Jared Kushner calls Israeli-Palestinian conflict a ‘real estate dispute’ in first comments since election

MR. KUSHNER IS A FAILED 

REAL ESTATE DEALER AND A

BANKRUPT NEWSPAPER OWNER

FROM NYC

Oliver O'Connell
Mon, March 15, 2021

Special adviser to the president Jared Kushner (L) and Ivanka Trump arrive to the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords on the South Lawn of the White House 15 September 2020 in Washington, DC ((Getty Images))More

Jared Kushner has claimed the world is witnessing the final stages of the Arab-Israeli conflict in his first published comments since the end of the Trump administration.

Mr Kushner, senior adviser to Donald Trump and married to the former president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, played a prominent role in the Abraham Accord negotiations, an attempt to normalise relations between Israel and some Arab states.

Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Mr Kushner said: “We are witnessing the last vestiges of what has been known as the Arab-Israeli conflict,” claiming it had persisted for so long because of a “myth” that it could only be solved once the two sides had resolved their differences.


“That was never true,” he wrote. “The Abraham Accords exposed the conflict as nothing more than a real-estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians that need not hold up Israel’s relations with the broader Arab world.


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Writing more broadly about US policy, Mr Kushner praised the Biden administration for making China a priority — a legacy, he claims of Donald Trump changing attitudes towards the country and its behaviour — but added it would be a mistake not to build on progress in the Middle East.

In addition to peace agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco and Kosovo, Mr Kushner cites the elimination of the ISIS caliphate and the brokering of the end of the conflict between Qatar and Saudi Arabia as Trump administration successes.

He also noted that normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia is now within sight allowing for a united front to challenge Iran.

Mr Kushner writes that while many were troubled by the Biden team’s opening offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, he saw it as a smart diplomatic move.

“The Biden administration called Iran’s bluff. It revealed to the Europeans that the [Iran deal] is dead and only a new framework can bring stability for the future. When Iran asked for a reward merely for initiating negotiations, President Biden did the right thing and refused,” said Kushner.

He argued that Iran is feigning strength and that America should be patient and insist that any deal include real nuclear inspections and an end to Iran’s funding of foreign militias.

Congratulating his father-in-law’s administration, and his own role in the negotiations between Israel and the Arab states, Mr Kushner argues that they have handed Joe Biden a success on which he can build upon.

“The table is set. If it is smart, the Biden administration will seize this historic opportunity to unleash the Middle East’s potential, keep America safe, and help the region turn the page on a generation of conflict and instability,” he wrote. “It is time to begin a new chapter of partnership, prosperity and peace.”

Opioid epidemic: Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers shouldn't get off without paying more

Maura Healey
Tue, March 16, 2021

Purdue Pharma, the criminal company that made billions off the opioid epidemic, has filed its plan to emerge from bankruptcy. But this is no ordinary bankruptcy. The harm inflicted by Purdue’s OxyContin business and its billionaire owners, the Sackler family, is so vast that communities across America are creditors in the case. Sometime soon, almost every city and state will be asked to decide whether to accept Purdue’s offer, or make Purdue amend its plan to do better.

They must do better. Together with Attorneys General from across the nation, I’m demanding that Purdue amend its plan and file a new one that holds the perpetrators accountable. Here’s why:

Purdue’s plan gives the Sacklers a free pass to keep billions they made by breaking the law.

Purdue is guilty

Purdue has admitted it committed felonies to sell OxyContin, including paying illegal kickbacks and defrauding the DEA. Now, Purdue wants the court to give the Sacklers immunity from lawsuits by states, cities and everyone they hurt in exchange for a “contribution” of $4.275 billion paid over 9 years: an amount that is too small and paid over so many years that the Sacklers will walk away richer than they are today. The Sacklers pocketed so many billions from OxyContin that they can sit back while their money makes money, with investment returns of hundreds of millions each year. Purdue wants to let the Sacklers buy immunity for less than those investment returns, so their OxyContin fortune will just keep growing.

How can anyone justify that? Purdue says the public should accept the Sacklers’ price because we need their money to fix the crisis the Sacklers caused. They want to use the disaster they created as leverage to buy immunity at a bargain price. That’s an insult to the survivors, advocates, families, nonprofits, cities, and states that have made countless sacrifices to respond to this crisis for decades. The public demands that lawbreakers be held accountable.

