ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

Federal eviction protections have ended, leaving renters scrambling

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uLUUSHZlFrXkICqkQJd8KDHUxjk=/0x859:6000x4000/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22754784/1234351307.jpg" /></div>
It’s August 1, and rent is due. That’s a big change for many Americans who had been unable to pay rent but were protected from eviction by a federal moratorium. Now, those protections are gone.
Due to rampant job loss and health risks, many renters in the US faced difficulty making their rent payments every month when the pandemic began in early 2020, and the federal government stepped in to prevent people from getting evicted in the midst of it. As part of this response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention instituted a moratorium in September 2020 that prevented landlords from evicting their tenants regardless of whether they could pay their monthly rent in full or at all.
Last month the moratorium was already on borrowed time, as the Supreme Court had warned that it would not extend the renter protection <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/6/30/22556498/supreme-court-alabama-association-realtors-hhs-brett-kavanaugh-eviction-moratorium-housing-covid">past the end of July</a>. Several justices including Justice Brett Kavanaugh <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-house-take-up-residential-eviction-moratorium-extension-2021-07-30/">supported this</a>. “In my view, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31,” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-house-take-up-residential-eviction-moratorium-extension-2021-07-30/">wrote Kavanaugh</a>. The Biden administration did challenge the Supreme Court decision by formally asking Congress to pass an extension, but as Congress was required to pass new legislation to do this and since the Biden administration’s request was filed on Thursday, two days before the program was set to expire, the moratorium has officially expired.
<h2>No more eviction protection means paying late rent, money renters don’t have</h2>
This changes a lot for renters who now have to reckon with their landlords, some of whom have not received regular rent for almost a year. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/08/01/rent-eviction-moratorium-ended/5447489001/">Renters are now required to pay any missed payments</a>, and in some states the landlord is owed late fees for any late payment since the moratorium was enacted. Utilities are a bit of a gray area, but generally if the landlord is responsible for paying for a certain utility, in most cases they are not permitted to turn it off.
Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) was at the forefront of the fight for a further moratorium extension. As a formerly homeless person who has also faced eviction in the past, she has been vocal about the need to extend the moratorium, and slept on the US Capitol steps on Friday night in protest. “I am dirty, sticky, sweaty. I still have on what I had on last night. This is how people will have to live if we don’t do something … they deserve human dignity and deserve for people that represent them to show up, do the work, to make sure basic needs are met today,” she told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/politics/cori-bush-eviction-moratorium-cnntv/index.html">CNN’s Jessica Dean</a> on Saturday.
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
It’s 2 AM on Sunday. We haven’t slept since Thursday night. The eviction moratorium expired, so we’re now in an eviction emergency. 11 million are now at risk of losing their homes at any moment.
The House needs to reconvene and put an end to this crisis.
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoriBush/status/1421716065084641280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2021</a></blockquote>
</div>
According to <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Evictions-Data-Update-August.pdf">a study</a> by the Aspen Institute and the Covid-19 Eviction Defense Project published in August of last year, nearly 40 million Americans were then at risk of eviction. People of color were, and still remain, disproportionately at risk as they are <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/">twice as likely</a> to be renters. And the pressures that Covid-19 added just worsened the statistics. <a href="https://www.bostonevictions.org/">A June report</a> by City Life/Vida Urbana and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that in the first month of Massachusetts’s state of emergency during the pandemic, 78 percent of eviction filings in Boston were in <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/">communities of color</a>.
People with lower-income households are also more at risk, as they are less likely to have savings to pay rent and more likely to have been employed in <a href="https://www.vox.com/22429430/renters-rent-relief-eviction-moratorium-housing-market">Covid-affected industries</a>. The moratorium aimed to help people like this who needed protection.
But although politicians like Cori Bush are fighting to bring the moratorium back, it was never a complete solution: renters would eventually have to start paying again whether their individual circumstances had changed or not, while landlords were also struggling to make ends meet without rental income.
