truthout--2020-08-09--Ocean Warming Due to Climate Change Could Soon Imperil Coral Reef Restoration

Anyone who ’ s tending a garden right now knows what extreme heat can do to plants .
Heat is also a concern for an important form of underwater gardening : growing corals and “ outplanting , ” or transplanting them to restore damaged reefs .
The goal of outplanting is to aid coral reefs ’ natural recovery process by growing new corals and moving them to the damaged areas .
It ’ s the same idea as replanting forests that have been heavily logged , or depleted farm fields that once were prairie grasslands .
I have studied how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ acidification affect marine invertebrates for more than a decade .
In a recently published study , I worked with Gregory Asner to analyze the impacts of temperature on coral reef restoration projects .
Our results showed that climate change has raised sea surface temperatures close to a point that will make it very hard for outplanted corals to survive .
Coral reefs support over 25 % of marine life by providing food , shelter and a place for fish and other organisms to reproduce and raise young .
Today , ocean warming driven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Rising ocean temperatures cause bleaching events – episodes in which corals expel the algae that live inside them and provide the corals with most of their food , as well as their vibrant colors .
When corals lose their algae , they become less resistant to stressors such as disease and eventually may die .
Hundreds of organizations worldwide are working to restore damaged coral reefs by growing thousands of small coral fragments in nurseries , which may be onshore in laboratories or in the ocean near degraded reefs .
Then scuba @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Outplanting coral is expensive : According to one recent study , the median cost is about US $ 160,000 per acre , or $ 400,000 per hectare .
It also is time-consuming , with scuba divers placing each outplanted coral by hand .
So it ’ s important to maximize coral survival by choosing the best locations .
We used data from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration ’ s Coral Reef Watch program , which collects daily satellite-derived measurements of sea surface temperature .
We paired this information with survival rates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We found that coral survival was likely to drop below 50 % if the maximum temperature experienced at the restoration site exceeded 86.9 degrees Fahrenheit ( 30.5 degrees Celsius ) .
This temperature threshold mirrors the tolerance of natural coral reefs .
Globally , coral reefs experience an annual maximum temperature today of 84.9˚F ( 29.4˚C ) .
This means they already are living close to their upper thermal limit .
When reefs experience temperatures only a few degrees above long-term averages for a few weeks , the stress can cause coral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few degrees above normal caused three mass bleaching events since 2016 that have devastated Australia ’ s Great Barrier Reef .
Climate scientists project that the oceans will warm up to 3˚C by the year 2100 .
Scientists are working to create coral outplants that can better survive increases in temperature , which could help to increase restoration success in the future .
When coral restoration experts choose where to outplant , they typically consider what ’ s on the seafloor , algae that could smother coral , predators that eat coral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ study shows that using temperature data and other information collected remotely from airplanes and satellites could help to optimize this process .
Remote sensing , which scientists have used to study coral reefs for almost 40 years , can provide information on much larger scales than water surveys .
Coral reefs face an uncertain future and may not recover naturally from human-caused climate change .
Conserving them will require reducing greenhouse gas emissions , protecting key habitats and actively restoring reefs .
I hope that our research on temperature will help increase coral @ @ @ @ @ @

Climate change has raised sea surface temperatures close to the limit at which coral can survive.
Anyone who’s tending a garden right now knows what extreme heat can do to plants. Heat is also a concern for an important form of underwater gardening: growing corals and “outplanting,” or transplanting them to restore damaged reefs.
The goal of outplanting is to aid coral reefs’ natural recovery process by growing new corals and moving them to the damaged areas. It’s the same idea as replanting forests that have been heavily logged, or depleted farm fields that once were prairie grasslands.
I have studied how global stressors such as ocean warming and acidification affect marine invertebrates for more than a decade. In a recently published study, I worked with Gregory Asner to analyze the impacts of temperature on coral reef restoration projects. Our results showed that climate change has raised sea surface temperatures close to a point that will make it very hard for outplanted corals to survive.
Coral Gardening
Coral reefs support over 25% of marine life by providing food, shelter and a place for fish and other organisms to reproduce and raise young. Today, ocean warming driven by climate change is stressing reefs worldwide.
Rising ocean temperatures cause bleaching events – episodes in which corals expel the algae that live inside them and provide the corals with most of their food, as well as their vibrant colors. When corals lose their algae, they become less resistant to stressors such as disease and eventually may die.
Hundreds of organizations worldwide are working to restore damaged coral reefs by growing thousands of small coral fragments in nurseries, which may be onshore in laboratories or in the ocean near degraded reefs. Then scuba divers physically plant them at restoration sites.
Outplanting coral is expensive: According to one recent study, the median cost is about US$160,000 per acre, or $400,000 per hectare. It also is time-consuming, with scuba divers placing each outplanted coral by hand. So it’s important to maximize coral survival by choosing the best locations.
We used data from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration’s Coral Reef Watch program, which collects daily satellite-derived measurements of sea surface temperature. We paired this information with survival rates from hundreds of coral outplanting projects worldwide.
We found that coral survival was likely to drop below 50% if the maximum temperature experienced at the restoration site exceeded 86.9 degrees Fahrenheit (30.5 degrees Celsius). This temperature threshold mirrors the tolerance of natural coral reefs.
Globally, coral reefs experience an annual maximum temperature today of 84.9˚F (29.4˚C). This means they already are living close to their upper thermal limit.
When reefs experience temperatures only a few degrees above long-term averages for a few weeks, the stress can cause coral bleaching and mortality. Increases of just a few degrees above normal caused three mass bleaching events since 2016 that have devastated Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Warmer Oceans
Climate scientists project that the oceans will warm up to 3˚C by the year 2100. Scientists are working to create coral outplants that can better survive increases in temperature, which could help to increase restoration success in the future.
When coral restoration experts choose where to outplant, they typically consider what’s on the seafloor, algae that could smother coral, predators that eat coral and the presence of fish. Our study shows that using temperature data and other information collected remotely from airplanes and satellites could help to optimize this process. Remote sensing, which scientists have used to study coral reefs for almost 40 years, can provide information on much larger scales than water surveys.
Coral reefs face an uncertain future and may not recover naturally from human-caused climate change. Conserving them will require reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting key habitats and actively restoring reefs. I hope that our research on temperature will help increase coral outplant survival and restoration success.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-08-09--The Shift to Working From Home Has Increased the Number of Hours Americans Work

A new study finds that employees are working longer hours since the shift to remote work amid the coronavirus pandemic began , even as companies across the country have cut wages .
The average work day is now 48.5 minutes longer , meaning employees are at work an average of four hours more per week , according to a study of 3.1 million workers by researchers at Harvard and New York University published by the National Bureau of Economic Research .
Some cities , like Chicago and Los Angeles , have seen their average work day decrease since its peak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remain the status quo in cities like New York , San Jose , and many European cities .
The study , which analyzed anonymous email and calendar data from workers at more than 21,000 companies in 16 global metropolitan areas , also found that the number of meetings has increased by 13 % , though the length of meetings fell by about 11 % .
The analysis looked at the amount of time people spent at work and meetings during eight-week periods before and after the coronavirus lockdowns .
“ These lockdowns established @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could infer that people were working from home , ” the authors said .
“ The earliest lockdown in our data occurred on March 8 , 2020 , in Milan , Italy , and the latest lockdown occurred on March 25 , 2020 , in Washington , DC.
” Though the shift to remote work has provided additional flexibility and allows workers to save time on commutes , workers are plugged in more than ever .
“ People are afraid — the fear around your job and around the economy — I want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m constantly responding to emails and messages and am always on Slack , ” Cali Williams Yost , the founder of workplace consultancy firm Flex Stategy , told The Washington Post .
“ It ’ s a toxic brew of burnout and overwhelm.
” Jeffrey Polzer , a Harvard Business School professor and one of the paper ’ s authors , cautioned that longer work days do not mean people are necessarily working more than before , noting that calendar and email data can not account for unscheduled breaks and interruptions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being at work longer can have negative effects as well .
“ Is it working from home or living at work , or both ?
” Polzer told the Post .
“ As we try to manage our work from home environment , it ’ s very hard to turn off work .
That ’ s always been true since our phones have followed us home , but that phenomenon has grown.
” Polzer predicted that the trend toward longer workdays is unsustainable .
“ Organizations are trying to figure out what the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work , ” he said .
“ People will start burning out if we don ’ t rethink how they ’ re spending their time.
” Other analyses have found similar results .
Microsoft found that its workers have been communicating more between 6 pm and midnight since the shift to remote work , according to the Harvard Business Review .
A survey by the job search engine Monster found that 69 % of workers have experience burnout as a result of working from home last month , a 20-point increase since May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say whether this will be a long-term trend .
