Monday, August 30, 2021

HEADLINES Top Headlines from POLITICO Monday, August 30, 2021

 



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First ‘John Doe’ In R. Kelly Trial Testifies He Was Forced Into Sex Acts / All Lives Don't Matter Whatever The Color


 

Warning: The following story contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse.

NEW YORK — The first male witness to speak publicly about alleged sexual abuse at the hands of R. Kelly took the stand on Monday in the singer’s criminal trial. The man testified that over the course of his relationship with Kelly, the R&B singer gave him oral sex, made him have sex with other women and routinely recorded sexual encounters. 

The witness, referred to throughout his testimony by the pseudonym “Louis,” is the first man to accuse Kelly of sexual abuse in the trial. Kelly is facing five federal charges, including one count of racketeering and four counts of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits taking minors across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. The R&B singer’s criminal trial began two weeks ago at the Brooklyn Federal Court Building and will likely last at least a month. 

Louis’s testimony was different from that of several Jane Does who have painted a harrowing picture of graphic sexual and physical abuse. Louis testified that Kelly never physically abused him but that the singer did try to give him oral sex when he was 17 in Illinois. (The legal age of consent in Illinois is 17, but because Kelly was almost 40 at the time, it constitutes sexual abuse.)

“We had sat down and talked for a while, and he had asked me what I was willing to do for the music,” said Louis, referring to one of the first times he went over to Kelly’s Olympia Fields home outside of Chicago. He recalled telling Kelly that he would carry his bags, among other things, but that answer didn’t satisfy Kelly, according to Louis. Kelly then asked him if he had fantasies. 

“‘You ever had a fantasy about you and a man?’ I said ‘no,’” Louis recalled Kelly asking him. “He crawled down on his knees to me and proceeded to give me oral sex.” Louis said he told Kelly he didn’t like it and the singer stopped.

Unlike the majority of past witnesses, it’s unclear if Louis still supports Kelly or if their relationship continues. In 2020, Louis was charged with attempted bribery for trying to pay off a potential witness in the case against Kelly. Louis told the court that Kelly had nothing to do with the $2 million bribe, and Louis was pursuing the witness because he was allegedly going to receive a payment of $200,000. Additionally, Louis said he was trying to bribe the potential witness so that none of the recordings Kelly took of him having sex went public. It’s unclear who was bankrolling the bribe.

Louis pleaded guilty and, as part of his plea deal, was required to testify as a witness in Kelly’s trial on Monday. When asked by prosecutors if he wanted to be there, Louis responded, “No.” Louis said he is facing 15 years in prison for the bribery charge.  

Louis met Kelly in 2006 when the witness was a senior in high school working at a McDonald’s outside of Chicago. Louis, who was an aspiring rapper at the time, said he initially linked up with Kelly hoping that the singer could help him get into the music industry. Although Louis did perform for Kelly a few times in the singer’s at-home studio, Louis testified that he mostly played basketball with Kelly and attended the singer’s house parties. 

Over the course of their 15-year relationship, Louis said, he and Kelly had many sexual encounters. The majority of the encounters, Louis said, included Kelly coercing Louis into having sex with women, most of whom were dating Kelly at the time. Louis testified that 

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5G-Advanced Technology Evolution from a Network Perspective (2021) ——Towards a New Era of Intelligent Connect X

 



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Sunday, August 29, 2021

Lobster Bisque Over Pasta

 




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Tracking Hurricane Nora

 


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Saturday, August 28, 2021

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All the wrong things are rising under Biden's leadership

 


In January, Joe Biden, to address climate change, sent thousands into unemployment by canceling the XL pipeline.

Six months later, Biden exclaimed, “We can’t wait any longer to deal with the climate crisis, we see it with our own eyes, and it’s time to act.”

But now, Biden’s National Security Agency director, Jake Sullivan, is calling on OPEC to increase oil production.

"Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery," Sullivan said. "OPEC+ must do more to support the recovery."

Confused? You should be. Last I checked, drilling for oil in Saudi Arabia has the same climate effects as it does in Texas.