In an attempt to remedy this, <a href="https://www.vox.com/22429430/renters-rent-relief-eviction-moratorium-housing-market">Congress allocated $25 billion</a> in rental assistance in December, and in March, another $21.5 billion was added. This was a welcome relief to tenants and landlords alike, but the problem was in getting the money to the people who needed it, quickly. Confusion at the federal level about how to distribute that amount of money, and which of numerous programs would handle distribution, has also slowed getting the aid out. As Vox’s Jerusalem Demsas has reported, many renters in need of aid simply did not know that they were eligible for rent relief, and if they did, some were <a href="https://www.vox.com/22429430/renters-rent-relief-eviction-moratorium-housing-market">unable to provide the necessary paperwork</a> because of their turbulent living circumstances, lack of formal documentation of their work, or nontraditional rental agreements.
<h2>Renters were unsure if rent relief money would get to them in time</h2>
While <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0284">more than $1.5 billion</a> was delivered to eligible applicants in the month of June, which exceeded the amount provided in all three previous reporting periods combined, only <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-07-30/federal-eviction-moratorium-biden-congress-next-steps">$3 billion of the total</a> $45 billion allocated has been distributed, according to the US Treasury. Now that the federal moratorium has expired, at least four states — Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, and Oregon — have temporarily <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/30/everything-you-need-to-know-about-applying-for-rental-assistance-.html">continued the ban on evictions</a> against those with a pending rental assistance application. This state decision will give renters time to receive their rent relief money when they might otherwise face eviction immediately. But renters in states that are following the expired federal moratorium face large sums of back rent and if they are unable to pay, possible eviction.
“There’s a lot of cases where tenants are getting evicted that have already been approved for rental assistance,” K’Lisha Rutledge, an attorney with Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/30/texas-eviction-rent-relief/">told the Texas Tribune</a>. “And their landlord knows that they’ve been approved, and they’re just waiting on the check.”
It might be easy to see landlords as the villains in this situation, but tenants aren’t the only ones struggling. <a href="https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_20_071">Forty-one percent</a> of all rental housing units in the US, and most of the affordable housing options, are owned by individuals, or “mom-and-pop” landlords, and the rent they receive from their tenants is often a large part of their own income. This means that the moratorium alleviated pressure from tenants by creating more pressure on landlords who still need to pay their own bills.
As Vox’s <a href="https://www.vox.com/22160179/study-covid-19-eviction-moratoriums-deaths-cases-coronavirus-rent-stimulus-state-congress">Jerusalem Demsas wrote</a>:
<blockquote>
“Losing more of America’s already dwindling affordable housing stock is a looming emergency that could be exacerbated if small landlords are required to act as the social welfare state without any financial assistance.”
</blockquote>
The end of the moratorium potentially means money in landlords’ pockets, but there are still roadblocks. California is allowing landlords to get paid what they are owed from previous months without rent only <a href="https://housing.ca.gov/covid_rr/media_kit_20210315.pdf">if they waive 20 percent</a> of the back rent. And some landlords have taken such a hit that they will be forced to sell their property, eliminating the opportunity to continue renting as a future source of income.
With <a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations">over 50 percent</a> of the US population vaccinated, it may seem that now is an appropriate time to end the benefits of the moratorium. But Americans who took a financial hit during the peak of Covid-19 or who lost their job may still need support. The rise of the Covid-19 delta variant is also a concern, as <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3739576">research has shown</a> that evictions lead to a higher likelihood of Covid-19 infection and death.
Concerns about the delta variant were also the main reason for the Biden administration’s push for a moratorium extension. “Given the recent spread of the Delta variant, including among those Americans both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations, President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect renters at this moment of heightened vulnerability,” the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/07/29/statement-by-white-house-press-secretary-jen-psaki-on-biden-harris-administration-eviction-prevention-efforts/">White House said in a statement</a>.
Based on the Supreme Court decision, and absent action from the Biden administration and Congress, this support is not enough. With over $40 billion in rental relief left undistributed, and a threat to public health still looming, renters are in danger once again.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/8/1/22604762/federal-eviction-protections-moratorium-ended-rental-relief-funds">https://www.vox.com/2021/8/1/22604762/federal-eviction-protections-moratorium-ended-rental-relief-funds</a>

