truthout--2020-05-09--Billionaires Are Social Distancing in Super Yachts as Tens of Millions Lose Jobs

Everyday , it becomes clearer : the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting poor , working , and marginalized communities the hardest .
Millions of workers – especially low-wage retail , food service , hospitality , and care workers – have faced the terrible choice daily between going to work and risking their health , or staying home and risking their paychecks .
Many other workers don ’ t even have that choice , with around 30 million people in the US filing for unemployment in the past six weeks .
But billionaires don ’ t face these same problems .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the past two months , billionaire wealth soared by a whopping $ 282 billion between March 18 and April 10 , according to a new study from the Institute for Policy Studies .
And while finding enough space to wait out the pandemic is something many struggle with , billionaires have been escaping to their second ( or third , or fourth ) homes to ride it out in luxury – all while they position themselves to further profit off of this crisis .
Clearly , the COVID-19 pandemic is not the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Here , we look at how some billionaires – hedge fund managers , real estate developers , etc – have taken to social distancing in wealthy enclaves like Palm Beach and the Hamptons – and of course , their super yachts .
If you want to see a quintessential billionaire enclave , look no further than Palm Beach , the 18-mile Florida island , sitting on the rim of the Atlantic Ocean , home to a slew of private equity and hedge fund executives .
Palm Beach was recently in the news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April 7 that hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin “ secured sumptuous Florida quarters ” for stock traders from Citadel Securities – a “ sibling ” to his hedge fund , Citadel – to hunker down in : the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Palm Beach ( where some rooms are currently priced at up to nearly $ 3,000 a night ) .
Griffin , worth $ 12.5 billion , recently purchased a $ 99 million Palm Beach estate to bring his total Palm Beach holdings up to $ 350 million .
For Griffin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of real estate empire .
He owns the most expensive homes in both Miami and Chicago ( where his hedge fund is based ) , and he bought a $ 122 million mansion in London – the priciest home sold there over the past decade .
In 2018 , he bought the most expensive home ever sold in the US – a $ 238 million New York City penthouse .
It was the cherry on top of what CNBC called Griffin ’ s “ $ 700 million global real estate shopping spree , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a U.S. billionaire.
” If that wasn ’ t enough , Griffin also paid $ 500 million for just two pieces of art in 2016 .
Griffin owns a 17-acre space , nearly empty lot on South Ocean Boulevard , also known as West Palm ’ s “ Billionaire ’ s Row.
” According to the New York Post , his neighbors there include notorious Wall Street bigwigs like Stephen A. Schwarzman , Paul Tudor Jones II , and Steven Schonfeld .
Schwarzman is the head of Blackstone , the world ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 571 billion in assets .
Schwarzman – a political ally of , fundraiser for , and big donor to Donald Trump – is worth $ 17.5 billion .
Tudor Jones founded the hedge fund Tudor Investment Corporation , and is worth $ 5.1 billion .
He also sits on the board of the Palm Beach Civic Association , alongside a slew of elites , including Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and billionaire Stephen Ross .
Another hedge fund billionaire , Steven Schonfeld , recently paid $ 200 million to buy Palm Beach ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jeff Greene – a developer who is Palm Beach ’ s top landowner – heard about how Griffin put up his stock traders at the Four Seasons , he “ fired off emails to his contacts in the financial industry offering hotel rooms for alternate trading sites of their own.
” “ I sent them all emails saying , ‘ I have a hotel right next door .
Could you use a trading floor ?
’ , ” the NYT quoted Greene .
Greene , worth $ 3.7 billion , owns a home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Row near the likes of Schwarzman , Tudor Jones , and Schonfeld .
He made a big chunk of his fortune off the 2007-8 housing crash : “ [ Greene ’ s ] biggest win came when he bet that the subprime mortgage bubble would burst , ” wrote the Palm Beach Post .
“ In 2006 , Greene bought credit default swaps that he later cashed in for a profit of $ 500 million to $ 800 million.
” Greene also spent tens of millions on failed U.S. Senate and gubernatorial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s properties stretch beyond Palm Beach .
In 2014 , he listed for sale a $ 195 million , 53,000-square foot Beverly Hills mansion that included “ 25 private acres , a 3,000-bottle wine cellar , a bowling alley , a state-of-the-art theater , a vineyard and much more.
” Astonishingly , Greene declared in 2015 that “ America ’ s lifestyle expectations are far too high and need to be adjusted so we have less things and a maller , better existence.
” A host of other billionaire investors have second @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Palm Beach .
Nelson Peltz , who heads up the hedge fund Trian Partners , owns a $ 136.4 million oceanfront estate ( it ’ s called “ Montsorrel ” ) .
Peltz , whose hedge fund portfolio includes Wendy ’ s and P & G , recently hosted the priciest-ever Trump reelection fundraiser there .
The New York Post reported that Peltz is looking to cash in on the current crisis .
Henry Kravis , who co-founded the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts , is also a big name in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not raiding and bankrupting children ’ s toy stores , Kravis , worth $ 5.6 billion , can visit Palm Beach ’ s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts , named in honor of his father , Raymond Kravis .
Kravis also sits on the board of the Palm Beach Civic Association .
In addition , the wealthy CEO of the Mount Sinai Health System and the president of the Mount Sinai Health Network took some heat for social distancing from their homes in Palm Beach while their hospital system in New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic .
The Hamptons , on the eastern end of Long Island , is a storied vacation spot for New York City ’ s rich and famous .
Despite only being April , these elites have been clamoring to leave the city to escape the spread of coronavirus and hunker down in the luxury of – what are typically – their summer homes .
One peninsular stretch along Meadow Lane in Southampton , NY has long been dubbed “ Billionaire Lane ” for its concentration of high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The area , which Curbed called “ where the 1 % of the 1 % summer , ” is one of the most expensive addresses in the county and even has its own helipad to help vacationers reach their mansions even faster .
A helicopter commute from Manhattan only takes 40 minutes .
Residents of “ Billionaire Lane ” have included Wall Street bigwigs , CEOs , celebrities , and the late David Koch .
Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Och vacations on a four acre estate worth $ 26.5 million , while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a five acre estate worth $ 32.5 million .
Private equity billionaires Leon Black and Henry Kravis ( yes , that same Henry Kravis from the Palm Beach section above ) each own several acres of oceanfront property , while Loews CEO James Tisch of the billionaire Tisch family purchased the famous 8,000 square foot home featured in the film “ Something ’ s Got ta Give ” for $ 41 million .
The strip is also a second home to several celebrities , including designer Calvin Klein who tore down one mansion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one more in line with his style , and Studio 54 co-founder and hotelier Ian Schrager who has owned his four acre property since the 80s .
Indeed the Hamptons are so famously connected to wealth and privilege that the destination was name-dropped in a viral appearance by Chamath Palihapitiya , founder and CEO of Social Capital , on MSNBC as he railed against bailing out billionaires and hedge fund managers : Now , the Hamptons , already rife with the vacation homes of the 1 % , are experiencing an influx of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out the pandemic in a posh setting , taxing local resources during what is typically a slow season .
Joe Farrell , a wealthy Hamptons property developer , provided some insight into the rush of New York ’ s rich to find refuge when he told the New York Post that he rented a sprawling property nicknamed “ Sandcastle ” to a fellow New Yorker for $ 2 million after it was listed for just one day .
Farrell further disclosed that the six month rental , which set a new price record @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ textile tycoon and his family who were stuck in Manhattan and wanted to leave the city on a day ’ s notice.
” He noted that this was “ a COVID situation — not a normal summer rental.
” The real estate listing for the estate reveals an astounding number of amenities , including : 10 bedrooms , 15 bathrooms , an elevator , baseball field , tennis , squash , racquetball , basketball and volleyball courts , two-lane bowling alley with full bar , a rock-climbing wall , DJ booth and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and hot tub , spa suite with sauna and two hydraulic massage tables , and a skateboarding half-pipe .
While we do not know much about the “ textile tycoon ” who rented this estate , we can get a sense of the clientele Farrell serves from the services he offers .
Farrell has several Hampton ’ s properties available for rent , and he boasts about flying clients between the city and their new homes in his company helicopter , or using his private jet to scoop up their stranded children .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ rented by numerous celebrities including Beyoncé , Jay-Z , and Justin Beiber , and was the site of a fundraiser for Donald Trump , where tickets sold for up to $ 250,000 each .
This rental is a window into the pampered opulence the wealthy expect to maintain in the midst of a global pandemic .
However , year-long residents of the Hamptons are fed up with the city elites using their towns and villages to escape , dismissing warnings , and bringing the highly contagious virus with them .
The influx during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ created major food shortages and strained the small local hospital .
Perhaps most egregious of all , the wealthy are not exactly hunkering down in their mansions once they arrive – rather , some are out partying , as if suddenly inoculated from the virus by their well-to-do surroundings .
Rather than retreating behind the gates of private estates , some of the ultra-wealthy have taken to the high seas to weather the crisis on luxury yachts far away from the growing scenes of misery on the mainland .
Music and movie mogul @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of his $ 590 million yacht captioned : “ Sunset last night…isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus .
I ’ m hoping everybody is staying safe ” on March 28 .
Outraged backlash to his post was so swift and severe that Geffen deleted his account .
Geffen , the founder of Geffen Records and DreamWorks Pictures , is worth around $ 8 billion .
He is the wealthiest person in the entertainment industry , according to Business Insider .
The yacht where he is isolating , named Rising Sun , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Guests on the yacht have included Jeff Bezos , the Obamas , and a host of industry celebrities .
Geffen ’ s yacht , which he paid more than half a billion dollars for , even has its own Forbes page .
Forbes describes Geffen as a “ luxury property aficionado ” who “ owns one of NYC ’ s most expensive apartments , a house in the Hamptons and the Jack L. Warner estate in Beverly Hills.
” He is also a huge art aficionado , having “ amassed an impressive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jasper Johns , De Kooning and Jackson Pollock.
” Geffen has one of the most expensive private art collections in the world , estimated to be worth around $ 2.3 billion as of 2018 by Whitewalls , an art industry website .
( Oh yeah – that $ 500 million that hedge fund Ken Griffin manager paid for two pieces of art , mentioned above ?
They were sold to him by David Geffen ) .
In 2017 , Geffen announced a $ 150 million donation to the Los Angeles County Museum of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ help build a new building that would be called the “ David Geffen Galleries.
” The public health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis is set to magnify in the weeks and months ahead , and the devastation will likely be with us for years to come .
As many in corporate America continue to rake in profits off of the crisis from their luxury homes , and as tens of millions of people in the U.S. suffer , the battle over what a post-COVID U.S. will look like , and whether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over those of working people , will only intensify .

Billionaires are able to retreat into opulence while many ordinary Americans face the threat of COVID-19 at work.
Everyday, it becomes clearer: the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting poor, working, and marginalized communities the hardest.
Millions of workers – especially low-wage retail, food service, hospitality, and care workers – have faced the terrible choice daily between going to work and risking their health, or staying home and risking their paychecks. Many other workers don’t even have that choice, with around 30 million people in the US filing for unemployment in the past six weeks.
But billionaires don’t face these same problems. As tens of millions have lost their jobs over the past two months, billionaire wealth soared by a whopping $282 billion between March 18 and April 10, according to a new study from the Institute for Policy Studies. And while finding enough space to wait out the pandemic is something many struggle with, billionaires have been escaping to their second (or third, or fourth) homes to ride it out in luxury – all while they position themselves to further profit off of this crisis.
Clearly, the COVID-19 pandemic is not the “great equalizer” that some predicted.
Here, we look at how some billionaires – hedge fund managers, real estate developers, etc – have taken to social distancing in wealthy enclaves like Palm Beach and the Hamptons – and of course, their super yachts.
Palm Beach, Florida
If you want to see a quintessential billionaire enclave, look no further than Palm Beach, the 18-mile Florida island, sitting on the rim of the Atlantic Ocean, home to a slew of private equity and hedge fund executives.
Palm Beach was recently in the news when the New York Times reported on April 7 that hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin “secured sumptuous Florida quarters” for stock traders from Citadel Securities – a “sibling” to his hedge fund, Citadel – to hunker down in: the five-star Four Seasons hotel in Palm Beach (where some rooms are currently priced at up to nearly $3,000 a night).
Citadel Quarantines at the Four Seasons Palm Beach to ride out the storm! https://t.co/OZ5V9DivTW — Alison Galardi (@alibrite) April 8, 2020
Griffin, worth $12.5 billion, recently purchased a $99 million Palm Beach estate to bring his total Palm Beach holdings up to $350 million.
For Griffin, this is just a small slice of real estate empire. He owns the most expensive homes in both Miami and Chicago (where his hedge fund is based), and he bought a $122 million mansion in London – the priciest home sold there over the past decade. In 2018, he bought the most expensive home ever sold in the US – a $238 million New York City penthouse. It was the cherry on top of what CNBC called Griffin’s “$700 million global real estate shopping spree, believed to be the largest ever for a U.S. billionaire.”
If that wasn’t enough, Griffin also paid $500 million for just two pieces of art in 2016.
Griffin owns a 17-acre space, nearly empty lot on South Ocean Boulevard, also known as West Palm’s “Billionaire’s Row.” According to the New York Post, his neighbors there include notorious Wall Street bigwigs like Stephen A. Schwarzman, Paul Tudor Jones II, and Steven Schonfeld.
Schwarzman is the head of Blackstone, the world’s top private equity firm, overseeing $571 billion in assets. Schwarzman – a political ally of, fundraiser for, and big donor to Donald Trump – is worth $17.5 billion. Tudor Jones founded the hedge fund Tudor Investment Corporation, and is worth $5.1 billion. He also sits on the board of the Palm Beach Civic Association, alongside a slew of elites, including Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and billionaire Stephen Ross.
Another hedge fund billionaire, Steven Schonfeld, recently paid $200 million to buy Palm Beach’s most expensive mansion.
When fellow billionaire Jeff Greene – a developer who is Palm Beach’s top landowner – heard about how Griffin put up his stock traders at the Four Seasons, he “fired off emails to his contacts in the financial industry offering hotel rooms for alternate trading sites of their own.”
“I sent them all emails saying, ‘I have a hotel right next door. Could you use a trading floor?’,” the NYT quoted Greene.
(It should be noted that not everyone lauded the Wall Street takeover of Palm Beach’s fancy hotels. The NYT reported that a neighbor to the Four Seasons said “it was difficult not to think about the contradiction between the traders working at a five-star resort and people unable to ride out the pandemic in similar comfort.”)
Greene, worth $3.7 billion, owns a home on Palm Beach’s Billionaire’s Row near the likes of Schwarzman, Tudor Jones, and Schonfeld. He made a big chunk of his fortune off the 2007-8 housing crash: “[Greene’s] biggest win came when he bet that the subprime mortgage bubble would burst,” wrote the Palm Beach Post. “In 2006, Greene bought credit default swaps that he later cashed in for a profit of $500 million to $800 million.”
Greene also spent tens of millions on failed U.S. Senate and gubernatorial Democratic primary runs in Florida.
Greene’s properties stretch beyond Palm Beach. In 2014, he listed for sale a $195 million, 53,000-square foot Beverly Hills mansion that included “25 private acres, a 3,000-bottle wine cellar, a bowling alley, a state-of-the-art theater, a vineyard and much more.”
Astonishingly, Greene declared in 2015 that “America’s lifestyle expectations are far too high and need to be adjusted so we have less things and a maller, better existence.”
A host of other billionaire investors have second, third, or fourth homes in Palm Beach. Nelson Peltz, who heads up the hedge fund Trian Partners, owns a $136.4 million oceanfront estate (it’s called “Montsorrel”). Peltz, whose hedge fund portfolio includes Wendy’s and P&G, recently hosted the priciest-ever Trump reelection fundraiser there. The New York Post reported that Peltz is looking to cash in on the current crisis.
Henry Kravis, who co-founded the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts, is also a big name in Palm Beach. When he’s not raiding and bankrupting children’s toy stores, Kravis, worth $5.6 billion, can visit Palm Beach’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, named in honor of his father, Raymond Kravis. Kravis also sits on the board of the Palm Beach Civic Association.
In addition, the wealthy CEO of the Mount Sinai Health System and the president of the Mount Sinai Health Network took some heat for social distancing from their homes in Palm Beach while their hospital system in New York City “seems to be imploding” under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hamptons
The Hamptons, on the eastern end of Long Island, is a storied vacation spot for New York City’s rich and famous. Despite only being April, these elites have been clamoring to leave the city to escape the spread of coronavirus and hunker down in the luxury of – what are typically – their summer homes.
One peninsular stretch along Meadow Lane in Southampton, NY has long been dubbed “Billionaire Lane” for its concentration of high dollar beachfront properties and wealthy residents. The area, which Curbed called “where the 1% of the 1% summer,” is one of the most expensive addresses in the county and even has its own helipad to help vacationers reach their mansions even faster. A helicopter commute from Manhattan only takes 40 minutes.
Residents of “Billionaire Lane” have included Wall Street bigwigs, CEOs, celebrities, and the late David Koch. Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Och vacations on a four acre estate worth $26.5 million, while fellow hedge fund billionaire Chase Coleman owns a five acre estate worth $32.5 million.
Private equity billionaires Leon Black and Henry Kravis (yes, that same Henry Kravis from the Palm Beach section above) each own several acres of oceanfront property, while Loews CEO James Tisch of the billionaire Tisch family purchased the famous 8,000 square foot home featured in the film “Something’s Gotta Give” for $41 million.
The Hamptons' Billionaire Lane: Where Wall Street's richest retreat for the summer. http://t.co/3ekZOV9XEP pic.twitter.com/Njzupoajz3 — ForbesLife (@ForbesLife) June 19, 2014
The strip is also a second home to several celebrities, including designer Calvin Klein who tore down one mansion to build a new $75 million one more in line with his style, and Studio 54 co-founder and hotelier Ian Schrager who has owned his four acre property since the 80s.
