By Hazel Trice Edney (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law has filed suit against Georgia Secretary of State and Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp over the state’s “discriminatory and unlawful ‘exact match’ voter suppression scheme.” The suit alleges that Georgia’s “‘no match, no vote’ voter registration scheme violates the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution,” according to a statement from the organization. The alleged scheme appears to intentionally deter Black voters who intend to vote for Kemp’s opponent, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacie Abrams, who would become the nation’s first Black woman governor. Meanwhile, Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond has written a scathing letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions strongly objecting to what appears to be his “abdication of his complete abdication of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) voting rights oversight responsibilities” in the Georgia controversy. And NAACP President Derrick Johnson has announced that the historic civil rights organization is also monitoring the situation in Georgia, which he describes as “a stain on our system of democracy when less than a month before an election which could produce the first African-American female governor in our nation’s history, we are seeing this type of voter suppression scheme attempted by a state official whose candidacy for the governorship produces an irremediable conflict of interest.” The war for votes in the Nov. 6 election is on. And civil rights leaders across the country are fighting vigorously for each one. Despite the contention for political control of the U. S. House of Representatives, the historic gubernatorial election in Georgia is the ground zero of sorts as it tests fair elections after the 2013 Shelby v. Holder U. S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed the Section 5 “Pre-clearance Clause”, which once mandated Georgia and a list of other states to seek permission from the Justice Department before changing voting laws. “Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has been a driving force behind multiple voter suppression efforts throughout the years in Georgia,” says Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee. “If there is one person in Georgia who knows that the ‘Exact Match’ scheme has a discriminatory impact on minority voters, it’s Brian Kemp because we successfully sued him over a mirror policy in 2016.” In a nutshell, Kemp’s “exact match” policy has placed more than 53,000 voter registration applications on “pending” status a month before the midterm election. They are on hold because of simple typos or for not exactly matching the registrants’ official identification for any reason. Though Kemp contends the 53,000 can still vote, lawyers contend that just the implication that the vote may not count or that they may be question at the polls could cause Black voters to become skittish and stay at home. There exists a stark parallel between the voter suppression schemes levied by states around the country prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the insidious tactics used by Secretary Kemp to capitalize on the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County to gut the Act and its protections for African Americans and other people of color that came with it. No less than 70 percent of people impacted by ‘Exact Match’ are African-American. We will continue fighting voter suppression to ensure a level playing field for voters across Georgia this election cycle.” In his letter to Attorney General Sessions, CBC Chairman Richmond says Georgia is just a tip of the iceberg for voter suppression antics going on around the country. “The current state of election integrity across the nation is in a tenuous position thanks to your intentionally lax approach to enforcement of voting rights laws. Bad actors in governments in various states have been deliberately compromising fair elections with impunity,” Richmond wrote. The NAACP’s Johnson says the organization will continue to monitor Georgia closely after a major win against voter suppression in the state just two months ago. In August the NAACP Georgia State Conference successfully fought against the closing of 7 of 9 polls in the nearly all Black area of Randolph County. The Associated Press has reported that Kemp has “cancelled over 1.4 million voter registrations since 2012. Nearly 670,000 registrations were cancelled in 2017 alone.”
