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A bill on studying reparations is getting a House vote 30 years in the making

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The House Judiciary Committee is preparing for a vote on reparations that has been 32 years in the making.
Wednesday, the committee will mark up and vote on <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/40/text">HR 40</a> — a bill sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) that would create a 13-person federal commission to study American slavery, its effects, and what the government might do to mitigate those effects. After completing its study, the commission would be required to issue recommendations on possible “forms of rehabilitation or restitution” — essentially, reparations — to Congress.
Reparations, generally interpreted as financial compensation to descendants of enslaved people, have historically received little support. According to a July 2020 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-support-black-lives-matter-but-resist-shifts-of-police-funds-or-removal-of-statues-of-confederate-generals-or-presidents-who-were-enslavers/2020/07/21/02d22468-cab0-11ea-91f1-28aca4d833a0_story.html">Washington Post/ABC News</a> poll, reparations aren’t overwhelmingly supported by Democrats: 53 percent of Democrats approve of them. And there’s almost no support for reparations — just 6 percent — in the GOP.
Generally, critics (including many GOP lawmakers) have argued reparations are prohibitively expensive, with <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/06/15/black-reparations-and-the-racial-wealth-gap/">Duke University economist William Darity Jr. and Artefactual founder Kirsten Mullen</a> estimating they would cost the federal government between $10 trillion and $12 trillion. Other opponents claim they would force Americans with no history of benefiting from enslavement to pay for the moral crimes of others.
Supporters argue the federal government would be capable of making such a large payment, and say this latter view ignores the benefits created by generational wealth and the negative effects of present-day systemic racism that has its roots in slavery. Specifically, advocates for HR 40 are promoting the idea of reparations as an important tool, not only to finally atone for the moral ills of slavery, but also to close current gaps between white and Black Americans <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/17/21284527/systemic-racism-black-americans-9-charts-explained">in things like wealth and homeownership</a>.
For instance, the average white family is more than 10 times wealthier than an average Black family, and white non-college graduates have more wealth than Black college graduates, according an April 2020 report from the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/bigideas/why-we-need-reparations-for-black-americans/">Brookings Institution</a> on the need for reparations. As the <a href="https://www.epi.org/blog/black-white-wage-gaps-are-worse-today-than-in-2000/">Economic Policy Institute</a> has explained, there is a similar gap between the wages of Black and white workers — making it extremely difficult for labor alone to close that wealth gap.
Some policy experts and lawmakers see reparations as an effective way around this problem — and have for some time. The earliest version of HR 40 was first introduced in the House by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) in 1989, before the youngest current member of the House was even born. The Korean War veteran and civil rights icon brought his proposal back up for consideration every year until he retired in 2017.
Now, Lee is leading the charge to push it through Congress. It is expected to face Republican opposition in committee, and — given that not all members of the slim Democratic House majority support the idea of reparations — it’s uncertain whether the bill will make it to a vote. Should a successful floor vote happen, Senate Democrats seem unlikely to find the 10 Republican votes they would need to pass it in the Senate, given the fact that GOP leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been open about their opposition to reparations in the past.
Still, that HR 40 will receive a committee vote for the first time in its history is a reflection of how attitudes toward reparations, and racial justice more broadly, are changing.
In 1999, just 19 percent of Americans in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-support-black-lives-matter-but-resist-shifts-of-police-funds-or-removal-of-statues-of-confederate-generals-or-presidents-who-were-enslavers/2020/07/21/02d22468-cab0-11ea-91f1-28aca4d833a0_story.html">an ABC News poll</a> approved of compensation for Black Americans. The July 2020 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-support-black-lives-matter-but-resist-shifts-of-police-funds-or-removal-of-statues-of-confederate-generals-or-presidents-who-were-enslavers/2020/07/21/02d22468-cab0-11ea-91f1-28aca4d833a0_story.html">Washington Post/ABC News poll</a> showed that 31 percent of respondents now support reparations. As worldwide civil rights protests erupted following the killing of George Floyd, <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/6/20/18692949/congress-reparations-slavery-discrimination-hr-40-coates-glover">renewed interest was paid to the issue</a> — and it became a topic of debate during the 2020 presidential race, with President Joe Biden’s campaign platform including the creation of a commission to study reparations.
That interest has been sustained. And now, after more than three decades spent languishing in the House, HR 40 will get a committee vote.
If passed, HR 40 would establish a “<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/40/text">Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans</a>,” composed of 13 members, with three to be chosen by the president, three by the speaker of the House, one by the president pro tempore of the Senate, and another six by “major” civil rights groups “that have historically championed the cause of reparatory justice.”
The commission would be charged with determining institutional culpability against former enslaved Africans and their American descendants across the public and private sector. It would also be required to interrogate how practices such as redlining, educational funding discrepancies, and predatory financial practices — alongside enslavement — have exacerbated racial opportunity and wealth gaps.
At the conclusion of their work, the commission would then report “appropriate remedies” to Congress, based on its findings on institutional enslavement and racism.
Lee, the bill’s sponsor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/us/house-reparations-bill.html">told the New York Times</a> she sees it as a step forward in addressing America’s problematic and racist past.
“We think it will be cleansing for this nation, and we think that it will be a step moving America forward to see us debate this question on the floor of the House,” Lee said.
Ideological notions against reparations are still the norm. As HR 40 came up for a committee hearing in 2019, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said he opposed reparations because “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/18/politics/mitch-mcconnell-opposes-reparations-slavery">none of us currently living are responsible</a>” for slavery. He further said landmark civil rights legislation in the 1960s and the election of President Barack Obama were examples of the US dealing with its “original sin of slavery.”
That’s where most Americans seem to be on the issue. Sixty-three percent of Americans oppose reparations, including a whopping 93 percent of Republicans, <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1v1clZFRQX3VBvmMLwv26Pzgv7wb19phCHTABTQ-HRtU/edit#gid=0">the Post/ABC poll</a> found. It’s not popular.
But <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/6/20/18692949/congress-reparations-slavery-discrimination-hr-40-coates-glover">many supporters of reparations, and lawmakers like Lee</a>, have argued that reparations are less about correcting a past wrong, and more about negating the past’s effect on the present. They tie the exclusion of Black people from the GI Bill, and the racist ways the construction of the highway system broke up Black communities, with present-day issues, including the use of cash bail and policing being overwhelmingly concentrated in majority-minority areas. The argument is that by compensating the Black population for a long history of exclusionary government policy, they can gain better housing, educational, and financial footholds to have full access to opportunity.
It’s important to note that HR 40 would not institute reparations — and that even if a commission were to recommend them, the federal government might not act on that recommendation. But its backers see it as a first step in the right direction.
“The centuries-long injustices of slavery and its legacy, fueling the persistence of racial inequality today, remain largely unaccounted for,” said Human Rights Watch advocate Dreisen Heath <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/09/us-congress-advances-slavery-reparations-bill#">in a press release</a>. “As states, cities, and other institutions pursue reckonings, Congress should step up to lead the nation in accounting and atoning for the ongoing impact of slavery. The committee vote on H.R. 40 is a crucial step in that direction.”
Some reparations advocates — including Duke University’s William Darity Jr. — have called for HR 40 to be further refined so that it might constitute a larger step toward reparations. Darity told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/reparations-commission-biden-jackson-lee/2021/04/13/f146e92c-9bec-11eb-8a83-3bc1fa69c2e8_story.html">Washington Post</a> the bill should specify exactly who would be eligible for any possible reparations, and should include the creation of a plan to narrow the racial wealth gap.
“Unless the markup process results in major revision of the bill, it will not propel our nation toward true reparations,” Darity told the Post.
At the moment, Biden has not outlined any further vision for reparations beyond what was in his platform; however, Lee said HR 40 has an ally in the president. After leaders from the Congressional Black Caucus met with Biden Tuesday, Lee told reporters that Biden indicated support for HR 40 and its study on reparations.
“We have heard from not only the president but the White House, and his team, that he is committed to this concept,” Lee said. “We are grateful for that because we are now doing something historically tomorrow that’s never been done.”
Overall, it’s clear that there remains — and will remain — a lot of debate as to whether reparations are a good idea, both in regard to their moral virtue and implementation. HR 40 aims to change that, by arming lawmakers with actionable data and research on the direct causes of historical racial opportunity gaps and the impacts they have on society today.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22384080/hr-40-black-reparations-vote-house-judiciary-committee">https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22384080/hr-40-black-reparations-vote-house-judiciary-committee</a>