Under the Trump presidency, carbon dioxide emissions stayed well below 2014 levels and dropped to multi-decade lows in 2019 and 2020. Energy exports reached an all-time high in 2019, marking the first time in 67 years that annual U.S. gross energy exports exceeded U.S. gross energy imports.

In Joe Biden's America, energy prices, inflation and crime are all rising. I’m impressed. Biden has done in six months what it took Jimmy Carter four years to do.

Linda Burton



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Aaron Russo - Architecture Of A Prison Planet (Pt. 1)

 


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The coronavirus is here to stay — here’s what that means

 A Nature survey shows many scientists expect the virus that causes COVID-19 to become endemic, but it could pose less danger over time.


For much of the past year, life in Western Australia has been coronavirus-free. Friends gathered in pubs; people kissed and hugged their relatives; children went to school without temperature checks or wearing masks. The state maintained this enviable position only by placing heavy restrictions on travel and imposing lockdowns — some regions entered a snap lockdown at the beginning of the year after a security guard at a hotel where visitors were quarantined tested positive for the virus. But the experience in Western Australia has provided a glimpse into a life free from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. If other regions, aided by vaccines, aimed for a similar zero-COVID strategy, then could the world hope to rid itself of the virus?

It’s a beautiful dream but most scientists think it’s improbable. In January, Nature asked more than 100 immunologists, infectious-disease researchers and virologists working on the coronavirus whether it could be eradicated. Almost 90% of respondents think that the coronavirus will become endemic — meaning that it will continue to circulate in pockets of the global population for years to come (see 'Endemic future').


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Prepping Goals 2021 How To Plan For Success What To Expect *Still valid headed into 2022'


 

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Friday, August 27, 2021

Supreme Court Blocks Biden’s Eviction Moratorium By Matt Stieb

 


On Thursday, the Supreme Court voted in a 6-3 split along partisan lines to throw out President Joe Biden’s eviction moratorium put in place on August 4.

The unsigned majority opinion determined that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority when the public-health agency issued “a new order temporarily halting evictions in counties with heightened levels of community transmission.” (Thanks to the more contagious Delta strain, the two-month moratorium effectively covered counties in which 90 percent of the U.S. population resides.) Thursday’s opinion states that the CDC’s reliance on a statute authorizing the agency to block evictions in circumstances like “fumigation and pest extermination” does not give it the “sweeping authority” to enact this ban amid a pandemic that is worsening once again.

The decision on Thursday night — potentially impacting over 3.5 million households who are at risk of eviction over the next two months — is the latest in a months-long process between the Supreme Court and the White House. In June, a 5-4 majority voted to allow the CDC’s previous eviction ban to stand until its expiration at the end of July; in the majority opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that he considered the moratorium unlawful, but would allow the order to stand in order to ensure an “orderly distribution” of aid to renters. (Kavanaugh also warned not to extend a ban without congressional approval.) Despite having all of July to prepare for the moratorium’s end, the Biden administration and congressional Democrats scrambled at the end of the month to cover Americans at risk of eviction. Only after the order expired and Representative Cori Bush held a successful protest sleeping on the steps of the Capitol did Biden request that the CDC issue a limited moratorium.

With the federal order voided, there are patchwork protections in a handful of states, though many of those, including the New York ban lapsing on August 31, are expiring in the coming weeks. And while there are tens of billions of dollars in rent relief available, only 11 percent of those funds have actually been distributed.




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The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis: an Estimated 30-40 Million People in America Are at Risk

 


The United States may be facing the most severe housing crisis in its history. According to the latest analysis of weekly US Census data, as federal, state, and local protections and resources expire and in the absence of robust and swift intervention, an estimated 30–40 million people in America could be at risk of eviction in the next several months. Many property owners, who lack the credit or financial ability to cover rental payment arrears, will struggle to pay their mortgages and property taxes and maintain properties. The COVID-19 housing crisis has sharply increased the risk of foreclosure and bankruptcy, especially among small property owners; long-term harm to renter families and individuals; disruption of the affordable housing market; and destabilization of communities across the United States.  