OxyContin pills on Feb. 19, 2012, in Montpelier, Vermont.

Purdue is still trying to cover up the facts.

The law requires a bankrupt company to disclose information that creditors need to make an informed judgment before a plan is approved. But Purdue says it will show the evidence to the public after the Sacklers get immunity. That’s backwards.

The nation deserves to know how Purdue and the Sacklers caused the opioid epidemic. My team uncovered the Sacklers’ illegal conduct. We worked with prosecutors from across the country to question the Sacklers and their accomplices under oath. But Purdue and the Sacklers claimed their testimony was confidential. That testimony should be released now, before anyone lets the Sacklers off the hook. And Purdue’s amended plan should require and fund a public repository of every document that investigators got from Purdue and the Sacklers in this case.

SOCIALISM FOR THE RICH, PRIVATE PROFIT, PUBLIC TAXED
Purdue wants the government to take over its OxyContin business.

To give the Sacklers a family legacy, Purdue proposed that the government take over the OxyContin business after the bankruptcy and run it as a public trust. That’s perverse. Massachusetts sued Purdue for killing our residents. We do not want to own an opioid company — least of all the company at the heart of this national tragedy. We want a prompt and orderly wind-down of this disgraced business.

Fight to hold Purdue responsible

Attorneys General, Senators, Representatives, advocates, doctors, and scholars have been crystal clear: A business that killed thousands of Americans should not be associated with government. As a coalition of advocates wrote: “For our government to prop up Purdue and give OxyContin a special public status is the opposite of justice.”

Here’s why this fight matters:

For more than 20 years, families have been calling for Purdue and the Sacklers to be held accountable. Those families are right.

Justice in this case matters to every person who has suffered in the opioid crisis, and it matters to me. I sued the Sacklers in order to enforce the law and deliver justice. Purdue asked the court to keep my lawsuit secret. My team fought back and revealed the results of our investigation to the world. Then, Purdue tried to get our suit dismissed. We defeated Purdue’s arguments, in a courtroom packed with families who had seen their loved ones injured or killed by Purdue’s drugs. So, the Sacklers put their company into bankruptcy, in a final ploy to avoid justice.

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Last year, Kathe Sackler testified before Congress and spelled out her lack of remorse. She said: “there’s nothing that I can find that I would have done differently.”

I’ll make it easy. Here’s what the Sacklers and Purdue should do differently: Pay up. Let the public see every document in this case. And keep the government out of the opioid business.

The people deserve justice, and it’s time to deliver it.

Maura Healey is the attorney general of Massachusetts and brought the first state suit against the Sackler family.

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opioids: Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers need to be held responsible

OxyContin maker Purdue proposes

$10B plan to settle opioid lawsuits


Attorneys general in 23 states and Washington, D.C., have opposed Purdue's proposed settlement, arguing that it isn't sufficient punishment for a company that has profited so much from the opioid crisis. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

March 16 (UPI) -- Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the narcotic painkiller OxyContin, has proposed a $10 billion plan to exit bankruptcy -- which would also funnel billions of that money to fight the U.S. opioid crisis.

Purdue submitted its proposal on Monday night in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. The Connecticut-based company filed for bankruptcy in 2019 and the strategy follows months of negotiations between the owning Sackler family and bankruptcy officials.

The exit plan is Purdue's official proposal to settle nearly 3,000 lawsuits from hospitals, state and local governments, Native American tribes and other parties.

"We're working toward a settlement that would deliver more than $10 billion in value and address the opioid crisis by, among other things, providing needed funds, as well as millions of doses of lifesaving opioid addiction treatment and overdose reversal medicines," the company wrote in a statement on its website.

RELATED Sackler cousins apologize for opioid crisis during tense House hearing

"The settlement is designed to speed the delivery of resources and vital medicines that communities can use to address and abate the opioid crisis."

Under the plan, Purdue would transfer 100% of its assets to a new company and see the Sacklers pay $4.275 billion into a bankruptcy estate. It would also make billions available to fight the opiate crisis via a National Opioid Abatement Trust.

The plan must be approved by most of Purdue's creditors and federal bankruptcy judge Robert Drain.