vox A bill on studying reparations is getting a House vote 30 years in the making

The House Judiciary Committee is preparing for a vote on reparations that has been 32 years in the making. Wednesday, the committee will mark up and vote on HR 40 — a bill sponsored by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) that would create a 13-person fed…

Like it or not, you should probably start paying attention to bitcoin

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Coinbase, a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, became the first major cryptocurrency company to go public in the United States on Wednesday. It’s a clear sign that crypto is firmly in the mainstream of the finance industry — and it’s not going away anytime soon.
Coinbase stock — which is trading under the ticker COIN — ended its first day at $328 per share, putting the newly public company at a more than $85 billion valuation on Wednesday evening. Throughout the day, Coinbase’s price stayed far above the <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coinbase-reference-price-set-at-250-as-it-prepares-to-go-public-wednesday-11618353455">$250 reference price</a> that the Nasdaq set before trading began, and at one point swung <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coinbase-stock-ipo-price-c3b802074ce4349b5bccf9ba43022800">as high as</a> $429. Ahead of the listing, the value of several cryptocurrencies <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/tech/dogecoin-crypocurrency-intl-hnk/index.html">also surged</a>, with bitcoin hitting <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/bitcoin-btc-and-ether-eth-prices-rally-ahead-of-coinbase-listing.html">an all-time high</a>.
In other words, if you’ve been pressing snooze on the bitcoin and blockchain conversation for the past decade, now’s probably a good time to wake up. The company’s direct listing on the Nasdaq is a “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/business/coinbase-ipo-stock.html">coming-out party”</a> for cryptocurrencies, according to Erin Griffith of the New York Times. The tech policy site Protocol similarly <a href="https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/sourcecode/coinbase-direct-listing?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1">declared</a> Wednesday as the “biggest day yet for the crypto world.” As Paul Vigna, a Wall Street Journal cryptocurrency reporter, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/video/what-coinbases-public-debut-means-for-bitcoin-and-crypto/0AB5F94E-DBBD-49D4-B666-CFB193030584.html">recently said</a>, “Not only does it make crypto and bitcoin a little more acceptable, it now gives investors another way to invest in bitcoin.”
Even if the average investor doesn’t want to buy or sell cryptocurrencies on their own, Coinbase’s direct listing means average investors can invest in the cryptocurrency economy by investing in one of its biggest players.
If you’re still catching up on the trend, cryptocurrencies are <a href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/virtual-currencies">virtual currencies</a> built using blockchain technology, a type of decentralized database that can record interactions, like purchases, across a network of devices. Instead of trusting one system to record all these interactions, a record is kept on every single node of the network.
Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency, created in 2009 by an anonymous developer under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, and is still the most prominent example of a payment method that’s facilitated along the blockchain. Here’s how Vox’s Timothy Lee <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/11/3/18053490/what-is-bitcoin">explained</a> bitcoin back in 2015:
<blockquote>
Like MasterCard or PayPal, it allows money to be transmitted electronically. But Bitcoin is different from these conventional payment networks in two important ways. First, the Bitcoin network is <a href="http://www.vox.com/cards/bitcoin/who-is-in-charge-of-bitcoin">fully decentralized.</a> The MasterCard network is owned and operated by MasterCard Inc. But there is no Bitcoin Inc. Instead, thousands of computers around the world process Bitcoin transactions in a peer-to-peer fashion. Second, MasterCard and PayPal payments are based on conventional currencies such as the US dollar. In contrast, the Bitcoin network has its own unit of value, which is called the bitcoin.
</blockquote>
Since then, lots of cryptocurrencies have popped up, and they’ve become <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/">their own economic sector</a>, potentially worth trillions of dollars. Cryptocurrencies have historically been very volatile, but in recent years, more <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/fidelity-square-coinbase-launch-bitcoin-trade-group-11617710402">traditional financial institutions</a>, including <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-crypto-currency-consensys/blockchain-firm-consensys-raises-65-million-from-j-p-morgan-others-idUSKBN2C01M8">banks</a>, investors, and regulators, have increasingly taken notice.
Here’s where Coinbase comes in. While people can <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coinbase-ipo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-watershed-moment-in-crypto-11618350086">buy cryptocurrencies directly</a> — one individual buyer selling it to another — Coinbase aims to make the process easier by becoming a platform for people to buy, trade, and sell several of these various currencies, including bitcoin. Following its founding in 2012, the company has become the largest of these cryptocurrency platforms by volume in the US, and the second-largest in the world, according to <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coinbase-ipo-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-watershed-moment-in-crypto-11618350086#:~:text=Coinbase%20is%20the%20second%20largest,%2C%20according%20to%20CoinMarketCap.com.">Marketwatch</a>. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1679788/000162828021003168/coinbaseglobalincs-1.htm">reported</a> that it had about 43 million retail users and that it had raised $3.4 billion in revenue up until the end of 2020, with most of those funds coming from transaction fees.
“What Netscape did for the internet in 1995 is what Coinbase will do for crypto and blockchain in 2021,” Roger Lee, a general partner at the investment firm Battery Ventures, which has invested in Coinbase, <a href="https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/protocol-fintech/coinbase-earnings-preview?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1">told Protocol</a> last week. “The internet was very opaque and a very abstract concept to most people in the mid-’90s. Netscape created a lens through which to interact with it.”
Starting on Wednesday, regular investors now have the opportunity to get their own stake in this marketplace. While the company has gone public, it’s doing so as a direct listing, not a public offering (<a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/6/20/18693327/slack-direct-listing-silicon-valley-wall-street-ipo">you can read more on what that means here</a>). Regardless, it’s a big step for cryptocurrencies as they become a more recognized part of the economy.
Coinbase’s public listing is just the latest milestone on cryptocurrency’s journey from nerdy curiosity to mainstream investing opportunity and payment method. Since 2018, Square, the payment processing service, has let most of its payment app Cash App users <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/31/jack-dorseys-square-launches-bitcoin-trading-for-all-cash-app-users-except-those-in-four-states.html">buy and sell bitcoin</a>. And lately, more and more of them have been doing so. Square CFO Amrita Ahuja <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/24/square-saw-1-million-users-buy-bitcoin-for-first-time-in-january-cfo.html">said</a> in February that 3 million people did transactions in bitcoin on the app last year, while 1 million did so in January 2021 alone.
Similarly, PayPal began to allow users to buy cryptocurrencies through their accounts last year. The platform <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22357246/paypal-buy-with-bitcoin-litecoin-ethereum-crypto-checkout">expanded</a> its cryptocurrency capabilities this March and started allowing users to exchange their crypto holdings into US dollars in order to pay for things, which is just one step short of allowing users to make purchases with actual cryptocurrency. Paypal has also indicated that users of Venmo, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/24/venmo-has-40-million-users-paypal-reveals-for-first-time.html">which it owns</a>, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/04/venmo-to-gain-crypto-budgeting-bill-pay-and-honey-integrations-this-year/">will soon</a> be able to transact in cryptocurrencies, too.
More broadly, applications for blockchain technology are appearing in a growing number of domains. The blockchain is key to the digital art being sold as NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, that have become <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22313936/non-fungible-tokens-crypto-explained">more popular in recent weeks</a>. Blockchain technology has also popped up in <a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-launch-excelsior-pass-help-fast-track-reopening-businesses-and">vaccine passport apps</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/6/21125636/iowa-caucus-app-election-technology-voatz">voting technology</a>, and even managing supply chains. At the same time, the use of blockchain technology has also raised a wide range of challenges, including the <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/04/06/cyber-thefts-bitcoin/">risk of hacking</a>, lack of regulation, and concern that its intense computing requirements <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/13/climate/nft-climate-change.html">can come with a whopping environmental footprint</a>.
So even if you think bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and the blockchain are weird or confusing, you should expect to see them continue to creep into everyday life.
Update, April 14, 5:10 pm ET: This piece was updated to include the news that Coinbase went public and to include its end-of-day trading price.
<a href="http://www.vox.com/open-sourced">Open Sourced</a> is made possible by Omidyar Network. All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/22383757/bitcoin-coinbase-ipo-crypto-ethereum-cryptocurrency">https://www.vox.com/recode/22383757/bitcoin-coinbase-ipo-crypto-ethereum-cryptocurrency</a>

vox Like it or not, you should probably start paying attention to bitcoin

Coinbase, a platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, became the first major cryptocurrency company to go public in the United States on Wednesday. It’s a clear sign that crypto is firmly in the mainstream of the finance indus…

Senate Democrats use Asian American hate crimes bill as key test of Republican obstruction

