Month: May 2020

DOMESTIC NEWS

1. 900 Children deported alone, no one notified

Since the pandemic began, the U.S. has deported 900 children who arrived alone at the border, sometimes without notifying their families. Children are being sent back to their home countries–or to Mexico–alone even in the middle of the night, with no plan for what might happen when they arrive, according to the New York Times. Ordinarily unaccompanied children are housed in shelters where their asylum process begins, but the U.S. border patrol has refused to follow these protocols under the guise of not spreading the coronavirus–even though NBC News reveals that plans for rapid deportations have been in the works since 2017. Simultaneously, the U.S. has been hastily deporting children already in the country or waiting in Matamoros in the “Remain in Mexico” Program, ProPublica reports. Even when children have asylum cases in progress and relatives to receive them in the U.S., they have been sent away, sometimes to extremely dangerous locations. 

ProPublica speculates that their removal relates to the case being supervised by U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who has insisted that they be released. On May 22, Judge Gee found that the government was still not in compliance with the order, according to the National Center for Youth Law; the NCYL and the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and the Immigration Law Clinic of the U.C. Davis School of Law filed the suits that resulted in Gee’s decision. The LA Times suggests that some children who could be released are being held in the hope that they will reach the age of 18 in custody and thereby be more easily deported. Reveal describes the circumstances of some 17 year olds who have families or sponsors ready to receive them and who are covered by Judge Gee’s order–but whom the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) will not release. As Leecia Welch, senior director at the NCYL put it, “Given the growing concerns being raised about the impact of COVID-19 on children, it is unfathomable to us that ORR is letting children languish in federal custody when they have fully vetted family members ready to care for them.” RLS

You can call on ORR to comply with Judge Gee’s ruling and ask your Congressmembers to monitor OSS compliance.

2. Trump firing those in charge of oversight

Over the past few weeks, Trump has fired or removed from their positions five Inspectors General (IGs) or Acting Inspectors General for various governmental departments and offices: Michael Atkinson, Inspector General for the Intelligence Community; Mitch Behm, Acting Inspector General for the Department of Transportation; Glenn Fine, Inspector General for the Department of Defense; Christi Grimm, Acting Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services; and Steve Linick, Inspector General for the Department of State, according to the list from CBS News.

Inspectors General are non-partisan appointees charged, among other things, with investigating claims of unethical or illegal behavior within the department or office they oversee. Atkinson is the IG who notified the House of the whistle blower complaint regarding Trump’s July 2019 phone conversation with the President of Ukraine, in which Trump intimated that Congressionally allocated aid to Ukraine would not be released until an investigation of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, was undertaken, CNN reports. This is the phone call that launched Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives. As the American Independent explains, Behm was in the process of investigating Secretary of Transportation Chao (and wife of Mitch McConnell) for inappropriately giving preferential treatment to the state of Kentucky (the home state of Chao and McConnell) in funding for transportation projects when Trump removed him.

Fine was slated to oversee a commission charged with monitoring coronavirus relief spending, the Washington Post reports. His firing prevented him from leading that commission, a position that required status as an IG. The Washington Post noted that Grimm’s staff had “just completed a report finding ‘severe shortages’ of testing kits, delays in getting coronavirus results and ‘widespread shortages’ of masks and other equipment at U.S. hospitals.” Linick had begun two investigations at the State Department: inappropriate use of staff and resources by Secretary Mike Pompeo and his wife, and, more significantly, the process by which military technology was sold to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after both houses of Congress had voted to block such a sale. Trump is now filling these positions with administration loyalists, meaning that the next President who is not Trump, and will perhaps be Joe Biden, will have the job of once again ensuring that these positions are nonpartisan. S-HP

It would be a good time to urge Biden to commit himself now to reappointing these IGs who were appropriately responding to whistleblower complaints when Trump “lost faith” in them. Joe Biden c/o American Possibilities, 918 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20003 (202) 456-1111

3. National Guard let go one day short of benefits eligibility

Last week, the Republican administration signaled that it was planning to pull more than forty thousand National Guard troops from their coronavirus pandemic-related work exactly one day short of the length of time that is required for many veterans’ benefits to kick in, including a three-month credit towards retirement and 40% off tuition at public colleges and universities, according to the Military Times. As the Hill reports, Congressional resistance to this move has been strenuous, and the administration now claims it has not made a final decision on this matter. National Guard members on pandemic placements have been providing support to hospitals, enforcement of stay-at-home orders, and body removal, difficult and often deeply unpleasant work. S-HP

You can insist that the administration abandon this plan and call on your Congressmembers to stand up for the rights of National Guard members on the frontlines of the pandemic: Addresses here.