vox Federal eviction protections have ended, leaving renters scrambling

It’s August 1, and rent is due. That’s a big change for many Americans who had been unable to pay rent but were protected from eviction by ...

Hosting the Olympics comes at a massive cost

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/v1bRNro5lSAG2DntRQ7IqBr6o_s=/0x344:5281x3109/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751053/GettyImages_1331453202.jpg" /></div>
The Olympics are a bad deal for host cities. And they’re starting to take notice.
In 2013, when it bid for the 2020 Summer Games, Tokyo thought it would be spending $7.3 billion. By summer 2020, an Oxford economist <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-virus-outbreak-sports-asia-2020-tokyo-olympics-olympic-games-cfd618b2fba9109d01103bd9ecae33a3">told the Associated Press</a> that Tokyo’s costs had already more than doubled to $15.84 billion. Local organizers have disputed that total — though they <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-ap-top-news-tokyo-sports-general-japan-eb6d9e318b4b95f7e53cd1b617dce123">admitted in December 2019 that costs had risen to $12.6 billion</a>. But competing estimates from a national audit board and national newspapers <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-ap-top-news-tokyo-sports-general-japan-eb6d9e318b4b95f7e53cd1b617dce123">contend it could be nearly $30 billion</a>.
To be sure, Tokyo is a special case. The city had to postpone the Games for a year after Covid-19 made hosting the international event a nonstarter, and they won’t receive the local tourism boom that usually accompanies the Olympics. But what happened in Tokyo is part of a larger trend — a <a href="https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=568002118065021078072004126082010066118047006051032007118027117118017117026102075004017058006012005023096082080074120000007091055058054000080073095010124025024080110064018021124125004080022004116105025068029004104113088008029084098077119098072020082084&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE">2020 paper</a> by Oxford economist Bent Flyvbjerg found that “every Olympics since 1960 has run over budget, at an average of 172 percent in real terms, the highest overrun on record for any type of megaproject.” In other words, he found there’s something specifically wrong with the Olympics bidding process, even compared to other boondoggles.
And it’s not just the costs; some of the supposed benefits of hosting the Olympics have come under scrutiny by locals and economists alike. Economists Victor Matheson and Robert Baade <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.2.201">outlined</a> the potential benefits as “the short-run benefits of tourist spending during the Games; the long-run benefits of the ‘Olympic legacy’ which might include improvements in infrastructure and increased trade, foreign investment or tourism after the Games; and intangible benefits such as the ‘feel-good effect’ or civic pride.”
Like any major infrastructure project, the Games can provide a brief employment benefit and stimulative effect. But nowhere near what you might expect: “Overwhelmingly, the studies show actual economic impacts that are either near-zero or a fraction of that predicted prior to the event,” Matheson and Baade <a href="https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.30.2.201">write</a>.
And when it comes to the long-run economic benefits from improved infrastructure, they often don’t pan out. Those are usually attributed to the sports and general infrastructure that hosting the Olympics requires.
“There are 35 sports, most of which are fairly obscure, and many of which require very, very specific sports infrastructure,” Matheson told Vox. “So the problem is that most cities don’t have this on hand in the first place, and most cities don’t have much use for it afterwards.”
Matheson and Baade write that “Many of the venues from the Athens Games in 2004 have fallen into disrepair. Beijing’s iconic “Bird’s Nest” Stadium has rarely been used since 2008 and has been partially converted into apartments ...” They add that there are potentially greater returns for general infrastructure improvements like transportation networks or increased hotel capacity, but it’s a mixed bag.
The intangible benefits are hard to quantify. To be sure, watching the Games is already a delight; doing so in real life — plus the excitement of having international attention on your city — is only more so.