But experts don ’ t expect the shift to remote work to end anytime soon .
“ It ’ s not like we ’ re going back to normal times , ” Polzer told Bloomberg .
Despite the longer work hours , millions of employees have seen their pay reduced amid the pandemic .
While tens of millions of people have lost their jobs , at least another 4 million private-sector workers have had their pay cut since the pandemic began , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Becker Friedman Institute .
The average base wage in the US decreased by more than 5 % between February and May , the researchers said in a study , and businesses have cut nominal wages for about 10 % of employees still on the job while “ forgoing regularly scheduled wage increases for others.
” Some businesses have cut pay by up to 50 % .
Workers are more than twice as likely to get a pay cut amid the pandemic than they were during the Great Recession , the study found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found that hourly workers were disproportionately affected by pay cuts , seeing an average of 23 % less pay between February and May .
Millions of other workers have had their hours reduced , leaving them with smaller paychecks .
More than 6 million workers have been forced to work part-time due to economic conditions despite wanting to work full-time , according to Labor Department data .
“ I have Fridays off but I would rather have the money , ” Denise Iezzi , a New Jersey accounting assistant , told the Post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day and just wonder when will this end .
Surviving on three or four days a week just doesn ’ t cut it.
” The Gusto analysis found that hour reductions have been the biggest driver of wage reductions , cutting pay by an average of 32 % to affected workers .
The analysis also found that the cuts have affected virtually every sector , with industries like tech , finance , and law particularly affected .
“ Businesses typically fire you before they cut your pay , so this is really atypical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economist at Moody ’ s Analytics .
“ There ’ s a real risk we would see actual nominal wage declines , which would be unprecedented.
” Some companies , like Tesla , have also cut executive pay , arguing that pay cuts should be a “ shared sacrifice.
” But a UK study found that the highly-publicized reports of executive pay cuts were largely “ superficial or short-term , ” noting that salaries typically make up a small part of executive compensation packages .
The media reports also ignore the size of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A recent analysis by the New Hampshire Business Review found that the average CEO compensation package was just under $ 10 million while the median worker pay was around $ 56,000 .
An analysis of S & P 500 companies found that CEOs averaged $ 14.8 million in compensation , 264 times higher than the median worker pay at those companies .
“ The salary reductions amounted to a small percentage of their compensation package , which is primarily based on equity and cash incentives , ” the Business Review noted .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been going up , increasing the worth of those packages.
” The New York Times noted that , in a survey of 3,000 public companies , “ only a small percentage of the companies cut salaries for their senior executives at all.
” Economists also worry that the trend could reverse wage increase gains , which grew 3.4 % last year after years of stagnation .
“ It took us so long to see even the slightest acceleration in wage growth , ” Martha Gimbel , a labor market expert and manager @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the Post .
“ Watching that get undermined is devastating .
”

Despite longer work hours, millions of employees have seen their pay reduced amid the pandemic.
A new study finds that employees are working longer hours since the shift to remote work amid the coronavirus pandemic began, even as companies across the country have cut wages.
The average work day is now 48.5 minutes longer, meaning employees are at work an average of four hours more per week, according to a study of 3.1 million workers by researchers at Harvard and New York University published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Some cities, like Chicago and Los Angeles, have seen their average work day decrease since its peak in the spring, but longer hours remain the status quo in cities like New York, San Jose, and many European cities.
The study, which analyzed anonymous email and calendar data from workers at more than 21,000 companies in 16 global metropolitan areas, also found that the number of meetings has increased by 13%, though the length of meetings fell by about 11%.
The analysis looked at the amount of time people spent at work and meetings during eight-week periods before and after the coronavirus lockdowns.
“These lockdowns established a clear break point after which we could infer that people were working from home,” the authors said. “The earliest lockdown in our data occurred on March 8, 2020, in Milan, Italy, and the latest lockdown occurred on March 25, 2020, in Washington, DC.”
Though the shift to remote work has provided additional flexibility and allows workers to save time on commutes, workers are plugged in more than ever.
“People are afraid — the fear around your job and around the economy — I want to make sure [managers] know I’m constantly responding to emails and messages and am always on Slack,” Cali Williams Yost, the founder of workplace consultancy firm Flex Stategy, told The Washington Post. “It’s a toxic brew of burnout and overwhelm.”
Jeffrey Polzer, a Harvard Business School professor and one of the paper’s authors, cautioned that longer work days do not mean people are necessarily working more than before, noting that calendar and email data cannot account for unscheduled breaks and interruptions during the day. Either way, being at work longer can have negative effects as well.
“Is it working from home or living at work, or both?” Polzer told the Post. “As we try to manage our work from home environment, it’s very hard to turn off work. That’s always been true since our phones have followed us home, but that phenomenon has grown.”
Polzer predicted that the trend toward longer workdays is unsustainable.
“Organizations are trying to figure out what the capacity is to handle this type of work,” he said. “People will start burning out if we don’t rethink how they’re spending their time.”
Other analyses have found similar results. Microsoft found that its workers have been communicating more between 6 pm and midnight since the shift to remote work, according to the Harvard Business Review. A survey by the job search engine Monster found that 69% of workers have experience burnout as a result of working from home last month, a 20-point increase since May.
It’s too early to say whether this will be a long-term trend. But experts don’t expect the shift to remote work to end anytime soon.
“It’s not like we’re going back to normal times,” Polzer told Bloomberg.
Despite the longer work hours, millions of employees have seen their pay reduced amid the pandemic. While tens of millions of people have lost their jobs, at least another 4 million private-sector workers have had their pay cut since the pandemic began, according to researchers at the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute.
The average base wage in the US decreased by more than 5% between February and May, the researchers said in a study, and businesses have cut nominal wages for about 10% of employees still on the job while “forgoing regularly scheduled wage increases for others.” Some businesses have cut pay by up to 50%.
Workers are more than twice as likely to get a pay cut amid the pandemic than they were during the Great Recession, the study found.
Another analysis by payroll processor Gusto found that hourly workers were disproportionately affected by pay cuts, seeing an average of 23% less pay between February and May.
Millions of other workers have had their hours reduced, leaving them with smaller paychecks. More than 6 million workers have been forced to work part-time due to economic conditions despite wanting to work full-time, according to Labor Department data.
“I have Fridays off but I would rather have the money,” Denise Iezzi, a New Jersey accounting assistant, told the Post. “You go to work every day and just wonder when will this end. Surviving on three or four days a week just doesn’t cut it.”
The Gusto analysis found that hour reductions have been the biggest driver of wage reductions, cutting pay by an average of 32% to affected workers. The analysis also found that the cuts have affected virtually every sector, with industries like tech, finance, and law particularly affected.
“Businesses typically fire you before they cut your pay, so this is really atypical,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “There’s a real risk we would see actual nominal wage declines, which would be unprecedented.”
Some companies, like Tesla, have also cut executive pay, arguing that pay cuts should be a “shared sacrifice.” But a UK study found that the highly-publicized reports of executive pay cuts were largely “superficial or short-term,” noting that salaries typically make up a small part of executive compensation packages.
The media reports also ignore the size of executive pay compared to employee pay. A recent analysis by the New Hampshire Business Review found that the average CEO compensation package was just under $10 million while the median worker pay was around $56,000. An analysis of S&P 500 companies found that CEOs averaged $14.8 million in compensation, 264 times higher than the median worker pay at those companies.
“The salary reductions amounted to a small percentage of their compensation package, which is primarily based on equity and cash incentives,” the Business Review noted. “The stock market, while volatile, has been going up, increasing the worth of those packages.”
The New York Times noted that, in a survey of 3,000 public companies, “only a small percentage of the companies cut salaries for their senior executives at all.”
Economists also worry that the trend could reverse wage increase gains, which grew 3.4% last year after years of stagnation.
“It took us so long to see even the slightest acceleration in wage growth,” Martha Gimbel, a labor market expert and manager of economic research at Schmidt Futures, told the Post. “Watching that get undermined is devastating.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-08-09--Warren Denounces Trump’s Executive Orders as “Cruel Joke” on American People

Progressive critics and Democratic lawmakers did not need the help of even the Republican U.S .
Senator who used the phrase “ unconstitutional slop ” to describe President Donald Trump ’ s slate of executive orders—signed Saturday at his private golf club in New Jersey—to rack up ferocious condemnation of the presidential actions as “ legally dubious , ” shortsighted , wholly inadequate , and final proof that Trump does not understand the scale of the economic devastation his Republican Party is unleashing on the nation with its refusal to join Democrats to pass a far-reaching Covid-19 rescue package .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Sen. Elizabeth Warren ( D-Mass . )
said if the president truly “ cared about helping Americans , he would have demanded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell start negotiating as soon as the House passed the HEROES act almost two months ago .