4. Child hunger in Puerto Rico

In the last few years, Puerto Rico has been hit with environmental disasters, including hurricanes and earthquakes, and now it is grappling with the coronavirus pandemic. In every one of these crises, Puerto Rico has received inadequate funding to address the full scale of the damage. With the coronavirus, families and communities still recovering from natural disasters are facing food scarcity, and children are going hungry, NPR reports. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory but does not receive the same level of disaster-response support as the states. As of April 30, Slate points out, no one in Puerto Rico had received a stimulus check. S-HP

You can urge Congress to provide Puerto Rico with ample, timely support to address food shortages, medical needs, and remaining damage from natural disasters.

5. Incarcerated people at risk

Prisons and jails, of course, are not exempt from the coronavirus pandemic and can become hot spots for COVID-19 due to accommodations that make no allowance for social distancing. A North Dakota woman who gave birth while on a ventilator died recently, according to NBC News. The Emergency Community Supervision Act (S.3579 in the Senate; H.R.6400 in the House) mandates the release of inmates who are pregnant, have underlying health issues and are 50 or older. This legislation also limits the use of pretrial detention and in-person supervised release. In both houses of Congress, this legislation is currently with the Judiciary Committee.

The ACLU urges us to advocate for the incarcerated–you can sign their petition. In addition, you can urge swift, positive action on the Emergency Community Supervision Act by both Judiciary Committees and call on your Congressmembers to support this legislation.

6. Four House members vote against anti-lynching bill

In February, the House passed the Emmitt Till Antilynching Act, which would make lynching a federal hate crime, CNN reports. There have been nearly 200 attempts to define lynching in this way, and this act is the closest an antilynching measure has come to being enacted in the United States. The measure is similar to one that passed the Senate in 2019, and is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

If passed and signed into law by the president, it would impact federal handling of the February death of Ahmaud Aubrey, the unarmed Georgia man killed while jogging.

Four House members voted against the measure, claiming it was overreach by the federal government, according to Newsweek. These lawmakers included 3 Republicans— Ted Yoho of Florida, Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Thomas Massif of Kentucky— and Independent Justin Amash of Michigan. JM-L

7. Ghost guns

Guns made with 3-D printers, often referred to as “ghost guns,” don’t meet the current legal definition of a firearm. As a result, they’re not required to have serial numbers and kits to make them can be purchased without being subject to gun control laws currently on the books, Politico points out. The Untraceable Firearms Act, S.3743 , sponsored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut,  and other Senate Democrats, would require that these weapons have serial numbers and establish provisions to keep them out of the hands of violent felons and domestic abusers. (This legislation is currently with the Senate Judiciary Committee.) As Blumenthal told Politico, gun sales have risen more than 70% compared to a year ago. Since the coronavirus pandemic, “People are more stressed,” he said. “They’re buying more firearms. The incidence of domestic violence has risen.” S-HP

You might the Senate Judiciary Committee to take swift, positive action on S.3743 and ask your Senators to support this important legislation: Addresses here.

8. Coronavirus relief money repurposed to undercut public schools

The CARES Act, which provides coronavirus relief, included $30 billion for educational institutions. Education Secretary DeVos, who has discretion over these funds, has ordered that $180 million of this money be offered as grants to parents hoping to move their children from public to private schools, including religious schools and has earmarked $350 million that was to be directed to struggling colleges to private, religious, and for-profit colleges. Though Congress has blocked these kinds of initiatives, DeVos is using the opportunity of the pandemic to implement them anyway, according to the New York Times. These actions both benefit private schools that are less apt to serve low-income students and threaten the wall between church and state.

Maybe you’d like to tell DeVos to use coronavirus relief to help the neediest schools and students and insist that she honor the church/state separation enshrined in the Bill of Rights? You might also explain to your Congressmembers why you object to DeVos’s inappropriate allocation of Coronavirus relief monies. Addresses are here.

9. Trump and Republicans fighting vote-by-mail efforts

Trump and Congressional Republicans are fighting efforts to expand vote-by-mail during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the New York Times, despite a spike in COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin among those who voted in-person because additional vote-by-mail provisions were blocked. Forbes reports that a study by the University of Wisconsin and Ball State University found a “statistically and economically significant association” between in-person voting and the spread of Covid-19 weeks after the election. Republicans, who have made disenfranchisement a key part of their 2020 election strategy, claim that vote-by-mail is insecure and likely to allow election fraud; however, a recent Stanford study, the largest of its kind, determined that vote-by -mail does not unfairly benefit either political party, according to the Washington Post. Nonetheless, these same legislators seem to have no problem with tax refunds, social security payments, Coronavirus stimulus checks, draft registration, prescription drugs, passports, and driver’s licenses being delivered by mail. S-HP.