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VFpMAcvQuYJkDv1KxSeo30vA0QY=/0x602:6240x3869/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22441943/1310799203.jpg" /></div>
Senate Democrats this week are putting forth a key test on the limits of Republican obstruction: A bill aimed at combating anti-Asian hate crimes.
<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/728?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hirono%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=1">The legislation</a>, which is relatively narrow in scope, would designate a Justice Department official to review Covid-19 related hate crimes, and calls on the agency to provide reporting guidance for regional law enforcement bodies.
It’s a pretty limited bill, meant to signal the federal government’s commitment to <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/22338464/how-to-help-fight-anti-asian-racism">protecting Asian Americans</a>, who have faced increased racist violence over the past year. But a vote on it could also have broader effects: If Republicans block it, that would provide more fodder to Democrats looking to build a case for eliminating the filibuster, and suggest the GOP is unwilling to condemn anti-Asian racism outright.
Conversely, the bill could also offer a rare opening for bipartisanship: In fact, the No Hate Act, an even stronger piece of legislation aimed at improving hate crimes reporting, has both Democratic and Republican support, and could get added as an amendment.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), a chief sponsor of the legislation, spoke about the impact <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/4/21/21221007/anti-asian-racism-coronavirus-xenophobia">the hate incidents in the last year</a> have had on her during a press conference. “As an [Asian American and Pacific Islander] person, it does give me pause,” she said. “Before, when I was walking around outside, I would have my earbuds on and I’d be listening to books on tape. I would never do that now.”
The bill on Wednesday cleared an important procedural hurdle: Lawmakers voted 92-6 to open debate on it, which means that they’ll now consider possible amendments. The dynamic to watch will be just how much bipartisan support these amendments end up getting, and whether they deter members of either party from backing the final legislation.
Depending on how things shake out, this could be a unique opportunity for bipartisanship — while also serving as a chance for the Senate to send a resounding message denouncing anti-Asian hate.
The Senate’s hate crimes bill is quite modest: By allocating someone to the Justice Department who specifically focuses on Covid-19-related hate crimes, it would bolster the agency’s focus on tracking and prosecuting such incidents, which is important, but not exactly a sweeping change.
The bill also pushes for better guidance from the DOJ for city and state law enforcement when it comes to online hate crimes reporting, and public education campaigns that help potential victims connect to resources. Additionally, the legislation urges Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to ensure that discriminatory language, like “China virus,” isn’t used to address the pandemic.
Despite its limited approach, the bill could help raise the profile of this issue. “One of the greatest barriers to effective handling of hate crimes is resources,” says Brendan Lantz, director of the Hate Crime Research and Policy Institute at Florida State University. “If this additional review translates to additional resources and guidance, it has the potential to make a difference.”
In prioritizing this legislation, Democrats are also making an important point about the need to unequivocally call out anti-Asian hate, as incidents targeting Asian Americans have surged in the past year following the Trump administration’s decision to use racist language to describe the coronavirus and its origins. <a href="https://stopaapihate.org/2020-2021-national-report/">The organization Stop AAPI Hate</a> has received nearly 3,800 reports of such incidents, though it’s important to note that some of them likely wouldn’t meet current federal standards to be classified as hate crimes.
In the last few months, shootings in Georgia, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22335666/asian-spa-shooting-atlanta">which killed six women of Asian descent</a>, as well as videos capturing brutal attacks on Asian American elders, have renewed focus on this issue as well.
“There has never been a situation in my lifetime when I have felt this level of fear, of vulnerability, than I do right now,” Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ) recently said.
Now that the Senate has voted successfully to proceed to the bill, one of the amendments that has bipartisan support is the <a href="https://beyer.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5103">Jabara-Heyer No Hate Act</a>, sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Jerry Moran (R-KS). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has already backed the measure, according to an aide, and some Republicans have indicated a willingness to support it as well, because they feel hate crime reporting is currently unsatisfactory. <a href="https://publicintegrity.org/politics/millions-are-victims-of-hate-crimes-though-many-never-report-them/">Many studies have found that thousands of hate crimes likely go unreported each year</a> for a number of reasons, including lack of trust in law enforcement.
The No Hate Act would make reporting options more robust by including grant money for local and state law enforcement agencies to set up hotlines for hate crimes, and provide better training around hate crime tracking. It would also push for offenders who are convicted to serve out community service and educational courses related to the community affected.
“The No Hate Act would improve reporting on hate crimes and promote a better, community-centered response to such incidences,” says Becky Monroe, the senior director of the Fighting Hate and Bias program at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Both the bill as currently written and the No Hate Act are unlikely to fully address the root causes of hate crimes, though they could provide a more complete picture of how many people are being affected, helping to better combat them.
“Education, public messaging — particularly from elected officials — and other community-based programs aimed at reconciliation and repair are more likely to reduce the incidents of hate crimes,” says Columbia University law professor Katherine Franke. Incremental changes, meanwhile, could help provide context for the scale of the problem.
This vote is the first in a series that Senate Democrats have planned for this spring, and could reveal how much Republicans intend to obstruct notable Democratic priorities. Other upcoming votes on the docket include one on the Democrats’ sweeping voting rights bill, HR 1, and additional ones on gun control and immigration reform.
Whether Republicans reject the hate crimes legislation could be a sign of just how intent they are on blocking Democratic measures regardless of the issue: Some Republicans have suggested this bill could be a federal overreach that puts pressure on states to comply with reporting requirements.
“I’d love to see a bipartisan result here. But in some ways it goes too far, in our view,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/12/democrats-gop-asian-american-hate-crimes-bill-481052">Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) previously told Politico</a>.
Others, meanwhile, note that this is a subject area where both parties could actually work together to advance some reforms. “I’m trying to see if we can’t get this resolved and take this up tomorrow,” Moran told the Washington Post’s Paul Kane on Tuesday.
Democrats are watching this vote keenly, as the debate over the filibuster continues: Because of this procedural relic, if lawmakers from the minority party opt to block a bill, it will need 60 votes to pass — a near-impossible threshold for Democrats to meet on priorities like the $15 minimum wage, in a 50-50 Senate.
This bill — depending on how it’s treated — could offer more ammunition for Democrats who have been arguing for doing away with the filibuster, or, interestingly, provide a chance for Republicans and Democrats to actually agree on a piece of legislation.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22382044/asian-american-hate-crimes-senate-bill">https://www.vox.com/2021/4/14/22382044/asian-american-hate-crimes-senate-bill</a>

vox Senate Democrats use Asian American hate crimes bill as key test of Republican obstruction

Senate Democrats this week are putting forth a key test on the limits of Republican obstruction: A bill aimed at combating anti-Asian hate crimes. The legislation, which is relatively narrow in scope, would designate a Justice Department official to…

A former Bachelor star came out as gay. The announcement was as messy as his season.

