#according to the time stamps on the file this was made early march | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

newstfionline · 3 years

Text

Thursday, May 20, 2021

For Migrant Children in Federal Care, a ‘Sense of Desperation’ (NYT) In a federal shelter in Dallas, migrant children sleep in a windowless convention center room under fluorescent lights that never go dark. At a military base in El Paso, teenagers pile onto bunk cots, and some say they have gone days without bathing. And in Erie, Pa., problems began emerging within days of the shelter’s creation: “Fire safety system is a big concern,” an internal report noted. Some of the hot water heaters were not working, and lice was “a big issue and seems to be increasing.” Early this year, children crossing the southwestern border in record numbers were crammed into Customs and Border Protection’s cold-floored, jail-like detention facilities. They slept side by side on mats with foil blankets, almost always far longer than the legal limit of 72 hours. Republicans declared it a crisis. Democrats and immigration groups denounced the conditions, which erupted into an international embarrassment for President Biden, who had campaigned on a return to compassion in the immigration system. The administration responded by rapidly setting up temporary, emergency shelters, including some that could house thousands of children. But the next potential crisis is coming into view. “I know the administration wants to take a victory lap for moving children out of Border Patrol stations—and they deserve credit for doing that,” said Leecia Welch, a lawyer and the senior director of the legal advocacy and child welfare practice at the National Center for Youth Law, a nonprofit law firm focused on low-income children. “But the truth is, thousands of traumatized children are still lingering in massive detention sites on military bases or convention centers, and many have been relegated to unsafe and unsanitary conditions.”

Ceasefire calls and U.S. credibility (Foreign Policy) As the bombings [in Gaza] continue, the human toll is becoming clearer. More than 52,000 people in Gaza have been displaced by Israel’s aerial assault, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday, with most seeking refuge in U.N.-run schools. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) confirmed that 11 of the more than 60 children killed so far by Israeli airstrikes were participants in an NRC program helping children deal with trauma. Even if hostilities soon end, the Biden administration’s resistance to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire has tested U.S. credibility. “They pledged to come back and support the U.N. system and multilateralism,” one council diplomat said in a report by Foreign Policy’s Colum Lynch and Robbie Gramer. “We don’t see that happening now in the Security Council.” The episode also encouraged China to carve out a leadership role at the Security Council on Middle East issues, a topic where it usually takes a back seat, while at the same time allowing it to dodge questions on its actions in Xinjiang. Multiple reports appeared on Tuesday, attempting to shine light on Biden’s approach not to call publicly for a cease-fire. They depict an administration wary of getting on the bad side of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The tactic has been criticized as a misreading of U.S. leverage over an ally to which it provides significant military aid and political support. Shibley Telhami, writing in the Boston Globe, voiced some of that criticism on Tuesday. “If an American president cannot leverage this extraordinary and unprecedented support to advance core American values,” Telhami writes, “what hope is there for succeeding anywhere else?”

Spain Sends Troops to African Enclave After Migrant Crossings Jump (NYT) Spain deployed troops, military trucks and helicopters in its North African enclave of Ceuta on Tuesday after thousands of people crossed over from Morocco, one of the largest movements of migrants reported in the area in recent years. More than 8,000 migrants, including nearly 2,000 minors, arrived on the beaches of Ceuta on Monday and Tuesday, mostly swimming or aboard inflatable boats, according to the Spanish authorities, who said that Spain had already sent back 4,000 people. The sudden arrival of thousands of people in Ceuta—more than had attempted the crossing in all the rest of the year so far—comes amid a deepening diplomatic spat between Spain and Morocco over the hospitalization in Spain of the leader of a rebel group that has fought for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco. Videos broadcast on Spanish television on Tuesday appeared to show Moroccan border guards opening fences to the Spanish enclave. While Morocco has warned of “consequences” for harboring the rebel leader, it was not immediately clear if the spike in migration was linked to the diplomatic dispute.

Grand day for the French: Cafe and bistro terraces reopen (AP) It’s a grand day for the French. Cafe and restaurant terraces reopened Wednesday after a six-month coronavirus shutdown deprived residents of the essence of French “joie de vivre”—sipping coffee and red wine with friends. The French government is lifting restrictions incrementally to stave off a resurgence of COVID-19 and to give citizens back some of their world famous lifestyle. As part of the plan’s first stage, France’s 7 p.m. nightly curfew was pushed back to 9 p.m. and museums, theaters and cinemas reopened along with outdoor cafe terraces. France is not the first European country to start getting back a semblance of social and cultural life. Italy, Belgium, Hungary and other nations already allow outdoor dining while drinking and eating indoors began Monday in Britain.

Indian navy searches for 78 missing from barge sunk by storm (AP) Indian navy ships and helicopters searched in rough weather and seas Wednesday for 78 people still missing from a barge that sank off Mumbai as a deadly cyclone blew ashore this week. Navy Cdr. Alok Anand said 183 people were rescued within 24 hours by three ships and helicopters engaged in the operation. Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than two decades, packed sustained winds of up to 210 kilometers (130 miles) per hour when it came ashore in Gujarat state late Monday. The storm left at least 25 dead in Gujarat and Maharashtra states. The Hindu newspaper Wednesday tallied more than 16,000 houses damaged in Gujarat state and trees and power poles uprooted.

How Myanmar's military moved in on the telecoms sector to spy on citizens (Reuters) In the months before the Myanmar military's Feb. 1 coup, the country's telecom and internet service providers were ordered to install intercept spyware that would allow the army to eavesdrop on the communications of citizens, sources with direct knowledge of the plan told Reuters. The technology gives the military the power to listen in on calls, view text messages and web traffic including emails, and track the locations of users without the assistance of the telecom and internet firms, the sources said. The directives are part of a sweeping effort by the army to deploy electronic surveillance systems and exert control over the internet with the aim of keeping tabs on political opponents, squashing protests and cutting off channels for any future dissent, they added.

Restrictions reimposed as virus resurges in much of Asia (AP) Taxi drivers are starved for customers, weddings are suddenly canceled, schools are closed, and restaurant service is restricted across much of Asia as the coronavirus makes a resurgence in countries where it had seemed to be well under control. Sparsely populated Mongolia has seen its death toll soar from 15 to 233, while Taiwan, considered a major success in battling the virus, has recorded more than 1,000 cases since last week and placed over 600,000 people in two-week medical isolation. Hong Kong and Singapore have postponed a quarantine-free travel bubble for a second time after an outbreak in Singapore of uncertain origin. China, which has all but stamped out local infections, has seen new cases apparently linked to contact with people arriving from abroad. The resurgence hasn’t come close to the carnage wrought in India and parts of Europe, but it is a keen reminder that the virus remains resilient.

Immigration In Japan Under Pressure (NYT) For months Japanese jailers said they ‘thought’ the young migrant from Sri Lanka was faking her illness, even as she wasted away before their eyes before dying alone in her cell. Wishma Rathayake had a lifelong fascination with Japan. She entered the country in the summer of 2017 to study Japanese at a school in the Tokyo suburbs, hoping eventually to teach English. She met another Sri Lankan student in Japan who became her boyfriend. Sadly, after a series of unwise decisions, unfortunate events, and a now-expired residence permit, she found herself in a detention center a few hours south of Tokyo, awaiting deportation. It was August 2020. While in detention she was threatened by her ex-boyfriend, now back in Sri Lanka. She thought she’d be safer in Japan, and with the encouragement of advisers at START, a local nonprofit, she decided to try to stay. That move irritated officials at the detention center, who demanded she change her mind. In late December Wishma fell ill with a fever. Within weeks she was having trouble eating, standing, and speaking. In late January 2021 a doctor prescribed her vitamins and painkillers, but they made her even sicker, so she filed for a provisional release. Detention centers had already released hundreds of healthy detainees due to coronavirus concerns, but in mid-February Wishma’s request was denied without explanation. She submitted a second request on medical grounds; by this time she was so weak she could barely sign the form. Despite the severity of her symptoms, officials waited until March 4 to take her to a hospital. Two days later the 33-year-old was dead. Japan has a long history of hostility toward immigration. Despite being the world’s third-largest economy, it settles less than 1% of asylum applicants—just 47 in 2020. Critics of the country’s immigration system say most decisions are made in secret; detainees who have overstayed their visas can be held indefinitely, with little access to courts. Detainees who apply for asylum, as Wishma did, are particularly unwelcome. Critics say Wishma was the victim of an opaque and capricious bureaucracy that has nearly unchecked power over foreigners who run afoul of it. And while there have been other instances of inhumane treatment of foreigners that ended in death, especially for people of color, the particularly egregious circumstances of Wishma’s death have driven national outrage to a whole new level. Protesters have gathered almost daily in front of Parliament, and objections by opposition lawmakers have been unusually fierce.

Experts warn shuttered Australia is becoming a ‘hermit nation’ (AFP) Prime Minister Scott Morrison defended his “Fortress Australia” Covid-19 restrictions Tuesday, as experts warned that plans to keep the borders closed for another year will create a “hermit nation”. Last March, Australia took the unprecedented step of closing its borders to foreign visitors and banning its globetrotting citizens from leaving. That prompted the first population decline since World War I, stranded tens of thousands of Australian citizens overseas and separated hundreds of thousands of residents from family members. But the country now has almost no community transmission and life for most is relatively normal. And the government’s recent suggestion that borders could remain closed for another year has sparked fierce debate. Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid on Tuesday warned: “Australia cannot keep its international borders closed indefinitely.” A University of Sydney task force examining how Australia can safely reopen this week went further, warning the country “cannot continue to lock itself off from the world as a hermit nation indefinitely”.

Powerless (NYT) Abeer Ghanem, like many Gazans, long struggled to work around the long blackouts that blighted the besieged Palestinian enclave along the Mediterranean Sea. But with the outbreak of hostilities a week ago between Israel and the Hamas militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, she said, she now gets at best four hours of electricity a day, intermittently. When it comes on, her family scrambles to charge their lights and batteries for the long, sleepless nights punctuated by outgoing Hamas rockets and the thunder of Israeli airstrikes. A combination of fuel shortages, damage to the electricity supply lines running from Israel and an aerial bombardment that has torn apart local power lines means that many families are receiving at most three to four hours of electricity a day, according to Gaza’s power company. “What we have now for fuel will last for two or three days,” said Mohammed Thabet, a spokesman for the Electricity Distribution Co. of Gaza. The power shortages are compounding the daily misery for Gazans and are also taking a toll on the provision of water, sewage treatment and the ability of hospitals, swamped with casualties, to function. Even if supplies resume, the crisis has caused millions of dollars in infrastructure damage.

Palestinians go on strike as Israel-Hamas fighting rages (AP) Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories went on strike in a rare collective protest Tuesday as Israeli missiles toppled a building in Gaza and militants in the Hamas-ruled territory fired dozens of rockets that killed two people. The general strike was a sign that the war could widen again after a spasm of communal violence in Israel and protests across the occupied West Bank last week. Although the strike was peaceful in many places, with shops in Jerusalem’s usually bustling Old City markets shuttered, violence erupted in cities in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinians burned tires in Ramallah and hurled stones at an Israeli military checkpoint. Troops fired tear gas, and protesters picked up some of the canisters and threw them back. Three protesters were killed and more than 140 wounded in clashes with Israeli troops in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and other cities, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The Israeli army said two soldiers were wounded by gunshots to the leg. The general strike was an uncommon show of unity by Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 20% of its population.

#headlines #news

1 note · View note

sergeant-donny-donowitz · 5 years

Text

The Best Revenge (1/2) (DonnyxFem!Reader)

Requested by @sodapop182

@owba-chan @war-obsessed @inglourious-imagines

Let me know if you wanna be tagged in these! :)

It was early 1944...

The basterds' most recent mission led them to Switzerland, escorting one of the OSS' most important agents, along with top secret documents...

It took about two weeks to get from the middle of nowhere in Nazi-Occupied France, to the middle of nowhere in neutral Switzerland.

They left the agent in the assigned point, and marched back the way they came immediately.

The sun had just set, the winter air was fierce. The snow was covering the ground. Hirschberg muttered through gritted, chattering teeth, "This fucking blows..."

Hugo grunted in agreement.

That was the most they'd heard from him from the point they stepped foot in Switzerland.

Smitty's teeth were chattering so loudly, Omar joked that they could hear him over the goddamn alps...

Aldo sighed. He knew his soldiers were tired, cold, hungry, and needed a break, and a drink or two.

His eyes fell on a tavern.

Warm, soft, inviting orange light flooded through the windows and slated over the white snow piling over the street. Pots with small flowers were hanging over the window sills, snow flakes still draped over them.

And music.

Swing... Something the boys hadn't heard in so damn long...

Aldo's hands were at his hips, he smirked as he looked at the tavern. "Welll...waddya boys say to a night off?"

Smitty raised an eyebrow, "I thought our night off was when we got back h-"

Donny pushed him, "Shut the fuck up, Smitty!"

Aldo smiled, "Come on, boys. Let's see what em' Swiss got."

The boys piled into the tavern, immediately greeted by warmth, hearing chattering, and expecting the music to be coming from a record...

They found a live band.

Omar and Smitty, having grown up in New York felt so at home hearing it...

They all looked at each other, smiling as if they'd just gotten away with murder. They ordered their drinks and piled into booths.

It wasn't long before the music started dying down. Hirschberg frowned, cupped his hands over his mouth, and yelled "Boooooo"

Wicki had to pull his hands away and rolled his eyes, "The swiss are neutral, don't start a fucking war in their bar!"

Hugo nodded, "He's right."

Everyone turned to him with wide yes, "What???"

Hugo misunderstood, believing they just hadn't heard him, not that they were shocked to actually hear him say something after almost two weeks. He held up his beer stein and remarked, "It's nice here..."

Before the basterds could express any amusement or shock at Hugo's sociability, the music started to die down, and the band leader took the microphone.

He started speaking in German, which made some of the boys tense up a little. Aldo sighed as he leaned back in the booth, sniffing some of his tobacco, "Relax, boys. This is Switzerland."

They all eased up again, laughed over their drinks, and tried to piece together what the man was saying.

According to the little that Wicki listened to, "He said somethin' about the tavern's jewel?"

Omar narrowed his eyes, "You sure you got that right?"

Donny laughed, "Maybe by jewels he means the tavern's got whores or-"

The rest of the tavern, mostly locals and regulars broke out into applause. The lights dimmed, and the band started back up. People silently teared up over the song...

They heard a soft, silvery voice, almost like the disembodied spirit of a muse, singing just for them...

Her words were in French, but they were understood.

She, like everyone else in the world at war, was living day by day...

One song led to another, and all the time, the boys like everyone else, listened over their glasses and their jokes.

But Aldo kept looking at you...

You looked so damn familiar.

So goddamn familiar, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

He was stunned when he figured out where he saw you before... It was too good to be true, he thought.

Donny looked at you, then back at Aldo. "Old man's gonna have to try harder than that..."

Donny chuckled a little to himself, then he made eye contact with you. His heart skipped a beat as you began to sing another song. One he'd heard a few times before he was deployed. "You had plenty money in 1922. You let other women make a fool of you. Why don't you do right, like some other men do..."

He was so drawn to you, your eyes, the way you moved your hair, he forgot all about the other basterds, his drink, and the fact that Aldo was staring at you too...

Hirschberg was the one that pointed out, "She don't have any accent...Is it weird that she doesn't got a fucken accent?"

Omar rolled his eyes, "Will you shut up and listen?"

Aldo nodded, still looking at you, but acknowledging Hirschberg...

Something wasn't right...

The next, and final song threw most of the tavern over the moon...

"When the lights go on again all over the world. And the boys are home again, all over the world. And rain or snow is all that may fall from the skies above, a kiss won't mean goodbye, but hello to love..."

That was it.

Aldo knew it had to be you...

At the end of that song, you thanked the crowd, the lights came back on, and you went to the counter for a drink.

Aldo looked back at the basterds, "Stay here."