Indeed the Hamptons are so famously connected to wealth and privilege that the destination was name-dropped in a viral appearance by Chamath Palihapitiya, founder and CEO of Social Capital, on MSNBC as he railed against bailing out billionaires and hedge fund managers:
“Who cares? Let them get wiped out. Who cares? They don’t get to summer in the Hamptons? Who cares?”
The U.S. shouldn’t bail out billionaires and hedge funds during the coronavirus pandemic, Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya says. “Who cares? Let them get wiped out.” https://t.co/dIbizumtqG pic.twitter.com/u8BSVvr0B1 — CNBC (@CNBC) April 9, 2020
Now, the Hamptons, already rife with the vacation homes of the 1%, are experiencing an influx of even more wealthy individuals looking to ride out the pandemic in a posh setting, taxing local resources during what is typically a slow season.
Joe Farrell, a wealthy Hamptons property developer, provided some insight into the rush of New York’s rich to find refuge when he told the New York Post that he rented a sprawling property nicknamed “Sandcastle” to a fellow New Yorker for $2 million after it was listed for just one day.
Farrell further disclosed that the six month rental, which set a new price record for the area, went to a “textile tycoon and his family who were stuck in Manhattan and wanted to leave the city on a day’s notice.” He noted that this was “a COVID situation — not a normal summer rental.”
The real estate listing for the estate reveals an astounding number of amenities, including: 10 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, an elevator, baseball field, tennis, squash, racquetball, basketball and volleyball courts, two-lane bowling alley with full bar, a rock-climbing wall, DJ booth and recording areas, 10-seat theatre, pool and hot tub, spa suite with sauna and two hydraulic massage tables, and a skateboarding half-pipe.
While we do not know much about the “textile tycoon” who rented this estate, we can get a sense of the clientele Farrell serves from the services he offers. Farrell has several Hampton’s properties available for rent, and he boasts about flying clients between the city and their new homes in his company helicopter, or using his private jet to scoop up their stranded children. The “Sandcastle” property has been rented by numerous celebrities including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Justin Beiber, and was the site of a fundraiser for Donald Trump, where tickets sold for up to $250,000 each.
This rental is a window into the pampered opulence the wealthy expect to maintain in the midst of a global pandemic. However, year-long residents of the Hamptons are fed up with the city elites using their towns and villages to escape, dismissing warnings, and bringing the highly contagious virus with them. The influx during the off season for the area has created major food shortages and strained the small local hospital.
Perhaps most egregious of all, the wealthy are not exactly hunkering down in their mansions once they arrive – rather, some are out partying, as if suddenly inoculated from the virus by their well-to-do surroundings.
Super Yachts
Rather than retreating behind the gates of private estates, some of the ultra-wealthy have taken to the high seas to weather the crisis on luxury yachts far away from the growing scenes of misery on the mainland.
Music and movie mogul David Geffen posted a photo to Instagram of his $590 million yacht captioned: “Sunset last night…isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I’m hoping everybody is staying safe” on March 28.
Outraged backlash to his post was so swift and severe that Geffen deleted his account.
Geffen, the founder of Geffen Records and DreamWorks Pictures, is worth around $8 billion. He is the wealthiest person in the entertainment industry, according to Business Insider.
The yacht where he is isolating, named Rising Sun, was originally built for Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Guests on the yacht have included Jeff Bezos, the Obamas, and a host of industry celebrities.
Geffen’s yacht, which he paid more than half a billion dollars for, even has its own Forbes page.
Forbes describes Geffen as a “luxury property aficionado” who “owns one of NYC’s most expensive apartments, a house in the Hamptons and the Jack L. Warner estate in Beverly Hills.”
He is also a huge art aficionado, having “amassed an impressive contemporary art collection, including works by Jasper Johns, De Kooning and Jackson Pollock.” Geffen has one of the most expensive private art collections in the world, estimated to be worth around $2.3 billion as of 2018 by Whitewalls, an art industry website.
(Oh yeah – that $500 million that hedge fund Ken Griffin manager paid for two pieces of art, mentioned above? They were sold to him by David Geffen).
In 2017, Geffen announced a $150 million donation to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art – its largest-ever gift – to help build a new building that would be called the “David Geffen Galleries.”
The public health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis is set to magnify in the weeks and months ahead, and the devastation will likely be with us for years to come. As many in corporate America continue to rake in profits off of the crisis from their luxury homes, and as tens of millions of people in the U.S. suffer, the battle over what a post-COVID U.S. will look like, and whether the interests of billionaires will be prioritized over those of working people, will only intensify.
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--2020-05-09--Employers in Ohio Urged to Snitch on Workers Who Stay Home to Avoid COVID-19

Ohio officials are encouraging employers to report what they ’ ve designated “ Covid-19 fraud ” as the state begins reopening some industries .
Workers who refuse to report to work in light of the pandemic , which has killed more than 1,300 Ohio residents so far , can be reported via a government website and have their unemployment benefits taken away .
According to the Washington Post , less than a week after the state reopened manufacturing and distribution facilities , construction , and offices , 600 employers have “ turned in ” about 1,200 workers for not reporting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ is a really fucked up way to even begin thinking about this , ” tweeted labor journalist Sarah Jaffe in response to the Post ’ s report .
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services set up a website this week where employers may use a form “ to report employees who quit or refuse work when it is available due to Covid-19.
” With retail stores expected to reopen on Monday , employees in that sector could be reported as early as next week for not returning to work .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ohio , officials told companies that “ Ohio law prohibits individuals from receiving unemployment benefits if they refuse to accept offers of suitable work , or quit work , without good cause.
” By designating a deadly public health crisis an insufficient cause for staying home , as health experts have consistently urged for nearly two months , the Ohio government is giving residents a “ near-impossible choice , ” according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute .
Ohio workers must now choose between “ going to work and earning income to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protecting their health , ” senior policy analyst Alex Camardelle told the Post .
Critics on social media accused Ohio officials of encouraging employers to “ snitch ” on workers for following the recommendations of public health officials .
Other Republican-led states have also aggressively pressured workers to report to their jobs with threats of having unemployment benefits taken away .
As Common Dreams reported last month , Iowa officials are designating failure to report to businesses in reopened industries as a “ voluntary quit , ” while Texas ’ s reopening order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Foundation , a progressive and non-partisan think tank , noted that the focus on so-called “ Covid-19 fraud ” in Republican-led states stems from a fixation at the U.S. Department of Labor on rooting out workers who are using unemployment benefits when work is available to them .
According to the Labor Department , nearly 90 % of people who received unemployment benefits in Ohio between 2016 and 2019 used the system correctly .
“ The driving activity of the U.S. Department of Labor for the last six to seven years has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a senior fellow at the foundation , told The American Prospect .
Ohio ’ s website represents a “ bright flashing light of ‘ fraud , fraud , fraud ’ that for me is just like another example of the system ’ s overemphasis on unemployment fraud , rather than making sure we pay people who are out of work , ” he added .

As Ohio reopens, officials are saying that avoiding a deadly pandemic is not a sufficient reason to stay home from work.
Ohio officials are encouraging employers to report what they’ve designated “Covid-19 fraud” as the state begins reopening some industries. Workers who refuse to report to work in light of the pandemic, which has killed more than 1,300 Ohio residents so far, can be reported via a government website and have their unemployment benefits taken away.
According to the Washington Post, less than a week after the state reopened manufacturing and distribution facilities, construction, and offices, 600 employers have “turned in” about 1,200 workers for not reporting to work.
“‘Turned in’ is a really fucked up way to even begin thinking about this,” tweeted labor journalist Sarah Jaffe in response to the Post’s report.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services set up a website this week where employers may use a form “to report employees who quit or refuse work when it is available due to Covid-19.”
With retail stores expected to reopen on Monday, employees in that sector could be reported as early as next week for not returning to work.
In an email sent to employers across Ohio, officials told companies that “Ohio law prohibits individuals from receiving unemployment benefits if they refuse to accept offers of suitable work, or quit work, without good cause.”
By designating a deadly public health crisis an insufficient cause for staying home, as health experts have consistently urged for nearly two months, the Ohio government is giving residents a “near-impossible choice,” according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute.
Ohio workers must now choose between “going to work and earning income to put food on the table, and protecting their health,” senior policy analyst Alex Camardelle told the Post.
Critics on social media accused Ohio officials of encouraging employers to “snitch” on workers for following the recommendations of public health officials.
The state of Ohio's snitch line for bosses to report employees who don't work during the Covid-19 crisis is about as evil as it gets. https://t.co/VsQ4chAARo pic.twitter.com/nIiJd3rT4s — Sarah Lazare (@sarahlazare) May 5, 2020
Still amazed by how quickly Ohio got up a portal for employers to snitch on employees who don't think it's safe to return to work so that Ohio can cut off their unemployment benefits: https://t.co/fGyAGw7U4t — ◥◤Kriston Capps Æ A-12 (@kristoncapps) May 8, 2020
Other Republican-led states have also aggressively pressured workers to report to their jobs with threats of having unemployment benefits taken away. As Common Dreams reported last month, Iowa officials are designating failure to report to businesses in reopened industries as a “voluntary quit,” while Texas’s reopening order carried the same message.
