theguardian--2020-12-28--Covid vaccines and $600 payments: key provisions in the US stimulus bill

Donald Trump signed the new Covid-19 stimulus package into law on Sunday night , suddenly giving into pressure from Congress after calling the legislation a “ disgrace ” days earlier .
The $ 900bn emergency relief bill includes funds to help small businesses , health providers and schools , as well as individuals facing unemployment , eviction and food insecurity .
Here is a look at a few of the key provisions in the more than 5,000-page package : Most Americans can expect a $ 600 stimulus check from the government , half the amount distributed to individuals in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made available to adults with annual incomes up to $ 75,000 , with smaller payments available to those who make more .
There will also be $ 600 available per child .
This round , families with mixed-immigration status will also qualify for the funds , after US citizens in such families were excluded from collecting the checks in the spring .
Trump said he wanted to give Americans $ 2,000 stimulus checks , a move favored by Democrats .
But Republican lawmakers are not expected to support it .
Unemployment benefits will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week for at least 10 weeks .
That is half the amount the government provided from March to August .
There is $ 69bn included in the bill to aid Covid-19 vaccine distribution , contact tracing and testing .
This includes $ 9bn to healthcare providers and $ 4.5bn to mental health services .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) said last week that more than a million people in the US had received the first dose of the vaccine – 10 days after Covid-19 vaccine administration began in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paycheck Protection Program ( PPP ) , which provided roughly $ 525bn in aid to more than five million businesses after it was enacted in the spring .
Loans of up to $ 2m will be available to small , hard-hit businesses and $ 15bn of the funding is dedicated to live venues such as movie theaters and museums .
PPP , which ended in August , was criticized for its complexity and loopholes and the $ 284bn extension attempts to address those issues .
Congress members said they attempted to better target @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accessing the loans .
Businesses have until 31 March to apply for the loans , but it is not clear when the application process will open .
Educational institutions will get $ 82bn , with $ 54bn for public schools , which provide free education to children in kindergarten through high school .
This is roughly four times more than what Congress provided to public schools in its spring economic relief package .
State governments are facing budget deficits because of falling personal income tax and sales tax revenue , leaving public schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ short of requests by public school groups , but president-elect Joe Biden has promised to direct more help to schools .
The rest of the money will be directed to colleges and universities ( $ 23bn ) , an education emergency relief fund ( $ 4bn ) and Native American schools ( $ 1bn ) .
State and local governments will be able to distribute funds to people who may be facing eviction under a $ 25bn first-of-its-kind rental assistance program .
The assistance can be used for rent , back rent , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bill also extends the federal eviction moratorium by a month .
The moratorium is limited and has allowed evictions to continue in certain circumstances .
At a time when millions of Americans are working from home , attending school and seeing their doctors online , Congress is providing $ 7bn to expand high-speed internet access .
The Federal Communications Commission ( FCC ) estimated that 21 million Americans lack high-speed internet access but other studies have estimated the number at close to 42 million .
About half of the money will be used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefit to help cover internet bills for low-income families .
Funds will also be used to help with broadband issues for communities near historically Black colleges and universities , the federal government ’ s telehealth program and rural broadband .

Donald Trump signed the new Covid-19 stimulus package into law on Sunday night, suddenly giving into pressure from Congress after calling the legislation a “disgrace” days earlier.
The $900bn emergency relief bill includes funds to help small businesses, health providers and schools, as well as individuals facing unemployment, eviction and food insecurity.
Here is a look at a few of the key provisions in the more than 5,000-page package:
Individual aid
Most Americans can expect a $600 stimulus check from the government, half the amount distributed to individuals in the spring. The stimulus checks will be made available to adults with annual incomes up to $75,000, with smaller payments available to those who make more. There will also be $600 available per child. This round, families with mixed-immigration status will also qualify for the funds, after US citizens in such families were excluded from collecting the checks in the spring.
Trump said he wanted to give Americans $2,000 stimulus checks, a move favored by Democrats. But Republican lawmakers are not expected to support it.
Unemployment benefits will also include an extra $300 per week for at least 10 weeks. That is half the amount the government provided from March to August.
Covid-19 vaccine and testing
There is $69bn included in the bill to aid Covid-19 vaccine distribution, contact tracing and testing. This includes $9bn to healthcare providers and $4.5bn to mental health services. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said last week that more than a million people in the US had received the first dose of the vaccine – 10 days after Covid-19 vaccine administration began in the country.
Small business aid
The package extends the paycheck protection program (PPP), which provided roughly $525bn in aid to more than 5 million businesses after it was enacted in the spring. Loans of up to $2m will be available to small, hard-hit businesses and $15bn of the funding is dedicated to live venues such as movie theaters and museums.
PPP, which ended in August, was criticized for its complexity and loopholes and the $284bn extension attempts to address those issues. Congress members said they attempted to better target the funds after Black-owned businesses reported difficulties accessing the loans. Businesses have until 31 March to apply for the loans, but it is not clear when the application process will open.
School funding
Educational institutions will get $82bn, with $54bn for public schools, which provide free education to children in kindergarten through high school. This is roughly four times more than what Congress provided to public schools in its spring economic relief package.
State governments are facing budget deficits because of falling personal income tax and sales tax revenue, leaving public schools vulnerable. The promised funding still falls short of requests by public school groups, but President-elect Joe Biden has promised to direct more help to schools.
The rest of the money will be directed to colleges and universities ($23bn), an education emergency relief fund ($4bn) and Native American schools ($1bn).
Rental assistance
State and local governments will be able to distribute funds to people who may be facing eviction under a $25bn first-of-its-kind rental assistance program. The assistance can be used for rent, back rent, utilities and other related expenses.
The bill also extends the federal eviction moratorium by a month. The moratorium is limited and has allowed evictions to continue in certain circumstances.
Broadband infrastructure
At a time when millions of Americans are working from home, attending school and seeing their doctors online, Congress is providing $7bn to expand high-speed internet access. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) estimated that 21 million Americans lack high-speed internet access but other studies have estimated the number at close to 42 million.
About half of the money will be used for a $50-a- month broadband benefit to help cover internet bills for low-income families. Funds will also be used to help with broadband issues for communities near historically Black colleges and universities, the federal government’s telehealth program and rural broadband.


theguardian--2020-12-28--US warned of possible coronavirus surge in wake of holiday travel

Public health experts are cautioning the US to brace for another Covid-19 surge following holiday travel , as the virus continues to spread unchecked throughout the country .
Transportation Security Administration ( TSA ) officials said the agency had screened 1.28 million travelers at US airports nationwide on Sunday – marking the highest number of air travelers since mid-March , Reuters reported .
While this is approximately 50 % fewer passengers than the same day of 2019 , Sunday marked the sixth day over the previous 10 days that saw more than one million people traveling through airports alone .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ concerned and my colleagues in public health are concerned also is that we very well might see a post-seasonal , in the sense of Christmas , New Year ’ s , surge , and , as I have described it , as a surge upon a surge , because , if you look at the slope , the incline of cases that we have experienced as we have gone into the late fall and soon-to-be-early winter , it is really quite troubling , ” top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really at a very critical point.
” There have been 19,145,982 cases in the US and 333,140 deaths , Johns Hopkins University ’ s most recent data indicate ; Tennessee and California have become the new US centers , with 119.7 and 95.7 people infected per 100,000 , respectively .
New York City and state , which got coronavirus under control after a deadly spring , has also seen an uptick in cases .
On Sunday , Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a 7.07 % positivity rate for the city ’ s seven-day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deaths could total 500,000 by spring .
US officials are also closely monitoring a coronavirus mutation detected in parts of the UK .
While they say that the strain is no more likely to result in serious illness – nor more likely to resist vaccines – it appears to be more contagious .
Starting Monday , travelers entering America from the UK must show a negative Covid-19 test within three days of their flight following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mandate last week , AP noted .
Health officials in Los @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new mutation as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in California .
“ I wouldn ’ t be surprised that it ’ s already here , ” Dr.Peter Chin-Hong , an infectious disease professor at the University of California , San Francisco School of Medicine , told ABC-7 News .
Meanwhile , the vaccine rollout – which has already seen setbacks and controversies – is not expected to happen widely for several months , making near-term relief seem all the more uncertain .
While the US goal under Operation Warp Speed was expected to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year ’ s end , only around 1.9 million people have received a jab , per CNBC and KVIA .
Allegations of fraudulent vaccine distribution have already emerged .
New York state authorities have announced a criminal probe into one healthcare provider , alleging that it “ may have fraudulently obtained Covid-19 vaccine , transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines and diverted it to members of the public , ” according to the New York Post .
President-elect Joe Biden has also warned that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far worse before it gets better .
“ One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis : I ’ m going to tell it to you straight .
I ’ m going to tell you the truth .
And here ’ s the simple truth : our darkest days in the battle against Covid are ahead of us , not behind us , ” Biden recently said .

