notley said Tuesday.
"From an economic perspective, in the most simplistic of terms, this is a 300 per cent rate of return on our investment."
In its analysis, the NDP stated that it used the same methodology as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's finance ministry when creating its 2009 economic action plan.
The $100.3-million investment in the federal top-up plan, the analysis said, would have directly increased Alberta wages and been used to stimulate the economy in the short- and medium-term.
Its stimulative effects would have included an increase in spending by households, or increased savings, that encourage a higher level of sustained economic output or investment, according to the analysis.
While Calgary economist Trevor Tombe told CBC News that he does not endorse fiscal multiplier methodology — expressing concern that it can sometimes be used to arrive at whatever effect one wants — he said the NDP used the model sensibly.
"A multiplier of 1.0 is not unreasonable to use within this class of economic impact analysis. So [the NDP's] numbers are sound," Tombe said.
"I have serious critiques with the method as a whole, but the NDP in this case appears to be using the tool the way that one should."
'Political game-playing'
The province's seeming reluctance to invest robustly in the program has also drawn the ire of unions across the province.
"Alberta is an outlier, a gross outlier, in regards to doing what's necessary to make sure that these low-paid, front-line workers get the so-called hero pay that they've been promised," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said in November.
Notley acknowledged Kenney has suggested the UCP would be providing an update about the wage top-up soon, but still reserved strong words for the party.
"This would have been money that we saw flowing into our economy almost immediately, and there would have been job creation," Notley said.
"I struggle to comprehend what the delay is, I'm left to wonder if maybe it really was about … political game-playing."
CBC News contacted the finance minister's office, seeking comment, but had not received a response prior to publication.
USA
Unemployment higher among poorer workers
Sarah Ewall-Wice
People who make less than $30,000 have lost their jobs at higher rates during the pandemic, and struggle to find new ones, a new analysis shows — even as higher earners have seen their job prospects recover.
© CBS News working-in-the-kitchen-1920.jpg
Employment for lower-wage workers remains 14% below pre-pandemic levels and is trending downward, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis, as President Joe Biden and others warn of a so-called "K shaped" recovery where a portion of the American workforce gets left behind even as others see a rebound. Employment for high-wage workers is now slightly above its level from when the pandemic first hit nearly a year ago.
January's job numbers reveal the ongoing economic struggle of the COVID-19 pandemic
"The American people are hurting," Biden said in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday with business leaders to discuss his "American Rescue" plan. "A lot of people are in real, real trouble." He argued they need to move quickly on both getting the virus under control and addressing the economy.
Employment for workers in the middle — those earning between $30,000 and $80,000 per year — was also slightly below pre-pandemic levels from a year ago.
Lawmakers working to pass another round of COVID-19 relief measures are discussing a proposal that would change the income limits for people eligible to receive stimulus checks. In past rounds, individuals who made less than $75,000 and couples who made less than $150,000 received the full amount, but some lawmakers are pushing to lower the bar..
Nearly a year into the pandemic, millions of people are unemployed and in-person activity remains severely limited to help stem the spread of the virus as officials slowly distribute vaccinations.
According to the new study, part of what is contributing to the employment gap between high and low wage workers is the ability of high-wage workers to work from home. The analysis found, on average, nearly 60% of workers in the high-wage group reported being able to telecommute during the pandemic, but less than 10% of lower-wage workers could work from home.
The study finds more low-wage workers voluntarily or involuntarily leaving jobs to stay home than high wage workers — who may not have had to risk going in to work during the pandemic. Part of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's latest findings examined cell phone data to identify workers who continued to commute to work during the pandemic versus those who were able to stay home. It showed a greater decline in commuting for higher income counties.
The cellphone location data also suggests workers in counties with more people of color transitioned to working from home later than in counties with smaller minority populations, where workers began to work from home before the shutdowns began.
Meanwhile, majority-minority counties also saw a return to work at higher levels than other counties, indicating they rely on jobs where they were less likely able to work from home.
This comes as COVID-19 in the United States has proven to have a disproportionate impact on Black and Hispanic workers, suggesting the inability to work from home rather than commute to work contributed to higher levels of COVID-19 vulnerability.
Participation in the workforce fell more dramatically for Black workers at the beginning of the pandemic, and the recovery for Black workers has continued more slowly. The analysis found while the Black-white unemployment gap has narrowed as of the end of the year, the rate of Black workers not participating in the workforce remains higher.
The income and racial gaps in the workforce and uneven recovery have been something Biden administration officials have warned about now for months.
Speaking last week with Black Chambers of Commerce, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned economic crises hit people of color "harder and longer" and push the country further toward inequality.
"I'm worried that the current crisis will do this again," said Yellen. "In fact, I know it will unless we act."
Unemployment higher among poorer workers
Sarah Ewall-Wice
People who make less than $30,000 have lost their jobs at higher rates during the pandemic, and struggle to find new ones, a new analysis shows — even as higher earners have seen their job prospects recover.
© CBS News working-in-the-kitchen-1920.jpg
Employment for lower-wage workers remains 14% below pre-pandemic levels and is trending downward, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis, as President Joe Biden and others warn of a so-called "K shaped" recovery where a portion of the American workforce gets left behind even as others see a rebound. Employment for high-wage workers is now slightly above its level from when the pandemic first hit nearly a year ago.
January's job numbers reveal the ongoing economic struggle of the COVID-19 pandemic
"The American people are hurting," Biden said in an Oval Office meeting Tuesday with business leaders to discuss his "American Rescue" plan. "A lot of people are in real, real trouble." He argued they need to move quickly on both getting the virus under control and addressing the economy.
Low-wage workers, the analysis found, are people who typically earn less than $30,000 a year and work in jobs such as food servers, cashiers, home health aides and childcare workers. High-wage workers include those who earn more than $85,000 a year in professions such as lawyers, software developers, engineers and other business executives.
Employment for workers in the middle — those earning between $30,000 and $80,000 per year — was also slightly below pre-pandemic levels from a year ago.
Lawmakers working to pass another round of COVID-19 relief measures are discussing a proposal that would change the income limits for people eligible to receive stimulus checks. In past rounds, individuals who made less than $75,000 and couples who made less than $150,000 received the full amount, but some lawmakers are pushing to lower the bar..
Nearly a year into the pandemic, millions of people are unemployed and in-person activity remains severely limited to help stem the spread of the virus as officials slowly distribute vaccinations.
According to the new study, part of what is contributing to the employment gap between high and low wage workers is the ability of high-wage workers to work from home. The analysis found, on average, nearly 60% of workers in the high-wage group reported being able to telecommute during the pandemic, but less than 10% of lower-wage workers could work from home.
The study finds more low-wage workers voluntarily or involuntarily leaving jobs to stay home than high wage workers — who may not have had to risk going in to work during the pandemic. Part of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's latest findings examined cell phone data to identify workers who continued to commute to work during the pandemic versus those who were able to stay home. It showed a greater decline in commuting for higher income counties.