The basterds started making jokes immediately, and somehow that burned Donny on the inside as he glared through a side eye.

Aldo knew you. He knew exactly who you were. Back in 1943, when he was just getting the team together, he had to look through masses of files to find the right basterds for the job.

Your file had been in one of the stacks.

For lack of better words, it was “fucking impressive.”

That was saying a lot, if it came from Aldo Raine.

He's already set aside a few files that he was sure on: Sergeant Donny Donowitz, Private Smithson Utivich, and Private Gerold Hirschberg.

He had already set your file with theirs. He didn't even finish flipping through it. He'd seen enough. He needed you on his team. At that point in the war, your body count was higher than Donny, Smitty, and Hirschberg's combined. Besides your impressive kill streak, you had stolen enemy tanks and planes. You had an eye for spies. And you yourself were useful for spying, knowing a few extra languages did come in handy.

You were exactly what he needed... Only a basterd would steal a goddamn tank behind enemy lines straight out of boot camp.

Aldo had just set your file on the desk with the other three, when his general happened to walk in. He took the files in his hands, smiling in approval, until he saw yours. "Oh...this...this must have slipped in by mistake, son."

"Sir?"

The general had sighed, "Poor kid's MIA. Has been for a month or two, now. She was last seen running into a firefight. Every one of the boys on our side that was there didn't come back. Every one of them was accounted for and idetntified except for her. It's most likely that she is a POW... Must've accidentally slippef this file in, sorry son."

Aldo flipped to the last page of your file, and saw a picture of you, and a paper with information about your home, your family, emergency contacts, the works.

It was stamped "MIA."

But there you were... nearly a year later. Not missing, and not in action. In a ruby red dress, fishnet stockings, and black gloves, sitting at a counter, drinking scotch.

He sat by you, ordered a drink, and remarked, "Didn't think Yankee tunes got so popular out here." He took a sip of his drink, and said, "You know, for bein' Swiss, your English is pretty good.... Perfect, I'd say."

You muttered a quick, "Thank you."

Trouble was the last thing you wanted...that's why you were in Switzerland.

Aldo lowered his voice, and leaned onto the counter on his forearm, "You were a goddamn legend, Y/n. Why'd you desert?"

And apparently, trouble was what you got. You took a sip, and thought, "This might as well happen..."

You stayed stoic. "I didn't desert." The truth was, it grated you to say it. You had been in denial all that time, never wanting to think about the day it would inevitably come back and haunt you.

"Really? Last I heard you were MIA, most likely a goddamn POW....Looks like you went AWOL, instead kid. What'd you do, take a tank for a goddamn joy ride for a year? Cause we call that deserting"

You kept a distant demeanor, "You don't know what you're talking about."

He sighed, "I know you're scared, kid. Don't doubt that something happened out there."

You looked up at him for the first time, instantly recognizing him from nothing other than stories: Aldo the Apache.

He knew war as much as you did.

But...that didn't matter much to you. Or at least, you acted like it didn't. "What's it to you?" You looked him square in the eyes."

"I'm a soldier, y/n. I'd say I'm a reasonable man. I know I wanna go home some day, see my old man and my sisters again. I know everyone wants to get home some day. You got a family, don't you, kid? Don'tcha got your ma and pop waiting for you? Brothers and sisters? Or do you want them to keep thinking you're dead?"

You didn't respond.

"You know, if you go back to the ol' U.S of A like this," He gestured to you and your outfit, "You're still a goddamn deserter. You can get the death penatly."

You nodded and muttered, "So I'm staying here."

Even you resented yourself for that. And you had for quite some time.

"I know there's more to it...there's gotta be." He saw a scar, just between your collar bone and throat. Whether it was from a bullet or a blade, he couldn't tell, but he knew it was from the war. "I know you don't want this. But I don't wanna be up in the Smoky Mountains five, ten years from now, open up the paper an' see you done got sat in the electric chair. Ya understand, kid?"

You knew this day would come. You couldn't run forever. You weren't exactly a deserter, but you knew he was right. Even if you'd tried to deny it yourself, you really wanted to go home some day. Dishonor and trial by desertion was no way to die.

Not after everything you'd seen and done...

Aldo ordered some Irish whiskey...closest thing he'd had to burning Tennessee bourbon in years.

Aldo looked at you, genuinely taking pity on what a legend had become: a forgotten ruin. He looked back at his basterds. He started out with eight men in his command, ended up with nine...and then lost three. Simon Sakowitz, Michael Zimmerman, and Andy Kagan.

He needed more basterds, and you needed a way out. "So how bout I cut you a deal, kid?"

You didn't look at him, but he noticed you raised your eyebrow.

A tell that maybe you were interested in what he had to say after all. Maybe being a lost cause was a facade, an attempt at salvation from fear.

"You join my team, we don't tell nobody we found you here. We tell the brass we broke you outta POW camp. None of em boys needa know what'chu been doin' since October 1942-"

He noticed you flinch when you even mentioned that time...

He knew for certain then that you hadn't been safe and sound, singing in a Swiss tavern all along. At least not the whole time. He wanted to know what had really happened back in '42...but that wasn't part of the deal.

"No questions asked, little lady. You help us, we help you."

He could see softening in your eyes. He knew he was getting to you. "You know who we are, dontchu, little lady?"

You nodded slightly.

"Then you know this is your chance to get revenge for whatever happened. Time to get your name back. Get home some day... And maybe rob 'em nazis blind again..."

He saw a flash of a smile in your eyes, and he smiled himself, "So, whaddya say, kid?"

You gunned your drink, and slammed the glass down, and turned to him. Fire in your eyes like there hadn't been for near two years. A devilish grin as you pulled off your black gloves, "One hundred scalps, chief?"

Aldo smirked, "That's the deal kid."

You nodded, and shook his hand.

Even though the basterds were all within earshot of the bargain, Donny was the only one who kept his mouth shut long enough to listen. They'd all assumed Aldo had just gone over to be 'friendly.'

Donny was the only one jealous enough to listen.

And he regretted it...

He wanted to know why and how Aldo already knew your name. How he knew you were a deserter...

What's more, it infuriated Donny because deserters were cowards to him.

He glanced up as Aldo brought you over to the table, and for a moment, his fury subsided. He saw something in your eyes. A silent story... A mystery that needed to be pieced together.

"Well, boys, this is y/n. She's a basterd if I ever met one."

Everyone started to laugh.

"How drunk are you?"

"Since when are you a light weight?!"

"All that tobacco finally went to your brain, huh boss?"

Aldo cleared his throat, "Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough. This is Private Y/n L/N. You might know her better as the Harpy."

Dead silence fell on the table before there was clamoring for answers.

You were a late legend. You were known for stealing from the nazis to benefit the allies. Tanks, planes, blue prints. You also went as far as pickpocketing Nazis, and picking locks to raid their homes for any information that would help.

Smitty gasped and managed to blurt out, "You're supposed to be dead!'

Omar rolled his eyes at him, "Great decorum, kid."

Hirschberg shook his head, narrowing his eyes in susoicion, "No...You're supposed to be a POW, that's what I heard."

Hugo nodded slowly. That was what he heard too.

As they baraged you with rumors and questions, Aldo shook his head, "She'll be joining us, but in exchange, no one asks her fucken questions about where she's been, what she's done, and what's done happened to her since she disappeared. Understood?"

Donny glared right at you, and muttered "She's a fucking deserter," before anyone had a chance to say 'yes sir.'

Before anyone turned against you, Aldo smirked, "Now, Donny, a deserter has no intention of ever coming back. But, you leave 'n come back, even after fifty fucken years, it's considered going AWOL. She ain't no goddamn deserter...at least, not anymore. So, Y/n's a basterd, no one asks any questions, understand?"

The boys muttered a less enthusiastic "Yes sir," than he would've liked but, they still agreed.

And Donny now had another piece of the puzzle.

You were the Harpy. Named after the Greek myths known for stealing and torturing a king. Your stealth and skills as a thief confounded the nazi regime for quite some time, until you disappeared.

One piece of the puzzle. But whatever happened between your disappearance and now was a mystery.

Donny never liked mysteries much, they were too draining.

Puzzles took too much time.

He wasn't going to figure you out. Frankly, he had more important things to do, like...killing nazis. He decided that in his eyes you were still a goddamn deserter. You didn't deserve any redemption or even a place among the basterds.

Especially since they'd recently lost Sakowitz, Zimmerman, and Kagan.

Months passed. The Basterd's were planning a stake out outside of a high ranking nazi's cabin.

A shipment of gold and priceless art stolen from Jewish families all over Europe was coming in.

The Basterd's were sent for retribution.

Most of the basterds had started warming up to you by them. Aldo took you under his wing, and sided with you, especially in the beginning when you faced cut-throat coldness and comments from the boys. After a few months, it was more welcoming... Hugo at least acknowledged your existence....

But Donny refused to speak to you unless it was absolutely necessary. He never trusted you, and it had gotten in the basterds way quite a few times. This time, it was especially annoying. Donny almost let you get your cover and your head blown.

It wasn't until Smitty spoke up.

Aldo sighed, "Hugo, Omar take the northern side. Em nazi fuckers like to go hunting up there... If they do, you go hunting. Smitty and Hirschberg, road up back west is where they come in. Make sure e'ry nazi drives up makes it to the cabin. Wicki, you n me 'll take the eastern post, make sure none of em get away. Donny-"

Donny's eyes shot wide open... there was only one basterd left he could be teamed up with.

He shook his head, "Aldo, no."

Aldo ignored him, "Donny you and Y/N go down south. Look after each other." He turned to the entire team, "That goes for all of you."

Donny started to protest.... frankly you did too. "But-" You stepped forward, "Lieutenant?"

Aldo turned to Donny, "That's an order, boy." He turned to the boys. "Look after each other. All of you. You're a goddamn team. Germans, former deserters, and young 'uns, we're all basterds here. Trust each other, it's how we survive. Understood?" "Yes sir." Aldo nodded, "We meet back here at midnight, take out everyone we didn't get to. Plan everything else from there. Move out."

Donny trudged through the woods. As everyone split up. He muttered under his breath about you being a deserter.

You stopped.

"Sir."

"Yeah?" He turned around in a huff.

"South's that way." You pointed opposite of the way Donny was going. He sighed and followed you, muttering atrocities under his breath.

He refused to work with you, or even trust you at all, even after making a name for yourself among the one and only basterds. Still, you couldn't blame him.. But you also knew there was a limit to these things. Everyone else learned to trust you, but he was a tough one.

The problem with him not trusting you was that the basterds depended on each other to survive.

Aldo knew that. Being a bit older and a tiny bit more mature, he knew something else too. He smirked as he turned around and saw you and Donny disappear beyond the trees together. Aldo was pleased with how he split up the basterds.

Wicki sounded a bit concerned, "They're gonna kill each other, Aldo."

Smitty sighed, just before parting from his corporal and lieutenant, "If they haven't already..."

Aldo smirked, "Nah... there's more to it than that."

Smitty didn't quite understand, but he didn't take the time to question it. He ran off into the woods to find Hirschberg.

Wicki raised his eyebrow for a moment, then understood with a sly grin, and followed his lieutenant.

Meanwhile, you and Donny were hidden, watching the cabin from the southern post.

"You keep fucking groaning like that and you'll blow our cover."

Donny shook his head, audibly and visibly annoyed, "Fuck off."

Immature as it was, you had no other way to respond, "You fuck off."

"I'm your-"

You rolled your eyes, "Sergeant, I know, I know. But I'm a basterd now. I've been paying off my debt to Aldo. I'm back in the war. I know I fucked up, but gimme a chance sarge. Not for me but for the team's goddamn sake."

Donny put his gun down for a moment and looked at you, and for that moment you had some hope.

Instead he remarked, "I don't know you, I don't like you."

"You don't have to like me.-"

"I know Aldo says to trust you, but I'm not gonna trust a goddamn deserter." He sighed, thinking more about his responsibility to the team. You were right, and he'd never admit it... He sighed. "Alright kid. If I trust you, then you gotta trust me back."

You clenched your jaw. Your heart skipped a beat.

You don't know what possessed you to set your rifle down, and look your sergeant in the eyes. You rolled up your sleeves, pulled your hair away from your shoulders. "Last time I trusted someone I got this." You pulled down your collar and he saw a scar from a nazi's machete.

But that wasn't what caught his eye.

It was the numbers etched into your skin with ink.

Donny had long doubted that you had been a POW. He believed you'd just deserted, and used the rumors as a scapegoat for some saving grace...

But you'd unintentionaly confirmed the rumor.

Everything changed in that moment to him.

He was silent, and looked away.

He nodded, picked his gun up, and looked back at the cabin in the distance.

"Alright... alright kid. I trust you. All you gotta do is follow orders."

You nodded, "I'm a soldier. It's what I do."

Donny nodded and looked back through the trees.

You sat in silence for what seemed like a thousand nights.

It had only been about twenty minutes.

Donny heard shuffling beside him, and looked at you. You'd picked up a pistol. One not given to you by the basterds...

Or even the military.

Donny knew it wasn't standard issue. He was absolutely shocked as you followed your gaze, back to the cabin where a 1943 bugatti pulled up, and a few nazis walked up to the door.

You shut one eye and cocked your head to the side.

Donny eyes widened and he pushed your gun down, "What're you doing?! You're gonna blow our fucking cover!"

"That's colonel Landa."

Donny narrowed his eyes in confusion... "Ok, and?" To him, a nazi was a nazi. He didn't care about their names or their ranks. They were all inhuman piles of fiflth, spat out by hell.

You sighed, and sat back. Your jaw tense, your heart racing as flashes from the POW camp came back to haunt you, deafening you, taking your eyes two years back.

You wanted it to stop...

You raised your hands up to the back of your head, and squeezed it, trying to ground yourself. You shut your eyes, as the ground beneath your knees seemed to shake, along with your breath.

Donny's eyes fell on the numbers scratched into your skin, and in that moment, he understood exactly who Hans Landa was.

But the basterds were still in danger.

They still had a mission. Aldo's orders were still orders. And you were still a soldier.

It wasn't time...

"Stand down, private."

You looked him in the eyes, "Let me take this shot, sarge. Just this one shot."

"Stand down. That's an order."

You shut your eyes, and let your gun fall to the damp moss beneath you.

Your pistol was yours alone. And the bullet in it belonged to Hans Landa. His name was engraved on it.

Your gaze was steely, cold, and distant as you watched Landa laughing on the porch, a drink in his hand, surrounded by his friends.

All nazis...

You couldn't stop looking until they went back inside.

Then you heard shuffling...You looked, and saw that Donny had sat by you. He looked down, but asked, "This is about revenge, isn't it, kid?"

"That's what all this has been about." You eyed the nazi dogtags Donny hung around his neck as trophies.

Donny cleared his throat, "Your gun's not standard issue."

"Neither is your bat."

He smiled a little as he glanced at it, "You're right..."

You were quiet again, and he could see the rage in your eyes.

"Hey..."

"Yeah?" Your eyes never broke away from the cabin.

"If it were up to me, I woulda let you take that asshole down...But we can't blow everyone's cover, right now." He sighed, remembering a similar mistake that cost Simon his life not too long before. "Not now, ok?"

"Got it, chief." You took a steady breath, remembering you were a soldier, nothing more. "Orders are orders..."

Donny looked down, an unexpected wave of sympathy washing over him. "You'll get your revenge some day, kid. I promise."

"Yeah..."

He looked at you, and smiled softly, "You know...the best revenge is when you go home, knowing that you live in a world without them."

You sighed, and nodded, as you sat back and watched the cabin. Noting which nazis arrived.

At midnight, you reconvened with the basterds and made a plan.

Only one nazi made it out that night and it was Hans Landa.

You kept quiet about it, not wanting all the basterds to know why it bothered you specifically.

Donny just leaned in and spoke softly... Something a basterd from Boston didn't do quite often, "I'm sorry, kid. You'll get him some day."

In that moment, all you wanted was revenge. You thought you were sure of that.