Public health experts are cautioning the US to brace for another Covid-19 surge following holiday travel, as the virus continues to spread unchecked throughout the country.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said the agency had screened 1.28 million travelers at US airports nationwide on Sunday – marking the highest number of air travelers since mid-March, Reuters reported. While this is approximately 50% fewer passengers than the same day of 2019, Sunday marked the sixth day over the previous 10 days that saw more than one million people traveling through airports alone.
“And the reason I’m concerned and my colleagues in public health are concerned also is that we very well might see a post-seasonal, in the sense of Christmas, New Year’s, surge, and, as I have described it, as a surge upon a surge, because, if you look at the slope, the incline of cases that we have experienced as we have gone into the late fall and soon-to-be-early winter, it is really quite troubling,” the top US infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday on CNN.
“We are really at a very critical point.”
There have been 19,145,982 cases in the US and 333,140 deaths, Johns Hopkins University’s most recent data indicate; Tennessee and California have become the new US centers, with 119.7 and 95.7 people infected per 100,000, respectively.
New York City and state, which got coronavirus under control after a deadly spring, has also seen a rise in cases. On Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a 7.07% positivity rate for the city’s seven-day average.
Some estimates predict that US deaths could total 500,000 by spring.
US officials are also closely monitoring a coronavirus mutation detected in parts of the UK. While they say that the strain is no more likely to result in serious illness – nor more likely to resist vaccines – it appears to be more contagious.
Starting Monday, travelers entering America from the UK must show a negative Covid-19 test within three days of their flight following a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mandate last week, AP noted.
Health officials in Los Angeles said they are testing for the new mutation as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in California. “I wouldn’t be surprised that it’s already here,” Dr Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, told ABC-7 News.
Meanwhile, the vaccine rollout – which has already seen setbacks and controversies – is not expected to happen widely for several months, making near-term relief seem all the more uncertain. While the US goal under Operation Warp Speed was expected to provide vaccine doses to 20 million by year’s end, only about 1.9 million people have received a jab, per CNBC and KVIA.
Allegations of fraudulent vaccine distribution have already emerged. New York state authorities have announced a criminal investigation into one healthcare provider, alleging that it “may have fraudulently obtained Covid-19 vaccine, transferred it to facilities in other parts of the state in violation of state guidelines and diverted it to members of the public,” according to the New York Post.
President-elect Joe Biden has also warned that the US pandemic is poised to get far worse before it gets better.
“One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis: I’m going to tell it to you straight. I’m going to tell you the truth. And here’s the simple truth: our darkest days in the battle against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us,” Biden recently said.


theguardian--2020-12-28--Biden says Trump aides are obstructing his transition team – video

President-elect Joe Biden accused the outgoing Trump administration of failing to provide sufficient information to his transition team .
‘ @ @ @ @ @ aren ’ t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in @ @ @ @ @ ’ said US president-elect Joe Biden .
‘ It ’ s nothing short , in @ @ @ @ @ ’ Biden also said that the Trump administration had caused serious damage to many government @ @ @ @ @ them have been hollowed out in personnel , capacity and in morale , ' he @ @ @ @ @ policy processes that have atrophied or have been sidelined .
In the despair of our @ @ @ @ @ those alliances.
’ • America ’ s democracy is in crisis – how can Joe @ @ @ @ @

President-elect Joe Biden accused the outgoing Trump administration of failing to provide sufficient information to his transition team. ‘Right now, we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas,’ said US president-elect Joe Biden. ‘It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.’ Biden also said that the Trump administration had caused serious damage to many government agencies. ‘Many of them have been hollowed out in personnel, capacity and in morale,' he said. ‘In the policy processes that have atrophied or have been sidelined. In the despair of our alliances and the disrepair of those alliances.’


theguardian--2020-12-29--Coronavirus sharpens America's already stark economic inequalities

Walter Almendarez doubts there will be any presents beneath his artificial Christmas tree – not for his daughter , his nephews or anyone else .
Back in March , Almendarez reread an email over and over again , trying to process the news that he had just been let go from Los Angeles ’ s Chateau Marmont , where he had worked for over two decades .
He was among more than 200 people fired by the swanky hotel in one fell swoop .
“ It was just terrible , the way they did it , ” he said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ job practically impossible , and soon , he used up his 401 ( k ) retirement savings just trying to pay the bills .
Like Almendarez , tens of millions of people across America are struggling to make ends meet in an economy devastated by the impact of efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic .
Yet at the same time millions of other Americans are enjoying an end-of-year spending spree .
The National Retail Federation is projecting that holiday sales will jump between 3.6 and 5.2 % this year compared with 2019 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 750bn .
Those startling discrepancies represent a stark example of how the pandemic has exacerbated America ’ s already chronic inequalities , amid a widespread awakening to the country ’ s deep-rooted problems with economic and racial injustice .
“ It is definitely something that has increased disparities between white and Black , between those well-off and less well-off – high wage , low wage .
All of those things have been absolutely pulling apart , ” said Elise Gould , a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute ( EPI ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ accrued more than $ 1tn in additional wealth – enough to send every American a $ 3,000 check and then some .
But so far , that prosperity has not trickled down to 26.1 million US workers , who in November were still wrestling with direct impacts from the economic downturn , including unemployment and drops in pay .
Those hardships have disproportionately fallen on Black and brown people , who were less likely to be able to work from home even pre-pandemic .
In the third quarter of 2020 , the unemployment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 13.2 % and 11.2 % respectively , compared with 7.9 % for white people .
The slowdown has also caused a “ shecession ” for women , especially women of color , who have been overburdened with caretaking responsibilities while simultaneously watching their industries flounder .
As Americans struggle to pay rent or buy food , “ the worst suffering ” people can experience “ could really be heading for us as we go into the end of the year ” , warned Amanda Fischer , policy director at the Washington Center for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ non-profit .
Early into the pandemic , Congress ’ s Cares Act , which provided $ 2.2tn in coronavirus aid , proved “ one of the most effective anti-poverty tools we ’ ve seen in American history ” , Fischer said .
But those provisions were only temporary , and once they vanished , vehicles lined up outside food banks while renters fell months behind on their bills .
Then , when the US economy started to rebound , it did so through a “ K-shaped ” recovery , benefiting the rich and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stock market – where about 80 % of wealth has historically been owned by the top 10 % of households – continued to surge , and CEOs projected widespread confidence in the economy , despite many of them expecting to reduce their workforce and let wages stagnate .
High earners also fared well , with the employment rate for those making over $ 60,000 eventually eclipsing what it had been near the beginning of 2020 , according to not-for-profit organization Opportunity Insights .
Meanwhile , by mid-October , the employment rate among workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by 19 % compared with January levels .
And , as shoppers browsed online , jobseekers expecting a holiday boom were instead hit by seasonally adjusted “ notable losses in retail hiring ” , according to a December post by EPI .
Now , with millions of Americans still suffering even as a resurgent virus forces a new slew of lockdowns , critics are blasting Congress ’ s relatively modest proposed aid package , which includes a $ 300 supplemental weekly jobless benefit and $ 600 stimulus checks .
“ It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ People are homeless , ” said Anna Gifty , co-founder of the Sadie Collective , which aims to boost diversity in economics and related fields .
In an 11th-hour reversal against his own party , Donald Trump joined calls on Congress to instead offer $ 2,000 stimulus checks .
He decried the legislation as a “ disgrace ” , much to the delight of Democrats , who have long advocated for a heftier aid package .
“ House Democrats have fought for months to provide relief to the American people , which Republicans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Steny Hoyer , the House majority leader .
“ Now that the president has agreed to direct payments of $ 2,000 , we will ask for unanimous consent to pass a bill this week to give Americans this assistance.
” But while Capitol Hill battles it out , Almendarez is one of many distressed breadwinners bearing the brunt of their inaction , and he wishes the government would do more to help .
With about $ 270 worth of unemployment benefits a week , his family can not afford their housing payments right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their favorite holiday meal .
“ We ’ re hurting , ” he said .
“ And of course the country ’ s hurting also , because people don ’ t have money .
”