And yet, that alone is a tough sell. It’s become abundantly clear that the financial cost of hosting the Olympics cannot be justified in economic terms.
Cities are taking notice of exorbitant costs that accompany hosting the Olympics and fewer and fewer bids are being made for upcoming games. In 2015, four of six bidders pulled out as countries bid for the 2022 Winter Games. In 2018, during bidding for the 2026 Winter Games, again four countries pulled out during the process, many citing local concerns about the financial commitments required.
Los Angeles was the only bid for the 1984 Summer Olympics, and its experience highlights one of the few ways a city can actually profit from hosting the Games. <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/economics-hosting-olympic-games">According to the Council on Foreign Relations</a>, that was partly because LA, as the only bidder, was able to “negotiate exceptionally favorable terms with the IOC.” But “most importantly, LA was able to rely almost entirely on existing stadiums and other infrastructure rather than promise lavish new facilities to entice the IOC [International Olympic Committee] selection committee ... [LA finished] with a $215 million operating surplus,” they write.
Following this success, the number of cities bidding trended up — which allowed the IOC to continue a process that encourages expensive plans. The overarching problem is that without reform, the incentives of the IOC and the local host city committee are misaligned. The former makes its money off ad revenue, while the latter needs to care about the exorbitant cost of infrastructure, local governance issues, and ticket sales (the latter of which became increasingly important for Tokyo).
Pacific University professor Jules Boykoff pilloried the IOC for running itself like a “profit-gobbling cartel” <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-oly-ioc-commentary-20170322-story.html">in a 2017 Los Angeles Times column</a>:
<blockquote>
For too long, the IOC has claimed that the city doesn’t have to build new infrastructure, that it’s the city’s decision. Of course host cities have to build new venues if they actually want to host the Games. Whitewater kayak venues don’t grow on trees.
In truth, the IOC chips in for operating costs by essentially laundering money from its lucrative corporate sponsorships and television-rights deals. That’s all well and good, but it’s time the organization stepped up and contributed to infrastructure costs as well.
</blockquote>
Cost-sharing could incentivize the IOC to reduce its pressure for bids to contain more and more elaborate items. In an attempt to win a bid, “these cities started to offer so much more than what really benefited them,” University of Colorado Boulder economist Stephen Billings said. “I saw in Tokyo they built a specific venue for 3-vs.-3 basketball. ... It seems like couldn’t we just use the regular basketball venue?”
Some have suggested a permanent location for the Olympics. Smith College economist Andrew Zimbalist <a href="https://time.com/4396796/olympic-host-city/">laid out his case for this</a> weeks before the Rio Olympics were set to begin and after more than 77,000 favela residents had been evicted: “Why not build the required 35 sports venues, the Olympic village and the broadcasting and media center only once, instead of building them anew in a different city every four years?” He suggests Los Angeles for the Summer Olympics, which he argues has all the necessary infrastructure that would not go to waste in between Games.
To ensure the benefits of the Games actually accrue and avoid the risks of internal political and economic strife, putting them in a location where the infrastructure is sure to be used and reused could address some of the downsides of hosting. And holding the Olympics in a wealthier country ensures that if there is some unforeseen financial cost to bear, the nation is better positioned to pay it. That might have its downsides too; excluding developing countries from the hosting duties is antithetical to the Games’ global mission (though the IOC has never awarded hosting to a truly low-income nation in the global south). But it’s worth considering.
As the Tokyo Olympics plays out in empty stadiums, the IOC will continue raking in profits from TV ad revenue as the world watches from home. But it’s the Japanese people who will inevitably foot the bill.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/22599732/olympics-tokyo-2020-summer">https://www.vox.com/22599732/olympics-tokyo-2020-summer</a>