These legally dubious actions aren ’ t real relief for states and families—they ’ re a cruel joke.
” In a thread on Twitter , Warren explained why each of the orders—put forth by the White House as a payroll tax holiday , a rental protection effort , student @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a federal unemployment boost—are each problematic in their own right , a judgement shared broadly by experts , her fellow Democrats , and progressive observers .
On the payroll tax holiday—which defenders of Medicare and Social Security have warned is a backdoor assault on the key safety net programs—Warren said : “ I ’ ve led the fight in the Senate for years to protect and expand Social Security .
I promise you , Mr. President : if you want to gut Social Security and break our promises to seniors , veterans , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re going to lose that fight.
” On Trump ’ s supposed unemployment fix—which critics called an “ administrative nightmare ” and includes the expectation that state governments , now suffering budget shortages , must kick in a share—Warren suggested the plan is ridiculous compared to what Democrats have been demanding and fighting for all summer long .
“ Cutting unemployment benefits by $ 200 and sticking cash-strapped states that desperately need relief with the tab , ” Warren argued , “ will hurt families , limit our economic recovery , & cost @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fully extend the $ 600 checks right now.
” Denouncing the rental protections Trump has put forth—a plan Politico reports “ would leave most renters in peril ” —Warren argued : “ Renters don ’ t need empty words about protection from eviction and rental assistance —they need guarantees .
The President ’ s Executive Order does nothing meaningful to stop the evictions that are taking place right now .
We need a universal eviction ban and rental assistance.
” On the student debt relief—an order that only includes those with federal , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a deferment of repayment until the end of the year—Warren said the relief is paltry in the face of a complete student loan debt jubilee that progressives , including Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) and Rep. Ilhan Omar ( D-Minn. ) have been championing .
“ Congress should do more—a lot more—for people struggling with student loan debt , ” Warren declared .
“ We need to # CancelStudentDebt for federal and private student loan borrowers to help boost our economy.
” Far from alone in her criticisms , Warren was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Greenstein , president of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ( CBPP ) .
Taken as a whole , Greenstein said the slate of executive orders by Trump “ should be should deeply concern all Americans.
” All of the orders—for various but very specific reasons , he said , “ fall dramatically short of responding effectively to the enormous need across the country due to Covid-19 and the deep recession .
And , by bypassing Congress on major budget and tax decisions and trying to override federal laws on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our democracy by shredding longstanding norms of governance and potentially violating the Constitution.
” Other progressive Democrats also weighed in on the various failures of what Trump has put forth : In a joint statement released after Trump ’ s press conference on Saturday , Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the “ meager announcements ” show the president “ still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crises facing working families .
We ’ re disappointed that instead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans ’ problems , the President instead chose to stay on his luxury golf course to announce unworkable , weak and narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need and endanger seniors ’ Social Security and Medicare.
” The Democratic leaders called on their Republican counterparts to “ return to the table , meet us halfway and work together to deliver immediate relief to the American people .
Lives are being lost , and time is of the essence .
”

Progressive critics and Democratic lawmakers did not need the help of even the Republican U.S. Senator who used the phrase “unconstitutional slop” to describe President Donald Trump’s slate of executive orders—signed Saturday at his private golf club in New Jersey—to rack up ferocious condemnation of the presidential actions as “legally dubious,” shortsighted, wholly inadequate, and final proof that Trump does not understand the scale of the economic devastation his Republican Party is unleashing on the nation with its refusal to join Democrats to pass a far-reaching Covid-19 rescue package.
In response to the four executive orders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said if the president truly “cared about helping Americans, he would have demanded Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell start negotiating as soon as the House passed the HEROES act almost two months ago. These legally dubious actions aren’t real relief for states and families—they’re a cruel joke.”
In a thread on Twitter, Warren explained why each of the orders—put forth by the White House as a payroll tax holiday, a rental protection effort, student loan reprieve for some borrowers, and a federal unemployment boost—are each problematic in their own right, a judgement shared broadly by experts, her fellow Democrats, and progressive observers.
On the payroll tax holiday—which defenders of Medicare and Social Security have warned is a backdoor assault on the key safety net programs—Warren said: “I’ve led the fight in the Senate for years to protect and expand Social Security. I promise you, Mr. President: if you want to gut Social Security and break our promises to seniors, veterans, and Americans with disabilities, you’re going to lose that fight.”
On Trump’s supposed unemployment fix—which critics called an “administrative nightmare” and includes the expectation that state governments, now suffering budget shortages, must kick in a share—Warren suggested the plan is ridiculous compared to what Democrats have been demanding and fighting for all summer long. “Cutting unemployment benefits by $200 and sticking cash-strapped states that desperately need relief with the tab,” Warren argued, “will hurt families, limit our economic recovery, & cost us 1.7 million jobs. Congress must fully extend the $600 checks right now.”
Denouncing the rental protections Trump has put forth—a plan Politico reports “would leave most renters in peril”—Warren argued: “Renters don’t need empty words about protection from eviction and rental assistance —they need guarantees. The President’s Executive Order does nothing meaningful to stop the evictions that are taking place right now. We need a universal eviction ban and rental assistance.”
On the student debt relief—an order that only includes those with federal, not private loans, and only lasts as a deferment of repayment until the end of the year—Warren said the relief is paltry in the face of a complete student loan debt jubilee that progressives, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) have been championing. “Congress should do more—a lot more—for people struggling with student loan debt,” Warren declared. “We need to #CancelStudentDebt for federal and private student loan borrowers to help boost our economy.”
Far from alone in her criticisms, Warren was backed up by economic experts like Robert Greenstein, president of the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
Taken as a whole, Greenstein said the slate of executive orders by Trump “should be should deeply concern all Americans.”
All of the orders—for various but very specific reasons, he said, “fall dramatically short of responding effectively to the enormous need across the country due to Covid-19 and the deep recession. And, by bypassing Congress on major budget and tax decisions and trying to override federal laws on the use of federal funds, they weaken our democracy by shredding longstanding norms of governance and potentially violating the Constitution.”
Other progressive Democrats also weighed in on the various failures of what Trump has put forth:
Slashing unemployment benefits would be a complete disaster for millions struggling to stay afloat. This is despicable. https://t.co/ngeYgHP1RK — Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) August 8, 2020
➡More than 5 MILLION cases
➡More than 162,500 deaths
➡20 weeks in a row with more than 1 million NEW people filing for unemployment Trump's response? He tries to CUT funds for testing & contact tracing. He tries to CUT unemployment relief. What a failure. What a disgrace. — Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) August 9, 2020
1. Trump’s call for a payroll deferral is propaganda. Companies know the bill will come due so they will bank they money. Payroll firms will make this possible. Most workers won’t get the money. There are not enough jobs for everyone who wants to work because of the virus. — Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) August 8, 2020
In a joint statement released after Trump’s press conference on Saturday, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the “meager announcements” show the president “still does not comprehend the seriousness or the urgency of the health and economic crises facing working families. We’re disappointed that instead of putting in the work to solve Americans’ problems, the President instead chose to stay on his luxury golf course to announce unworkable, weak and narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need and endanger seniors’ Social Security and Medicare.”
The Democratic leaders called on their Republican counterparts to “return to the table, meet us halfway and work together to deliver immediate relief to the American people. Lives are being lost, and time is of the essence.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-08-09--Lynching Is Not a Relic of a Jim Crow Past. It’s a Modern Form of Racial Terror.

The moment haunts me .
It resides in my consciousness as a harbinger of stalled progress .
It grasps my existence with the tension of every maddening expression of racial othering and inhumanity I have witnessed , studied , experienced .
It was the moment when I saw the slender , round face of a young Black man , gleaming with the innocence of an unsuspecting altruist — the moment I read his last words , filled with the clemency seemingly reserved for an ethereal being .
“ You are all phenomenal .
You are beautiful and I love you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as they wrestled him to the ground before he died .
It was the moment I realized that Elijah McClain was lynched .
I fell back into my chair , crestfallen .
As a professor of African American history and scholar of lynching during the late 19th and early 20th centuries , I teach this as a part of the nation ’ s sordid past , including the destabilizing impact it has on the African American community .
In recent years , I had largely shied away from making such historical comparisons out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helped define and contribute to the countless lynchings that swept the United States throughout the first half of the 20th century .
In recent weeks , however , the comparison has become more prescient as the world has seemingly collapsed onto its own wretched history .
The last few months have allowed us all to bear witness to a disturbing and unavoidable reality : Lynching is not a relic of a Jim Crow past ; it is in fact a modern form of racial terror .