Category: Newswire
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Newswire: The impact of climate change on communities of color
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
The planet will reach the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius – or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit – above pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030, precipitating the risk of extreme drought, wildfires, floods and food shortages for hundreds of millions of people, according the new climate change report issued by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. To avoid such catastrophic events, governments the world over must make rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society, according to the report. The authors say the 2030 date is based on current levels of greenhouse gas emissions and that the planet is already two-thirds of the way there, with global temperatures having warmed about 1 degree Celsius. “We have a climate gap in this country. The main reason being that millions of low-income people, many of them minorities, tend to live in the geographical areas that are most impacted by climate change,” Etienne Deffarges, a policy expert and former global managing partner at Accenture and senior partner at Booz Allen Hamilton, told NNPA Newswire. “It’s no accident that the two most devastating hurricanes in the United States over the last 15 years, Maria and Katrina, took place in areas essentially populated by minorities,” Deffarges said, while also noting that more than 2,900 people in Puerto Rico died during Hurricane Maria and at least 1,800 perished because of Hurricane Katrina. The vulnerability of low-income populations to climate change isn’t a United States-specific problem. Some of the world’s poorest populations suffer even more acutely from extreme weather, Deffarges said. However, low-income and minority populations also suffer from polluted water, like in Flint, Michigan and those who live near chemical plants or refineries are forced to deal with foul air that causes lung and other problems, he said. Deffarges said Holland, for example, has spent billions on basic infrastructure, the primary solution for low-income and minority areas. Better roads and public transportation can help put people out of harm’s way and housing infrastructure has a longer-term impact while it’s also necessary to ensure diversity in neighborhoods populated by lower income families, he said. “If we spend the trillion dollars or more needed to rebuild our infrastructure, we will also achieve the additional feat of decreasing inequality in our country, improve living and working conditions for minorities, and reduce this climate gap,” Deffarges said. Climate change and pollution go hand in hand, and they hit communities of color first and worst, said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for The Greenlining Institute, a public policy, research, and advocacy non-profit organization based in Oakland, California. “Because of the long, sorry history of redlining, low-income communities of color are most likely to be located alongside smoke-belching factories or refineries and busy highways, and also have the fewest resources to cope with heat waves, droughts, floods and other climate-related disasters,” Mirken said. “On the bright side, fighting climate change requires building a new, clean energy economy, one that offers tremendous opportunities for communities of color. “At the Greenlining Institute, we’ve successfully pushed California to ensure that as we fight climate change, underserved communities get the resources they need to benefit from our clean energy future. All states and the federal government should do likewise,” he said. One mitigating factor could be a shift away from the “global standard diet” and a move to restoring agrobiodiversity with the idea that, globally, we now rely heavily on wheat, rice, corn, soybeans, and palm oil, said Jennifer Kaplan of the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone Campus, in California. “We need to restore biodiversity in order to build in resilience to our food system so that we can find solutions when a crop succumbs to disease, pests, weeds, or climate change,” Kaplan said. “The larger the number of different species/varieties of food we have, the greater the probability that at least some of them can cope with changing conditions. And, of course, GMO foods, that are designed to drought resistant, heat tolerant, etc. will also be able to ease this burden.”
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Newsier : . Nobel Peace Prize shared by two who help rape survivors in the midst of war
Dr. Denis Mukwege
Oct. 8, 2018 (GIN) – “For 15 years I have witnessed mass atrocities committed against women’s bodies and I cannot remain with my arms folded because our common humanity calls on us to care for each other.” Those were the words of Dr. Denis Mukwege, a physician working in one of the most dangerous regions of the world. Now, Dr. Mukwege, founder of Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nadia Murad, an Iraqi survivor of sexual violence, are this year’s co-winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Known as the rape surgeon, Dr. Mukwege has helped care for more than 50,000 survivors of sexual violence even as he himself is at risk and attacks against women are on the upswing. “I’m sorry to say that three years ago the situation was better but now many armed groups are growing again and the number of women who are raped is increasing again,” Dr. Mukwege told the BBC. The 63-year-old Congolese gynecologist set up the Panzi hospital nearly 20 years ago, shortly after his first experience treating a woman who had been raped and mutilated by armed men. His crusading work has seen him honored on many occasions, receiving the Olof Palme Prize in 2009, the Sakharov Prize five years later, and the Seoul Peace Prize in 2016. He has been nominated for the Nobel award on numerous previous occasions. He has also been recognized by the United Nations, which he addressed in 2012, criticizing the Congolese government and neighboring countries for pursuing “an unjust war that has used violence against women and rape as a strategy of war.” Panzi hospital now cares for more than 3,500 women a year. Sometimes Dr. Mukwege performs as many as 10 operations a day. It has grown to be a major health facility in eastern DR Congo with over 300 doctors, nurses and support staff. U.S. playwright Eve Ensler wrote: “He has not only saved lives, he has also travelled the world to bring attention to these women’s fate, everywhere from the UN to the European parliament to Washington DC. He – together with women survivors – has woken the world to the use of rape as a tactic of war and armed conflict in DRC and elsewhere.” “City of Joy,” a documentary which spotlights the survivors and Dr. Mukwege’s work, is available on Netflix.