The Century Foundation, a progressive and non-partisan think tank, noted that the focus on so-called “Covid-19 fraud” in Republican-led states stems from a fixation at the U.S. Department of Labor on rooting out workers who are using unemployment benefits when work is available to them. According to the Labor Department, nearly 90% of people who received unemployment benefits in Ohio between 2016 and 2019 used the system correctly.
“The driving activity of the U.S. Department of Labor for the last six to seven years has been unemployment fraud,” Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the foundation, told The American Prospect.
Ohio’s website represents a “bright flashing light of ‘fraud, fraud, fraud’ that for me is just like another example of the system’s overemphasis on unemployment fraud, rather than making sure we pay people who are out of work,” he added.


truthout--2020-05-09--Why We Shouldn’t Quantify the COVID-19 Pandemic in Terms of 9/11

On April 7 , news agencies reported that New York City ’ s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed that of the September 11 , 2001 , attacks .
I imagine the comparison was made in an attempt to highlight the gravity of the pandemic and , in a way , to encourage Americans to take seriously social distancing measures .
Some of it , too , no doubt was sensational : an eye-catching headline that the talking heads at major news networks like CNN , MSNBC and Fox News could run with .
But we should be wary of gauging @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” especially when we plan for our post-pandemic future .
For one , it stands as an inappropriate and imprecise measurement of the attendant pain , grief and sorrow of the COVID-19 pandemic .
Like the tendency to measure distance in “ football fields , ” it ’ s an odd habit of Americans to quantify global tragedies in terms of 9/11s .
Reporters did it with the London 7/7 bombings and India ’ s 2008 bombings , and the U.S .
Surgeon General Jerome Adams did it with the COVID-19 pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ways , it was only a matter of time before the specter of 9/11 appeared in conversations surrounding COVID-19 .
Responding in The Guardian to claims that the 2008 Mumbai bombing was “ India ’ s 9/11 , ” novelist Arundhati Roy warned readers to be wary of such comparisons : “ November isn ’ t September , 2008 isn ’ t 2001 , Pakistan isn ’ t Afghanistan and India isn ’ t America.
” As Roy points out , the 9/11 comparison rarely achieves its intended aims .
So , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measure horror around the globe in terms of 9/11 ?
Let ’ s take another atrocity and measure it against 9/11 for effect .
In the short span of 100 days in 1994 , ethnic Hutu extremists slaughtered around 800,000 Tutsis in the east African nation of Rwanda .
During those months , the tiny country suffered the equivalent of two and two-thirds of a 9/11 every day , for 100 days as Samantha Power reported in Dissent .
Indeed , the calamity is almost incomprehensible : For a country of 6.26 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Rwanda lost 12.7 percent of its population .
( A United States equivalent today would be if 41.85 million dropped dead . )
In other words , one tragedy hardly substitutes for another .
Yet from every direction come cues suggesting just the opposite : that 9/11 should stand in for any and all tragedies , no matter how poorly the comparison fits .
Perhaps this is because the United States has never had an invading army arrive on its shores with the threat of total destruction .
In fact , settler @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose fateful arrival in 1492 visited genocide and destruction upon a multitude of Indigenous nations .
Like the use of 9/11 as a measurement , the relegation of this reality to the dustbins of history is taught to Americans in the classroom , from the pulpit , on our television screens and on the pages of our books .
Leaving aside for now the George W. Bush administration ’ s propaganda campaign to frame Saddam Hussein ’ s Iraq for 9/11 , it ’ s important to point out here that our memory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collectively .
While many tend to believe that our memories record history like a camcorder — capturing reality with flawless fidelity and granularity — memory is more like a collage .
We often remember those most shocking , grotesque and emotional fragments of our experiences and piece them together into a story that mixes fact with fiction .
All of this , of course , happens in the midst of our daily lives , our country ’ s politics and our culture ’ s teachings , which is to say that memory and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ memoir , Born a Crime : Stories from a South African Childhood , “ Daily Show ” host Trevor Noah writes that “ every country thinks their history is the most important , and that ’ s especially true in the West.
” Noah goes on to note how citizens the world over each think of “ evil ” in terms of their unique histories and cultures , a tendency that politicians exploit for their own machinations .
Bush , for example , in his 2002 State of the Union Address conjured up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : the so-called Axis of Evil that was Iran , Iraq and North Korea .
( None of which had anything to do with 9/11 . )
Around the world , “ evil ” — that “ perpetual enemy who must always be fought but can never be vanquished ” — dons a million-and-one faces to hide behind .
But the 9/11 comparisons raise another worrying possibility : that our response to COVID-19 will mirror our response to 9/11 .
After the twin towers fell , our lawmakers , patriots , neighbors and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to “ never again ” allow such an atrocity .
“ Never forget ” we are admonished , in an uncomfortable appropriation of the language of Holocaust commemoration .
In building toward a new future , it seems the problem of memory necessarily includes the problem of forgetting .
Consequently , we ’ re forced to reckon with the question of what will become of us after this pandemic , or as Solange Knowles puts it in her album A Seat at the Table : “ Where do we go from here ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that “ the pandemic is a portal , ” one which forces a consideration of what baggage we ’ ll bring along with us as we cross the threshold “ between one world and the next.
” Will we have a similar response to COVID-19 as to 9/11 : a turn toward brutal retribution and global repression ?
In the aftermath of the attacks , the United States underwent what historian Mike Davis called an “ exorcism in reverse.
” Force-fed a steady diet of murderous vengeance , racism and Islamophobia , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on terror ” — or what world-renowned dissident Noam Chomsky called “ our unending war of terror ” — in revenge for those 3,000 lives snuffed out .
Answering to no one , the U.S. government kidnapped , tortured and murdered anyone it deemed a threat .
Frighteningly , there ’ s already an inkling of this future as Trump pushes to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border , as the U.S. accelerates airstrikes in Somalia , as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio enacts a “ wartime ” budget , and as police officers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and arrest volunteers offering aid to those most in need .
The moment is indeed ripe for author and journalist Naomi Klein ’ s “ shock doctrine.
” Under the pretext of COVID-19 , which has turbocharged unemployment and laid bare skyrocketing inequality , it will be much easier to push right-wing agendas of walling off the U.S. from Latin America and of ratcheting up surveillance of dissidents .
In a country with more than twice as many prison cells as hospital beds , a country awash in drones and nuclear warheads amid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ repression and incarceration are almost to be expected .
This is to say nothing of many of our politicians who , despite syrupy pronouncements , are already leaning toward complacency following this wave of panic , as Ed Yong writes in The Atlantic : refusing to enact preventative measures to stave off the spread of COVID-19 or to stop a slow degradation of civil liberties .
Perhaps , however , the pandemic will turn those 9/11 comparisons and other war metaphors on their head , suggesting we “ never forget ” in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taught us a new vocabulary — N95 , PPE , nonessential , social distancing , contact tracing , etc .
— demanding a “ novel ” response to the “ novel coronavirus ” feels necessary and required .
Optimistic in the midst of numerous , laudable mutual aid campaigns , I wonder if there may be a groundswell to demand that our politicians and political elites “ never again ” even consider standing against Medicare for All or defunding the health care programs , public hospitals and subsidized clinics that serve our communities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needless barriers to accessing those same and other social programs , which 30 million Americans have filed for .
Never again let military spending supersede spending on education , public health , justice initiatives or public housing .
Never again allow political power to pool upwards , which is intensifying the pain we ’ re feeling now .
Never again put the profit motive ahead of the cultivation of life-affirming programs in the U.S. ’ s political calculations .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
On April 7, news agencies reported that New York City’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed that of the September 11, 2001, attacks. I imagine the comparison was made in an attempt to highlight the gravity of the pandemic and, in a way, to encourage Americans to take seriously social distancing measures. Some of it, too, no doubt was sensational: an eye-catching headline that the talking heads at major news networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News could run with.
But we should be wary of gauging the catastrophe in units of “9/11,” especially when we plan for our post-pandemic future. For one, it stands as an inappropriate and imprecise measurement of the attendant pain, grief and sorrow of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like the tendency to measure distance in “football fields,” it’s an odd habit of Americans to quantify global tragedies in terms of 9/11s. Reporters did it with the London 7/7 bombings and India’s 2008 bombings, and the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams did it with the COVID-19 pandemic this past April 5. In some ways, it was only a matter of time before the specter of 9/11 appeared in conversations surrounding COVID-19.
Responding in The Guardian to claims that the 2008 Mumbai bombing was “India’s 9/11,” novelist Arundhati Roy warned readers to be wary of such comparisons: “November isn’t September, 2008 isn’t 2001, Pakistan isn’t Afghanistan and India isn’t America.” As Roy points out, the 9/11 comparison rarely achieves its intended aims.