The spectacular brutality once preserved and disseminated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ captured by cell phones and body cameras , allowing society to witness racial terror in all of its modern forms .
The recent asphyxiating tide of murders — the aural and visual replaying of death — has left us all gasping for breath .
Still writhing from the suffocating reality of Ahmaud Arbery ’ s murder in Georgia , we were forced to confront the indescribable pain of witnessing George Floyd ’ s murder in Minnesota .
And yet the term “ murder ” somehow fails to convey the extraordinary cruelty of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and George Floyd were all lynched .
Each case presents a set of facts comparable to the history of lynching in the U.S. as defined by the Tuskegee Institute : a killing that occurs without due process , committed by “ three or more persons , done under the pretext of service to justice , race , or tradition.
” Lynching victims in the first decades following the Civil War were often white .
Their alleged crimes typically involved horse theft , cattle theft or murder .
Furthermore , their bodies were frequently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or days following their deaths , and the parties that lynched them , if seen , were often masked .
By stark contrast , after Reconstruction , the lynching of Black bodies was done with a visibility , impunity and fanfare that would come to define a new lynching narrative .
Once a strictly punitive and largely clandestine form of extra-legal punishment , lynching evolved into a wholly racialized , publicly viewed , well-attended , frequently commercialized exhibition of mob violence .
The lynching victim was now typically Black , and a mob @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its murderous efforts nearly disappeared .
In the process , the concept of crime shifted .
This new lynching narrative punished the crime of Black existence rather than a specific criminal act .
Black lives , it said , did not matter .
We tend to think about what defines crime in conventional ways , with a consensus understanding of what constitutes crime ( arson , murder , etc . )
; but the definition of crime changes when race and a racial hierarchy are involved .
During the postbellum era , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whites sought to reinforce white supremacy , a crime committed by a Black person was perceived as particularly egregious misconduct that often signaled a broad call to action .
Such incidents not only encouraged but ostensibly required a suspension of due process in an effort to maintain white supremacy .
The list of offenses allegedly committed by African Americans that forced the assemblage of a mob predictably involved crimes against the white body , including murder , rape and assault , even when evidence to support the allegations was thin or non-existent .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ flippantly responding to a white man , voting , writing a letter to a white woman , suing a white person and being too prosperous for a Black person — were also counted as impudence punishable by mob violence .
This gamut of transgressions , wavering between modern interpretations of criminal transgressions and the fiercely ridiculous , exposes the mutability of crime .
The idea of what constituted a crime had clearly become something subject to unbelievably racist and horrific interpretations .
When a local sheriff found Ben Little , an African American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in October 1885 , dead and hanging from a tree after a mob removed him from his cell , a note pinned to Little ’ s back featured the following message : The note was signed “ CITIZENS OF MOUNT PLEASANT TO THE NUMBER OF SIXTY-EIGHT.
” The white patrolling of Black people ’ s “ place ” has too often served as the superlative entity in an algorithm for what renders a crime a crime ; expressions of freedom , sovereignty and advancement by Black people continue to function as crime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What appear as seemingly benign activities continue to gain potency when the perceived aggressor is Black and the racial hierarchy is ostensibly threatened .
Over the last few years , we have seen increasingly that freedom expressions of Black people are still criminalized .
White citizens who believe they are patrolling their local environments are in fact patrolling racial boundaries .
They have in recent months called the police on Black people who are , for instance , giving a dog a treat , hosting a lemonade stand , having a barbeque @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own residential building , picking up trash in their front yard or simply jogging .
Crime , then , is still something defined by historically specific phenomena , by the nuances of an everyday existence , by social interactions , and ideas about race and identity , by sheer racism .
At times , the outcome is death .
McClain was returning from the store in Aurora , Colorado , after purchasing iced tea for his brother .
Donning a ski mask — a choice his sister said he often made because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get cold ” — McClain was approached by several police officers who ordered him to stop .
The person who called the police reported that McClain seemed suspicious .
Officers placed McClain in a carotid hold .
“ I can ’ t breathe .
I have my ID right here .
My name is Elijah McClain .
That ’ s my house .
I was just going home , ” McClain exclaimed in vain .
First responders administered an injection of ketamine to McClain in an alleged effort to sedate him .
McClain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hospital and passed away days later on August 30 , 2019 .
The outcomes for Arbery and Floyd were similar .
When Gregory McDaniel contacted 911 after seeing Arbery , the operator inquired of McDaniel the nature of the crime being committed .
He replied in part , “ There ’ s a black male running down the street.
” We can imagine that in the minds of the men who killed Arbery , he was not a young man innocently jogging down a neighborhood street on a sunny day .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that has pervaded an American consciousness and has been produced and reproduced across time and space .
Two months following the death of Arbery , four officers apprehended and killed Floyd for allegedly attempting to use a counterfeit $ 20 bill to purchase cigarettes .
Each death points to a seemingly undeniably conclusion : The extraordinary violence exacted upon McClain , Arbery and Floyd was done so to punish the criminal act of Black existence , to demonstrate the triumph of white over black .
During the heyday of lynching , local citizens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did ) act without — although at times with — sanction from the court and public administrators because they assumed their ultimate authority to be judge , juror and executioner of last resort .
Lynchers settled into a knowledge , a comfort that their actions would not be disrupted , and they would not be prosecuted .
In 1916 , after the lynching of Jesse Washington in Waco , Texas , NAACP investigator Elisabeth Freeman asked Sheriff S. S. Fleming why the 50 deputies he had recently sworn in were not present to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him from the courthouse and burned him on the lawn of City Hall .
Fleming rhetorically responded , “ Would you want to protect the nigger ?
” The men who killed McClain , Arbery and Floyd similarly acted as judge , jury and executioners .
None of the three victims were afforded due process nor the opportunity to demonstrate their innocence , and each of the killers seemed confident that they would not be prosecuted for their actions .
Indeed , the police killings of Floyd and McClain sit squarely on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officers , a reality that runs counter to many people ’ s notion that lynchers often acted in opposition to law enforcement .
In 1892 , 18-year-old William Sullivan was hanged by a mob , led by Deputy Sheriff James Augus , in Plantersville , Texas , after Sullivan claimed that a white woman was his wife .
Augus chained Sullivan to a ceiling column then traveled around the area inviting local residents to witness Sullivan ’ s death : “ This young nigger is smart and talks back to white people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remove him , ” he shouted .
The state failed , in the killings of McClain , Arbery and Floyd , to exact justice initially or at all , and instead validated racial vigilantism as a viable form of justice .
Mike Freeman , the county attorney for Hennepin County who first investigated the death of Floyd , said during a press conference that his job “ is to prove that [ officer Derek Chauvin ] violated criminal statute — but there is other evidence that doesn ’ t support a criminal charge.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gregory McMichael and William Bryan murdered Arbery on February 23 , 2020 , after they saw him jogging down the street , District Attorney George E. Barnhill , who early on investigated the case , penned a letter that sought to exonerate Arbery ’ s murderers .
“ It is my professional belief the autopsy confirms what we had already viewed as shown in the videotape , with the photographs and from the witness statements taken immediately at the scene , ” Barnhill stated , insisting that , “ we do not see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the three parties.
” He added that they were in “ hot pursuit ” of a criminal due to the baseless claim that break-ins had recently occurred in the neighborhood .
Charges were eventually brought against those involved in the deaths of Arbery and Floyd .
As of today , however , no charges have been filed in the death of McClain .
An autopsy conducted by the Adams County coroner declared that the cause of McClain ’ s death was inconclusive .
His death , the coroner argued , could have been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ causes .
As a result , District Attorney Dave Young cleared the officers involved in McClain ’ s death of any wrongdoing .
“ The forensic evidence revealed that the cause of death was undetermined , ” Young argued .
“ Specifically , the pathologist who conducted the autopsy stated that he was unable to conclude that the actions of any law enforcement officer caused Mr. McClain ’ s death… .
Based on the facts and evidence of this investigation I can not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers involved in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actions.
” In the cases of Arbery and Floyd , the initial , state-sanctioned autopsies similarly failed to provide clear culpability for the men who murdered them .
This conclusion is reminiscent of lynchings from the past when coroners ’ reports worked to absolve lynchers of any wrongdoing .
In 1895 , T.D .
Hightower , acting coroner at the time of Nelson Calhoun ’ s lynching , exonerated the individuals responsible for the murder by publicly stating that Calhoun died “ in the hands of parties unknown to me , ” despite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by unmasked individuals .
Hightower added that the death was “ deserved.
” After completing a formal inquest into John Henderson ’ s mob death by burning in 1901 , Justice of the Peace and Coroner H.G .
Roberts , sworn to uphold the majesty of the law , drafted his ruling : “ I find that the deceased came to his death at the hands of the incensed and outraged feelings of the best people in the United States , the citizens of Navarro and adjoining counties… .