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Newswire : Center for Responsible Lending calls for firing of fair lending official who used N-Word
By Charlene Crowell ( TriceEdneyWire.com) – Recent and stunning disclosures of racially-offensive writings by a high-ranking official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has unleashed an escalating barrage of criticisms, including calls for the official to be fired and more probing questions regarding the agency’s commitment to fair lending. Since a September 28 Washington Post article first reported how Eric Blankenstein, CFPB’s Policy Director for Supervision, Enforcement and Fair Lending, used a pen name in blogs dating as far back as 2004, a spate of fury has been unleashed. Disguising his authorship, Blankenstein claimed that the use of the N-word was not racist, and further alleged that most hate crimes were hoaxes. A subsequent New York Times article alleged that people who perpetuated the Obama birther conspiracy are not racist either, and noted that as late as 2016, Blankenstein’s personal Twitter account posted racially charged comments. Keep in mind that Blankenstein was hand-picked by CFPB head Mick Mulvaney. Patrice A. Ficklin, a CFPB career staff member and Director of its Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity reports to Blankenstein and is quoted in the Post article. Ficklin said, “And while he has been collegial, thoughtful and meticulous, I have had experiences that have raised concerns that are now quite alarming in light of the content of his blog posts — experiences that call into question Eric’s ability and intent to carry out his and his Acting Director’s repeated yet unsubstantiated commitment to a continued strong fair lending program under governing legal precedent.” By October 1, Anthony Reardon, National President of the National Treasury Employees Union, advised CFPB of its dissatisfaction with the Blankenstein blogs. “There should be zero tolerance for comments that Blankenstein has admitted authoring and nothing less than swift and decisive action is called for,” said Reardon. “That someone with a history of racially derogatory and offensive comments has a leadership position at CFPB reflects poorly on CFPB management and your commitment to fulfilling the mandate of the agency to ensure that discriminatory and predatory lending practices are stopped.” Two days later, on October 3, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) publicly called for Blankenstein to be fired. “Mr. Blankenstein must be removed from his post and this must be combined with a demonstrable commitment by CFPB head Mick Mulvaney to fair lending,” said Yana Miles, CRL’s Senior Legislative Counsel. “Thus far, the Mulvaney approach has been worse than inaction – it has been an appalling retreat from enforcing anti-discrimination laws…. The enduring legacy and present-day experience of financial discrimination is the key driver of the racial wealth gap. Vigorously addressing this is a legal and moral imperative.” A second civil rights organization agreed with CRL’s call for Blankenstein’s termination. “Eric Blankenstein’s racist and sexist remarks show that he is not fit to lead the CFPB Office of Fair Lending,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “Our nation’s history of financial discrimination is the key factor in the growing racial wealth gap.” “Entrusting Blankenstein given his history of racially derogatory remarks will undermine progress for fair lending efforts to close the gap,” continued Gupta. “If the CFPB is serious about eradicating discrimination, it must immediately remove Blankenstein, and must ensure that it is led by a person with a demonstrated commitment to civil rights enforcement. His writings make clear that Mr. Blankenstein is not that person.” The same day, another pivotal development occurred. A letter signed by 13 U.S. Senators representing 11 states wrote Mulvaney, demanding answers to a series of questions no later than October 22. The questions span Mulvaney’s personal awareness of the writings, the guidelines and procedures used to fill the position, whether a Member of Congress, or an executive branch employee recommended his hiring, what action he intends to take as Acting Director and more. In part, the Senators’ letter states, “We are deeply concerned that you have placed a person with a history of racist writing at a senior position within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…Mr. Blankenstein was not hired through the competitive service process like most CFPB employers; he is one of your hand-selected