Enlight21

Author: Editorial Board | Category: Politics National | Pacifica | Date: 03-10-2021

True to his word, Biden has hit the ground running.  Having pinpointed his priorities before taking office—winning the war against Covid19, reviving the economy, reversing Trump’s most damaging environmental and immigration policies, tackling climate change and income/racial inequity—Biden has already signed executive orders (also referred to as executive actions) in most of these areas.  As for the $1.9 trillion Covid Relief Bill, it has just been passed with the support of the vast majority of Americans but NO support from Republican House members and senators.

Only about 2 and a half months after his inauguration, Biden has already signed over 50 executive actions, including 20 that will reverse Trump’s executive orders. Many target the Covid19 pandemic, the environment, immigration, and socio-economic and racial inequality.  The orders that reverse Trump’s executive actions have focused mostly on environmental and immigration issues. 

Some major executive orders signed by Biden are the following:  

Environment: 1) elevates climate change as an essential element of foreign policy and national security  2) Rejoins Paris Accords  3) Cancels Keystone XL Pipeline and directs agencies to review and reverse over 100 of Trump’s actions on the environment.

Pandemic:  1)  Requires mask wearing on all federal property, including airports and on many trains, maritime vessels, intercity buses, etc. 2. International travelers must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test before coming to the US. 

Racial/Gender/Sexual Orientation Equity:     1.  Withdraws Trump’s 1776 Commission, which would have forced schools to teach “patriotic” education from a partisan conservative point of view (for example, leaving out information about racial inequality).  This new executive order directs all federal agencies to review their policies and practices to ensure racial equity.  2.  Prohibits workplace discrimination based on gender identification and sexual orientation.

Economy:   1.  Revokes a series of Trump’s administrative actions that lifted regulations on agencies, banks, fossil fuel industries, etc.  2. Rolls back Trump actions that withheld funds from cities that allowed protests supporting Black Lives Matter and imposed strict work requirements on recipients of federal welfare.  3.  Reinstates tariffs on some products such as aluminum, citing national security and the need to revive industries.  4.  Ends federal contracts with private prisons.

Immigration:  1.  Expands refugee admissions program  2.  Ends Trump’s family separation policy  3.  Directs agencies to ensure that the human rights of LBGTQ refugees are not violated and LBGTQ refugees and asylum seekers receive equal access. 4. Appoints a commission to study the root causes of migration and to come up with recommendations.

The Covid Relief Bill:

The Covid Relief Bill has just passed the House and Senate (March 6) by a vote of 50 yes (all Democrats) to 49 no (all Republicans).  All the Republican House members and Senators voted against this relief bill despite the fact that over 70% of Americans—including 60% of Republican voters—support the bill.  

Why?

Republican senators were determined to vote against this Covid19 Relief bill, so that they could accuse the Democrats of being unwilling to be bipartisan, or to cooperate with them.  

As for the other reasons Republican senators raised for opposing the bill—such as their opposition to continuing the $300 federal payments to unemployed workers—the American public should remember that  in the 2017 Tax bill that Trump signed (with the support of the Republican-dominated House and Senate), the top 1 % received 83% of the benefits., which included a huge tax cut for corporate America.  

It is clear that the Republicans are a party of the super rich: they did not hesitate to pass a tax bill in 2017 that gave virtually all of the benefits to the top 1%, a bill that will increase federal deficits by almost 2 trillion, (over 10 years).  

But now that some money in the Covid Relief bill will be going to unemployed Americans, Republicans have done their best to oppose its passage.  

The difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is this: The Republicans are always eager to deceive the American people by broadcasting how they are the party for the middle and working class (so they can get their vote), but their actions contradict their words all the time.

The Democrats have historically advocated for middle and working-class Americans in both word and deed, but they have also supported corporate America--to ensure that American capitalism is functioning well, because after all, much of our economy depends on capitalist enterprises   

But there is a significant difference:  As mentioned, like the Republicans, most Democrats are also capitalists, but Dems believe in regulating capitalism to a much greater extent.  For example, in recent decades, Democrats have passed significantly more environmental protection laws than Republicans have.  

Capitalism, unless regulated, can have disastrous consequences because capitalists often see profits as the primary goal even if pursuing maximum profits means destroying the environment, driving small business competitors out of business, etc.

Furthermore, Democrats have also ACTED to protect the interest of middle/working Americans as well as the rights of people of color and LBGTQ people to a far greater extent than Republicans ever have (at least starting from the 1930s on).   

This Covid Relief bill is a clear example of how the Democrats are much stronger advocates  of ordinary Americans. Just compare the money that is going to alleviate the economic suffering of ordinary Americans in this bill to the Republican/ Trump bill in 2017, which primarily benefited wealthy households and large corporations.

So, Americans need to base their judgements of both parties on their ACTIONS, not their WORDS.  