His death was fully @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the last several months , the bodies of at three men and one transgender woman — all African American — have been found hanging from trees in public spaces in four states .
Local citizens have called into the question the veracity of official claims that the deaths were suicides , due largely to evidence that suggests medical examiners and law enforcement rushed to judgement .
Such rulings were not unusual during the mid-20th century when the hangings of dozens of Black men were ruled suicides , claims that frequently sought to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was likely a lynching .
The claims also revealed the dismissive value of Black lives .
We have witnessed the passage of civil rights legislation , the election of a Black president , the slow establishment of new social and moral paradigms that have rendered such things as murdering a person for attempting to vote a relic of an iniquitous past .
None of these has resulted in systemic change to prevent the type of violence and brutality that attended the murders of McClain , Arbery and Floyd , largely because some realities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pull that drags the ocean ’ s waves to the shores .
The Black body has historically been seen as less than — at times good only for profit , at other times as a source of terror .
What these modern lynchings reveal is that for some white people in the U.S. , a challenge to the supposed racial hierarchy continues to be a criminal act .
Why does this matter ?
Because Black lives matter .
Some things have changed , however .
These brutal deaths have engendered an unprecedented call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the past months people come together across racial , ethnic , generational and religious boundaries , flooding streets around the world , taking to social media and calling on corporations to demand change .
What a beautiful reality , one that renders the past distinct .
They demonstrate the veracity of the words spoken by the late John Lewis : “ When you see something that is not right , not fair , not just , you have a moral obligation to continue to speak up , to speak out.
” May we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out .

The moment haunts me. It resides in my consciousness as a harbinger of stalled progress. It grasps my existence with the tension of every maddening expression of racial othering and inhumanity I have witnessed, studied, experienced.
It was the moment when I saw the slender, round face of a young Black man, gleaming with the innocence of an unsuspecting altruist — the moment I read his last words, filled with the clemency seemingly reserved for an ethereal being. “You are all phenomenal. You are beautiful and I love you,” he averred to police officers as they wrestled him to the ground before he died. It was the moment I realized that Elijah McClain was lynched. I fell back into my chair, crestfallen.
As a professor of African American history and scholar of lynching during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, I teach this as a part of the nation’s sordid past, including the destabilizing impact it has on the African American community. In recent years, I had largely shied away from making such historical comparisons out of respect for the unique circumstances that helped define and contribute to the countless lynchings that swept the United States throughout the first half of the 20th century. In recent weeks, however, the comparison has become more prescient as the world has seemingly collapsed onto its own wretched history.
The last few months have allowed us all to bear witness to a disturbing and unavoidable reality: Lynching is not a relic of a Jim Crow past; it is in fact a modern form of racial terror. The spectacular brutality once preserved and disseminated through photography and corporeal souvenirs is now captured by cell phones and body cameras, allowing society to witness racial terror in all of its modern forms. The recent asphyxiating tide of murders — the aural and visual replaying of death — has left us all gasping for breath. Still writhing from the suffocating reality of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder in Georgia, we were forced to confront the indescribable pain of witnessing George Floyd’s murder in Minnesota. And yet the term “murder” somehow fails to convey the extraordinary cruelty of their killings. Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd were all lynched.
Each case presents a set of facts comparable to the history of lynching in the U.S. as defined by the Tuskegee Institute: a killing that occurs without due process, committed by “three or more persons, done under the pretext of service to justice, race, or tradition.” Lynching victims in the first decades following the Civil War were often white. Their alleged crimes typically involved horse theft, cattle theft or murder. Furthermore, their bodies were frequently found hanging from trees in the hours or days following their deaths, and the parties that lynched them, if seen, were often masked. By stark contrast, after Reconstruction, the lynching of Black bodies was done with a visibility, impunity and fanfare that would come to define a new lynching narrative.
Once a strictly punitive and largely clandestine form of extra-legal punishment, lynching evolved into a wholly racialized, publicly viewed, well-attended, frequently commercialized exhibition of mob violence. The lynching victim was now typically Black, and a mob’s fear of judicial retribution for its murderous efforts nearly disappeared. In the process, the concept of crime shifted. This new lynching narrative punished the crime of Black existence rather than a specific criminal act. Black lives, it said, did not matter.
We tend to think about what defines crime in conventional ways, with a consensus understanding of what constitutes crime (arson, murder, etc.); but the definition of crime changes when race and a racial hierarchy are involved. During the postbellum era, in the absence of a master-slave dyad when whites sought to reinforce white supremacy, a crime committed by a Black person was perceived as particularly egregious misconduct that often signaled a broad call to action. Such incidents not only encouraged but ostensibly required a suspension of due process in an effort to maintain white supremacy.
The list of offenses allegedly committed by African Americans that forced the assemblage of a mob predictably involved crimes against the white body, including murder, rape and assault, even when evidence to support the allegations was thin or non-existent. Dubious allegations, however — such as flippantly responding to a white man, voting, writing a letter to a white woman, suing a white person and being too prosperous for a Black person — were also counted as impudence punishable by mob violence. This gamut of transgressions, wavering between modern interpretations of criminal transgressions and the fiercely ridiculous, exposes the mutability of crime. The idea of what constituted a crime had clearly become something subject to unbelievably racist and horrific interpretations.
When a local sheriff found Ben Little, an African American man arrested in Mount Pleasant, Texas, in October 1885, dead and hanging from a tree after a mob removed him from his cell, a note pinned to Little’s back featured the following message:
This negro was not hanged for the highway robbery he committed in Titus County last Wednesday, but for the slanderous talk he has had about a certain white family in Mount Pleasant, which we deem a scandal to the white race. The family is as innocent and pure as the angels in heaven, and we feel that we have not committed a sin in the sight of God, and furthermore, we feel that we have done a great and noble act for our country as gentlemen. Speak to the dead for further information.
The note was signed “CITIZENS OF MOUNT PLEASANT TO THE NUMBER OF SIXTY-EIGHT.”
The white patrolling of Black people’s “place” has too often served as the superlative entity in an algorithm for what renders a crime a crime; expressions of freedom, sovereignty and advancement by Black people continue to function as crime in the same manner as violent misconduct. What appear as seemingly benign activities continue to gain potency when the perceived aggressor is Black and the racial hierarchy is ostensibly threatened.
Over the last few years, we have seen increasingly that freedom expressions of Black people are still criminalized. White citizens who believe they are patrolling their local environments are in fact patrolling racial boundaries. They have in recent months called the police on Black people who are, for instance, giving a dog a treat, hosting a lemonade stand, having a barbeque, attempting to use the gym in their own residential building, picking up trash in their front yard or simply jogging. Crime, then, is still something defined by historically specific phenomena, by the nuances of an everyday existence, by social interactions, and ideas about race and identity, by sheer racism. At times, the outcome is death.
McClain was returning from the store in Aurora, Colorado, after purchasing iced tea for his brother. Donning a ski mask — a choice his sister said he often made because “he had anemia and would sometimes get cold” — McClain was approached by several police officers who ordered him to stop. The person who called the police reported that McClain seemed suspicious. Officers placed McClain in a carotid hold. “I can’t breathe. I have my ID right here. My name is Elijah McClain. That’s my house. I was just going home,” McClain exclaimed in vain. First responders administered an injection of ketamine to McClain in an alleged effort to sedate him. McClain suffered a heart attack en route to the hospital and passed away days later on August 30, 2019.
The outcomes for Arbery and Floyd were similar. When Gregory McDaniel contacted 911 after seeing Arbery, the operator inquired of McDaniel the nature of the crime being committed. He replied in part, “There’s a black male running down the street.” We can imagine that in the minds of the men who killed Arbery, he was not a young man innocently jogging down a neighborhood street on a sunny day. He was the conflation of Blackness and criminality that has pervaded an American consciousness and has been produced and reproduced across time and space. Two months following the death of Arbery, four officers apprehended and killed Floyd for allegedly attempting to use a counterfeit $20 bill to purchase cigarettes. Each death points to a seemingly undeniably conclusion: The extraordinary violence exacted upon McClain, Arbery and Floyd was done so to punish the criminal act of Black existence, to demonstrate the triumph of white over black.
During the heyday of lynching, local citizens and law enforcement agents could (and did) act without — although at times with — sanction from the court and public administrators because they assumed their ultimate authority to be judge, juror and executioner of last resort. Lynchers settled into a knowledge, a comfort that their actions would not be disrupted, and they would not be prosecuted. In 1916, after the lynching of Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas, NAACP investigator Elisabeth Freeman asked Sheriff S. S. Fleming why the 50 deputies he had recently sworn in were not present to shield Washington from the crowd that removed him from the courthouse and burned him on the lawn of City Hall. Fleming rhetorically responded, “Would you want to protect the nigger?” The men who killed McClain, Arbery and Floyd similarly acted as judge, jury and executioners. None of the three victims were afforded due process nor the opportunity to demonstrate their innocence, and each of the killers seemed confident that they would not be prosecuted for their actions.