"Purdue has delivered a historic plan that can have a profoundly positive impact on public health by directing critically-needed resources to communities and individuals nationwide who have been affected by the opioid crisis," Purdue Chairman Steve Miller said in a statement.

Many parties involved in the lawsuits have supported the proposal. Nearly half of the state attorneys general in the United States, however, have opposed the settlement. The top officials in 23 states and Washington, D.C., responded that the proposal "falls short of the accountability that families and survivors deserve."

"The Sacklers became billionaires by causing a national tragedy. Now they're trying to get away with it," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement.

"We're going to keep fighting for the accountability that families all across this country deserve."

Purdue began marketing OxyContin in the mid 1990s and the drug for years has been one of the most widely abused painkillers in the world.

In December, some members of the Sackler family appeared in Congress to testify about Purdue's role in the opioid crisis.

"I have asked myself over many years ... Is there anything that I could have done differently? Knowing what I knew [in the 1990s], not what I know now," Kathe Sackler told the House committee. "And I have to say that I can't."

"I want to express my family's deep sadness about the opioid crisis," added David Sackler, who was a member of Purdue's board for six years.

In November, Purdue agreed to pay more than $8 billion and formally pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges -- which include one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and two counts of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. The penalties were the largest ever imposed on a pharmaceutical company.

The Justice Department has said Purdue Pharma worsened the opioid crisis through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin and downplaying the risks of overdose and addiction. Purdue has made an estimated $35 billion in revenue from sales of the drug, which is a painkiller that releases a measured amount of oxycodone over time

THE REAL GREEN REVOLUTION
The Great Green Wall: A 5,000-mile living barrier to hold back the world's largest desert

The world's largest desert is growing. In the last century, the Sahara Desert expanded by more than 10%, now covering an area of more than 3.3 million square miles (8.6 million square kilometers) and spanning 11 countries in North Africa.

© Jane Hahn/Redux Koyly Alpha, Senegal- Assiatou Ba, part of the Women's Association of Koyly, pulls weeds from seedlings that will be planted in a parcel contributing the Great Green Wall Project in Koyly Alpha, Senegal on Friday, August 2, 2019. 

Two hundred women belong to the "Nanandiral Antent Koyly" (the Women's Association of Koyly) and care for tens of thousands of seedlings that will be planted over 5 hectares in the region. They are paid 55.000CFA per season and planted 71,650 seedlings this past season alone with a 42% survival rate. The Great Green Wall project is an $8 billion plan to plant drought resistant trees along 4,815 miles across the edge of the Sahara desert, an effort to combat the diminishing Sahel. Launched in 2007, the project not only hopes to combat decades of abuse and climate change related droughts, but to educate and employ those who are hardest hit.

The Sahel region, a semi-arid belt that acts as a buffer zone just south of the desert, is most affected. Water, already scarce, is becoming scarcer. Soil quality is deteriorating, and a lack of vegetation is leading to food insecurity. The UN estimates roughly 135 million people who depend on these degraded lands are at risk.

© Courtesy Make Waves As well as restoring land, the initiative hopes to provide employment and food security to local communities.

But an ambitious plan, launched by the African Union in 2007, could help to hold back the hot sands and protect the Sahel communities. Within the next decade, the Great Green Wall initiative hopes to restore 100 million hectares of land between Senegal in the west and Djibouti in the east, creating a 15-kilometer-wide (9 miles) and 8,000-kilometer-long (5,000 miles) mosaic of trees, vegetation, grasslands and plants

.

© Courtesy Make Waves Climate change could increase political instability in the already fragile Sahel region.

Having previously struggled with insufficient and unpredictable funding, the project received a major boost in January: $14 billion in new funding from France, the World Bank and other donors -- contributing nearly half of the $33 billion the UN estimates is needed to achieve the 2030 goal.

If completed in full, the wall will be more than three times the length of the Great Barrier Reef, currently the largest living structure on Earth.

Fresh shoots

Nine years away from its deadline, there is still a long way to go. So far, 4 million hectares of land has been restored -- just 4% of the overall goal -- though this rises to almost 20 million hectares when counting areas outside of the official Great Green Wall zones.

© Courtesy Make Waves Rather than a physical wall, the initiative aims to create a mosaic of trees, shrubs and grasses that will stretch across the entire continent.