A year passed... There was something more that you wanted.

And you realized that during Operation Kino...

To be continued...

#inglourious basterds #inglourious basterds imagine #quentin tarantino #aldo raine #aldo the apache #Donny Donowitz #donny donowitz x reader #the bear jew #hugo stiglitz #Wilhelm Wicki #gerold hirschberg #smithson utivich #Omar Ulmer

62 notes · View notes

blackkudos · 4 years

Text

Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson (born Walker Smith Jr.; May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is widely regarded as the greatest boxer of all time, and in 2002, Robinson was ranked number one on The Ring magazine's list of "80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years".

Robinson was 85–0 as an amateur with 69 of those victories coming by way of knockout, 40 in the first round. He turned professional in 1940 at the age of 19 and by 1951 had a professional record of 128–1–2 with 84 knockouts. From 1943 to 1951 Robinson went on a 91-fight unbeaten streak, the third-longest in professional boxing history. Robinson held the world welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and won the world middleweight title in the latter year. He retired in 1952, only to come back two-and-a-half years later and regain the middleweight title in 1955. He then became the first boxer in history to win a divisional world championship five times (a feat he accomplished by defeating Carmen Basilio in 1958 to regain the middleweight championship). Robinson was named "fighter of the year" twice: first for his performances in 1942, then nine years and over 90 fights later, for his efforts

Renowned for his flamboyant lifestyle outside the ring, Robinson is credited with being the originator of the modern sports "entourage". After his boxing career ended, Robinson attempted a career as an entertainer, but it was not successful. He struggled financially until his death in 1989. In 2006, he was featured on a commemorative stamp by the United States Postal Service.

Early life

Robinson was born Walker Smith Jr. in Ailey, Georgia, to Walker Smith Sr. and Leila Hurst. Robinson was the youngest of three children; his eldest sister Marie was born in 1917, and his other sister Evelyn in 1919. His father was a cotton, peanut, and corn farmer in Georgia, who moved the family to Detroit where he initially found work in construction. According to Robinson, Smith Sr. later worked two jobs to support his family—cement mixer and sewer worker. "He had to get up at six in the morning and he'd get home close to midnight. Six days a week. The only day I really saw him was Sunday...I always wanted to be with him more."

His parents separated, and he moved with his mother to the New York City neighborhood of Harlem at the age of twelve. Robinson originally aspired to be a doctor, but after dropping out of DeWitt Clinton High School (in the Bronx) in ninth grade he switched his goal to boxing. When he was 15, he attempted to enter his first boxing tournament but was told he needed to first obtain an AAU membership card. However, he could not procure one until he was eighteen years old. He received his name when he circumvented the AAU's age restriction by borrowing a birth certificate from his friend Ray Robinson. Subsequently told that he was "sweet as sugar" by a lady in the audience at a fight in Watertown, New York, Smith Jr. became known as "Sugar" Ray Robinson.

Robinson idolized Henry Armstrong and Joe Louis as a youth, and actually lived on the same block as Louis in Detroit when Robinson was 11 and Louis was 17. Outside the ring, Robinson got into trouble frequently as a youth, and was involved with a street gang. He married at 16. The couple had one son, Ronnie, and divorced when Robinson was 19. He finished his amateur career with an 85–0 record with 69 knockouts–40 coming in the first round. He won the Golden Gloves featherweight championship in 1939, and the organization's lightweight championship in 1940.

Boxing career

Early career

Robinson made his professional debut on October 4, 1940, winning by a second-round stoppage over Joe Echevarria. Robinson fought five more times in 1940, winning each time, with four wins coming by way of knockout. In 1941, he defeated world champion Sammy Angott, future champion Marty Servo and former champion Fritzie Zivic. The Robinson-Angott fight was held above the lightweight limit, since Angott did not want to risk losing his lightweight title. Robinson defeated Zivic in front of 20,551 at Madison Square Garden—one of the largest crowds in the arena to that date. Robinson won the first five rounds, according to Joseph C. Nichols of The New York Times, before Zivic came back to land several punches to Robinson's head in the sixth and seventh rounds. Robinson controlled the next two rounds, and had Zivic in the ninth. After a close tenth round, Robinson was announced as the winner on all three scorecards.

In 1942 Robinson knocked out Zivic in the tenth round in a January rematch. The knockout loss was only the second of Zivic's career in more than 150 fights. Robinson knocked him down in the ninth and tenth rounds before the referee stopped the fight. Zivic and his corner protested the stoppage; James P. Dawson of The New York Times stated "[t]hey were criticizing a humane act. The battle had been a slaughter, for want of a more delicate word." Robinson then won four consecutive bouts by knockout, before defeating Servo in a controversial split decision in their May rematch. After winning three more fights, Robinson faced Jake LaMotta, who would become one of his more prominent rivals, for the first time in October. He defeated LaMotta by a unanimous decision, although he failed to get Jake down. Robinson weighed 145 lb (66 kg) compared to 157.5 for LaMotta, but he was able to control the fight from the outside for the entire bout, and actually landed the harder punches during the fight. Robinson then won four more fights, including two against Izzy Jannazzo, from October 19 to December 14. For his performances, Robinson was named "Fighter of the Year". He finished 1942 with a total of 14 wins and no losses.

Robinson built a record of 40–0 before losing for the first time to LaMotta in a 10-round re-match. LaMotta, who had a 16 lb (7.3 kg) weight advantage over Robinson, knocked Robinson out of the ring in the eighth round, and won the fight by decision. The fight took place in Robinson's former home town of Detroit, and attracted a record crowd. After being controlled by Robinson in the early portions of the fight, LaMotta came back to take control in the later rounds. After winning the third LaMotta fight less than three weeks later, Robinson then defeated his childhood idol: former champion Henry Armstrong. Robinson fought Armstrong only because the older man was in need of money. By now Armstrong was an old fighter, and Robinson later stated that he carried the former champion.

On February 27, 1943, Robinson was inducted into the United States Army, where he was again referred to as Walker Smith. Robinson had a 15-month military career. Robinson served with Joe Louis, and the pair went on tours where they performed exhibition bouts in front of US Army troops. Robinson got into trouble several times while in the military. He argued with superiors who he felt were discriminatory against him, and refused to fight exhibitions when he was told African American soldiers were not allowed to watch them. In late March 1944, Robinson was stationed at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, waiting to ship out to Europe, where he was scheduled to perform more exhibition matches. But on March 29, Robinson disappeared from his barracks. When he woke up on April 5 in Fort Jay Hospital on Governor's Island, he had missed his sailing for Europe and was under suspicion of deserting. He himself reported falling down the stairs in his barracks on the 29th, but said that he had complete amnesia, and he could not remember any events from that moment until the 5th. According to his file, a stranger had found him in the street on April 1 and helped him to a hospital. In his examination report, a doctor at Fort Jay concluded that Robinson's version of events was sincere. He was examined by military authorities, who claimed he suffered from a mental deficiency. Robinson was granted an honorable discharge on June 3, 1944. He later wrote that unfair press coverage of the incident had "branded" him as a "deserter". Robinson maintained his close friendship with Louis from their time in military service, and the two went into business together after the war. They planned to start a liquor distribution business in New York City, but were denied a license due to their race.

Besides the loss in the LaMotta rematch, the only other mark on Robinson's record during this period was a 10-round draw against José Basora in 1945.

Welterweight champion

By 1946, Robinson had fought 75 fights to a 73–1–1 record, and beaten every top contender in the welterweight division. However, he refused to cooperate with the Mafia, which controlled much of boxing at the time, and was denied a chance to fight for the welterweight championship. Robinson was finally given a chance to win a title against Tommy Bell on December 20, 1946. Robinson had already beaten once by decision in 1945. The two fought for the title vacated by Servo, who had himself lost twice to Robinson in non-title bouts. In the fight, Robinson, who only a month before had been involved in a 10-round brawl with Artie Levine, was knocked down by Bell. The fight was called a "war", but Robinson was able to pull out a close 15-round decision, winning the vacant World Welterweight title.

In 1948 Robinson fought five times, but only one bout was a title defense. Among the fighters he defeated in those non-title bouts was future world champion Kid Gavilán in a close, controversial 10-round fight. Gavilán hurt Robinson several times in the fight, but Robinson controlled the final rounds with a series of jabs and left hooks. In 1949, he boxed 16 times, but again only defended his title once. In that title fight, a rematch with Gavilán, Robinson again won by decision. The first half of the bout was very close, but Robinson took control in the second half. Gavilán would have to wait two more years to begin his own historic reign as welterweight champion. The only boxer to match Robinson that year was Henry Brimm, who fought him to a 10-round draw in Buffalo.

Robinson fought 19 times in 1950. He successfully defended his welterweight title for the last time against Charley Fusari. Robinson won a lopsided 15-round decision, knocking Fusari down once. Robinson donated all but $1 of his purse for the Fusari fight to cancer research. In 1950 Robinson fought George Costner, who had also taken to calling himself "Sugar" and stated in the weeks leading up to the fight that he was the rightful possessor of the name. "We better touch gloves, because this is the only round", Robinson said as the fighters were introduced at the center of the ring. "Your name ain't Sugar, mine is." Robinson then knocked Costner out in 2 minutes and 49 seconds.

Middleweight champion

It is stated in his autobiography that one of the main considerations for his move up to middleweight was the increasing difficulty he was having in making the 147 lb (67 kg) welterweight weight limit. However, the move up would also prove beneficial financially, as the division then contained some of the biggest names in boxing. Vying for the Pennsylvania state middleweight title in 1950, Robinson defeated Robert Villemain. Later that year, in defense of that crown, he defeated Jose Basora, with whom he had previously drawn. Robinson's 50-second, first-round knockout of Basora set a record that would stand for 38 years. In October 1950, Robinson knocked out Bobo Olson a future middleweight title holder.

On February 14, 1951, Robinson and LaMotta met for the sixth time. The fight would become known as The St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Robinson won the undisputed World Middleweight title with a 13th round technical knockout. Robinson outboxed LaMotta for the first 10 rounds, then unleashed a series of savage combinations on LaMotta for three rounds, finally stopping the champion for the first time in their legendary six-bout series—and dealing LaMotta his first legitimate knockout loss in 95 professional bouts. LaMotta had lost by knockout to Billy Fox earlier in his career. However, that fight was later ruled to have been fixed and LaMotta was sanctioned for letting Fox win. That bout, and some of the other bouts in the six-fight Robinson-LaMotta rivalry, was depicted in the Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull. "I fought Sugar Ray so often, I almost got diabetes", LaMotta later said. Robinson won five of his six bouts with LaMotta.

After winning his second world title, he embarked on a European tour which took him all over the Continent. Robinson traveled with his flamingo-pink Cadillac, which caused quite a stir in Paris, and an entourage of 13 people, some included "just for laughs". He was a hero in France due to his recent defeat of LaMotta—the French hated LaMotta for defeating Marcel Cerdan in 1949 and taking his championship belt (Cerdan died in a plane crash en route to a rematch with LaMotta). Robinson met President of France Vincent Auriol at a ceremony attended by France's social upper crust. During his fight in Berlin against Gerhard Hecht, Robinson was disqualified when he knocked his opponent with a punch to the kidney: a punch legal in the US, but not Europe. The fight was later declared a no-contest. In London, Robinson lost the world middleweight title to British boxer Randolph Turpin in a sensational bout. Three months later in a rematch in front of 60,000 fans at the Polo Grounds, he knocked Turpin out in ten rounds to recover the title. In that bout Robinson was leading on the cards but was cut by Turpin. With the fight in jeopardy, Robinson let loose on Turpin, knocking him down, then getting him to the ropes and unleashing a series of punches that caused the referee to stop the bout. Following Robinson's victory, residents of Harlem danced in the streets. In 1951, Robinson was named Ring Magazine's "Fighter of the Year" for the second time.

In 1952 he fought a rematch with Olson, winning by a decision. He next defeated former champion Rocky Graziano by a third-round knockout, then challenged World Light heavyweight champion Joey Maxim. In the Yankee Stadium bout with Maxim, Robinson built a lead on all three judges' scorecards, but the 103 °F (39 °C) temperature in the ring took its toll. The referee, Ruby Goldstein, was the first victim of the heat, and had to be replaced by referee Ray Miller. The fast-moving Robinson was the heat's next victim – at the end of round 13, he collapsed and failed to answer the bell for the next round, suffering the only knockout of his career.

On June 25, 1952, after the Maxim bout, Robinson gave up his title and retired with a record of 131–3–1–1. He began a career in show business, singing and tap dancing. After about three years, the decline of his businesses and the lack of success in his performing career made him decide to return to boxing. He resumed training in 1954.

Comeback

In 1955 Robinson returned to the ring. Although he had been inactive for two and a half years, his work as a dancer kept him in peak physical condition: in his autobiography, Robinson states that in the weeks leading up to his debut for a dancing engagement in France, he ran five miles every morning, and then danced for five hours each night. Robinson even stated that the training he did in his attempts to establish a career as a dancer were harder than any he undertook during his boxing career. He won five fights in 1955, before losing a decision to Ralph 'Tiger' Jones. He bounced back, however, and defeated Rocky Castellani by a split decision, then challenged Bobo Olson for the world middleweight title. He won the middleweight championship for the third time with a second-round knockout—his third victory over Olson. After his comeback performance in 1955, Robinson expected to be named fighter of the year. However, the title went to welterweight Carmen Basilio. Basilio's handlers had lobbied heavily for it on the basis that he had never won the award, and Robinson later described this as the biggest disappointment of his professional career. "I haven't forgotten it to this day, and I never will", Robinson wrote in his autobiography. Robinson and Olson fought for the last time in 1956, and Robinson closed the four fight series with a fourth-round knockout.

In 1957 Robinson lost his title to Gene Fullmer. Fullmer used his aggressive, forward moving style to control Robinson, and knocked him down in the fight. Robinson, however, noticed that Fullmer was vulnerable to the left hook. Fullmer headed into their May rematch as a 3–1 favorite. In the first two rounds Robinson followed Fullmer around the ring, however in the third round he changed tactics and made Fullmer come to him. At the start of the fourth round Robinson came out on the attack and stunned Fullmer, and when Fullmer returned with his own punches, Robinson traded with him, as opposed to clinching as he had done in their earlier fight. The fight was fairly even after four rounds. But in the fifth, Robinson was able to win the title back for a fourth time by knocking out Fullmer with a lightning fast, powerful left hook. Boxing critics have referred to the left-hook which knocked out Fullmer as "the perfect punch". It marked the first time in 44 career fights that Fullmer had been knocked out, and when someone asked Robinson after the fight how far the left hook had travelled, Robinson replied: "I can't say. But he got the message."

Later that year, he lost his title to Basilio in a rugged 15 round fight in front of 38,000 at Yankee Stadium, but regained it for a record fifth time when he beat Basilio in the rematch. Robinson struggled to make weight, and had to go without food for nearly 20 hours leading up to the bout. He badly damaged Basilio's eye early the fight, and by the seventh round it was swollen shut. The two judges gave the fight to Robinson by wide margins: 72–64 and 71–64. The referee scored the fight for Basilio 69–64, and was booed loudly by the crowd of 19,000 when his decision was announced. The first fight won the "Fight of the Year" award from The Ring magazine for 1957 and the second fight won the "Fight of the Year" award for 1958.

Decline

Robinson knocked out Bob Young in the second round in Boston in his only fight in 1959. A year later, he defended his title against Paul Pender. Robinson entered the fight as a 5–1 favorite, but lost a split decision in front of 10,608 at Boston Garden. The day before the fight Pender commented that he planned to start slowly, before coming on late. He did just that and outlasted the aging Robinson, who, despite opening a cut over Pender's eye in the eighth round, was largely ineffective in the later rounds. An attempt to regain the crown for an unheard of sixth time proved beyond Robinson. Despite Robinson's efforts, Pender won by decision in that rematch. On December 3 of that year, Robinson and Fullmer fought a 15-round draw for the WBA middleweight title, which Fullmer retained. In 1961, Robinson and Fullmer fought for a fourth time, with Fullmer retaining the WBA middleweight title by a unanimous decision. The fight would be Robinson's last title bout.