Indeed, the police killings of Floyd and McClain sit squarely on a historical continuum of lynchings committed by police officers, a reality that runs counter to many people’s notion that lynchers often acted in opposition to law enforcement. In 1892, 18-year-old William Sullivan was hanged by a mob, led by Deputy Sheriff James Augus, in Plantersville, Texas, after Sullivan claimed that a white woman was his wife. Augus chained Sullivan to a ceiling column then traveled around the area inviting local residents to witness Sullivan’s death: “This young nigger is smart and talks back to white people, and now is a good chance to remove him,” he shouted.
The state failed, in the killings of McClain, Arbery and Floyd, to exact justice initially or at all, and instead validated racial vigilantism as a viable form of justice. Mike Freeman, the county attorney for Hennepin County who first investigated the death of Floyd, said during a press conference that his job “is to prove that [officer Derek Chauvin] violated criminal statute — but there is other evidence that doesn’t support a criminal charge.” Similarly, when Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan murdered Arbery on February 23, 2020, after they saw him jogging down the street, District Attorney George E. Barnhill, who early on investigated the case, penned a letter that sought to exonerate Arbery’s murderers. “It is my professional belief the autopsy confirms what we had already viewed as shown in the videotape, with the photographs and from the witness statements taken immediately at the scene,” Barnhill stated, insisting that, “we do not see grounds for an arrest of any of the three parties.” He added that they were in “hot pursuit” of a criminal due to the baseless claim that break-ins had recently occurred in the neighborhood. Charges were eventually brought against those involved in the deaths of Arbery and Floyd. As of today, however, no charges have been filed in the death of McClain.
An autopsy conducted by the Adams County coroner declared that the cause of McClain’s death was inconclusive. His death, the coroner argued, could have been caused by the carotid hold or natural causes. As a result, District Attorney Dave Young cleared the officers involved in McClain’s death of any wrongdoing. “The forensic evidence revealed that the cause of death was undetermined,” Young argued. “Specifically, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy stated that he was unable to conclude that the actions of any law enforcement officer caused Mr. McClain’s death…. Based on the facts and evidence of this investigation I cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers involved in this incident were not justified in their actions.”
In the cases of Arbery and Floyd, the initial, state-sanctioned autopsies similarly failed to provide clear culpability for the men who murdered them. This conclusion is reminiscent of lynchings from the past when coroners’ reports worked to absolve lynchers of any wrongdoing.
In 1895, T.D. Hightower, acting coroner at the time of Nelson Calhoun’s lynching, exonerated the individuals responsible for the murder by publicly stating that Calhoun died “in the hands of parties unknown to me,” despite the fact that the lynching was committed by unmasked individuals. Hightower added that the death was “deserved.”
After completing a formal inquest into John Henderson’s mob death by burning in 1901, Justice of the Peace and Coroner H.G. Roberts, sworn to uphold the majesty of the law, drafted his ruling: “I find that the deceased came to his death at the hands of the incensed and outraged feelings of the best people in the United States, the citizens of Navarro and adjoining counties…. His death was fully merited and commendable.”
Over the course of the last several months, the bodies of at three men and one transgender woman — all African American — have been found hanging from trees in public spaces in four states. Local citizens have called into the question the veracity of official claims that the deaths were suicides, due largely to evidence that suggests medical examiners and law enforcement rushed to judgement.
Such rulings were not unusual during the mid-20th century when the hangings of dozens of Black men were ruled suicides, claims that frequently sought to absolve local authorities from further investigating what was likely a lynching. The claims also revealed the dismissive value of Black lives.
We have witnessed the passage of civil rights legislation, the election of a Black president, the slow establishment of new social and moral paradigms that have rendered such things as murdering a person for attempting to vote a relic of an iniquitous past. None of these has resulted in systemic change to prevent the type of violence and brutality that attended the murders of McClain, Arbery and Floyd, largely because some realities remain as unfalteringly timeless as the magnetic pull that drags the ocean’s waves to the shores. The Black body has historically been seen as less than — at times good only for profit, at other times as a source of terror. What these modern lynchings reveal is that for some white people in the U.S., a challenge to the supposed racial hierarchy continues to be a criminal act.
Why does this matter? Because Black lives matter.
Some things have changed, however. These brutal deaths have engendered an unprecedented call for reform. We have witnessed in the past months people come together across racial, ethnic, generational and religious boundaries, flooding streets around the world, taking to social media and calling on corporations to demand change. What a beautiful reality, one that renders the past distinct. They demonstrate the veracity of the words spoken by the late John Lewis: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to continue to speak up, to speak out.”
May we all continue to speak up and speak out.
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truthout--2020-08-09--Trump’s Threat to Press Freedom Is Global

Conservative filmmaker Michael Pack is a true believer in Trump ’ s version of a global war of ideas , as was made evident by a recent editorial penned by the Trump loyalist .
That is likely why the Senate confirmed his appointment in June as head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media ( USAGM ) , one of the largest news networks in the world .
USAGM runs a number of state media and technology organizations , including Voice of America ( VOA ) , Middle East Broadcasting , Radio Free Asia , Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Radio Televisión Martí ) and the Open Technology Fund ( OTF ) , which promotes internet access around the world .
Pack is the former president of the conservative Claremont Institute think tank , and has worked on projects with former Trump political strategist and former executive chairman of the Breitbart News Network , Stephen Bannon .
The appointment of Pack to this vast international media agency has stoked fears in journalists and activists that the Trump administration might use this confirmation to recast the federal agency , and the media networks it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the president , amplifying the hate and chaos Trump ’ s presidency has bred domestically onto a global stage already ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and rife with economic and political uncertainty .
The concerns seem well founded .
First , Pack ’ s aides ordered the broadcasters supervised by his agency to “ freeze ” all staff promotions , new hires and other contractual obligations .
All decisions were to go through him as CEO .
Within one week of taking over the running of the USAGM ’ s vast global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of five of its news organizations , as well as the head of the OTF .
The chief editors of Voice of America resigned in protest .
Pack then dissolved the bipartisan boards that governed and advised media services and replaced board members with political appointees of the Trump administration .
Toward the end of the Obama administration , a provision was enacted that replaces the former bipartisan board structure with an advisory board elected by the president .
While the Obama administration saw the move as a way to make the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration worry that the restructuring gives the new chief executive more unilateral power than previous leaders .
Pack also announced the agency would not renew visas for some foreign agency employees in order to “ improve management and protect national security , ” according to a statement from USAGM .
Many of the journalists affected by this policy bring critical language skills , and some could actually be endangered if deported .
Trump ’ s increasingly authoritarian regime is tightening its grip on the publicly funded media agency .
This slash-and-burn technique has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s political arsenal .
Attacks on the press and wholesale restructuring of regulatory and safety net agencies are part of a broader effort to isolate the United States on the international stage , and breed a level and type of confusion that forces a power vacuum which centralizes authority over U.S. institutions into the hands of the executive branch .
These strategies mirror the vision of Pack ’ s ally and friend , Steve Bannon .
Craig Aaron , co-CEO at the national media rights organization Free Press , says that Pack ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ democracy and democracy around the world .
“ His short time as head of the agency has been even worse than advertised — and he was advertised as a Steve Bannon crony unfit for the job , ” Aaron said in a statement .
“ In a matter of weeks , he has abused the power of the position and is quickly undoing any reputation the agency had for independence and impartiality , seemingly pursuing political vendettas , knocking down firewalls , and sacking the experienced journalists and technologists doing important and independent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ domestic , the impact on digital rights and freedom will definitely be felt around the world .
When Pack fired the entire OTF leadership , he froze more than $ 10 million already pledged to internet freedom projects this year .
OTF has become integral infrastructure for politically repressed communities worldwide .
More than 2 billion people in 60 countries rely on OTF-supported tools like Signal and Tor to connect securely with privacy to the internet .
Two-thirds of mobile devices around the world use some piece of OTF-supported technology .
By bringing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has placed people living under authoritarian regimes who rely on the organization to evade surveillance , navigate censorship and protect their human rights at risk .
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and 17 leading U.S.-based internet freedom organizations filed an amicus brief which successfully urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C .
Circuit to rule that Pack violated the First Amendment right of association and assembly in U.S. law when he replaced OTF ’ s president and bipartisan board with political appointees .
The U.S. appellate court in Washington temporarily blocked the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ appointees .