So, what does it mean, then, to measure horror around the globe in terms of 9/11? Let’s take another atrocity and measure it against 9/11 for effect. In the short span of 100 days in 1994, ethnic Hutu extremists slaughtered around 800,000 Tutsis in the east African nation of Rwanda. During those months, the tiny country suffered the equivalent of two and two-thirds of a 9/11 every day, for 100 days as Samantha Power reported in Dissent. Indeed, the calamity is almost incomprehensible: For a country of 6.26 million people in 1993, the massacre meant that Rwanda lost 12.7 percent of its population. (A United States equivalent today would be if 41.85 million dropped dead.) In other words, one tragedy hardly substitutes for another.
Yet the knee-jerk reaction remains: 9/11 should stand in for any and all tragedies, no matter how poorly the comparison fits. Perhaps this is because the United States has never had an invading army arrive on its shores with the threat of total destruction. In fact, settler “Americans” were those invading armies whose fateful arrival in 1492 visited genocide and destruction upon a multitude of Indigenous nations. Like the use of 9/11 as a measurement, the relegation of this reality to the dustbins of history is taught to Americans in the classroom, from the pulpit, on our television screens and on the pages of our books.
Leaving aside for now the George W. Bush administration’s propaganda campaign to frame Saddam Hussein’s Iraq for 9/11, it’s important to point out here that our memory is an ongoing process that we engage collectively. While many tend to believe that our memories record history like a camcorder — capturing reality with flawless fidelity and granularity — memory is “more like [a] collage.” We often remember those most shocking, grotesque and emotional fragments of our experiences and piece them together into a story that mixes fact with fiction. All of this, of course, happens in the midst of our daily lives, our country’s politics and our culture’s teachings, which is to say that memory and its implications are political.
Under the pretext of COVID-19, it will be much easier to push right-wing agendas of walling off the U.S. from Latin America and of ratcheting up surveillance of dissidents.
In his memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah writes that “every country thinks their history is the most important, and that’s especially true in the West.” Noah goes on to note how citizens the world over each think of “evil” in terms of their unique histories and cultures, a tendency that politicians exploit for their own machinations. Bush, for example, in his 2002 State of the Union Address , conjured up a new “face of terror”: the so-called Axis of Evil that was Iran, Iraq and North Korea. (None of which had anything to do with 9/11.) Around the world, “evil” — that “perpetual enemy who must always be fought but can never be vanquished” — dons a million-and-one faces to hide behind.
But the 9/11 comparisons raise another worrying possibility: that our response to COVID-19 will mirror our response to 9/11. After the twin towers fell, our lawmakers, patriots, neighbors and pop culture content creators called on us to “never again” allow such an atrocity. “Never forget” we are admonished, in an uncomfortable appropriation of the language of Holocaust commemoration.
In building toward a new future, it seems the problem of memory necessarily includes the problem of forgetting. Consequently, we’re forced to reckon with the question of what will become of us after this pandemic, or as Solange Knowles puts it in her album A Seat at the Table: “Where do we go from here?” Novelist Roy is correct to say that “the pandemic is a portal,” one which forces a consideration of what baggage we’ll bring along with us as we cross the threshold “between one world and the next.”
Will we have a similar response to COVID-19 as to 9/11: a turn toward brutal retribution and global repression? In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States underwent what historian Mike Davis called an “exorcism in reverse.” Force-fed a steady diet of murderous vengeance, racism and Islamophobia, the Bush administration undertook a global “war on terror” — or what world-renowned dissident Noam Chomsky called “our unending war of terror” — in revenge for those 3,000 lives snuffed out. Answering to no one, the U.S. government kidnapped, tortured and murdered anyone it deemed a threat.
Demanding a “novel” response to the “novel coronavirus” feels necessary and required.
Frighteningly, there’s already an inkling of this future as Trump pushes to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border, as the U.S. accelerates airstrikes in Somalia, as New York Mayor Bill de Blasio enacts a “wartime” budget, and as police officers across the country flout social distancing measures and arrest volunteers offering aid to those most in need.
The moment is indeed ripe for author and journalist Naomi Klein’s “shock doctrine.” Under the pretext of COVID-19, which has turbocharged unemployment and laid bare skyrocketing inequality, it will be much easier to push right-wing agendas of walling off the U.S. from Latin America and of ratcheting up surveillance of dissidents. In a country with more than twice as many prison cells as hospital beds, a country awash in drones and nuclear warheads amid a desperate shortage of ventilators, heightened repression and incarceration are almost to be expected. This is to say nothing of many of our politicians who, despite syrupy pronouncements, are already leaning toward complacency following this wave of panic, as Ed Yong writes in The Atlantic: refusing to enact preventative measures to stave off the spread of COVID-19 or to stop a slow degradation of civil liberties.
Perhaps, however, the pandemic will turn those 9/11 comparisons and other war metaphors on their head, suggesting we “never forget” in a different way. Since COVID-19 has already taught us a new vocabulary — N95, PPE, nonessential, social distancing, contact tracing, etc. — demanding a “novel” response to the “novel coronavirus” feels necessary and required.
Optimistic in the midst of numerous, laudable mutual aid campaigns, I wonder if there may be a groundswell to demand that our politicians and political elites “never again” even consider standing against Medicare for All or defunding the health care programs, public hospitals and subsidized clinics that serve our communities. Never again cut welfare or erect needless barriers to accessing those same and other social programs, which 30 million Americans have filed for. Never again let military spending supersede spending on education, public health, justice initiatives or public housing. Never again allow political power to pool upwards, which is intensifying the pain we’re feeling now.
Never again put the profit motive ahead of the cultivation of life-affirming programs in the U.S.’s political calculations.
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--2020-05-09--Meatpacking Jobs Were Dangerous Before Pandemic — Now They’re Life-or-Death

Slaughterhouse workers , who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the country , are walking off the job to protest even more hazardous working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic .
A worker who walked out at a Perdue plant in Georgia told a local CBS affiliate on March 23 that , “ We ’ re not getting nothing — no type of compensation … no cleanliness , no extra pay — no nothing .
We ’ re up here risking our life for chicken.
” It is no surprise that , even in this time of crisis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pilgrim ’ s Pride , Sanderson Farms , and others are neglecting their workers .
Major meat companies are regularly the target of worker protection campaigns , animal cruelty investigations and other scandals .
But nothing has stopped them from maintaining their standard business practices at the expense of the most vulnerable workers trapped in their grips .
As the outbreak reaches facilities that feed the United States ’ s obsession with meat , workers are beginning to fear for their lives , and their employers have yet to assuage their concerns .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the federal government either — President Trump ’ s recent executive order mandating that these facilities stay open blatantly disregards the risks this poses to the workers .
Our food system has been broken for decades , but the pandemic is putting the dirty laundry under a microscope for all to see .
There ’ s never been a better time to take a more critical look at our food system and the companies that run it — and to demand better .
As an animal welfare advocate who has dedicated my career @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m deeply familiar with major meat companies ’ injustices against those who have few means to fight back .
I spend my days trying to convince the likes of Tyson executives that it is immoral to breed a chicken to grow so grotesquely large , and so quickly , that she can ’ t even stand up or walk .
But this pandemic highlights that animals are not the meat industry ’ s only victims .
All who fight injustice must take a stand for slaughterhouse workers , who are primarily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these jobs because few other opportunities exist in their communities .
They suffer repetitive stress injuries from all-day cutting , often work in near-freezing temperatures , are given very few breaks , and must keep up with a slaughter line that moves dangerously fast — among other hazards .
Now , they ’ re forced to endure all this while standing shoulder to shoulder with co-workers who may be sick .
While meat companies profit as consumers stock up on their products , they still refuse to protect the very workforce their bottom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks , nearly 6,500 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 throughout 115 plants in 19 states , and hundreds of workers have left their posts at plants in Georgia , Colorado , Virginia and Illinois to protest these conditions .
Devastatingly , we are now seeing several deaths of plant workers due to COVID-19 , making this a literal life-or-death decision for many workers .
Tyson has responded by announcing that it will provide $ 60 million in bonuses — a figure that may sound substantial until you look closer .
The bonuses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and workers won ’ t receive them until the first week of July .
Sanderson Farms , which has had multiple outbreaks in its plants already , said in a statement that it would give roughly $ 1 per hour bonuses from March 30 to June 26 but only to workers who maintain perfect attendance for the entire week .
These measures fall far short of what ’ s needed to support workers risking their lives to feed their families .
Workers have been fighting for paid sick leave , slower slaughter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Animal advocates have released investigation after investigation revealing systemic animal abuse .
And food safety experts have warned for decades that the ways we raise and kill animals pose serious risks to our health .
But during this pandemic , when simply going outside puts us at risk of contracting a potentially deadly virus , we are learning a disturbing lesson yet again : We can not expect the factory farming industry to govern itself and protect the lives of its workers .
Our food system is in desperate need of repair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This pandemic offers a pivotal moment to reevaluate how food gets to our tables and to consider the safety and health of those who suffer for it to get there .
If we don ’ t , we ’ re at risk of maintaining a system that prioritizes the profits of a few meat companies over human rights , animal well-being and consumer interests .
This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life , a project of the Independent Media Institute .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
Slaughterhouse workers, who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, are walking off the job to protest even more hazardous working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A worker who walked out at a Perdue plant in Georgia told a local CBS affiliate on March 23 that, “We’re not getting nothing — no type of compensation … no cleanliness, no extra pay — no nothing. We’re up here risking our life for chicken.”