The cellphone location data also suggests workers in counties with more people of color transitioned to working from home later than in counties with smaller minority populations, where workers began to work from home before the shutdowns began.
Meanwhile, majority-minority counties also saw a return to work at higher levels than other counties, indicating they rely on jobs where they were less likely able to work from home.
This comes as COVID-19 in the United States has proven to have a disproportionate impact on Black and Hispanic workers, suggesting the inability to work from home rather than commute to work contributed to higher levels of COVID-19 vulnerability.
Participation in the workforce fell more dramatically for Black workers at the beginning of the pandemic, and the recovery for Black workers has continued more slowly. The analysis found while the Black-white unemployment gap has narrowed as of the end of the year, the rate of Black workers not participating in the workforce remains higher.
The income and racial gaps in the workforce and uneven recovery have been something Biden administration officials have warned about now for months.
Speaking last week with Black Chambers of Commerce, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned economic crises hit people of color "harder and longer" and push the country further toward inequality.
"I'm worried that the current crisis will do this again," said Yellen. "In fact, I know it will unless we act."
Physicists Discover a Strange New Form of Magnetism Within 'Magnetic Graphene'
From childhood, we are taught that the world exists in three physical dimensions. That's true, for the most part, but it skips over something quite fascinating: the strange two-dimensional world of nanoscale materials, like the 'wonder material' graphene.
From childhood, we are taught that the world exists in three physical dimensions. That's true, for the most part, but it skips over something quite fascinating: the strange two-dimensional world of nanoscale materials, like the 'wonder material' graphene.
© LAGUNA DESIGN/Getty Images
Graphene and its engineered, single-layer counterparts do in fact exist in three dimensions, albeit just barely – sitting right on the fringe, atomically speaking. That's because these so-called 2D materials are only one atom thick, embodying an incredible structural thinness that lends them all sorts of weird powers.
We see this in graphene's formidable strength, and in the way it approaches superconductivity.
Things get even stranger when graphene makes friends: stack sheets of this two-dimensional material into a three-layer, three-atom-high sandwich, and a rare form of magnetism stands revealed.
Now, in a new study led by physicists from the University of Cambridge, scientists have pulled off the same kind of magnetic feat with a different two-dimensional material called iron phosphorus trisulfide (FePS3).
010 magnetic graphene 1
(University of Cambridge)
Above: Illustration of the magnetic structure of iron phosphorus trisulfide (FePS3), a two-dimensional material which undergoes a transition from an insulator to a metal when compressed.
FePS3 isn't the same thing as graphene – which is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms – but it's often dubbed 'magnetic graphene', due to its mysterious capabilities at ultra-thin, layered dimensions.
In a previous study by some of the same researchers, the team found that when squashed layers of FePS3 were subjected to high levels of pressure, the material transitioned from being an insulator, impeding the flow of electrons, to a metallic state where it became a conductor.
But researchers still didn't fully understand what underlies the magnetic behavior of this 'magnetic graphene' under pressure, as it was expected that FePS3 would cease to be magnetic when it enters the metallic state.
"The missing piece has remained however, the magnetism," says quantum physicist Matthew Coak.
"With no experimental techniques able to probe the signatures of magnetism in this material at pressures this high, our international team had to develop and test our own new techniques to make it possible."
According to the new research, FePS3 retains its magnetism under extremely high pressure due to a newly discovered kind of magnetism that still exists during the metallic phase.
"To our surprise, we found that the magnetism survives and is in some ways strengthened," explains senior researcher and physicist Siddharth Saxena, group leader at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory.
"This is unexpected, as the newly-freely-roaming electrons in a newly conducting material can no longer be locked to their parent iron atoms, generating magnetic moments there - unless the conduction is coming from an unexpected source."
While we don't yet have all the answers as to what's happening here, during compression the 'spin' of the electrons in the material seems to be a source of magnetism – and the phenomenon can be tuned depending on how much pressure FePS3 is subjected to.
While the results contradict previous observations of how this material should behave, the surprises found here suggest we might be able to tweak magnetic graphene and its ilk even further – potentially finding materials that support superconductivity due to these exotic forms of magnetism we don't yet fully comprehend.
"We don't know exactly what's happening at the quantum level, but at the same time, we can manipulate it," Saxena says.
"It's like those famous 'unknown unknowns': we've opened up a new door to properties of quantum information, but we don't yet know what those properties might be."
The findings are reported in Physical Review X.
Graphene and its engineered, single-layer counterparts do in fact exist in three dimensions, albeit just barely – sitting right on the fringe, atomically speaking. That's because these so-called 2D materials are only one atom thick, embodying an incredible structural thinness that lends them all sorts of weird powers.
We see this in graphene's formidable strength, and in the way it approaches superconductivity.
Things get even stranger when graphene makes friends: stack sheets of this two-dimensional material into a three-layer, three-atom-high sandwich, and a rare form of magnetism stands revealed.
Now, in a new study led by physicists from the University of Cambridge, scientists have pulled off the same kind of magnetic feat with a different two-dimensional material called iron phosphorus trisulfide (FePS3).
010 magnetic graphene 1
(University of Cambridge)
Above: Illustration of the magnetic structure of iron phosphorus trisulfide (FePS3), a two-dimensional material which undergoes a transition from an insulator to a metal when compressed.
FePS3 isn't the same thing as graphene – which is composed of a single layer of carbon atoms – but it's often dubbed 'magnetic graphene', due to its mysterious capabilities at ultra-thin, layered dimensions.
In a previous study by some of the same researchers, the team found that when squashed layers of FePS3 were subjected to high levels of pressure, the material transitioned from being an insulator, impeding the flow of electrons, to a metallic state where it became a conductor.
But researchers still didn't fully understand what underlies the magnetic behavior of this 'magnetic graphene' under pressure, as it was expected that FePS3 would cease to be magnetic when it enters the metallic state.
"The missing piece has remained however, the magnetism," says quantum physicist Matthew Coak.
"With no experimental techniques able to probe the signatures of magnetism in this material at pressures this high, our international team had to develop and test our own new techniques to make it possible."
According to the new research, FePS3 retains its magnetism under extremely high pressure due to a newly discovered kind of magnetism that still exists during the metallic phase.
"To our surprise, we found that the magnetism survives and is in some ways strengthened," explains senior researcher and physicist Siddharth Saxena, group leader at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory.
"This is unexpected, as the newly-freely-roaming electrons in a newly conducting material can no longer be locked to their parent iron atoms, generating magnetic moments there - unless the conduction is coming from an unexpected source."
While we don't yet have all the answers as to what's happening here, during compression the 'spin' of the electrons in the material seems to be a source of magnetism – and the phenomenon can be tuned depending on how much pressure FePS3 is subjected to.
While the results contradict previous observations of how this material should behave, the surprises found here suggest we might be able to tweak magnetic graphene and its ilk even further – potentially finding materials that support superconductivity due to these exotic forms of magnetism we don't yet fully comprehend.
"We don't know exactly what's happening at the quantum level, but at the same time, we can manipulate it," Saxena says.