It might be a good time for you to insist on an end to this counterfactual claim about vote-by-mail benefitting one party over another and demand national vote-by-mail to prevent the spread of Coronavirus among those choosing to participate in the 2020 election. Addresses are here.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

10. Transporting fracked gas threatens communities

Fracked gas would be transported from the Rockies and Canada across Southern Oregon to Coos Bay, under a proposal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). A 36-inch fracked gas pipelne called Pacific Connector would travel 229 miles from Malin to Coos Bay, cutting through Klamath, Jackson, Douglas and Coos counties. Once in Coos Bay, it would be turned into liquefied natural gas (LNG) at a giant new terminal, put on large tankers and sent overseas. A FERC notice about the Jordan Cove Liquified Natural Gas Project–infelicitiously called “Petition for Declaratory Order (Petition) finding that the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality waived its authority to issue certification for the Jordan Cove LNG Terminal and Pacific Connector Pipeline under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act”–would deprive the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality of the right to weigh in on this project, thus affirming the rights of corporations over state and local environmental concerns. In 2019, the Oregon Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility ennumerated the dangers of these kinds of projects to community health, including how they exacerbate climate change, create air and water pollution, are prone to accidents, require temporary labor camps with all the social problems that these engender–and more. S-HP

If you want to ask that local voices be honored and to object to this FERC proposal, instructions for commenting are here. Comments must be submitted by June 11.

11. Dam failure due to climate change. Floodwaters overrun toxic waste site.

The dams that failed in Central Michigan could be just the first of many, as the climate crisis leads to heavier rainfalls, overwhelming aging infrastructure, according to the New York Times. In 2017, the American Society of Engineers gave the nation’s dam system a grade of “D”; American dams are sixty years old, on average. The floodwaters from the Michigan dam have now reached the  Dow Chemical facility and Superfund site, Common Dreams reports, so they are now intermingled with toxic waste that Dow declined to clean up. The Trump administration refused to enforce the executive order for superfund sites to upgrade their families. As Common Dreams notes, Climate Power communications director Meghan Schneider tweeted, “Dow’s facilities appear to be at the heart of the floodwaters—this has the potential to be a major environmental disaster.” RLS

RESOURCES

• See the Americas of Conscience Checklist for quick, clear, effective actions you can take.
• Do you postcard? Start with Sarah-Hope’s list.
• If you want to advocate for the HEROES act, the Postal Service, nurses, the Navajo nation, and much more, see Rogan’s list.
• Martha’s list offers opportunities to comment for the public record. She says that regulations are still a moving target as some are extended or suspended, supposedly temporarily. Ending soon are two items related to the National Environmental Policy Act – one from EPA, the other from Dept of Energy. The entire act was recently up for comment, you will remember. Rodenticide review is back, and there is a new item about endangered Mexican wolves. Look at USDA food policy relating to aid to farmers – will this round go to Ag-business again? And note work requirements for food-stamp recipients, and more.
• For daily updates of coronavirus cases and deaths, in country by country reports, see Our World in Data.
• Check out Chrysostom’s incredibly comprehensive election coverage–House, Senate, state, local.
• Heather Cox Richardson has commentary on the NY Times front page, above, along with the Inspectors General firings and much more.

Did you believe it when you heard that Dr. Anthony Fauci was on the board of Microsoft? What about when you read on Facebook that Nancy Pelosi’s bill HR6666 would allow government officials to remove family members from your home for quarantine? The AP is doing a immense service for us all by running weekly “Not Real News: A look at what didn’t happen this week” columns. It’s a great, quick way to cope with the onslaught of false information.

Heather Cox Richardson has her usual erudite insights into the morass in Washington, if you want to catch up on the week. And Chrysostom has an excellent overview of federal and state election issues. You’ll find it here.

DOMESTIC NEWS

1. Vote by mail

We don’t know what the coronavirus situation will be like when November’s election rolls around, but we should all be doing what we can to avoid a situation like that in Wisconsin, where many voters who were unable to get absentee/vote-by-mail ballots were forced to wait in line, in a very non-socially-distanced way, in order to vote. Now would be a great time to request an absentee/vote-by-mail ballot for November. Political Charge has made the process easier by putting together an easy-to-use web page where you can find out how to go about getting an absentee/vote-by-mail ballot in your own state—whatever that state is. If you are not currently signed up for vote-by-mail, start here and request your ballot. Then, share this information with everyone you know. For all we know, the deciding factor in November’s election may be which party has the most people approved for absentee/vote-by-mail ballots. S-HP

Progress America has a petition you can sign to support the Postal Service–on which vote-by-mail depends.