Countries have tried a variety of conservation measures, such as reforestation, agroforestry, creating terraces, and dune fixing -- a technique that prevents the movement of sand long enough to let natural vegetation establish itself. They are also taking steps to protect water supplies, by drilling bore holes and building irrigation systems.

Ethiopia is reported to have restored the most so far, producing 5.5 billion plants and seedlings, and planting more than 150,000 hectares of reforested lands and 700,000 hectares of terraces -- which together make up an area more than five times the size of London.

"It took us more than a decade to set up the countries and all the strategies," says Elvis Paul Tangem, coordinator of the Great Green Wall initiative at the African Union Commission. "But now we have laid the groundwork, we have seen what has worked and what has not worked, and we are on the highway to achieve our objectives."

Among the biggest lessons learned is the importance of community collaboration, says Tangem. "We went back to the frontline communities and looked exactly at their needs and the indigenous knowledge and practices that have been going on for centuries," he says.

Community value

Sarah Toumi, a French-Tunisian environmentalist involved in the initiative's recent fundraising push, agrees that such an ambitious project will only be possible if local residents are fully behind it.

"It's very easy to plant a tree, but it's not easy to grow one," she tells CNN. "It's expensive in arid areas: you have to water it, you have to take care of it, you have to prevent animals from eating it."

Toumi speaks from her own experience after founding an organization called Acacias for All, which aims to restore land affected by desertification in Tunisia. The organization has planted more than 700,000 acacia trees in the region, she says.

Bringing communities into the initiative and demonstrating the value of restoration has been vital to the sustainability of the project. Toumi's organization helps to teach farmers how to harvest the leaves, fruits and gum of the plant so that they can make a living from it

In addition to the Great Green Wall's target for land restoration, there is also the goal to create 10 million jobs in rural areas. So far, 335,000 have been created and growing fruit and forest products has earned $90 million, according to the UN.

"It's about creating sustainable livelihoods for people ... so that they can live peacefully in their ecosystems and preserve their traditions and preserve their landscapes," says Toumi.

Promoting peace

As the population grows rapidly in the region, land restoration combined with job creation is becoming all the more urgent. Across the African continent, more than half of the 375 million young people entering the job market in the next 15 years will be living in rural areas.

If there is no job for someone in their community due to desertification and land degradation, they are likely to migrate -- which could trigger political instability across the world, says Monique Barbut, former executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and special envoy for biodiversity to the French President.

By involving 11 countries, the initiative could help to unite African leaders, she adds, "(bringing) life back to that region of the world, which will help us stabilize that part of Africa on political grounds."

Tangem agrees, noting "the strong link between natural resource management and political stability in the region." Once complete, the Great Green Wall could help provide a nature-based solution with a global impact.

South Korea's ruling party objects to 

cost-sharing deal for U.S. troops


South Korean Democratic Party lawmakers said they are not happy with a new defense-burden sharing deal with the United States after an agreement was reached earlier this month. File Photo by Yonhap

March 16 (UPI) -- South Korea is defending the terms reached in its cost-sharing deal for U.S. troops from critics in the ruling Democratic Party, who say they may not pass the legislation at the National Assembly, citing increasing costs that "unfairly" target the country, a key U.S. ally.

South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook said Tuesday the 13.9% increase in Seoul's share of the defense burden was acceptable and a hard-won deal, Newsis and Korea Economic Daily reported.

In 2019 and 2020, tensions peaked between Seoul and Washington amid Trump's demand Seoul pay nearly $5 billion annually for 28,500 U.S. troops. The new multi-year deal reached on March 7 with the Biden administration is for about $1 billion.

"While there are some disappointments, the agreement was reached by following principles and settled at a reasonable level than in the Trump era," Suh said at a meeting of the National Assembly's defense committee. "In our own way we made efforts while following principles. It was negotiations with a partner, and we also had to demonstrate the spirit of the alliance."

South Korean lawmakers, including Rep. Hong Young-pyo, said Tuesday at the meeting the cost increase, which is in line with Seoul's original offer to the former Trump administration, was "undesirable." Hong suggested he may not vote for the deal at the National Assembly.

Hong, who did not publicly raise objections against Trump's demands last year, said the U.S.-South Korea alliance should "no longer be referred to as a value alliance."