"It's like those famous 'unknown unknowns': we've opened up a new door to properties of quantum information, but we don't yet know what those properties might be."
The findings are reported in Physical Review X.
Maradona's psychologist and two nurses under investigation over death
A psychologist and two nurses have been added to the investigation to determine if there was any malpractice in the death of soccer star Diego Maradona, a source with direct access to the legal file told CNN
A psychologist and two nurses have been added to the investigation to determine if there was any malpractice in the death of soccer star Diego Maradona, a source with direct access to the legal file told CNN
.
© Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images
Maradona died in November after suffering heart failure.
There have been no charges filed in the wrongful death investigation of the legendary Argentinian forward, who died in November after suffering heart failure.
The psychologist named in the file, Carlos Díaz, told CNN, "My job was for Diego to quit addictions and in the middle he died. I would have loved to continue working with him. I don't blame myself for anything."
Gisela Madrid, one of the nurses being investigated for potential malpractice by the Prosecutor's Office, also denied wrongdoing. Her lawyer Rodolfo Baqué maintained that his defendant "has no responsibility."
The other nurse under investigation was named as Ricardo Almirón, who did not respond to CNN en Español's requests for comment.
The three join neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who were already under investigation into the cause of Maradona's death. The investigation is being undertaken by the Attorney General's Office of San Isidro, the Buenos Aires suburb where Maradona lived.
Luque told the investigation that he does not believe "to have acted in a negligent or reckless manner, neither with lack of expertise nor with lack of observation" of his duties as a doctor.
Luque's lawyer, Julio Rivas, admitted the neurosurgeon had in his possession documents with forged Maradona signatures, although he did not explain why. The documents with the forged signatures allowed Luque to withdraw Maradona's medical records from the hospital where he underwent head surgery before he died, the same source with direct access to the file confirmed to CNN.
Cosachov also rejected the allegations of wrongful death. Her attorney Vadim Mischanchuk told CNN that "from a medical point of view she acted with her best judgment."
Cosachov was also notified that she is being investigated for possibly committing another crime, ideological falsehood. As a source who knows the case explained to CNN, Cosachov would have signed a document that assured that Maradona was in good health on October 20, a month before his death. The source said the psychiatrist did not show up to Maradona's home that day. The doctor's lawyer said that she "did not issue any false documents."
The prosecutor's office plans to order the holding of an interdisciplinary medical meeting in the next 15 days for experts to evaluate whether the death of the soccer star was the result of malpractice.
Maradona, who died at age 60, was regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He became a household name after inspiring his country to World Cup glory in 1986.
After his death, Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez announced three days of national mourning, and his body lay in honor for public viewing at Argentina's presidential palace, Casa Rosada.
There have been no charges filed in the wrongful death investigation of the legendary Argentinian forward, who died in November after suffering heart failure.
The psychologist named in the file, Carlos Díaz, told CNN, "My job was for Diego to quit addictions and in the middle he died. I would have loved to continue working with him. I don't blame myself for anything."
Gisela Madrid, one of the nurses being investigated for potential malpractice by the Prosecutor's Office, also denied wrongdoing. Her lawyer Rodolfo Baqué maintained that his defendant "has no responsibility."
The other nurse under investigation was named as Ricardo Almirón, who did not respond to CNN en Español's requests for comment.
The three join neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who were already under investigation into the cause of Maradona's death. The investigation is being undertaken by the Attorney General's Office of San Isidro, the Buenos Aires suburb where Maradona lived.
Luque told the investigation that he does not believe "to have acted in a negligent or reckless manner, neither with lack of expertise nor with lack of observation" of his duties as a doctor.
Luque's lawyer, Julio Rivas, admitted the neurosurgeon had in his possession documents with forged Maradona signatures, although he did not explain why. The documents with the forged signatures allowed Luque to withdraw Maradona's medical records from the hospital where he underwent head surgery before he died, the same source with direct access to the file confirmed to CNN.
Cosachov also rejected the allegations of wrongful death. Her attorney Vadim Mischanchuk told CNN that "from a medical point of view she acted with her best judgment."
Cosachov was also notified that she is being investigated for possibly committing another crime, ideological falsehood. As a source who knows the case explained to CNN, Cosachov would have signed a document that assured that Maradona was in good health on October 20, a month before his death. The source said the psychiatrist did not show up to Maradona's home that day. The doctor's lawyer said that she "did not issue any false documents."
The prosecutor's office plans to order the holding of an interdisciplinary medical meeting in the next 15 days for experts to evaluate whether the death of the soccer star was the result of malpractice.
Maradona, who died at age 60, was regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He became a household name after inspiring his country to World Cup glory in 1986.
After his death, Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez announced three days of national mourning, and his body lay in honor for public viewing at Argentina's presidential palace, Casa Rosada.
'Rude and insolent': fraught talks preceded Myanmar's army seizing power
By Poppy McPherson
By Poppy McPherson
© Reuters/STRINGER FILE PHOTO: Rally against military coup in Yangon
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Late on Jan. 28, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi destroyed her phone to prevent it falling into the hands of the military, according to two people close to her. Some of her friends and colleagues started to pack their bags, either preparing to flee or in expectation of being arrested.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Late on Jan. 28, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi destroyed her phone to prevent it falling into the hands of the military, according to two people close to her. Some of her friends and colleagues started to pack their bags, either preparing to flee or in expectation of being arrested.
© Reuters/SOE ZEYA TUN FILE PHOTO: Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's commander-in-chief, shakes hands with National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi before their meeting in Hlaing's office at Naypyitaw
Talks had been held that day in the capital Naypyitaw between representatives of Suu Kyi and army leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing over the legitimacy of Suu Kyi’s party’s sweeping victory in November’s general election. The meeting had ended badly, with no agreement.
Reuters spoke to nine people, including government advisers and others who worked closely with Suu Kyi, to reconstruct the events that led to her arrest and the toppling of her civilian government by the military on Feb. 1. The people spoke on condition of anonymity; the army has been jailing opponents of the coup. Most of the details have not previously been reported.
The coup ended a brief, decade-long experiment in democracy in the Southeast Asian nation of 53 million, shattering hopes that it would emerge from more than half a century of military rule that kept the country isolated and impoverished. It is the latest example of democracy in retreat in Asia, as Thailand’s military-backed monarchy resists calls for change and China is stamping out dissent in Hong Kong.
Talks had been held that day in the capital Naypyitaw between representatives of Suu Kyi and army leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing over the legitimacy of Suu Kyi’s party’s sweeping victory in November’s general election. The meeting had ended badly, with no agreement.
Reuters spoke to nine people, including government advisers and others who worked closely with Suu Kyi, to reconstruct the events that led to her arrest and the toppling of her civilian government by the military on Feb. 1. The people spoke on condition of anonymity; the army has been jailing opponents of the coup. Most of the details have not previously been reported.
The coup ended a brief, decade-long experiment in democracy in the Southeast Asian nation of 53 million, shattering hopes that it would emerge from more than half a century of military rule that kept the country isolated and impoverished. It is the latest example of democracy in retreat in Asia, as Thailand’s military-backed monarchy resists calls for change and China is stamping out dissent in Hong Kong.