2. Only two people granted asylum between March and May

According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data, in September 2019, the U.S. conducted 2,799 asylum interviews. One hundred and ninety-nine of these were initial screening interviews, and as a result of these interviews 101 recommendations of asylum approval were issued, representing 51% of all screenings at this level. Also during September 2019 the USCIS adjudicated 4,453 cases, with 1,501 (or 34%) approved.

Now let’s move forward to the period between March 21 and May 13 of this year. The Washington Post reports that during this nearly two-month period only 59 screening interviews took place. Fifty-four claims were rejected, three remain pending, and two (or 4%) were approved. This immense change in numbers and results of interviews can be attributed to new, “emergency” immigration protocols established in response to the oronavirus pandemic. These new protocols include a suspension of almost all due-process rights for those seeking to enter the U.S., including asylum seekers and children. During the March 21-May 13 period, at least 20,000 migrants attempting to enter the U.S. have been rejected without any kind of interview under the “Migrant Protection Protocol” and have been forced to remain in Mexico.

According to ProPublica analysis of a new Border Patrol memo, at this point, almost the only way a migrant at the border can gain admission to the U.S. is if they “spontaneously” state that they fear torture in their home country. Protocols do not require that agents ask about fear of torture, so those who don’t speak out will not gain temporary admission, even though they would be entitled to it. In response to a question from the Washington Post, immigration-law scholar Lucas Guttentag, who served in the Obama administration and now teaches at Stanford and Yale universities, observed, “The whole purpose of asylum law is to give exhausted, traumatized and uninformed individuals a chance to get to a full hearing in U.S. immigration courts, and [the current U.S. procedure] makes that almost impossible. It’s a shameful farce.” S-HP

You can demand a return to asylum protocols in line with international law and decry the near termination of admission to the U.S. for migrants along the southern border. Addresses are here.

3. Supporting HEROES

The House has passed the HEROES (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions) Act, H.R.6800. This bill provides additional coronavirus relief measures, directed to ordinary Americans. Its provisions include a second round of direct payments to individuals up to $1,200; expanded sick days, family medical leave, and unemployment compensation; increased food, nutrition, and housing assistance; payments to farmers; student loan debt forgiveness; and increased funding for coronavirus testing. It expands funding for the Paycheck Protection Program, designed to help employers continue to pay employees during the pandemic; includes $3.6 billion to help states improve election security; and earmarks $25 billion to continue postal services. Some provisions, including continuing payments for individuals, were cut from the final version of the legislation, cuts which threatened passage at one point. The HEROES Act will face a much more difficult battle in the Senate. S-HP

You can urge your Senators to support the HEROES Act when it reaches the Senate. Find them here.

4. Water shut-offs continue during pandemic

The impact of COVID-19 has been particularly brutal for minority and low income communities. One of the key ways to prevent the spread of coronavirus is increased handwashing and similar hygiene measures, but about two-fifths of the U.S., including many of those hard-hit communities, rely on water utilities that have not suspended shutoffs for nonpayment, despite public health warnings that good hygiene is crucial to preventing the spread of the coronavirus, according to the Guardian and Consumer Reports. The House CARES Act included funding for water-bill assistance and a termination of water shut-offs during the Coronavirus pandemic, but these provisions were removed from the bill ultimately approved by the Senate. S-HP

You can tell your Congressmembers that the removal of water-access protections from coronavirus legislation was both cruel and dangerous to public health and demand action now to ensure access to clean water for all. You can also sign a petition calling for an end to water shut-offs at this link.

5. More guns in wildlife refuges

If a pair of proposed federal rules changes are approved, we may be seeing many more guns in National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and Army Corps of Engineers projects, according to Oregon Live. The first of these, “Station-Specific Hunting and Sport-Fishing Regulations,” proposed by the Fish and Wildlife Service would newly open eight NWRs to hunting and fishing, expand hunting and fishing at another eighty-nine NWRs, allow expansion of hunting within the National Fish Hatchery System; and create forty-one new easements in North Dakota, intended to increase hunting on federal lands accessible via privately held lands. This rule change is open for public comments through June 8.

The second of these, “Rules and Regulations Governing Public Use of Water Resource Development Projects Administered by the Chief of Engineers” (federal rule-makers do have a way with woThosrds), would impact 400 lake and river projects in forty-three states that currently allow firearms for the purpose of hunting, but require written permission for possession of firearms not intended for hunting. Under the new rules, all firearms would be allowed, not just those intended for hunting. If you wonder what the impact of this proposal might be, take a moment to consider the title of an Ammoland article celebrating this possible change: “Trump Administration to Abolish One of America’s Biggest Gun-Free Zones.” This proposal is open for public comments through June 12. S-HP

You can comment for the public record on the proposals to increase hunting in National Wildlife Refuges, perhaps pointing out the contradiction between the concept of “refuge” and the use of firearms. Follow the instructions carefully.