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<a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/10/13/21495779/bachelorette-recap-clare-dale-who-wins">Colton Underwood</a>, one of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/13/18263920/bachelor-finale-colton-underwood-cassie-randolph">most memorable</a>, albeit <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/cassie-randolph-gets-restraining-order-against-colton-underwood-t191753">problematic</a>, stars of the <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/7/18171965/the-bachelor-colton-premiere-virgin">Bachelor</a> TV franchise, has come out as gay.
Underwood, 29, made the announcement in an interview with <a href="https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/bachelor-star-colton-underwood-gay-77057551">Good Morning America</a> that aired on Wednesday. “I’ve ran from myself for a long time. I’ve hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay,” Underwood told host Robin Roberts. “I came to terms with that earlier this year and have been processing it, and the next step in all of this is sort of letting people know. I’m still nervous, but yeah, it’s been a journey for sure.”
Underwood appeared as a contestant on season 14 of The Bachelorette as one of Becca Kufrin’s suitors and was subsequently cast as the lead of season 23 of The Bachelor, which aired in 2019. His stint as the Bachelor was a rocky one: Much of the promotional material around his season and the conversation during it <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/7/18171965/the-bachelor-colton-premiere-virgin">focused on Underwood’s virginity</a>, and his season <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/13/18263920/bachelor-finale-colton-underwood-cassie-randolph">ended with him choosing to pursue Cassie Randolph</a>, who tried to break up with him and leave the show. (Even if you’re not a Bachelor fan, <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2019/03/the-bachelor-colton-cassie-fence-jump.html">you may remember the infamous fence-jumping scene</a>.) The pair wound up dating, but after their 2020 split, Randolph <a href="https://www.today.com/popculture/cassie-randolph-gets-restraining-order-against-colton-underwood-t191753">accused Underwood of stalking her</a> and requested a restraining order. <a href="https://people.com/tv/colton-underwood-says-cassie-randolph-dropped-restraining-order-against-him/">She later dropped the request</a>.
During his GMA interview, Underwood acknowledged that some of his past behavior, including his decision to appear on The Bachelor and his actions during his time on the show, had been questionable. “I do think I could have handled it better,” he said. “I just wish I had not dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was.”
To be sure, being gay is not an excuse for the way Underwood is alleged to have treated Randolph, who said he sent her “unsettling text messages” and placed a tracking device on her car. And so to many Bachelor fans, the GMA apology felt vague and half-hearted.
Underwood has never candidly addressed Randolph’s allegations, and GMA failed to take the opportunity to ask for answers. Indeed, Underwood, The Bachelor, and much of the media seems ready to move on. “He is excited to start this new journey and wants a clean slate,” one anonymous source told <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1258761/how-colton-underwoods-family-and-friends-reacted-to-him-coming-out-as-gay">E! News</a>.
Underwood was raised Catholic and is a devout Christian, which he said has weighed heavily on his struggles to accept his sexuality, as has his identity as a football player. “I literally remember praying to God the morning I found out I was the Bachelor and thanking him for making me straight,” he told Roberts.
The Bachelor franchise has never been particularly nuanced in addressing complex social and cultural issues. Like all reality television shows, it has a tenuous relationship with real life.
The most recent season of The Bachelor — the first to feature a Black man in the lead role — <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/3/12/22308108/the-bachelor-racism-chris-harrison-rachael-kirkconnell-matt-james">exposed its many shortcomings on race</a>. The franchise has also presented a very narrow view of sexuality and romance, one that rarely seems to consider the LGBTQ community; it has only ever featured <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/arts/television/bachelor-in-paradise-finale-demi-kristian-engaged.html">one same-sex couple</a>, on its Bachelor in Paradise series in 2019. After Underwood’s GMA interview, the executive producers of the franchise released a statement saying they were “inspired” by his “courage to embrace and pursue his authentic self.” They continued, “As firm believers in the power of love, we celebrate Colton’s journey in the LGBTQIA+ community every step of the way.”
Underwood, who previously dated gymnast Aly Raisman, made his reality television debut in 2018 when he was cast on The Bachelorette. He was portrayed by the series as a strapping, boyish former football player (he had a brief stint in the NFL) who was committed to his religion and to charity work. The biggest Colton-related plot point the season focused on his virginity, which he <a href="https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/the-bachelorettes-colton-defends-becca-after-his-virginity-reveal/">revealed during the show</a>, worrying it would be a “deal breaker.”
After being cut from The Bachelorette, Underwood appeared on the summer 2018 edition of Bachelor in Paradise, where he briefly courted another former contestant. He was then cast as the star of The Bachelor. The franchise, never known for its subtlety, hyped up his virginity to the point it was quite uncomfortable and supremely over-the-top. As <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/7/18171965/the-bachelor-colton-premiere-virgin">Rebecca Jennings at The Goods pointed out at the time</a>, the word “virgin” was mentioned four times in the first 40 seconds of one of the season’s trailers. While virginity wasn’t a novel topic for The Bachelor, it was quite new for a male contestant, and it didn’t upend traditional narratives. As Jennings explained:
<blockquote>
It’s difficult to imagine the show treating a female lead’s virginity with the same sort of blithe, jovial tone — the trailer borders on mockery. According to a sociologist, it’s because male virginity, when dissected on a cultural level, is often more complex. Virgin women, for instance, fall into the category of “pure” and “chaste,” yet we don’t necessarily impose these same narratives on men.
</blockquote>
Underwood’s season may have started out virginity-themed, but it didn’t entirely stay that way as the season progressed. For those who aren’t familiar with the franchise, the way The Bachelor usually works is that each season begins with dozens of potential partners and then over the course of the season the pool is whittled down to two. At the “final rose ceremony,” the lead picks one of them; a proposal and engagement often (but not always) follow. Generally, the final two women want to be there. But that was not the obvious case with Underwood’s season.
When there were three women remaining, including Randolph, she tried to end things with Underwood and exit; Underwood refused to accept this turn of events. The show hyped up the drama, teasing footage of an emotional Underwood jumping over a fence throughout the season, and documenting his pursuit of Randolph even after she said she wasn’t ready for the type of commitment she thought he wanted and expressed her wishes to leave. Eventually, he basically wore her down, and they ended the show dating. Underwood’s actions, and the show’s narrative around them, were quite flawed, as <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/3/13/18263920/bachelor-finale-colton-underwood-cassie-randolph">Vox’s Li Zhou laid out at the time</a>. When women say no, they’re allowed to mean it. It is irresponsible to romanticize the chase.