vox Hosting the Olympics comes at a massive cost

The Olympics are a bad deal for host cities. And they’re starting to take notice. In 2013, when it bid for the 2020 Summer Games, Tokyo th...

These immigrants have one shot to come to the US. But Biden has to act.

Three years ago, amid negotiations over immigration reform, then-President Donald Trump infamously questioned why the US was taking in immigrants from “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-attacks-protections-for-immigrants-from-shithole-countries-in-oval-office-meeting/2018/01/11/bfc0725c-f711-11e7-91af-31ac729add94_story.html">shithole countries</a>.”
He was referring to people from African nations who often have no legal pathway to come to the US except through a program known as the “diversity visa lottery.” Every year, roughly 55,000 people from countries with low levels of immigration to the US are chosen via a lottery to apply for a visa through the program. For many of them, it’s a golden ticket to a better life.
It wasn’t the first time the program had been targeted and misrepresented by Trump. He blamed a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/01/extreme-right-gins-up-a-culprit-for-n-y-terror-attack-chuck-schumer/">2017 terrorist attack in New York</a> on the program, vowing to end it. And he presented it as antithetical to his proposal for a “<a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/merit-based-immigration-trump-proposal-immigrant-selection">merit-based</a>” immigration system, under which the US would select visa applicants based on desirable labor market attributes — defined so as to make the immigrant population whiter and richer.
Trump never actually managed to end the program, but his administration deprioritized the applicants relative to other immigrants. President Joe Biden’s election was supposed to bring diversity visa applicants relief. He had promised on the campaign trail that he would <a href="https://joebiden.com/immigration/">keep the program intact</a>, and soon after his inauguration, he pledged to expand the program by <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/01/20/fact-sheet-president-biden-sends-immigration-bill-to-congress-as-part-of-his-commitment-to-modernize-our-immigration-system/">25,000 visas annually</a> as part of his proposed comprehensive immigration reform package.
But well into the first year of his presidency, that hasn’t come to fruition. Rather, diversity visa lottery winners who applied for visas amid the Covid-19 pandemic now risk losing their opportunity to come to the US — in part because the State Department has continued the Trump-era policy of deprioritizing their applications.
“What the Biden administration has done to the diversity visa program in deprioritizing, it contravenes those campaign promises, and we’re worse off because of it,” said Rafael Urena, an American attorney representing diversity visa applicants affected by the policy. “We really draw from the strength of our diverse population.”
In response to a request for comment, a State Department official emailed me a statement on the condition of anonymity saying that the US government’s capacity to review these applications and schedule the required interviews depends on US embassies and consulates abroad, many of which are backlogged due to closures and capacity limits amid the pandemic.
They have been prioritizing services to US citizens overseas and issuing visas in urgent or emergency situations, such as for people seeking to aid America’s response to the pandemic. Immediate family members of US citizens, international adoptions, and engaged couples are next on the priority list. Diversity visa applicants are at the <a href="https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/immigrant-visa-prioritization.html">very bottom</a>.
“Because of the unpredictable nature of the pandemic, it is impossible to forecast how many [diversity visas] we will issue this year, but we want to set appropriate expectations and say that it is very likely we will not issue the full allotment allowed,” the official said.
“The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in profound reductions in the Department’s visa processing capacity,” the official added. “Additionally, a range of presidential proclamations restricting travel in response to the pandemic have resulted in further constraints on visa issuances worldwide.”
That means diversity visa applicants could miss a once-in-a-lifetime chance to come to the US. The government has to process their applications by a September 30 deadline; otherwise, they lose their spot. And they likely won’t win the lottery again — they have a less than 1 percent chance of being selected from among more than 23 million entrants.
“It’s once in a lifetime,” said Maxwell Goodluck, a diversity visa lottery winner from Ghana who applied every year for 12 years before he was eventually selected. “If we lose this opportunity, it would take the grace of God for it to come back again,” he told me, referring to himself and the other applicants in the same position. “We don’t know what to do.”
<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CVJVS_SXH_wN9royZw8EmT3cYEaGsl9A/view">Several</a> <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LL1HRO43fVpGZ6rrODqYgN2nab_3P-hu/view">lawsuits</a> brought by roughly 25,000 diversity visa lottery winners from 141 countries altogether have argued that the federal government faces a legal obligation to review the applications of people who won the lottery and that the US’s vast resources can make that happen. But if that’s not possible, they say they should still have the opportunity to be issued a visa beyond the September 30 deadline.
For Lizbeth Rosales, a diversity visa lottery winner from Lima, Peru, that’s just what seems right. “We don’t have anything against the country or the citizens of America. We just want whatever is fair. That’s it,” she said. “We are not just case numbers. We are people. We have feelings, we have hopes, dreams. This is our only chance for a better future.”
The uncertainty as to whether diversity visa lottery winners will eventually be able to come to the US has left many putting their plans on hold and living with constant anxiety.
Rosales, who also applied for diversity visas on behalf of her husband and their two young children, was planning to move to New Orleans, where she previously spent a year working in the hospitality industry as an intern on a student visa.