Robinson spent the rest of the 1960s fighting 10-round contests. In October 1961 Robinson defeated future world champion Denny Moyer by a unanimous decision. A 12–5 favorite, the 41-year-old Robinson defeated the 22-year-old Moyer by staying on the outside, rather than engaging him. In their rematch four months later, Moyer defeated Robinson on points, as he pressed the action and made Robinson back up throughout the fight. Moyer won 7–3 on all three judges scorecards. Robinson lost twice more in 1962, before winning six consecutive fights against mostly lesser opposition. In February 1963 Robinson lost by a unanimous decision to former world champion and fellow Hall of Famer Joey Giardello. Giardello knocked Robinson down in the fourth round, and the 43-year-old took until the count of nine to rise to his feet. Robinson was also nearly knocked down in the sixth round, but was saved by the bell. He rallied in the seventh and eight rounds, before struggling in the final two. He then embarked on an 18-month boxing tour of Europe.

Robinson's second no-contest bout came in September 1965 in Norfolk, Virginia in a match with an opponent who turned out to be an impostor. Boxer Neil Morrison, at the time a fugitive and accused robber, signed up for the fight as Bill Henderson, a capable club fighter. The fight was a fiasco, with Morrison being knocked down twice in the first round and once in the second before the disgusted referee, who said "Henderson put up no fight", walked out of the ring. Robinson was initially given a TKO in 1:20 of the second round after the "obviously frightened" Morrison laid himself down on the canvas. Robinson fought for the final time in November 1965. He lost by a unanimous decision to Joey Archer. Famed sports author Pete Hamill mentioned that one of the saddest experiences of his life was watching Robinson lose to Archer. He was even knocked down and Hamill pointed out that Archer had no knockout punch at all; Archer admitted afterward that it was only the second time he had knocked an opponent down in his career. The crowd of 9,023 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh gave Robinson several standing ovations, even while he was being thoroughly outperformed by Archer.

On November 11, 1965, Robinson announced his retirement from boxing, saying: "I hate to go too long campaigning for another chance." Robinson retired from boxing with a record of 173–19–6 (2 no contests) with 108 knockouts in 200 professional bouts, ranking him among the all-time leaders in knockouts.

Professional boxing record

Later life

In his autobiography, Robinson states that by 1965 he was broke, having spent all of the $4 million in earnings he made inside and out of the ring during his career. A month after his last fight, Robinson was honored with a Sugar Ray Robinson Night on December 10, 1965, in New York's Madison Square Garden. During the ceremony, he was honored with a massive trophy. However, there was not a piece of furniture in his small Manhattan apartment with legs strong enough to support it. Robinson was elected to the Ring Magazine boxing Hall of Fame in 1967, two years after he retired and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. In the late 1960s he acted in some television shows, like Mission: Impossible. An episode of Land of the Giants called "Giants and All That Jazz" had Sugar as a washed up boxer opening a nightclub. He also appeared in a few films including the Frank Sinatra cop movie The Detective (1968), the cult classic Candy (1968), and the thriller The Todd Killings (1971) as a police officer. In 1969, he founded the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation for the inner-city Los Angeles area. The foundation does not sponsor a boxing program. He was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus that was treated with insulin.

Death

In Robinson’s last years he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He died in Los Angeles on April 12, 1989 at the age of 67. Robinson is buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California.

Personal life

Robinson married Marjorie Joseph in 1938; the marriage was annulled the same year. Their son, Ronnie Smith, was born in 1939. Robinson met his second wife Edna Mae Holly, a noted dancer who performed at the Cotton Club and toured Europe with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. According to Robinson, he met her at a local pool he frequented after his boxing workouts. In an attempt to get her attention he pushed her into the pool one day, and claimed it was an accident. After this attempt was met with disdain, he appeared at the nightclub she danced at and introduced himself. Soon the couple were dating and they married in 1944. They had one son, Ray Robinson Jr. (born 1949) before their acrimonious divorce in 1962. She appeared on the first cover of Jet magazine in 1951.

In April 1959, Robinson's eldest sister, Marie, died of cancer at the age of 41.

In 1965, Robinson married Millie Wiggins Bruce and the couple settled in Los Angeles. When Robinson was sick with his various ailments, his son accused the elder Robinson's wife of keeping him under the influence of medication to manipulate him. According to Ray Robinson Jr., when Robinson Sr's mother died, he could not attend his mother's funeral because Millie was drugging and controlling him. However, Robinson had been hospitalized the day before his mother's death due to agitation which caused his blood pressure to rise. Robinson Jr. and Edna Mae also claimed that they were kept away from Robinson by Millie during the last years of his life.

Robinson was a Freemason, a membership shared with a number of other athletes, including fellow boxer Jack Dempsey.Robinson guest starred in Season 2, Episode 6 of Irwin Allen’s Land of the Giants.

Boxing style

Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that's in rhythm or you're in trouble.

Robinson was the modern definition of a boxer puncher. He was able to fight almost any style: he could come out one round brawling, the next counterpunching, and the next fighting on the outside flicking his jab. Robinson would use his formless style to exploit his opponents' weaknesses. He also possessed great speed and precision. He fought in a very conventional way with a firm jab, but threw hooks and uppercuts in flurries in an unconventional way. He possessed tremendous versatility—according to boxing analyst Bert Sugar, "Robinson could deliver a knockout blow going backward." Robinson was efficient with both hands, and he displayed a variety of effective punches—according to a TIME magazine article in 1951, "Robinson's repertoire, thrown with equal speed and power by either hand, includes every standard punch from a bolo to a hook—and a few he makes up on the spur of the moment." Robinson commented that once a fighter has trained to a certain level, their techniques and responses become almost reflexive. "You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone."

Jimmy Doyle incident

In June 1947, during his welterweight period, after four non-title bouts, Robinson was scheduled to defend his title for the first time in a bout against Jimmy Doyle. Robinson initially backed out of the fight because he had a dream that he was going to kill Doyle. A priest and a minister convinced him to fight. Sadly, his dream was tragically proven to be true. On June 25, 1947 Robinson dominated Doyle and scored a decisive knockout in the eighth round that knocked Doyle unconscious and resulted in Doyle's death later that night. Robinson said that the impact of Doyle's death was "very trying".

After his death, criminal charges were threatened against Robinson in Cleveland, up to and including murder, though none actually materialized. After learning of Doyle's intentions of using the bout's money to buy his mother a house, Robinson gave Doyle's mother the money from his next four bouts so she could purchase herself a home, fulfilling her son's intention.

Legacy

Robinson has been ranked as the greatest boxer of all time by sportswriters, fellow boxers, and trainers. The phrase "pound for pound", was created by sportswriters for him during his career as a way to compare boxers irrespective of weight. Hall of Fame fighters such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Roberto Durán and Sugar Ray Leonard have ranked Robinson as the greatest pound-for-pound boxer in history. In 1997, The Ring ranked him as the best pound-for-pound fighter in history, and in 1999 he was named "welterweight of the century", "middleweight of the century", and overall "fighter of the century" by the Associated Press. In 2007 ESPN.com featured the piece "50 Greatest Boxers of All Time", in which it named Robinson the top boxer in history. In 2003, The Ring magazine ranked him number 11 in the list of all-time greatest punchers. Robinson was also ranked as the #1 welterweight and the #1 pound-for-pound boxer of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization. He was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame at its inception in 1992.

Robinson was one of the first African Americans to establish himself as a star outside sports. He was an integral part of the New York social scene in the 1940s and 1950s. His glamorous restaurant, Sugar Ray's, hosted stars such as Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Nat King Cole, Joe Louis, and Lena Horne among others. Robinson was known as a flamboyant personality outside the ring. He combined striking good looks with charisma and a flair for the dramatic. He drove a flamingo-pink Cadillac and was an accomplished singer and dancer, who once pursued a career in the entertainment industry. According to ESPN.com's Ron Flatter: "He was the pioneer of boxing's bigger-than-life entourages, including a secretary, barber, masseur, voice coach, a coterie of trainers, beautiful women, a dwarf mascot and lifelong manager George Gainford." When Robinson first traveled to Paris, a steward referred to his companions as his "entourage". Although Robinson said he did not like the word's literal definition of "attendants", since he felt they were his friends, he liked the word itself and began to use it in regular conversation when referring to them. In 1962, in an effort to persuade Robinson to return to Paris—where he was still a national hero—the French promised to bring over his masseur, his hairdresser, a man who would whistle while he trained, and his trademark Cadillac. This larger-than-life persona made him the idol of millions of African American youths in the 1950s. Robinson inspired several other fighters who took the nickname "Sugar" in homage to him such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Sugar Shane Mosley, and MMA fighter "Suga" Rashad Evans.

See also

List of welterweight boxing champions

List of middleweight boxing champions

Ring Magazine pound for pound

Footnotes

Notes

Sources

Boyd, Herb, and Robinson, Ray II. Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson, New York: HarperCollins, 2005 ISBN 0-06-018876-6

Chenault, Julie. Edna Mae Robinson Still Looking Good in Her Mink. Jet, Johnson Publishing Company November 5, 1981 issue ISSN 0021-5996 (available online)

Donelson, Thomas, and Lotierzo, Frank. Viewing Boxing from Ringside, Lincoln: iUniverse, 2002 ISBN 0-595-23748-7

Fitzgerald, Mike H., and Hudson, Dabid L. Boxing's Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of Champs, Chumps and Punch-drunk Palookas, Virginia: Brassey's, 2004 ISBN 1-57488-714-9

Hauser, Thomas. The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing, Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2000 ISBN 1-55728-597-7

Nagler, Barney. "Boxing's Bad Boy: Sugar Ray Robinson". SPORT Magazine. October 1947.

Robinson, Sugar Ray, and Anderson, Dave. Sugar Ray, London: Da Capo Press, 1994 ISBN 0-306-80574-X

Sammons, Jeffrey Thomas. Beyond the Ring: The Role of Boxing in American Society, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1998 ISBN 0-252-06145-4

Wiley, Ralph. Serenity: A Boxing Memoir, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000 ISBN 0-8032-9816-1

#05/03 #04/12

6 notes · View notes

phroyd · 5 years

Link

Reports showing farmers hurt by the president’s policies have drawn the ire of top officials.

By RYAN MCCRIMMON

Economists in the Agriculture Department's research branch say the Trump administration is retaliating against them for publishing reports that shed negative light on White House policies, spurring an exodus that included six of them quitting the department on a single day in late April.

The Economic Research Service — a source of closely read reports on farm income and other topics that can shape federal policy, planting decisions and commodity markets — has run afoul of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue with its findings on how farmers have been financially harmed by President Donald Trump's trade feuds, the Republican tax code rewrite and other sensitive issues, according to current and former agency employees.

The reports highlight the continued decline under Trump’s watch in farm income, which has dropped about 50 percent since 2013. Rural voters were a crucial source of support for Trump in 2016, and analysts say even a small retreat in 2020 could jeopardize the president’s standing in several battleground states.

“The administration didn’t appreciate some of our findings, so this is retaliation to harm the agency and send a message,” said one current ERS employee, who asked not to be named to avoid retribution.

For example, two ERS researchers presented a paper at an economic conference in early 2018 that indicated the GOP tax overhaul would largely benefit the wealthiest farmers — generating negative press coverage that staff members said irked senior officials at USDA.

Then, in August, Perdue stunned members of the roughly 300-member research service by announcing plans to bring ERS under the control of USDA’s chief economist, who reports more directly to the secretary. Equally significant, he said the USDA would move the agency out of Washington to a location closer to the U.S. heartland.

Members of the agency were also caught off-guard last summer when Perdue’s office issued an internal memo directing ERS and other research branches to include disclaimers in their peer-reviewed publications stating that the findings were “preliminary” and “should not be construed to represent any agency determination or policy” — seen as a way of watering down any unflattering data from the department’s own experts.

The move to uproot the agency has led to a brain-drain of experienced researchers. So far in fiscal 2019, non-retirement departures from the agency have more than doubled on an annualized basis compared to the previous three-year average, according to data collected by employees.

Six of the economists — made up of specialists in the agricultural economy, farm taxation and food programs with more than 50 years of combined experience at ERS — left the agency at the end of April, out of frustration with the relocation process or in some cases suspicion about Perdue’s efforts to reshape USDA’s research wing, according to coworkers. More are planning to leave in the coming months.

For his part, Perdue has said the relocation was motivated by his desire to save taxpayer dollars, bring the research service closer to major farming regions, and help attract economists who could be deterred by Washington’s high cost of living.

“I really have been a little surprised with the naysayers on this,” he said last month at a Senate Appropriations hearing, touting the move as a common-sense, cost-cutting measure.

Perdue’s office declined to provide information on the numbers of employees who’ve quit or respond to allegations of political interference in the research service.

But the secretary alluded to frustrations with the quality of USDA research in comments to POLITICO on April 30, saying that all decision-making in the department must be “fact-based.”

“In USDA, we want good scientific discovery,” Perdue said, when asked about the mandated research-disclosure language. “We want peer-based evidence there. We know that research, some has been found in the past to not have been adequately peer-reviewed in a way that created wrong information, and we’re very serious when we say we’re fact-based, data-driven decision makers. That relies on sound, replicatable science rather than opinion. What I see unfortunately happening many times is that we tried to make policy decisions based on political science rather than on sound science.”

Reports from the Economic Research Service highlight the continued decline under President Donald Trump’s watch in farm income, which has dropped about 50 percent since 2013. | Oliver Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

Perdue and Trump made clear in their budget request in March that they wanted to reduce the scope of the ERS, eliminating “low priority research” into such politically sensitive areas as food stamps and environmental issues.

The White House blueprint called for slashing ERS staff levels by more than 50 percent, cutting the total number of positions from about 329 to 160.

The budget is unlikely to be approved by Congress, but members of the service say they’ve already seen the effects of Trump’s and Perdue’s preferences.

“Things like conservation, rural development, food assistance, have just been de-emphasized” in favor of the administration’s preferred topics, said one economist who left ERS because of the relocation plan.

Former ERS Administrator Susan Offutt, who oversaw the service under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said the agency’s studies showing how USDA’s farm-subsidy programs disproportionately benefit wealthier farmers have been a “perennial irritant” to influential lobbying groups, but an “over-the-top reaction” to clamp down on such reports would be unprecedented.

“Of course, this is not the story the farm lobby wants to tell about struggling farmers,” said Offutt. “Controlling ERS would stop unflattering news about federal farm subsidies favoring high-income, high-wealth farm households from reaching the public.”

Lawmakers have complained that USDA has yet to provide a full cost-benefit analysis of its plan to move the office closer to the heartland. Republicans have increasingly supported the relocation plan, while House Democrats have filed legislation to block the move.

On Friday, the USDA announced three finalists for the new headquarters of the service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which is also being moved out of Washington. The finalists are Kansas City, the North Carolina research triangle region and multiple locations in Indiana.

Perdue’s office has promised to release further data justifying the move when he announces a final site recommendation this month.

Within the service, skeptical employees view the secretary’s rationale for the move and the months-long site selection process carried out by accounting firm Ernst & Young as a smokescreen.

“The message we’ve been getting is, ‘The cost-benefit analysis doesn’t matter. Being close to stakeholders doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters for you is the fact that the secretary wants you to move, thinks it’s in your best interest, and that’s what we’re doing,’” said another senior ERS economist who declined to use his name for fear of retaliation.

Brian Stacy, a former ERS economist who left in February, said he thinks the move is a way for the administration to force out staff members and reduce the size of the ERS without congressional approval.

“Part of me wonders whether this relocation is just a way to get at that staff reduction,” Stacy said, referring to the president’s budget request. “I don’t know how else to read some of the moves being made.”

ERS employees are planning to vote on unionization on Thursday.