political appointees. Further, you have specifically tasked him with overseeing the CFPB’s fair lending supervision and enforcement work at a time when you have decided to restructure the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity.” The letter was signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington State), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Edward Markey (D-MA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jack Reed (D-RI) Mark Warner (D-VA), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). Even before the Blankenstein scandal, Mulvaney’s actions and inactions at the CFPB have brought a series of concerns by civil rights and consumer advocates alike. Particularly noteworthy among their stated concerns under Mulvaney include: CFPB has yet to issue any violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act; The Bureau declared an intent to ignore the Disparate Impact standard, a long-standing legal test that holds the effects of discrimination, not the intent are legal violations; Personally praised the repeal of anti-discrimination auto lending guidance; Sided with payday lenders in their challenge of the Bureau’s payday rule promulgated under the previous director; Announced the Bureau’s fair lending office would be stripped of its supervisory and enforcement powers; and Relegated the development of regulation on fair lending for minority and women-owned businesses to a low-level concern. It took decades of vigilant struggle for civil rights, fair lending, and consumer protection to be codified in federal laws. It is time to remind the CFPB and all federal agencies that they have a duty to uphold the nation’s fair lending laws – regardless of personal beliefs. Charlene Crowell is the Center for Responsible Lending’s Communications Deputy Director. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.
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Newswire : Investigation into accusations by Rep. Ellison’s ex-girlfriend finds charges “unsubstantiated”
By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Contributor I
Rep. Keith Ellison
Ellison An investigation regarding alleged abuse claims by the ex-girlfriend of Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, who is now running to be Minnesota’s Attorney General, have been found to be “unsubstantiated.” Attorney Susan Ellingstad conducted the investigation into the claims. Ellingstad is a partner at the same Minnesota law firm as Charlie Nauen, the lead lawyer for Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor party. “Addressing this allegation has been especially challenging given the important national moment we are in. I believe women who come forward must be heard, and to have their allegations fully investigated,” Rep. Ellison said in a statement. Shortly after the accusations by his ex-girlfriend were made public, Ellison said in a statement that, “Karen and I were in a long-term relationship which ended in 2016, and I still care deeply for her well-being.” A draft report investigating the claims of Karen Monahan, who dated Ellison for three years, was obtained by The Associated Press. Monahan’s claims first surfaced on August 11 via her son, Austin Aslim Monahan, on Facebook shortly before Ellison appeared on the ballot in the Minnesota primary on August 14. Ellison won the primary by a sizable margin. Ellison’s case has become a political football as right-wing media has been quick to amplify the story. In 2007, Ellison became the first member of the Muslim faith ever elected to the U.S. Congress. In 2017 he became Deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee after losing a close race for Chair to former Obama DOJ official Tom Perez. Austin Monahan, followed by his mother Karen, asserted that video footage of the alleged incident in which he claimed his mother was dragged her off a bed by her feet by Ellison existed. To date, no video of such an incident has been made public. For various reasons since August 12, Karen Monahan has refused to provide the video to reporters after repeated requests. Ellison stated in August soon after the accusations were first made that no video would be found because no such incident ever took place. During an interview on a local TV show, Karen Monahan talks to host Ahmed Tharwat about the #MeToo movement but no physical abuse at the hands of anyone. The video has an upload date of December 2017 and Monahan currently has the video pinned to the top of her twitter account.
Polls conducted for the Attorney General’s race show that Ellison is holding a slim lead.