© Reuters/SOE ZEYA TUN FILE PHOTO: Myanmar Commander in Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing salutes as he attends an event marking the anniversary of Martyrs' Day at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon
Jan. 28 was the low point of several days of fraught discussions between the two sides, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. The army’s two representatives twice demanded a response from Suu Kyi’s representatives to the army’s request to examine the results of the election, according to the people familiar with the talks.
Jan. 28 was the low point of several days of fraught discussions between the two sides, according to two people with knowledge of the talks. The army’s two representatives twice demanded a response from Suu Kyi’s representatives to the army’s request to examine the results of the election, according to the people familiar with the talks.
Reuters/STRINGER FILE PHOTO: Protest against the military coup in Myanmar
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, whose five years in power ended half a century of rule directly by the military or by governments backed by it, stood firm against the army’s demand, the people said.
During the talks, Min Aung Hlaing’s representatives rebuked the civilian government side, saying “you people are going too far, rude and insolent,” according to a person briefed on the matter. From the head of the army, it was a jarring admonishment in a formal setting.
Another two people briefed on the talks told Reuters that the army's representatives said the military was insulted.
After the meeting Kyaw Tint Swe, Suu Kyi’s right-hand man and one of her representatives in the talks, appeared shaken, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Kyaw Tint Swe could not be contacted for comment by Reuters.
“The civilian government couldn’t do anything,” said one of the people with knowledge of the failed talks. “They have no armed forces, they have no power.”
Neither Suu Kyi nor the army could be reached for comment. Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, now Myanmar’s de facto leader, could not be reached for comment.
As talks were breaking down, armoured vehicles were already moving around Yangon, the commercial capital, and other cities across Myanmar. Hundreds of army supporters rallied outside the country’s holiest Buddhist site, Shwedagon Pagoda in downtown Yangon, threatening reporters who tried to interview them.
In Naypyitaw, the grandiose and sparsely populated capital built by army generals, trucks filled with raucous pro-army demonstrators drove through empty city streets.
On Jan. 30, the army quieted concerns it was on the verge of carrying out a coup by saying it would protect the constitution and act according to the law. The 2008 constitution, drafted by the military, enshrines democratic elections but allows the army to take power in a state of emergency.
It was a hollow promise. At 3 a.m. the following Monday, Feb. 1, the army began sweeping up government ministers, lawmakers, writers, filmmakers, and activists. Later that morning, it announced a return to military rule.
Suu Kyi, one of the world’s most famous political prisoners during more than 15 years of house arrest, was once again imprisoned in her home. She was later charged with the obscure crime of illegally importing walkie-talkies.
Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has said the charges the army pressed against her are politically motivated and has called for her release. On Feb. 1, the NLD issued a statement on behalf of Suu Kyi, protesting against the coup.
“The actions of the military are actions to put the country back under a dictatorship,” said the statement, which carried Suu Kyi’s name but not her signature.
The following day, state media said Min Aung Hlaing told the first meeting of his new government that the army had to take power after its protests over alleged election fraud were ignored. Independent international poll watchers have said there were no major irregularities in the election.
FRAUGHT TALKS
A succession of military and military-backed governments ruled Myanmar from 1962 to 2015, when Suu Kyi’s NLD won the first free and fair elections. Nevertheless, the army-drafted constitution assigns significant powers to the military, including control over the security forces and key ministries.
The build-up to this month’s military coup started on Nov. 8, when Suu Kyi’s NLD won more than 80% of contested seats in the general election, trouncing the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Before, during and after the election, the military cast doubts over the vote and made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. In mid-January, Min Aung Hlaing called on the election commission to consider its complaint that as many as a third of the 30 million or so votes cast were potentially fraudulent.
The election commission said it is investigating some errors in voter lists but the outcome would not be enough to change the result of the election. It has not publicly released the final list of eligible voters as the military has demanded. The military has said it wants to check the list to verify voters’ eligibility. Representatives of the election commission could not be reached for comment.
Fears of a possible coup spiked on Jan. 26, when military spokesman Zaw Min Tun refused to rule it out. The following day, army chief Min Aung Hlaing said the constitution should be revoked if it was not observed.
Suu Kyi, 75, and Min Aung Hlaing, a 64-year-old career army officer who was set to take compulsory retirement in July, had a testy relationship and had not spoken directly for months, according to one person close to Suu Kyi.
Instead, representatives of each sat down in Naypyitaw for hurriedly arranged talks, six people said. There were also talks in Yangon, the former capital and Myanmar’s largest city, one of those people said.
In Naypyitaw, Suu Kyi was represented by Kyaw Tint Swe, her right-hand man and formerly a stout defender of the military, according to six people with knowledge of the talks. In Yangon, Suu Kyi’s representative was her long-time friend and personal doctor Tin Myo Win, according to one of the people. Tin Myo Win could not be reached for comment.
Senior army negotiator Lieutenant General Yar Pyae was one of the two military representatives in the Naypyitaw talks, two of the people said. Reuters could not determine the other. Yar Pyae could not be reached for comment.
The talks, and other exchanges between the two sides, extended over at least four days, to Jan. 31, the people familiar with the talks said.
The army representatives made at least three demands, according to three of the six people familiar with the talks: reschedule the Feb. 1 opening of parliament, disband the election commission, and re-examine the vote under military supervision. The army set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Jan. 29.
Reuters was not able to establish what, if any, terms were offered by Suu Kyi’s representatives to the military. An announcement in state media later on Jan. 29 said the opening of one of the two houses of parliament - scheduled for Feb. 1 - would be delayed by one day.
But even before the Jan. 29 afternoon deadline, it became clear that the talks were effectively over. The two sides’ representatives “could not establish good personal rapport,” said one of the people familiar with the talks. “We had a long period of misperception, mistrust, before everything started,” the person said, referring to the dispute over the election. The military and the NLD have been at loggerheads since the party was founded in the late 1980s.
Suu Kyi “seemed resolute” not to bend to the military, one person close to her told Reuters.
Another person close to Suu Kyi said the military was trying to create a narrative that there was civil unrest and popular support for the military, “hence justify a takeover, in some twisted logic.”
Win Htein, one of Suu Kyi’s close aides and a senior member of the NLD, told Reuters by phone on Jan. 29 that his bags were packed and he was waiting to be arrested because he feared a coup was imminent.
NO COMPROMISE
By Jan. 30, some of the tension eased after the army released its conciliatory statement vowing to protect the 2008 constitution. It accused the media of misinterpreting the comments made earlier in the week by Min Aung Hlaing.
Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by a clause the army put in the constitution stipulating that people with foreign relatives cannot serve. She has two British sons with her late British husband. As a result, she governed as state counselor, a position crafted for her that was equivalent to head of state. After her party won the election, she was due to appoint a president, as she did when her party won the last election in 2015.
Some people close to the government expected Suu Kyi to appoint Min Aung Hlaing or one of his allies as president, as a compromise to keep the army onside.