She has friends there who encouraged her to apply for the visa lottery in the first place, and her husband, who works as a cook on a cruise ship, would also be able to find work. They were also hoping to pursue better educational opportunities for themselves and for their 4-year-old son and almost 1-year-old daughter.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1627851633_8085_37375" data-cdata='{"asset_id":22749454,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_5Y-g902H83PmJVud-gAlDERZ_c=/0x0:1280x854/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/orjDddvthZwJQp26A_KC9SQFnYw=/0x0:1280x854/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zuMJ73Gkg0mMrrXHxBaes75r9VI=/0x0:1280x854/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Iq2oPQ7sNZuh-TsF13Dotft8unA=/0x0:1280x854/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iVl6epfZPxJAFQlaYUU0u0nsVWQ=/0x0:1280x854/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Sfpq2dKJ-AB6L51CSFncCWmIxhk=/0x0:1280x854/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MZoh5m2ZWz4Zox4bNCCUpwuzwYk=/0x0:1280x854/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZXexYMMRyrJBGyd8Z9SrmG4_Fj8=/0x0:1280x854/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8A9XUUk765dG8z0DFWEf91vIHsg=/0x0:1280x854/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="1280" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rwkQNfo5XSAiMw72UhRjGQCfAYg=/0x0:1280x854/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jN80YRSNKfjevsQV8DkujtcFFs4=/0x0:1280x854/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uA3WTaoCCecp7KkTZTN8MqO8gl0=/0x0:1280x854/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o7b9gNLgn8kxMnwfm7d0kQZi7vA=/0x0:1280x854/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6XBYqsHLdeuSP2a3gZQXjKqc588=/0x0:1280x854/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/F88KfH3LUA33AaEz-JxntcDCp_4=/0x0:1280x854/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/I3K6S7hnQ4KWRG4rGYXNQnH02e0=/0x0:1280x854/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CNcJvHgQV9fcRUttZAIq2-d_Ws8=/0x0:1280x854/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QSJK-s6M7CoO_Cf3MQfg8Cxmds8=/0x0:1280x854/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dq_Quf0nwsUeRSgJxQ0dCEUD-w4=/0x0:1280x854/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1280x854):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749454/678155bb_a1f4_4e87_9d8f_62b8948aa185.JPG 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Lizbeth Rosales and her husband, Edmond Rodrigues, are hoping to start a new life in New Orleans with their two children if their diversity visa applications are approved.</figcaption>
<cite>Courtesy of Lizbeth Rosales</cite></figure>
Given that the pandemic has hit Peru particularly hard, leading to one of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53150808">highest per capita death rates</a> in the world and a <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/peru/overview">deep economic recession</a>, Rosales said that moving to the US at this particular moment seems especially attractive. But the uncertainty has been tough to live with. She has commiserated with other diversity visa lottery winners in the region on WhatsApp groups.
“For some of them, this is their only way out. This really breaks my heart because I consider myself to be in a better position than others. It may be God making me experience all of this to better understand or value my life,” she said. “I feel affected not only for me but for the rest. You feel touched by other people’s suffering. So this definitely creates sadness and anxiety as well. I wish the reality was different.”
Goodluck, the lottery winner from Ghana, says he and others are experiencing this anxiety. “We hardly sleep these days,” he told me. “Sometimes, you can’t even concentrate. You’re thinking about it 24/7. To console ourselves, we end up crying.”
He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and is working in the IT department for Ghana’s education department, but he says he has always wanted to pursue cybersecurity, which would require further education. He has a cousin in Colorado who has promised to support him in that goal if he moves to the US.
His backup plan is to pursue a master’s degree in computer science in Ghana. In order to study cybersecurity, he would have to take an online course. But the fees are high, and he doesn’t want to start the program without knowing whether he will stay in the country.
“It’s a nightmare,” he said.
House Democrats have been trying to remedy the plight of diversity visa lottery winners from 2020 and 2021, but it’s not clear they will succeed.
Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) has put forth an <a href="https://meng.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/meng-provision-to-rollover-unused-visas-due-to-covid-19-included-in-key">amendmen</a>t to a Homeland Security appropriations bill that would allow unused diversity visas from 2020 and 2021 to remain available after the fiscal year ends on September 30. That means that a portion of the 55,000 or so diversity visas allocated for next year would go to people who had applied in previous years.
Though the amendment has passed in the relevant House committee, the entire bill still has to survive a full floor vote in the House. And it has yet to be considered by the Senate, where it is likely to face opposition from GOP members.
In May, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) also introduced legislation that would aid the almost <a href="https://bronx.news12.com/rep-torres-introduces-bill-to-reinstate-diversity-visas">21,000 people</a> who were either granted diversity visas or had applied for them but were prevented from entering the country under Trump-era bans. However, it hasn’t gained any traction in the months since.
But neither of those bills addresses the lengthy wait times that diversity visa applicants are likely to face, even if they remain eligible beyond the September deadline. And diversity visa applicants from years past would take away spots from future applicants under Meng’s amendment.
“It would solve the issue of loss of eligibility,” Urena, the attorney representing diversity visa applicants, said. “But actually getting them into the country — the Biden administration would have to refocus its efforts on adjudicating diversity visas. We’re looking at long wait times and basically losing eligibility every year for [new] diversity visa applicants.”
Urena said the cost of waiting can be high. He had one client who had won the diversity visa lottery in 2020 but died while he was waiting for his visa to be issued. His older children had been hoping to come to the US on diversity visas and start a new life, but that won’t be possible now because they are no longer eligible through their father.
It’s a frustrating reality for families that are just trying to find a legal pathway to come to the US. “We didn’t do anything against the law. We just follow what is supposed to be followed,” Rosales said. “If we really are treated with fairness, we can be a good asset to the country.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/8/1/22598058/diversity-visa-lottery-immigration-biden-trump">https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/8/1/22598058/diversity-visa-lottery-immigration-biden-trump</a>