USDA intends to keep 76 ERS employees in Washington and relocate 253 positions to the new location, USDA senior adviser Kristi Boswell told a House Appropriations panel in March.

“This is the spiraling down of the fantastic work that the ERS has done for years,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, who headed the National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Obama and early Trump administrations. “It’s one way to drain the swamp, as it were.”

Phroyd

#usda #sonny perdue

22 notes · View notes

patriotsnet · 3 years

Text

Who Are The Republicans Running For President

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/who-are-the-republicans-running-for-president/

Who Are The Republicans Running For President

List Of United States Republican Party Presidential Tickets

Republican Lawmakers Are Terrified Of Trump Running For President Again

This is a list of the candidates for the offices of President of the United States and Vice President of the United States of the Republican Party, either duly preselected and nominated, or the presumptive nominees of a future preselection and election. Opponents who received over one percent of the popular vote or ran an official campaign that received Electoral College votes are listed. Offices held prior to Election Day are included, and those held on Election Day have an italicized end date.

Sen Josh Hawley Of Missouri

Though controversial, Hawley, 41, is a fundraising machine and hes quickly made a name for himself. The blowback Hawley faced for objecting to Bidens Electoral College win included a lost book deal and calls for him to resign from students at the law school where he previously taught. His mentor, former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, said that supporting Hawley was the biggest mistake Ive ever made in my life.

Still, he brought in more than $1.5 million between Jan. 1 and March 5, according to Axios, and fundraising appeals in his name from the National Republican Senatorial Committee brought in more cash than any other Republican except NRSC Chair Sen. Rick Scott of Florida. Just because youre toxic in Washington doesnt mean you cant build a meaningful base of support nationally.

One Republican strategist compared the possibility of Hawley 2024 to Cruz in 2016. Hes not especially well-liked by his colleagues , but hes built a national profile for himself and become a leading Republican voice opposed to big technology companies.

Hawley and his wife, Erin, have three children. He got his start in politics as Missouri attorney general before being elected to the Senate in 2018. Hawley graduated from Stanford and Yale Law.

Trump Is Planning To Visit Iowa

If youre a politician with even an ounce of presidential ambition, you will find a reason to get to the state that hosts the first presidential caucus.

Trump signaled his intention to head to Iowa a week ago Monday, telling conservative talk radio show host Todd Starnes hes planning upcoming rallies in states including Iowa and Georgia. The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday that Trump will hold his rally Oct. 9 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, his first visit to the state since the 2020 campaign.

Save America, Trumps PAC, has also made moves in Iowa, hiring two Republican operatives last month. Having a strong operation in place for the first caucus could be crucial if Trump wants a big win right out of the gate. He finished second in Iowa in 2016 to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Don’t Miss: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Two Republicans One Backed By Trump Head To Runoff In Texas Special Congressional Election

A plane flies across the sky beside the U.S. Capitol dome in Washington, U.S., January 15, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

WASHINGTON, May 2 A Texas Republican backed by former President Donald Trump has advanced to a runoff election to fill a U.S. House of Representatives vacancy left by the death of her husband, while Democrats were shut out of the contest.

Susan Wright, whose husband Ron Wright in February became the first sitting member of Congress to die of COVID-19, was the top vote-getter on Saturday in a crowded field of 23 candidates vying to represent the states 6th Congressional District. read more

Wright was headed to a runoff against another Republican in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, a longtime Republican-held district.

Democrats had hoped to pick up the seat to expand their slim House majority. But they conceded Sunday they had missed the chance.

Wright received 19.2% of the vote, followed by former military fighter pilot Jake Ellzey, another Republican, who drew 13.8%, according to the Texas secretary of states office. Just 354 votes and less than half a percentage point separated Ellzey from Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez, who was in third place with 13.4%.

Democrats have come a long way toward competing in Texas, but we still have a long way to go, Sanchez, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, said in a statement. Two Republicans will be competing to represent this congressional district.

Former President Donald Trump

The biggest question mark for Republicans is if Trump will run for president in 2024. He hasnt exactly frozen the field, since Republicans are already positioning themselves to run, but perhaps hes refrigerated it a bit?

Trump is the 800-pound gorilla, said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor. Trump has got command of the organs of the party and is going to have an enormous amount of resources and name ID and the ability to throw these rallies in the fall of 2022. I think that sets him up very well to being pole position for 2024 if he wants.

Trump, 74, is currently bettors top candidate on PredictIt, an online prediction market, and hes also led in several early polls, including a February Morning Consult/Politico poll. The poll found 54% of Republican voters would back Trump if the 2024 primary were held today. Those kinds of numbers would mean game over in a primary, but they also suggest many Republicans are eager for a new face.

During a recent podcast interview, Trump said he would make his decision on whether he will run in the 2024 presidential election sometime later, and after being asked which Republicans he thought represented the future of the party, he listed off some of the politicians youll see later on this list, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

Also Check: What Is The Lapel Pin The Republicans Are Wearing

Cancellation Of State Caucuses Or Primaries

The Washington Examiner reported on December 19, 2018, that the South Carolina Republican Party had not ruled out forgoing a primary contest to protect Trump from any primary challengers. Party chairman Drew McKissick stated, “Considering the fact that the entire party supports the president, we’ll end up doing what’s in the president’s best interest.” On January 24, another Washington Examiner report indicated that the Kansas Republican Party was “likely” to scrap its presidential caucus to “save resources”.

In August 2019, the Associated Press reported that the Nevada Republican Party was also contemplating canceling their caucuses, with the state party spokesman, Keith Schipper, saying it “isn’t about any kind of conspiracy theory about protecting the president;… He’s going to be the nominee;… This is about protecting resources to make sure that the president wins in Nevada and that Republicans up and down the ballot win in 2020.”

Kansas, Nevada and South Carolina’s state committees officially voted on September 7, 2019, to cancel their caucus and primary. The Arizona state Republican Party indicated two days later that it will not hold a primary. These four were joined by the Alaska state Republican party on September 21, when its central committee announced they would not hold a presidential primary.

Virginia Republicans decided to allocate delegates at the state convention.

Emboldened Unchanged Trump Looks To Re

The set of advisers around Trump now is a familiar mix of his top 2020 campaign aides and others who have moved in and out of his orbit over time. They include Miller, Susie Wiles, Bill Stepien, Justin Clark, Corey Lewandowski and Brad Parscale.

While his schedule isnt set yet, according to Trumps camp, his coming stops are likely to include efforts to help Ohio congressional candidate Max Miller, a former White House aide looking to win a primary against Rep. Anthony Gonzales, who voted to impeach Trump this year; Jody Hice, who is trying to unseat fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger as Georgia secretary of state after Raffensperger defied Trump and validated the states electoral votes; and Alabama Senate candidate Mo Brooks, according to Trumps camp.

Trumps ongoing influence with Republican voters helps explain why most GOP officeholders stick so closely to him. Republicans spared him a conviction in the Senate after the House impeached him for stoking the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, House GOP leaders have made it clear that they view his engagement as essential to their hopes of retaking the chamber, and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was deposed as Republican Conference Chair this year over her repeated rebukes of Trump.

Those numbers suggest that Trump could be in a strong position to win a Republican primary but lose the general election in 3½ years. A former Trump campaign operative made that case while discussing Trumps ambitions.

Don’t Miss: Patriots 247

Key Votes: 115th Congress 2017

For detailed information about each vote, click here.

Voted Yea on:;Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

;Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Proposed providing funding for commodity support, conservation, trade and international food aid, nutrition assistance, farm credit, rural development, research and extension activities, forestry, horticulture, and crop insurance through fiscal year 2023.

Voted Nay on:;Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 )

;Bill Passed on June 21, 2018

Voted Nay on:;Securing Americas Future Act of 2018

;Bill Failed on June 21, 2018

Proposed funding a border wall, limiting legal immigration, a mandatory worker verification program, allowing DACA recipients to apply for legal status, and preventing separation of families at the border.

Voted Yea on:;Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018

;Bill Passed on December 12, 2018

Reauthorizes through FY2023 and modifies some Department of Agriculture programs.

Voted Nay on:;Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act

Voted Nay on:;Kate’s Law

Voted Nay on:;No Sanctuary for Criminals Act

Voted Nay on:;American Health Care Act of 2017

Did not vote on:;Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

The Us Presidential Primary Process Explained

4 Republicans Who Should NOT Run For President

The presidential primaries are one of the most important elements of the American constitutional order. Given that general elections give voters just two starkly opposed choices, it’s largely through the primaries that nuance enters the political process. Parties define themselves by whom they select to run for president, and the ideological alignments that result end up defining the contours of political conflict.

And yet, despite primaries’ central role, nothing about them is laid out in the Constitution.

In fact, the framers didn’t envision American politics taking the form of two-party competition, so they gave no thought to how parties would select their candidates.

This, in turn, is part of what makes the primaries so fascinating. While the Constitution itself is incredibly difficult to change, party nominating rules and state laws are much more flexible.

Consequently, the presidential nomination process is one of the elements of the American political system that’s changed the most and often in ways that aren’t anticipated by the people driving the change.

Which leads to the last thing that makes primaries so fascinating: They are genuinely unpredictable. Conceivably almost anything could happen.

Also Check: Who Leads The Republican Presidential Race

Fragment Of Lincoln Speech To Kentuckians

A fragment of President Lincolnâs First Inaugural Address is attached to this speech intended for Kentuckians, indicating that it was prepared prior to his journey from Springfield to Washington. The assumption is that Lincoln either planned to receive a delegation from Kentucky during his stop in Cincinnati, or to make a quick excursion into his home state to deliver the speech. The speech itself confirms Lincolnâs belief that there was nothing he could say to appease the South without betraying the principles upon which he had been elected.

Abraham Lincoln. Speech intended for Kentuckians, February 1861. Holograph letter. Robert Todd Lincoln Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Digital ID # al0082p1, al0082p2

Bookmark this item: //www.loc.gov/exhibits/lincoln/the-run-for-president.html#obj23

Wheres Kamala Last Person In Room Harris Silent 6 Days Amid Afghan Pullout Chaos

Democrats are increasingly fearful Vice President Kamala Harris missteps will open the door for Republicans to regain the White House, a new report said Friday.

Dems, including senior White House officials, fear that Harris will lose to any Republican she faces including former President Donald Trump if President Biden does not seek reelection in 2024, Axios reported.

At 56, Harris is more than two decades Bidens junior and has been considered the heir apparent to the 46th president since he selected her to be his running mate last year.

While Harris will still be the presumptive nominee if Biden becomes the first president since Lyndon Johnson to not seek a second full term, Axios reports that a series of blunders have left officials and operatives concerned.

Right now, one operative told Axios, the feeling among Democrats isnt Oh, no, our heir apparent is fing up, what are we gonna do? Its more that people think, Oh, shes fing up, maybe she shouldnt be the heir apparent.

Harris has repeatedly been criticized for her handling of the illegal immigration crisis along the US-Mexico border, a problem Biden dumped in her lap in March by tasking her to deal with the root causes of the issue.

According to Axios, several White House officials have also described Harris office as a shtshow, poorly managed, and staffed with people who dont know the vice president well.

Dont Miss: Are There Any Republicans Running Against Trump

Recommended Reading: Top Republicans In Congress

Benjamin Harrison: Campaigns And Elections

The Campaign and Election of 1888:

In the Mugwump revolt of reform Republicans against the candidacy of Senator James G. Blaine of Maine in 1884, Benjamin Harrison carefully walked the middle ground. Refusing to put his hat in the presidential ring, he eventually supported Blaine with energy and enthusiasm. In February 1887, Harrison lost reelection to the United States Senate in the new Democrat-controlled state legislature. One year later, Harrison announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, declaring himself a “living and rejuvenated Republican.” The words “Rejuvenated Republicanism” became the slogan of his presidential campaign.

At the Republican convention in Chicago in the summer of 1888, front-runner James G. Blaine, unable to secure the nomination for himself, threw his support to Harrison in the hope of uniting the party against the Democratic incumbent, Grover Cleveland. In the hotly contested nomination fight that followed, Harrison became everyone’s second choice in a field of seven candidates. When Senator John Sherman of Ohio, the first choice, faltered in the balloting, Harrison’s support surged ahead, winning him the nomination on the eighth ballot. The convention picked banker Levi P. Morton of New York as Harrison’s running mate. The Democrats, at their national convention in St. Louis, rallied behind incumbent Grover Cleveland of New York and his running mate, Allen G. Thurman, the senator from Ohio.

Opinion Polling For The 2020 Republican Party Presidential Primaries

This is a list of nationwide and statewide public opinion polls that have been conducted relating to the Republican primaries for the 2020 United States presidential election. The persons named in the polls are declared candidates or have received media speculation about their possible candidacy. The polls included are among Republicans or Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. If multiple versions of polls are provided, the version among likely voters is prioritized, then registered voters, then adults.

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Consider Candidates Track Record And Party Service In Allocating Debate Slots

For a variety of legal and political reasons, the parties authority over their own debates is constrained.44 Yet debates are very important for introducing voters to the partys candidates. They are an essential aspect of the winnowing process. Selecting invitees is particularly challenging when the candidate field is large, as became evident in the Republican nominating cycle four years ago, when the candidates were so numerous that those who fell below a national poll threshold of 3.5% had to attend an undercard debate instead of the main attraction. One consequence was to favor a reality-television celebrity over veterans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, an expert on foreign affairs who had served South Carolina in the Congress since 1993. That seemed shortsighted and unreasonable at the time, and it seems all the more so in hindsight.

The California Recall And Its Very Real Political Consequences Explained

It’s a tactic that experts said is leading to threats against election workers, but also one they now expect to continue moving forward.

“I’m just kind of hanging on for ’22 and ’24, because I don’t think this is going anywhere anytime soon,” said Neal Kelley, registrar of voters in California’s Orange County and a Republican.

There has never been evidence to support the claim that widespread fraud affected the results of the 2020 election, but a wide majority of Republican voters still believe that they were. A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll, for instance, found that 66% of GOP voters said last year’s election was stolen.

That conspiracy theory is taking a toll on voting officials, who now have to administer the country’s elections while also being subject to death threats and intense pressure.

One recent survey found that a third of election administrators nationwide felt unsafe while doing their jobs during the last election cycle.

You May Like: Projected Republican Nominee

Allegations Of Inciting Violence

Research suggests Trump’s rhetoric caused an increased incidence of hate crimes. During his 2016 campaign, he urged or praised physical attacks against protesters or reporters. Since then, some defendants prosecuted for hate crimes or violent acts cited Trump’s rhetoric in arguing that they were not culpable or should receive a lighter sentence. In May 2020, a nationwide review by ABC News identified at least 54 criminal cases from August 2015 to April 2020 in which Trump was invoked in direct connection with violence or threats of violence by mostly white men against mostly members of minority groups. On January 13, 2021, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection for his actions prior to the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters who acted in his name.

1 note · View note

motionlawimmigration · 3 years

Video

undefined

tumblr

The Biden administration did not uphold Trump’s “Public Charge Rule”

In 2020, the Donald Trump administration officially implemented the latest version of the so-called “Public Charge Rule”, which outlines a series of requirements and limitations for foreigners to complete certain immigration processes such as requesting lawful permanent residence.

Broadly speaking, this policy states that immigrants who could potentially become a burden to the economy, the federal government, and taxpayers, should be inadmissible in the US on “Public Charge” grounds. According to Trump’s latest version, immigration officials had the power to reject certain immigration cases if the applicant had used public benefits such as food stamps or free medical services for more than 12 months in a 36-month period.

When President Joe Biden launched his campaign, he promised to remove restrictive policies such as Trump’s “Public Charge Rule”, which, in his opinion, tremendously affects the most vulnerable immigrant communities. However, when Biden took office, there were already several pending litigation related to this policy and the US Supreme Court had to intervene in several of them in early 2021.

When it was time to uphold the “Public Charge Rule”, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to dismiss hearings related to this rule as it had no plans to implement it in the future.