“I think people were, myself included, expecting to see a slightly depressing line-up of presidential candidates, thinking that might be the place that both sides could find some common ground,” another adviser to the civilian government said.
The Jan. 29 deadline set by the military came and went without any agreement. On Jan. 30, the military said it would honor the constitution, but the next day, fears of a military takeover were rising again.
Early on Jan. 31 there were sightings of troops moving through Naypyitaw. One of the people familiar with the talks told Reuters that on that day one of the government’s representatives in the talks told them negotiations had collapsed and warned of a coup.
The warning was accurate. Starting about 3 a.m., while most of Myanmar’s 53 million inhabitants slept, soldiers fanned out across the country to the homes of ministers, lawmakers, prominent activists and even Buddhist monks known for their opposition to the army. The targets were either arrested or forced to stay in their homes.
According to one person who worked with the former civilian government, soldiers turned up at telecommunications companies’ facilities to cut off access to the internet. By 3 a.m., the companies had lost about half of their connectivity to the internet, according to independent cybersecurity monitoring group NetBlocks. None of Myanmar’s four telecoms companies responded to requests for comment.
The military could not be reached for comment on the internet outage.
The time and date of the move, that person and two others suggested, may have been chosen on purpose by Myanmar’s numerology-obsessed generals. The digits of 3 a.m. on Feb. 1 – or 0300 on 2/1/21 – add up to nine. The number is traditionally considered auspicious in Myanmar.
(Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Bill Rigby)
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, whose five years in power ended half a century of rule directly by the military or by governments backed by it, stood firm against the army’s demand, the people said.
During the talks, Min Aung Hlaing’s representatives rebuked the civilian government side, saying “you people are going too far, rude and insolent,” according to a person briefed on the matter. From the head of the army, it was a jarring admonishment in a formal setting.
Another two people briefed on the talks told Reuters that the army's representatives said the military was insulted.
After the meeting Kyaw Tint Swe, Suu Kyi’s right-hand man and one of her representatives in the talks, appeared shaken, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Kyaw Tint Swe could not be contacted for comment by Reuters.
“The civilian government couldn’t do anything,” said one of the people with knowledge of the failed talks. “They have no armed forces, they have no power.”
Neither Suu Kyi nor the army could be reached for comment. Army chief Min Aung Hlaing, now Myanmar’s de facto leader, could not be reached for comment.
As talks were breaking down, armoured vehicles were already moving around Yangon, the commercial capital, and other cities across Myanmar. Hundreds of army supporters rallied outside the country’s holiest Buddhist site, Shwedagon Pagoda in downtown Yangon, threatening reporters who tried to interview them.
In Naypyitaw, the grandiose and sparsely populated capital built by army generals, trucks filled with raucous pro-army demonstrators drove through empty city streets.
On Jan. 30, the army quieted concerns it was on the verge of carrying out a coup by saying it would protect the constitution and act according to the law. The 2008 constitution, drafted by the military, enshrines democratic elections but allows the army to take power in a state of emergency.
It was a hollow promise. At 3 a.m. the following Monday, Feb. 1, the army began sweeping up government ministers, lawmakers, writers, filmmakers, and activists. Later that morning, it announced a return to military rule.
Suu Kyi, one of the world’s most famous political prisoners during more than 15 years of house arrest, was once again imprisoned in her home. She was later charged with the obscure crime of illegally importing walkie-talkies.
Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has said the charges the army pressed against her are politically motivated and has called for her release. On Feb. 1, the NLD issued a statement on behalf of Suu Kyi, protesting against the coup.
“The actions of the military are actions to put the country back under a dictatorship,” said the statement, which carried Suu Kyi’s name but not her signature.
The following day, state media said Min Aung Hlaing told the first meeting of his new government that the army had to take power after its protests over alleged election fraud were ignored. Independent international poll watchers have said there were no major irregularities in the election.
FRAUGHT TALKS
A succession of military and military-backed governments ruled Myanmar from 1962 to 2015, when Suu Kyi’s NLD won the first free and fair elections. Nevertheless, the army-drafted constitution assigns significant powers to the military, including control over the security forces and key ministries.
The build-up to this month’s military coup started on Nov. 8, when Suu Kyi’s NLD won more than 80% of contested seats in the general election, trouncing the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Before, during and after the election, the military cast doubts over the vote and made unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. In mid-January, Min Aung Hlaing called on the election commission to consider its complaint that as many as a third of the 30 million or so votes cast were potentially fraudulent.
The election commission said it is investigating some errors in voter lists but the outcome would not be enough to change the result of the election. It has not publicly released the final list of eligible voters as the military has demanded. The military has said it wants to check the list to verify voters’ eligibility. Representatives of the election commission could not be reached for comment.
Fears of a possible coup spiked on Jan. 26, when military spokesman Zaw Min Tun refused to rule it out. The following day, army chief Min Aung Hlaing said the constitution should be revoked if it was not observed.
Suu Kyi, 75, and Min Aung Hlaing, a 64-year-old career army officer who was set to take compulsory retirement in July, had a testy relationship and had not spoken directly for months, according to one person close to Suu Kyi.
Instead, representatives of each sat down in Naypyitaw for hurriedly arranged talks, six people said. There were also talks in Yangon, the former capital and Myanmar’s largest city, one of those people said.
In Naypyitaw, Suu Kyi was represented by Kyaw Tint Swe, her right-hand man and formerly a stout defender of the military, according to six people with knowledge of the talks. In Yangon, Suu Kyi’s representative was her long-time friend and personal doctor Tin Myo Win, according to one of the people. Tin Myo Win could not be reached for comment.
Senior army negotiator Lieutenant General Yar Pyae was one of the two military representatives in the Naypyitaw talks, two of the people said. Reuters could not determine the other. Yar Pyae could not be reached for comment.
The talks, and other exchanges between the two sides, extended over at least four days, to Jan. 31, the people familiar with the talks said.
The army representatives made at least three demands, according to three of the six people familiar with the talks: reschedule the Feb. 1 opening of parliament, disband the election commission, and re-examine the vote under military supervision. The army set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Jan. 29.
Reuters was not able to establish what, if any, terms were offered by Suu Kyi’s representatives to the military. An announcement in state media later on Jan. 29 said the opening of one of the two houses of parliament - scheduled for Feb. 1 - would be delayed by one day.
But even before the Jan. 29 afternoon deadline, it became clear that the talks were effectively over. The two sides’ representatives “could not establish good personal rapport,” said one of the people familiar with the talks. “We had a long period of misperception, mistrust, before everything started,” the person said, referring to the dispute over the election. The military and the NLD have been at loggerheads since the party was founded in the late 1980s.
Suu Kyi “seemed resolute” not to bend to the military, one person close to her told Reuters.
Another person close to Suu Kyi said the military was trying to create a narrative that there was civil unrest and popular support for the military, “hence justify a takeover, in some twisted logic.”