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers, academics, and advocates have conducted a continuous analysis of the effect of the public health crisis and economic depression on renters and the housing market. Multiple studies have quantified the effect of COVID-19-related job loss and economic hardship on renters’ ability to pay rent during the pandemic. While methodologies differ, these analyses converge on a dire prediction: If conditions do not change, 29-43% of renter households could be at risk of eviction by the end of the year. 

This article aggregates the existing research related to the COVID-19 housing crisis, including estimated potential upcoming eviction filings, unemployment data, and housing insecurity predictions. Additionally, based on this research and new weekly analysis of real-time US Census Bureau Household Pulse data, this article frames the growing potential for widespread displacement and homelessness across the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic struck amid a severe affordable housing crisis in the United States
COVID-19 struck when 20.8 million renter households (47.5% of all renter households) were already rental cost-burdened, according to 2018 numbers. Rental cost burden is defined as households who pay over 30% of their income towards rent. When the pandemic began, 10.9 million renter households (25% of all renter households) were spending over 50% of their income on rent each month. The majority of renter households below the poverty line spent at least half of their income towards rent in 2018, with one in four spending over 70% of their income toward housing costs. Due to chronic underfunding by the federal government, only one in four eligible renters received federal financial assistance. With the loss of four million affordable housing units over the last decade and a shortage of 7 million affordable apartments available to the lowest-income renters, many renters entered the pandemic already facing housing instability and vulnerable to eviction.

Before the pandemic, eviction occurred frequently across the country. The Eviction Lab at Princeton University estimates that between 2000 and 2016, 61 million eviction cases were filed in the US, an average of 3.6 million evictions annually. In 2016, seven evictions were filed every minute. On average, eviction judgment amounts are often for failure to pay one or two months’ rent and involve less than $600 in rental debt.

An increase in evictions could be detrimental for the 14 million renter households with children: research from Milwaukee indicates that renter households with children are more likely to receive an eviction judgment. Although tenants with legal counsel are much less likely to be evicted, on average, fewer than 10% of renters have access to legal counsel when defending against an eviction, compared to 90% of landlords.

At the same time, a lack of rental income places rental property owners at risk of harm. Individual investors, who often lack access to additional capital, may be particularly vulnerable. Presently, while “mom and pop” landlords own 22.7 million out of 48.5 million rental units in the housing market, more than half (58%) do not have access to any lines of credit that might help them in an emergency. Landlords who evict tenants face court costs, short or long term vacancy, reletting costs, and the loss of 90-95% of rental arrears via sale to a debt collector or other third party. In the short term, lack of rental income may result in unanticipated costs, and an inability to pay mortgages, pay property taxes and maintain the property. In the long term, it places small property owners at greater risk of foreclosure and bankruptcy.

Communities of color are hardest hit by the eviction crisis
Communities of color are disproportionately rent-burdened and at risk of eviction. People of color are twice as likely to be renters and are disproportionately likely to be low-income and rental cost-burdened. Studies from cities throughout the country have shown that people of color, particularly Black and Latinx people, constitute approximately 80% of people facing eviction. After controlling for education, one study determined that Black households are more than twice as likely as white households to be evicted. In a study of Milwaukee, women from Black neighborhoods made up only 9.6% of the city’s population but accounted for 30% of evicted tenants. In Boston, 70% of market-rate evictions filed were in communities of color, although those areas make up approximately half of the city’s rental market. Researchers from UC Berkeley and the University of Washington found the number of evictions for Black households in Baltimore exceeded those for white households by nearly 200%, with the Black renter eviction rate outpacing the white renter eviction rate by 13%. In New York City, a sample of housing court cases indicated that 70% of households in housing court are headed by a female of color, usually Black and/or Hispanic. In Virginia, approximately 60% of majority Black neighborhoods have an annual eviction rate higher than 10% of households, approximately four times the national average, even when controlling for poverty and income rates. In Cleveland, the top ten tracts for eviction filings from 2016-2018 were all majority Black tracts; only six had poverty rates above 10%.

Similarly, people of color are most at risk of being evicted during the COVID-19 pandemic. A report co-authored by City Life/Vida Urbana and Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed that in the first month of the Massachusetts state of emergency, 78% of eviction filings in Boston were in communities of color.

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