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Walter Almendarez doubts there will be any presents beneath his artificial Christmas tree – not for his daughter, his nephews or anyone else.
Back in March, Almendarez reread an email over and over again, trying to process the news that he had just been let go from Los Angeles’s Chateau Marmont, where he had worked for over two decades. He was among more than 200 people fired by the swanky hotel in one fell swoop.
“It was just terrible, the way they did it,” he said.
Widespread local shutdowns made finding a new job practically impossible, and soon, he used up his 401(k) retirement savings just trying to pay the bills.
Like Almendarez, tens of millions of people across America are struggling to make ends meet in an economy devastated by the impact of efforts to control the coronavirus pandemic. Yet at the same time millions of other Americans are enjoying an end-of-year spending spree. The National Retail Federation is projecting that holiday sales will jump between 3.6 and 5.2% this year compared with 2019, with consumers collectively spending well over $750bn.
Those startling discrepancies represent a stark example of how the pandemic has exacerbated America’s already chronic inequalities, amid a widespread awakening to the country’s deep-rooted problems with economic and racial injustice.
“It is definitely something that has increased disparities between white and Black, between those well-off and less well-off – high wage, low wage. All of those things have been absolutely pulling apart,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
During the pandemic, 651 billionaires have accrued more than $1tn in additional wealth – enough to send every American a $3,000 check and then some. But so far, that prosperity has not trickled down to 26.1 million US workers, who in November were still wrestling with direct impacts from the economic downturn, including unemployment and drops in pay.
Those hardships have disproportionately fallen on Black and brown people, who were less likely to be able to work from home even pre-pandemic. In the third quarter of 2020, the unemployment rates for Black people and Latinos were 13.2% and 11.2% respectively, compared with 7.9% for white people.
The slowdown has also caused a “shecession” for women, especially women of color, who have been overburdened with caretaking responsibilities while simultaneously watching their industries flounder.
As Americans struggle to pay rent or buy food, “the worst suffering” people can experience “could really be heading for us as we go into the end of the year”, warned Amanda Fischer, policy director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a research and grant-making non-profit.
Early into the pandemic, Congress’s Cares Act, which provided $2.2tn in coronavirus aid, proved “one of the most effective anti-poverty tools we’ve seen in American history”, Fischer said. But those provisions were only temporary, and once they vanished, vehicles lined up outside food banks while renters fell months behind on their bills.
Then, when the US economy started to rebound, it did so through a “K-shaped” recovery, benefiting the rich and leaving behind almost everyone else. The stock market – where about 80% of wealth has historically been owned by the top 10% of households – continued to surge, and CEOs projected widespread confidence in the economy, despite many of them expecting to reduce their workforce and let wages stagnate.
High earners also fared well, with the employment rate for those making over $60,000 eventually eclipsing what it had been near the beginning of 2020, according to not-for-profit organization Opportunity Insights.
A man sits on the Wall Street bull near the New York stock exchange, which has continued to surge despite the economic crisis. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Meanwhile, by mid-October, the employment rate among workers earning less than $27,000 had plummeted by 19% compared with January levels. And, as shoppers browsed online, jobseekers expecting a holiday boom were instead hit by seasonally adjusted “notable losses in retail hiring”, according to a December post by EPI.
Now, with millions of Americans still suffering even as a resurgent virus forces a new slew of lockdowns, critics are blasting Congress’s relatively modest proposed aid package, which includes a $300 supplemental weekly jobless benefit and $600 stimulus checks.
“It’s not enough. People are hungry. People are homeless,” said Anna Gifty, co-founder of the Sadie Collective, which aims to boost diversity in economics and related fields.
In an 11th-hour reversal against his own party, Donald Trump joined calls on Congress to instead offer $2,000 stimulus checks. He decried the legislation as a “disgrace”, much to the delight of Democrats, who have long advocated for a heftier aid package.
“House Democrats have fought for months to provide relief to the American people, which Republicans rejected at every turn,” said Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader. “Now that the president has agreed to direct payments of $2,000, we will ask for unanimous consent to pass a bill this week to give Americans this assistance.”
But while Capitol Hill battles it out, Almendarez is one of many distressed breadwinners bearing the brunt of their inaction, and he wishes the government would do more to help.
With about $270 worth of unemployment benefits a week, his family cannot afford their housing payments right now, much less the ingredients for their favorite holiday meal.
“We’re hurting,” he said. “And of course the country’s hurting also, because people don’t have money.”


theguardian--2020-12-29--Newt Gingrich: Democrats are trying to 'brainwash the entire next generation'

Some blame Donald Trump .
Others blame social media .
And those with longer memories blame Newt Gingrich for carving up America into blue states and red states racked by mutual fear , suspicion and alienation .
As speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999 , the Republican arguably did more anyone else to sow the seeds of division in Washington .
“ Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport , wrecked Congress , and paved the way for Trump ’ s rise , ” reflected the Atlantic magazine in 2018 .
But now the 77-year-old party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of three books lionising Trump must contemplate a new chapter in which the ultimate outsider president makes way for Joe Biden , the ultimate insider who has promised healing , unity and a return to pre-Gingrich norms .
So where does the Republican party go from here ?
“ I ’ m guessing , but I think we ’ re going to be the commonsense reform party , ” Gingrich says by phone from Rome , where his wife , Callista , is American ambassador to the Vatican .
“ You look at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t work .
You look at these Democratic governors who are petty dictators and you look at the challenges facing us – whether it ’ s a collapsing education system , a collapsing infrastructure , competing with China – and you know that the Democrats , as the party of government employee unions and liberalism , aren ’ t going to be able to deal with any of this.
” As the dust of last month ’ s elections settled , Marco Rubio , a Republican senator for Florida and potential White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the party to cool its love affair with big corporations .
“ The future of the party is based on a multiethnic , multiracial working-class coalition , ” he told the Axios website .
Gingrich believes it is already on the way but , as seems habitual among many in Trump ’ s orbit , he again pivots to a critique of the other side .
“ It is becoming that partly because the left is so desperately committed to being the party of very wealthy people living in enclaves , explaining that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have their own security guards.