It is no surprise that, even in this time of crisis, giant meat companies like Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Sanderson Farms, and others are neglecting their workers. Major meat companies are regularly the target of worker protection campaigns, animal cruelty investigations , and other scandals. But nothing has stopped them from maintaining their standard business practices at the expense of the most vulnerable workers trapped in their grips.
As the outbreak reaches facilities that feed the United States’s obsession with meat, workers are beginning to fear for their lives, and their employers have yet to assuage their concerns. And help isn’t coming from the federal government either — President Trump’s recent executive order mandating that these facilities stay open blatantly disregards the risks this poses to the workers.
Our food system has been broken for decades, but the pandemic is putting the dirty laundry under a microscope for all to see. There’s never been a better time to take a more critical look at our food system and the companies that run it — and to demand better.
As an animal welfare advocate who has dedicated my career to reforming the factory farming industry, I’m deeply familiar with major meat companies’ injustices against those who have few means to fight back. I spend my days trying to convince the likes of Tyson executives that it is immoral to breed a chicken to grow so grotesquely large, and so quickly, that she can’t even stand up or walk.
But this pandemic highlights that animals are not the meat industry’s only victims. All who fight injustice must take a stand for slaughterhouse workers, who are primarily low-income people of color who often take these jobs because few other opportunities exist in their communities. They suffer repetitive stress injuries from all-day cutting, often work in near-freezing temperatures, are given very few breaks, and must keep up with a slaughter line that moves dangerously fast — among other hazards. Now, they’re forced to endure all this while standing shoulder to shoulder with co-workers who may be sick.
This pandemic offers a pivotal moment to reevaluate how food gets to our tables and to consider the safety and health of those who suffer for it to get there.
While meat companies profit as consumers stock up on their products, they still refuse to protect the very workforce their bottom line relies on. In these few weeks, nearly 6,500 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 throughout 115 plants in 19 states, and hundreds of workers have left their posts at plants in Georgia, Colorado, Virginia and Illinois to protest these conditions. Devastatingly, we are now seeing several deaths of plant workers due to COVID-19, making this a literal life-or-death decision for many workers.
Tyson has responded by announcing that it will provide $60 million in bonuses — a figure that may sound substantial until you look closer. The bonuses amount to only $500 per person, and workers won’t receive them until the first week of July. Sanderson Farms, which has had multiple outbreaks in its plants already, said in a statement that it would give roughly $1 per hour bonuses from March 30 to June 26 but only to workers who maintain perfect attendance for the entire week. These measures fall far short of what’s needed to support workers risking their lives to feed their families.
Workers have been fighting for paid sick leave, slower slaughter line speeds and safer conditions for years. Animal advocates have released investigation after investigation revealing systemic animal abuse. And food safety experts have warned for decades that the ways we raise and kill animals pose serious risks to our health.
But during this pandemic, when simply going outside puts us at risk of contracting a potentially deadly virus, we are learning a disturbing lesson yet again: We cannot expect the factory farming industry to govern itself and protect the lives of its workers.
Our food system is in desperate need of repair — if not a complete overhaul. This pandemic offers a pivotal moment to reevaluate how food gets to our tables and to consider the safety and health of those who suffer for it to get there. If we don’t, we’re at risk of maintaining a system that prioritizes the profits of a few meat companies over human rights, animal well-being and consumer interests.
This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.
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--2020-05-09--Let’s Imagine a Post-Pandemic Era With Less Policing and No New Jails

Right now , the “ impossible ” is happening every day .
In Detroit , with COVID-19 bursting the boundaries of our everyday catastrophes , we are seeing astounding — and overdue — changes in police and courtroom practices .
Police are arresting fewer people and courts have scaled back to so-called “ essential functions.
” This comes after thousands of people in the community have long demanded an end to aggressive police stops , driver ’ s license suspensions and court debt .
Now , courts have stopped issuing warrants for failing to appear and fewer people are being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jail populations are the lowest they ’ ve been since the 1980s — even the 1940s .
Macomb County , near Detroit , just shelved plans for a new $ 300 million jail , citing the pandemic .
After years of unemployment , foreclosed homes , water shutoffs , shuttered schools , health clinic closures and jail expansion , many in Detroit ’ s Black majority have no illusions that our current system is doing anything but abandoning them to die .
This calculated divestment has been relentless ; after the outbreak of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials had shifted $ 4 million in the 2019-2020 budget away from indigent health care and into new jail construction .
And yet , in our neighborhoods , Detroit residents continue to prioritize each other .
If we can do that here , despite decades of disinvestment , it ’ s possible everywhere .
This moment has shown us that changes can happen quickly , and that the “ impossible ” is simply a matter of priorities .
It ’ s about choosing — or being forced to choose — transformative solutions that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are facing fundamental choices about who we are as a society .
We could choose racist fear and fascist , dystopian policing .
We could continue to deem entire communities “ criminal ” and refill the jails just as swiftly as we ’ ve begun to empty them .
Or we could recognize we can not return to “ business as usual ” because even before the pandemic , we had a state of emergency .
We ’ re at a turning point now .
It ’ s time to learn from people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being in community , and who have begun making monumental shifts .
At the Detroit Justice Center , we ’ ve asked more than a hundred young people what investments the city and county could make that would help them feel safe , valued and empowered .
Not one of them has said we need more police on the streets or more jails .
Instead , they said we should build mental health spas , restorative justice mediation centers , and invest in public transit .
Pay our teachers , fix our schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and accessible for people with disabilities .
These are not partisan political demands ; in reality they are the freedom dreams of young people who understand that broad swaths of people have been living in a state of emergency for decades .
In Detroit and much of the country , people who experience the brunt of systemic and interpersonal violence and the horrors of our jails and prisons have been fighting for renewed visions of safety and community well-being .
They reject the idea that some people are only worthy of a jail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been leading the way in building more just cities .
Their broader solutions encompass worker-owned cooperatives and thriving local farms and food systems , and they also recognize the need to empty jails in order to unlock the resources that we spend on criminalizing and punishing people .
We ’ ve entered a moment when we could bring the era of building new jails to an end .
In the past several years , more research has shown what so many communities have long known : jails produce poverty , job loss , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violence , trauma , debility and death .
Jails make communities less safe and less healthy .
Where incarceration rates are high , community social and economic well-being decline .
And all of this misery costs us over $ 1.2 trillion each year ( once the impact on other systems like foster care , housing , and the costs to families is taken into account , that ’ s the total cost of incarceration in this country ) .
Fortunately , organizers have given us ideas for what we could build instead , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would create more just and equitable communities .
Last year , in a historic vote , the Atlanta City Council moved to shut down the Atlanta City Detention Center and repurpose it as a hub where residents can access health care , housing , quality child care and more .
The Center for Equity , Wellness and Freedom is the result of years of organizing and strategizing by formerly incarcerated women and their allies .
Women on the Rise and the Racial Justice Action Center , led by Marilynn Winn and Xochitl Bervera @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the jail under a rallying cry of “ Communities Over Cages.
” Atlanta officials built the jail in the lead-up to the 1996 Olympics “ to hide the homeless from the community , ” as Winn puts it , and filled it by ensnaring poor people in a cycle of tickets , warrants and unaffordable cash bail .
Over many years , the Atlanta activists fought to reduce pretrial incarceration , end cash bail , eliminate city ordinances that criminalize poverty , and cut city contracts with Immigrant and Customs Enforcement .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As the jail population shrank from over 1,000 to less than 100 , they began to articulate a vision for how the city could reallocate the $ 32.5 million it was spending each year on the jail to meet communities ’ needs .
After the city council vote , Atlanta ’ s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms declared , “ No longer will Atlanta be in the jail business.
” Winn and others did what visionary organizers do so well — they ’ d made the unimaginable inevitable .
Thankfully , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ country .
In New York City , Philadelphia , Milwaukee , Chicago , St. Louis , Seattle , Baton Rouge , Los Angeles , and elsewhere , people are demanding resources for health care and well-being .
And they ’ re winning .
In Philadelphia , organizers with the “ Close the Creek ” campaign won a fight to shutter the city ’ s House of Corrections after pretrial reforms drove down Philly ’ s jail population by a third , from 8,082 to 5,394 , in two years ( 2016-2018 ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Board of Supervisors voted to close the city ’ s Juvenile Hall and create rehabilitative noninstitutional support options for young people — after the Young Women ’ s Freedom Center and other organizers made them do it .
This time last year , in Los Angeles County , after more than a decade of building power , the JusticeLA campaign blocked the construction of two new jails — projects totaling over $ 3.5 billion — and went on to win an unprecedented commitment to public health care .
In Colorado , formerly incarcerated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition , have won millions in community reinvestment for housing , jobs , reentry supports and health care in communities hardest hit by violence and incarceration .
In this time of heightening crisis , we must be brave enough to use our full imaginations — and listen to those who have been dreaming of and fighting for just cities and communities for years .
While these community builders and organizers do not have all the answers , they have been asking the right questions .