After the finale aired, Randolph told <a href="https://people.com/tv/the-bachelor-cassie-randolph-colton-changed-mind/">People</a> that Underwood “fought for me” and had “shown me what a healthy relationship looks like.” The pair stayed together for a while, breaking up briefly in 2019 and then getting back together. She cared for him when he contracted Covid-19 early in the pandemic before they broke up again in 2020. And that is when their situation got messier and even scary.
Randolph, who had <a href="https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/cassie-randolph-colton-underwood-filmed-reality-show-after-split/">reportedly begun filming a reality show with Underwood</a> post-breakup, <a href="https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/cassie-randolph-files-for-restraining-order-against-colton-underwood/">filed and was granted a restraining order</a> against him in September 2020. She <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/09/10020812/cassie-randolph-colton-underwood-bachelor-restraining-order">alleged</a> he’d sent her “unsettling” text messages, had appeared at her home and at and her parents’ home without invitation, and placed a tracking device on her vehicle. He told her in one message that she was a “selfish person who isn’t ready to be loved,” and <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1187870/colton-underwoods-alleged-texts-to-cassie-randolph-revealed-in-restraining-order-filing">then in an another message</a> apologized and said he was “lost.” In November 2020, Randolph <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/11/03/cassie-randolph-drops-restraining-order-colton-underwood-bachelor/">dropped the restraining order</a> and related police investigation.
During his GMA interview with Roberts, Underwood spoke about his struggles with coming to terms with his sexuality, including deciphering how it fits into his religious beliefs and his broader identity as an athlete. He said he has known he was “different” since he was 6 years old and then realized that during his freshman year of high school he was gay, but he was scared to accept it. “Gay was always affiliated with a connotation of negativity,” he said.
Underwood said he has been met with a range of reactions from those close to him, but many told him they wish he’d have said something sooner. “I wish I would have had faith in my friends and my family a little bit more,” he said. He also tied his sexuality to his virginity. “I was a full virgin [before The Bachelor], and I could never give anybody a good answer of why I was a virgin,” he said. “The truth is I was a virgin Bachelor because I was gay, and I didn’t know how to handle it.”
In one episode during Underwood’s season, comedian Billy Eichner <a href="https://youtu.be/r2egLire4tY?t=136">made a joke about Underwood’s sexuality</a>, quipping to a visibly uncomfortable Underwood that he might be the first gay Bachelor. And in his 2020 book, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/04/14/colton-underwood-gma-comes-out-gay-former-bachelor-speaks/7217890002/">The First Time: Finding Myself and Looking for Love on Reality TV</a>, Underwood <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/04/14/colton-underwood-gma-comes-out-gay-former-bachelor-speaks/7217890002/">alluded to wondering about being gay</a> when he was hesitant to have sex with his high school girlfriend.
“Sometimes I wonder if my life would have been much easier if I had been gay. Maybe it would have helped me to know myself better and sooner. Maybe I wouldn’t have stayed a virgin,” he wrote. “Maybe I wouldn’t have asked ‘Who am I?’ as often as I did and suffered as much angst because I didn’t have an answer. Identity was such a big question mark with me. Yes, I was a football player. But what else was I? Was there anything more?”
Underwood told Roberts, who is herself gay, that he now feels “closer to God” and more at peace and centered in his life — a change from the suicidal thoughts he’s had in the past. “I still haven’t had an emotional connection with a man, I’ve never allowed myself to,” he said. “It’s never been sort of in my cards to let myself get there.”
Underwood’s decision to come out in an interview with Roberts may serve as an inspiration for people who have had similar internal battles with their sexuality, or who are having them today. The Catholic church still <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/15/977415222/illicit-for-catholic-church-to-bless-same-sex-marriages-vatican-says">refuses to bless same-sex marriage</a> and holds that gay sex is “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/catholic-church-cannot-bless-same-sex-unions-vatican/">intrinsically disordered</a>.” Football remains a hyper-macho space. As much as many Americans would like to believe that society has advanced from the days when “gay” was a bad word, much of the country has not. Underwood was cast on The Bachelor because he fits the archetype of a strong, masculine man, and a religious one.
Two things can be true about Underwood’s announcement: It is a good thing that he now feels able to embrace his sexuality, and much of his past behavior was bad. Also bad: The Bachelor’s handling of his relationship with Randolph, not to mention, frankly, GMA’s decision to largely brush over the topic during Underwood’s interview.
Underwood told Roberts he is “sorry for how things ended” with Randolph, adding that he “messed up” and “made a lot of bad choices.” He said he was in love with her, which “only made it harder and more confusing” for him. “I wish it wouldn’t have happened the way that it did. I wish that I would have been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anybody else,” he said.
But Roberts and GMA, which billed the interview as “deeply personal,” didn’t press Underwood to further address the issue. As television writer Michael Slezak <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelSlezakTV/status/1382352469339090947">pointed out on Twitter</a>, she didn’t ask him about “allegedly inflicting psychological violence” on Randolph, or ask for any further explanations of his treatment of Randolph during filming of The Bachelor and after. Instead, he got off with making a lackluster apology about a serious issue and his very toxic behavior.
Underwood apologized for “misleading” Bachelor viewers and fellow cast members, which pales in comparison in terms of severity to how he treated Randolph; people mislead others about their intentions on reality shows all the time. A perennial question on every season of The Bachelor revolves around who is on the show for “the right reasons” — namely, who has put their lives on hold to go on TV in hopes of finding true love (as opposed to finding fame or achieving some other personal benefit). Misogynistic behavior from Underwood and The Bachelor toward Randolph in ignoring her clear wishes and desires are a problem. So is excusing Underwood’s actions now that he has revealed he was dealing with his feelings about being gay.
Randolph has not spoken publicly in response to Underwood’s interview, nor has she ever said much about their relationship or the restraining order. Indeed, when the pair resolved the order, it was largely Underwood’s voice that was heard. In a statement to <a href="https://people.com/tv/colton-underwood-says-cassie-randolph-dropped-restraining-order-against-him/">People</a> in November, Underwood said that the pair had reached a “private agreement” to address her concerns and that he didn’t believe Randolph did anything wrong in filing the restraining order. Underwood also <a href="https://toofab.com/2021/01/26/colton-underwood-details-cassie-randolph-split-in-new-book-chapter/#:~:text=Colton%20Underwood%20is%20giving%20a,his%2029th%20birthday%20on%20Tuesday.">added a chapter to his book</a> about it in which he said he “didn’t want to accept” that she wanted to end things (yet again).
Underwood clearly has a lot to work through, and he intends to continue to do so in the public sphere: He is <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/former-bachelor-colton-underwood-filming-reality-series-at-netflix">in production for a new reality show</a> about life as a gay man for Netflix.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/22384066/colton-underwood-gma-interview-gay">https://www.vox.com/culture/22384066/colton-underwood-gma-interview-gay</a>