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Newswire : White Chicago cop convicted of shooting to death, Laquan McDonald, a Black teenager, shooting was captured on police dash cam video
By Frederick H. Lowe, BlackmansStreet.Today
Laquan McDonald
Last week, a jury today found Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke guilty of second-degree murder and 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. The shooting was captured on police dashcam video and showed that police and city officials initially engaged in a coverup. Van Dyke sat motionless as the jury fore person repeated “guilty” 16 times for aggravated battery, and once for second-degree murder. The jury found him not guilty of official misconduct and first-degree murder. Before the jury issued its verdict, Leighton Criminal Court Building employees and employees of businesses in downtown Chicago were told to go home early should trouble erupt if the jury found Van Dyke not guilty. CLTV in Chicago televised the entire trial. Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times as he lay on the ground, posing no threat to him. McDonald was carrying a pocket knife, but the other police officers on the scene did not pull out their guns because they did not consider the teenager a threat. The deadly shooting occurred on October 20, 2014. Van Dyke whispered to his lawyer, Dan Herbert, after the jury completed reading the verdict and left the courtroom. Herbert patted his client on the shoulder. Van Dyke then stood up with his hands behind his back as though he had been handcuffed. He hadn’t been. He walked out of the courtroom flanked and followed by Cook County Sheriff’s Deputies. Outside the courthouse, a small crowd chanted “Justice for Laquan.” Some members of the crowd carried placards that read, “Black Panther Party” and “Stop Killings by Racist Cops.” Motorists driving by the criminal court’s building honked their car horns to show their support for the verdict. Otherwise, both the crowd and courtroom relatively quiet. Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., who attended at least one of the court sessions, said “a measure of justice has been rendered.” Others said they hoped the jury would have found Van Dyke, 40, guilty of first-degree murder. Cook County, Illinois, prosecutors charged Van Dyke with murder, aggravated battery and official misconduct. Van Dyke is the first on-duty police officer in 40 years to be charged with murder and convicted. Initially, Van Dyke claimed McDonald threatened him and other police officers with a pocket knife, but the case took a dramatic turn when a freelance journalist and a community activist learned of the video that showed the entire shooting. An unnamed whistle-blower told the two about the video. The police dash-cam video showed that McDonald walking away from Van Dyke when he shot him. The repercussions from the deadly shooting claimed the career of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who unexpectedly announced last month that he would not seek a third four-year term. Mayor Emanuel lost support among Chicago’s black voters when his office withheld the dash-cam video, leading to allegations of a coverup. Before the video’s release, police ruled the shooting was justified. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wrote a letter, telling the police department it could not withhold the video, On November 19, 2015, Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama ordered the video to be released to the public no later than November 25, 2015. The city did not appeal the judge’s decision. On November 24, 2015, after a press conference, the video was released that showed Van Dyke fatally shooting McDonald as he walked away. The video sparked a series of major demonstrations throughout the city, including along posh North Michigan Avenue, with protestors chanting “16 shots and a coverup.” The video’s release also claimed the career of Cook County States’ Attorney Anita Alvarez who supported withholding the video. Alvarez lost her bid for re-election in March 2016 to Kim Foxx, who became the first black woman elected Cook County State’s Attorney. Alavrez won only 26 percent of the vote. Mayor Emanuel fired Chicago Police Superintendent Gerry McCarthy, who stripped Van Dyke of his police powers, but was prevented from firing him because of the city’s contract with the police union. Van Dyke is no longer a police officer. McCarthy is now a candidate for Chicago mayor. The trial lasted three weeks. The 12-person jury deliberated five hours Thursday and three hours today before reaching a verdict. Van Dyke could be sentenced to life in prison. This is the second recent conviction of a white cop for murdering a black teenager. In August, Roy Oliver, a former officer employed by the Balch Springs Police Department, near Dallas, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a jury convicted him of murder in the 2017 shooting death of Jordan Edwards, an unarmed passenger in a car.