6. Sexual assault survivors in school sports lose protections

The Department of Education has revamped Title IX standards, which protect gender equity in school sports, claiming the changes rebalance “the scales of justice.” These changes received overwhelming, critical public commentary when they were proposed, with over 124,000 public comments submitted. Key changes include:

• Removing coaches and other university employees from the list of mandated reporters, who have a legal obligation to file complaint when the receive allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct;
• Narrowing the definition of sexual harassment;
• Allowing colleges to choose the standards of proof they use when adjudicating sexual harassment allegations.

Inside Higher Education quotes Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) statement on these changes, “Let me be clear: this rule is not about ‘restoring balance,’ this is about silencing survivors. This rule will make it that much harder for a student to report an incident of sexual assault or harassment—and that much easier for a school to sweep it under the rug. There is an epidemic of sexual assault in schools—that’s not up for debate. But instead of responsibly working with advocates, survivors, students, K-12 schools, and colleges to address the issue, Secretary DeVos and this Administration are going out of their way to make schools less safe.” S-HP

If you wish to object to these changes that weaken student protection from sexual harassment, find your members of Congress here.

7. Preserving gender equity on college campuses

While Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been undermining protections against sexual harassment and assault on college campuses, Congress has been offered legislation that would improve such protections and address gender equity in multiple ways. The Patsy T. Mink and Louise M. Slaughter Gender Equity in Education Act (H.R.3513 in the House; S.1964 in the Senate), is currently with the House’s Education and Labor Committee and the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. According to the American Association of University Women, the Gender Equity in Education Act (GEEA) would:

• establish an Office of Gender Equity within the Department of Education
• provide training and resources for Title IX compliance
• establish competitive grants at all educational levels to support gender equity work
• provide funding for identifying and disseminating best practices in avoiding stereotypes and bias in education; addressing sex-based harassment and violence on campuses; mitigating bias in teaching and counselling; and addressing the needs of students facing discrimination based on multiple characteristics.

The GEEA has seven cosponsors in the House and fifteen cosponsors in the Senate—you can use the links above to see whether your Congressmembers are among them. S-HP

You can call for positive action on H.R.3513 and S.1964 by the appropriate committees and urge your Congressmembers to support the GEEA, including by co-sponsorship if appropriate. You can also sign the American Association of University Women’s Petition in support of GEEA.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

8. Boats carrying Rohingya refugees disappear

The plight of the Rohingya continues, despite being displaced from news reports by the coronavirus pandemic. The Rohingya originate in Myanmar, and those who are still in that country have been placed in internment camps. Bangladeshi refugee camps currently house the largest refugee population of Rohingya. Rather than live in Bangladeshi camps, many Rohingya are trying to escape to Malaysia where they hope to find work as undocumented laborers. In April, a boat with 400 Rohingya refugees locked in its hold was liberated by the Bangladesh Coast Guard. Those aboard were malnourished and dehydrated and had suffered physical abuse, the New York Times reports. Those rescued had seen the bodies of others who died on the journey thrown overboard. International organizations had been tracking another three boats, each carrying hundreds of Rohingya refugees. The boat had left from Bangladesh and headed to Malaysia, but was refused docking in Malaysia and then refused docking in Bangladesh when it attempted to return. At the start of May, these boats could not be found via the satellite systems that had been tracking them. S-HP

If you wish to insist that the U.S. continue to support and shelter refugees, including the Rohingya, during this pandemic and ask your Congressmembers what they are doing to ease conditions for the Rohingya, addresses are here.

9. Sweden not a role model for coronavirus response

While Sweden is often invoked as an argument against social distancing measures due to the country’s anti-lockdown strategy, the chief epidemiologist of the nation’s public health agency has admitted to Newsweek that he was “not convinced” that it was the appropriate strategy to take. Sweden has seen over 3000 deaths, which places the number dead per million at around 343 deaths per million population (their population is about 10 million), which is a higher rate than the United States (257 deaths per million in population). While the anti-lockdown strategy was intended to develop herd immunity, and was implemented under the assumption that children do not get critically ill from coronavirus infections. Sweden currently has the highest rate of infections in Scandinavia. JM-L