vox A former Bachelor star came out as gay. The announcement was as messy as his season.

Colton Underwood, one of the most memorable, albeit problematic, stars of the Bachelor TV franchise, has come out as gay. Underwood, 29, made the announcement in an interview with Good Morning America that aired on Wednesday. “I’ve ran from myself f…

How to listen to all of Vox’s Earth Month podcasts

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This April, Vox’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/pages/podcasts">podcasts</a> are teaming up to cover some of the most important issues threatening life on Earth. From <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/1/27/21080107/fashion-environment-facts-statistics-impact">sustainability</a> to <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/12/9/20993619/biodiversity-crisis-extinction">biodiversity</a> to straight-up <a href="https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/22336644/ball-lightning-scientific-mystery-eyewitness-accounts-illustrations">cool things about the natural world</a>, we’ll focus on our planet and its limits in episodes throughout the month.
We’ll tell stories about <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3JJ7aDhcVPvJJexNjQt8M3?si=fbf55b4a59364e85">how a kayak changed one life</a> to the trouble with gas stoves to how rising temperatures will change what food we have available to eat. And, of course, we’ll dive deep into policy — including a Weeds palooza with four promising white papers on the details of how we can bring down greenhouse gas emissions.
Tune into <a href="http://podlink.com/todayexplained">Today, Explained</a>, <a href="https://pod.link/voxconversations">Vox Conversations</a>, <a href="http://podlink.com/theweeds">The Weeds</a>, <a href="http://podlink.com/unexplainable">Unexplainable</a>, <a href="https://pod.link/worldly">Worldly</a>, <a href="https://pod.link/futureperfect">Future Perfect</a> and <a href="https://pod.link/1549029999">Vox Quick Hits</a> to hear new Earth Month episodes every week. Below, you’ll find a guide to what’s coming up. Want to share all of the shows with your friends? Simply point them to <a href="http://vox.com/earthmonth">vox.com/earthmonth</a>.
<hr class="p-entry-hr" />
<h2>Climate change</h2>
The Weeds: White-paper palooza | 4/13
It’s an all white paper episode, folks. Vox climate reporter Umair Irfan joins Matt and Dara to take on three research papers all concerning climate change: first, on the social costs of carbon; then on the disparate effects of temperature rise on a diverse array of geographic regions; finally, on global migration due to climate change.
Future Perfect: Engineering our way out of the climate crisis | 4/14
In an ideal world, cutting carbon emissions would be enough to stop global warming. But after dithering for decades, the world needs a back-up plan. Kelly Wanser is the leader of a group called SilverLining that works to promote research into what it calls “solar climate intervention.” Also called “solar geoengineering,” this approach involves putting particles into clouds that reflect back the sun, directly cooling the earth.
It’s a novel and potentially hazardous policy — but one that Wanser and other experts argue could hold a lot of promise as the world braces for catastrophic climate impacts. Wanser and Vox’s Dylan Matthews discuss how solar climate intervention works, how it could be implemented, and where it fits in with the goal of cutting emissions.
Today, Explained: Our climate future | 4/19
After a year of living through the Covid-19 pandemic, are political, business, and community leaders ready to get serious about climate change? A look at what can be done to mitigate the climate crisis.
Vox Quick Hits: Tell Me More: US and China cooperation on climate change | 4/19
The last time the US and China collaborated on climate change was the Paris agreement. Now, the US is back in, and President Joe Biden has appointed John Kerry as the new US climate envoy. It seems like China is willing to engage; China appointed climate diplomat Xie Zhenhua, who is close with a former US climate diplomat. Can the world’s top two economies, who together account for 43 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, work together?
Today, Explained: Climate changes food | 4/20
In partnership with <a href="https://www.eater.com/">Eater</a>, we will take a look at how rising temperatures will change our food systems: from poisonous lettuce to the merits of jellyfish when all of the clams die.
Recode Daily: How the fossil fuel industry convinced Americans to love gas stoves | 4/20
You may be under the impression that a gas stove is better than an electric stove, but that’s because the fossil fuel industry wants you to think that. Decades’ worth of campaigning and messaging has convinced the average renter and homeowner that gas stoves are the preferred choice. But really, they emit harmful fumes into your own home.
Vox Quick Hits: Tell Me More: Growing weed, greenhouse gases | 4/20
Commercial marijuana production is increasing as more states legalize recreational use, but indoor weed farms have a significant impact on the climate. In fact, a recent study found that just an eighth of weed has a 41-pound carbon footprint. The solution? Finding a more climate-friendly way to grow marijuana, such as outdoor farms.
Future Perfect: Should I still have children if I’m worried about climate change? | 4/21
A conversation with climate scientist Kimberly Nicholas, who has a new book that touches on this question. Nicholas ran the original study that found having one fewer kid is one of the best things you can do for the climate — but she still encourages people who want to be parents to go ahead and have a kid.
Worldly: The truly global problem of fossil fuels | 4/22
Worldly will be digging into the challenges of weening economies off of fossil fuels and what that looks like for countries like Nigeria and Norway, whose economies are heavily reliant on exporting these fuels, and for countries like China and India whose economic growth is still very reliant on cheap energy.
Today, Explained: What about nuclear energy? | 4/22
Where does nuclear energy fit into the climate conversation? Why is it taking a bigger role in some countries’ energy policies and why is it not in Biden’s plan?
Recode Daily: What billionaires could be doing better to save the planet | 4/22
The number of billionaires spiked by 30 percent during the pandemic. What would be the most effective way they could spend their fortunes to fix climate change? We ask the experts.