” Democrats have also succumbed to a liberal theology , he argues , echoing a rightwing “ culture wars ” talking point .
“ What you have , I think , is a Democratic party driven by a cultural belief system that they ’ re now trying to drive through the school system so they can brainwash the entire next generation if they can get away with it.
” A red tsunami beat the blue wave at the polls , he continues , pointing to unexpected Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state legislatures and various defeats for leftwing causes in state referendums .
He singles out for praise Congresswoman Elise Stefanik , whose political action committee dedicated to electing Republican women reaped dividends .
“ What an amazing job she did .
If we were liberals , the covers of all these women ’ s magazines would be ‘ The year of the Republican woman ’ but of course , that would be so politically incorrect they couldn ’ t do it .
So the only place that ’ s truly an anomaly is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s an anomaly so I find myself engaged as a historian every day trying to figure out what in the devil is going on.
” Though there is no factual basis for this claim , Gingrich shares Trump ’ s view that fraud must be the explanation and has said so on the conservative Fox News network .
“ I don ’ t see how any reasonable human being can – you can argue over how much it was – but it ’ s clearly the most in our lifetime , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security department described the election as the most secure in history ; his justice department uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud ; state officials including Republicans reported no significant irregularities ; judges tossed out numerous Trump campaign lawsuits .
Yet 18 Republican attorneys general and 126 House Republicans backed a preposterous lawsuit to invalidate millions of votes that was given short shrift by the supreme court .
The failed coup was the latest measure of Trumpism ’ s spread into every organ of the Republican party .
But ultimately , Gingrich believes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the party will depend on Trump himself .
“ He ’ ll remain a dominant figure for a fairly long period of time , depending on how hard he wants to work at it and how serious it is .
People fade pretty quickly if they don ’ t pay attention .
This is a country of enormous restiveness.
” Does he expect Trump to run for president again in 2024 ?
“ I have no idea , ” admits Gingrich , who sought the Republican nomination himself in 2012 .
“ He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland and then make his own mind up .
“ If he does run , he ’ ll be very formidable and part of it ’ s going to be based on what happens with Biden .
If Biden ends up drifting into a really serious recession , the temptation for Trump to run on ‘ I told you so , would you like to go back to my economy ?
’ may be overwhelming.
” Biden will inherit overlapping crises of public health , the economy , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Even in more serene times , incumbent presidents typically suffer losses in the House midway through their first term .
With Democrats now holding only a fragile majority , the Republican leader , Kevin McCarthy , could claim the speaker ’ s gavel in 2022 .
Gingrich , who was a member of Congress for 20 years , muses : “ As a historian , I ’ m pretty cheerful .
When [ Bill ] Clinton won , we picked up 54 seats two years later and when [ Barack ] Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years later .
I don ’ t know that the House Democrats get slaughtered on that scale but I ’ m 99 % sure that McCarthy is the next speaker of the House.
” Control of the Senate , meanwhile , hinges on two runoff races in Georgia early next month .
If Republicans preserve their narrow majority , will Biden be able to work with the majority leader , Mitch McConnell ?
Gingrich , just seven months younger than the president-elect , says bluntly : “ He won ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ genius of the American system .
But if he wants to get nothing done , he doesn ’ t have to work with Mitch .
“ Mitch ’ s memoir , called The Long Game , really helped me understand him much better .
He ’ s a very long-term player and he ’ s very self-contained so he ’ s not intimidated by anything .
When he finally forged an alliance with Trump , it was astonishingly productive if you ’ re a conservative and has given us probably two generations of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ win the two Georgia seats , which I think we will , Biden ’ s going to have to decide , does he want to try to move to being a moderate Democrat , in which case his left will rebel and go crazy , or does he want to stick with the left in which case nothing will get done ?
And Mitch will be happy with either outcome.
” There is a historical rhyme here with the 1990s when Gingrich led a Republican majority against a centrist Democratic president in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lessons from that experience for both sides .
“ An immense amount got done but it ’ s also why the left hates Clinton .
He signed welfare reform , he signed capital gains tax cut , he signed four balanced budgets .
It ’ s nothing to do with his personal behaviour .
It ’ s very much like what happened to the prime minister in Great Britain , Tony Blair : both of them were centrist and both of them were viciously repudiated by their left even as they were popular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just fascinating stuff.
” Could Biden , who is making overtures to Republicans and giving little voice to the left in his cabinet , pay a similar price ?
“ He will.
” The Clinton v Gingrich years are also often cited as the start of the rot in American democracy .
Gingrich was a political pugilist who hurled insults , played to the cameras and set about blowing up the bipartisan consensus .
His Contract with America proposals in 1994 helped Republicans win a majority in the House for the first time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for lying under oath and obstructing justice to conceal an extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky .
Gingrich declared it “ the most systematic , deliberate obstruction-of-justice cover-up and effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history ” .
Looking back , does he accept the view that , among the causes of today ’ s hyperpartisan climate in Washington , he played a role akin to a coal-fired power station ?
“ We had been in the minority for 40 years and unless you had a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ style , you were going to be in the minority for 40 more years , ” he says frankly .
“ So I did my job , but I also proved over and over again I could work with Clinton .
I worked with Democrats all the time .
It wasn ’ t a pathology .
It was a professional job.
” Today ’ s dysfunction , rancour and tribalism can not be pinned on one person alone but has multiple causes that run deeper , acknowledges Allan Lichtman , distinguished professor of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But Gingrich certainly had an outsized role .
“ He was the original polariser , ” Lichtman says .
“ Way back when he was first elected decades ago he criticised the mainstream Republican members of Congress because he thought they were too acquiescent and not engaged in sufficiently vigorous political warfare against the Democrats .
“ He was also , very importantly , one of the architects of one of the most pivotal elections in modern American history , the midterm elections of 1994 , when Republicans took over the House and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the first two years of Dwight Eisenhower .
That election also greatly contributed to polarisation because it wiped out a lot of moderate southern Democrats and replaced them with very conservative southern Republicans .
”