Do you need help with an immigration case of any kind? Contact Motion Law as soon as possible, schedule a FREE consultation, and follow the advice of our experienced immigration attorneys.

Supreme Court will not re-implement the “Public Charge Rule” for now

When the Supreme Court agreed to dismiss pending hearings, which were scheduled for the Trump administration to defend the “Public Charge Rule”, a group of 14 states filed a petition in late March, seeking approval from the Supreme Court to uphold this policy in pending hearings instead of annulling them.

However, for the benefit of immigrant communities and the Biden administration, the Supreme Court stated on Monday, April 26, that if the states involved in the case want to pursue the defense of the “Public Charge Rule”, they mush initially file their request in the lower court and follow the regular process.

This is definitely good news for Biden’s immigration plans, although, depending on what happens in the lower courts, the legal battle related to Trump’s “Public Charge Rule” could continue even though the current administration does not plan to re-implement it.

Keep up to date with the latest immigration news. Visit our Blog section!

Are you looking for reliable help for your immigration case?

As one might realize, the US immigration policies are rarely static, but rather are constantly changing and are always modified depending on the country’s administration, global needs, and pending legal processes. Therefore, the best recommendation is undoubtedly to follow the advice of experts during your immigration journey, who are up to date with current policies.

If you, a family member, or a friend need help with an immigration case, please contact Motion Law today to schedule a FREE Consultation with one of our expert immigration attorneys. Our team will be happy to guide you through your immigration journey in the US.

Please contact Motion Law Immigration today at: (202) 918-1899.

DISCLAIMER: Motion Law Immigration Social Media & YouTube Channel is made available by the law firm publisher for educational purposes only as well as to provide you with commentary on general information reported from numerous online sources. Whilst we may offer a general understanding or interpretation of the law, we not to provide specific legal advice. By using Motion Law Immigration YouTube channel you understand that there is no attorney-client relationship between you and the YouTube channel site publisher. Motion Law Immigration YouTube channel should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.

0 notes

subscriptlaw · 5 years

Text

California v. DHS - The Public Charge Rule Lawsuit

Argument: March 26, 2019

Final Rule: August 14, 2019

Complaint: August 16, 2019

Plaintiffs: California, et al

Defendants: DHS, et al.

Court below: Northern District of California

Four States and D.C. ask a federal judge to block the government’s “Public Charge Rules”

For a long time federal immigration law has allowed the government to disqualify someone from immigration into the United States if that person is likely to be a “public charge.” In essence, the provision allows the government to deny immigration to people who will cost the government too much money. That rule exists in law.

The current federal agencies haven’t changed that law, but they have changed how it will be enforced. The Department of Homeland Security has just finalized new rules that will be taking on a new interpretation of “public charge.” And they’ll be defending the new rules in court. California leads a group of states and Washington D.C. in a lawsuit challenging the new rules on a number of grounds.

History of the “public charge”

Although the U.S. started as very welcoming to immigrants, the country hasn’t always extended open arms to everyone. For example, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Congress enacted some laws that restricted immigration from certain countries (e.g. the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924). Those laws judged people based on national origin.

The “public charge” rule was a different type of judgment that appeared around the same time. The “public charge” rule judges people based on how much they’ll cost the government. And it was long ago that the government decided it wanted to reserve the right to block immigration of people who can’t take care of themselves. The current government is taking a harsher stance on what that means.

According to the plaintiffs’ complaint, the phrasing “public charge” was originally used in immigration law in 1882. That rule was intended to keep out “any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” Since then, Congress has approved several components of immigration law aimed at excluding people based on poverty, mental or physical disability, or political or moral beliefs.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 includes the “Public Charge Rule” relevant in this case. Congress decided to allow the federal government a means to disqualify someone from immigration if he or she was likely to become primarily dependent on the government to live. The rule mostly picked out people who were likely to receive either an extensive amount of institutionalized care at the cost of the government or a large amount of cash assistance from government benefits programs.

Federal agency responsibility

In enacting the INA, Congress delegated the responsibility to administer the immigration laws to certain federal agencies. Today, the Department of Homeland Security clarifies rules and procedures of the INA, including the Public Charge Rule, and Citizenship and Immigration Services (a component of DHS) makes immigration determinations.

Congress gave DHS the power to clarify what factors will qualify someone as a “Public Charge,” and DHS must stay within the confines of the INA. That’s the first place the plaintiffs argue DHS went wrong. First, here’s what the new rule changes.

The new federal agency Public Charge Rules

On August 14, 2019 the Department of Homeland Security passed a set of rules changing the way the government will evaluate whether someone is a “public charge.” Now, individuals seeking to immigrate can be disqualified as a “public charge” based on a larger number of factors. Under the new rule, the following factors weigh heavily towards disqualifying someone from immigration:

The applicant is not in school and authorized to work but doesn’t have a job and does not have a reasonable prospect of getting one.

The applicant has received or has been approved to receive 12 months of public assistance over a period of 36 months. The types of public assistance factored include not just cash assistance like the earlier rule but also food stamps, Section 8 housing assistance and other federal housing subsidies.

The applicant has been diagnosed with a medical condition that could require extensive medical treatment or institutionalization and the person doesn’t have health insurance or a good prospect to get insurance.

Additional factors that the government will consider and could disqualify someone include:

Assets, income and credit score

English speaking ability

Education

The lawsuit

Four states (California, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Maine) and Washington D.C. sued the federal government, arguing the new Public Charge Rules violate the law. The complaint (filed in federal court in California) challenges the new rules based on a number of federal laws and also the 5th Amendment of the Constitution.

The Immigration and Nationality Act

Plaintiffs argue that when Congress passed the INA, it didn’t intend for the federal government to include such expanded factors to disqualify someone. The plaintiffs recount the history of the Public Charge rule, from where it came and how it has been used in the past, to say that it was supposed to be a rarely used exception for people who really are primarily dependent on the government to live -- like in an institution or by receiving public cash assistance.

The new rules, plaintiffs argue can disqualify large numbers of people merely for being poor, or for having a disability. When Congress passed the INA, plaintiffs say, the rule had a different meaning and the federal government doesn’t have the authority to make such a large expansion.

The Administrative Procedure Act

The APA governs agency behavior generally. It has several pieces of text aimed to prevent federal agencies from behaving badly and the APA allows suits against federal agencies if any of the improper behavior prongs are satisfied. One of them is simply if the agency acts contrary to law. Thus, plaintiffs’ claim that the government is violating the INA falls technically as an APA claim. Furthermore, however, plaintiffs claim the government has acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” and “abused its discretion.” If the government decides to ignore a bunch of facts about the effects of the policies they are proposing, for example, that could be acting “arbitrarily and capriciously.” If the government is creating a polity because it is “out to get” certain types of people (like immigrants) that are politically unpopular, that’s an abuse of discretion. Plaintiffs make these claims too.

The Rehabilitation Act

The Rehabilitation Act can be a strong claim against the federal government in this case. The Rehabilitation Act prohibits government behavior that discriminates against individuals with disabilities. So even if the INA allows the federal government to expand the public charge grounds extensively, the government still can’t discriminate against people with disabilities. Plaintiffs claim the rule does. The rule clearly picks out people who have medical conditions and makes it harder for them to get public benefits, and in order to pass scrutiny under the Rehab Act, the government must have a good reason for it.

The Fifth Amendment

If the federal government passed the new rules because it dislikes immigrants of certain races, the Fifth Amendment won’t like it. The Fifth Amendment requires “equal protection” of the laws based on race, ethnicity and national origin. The government can’t use the laws to effectuate dislike towards certain races, ethnic groups, and people of certain foreign countries. Of course, the government’s justification for the rule is money (to save money), so this ground will be an evidentiary one. And it’s unclear to what extent the court will want to dive into the government’s rationale because it did not in the Travel Ban case.

Another Fifth Amendment ground the plaintiffs ask the court to consider is whether the government is discriminating based on just general dislike of immigrants (so not necessarily predicated on race or ethnicity but just an improper reason). The Fifth Amendment prevents the government from making laws just out of political dislike, so the plaintiffs will try to show, again, that the government’s justification of trying to save money is not the real reason it made the public charge rule.

More immigration reports:

0 notes

safesearchs · 4 years

Text

Top Queries and Solutions on Form I-9 Remote Hiring

Most employers face challenges in managing the Form I-9 and want to ensure their forms are compliant for remote working employees.

Amidst a pandemic, like we are confronting, and the subsequent perspective toward remote work arrangements, the possibility of compliance risk surrounding Form I-9 only just increases. Due to the sudden change of events, more individuals are searching for jobs that offer remote positions out of sheer need. The world is making maximum effort to distance themselves from each other, at this point of situation employers do not have the opportunity to send a recruiting administrator to the remote employee, or send the employee to headquarter office to finish the Form I-9. Even if they did, budget constraints and limitation factors reduce the opportunity to have completed the form face to face.

Companies that hire remotely risk non-compliance if new recruits complete the Form I-9 without legitimate direction. This is obvious today in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.

To help complete the Form I-9 for remote working employees we provide helpful solutions to overcome your problems.

What is the method to complete Form I-9 for an offsite employee?

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no expectations in how Form I-9 was completed by new remote hires. The rule sets out that Section 2 must be completed in the presence of an employer or authorized representative of an employer, and the employee was still required to present original documents.

Because of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on March 20, 2020, providing flexibility in its requirements related to Form I-9 compliance. According to the update, “Employers with an employee taking physical proximity precautions effort to COVID-19 wouldn’t be required to review the employee’s or worker’s identity and employment authorization documents in the employee’s physical presence. Moreover, employers must and sure inspect the Section 2 documents remotely (e.g., over which video link, fax, or email, etc.) and acquire, inspect, and retain copies of the documents, within three business days specific for completing Section 2.

It is important to note that these provisions only apply to employers and workplaces that are operating remotely. If there are employees physically present at a work location, no exceptions are being implemented at this time in-person verification of identity and employment eligibility documentation for the Form I-9, according to DHS. However, if the newly hired employees or existing employees are subject to COVID-19 quarantine or lockdown protocols, DHS will evaluate the situation case by case.

Moreover, employers can designate an authorized representative to act on their behalf to complete Section 2. An authorized representative can be any person the employer designates to complete the section and sign the Form I-9 on their behalf, including personnel officers, foremen, agents, notaries, or other trusted sources. DHS doesn’t require the authorized employer representative to possess specific agreements or other documentation for Form I-9 purposes. You can designate any individual to assist on your behalf. However, the individual must understand how to complete Form I-9 because the employer remains liable for any violations in connection with the form or verification process required.

Can remote workers have a Form I-9 completed before their initial official start date?

Yes. Form I-9 can be completed as early as when an employee has accepted an offer of employment.

What is the reason why notaries are mentioned when discussing remote hires if they do not act as a Notary?

In general, notaries are mentioned in remote hiring scenarios due to of their widespread presence throughout the U.S., their credibility and expertise in witnessing and authenticating the execution of certain documents, their experience taking affidavits and statutory declarations, and their unbiased and impartial role. There are perceived credibility and general trust given to this public office.

The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has stated that the notary does not act in the capacity of a notary when completing Section 2. In other words, he or she is not using notary credentials to complete the form and is not stamping or sealing the Form I-9. All individuals acting on behalf of the employer are authorized representatives. Ultimately, the employer is still liable for any violations or omissions associated with the completion of the Form I-9.

Can an employee’s manager serve as an authorized agent for Section 2 completion?

Yes. The employer can designate anyone to serve as their authorized employer agent to complete Section 2 on the employer’s behalf. However, please note that the employer remains held responsible for meeting Form I-9 requirements, including its accuracy and compliance.

What steps must be taken to rehire a remote employee?

If you re-hire an employee within three years of the date of the initial execution of his or her previous Form I-9 you may complete a new Form I-9 or you may be able to rely on the previously completed Form I-9 in certain circumstances. You may select a licensed representative to act on your behalf when re-verifying the worker remotely. The authorized agent must complete and sign Section 3, following the same criteria for rehires (found on pp. 24-25 of the M-274). The original signed Section 3 must be sent to the central office to review and retention along with the original Form I-9.

If hiring remotely, is it acceptable to keep permanent copies of Form I-9 on file or is originally necessary for audit purposes?

In remote hiring situations, when an agent is working on your behalf and filling the Form I-9, the first signed form must be returned to the headquarters for review and storage.

If an error made in Section 2 by the authorized agent was identified, does the employer have the ability to correct on the original form, or does it have to complete a new Form in person?

Some corrections can be made by the employer, initialed, and dated. However, a missing certification signature and certification date must be done by the person who originally completed Section 2. If there are errors or omissions with the list of documents, the employer may make corrections if copies of the documents were collected when Section 2 was completed. If copies of the document were not collected, a new Form will need to be completed with both the employee and employer (or agent) and original, unexpired documents. A note should be included in the file regarding the reason the employer made changes to an existing Form I-9 because of a missing signature, the employee must provide acceptable Form I-9 documentation for the employer or agent to look at. This section should be attached to the first Form I-9 with a note explaining what occurred. Please ensure to sign and date the note.

Is it a requirement to retain copies of identification for all employees?

Form I-9 regulations allow employers to settle on whether or to not keep copies of documentation that employees submit to complete Form I-9. Therefore, you may choose to begin or end the practice of keeping copies of documentation at any time, as long as you do for all employees, regardless of national origin and citizenship status. Otherwise, you violate anti-discrimination laws.

You should not shred recently retained duplicates of documents. DHS regulations provide that once copies of documents are made, they must be retained with the Form I-9 or with the employee’s records in a secure environment to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

Additionally, if you participate in E-verify, you must retain a photocopy of the document presented by the employee if it was used with the Photo Matching Tool prompt. Copies of documents that are required for retention by E-verify include a U.S. passport or passport card, Permanent Resident Card (Form I-551), and the Employment Authorization Document (Form I-766).

As the employer, it is the best method to document when new policies become effective or current policies change in any way.

If you have any queries related to Form I-9 and new hire form onboarding for remote employees contact us.

www.safesearchs.com or mail us [email protected]

This article is intended for educational purposes only; if you have any legal concerns related to this article please consult your legal counsel.

#safesearchs

0 notes

newstfionline · 4 years

Text

Headlines

Global institutions are flailing in the face of the pandemic (Washington Post) As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the world, institutions founded decades ago to organize and manage coherent responses to global crises seem to be flailing on the sidelines. Individual nations have turned inward, competing for resources and hurling blame at each other for allowing the virus to spread. Some are hoarding vital medical supplies and restricting exports, while others are suffering acute shortages. Countries have set their own guidelines for behavior and determined their own travel restrictions without consulting neighbors or the wider international community. The World Health Organization, charged with anticipating and alleviating international health insecurity, is accused by the United States and others of making the situation worse. President Trump, who has said the WHO favors China, on Tuesday announced a halt to U.S. funding. The U.N. Security Council, the world’s premier international decision-making forum, has been paralyzed by disputes among its leading members. The question is not only whether the world order has stumbled but what direction it will take when the current crisis is over. Will there be a new appreciation of its importance, and a determination to make it work better? Or will pre-virus trends accelerate toward tighter borders, less cooperation and a tilt toward nationalism?

Now joining the fight against coronavirus: The world’s armed rebels, drug cartels and gangs (Washington Post) In Afghanistan, the Taliban has dispatched health teams to far-flung provinces to confront the coronavirus. In Mexico, drug cartels are offering aid packages to those feeling its economic impact. In Brazil and El Salvador, gangs enforce curfews to prevent its spread. As governments around the world have responded to the coronavirus, so too have armed insurgents and terrorist groups and drug cartels and gangs, a parallel underworld of public health policy and strategic messaging. It is hardly the first time such groups have attempted to fill the role of government. But few crises in modern times have tested the limits of the world’s nation-states as the coronavirus has, providing an opening for armed groups to step in where presidents, police forces and parliaments have failed. Analysts who study the organizational structure of armed groups are now cataloguing dozens of instances of rebels and bandits making forays into public health policy.