Win Htein, one of Suu Kyi’s close aides and a senior member of the NLD, told Reuters by phone on Jan. 29 that his bags were packed and he was waiting to be arrested because he feared a coup was imminent.
NO COMPROMISE
By Jan. 30, some of the tension eased after the army released its conciliatory statement vowing to protect the 2008 constitution. It accused the media of misinterpreting the comments made earlier in the week by Min Aung Hlaing.
Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency by a clause the army put in the constitution stipulating that people with foreign relatives cannot serve. She has two British sons with her late British husband. As a result, she governed as state counselor, a position crafted for her that was equivalent to head of state. After her party won the election, she was due to appoint a president, as she did when her party won the last election in 2015.
Some people close to the government expected Suu Kyi to appoint Min Aung Hlaing or one of his allies as president, as a compromise to keep the army onside.
“I think people were, myself included, expecting to see a slightly depressing line-up of presidential candidates, thinking that might be the place that both sides could find some common ground,” another adviser to the civilian government said.
The Jan. 29 deadline set by the military came and went without any agreement. On Jan. 30, the military said it would honor the constitution, but the next day, fears of a military takeover were rising again.
Early on Jan. 31 there were sightings of troops moving through Naypyitaw. One of the people familiar with the talks told Reuters that on that day one of the government’s representatives in the talks told them negotiations had collapsed and warned of a coup.
The warning was accurate. Starting about 3 a.m., while most of Myanmar’s 53 million inhabitants slept, soldiers fanned out across the country to the homes of ministers, lawmakers, prominent activists and even Buddhist monks known for their opposition to the army. The targets were either arrested or forced to stay in their homes.
According to one person who worked with the former civilian government, soldiers turned up at telecommunications companies’ facilities to cut off access to the internet. By 3 a.m., the companies had lost about half of their connectivity to the internet, according to independent cybersecurity monitoring group NetBlocks. None of Myanmar’s four telecoms companies responded to requests for comment.
The military could not be reached for comment on the internet outage.
The time and date of the move, that person and two others suggested, may have been chosen on purpose by Myanmar’s numerology-obsessed generals. The digits of 3 a.m. on Feb. 1 – or 0300 on 2/1/21 – add up to nine. The number is traditionally considered auspicious in Myanmar.
(Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok; Editing by Bill Rigby)
#ABOLISHTHEMONARCHY
The Queen, Prince Charles vetted 1,062 laws before passage in parliament: The Guardian
More than 1,000 U.K. laws were secretly vetted by the Queen or Prince Charles before they were approved by the U.K. members of the parliament, The Guardian reports.
The Queen, Prince Charles vetted 1,062 laws before passage in parliament: The Guardian
More than 1,000 U.K. laws were secretly vetted by the Queen or Prince Charles before they were approved by the U.K. members of the parliament, The Guardian reports.
© Provided by National Post Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (L) sits with Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (R) on the Sovereign's throne ahead of delivering the Queen's Speech at the State Opening of Parliament in the Houses of Parliament in London on October 14, 2019.In some cases, the Queen used her powers to lobby for changes to draft laws affecting her own personal interests, the report added, such as persuading government ministers to change a 1970s transparency law in order to hide her private wealth from the public.
The Guardian found that 1,062 laws ranging from matters of justice, food policy and social security to smaller rules on road safety and hovercraft, as part of an investigation into the powers of the Queen’s consent — an old parliamentary formality whereby the Queen is privately told of draft parliamentary bills affecting the Crown’s interests and asked for consent to debate them.
Her refusal to give consent can deny the parliament the ability to debate the law in question.
The procedure had been based on a long-standing assumption that the Queen does not interfere with parliament proceedings. However documents from the U.K. National Archives revealed the the Queen has, in several instances, exercised her powers within the procedure to a larger extent than publicly known.
The Queen’s representatives would not tell The Guardian how often she exercised her right to consent to ask for alterations to legislation since ascending the throne in 1952. Multiple statements from Buckingham Palace to the Guardian have emphasized that the role of sovereign in giving consent is a “longstanding convention and requirement of the parliamentary process.”
“Consent is routinely sought by the government and agreed by the monarch as a matter of course,” the statement reads.
“Queen’s consent is a parliamentary process, with the role of sovereign purely formal. Consent is always granted by the monarch where requested by government. Any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect,” it adds.
In one instance, the Queen initially did not immediately give her consent to a formal request in 1982 to debate a parliamentary bill on the preservation of Britain’s national monuments. The bill included a proposal to create an organization to preserve England’s ancient monuments and historic buildings. The Queen’s private secretary objected to certain clauses of the bill, which would allow the organization to subsume an existing royal commission. Members of the parliament did not receive consent until six months later. The royal commission in turn, survived for another 17 years.
Video: Enforcement agencies responsible for carrying out public health orders, not government officials: Kenney (Global News)
Pause
Current Time 0:03
/
Duration 1:22
Loaded: 21.65%
Unmute
0
HQ
CaptionsFullscreen
Enforcement agencies responsible for carrying out public health orders, not government officials: Kenney
Click to expand
Another instance in 1986 saw the monarch object to an update in road safety legislation that would apply to all roads to which the public had access, including the crown estates. When the Queen gave her consent, it was on the condition that the clause did not include her estates and that “objections which … have been raised by the crown estate and the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are satisfactorily resolved.”
Some of the bills reviewed by the Queen also related to wealth or taxation. According to The Guardian, members of the Windsor family are allowed to keep their will sealed from the public, unlike anyone else in Britain. No one has publicly confirmed how rich the family is, although some estimates say they hold in excess of hundreds of millions of pounds.
The government, The Guardian reported, exempted the Queen from a 2006 act to prevent the mistreatment of animals, stopping inspectors from entering her private estates.
Certain bills vetted by the Queen such as a 1986 bill on salmon, and a 2019 parking (code of practice) bill did not have much relevance to the monarchy’s interests, which raised questions by experts on why the Royal members were asked to review them.
Most Canadians think the royals aren't relevant anymore, some willing to leave monarchy, poll finds
Prince Philip won't be charged in car crash, but he has handed in his keys for good
“A lot of these bills are not distinctively about the crown, or mainly about the crown, or obviously about the crown in any way,” Dr. Adam Tucker, a U.K. constitutional law specialist told The Guardian. “And yet they obviously still have some content which drags them into the process,” he said.
“Seeing the sheer range, in this relentless list form, really drives home the sheer breadth of things that the procedure captures,” he added.
The Queen also reviewed and gave consent to the U.K. coronavirus act in March 2020.
A 2013 bill published in The Guardian’s database included a proposal to abolish “the mechanism of the Queen and prince’s consent.” The Queen and Prince Charles consented to the bill. However, Parliament did not ultimately pass the bill, for unclear reasons.
Robert Finch, a spokesperson for the Monarchist League of Canada, told The National Post that the investigation is “blowing things way out of proportion.”
He acknowledged that he has only read “snippets” of the investigation so far. “But from what I gather, the power of consent is always there. Any laws that have passed, she does have to consent to them, sometimes as a courtesy,” he said.