Some blame Donald Trump. Others blame social media. And those with longer memories blame Newt Gingrich for carving up America into blue states and red states racked by mutual fear, suspicion and alienation.
As speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999, the Republican arguably did more than anyone else to sow the seeds of division in Washington. “Newt Gingrich turned partisan battles into bloodsport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise,” reflected the Atlantic magazine in 2018.
But now the 77-year-old party grandee, former history professor and author of three books lionising Trump must contemplate a new chapter in which the ultimate outsider president makes way for Joe Biden, the ultimate insider who has promised healing, unity and a return to pre-Gingrich norms.
So where does the Republican party go from here? “I’m guessing, but I think we’re going to be the commonsense reform party,” Gingrich says by phone from Rome, where his wife, Callista, is American ambassador to the Vatican.
“You look at the degree to which the bureaucracies don’t work. You look at these Democratic governors who are petty dictators and you look at the challenges facing us – whether it’s a collapsing education system, a collapsing infrastructure, competing with China – and you know that the Democrats, as the party of government employee unions and liberalism, aren’t going to be able to deal with any of this.”
As the dust of last month’s elections settled, Marco Rubio, a Republican senator for Florida and potential White House contender in 2024, called for the party to cool its love affair with big corporations. “The future of the party is based on a multiethnic, multiracial working-class coalition,” he told the Axios website.
Gingrich believes it is already on the way but, as seems habitual among many in Trump’s orbit, he again pivots to a critique of the other side. “It is becoming that partly because the left is so desperately committed to being the party of very wealthy people living in enclaves, explaining that the police don’t matter because they have their own security guards.”
Democrats have also succumbed to a liberal theology, he argues, echoing a rightwing “culture wars” talking point. “What you have, I think, is a Democratic party driven by a cultural belief system that they’re now trying to drive through the school system so they can brainwash the entire next generation if they can get away with it.”
A red tsunami beat the blue wave at the polls, he continues, pointing to unexpected Republican gains in the House, victories in state legislatures and various defeats for leftwing causes in state referendums. He singles out for praise Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, whose political action committee dedicated to electing Republican women reaped dividends.
“What an amazing job she did. If we were liberals, the covers of all these women’s magazines would be ‘The year of the Republican woman’ but of course, that would be so politically incorrect they couldn’t do it. So the only place that’s truly an anomaly is the presidential race. I think it’s an anomaly so I find myself engaged as a historian every day trying to figure out what in the devil is going on.”
Newt Gingrich at the 41st annual Conservative Political Action Conference on 8 March 2014 in National Harbor, Maryland. Photograph: TJ Kirkpatrick/Getty Images
Though there is no factual basis for this claim, Gingrich shares Trump’s view that fraud must be the explanation and has said so on the conservative Fox News network. “I don’t see how any reasonable human being can – you can argue over how much it was – but it’s clearly the most in our lifetime,” he insists.
Trump’s homeland security department described the election as the most secure in history; his justice department uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud; state officials including Republicans reported no significant irregularities; judges tossed out numerous Trump campaign lawsuits.
Yet 18 Republican attorneys general and 126 House Republicans backed a preposterous lawsuit to invalidate millions of votes that was given short shrift by the supreme court. The failed coup was the latest measure of Trumpism’s spread into every organ of the Republican party.
But ultimately, Gingrich believes, Trump’s future sway over the party will depend on Trump himself. “He’ll remain a dominant figure for a fairly long period of time, depending on how hard he wants to work at it and how serious it is. People fade pretty quickly if they don’t pay attention. This is a country of enormous restiveness.”
Does he expect Trump to run for president again in 2024? “I have no idea,” admits Gingrich, who sought the Republican nomination himself in 2012. “He certainly can look at [former presidents] Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland and then make his own mind up.
“If he does run, he’ll be very formidable and part of it’s going to be based on what happens with Biden. If Biden ends up drifting into a really serious recession, the temptation for Trump to run on ‘I told you so, would you like to go back to my economy?’ may be overwhelming.”
Biden will inherit overlapping crises of public health, the economy, racial injustice, the climate and democracy. Even in more serene times, incumbent presidents typically suffer losses in the House midway through their first term. With Democrats now holding only a fragile majority, the Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, could claim the speaker’s gavel in 2022.
Gingrich, who was a member of Congress for 20 years, muses: “As a historian, I’m pretty cheerful. When [Bill] Clinton won, we picked up 54 seats two years later and when [Barack] Obama won, we picked up 63 seats two years later. I don’t know that the House Democrats get slaughtered on that scale but I’m 99% sure that McCarthy is the next speaker of the House.”
Bob Dole, Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, in the White House’s Oval Office on 19 December 1995. Photograph: Robert McNeely/Consolidated News Pictures/Getty Images
Control of the Senate, meanwhile, hinges on two runoff races in Georgia early next month. If Republicans preserve their narrow majority, will Biden be able to work with the majority leader, Mitch McConnell?
Gingrich, just seven months younger than the president-elect, says bluntly: “He won’t have any choice. That’s the genius of the American system. But if he wants to get nothing done, he doesn’t have to work with Mitch.
“Mitch’s memoir, called The Long Game, really helped me understand him much better. He’s a very long-term player and he’s very self-contained so he’s not intimidated by anything. When he finally forged an alliance with Trump, it was astonishingly productive if you’re a conservative and has given us probably two generations of conservative judges.
“Particularly if we win the two Georgia seats, which I think we will, Biden’s going to have to decide, does he want to try to move to being a moderate Democrat, in which case his left will rebel and go crazy, or does he want to stick with the left in which case nothing will get done? And Mitch will be happy with either outcome.”
There is a historical rhyme here with the 1990s when Gingrich led a Republican majority against a centrist Democratic president in the shape of Clinton. There may be lessons from that experience for both sides.
“An immense amount got done but it’s also why the left hates Clinton. He signed welfare reform, he signed capital gains tax cut, he signed four balanced budgets. It’s nothing to do with his personal behaviour. It’s very much like what happened to the prime minister in Great Britain, Tony Blair: both of them were centrist and both of them were viciously repudiated by their left even as they were popular in the country. It’s just fascinating stuff.”
Could Biden, who is making overtures to Republicans and giving little voice to the left in his cabinet, pay a similar price? “He will.”
The Clinton v Gingrich years are also often cited as the start of the rot in American democracy. Gingrich was a political pugilist who hurled insults, played to the cameras and set about blowing up the bipartisan consensus. His Contract with America proposals in 1994 helped Republicans win a majority in the House for the first time in four decades.
Clinton was impeached for lying under oath and obstructing justice to conceal an extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gingrich declared it “the most systematic, deliberate obstruction-of-justice cover-up and effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history”.
Looking back, does he accept the view that, among the causes of today’s hyperpartisan climate in Washington, he played a role akin to a coal-fired power station?
“We had been in the minority for 40 years and unless you had a clear, vivid, polarising message and style, you were going to be in the minority for 40 more years,” he says frankly. “So I did my job, but I also proved over and over again I could work with Clinton. I worked with Democrats all the time. It wasn’t a pathology. It was a professional job.”
Today’s dysfunction, rancour and tribalism cannot be pinned on one person alone but has multiple causes that run deeper, acknowledges Allan Lichtman, distinguished professor of history at American University in Washington. But Gingrich certainly had an outsized role.
“He was the original polariser,” Lichtman says. “Way back when he was first elected decades ago he criticised the mainstream Republican members of Congress because he thought they were too acquiescent and not engaged in sufficiently vigorous political warfare against the Democrats.
“He was also, very importantly, one of the architects of one of the most pivotal elections in modern American history, the midterm elections of 1994, when Republicans took over the House and the Senate for the first time since the first two years of Dwight Eisenhower. That election also greatly contributed to polarisation because it wiped out a lot of moderate southern Democrats and replaced them with very conservative southern Republicans.”