Future Perfect: Sucking the carbon out of the sky | 4/28
A conversation with Akshat Rathi, a PhD chemist turned Bloomberg reporter and expert on carbon removal as an industry. What does carbon removal even mean? Can we even do that? How can this be used, particularly by the oil industry, for better or worse?
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<h2>Clean energy and technology</h2>
Vox Conversations: How to change the way we do everything | 4/15
If the entire world’s energy infrastructure is going to be switched over to clean energy sources in a matter of decades, that’s going to require an enormous amount of building; from electric vehicles to heat pumps to batteries to mass timber buildings to microgrids to electric cooktops, and on and on. It turns out we know quite a bit about how to accelerate technologies along those curves, and which technologies need help from which kinds of policies.
Today, Explained: Electric cars | 4/21
We’ll tackle the rise, fall, and then rise again of the electric car — and whether an all-electric car future is enough to reduce emissions.
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<h2>Sustainability</h2>
Recode Daily: The environmental impact of big computing | 4/19
From cryptocurrencies to artificial intelligence language algorithms, big computing takes a lot of energy. Some transactions using cryptocurrency require as much energy as an EU resident uses in a month. Is there a way to make big computing greener?
Recode Daily: Remote work is here to stay. How do we make it sustainable? | 4/21
2020 changed how, and where, we work. When the pandemic is over, those who can work from home will likely do so two or three days a week, and a smaller share of workers — 15 to 18 percent — will be remote full time. This may seem like a clear win for the environment — fewer people commuting/driving to work, less of a need to heat/cool massive buildings, etc. — but it’s not quite that simple. We dig into how the convo about green/sustainable work environments is changing, now that where we work has changed.
The Weeds: How to build better transit infrastructure | 4/23
Matt Yglesias will talk with urban planner Eric Goldwyn, whose research concerns bus ridership in American cities, and who has recently been investigating a surge in bike use during the pandemic.
Vox Quick Hits: One Good Answer: Why it’s hard to talk about sustainability in fashion | 4/28
Only one out of the dozen or so most commonly cited facts about the fashion industry’s huge environmental footprint is based on any sort of science, data collection, or peer-reviewed research. The rest are based on gut feelings, broken links, marketing, and something someone said in 2003.
If we’re serious about recruiting the fashion industry into the fight to save our world from burning, these bad facts do us all a disservice. They make fashion activists look silly. They allow brands to wave vaguely at reducing their impact without taking meaningful action. And they stymie the ability to implement meaningful regulation, which needs to be undergirded by solid data.
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<h2>Biodiversity</h2>
Vox Conversations: Beloved Beasts: Fighting for life in the age of extinction | 4/22
A history of the modern conservation movement — told through the lives and ideas of the people who built it.
Unexplainable: Phages | 4/28
Phages are the most abundant biological entities on Earth (for every grain of sand in the world, there are a trillion phages), and we barely know anything about them. They contain 2 billion pieces of genetic code that exist nowhere else on Earth, and they kill half the world’s bacteria every 48 hours. Cracking their code could be critical to understand our biological ecosystem, but even more tantalizingly, phages may be the answer to a host of currently incurable diseases. By 2050, 10 million people are projected to die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections, and phages could be our last hope.
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<h2>The natural world</h2>
Unexplainable: The Twilight Zone | 4/21
The Twilight Zone, a part of the ocean where light doesn’t go, might be helping to sequester huge amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. We don’t know — but we do know that we need to find out before commercial fishers start fishing there!
Today, Explained: Scientific wonder | 4/23
Over four billion years old, and we’re still learning new things about the planet Earth. We’ll explore some of the new things we’ve discovered about the Earth, and how we might save it from climate change.
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<h2>What to read/watch/buy</h2>
Vox Quick Hits: The Best Money I Ever Spent: A kayak that made me appreciate where I come from | 4/8
When Max Ufberg left New York for Pennsylvania at the beginning of March in 2020, he assumed it wouldn’t be for long. But as weeks became months, he found solace exploring the place that he had once been so eager to leave behind.
Vox Quick Hits: What to Watch: mother! | 4/16
Vox film critic <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/alissa-wilkinson">Alissa Wilkinson</a> and critic-at-large <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/emily-vanderwerff">Emily VanDerWerff</a> explain why mother! is perhaps the weirdest environmental movie you’ll ever see. They dig into the plot, the allegory and the ways it can be interpreted.
Vox Quick Hits: Ask a Book Critic: How to make your home and garden greener | 4/21
Vox book critic <a href="https://www.vox.com/authors/constance-grady">Constance Grady</a> recommends books that teach you how to make your home and garden greener.
Vox Quick Hits: The Best Money I Ever Spent: A HEPA filter for my parents | 4/22
After the California Camp Fire in 2018, Grace Linden’s parents did not purchase an air purifier — nor did friends, or friends’ parents, or anyone she knew. But that changed by 2020, after more devastating fires and a year of no control due to the pandemic.
Vox Quick Hits: Ask a Book Critic: Books that transport you to a new place | 4/27
Looking for something to read when you’re stuck with your family and they keep annoying you? Vox book critic Constance Grady recommends options to help you go on an adventure.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/8/22360525/climate-change-clean-energy-earth-day-podcasts">https://www.vox.com/2021/4/8/22360525/climate-change-clean-energy-earth-day-podcasts</a>