“The queen is not sitting in the palace going through the legislation and changing (them), that’s not happening,” he added. “Her position is to reign, not rule. Politicians make all the decisions, she simply gives the authority for the legislation.”
The Guardian found that 1,062 laws ranging from matters of justice, food policy and social security to smaller rules on road safety and hovercraft, as part of an investigation into the powers of the Queen’s consent — an old parliamentary formality whereby the Queen is privately told of draft parliamentary bills affecting the Crown’s interests and asked for consent to debate them.
Her refusal to give consent can deny the parliament the ability to debate the law in question.
The procedure had been based on a long-standing assumption that the Queen does not interfere with parliament proceedings. However documents from the U.K. National Archives revealed the the Queen has, in several instances, exercised her powers within the procedure to a larger extent than publicly known.
The Queen’s representatives would not tell The Guardian how often she exercised her right to consent to ask for alterations to legislation since ascending the throne in 1952. Multiple statements from Buckingham Palace to the Guardian have emphasized that the role of sovereign in giving consent is a “longstanding convention and requirement of the parliamentary process.”
“Consent is routinely sought by the government and agreed by the monarch as a matter of course,” the statement reads.
“Queen’s consent is a parliamentary process, with the role of sovereign purely formal. Consent is always granted by the monarch where requested by government. Any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect,” it adds.
In one instance, the Queen initially did not immediately give her consent to a formal request in 1982 to debate a parliamentary bill on the preservation of Britain’s national monuments. The bill included a proposal to create an organization to preserve England’s ancient monuments and historic buildings. The Queen’s private secretary objected to certain clauses of the bill, which would allow the organization to subsume an existing royal commission. Members of the parliament did not receive consent until six months later. The royal commission in turn, survived for another 17 years.
Video: Enforcement agencies responsible for carrying out public health orders, not government officials: Kenney (Global News)
Pause
Current Time 0:03
/
Duration 1:22
Loaded: 21.65%
Unmute
0
HQ
CaptionsFullscreen
Enforcement agencies responsible for carrying out public health orders, not government officials: Kenney
Click to expand
Another instance in 1986 saw the monarch object to an update in road safety legislation that would apply to all roads to which the public had access, including the crown estates. When the Queen gave her consent, it was on the condition that the clause did not include her estates and that “objections which … have been raised by the crown estate and the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are satisfactorily resolved.”
Some of the bills reviewed by the Queen also related to wealth or taxation. According to The Guardian, members of the Windsor family are allowed to keep their will sealed from the public, unlike anyone else in Britain. No one has publicly confirmed how rich the family is, although some estimates say they hold in excess of hundreds of millions of pounds.
The government, The Guardian reported, exempted the Queen from a 2006 act to prevent the mistreatment of animals, stopping inspectors from entering her private estates.
Certain bills vetted by the Queen such as a 1986 bill on salmon, and a 2019 parking (code of practice) bill did not have much relevance to the monarchy’s interests, which raised questions by experts on why the Royal members were asked to review them.
Most Canadians think the royals aren't relevant anymore, some willing to leave monarchy, poll finds
Prince Philip won't be charged in car crash, but he has handed in his keys for good
“A lot of these bills are not distinctively about the crown, or mainly about the crown, or obviously about the crown in any way,” Dr. Adam Tucker, a U.K. constitutional law specialist told The Guardian. “And yet they obviously still have some content which drags them into the process,” he said.
“Seeing the sheer range, in this relentless list form, really drives home the sheer breadth of things that the procedure captures,” he added.
The Queen also reviewed and gave consent to the U.K. coronavirus act in March 2020.
A 2013 bill published in The Guardian’s database included a proposal to abolish “the mechanism of the Queen and prince’s consent.” The Queen and Prince Charles consented to the bill. However, Parliament did not ultimately pass the bill, for unclear reasons.
Robert Finch, a spokesperson for the Monarchist League of Canada, told The National Post that the investigation is “blowing things way out of proportion.”
He acknowledged that he has only read “snippets” of the investigation so far. “But from what I gather, the power of consent is always there. Any laws that have passed, she does have to consent to them, sometimes as a courtesy,” he said.
“The queen is not sitting in the palace going through the legislation and changing (them), that’s not happening,” he added. “Her position is to reign, not rule. Politicians make all the decisions, she simply gives the authority for the legislation.”
Who funded the Capitol riot? Why America's dark money crusade is so important
As former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial kicks off, Americans will likely learn plenty about the events leading up to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. We're likely to learn, for instance, more about communications between Trump's team and mob organizers. We may even learn more about Trump's actions during the assault itself.
As former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial kicks off, Americans will likely learn plenty about the events leading up to the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. We're likely to learn, for instance, more about communications between Trump's team and mob organizers. We may even learn more about Trump's actions during the assault itself.
© Provided by NBC News
However, we're unlikely to learn much more about one key element that fanned the flames of insurrection: who funded the rally.
Thanks in part to a raft of loopholes and legislation, we don't know exactly who bankrolled the rally that turned into the deadly attack. We do know that Trump's network worked closely behind the scenes to hype the rally, with plenty of Trump's current or former campaign staffers — such as Maggie Mulvaney, the campaign's director of finance operations, and Megan Powers, a campaign operations manager — directly involved.
And Anna Massoglia of OpenSecrets reports that the Trump campaign had previously directed nearly $3 million to people who helped organize the rally — though the money wasn't for the rally specifically. Beyond that, however, little is known about the financial links between Trump's network and those who descended on the Capitol. As Massoglia noted, "The full extent of the Trump campaign's ties to the protests may not be fully known due to its use of shell companies that hide details of its financial dealings and the central role 'dark money' played in the protests."
She's exactly right. Thanks to a lattice of financial secrecy vehicles — all of which are perfectly legal — we may never have a complete financial picture of those who provided the money to organize a rally that descended into chaos and that shook the underpinnings of American democracy.
This is just one example of a much bigger problem. The U.S. remains the biggest offshore and financial secrecy haven in the world. Thanks to a wide range of financial tools, from anonymous hedge funds to anonymous trusts to anonymous real estate purchases, there are few jurisdictions easier to hide money in than the U.S. Financial anonymity is as American as apple pie — and illicit finance has raced to the U.S. over the past few decades.
Much of that anonymous money has, unsurprisingly, found its way into the American political sector. As another estimate from OpenSecrets found, $750 million from untraceable "dark money" groups barreled into the 2020 election, adding to the staggering totals we've seen in just the past decade. These "dark money" conduits include organizations like the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose Rule of Law Defense Fund helped direct people to the Jan. 6 protest — all without having to disclose its donors. (The group later denied that it helped organize the protest, even though it made robocalls pointing audiences to the rally.)
Another nonprofit shielded from disclosing its donors, dubbed Women for America First, helped take the lead in organizing the rally-turned-insurrection — and often "feature[d] members of the president's campaign and family," ABC News reported.
Of course, it doesn't have to be that way. And there are signs that the days of financial opacity may be coming to an end.