Perhaps the biggest concern for activists is that the USAGM could become a megaphone for President Trump ’ s authoritarian white supremacy and nationalism .
If you are among those that fear these media outlets could be used to stoke the rise of anti-globalist white nationalism through deliberate propaganda at an international scale , you ’ re not alone .
But , while the threat posed by Pack ’ s appointment is real and urgent , this isn ’ t the first time the USAGM has been positioned to promote U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Elbaum , a radical historian and author of Revolution in the Air : Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin , Mao and Che , say the agency was founded with an empire-building agenda , and was never truly independent in the first place .
“ The purpose of VOA has always been to be propaganda for whatever America ’ s interests were at the time , oscillating between crude and more sophisticated propaganda , ” Elbaum told Truthout .
“ This is simply another oscillation , a dangerous one , but one with real @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when you examine the agency ’ s history .
The USAGM , formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors , describes itself as an independent agency of the United States government with a mission to “ inform , engage , and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.
” But , the Broadcasting Board of Governors only became an “ independent agency ” in 1999 .
Prior to that , it was called the United States Information Agency ( USIA ) , established by President Eisenhower in 1953 to “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in promotion of the national interest.
” Influence has always been integral to the mission of the USAGM , which has its roots not in journalism but in public relations and propaganda .
VOA ’ s pro-American radio broadcasts were launched as part of the World War II war effort in 1942 , with a more official U.S. propaganda program launched in 1946 .
These forms of soft-power diplomacy grew to include multifaceted messaging campaigns using radio broadcasts , libraries sponsored by the United States Information Service ( the overseas name of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distribution of leaflets and other literature in reaction to the global spread of communism .
Then , in 1952 , Eisenhower convened a Committee on International Information Activities , which focused on Cold War propaganda efforts that targeted foreign populations with “ psychological warfare ” to achieve strategic influence .
Under Eisenhower , all information activities were transferred from the State Department to the independent USIA in 1953 .
As the agency gained some measure of independence from the U.S. government , it also gained a mix of state actors and staff journalists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Though the USIA was still a neoliberal and anti-communist agency , many staff journalists did attempt to provide unbiased and fair reporting .
These attempts often met with pushback : In early 1953 , Sen. Joseph McCarthy , the godfather of the investigations that hunted communists and other dissidents , joined the Senate Committee on Government Operations and its Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigation , and immediately turned the committee ’ s attention to the Voice of America broadcast network , claiming it was rife with communists , sexual deviants and hippies .
Today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ journalists and state actors .
Indeed , in nations with broken or highly censored news media that have been undermined by authoritarian governments or political instability ( at times caused by U.S. intervention ) , these outlets can be as close to a free press as many residents can get .
Meanwhile , right-wing elements , including the current president of the United States , continue to attack the USAGM .
Whether you believe these U.S.-backed media outlets are trusted and authoritative independent global news sources soft-pedaling democratic values for the good of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our national security infrastructure delivering overt propaganda , the fact is the U.S. has been in the worldwide propaganda business for more than 80 years .
It might be time to reassess that strategy .
The U.S. narrative has developed in a centuries-old dance between independence , isolationism and imperialism .
Rather than simply choosing to remain a mythical media institution that promotes an imaginary democracy that never truly existed , this political moment of global uprising gives Congress , the courts and civil society activists the opportunity to reinvent the agency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bannon and Pack .
While the USAGM can not run from its history , it can run toward a future that acknowledges the past and fulfills its mandate as power ’ s watchdog , not its lapdog .
“ As an agency with its roots in producing propaganda , it ’ s crucial that the U.S. Agency for Global Media demonstrates transparency and independence , ” Aaron said .
“ Pack has trashed that and unless Congress or the courts step in it will only get worse .
”

One of the largest news networks in the world is in danger of being turned into a propaganda tool for Trump.
Conservative filmmaker Michael Pack is a true believer in Trump’s version of a global war of ideas, as was made evident by a recent editorial penned by the Trump loyalist. That is likely why the Senate confirmed his appointment in June as head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), one of the largest news networks in the world. USAGM runs a number of state media and technology organizations, including Voice of America (VOA), Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Office of Cuba Broadcasting (which oversees Radio Televisión Martí) and the Open Technology Fund (OTF), which promotes internet access around the world.
Pack is the former president of the conservative Claremont Institute think tank, and has worked on projects with former Trump political strategist and former executive chairman of the Breitbart News Network, Stephen Bannon. The appointment of Pack to this vast international media agency has stoked fears in journalists and activists that the Trump administration might use this confirmation to recast the federal agency, and the media networks it operates, into a consolidated right-wing mouthpiece for the president, amplifying the hate and chaos Trump’s presidency has bred domestically onto a global stage already ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and rife with economic and political uncertainty.
The concerns seem well founded. First, Pack’s aides ordered the broadcasters supervised by his agency to “freeze” all staff promotions, new hires and other contractual obligations. All decisions were to go through him as CEO. Within one week of taking over the running of the USAGM’s vast global network, Pack removed the top chiefs of five of its news organizations, as well as the head of the OTF. The chief editors of Voice of America resigned in protest.
Pack then dissolved the bipartisan boards that governed and advised media services and replaced board members with political appointees of the Trump administration. Toward the end of the Obama administration, a provision was enacted that replaces the former bipartisan board structure with an advisory board elected by the president. While the Obama administration saw the move as a way to make the agency more efficient, critics of the Trump administration worry that the restructuring gives the new chief executive more unilateral power than previous leaders.
Pack also announced the agency would not renew visas for some foreign agency employees in order to “improve management and protect national security,” according to a statement from USAGM. Many of the journalists affected by this policy bring critical language skills, and some could actually be endangered if deported.
Trump’s increasingly authoritarian regime is tightening its grip on the publicly funded media agency. This slash-and-burn technique has been a tried-and-true element of Trump’s political arsenal. Attacks on the press and wholesale restructuring of regulatory and safety net agencies are part of a broader effort to isolate the United States on the international stage, and breed a level and type of confusion that forces a power vacuum which centralizes authority over U.S. institutions into the hands of the executive branch. These strategies mirror the vision of Pack’s ally and friend, Steve Bannon.
Craig Aaron, co-CEO at the national media rights organization Free Press, says that Pack’s appointment is a danger to U.S. democracy and democracy around the world. “His short time as head of the agency has been even worse than advertised — and he was advertised as a Steve Bannon crony unfit for the job,” Aaron said in a statement. “In a matter of weeks, he has abused the power of the position and is quickly undoing any reputation the agency had for independence and impartiality, seemingly pursuing political vendettas, knocking down firewalls, and sacking the experienced journalists and technologists doing important and independent work.”
Attacks on the press are part of a broader effort to breed a level and type of confusion that forces a power vacuum which centralizes authority over U.S. institutions into the hands of the executive branch.
While the strategy may be domestic, the impact on digital rights and freedom will definitely be felt around the world. When Pack fired the entire OTF leadership, he froze more than $10 million already pledged to internet freedom projects this year. OTF has become integral infrastructure for politically repressed communities worldwide. More than 2 billion people in 60 countries rely on OTF-supported tools like Signal and Tor to connect securely with privacy to the internet. Two-thirds of mobile devices around the world use some piece of OTF-supported technology. By bringing the organization to a standstill, Pack has placed people living under authoritarian regimes who rely on the organization to evade surveillance, navigate censorship and protect their human rights at risk.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and 17 leading U.S.-based internet freedom organizations filed an amicus brief which successfully urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule that Pack violated the First Amendment right of association and assembly in U.S. law when he replaced OTF’s president and bipartisan board with political appointees. The U.S. appellate court in Washington temporarily blocked the new USAGM chief executive from installing his appointees.
Perhaps the biggest concern for activists is that the USAGM could become a megaphone for President Trump’s authoritarian white supremacy and nationalism. If you are among those that fear these media outlets could be used to stoke the rise of anti-globalist white nationalism through deliberate propaganda at an international scale, you’re not alone.
But, while the threat posed by Pack’s appointment is real and urgent, this isn’t the first time the USAGM has been positioned to promote U.S. propaganda. Some critics, like Max Elbaum, a radical historian and author of Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che, say the agency was founded with an empire-building agenda, and was never truly independent in the first place.
“The purpose of VOA has always been to be propaganda for whatever America’s interests were at the time, oscillating between crude and more sophisticated propaganda,” Elbaum told Truthout. “This is simply another oscillation, a dangerous one, but one with real precedent.”