"How much has [South Korea] invested in the transition of wartime operational control including the [U.S.] headquarters in Pyeongtaek?" Hong said, referring to South Korea's shouldering of building costs of the largest U.S. overseas military base in 2018.
RELATED North Korean vessels active in China, marine traffic data show



"The National Assembly is not a rubber-stamp parliament."

Hong's colleagues in the Democratic Party aired grievances about increased payments, citing U.S. dealings with Japan for comparison.

Rep. Kim Min-ki said while South Korea's defense costs for U.S. troops have steadily increased, Japan has not been asked to undertake a greater financial burden.

In 2020 under pressure from the Trump administration South Korea said it could agree to a maximum 13% increase from the previous Special Measures Agreement signed a year earlier, according to The Korea Times last year.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are to arrive in Seoul on Wednesday.

upi.com/7082111

Sen. Whitehouse calls for review of FBI's 'fake' Kavanaugh investigation

DO YOU LIKE BEER SENATOR?

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said the FBI's investigation into Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, pictured, may have been "politically constrained and perhaps fake" in a letter to the Justice Department. File Photo by Andrew Harnik/UPI | License Photo

March 16 (UPI) -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., on Tuesday called for a congressional review of the FBI's investigation into sexual assault and misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying the probe appears to have been "politically constrained and perhaps fake."

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Whitehouse asked for the Justice Department to support a Senate review of the FBI investigation process. He said the agency failed to follow through on leads related to the allegations and did not provide transparency about the information it received through a "tip line" set up to aid the investigation.

"If standard procedures were violated and the bureau conducted a fake investigation rather than a sincere, thorough and professional one, that in my view merits congressional oversight to understand how, why and at whose behest and with whose knowledge or connivance this was done," wrote Whitehouse.

Prior to being confirmed in a 50-48 vote in 2018, Kavanaugh faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. Christine Blasey Ford testified before the Senate that he sexually assaulted her at a party when they were in high school.

Whitehouse said that while Kavanaugh disputed her accusations, Ford's testimony and other allegations "justified further investigation to seek corroborating or inconsistent evidence."

He said the FBI failed to interview Max Stier, the president of the Partnership for Public Service and a college classmate of Kavanaugh's, who offered corroborating evidence while members of Congress were made aware of allegations from witnesses who "tried in vain to reach the FBI on their own" but found no one willing to accept testimony.

"When members made inquiries we faced the same experience: the FBI had assigned no person to accept or gather evidence," he said.

RELATED Lawmakers introduce bill to combat surge in anti-Asian hate crime amid pandemic

Whitehouse noted the FBI ultimately opened up a tip line to receive additional allegations or corroborating evidence but said Congress received "no explanation" of how or whether the allegations were processed and evaluated outside of 1-hour windows to review the materials gathered.

He added, however, that it did not appear the FBI had taken any measure to review the information that was sent through the tip line.

"This 'tip line' appears to have operated more like a garbage chute, with everything that came down the chute consigned without review to the figurative dumpster," he said.

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Whitehouse cited July 2019 testimony by FBI Director Christopher Wray before the Senate judiciary committee in which he assured the FBI's investigation was consistent with the agency's practices but refused to answer further questions, accusing the FBI of "stonewalling" lawmakers.

"It cannot and should not be the policy of the FBI to not follow up on serious allegations of misconduct during background check investigations," he said.

Study: U.S. COVID-19 cases underestimated by half, antibody testing suggests


Twice as many people may have been infected with COVID-19 than previously estimated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new study suggests. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

March 16 (UPI) -- Up to 16 million people in the United States may have had undiagnosed, asymptomatic COVID-19 as of September 2020 -- twice as many as previously estimated -- an analysis published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open reported.

Just under 7% of about 62,000 people in the United States with no symptoms of infection tested in the study had antibodies against the virus, the data showed.

Antibodies are cells produced by the immune system to fight off infection, and their presence in blood suggests that people either are battling the virus or were recently.

The nearly 16 million asymptomatic cases is more than twice the number of confirmed cases -- about 7.5 million -- reported in the United States by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the end of September.

RELATED Pandemic's second wave less deadly than first in U.S., Europe, study finds

"As of September, the scope of the pandemic was about double the number of reported cases," study co-author Dr. Robert L. Stout told UPI in an email.