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

10. More electricity coming from renewable sources than from coal

According to the New York Times, a decade ago coal-burning plants provided 50% of U.S. electricity. In the past three years, the administration has gone to great lengths to shore up the coal industry by reducing rules for coal-burning power plants, which continue to struggle. New government projections now show that for the first time ever, the U.S. is expected to use more electricity from renewable sources rather than from coal. Coal is projected to drop by one-quarter this year, providing only 19% of U.S. electricity. In the period that coal’s share of the U.S. electricity market has been dropping, costs of renewable energy have been dropping: by 40% for wind farms and by 80% for solar, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboraatory. S-HP

Do you want to tell the administration and your Congressmembers that our coronavirus economic recovery should emphasize cheaper, less polluting renewable energy sources so that we can simultaneously address the climate crisis? Addresses are here.

RESOURCES

• The Americans of Conscience Checklist reports that their subscribers have doubled the number of actions they have taken. See the list for many quick, direct ways to intervene politically.
• See Sarah-Hope’s list if you want to work through her recommendations for actions.
• Martha’s list offers weekly opportunities to comment on policy changes for the public record. Closing this week are: the misnamed “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science”; new policy on coal ash disposal; biometric data collection on undocumented immigrants; FEMA management of medical resources; and small but significant: redefining the word “healthy” on food labels to include more fat. You can also sign up for the Consumer Product Safety Commission meeting on setting priorities for fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
• Rogan’s list this week is chock-full of information and action items–everything from the movement for justice for the family of Ahmaud Arbery, to re-opening guidelines, to the strategy behind ICE’s refusal to release migrant children.

News You May Have Missed is of necessity taking the week off. However, we recommend that you keep reading Heather Cox Richardson, whose May 7 column is especially illuminating. Of course you know the bold strokes of what is going on in Washington, but the devils that are in the details are quite astonishing. You can also still read Sarah-Hope’s careful news summaries and suggested action items. 

It is pretty difficult to keep track of all that is happening and to sort out the reliable information from the dreck. Luckily, some remarkable thinkers and scholars are making sense of it all. Science journalist Laurie Garrett, who received a Pulitzer for her coverage of the Ebola virus in 1995 and who predicted the situation we are now in, in her book The Coming Plague is among these.. She had a comprehensive piece which clarifies the parallel roles of Xi Jinping and Donald Trump with regard to the coronaviru in The New Republic earlier in April; TNR will only give you three free articles, but this should be one of them.

We mention Heather Cox Richardson regularly; the worse things get, the more cogent and essential her analysis becomes.

The Atlantic has a project, “The Battle for the Constitution,” which features a myriad of impressive stories on how the coronavirus, the Trump administration and the Supreme Court are jeopardizing constitutional rights.

DOMESTIC NEWS

1. Trump threatens press freedom

Trump tweeted last week that news outlets should return their “Noble” prizes for their coverage of the Russian election interference story, as the Hill notes. (Just to be clear, newspapers don’t get Nobel prizes but Pulitzers–but have not gotten them for stories about Russia and the election.)  Though the tweets are absurd, they should remind us that in March he filed libel lawsuits against the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times for publishing opinion pieces that demonstrated how Trump collaborated with Russia, as Vice reported. In April, he sued an NBC affiliate for writing that he said that the coronavirus was a hoax, according to the New York Post. Though these suits are widely regarded as frivolous, unable to succeed because of First Amendment protections, they are likely to have a chilling effect on smaller media outlets without the budget to fight them, the Atlantic reports. 

Local news is already jeopardized, as the New York Times reported last year. A detailed 2019 report from PEN explains that as print advertising revenue has fallen (and as readers resist paywall/subscription models), 1800 news outlets have closed since 2004, impeding democratic processes and allowing false news to flourish. Also in 2019, a PEW report indicates that people value local news (though they prefer to access it on TV) but don’t understand that it is in jeopardy.

Thirty states have laws prohibiting “SLAPP” suits (strategic lawsuits against public participation)–that is, those filed with the intent to silence public voices, according to the Cornell Law School. But these are not helpful in dealing with Trump’s suits against newspapers, because he filed them in federal court, where SLAPP does not apply, according to the Hill. RLS

You can tell your Congressmembers it’s time for a national SLAPP law. Addresses are here.