theguardian--2020-12-29--How California went from a leader in the Covid fight to a state in despair

At the San Joaquin hospital in California ’ s Central Valley , nurses cover infectious Covid-19 patients with clear , tent-like barriers – or , when those aren ’ t available , white sheets – as they are wheeled through the ICU .
“ It ’ s for everybody ’ s protection , ” said Jessica Vasquez , an ICU nurse at the hospital – the sheets ensure that infection doesn ’ t spread to other patients and medical staff .
But like so many of the protocols that the hospital has implemented since the coronavirus pandemic struck , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that these days , she barely talks to her patients – many of whom are too weak to speak .
She remembers a man , who – not long before he died of the virus , suddenly grabbed her hand .
“ He just said , ‘ Thank you , thank you.
’ ” None of his loved ones could be there with him .
“ I ’ ve just felt so scared , ” she said .
“ This virus can come , for any of us.
” When the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to see the state implement a lockdown – it was the first American state to do so .
Back in March , personal protective gear for medical staff was in short supply and hospitals were scrambling to understand the best practices to treat an illness they had never encountered before , but at least , “ people understood this was serious .
They stayed inside , if they could – and California avoided the fate of New York and Louisiana .
In that first phase of the pandemic , hospitals in the nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but they weren ’ t overwhelmed the way New York hospitals were .
They didn ’ t have to acquire massive refrigerator trucks to serve as mobile morgues for the virus ’ s victims .
Until now .
Less than a fortnight before the Christmas holiday , California distributed 5,000 body bags to the hard-hit regions including Los Angeles , and readied 60 refrigerated trailers .
As of Monday , the state has tallied more than 2.1m cases and counted more than 24,000 dead .
The ICU capacity in southern California hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were dying of Covid-19 every hour in hard-hit Los Angeles county , where the public health director , Barbara Ferrer , fought back tears as she reported that thousands of “ people who were beloved members of their families are not coming back ” .
Facing an increasingly dire situation , the state enacted a second lockdown , asking Californians to remain at home throughout the holidays to slow the spread of the virus .
But nine months after the first shelter-in-place order , a pandemic-fatigued , frustrated public pushed back .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ retail shopping and entertainment production to remain open , while most schools were shuttered and families asked to keep away from loved ones .
Rightwing protesters gathered outside the homes of public health officials , while progressives demanded that the government prioritize reopening schools over shopping malls .
As politicians in Washington debated a second economic relief bill , restaurant owners fretted over whether their businesses could survive a second lockdown .
Lines at coronavirus testing sites and food banks grew , as the pandemic devastated ranks of essential workers at farms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ After months and months , people are broken , and they ’ re tired , ” said Monica Gandhi , an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco .
“ And they need support.
” The year culminated in a deadly , damning indictment of California – its leaders ’ inability to convincingly enact and enforce public health measures , its structural racism and inbuilt inequalities , its vicious political infighting and its inability to function as a “ nation-state ” , as Governor Gavin Newsom likes to call it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government .
‘ I hope your family member doesn ’ t end up in the ICU ’ In April , when Newsom declared himself the leader of a “ nation-state ” on MSNBC , he announced that California , frustrated by a lack of coordination by the federal government , had not only purchased enough medical-grade masks to address shortages within his own state , but also to send supplies to others .
The morning after the Democratic governor made the announcement , # PresidentNewsom trended on Twitter .
Seven months later , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been gaining some momentum – backed by Republicans and business interests frustrated by the new lockdown measures .
But as the death toll climbed , criticism grew within Newsom ’ s own political party .
They were stunned that the state ’ s employment development department was swindled , under the governor ’ s watch , into paying billions in fraudulent unemployment claims .
Meanwhile , jobless Californians struggled to access aid , and the department ’ s backlog of claims surpassed 1.6m at one point .
As residents queued in snaking lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Newsom ’ s decision to attend a lavish birthday dinner at the Michelin-starred French Laundry , days before he told his constituents to forgo seeing their families for the holidays to stop the virus ’ s spread .
“ At the beginning , I think our leaders did a good job , ” Gandhi said , looking back at California ’ s coronavirus approach .
The trouble , she said , came as the state began to reopen in early summer .
California had a plan in place to do so slowly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t immune to a growing conservative movement that rejected face masks and vilified public health officials .
Under mounting public pressure , Newsom , as well as local leaders , moved to reopen businesses and public spaces before case rates were low enough to warrant doing so .
By May , the virus was so prevalent in California , and in the states that surrounded it , “ that we weren ’ t ever going to really be able to conquer , ” Gandhi said .
A lack of federal response and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California had managed to enforce a longer and more effective quarantine at the beginning , it was surrounded by a “ fractured disarray ” of other states , counties and local health departments , each with slightly different rules and restrictions , Gandhi noted .
It was impossible to monitor travel across state lines , and enforce recommendations that travelers quarantine upon entering California .
California is a large , decentralized state , in a very large , decentralized country , Gandhi said .
“ And that sort of system is just not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” In this latest , winter stretch of the pandemic , “ it ’ s the inconsistencies that have really agitated residents , ” said Fernando Guerra , a political scientist at Loyola Marymount University .
The governor , as well as local mayors , tried to at once pacify rightwing sheriffs who openly flouted public health measures , address the needs and demands of stretched school boards and teachers unions nervous about restarting classes , and help out small businesses facing economic disaster – while trying to contain the spread of disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a policy mess .
“ It made sense in the very beginning , ” said Vasquez .
“ But Newsom didn ’ t give the shutdown enough time .
And since we began to reopen , none of it has really made sense to me.
” At hospitals and medical centers across the state , nurses told the Guardian that protections for healthcare workers have felt inadequate , and that even if they are exposed to the virus they are often required to continue working while awaiting their own test results .
At @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for example , a health worker is considered to have been exposed if they are missing a face mask or eye protection , and spend more than 15 minutes within 6ft of a person with Covid-19 , according to an internal document shared with the Guardian .
“ First of all , when you ’ re helping a patient in an emergency situation , you can ’ t just hop out of the room because it ’ s been 15 minutes , ” said one Kaiser nurse who asked to remain anonymous .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ between 14.5 and 15 minutes feels arbitrary .
Moreover , in several areas of the hospital , it ’ s virtually impossible to remain 6ft away from patients and other medical staff , she said .
After realizing that one of her recent patients had tested positive , she said she held her breath for several days while she waited for her coronavirus test to come back – terrified that she was exposing her partner , kids or other patients as she continued to go to work .
The constant pressure and fear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ went off work for about three or four weeks , and went on a ton of antidepressants and then came back because I honestly couldn ’ t cope , ” she said .
“ I thought I was going to lose my mind .
I was distraught – all the time.
” In a statement , Kaiser Permanente said that “ in cases of exposure to the virus at work or away from work , we follow the recommendations of the CDC and public health agencies which vary according to an individual ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statement also said that staff who have coronavirus symptoms are immediately sent home , and those who ’ ve been exposed to the virus but don ’ t have symptoms are asked to “ follow daily symptom and temperature checks ” .
Amid the latest rush of cases , hospitals across the state have found themselves severely short-staffed .
Facing a dearth of nurses and respiratory specialists to care for Covid-19 patients , many hospitals have pulled medical residents , nurses and staff from other departments , into emergency rooms and ICUs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ winter surge that public health experts had been predicting since the beginning , Vasquez said .
Newsom ’ s recent suggestion of a two-day program to train up additional ICU nurses felt like “ a slap in the face ” , Vasquez added .
“ It made me think like , ‘ Well gosh , Governor Newsom , I hope your family member doesn ’ t end up in the ICU , being cared for by a nurse with two days of training.
’ ” The situation , “ is just dangerous ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 15 years of experience hadn ’ t properly prepared her steel nerves for the horrors of this pandemic .
She ’ s chosen to work through it , even though she has a compromised immune system that makes her especially vulnerable to Covid-19 .
“ We ’ re all pushing ourselves , ” she said .
In Los Angeles county , ambulances in mid-December were waiting outside overwhelmed hospitals for up to six hours .
“ We ’ re starting to message that people who do not have a medical emergency should not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the emergency medical services director for Los Angeles county .
“ And we ’ re trying to be very careful with that messaging – because sometimes even mild symptoms , like numbness in the arm , can be a sign of a person having a stroke.
” But with emergency departments backed up , and hospitals short-staffed – LA residents should consider calling their family physicians , or drive to urgent care clinics if they can , Chidester said .
“ Hospitals are stretched.
” A document circulating among doctors at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an answer to the very real trolley problem that medical staff are facing .
Amid the crisis , instead of trying everything to save every life , doctors should try to save as many patients as possible , the document , obtained by the Los Angeles Times dictated .
“ Some compromise of standard of care is unavoidable , ” it read .
Even as hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines are administered to healthcare workers across the state , and a second round of stimulus checks from the federal government made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks ahead look bleak for California – with poor , immigrant and minority residents affected most .
“ There is structural racism , structural inequality , that ’ s built into the American economy and into the American political system that no governor , not even the governor of California , can change , ” said Guerra .
In Los Angeles county , Latino residents are being infected with the virus at more than double the rate of white residents .
Latino and Black residents are hospitalized at disproportionately higher rates than white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ color have also been hit with the brunt of the pandemic ’ s economic fallout , and have been less able to adjust to stay-at-home orders and other public health policies .
In November , seven families sued the state for failing to provide “ basic educational equality ” , as most of California ’ s public school campuses remained closed , and poor students especially struggled to access the laptops and internet connection they needed to attend virtual classes .
At Crenshaw high school in south Los Angeles , Kamarie Brown , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the student representative on the district ’ s board of education , she had been fielding messages all year from peers who have been struggling to cope .
One student , a Spanish-speaker still learning English , recently reached out to her on Instagram , distraught that he couldn ’ t keep up with virtual class .
Others have asked her for advice on how she ’ s able to stay motivated .
“ It ’ s not easy , ” she said .
She herself shares an apartment with eight people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ I go over to my friend ’ s house some days , or to the rose garden near me where I can use my phone as a hotspot for the internet , ” she said .
“ When friends ask how I ’ m coping , I tell them it ’ s not easy for me either .
I ’ m really motivated , but I have moments when I want to give up , too.
” The uncertainty , not only about when her school will reopen , but also about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ catch the virus , and about whether her family will be able to make rent and pay bills , has taken a toll , she said .
“ I ’ ve felt all the emotions – I was scared , I was confused … Now I ’ ve just tried to tell myself to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
” Throughout the pandemic , as the state locked down , and reopened , imposed restrictions , and rolled them pack , “ we understood that the stakes were high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ executive vice-president of the LA-based Community Coalition , a health and education advocacy group founded by congresswoman Karen Bass .
“ But while the state and county prioritized reopening certain sectors of the economy , what they created was a real challenge for working-class and poor families – especially for families of color.
” The devastating infection rates and fatality rates for Black and brown families is “ unconscionable ” , Montes-Rodriguez said .
But even if the pandemic abates in the coming weeks , the job losses , debt and widening educational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s poorest communities , she said .
“ So it ’ ll be important for our leaders not to walk away and say the vaccine ’ s here , we can go back to normal , ” Montes-Rodriguez added .
“ Normal wasn ’ t working .
We should never go back to normal .
”