"The primary means of transmission of this virus is the asymptomatic population -- the patient [who] is unaware of their infectious status and is therefore at risk of unknowing spreading the virus," said Stout, a researcher with Lenexa, Kansas-based Clinical Reference Laboratory. The company that specializes in health testing for life insurance applicants.

Since the start of the pandemic last March, public health officials and researchers have suggested that the number of cases and deaths linked with the virus, both in the United States and globally, may be undercounted.

RELATED CDC finds issues with COVID-19 guidance by Trump administration

This is due to the number of infected people who may experience no symptoms, believed to be up to 80% of those with the virus, experts say.

For this study, Stout and his colleagues tested 61,190 life insurance applicants for antibodies to the coronavirus in September, using blood samples collected as part of the application process.

None of the applicants reported having symptoms of COVID-19. Just under 4,100, or 6.7%, tested positive for coronavirus antibodies, and about 56% of them were male, researchers said.

RELATED British COVID-19 variant to become dominant U.S. strain within weeks: CDC

Most of those who tested positive for antibodies were in their late 30s or early 40s, which researchers say is significant given that younger people are believed to be at lower risk for serious illness, or symptoms, from COVID-19.

These people may be unknowingly driving spread of the virus, the researchers said.

"Quite simply ... they think that everything is fine and continue to go about their normal activities," Stout said.

"Some practice recommended CDC guidelines in public places while some may not," he said

Consumer groups urge Congress to protect stimulus payments from debt collectors


Without new legislation, Americans who are subject to garnishment would likely never see their $1,400 stimulus payment from the IRS. By law, banks are required to turn it over to debt collectors. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

March 16 (UPI) -- Lawmakers in Congress are trying to pass a piece of legislation to protect the new round of stimulus payments for Americans who are subject to having the money taken by private debt collectors.

President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan is sending $1,400 stimulus payments to all Americans who earned less than $75,000 in 2019 or 2020, and gradually reduced amounts to those making between $75,000 and $80,000.

The Internal Revenue Service began depositing the payments last weekend.

However, Americans who owe private debts that are collectible via court judgments could see their payments taken right out of their bank accounts. Lawmakers are trying to fix that.

RELATED Americans can check status, deposit date for new $1,400 stimulus payment

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says he will introduce a bill this week to shield those Americans from having their relief aid taken away.

The $1.9 trillion relief bill passed by Congress and signed by Biden does not include special language that protects the stimulus payments from garnishment imposed by past fiscal judgments. The second payment of $600 in December had the protection, but the first $1,200 payment a year ago did not.

"We really wish this could have passed before the money started going out," National Consumer Law Center

"The protection would have been far more effective if the payment was coded in a way so that banks would automatically know to protect the money."

 Associate Director Lauren Saunders told CNN

.

The American Rescue Plan did not include the protection because it was passed in Congress under budget reconciliation, a procedural process that allowed Democrats in both chambers to pass the package without any Republican support. Not a single Republican in either chamber voted for the plan.

"Families that most need this money -- those struggling with debt and whose entire bank accounts may be frozen by garnishment orders -- will be not be able to access their funds," a group of consumer advocacy groups wrote in a letter to lawmakers last week.

"This group includes very low-income families with children, people who have been disconnected from work opportunities for along period and many low-income adults now raising children in their homes.

"Allowing economic impact payments to be garnished could impose significant burdens on some families, especially those in communities of color, facing unprecedented circumstances."

Without legislation to protect the payments, Americans who are subject to garnishment would likely never see their $1,400 check from the IRS. By law, banks are required to turn over money that is garnished and claimed by debt collectors.

"Unless Congress immediately passes the [change], they will be forced to pay some creditors who attempt to garnish and freeze bank accounts," the groups noted in their letter.

"We believe it is imperative that Congress ensure that these next stimulus payments are treated as 'benefits' subject to the federal exemption from garnishment."

The letter was cosigned by nearly 20 advocacy groups, including the NCLC, American Bankers Association, Consumer Bankers Association and National Bankers Association.

Monday, the IRS relaunched its "Get My Payment" tool that allows Americans to track the status of their stimulus payment.