2. US deporting asylum-seekers ill with COVID-19 back to the countries they fled.

The U.S. has been turning back all asylum seekers at the border, claiming this is a coronavirus prevention measure. And up until mid-April, when Guatemala barred flights from the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had been returning asylum seekers to their countries of origin from which they had sought asylum. Reuters reports that at this point, more than 100 individuals testing positive for coronavirus—or over 20% of all Coronavirus cases in Guatemala as of May 1—have been deported from the U.S. to Guatemala. Many of these are deportees who come from indigenous communities, which are spurning the returnees. Groups in the Guatemala highlands, from whence many asylum-seekers come, have attempted to burn down a migrant shelter and are threatening the families of those who return from the U.S. Carlos Cunes, flown back to Guatemala after his U.S. asylum claim was denied, told Reuters that when he tried to return home, “[villagers] threatened to set my family on fire…. If I had stayed, they would have burnt down my house and who knows what else,” this despite the fact that Cunes had documentation showing he had tested negative for coronavirus. Mexico has not stopped deportations, so despite the cancellation of flights from the U.S., Guatemalans seeking asylum in the U.S. continue to be returned to the country they are fleeing. S-HP

3. Long-standing flaws in nursing home oversight led to thousands of COVID-19 deaths

16,000 nursing home residents and staff in the U.S. have died from the coronavirus–more than 25% of the U.S. deaths overall, USA Today reported on May 1. Some 97,000 are known to be positive, though this is likely an undercount, given insufficient testing, data and reporting. California’s flaws in tracking cases are detailed in a Santa Cruz Sentinel story.  Inadequate safety precautions, improper procedures and missing safety equipment, severe staff shortages, unavailability of tests, lack of regulation and reporting, and a culture of secrecy driven by financial priorities all set the conditions for nursing homes to be over-run by COVID-19, according to CNN. Residents are already at high risk because of their age and medical situations. Information about the status of nursing homes in terms of the coronavirus has been hard for residents and families to obtain, CNN reported.

USA Today has a searchable database of nursing homes with cases of COVID-19, though not all states provided data.You can look up the inspection reports for the nursing home your family member or friend is considering, thanks to a tool from Kaiser Health News; as KHN explains, infection control–handwashing and protective equipment–is the biggest lapse.

In Canada, half of the 3,391 COVID-19 deaths have occured in long-term care homes (as nursing homes are called there), according to the New York Times.  The situation has revealed long-standing faultlines in the system, from underpaid workers with precarious status who must work even when they are sick to the lack of protective equipment in an industry which is fundamentally unregulated, NOW magazine reported. Five long-term care homes in Ontario, Canada were in such difficulty with staff shortages and critically ill patients that the province called in the military to help, according to CTV. The hardest-hit nursing home in Ontario had numerous previous violations involving–among other things–dirty laundry and recorded patient abuse. What should have happened throughout Ontario–and everywhere–was universal testing of all nursing home residents. A few nursing homes have done this with the help of local hospitals, revealing residents who had the coronavirus but were asymptomatic, according to the Toronto Star. Universal testing permitted the facilities to quarantine those who otherwise would be infecting others. RLS

Ask your members of Congress for immediate action—and appropriate funding—to protect nursing home residents. Addresses are here.

4. $500 billion in loan money to businesses entirely unregulated

Most coronavirus aid for businesses is being distributed under guidelines adopted in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which places limits on dividend payments and executive compensation for businesses and calls on businesses to prioritize maintaining pre-Coronavirus workforce. These limits have not been placed on a federal program set up by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department that will lend up to $500 billion in the form of bond purchases to large, publicly traded companies, according to Stripes. While the companies will be required to pay back these loans, there are no limitations on how the monies can be used. In an interview with the Washington Post, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin claimed “a lot of these companies have stopped their share buybacks and slashed their dividends,” implying that restrictions on the use of these funds were unnecessary. Of course, we were also assured that the 2017 corporate tax cuts would be used to increase worker pay and provide benefits, not for executive bonuses, stock buybacks, and shareholder dividends. S-HP

If you want to intervene, you could demand that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department set up limits on the use of the monies in this $500 billion fund so the general public, rather than shareholders and executives will benefit. Addresses are here.

5. Meatpacking plants–coronavirus hotspots–required to stay open, per Trump

In mid-April, Trump finally used the Defense Production Act to increase supplies of masks and personal protective equipment. Now he has invoked it once again—to classify meatpacking plants as “essential infrastructure,” which means they will be required to remain in operation. Trump’s move will also prevent local health officials from closing facilities that are significant sources of coronavirus infections. Meatpacking plants generally provide poor working conditions, including lax safety requirements. Workers in these plants stand close together and make significant use of knives and other cutting implements—injuring both themselves and others, as Common Dreams described the situation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has not yet issued any guidelines for protecting workers in meatpacking facilities. In addition, a Department of Agriculture (USDA) federal rule change in September, 2019, reduced inspection requirements for pork processing plants and gave plant owners the option of hiring their own inspectors, rather than requiring inspections by federal employees, according to NPR. Meatpacking plants have been identified as hotspots for coronavirus transmission. As of April 30, at least 20 workers at meatpacking plants has died of COVID-19 and another 6,500 either tested positive for COVID-19 or were symptomatic at a level to require their quarantine, the Washington Post reports.. Trump may call meatpacking plant workers “essential,” but essential is starting to sound a lot like expendable. S-HP

If you think that essential should not mean expendable, ask your Congressmembers to investigate conditions at “essential” workplaces. Addresses are here.