Questions that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like how can we heal , so that we can create healthy communities ?
And how , through our heartbreak , can we be more open-hearted people , so that we can create cities that are more just ?
This is transformative work that can orient us toward a livable future for us all .
If we ’ re lucky , future generations will thank us for it .

During this crisis, we can learn from the people who have been imagining and creating new ways of being in community.
Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
Right now, the “impossible” is happening every day.
In Detroit, with COVID-19 bursting the boundaries of our everyday catastrophes, we are seeing astounding — and overdue — changes in police and courtroom practices. Police are arresting fewer people and courts have scaled back to so-called “essential functions.” This comes after thousands of people in the community have long demanded an end to aggressive police stops, driver’s license suspensions and court debt. Now, courts have stopped issuing warrants for failing to appear and fewer people are being jailed. In some U.S. cities, jail populations are the lowest they’ve been since the 1980s — even the 1940s. Macomb County, near Detroit, just shelved plans for a new $300 million jail, citing the pandemic.
After years of unemployment, foreclosed homes, water shutoffs, shuttered schools, health clinic closures and jail expansion, many in Detroit’s Black majority have no illusions that our current system is doing anything but abandoning them to die. This calculated divestment has been relentless; after the outbreak of COVID-19, we learned that Wayne County officials had shifted $4 million in the 2019-2020 budget away from indigent health care and into new jail construction. And yet, in our neighborhoods, Detroit residents continue to prioritize each other. If we can do that here, despite decades of disinvestment, it’s possible everywhere. This moment has shown us that changes can happen quickly, and that the “impossible” is simply a matter of priorities. It’s about choosing — or being forced to choose — transformative solutions that dial into our collective humanity.
We are facing fundamental choices about who we are as a society. We could choose racist fear and fascist, dystopian policing. We could continue to deem entire communities “criminal” and refill the jails just as swiftly as we’ve begun to empty them. Or we could recognize we cannot return to “business as usual” because even before the pandemic, we had a state of emergency.
We’re at a turning point now. It’s time to learn from people who have been imagining new ways of being in community, and who have begun making monumental shifts.
At the Detroit Justice Center, we’ve asked more than a hundred young people what investments the city and county could make that would help them feel safe, valued and empowered. Not one of them has said we need more police on the streets or more jails. Instead, they said we should build mental health spas, restorative justice mediation centers, and invest in public transit. Pay our teachers, fix our schools, build housing that’s affordable and accessible for people with disabilities. These are not partisan political demands; in reality they are the freedom dreams of young people who understand that broad swaths of people have been living in a state of emergency for decades.
Many communities have long known: jails produce poverty, job loss, evictions and homelessness, neighborhood instability, violence, trauma, debility and death.
In Detroit and much of the country, people who experience the brunt of systemic and interpersonal violence and the horrors of our jails and prisons have been fighting for renewed visions of safety and community well-being. They reject the idea that some people are only worthy of a jail or prison cell, and they have been leading the way in building more just cities. Their broader solutions encompass worker-owned cooperatives and thriving local farms and food systems, and they also recognize the need to empty jails in order to unlock the resources that we spend on criminalizing and punishing people.
We’ve entered a moment when we could bring the era of building new jails to an end. In the past several years, more research has shown what so many communities have long known: jails produce poverty, job loss, evictions and homelessness, neighborhood instability, violence, trauma, debility and death. Jails make communities less safe and less healthy. Where incarceration rates are high, community social and economic well-being decline. And all of this misery costs us over $1.2 trillion each year (once the impact on other systems like foster care, housing, and the costs to families is taken into account, that’s the total cost of incarceration in this country). Fortunately, organizers have given us ideas for what we could build instead, and models for fighting for budgets that would create more just and equitable communities.
Last year, in a historic vote, the Atlanta City Council moved to shut down the Atlanta City Detention Center and repurpose it as a hub where residents can access health care, housing, quality child care and more. The Center for Equity, Wellness and Freedom is the result of years of organizing and strategizing by formerly incarcerated women and their allies. Women on the Rise and the Racial Justice Action Center, led by Marilynn Winn and Xochitl Bervera, mobilized over 45 organizations to shut the jail under a rallying cry of “Communities Over Cages.” Atlanta officials built the jail in the lead-up to the 1996 Olympics “to hide the homeless from the community,” as Winn puts it, and filled it by ensnaring poor people in a cycle of tickets, warrants and unaffordable cash bail.
Over many years, the Atlanta activists fought to reduce pretrial incarceration, end cash bail, eliminate city ordinances that criminalize poverty, and cut city contracts with Immigrant and Customs Enforcement. And they didn’t stop there. As the jail population shrank from over 1,000 to less than 100, they began to articulate a vision for how the city could reallocate the $32.5 million it was spending each year on the jail to meet communities’ needs. After the city council vote, Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms declared, “No longer will Atlanta be in the jail business.” Winn and others did what visionary organizers do so well — they’d made the unimaginable inevitable.
Winn and others did what visionary organizers do so well — they’d made the unimaginable inevitable.
Thankfully, it’s been happening in cities all over the country. In New York City, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Seattle, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, people are demanding resources for health care and well-being. And they’re winning. In Philadelphia, organizers with the “Close the Creek” campaign won a fight to shutter the city’s House of Corrections after pretrial reforms drove down Philly’s jail population by a third, from 8,082 to 5,394, in two years (2016-2018). Last summer, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to close the city’s Juvenile Hall and create rehabilitative noninstitutional support options for young people — after the Young Women’s Freedom Center and other organizers made them do it. This time last year, in Los Angeles County, after more than a decade of building power, the JusticeLA campaign blocked the construction of two new jails — projects totaling over $3.5 billion — and went on to win an unprecedented commitment to public health care. In Colorado, formerly incarcerated people and their allies, led by the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, have won millions in community reinvestment for housing, jobs, reentry supports and health care in communities hardest hit by violence and incarceration.
In this time of heightening crisis, we must be brave enough to use our full imaginations — and listen to those who have been dreaming of and fighting for just cities and communities for years. While these community builders and organizers do not have all the answers, they have been asking the right questions. Questions that have very high stakes for all of us, like how can we heal, so that we can create healthy communities? And how, through our heartbreak, can we be more open-hearted people, so that we can create cities that are more just?
This is transformative work that can orient us toward a livable future for us all. If we’re lucky, future generations will thank us for it.
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--2020-05-10--The Supreme Court Is Set to Decide If Donald Trump Is Above the Law

Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power of the federal government in a president , not a king .
Kings rule by fiat .
The president is supposed to govern with the consent of the people and in coordination with Congress and the judiciary , the two other co-equal branches of government .
Donald Trump , our 45th president , has never accepted our constitutional structure of checks and balances , asserting instead , as he did in a speech last July , that under Article II , “ I have the right to do whatever I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the Supreme Court will have an opportunity to rebuke or endorse Trump ’ s pretensions to monarchical grandeur when it hears oral arguments in three cases that have the potential to redefine the nature and scope of presidential power .
The cases before the court are Trump v. Mazars USA , LLP ; Trump v. Deutsche Bank AG ; and Trump v. Vance .
In the first two , the president is trying to block congressional subpoenas seeking access to his personal financial records .
In the third , he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issued by a New York City grand jury , and to accord him unprecedented “ absolute immunity ” from state criminal investigations .
None of the subpoenas seeks information regarding the president ’ s official acts .
All concern his private conduct and his personal business affairs .
The subpoenas in the three cases are similar , but not identical .
In Deutsche Bank , the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have directed the German-based conglomerate and Capital One to produce Trump ’ s personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his much-ballyhooed and as-yet-unreleased tax returns .
The subpoenas also seek records pertaining to his children Donald Trump Jr. , Eric Trump , and Ivanka Trump .
The Trump family has accounts with both financial institutions .
Deutsche Bank is alleged to have loaned the president more than $ 2 billion over two decades .
The House committees contend the subpoenas were issued in furtherance of their oversight responsibilities , and that the records are needed to help them draft legislation to protect future American elections from the kind of foreign influence that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mazars , the House Committee on Oversight and Reform has demanded that Trump ’ s principal accounting firm turn over eight years of financial materials , covering the period of 2011 to 2018 , detailing work performed on behalf of Trump , the Trump Organization and other businesses owned by the president .
The committee contends it needs the records to decide whether to revise or supplement current ethics-in-government laws .
The president ’ s lawyers have countered in both cases that the House is illegally engaging in law-enforcement actions rather than pursuing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life for political purposes .
There is no ambiguity that the subpoena in Vance was designed for law-enforcement purposes .
The subpoena was issued by a grand jury under the direction of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance .
It was also served on Mazars , and largely requests the same information as the one issued by the House .
Although New York grand jury proceedings are secret , the New York Times has reported that Vance is investigating whether the state ’ s fraud and tax laws were violated when the president ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , now a convicted felon , was reimbursed for making “ hush money ” payments to pornographic film star Stephanie Clifford , aka “ Stormy Daniels , ” and former Playboy Magazine model Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign to buy their silence about alleged affairs with Trump .