This sentiment is borne out when you examine the agency’s history. The USAGM, formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors, describes itself as an independent agency of the United States government with a mission to “inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy.” But, the Broadcasting Board of Governors only became an “independent agency” in 1999. Prior to that, it was called the United States Information Agency (USIA), established by President Eisenhower in 1953 to “understand, inform and influence foreign publics in promotion of the national interest.” Influence has always been integral to the mission of the USAGM, which has its roots not in journalism but in public relations and propaganda.
The biggest concern for activists is that the USAGM could become a megaphone for President Trump’s authoritarian white supremacy and nationalism.
VOA’s pro-American radio broadcasts were launched as part of the World War II war effort in 1942, with a more official U.S. propaganda program launched in 1946. These forms of soft-power diplomacy grew to include multifaceted messaging campaigns using radio broadcasts, libraries sponsored by the United States Information Service (the overseas name of the USIA), and the publication and distribution of leaflets and other literature in reaction to the global spread of communism.
Then, in 1952, Eisenhower convened a Committee on International Information Activities, which focused on Cold War propaganda efforts that targeted foreign populations with “psychological warfare” to achieve strategic influence. Under Eisenhower, all information activities were transferred from the State Department to the independent USIA in 1953. As the agency gained some measure of independence from the U.S. government, it also gained a mix of state actors and staff journalists committed to freedom of the press.
Though the USIA was still a neoliberal and anti-communist agency, many staff journalists did attempt to provide unbiased and fair reporting. These attempts often met with pushback: In early 1953, Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the godfather of the investigations that hunted communists and other dissidents, joined the Senate Committee on Government Operations and its Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigation, and immediately turned the committee’s attention to the Voice of America broadcast network, claiming it was rife with communists, sexual deviants and hippies.
Today, USAGM outlets remain a mix of journalists and state actors. Indeed, in nations with broken or highly censored news media that have been undermined by authoritarian governments or political instability (at times caused by U.S. intervention), these outlets can be as close to a free press as many residents can get.
Influence has always been integral to the mission of the USAGM, which has its roots not in journalism but in public relations and propaganda.
Meanwhile, right-wing elements, including the current president of the United States, continue to attack the USAGM.
Whether you believe these U.S.-backed media outlets are trusted and authoritative independent global news sources soft-pedaling democratic values for the good of all, or that they are part of our national security infrastructure delivering overt propaganda, the fact is the U.S. has been in the worldwide propaganda business for more than 80 years. It might be time to reassess that strategy.
The U.S. narrative has developed in a centuries-old dance between independence, isolationism and imperialism. Rather than simply choosing to remain a mythical media institution that promotes an imaginary democracy that never truly existed, this political moment of global uprising gives Congress, the courts and civil society activists the opportunity to reinvent the agency beyond the authoritarian imaginings of Trump, Bannon and Pack. While the USAGM cannot run from its history, it can run toward a future that acknowledges the past and fulfills its mandate as power’s watchdog, not its lapdog.
“As an agency with its roots in producing propaganda, it’s crucial that the U.S. Agency for Global Media demonstrates transparency and independence,” Aaron said. “Pack has trashed that and unless Congress or the courts step in it will only get worse.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-08-10--School That Suspended Student Documenting Lack of Social Distancing Goes Virtual

A high school in Paulding County , Georgia , is reversing its decision to suspend a student for highlighting the lack of mask-wearing in hallways , which drew widespread criticism last week after her story ( and the images she shared ) went viral .
On top of that , North Paulding High School announced it would move to online instruction , for at least two days this week and perhaps longer , after several students and school staff tested positive for coronavirus .
Fifteen-year-old Hannah Watters had received a suspension after she had shared photographic evidence demonstrating that in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the school hallways were clearly unsafe .
The images she shared on Twitter showcased the high school ’ s crowded hallways , coupled with an absence of mask-wearing among the students in general .
Watters also shared a tally , over the course of three days of classes she attended , that included the number of students wearing masks versus those who did not .
Out of 300 peer-to-peer interactions Watters had with students in those classrooms , less than a third had been wearing a mask .
The Centers for Disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for schools considering reopening their doors this fall include recommendations to have students and staff wear facial coverings “ when around people who live outside of their household , especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
” Masks should also be worn when in class , if a six-foot distancing standard can not be adhered to , the CDC says .
Watters was suspended for sharing images of her classmates not wearing masks in accordance with rules in the student handbook that prohibit sharing such images without first obtaining permission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , the school could have run afoul of First Amendment violations if it only enforced the rules for actions that presented the school in a negative light , and didn ’ t enforce them for situations which made the school look good , for example .
Watters said she was “ happily surprised ” by her suspension being reversed , but added that the disciplinary action against her had been unfair .
“ They disciplined me for things that everyone does at that school .
The severity of it was unnecessary , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ School also announced that , for at least two days this week , it would revert to an online learning curriculum due to the discovery that some students and staff had tested positive for COVID-19 recently .
“ As a result of our being informed of nine cases of Covid-19 at North Paulding High School following the first week of in-person instruction , along with the possibility that number could increase if there are currently pending tests that prove positive , we have consulted with the Department of Public Health and are temporarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at NPHS , ” Paulding County Schools Superintendent Brian Otott said in a letter to parents .
The school would be closed on Monday and Tuesday of this week , Otott explained .
On Tuesday evening , a decision would be made by the district on whether the school would reopen at any point during the rest of the week .
In the meantime , Otott said the school would be “ thoroughly cleaned ” in response to the test results .
North Paulding High School has made several news headlines for how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic , but many schools are grappling with the same difficult decisions regarding how to move forward with teaching students this year .
The decision is not always an easy one to make : starting schools off in a virtual environment can often result in an inequitable educational experience , particularly for low-income students .
Still , concern for the spread of coronavirus lingers , especially as new evidence suggests children and youth are not as safe from contracting the disease as some might believe .
In spite of President Donald Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost definitely ” immune from COVID-19 , at least 97,000 kids in the United States tested positive for the disease in the last two weeks of July , according to research compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children ’ s Hospital Association .

A high school in Paulding County, Georgia, is reversing its decision to suspend a student for highlighting the lack of mask-wearing in hallways, which drew widespread criticism last week after her story (and the images she shared) went viral.
On top of that, North Paulding High School announced it would move to online instruction, for at least two days this week and perhaps longer, after several students and school staff tested positive for coronavirus.
Fifteen-year-old Hannah Watters had received a suspension after she had shared photographic evidence demonstrating that in terms of preventing the spread of COVID-19, the school hallways were clearly unsafe. The images she shared on Twitter showcased the high school’s crowded hallways, coupled with an absence of mask-wearing among the students in general.
Watters also shared a tally, over the course of three days of classes she attended, that included the number of students wearing masks versus those who did not. Out of 300 peer-to-peer interactions Watters had with students in those classrooms, less than a third had been wearing a mask.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines for schools considering reopening their doors this fall include recommendations to have students and staff wear facial coverings “when around people who live outside of their household, especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.” Masks should also be worn when in class, if a six-foot distancing standard cannot be adhered to, the CDC says.
Watters was suspended for sharing images of her classmates not wearing masks in accordance with rules in the student handbook that prohibit sharing such images without first obtaining permission from those students or their parents. However, the school could have run afoul of First Amendment violations if it only enforced the rules for actions that presented the school in a negative light, and didn’t enforce them for situations which made the school look good, for example.
Watters said she was “happily surprised” by her suspension being reversed, but added that the disciplinary action against her had been unfair.
“They disciplined me for things that everyone does at that school. The severity of it was unnecessary,” she said.
North Paulding High School also announced that, for at least two days this week, it would revert to an online learning curriculum due to the discovery that some students and staff had tested positive for COVID-19 recently.
“As a result of our being informed of nine cases of Covid-19 at North Paulding High School following the first week of in-person instruction, along with the possibility that number could increase if there are currently pending tests that prove positive, we have consulted with the Department of Public Health and are temporarily switching the instructional method to Digital Learning at NPHS,” Paulding County Schools Superintendent Brian Otott said in a letter to parents.
The school would be closed on Monday and Tuesday of this week, Otott explained. On Tuesday evening, a decision would be made by the district on whether the school would reopen at any point during the rest of the week. In the meantime, Otott said the school would be “thoroughly cleaned” in response to the test results.
North Paulding High School has made several news headlines for how it has handled reopening during the coronavirus pandemic, but many schools are grappling with the same difficult decisions regarding how to move forward with teaching students this year. The decision is not always an easy one to make: starting schools off in a virtual environment can often result in an inequitable educational experience, particularly for low-income students.
Still, concern for the spread of coronavirus lingers, especially as new evidence suggests children and youth are not as safe from contracting the disease as some might believe.
In spite of President Donald Trump’s errant assurances that children are “almost definitely” immune from COVID-19, at least 97,000 kids in the United States tested positive for the disease in the last two weeks of July, according to research compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.