6. Inequities among students intensified by on-line learning

The coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating existing educational inequities because students without adequate internet access cannot engage in remote learning. The Emergency Education Connections Act, H.R.6563, would address this gap by granting $2 billion to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for use in its E-Rate Program that helps provide schools, students, and teachers with affordable internet and appropriate devices, such as laptops and tablets. H.R.6563 is currently with the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

We can advocate for H.R.6563 by using the this link to contact House leaders or we can contact those listed here, making the point that internet access for students and teachers be prioritized in any further coronavirus legislation and point out that H.R.6563 would do just that.

7. Protections for transgender patients to be eliminated–in a pandemic

The Affordable Healthcare Act barred discrimination on the basis of gender, under which it included transgender people as a protected class. The Trump administration is about to remove those protections for transgender people through a federal rules change by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to Politico. The final rule has not been released publicly, but has been circulated to the Department of Justice (DoJ), one of the final steps before a rule change is enacted. This rule change comes in the middle of a pandemic and affects a community that has been treated poorly by some in the healthcare community, Transgender Planet wrote. A Center for American Progress survey of transgender individuals found that 29% of them said a healthcare professional had refused to see them on the basis of their gender identity. In other circumstances one might hope that Health and Human Service’s Office of Civil Rights might object to the removal of a protected class, but that office is currently run by Roger Severino, a former staffer at the Heritage Foundation and a long-time anti-LGBTQ activist. S-HP

You can decry this invitation to discriminate, particularly as it comes during a pandemic. Addresses are here.

8. $8 billion earmarked for Native Americans–none distributed after a month

Under the CARES Act, Native American tribal governments were to receive $8 billion in emergency Coronavirus relief through the Treasury Department; however, almost a month later, none of that funding has been distributed, according to the Huffington Post. There appear to be two reasons for this failure. First, there is a legal battle underway regarding whether Alaska Native corporations, which hold most native land in the state, can receive money earmarked for tribal governments [emphasis added]. Tribal governments are arguing that Alaska Native corporations do not engage in the types of public services needed to fight coronavirus. Second, as pointed out by Senator Tom Udall, Vice Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, the Treasury Department generally doesn’t interact with tribes and as a result “They don’t know how to interact in the appropriate way with tribes and they’re just not getting the job done,” the Huffington Post reported. All this is occurring as coronavirus devastates Native American communities.

Insist on prompt distribution of coronavirus relief funds, and ask Senate Indian Affairs committe leadership to take any actions possible to see that these funds are distributed swiftly and appropriately. Addresses are here.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & THE ENVIRONMENT

9. COVID-19 hits Black people harder than others

A study of 305 adults hospitalized with COVID-19 in eight Georgia hospitals found that 83.2% of them were Black, while in the same period only 47% of people hospitalized for all causes–including COVID-19–were Black. Seven of the eight hospitals were in Atlanta, where Black people constitute 54% of the population, according to World Population Review.  Previous discussions of the coronavirus have suggested that Black patients were more likely to have risk factors, such as diabetes, heart disease, and asthma, but in the study of Georgia patients, published by the Center for Disease Control, Black and non-black patients were equally likely to have these risk factors. High blood pressure was the only risk factor that Black patients were more likely to have. Black patients were no more likely to die than non-black patients. The study suggests that social and economic factors–including occupation–may explain why Black people are more likely to contract COVID-19.

You can call for a Congressional investigation of disparities in coronavirus mortalities and urge additional funding for hospitals caring for over-represented minority communities. Addresses are here.

RESOURCES

• With 26 weeks to go before the presidential election, the Americans of Conscience Checklist prioritizes what we need to do–starting with taking care of ourself.
• See Sarah-Hope’s whole list for more opportunities to intervene.
• Martha’s list this week has the news that 10,000 Federal employees tested positive for coronavirus. She also notes the EPA’s refusal to regulate particulate matter as well as to regulate neurotoxin methyl bromide Proposed Rule on HHS OIG . And under closing soon, you’ll want to see that the”Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” comment period was extended, enough time for their own Science Advisory Board to criticize the proposal.
• See Rogan’s list for ways to object to the treatment of prisoners, asylum-seekers, the Navajo nation, and more.