At the San Joaquin hospital in California’s Central Valley, nurses cover infectious Covid-19 patients with clear, tent-like barriers – or, when those aren’t available, white sheets – as they are wheeled through the ICU.
“It’s for everybody’s protection,” said Jessica Vasquez, an ICU nurse at the hospital – the sheets ensure that infection doesn’t spread to other patients and medical staff. But like so many of the protocols that the hospital has implemented since the coronavirus pandemic struck, it feels uncanny.
It’s eerie, that these days, she barely talks to her patients – many of whom are too weak to speak. She remembers a man, who – not long before he died of the virus, suddenly grabbed her hand. “He just said, ‘Thank you, thank you.’” None of his loved ones could be there with him.
“I’ve just felt so scared,” she said. “This virus can come, for any of us.”
When the virus first hit California, Vasquez was relieved to see the state implement a lockdown – it was the first American state to do so. Back in March, personal protective gear for medical staff was in short supply and hospitals were scrambling to understand the best practices to treat an illness they had never encountered before, but at least, “people understood this was serious. They stayed inside, if they could – and California avoided the fate of New York and Louisiana.
In that first phase of the pandemic, hospitals in the nation’s most populous state were strained, but they weren’t overwhelmed the way New York hospitals were. They didn’t have to acquire massive refrigerator trucks to serve as mobile morgues for the virus’s victims.
Until now. Less than a fortnight before the Christmas holiday, California distributed 5,000 body bags to the hard-hit regions including Los Angeles, and readied 60 refrigerated trailers. As of Monday, the state has tallied more than 2.1m cases and counted more than 24,000 dead. The ICU capacity in southern California hit 0% by mid-December. Two people were dying of Covid-19 every hour in hard-hit Los Angeles county, where the public health director, Barbara Ferrer, fought back tears as she reported that thousands of “people who were beloved members of their families are not coming back”.
Facing an increasingly dire situation, the state enacted a second lockdown, asking Californians to remain at home throughout the holidays to slow the spread of the virus. But nine months after the first shelter-in-place order, a pandemic-fatigued, frustrated public pushed back.
They balked at leaders’ choice to allow retail shopping and entertainment production to remain open, while most schools were shuttered and families asked to keep away from loved ones. Rightwing protesters gathered outside the homes of public health officials, while progressives demanded that the government prioritize reopening schools over shopping malls. As politicians in Washington debated a second economic relief bill, restaurant owners fretted over whether their businesses could survive a second lockdown. Lines at coronavirus testing sites and food banks grew, as the pandemic devastated ranks of essential workers at farms, grocery stores, garment factories and warehouses. “After months and months, people are broken, and they’re tired,” said Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco. “And they need support.”
The year culminated in a deadly, damning indictment of California – its leaders’ inability to convincingly enact and enforce public health measures, its structural racism and inbuilt inequalities, its vicious political infighting and its inability to function as a “nation-state”, as Governor Gavin Newsom likes to call it, in isolation of of a hostile federal government.
Respiratory therapist Andrew Hoyt cares for a Covid-19 patient at Sharp Chula Vista medical center on Monday in Chula Vista, California. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
‘I hope your family member doesn’t end up in the ICU’
In April, when Newsom declared himself the leader of a “nation-state” on MSNBC, he announced that California, frustrated by a lack of coordination by the federal government, had not only purchased enough medical-grade masks to address shortages within his own state, but also to send supplies to others. The morning after the Democratic governor made the announcement, #PresidentNewsom trended on Twitter.
Seven months later, a petition to recall the governor has been gaining some momentum – backed by Republicans and business interests frustrated by the new lockdown measures.
But as the death toll climbed, criticism grew within Newsom’s own political party. They were stunned that the state’s employment development department was swindled, under the governor’s watch, into paying billions in fraudulent unemployment claims. Meanwhile, jobless Californians struggled to access aid, and the department’s backlog of claims surpassed 1.6m at one point. As residents queued in snaking lines at local food banks, Californians balked at Newsom’s decision to attend a lavish birthday dinner at the Michelin-starred French Laundry, days before he told his constituents to forgo seeing their families for the holidays to stop the virus’s spread.
“At the beginning, I think our leaders did a good job,” Gandhi said, looking back at California’s coronavirus approach. The trouble, she said, came as the state began to reopen in early summer. California had a plan in place to do so slowly, but the famously progressive state wasn’t immune to a growing conservative movement that rejected face masks and vilified public health officials. Under mounting public pressure, Newsom, as well as local leaders, moved to reopen businesses and public spaces before case rates were low enough to warrant doing so. By May, the virus was so prevalent in California, and in the states that surrounded it, “that we weren’t ever going to really be able to conquer,” Gandhi said.
A lack of federal response and coordination made matters worse. Even if California had managed to enforce a longer and more effective quarantine at the beginning, it was surrounded by a “fractured disarray” of other states, counties and local health departments, each with slightly different rules and restrictions, Gandhi noted. It was impossible to monitor travel across state lines, and enforce recommendations that travelers quarantine upon entering California.
California is a large, decentralized state, in a very large, decentralized country, Gandhi said. “And that sort of system is just not the most effective during a respiratory pandemic.”
In this latest, winter stretch of the pandemic, “it’s the inconsistencies that have really agitated residents,” said Fernando Guerra, a political scientist at Loyola Marymount University. The governor, as well as local mayors, tried to at once pacify rightwing sheriffs who openly flouted public health measures, address the needs and demands of stretched school boards and teachers unions nervous about restarting classes, and help out small businesses facing economic disaster – while trying to contain the spread of disease, Guerra said. The result was a policy mess.
“It made sense in the very beginning,” said Vasquez. “But Newsom didn’t give the shutdown enough time. And since we began to reopen, none of it has really made sense to me.”
A patient lies on a stretcher in the hallway of the overloaded emergency room at Providence St Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
At hospitals and medical centers across the state, nurses told the Guardian that protections for healthcare workers have felt inadequate, and that even if they are exposed to the virus they are often required to continue working while awaiting their own test results.
At Kaiser Permanente medical center in Oakland, for example, a health worker is considered to have been exposed if they are missing a face mask or eye protection, and spend more than 15 minutes within 6ft of a person with Covid-19, according to an internal document shared with the Guardian. “First of all, when you’re helping a patient in an emergency situation, you can’t just hop out of the room because it’s been 15 minutes,” said one Kaiser nurse who asked to remain anonymous. And, she said, the difference between 14.5 and 15 minutes feels arbitrary. Moreover, in several areas of the hospital, it’s virtually impossible to remain 6ft away from patients and other medical staff, she said.
After realizing that one of her recent patients had tested positive, she said she held her breath for several days while she waited for her coronavirus test to come back – terrified that she was exposing her partner, kids or other patients as she continued to go to work.
The constant pressure and fear have weighed her down. “I went off work for about three or four weeks, and went on a ton of antidepressants and then came back because I honestly couldn’t cope,” she said. “I thought I was going to lose my mind. I was distraught – all the time.”
In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said that “in cases of exposure to the virus at work or away from work, we follow the recommendations of the CDC and public health agencies which vary according to an individual’s level of exposure”. The statement also said that staff who have coronavirus symptoms are immediately sent home, and those who’ve been exposed to the virus but don’t have symptoms are asked to “follow daily symptom and temperature checks”.
Amid the latest rush of cases, hospitals across the state have found themselves severely short-staffed. Facing a dearth of nurses and respiratory specialists to care for Covid-19 patients, many hospitals have pulled medical residents, nurses and staff from other departments, into emergency rooms and ICUs. Leaders failed to get ahead of a winter surge that public health experts had been predicting since the beginning, Vasquez said.
Newsom’s recent suggestion of a two-day program to train up additional ICU nurses felt like “a slap in the face”, Vasquez added. “It made me think like, ‘Well gosh, Governor Newsom, I hope your family member doesn’t end up in the ICU, being cared for by a nurse with two days of training.’”
The situation, “is just dangerous”, she said, adding that her 15 years of experience hadn’t properly prepared her steel nerves for the horrors of this pandemic. She’s chosen to work through it, even though she has a compromised immune system that makes her especially vulnerable to Covid-19. “We’re all pushing ourselves,” she said.
In Los Angeles county, ambulances in mid-December were waiting outside overwhelmed hospitals for up to six hours. “We’re starting to message that people who do not have a medical emergency should not call 911,” said Cathy Chidester, the emergency medical services director for Los Angeles county. “And we’re trying to be very careful with that messaging – because sometimes even mild symptoms, like numbness in the arm, can be a sign of a person having a stroke.” But with emergency departments backed up, and hospitals short-staffed – LA residents should consider calling their family physicians, or drive to urgent care clinics if they can, Chidester said. “Hospitals are stretched.”
A document circulating among doctors at the four hospitals by Los Angeles county suggested an answer to the very real trolley problem that medical staff are facing. Amid the crisis, instead of trying everything to save every life, doctors should try to save as many patients as possible, the document, obtained by the Los Angeles Times dictated. “Some compromise of standard of care is unavoidable,” it read.
Drivers wait for food distribution from the Los Angeles Food Bank on 4 December 2020 in Hacienda Heights, California. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images
‘Normal wasn’t working’
Even as hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines are administered to healthcare workers across the state, and a second round of stimulus checks from the federal government made their way to struggling families, the weeks ahead look bleak for California – with poor, immigrant and minority residents affected most.
“There is structural racism, structural inequality, that’s built into the American economy and into the American political system that no governor, not even the governor of California, can change,” said Guerra. In Los Angeles county, Latino residents are being infected with the virus at more than double the rate of white residents. Latino and Black residents are hospitalized at disproportionately higher rates than white residents.
Low-income families and communities of color have also been hit with the brunt of the pandemic’s economic fallout, and have been less able to adjust to stay-at-home orders and other public health policies. In November, seven families sued the state for failing to provide “basic educational equality”, as most of California’s public school campuses remained closed, and poor students especially struggled to access the laptops and internet connection they needed to attend virtual classes.
At Crenshaw high school in south Los Angeles, Kamarie Brown, 17, said that as school president and the student representative on the district’s board of education, she had been fielding messages all year from peers who have been struggling to cope.
One student, a Spanish-speaker still learning English, recently reached out to her on Instagram, distraught that he couldn’t keep up with virtual class. Others have asked her for advice on how she’s able to stay motivated.
“It’s not easy,” she said. She herself shares an apartment with eight people – including four other school-aged children. “I go over to my friend’s house some days, or to the rose garden near me where I can use my phone as a hotspot for the internet,” she said. “When friends ask how I’m coping, I tell them it’s not easy for me either. I’m really motivated, but I have moments when I want to give up, too.”
The uncertainty, not only about when her school will reopen, but also about whether her grandmother and other relatives will catch the virus, and about whether her family will be able to make rent and pay bills, has taken a toll, she said. “I’ve felt all the emotions – I was scared, I was confused … Now I’ve just tried to tell myself to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”
Throughout the pandemic, as the state locked down, and reopened, imposed restrictions, and rolled them pack, “we understood that the stakes were high,” said Aurea Montes-Rodriguez, the executive vice-president of the LA-based Community Coalition, a health and education advocacy group founded by congresswoman Karen Bass. “But while the state and county prioritized reopening certain sectors of the economy, what they created was a real challenge for working-class and poor families – especially for families of color.”
The devastating infection rates and fatality rates for Black and brown families is “unconscionable”, Montes-Rodriguez said. But even if the pandemic abates in the coming weeks, the job losses, debt and widening educational achievement gap will probably persist in California’s poorest communities, she said.
“So it’ll be important for our leaders not to walk away and say the vaccine’s here, we can go back to normal,” Montes-Rodriguez added. “Normal wasn’t working. We should never go back to normal.”