Republicans have attempted to deceive, or lie, and have used non-economic wedge issues (e.g. anti-gay, anti-reproductive rights, pro-white supremacy)—to a much greater extent than Democrats-- because the people they really favor (rich Americans and corporations ) are not nearly as numerous as middle and working class Americans, so when it comes to winning elections, REPUBLICANS are compelled to LIE.

Trump’s BIG LIE about how the election was “stolen” from him is an outstanding example of Republican lies intended to promote false narratives, especially among the undereducated and among recent immigrants who know very little about American history and how American democracy really works.

The Covid Relief Bill

This $1.9 trillion Covid Relief Bill, pushed through by Democrats, will give $1400 to individuals with annual incomes of no more than $75,000 and married couples earning no more than $150,000 combined; it will also fund vaccine production and distribution, expand child tax credits to lower-income families, and extend federal unemployment benefits through August.

It also has a restaurant rescue fund, funds for reopening schools and funding for state and local governments, which Democrats have always wanted and Republicans have consistently opposed when Trump was president.

However, the version of the bill that was just passed by the Senate does NOT have the $15 minimum wage clause that was passed by the House.  This minimum wage provision was opposed by all the Republican senators plus a few conservative Democrats.  Also, the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that the Senate bill cannot include a provision that increases the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, even though the majority of Americans support this.

So, the Democrats will have to think of another way to increase the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour—perhaps another bill 

Lies Debunked by FBI Director Chris Wray

The big lies spread by Trump and his allies—that the election was “stolen” by the Democrats and that the violent rioters who stormed the Capitol building on January 6th were really anti-Trump people who disguised themselves as Trump supporters—were completely debunked by Chris Wray,  the FBI director.

When asked whether any of the 280 people who were charged with committing serious crimes during the insurrection were anti-Trump people pretending to be Trump supporters, Director Wray said emphatically “NO.”  

Elaborating further, Wray said most  of the “domestic terrorists” were “militant extremists” who believed in the superiority of white people.

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Special Message To Trump Supporters:

For readers who know very little about how the American FBI  works, and perhaps believed Trump when he spread lies regarding voter fraud and ab0ut people pretending to be his supporters but were really working on behalf of his enemies, you need to understand that American FBI agents are not idiots.  

First of all, the arrested violent domestic terrorists who took part in the January 6th insurrection were all pinpointed through videos and through people who knew them and turned them in.  

Unlike most Trump supporters, the FBI does not accept the fake stories disseminated by right-wing media. And FBI agents do not watch Fox News to get their “facts”. FBI agents interview not only the suspects, but also their family/relatives, their acquaintances, their friends, and their work colleagues; they also research the multi-year history of each suspect’s activities.  

So, when the FBI determines that someone is a white supremacist right-wing domestic terrorist—which most of the Jan. 6th rioters were--this profile is based on extensive research and knowledge of the suspect’s activities.

As for lies about voter fraud, readers who believed Trump’s lies about a stolen election should know the following:  Although there have been instances of election fraud,  especially in previous eras, America’s election system is generally one of the cleanest and fairest systems in the developed world, especially the 2020 elections.  

Why?  

For one, America’s election structure has always been very DECENTRALIZED.  Elections are controlled by county and local officials who manage voting administrative units called “precincts.”  There are close to 200,000 precincts in the U.S. and  usually there is one polling place in each precinct.  The many local officials and staff that manage the precincts on voting day are often part-time employees who interface with voters, verify identities, collect and scan ballots, and submit all materials to county election officials when the polling place closes.  And all, except for 13 states, have paper ballots that can verify each vote that is scanned.

The county government collects all the vote tallies and ballots from each precinct after the polls close.  The precincts will post preliminary results, which are later verified and adjusted by county elections officials, if needed.  After that, state election officials will further audit the results before the votes are certified as valid, a process that usually takes up to 30 days.

The federal government does not control the election system.  State governments do not control the election system. County governments and the precincts underneath them manage, administer, count, audit, and report vote tallies. America’s election system is extremely localized

There is NO central database in the country that, with the flip of a switch or by writing a few lines of code, you can hack into in order to change the results .

As mentioned, there is a PAPER TRAIL in most states, so if someone tries to hack the posted digital results, an audit will reveal such discrepancies.  And local county and precinct officials will notice the discrepancy right away as well.  

Furthermore,  local precinct workers and county level officials—the grassroots people who administer America’s elections—are so numerous and so disconnected from each other, that unless there is a massive systematic effort to corrupt/bribe or intimidate the hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans who work as full, part time, and temporary election workers, it is virtually impossible to corrupt election results on a scale that would make a difference.

That is why even Trump-appointed officials like William Barr, the attorney general, and Chris Wray, the FBI director have both stated clearly that there was NO voter fraud significant enough to affect the results of the November 2020 elections.  