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Newswire : Blacks still lagging in voter registration as activists make urgent appeal October 22 is Alabama registration deadline
By Hazel Trice Edney
Voting sign and booth
(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Three African-Americans are running for governor; Democrats are in a dogged race to win majority of the U. S. House and Senate in the Nov. 6 mid-term elections; and crucial legislation affecting African-Americans – including the Voting Rights Act, police reforms, gun control, mass incarceration and anti-poverty measures – are at stake. Yet, an estimated nearly 8 million African-Americans across the U. S., this year, were not registered to vote, according to a report distributed by Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee. That’s 14 percent of the total 51 million Americans who are not registered to vote. This is the reason that major civil rights and voter education organizations are engaged in a full court press – a state of emergency – for voter registration before the deadlines from state to state. In Alabama, the voter registration deadline is Monday, October 22, 2018, fifteen days before the November 6 election. “Our lives are on the ballot this year so it is absolutely crucial that African-Americans as a whole participate in these midterm elections at rates that reflect our true voting power,” said NAACP President/CEO Derrick Johnson. “We’re urging everyone to use their power to register and mobilize new voters and get involved in one of the most important elections in our nation’s history.” That was Johnson’s statement on National Voter Registration Day Sept. 25. But there’s still plenty of time for most prospective voters across the U. S. to register and vote on Nov. 6. State deadlines vary. But most deadlines are at least 22 days before the election – in person, by mail and on line. Some are as few as seven days. The following are phone numbers and websites that prospective voters and voter registrars should know: Perhaps the most comprehensive website for state by state voter information is Vote.org. This website not only tells people how to register to vote in their states; but it allows users to click on their states to see voter registration deadlines, the locations of their voting precincts, and other crucial information. Election Protection Hotline: (866) 687-8683 or (866) OUR-VOTE. This number is staffed with lawyers and other voting experts to field any questions people might have about voting, problems voting, or problems registering to vote before, during and after election day. General information on voting, such as how to become a poll worker, can be found at the U. S. Election Assistance Commission – EAC.gov. Nationalvoterregistrationday.org also has a state-by-state guide to voter registration. Voting activists have hoped that Black voters will automatically mobilize to act because of racial insults, divisive rhetoric and conservative, anti-progressive appointments by President Donald Trump. Those appointments include Attorney General Jeff Sessions who has been busy overturning police reforms and the embattled Supreme Court candidate Brett Kavanaugh, who at least 100 civil rights groups have vehemently opposed because of critical civil and human rights at stake as well as affirmative action and anti-discrimination policies. “The most important player in this year’s election is the individual,” said Jamal Watkins, NAACP vice president of Civic Engagement. “Our recent poll showed a majority of voters of color and nearly all Black women felt disrespected by President Trump. People of color also believed this president has set back race relations and these numbers will play a role in both how and why they’ll vote in the midterm elections.”
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Newswire : ‘Morally Wrong’: former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon condemns US for not having Universal Health Care
By Amanda Michelle Gomez, ThinkProgress
Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon
Failing to provide health care to 29.3 million people is “unethical” and “politically wrong, morally wrong,” said former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in an interview with the Guardian. The U.S. is the only wealthy country without universal coverage — and Ban faults “powerful” interest groups within the pharmaceutical, hospitals, and doctors sector. “Here, the political interest groups are so, so powerful,” Ban said. “Even president, Congress, senators and representatives of the House, they cannot do much so they are easily influenced by these special interest groups.” Ban is hardly alone in his disillusionment with the U.S. health care system and is definitely not the first foreign leader to call the United States out. When President Donald Trump attacked Britain’s health system to slam Democrats running on universal health care, U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt blasted him back on Twitter, saying no one in his country “wants to live in a system where 28m people have no coverage.” It’s a well-known fact that the U.S. is an outlier in the developed world, as we spend more on health care but have worse health outcomes than other countries. Indeed, health spending is projected to rise 5.5 percent, on average, annually from 2017 to 2026 according to the federal health department. And while health spending is expected to make up nearly 20 percent of the U.S. economy in 2026, the uninsured population is also expected to rise. “It seems with Trump just undoing Obamacare, people were not happy first of all,” said Ban about the Trump administration’s reforms that, so far, have undermined the Affordable Care Act (ACA). “Ironically, it might have motivated people to think other ways, and influence their senators, and their Congressman to think the other way.” Ban’s observations hold. A recent poll finds a majority of the public favors single-payer, meaning they’d want to replace the current private-public insurance patchwork system with a single government plan. Support for single payer or Medicare for All became especially pronounced after Republicans tried to repeal and replace the ACA, jeopardizing quality insurance particularly for those with pre-existing conditions. Since Medicare for All garnered critical support from likely 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, health care industry groups launched a lobbying group against single-payer plans. The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future is comprised of major players including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the American Medical Association, and the Federation of American Hospitals. Ban hopes California and New York will ultimately pass single-payer bills currently stalled in each state’s legislature, sparking a national wake-up call. “It will be either California or New York who will introduce this system,” he told the Guardian. “Then I think there will be many more states who will try to follow suit. I think that’s an encouraging phenomenon we see.” Ban made his comments as a member of The Elders, a peace and human rights organization launched by Nelson Mandela to promote ideas like universal health care. His interview with the Guardian isn’t the first time he’s criticized Trump for undermining coverage and urging states like California to embrace single payer. He recently spoke at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where he also said, “the good news is that at a state level things appear to be changing for the better.”