First, there's the historic precedent. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, spurred a military debacle and years of civil liberties abuses, but they also led to long-overdue anti-money laundering reforms in the American banking sector. The USA Patriot Act is rightly disparaged for its surveillance overreach, but it also included the most progressive anti-money laundering reforms the U.S. — and potentially the world — had ever seen. It forced American banks to eliminate an entire range of tools used for money laundering and financial secrecy. Two decades later, the Patriot Act's financial transparency provisions still stand, and they are still some of the most sweeping anti-money laundering measures the country and the world have ever enacted.
But something more recent offers reason for optimism, as well. Completely buried by news of the insurrection, the U.S. finally moved this year to ban anonymous shell companies, a huge move toward financial transparency. For years, thanks to states like Delaware and Wyoming, the U.S. acted as the primary provider of these anonymous shells, open to any and all. Time and again, these shells provided the perfect tool to hide financial links, especially when it came to political financing.
The new legislation isn't a panacea, and information about shell company ownership remains private for the time being, accessible only to American authorities. But the fact that the legislation passed is a testament to the fact that the U.S. can still take significant steps to tackle this kind of financial anonymity — with bipartisan support.
While the new legislation will take some time to roll out, it is already having an impact. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., one of the key figures behind the passage of anti-shell company legislation, recently submitted the Insurrection Financing Transparency Act, which would give American authorities immediate access to the identities of those behind the Jan. 6 riot. The bill hasn't yet passed, but with nearly 30 co-sponsors, it demonstrates that there's clearly a wide appetite in Congress to determine who financed the assault.
Nor should legislators stop there. For instance, passing a bill like H.R. 1 would force nonprofits involved in political financing to reveal their funders. The Biden administration alone could (and should) take a range of steps, from forcing anonymous real estate and hedge fund investors to reveal their true identities to pushing greater requirements for publicly traded companies to reveal details of their political spending. With these new disclosures in place, potential funders would think twice before bankrolling any of those pushing insurrectionist rhetoric.
Likewise, such reforms might well prevent the rise of a future Trumpian figure. Trump, after all, rose to prominence saturated in dirty and dark money; as one estimate found, Trump's buildings made billions from sales to anonymous figures, all of whom matched money laundering profiles. Preventing the rise of another figure drenched in financial anonymity — and who incited an insurrection propelled in part by opaque funding — is a clear necessity, not only to make sure there is no reprise of the Jan. 6 assault, but also for the future of American democracy writ large.
However, we're unlikely to learn much more about one key element that fanned the flames of insurrection: who funded the rally.
Thanks in part to a raft of loopholes and legislation, we don't know exactly who bankrolled the rally that turned into the deadly attack. We do know that Trump's network worked closely behind the scenes to hype the rally, with plenty of Trump's current or former campaign staffers — such as Maggie Mulvaney, the campaign's director of finance operations, and Megan Powers, a campaign operations manager — directly involved.
And Anna Massoglia of OpenSecrets reports that the Trump campaign had previously directed nearly $3 million to people who helped organize the rally — though the money wasn't for the rally specifically. Beyond that, however, little is known about the financial links between Trump's network and those who descended on the Capitol. As Massoglia noted, "The full extent of the Trump campaign's ties to the protests may not be fully known due to its use of shell companies that hide details of its financial dealings and the central role 'dark money' played in the protests."
She's exactly right. Thanks to a lattice of financial secrecy vehicles — all of which are perfectly legal — we may never have a complete financial picture of those who provided the money to organize a rally that descended into chaos and that shook the underpinnings of American democracy.
This is just one example of a much bigger problem. The U.S. remains the biggest offshore and financial secrecy haven in the world. Thanks to a wide range of financial tools, from anonymous hedge funds to anonymous trusts to anonymous real estate purchases, there are few jurisdictions easier to hide money in than the U.S. Financial anonymity is as American as apple pie — and illicit finance has raced to the U.S. over the past few decades.
Much of that anonymous money has, unsurprisingly, found its way into the American political sector. As another estimate from OpenSecrets found, $750 million from untraceable "dark money" groups barreled into the 2020 election, adding to the staggering totals we've seen in just the past decade. These "dark money" conduits include organizations like the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose Rule of Law Defense Fund helped direct people to the Jan. 6 protest — all without having to disclose its donors. (The group later denied that it helped organize the protest, even though it made robocalls pointing audiences to the rally.)
Another nonprofit shielded from disclosing its donors, dubbed Women for America First, helped take the lead in organizing the rally-turned-insurrection — and often "feature[d] members of the president's campaign and family," ABC News reported.
Of course, it doesn't have to be that way. And there are signs that the days of financial opacity may be coming to an end.
First, there's the historic precedent. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, spurred a military debacle and years of civil liberties abuses, but they also led to long-overdue anti-money laundering reforms in the American banking sector. The USA Patriot Act is rightly disparaged for its surveillance overreach, but it also included the most progressive anti-money laundering reforms the U.S. — and potentially the world — had ever seen. It forced American banks to eliminate an entire range of tools used for money laundering and financial secrecy. Two decades later, the Patriot Act's financial transparency provisions still stand, and they are still some of the most sweeping anti-money laundering measures the country and the world have ever enacted.
But something more recent offers reason for optimism, as well. Completely buried by news of the insurrection, the U.S. finally moved this year to ban anonymous shell companies, a huge move toward financial transparency. For years, thanks to states like Delaware and Wyoming, the U.S. acted as the primary provider of these anonymous shells, open to any and all. Time and again, these shells provided the perfect tool to hide financial links, especially when it came to political financing.
The new legislation isn't a panacea, and information about shell company ownership remains private for the time being, accessible only to American authorities. But the fact that the legislation passed is a testament to the fact that the U.S. can still take significant steps to tackle this kind of financial anonymity — with bipartisan support.
While the new legislation will take some time to roll out, it is already having an impact. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., one of the key figures behind the passage of anti-shell company legislation, recently submitted the Insurrection Financing Transparency Act, which would give American authorities immediate access to the identities of those behind the Jan. 6 riot. The bill hasn't yet passed, but with nearly 30 co-sponsors, it demonstrates that there's clearly a wide appetite in Congress to determine who financed the assault.
Nor should legislators stop there. For instance, passing a bill like H.R. 1 would force nonprofits involved in political financing to reveal their funders. The Biden administration alone could (and should) take a range of steps, from forcing anonymous real estate and hedge fund investors to reveal their true identities to pushing greater requirements for publicly traded companies to reveal details of their political spending. With these new disclosures in place, potential funders would think twice before bankrolling any of those pushing insurrectionist rhetoric.
Likewise, such reforms might well prevent the rise of a future Trumpian figure. Trump, after all, rose to prominence saturated in dirty and dark money; as one estimate found, Trump's buildings made billions from sales to anonymous figures, all of whom matched money laundering profiles. Preventing the rise of another figure drenched in financial anonymity — and who incited an insurrection propelled in part by opaque funding — is a clear necessity, not only to make sure there is no reprise of the Jan. 6 assault, but also for the future of American democracy writ large.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)