The president ’ s legal team , which he has privately retained , is headed by Washington , D.C. , attorney William Consovoy , a former law clerk of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas .
The group also includes some familiar faces , such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president in his Senate impeachment trial and regularly appears on cable television to sing his praises .
Sekulow is the chief counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice , a religious-right organization founded in 1990 by Pat Robertson .
Trump ’ s personal lawyers have been joined in the cases by William Barr ’ s Department of Justice , which has entered the litigation as an amicus curiae ( “ friend of the court ” ) to support the president .
Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues agreed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal courts upheld the validity of the subpoenas .
The Mazars and Deutsche Bank cases were consolidated for joint resolution , as they involve the same legal questions about congressional oversight .
Oral arguments were originally scheduled for March , but were pushed back to May 12 after the court was closed to the public in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic .
In a historic departure from standard practice , the proceedings will be conducted by teleconference , along with the other remaining arguments on the court ’ s docket .
Taken @ @ @ @ @ @ @ raise profound issues that harken back to the nation ’ s founding era .
If fully decided on all issues , the cases will force the court to reexamine the basic separation of power principles embedded in the Constitution , not only between the coordinate branches of the federal government in Mazars and Deutsche Bank , but also between the federal government and the states in Vance .
In short , the court will be asked to decide if Trump is beyond accountability and in effect , above the law .
The president @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
To prevail in Mazars and Deutsche Bank , they will have to persuade the Supreme Court to severely curtail Congress ’ long-established oversight powers , and find that the subpoenas in dispute serve no legitimate legislative purpose .
They will also have to persuade the court to disregard or limit its 1974 ruling in United States v. Nixon .
In Nixon , the court ordered then-President Richard Nixon to turn over clandestine White House audiotapes to Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski , rejecting Nixon ’ s invocation of executive privilege .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on third-party custodians of the president ’ s records rather than the president himself hardly seems a sound basis for departing from a landmark pillar of American constitutional law .
The obstacles confronting Trump ’ s attorneys in Vance are arguably even greater , as they will have to overcome the strictures of the 10th Amendment , which reserves to the states powers not delegated to the federal government .
Although the Justice Department has a longstanding policy against indicting a sitting president for federal crimes , that policy has never been tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ does not apply to state crimes .
No prior Supreme Court decision has ever suggested that the president enjoys “ absolute immunity ” from even the preliminary stages of state investigations , as Trump now claims .
There is no guarantee , of course , that the Supreme Court will stand up to the president .
The court is now firmly in Republican hands .
And while Chief Justice Roberts has publicly feuded with Trump on the subject of judicial independence in the abstract , the court in practice has upheld some of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including his Muslim travel ban in a 2018 5-4 majority decision written by Roberts himself .
On April 27 , the court signaled that it may indeed be looking for a way to dismiss the Mazars and Deutsche Bank cases when it requested the parties to submit supplemental briefs on the “ political question ” doctrine .
The doctrine requires the court to stay out of what it considers to be purely political disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government .
The court invoked the doctrine last year to dismiss two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ review .
It ’ s always difficult to predict the outcome of Supreme Court cases , but one thing is abundantly clear—any rulings in Trump ’ s favor will mark a defeat for democracy and a triumph for the divine right of kings .
This article was produced by the Independent Media Institute .

Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power of the federal government in a president, not a king. Kings rule by fiat. The president is supposed to govern with the consent of the people and in coordination with Congress and the judiciary, the two other co-equal branches of government.
Donald Trump, our 45th president, has never accepted our constitutional structure of checks and balances, asserting instead, as he did in a speech last July, that under Article II, “I have the right to do whatever I want as president.”
On May 12, the Supreme Court will have an opportunity to rebuke or endorse Trump’s pretensions to monarchical grandeur when it hears oral arguments in three cases that have the potential to redefine the nature and scope of presidential power.
The cases before the court are Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP; Trump v. Deutsche Bank AG; and Trump v. Vance. In the first two, the president is trying to block congressional subpoenas seeking access to his personal financial records. In the third, he’s asking the court to block a subpoena issued by a New York City grand jury, and to accord him unprecedented “absolute immunity” from state criminal investigations.
None of the subpoenas seeks information regarding the president’s official acts. All concern his private conduct and his personal business affairs.
The subpoenas in the three cases are similar, but not identical. In Deutsche Bank, the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have directed the German-based conglomerate and Capital One to produce Trump’s personal records dating back to 2010, including his much-ballyhooed and as-yet-unreleased tax returns. The subpoenas also seek records pertaining to his children Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump.
The Trump family has accounts with both financial institutions. Deutsche Bank is alleged to have loaned the president more than $2 billion over two decades. The House committees contend the subpoenas were issued in furtherance of their oversight responsibilities, and that the records are needed to help them draft legislation to protect future American elections from the kind of foreign influence that marred the last presidential campaign.
In Mazars, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform has demanded that Trump’s principal accounting firm turn over eight years of financial materials, covering the period of 2011 to 2018, detailing work performed on behalf of Trump, the Trump Organization and other businesses owned by the president. The committee contends it needs the records to decide whether to revise or supplement current ethics-in-government laws.
The president’s lawyers have countered in both cases that the House is illegally engaging in law-enforcement actions rather than pursuing legislation, and prying into his private life for political purposes.
There is no ambiguity that the subpoena in Vance was designed for law-enforcement purposes. The subpoena was issued by a grand jury under the direction of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance. It was also served on Mazars, and largely requests the same information as the one issued by the House.
Although New York grand jury proceedings are secret, the New York Times has reported that Vance is investigating whether the state’s fraud and tax laws were violated when the president’s longtime “fixer” Michael Cohen, now a convicted felon, was reimbursed for making “hush money” payments to pornographic film star Stephanie Clifford, aka “Stormy Daniels,” and former Playboy Magazine model Karen McDougal during the 2016 campaign to buy their silence about alleged affairs with Trump.
The president’s legal team, which he has privately retained, is headed by Washington, D.C., attorney William Consovoy, a former law clerk of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The group also includes some familiar faces, such as Jay Sekulow, who helped defend the president in his Senate impeachment trial and regularly appears on cable television to sing his praises. Sekulow is the chief counsel at the American Center for Law and Justice, a religious-right organization founded in 1990 by Pat Robertson.
Trump’s personal lawyers have been joined in the cases by William Barr’s Department of Justice, which has entered the litigation as an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) to support the president.
Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues agreed to hear the cases in December after lower federal courts upheld the validity of the subpoenas. The Mazars and Deutsche Bank cases were consolidated for joint resolution, as they involve the same legal questions about congressional oversight. Oral arguments were originally scheduled for March, but were pushed back to May 12 after the court was closed to the public in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a historic departure from standard practice, the proceedings will be conducted by teleconference, along with the other remaining arguments on the court’s docket.
Taken as a package, the subpoena cases raise profound issues that harken back to the nation’s founding era. If fully decided on all issues, the cases will force the court to reexamine the basic separation of power principles embedded in the Constitution, not only between the coordinate branches of the federal government in Mazars and Deutsche Bank, but also between the federal government and the states in Vance. In short, the court will be asked to decide if Trump is beyond accountability and in effect, above the law.
The president’s lawyers face a daunting task. To prevail in Mazars and Deutsche Bank, they will have to persuade the Supreme Court to severely curtail Congress’ long-established oversight powers, and find that the subpoenas in dispute serve no legitimate legislative purpose. They will also have to persuade the court to disregard or limit its 1974 ruling in United States v. Nixon.
In Nixon, the court ordered then-President Richard Nixon to turn over clandestine White House audiotapes to Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, rejecting Nixon’s invocation of executive privilege. The fact that the current subpoenas were served on third-party custodians of the president’s records rather than the president himself hardly seems a sound basis for departing from a landmark pillar of American constitutional law.
The obstacles confronting Trump’s attorneys in Vance are arguably even greater, as they will have to overcome the strictures of the 10th Amendment, which reserves to the states powers not delegated to the federal government. Although the Justice Department has a longstanding policy against indicting a sitting president for federal crimes, that policy has never been tested in court, and in any event does not apply to state crimes. No prior Supreme Court decision has ever suggested that the president enjoys “absolute immunity” from even the preliminary stages of state investigations, as Trump now claims.
There is no guarantee, of course, that the Supreme Court will stand up to the president. The court is now firmly in Republican hands. And while Chief Justice Roberts has publicly feuded with Trump on the subject of judicial independence in the abstract, the court in practice has upheld some of Trump’s most draconian initiatives, including his Muslim travel ban in a 2018 5-4 majority decision written by Roberts himself.
On April 27, the court signaled that it may indeed be looking for a way to dismiss the Mazars and Deutsche Bank cases when it requested the parties to submit supplemental briefs on the “political question” doctrine. The doctrine requires the court to stay out of what it considers to be purely political disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government. The court invoked the doctrine last year to dismiss two major gerrymandering cases it had agreed to review.
It’s always difficult to predict the outcome of Supreme Court cases, but one thing is abundantly clear—any rulings in Trump’s favor will mark a defeat for democracy and a triumph for the divine right of kings.
This article was produced by the Independent Media Institute.
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.