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Newswire : Cosby’s sentence highlights the nation’s aging prison population
By Frederick H. Lowe
Bill Cosby’s mug shot
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the NorthStarNewsToday.com (TriceEdneyWire.com) – Bill Cosby’s sentence of 3 to 10 years after being convicted on three counts of sexual assault spotlights the growing number of elderly housed in the nation’s state and federal prisons. Cosby, who is 81 and legally blind, was escorted by police on Monday from the Norristown, Pennsylvania, courthouse to begin serving his prison sentence at SCI Phoenix, a new state prison near Philadelphia, where the staff will assess his physical and medical needs. “The day has come,” Judge Steven O’Neill told Cosby before sentencing him. “Your time has come.” Cosby was convicted of the 2004 drugging and sexual assault of Andrea Constand, a former Temple University women’s basketball coach, Cosby’s sentence spotlights the nation’s aging prison population. In 2013, there were 131, 500 prisoners aged 55 or older. The nation’s total state-prison population is approximately 1.57 million. Over the last 25 years, state corrections’ spending grew by 674% and the costs are mainly spent on incarcerating the elderly. Those costs are much higher than for younger inmates, according to several studies. “It costs $34, 135 per year to house an average prisoner but it costs $68, 270 per year to house a prisoner 50 and older. Elderly prisoners face several challenges including hearing loss, dementia, cardiac disease, high blood pressure, and mobility issues. Prisons also must be retrofit spaces to accommodate the elderly, including installing ramps, shower handles and hiring nurses to care for the elderly. “Prisons were never designed to be geriatric facilities,” reports Human Rights Watch. “Yet US corrections officials now operate old age homes behind bars.”
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Newswire: Applebee’s waitress in Kentucky told ‘we don’t tip black people’ by customers
By Yahoo News Service
Jasmine Brewer was left a racist note instead of a tip.
(Photo: Regina E. Boone via Facebook)
A woman has taken to social media to express her outrage after her daughter, a waitress, was left a racist note instead of a tip. Regina E. Boone of Kentucky posted a picture of the message, written on the back of a napkin, after her daughter, Jasmine Brewer, waited on a table of four at Applebee’s. The note said, “We don’t tip black people.” “THIS IS WHY THEY KNEEL!,” Boone wrote on Facebook, referring to the NFL protests against racism and police brutality. “You think racism does not exist, IT DOES! This was left for MY BABY tonight at Applebee’s in Radcliff, KY” she continued. “I don’t accept or tolerate disrespect! I’m furious but I know there’s a God in heaven who sits high and looks low! Racial and social justice! I kneel at the cross and stand for the pledge but racism is real! Take a look in the mirror. Are you strong enough to stand against it? I AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE!” The post has been shared hundreds of times and has received many messages of support. “This makes my heart sick,” one person wrote. “I pray your daughter isn’t poisoned by this hatred,” another said. “I’m so sad that in this ‘progressive’ world these things still happen,” read another comment. Boone told local news outlet WAVE that the outpouring of support had given her hope. “What it says is that there’s good in this world,” she said. “Not everyone sees color as the first thing they see when they meet someone.”