theguardian--2020-12-29--The three most misused phrases in US politics in 2020 | Jeffrey Frankel

Donald Trump and the Covid-19 pandemic dominated the news headlines in 2020 .
Three terms in particular came to symbolise the year : “ witch-hunt , ” “ black swan ” and “ exponential ” .
Trump has tweeted the phrase “ witch-hunt ” approximately once every three days on average during his presidency and not only in connection with his impeachment trial .
He continued to use it later in the year to describe accusations that he mismanaged America ’ s Covid-19 response , inquiries into his tax returns , an investigation into alleged criminal conduct at the Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ made their minds up long ago about whether Trump was guilty of his alleged transgressions .
But neither his supporters nor his critics have given full thought to the linguistic implications of the term “ witch-hunt ” .
Perhaps it doesn ’ t mean what they think it does .
The original witch-hunts began in early modern Europe and spread to colonial America , in the religious persecution of those accused of practising witchcraft .
In Europe , an estimated 40,000-60,000 people – mainly women – were executed between 1400 and 1782 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ trials in Salem , Massachusetts , in which 30 people were convicted and 19 hanged .
The term entered widespread use only in the mid-20th century , to describe the frenzied search for communists “ under the bed ” .
Arthur Miller ’ s 1953 play about the Salem trials , The Crucible , was an allegory for US senator Joseph McCarthy ’ s hearings into alleged communist infiltration of the US government .
To be sure , the 17th-century witch trials and McCarthyism differed in important ways .
For one thing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historical episodes had one thing in common that distinguishes them from the accusations against Trump .
In a genuine witch-hunt , the hunters start from the firm belief that a particular type of evil-doer – witches or communists – is hiding in plain sight , and then try to identify who they are .
When the president and his many supporters accuse his detractors of carrying out a witch-hunt , they are making a different claim .
They are claiming that Trump ’ s critics start from the unwavering belief that he is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it as their job to find crimes to pin on him .
They have identified him , and they are out to get him one way or another .
“ Persecution ” or “ harassment ” would more accurately convey Trump ’ s meaning .
Such distinctions are crucial .
When federal authorities charged the gangster Al Capone with tax evasion in 1931 , it was not a witch-hunt .
The target of their investigation was determined first ; then the charges that could put him away were identified – an application of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ phrase that pervaded 2020 was “ black swan ” .
When the new coronavirus spread beyond China and suddenly affected the health and jobs of people around the world , many described it as a quintessential “ black swan ” event .
Nassim Nicholas Taleb ’ s eponymous 2007 book turned black swan virtually into a household expression , because it appeared to describe the 2007-09 financial crisis so well .
Taleb defined the term to mean a major event that nobody realised was even a possibility , because they had never seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the metaphor is more insightful than that .
The historical importance of the notion of a black swan lies in British philosophy .
Like most Britons , David Hume ( writing in the 18th century ) and John Stuart Mill ( writing in the 19th century ) had never seen one .
Reasoning by induction , they might easily have concluded that all swans were white .
But , as British ornithologists were aware , Dutch explorers had discovered black swans in Australia in 1697 .
So , the best way to use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out that competent experts can and do factor in data from other decades , centuries and countries , and that competent policymakers should listen to their warnings .
Contrary to the widespread belief in US financial markets before 2007 , housing prices can go down as well as up .
Similarly , health experts and well-informed policymakers had been well aware before 2020 that a pandemic like Covid-19 was not only possible , but likely to strike sooner or later .
In too many countries , however , political leaders failed to heed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has paid dearly for their mistake .
So , this year ’ s Covid-19 pandemic was indeed a black swan .
But the phrase is perhaps best defined not just as a sudden major development that catches the general public by surprise , but as a “ tail event ” – known by scientific experts and responsible officials to be a dangerous possibility ( albeit one with relatively low probability in any given year ) .
Finally , the word “ exponential ” was used frequently in common speech even before the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mean “ rapid ” .
Of course , anyone wishing to play language police must confront the argument made by Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll ’ s Through the Looking-Glass , who insisted that , “ When I use a word , it means just what I choose it to mean.
” But linguistic precision is often important for achieving intellectual precision .
Exponential is a mathematical term .
It does not mean rapid .
Hard as this may be to believe , there is not even a correlation or association between exponential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that one has in the bank changes exponentially , due to compound interest , but the rate can be low or even negative , as European interest rates demonstrate .
With the arrival of Covid-19 , people finally began to use the word “ exponential ” correctly , to describe the number of infections .
The reason why the number of cases rises exponentially is that each infected person infects a number of other people .
Epidemiologists call this average ratio the rate of reproduction , represented by R. It is designated R @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no countermeasures .
The use of R has drawbacks , particularly the difficulty of estimating it .
But the concept makes an important point .
If R is greater than one , as it was in the early stages of the pandemic and presumably has become again in many places , it means that things are getting worse .
R can be brought down via wearing face masks , social distancing , frequent hand-washing , testing , isolation , and now inoculation with the new Covid-19 vaccines .
When R falls below one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dying out , and that the rate of exponential growth is negative .
So , here ’ s wishing everyone no witches to hunt , the swans they expect and an R well below one in 2021 .
• Jeffrey Frankel is a professor at Harvard University ’ s John F Kennedy School of Government .
He served as a member of President Bill Clinton ’ s Council of Economic Advisers

Donald Trump and the Covid-19 pandemic dominated the news headlines in 2020. Three terms in particular came to symbolise the year: “witch-hunt,” “black swan” and “exponential”.
Trump has tweeted the phrase “witch-hunt” approximately once every three days on average during his presidency and not only in connection with his impeachment trial. He continued to use it later in the year to describe accusations that he mismanaged America’s Covid-19 response, inquiries into his tax returns, an investigation into alleged criminal conduct at the Trump Organization and other controversies.
Most people made their minds up long ago about whether Trump was guilty of his alleged transgressions. But neither his supporters nor his critics have given full thought to the linguistic implications of the term “witch-hunt”. Perhaps it doesn’t mean what they think it does.
The original witch-hunts began in early modern Europe and spread to colonial America, in the religious persecution of those accused of practising witchcraft. In Europe, an estimated 40,000-60,000 people – mainly women – were executed between 1400 and 1782. Americans usually think of the 1692-93 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in which 30 people were convicted and 19 hanged.
The term entered widespread use only in the mid-20th century, to describe the frenzied search for communists “under the bed”. Arthur Miller’s 1953 play about the Salem trials, The Crucible, was an allegory for US senator Joseph McCarthy’s hearings into alleged communist infiltration of the US government.
To be sure, the 17th-century witch trials and McCarthyism differed in important ways. For one thing, communists really existed. But the two historical episodes had one thing in common that distinguishes them from the accusations against Trump. In a genuine witch-hunt, the hunters start from the firm belief that a particular type of evil-doer – witches or communists – is hiding in plain sight, and then try to identify who they are.
When the president and his many supporters accuse his detractors of carrying out a witch-hunt, they are making a different claim. They are claiming that Trump’s critics start from the unwavering belief that he is up to no good, and see it as their job to find crimes to pin on him. They have identified him, and they are out to get him one way or another. “Persecution” or “harassment” would more accurately convey Trump’s meaning.
Such distinctions are crucial. When federal authorities charged the gangster Al Capone with tax evasion in 1931, it was not a witch-hunt. The target of their investigation was determined first; then the charges that could put him away were identified – an application of the rule of law.
The second phrase that pervaded 2020 was “black swan”. When the new coronavirus spread beyond China and suddenly affected the health and jobs of people around the world, many described it as a quintessential “black swan” event.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s eponymous 2007 book turned black swan virtually into a household expression, because it appeared to describe the 2007-09 financial crisis so well. Taleb defined the term to mean a major event that nobody realised was even a possibility, because they had never seen one of its kind before. But the metaphor is more insightful than that.
The historical importance of the notion of a black swan lies in British philosophy. Like most Britons, David Hume (writing in the 18th century) and John Stuart Mill (writing in the 19th century) had never seen one. Reasoning by induction, they might easily have concluded that all swans were white. But, as British ornithologists were aware, Dutch explorers had discovered black swans in Australia in 1697. So, the best way to use the black swan metaphor is to point out that competent experts can and do factor in data from other decades, centuries and countries, and that competent policymakers should listen to their warnings.
Contrary to the widespread belief in US financial markets before 2007, housing prices can go down as well as up. Similarly, health experts and well-informed policymakers had been well aware before 2020 that a pandemic like Covid-19 was not only possible, but likely to strike sooner or later. In too many countries, however, political leaders failed to heed the warnings and recommendations. The world has paid dearly for their mistake.
So, this year’s Covid-19 pandemic was indeed a black swan. But the phrase is perhaps best defined not just as a sudden major development that catches the general public by surprise, but as a “tail event” – known by scientific experts and responsible officials to be a dangerous possibility (albeit one with relatively low probability in any given year).
Finally, the word “exponential” was used frequently in common speech even before the pandemic – and almost always incorrectly, to mean “rapid”. Of course, anyone wishing to play language police must confront the argument made by Humpty Dumpty in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, who insisted that, “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.”
But linguistic precision is often important for achieving intellectual precision. Exponential is a mathematical term. It does not mean rapid. Hard as this may be to believe, there is not even a correlation or association between exponential and high growth rates. The money that one has in the bank changes exponentially, due to compound interest, but the rate can be low or even negative, as European interest rates demonstrate.
With the arrival of Covid-19, people finally began to use the word “exponential” correctly, to describe the number of infections. The reason why the number of cases rises exponentially is that each infected person infects a number of other people. Epidemiologists call this average ratio the rate of reproduction, represented by R. It is designated R 0 in a population with no immunity and no countermeasures.
The use of R has drawbacks, particularly the difficulty of estimating it. But the concept makes an important point. If R is greater than one, as it was in the early stages of the pandemic and presumably has become again in many places, it means that things are getting worse.
R can be brought down via wearing face masks, social distancing, frequent hand-washing, testing, isolation, and now inoculation with the new Covid-19 vaccines. When R falls below one, it means that the pandemic is dying out, and that the rate of exponential growth is negative.
So, here’s wishing everyone no witches to hunt, the swans they expect and an R well below one in 2021.
Jeffrey Frankel is a professor at Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government. He served as a member of President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers
© Project Syndicate