vox These immigrants have one shot to come to the US. But Biden has to act.

Three years ago, amid negotiations over immigration reform, then-President Donald Trump infamously questioned why the US was taking in immig...

"Will Be Hard Not To...": Top US Republican Jokes On Hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="'Will Be Hard Not To...': Top US Republican Jokes On Hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-01/gqktcq0g_nancy-pelosi-afp-_625x300_22_January_21.jpg" title="'Will Be Hard Not To...': Top US Republican Jokes On Hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi" /></div>
Republican Kevin McCarthy joked about hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel. (File)
</div>
Washington:
The top Republican in the US House of Representatives faced calls to apologize or resign Sunday after joking about hitting speaker Nancy Pelosi in the head with a gavel.
It was the latest round in a nasty spat between the Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy and Pelosi, the chamber's top Democrat.
Last week Pelosi called her Republican counterpart a "moron" for opposing mask mandates to fight the Covid-19 pandemic as the Delta variant causes a surge in cases in America.
At a fundraising dinner Saturday night in Tennessee, McCarthy spoke with optimism about prospects for his party retaking the House in mid-term elections next year.
And he went on to joke that -- should he become speaker -- he would struggle to resist striking Pelosi with the gavel that comes with the job.
"It will be hard not to hit her with it but I will bang it down," McCarthy said, according to a Washington Post reporter who was at the event.
Democrats pounced on McCarthy Sunday.
"Don't you think America has had enough political violence?," tweeted Representative Ted Lieu of California.
"You need to apologize for your statement, or resign," Lieu wrote.
Fellow California Representative Eric Swalwell said McCarthy "needs to resign," tweeting: "America has suffered enough violence around politics."
Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan insisted McCarthy apologize right away.
"Language like this led to violence and death at the United States Capitol. @GOPLeader knows his words carry weight," Dingell said.
She appeared to be referring to then president Donald Trump's fiery language in a January 6 speech to a crowd that went on to overrun the US Capitol as Congress was certifying Joe Biden's election win.
Pelosi was a main target of the mob as it rampaged through the Capitol, in an insurrection that left five people dead.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/top-us-republican-kevin-mccarthy-jokes-on-hitting-democrat-speaker-nancy-pelosi-2500171">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/top-us-republican-kevin-mccarthy-jokes-on-hitting-democrat-speaker-nancy-pelosi-2500171</a>

news world "Will Be Hard Not To...": Top US Republican Jokes On Hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Republican Kevin McCarthy joked about hitting Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel. (File) Washington: The top Republican in the US House ...