Atlanta shootings: Police say gunman may have wanted to purge sex addiction

"[The gunman] made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction," one investigator said Wednesday.

LITTLE MAN SUFFERS FROM EMOTIONAL PLAGUE 

OF MISOGYNY AND RACISM ALL ELSE IS EXCUSING HIMSELF

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=EMOTIONAL+PLAGUE

Deputies with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office are seen Tuesday evening at a massage parlor in Acworth, Ga., where four people were killed by a gunman who also attacked two similar businesses in the Atlanta area. Photo courtesy Cherokee County Sheriff's Office/Twitter


March 17 (UPI) -- Investigators said Wednesday that a man accused of shooting eight people dead at three massage parlors in Atlanta admitted a sex addiction and said he didn't specifically target Asian Americans at the businesses.

Police captured Georgia resident Robert Aaron Long after a manhunt on Tuesday night after the attacks at the massage parlors, which occurred within a short period of time and within close proximity. Eight people were killed and a few others were injured in the shootings.

Cherokee County Sheriff Frank Reynolds told reporters Wednesday that Long, 21, went on the shooting spree only hours after he obtained his 9mm handgun. He also said Long, who was arrested in Crisp County 150 miles south of Atlanta, has confessed to the attacks and said they were not racially motivated.

"During his interview, he gave no indicators that this was racially motivated," Reynolds said in a report by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "We asked him that specifically and the answer was no."

Sex addiction played a role in the shootings, authorities added, because Long often frequented massage parlors and wanted to eradicate a behavioral habit he was trying to break.

"Yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did," Cherokee County Capt. Jay Baker said in the AJC report.

"He made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past. We still have a lot of things to process."

Long is scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges Thursday. It wasn't immediately known whether the handgun used in the crimes was obtained legally.

ANOTHER PROUD BOY

Investigators say Robert Aaron Long has confessed to the shootings at all three massage parlors, which killed eight people. Photo by Crisp County Sheriff's Office/EPA-EFE

BY ANY OTHER NAME

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office identified four of the victims Wednesday who were shot at the parlor in Acworth, Ga. -- Delaina Ashley Yaun, 33; Xiaojie Yan, 49; Daoyou Feng, 44; and Paul Andre Michels, 54. Another person who was injured in the shooting there was listed in stable condition.


Six of the eight victims were of Asian descent and seven were women, details that spurred speculation that the attacks may be related to a wave of violence against Asian Americans in the United States over the past year related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Former President Donald Trump often refers to the coronavirus as the "China virus," and has even called it "Kung Flu," simply because it was first observed in Wuhan, China.

President Joe Biden has been in contact Wednesday with U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray about the attacks. The bureau is involved in the investigation, as it may represent a hate crime.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday Biden was being briefed on the shootings and the president said he would address the attacks publicly on Wednesday afternoon.

"It is tragic. Our country, the president and I and all of us, we grieve for those lost," Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters Wednesday. "This speaks to a larger issue, which is the issue of violence in our country and what we must do to never tolerate it and to always speak out against it.

"But I do want to say to our Asian American community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people."

At a ministerial security conference in South Korea on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the shootings and said that such attacks have no place in the United States or any other nation.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told reporters Wednesday that investigators believe Long may have been on his way to Florida to carry out more attacks when he was captured.

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ALCHEMY OF NATURE

Cave-harvested Turkish honey dubbed world's most expensive

Centauri Honey, which is harvested from a Turkish cave 8,000 feet above sea level, was declared the world's most expensive honey by Guinness World Records.

 Photo courtesy of Guinness World Records

March 16 (UPI) -- A Turkish company set a Guinness World Record for the world's most expensive honey with a cave-harvested variety priced at over $5,400 per pound.

$338.06 PER OZ
Guinness said Centauri Honey, which is harvested from a cave more than 8,000 feet above sea level, is priced at $5,409 per pound, making it the most expensive honey in the world.

The honey is dark in color and is said to have a bitter flavor. It is prized for its medicinal value, being high in magnesium, potassium, phenols, flavonoids and antioxidants.

Centauri said the honey can only be harvested once a year, as opposed to two to three times a year for most commercial honeys, to ensure the bees that make the nectar are not disturbed.

The company said samples of the honey are sent after harvest to the Turkish Scientific Council/Food Institute to verify its quality

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