IMF predicts worst recession since Great Depression (Foreign Policy) The International Monetary Fund Chief Economist Gita Gopinath projected that the global economy would contract by 3 percent, a downturn three times greater than the contraction after the 2008 financial crisis. “It is very likely that this year the global economy will experience its worst recession since the Great Depression,” Gopinath said. She added that although a “partial recovery is projected for 2021” countries should still expect their economies to be 5 percent smaller.

Would you give up health or location data to return to work? (AP) As countries around the world edge toward ending lockdowns and restarting their economies and societies, citizens are being more closely monitored, in nations rich and poor, authoritarian and free. New systems to track who is infected and who isn’t, and where they’ve been, have been created or extended in China, South Korea and Singapore. And a range of other surveillance systems – some utilizing GPS location data, some gathering medical data – have been debated or piloted in Israel, Germany, the U.K., Italy and elsewhere. The challenge: achieving the tricky balance between limiting the spread of disease and allowing people freedom to move outside their homes. Whether the prospect on the table is “immunity passports” or cellphone-based tracking apps, the aim is to protect public health. But experts say it’s also important to avoid a slippery-slope scenario where data collected to minimize the spread of disease is stored indefinitely, available without limits to law enforcement or susceptible to hackers.

Military sees no quick exit from 'new world' of coronavirus (AP) The U.S. military is bracing for a months-long struggle against the coronavirus, looking for novel ways to maintain a defensive crouch that sustains troops’ health without breaking their morale — while still protecting the nation. Officials have frozen most forces in place overseas, stopped troops and their families from moving to new assignments, and cut back access to the Pentagon. The military services have halted or restricted recruit training, canceled major exercises, and isolated troops in the most sensitive units. The new Space Force has delayed a satellite launch, and the Navy this week postponed the return of the USS Harry S. Truman, keeping the aircraft carrier at sea to shield its crew from virus exposure at home. These steps to protect the force have parallels in civilian society, but a far-flung military can’t function by staying at home. “This will be a new way of doing business that we have to focus in on,” says Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We’re adjusting to that new world as we speak today.”

In Pandemic’s Grip, Russia Sees Spike in Age-Old Bane: Drinking (NYT) Across the world, the coronavirus pandemic has sparked fears of increased alcohol abuse, as people locked in and anxious turn to drink. In Russia, two weeks into a nationwide partial lockdown, those fears are becoming reality as evidence mounts that a spike in alcohol sales is fueling a rise in domestic violence. Reducing the country’s passion for inebriants has been one of the government’s main public health goals under President Vladimir V. Putin, and the most recent official statistics showed Russians consuming about one-third less alcohol per year than they did in 2003. But dayslong drinking binges are still a habit for some people, especially during holidays. In late March, when Mr. Putin obliged with a nationwide paid week off to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the habit kicked in. Sales of vodka in Russia shot up 65 percent in the last week of March, compared with a month earlier, according to the market research firm GfK.

China Grapples With Diplomatic Disasters (Foreign Policy) Beijing is trying to put out multiple diplomatic fires this week, as China discriminates against foreign residents amid the coronavirus pandemic and its embassies spread misinformation online. It faces the biggest crisis across Africa, after hundreds of African nationals, mainly from Nigeria, were expelled from their homes in Guangdong and banned from restaurants or shops. The discrimination has caused widespread outrage, including a rare joint complaint by around a dozen African countries. Anti-black racism in China is common, and it has grown more intense in recent years. China’s initial response to the protest was to deny the discrimination, though there have now been some attempts at conciliation. Elsewhere, France summoned the Chinese ambassador in Paris on Tuesday after his embassy made false claims online that French nursing home workers were abandoning their charges. The comments follow a pattern of aggressive efforts by Chinese diplomats to depict the rest of the world as slipping into chaos and even to blame other countries for the coronavirus outbreak. Meanwhile, much of the Chinese medical equipment delivered to Europe during the pandemic has been found to be defective or counterfeited.

Taiwan’s coronavirus success (Foreign Policy) Taiwan detected the threat of the coronavirus as early as Dec. 31, 2019, by watching China closely—followed by prompt action by Taiwanese health officials and immediate checks on travelers from Wuhan, where the virus originated. Taiwan remains one of the pandemic’s outstanding success stories, especially given its high degree of travel from China. On Tuesday, Taiwan reported zero new cases of the coronavirus.

North Korea Fires Missiles as South’s Elections Loom (NYT) North Korea fired several short-range missiles off its east coast on Tuesday, a day before South Korea is scheduled to hold elections for its 300-seat Parliament. The projectiles, launched from the town of Munchon, were believed to be cruise missiles, the South Korean military said in a statement. Under a series of United Nations resolutions, North Korea is banned from testing ballistic — but not cruise — missiles. Thus, its launchings on Tuesday were considered less provocative than its recent tests of ballistic missiles. But South Koreans remain sensitive to any move by the North to raise tensions during an election time for fear it might sway how voters cast their ballots.

Japan Needs to Telework. Its Paper-Pushing Offices Make That Hard. (NYT) Officially, Shuhei Aoyama has been teleworking for a month. But that doesn’t mean he can avoid going to the office. Several times a week, Mr. Aoyama makes a half-hour commute across Tokyo for a task seemingly more suited to the age of the samurai than of the supercomputer: stamping his official corporate seal on business contracts and government paperwork. The stamps, known as hanko or inkan, are used in place of signatures on the stream of documents that fill Japan’s workplaces, including the hotel network that employs Mr. Aoyama. They have become a symbol of a hidebound office culture that makes it difficult or impossible for many Japanese to work from home even as the country’s leaders say working remotely is essential to keeping Japan’s coronavirus epidemic from spiraling out of control. While the world may see Japan as a futuristic land of humanoid robots and intelligent toilets, inside its offices, managers maintain a fierce devotion to paper files, fax machines, business card exchanges and face-to-face meetings.

#headlines #news

3 notes · View notes

usgag · 4 years

Text

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson wants to tap the XFL’s reality-TV potential

The XFL has new owners — and they plan to tackle their investment with Hollywood flair.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and a group of investors have scooped up the floundering football league for just $15 million in a deal that got rubber-stamped by a US bankruptcy judge on Friday.

But instead of rushing to push players back onto the gridiron, Johnson — teaming up with his ex-wife and business manager Dany Garcia and the prolific sports banker Gerry Cardinale — are drawing up plans to remake the XFL into an entertainment powerhouse, sources told The Post.

That means potentially creating reality-TV programming akin to HBO’s “Hard Knocks,” which follows an NFL team in the preseason, introducing viewers to players and coaches. Indeed, the XFL is considering a similar show that would span the whole season, according to sources close to the situation.

Likewise, the group aims to capitalize on Johnson’s star power not only as a box-office draw, but also as a former college football player and a WWE wrestler. One possibility, sources said, is to bring the XFL into storylines on Johnson’s current HBO show “Ballers,” in which he plays a retired NFL star turned business manager.

The plans are in the early stages, and insiders said one thing is clear: The XFL is in no hurry to resurrect the XFL’s second-ever attempt at a season, which got scrapped in March after just five weeks because of a coronavirus outbreak. After filing for Chapter 11 in April, the league is now eyeing a 2021 return at the earliest while it “methodically” lines up a comprehensive strategy to rope in more viewers, according to a source.

“You’re only going to launch this one more time,” cautioned the insider. “There’s no need to rush it with this bold new plan.”

The relaunch — which will be the third after 2001 and this year — also could mean new broadcasting deals. Disney and Fox have made it clear in recent months that they wanted their contracts with the XFL renegotiated, claiming that without its charismatic founder Vince McMahon, the XFL was a weaker product.

Johnson and Cardinale’s RedBird Partners aren’t going to fight to enforce those contracts and are preparing to market a new media package to all potential buyers, including streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime, insiders said.

Cardinale, a Goldman Sachs veteran, was a key player in creating Legends Hospitality, the massive ticketing and concessions firm created as a joint venture between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Yankees. He also played a key role in creating the Yankees’ YES cable network.

Contrary to recent reports, sources said Cardinale’s role in the XFL purchase is not being funded by RedBird’s upcoming $500 million SPAC offering. That listing, set to price on Aug. 12, is instead likely to focus on acquiring a major European soccer club, according to a source.

The post Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson wants to tap the XFL’s reality-TV potential appeared first on The Lastes US & World News - Opinion, Entertainments, Sports,....

from Bussiness – The Lastes US & World News – Opinion, Entertainments, Sports,… https://ift.tt/3fIcjfc via https://usagag.com

#bussiness gag

0 notes

krisiunicornio · 4 years

Link

Unionize Yoga—the first-ever yoga teachers’ union—reaches a negotiation with major studio chain YogaWorks.

This story is part of a series covering the future of yoga during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Here, we take a look at the progress the yoga unionization effort has made. Read more about the the specific challenges facing the industry in our second story: The Future of Yoga: The Change We Need.

For yoga teachers around the world, their worst case career scenario arrived mid-March, when the coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of yoga studios and limited in-person contact for an indefinite period of time. As more than 40 million Americans file for unemployment, many of whom lack health insurance or paid sick leave, there has never been a more pressing time than the present to consider the possibilities associated with a yoga teachers’ union.

It’s not a new thought. In fact, it’s an initiative that started with a small group of YogaWorks teachers in New York back in February 2019. These teachers formed Unionize Yoga, the first-ever yoga teachers’ union to become certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

What began a series of internal discussions among YogaWorks NY teachers about what job security, health insurance, and equity could look like for their profession, reverberated throughout the company. The more conversations that took place, the more teachers realized that many of their individual frustrations were aligned around the same issues.

Then, just prior to Memorial Day, Unionize Yoga negotiations with YogaWorks concluded. An internal email from the Unionize Yoga Bargaining Committee to YogaWorks NY teachers obtained by Yoga Journal disclosed the details of a severance package for members of the YogaWorks Bargaining Unit. That unit, according to the email, includes any YogaWorks NY teacher who had worked two hours or more in the four months prior to the closure of the NY studios—which shuttered in mid-April due to financial challenges.

See also After Years of Financial Struggles, YogaWorks to Permanently Close in New York

The severance package offered paid health care benefits to employees who were enrolled in the company’s health care plan (again, any employee who worked at least 10 hours per week, which excludes many teachers) for three months following the closure date. Employees would also be guaranteed preference in hiring over non-YogaWorks employees at other YogaWorks’ locations should a New York employee relocate to another market.

It is a small step, but one with implications for how yoga teachers can organize moving forward, especially in a new era of online teaching and potential studio closures.

Equity, Diversity, and Job Security

The issues at Unionize Yoga’s bargaining table were not specific to problems at YogaWorks NY—they were industry-wide, the union says. These problems include a lack of equity (a teacher with over 15 years at the same company making, say, $40 a class, while a brand new teacher with very little experience could make twice that depending on who shows up); a lack of diversity (studios that continue to hire and favor white, young, thin, able-bodied teachers instead of prioritizing different body types, ethnicities, cultures, ages, and identities); a lack of sustainability (the majority of teachers have alternative sources of income that supplement their teaching, or may have financial assistance from a partner or their family, and in some cases, even inherited wealth); and a lack of job security (many teachers may work for very low wages without health insurance and lack financial stability). The union has also recognized the many teachers who don’t have other sources of income at their disposal live under the poverty line and receive public assistance such as subsidized housing, food stamps, and more.

A fair wage for yoga teachers, according to the union, is one that would increase over time with experience, and considers other factors such as the rising costs of living. YogaWorks teachers have pointed out that the pay structure is all over the map with different teachers at different pay rates. Unionize Yoga has argued for a set and transparent pay structure so that all teachers are aware of where they stand and know where they’re headed as they progress in their careers.

One of the biggest elephants in the room, however, is the perpetuation of existing privilege, the union says. If the yoga industry is defined by those who get to participate in it, Unionize Yoga indicates that by continuing to exclude marginalized communities, we’re defining what the industry looks like based on pre-existing biases. “It’s hard to see the big picture until you’ve worked in the industry for several years and see these patterns repeat,” wrote David DiMaria, a representative for the Machinists’ Union, in an email.

Of course, this perpetuation of privilege is a byproduct of capitalism and systemic racism in general and is not unique to yoga. But aren’t yogis supposed to be leaders and changemakers?

More teachers of color are featured in magazines, emerging on social media platforms, teaching in studios, and giving their communities a voice. Rising star Lauren Ash of Black Girl in Om has been carving out a safe space in wellness for people of color since 2014, while yoga teacher, body positivity advocate, and Instagram megastar Jessamyn Stanley has been outspoken about how yoga is marketed toward “thin, white, affluent people.” Still, a 2017 National Health Interview survey found that more non-Hispanic white people practice yoga and meditation than non-Hispancic black people; 17.1% compared with 9.3%. While the industry may be starting to move the needle toward more diversity and inclusivity, we still have a ways to go.

See also What It's Like to Be a Black Yoga Teacher

Yoga Alliance, the biggest nationwide professional organization for teachers that exists within the yoga industry, provides guidelines for studios and parameters for teacher qualifications and aims to promote integrity and diversity in the industry. In late February, 2020, Yoga Alliance up-leveled its standards and launched a new ethical commitment code of conduct as an effort to address inequities and lack of diversity in the industry.

But, according to Unionize Yoga, only a teachers’ union and the federally protected rights that come with it could actually protect teachers, since unions have the right to negotiate legally binding contracts with employers. Unionize Yoga says that a universal teachers’ union would prioritize the greater good of the group over the self-serving interests of the individual.

The nature of the studio business model in general is to create a comparison culture among teaching staff, with pay structures often set up to encourage competition. In short, teachers are often rewarded financially based on the number of students in the room.

As a teacher myself, I have observed that the paid-per-head industry standard can force teachers to become salespeople, responsible for recruiting and retaining students in order to raise—or sustain—their salaries. Just as a freelancer or entrepreneur is not paid for the time spent marketing their business, a yoga teacher is not compensated for the “invisible hours” spent promoting their classes, let alone preparing for them. This could help explain why so many teachers find themselves vying for the spotlight. This notion of hustling and jockeying is rarely, if ever, discussed in teacher trainings.

If the yoga industry in the West has indeed perpetuated a culture of homogeneity that spawned separateness and competition among teachers, it’s possible that an industry-wide collective with the standards across the board could serve as a healing salve.

“From the start, our vision was to reimagine the yoga industry and to come together to ensure the sustainability of our profession through fair and equitable pay, transparent and truthful communication, and a clear path for growth, job security, and benefits,” says Tamar Samir, a yoga teacher and co-organizer for Unionize Yoga.

While some are saying that the pandemic has forced a long overdue shift in the yoga industry, without brick-and-mortar studios relying on teacher trainings to survive—many have already begun to shutter their doors permanently. And we’re still faced with the same problem of too many teachers and not enough students. A teachers’ union could promote workers’ rights, seniority, equity, and diversity for a more promising industry and a brighter future.

See also To Pay or Not to Pay for Yoga During the Coronavirus Shutdown

Marketing material for the Unionize Yoga campaign.

The Timeline of Unionization Efforts at YogaWorks

Within a few weeks of the early discussions at YogaWorks NY, what began as off-the-record talks among colleagues led to meetings with management, and eventually, the decision to officially organize and form a union. By the spring of 2019, the group was 80 members strong and dubbed themselves the ‘Teachers’ Initiative.’ They had reached out to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), which specializes in the gig economy, under the recommendation of CorePower Yoga teacher Effie Morgenstern, who, at the time, was attempting to form a union herself (though CorePower employees filed a series of labor lawsuits against the company instead).

By the summer, teachers at all four remaining YogaWorks NY locations at the time began signing union cards in favor of the union, despite that Heather Eary, a regional vice president for YogaWorks, sent an email encouraging employees not to. Once teachers had reached their goal of obtaining 80 percent of employees’ signatures, they filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On September 9, 2019, with support from the IAMAW, the Teachers’ Initiative took their campaign public as Unionize Yoga and sent a formal request to YogaWorks asking the company to recognize their union. That request was initially denied. Then on October 17, and again on November 14, all YogaWorks NY teachers were given the opportunity to vote either for or against the union, to which an overwhelming majority voted in favor. Following that victory, YogaWorks teachers were certified as a union by the NLRB in New York.