19-Year-Old TikTok Star Dies Days After He Was Shot In US Cinema Hall

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="19-Year-Old TikTok Star Dies Days After He Was Shot In US Cinema Hall" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/fqkq08ig_tiktok-anthony-barajas-_625x300_01_August_21.jpg" title="19-Year-Old TikTok Star Dies Days After He Was Shot In US Cinema Hall" /></div>
TikTok star Anthony Barajas died after being shot at a California movie theater, police said.
</div>
Los Angeles:
TikTok star Anthony Barajas has died after being shot at a California movie theater in what authorities described as a "random and unprovoked" attack.
Barajas, 19, died Saturday after the shooting that also killed his 18-year-old friend Rylee Goodrich, said police in Corona in southern California said.
The victims were shot Monday at a theater that was showing "The Forever Purge," about a totalitarian government that one night a year allows any crime to be committed, including murder.
Theater staff found the two shot in the head after the movie, which was sparsely attended. Goodrich died at the scene and Barajas was rushed to a hospital.
"Based on the evidence provided to our office, this appears to be a random and unprovoked attack," local prosecutors said in a statement Friday.
Joseph Jimenez, 20, has been charged in the shooting. Police acting on tips from witnesses arrested him at his home the day after the assault.
Police have said he apparently acted alone and did not know the victims.
Barajas had nearly 930,000 followers on TikTok and was a reportedly a standout soccer player in high school.
The United States has a long and painful history of deadly gun violence, in the form of a steady daily toll of shootings as well as high-profile mass killings that have targeted schools, workplaces and shopping centers.
In 2012, a heavily armed man killed 12 people in a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, during the screening of the movie "The Dark Knight Rises".
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/tiktok-star-anthony-barajas-19-year-old-tiktok-star-anthony-barajas-dies-days-after-he-was-shot-in-us-cinema-hall-2500159">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/tiktok-star-anthony-barajas-19-year-old-tiktok-star-anthony-barajas-dies-days-after-he-was-shot-in-us-cinema-hall-2500159</a>

news world 19-Year-Old TikTok Star Dies Days After He Was Shot In US Cinema Hall

TikTok star Anthony Barajas died after being shot at a California movie theater, police said. Los Angeles: TikTok star Anthony Barajas ...

Watch: Russian Module That Jolted International Space Station From Inside

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Watch: Russian Module That Jolted International Space Station From Inside" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-08/k97raoec_russian-module-nauka-reuters_625x300_01_August_21.jpg" title="Watch: Russian Module That Jolted International Space Station From Inside" /></div>
Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy is seen inside Russia's Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module.
</div>
Moscow:
Russian cosmonauts have given a video tour of the interior of a research module which briefly threw the <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/russias-nauka-space-module-experiences-problem-after-docking-with-iss-report-2498158" target="_self">International Space Station out of control</a> on Thursday a few hours after docking.
Russian space officials said a software glitch and possible lapse in human attention were to blame for the mishap that caused the entire space station to pitch out of its normal flight position 250 miles above the Earth with seven crew members aboard.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Pyotr Dubrov and I welcome everyone from our new module <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Nauka?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Nauka</a>!
We will conduct a more detailed tour soon. <a href="https://t.co/4J5GoOjzJq">pic.twitter.com/4J5GoOjzJq</a>
— Oleg Novitskiy (@novitskiy_iss) <a href="https://twitter.com/novitskiy_iss/status/1421542527014998019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 31, 2021</a></blockquote>
Footage published late on Saturday showed cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov opening the hatches and giving a short tour inside the Nauka module, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.
According to NASA's account of Thursday's incident, the mission flight director immediately declared a spaceflight emergency as engineers on the ground struggled to restore stability to the sprawling research satellite.
NASA and Roscosmos each said that the seven crew members - two Russian cosmonauts, three U.S. astronauts and two others from Japan and France - were never in any immediate danger.
Roscosmos, which this week spoke of plans to launch another Russian module to the station in November, has suffered a series of mishaps and corruption scandals, including during the construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the country's far east where contractors were accused of embezzling state funds.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/watch-russian-module-nauka-that-threw-international-space-station-out-of-control-2500130">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/watch-russian-module-nauka-that-threw-international-space-station-out-of-control-2500130</a>

news world Watch: Russian Module That Jolted International Space Station From Inside

Cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy is seen inside Russia's Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module. Moscow: Russian cosmonauts have given a vide...