vox How to listen to all of Vox’s Earth Month podcasts

This April, Vox’s podcasts are teaming up to cover some of the most important issues threatening life on Earth. From sustainability to biodiversity to straight-up cool things about the natural world, we’ll focus on our planet and its limits in episo…

Most Published Doctor In His Field Says NIH Total Failure In COVID-19 Response: Allowed Tens Of Thousands Die

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2021/04/2aiwguwghuwig90998.jpg" /></div>
Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH testifies in front of the Texas State Health and Human Services Committee on how the NIH was not interested in treating COVID-19 until people were hospitalized, and then only focused on vaccines, how and this philosophy led to tens of thousands of excess deaths.
The Big Tech purge is here! Follow <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/the-big-tech-crackdown-is-accelerating-follow-infowars-on-these-growing-alternative-platforms/">Infowars and Alex Jones on other growing platforms</a> now to stay informed as the information blackout accelerates.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/most-published-doctor-in-his-field-says-nih-total-failure-in-covid-19-response-allowed-tens-of-thousands-die">https://www.infowars.com/posts/most-published-doctor-in-his-field-says-nih-total-failure-in-covid-19-response-allowed-tens-of-thousands-die</a>

news Most Published Doctor In His Field Says NIH Total Failure In COVID-19 Response: Allowed Tens Of Thousands Die

Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH testifies in front of the Texas State Health and Human Services Committee on how the NIH was not interested in treating COVID-19 until people were hospitalized, and then only focused on vaccines, how and this philosophy …