Fast-forward to March 2020: A bargaining committee of YogaWorks NY teachers and reps from IAMAW were in the throes of their second round of negotiations with the company.

Unionize Yoga had moved mountains; its efforts echoed across the industry and beyond—even Senator Bernie Sanders has Tweeted about it—and teachers around the country were inspired by their efforts and began to mobilize in pursuit of higher standards themselves. Many teachers have reached out to the union for advice as to how they might start one of their own. What had once seemed inconceivable for the yoga industry had become a reality.

But then COVID-19 changed everything. In mid-March, shelter-in-place restrictions put a pause on bargaining efforts between Unionize Yoga and YogaWorks. In an internal email that was sent by Heather Eary on March 16 and obtained by Yoga Journal, YogaWorks teachers and staff were notified of a temporary two-week closure that would go into effect the following day. The email stated that teachers could use any accrued pay from their sick leave bank, and that any staff member who wished to donate their accrued leave to a “Leave Bank” had the option to do so for those who had run out of leave pay. It was available on a first come, first serve basis until the bank was empty, with a maximum of five hours per employee (a noble effort, sure, but hardly enough to pay the bills).

See also Teaching Yoga in the Age of COVID-19

YogaWorks teachers, unlike most teachers at independent studios, are regular employees of the company, not independent contractors, which is why they’re eligible for perks like sick pay and which is also why they were able to legally form a union within the company. And though YogaWorks employees who work 10 classes per week (or equivalent) are considered full-time and eligible for benefits like health care, according to Unionize Yoga, no teacher at YogaWorks NY had worked that many hours. The number of hours worked, of course, does not include the countless ‘invisible hours’ (class prep, travel, training, etc.), involved in teaching a class

As studios everywhere closed, including all 66 YogaWorks locations across the country, the entire industry changed in the span of a week and shifted to online platforms. With the exception of its studios in New York, the U.S. epicenter of the novel coronavirus, YogaWorks began live streaming its classes, offering more than 1,000 per week. In a statement provided exclusively to Yoga Journal, YogaWorks said that despite considerable obstacles resulting from the impact of COVID-19, including the nationwide shutdown of studios and in hard impact areas like New York, that it would continue to promote “nationwide teacher-first policies that put teachers in the best position to succeed and grow in the long term.”

But the pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the economy, and, according to the teachers who were interviewed for this article, YogaWorks began furloughing some of its management in April. Sick leave banks dried up. YogaWorks’ out-of-work teachers on staff (at least in New York where no live stream classes were offered), were compensated with a $25 fee for each scheduled class they would have otherwise taught.

See also 7 Ways Yogis Can Practice Loving-Kindness in Response to COVID-19

Under normal circumstances, teachers’ regular pay rates at YogaWorks ranged anywhere from $35 to $125 per class—depending on somewhat ambiguous calculations of seniority, celebrity, and of course, how many students came to class. YogaWorks teachers have said that this broad range in pay is anything but logical or systematic. There’s also a bump system that offers a flat rate per additional head after a certain number of students, but it’s unclear whether that system is the same across the board. Despite that YogaWorks’ payscale is in some respects more generous and consistent than the pay-per-head standard at smaller studios, the lack of structure in the pay system and transparency around it becomes problematic, teachers say, creating competition instead of collaboration.

Eary’s email ended by reassuring employees that YogaWorks would come out “stronger than before.” But by mid-April, YogaWorks CEO Brian Cooper delivered the news that all four remaining New York locations would permanently close as of Sunday, April 19, citing years of financial difficulties in a competitive market. Cooper wrote that the New York region had been suffering losses even before the pandemic, despite efforts to improve studio performance. In the past two years, two YogaWorks’ New York locations had closed (Westside and SoHo). Now that the company had lost its lease on the Eastside, the region’s only profitable studio, according to Cooper, there was no viable path to reduce the company’s losses and “get the New York region to break-even.”

As the news rippled throughout the company and devastated New York teachers, Unionize Yoga was faced with a new challenge: How can they reach a contract with a region that has dissolved? As a NLRB certified union, however, their rights to bargain were not affected by the closure, and the union continued to negotiate compensation and other issues that stemmed from the shuttering of the New York studios.

“While our negotiations with this specific company may soon come to an end, teachers’ efforts to reshape their world is only just beginning,” a rep from Unionize Yoga had said.

The negotiations at the end of May provided a glimmer of hope for changing the industry at large. The severance package for YogaWorks NY teachers varies by employee and is based on their years of service, ranging from two to four weeks' pay. A YogaWorks teacher who preferred not to be identified said that the company would cap the severance pay at $2,500. (The company requires any employees who accept the severance package to sign a non-disclosure agreement to prevent them from suing the company or speaking out publicly about the company in a negative manner.)

Has the Unionization Effort Been Successful?

Was the deal a win for the union? The short answer: probably. Without it, YogaWorks NY teachers may not have received anything at all, says a former YogaWorks teacher who asked to remain anonymous. Unionize Yoga had spent more than a year spent organizing and tirelessly campaigning for their cause, thwarted by the sudden turn of events that led to the closures of YogaWorks’ remaining New York locations. As negotiations with the company concluded, the severance package marked marked a historic a victory for the union. Unionize Yoga representatives say they may be the first group of yoga teachers to receive a severance package following a layoff. “We are proud of our collaboration and accomplishments together and are thankful for everyone who has supported and encouraged thus far,” the union wrote in an Instagram post.

As Samir has said, the union’s larger efforts to reshape the yoga world are only just beginning. As news of Unionize Yoga’s formation spread across the U.S. and teachers elsewhere considered the power of mobilizing and forming collectives, the industry-wide camaraderie will continue. Beyond the borders of YogaWorks’ New York studios, the union’s collaboration with IAMAW, which has a reputation for non-traditional organizing in the gig economy, will also continue. New ideas for a post-pandemic world have already begun to take shape, from the possibility of a universal yoga teachers’ cooperative similar to an actors’ guild. “The solidarity, mutual support, and trust formed in this initiative cannot be dissolved,” Samir said. “It will simply shape shift into another form.”

#sleep sounds #sleep music #white noise app #nature sounds #relaxing sounds #rain sounds for sleeping

0 notes

gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years

Text

Medicaid Nearing ‘Eye Of The Storm’ As Newly Unemployed Look For Coverage

As the coronavirus roils the economy and throws millions of Americans out of work, Medicaid is emerging as a default insurance plan for many of the newly unemployed. That could produce unprecedented strains on the vital health insurance program, according to state officials and policy researchers.

Americans are being urged to stay home and practice “social distancing” to prevent the spread of the virus, causing businesses to shutter their doors and lay off workers. The Labor Department reported Thursday that more than 6.6 million people signed up for unemployment insurance during the week that ended March 28. This number shattered the record set the previous week, with 3.3 million sign-ups. Many of these newly unemployed people may turn to Medicaid for their families.

Policymakers have often used Medicaid to help people gain health coverage and health care in response to disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But never has it faced a public health crisis and economic emergency in which people nationwide need its help all in virtually the same month.

“Medicaid is absolutely going to be in the eye of the storm here,” said Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. “It is the backbone of our public health system, our public coverage system, and will see increased enrollment due to the economic conditions.”

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Please confirm your email address below:

Meeting those needs will require hefty investments ― both in money and manpower.

Medicaid — which is run jointly by the states and federal government and covers about 70 million Americans ― is already seeing early application spikes. Because insurance requests typically lag behind those for other benefits, the numbers are expected to grow in the coming months.

“We have been through recessions in the past, such as in 2009, and saw what that meant,” said Matt Salo, who heads the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “We are going to see that on steroids.”

The majority of states have expanded their Medicaid programs since 2014 to cover more low-income adults under a provision in the Affordable Care Act. That may help provide a cushion in those areas. In the 14 states that have chosen not to expand, many of the newly unemployed adults will not be eligible for coverage.

It’s possible the pandemic could change the decision-making calculus for non-expansion states, Salo said. “The pandemic is like a punch in the mouth.”

But even without expansion in those states, the Medicaid rolls could increase with more children coming into the system as their families’ finances deteriorate. Many states don’t have the resources or systems in place to meet the demand.

“It is going to hit faster and harder than we’ve ever experienced before,” Salo said.

The unique circumstances of social distancing impose new challenges for those whose jobs are to enroll people for coverage. In California, where more than a million people have filed for unemployment insurance since March 13, much of the workforce that would typically be signing people up and processing their paperwork is now working from home, which adds a layer of complexity in terms of accessing files and documents, and can inhibit communication.

“It’s going to be certainly more difficult than it was under the [2008] recession,” said Cathy Senderling-McDonald, deputy executive director for the County Welfare Directors Association of California. She said that although strides have been made in the past decade to set up better online forms and call centers, it will still be a heavy lift to get people enrolled without seeing them in person.

In some states, the challenges to the system are already noticeable.

Utah, for instance, has seen a 46% increase in applications for Medicaid. (These applications can be for individuals or families.) In March 2019, about 14,000 people applied. This March, it was more than 20,400.

“Our services are needed now more than ever,” said Muris Prses, assistant director of eligibility services for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, which processes Medicaid enrollment. The state typically takes 15 days to determine whether someone is eligible, he said, though that will increase by several days because of the surge in applicants and some staff working at home.

In Nevada, where the hotel- and casino-dominated economy has been hit particularly hard, applications for public benefits programs, including food stamps and Medicaid, skyrocketed from 200 a day in February to 2,000 in mid-March, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The volume of calls to a consumer hotline for Medicaid and health coverage questions is four times the regular amount.

In Ohio, the number of Medicaid applications has already exceeded what’s typical for this time of year. The state expects that figure to continue to climb.

States that haven’t yet seen the surge warned that it’s almost certainly coming. And as layoffs continue, some are already experiencing the strains on the system, including processing times that could leave people uninsured for months, while Medicaid applications process.

For 28-year-old Kristen Wolfe, of Salt Lake City, who lost her job and her employer-sponsored health insurance March 20, it’s a terrifying time.

Wolfe, who has lupus — an autoimmune disorder that requires regular doctor appointments and prescription medication ― quickly applied for Medicaid. But after she filled in her details, including a zero-dollar income, she learned the decision on her eligibility could take as long as 90 days. She called the Utah Medicaid agency and, after being on hold for more than an hour, was told they did not know when she would hear back.

“With my health, it’s scary to leave things in limbo,” said Wolfe, who used her almost-expired insurance last week to order 90-day medication refills, just in case. “I am pretty confident I will qualify, but there is always the ‘What if I don’t?’”

Others have reported smoother sailing, though.

Jen Wittlin, 33 — who, until recently, managed the now-closed bar in Providence, Rhode Island’s Dean Hotel ― qualified for Medicaid coverage starting April 1. She was able to sign up online after waiting about half an hour on the phone to get help answering specific questions. Once she receives a check for unemployment insurance, the state will reassess her income — currently zero ― to see if she still qualifies.

“It was all immediate,” she said.

In fact, she said, she is now working to help newly uninsured former colleagues also enroll in the program, using the advice the state gave her.

In California, officials are trying to reassign some employees — who are now working remotely ― to help with the surge. But the system to determine Medicaid eligibility is complicated and requires time-intensive training, Senderling-McDonald said. She’s trying to rehire people who’ve retired and relying on overtime from staffers.

“It’s hard to expand this particular workforce very, very quickly by a lot,” she said. “We can’t just stick a new person in front of a computer and tell them to go. They’re going to screw everything up.”

The move away from in-office sign-ups is also a disadvantage for older people and those who speak English as a second language, two groups who frequently felt more comfortable enrolling in person, she added.

Meanwhile, increasing enrollment and the realities of the coronavirus will likely create a need for costly medical care across the population.

“What about when we start having many people who may be in the hospital, in ICUs or on ventilators?” said Maureen Corcoran, the director of Ohio’s Medicaid program. “We don’t have any specific answers yet.”

These factors will hit just as states ― which will experience shrinking tax revenue because of the plunging economy — have less money to pay their share of the Medicaid tab.

“It’s all compounded,” said Lisa Watson, a deputy secretary at Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, which oversees Medicaid.

The federal government pays, on average, about 61% of the costs for traditional Medicaid and about 90% of the costs for people who joined the program through the ACA expansion. The rest comes from state coffers. And, unlike the federal government, states are constitutionally required to balance their budgets. The financial squeeze could force cuts in other areas, like education, child welfare or law enforcement.

On March 18, Congress agreed to bump up what Washington pays by 6.2 percentage points as part of the second major stimulus bill aimed at the economic consequences of the pandemic. That will barely make a dent, Salo argued.

“The small bump is good, and we are glad it’s there, but in no way is that going to be sufficient,” he said.

Medicaid Nearing ‘Eye Of The Storm’ As Newly Unemployed Look For Coverage published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

0 notes

stephenmccull · 4 years

Text

Medicaid Nearing ‘Eye Of The Storm’ As Newly Unemployed Look For Coverage

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Please confirm your email address below:

Meeting those needs will require hefty investments ― both in money and manpower.

It’s possible the pandemic could change the decision-making calculus for non-expansion states, Salo said. “The pandemic is like a punch in the mouth.”

“It is going to hit faster and harder than we’ve ever experienced before,” Salo said.

In some states, the challenges to the system are already noticeable.

In Ohio, the number of Medicaid applications has already exceeded what’s typical for this time of year. The state expects that figure to continue to climb.

For 28-year-old Kristen Wolfe, of Salt Lake City, who lost her job and her employer-sponsored health insurance March 20, it’s a terrifying time.

Others have reported smoother sailing, though.

“It was all immediate,” she said.

In fact, she said, she is now working to help newly uninsured former colleagues also enroll in the program, using the advice the state gave her.

Meanwhile, increasing enrollment and the realities of the coronavirus will likely create a need for costly medical care across the population.

These factors will hit just as states ― which will experience shrinking tax revenue because of the plunging economy — have less money to pay their share of the Medicaid tab.

“It’s all compounded,” said Lisa Watson, a deputy secretary at Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, which oversees Medicaid.

“The small bump is good, and we are glad it’s there, but in no way is that going to be sufficient,” he said.

Medicaid Nearing ‘Eye Of The Storm’ As Newly Unemployed Look For Coverage published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

0 notes

dinafbrownil · 4 years

Text

Medicaid Nearing ‘Eye Of The Storm’ As Newly Unemployed Look For Coverage

Email Sign-Up

Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing.

Please confirm your email address below:

Meeting those needs will require hefty investments ― both in money and manpower.

It’s possible the pandemic could change the decision-making calculus for non-expansion states, Salo said. “The pandemic is like a punch in the mouth.”

“It is going to hit faster and harder than we’ve ever experienced before,” Salo said.

In some states, the challenges to the system are already noticeable.

In Ohio, the number of Medicaid applications has already exceeded what’s typical for this time of year. The state expects that figure to continue to climb.

For 28-year-old Kristen Wolfe, of Salt Lake City, who lost her job and her employer-sponsored health insurance March 20, it’s a terrifying time.

Others have reported smoother sailing, though.

“It was all immediate,” she said.

In fact, she said, she is now working to help newly uninsured former colleagues also enroll in the program, using the advice the state gave her.

Meanwhile, increasing enrollment and the realities of the coronavirus will likely create a need for costly medical care across the population.

These factors will hit just as states ― which will experience shrinking tax revenue because of the plunging economy — have less money to pay their share of the Medicaid tab.

“It’s all compounded,” said Lisa Watson, a deputy secretary at Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services, which oversees Medicaid.

“The small bump is good, and we are glad it’s there, but in no way is that going to be sufficient,” he said.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/medicaid-nearing-eye-of-the-storm-as-newly-unemployed-look-for-coverage/

0 notes