That is also why the Trump campaign people were NEVER ABLE TO PRESENT PROOF OF VOTER FRAUD beyond submitting “evidence” along the lines of complaints from some Republican poll watchers about not being able to get a clear view of the ballot counting.

This lack of valid evidence is why the numerous judges—including ones appointed by Trump-- that presided over the lawsuits alleging voter fraud filed by the Trump campaign ALL RULED AGAINST Trump and his allies.

Finally, America's fragmented, decentralized, multi-layered local election system--one that is very hard to hack and to bribe/corrupt on a large scale--is the reason why Republicns are now intent upon changing election laws to make it much harder for minorities to vote. 

In America, passing voter suppression laws in states where Republicans control state legislatures is much easiser and less risky than engaging in ballot fraud.
 

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Pandemic News: About 18% Vaccinated but Variants are Emerging

The most recent news on the pandemic front is both encouraging and discouraging:

First, the encouraging news-- the Biden administration has been able to enable a lot more Americans to be vaccinated—from 2 to 3 million a day-- than the Trump administration, which was not that concerned about controlling the pandemic.  

Right now, approximately 18% of Americans have been vaccinated at least once, and President Biden has just announced that by the end of May, there will be enough vaccines for all adult Americans.

Currently, there are 3 American-made vaccines available—the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines and the one-shot adenovirus Johnson and Johnson vaccine.  The efficacy of all three for preventing severe Covid19 infections and death is quite high, ranging from 95% for the Pfizer vaccine, 94;1% for Moderna, and 85% for JnJ.

New variants of the virus, however, have appeared.  The 3 that have received the most attention are the UK variant (B 1117), the South African variant (1.351)  and the Brazil variant (P.1).  All three are more transmissible than the original variant and British scientists suspect that the B1117 variant could be deadlier.

American scientists have done some research on the efficacy of the existing vaccines when targeting the three variants, and the results so far show that while the vaccines are still quite effective against the UK variant, they are much less effective against the South African variant.  Few studies have been done on the Brazil variant, but its mutations are similar to those found in the South African variant, so scientists have surmised that the vaccines would be less effective against this variant as well. 

It is now clear that Covid19 will be around for much longer than originally assumed and that regular booster shots re-configured to target new variants will be needed. 

But if more and more people are quickly vaccinated, Covid19 will have fewer and fewer people to infect, which would deprive the virus of opportunities to mutate continuously.  Viruses can only mutate when they infect the living.

So, it is a race against the virus.

School Openings:

Although Biden has promised that K to 8 schools will reopen by the end of April, it is unclear as to whether  he can keep this promise.  That is because not only are there no commonly-accepted guidelines for reopening schools, but in America, the federal government has no power over what public schools do;  local governments and school boards are the ones that dictate what public schools can and cannot do.

But despite this amorphous state of affairs, most astute  analysts predict that schools will most likely reopen by this fall.  

American students cannot continue to fall further and further behind academically, and there will be such an outcry on the part of the American public that President Biden and the Democrats know that unless schools are successfully reopened, they will suffer a crushing defeat in the mid-term elections, a scenario they will do everything to avert. 

So, President Biden just announced that vaccines would be made available to educators, stating that he would try his best to enable them to get the first shot by the end of March.

As for whether students will also be vaccinated before they return to school, it is hard to say, because the safety and efficacy clinical trials completed so far have not included young people under the age of 16.  Right now, vaccine companies are planning trials involving children, so we will know soon 

Other roadblocks to vaccinating young people are parental resistance for those under 18, and resistance among the 18 to 29 group.  In fact, in a recent study, young people in this age bracket were the most resistant to getting vaccinated.

So, developments on the school openings front are very much in flux and it is unclear as to when or to what extent schools will be reopening.  However, there is some consensus among pundits who have been observing developments closely that the following would most likely happen:  

1.  K to 8 schools will be the first to reopen, probably as early as sometime in late April, after educators are vaccinated and after the Covid Relief Bill’s funds are made available to schools for implementing safety measures such as better ventilation systems.  

2. High Schools and colleges will most likely reopen by the fall, because by then there will be enough herd immunity in the U.S. so that the infection rates/deaths will be significantly lower than they are now. And, most students may well be vaccinated by then.

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We hope to keep you posted on important current events in the future.

Don’t hesitate to ask questions or to share your thoughts in the Comments section below.

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https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/politics/biden-executive-orders/

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/18/16791174/republican-tax-bill-congress-conference-tax-policy-center

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/cuim-soc030821.php

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-schools

reopen/2021/03/07/962560c6-7c40-11eb-b3d1-9e5aa3d5220c_story.html

https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/12/03/intent-to-get-a-covid-1vaccine-rises-to-60-as-confidence-in-research-and-

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